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Hipstercrite Life

20-Something, Hipstercrite Life

Is Life About Taking Risks?

Lately my anxieties have prevented me from living the life I want to live.

It took a lot of self-analyzing and begrudged admittance to say this out loud. I have my theories as to why my anxieties have become as bloated as a Pufferfish in the BP oil spill, but I haven’t yet discovered the answer. One step at a time.

This realization/admittance came after I found myself having an exaggerated and unnecessarily negative reaction to minor obstacles affecting my getting to Portugal to see Geoff (he is currently teaching there for three months).

In other words, I went ape shit girl drama cray-cray: crying, throwing garbage cans, drinking Malibu Rum on the couch and taking 3 hour naps to prevent myself from yelling at people on the sidewalk.

You see, sinking ship American Airlines will not release a voucher to us that would help pay for my plane ticket. This has caused me to scramble to find the resources to get to Europe. A few options have become available (another smaller voucher (more…)

April 30, 2012 by
20-Something, Hipstercrite Life

What I’ve Learned From My Post-College Jobs

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I had had several jobs before my recent decent into freelancedom.

The reason why I had several jobs is because like most early twenty-somethings I decided that the career path I was on, the career I went to college for, was not right for me.

Well, that’s not exactly true.

I went to college for screenwriting, but ended up in Los Angeles as a personal assistant to famous people. I had completely lost sight of any goals or dreams while working that job. Actually, I really had no idea what my goals and dreams were, but the stress of my job prevented me from thinking about anything other than if my boss was taken care of and if I would die a sad, lonely spinster.

After many years of drinking myself to sleep, it finally dawned on me how miserable I was and I left my career. Finding myself now 25 years old and absolutely clueless as to what to do next, I worked a series of jobs that I thought would interest me (they didn’t) OR just plain ol’ paid the bills (hence my resentment (more…)

April 23, 2012 by
Fashion/Design, Hipstercrite Life

I Creamed My Face (Or What Skincare Products Work Best)

Throughout the past fifteen years, I’ve had ups and downs with my skin. When I lived in Los Angeles it was clogged and oily. If work stress didn’t make it difficult for me to keep my skin clear, then the heavy layer of smog suffocating everyone did. When I moved to Austin my skin got healthier, but it’s never been 100% perfect. I’m sure I’ve had a lady friend or two with airtight pores who has gotten super uncomfortable with me staring at their canvas-like faces for long periods of time. How does their skin stay so perfect?, I think.

The one upside to having slightly oily skin is that it keeps you from getting super wrinkly early.

At 28, my skin has found a happy medium. I would be stupid if I didn’t recognize that it mostly has to do with my hormones, but I’d like to think that my skincare regime plays a part in it. A year ago I noticed the cobwebs around my eyes were starting to define themselves. At times I looked tired and old. Then I remembered my Mom’s age-old saying, “Always (more…)

April 19, 2012 by
Hipstercrite Life

What I Learned Filing Taxes as a Freelance Writer

This year was my first year filing an ass load of 1099s. Luckily the 1099s were offset by a W-2 job I had for the first 8 months of the year. (I only owe $300 this year!) September of 2011 was the first time I made the leap into freelancedom and I’ve not looked back. Next year’s taxes are going to be cray-cray.

I was really nervous about filing as a newbie freelance writer. I had no idea how much in taxes I was going to owe and I wasn’t sure the best way to go about filing. (Should I go with an accountant or the TurboTax route?) I did my research and ended up filing with TurboTax Home & Business yesterday. It was painless and I learned a lot from it. Side note– I haven’t gotten to the self-employed quarterly taxes part in my freelance life yet. That’s the next hurdle.

I’m neither a tax/accounting professional nor well experienced in this matter. In other words, I’m full of shit half of the time, so please take my suggestions below with a grain of salt and do your research first! (more…)

April 17, 2012 by
Hipstercrite Life

We Got Old

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As many of you know, the person I’ve only known as a grandfather, Lionel, has Alzheimer’s. It has gotten worse and these past few months have been difficult for my family. I decided to write a fairly personal post on CultureMap about it. It was a tough one to write.

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“Yesterday, Lionel couldn’t make it to the bathroom fast enough,” my mother told me. “I guess he made quite the mess.”

I lingered on the mental image of this for a few seconds before I answered my mother.

“Why is he unable to make it to the bathroom in time?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I guess he can’t walk fast enough.”

She paused.

“He told Grandma that he should just kill himself.”

The only man I’ve ever known as a grandfather has Alzheimer’s. I spoke about his disease in the past, but so much has changed since then. The tipping point has dropped. We were fearful it would come with a loud bang, but instead it’s been a never-ending, tortuous whisper.

Lionel recently moved out (more…)

April 14, 2012 by
Fashion/Design, Hipstercrite Life

What I Wore Today: Swag from a Georgian Bookstore

What I Wore Today:
T-shirt: A free t-shirt my boyfriend received from The Bookshelf, a Thomasville, Georgia bookstore. $0
Shorts: Booty shorts from Gap Body, 7 years old, $.50

Notes: I’d like to focus on the clothing designer’s message printed on the back of the t-shirt, “Once upon a time at a small book shop in a small town, I found a book. I read it and loved it. It changed my world and so I passed it on. And before long the world was safe again”. Wow. What a unique piece!

What I’m Doing Today: Staring at people in the grocery store

Mood: Staring at people in the grocery store

April 10, 2012 by
Hipstercrite Life

When Your Teeth Try to Pull a Tim Robbins at the End of Shawshank Redemption Impression

Currently, I’m teething.

My lower right wisdom tooth is trying its best to do a Tim Robbins at the end of Shawshank Redemption impression. I can imagine that little bugger expects an epic Thomas Newman swell once it finally breaks through the surface, but I’m not going to give it that pleasure, no. You don’t deserve anything other than instant removal from my face, wisdom tooth! You’re just lucky that I can’t afford to do that right now.

Neither can I afford ten cavities filled, a permanent crown put in or extraction of two other wisdom teeth (one is fully exposed, another looks like a drunken missile haphazardly trying to navigate it’s way through my gums and the other never existed at all). This fact often drives me into a depressed state where I begin contemplating how easy or hard it would be to remove the teeth myself. If Tom Hanks can do it with a rock on a remote island, why can’t I?

When I get too worked up about the whole situation, I think about a recent conversation (more…)

April 9, 2012 by
Fashion/Design, Hipstercrite Life

What I Wore Today: The Day I Decided To Put On a Bra

What I Wore Today:
Shirt: Annie Henley, Alternative Apparel, White, $20.99 (on sale)
Skirt: Dawson Skirt, Alternative Apparel, Black, $22.39 (on sale)
Boots: Ralph Lauren motorcycle boots, used, Savers, $20
Jewelry: 1970s stainless steel necklace from my mother, seashell earrings I bought in Victoria, British Columbia for $5
Glasses: My taped up, sat on, much loved glasses from American Apparel, dead stock, $55

Notes: Not sure what that ray of sunshine beaming over my head is. My guess is that God was happy I finally put a bra on.

What I’m Doing Today: Finding ways to keep the feral cats from using my garden as their personal giant-sized litter box (I had to get dressed up for this)

Mood: Angry that I can’t find my toenail clippers, dehydrated

April 6, 2012 by
Fashion/Design, Hipstercrite Life

What I Wore Today: Huey Lewis Edition

What I Wore Today:
T-shirt: My boyfriend’s 80s Huey Lewis concert t-shirt. He doesn’t know that I wear this in order to intimidate people with Huey’s stone-cold stare. $Worth more than what is in my bank account
Shorts: Camel-toe inducing American Apparel nylon tricot floral lace cycle short, $28
Jewelry: Hairband on right wrist from Target, $2
Hair and Make-Up: Greenbelt-licked

Notes: I was trying my best to do the “I have polio in my legs!” Lookbook stance, but I will give those God forsaken waifish little girls credit- it’s a hard stance to do. Looks like I’m trying to pop a squat.

What I’m doing today: Writing a post other than this one, neglecting that my taxes need to be done

Mood: Hungry for cheese

April 5, 2012 by
Fashion/Design, Hipstercrite Life

What I Wore Today: First Edition

Hey Gang!

You know, I come across so many great fashion blogs with photos of what people wear on a daily basis. Some people are so clever and stylish and I thought, “Shit, I have moments of fashion inspiration too, why not share my own photos?” So today is the first day of a new series, “What I Wore Today”. I hope you enjoy.

What I Wore Today:
T-shirt: American Apparel, Poly-Cotton T-shirt in Heather Lake Blue $20
Pants: Old Navy track pants from 1997, altered above the knee for a more “sporty” look, Gray, $-5
Notes: I wasn’t wearing a bra, but I decided to spare you. My hair is designed by the pillow and my make-up is courtesy of last night.

Total Cost: $15 and a sense of sexiness

What I’m doing today: Working from home, like I do every day, and staring at the feral cats sleeping on my car

Mood: Pensive, gassy

April 4, 2012 by