September Playlist

here's a playlist for September made by me and my best friend. I acknowledge that there are like five songs with cigarette in the title- that was not on purpose. enjoy and comment favorites!



Cigarettes- The Color and Sounds
For Sondra- Passion Pit
Cigarette Duet- Princess Chelsea
Building the Ark- Slaughter Beach, Dog
Cigarette Smoker Fiona- Arctic Monkeys
Creature Comfort- Arcade Fire
Cigarettes and Old Perfume- Have Mercy
Now I'm Cool- Coast Modern
The Woods- Drenge
Who's Laughing Now- Goldfinger
Seattle- Bellevue Days
Island- HOAX
Lemontrees- Eagulls
Lines that Burn- Tilian
But Not Tonight- Depeche Mode
All Of Me- John Legend
Mirror Kissers- The Cribs
The Hamptons- Transviolet
First Love/Late Spring- Mitski
Machinist- Japanese Breakfast
Revenge of the SpiderBees- Prince Daddy & the Hyena
Ooh La La- The Well Pennies
Girl From Mars- Cosmic Child
Vintage- Allie X
Howl- Declan McKenna
Hard Feelings/Loveless- Lorde
Cherry Wine- Overcoats
Teen Idle- Marina and the Diamonds
The Fear Song- Amanda Palmer & Jason Webley
Pieces of You- Ben Sollee
Pleaser- Wallows
Rumors- Joywave
Overnight- Parcels
One- Birdtalker
You Light My Fire- Nate Ruess
Look What You Made Me Do- Taylor Swift
Pieces (Radio Mix)- Rob Thomas
Basket Case- Bastille

Where the Heck is Vivian?



Hey! First of all, it's been forever. I'm so sorry I haven't had anything interesting to post on ((and to be honest I still don't right now)). So I just want to update you about my life right now and tell you why I haven't been around the blogosphere much lately, and assure you I'm still here and am not leaving!

So basically college. College is a thing. I'm right now applying to schools because believe it or not I'm heading to college next fall *ahhhhh*. So I've been spending weekend time writing essays which may be why there's been a shortage of blog posts. I'm hoping to have most of my applications in by November 1st because I'm doing early decision for some schools, so you can count on seeing a lot more of me when that date rolls around. But until then my posts may be a little sparse, but I appreciate all the understanding and support you guys always have for me.

Another things that's taking up a LOT of time is that I'm working on my AP Studio Art portfolio. Since my school does our year in semesters, I have to have the entire portfolio done by January. That's like a piece a week so I've been spending a ton of time brainstorming and painting and planning all that artwork. I'm super excited to share that with all of you though, because to be honest you followers have really inspired me to continue pursuing art with all of your encouragement. I'm really happy to be continuing to make it a core part of me and my life.

And that leads us to youtube. You're probably wondering if that was just a myth. I'm praying it's not- it's super in limbo right now just because I really don't have a proper set-up, and I'm hesitant to post less-than-good-quality videos. I want to have a strong start. So I'm sort of waiting around to have my shelves in my room moved and get a proper stand and whatnot. It's still in progress, thank you for your patience. Once that's up I'll hopefully start showing AP work, which will be super exciting, along with my other normal work.

I have also been reading a lot. I've been trying to branch out and read lots of genres and types of books, and I've gotten really into graphic novels. I'll be posting my monthly book review posts to show you all what I've been reading.

As for poetry, it's still always being written. A lot of it has just been pretty personal lately. But I'm trying to overcome my fear of sharing personal poetry because let's be honest what poetry besides like humorous limericks isn't personal? So I'll try to get some more of that posted up shortly.

Besides that as always I love you guys- I'm thinking about all of you in your new school years as well and what you're up to, and I'm reading all your posts whenever they drop in my email! Thanks for sticking around even while I'm crazy busy, I'm going to post a playlist for you all after this as a thank you <3

August Book Reviews

Hello friends! So I'm trying out a new style of book review for my blog- basically instead of doing one long book review for each book I thought I could just sum up all the books I read at the end of each month. Although I'm an avid reader and read all the time, I have a confession to make- I'm a much slower reader than some of you other book bloggers! Maybe I read quickly technically, but when it comes to literature I like to spend time looking back on details and flipping through pages to catch threads. So I take my time. But that said, I apologize if there's not like twenty books on here per month like some of you manage- I don't know how you do it. But let me know how you like this style in the comments, and comment your thoughts on any you've read.

p.s. sorry it's a tad late I was on vacation this weekend and couldn't post

Loving vs. Virginia by Patricia Hruby Powell; Illustrated by Shadra Strickland
5/5 Stars


This poem/graphic novel/ documentary novel was painfully beautiful and dealt delicately and simply with complex matters like civil rights and love. I almost cried like three times, which is a lot for someone who never cries during books. The poem was so artistically done, and kept the story open to reader interpretation and didn't try to fill in historical gaps that could only be truly known if you were there, instead leaving the reader to enjoy and imagine what life was like for this couple. PLEASE READ THIS BOOK

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzergald
4/5 Stars


This is a classic, which I missed out on reading in English last year, so I had to pick it up this summer. The language in this is A M A Z I N G. If you're a sucker for run on sentences and loads of description like I am, then you simply have to pick this one up. The reason it only made four out of five stars is probably because of the ending- I wish it had had a more resounding, closing statement. English teachers might argue with me but I felt that this ending didn't finish as strongly as it could've, and that it could've left a more lasting impact on the reader. Other than that the story was golden and gave a lot of commentary on the glitz of the East in the 20s and popularity, as well as themes about love and marriage. Overall it was an excellent read, I highly recommend picking it up if you haven't already.

Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos
4/5 Stars



This book was one of the better books I've read that dealt with depression and anxiety. It covered the topics fairly and (at least as far as my experience goes) accurately, as well as lightening the mood with some respectful but genuinely funny humor. The style it was unique and whimsical and poetry-infused, which I love. It was a quick read but a good one, and if definitely made you think. My only complaint was Beth, she felt fake and didn't live up to what I hoped she would. Other than that it was an excellent read, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a lighthearted but simultaneously real book about anxiety and depression.

Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge
5/5 Stars



All I have to say about this book is that it is literally about me ok I've never read a more relatable book in my life. 5/5 no brainer, thank you Laura Lee Gulledge for understanding exactly what it's like to be me wow.

Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman
5/5 Stars



This book was phenomenal. It artfully and respectfully portrayed what it's like to have schizophrenia as a teenager. The portrayal of his conscious and his mind was so well written and painted an eloquent and real picture, and really helped the reader to truly understand the experience in a way that most books dealing with schizophrenia fail to do. Also, the writerly skill displayed in this book was evident and made the book that much more engaging and helped it to read smoothly and gracefully. Although it may feel that it starts out a little slow, it is definitely worth the read, as you will certainly not regret reading this book the whole way through and then taking time to ruminate on it.

Trip to LA: Long Beach Aquarium and Huntington Gardens

Part Two of my week-long vacation in LA was a trip to both an aquarium and a garden. Both were truly spectacular. I took lots of photos for you readers to enjoy. By the way- I'm hoping to post some actual content other than photos in a bit here friends. I'm sorry everything a bit in transition right now, I'm cleaning out basically my entire life and thinking really hard about what I want my internet presence to be this school year. Also youtube update- for those of you who are wondering it's still happening, I'm basically just trying to figure out how to position a camera above me while I'm drawing. If anyone has any tips on that let me know haha. Thank you friends <3

















Trip to LA: Art Museums and New Shoes

Hello readers! I'm just nearing the end of my summer, and I got to spend one of my last few weeks exploring LA. I wanted post some photos and whatnot for all of you to share my trip with you. This first one is the first two days, where I went to LACMA, Third Street Promenade, and the Grove. I also ate at some cute restaurants. Enjoy <3

urban light

I didn't know these stores existed I was ecstatic

got a new pair of converse- I'd had the other ones for a year now

urban light all lit up

yellow umbrellas

warhol

preach

look at those colors

Monet

I just really like peaches and still lives

cute french restaurant

mmm

Miracle Mile

Matisse

This is kind of a weird painting but look how huge and amazingly it's done! I'm reading the caption in the corner haha. Pretty interesting.

Blogger Party !!


Hey readers! Today I wanted to participate in a quick tag from Abigail Lennah from the Ups & Downs. She recently did a post about her dream blogger meet up, and I was so excited to participate. If you haven't read her post yet, go read it, because all her ideas are so awesome. As for my dream blogger party (to which you are ALL invited):

Venue: Ok definitely a big city, such as New York or LA. We'd need a lot of places to visit and aesthetic things to do. Plus exploring the city with all of you in small groups, taking photos, eating at little cafes, and buying stuff at little shops would be so much fun.

Three Foods:
1) Pancakes. Every morning. Vanessa did a pancake tag forever ago and I still haven't gotten those photos out of my head I need to eat a pancake breakfast with you all.
2) Tea and coffee (even though they are drinks) because who hasn't posted a photo of their aesthetic drink before? Plus I'm pretty sure every blogger has either a tea or coffee obsession (or at least all the ones I've talked to).
3) Pasta and salad. Because it's pasta and salad and everyone likes it and nothing is better than spaghetti and caesar salad after a long day out.

Five Artists or Bands: Oh no. I'm going to try and choose not super obscure stuff ok I'm really trying.
1) Panic! At the Disco because don't pretend like half of you guys aren't secretly emo ok we're going to need that.
2) Probably Lorde because her new Melodrama album is priceless and would be great to listen to while talking and chilling late into the night.
3) American Authors are also just nice to jam and generally upbeat and happy too add those guys in there.
4) Depeche Mode. Because aesthetic jam.
5) Ed Sheeran because I'm pretty sure everyone knows some of his songs and they're all pretty nice and pleasant.

Three Activities:
1) TAKING PHOTOS OF THE AESTHETICS
2) Ranting. About books and movies and art and everything in between.
3) Probably sitting around reading because let's be real like over half of us are introverts and are going to need that downtime. I'm not an extrovert so I'll be partaking in that. For extroverts who don't want to read (because you very well might and if so please join us) there will be an ongoing dance party which everyone is free to participate in (including introverts I love dancing so I will also be there).

Collab Post to Do At the Party:
Hmm. I feel like it would be fun to write a story with some of you writers out there. Or maybe a creative thing where each of us tells a story from a different characters perspective and puts them all together to make a very dynamic impression of a single experience? Let me know if you want to participate in that with me haha I feel like it would be so cool.

What Interactions or Habits Would You Notice? Well the first thing that popped into my head is that I'd see who was actually a neat organized person and who just sweeps everything off their desk so they can take the "clean" picture. I am an in between to be honest. I would also like to see who is constantly writing/drawing in notebooks (me) or taking photos with their fancy camera. I like to watch artists in action. Also I'm excited to see my fashion blogger friends preparing special outfits for days out (give me some tips please).


Well that's it guys, who wants to come? You're all invited. I seriously wish we could all get together like this, how amazing would it be? You're all tagged to participate in this as well, highly recommend, it was super fun. Also, participate in Abigail's Blogger Yearbook, it's awesome for her to put together and we need everyone in it!

A Day at the Zoo

only two weeks of summer left, so I went to the zoo (one of my favorite places)
credits for most of these photos to Davy