{River & White}

We luckily made it to Christmas at my family's home in Indiana a day before the blizzard hit. Got a bit bored this afternoon, which lead to this ten minute fashion shoot behind my grandmother's house.

{One-Dress Wishlist}

Ah this is the dress I never knew I always wanted, courtesy of modcloth.  It's so close to what I imagine to be the platonic ideal of a dress.  Unfortunately, the price is not as ideal, at $449.99.

{Limiting Hormonal Acne: My Inexact Science}

You may or may not have noticed that I hardly ever use close-ups of my face when I do personal-style posts.  That's partly because I want to showcase the fashion and not my face, but it's also because my face is seldom clear.  As it turns out, I'm joined by a fairly large portion of my demographic (hormonal acne affects 45% of women between 21 and 30, according to a study cited in this New York Times article.) Dermatologists aren't in agreement about the best approach to fixing the problem, which makes ridding ourselves of it that much  more complicated and frustrating.  

My Skin

I'm convinced that prolonged stress is what's caused the two bouts of cystic acne I've had in my life.  At 19, I chose the wrong college for me but felt I had to remain there for financial reasons.  Trying to convince myself to be happy in an environment that was not conducive to my happiness was a toxic way of living, and it showed on my face. My dermatologist prescribed an antibiotic (doxycyline) to me, and after taking it for a few months, and then spending the summer at home, the acne cleared, with little scarring.

The next case of acne came a year and a half ago when I was living in my husband's small-ish hometown in South Africa. My situation in South Africa was another one in which I was not entirely happy but was trying to convince myself to be.  I was surrounded by the natural beauty of mountains, oceans, lakes, and estuaries, and I had returned to this country after having an intense love affair with it when I studied abroad my junior and senior years of college.  

This is where we lived.

But this time, things were different.  I was in a more isolated town, there were no other Americans or foreigners in our friend group, I didn't have my own housing (lived with my in-laws), I had limited access to jobs (no work permit), and I felt that I didn't have an identity outside of my husband.  This perceived lack of control of my social, financial, personal, and professional life produced in me a perfect storm of stress. Add the guilt I allowed myself to feel for not being happy in such a beautiful place, and you'll have what I believe to be the trigger of my current cystic acne. While I was in South Africa, I tried antibiotics for two months, but they didn't work. 

When I returned back to America to live, the acne didn't go away.  It's been about nine months since I've been back, and I'm still breaking out on my cheeks and jawline.  However, in the past few weeks, I have seen improvements in the number and size of breakouts.  So here are some of the things that I'm thinking could be playing a part in these improvements.

Possible Solutions

1. For the past month, I've cut coffee from my daily diet, replacing it with chai, chamomile, and peppermint tea.  I only started drinking coffee on a daily basis when I was living in South Africa, so the inclusion of coffee in my diet could have been contributing to my acne.

2. I'm on my third month of Lutera, a birth-control pill.  Balancing my hormones could be helping, though I didn't notice any improvements until now--my third month on it. I was hesitant to take bc again because I had had a bad experience with Yaz a few years back, but Lutera has been pretty good to me in terms of physical and mental side effects, and it may be the reason why my acne is not as severe now.

3. I started using this organic sugar scrub.  It's deep cleaning, and it leaves your skin feeling soft but not greasy. I follow it with either tea tree soap or African black soap from the same shop.  I truly believe that this  scrub is central to my recent success with limiting the breakouts.

4. I have a stable job, and I work for people I love. The job provides me with purpose, keeps me challenged and keeps my mind active, and gives me financial security.  This all reduces my stress. 

And that's about it.  The type of makeup I wear (or don't wear) doesn't affect my acne much. And the expensive Clinique acne products that my grandma insisted I try really didn't help much either (except for the dark spot serum--that stuff is pretty good for scarring.) But, yeah, maybe keep in mind that price does not always guarantee effectiveness. So there you have it. I'm crossing my fingers that I continue to see improvements.  

{Playing the Building}

This weekend I went to David Byrne's Playing the Building, an art exhibit downtown.  Wires connect a piano to the rest of an old, empty warehouse so that when you play the piano, you also drum against the building. It'll be in New York and London next, so if you happen to live in either of those cities, you should check it out.  

 Yes it is.

 From the inside looking out.

 

 My friend Danika posing real pretty on a fancy couch.

{Holiday Leftovers}

I've been overwhelmingly busy with work since I got back to Minneapolis from Puerto Rico. This is the first chance I've gotten to edit and organize a few of our pics.

My sister and I mainly chose outfits based on what would keep us the coolest in the scorching 90-degree temperatures.  What none of these pictures capture (luckily for you, dear reader) are the buckets of sweat that constantly dripped from our faces (and onto the beautiful tiles of any store or restaurant we entered). 

 

 

It was a great trip and was just what we needed--a break from the winter cold. We basked in the sun, got lost, drank some rum, met some nice people, met some dodgy people, went to some cathedrals, went to some fortresses, ate mofongo, ate waffles, drank coffee, and mostly just farted around a lot since that's what Vonnegut says we were put on this earth to do.

{Wandering the Day Away}

When our Airbnb host asked us what we did yesterday, my sister and I looked at each other and said, "I don't know--we just walked around a lot."  Sometimes that's the best way to travel.  By the end of the night, we had found an unpretentious restaurant (Cafe El Punto) that served us the best mofongo we've had yet, along with plenty (read: too much) rum.

 

{Old San Juan}

My sister and I arrived safely in old San Juan on Friday, ready to enjoy some culture and heat.

 

 

 

{A Sharpened Tongue: Dorothy Parker}

I first read Dorothy Parker when I was eighteen, and she was one of those writers who made me want to become a writer.  She had the perfect balance of irreverence and wit, and, instead of brooding about life's difficulties (particularly as a female), she simply made fun of them.  That's who I wanted to be. 

I know more about her writing style than her fashion, but I did find a few pictures below that capture her simple, no-nonsense style.  Short hair, black dress, nice necklace--easy and classy.   

  

“A little bad taste is like a nice dash of paprika.”

 

  “Take me or leave me; or, as is the usual order of things, both.”

 

“There was a reason for the cost of those perfectly plain black dresses.”

 

“If you're going to write, don't pretend to write down. It's going to be the best you can do, and it's the fact that it's the best you can do that kills you.”
― Dorothy Parker

{Coco Chanel on Life}

Coco Chanel is more than a fashion icon.  Her shrewd reflections on life, as well as her self-reliance and boldness, made her a woman who blazed trails for the rest of us as female's in art and commerce, giving us permission to be exactly who we want to be in the face of a heavily male-dominated society.

"Fashion is not simply a matter of clothes. Fashion is in the air, born upon the wind. One intuits it. It is in the sky and on the road."

"Elegance is not the prerogative of those who have just escaped from adolescence, but of those who have already taken possession of their future." 

“It’s probably not just by chance that I’m alone. It would be very hard for a man to live with me, unless he’s terribly strong. And if he’s stronger than I, I’m the one who can’t live with him. … I’m neither smart nor stupid, but I don’t think I’m a run-of-the-mill person. I’ve been in business without being a businesswoman, I’ve loved without being a woman made only for love. The two men I’ve loved, I think, will remember me, on earth or in heaven, because men always remember a woman who caused them concern and uneasiness. I’ve done my best, in regard to people and to life, without precepts, but with a taste for justice.”

{Marigold & Mod}

It was a beautiful Saturday in Minneapolis today.  A few nights of strong wind have left the ground blanketed with bright yellow leaves--such a treat for the senses.  As for the outfit, the navy and gold dress was a fun mod find from Saver's Thrift Store. I paired it with some old boots, old jeans, and an old necklace.  Style, for me, has always been more about making do with what I have than buying pricey new items.  This outfit is no exception to that philosophy.

{Island Getaway Wish List}

In a little over two weeks, I'll be in Old San Juan with my sister.  Here's a wish list I've gathered, which consists mostly of sales items.  Sun dresses are so much more fun to shop for than sweaters.

 

 

 

 From top to bottom: red dress: Modcloth; top: Free People; floral shoes: Urban Outfitters; bra: Free People; yellow shoes: Urban Outfitters; green dress: Modcloth