I Love What You Love

A short little poem I came up with while sitting in the car ride from Jasper to Lake Louise.... Basically this is an insight of what I was thinking and all the ideas and thoughts that came with writing this as I looked up at the majestic mountains:

You love class. I love art.

I love creating. You love creation.

You love looks. I love what's in the books.

I love serenity. You love commotion.

You love focus. I love distraction.

I love impossible things. You love reality.

You love to talk. I love to walk.

I love crazy. You love conformity.

You love me. I love me too.

These are some of the pics I took while writing this/thinking/being distracted by the mountains (it's a cloudy, overcast and cold day).

Canada '14

The view is great at the top.

The climb is the biggest struggle.

After climbing up and down so many steep hiking trails and exploring miles and miles on end of pure wilderness, one thing is for sure-  the muscles in my legs are really shaping up. 

Another thing is also for sure; the fact that if there really is "God" then damn, whoever it may be has an amazing view. 

The spiritual part of this journey began at Maligne Lake.... Which is ironic in itself because "Maligne" means "medicine" en Français, and this was definitely a healing part. The lake itself was beyond anything I had seen before... Lined with tall peaks, each peak being unique in it's own way. It seemed to be like a "hallway" of some sort... Then it came to my mind- this is as if I have entered some sort of "Hallway of the Gods." And it really did seem that way. If every God, I imagine, would come down to earth at some point for a "meeting" to discuss whatever Gods' discuss, then each one would be able to sit on top of one of the peaks an the lake would serve as the middle ground. It sounds pretty loopy; however, I found it to be such an interesting, thought-provoking idea.

Amongst many other adventures, walking on Columbia Ice-field is probably one of the most thrilling things I have ever done. Basically, Columbia Ice-field is a huge glacier that sits on the side of a mountain... The crevasses in this field are as deep as the Empire State is tall, and that only applies to the crevasses that are open. One wrong step and down the rabbit hole I'd go, with no coming out. The young Canadian tour guide dude told us that it was okay to drink water from the glacier. Naturally, I was the first to lay on the ground and put my entire face inside the melting glacial stream which was below freezing and get a gulp. That water, man oh man, it was the cleanest and most refreshing thing... I do not exactly know if the water is what was so refreshing or it was the fact that the experience was one that nobody else I'd ever known had gone on. Perhaps both. Whatever it was, that moment was so vivid and breath-taking. 

Speaking of breath-taking, being an asthmatic and all, I made the mistake of not bringing my inhaler and climbing up and even driving up these high elevations was getting to my respiratory system big time. It still is actually, as I sit in one of the grande lodges at Lake Louise Inn. Nonetheless, struggle is strife is success.

I cannot stress how beautiful British Columbia, Jasper, and Banff truly are. I don't think I would ever be able to describe the beauty with words or pictures, it just simply needs to be shown. So if I am ever asked something like "how was the trip?" Or "how was Canada?" I'll simply say, "Go see it." Because that's all I can say, really. I mean I still have a solid five-six days here and I'd like to really gain the full experience.

Update: photo blogs and all that visual jazz will be coming soon. 

Color in moderation

My style consists of pretty much all solid colors. Not that I have anything against prints, I just find solids more versatile on many levels. I also favor textured solids, I love venturing into new solids with different textures such as; woven cloths, chiffon textures, cotton, cashmere, leather, etc. This summer I think the perfect trend seen on Marc Jacobs' Summer 2014 runway collection is the use of colors in moderation.

Looks I've created using this concept:

The suede grey flats compliment the simplicity of the plain white crop-top. This enables for the pale blue skort (this pleated skort style was first seen through Zara earlier this year) to really stand out. On tan skin (the universal desire every summer) this would really stand out.

Once again, using the color in moderation so only the yellow pops. However, the top has an open-knit texture that is completely different from the skirt and is substituted as a pattern.

This would also look dashing on tan skin because the lemon yellow and the open-knit cropped sweater would create an even more tanner look on already tanned skin.

This electrifying coral top is probably the most daring to use through this trend. It has a unique texture and the color is bright but once again, used in moderation. The shorts add personality through the pom-fringe at the bottom.

Who are you? Who am I?

Let's just say, ever since the beginning of this week, my life is starting to fall into a direction that I'm actually content with. Meditating every day, being calm to the point where not even emotional pain can hurt me, forget physical. Soul cleanse, I call it. Forget everything and forgive everything/everyone. I know too well from my years of living to be angry or hold grudges or be anything but positive towards external forces.

A lot of times I think I know myself fully but then I surprise myself by discovering something about me that I've never known. There are a two people on this planet who know as much about me as I do. To clarify, they are not my parents- my parents are basically a part of me, or I am a part of them, literally... So they cannot really count. These two are what make me complete. I've known them for 10+ years and I don't know how much they know about me, but it is either equal to the knowledge I have of myself or their knowledge surpasses my own. From what to say, when to say it, and why it is said to me, they know it all. 

But really, when it comes down to the simple; "who am I?" I do not think I could ever give a full, accurate, complete response. I will only know everything about myself when I reach my end- until then, I am a forever-remaining unsolved mystery for myself...damn, it feels so good too. 

Wrapping this up with: To those who do not know me, never will. To those who think they know me, how can you know me when I don't know myself entirely? 

Do you even know yourself? If not, no need to worry, nobody does. But the more you know about yourself and the less you know about others, the better. It's a sin to your soul to be trying to figure out the whole 24,901.55 miles (40,075.16 kilometers) round world we live in, while knowing little to nothing about oneself. 

The Joy of Art

Art is basically the truth of society, the eyes of the blind world. It is what essentially exposes the perception of the souls who interpret it.

Being able to discuss artwork with a small group of people is the greatest thing, honestly. So much insight and so many different perceptions all coming together as one harmony, as one understanding of a piece. It's extremely difficult (for me, at least) to find people who are also interested in just simply discussing and sharing their own, individual perceptions of a work. 

However, I am so so so very grateful to have a solid 2-4 people whom I can literally just discuss art for hours upon hours of time... These are the people that I plan on keeping for a lifetime; as art lives eternally, I'm hoping that I do as well as my go-to discussion crew haha.

Reflecting on art and grasping others' reflections on art is one of the very few things that I do to bring myself happiness, it's just such an amazing breath of fresh air. The way I see Andy Warhol's Hammer and Sickle is completely different from how someone else may view the masterpiece (in my opinion, type of artistic expressionism is a risk, and every risk results in a masterpiece; therefore, every work of art is a masterpiece.) 

Every brush stroke, every mixture of colors to create a certain shade, every symbol within each creation has purpose- similar to how every word spoken by a soul has meaning. 

Looking at a piece of art is breath-taking in that every detail is noticed and seeing what details I've missed- shown to me by others- is eye-opening.

The Fools' Foolishness

It's one thing to know and another thing to think one knows. 

It's pretty difficult to be oblivious to the obvious, right? Ha. It's surprising how oblivious some soul's can actually be. Here's a list of what fools do (if any of the following seem like "not foolish" things to do, I would be more than happy to be proven wrong):

1) Fools try to figure out the entire world without figuring out themselves. How can one understand the world and how it works without understanding how they work?

2) Fools follow.

3) Fools know what they ought to do but they do not do it.

4) Fools think they are happy, when they know 100% that they are not.

4) Fools think.

5) Instead of solving a problem, fools just simply analyze it.

6) With the intent of assisting others, fools ruin/diminish themselves.

7) Fools claim to not regret, and then they regret that claim for it's falseness.

8) Let's just say, even some blind people notice more than fools do.

9) Fools make foolish choices and then learn zero lessons.

10) The ultimate "foolish quality" is that of not knowing enough and thinking they know more than enough.

Bottom line is, fools are fools and most fools will remain fools until they identitify themselves as fools and open their mind and soul to see the world, not their eyes and brain. The concept of the "soul" is far beneath the subconscious, it's the gateway to the unconscious. One must explore the outer problem first without trying to collect data for the inner problems which are not even comprehensible yet. 

How do I deal with fools? I usually don't, ha. I usually let people make their mistakes; however, when I actually make an effort of providing some guidance, most fools deny it and that is why fools' foolishness is not something I tend to keep. 

"A fool thinks himself to be a wise man, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool." - William Shakespeare

"By the time the fool has learned the game, the game is over." - Bhumika Joshi 

Keep it low-key, dude

I've always been an extreme minimalist- the thought of jewelry or a shoe other than sneakers was just not appealing. Now, I know I can be a minimalist and at the same time be trendy and even make a statement with the simplicity of my style. 

Here are a few ensembles I've created of the extreme-minimalism that still resonates with me but with a touch of my growth in knowledge of fashion and accessorizing- these are all outfits I would and probably will be purchasing for the summer-time in Miami. Notice that all the pieces incorporated into each outfit can easily be taken out and used during a different season.

(Warning: Some if these ensembles may seem a little boy-ish but that's because it's my raw, true style- if the simplicity and class does not appeal, great. I'd love to keep it up.) 

No. 1

No. 2

No.3