Hellogoodbye: Round 2

Playing: Ocean Avenue-Yellowcard
Reading: Proust Was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer

Last Monday, Sarah, Chad, and I went to see Hellogoodbye together for the second time. We left for the Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles as soon as school let out. The concert was supposed to start at 7:30 p.m. but the lead singer of Max and the Moon showed up late, so the concert didn't even start until an hour later. They sounded pretty good, but Sarah and I just sassed the lead singer for most of the time, asking him why he put his shirt on inside out and if he got dressed in the dark. He definitely heard us, but refused to answer any of our questions.

Say Say was really friendly, when we talked to them after the show and we appreciated that they had a cute drummer, Nick Jordan, because cute drummers are such a rare commodity. Before the show, they also passed out some CDs to everyone in line. They were pretty good too, but I preferred Max and the Moon.

The main reason we went to the Hellogoodbye show (other than to see Hellogoodbye) was that we were hoping they would remember us from last time. Even though Sarah, Chad, and I were in the front row, we didn't have a good view during the show. All of the key boards were set up on these boxes that blocked off the view of everyone in the band other than Augustine. At times, the three of us were peeking underneath the keyboard to see what the rest of the band was doing. Despite our bad view, I still really enjoyed the concert because Hellogoodbye is great live.

Afterwards, we stuck around to talk to some of the bands, while we waited for Hellogoodbye to come out. Talking to Hellogoodbye is great because it's not like other bands, where you tell them you liked their show, ask for a photo, and walk away. You get to have actual conversations with them about anything and it feels like you've been friends with them for awhile. The only one that is kept busy is Forrest Kline, since he's the lead singer. However, I got to talk to Michael Garzon about the differences between oxfords, wing tips, and brogues for awhile. I talked to Augustine Rampolla the longest about French class, clothes, and anything that came to our minds. When I was taking a photo with Andrew Richards, Andrew jokingly told Augustine to get out of it, but I told him he could be in it if he wanted. It's just fun to hang out with them because it feels like you're friends with them and because of that, I probably will go see them again and again.

PS I'm still in shock that my parents let me out on a school night to a concert in Los Angeles. I ended up going to bed at around 2 a.m. and the next day at school was horrible. I was so tired and wanted to go out to Starbucks with Chad and Sarah, but my journalism teacher forced me to stay in at lunch to work on the paper, so I went through the rest of the day in a haze.

into the flow

Playing: Winter Passing-The Academy Is...
Reading: The Look by Harry Brant (Actually pretty interesting...)

Over fall break, I took a trip over to Zara to get a few more flimsy pieces of clothing that flow nicely. I got a cream version of my favorite black tank top along with another slip dress. Slip dresses are super easy to style and are very comfortable, so I've taken to wearing them around quite a bit. I bought the red skirt because it's very simple and I've been wanting to add skirts into my closet. I like skirts and dresses, but it's not as if I'm excessively girly and want floral prints/bows/lace on all my clothes, so it's difficult to find things that I like. However, Zara can always be relied on to supply great basics.

I recently also bought some beauty products, which I've been meaning to show you. When it comes to makeup, I try not to wear too much. I usually just do some foundation for my skin and some sort of lip product. I really like this lip crayon from Korean brand, IASO, in Sweet Liar. Even though it's a mint color, it goes onto your lips a nice, muted raspberry color. It looks natural enough and is super moisturizing. Lately, it's become my go to lip color and I don't even need to carry around chap stick if I'm wearing it. I also like this berry shade from Chanel, Envoutante. It goes on sheer with a slight shimmer to it and is easy to put on.

My dad retired last week and a lot of patients brought in goodbye gifts for him. One of them brought in a box of macarons from Lette and included one of every flavor. I've always wanted to get one of each flavor from any macaron store, but they're so expensive that I could never justify doing so. Therefore, these obviously made me very excited. Sorry about not blogging much lately. With school going on, I find it difficult to do anything vaguely blog worthy such as go on adventures and such. However, I did go to two concerts with the past two days, so I'll get a post together of that. Hope you're all doing well!

je t'aime plus qu'hier moins que demain

Playing: Young Blood-Birdy
Reading: The Tempest by William Shakespeare

It's been six months, or half a year, since I was in Paris yet I still miss it tremendously. Rarely do I miss people or places, so the fact that I miss Paris so much is still a strange sensation for me (and comforting to my parents that I do in fact have human emotions). I miss waking up to a magnificent view of La Tour Eiffel, starting off the day with a buttery croissant, and walking along the River Seine. I expected Paris to be completely overrated, but I found myself to be completely in love with the city more so than other places I have visited. Other than San Francisco and New York, Paris is the only other city that I have visited that I would like to live in one day. Ideally, I would like to go back to Paris as soon as possible, but without knowing which college I will be attending in the fall, I am currently unable to purchase plain tickets there. Until then, I will continue to oggle over Rumi Neely's Paris photo diaries and wish that I was back in the city of lights.

stuck in the rain

Playing: Romance is Dead-Paloma Faith
Reading: You're Cute and Fired by Marisa Meltzer

I skipped out on Black Friday once again because a) the sales are never as good as I hope they'll be, b) crowds of deprived shoppers stress me out, and c) usually everything I want is still too expensive to buy on sale. Instead I visited Los Angeles again with my family because the Los Angeles Auto Show is back in town. We stopped off at Little Tokyo for lunch at Wakasaya and I grabbed a box of macarons from Lette. I kind of regret not getting a wider range of colors, but at least they look semi-autumn appropriate.

For some reason, we always park next to MoCA and they moved this statue into the parking lot. Apparently, it cost a lot of money to ship it to this specific location. However, I still struggle with finding the artistic value of this piece because it looks like a discarded chunk of metal in the middle of a parking lot.

My favorite part about rainy days other than the chance to run around in a trench coat, pretending I'm a secret agent, is taking photos through windows. I  really love this photo set and I want to take more photos like those, but living in Southern California doesn't really give me the opportunity to do so.

We actually went to the auto show because my dad's birthday is coming up and he really wanted to go. I wasn't all that impressed with the cars other than the smart cars and Porches. I really liked this Jeremy Scott smart car because the wings are such a simple addition yet so playful. It also looks fairly unisex and makes me want to collect designer cars. Unfortunately, I don't have an extra $43,200 to spend, so I'll have to give up my dreams of owning this car.

The Lincoln display had these cool planters hung up on their walls. My dad and I are planning on making planters like these either from wood or clay. We thought it would be good for planting all our herbs and smaller flowers. As you can tell, cars aren't really my thing, but after living with the two car fanatics I call my dad and brother, I have picked up a little knowledge here and there from them on cars. Even so, I still think these planters may have been one of my favorite things that I saw at the car show.

|-/

Playing: Bizarre Love Triangle (Shep's Club Mix)-New Order
Reading: Man Repeller by Leandra Medine

Once again, it has been forever since I last blogged, but I thought I'd just have you guys catch up with a few things I did on my birthday. My parents, being the ever indulgent beings that they are, fed into my love for puffer fish by getting the most adorable cake ever from Kiki Bakery. It was surprisingly flavorful for an Asian cake with rich vanilla frosting and cake, stuffed with candied fruit. The workers there were very compromising and even customized the fish a bit more to make it look like Jacques.

Later on in the night, I went to go see Twenty One Pilots for the second time at the House of Blues with my friends, Hannah and Jessy. The concert was general admission and we got to the concert kind of late, but we still ended up with decent spots. The crowd was surprisingly calm with no moshing and tall people letting you stand in front of them, especially during Sirah's and Robert DeLong's performances.

Once again, Twenty One Pilots gave an amazing performance and my friends fell half in love with Joshua Dun, the drummer, while I still think the lead singer, Tyler Joseph, is super cute. I even like his sheer, floral kimono, which has me debating over whether or not this Topshop kimono is worth its price tag. I really like it when bands talk to the audience and how you get a sense of their personality from that, so I appreciated it when Tyler talked to individual fans during his performances and shared stories with us about his family.

After the show got out, I ran into Travis Clark of We the Kings. I told him how I had seen We the Kings at the same House of Blues a few years ago with A Rocket to the Moon and he told me he loved me for that. We also shortly discussed his chihuahua, Elvis, and how everyone in We the Kings has a thing for chihuahuas. Meeting him was such a middle school dream of mine because when I was in seventh and eight grade, We the Kings was one of my favorite bands.

Other than the Balenciaga purse, I got  few more lovely things from my parents and friends. I've been eyeing this Marc Jacobs sequined sweater for a long time, so that was great to finally get my hands on it. Tina, Sophie, and Achint all got me lovely things. You probably can't see it, but the box is suppose to look like a Ladurée box. It has a pun on the label of Ladurée and my name, so that it came out like Adurée. Anyways, hope you guys are doing fine and I'll be sure to catch up on reading all of your blogs!

Also, the title is the Twenty One Pilots symbol in case you guys were wondering.

"Out Where the Dreams Are High"

Playing: Battle Born-The Killers
Rereading: The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

Last weekend, I took a drive out to Joshua Tree National Park for my birthday with Sophie and Tina. We spent the whole day hiking and tromping around trails. As I have mentioned many times before, the desert is one of my favorite places to visit and I can never seem to get enough of it. This is slightly off topic, but you know how your memories from when you were little are often very vague? I have this memory of my dad and I walking through this dam, but now that I look at how much algae there is, I wonder if I'm remembering everything correctly.

One of my favorite places to go to in the park is Key's view because you can see the Salton Sea and Tijuana, Mexico from there. Unfortunately, it was rather hazy and bright that day, so we weren't able to see much beyond the Salton Sea. On our next desert trip, we would like to go to the Salton Sea, even though we heard it smells.

If you have the chance, you should definitely watch the sunset from Key's View too because the sunset there is beautiful. As you watch it, all these pastel colors swirl together and it has a certain dreamlike quality to it.

After watching the sun set over the valleys and hills of Joshua Tree, we stopped by Ma Rouge Coffee House, which I've seen every time I've gone to Joshua Tree National Park and have always wanted to try. The interior of the restaurant is rather artsy and the servers were really friendly. We all enjoyed how our coffees weren't intolerably bitter but not overwhelmingly sweet like most drinks at Starbucks.

Sorry about how choppy this post is. I'm busy writing my English thesis and I just wanted to get something out. Also, the title is from The Killers' song, "Dustland Fairytale."

Halloween

Playing: Let's Kill Tonight-Panic! at the Disco
Reading: The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund: Where No Designer is Left Behind by Eric Wilson

This Halloween was very different from all the rest because rather than trick or treating, my friends and I decided to go on an adventure. To start off our night, we grabbed dinner at Cha for Tea because they were offering a free drink upgrade if you came in costume. Since my group looked like a major Japanophile group, we did the peace sign semi-ironically.

Afterwards, we drove down to the Balboa Fun Zone, but it turned out to be Balboa Island not Peninsula that was the place to be. However, the peninsula was a very creepy place to spend Halloween because it was almost completely deserted other than a few people fishing here and there. It's rather unnerving to visit the beach and not be able to see anything other than an endless black void.

Lately, Sophie and I have been really into the song, "Runaways," so we keep on messing around with the idea of road trips and running away (obviously). This is one of our photos from the night, where we are running down a pier into the night sky. I wanted something resembling this picture from the film, Never Let Me Go, but we got this instead.

If you ever do want to go to Balboa for Halloween, just keep in mind it's Balboa Island not Peninsula and that there will be a tremendous amount of traffic. Also, in case you were wondering what all of us went as: Tina went as Alice from Alice in Wonderland, Sophie as Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service, and I'm a Slytherin student. By the way, Slytherins aren't inherently evil. They typically are successful, loyal wizards (with a slight lust for power). Also, all three of us wore clothes that we already owned, so even though our costumes aren't the best, I think we deserve credit for at least not wasting money on new costumes this year.

I'm wearing an L. Erickson headband, a Zara blouse, a Habber&Dasher sweater, a Zara skort, Gap tights, and Converse sneakers.

Autumn Update

Playing: Welcome to the Black Parade-The Vitaming String Quartet
Reading: Candide by Voltaire

I decided that this school year I will be better about people's birthdays and about holidays. Rather than just doing cards for people's birthdays, I now bake them something and I'm trying to be better about seasonal changes and holidays. After doing a food drive for a local charity, I stopped by Trader Joe's to grab some autumn-y flavored foods like pumpkin baked goods and apple cider along with a few pumpkins. When it gets colder, my family usually buys a few candles from CandlEssence for decoration too. I just wanted to share a few things that may (or may not) help bring the fall season into your home.

Last Tuesday, I hosted a huge Friendship Picnic at my school for over 50 students and it was Halloween themed. However, most people went as far as coming in black or orange for the picnic, while Sarah, Sophie, and I went over the top with our costumes. Sarah is Little Red Riding hood, Sophie is Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service, and I'm Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye. Holden is one of my favorite fictional characters and I imagined him to look kind of like Robbie Wadge. I used this picture of Robbie in a hunting hat and this picture of him in a navy blazer for inspiration.

PS Congrats to Hannah for winning my giveaway! Thank you everyone for entering and I hope you'll win one of my giveaways soon.

Hellogoodbye in Their Hometown

Playing: Dear Jamie...Sincerely Me-Hellogoodbye
Reading: New York Sets Work Rule for Young Models by Eric Wilson

Last Sunday, I got the opportunity to attend an intimate Hellogoodbye performance at Fingerprints Music in their hometown of Long Beach, CA. To get in, you only needed to pre-order their upcoming album, Everything is Debatable, which cost a mere $10. Ten dollars for a great concert, CD, poster, and meet and greet? Talk about one hella good buy.

Their performance was really good despite a few technical issues and they played a lot of the songs from the new album. Although I would've liked to have heard more of my old favorites, I completely understand that with their limited time, they couldn't play everything. I loved how all of them were really happy performing and when they played "Here (In Your Arms)," it was a magical moment. That song has been one of my favorites for eight years and it's always been a dream of mine to hear it live, so now you can enjoy a part of it too with the video I took.

Left to Right: Chad, Andrew Richards, Augustine Rampolla, Sarah and me

One of my favorite things about this concert was that it was small enough to be able to get a chance to hang out with all of the members of the bands. We also got a photo with Michael Garzon, the keyboardist, who was really nice just like everyone else in the band. It was fun to be able to joke around with all of the members and to talk to them about what it was like to be in the band and what music they liked. Andrew and Augustine offered Chad a place in the band, so hopefully, they'll be touring soon. I also liked how all of them were these adorable hipster men with their Ray Ban sunglasses and slightly messy hair

The highlight of the concert was getting to talk to Forrest Kline, the lead singer. He is so friendly and funny in person and everyone got a good five or more minutes to talk to him, which is really rare at meet and greets. I had a crush on him from 5th to 7th grade and I debated over telling him, but I ended up not telling him out of fear of creeping him out. In middle school, a friend asked me why I didn't get contacts and I told her that if Andrew McMahon and Forrest Kline were OK with glasses, then I was fine with them too. I would definitely buy tickets to see them again and I'm keeping my eyes on Fingerprints for any upcoming concerts.

PS Don't forget to enter my Burberry headband giveaway! Not many people have entered, so there's a huge chance you could win!

Want

Playing: Call N' Return-Hellogoodbye
Reading: A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen

It seems like every one of my posts lately either starts or ends with an apology for not blogging regularly, but that's ok. With school in session, I don't have as much to do whatever it is that I do. I quickly compiled a short list of pieces that I've found really cool. These are the items that will catch everyone's attention and immediately up the cool factor of your outfit.

• Aeon Elysium Hoodie-I like the way it contrasts a standout print with a casual cut. It would be such an easy, but cool outfit to pair it with white skinny jeans and boots.  Pretty much all of the other accessories pictured above would look good with it too. (If any of you read Joel's The Hallowed Ground, this brand is by him.)
• Marc by Marc Jacobs Wallet- This simple wallet is made a little more special than expected due to its holographic material. I've had my eye on the silver version of this wallet for a few months now, but it's still a bit too expensive for me to justify buying it.
• Alexander Wang Lia Purse-I've tried this purse on at Barney's Co-Op many times and it looks great with almost every outfit imaginable. I like the signature Wang studs on the bottom and what a bright white it is. The only problem I have is that considering its size, it doesn't fit much. The leather sides don't budge much, so it's difficult for me to fit my wallet, iPhone, and camera in it.
• Alexander Wang Racketeer Sling-This is easily one of my favorite purses that I've seen in awhile. I love how it has several compartments and looks like an accordion folder from the side. I was originally going to buy this purse, but Barney's Co-Op never got it in stock, so I bought Le Dix from Balenciaga instead. However, if any of you get the Racketeer Sling, I will envy you tremendously.

Don't forget to enter my Burberry headband giveaway! Not many people have entered, so the probability of you winning is pretty high right now.

Last Saturday

Playing: Compromising Me-William Beckett
Reading: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

I love going to the beach during the off season, when the crowds have dispersed and/or returned home. There's something about a deserted beach that is particularly lovely, so when Jiyoung asked me to go to Corona del Mar for his art project, I couldn't say no. The Santa Ana winds were going on at the time, which gave everything a Los Angeles worthy haze of sunshine and dust. If it were not for the fact that both of us had a lot of homework to do, it would have been nice to go swimming. Instead we grabbed an early lunch at the Lemonade that opened up at Fashion Island before heading home. I hope you enjoyed some of the photos I took and don't forget to enter my Burberry headband giveaway, which is open until the end of October!

Burberry Headband Giveaway

Playing: All I Ever Wanted-The Airborne Toxic Event
Reading: Exile and the Kingdom by Albert Camus

For every fifty followers I get, I like to host a giveaway for all my lovely followers. This time I kind of upped the giveaway game by purchasing this Burberry headband. The headband is new without tags because I lost the tag, when it slipped off the headband, and I don't know where it went. It's one size fits all and measures from an inch to two inches think. It's a soft beige color with grey, periwinkle, and maroon details. (If you're wondering how much a Burberry headband goes for, it goes for anywhere from $40-$170 on eBay.)

This giveaway is open to anyone in the world and will be open until the end of October, so all entries must be in by Oct. 31! To enter, here are the rules:

1. You must be a public follower of this blog and comment below with your name and email.
2. For an extra entry, you may blog about this giveaway and comment with the link to your post that mentioned my giveaway.
3. For an additional entry, follow me on Instagram @this_is_audrey and comment below with your Instagram username.
4. For the final entry available, you must already be a follower of mine on Instagram, but you can repost a photo of the headband on your Instagram and tag it #hkittygirlgiveaway. You must keep that photo on Instagram until the giveaway is over in order for me to count up the total amount of entries.

This means that there are four entries available. Step 1 is the only mandatory one, but to do step 4 you must do step 3. The winner will be announced at the end of October and will be chosen by a random number generator after I add up all of the entries. Good luck to everyone that joins and thank you for continuing to read my blog!

Robertson Blvd.

Playing: Shot at the Night-The Killers
Rereading: Light Boxes by Shane Jones

I kind of got over the cupcake trend just like I got over the frozen yogurt and red velvet trends fairly quickly, but that doesn't mean I'm going to pass up a chance to try Georgetown Cupcakes. I actually stumbled by the Los Angeles location on accident, while I was out shopping. Pictured above are the Double Butterscotch, Strawberry, Chocolate Ganache, and Peanut Butter Chocolate cupcakes. Honestly, all of them were delicious and I usually dislike chocolate cupcakes,but these are worth trying. The Double Butterscotch was my favorite with piece of butterscotch embedded into the bottom.

Along the same road, Robertson Blvd., there's a Kartell store. Unfortunately, since it was Sunday, it was not open, but I enjoyed window shopping just because everything was so fun to look at. Ideally, I would love to fill my house with fun furniture and this store definitely feeds into my lucite obsession. It also relates back to my interest in Jeff Koons' art.

Another store that was closed, but I wished it was open was H. Lorenzo. The window displays had the most perfect outfits that mixed classic styles with modern elements. I like how the sweet dress in the middle is off set by the bright red clutch and the feminine trumpet hem on the skirt to the left is off set by an edgier top and necklace. This store housed a lot of different brands from KTZ to Comme des Garcons to Forme Depression, which are all difficult brands to find.

I have been a part of National Charity League for almost seven years now and at the end of NCL, they give us a chance to be a part of what they call "presents." Presents is actually just a debutante ball, but I will not be doing presents this year because the dress rules are excessively strict. To quote the dress rules, NCL presents "values conformity." I want to be a part of a debutante ball, but not at the price of conformity and having to wear either an ugly or boring dress. Every dress I have ever wanted for presents was vetoed by the dress rules because you're not allowed to do a non A-line dress and it cannot have lace or be backless. For someone like me, I prefer doing straight up and down gowns because A-line dresses with petticoats make me look shorter than I already am. These dresses from Les Habitudes would have been perfect for me, but I know that all of them will be rejected.And with that rant, I leave all you lovely readers to do my Econ homework.

Save Rock and Roll

Playing: House of Gold-Twenty One Pilots
Reading: The Diamond as Big as the Ritz by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Last night I was at the Honda Center for the Save Rock and Roll Tour with Twenty One Pilots, Panic! at the Disco, and Fall Out Boy. I went with Sarah, Yume, and Brandon and Sarah had heard rumors that people were camping out for this concert, so we went as soon as school ended. The concert started at 7:30 p.m. and we got there by 3:50 p.m. We ended up ordering pizza around 4 o'clock and doors opened at 6 o'clock, but the pizza didn't arrive until 5:55 p.m. Originally, we were all pissed that the pizza was almost two hours late and weren't going to pay for it, but then we inhaled the two large pizzas in less than five minutes and this is all that was left.

Left to Right: Me, Yume, Sarah, and Brandon

Getting there so early really paid off. The four of us were able to get to the third row and for a short period of time to the second row of general admission. It was Yume's birthday that day and she's the smallest of the four us, so we were hoping people would be nice to us and not push us around, but we still got jostled a lot during the concert. Oh and here's a fun fact, Yume is the only one with natural hair.

I typically hate rap with a passion and I have stated that I would probably not marry someone if they're a huge rap fan, so it surprised me that I really liked Twenty One Pilots. Sarah, Brandon, and I all agree that they really know how to make a perfect mixture of melodic rap and rock with lyrics that we can understand as in we know what they're saying unlike most rappers whose lyrics sound like gibberish.

The biggest downside to general admission is that there are jerks, who push themselves forward aggressively, and we had quite a few of those around us. Quite a few of them would put their hands on our waists or shoulders to push us out of the way and during Panic! at the Disco's performance, everyone was trying to get in front of us. I wasn't able to get any good photos of Brendon Urie, which was the main reason I went, but Dallon Weekes was close by and I got some great photos of him. Next time I see P!ATD, I would like to be able to see the whole band and have them be the headlining band instead. With only 40 minutes onstage, I wasn't able to hear all my favorites.

Fall Out Boy's set was pretty good and I liked they're use of the screen to show footage of the band, music videos, photos, and interviews. Their whole show followed the Save Rock and Roll theme very well, since they incorporated old photos of the punk scene and came out with ski masks, dressed as rebels. I loved when Brendon Urie came out to perform with FOB and how he was doing flips across the whole stage like a gymnast. Overall, the show was pretty great and the only things that could have made it better were if we were front row or if we had met the bands.

PS Sorry that I have been missing from the blogosphere, but I will try to start reading all of your blog posts again and replying to comments. Senior year has been very busy and I haven't had as much time or energy as I would like.