Categories
Arts & Entertainment Beauty & Wellness

3 Interesting stores to visit in LA

This past week I went to Fairfax and Melrose in LA just to visit a few stores that I enjoy going to when I’m out there. Melrose and Fairfax or streets in Los Angeles, that are known to have many fashion retailer stores on the streets whether its secondhand designer, buy, sell, trade stores, independent fashion companies, or just designer retailers. Wherever you go on Melrose and Fairfax you are bound to find something new and unique whether it’s a food place, record shop, or even a clothing store.

1. Brain Dead Studios

if you enjoy high-quality fabrics and unique designs, then you might want to go check out Brain Dead Studios. They are located on Fairfax and their shop is very unique. Not only is it a showroom for their product but it also has a theater in the building where they hold movie nights. You can visit their website to see what movies they are going to be showing how much tickets cost. With having the movie theater in the same building, they also own their own concession stand where customers can buy drinks, food, and Eivan shirts that are specifically designed for Brain Dead Studio’s movie theater. In addition to the movie theater, they also have their own café outside in the back of the building. Brain Dead Studios is a store that has more to offer than just clothes.

2. Heaven by Marc Jacobs

Heaven by Marc Jacobs is a very unique and store that I always enjoy visiting. They have such unique designs when it comes to their jewelry. Their clothes are very eye catching and their other accessories such as their bags are so pretty. I personally love going to this store not only for their products but also to see the other brands they carry. Instead of only selling their products they also sell different brand’s items as well. One of my favorite smaller brands that they carry is Gen 2. Gen 2 is ran by one of the employees who works at Heaven by Marc Jacobs. During my visit, I got to talk to Julia and Shannon, who are employees at the store. I asked them a few questions such as what made them want to work at Heaven. Julia replied, “ I had previous experience in high retail in the environment seemed pretty laid-back. I also really like the customers in the type of customers that come in. I like that the store attracts a more younger crowd.” Shannon said, “ I used to come to the store a lot when I first moved here and I wanted to work somewhere that was more fun and also somewhere I actually want to be at. I came in one day and asked if they were hiring. It was just the right place right time.” I also asked which item in the store is their personal favorite item. Julia responded, “ A few of my favorite items in the store right now is our D squared vintage hat and the Heaven camo dress. It’s funny because when I first started here, I wanted that camo dress so bad that after I started, I ended up getting that as my first purchase.” Shannon said, “ My favorite item in the store are the brown Margaret boots. I really like those boots because they kind of remind me more of a cowboy style. I wanted them so bad when I was living in Texas.” I enjoyed talking to the employees every time I come in because they’re so friendly and helpful when it comes to finding the right pieces to buy.

3. 2nd Street

2nd Street is a store that buys from people who come in and sell their clothes and either offers them a percentage back in trade or cash. 2nd Street specializes in streetwear, high end designer brands, and vintage. The store has an item for everybody, whether a person is looking for something cheap and up to trend or a little on the pricier side for higher name brand items. I enjoyed looking through their vintage section because they have a good variety of different T-shirts, hats, outerwear, and jeans for a decent price. I’ve seen their other sections such as their designated racks for their higher and items, like Balenciaga and they have a great variety that’s not priced too bad. You could find items from all over at 2nd Street. Pieces from the last two stores I talked about will sometimes pop up here. This is a great store to go to when you’re looking for something that you don’t know what that something is yet because you can get lost in the items this store has curated.

These are just three stores that I mentioned you can find on Melrose and Fairfax. There are so many other shops out there that I could talk about, but I really enjoy going to these three. I have picked up pieces from these stores that caught my eye and I’ve gone to events at these stores and enjoyed myself during that time.

If you would like to see my last experience, going to these stores feel free to click here to watch my review of these stores.

Categories
Beauty & Wellness

𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐧 & 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭?

Fashion is a form of self-expression through clothing, accessories, makeup, etc. It isn’t only important because of the fact you express yourself through it, but because it could show something cultural/ historical which could include an iconic piece from the 1800s, a traditional costume, or even a way to express your beliefs. Most importantly, it can help politically when awareness needs to be brought to an issue or situation happening worldwide. An amazing example of this could be the Cannes Film Festival in 2023. Ukranian model Ilona Chernobai attended the event wearing a dress with both colors of the Ukraian flag (blue & yellow), and then she poured herself with fake blood to protest the devastating continuing war happening between Ukraine and Russia.

As the world continues to evolve in every aspect of fashion, these are a couple of the trends I believe will be coming this summer. From high-end luxury to everyday affordable wear, the upcoming trends for the hot, fresh, and tropical weather. Get ready to meet the next big things this summer season!

𝐁𝐨𝐡𝐨 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐜

This style combines bohemian and hippie fashion influences. It’s a relaxed and free vibe with a mixture of dramatic flowing fabrics with neutral & earth tones. This includes vintage pieces, chunky belts, and cowboy boots. The main staple pieces that play a huge role in this style are the chunky, layered statement jewelry and silk scarves to add a touch to it. This style is seen the most in musical festivals like Coachella and EDC.

SHOP HERE:

𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐬

For women, polka dots are back! No matter how big or small, this pattern can be styled in many ways. From playful or sophisticated, it depends on the variety of the occasion. Polka dots are considered classy, fresh, and modern but at the same time retro, depending on the style. They are timeless, and they are back to stay!

Floral prints are the moment for men this spring & summer! They are styled in many ways, as shown in the image above. It could be the whole outfit, or it could be a statement piece to add that bold touch to any outfit. You can find floral prints for everyday wear or more formal, you name it! Shirts, Shorts, Blazers, and etc, floral is ready to give you that boost of confidence.

SHOP HERE :

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

Capri pants are the perfect option for the warm weather while still offering more coverage than shorts for those who appreciate it. They can be used as casual wear or made more formal with some kitten heels and a blouse. Capris are great when you still want to be comfortable because they are often made of breathable fabrics in every color!

Short shorts for men are in! Thank Mr. Paul Pascal for bringing them back. These shorts are perfect for everyday wear; you can use them for sports, casual days, formal evenings- you name it. This summer staple is great for staying cool on hot summer days and staying cool since they are made with lightweight fabrics for comfort.

SHOP HERE :

𝐃𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐦 𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐦

The classic look from the 2000s is back! It’s ready to make a comeback and create stylish and unique looks. This must be basic for many, but it’s a staple piece for every day when you want to run errands or just want to be a bit more stylish with a mix and match of different shades of denim. Denim is the best way to stay comfortable but still look fashionable and make a statement.

SHOP HERE:

𝙎𝙋𝙊𝙍𝙏𝙎 𝘼𝙍𝙀 𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙍𝙔𝙒𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙀

How can we forget about sports?! Sports jerseys are absolutely everywhere, you can find them not only when watching your favorite sports game but also on the runaway. Vintage and retro jerseys are back and ready to be celebrate or to be upgraded in a more fashionable way! Look at Georgina Rodriguez for a example, she is wearing a custom VETEMENTS jersey gown signed by her partner, Cristiano Ronaldo in the 2024-25 fall/winter show. Wearing sports jerseys are not only for fashion trends, but they are conversation starters and the perfect staple piece to style your outfit from with jeans, skirts or even over layering it for a more creative look! Its a great way to blend streetwear into high fashion by making it a personal and meaningful choice when it comes to choosing your favorite team or player. Say yes to being comfortable, supportive, and fashionable all in one!

SHOP HERE:

ᴄᴏɴᴛᴀᴄᴛ ᴍᴇ

Categories
Arts & Entertainment Culture & Student Life

Feeling Moody? Just Hit Play!

Music has always been the universal language. No matter what country of origin, listeners are able to distinguish an emotional presence and overall feeling from the melodies, rhythm, and movement of the song. So this got me thinking about the overlooked behavior of choosing music when we have those emotional moments. What makes people put on certain songs? Specifically, when you are feeling sad, happy or angry, does the listener choose music to lift them out of that emotion or stay present in that mindset. I decided to set out get some answers!

The Psychology behind music selection

A lot of different choices can be made based on mood. Picture this, two people are having the exact same awful of a day then return to their respective places of living. They decide they want to decompress their day by turning on their speaker and putting on some music. Regardless of them going through the same awful day, even then, they would still most likely choose music from opposite sides of the spectrum. One might put on more of a Midwest Emo/EmoViolence/ Emo Hardcore and sit in their respective emotions and ride it out. The other might put on more 80s New Wave/ Synth Pop/ Goth Rock and dance it out right there in their living rooms to exert that awful day away. Why does this happen? I wanted to find out what music listeners choose based on their moods.

Instagram poll results

I took to my instagram, posted some polls on my story, and gathered my own data. These polls were centered around 3 major emotions. Sadness, Happiness, and Anger. Respondents were asked about their music choices when experiencing any of those three emotions. Do they choose music that matches the mood or do they choose music that pulls them out of that given emotion. About an average of 50 users participated in the research below. Heres what I found.

Sadness

First up, we have everyone’s good old companion, sadness. When asked about what music they choose, most people chose music that matches their mood. This means they are pressing play on the tunes that make them shed a tear or amplify those sad thoughts. In this way, they’re riding the wave and getting off it when they feel ready to. I think it is important to think about how a lot of the music in the mainstream, regardless of the genre, has a reoccurring run in with sadness. Whether this would be with an Electronic Pop hit about a breakup or a Indie Rock song about hating your 9-5, that all point to the same baseline of sadness. It’s a more normalized emotion within the music sphere and in our everyday and one to be processed, this is where music is often the helpful tool. When in comes to the other 19 percent in the poll, they are the ones to put the tunes to get them out of the pit of sadness. This would consist of upbeat, pop, bright songs to pump up the energy to move through it.

Happiness

When respondents were asked about they hit play on when it comes to happiness, there was also a huge gap that presented itself across the data. It appears that when users felt that they were having a good energy in their day where they felt energetic, happy, and joyful most users wanted to continue that vibe with some tunes to encourage rather than mellowing themselves out. In this instance more fast paced, high energy, bright songs would be in the rotation rather than some stripped back, calm, and grounded songs. This again would be another emotion that would be normalized in our mainstream with songs being used to get us hyped up and happy. This would be considered a more accepted emotion alongside sadness to be able to process through music in a healthy way. Feeling warm, joyful, and excited? Great put on some ABBA!

Anger

Here’s where it gets interesting! Given that the previous polls had a rather huge gap between the answers, this one was actually cutting it quite close. When users were asked about moments where they felt Angry, 55% of them said they would much rather choose music to continue on the rage. 45% said they wanted to put something on that would help them calm down and get to a better headspace. I think with the other emotions in the study, I can’t help but notice how Anger is more of the emotion that is not as easily accepted in the mainstream and in our everyday. It’s violent, its dark, and it can be visceral. As we should know, Anger can and is a healthy emotion to experience yet many user were wanted to choose music to calm them down and contrast the anger overall. When it comes to the choices for matching the mood this could consist of Hardcore, Metal, and maybe even a sprinkle of something Punk adjacent. Those wanting to calm themselves down are going more for the soft and mellow tones of Jazz, Acoustic, or Folk.

Let’s Rewind

At the end of the day, music choice is all subjective and changes from person to person! As mentioned previously, but two people feeling the same emotion and going through the same type of day, won’t neccessarilay mean that they will end up choosing the same music to decompress after a long day. That in of itself is really interesting! The main take away from this study was really the curiosity of how people make their moody music choices and present the findings. This is to get us to be a bit more aware of what we hit play on when we are feeling emotional. Do we go with the flow or go against it?

Moody Playlists

To finish things off here are some of some playlists of songs from my personal library that I would put on for when I fell Happy, Sad or Angry. When comparing myself to the results, I am definitely more of the listener to choose music that matches the mood entirely. I think this is a pretty good representation of myself but I encourage you to make some playlists to have ready when those emotional moments happen!

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Business Culture & Student Life Food & Beverage Holiday Cook-off Local Business Mother's Day Cook-off Nature & Outdoors

Your Needs & Our Needs

Happy Earth Day(week) 2024 Folks!  💚

One Bowl, One Spoon…

(photo by Alev Takil)

What do you think about One Bowl One Spoon Living? Does “one bowl, one spoon” 🥣 resonate with your practical experience and beliefs?  Can we all eat from the same spoon, the same bowl, the same watershed, the same planet?  Ideally, yes we can and we do.  However, practically speaking, our mobility and the time and spatial scales of our perception blind us to the reality of one bowl, one spoon. 

Our groundwater contamination today may move so slowly that our grandchildren may suffer after we are long gone.  Do you love the idea of sharing as much as you find implementation of one bowl one spoon thinking painfully impractical?  If so, I feel your pain.  May I empathize with your situation more?

Emerging from COVID, most people insist on their own spoon and their own bowl to make sure we aren’t the next ones to die from contagion or at least don’t get inconvenient viruses.  Yet how many millions of plastic spoons, bowls, and even gloves have been added to the Pacific Gyre Plastic patch since 2019?  If that plastic shows up in the fish we eat as microplastics, that’s bad and sad.  So can we agree we need convenient ways to expend less plastic and also keep it out of our oceans?  

How can we correct and atone for our and our family’s pollution-sins of the past? Separation for the sake of survival and convenience was important to help us get through the short term emergency of the COVID Pandemic.  We survived.

2024 presents longer term threats; slower moving train wrecks.  Our emissions of Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), r410a refrigerant, sulfuryl fluoride, and other Greenhouse Gases have intensified our weather and our climate.  Storms arrive with more intense rain, more powerful winds, droughts last longer with lower humidity and higher maximum temperatures … and in some cases lower minimum temperatures.  Bursting water pipes in surprise Texas freezes caused by an unstable jet stream remind us how Climate Change is a more helpful term than Global Warming.  Does your (and our) behavior contribute to the Climate Emergency?  Can your (and our) choices make a positive or negative difference that is significant?  Our tragic, common “too small to matter but too common to not matter” reality of burning and releasing GHG’s merits attention:  what we do DOES matter to our climate here, now, and in the near and distant future.  Our example to others matters in our community and there are more personal, immediate effects.

As one of 8,000,000,000 people on Earth, can anyone seriously say that a monthly burning of $70 of gasoline, $70 of natural gas for water heating, cooking and clothes drying makes any significant difference to solve our current Climate Crisis?  While I admit it is difficult to grasp, the answer is “Yes.”  I believe it does make a difference.  COVID helped show how.  Combustion byproducts from natural gas cooking and clothes-drying have a real effect on millions of asthma victims.  People exposed to higher levels of combustion byproducts, including particulate pollution, for longer durations died and experienced complications from COVID at significantly higher rates.  Hypocrisy results when we are forced to choose between inconvenient results and convenient bad behavior.  Most people choose what is convenient…particularly those who earn less or those who possess less wealth…but also those who have so much income and/or wealth that they are unaccustomed to being held to account for their impacts on others.  

We are constantly rewarded when we respond quickly and early to opportunities as they arise, with seemingly no time to pause to observe and consider the effect of our exhaust. The struggle is real.  With pressure to do more, stay up later, yet still arrive to appointments on-time it is so common to feel that pressure to drive what ever car we can afford.  With electric cars generally costing over $20,000 used and over $40,000 new the shift from gasoline to battery-powered is challenging, with or without range anxiety.  The financial barriers to converting are significant and compelling.  More financially accessible options include:  

$7 to eat a meal (or cake+ice cream?) with less meat, fewer food-miles, and/or prepared with 100% Renewable Clean Power Alliance electricity…you know, compassionate eats.

$70 +/-  induction plate to cook with Clean Power Alliance 100% renewable electricity,

$700 e-bike to commute carefully with commutes twice as long as car commutes,

$70 monthly bus pass with commutes that involve meeting new friends on the bus,

$700 electric clothes dryer,

$700 upgrade for your home/apartment’s electric panel to power electric dryer &/or car charger,

$70-700 of air-sealing and insulation improvements,

$700+ portable dual function heat pump air conditioner plus heater with air filters,

$70 Lyft or Uber rides where you specifically request or select electric only options.

$170 or less on a good pair of running shoes (good for you and your planet!).

FREE and FUN: collaborate with your neighboring renters to lobby your land-lord’s conversion to 100% Renewable Clean Power Alliance Electricity.

May I challenge you to cut your CO2e in half every year?  Meet your needs, while considering Our Earth Community’s needs.  If you do, you might just learn valuable expertise and meet interesting friends to help you build a more compassionate and abundant reality for you and those you affect.  When it gets challenging, please know I feel it too and reach out to friends to talk about your struggle and successes.  

May you Balance2thrive®

G Naugles, MSBio, MBA, GISP, M.Ed., CalBRE, RCE, BSCE, CPHT

Cool Personal Action Links:

https://www.cleanpoweralliance.org or call 888-585-3788

https://www.wdcappliances.com/catalog/induction-ranges

https://www.reidsappliances.com/_CGI/SEARCH3?PN=induction+range

Cool Big Picture links:

https://sdgs.un.org/goals

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/01/business-leaders-rethink-goals-climate-change-mitsubishi-heavy-industry