For being the start of fall, Seattle hasn't started showing its true colors yet. Yesterday was a gorgeous blue sky day full of warmth and sunshine. It was the perfect day for sitting in line with friends and waiting to see some lovely music. I scrambled to the bus stop after work to meet up with my roommates (who had been waiting since 1:30). Their patience paid off, and we ended up nearly front row after the chaos that is entering such a large venue.
The show was breathtakingly beautiful. It was a mix of large screen images, bright lights, stunning music, and an immeasurable amount of stage presence. I had never seen a concert so powerful and life changing. The large screens flashed between shots of the band members and various film footage, both old and new.
Win Butler was all kinds of gorgeous, and I know more than one girl in the audience wished they could have Régine Chassagne's grace. I was so tickled pink to have been able to experience it. And so very grateful that when I told my boyfriend I didn't really want to go, he didn't listen to me and bought me a ticket anyways. The entire band had an abundance of enthusiasm that overflowed from the stage into the crowd. And if that wasn't enough, Arcade Fire was polite, engaging, and charming to watch dance around on stage. If Arcade Fire is coming anywhere close to you, it's a show not to be missed.
For my first outfit post, these photos are a little sparse. I spent yesterday afternoon in line for Arcade Fire (more about that in the next post). Once I was in line, I couldn't really go exploring too far, so I had to be creative in my photography skills. That basically translates to me having my best friend snap a few photos of me as I ran to the bathroom, and then capturing the little details of my outfit on my own in a few awkward shots.
Nonetheless, this is what I wore for the first day of school and to see the much beloved, Arcade Fire. It was the perfect fall outfit with little knit socks, oxfords, a blazer, and floral.
I know the greater part of the U.S. has been in school for coming on a month, but for me and 40,000 other students at the University of Washington, today is our first day (if we're getting hung-up on technicalities, I actually don't start until tomorrow as I don't have class Wednesdays). But regardless, it's time to buckle down for fall academia, and being on campus with other students has me nostalgic for first days of school that meant a little bit more than they do in college.
Here's how to have a little "first day of school" in your life year round, at any age (even if you aren't in school anymore).
1. Go to a large party of a close friend, where you'll know more than one person, but no more than five. Wear a completely new outfit, and make sure to mingle with both new friends and old. The adrenaline of meeting new people is a lot like the first day jitters we experienced in grade school, the addition of close friends add the comfort level we had in knowing we just had to get to third period to see a familiar face.
2. Make plans to go to lunch with a friend you haven't seen in months. First day of school lunch periods are always a frenzy of catching up with friends didn't get the chance to see often or at all over summer break. Going to lunch and catching up with a friend you may have briefly lost contact with allows you to reconnect in the same way, just in a less noisy setting and over sushi instead of pb&j.
3. Take a "first day/school photo". Every first day of school, even throughout high school, my mom insisted my brother and I pose for a first day photo at the front door, backpacks strapped on, bright smiles on our faces. Sometimes, she'd even make us pretend like we were going out the door to school. A few days later, we'd be forced to smile once again in the school gymnasium for our yearbook photos. The night before these school photos would be agonizing as I tried to select the perfect out fit to convey the "transformation" I'd had over the summer. But the pride in feeling like I looked my best as I posed for the camera was unbeatable. Wake up one morning, put on an outfit that makes you feel stellar, and take a photo of yourself (or have a family member or friend take one). Put it in one of those cheeky first day of school frames and give it to your mom.
4. Pick one song, or several and hit play on your iPod as soon as you wake up. When I was younger I used to select the perfect wake-up song to get ready to on my first day of school. Select one song, or compile a playlist of tunes that inspire you to have a great day full of lots of great dancing.
What I'd like to wake up to:
5. Give yourself a personal project to be completed the following Monday. School, high school especially, was all about quick approaching deadlines for me. If there's a project you've been meaning to finish, make your deadline the following Monday (that way you have the weekend). If there isn't something you've been meaning to work on, write a personal journal entry, or create something artistic by the following Monday. The best part of deadlines is the satisfaction you feel after completing something.
Really, the first day of school is like any other day, just with a little more excitement, and a little more stress.
It is not Monday. But for the sake of this post, I am going to pretend it is. Mostly because I would like Mondays to always be magical, also, because I would like Magic Mondays to be a weekly forum for myself, and other bloggers to showcase an image they find magical, inspiring, and/or special.
Since this blog is in it's fledgling state, I am the first Magic Monday.
This image was taken this past February at Gas Works Park in Seattle. The feet in the brown booties are mine, the black booties are a dear friend (my other friend and roommate is not pictured). It was one of those lovely Sundays, where I had papers and reading, but we went on a picnic instead. We ate tuna fish on a plaid blanket in the grass, drank store brand soda pop, and munched on a tin of cookies my mom had given me for Christmas. The perfect, blissful spontaneity of it all opened my eyes. I don't know if I realized this then, but I realize it now; magic is wonderful in its simplicity. And if you don't feel that magic enough, you need to revise your lifestyle. Shortly after this photo was taken, I transitioned out of a long term relationship, decided I never wanted to live with another boy I thought I loved until I was engaged, and grew up a little. Magic isn't a fairy tale, magic is finding one pair of the perfect shoes in the clearance section and they're in you're size. Magic is an inside joke between good friends. Magic is tuna fish in the park.
Today, I constantly look around and feel a warm, comforting sense of magic in my life. That's how I know I'm in a good place.
Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, and Paris. Funny Face is a very fashionable musical with both striking images, and a delightful story of transformation and love.
I feel as though, in order to document where I'm going and what I'm doing, I need to briefly touch base with where I've been in the last year.
This is the last year of my life in 150 words and five pictures. Some events are big, some are small. They are in no real order.
I started college. I was Audrey Hepburn. I was a skunk. I was in love. I went to Canada. I moved into my first apartment. I saw my favorite band live. I saw Bob Dylan live. I repainted a coffee table. I fell into Afram Studies. I fell out of love. I had five first dates in a matter of months. I baked one cake. I baked many cakes. I wrote a 15 page research paper. I took midterms. I took finals. I took a trip to the Oregon Coast. I worked at a library. I worked at an office. I cut all of my hair off. I learned to love in the purest sense. I redecorated. I explored a familiar city. I grew. I am still growing.
Conan O'Brien road trip to Spokane (because Seattle sold out).
Cannon Beach.
Moving into my first apartment.
Starting college @ UW.
Receiving a much needed postcard from a loved one.
Roughly one year ago I started a blog. I was about to embark on a new journey – college, life, moving out – and I wanted to document it. I wrote about self image (mine), fashion, the weather. All in about three posts. I took zero photographs, I lost interest, I stopped.
When my summer started this year, I looked back at my first year of college and had little to show for it in terms of tangible photographic memories, personal growth, and snippets of what I was thinking. Sure, I had papers, grades, new friends I could count on facebook, but I was left feeling disappointed in how little I'd documented all the fun and experience I had. I felt a creative blockage, and I felt uninspired.
A Life in Images is my project to change that. It is a 365 photo documentation of my life, the lives of others, and bits of inspiration we can all enjoy. I hope to capture every day in photos, muss about life, creatively express, and both motivate myself and others.
I'd like you to be a part of it.
I begin my photographic journey Wednesday, September 29th. It is the first day of school, and the best time for new beginnings.
I am a college sophomore majoring in words, obsessed with images, and interested in interjecting a little more creativity into my life, and the lives of others.
Email me at: janelle_white09@yahoo.com
