key card access

In which I buy my textbooks for the computer science, math, and linguistics classes I'm taking in the fall, play hide-and-seek at midnight in an engineering building filled with hazardous material, and discover that I rather like the way I look in a chopped-up Hannah Montana wig.

Above, cardigan: Uniqlo. Equus t-shirt: gift. Skirt: secondhand. Tights: Forever21. Flats: Steve Madden. Bracelet: grandmother's.

One Last Flat Post (For a While)

HELLO!! I've been in Mexico with my hunny bunny celebrating our anniversary so sorry for the silence. I'm back and excited for my spine shoes that are coming in any day now. They got stuck in customs but will hopefully be here Saturday. Fingers crossed!! I have the Emmys Saturday too so I'd like to have the option to wear them just in case I feel like being ultra fierce and perhaps looking like a tranny.

You guys are probably sick of flats so I promise I wont post flats for a while after today. You gotta admit these are pretty great though. Do I look tan?

There she goes with her crop top and vintage culottes again. I like what I like. What can I say.

Yes that's a bolo tie! Hey Wendy B... you like??

This outfit needs some OMG rings.

These are the white pair from Chloe that I was talking about in my other flat post. I love a good deal and I love Chloe so I totally won.

(top- American Apparel, shorts and bolo tie- Vintage, shoes- Chloe)

I'd really think something was the matter with you if you didn't break down like this.

After finishing The Talented Mr. Ripley, all I could think about was

1. Steven's taste in literature is kind of worrisome.
   
2. I want to dress like the disillusioned son of a rich white businessman!

Unfortunately, all this led to was me window-shopping at Brooks Brothers, but WHAT GOOD FORTUNE! This is exactly the kind of uniform I want to adopt so that I can stop thinking about what to put on in the morning.

I guess that's one really positive side effect of this summer: having spent about 6 out of 8 weeks straight dressed in skinny jeans, hoodies, and t-shirts, I've come to appreciate the merits of (occasionally) not standing in my closet for 20 minutes before bed every night.

I foresee black, white, and lots of be-ribboned ponytails this fall.

$60 giveaway from CSN Stores!

Dear American and Canadian readers,

CSN has offered to sponsor another $60 gift certificate giveaway for you guys, for use at any of their 200+ online stores, whose wares are so varied you can buy a bedroom vanity, a water trampoline (!), and a pair of stilettos, all without leaving the safety and comfort of your own home.

No seriously, a water trampoline.

Although combining it with a pair of stilettos is probably a bad idea.

You know the drill - leave a comment on this post at or before 11:59 PM (PST) of September 1, 2010 with the following:

1. an email address at which you can be contacted
2. a material possession you wouldn't want to live without
   
3. something to amuse me

The winner will be randomly selected soon after September 1. There will be a post on the front page of this blog, and the winner will be notified by email.

Go forth and comment!

the other side

After disappearing off the face of the internet for a good two weeks, I contemplated how to stage my return. I considered fanfare, an entourage of a thousand skinny white boys with short-in-the-back, long-in-the-front haircuts, and a caravan of albino elephants.

Barring that, I could either jump back into my normal rhythm of a post a day, or I could compose one massive summary post for the summer (aha! A summery post!). Since I want to reassess this blog and my reasons for blogging (again), I decided on a massive post. So here you go, 2.5 readers:

1. I have finished my summer classes. In typical Sam fashion, I celebrated by i) taking a long-ass shower, ii) crying, iii) buying myself clothes, and iv) buying myself new reading material. Our grades aren't in yet, but I've already resolved to not care what I get. As I said to George, my (amazeballs) lecturer, this has been the best and worst summer of my life. Gmail screencaps to summarize:
   



2. I'd like to apologize for failing to regularly photograph my outfits for the past eight weeks, but I don't think you guys would've appreciated seeing me wear combinations of 4 pairs of jeans × 12 t-shirts × 3 hoodies × 2 pairs of shoes over and over.
   


3. Recent acquisitions:
   
   
Above, aerie by American Eagle, from a split online order with Kim, because underwear shopping is how my apartment bonds.

Above, Equus and Ron Weasley t-shirts, courtesy of Alice. ♥

Above, a shit-ton of Tylenol, in addition to a shit-ton of prepared food and Vitamin C Monsters, because I haven't found time to cook at all.

Above, a new pair of Forever21 skinnies that are incredibly tight. I hope they're not secretly jeggings, but I can't really tell...

Above, Forever21 socks and royal blue tights.



4. I have another $60 giveaway from CSN coming up for you kids.
   


5. I wore this on July 4th to look like an alien as I ate In 'N' Out and watched fireworks with people I love:


6. I want to change the name of my blog to something I won't be embarrassed to tell people about. I'm thinking "grotescue" (as a gross misspelling of "grotesque," meaning "fantastically ugly"). But I don't want to change it until I have a clear idea of what exactly I want to put on my blog (only personal style? Things I want to buy? How I feel? Things I've written? A scheduled combination of those things?). I also want to change my layout. Again. Typical.
   


7. Things I Love, Summer 2010, Condensed Version
   


• (car (cons 'Stephanie 'Samantha))
  
• Tony, who has been, for lack of a better metaphor, like the point in the room that dancers spot when doing turns and spins
  
• Steven, who is unreasonably generous and kind, and who randomly brings me non-dairy food
  
• George, whom I wish the best of life, love, and luck as he moves to New York for the next chapter of his life, and who a) averages 1 set per game of Set, b) is incredibly considerate, c) cracks me up, d) is giant, e) humors undergrads with ambitious project proposals, and f) is a cruel, cruel taskmaster who teaches a superset of past 61A course material instead of a subset
  
• Eric, who is really good at Taboo and Pictionary and shares my love for the Alot


Above, the Alot from Hyperbole and a Half


• Jon, who has the best and worst puns I have ever heard, and who is just really, really good at teaching
  
• Sesh, who is so sweet and helpful, and who is a baby
  
• Carrie, not least of all for dancing lessons, organizing Operation Lambda Bang, and girl talk at 3 AM
  
• Ben, who knows pretty much every musical ever and isn't afraid to sing along, likes social dancing, and is interested in signal processing
  
• Jay, whose two biggest unrealistic aspirations are the exact same as mine (being paid for creative writing, and being able to sing)
  
• Set, the card game, and the surreal experience of watching Dan and Sylvan play (for them, recognizing a set is pretty much instant)
• Soda and Cory, two buildings I never thought I would develop any fondness for
  
• 2 AM donut runs
  
• crashing at Stephanie's place
• getting owned by George at Pictionary, and then being told, in reciprocity, to SUCK IT
  
• the collaborative nature of CS
• Stephanie and my modified version of the 2nd project, a text-based adventure game that we decided to dub Project Tang/Tang World in honor of our TA, the star of the game, and the fact that George wanted to release it for the rest of the class to play
  
• the staff singing a 61A version of "I Kissed A Girl" (recursion is so magical, recursion is so magical, recursion is so magical!)
  
• syncing to my lab partner
• elegant code
• Bobby, who came into office hours one day, forcefully planted a little ceramic pot on the table, and demanded, before he would gift his creation to his girlfriend, "WOMEN! I NEED AN OPINION!"
  
• Jaimie and Jessica!
  
• that saying things like "If the intersection of our available times is the empty set..." is normal again
  
• Will, Spenser, Lincoln, Jessie
• Inception, and the fact that "JGL is like Taylor Lautner for nerds"
  
• really good small talk with cashiers
• Steven's roommate, Ravi, who crash-tutored me in math before my midterm and whose baked goods are amazing
• people who catch me (literally, as in Stephanie during our trust fall, and figuratively, as in Stephanie and lots of other people this summer)


8. It actually hasn't even been hot in Berkeley yet (it's been chilly in the morning and pleasantly warm in the afternoons), so I haven't exactly debuted my idealized summer wardrobe. But by the second or third week of school, it should be unbearably warm. Fingers crossed! (Wow, I've never said that about warm weather before.)
   


9. I wore this to laugh at Will as he ate his own words about doing what you love and to quietly contemplate, full of worry, whether or not he was right:
   


10. I am currently...

Reading: The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith, at Steven's recommendation
Eating: veggie chips, porridge, and sushi
Doing: concentrated mental vegetation
Thinking: I have no idea what to do with myself now that I have more than an hour of free time.
Wearing: the same thing I woke up wearing
Craving: white blouses, a dark gray zip-up hoodie, black skirts


11. Things that have been burrowing their way into my head lately:

I don't know why, but Darren Criss is insanely sexy in the above video.




I've decided that Bruno Mars is one of those singers whose voices I like so much I can't stand to listen to covers of his songs. Jason Mraz is another. I'm such a tool.


Because I like my lab partner's taste in music.




Courtesy of Carrie.

Third Year's A Charm!

Today is my 3 year wedding anniversary. Time FLIES by... it's crazy.

I am so lucky to be married to my best friend and the best guy I've ever met. I can't even believe how in love I am and how happy we are together. :)

Here are some photos from our wedding that took place exactly 3 years ago. Our ceremony was at 5:30pm

YUM!!

Check out my cell phone... I bejeweled it myself. haha The bridesmaids shoes were Betsey Johnson and mine were Badgley Mischka. I wish I would have made the time to design my own shoes but I just felt really overwhelmed by the idea and felt like there was too much pressure. That's my only regret from my wedding though. But I do love the shoes that I wore!

A close up of the shoes...

I wish I had more photos of them to show you. Maybe I'll look through all the photos and post a clearer shot.

What an amazing day. And every day since has been so much fun. I love you Benjamin. 

(all photos: Triplecord Photography)

Betsey on Sale!

You guys there are some great deals on ideeli today featuring my first collection for Betsey Johnson! All the designs on the site are my design :) So now is a good time to check it out if you haven't already.

Here are a few of my faves if you don't mind me patting myself on the back. haha!

Yippee! Click here to check it out... BETSEY ON SALE

ALSO! Make sure you check out Project Runway tonight 'cause Betsey herself will be guest judging. Betsey told me it was a lot of fun to film and there were some funny moments so I can't wait to see if some of those moments make it on air.

xox