mylifeinlavendar

Kamis, 18 November 2010

DIY - How To Tie A Bow-Tie

Tying a bow tie can be tricky business, so here's a little DIY on how to tie a bow tie. For months Chelsea was telling me I had to start rockin' bow ties. I alway thought it would make me look like a clown, but I trusted her and picked one up. I've rocked it twice since and I've got nothing but compliment after compliment. Good lookin' out as always Chels! I'll be wearing bow ties from now on to all my formal and semi-formal events. I created some illustration and found a little video to help us out.

Place your tie around your neck bright red side about 1" longer.

Cross bright red end over the top.

Go under with the bright red part of the tie and pull tight.

Pull the bright red part of the tie over the top.

Letting the bright red part rest, form a bow with the other half of the tie.

Pull bright red part behind and make another loop.

Still holding the the dark piece of the tie firmly, push the new loop end behind it through the knot.

Pull the looped ends with forefingers of both hands to adjust the bow and tighten the knot.

Remember that bow tie doesn't need to perfect, it lets people know it not a clip on.

This video by GQ of Swizz Beatz is super helpful on how to tie a bow tie, check it out.

Stay Fly, Fresh til Death
-C.O.C.

Trendy Thursday: Portland, Oregon

Photo by Everydaydude

It seems to me Portland is becoming a trendier and trendier each year. The rent is low, every street has a bike lane, the people are mellow, and there is a coffee shop or bar on every street corner. If you can get over the 4 straight months of rain and gloom, this is hands down the best city to live in the US for someone creative. In this post I'm going to share with you some of my favorite spots around this city I've called home for 13 years.

This is my block where I live. I've lived on Hawthorne for 5 years now and its super mellow and it has everything. Hawthorne has vintage shops, record stores, music, movies, book stores and great food.

You can't go wrong just parking and crusing these streets, you'll find awesome food, art, music and boutiques.

Toro Bravo is my favorite dinner spot in Portland, along with Andina in the Pearl District. I highly recommend both of these restaurants if you live here or are just visiting. Portland is also known for its breakfast spot and every weekend you'll see lines out the door of people waiting. The best breakfast spots are Genies and Tasty and Sons, but be prepared to wait. All my friends and myself love burritos and our favorite spot in town is La Sirenta in NE. Food carts are huge right now in PDX, so be sure to hit a pod or two up and definitely try Koi Fusion

Aalto Lounge is where you'll find me spinning records on most Saturday nights or bellied up to the bar having a whiskey. If I'm up in North Portland, I'll hit the Bye and Bye for some drinks with friends. The Bye and Bye also has an amazing vegan menu. If you love cocktails I suggest Beaker and Flask at 720 SE Sandy, they make some of the best cocktails in town.

Portlanders love coffee! My 3 favorite spots to grab coffee when I have time to choose is Stumptown, Red E, and Albina Press.

Thrifting and vintage shops are everywhere in Portland and the little I know about vintage these 3 shops are rad.

Compound and Upper playground are my go to shops for clothing, sneakers, and anything Street Art or Streetwear.

These are the two record shops I mainly buy my vinyl at, but Mississippi Records and Everyday Music are both awesome alternatives.

Broadway Books is a great locally owner and operated bookstore owned by one of my best friends mom's. They have everything you'll need, great service, and awesome recommendations. The Together Gallery has the best assortment of independent magazines in town a long with really cool art and crafts from local artist.

"Portland is just one of those city that if you give it a hug, it will give you a big hug right back" via my friend Jeremy from SF

This is my breakdown of the city that I love and few spots to check out. I'm sure if you talk to someone else from here they'd have there own list for you. If you live here, ever lived, or have visited I'd love to know some of your favorite spots!

Keep PDX Rad!

-C.O.C.

Rabu, 17 November 2010

Wildcard Wednesday: Influencers

I've noticed that a lot of people have been tweeting and blogging about art, design and fashion documentaries lately. I think we can all thank NetFlix streaming for having "Beautiful Losers", "Helvetica", "September Issue", "Cool School", "Bomb It" and many other amazing docs just a click away. I wanted to share this short documentary with you that I thought was awesome. Its called Influencers and has a lot of people who inspire me in it.

R+I creative on Vimeo.

"There’s not a rule book, there’s not a manual, there’s something inside saying this right when I sketch this or put these two fabrics together that feels right for me. So real cool sh*t is when people aren’t looking at you. You know when no one is looking and when the cameras are off, what are you made of when you’re by yourself. That’s kinda like the essence of cool for me."
DAO-Yi ChowCo-Founder | Creative Director, Public School (Quote from Influencers)

Would you be doing this, wearing this, listening to this, drinking this, eating this, tweeting this, or blogging this if people weren’t watching? Are you the Influencer or being Influenced? Food for thought...

For more on Influencers click here
-C.O.C.

Selasa, 16 November 2010

Mini Pie DIY

I found this blog post a little over a year ago on Luxirare, where someone made these mini pie on candy sticks. Chelsea and I had always talked about making them on one of her visits up north to Portland. I wasn't sure what to DIY for you guys, so I decided to put my baking skills to the test. I thought these could be a cool dessert for your holiday get togethers.

I got the basic pie dough recipe from the Food Network site by Emeril, BAAMMMM! Recipe yields about 8 mini pies.

After you roll your dough flat, you take a circular cookie cutter and cut out your dough pieces.

Then you make little ravioli type pies with whatever pie filling you choose. Remember if you want to put them on a sucker stick to score a hole in your pie for the candy stick. Then brush on a EggWash. I then baked the pies on 400° F for 10 minutes then checked them, and cooked them for another 5 minutes or until browned.

Let them cool then insert your Candy Sticks and you have a awesome dessert to serve with ice cream!

This was my first time ever making pies, so I know yours will come out even better!
Bon Appetit,

-C.O.C

Senin, 15 November 2010

Seablanket Tee's Giveaway!!

This week we're giving away 3 Seablanket t-shirts to 3 lucky people!! You could be one of the first to get your hands on one of these limited edition Seablanket t-shirts. The shirts are hand screened by myself, on American Apparel t-shirts. (Shirt size will be chosen by winners)

In the spirit of upcoming holiday all you have to do to enter is leave a comment with something that you're thankful for or hit me up on twitter @chemistryofcool. We'll be choosing the winner at the end of my week-long takeover. Good Luck!
-C.O.C.

Manic Monday: StreetWear

It's not really a secret if you know me or go to my blog that I'm a sneaker head. I have over 50 pairs of sneakers in my closet at home. At Kamp Grizzly, we've had the opportunity to work with a lot of shoe companies. We've done a wide array of projects for these companies based on women's shoes, training and culture. But over my years of blogging shoes and streetwear, I haven't found a good female sneaker / streetwear blog (if you know one leave a link in the comments please). So today I decided to bring you a little ladies sneaker / streetwear flavor:

1. Vashtie x Jordan 2 Collaboration: First ever Jordans designed by a female