new things, changes and goals

 so i figure i should give you guys a bit of an update on what's been going on with me and the girls here at O&C....well, amanda and i have a new job. we're both working at kennywood, the local amusement park, as face painters. its kind of awesome working with my gal! i've been there for a few months and i pushed and pushed for her to work with me because i knew she'd do amazing at it! and she has been! she's got such a talent for makeup and face painting...and her FXwork is bad ass!!! hopefully this fall we'll be working together again for kennywood at their halloween events, fright nights, doing makeup and FX.

so you remember me with 
suuuper long hair, right?!

well......

 

i've chopped off all my hair! i decided a few months ago that i was going to cut my hair short for work this summer so that i could stay cool out in the heat. well, i'm one of those crazy people who's motto always seems to be 'go big or go home'....well i guess this time it was go short or...ya know!  its a big change for me, i've never had my hair this short before. its grown out a good bit since i've cut it, so its not as bad as it was. not that it didn't look nice, it was just a little uncomfortable for me. i'm getting used to it now. BUT! i did do something good with my hair, instead of just throwing it out, i decided to donate it to locks of love. i felt that it was something that just made sense. if i'm going to get it cut then i shouldn't just get rid of it and waste it. it should go to some one that could do good with it. i feel very strongly about this cause, and i hope that you guys take a minute and check it out. i donated 19 inches to the cause but their minimum is 10", so if you got the length and you're wanting to do something good, this is very simple and does so much good!

 if you've read my last post, i had mentioned that i've been taking a break from the business....well the girls have too. we haven't done a show since last last november or december i think. a few weeks ago we did! we partook in the WYEP Summer Music Festival and had a blast! we didn't make much but i think it was a nice slow ride back into the swing of things! we had a bunch of new products and colleen decided to come along for the ride and sell her lovely things and i'm so very glad she did!!! hopefully, within the next few months we'll be doing a few more shows and i'll of coarse be taking photos at those too to share.

so...

new things= job. 

changes=hair cuts and business thingers

and now for...

goals!

 goals, goals, goals.....i'm going to be moving out of my father's house and going back to school this fall! yea, i'm actually going to be doing this! my life is about to get hella crazy really quick!!! colleen and i will be living together and we'll be looking for our new place in late august, hoping to be moved and settled by mid september just in time for me to start school early october. i'm so very excited and so extremely terrified. its such a big leap and i'm sure i'll be fine but its a giant change into actual adulthood. so naturally i'm a bit nervous. but i'll be documenting everything along the way and sharing our journey in tid bits here and there. 

wish me luck everyone, i'm definitely going to need it! :)

 

window shopping; feeling fancy

i'm not going to lie, since i quit my job early last month, i am broke. broke. broke.
that's fine, it really doesn't bother me all that much. so what do i do when i have no money and still want to shop? what any other girl does!
browse the internet for pretty things and drool over them, then blog about it. everybody does that right???

i'm jumping on the band wagon and took a look at shopruche.com they've got some amazing pieces and i thought i'd show you guys some things i've been drooling over. here we go!!

 

how cute are those shoes! i want them so badly, though i wouldn't know where i would wear them. i don't really go any where fancy where i could wear heels. aaaand those glasses, i desperately need new glasses. i would love a pair like those! but maybe in a brownish red shade, i've done the straight black frames before, they make me look even more pale! if that's even possible, haha!

don't forget about the giveaway. thus far, no one has entered, so that gives you a much better chance! check it out over here!

hope your week is going well! i'll be working on the portrait of Adele a little later, so there will be another update on that soon!

i think this is great

just a little check in this morning. i'll be posting some more things later on today. but i wanted to quickly show you guys something that i came across this morning. things like this mean a lot to me, my mother was disabled and i feel like women with disabilities, whether they be arthritis, like my mother or like jes in these photos don't get enough positive attention in the media. here's the deal:

""American Able" intends to, through spoof, reveal the ways in which women with disabilities are made invisible in advertising and mass media. I chose American Apparel not just for their notable style, but also for their claims that many of their models are just ‘every day’ women who are employees, friends and fans of the company. However, these women fit particular body types. Their campaigns are highly sexualized and feature women who are generally thin, and who appear to be able-bodied. Women with disabilities go unrepresented, not only in American Apparel advertising, but also in most of popular culture. Rarely, if ever, are women with disabilities portrayed in anything other than an asexual manner, for ‘disabled’ bodies are largely perceived as ‘undesirable.’ In a society where sexuality is created and performed over and over within popular culture, the invisibility of women with disabilities in many ways denies their sexuality, particularly within a public context.

Too often, the pervasive influence of imagery in mass media goes unexamined, consumed en masse by the public. However, this imagery has real, oppressive effects on people who are continuously ‘othered’ by society. The model, Jes Sachse, and I intend to reveal these stories by placing her in a position where women with disabilities are typically excluded.


"American Able" was part of Contacting Toronto, a group exhibit for CONTACT 2010 and showed on over 270 digital screens in 50 Toronto Transit Commission stations in May 2010. It will also be included in the 2011 edition of the famous women's health text, "Our Bodies, Ourselves"."


Additional model credits go to Dana Levine

you can view all the photos from this shoot here!
and i hope you do take a minute to look at these photos and spread the word.

XOXO,
holly