Devil with the Red Dress

Last Sunday, I was very lucky to have the very talented Kara Reichart finally photograph a dress that I made way back in Spring quarter last year. And, no surprise, she killed it.

This dress and I have had a long and rocky relationship (three words: wrong fabric choice) and so it was awesome to finally see it on a body (a rockin' Baille Younkman body, to be specific) and finding it's place with the proper shoot location and lighting.

I gotta say-- with all of the uncertainty that I keep letting myself dwell on, it's nice to be reminded of the fun parts of making clothes: actually seeing them on people! Novel thought.

Anyway, look at the pictures. And then look at them again. And then, if you're like me, again and again and again and again.

Big ups go to Kara and Baille, obviously, but also to head photo assistant, Spencer Malinski, last minute recruit, male model, Mitchell Rowland (Baille's main man) and the residents of Ardsley Park for not calling the cops on us for "tresspassing" the "abandoned" women and children shelter that we "borrowed" for a couple of hours.

Hurricane Hungry

I have to say that I am extremely jealous of all of the hooplah going on up north right now thanks to an unwelcome visit from one Hurricane Sandy. Because from what I hear, there is no real risk to anyone following instructions and avoiding going outside, so it seems that New Yorkers and tri-state area residents are just getting to stay home from work, make chocolate chip cookies and watch Nora Ephron movies. No fair! 

I, on the other hand, am experiencing beautifully blistery 56 degree fall weather with not a cloud in the sky. Hrumph. Maybe I'll throw an impromptu Hurricane Savannah party today and we can stock up on batteries and canned goods and use the phrase "batten down the hatches" and  at least pretend that our house is going to get blown over. Oh, wait... I can't. Because I actually have to go to class! Booooo!!!! 

PS- remember that time we had a "hurricane" in Savannah? (And I use air quotes and heavy eye rolling when saying the word "hurricane").

Towhead

Do you ever have that moment when you're at a Bakery with your friends and after a conversation lasting no more than 25 seconds about how bored you are with your hair, you decide that you should head to CVS and dye your entire head bleach blonde in your kitchen? And then when it doesn't really pan out as well as you'd originally hoped, you have to spend about 8 hours of your day originally allotted for intense homeworking on fixing said bleach blonde orange hair into something a little less offensive? 

No? 

Just me? 

Ok. Cool.  

It's rough. It's orange.  It's a little pink too. But I'm here. Standing before you. Hatless and crying laughing with you. 

What'd you do this weekend? 

Haiku #1

Some of you may know that Haikus are my all time favorite form of poetry and, in my opinion, quite possibly the best form of communication in general.

Today marks the beginning of a new Bushka tradition that I would like to call Friday Haiku Days with Julia where on Fridays, she writes Haikus.* I will, as explained, write a personal narrative Haiku which will also be accompanied by a photo that may or may not have to do with the Haiku du jour.

So, let's begin:

Have you seen the chips?

Nobody eats my cookies

Baked fresh, all alone

Thank you. 

*Willing to negotiate on the name. Get at me if you have any suggestions.

Plans.

Yesterday morning at 9:00, I met with the career advisor for the Fashion Department. 

For some reason, when I was getting dressed to head over to Eckburg, I was really, really nervous. I think that maybe it was because I knew that this was the kick that would start the ball rolling towards next summer. And that   scares me. Because I just moved on from this summer. This summer of future job search anxiety and take-out dinners alone and  watching the West Wing to avoid the scorching heat of Manhattan summers and midnight walks  through the East Village and my first  introduction to the professional, semi-capable version of myself. ...And more take-out. It was a three month scavenger hunt through the City picking up new and exciting unrecognizable parts of myself along the way.  This summer was hard. And I loved it. Or I don't know if I  loved it. I guess that's sort of my point-- I'm finally really removed from this summer and here it is again. Next summer. Popping in to say hello. And I don't quite feel like I'm ready for it.

But I went to the meeting. And wore a white blouse and spoke in a like totally like professional way. And we talked about resumes. And cover letters. And past work experience. And future goals. And e-mail etiquette. And my counselor was so helpful and wore cool glasses and she listened graciously when I told her about how overwhelming school can be and she was nice, but the entire time I sat there and wondered what I was doing all of this for? For weeks now, the little creepers of freshman year and sophomore year and this summer have been making me wonder if this-- fashion-- is really what I want to do with my life. And maybe even bigger and scarier of a question: if it's not this that you want to do, then what?

When I think about all of the possibilities of the future, one of the most frustrating things is the fact that there are so  many possibilities. I know that in 15 years, I'll look back and wonder what in the world I was so afraid of when I am so lucky to say that there is virtually no way that I can fail, but right now the future scares me. And taunts me. And I see flashes of my future-- or rather, what I would like it to be, but I have no way of knowing how to get there.

It's been a while since I've gotten all ranty and intense on here, so I thought it was high time for me to over-share and make people feel sorry for me. So, after all of this, there are no definitive answers. And  I don't think there will be for a while (which just makes me want to eat ice cream and watch Grey's).  I've decided that for now, I'll focus the next few hours on the only thing that I truly have control over: what font I want my resume header to be.

Have you heard the word?

SO so so so excited to share with you guys the official launch of one of my very bestest friends, the one and only Spencer Malinski's, new line of hand-made leather goods. This girl has got talent, you guys. Besides the fact that one of the bags is named after me (so, you know it's gotta be good) I personally have "The Frances Clutch" and I am totally, 100%, enamored with it. 

They're made well. They look great. And they are so original and interesting that whenever I'm out and about and I have "The Frances" with me, I get stopped and asked where in the world I found such an awesome piece of art. Every. Time. Without fail. Seriously. Everyone freaking loves these bags. 

YOU ALL need to head over RIGHT NOW to www.spencermalinski.com AND www.etsy.com (search Spencer Malinski) and buy em all up before the S.S. Cool People Boat just ships off without you. 

PS- the awesome pics on both the website and the etsy shop are by the equally wonderful and talented Olivia Latinovich. Do I live with the coolest people, or what? 

Identity Crisis

Changes. Ch-ch-ch-changeeessss....

I've been humming that for the last hour and a half as I putted around with my blog settings. 

I hated HATED the last blog header so so so much. I'm not quite sure what came over me when I was making it this summer, but I do know that whatever it was, it was all full of terrible terrible terrible things. And so in my free time while avoiding homework for the last handful of weeks, I'd been toying around with new ideas for the header (and a new blog design in general), but it has been so so so difficult to nail down a style that I want to represent Bushka. I talk about pretty much anything and everything on here so it can't be genre specific (like food, fashion, etc.) and it has to look and feel like me (which, let's be honest, changes quite a lot) so, I never really could quite decide on anything I really loved. Eventually, I decided to wait to change it until I could just hit it out of the park with something that was exactly what I wanted. 

But today, my disdain for the disgusting western/ russian/ blue/ black/ ugly header from a few hours ago finally came to blows and I decided that enough was enough. I just couldn't wait anymore. It was literally making me hate my blog. Which is just something that I really don't like the idea of. 

I'm not totally sure if this is where the header is going to settle for forever, but I like it for now! What do you think?

PS- if there are any web/graphic design students out there who are reading this and want to help a sister out, I would be so so so forever grateful if I could just pick your brain for a few hours. In return, I'll answer any pressing sewing questions that you may have! Or food! I'll bake you anything! 

Recap

This weekend. Busy. Ok, so maybe I was a little over-ambitious. Remember that list that I made last week? THE ALL CAPS ONE? Yeah. A bit much. I mean, hair dying, pants dying, homemade pasta, homework AND a corn maze!? A. Bit. Much. For. One weekend. 

But, I definitely tried to squeeze it all in-- I wanted to squeeze it all in-- I was close to squeezing it all in-- And I almost squeezed it all in. But, I just couldn't. Unfortunately, a lot of this weekend was spent at my desk working on a particularly frustrating and trial and error driven illustration project that after about 8 ours of work on Saturday another 12 yesterday finally took shape las night at around 9:00. Yikes. 

And although there was no jam, this weekend, there were tacos. 

And although my jeans have yet to turn a mustard-tan-brown-bleachy color, the dye has been bought. 

And although I was not able to run carefree through the walls of a cornmaze, the weather was blissfully cool enough for me to wear wooly socks everyday. 

But, I did get to hang out with Spencer and write a lot and, my favoritest of all: PHOTOGRAPH MY DRESS! So fun. Remember that red dress? From way back in last Spring? Whether you do or don't, I will be posting the awesome pictures the second they arrive in my hot little hands from the ever talented Kara Reichart. 

Here's a preview! YEEEE!!! I love it. Kara, you are a photo maven. 

Please excuse me while I go register for Winter quarter classes. (You would all be so proud of me-- I haven't even had a panic attack yet today and I'm registering in 10 minutes. I've come so far)

Dare You.

Ok. Go up to your toolbar. Open up a new window. And type www.bushkainthecity.com. 

I dare you.

Go ahead. 

Do it!

Have you done it yet?!

See? No more blogspot.com... no more juliagulia... I am streamlining my life! 

Cool, right!?

I'm kind of sort of official now! 

This is the first of a few tricks I have up my sleeve with the blog happening in the near future. I'm very excited and I can't wait to hear what you guys think! 

CAPS LOCK

THIS WEEKEND I WANT TO MAKE JAM AND TACOS  AND DYE MY JEANS MUSTARD-TAN-BROWN-BLEACHY AND GO TO THE CORN MAZE AND WATERCOLOR ALL OF MY HOMEWORK AND MAKE HOMEMADE PASTA AND EAT HOMEMADE SAUCE AND BLOG A LOT AND WRITE A LOT AND DYE MY HAIR AND HANG OUT WITH SPENCER WHO IS HERE IN SAVANNAH TOWN AND HAVE A WONDERFUL PHOTOGRAPHER NAMED KARA PHOTOGRAPH MY RED DRESS ON A BEAUTIFUL MODEL NAMED BAILLE AND SCAN MY WORK AND PUT IT ON MY WEBSITE AND DO JUST LIKE A LOT OF COOL STUFF.

AND IT HAS TO ALL BE DONE IN ALL CAPS. BECAUSE I'M SO EXCITED ABOUT IT ALL.

AND IT'S ONLY WEDNESDAY, SO I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE WEEKEND.

WHAT ELSE SHOULD I DO THIS WEEKEND? WHAT ARE YOU DOING THIS WEEKEND?

Stephanie

Last night was an exercise in adrenaline, flexibility and a true testament to a women's ability to remain calm, eat a few midnight oreos, and get sh*t done. 

After wasting hours spending my evening with Frances and Dawson's Creek, I was just putting my head to the pillow at around midnight when it hit me that, wait a second-- that three page paper that is due tomorrow (the one that I was putting off finishing until Monday morning) may not actually be three pages. That three page paper, may have actually been 5 pages. 

And after confirming with a panicked text to Susie that the paper was in fact at least five pages, it quickly became an unplanned late night. 

And though I was able to churn out a pretty awesome paper fairly quickly, getting up from bed on this Monday morning was a little rougher than previously forecasted. 

I am in a fog. The sort of fog that after drying my hair this morning, decides to not turn off the hair blow dryer, but to simply just put it down on the sink still running for about 5 minutes before I notice. The sort of fog that walks out to her car without her car keys and tries to unlock the door by just pulling on the door handle a few dozen times. That sort of fog. 

So, after completing some morning errands in record time, I decided to treat myself (treating myself for the poor in class listening skills, time management, and just being an all around walking zombie sort of mess, of course) to a quick Starbucks run. After ordering my Chai Latte, I waited and waited and waited for my name to be called. I finally asked the barista if mine was coming up anytime soon and he plainly stated that he'd been calling my name for 10 minutes. I looked down at the cup labeled "Stephanie," confirmed that whatever the beverage may have been, it did not contain caffeine, smiled, grabbed the cup and walked out. 

Am I going crazy? In my extreme fog, did I forget my own name? Or is Mr. Starbucks Barista in a similar fog so thick that it distorted the word "Julia" to something so ridiculously different? That is something I'll never know. But it doesn't matter. Because today, I am Stephanie. Third year communications major at UGA. Loves windsurfing and the color teal. Wears tall, dark brown riding boots and jeans almost everyday and has a black Jansport backpack. A Jason Mraz CD. And long brown hair. Hates the rain, but likes taking pictures of her Starbucks coffee cup when they start serving the seasonal flavors to post on Facebook. This morning, she is on her way to an interview at Bank of America for a part time teller position. 

This post in long winded and has no point. Just leave me and Stephanie alone.

Miss Them Already

After three years, my whole family finally visited little old Savannah for a long weekend. And it was glorious. I showed them around to my favorite SCAD spots, introduced them to the greatest sandwich this side of the Mississippi, and took in the brisk(ish) air of changing seasons. 

In return, they bought me pumpkins, made me tacos, took me shopping and told me that my art was the greatest they'd ever seen. Like I said-- glorious. 

It felt great to have them see all the things that I've been talking about for the last three years-- especially this year when I feel the most comfortable and maybe just a little bit like a local. Just a little. Teensy. I can't wait to see them all again back in Newport in four weeks!

juliagulia924 is DEAD.

Lately it's been feeling more and more like I'm becoming a real life, grown up, adult. I mean, in the most obvious way, it appears that with the recent birthday and what not, I can't help myself from getting older and older. Yes. Birthdays. Technical aging. But it really hits me when I catch myself doing things like voluntarily cleaning out the trunk of my car. Or wondering if I should try out a gluten free diet for a couple weeks to see if my quality of life improves. Or AJAXing the sink when I walk past it and it looks sort of dirty. Or even the thought of considering buying a dehumidifier because I don't want the damp humidity of our creeky house to ruin the hard wood floors-- I mean, the thought of that even crossing my mind might as well be followed up by "but, I can't hit Target right now because I have to go pick up the kids from soccer practice in 20." I mean, I'm 21 for goodness sakes! I should be worried about like... nail polish colors and existential crisis of self and boys and mixed drinks. I don't know! Ok, one of those might apply. (Spoiler: It's not boys.) 

And, this may sound very odd, but it also feels a bit like I'm losing my funny. Or rather, not that I'm necessarily less funny (because, let's face it, I am just truly through and through a hilarious person), but that life is just getting more and more serious. It's been in the air this year-- a preoccupied thoughtfulness that has no real origin or root, but is a seeping thickness over life day in and day out.

Maybe I'm just not eating enough iron. 

Anyway, this whole thing really came to a head today when I finally packed up my childhood in the most official way by changing my primary e-mail account from the jr. high-tastic (and well known and well loved) "juliagulia924" to "juliapatton924." I know. So mature. So professional. So boring. Yes, the "924" is still a little unnecessary, but plain old "juliapatton" or "jpatton" or the über nerdy "julia_patton" were all taken, so the "924" will remain a silent passenger for now. And as much as it pains me to let go of the always hilarious conversation starter e-mail that I chose at the wise old age of 13,  I can't, in good faith, expect any future employer to hire any future Julia with any sort of contact information referencing an Adam Sandler movie. It just won't happen. It shouldn't happen.  

So, today I ate a bunch of Oreos to make myself feel reckless again. All it gave me was a stomach ache. So, I popped a few Tums that I had on hand. 

And with that last sentence, I prove my entire point. 

So, this exists.

Have you ever heard of "Dude, Sweet. Chocolates"? If not, you really need to take a little web trip over to their site.

Besides having a super rad name, the website claims to sell wonders such as Honey Truffles, Tub of Love, and even a chocolate sauce called Break Up Potion. And it all looks so delicious that my mouth literally started watering when I was checking things out. My kind of company.

Back Again

Virginia and the wedding this weekend were beyond magical. Cool, Fall temperatures, great food, much needed family time and getting to witness two people making the ultimate commitment in front of valued members of their community. Such a great time. 

The wedding, as I mentioned before, was on a beautiful farm in the countryside of Virgina-- a state, I have realized, that before this weekend, had been largely underrated in my book and has since gone up about 10 notches in my personal rankings.

I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked, but this one of the tent where the reception was held is my favorite. The candles made a path to the middle of the field where all the fun was had. 

Now, I'm back in Savannah with a major lack of motivation because all I want is for it to be Wednesday when mom, dad, and Kaitlin road trip their way down in the next couple of days from Virginia where we said goodbye to Savannah to spend a weekend with me! 

Virginia Wedding

I am leaving right after class today to get on a plane and take a little trip up north for the weekend to see an old friend of mine, Walker, get married! How exciting is that!? 

It's crazy to think that I'm at that stage of life when friends and peers of mine are getting hitched, but even more exciting is that this gives me the wonderful excuse of getting to buy wedding appropriate dresses that I never have reasons to buy otherwise.

A few weeks ago, when I was home, I got to see Walker in all of her bridal glory decked out in her wedding dress and let me tell you- so beautiful! I can't wait to see all of the details that she told me about come together on the big day.

And-- Bonus! I get to see my mom, dad and sister who are also coming to the wedding! Isn't that great?

Virginia, I'm comin for ya!

Fashion Illustration

Besides the all nighters and the ink covered hands that I have made a nasty habit of complaining about, I have to admit that I am absolutely loving my Advanced Fashion Illustration class. I am not an illustrator by nature and I am terribly uncomfortable with the idea of drawing in general (I think it's because I lack the patience), but for some reason, I am really responding to it this quarter. 

One of the best parts about the class is the research that goes along with each project and the illustrators that I had no idea about that I am now very excited about. I took a similar class last quarter that taught us the more basic and technical skills of fashion illustration-- extremely helpful, but sometimes monotonous and uninspiring. This quarter, my professor is encouraging us to explore our own styles, and mess an up and...wait for it... have fun! Crazy! 

Until SCAD, I always grouped all illustration in the same basket of anime and comic books, but there is this great, big, wonderful world of beautiful and interesting illustrations that make me want to buy a print and hang them in my house. 

Vogue just had these vintage illustrations on their website and it just brightened my day. Aren't they beautiful? 

Here are some more. 

College

Just saw this and it  made me laugh.

Especially today after getting about 4 hours of sleep last night.

Can't. Stop. Yawning.

Can it be Thursday yet?

Bills.

Paying my September bills right now and getting angrier and angrier. Why are required art supplies so darn expensive? It's just.... I just... would rather spend my dolla dolla bills on like, food. Or clothes. Or things that are for me.

Or like charities and stuff, of course.

Money. It's sort of the worst.

Geez.

Who wants to share?