SAME BUT DIFFERENT

The last two people I've met from Instagram have told me that I'm taller in person than they expected me to be. This makes me happy, but also causes me to wonder if everyone who knows of me via the internet thinks I'm 5'1". I know I shouldn't complain. I'm 5'7", which is taller than average, but this does mean that I need to start taking my photos from lower angles. After a couple months of doing that I'll probably have people from Instagram say I'm so much shorter than they thought I would be. You can never win.

In the Summer and Fall of 2015, I took a semester off of school to focus on my well-being and spend time doing things I had never allowed myself to do. Without any academic responsibilities, I was free to spend a period of about 10 months doing whatever I wanted. I've always liked working, so I got a part-time job, but for the most part my days were spent exploring the city, eating good food, enjoying quality time with family, and meeting people off of the internet. I had always been somewhat introverted — I never had many friends and I tended to keep to myself rather than engage in social activities. But meeting people off of Instagram was an opportunity to make friends with similar interests and learn more about the industry that I had always been interested in, but never given myself the chance to delve into.

When I returned to school the following Spring of 2016, I took on a full schedule of classes, work, and content creation, leaving little time to meet up with people as I had during my semester off. Fast forward a year to Spring 2017, and I've met only a few new people in the past 12 months. I'm so busy every single day, going nonstop from sunup to sundown, that my own creative career has taken somewhat of a backseat. Thinking about what I want to accomplish this year, and where I want to be in the next 5, 10, 15 years, I decided that I need to be more proactive about my creative goals. I want to meet more talented people, collaborate with more incredible brands, and learn more about the industry. I was so happy when I got to meet Mire, an extremely gifted photographer based in Downtown Los Angeles, for coffee and a quick photo session. Even though our aesthetics are a bit different we were able to work together to produce some amazing content. 

After getting to know each other and discussing our creative goals we set off to shoot some photos around the Arts District. Instead of sticking to the usual white wall backgrounds I tend toward, we found a cool grid wall, as well as a multicolor steel fence. My outfits may stay the same (Blue jeans, black shirt, black boots. Same old, same old), but I'm committed to learning, growing, and improving my work. I don't want to get stuck in a minimalist rut where I'm scared to post anything without a plain background. I want to try new things, be inspired,  experiment without fear of failure. 

Photography | Mire Yang (@stripescollide)
Turtleneck | Urban Outfitters
Necklace | J. Hannah Jewelry
Jeans | Madewell (similar here)
Shoes | Jeffrey Campbell (similar here)
 

BRUNCH - OTIUM

I know I just showed you a picture of a delicious and dangerously decadent-looking piece of thick-cut brioche toast topped with a perfectly cooked sunny side up egg, prosciutto, fig jam, and greens, but forget about that for a second.

First things first. WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT FRANK'S NEW ALBUM. For those of you who are unaware, Frank Ocean released his long-awaited second album after four years. FOUR f***ing years. Does he know how much pain he caused whilst on his hiatus??

No matter — his second masterpiece, "Blonde," is now on Apple Music, with tracks featuring the same beautiful velvet and laid back cool voice we heard in "Channel Orange," but with newer and more daring vocal elements. Favorite tracks of mine include "White Ferrari," "Solo," "Ivy," and "Godspeed." Seriously, this album is incredible. I've listened to the whole thing through maybe five times in the past two days. 

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming (the brioche toast pictured above).

Most of my weekends are spent waking up between 11am and 12pm at my boyfriend's apartment, watching an unhealthy number of episodes of "Lost," then eating my first meal of the day at around 2 or 3pm...

#brokecollegekidforlife

(Seriously. I'm starting Soylent the day school starts again. I have one week left to consume actual food. Help me.)

With the fall semester, and thus my first encounter with Soylent, imminent, I decided to switch things up this weekend by going out to brunch. And an expensive brunch at that. 

Otium is one of those places where you want to want to eat a full meal before you go in order to avoid racking up a $60/person bill. Maybe a $60 for brunch isn't a big deal for some, but July and August were the months of birthdays galore, so my wallet is pretty much kaput at this point. 

After trying to decide what dishes we could get without causing ourselves immense regret after seeing the bill, my friend and I decided on the brioche toast with prosciutto, and the blini with smoked salmon. 

Blini are typically pretty thin — like crepes. So when this super fat pancake, similar to an uber fluffy Japanese-style hotcake, arrived at the table I was a bit shocked. For $17, I was expecting a teeny tiny crepe, 4" in diameter, rolled up with a single ounce of lox and a teaspoon of creme fraiche. What I got was probably 10x that quantity. 

I had absolutely no complaints about this unexpectedly large entree, because it was incredibly good. I usually opt for sweet brunch items (think French toast or waffles), but his number hit the spot.

Our second entree, the toasted brioche with prosciutto, eggs, gruyere, greens, onions, fig jam, and olives, was equally decadent. Probably more so. Definitely more so.

(Sidenote — I hadn't eaten prosciutto in 5-6 years until I decide to welcome the delicious cured ham back into my life with this dish. Go big, or go home, right?

I 100% underestimated Otium's brunch portions. I'd been for dinner once before, and many of the dishes we ordered were on the small side. Oh no, not this monstrosity of a plate. By the time I forced myself to stuff the final bite into my gullet I was wishing I had come to brunch dressed in the Juicy Couture tracksuit I used to sport in middle school. That drawstring and elastic waist would've come in handy.