Liam Stevens

at work today, I googled "hand drawn frame" and was happily surprised to find this beautiful wedding invitation by liam stevens

these other ship drawings are great as well

Pretty Flowers

I love flowers. Here are some from Mont Royal, Montreal and also my parent's beautiful yard.

Feeling Mellow Yellow

Where did you come from?

I saw Food Inc. the other week and it really got me thinking.  Where do the things I put in my body come from?  Watch the movie, read your food labels, and you will find the answer is really disturbing.  It inspired me to want to buy local, organic, and free range products.  Not only for health sake, but also to preserve this beautiful earth and all its living things.

The movie got me thinking about all the things I consume and their impact on the environment. So while I was in Montreal, I visited Lemieux  (their sight is not so attractive, and unless you can read french, its not so helpful) a store that makes eco-friendly bath and cleaning products right in the store.  The products are contained in huge barrels and once you buy something, you bring back your containers for a refill.  I bought lavender & goatsmilk and honeysuckle bodywash.  

Yesterday I received an e-mail blast from Nylon magazine, which informed me of the Body Shop's new organic virgin coconut oil line.  The oil is from a small organic coconut co-op in Samoa.  On their site you can see interviews with some of the farmers who grow the coconuts.  Knowing where this product came from, that there is so much care put into the ingredients, and that workers are paid fairly made me really want to stand behind the Body Shop's product.  Reading about the companies values, made me want to support them even more.  So, today I went in after work and purchased some soap bars!!!

As they say in Food Inc. every time you make a purchase, you are casting a vote.  I know that even so called eco-friendly products still leave their carbon footprint on the planet,  but I'll feel better "voting" towards positive change, even if small.

How Now Brown Cow?

Feminism Fridays -Oppose Septa's Gender Policy

I ride Septa (philly's public transportation system) often. I always thought the M/F stickers on the passes were totally bogus. Why is it even necessary? On top of that, clearly it is discriminatory against non-gender conforming individuals. To me, it is equivalent to putting a race sticker on there...obviously Septa wouldn't go there.

I just received this petition in my inbox that aims to end the use of these M/F stickers. This is why you might want to sign it:

• Septa's policy requiring M F stickers on weekly and monthly passes causes harassment to gender non-conforming people
  
• creates a safety risk by alerting other passengers to a rider's difference
  
• creates an economic hardship for passengers who are denied use of their pass and are forced to pay additional fare.
  
• ending the use of M F stickers would reduce costs (right now SEPTA is using tax payer money to defend this policy)

Contributor

I love Rachel Comey!  I had the pleasure of meeting her last fall when I went to see her fall collection.  What a sweetheart!  I am soooo excited to get these boots in just a few short months.  This summer I've been wearing my Marcy Buckle clogs; the heel on these babies are quite serious.  Anyway, I just stumbled across Rachel Comey's "Contributor" serious for UO.... they are so cute!!  The perfect everyday shoes, simple, classic, not to serious of a heel, and enough Comeyesque to tide me over...

Feminism Fridays -the GAO's report on the wage gap

Yes, there has been a narrowing in the pay gap between men and women. Thanks to, in some part at least, bra burners.

The GAO, otherwise known as the "investigative arm of Congress," is an independent, non-partisan agency whose mission is to support Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilites. They provide information that is objective, fact-based, nonpartisan, nonideological, fair, and balanced.

Here is a report on the pay gap in federal jobs, published on May 17th, 2009. It concludes that although the pay gap has narrowed from 28 cents to 11 cents on the dollar from 1988 to 2007, still 7 cents of that cannot be accounted for by measurable factors such as occupations of men and women, experience, and education level. This 7 cent gap is "unexplainable"

Because this gap is inexplainable, it does not confirm the existence of discrimination, but at the same time it does not dispute it.

Please understand this report, published less than three months ago, and tell me feminists are "fighting fights that have already been won."

On April 28th, 2009 President Obama declared it National Equal Pay Day. Please read his proclamation here.

Derek Loves Shopping...with Becky!

Check me out on Derek Loves Shopping!

Shoe-In

my amazing artist friend gave me her secret pen so I can try to draw pretty things like she does...

this shoe was my first try.  I hope with practice I can improve my skills, but I don't think this is so bad for my first try.

Feminism Fridays

Due to my recent internet quarrel, I've decided to dedicate every friday to feminism here on BTVT.  Its a positive way for me to channel my anger surrounding the issue (even if no one reads it!).  I just could not wait until next week to post about this amazing woman:


if you needed more proof of how amazing our current president is, please read up about the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay act of 2009. 

It was the first act of Congress signed by President Obama.

the wage gap is relevant.

feminism is relevant.

Becky Dator is a feminist. Sorry; a bra burner.

How do I define feminism? Feminism is the idea that women should have the same rights and the same advantages as men.  In other words, all humans should have the same rights and same advantages as one another.

How one can agree with this statement and not consider themselves a feminist, I do not understand.  How one can buy into feminist STEREOTYPES, I do understand to a certain extent.  To realize that it is a stereotype and still deny feminism is illogical.

Here is a poem written by "Rei Kawakuba" as posted by "Karl Lagerfeld"

Uncle Karl may be "heartless and souless"  but surely he does not support inequality amongst the sexes?  By MY definition, he is a feminist regardless of wether or not he likes to be labeled as one.

Rei Kawakubo is not a feminist

so I came across this article on Rei Kawakubo via tavi

obviously I take issue with the quote "I am not a feminist. I was never interested in any movement as such"

I do agree that she is an amazing designer who thinks outside the box, but I wish she would think a bit more outside the box when it comes to making a statement like that.

I already knew that her husband is CEO of Commes Des Garcon but I would have fucking guessed it anyway.

please read more about this on rapecentric

Red Lips

Look at this beautiful woman wearing red lipstick on Garance Dore.

which reminded me of how I wanted to post a pic of me wearing NARS daredevil lip stain at a wedding a couple weeks ago.  I felt like a daredevil!  In fact I had to test it out at a party the night before just to make sure I was confident enough to pull it off!

whenever I think of red lips, I think of this classic image of Lolita

You take the car to work, I'll take my board...

I only went surfing once in my life, but these awesome reversible neoprene suits by Alexandra Cassaniti make me wish I was a full time surfer girl

read her interview with UO here

Equal Rights

Not only do I fully support Gay rights, but I like this shirt from American Apparel because its a play on their Legalize LA t they did a while back.

Free People interview project

Upon cleaning, I came across the project I did for FP when I first interviewed.  It was called La Protege...it was about a french girl just out of college making her start in the world.  Inspired by some of my muses at the time, like Francoise Hardy in particular.

I mounted many of the images on pages from a vintage copy of Honore de Balzac's La Peau De Chagrin....ironic?maybe now it is.

Hand Did

last night I went to Mew gallery to see a group art show that included my friend, Kris Chau and her beau, Tim Gough.  They are such a talented couple.

missing skottles

i miss scott! he's working the whole weekend.  

We are looking forward to a friend's wedding next weekend at Fonthill in our hometown.

and we are planning a trip to Montreal at the end of June.

Fresh Love...

these photos by hannah & landon are so beautiful...

they tell such a romantic story of their relationship; it makes me feel sentimental for when scott and I started dating...back in a time where we didn't have so much work and school and we would stay up really late and then laze about in bed the next day...

its sunday (and I'm hungry!)

via ohjoy

i wish I had a bike...maybe this one

so i could quickly get to the grocery store

to buy the things to make sweet potato pancakes and a BLT

looking forward to talking to my best friend, Sarah, today...

not looking forward to the heaping piles of laundry, vacuuming, and bathroom cleaning...

Like a rock

i've had this image of rocks covered with muslin for years... aren't they beautiful?

its on my list of things to make.

Becky's TV Television Soulmate

OMG...just like my childhood daydreams.

why did it take me so long to decide to watch this film? I loved it!

Old Muse

They may be old news to some, but I am recently re-obsessed with Lou Doillon. After watching La Science des Reves for the first time, I decided I her half sister, Charlotte Gainsbourg equally as alluring.

Lou Doillon & mother Jane Birkin

Baby Charlotte & mother Jane Birkin

Shoe-In

finally got around to viewing all the images in Candy Pratts' Fall 09 accessory report.  I am not really an accessory gal, so I only found one thing I really loved, which was this shoe....feel free to flip through all 500 images to figure out who they are by because I can't even remember.  its not even that I love the entire shoe, just the concept of the ultra-soft suede sash thingo.

Miracle Fruit

image via nytimes

Other than clothes, my favorite thing is food.  Have you heard about the Miracle Fruit?  I am fucking fascinated and really want to try it.  The thing is, with drugs, I am often too afraid to try them for fear of them changing my consciousness forever...with this berry I would seriously fear it altering my taste buds forever. I guess you never know until you try?

Goals are Good

Our one year anniversary of living in our amazing apartment is closely approaching which makes me sad to think about how undecorated it is. Scott and I are truely such slobs and it really is a shame that we don't put more effort into making it feel like a more permanent space. But since we renewed the lease, my goal is to have have it all decorated by the end of August so I can throw myself a birthday party. Since we are both broke, we'll have to do it recession style. I started putting some special things in the wall in our bedroom....a mixture of my girlie things, photos of us, and few of Scott's 7"s to keep it from looking too feminine. My favorite is the Kodalith Scott made in 9th grade photo class...I still remember it hanging in the hallway of our junior high...it was my favorite one!

Zoe Inspired (if you pronounce it the so called correct way, thats supposed to sound like "so inspired")

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  I guess I haven't been too inspired lately.  

But the other day I became friends with Rachel Zoe on facebook and have been following her as she dresses people for the Met Gala.  I don't really understand why some people dislike this woman, because I LOVE HER!!!  Anyway, after reading about her getting all excited before and after the event, I got excited too!  I had an event the other night for work, so I whipped up this dress.

I have a wedding to go to in about two weeks and I wanted to make something for it, but I know I don't have time to make it anything amazing, so this was kinda a version of something fancier I might want to wear to the wedding.  

but after thinking how much I love what Rachel Zoe is wearing in her facebook profile pic, I remembered how easy it is to make a caftan.  So, I am thinking I am going to make a dressier version for the wedding.  I'll keep you posted.

Laurel Hill Cemetery

For Scott's B-day I took him to Laurel Hill Cemetery.  I thought it would appeal to his somewhat warped sensibility.  Actually, just like its website says this vast burial ground overlooking the Schuylkill is "more than just a cemetery, it is an outdoor sculpture garden, a horticultural gem, and a truly unique historical resource."  It was such a sunny, pretty day; one that made me honestly appreciate life.

Black & White

more tears. sorry I can't remember where they are from, but c.2005