Hello again.  While I am no longer blogging about clothes, Anthropologie and such, I have made a new space for myself.  It would be lovely to see you there, but if not, thank you for taking the time to read my little blog and following along.  It will still have pretty things.

Since I've swapped out my clothing hobby to a photography hobby, I thought it would be more appropriate to a have space for photography--a place where I can be proud of the work I do.  It's definitely something in progress since I'm still learning how to take photos.  A couple of years ago, I just wanted a log of pretty clothes and outfits, but I've outgrown that desire.

Visit me here.

In a week, I'll be off to Bali, and I hope to come back with tons of pictures.  Hope to see you soon.

Dirty Ruffles: The Truth About Anthroholic

This is a message from the forum Kim used to belong to and you can find the original post here:

Hi there!  Thanks for stopping by.  Here are the collective thoughts of the women (and men!) who participate in the forum Fashionism.org.  While I don’t speak for every member individually, I hope that these comments capture the group sentiment about her criminal behavior.

1. We knew this would happen. When she announced her personal shopping service, many members were aghast that (1) anyone would pay  such a service when our forum provides it free of charge and (2) that anyone would give her any money whatsoever and expect her not to blow it on her own personal purchases. We have known her for many years and she scammed members of the forum, which caused her to be banned.  She has never not had money problems and while issues with money are not necessarily a harbinger of criminal behavior, certain actions and interactions of hers with members of the forum cast aspersions on her ability to spend others’ money wisely.
2. We tried to warn you. Yes you, the anthro reader at home.  We posted comments on her blog and others but they were deleted and ignored. Other than taking out an ad in the newspaper, there wasn’t much more we could do and no one really reads newspapers anymore anyways. No one wanted to listen.  Even Kim called us haters and jealous girls.  But what is hatin’ about telling the truth?  And why would anyone be jealous of a common thief?
3. We brought her stalker to justice. Even after she left our forum, we helped her out.  A former acquaintance of hers began to email me and others with damming information about Kim that he wanted us to use to bring her down or some other nonsense.  In reality, we gave absolutely zero shits about this information but wanted to help her. One member traced this guy’s IP and discovered his identity while on her honeymoon. We really went above and beyond and provided Kim with all the necessary information to take action against him. We had no interest in seeing our former member harassed by a weirdo loser.  However, this was is 2010 and she claims the internet postings from 2007 are his.  This is completely untrue and laughable. She has tried to lie and tell half truths to get herself out of every situation possible.

We are sorry that many people lost money.  We have had a system in place to do “custom purchases” for years, without charge, and the only person who abused this system was Kim.  Her scam was absolutely criminal and you should report her to the authorities if you have lost money.

EDIT: Hey I am all for actual proof.  So here’s a screenshot of a comment one of our members left in 2010.  We tried to get the word out.  No one cared! 

EDIT 2:  Welcome all our new members who have joined and are searching for “anthroholic”.  Most of our activity takes place in our members only forum and access is only granted by meeting a posting requirement and a vote of the members.  This keeps us able to provide a friendly, tight knit online community.  Also, that’s why none of our members get scammed doing “custom purchases” for each other.

I went for a very long walk today at Land's End, and got myself a little lost. This afternoon I was certain the blog would shut down. Old issues were dragged to the forefront where neither introspection nor forethought were given.  Finger pointing started to happen.  Instead of looking at oneself, looking toward others and saying, see, see how this happened.  You let it happen.

Maybe.

Honestly, truthfully, complete disclosure: I am sort of grossed out, turned off, and in disbelief.  At the magnitude.  At the finger pointing.  It doesn't really matter since I have felt like my blog has lived on the periphery for a quite some time.  I'm not going to participate.  Sorry.  I can't.  Whatever you may think of me, I know who I am, and I won't participate.  That's my stand.  It may be cowardly, but I don't think so.

One person thinks that by providing intimate details on one's life is "keeping it real" and is attacked for being immoral when certain details of her life comes out, while another person doesn't reveal everything in an attempt to keep at privacy and is being attacked for being dishonest, sugar-coating, and glorifying a skewed perspective.

But you know what, a blog, no matter whose, is just going to show one aspect.  It's never, ever going to give you the complete picture of a person.  As it turns out, PEOPLE LIE.  They do it all the time.  Especially on the internet.  Have I lied?  I'd like to say no, and that I have been as honest as possible, but sure, I lie.  If you search to see who owns the  domain, you won't see my real address.  Or my real number.  I'm not stupid.  I like to think that what you see here is what you get, but I've had people tell me I am different in person than I am on the blog.  Also, I've gotten older.  My tastes have changed, too.

Take that any way you want.  For my own sanity, things will be silent for a while.  And if you're from GOMI, it will be full of cupcakes and rainbows and sunshine and unicorns and maybe even cats with rainbows coming out of their asses.

For the record, I hate macaroons.

La Isla Bonita (Long, Picture Heavy Post)

Recap
Day One:
We flew TACA from San Francisco to San Salvador, which is their hub, and from there caught a connecting to flight Belize City.  Total flight time was about 6.5 hours, though transit time was about 7.5 hours.  I like TACA, and found their seats to be comfortable--with the same space as say Jet Blue--but then, anything after Air Tahiti is going to be comfortable and roomy.  From Belize city, we hopped on a 10 minute flight from a prop plane to get to San Pedro. Since our flight left SFO at 1:11 am, by the time we got there, I was frazzled.  We checked into Ramon's, left our things in our room, then went off to schedule our activities for the next couple of days.  Of course, I jumped into the beautiful Caribbean water that was about 83 degrees.  Then we wandered up the beach to Wild Mango's, where we had some of the best smoothies ever, and a delicious dinner all while watching the sun set and the waves lapping on the soft sandy beach.  Just perfect.  Considering that Steve had been working 12-16 hour days, every day, for something like 30 days in a row, this was exactly what he needed.


Day Two:
We met on the dock at Ramon's to disembark on our cave tubing and zip lining tour.  It was going to be an all day trip: one hour boat ride back to the mainland, an hour drive into the interior, then the zip lining, then the 30 minute hike into the woods to find the cave, and when you include the return trip, that made it an 8-9 hour excursion.  Honestly, it was an expensive activity, at about $210 per person, and I'm not sure it was worth it.  While I liked the idea of drifting into a pitch black cave, floating in a cool river while the temperature is around 90-100 degrees with 90% humidity, I couldn't see much.  The zip lining was short and less exhilarating than I thought it would be, plus, there was sweat running down my face and back because it was so hot.  Not to mention I was being eaten alive.


Although, the cave was dark and there was not much to see, it was still pretty neat.  There are other caves you can play spelunker in that would have gotten your heart pounding like ATM, which I would have love to see.  Unfortunately, this was a short trip, and we just went with what was available rather than what was best.  


The river and the jungle were easily the most beautiful things I saw in Belize.  As much as I love the ocean and tropical fish, I am head over heels for plants, in particular the family orchidaceae.  Encyclias and dendrobiums clung to the trunks of trees with arching inflorescences dangling in the air.  The few minutes I spent floating on the milky aqua river looking skyward and trying to identify the plants overhead were some of the best few minutes I've ever spent, short as it was, but it made the orchidphile in me shriek with delight.  That made the whole bumpy journey to get there almost worth it.


Day Three:
We scheduled a snorkeling trip out to Hol Chan Marine Reserve.  I had checked several times to see how shallow the water was, and was always told that it was going to be 4-6 ft.  Perfect.  Once we got there, I asked the tour guide, Will, and he told me, we start out in 4-6 ft of water, but we'll be moving toward the pass where the ocean enters past the reef, where there will be a current, and where it will be about 28 ft deep.  Steve is not the best swimmer, but he tried anyway, but the current was strong and hard to move in.  I was proud he was able to stick through snorkeling excursion most of the way, despite being way out of his comfort level.


There is not as much of a variety in terms of fish and color as there is in the South Pacific, but man, these were some huge fish!  I saw all sorts of Jacks, damselfish, octopus, and I even saw an enormous purple and blue parrot fish that I unfortunately did not take a photo of.  I love being in the water; I could snorkel for hours, and was pretty pleased about what I got to see here, though, I can tell you, I don't much care for sea grass.


We got back to the resort around noon, and then just hung out on the beach.  The past part of the trip was spending hours laying in hammocks, rocking back and forth, while talking to each other, and letting the breeze naturally cool us in the heat.  It was a great way to spend our anniversary.


Day Four:
Not much to do this day.  We just wandered around some more, looked at the water, packed up and headed home.  We couldn't leave without one last trip to visit Wild Mango's for a smoothie.  They really are that great!

Rambling
This has turned out to be a much longer post than I had initially expected.  I have so many mixed feelings.  While I had a great time, there was one particular moment that really struck me, and I don't know exactly how to parse through it.  We were walking along the beach back from dinner and I had my camera strapped to me with a really expensive lens.  We passed by two local people standing there on the beach, and as soon as we walked past, they started moving, walking along behind us.  I jumped, and checked to make sure the camera was firmly strapped to my body.  Then one of them greeted us, and says, "Do not be scared, we are friendly and are not going to hurt you."  When I explained that I was startled and not scared, he continued, "It's just that some people, when they come here, and they see certain people, like us, they are scared."


A kind of shame took over me.  I strongly believe you should always be aware of your surroundings no matter where you are.  Stay alert, stay smart, and stay safe.  I had spent weeks researching Belize and San Pedro on tripadvisor, and there were mentions of crime in certain places, locals who seem friendly, but will rob you, people being mugged, hotel rooms being broken into, etc..  The way the resorts and hotels are set up in San Pedro, there are no clear lines of demarcation, nothing really that says this is the hotel property line, and this is the public space.  It's actually kind of nice because I do not believe that a beach should be reserved only for visitors while the locals have to make do with a less desirable stretch of land--where is the fairness in that?


Another thing I noticed is that while it was low season, there still were a lot of tourists in terms of ratio of visitor to local, and the majority were American.  Nothing bad here, not really complaining.  The proximity to Houston and Miami (two hour flight) makes it a no brainer for people who want to escape somewhere else for the weekend.  Often it felt like being home, rather than another country. The town of San Pedro and country of Belize cater very, very heavily to tourists.  They have some of the best guides.  Selvin, our guide to the cave tubing, is an encyclopedia, not only knowledgeable about Belize, but also other countries, cultures, and customs.  He had worked his way up, from being a caretaker of a private island to doing tours.  (He's with Seaduced by Belize and I would highly, highly recommend him.)  One thing is that will become apparent immediately is that the Belizeans are extremely proud of their country and they really want visitors to like it.  Almost anywhere you go, they will ask you how you are liking your trip so far and when you will be coming back.  


Belize is not as densely populated as the other neighboring Central American countries, and they have set aside a vast part of their natural resources for conservation--rather than cutting their forests for lumber, they are protecting it in hope that the ecotourism business will bring in the money.  They have a fairly tolerant policy of allowing people in, Caribs, Menonites, Cubans, Chinese, etc. are all live here.  There are also ex pats from the US, including people who are retiring in Belize because the dollar can go a little further.


So this is where the conflict comes in.  In this beautiful country with these very generous people, I felt shame that my first reaction was fear, although I know it was only natural to react that way.  But what it led me to question was how do you resolve the issue of being a privileged person travelling to a poorer country?  And it doesn't matter what your means really are, if you can afford to travel, you are by comparison privileged, there is no getting around that.  I don't know.  I mean, I would never travel somewhere where food is a scarcity and whip out my iPad and flash my nice things--that would be in poor taste, but how do I justify the camera?  I don't know.  I don't have any answers for that--it's just something I've been thinking about since being back.


When traveling, safety is really important, but I don't want to get to the point where I am so paranoid I fail to see what is around me.  That I came to Belize for a long weekend to enjoy warm weather and perfect temperature water and doesn't mean I should neglect to see that I am just a visitor.  In comparison to its neighbors, Belize is not that badly off, but there is crime (mostly in gang activity and the drug trade in Belize City, don't worry, the country is relatively safe to visit) and there is poverty and the beautiful people have less than I do.  I am not sure how to reconcile that other than to keep visiting other parts of the world and keep it in mind, and hope to just let the experience become a part of who I am and recognize it for what it is.

The sand in San Pedro is really soft, and you can walk for miles without shoes (in the sand, not on the boardwalks or sidewalks or you will burn your skin off).  I want to go back and visit the other parts of the country, particularly the interior and see the Mayan ruins, and then head to to the south, to the less visited parts, too.  While four days in San Pedro was enough, we barely got to see much of Belize.

Stripes, Red, and Purple

Urban Outfitter Blouse | Anthropologie Thousand Days Skirt | F21 Camera Necklace | Delman Pumps from NM Last Call

Much thanks to Anjali for bringing these pumps to my attention.  We both share an almost blinding love for stars, and love things that have them in prints or shapes for jewelry.  These pumps from Delman are comfortable, and just high enough without making me feel like a wobbly newborn giraffe.  The color is listed as indigo, but I think they are more of a royal purple.  The stars are formed but the cutouts on the suede, revealing the gold material underneath--and this makes me extremely happy because if they were sequins or beads attached, they could fall out, and I would be left with just a pair of deep purple suede pumps.  I waver between a 6.5 an a 7 in shoes, and ordered a 7 in these, and the fit is just right, so I would say these are very much true to size.

I'm slowly whittling down my fall wishlist from this post.  I haven't seen much more to add to the list.  For this coming fall season, I am really drawn to whispy silk skirts and warm sweaters accented by a pair of great shoes.  What's on your wishlist?  Anything you're dying to have?  I'd love to see what it is you've been coveting.

The View from Above

We caught a prop plane from Belize City to San Pedro.  The flight is about 10 minutes, but my oh my, is it stunning.  The ferry would have been cheaper (and longer), but the flight was worth every penny to view this beautiful country from another angle.  The interior is covered with lush jungles that you can see even from a jet, but the coast is lines with mangroves and swamp lands, while the barrier reef protects the cayes and mangrove islets.  The water is all sorts of incredible colors, green where there is sea growing, and turquoise where there is a shallow, sandy bottom.  The sand is very soft--I hardly wore shoes this past Labor Day Weekend, which is a great indicator of how relaxed I was.  In some of the photos, you can see a little pier on the water leading to someone's home.  

More photos to follow.

Taken with Canon 5D and 50 mm f/1.4 USM or 17-40 f/4 L USM lens. 

Madewell Silk Canyon Skirt

F21 Starry Night Blouse | Madewell Silk Canyon Skirt | Anthropologie Ring of Plumes Belt | Kate Spade Kap Heels

After checking every day for this skirt to go on sale, it finally did last week.  It is unlined, but the silk is of a very nice quality.  I wasn't sure of the olive color at first, but it is such a rich tone in person.  I ordered a size 2, and it fits high up on the waist.  It's definitely going to be one of my go to pieces this fall, worn with boots, tights and heels, and definitely with warm and cozy sweaters.  I wasn't planning on it, but it is definitely accompanying me on my trip this weekend.  This is definitely going to be a versatile piece: wear it now on its own with silk blouses, dressed down with tees, and in the fall with thick tights.  I'm very glad I made the plunge and bought it--final sale is a bit scary, but this is definitely a great buy.  

(My apologies for looking down.  My remote does not work with my new camera, so I had Steve snap these photos really quickly this morning, and I get very self-conscious when someone else takes photos.)