Summer look-book and Mistaken Identity

   The weather has been absolutely crazy lately-yes I am starting with the weather. One minute, it's 80 the next it's a rainy 50. That's Michigan for ya'! Today it was super windy so for the very first time in my life I flew a kite! Successfully! Apparently I'm a natural kite flyer (that's a thing) and I was able to keep it up VERY HIGH in the air for quite a while. But as kites go, it flew into some trees never to return to me. Such is the way of crappy Wal-Mart kites.

 


   I auditioned for a play at the local arts center recently- The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespere is a slapstick comedy filled with mistaken identity and physical humor. Big surprise? I got in! I was eating dinner tonight when my phone went off and a shot of adrenaline meant for an elephant struck through me. This is somehow how it went.
Director: Hello, is this Mandarin?
Me: ...Y-Yes...
Director: Hi Mandarin, I would like to offer you a role in The Comedy of Errors in the circus ensemble. Will you accept this role?
Me: YES YEs! Thankyou YEs !
Director: Wonderful, we will see you tomorrow at the read-through then.
Me: YEs yesyes thankyou very much bye
Director: Bye
Me: Thankyou bye yes yes yes bye
I am the most awkward creature on this planet!! But I'm in! It will be a good experience even if it is my third run being in an ensemble- I'm grateful for the opportunity! My hands were shaking with the adrenaline rush all through dinner. I didn't know what to do with all that extra energy I got in the space of two seconds!
      I've been following a lot of style blogs lately. I don't know if you can tell, but I really like fashion! I know not everyone can understand this love, but I'm the kind of person who goes slightly weak at the knees when she sees a 1920's style T-Strap shoe. Summer is coming up, and for me summer is a great time to experiment with style. The school year is so unforgiving for this- clothes need to be comfortable and practical much to my complaints, also class mates aren't as into fashion as I. During summer I can try out new things that might not be the best for school. I'm not talking about the dress code- I love modesty- but a style that is more me. I WILL include a little summer look-book inspiration for myself and my like-minded readers! Enjoy! Don't hate!


 
           

Old Things

My shoes

Sorry, these pictures are kind of old-- we took them a while ago and just never uploaded them. I'm working much harder on my photography right now (Mandarin) Sorry but these pictures have been edited within an inch of their life-forgive my photoshop love.

Flowers in our yard

Amazon's bow

Flowers found by Amazon's school

Amazon

Our breakfast

Tradition

(You know I had to)
Everyone has their own little traditions that they don't even really know about. They usually aren't very big but we unconsciously do them, like tapping a certain pattern on your desk when thinking or always turning on a certain CD while doing homework-- and you always do it in their designated time
   One little tradition of my family is macaroni  on Sundays. Every Sunday, when we get home from church (We attend the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints also known as the Mormon church) my dad or me (Mandarin) goes straight to the stove and starts making some box macaroni. In my extensive cooking experience, I can make six things.
1. Box Mac n' cheese
2. Ramen
3. Cereal
4. Box brownies
5. Sandwiches
6. Fried Eggs- I make good fried eggs-my dad taught me
While we make the macaroni the rest of the family heads upstairs to change out of their nice Sunday dress clothes into pajamas and other lazy stuff . Two bowls with regular macaroni are set aside for me and Bean and the rest of the family puts canned chili in theirs. I don't understand why. After that we may all dispense to study scriptures or read or nap and stuff. Very rarely do we veer off this pattern. I'm grateful for it. I am glad that there is this one part of the week that barely ever changes. It's a restful time after church to just sit together as a family and eat broke food. And I love it.

Bean: Amazon, you have pretty hair... You are my favorite sister!
Mandarin: Hey, what about me, silly? Where are my compliments?
Bean: (trying to be poetic) Uh... Mandarin, yer soul is... as bright as night when it rains.... (struggling)
Mandarin: Bean, that's pretty dark.
Bean: Yeah. 

Did I mention I love summer?

Spring!!

Spring!! by bookworm623 featuring lip care

Diane Von Furstenberg pink shirt
boutique1.com

Hurley shorts
backcountry.com

Abercrombie & Fitch leather shoes
abercrombie.com

Merona straw handbag
target.com

Wood bead tassel necklace
accessoryconcierge.com

Eos lip care
$12 - harveynichols.com

Childhood

This is a post completely dedicated to things I remember from being a kid. Most of my old toys and favorite things, luckily, have been saved for my two younger sisters so I still have most of it. I always smile when I see Bean wearing my lucky pink sequin belt from second grade. My family still has a whole drawer in our TV cabinet dedicated to my old Disney cassettes.

These three movies were my FAVORITES!! I have all the songs, and bits of dialogue memorized from all of them! They are all musicals, so pretty often you can find me humming 'Make a man out of you' or 'Poor Unfortunate Souls' to myself. Yes, those are cassettes

I add this because I was always SUPER crafty. This was a mother's day gift- my 'medium' was paper so I did a paper flower bouquet. I also made a paper birdhouse, jetpack, and enormous 3-D paper doll.

Because my dad was a nerd (I'm not complaining) instead of hearing traditional bedtime stories, we would always read 'Bone' by Jeff Smith. He would make all these voices and sound effects, and at night every evening Amazon and I would follow him around asking for "One more chapter!"

Just for the record: I was a weird kid. I was that eight year old who would go around saying
Me: So, what book did you just finish?
Them: Magic Tree House!
Me: Interesting. Interesting. Well, I just finished Percy Jackson series so....
Yeah, I was that kid.
Another part of my weirdness was my obsessive nature. Around second grade I discovered what a platypus was. I fell in love with the misfit mammal and learned everything I could about it. As a result now, I know way to much about them. When I turned 8, my grandma gave me a stuffed pink platypus doll for my birthday. I cried when I opened it. Since then, my collection has grown. I'm still always on the lookout.
  8-year-old-me: Hey, you. Ask me a question about platypuses.
Them: uh, no thank you.
Me: ASK ME A QUESTION ABOUT PLATYPUSES
Them: ...How big are they?
Me: (no concept of measurement) Um.... Ten feet. Ten feet long.

Ham

   It's hot now. About a week ago, it was freezing-- around 20 degrees or so. Now? Dear goodness gracious, it's 75 degrees (Michigan standards...) It was raining and the humidity is clouding everyone's vision with their own sweat. There is a large sliding glass door next to my computer so I can watch all of Michigan's humidity resistance fauna (squirrels, squirrels, and more squirrels) scuttle through the hot, damp, emerald grass. Burn, squirrels. Burn and stop leaving acorn caps in our yard so I have to go out and pick them up so we can mow.
    The other day I went to my little sister Bean's (nickname) dance recital. She is 5, and the biggest stage ham of all time. She's a full Christmas dinner when it comes to the spotlight. There is only one other girl in her class, and she is three, so their teacher has to speak to them and repeat all the moves to keep them on track. The whole thing is absolutely hilarious. One particular moment was the finale. Each girl was given a paper folding fan-- like the kind you would buy in bulk from Oriental Trading. The song was 'Reflection' from Mulan, which might I say is the greatest Disney movie ever. Between Bean trying to stretch her five year old baby fat clad body into elegant shapes, the other little girl glaring at her big sister the whole time, and the dance instructors thick accent (She sounds like Gru from Despicable Me) it was the most entertaining performance I have ever seen. I'm not even being sarcastic right now (that's new) I loved it.
   Later that evening Bean asked me to "Do her hair like Mulan!" (in a bun with a clip and ribbon) After I piled her corn silk hair into a messy bun she squealed "I look like Mulan! I'm going to save China!" All I'm going to say is that my whole family is blonde with blue or green eyes. Sorry, Bean, but no. No you do not look like Mulan.

Firsts to come

   These are the first pictures that we have personally taken to add to PRISM. This morning, while having breakfast outside (the grass was soaking wet) we decided "yes, we will do some of our own photography". We both love blogs like 'A Beautiful Mess' that do all of their own fabulous photography, and thought we would give it a try. The problem is, both of us are horribly camera shy and we aren't the most photogenic people. Because of this, we have decided to let our favorite books represent us.

Mandarin will be represented by 'The Phantom of the Opera'

Amazon will be represented by 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix'

    I've (Mandarin) decided that I want to work on PRISM more. I really don't do much else. I don't participate in many sports or after school activites, so most of my time I spend reading, Pinteresting, and painting the mural at my school. Believe it or not, I actually enjoy spending time with my season- not a popular trend with most sisters. When we are planning posts, or just messing around- it's fun. Don't tell her, though. She would make the weirdest face to know that she is actually my friend.
    Prepare for more posts, readers.

   

20 things to learn perfectly

1. How to shake hands
2. Cursive or Calligraphy
3. A memorized poem
4. Master one sport or athletic thing
5. How to make friends ( and keep them)
6. How to make chocolate chip cookies
7. Who you are
8. How to introduce yourself properly (first impressions are everything)
9. Proper Grammar ( Peoples just ain't speakin' the way the used to)
10. How to fix minor rips and tears in clothes
11. How to repair a bike
12. First Aid
13. The lyrics to your favorite song
14. The lyrics to your best friend's/ sibling's/ family member's  favorite song
15. How to laugh at yourself
16. How to work hard- work ethic is everything
17. What you want to be or want to become
18. How to play car ride games
19. Campfire songs
20. Stand up for yourself and others

Invisible (Mandarin)

    The other day at school, while talking with a friend about Panic! at the Disco and good books, i accidentally mentioned my anxiety disorder. I don't like talking about it much, but I think that there should be an awareness of it. People don't really see it as a legitimate disorder. Schizophrenia? "Yeah". Phycopathy? "Yes". Chronic Anxiety? "That's not a thing."
   It is actually fairly common, but not everyone has it. Anxiety disorder is a deep rooted distrust and panic about anything. We over analyze everything and believe that everyone we know secretly hates and is just putting up with us. We get panic attacks and are often hyper frightened of things. Now, I'm not here to make excuses or invite pity. I an not blaming my tendency to panic on this or using it as a tool to get sympathy. I simply want an awareness of it, and other invisible disorders like ADD/ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, Learning Disabilities, and Depression. These aren't super visible unless you have a brain scan and a couple of tests- not something most of us just have on hand.
   That's part of the problem. How can we be sensitive to these disorders if we can't see them? A general rule of thumb is to just be kind and considerate of everyone. Who know what they are going though, condition or not? Another option is it you are close to a person, just ask them about it. I like knowing what my friends are experiencing so I can know how to help them and be there for them.
    If you are a person who is living with any of these, remember this: You don't need to be ashamed. it is a part of you as much as your hair color is. You can get help with it. Medication, special school accommodations, and what not are all there for you. This doesn't make you dumb or stupid in any way either. We all live with weaknesses, it's just that ours has a medical label. This is not a matter of you being slow, too hyper, or mopey. It's physical. And you can handle it.

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a secret battle.

Be nice, readers!

Humans of New York

    My, my, it's been a while hasn't it? I do apologize, readers, but for a while I was thinking I (Mandarin) wouldn't come back to write. I will though. This blog is my baby.
     Recently I went to the library (shocker!!) and found this new book called 'Humans of New York'. It's a collection of photography from the blog 'Humans of New York'. Author Brandon Stanton wanders around New York City snapping interesting people's photos then getting to know them. It's beautiful, inspiring, and now I really really really want to go to New York.
    'Humans of New York' not only explores interesting people, but also seemingly average people. Living in Small Town Michigan--these are the kind of people I see daily. I don't often get to see someone sporting a multicolored mohawk.

This takes guts

 It's awesome when I do, but it's still pretty rare. It's so interesting to think about even average people though. To think about how complex their lives are. They have thoughts, mistakes, accomplishments trailing behind in their past. They have whole lives, epic back stories, and amazing aspirations. How many things do they know that I don't? It's not very often that we turn outside ourselves. So many are concerned with looking inside and discovering themselves. How do we know what to call ourselves without the labels and names given by others? I know that I am a blogger, artist, fashion and history lover, and a friend--but only because those words were invented and passed to me by others. Instead of digging around more in my brain- a place I am already so familiar with- why not discover new things in new places?
    I started observing people more. Call me creepy, but I glanced through car windows. I looked at people across rooms. I wrote notes in my journal about the people I saw at the mall. Suddenly the whole world seemed much more interesting. Did you know that there is an old man who wears a hat with a turtle on it who comes to pick up his kid at the elementary school every day? Did you know that the obnoxious kid who sits next to you in math class writes poetry?
    I honestly get bored with just myself sometimes. Others are so new and colorful.

Now that's art.

Brandon Stanton