Isla Vista Solidarity, UCSB Gaucho Pride, and Honoring What is Lost

In the wake of the tragedy in Isla Vista, the UCSB community has encouraged a week of remembrance and solidarity. Today was to show our Gaucho pride. I am an alumnus from the class of 2007 but moved back to the Santa Barbara area in 2012, just outside of IV off El Colegio. It was weird being back so close to my alma mater and I had mixed feelings about being close to IV now that I was a bit older and less of a party-goer. Such worries were for nothing as we often found ourselves driving or biking(!) into IV for a drink, dinner, and even to yes, party. Isla Visa itself has changed alot just from 2007, but what remained was the feeling that this little bubble made up of thousands of UCSB students among many other residents, was one of endless carefree youth. From freshman to seniors, to alumni and life-long IV residents, it was a place made up of sorority and fraternity houses, shabbily decorated apartments littered with beer cans and mismatched furniture, late-night eateries to satisfy hangovers, and young minds and hearts learning to live on their own for the first time. I made many good choices and probably even more bad ones in Isla Vista, but I don’t regret any of it.

I have felt many things the past few days, ranging from sadness, grief, horror, and disappointment, but what has stayed on my mind the most this past week was my anger at what six young lives were robbed of. These lives were cut short and can no longer continue to make the memories, mark the moments, worry over the mistakes, take the chances, and then look back at it all with fondness and maybe a twinge of regret. They don’t get late nights studying. They don’t get to enjoy a beer after a final. They don’t get to be young and silly. They don’t get to meet first or true loves. They don’t get to finish school arm in arm with their fellow students after years of incredibly hard work. They don’t get to be alumni and share in the pride of a common experience. This is just a fraction of what they get robbed of. The vanished potential and the unfulfilled lives have gotten lost in the mix of what the media wants to showcase.

It’s why there’s been so much pride on my various social feeds for the community and for their fellow Gauchos, past and present. This week of solidarity has been about honoring the memories of those lost and creating hope for a well-loved community. That network has really bonded across social media channels, geography, and time to join in their grief, hope, and camaraderie. I cannot help but feel such sadness because like so many other alumni and current students, there is such incredible fondness for the time we spent growing up in IV, UCSB, and Santa Barbara. There is pride in who we were, what we’ve become, and the communities that helped us get there. My sadness is tied to the joy I felt as someone who was once like the six who were killed and sorrow that these young men and women won’t have the chance to make all the good decisions or mistakes that you should be making in your late teens and early twenties. They’re now people to remember, not people who get to make memories. “It’s unfair” doesn’t even begin to encompass what has happened.

Earlier today a very good friend from UCSB and I were chatting and I couldn’t help but feel that the unsaid undercurrent of our conversation was the need to talk to a fellow alumni. And combined with my feelings of sadness and anger, was that small feeling of gratefulness. Not just for the place and time, but most especially for the people who helped shape the person I am and still continuing to try and be. College does not define any single individual, but I would be underplaying its role in my life if I said it was just four years at school. Many fellow Gauchos are still good friends and if it wasn’t for some freshman roommates who happened to know each other, John and I wouldn’t be together today.  So I just want to say thank you to all my fellow classmates and all the Gauchos in the world out there trying to make their mark. It’s just a small ‘thank you’ for being part of my life and teaching me so many different things that still follow me today. We can honor the six by living our lives with dignity, kindness, and a desire to be good.

A special prayer goes out to these six who are making so many of us out there in the world today feel a bit of Gaucho pride:

George Chen
Katherine  Breann Coooper
Cheng Yuan Hong
Christopher Ross Michaels-Martinez
Weihan Wang
Veronika Weiss

#gauchostrong

Friday Favorite Links

– Proper and tattooed Victorian ladies in porcelain. (Laughing Squid)

– My favorite ongoing feature at Refinery 29 is the City Hall Weddings. I just love it. It’s always so sweet to just see the bride and groom on such a special day–and everyone’s fashion is so unique. (Refinery 29)

– I love me some Red Hot Chili Peppers and since I’ve always thought their drummer looks like Will Ferrell (or vice versa), this “long-awaited” drum-off between them is hilarious. (Funny or Die)

– Lately I’ve been liking the new algorithm or whatever is deciding who my Popular page on Instagram consists of. I’ve followed a bunch of new accounts lately based on some awesome curation. This company based in LA does beautiful leather goods. I kind of want this new Mod item–it’s like my dream wallet/notebook/life organizer thingy. (This Is Ground)

–  Bar carts are all the rage right now, but honestly, all I can think is having to dust and keep it organized. This cabinet version is such a cool alternative. (A Beautiful Mess)

 

-Cheers and Happy Weekend!

 

 

DIY Lucite Vanity Tray

I basically live out of traveling bags and suitcases. I don’t remember the last time I stayed home on the weekends for at least a whole month. John and I are either taking mini trips, I’m heading to LA, or some event or the other makes me vanish for another weekend. Personally, I don’t mind too much because it means we live a varied and somewhat exciting life. Though, it would be nice to just do nothing but read and relax all weekend–for at least three weekends in a row. Till then, I’m basically always half packed and ready to go at a moment’s notice.

This has only bothered me regarding cosmetics and toiletries. They always live dumped in mini bags inside a bigger case. Great for on-the-go living, not so much for when I’m home during the week and want to feel somewhat more stable regarding my daily habits. I finally created a home for my small army of facial products (I had to start somewhere). I picked the smaller products and kept the bigger bottles up in the cabinets so it didn’t feel like too cluttered or overwhelming. I really love the look of lucite or acrylic trays, but have found them to be unreasonably expensive. Thanks to this awesome DIY hack over at Rain on a Tin Roof, I saved myself a pretty penny. Thanks to a Michaels coupon, I scored an acrylic frame for less than $3 and found some pretty paper with gold dots to line it. I’m debating whether to laminate the paper but I just don’t want to lose the effect of the gold dots. You can buy the paper yourself, but a ton of other sites have free options that you can even custom.

Here’s a close-up of the paper. The tiny raised dots add a nice touch. I wanted to go with something simple.

Close up of gold dot paper

 

And here’s the tray with all my lovely products:

Vertical Alignment of the Tray

Initially I wasn’t thrilled with it lengthwise and had it out like the above. But let’s face it, all the products in tubes are going to be falling on a regular basis so I had a mini reality check and rearranged:

Horizontal alignment of the tray

That’s more like it! This was a fun, easy, little project. Next, I want to get a smaller tray with higher sides to hold all my clutches.

This was a nice start to a dream vanity project I’ve had on my mind for a while that also involves some Ikea hacks, but one project at a time. For now, it’s a nice little area of some fun girly stuff in an otherwise very simple restroom–got to use that counter space somehow!

And one more for good measure in all it’s Instagrammy worthy lighting:

 

Friday Favorite Links

* It’s getting hot again and since Santa Barbara always feels like a summer kind of town, I’ve been wanting to find a proper beach blanket. I’ve been using an old plaid picnic blanket but it’s not really suitable for the sand. I’ve been obsessed about buying the perfect Mexican blanket like this one using non traditional colors or even this one from Peru.

* Discovered Canopy this week. Cool way to shop Amazon products and avoid its visually boring website. It’s like Amazon/Pinterest/Etsy rolled into one. I’m all for it. (Canopy)

* This Slate article is going around–Rob Lowe sending his son off to college. As someone who gets homesick on the regular, this line slayed me: “There is a little of that sense memory at play too, a feeling that I’m about to be left out of important events, separated from life as I know it, the world as I love it.” (Slate)

* We leave for Brazil in about a month. I haven’t gotten too excited about it yet, except window internet shopping for it. These travel notebooks by Midori are gorgeous and my brother just picked up this Everlane backpack I’ve been wanting for my birthday. More importantly, can one shop for six-pack abs? 

* I was both scared and amused watching this video. I think he just wanted a snack.  (YouTube)