Inspiration
42 Life Lessons From ‘Mean Girls’
Mean Girls is nothing if not a fountain of knowledge, passed down from Tina Fey as a gift to girls, gays and all gentle humanfolk for the ages. Fey’s magnum opus instructs us about how to live and in this crazy world, one where you could get diarrhea in a Barnes and Noble or be mistaken for Danny DeVito. This list details but a few of the wisdom nuggets Tina Fey hath bequeathed to us. Learn from it, and go forth and make girl world a better place for all. 1.
I can write about you in every forum except the one you might read — well, even then I might write about it, but I’d dance around your name like a fire whose warmth I want to feel without quite being burned. Yes, if you’re wondering, it’s about you. That open letter, that song lyric, that wink and nod in your direction that is not quite explicit enough to call me out on directly. I want you to see my words and be motivated enough in them to take the first step yourself because, no matter how much I want to burst into your life with the truth of exactly how I feel about you, I know that I am not going to. You would likely be upset if you knew how much I thought of you, how much what you are doing with your life factors into my daily routine.
I Can’t Tell You
DIY Polaroid Hanger
If you’ve just moved into a dorm room, or you’re just bored with the way your bedroom looks, here’s a fun and cheap way to display photos on your walls. Make them into fake Polaroids, and hang them on a clothesline! You’ll need:
There’s something about the middle of the summer that always had me aching to be with my friends every single minute of the day. Nobody felt like being alone at home, so you’d get into the kind of trouble that usually happens when the sun goes down. These highly quotable and equally stylish movies remind me of that summer freedom we so desperately yearn for when fall is just around the corner. Clockwise from top left: Seniors shirt, $22, Found Item Clothing ; denim shorts, $46, Romwe ; striped tube socks, $10, American Apparel ; Nike sneakers, $57, Foot Locker ; ketchup and mustard squeeze bottles, $18, Neatoshop ; tie-front shirt, $35, Delias
Youth in Revolt
“Happy families are all alike,” Tolstoy famously wrote, “but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Few have ever questioned the validity of Tolstoy’ assertion — but the opposite might well be said of those most volatile family members: teenagers. Every happy teen, after all, is happy in his or her own way; but unhappy teens are all alike. Such a declaration, of course, hardly diminishes the issues forever bedeviling teenagers: navigating a maelstrom of suddenly unleashed hormones; confronting the riddle of how (or whether) to try to fit in with one’s peers; exploring the limits of rebellion against … everything . Even one of the saving graces of teen misery — namely, the eventual realization that almost everyone, to some degree, suffers the same cruelties during those confounding years — even that saving grace is merely acknowledgement that, at heart, adolescence can be a waking nightmare. That said, in very few societies is the idea of youth as fraught as it is in Japan.
Teenage Wasteland: LIFE Magazine Pictures of Young Japanese Rebels, 1964
60 Small Ways to Improve Your Life in the Next 100 Days
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to make drastic changes in order to notice an improvement in the quality of your life. At the same time, you don’t need to wait a long time in order to see the measurable results that come from taking positive action. All you have to do is take small steps, and take them consistently, for a period of 100 days. Below you’ll find 60 small ways to improve all areas of your life in the next 100 days. Home
40 Of The Most Powerful Photographs Ever Taken
A moving collection of iconic photographs from the last 100 years that demonstrate the heartbreak of loss, the tremendous power of loyalty, and the triumph of the human spirit. Warning: Some of these will make you weep. Earthrise: A photo taken by astronaut William Anders during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968. Phyllis Siegel, 76, left, and Connie Kopelov, 84, both of New York, embrace after becoming the first same-sex couple to get married at the Manhattan City Clerk’s office in 2011. John F. Kennedy Jr. salutes his father’s coffin along with the honor guard.
I was 14 when I first discovered Weetzie Bat at my school library. I was experiencing a lot of new ~teen feelings~ during that time, relating to the longing angst of Angela Chase while also trying to decipher the quirky, in-love-with-life lyrics of Björk songs. Francesca Lia Block ’s book (the first in a series) tied together all of these themes that were dancing in my head and wrapped them up in a sparkling little story about a bleach-blonde, Jayne Mansfield -loving, mosh pit-seeking girl and her makeshift family of misfits coming of age in Hollywood. I fell fast and hard for Weetzie, her gang, and the incredibly lush details Block uses to bring to life a city that is both dirty and dazzling. I don’t think I talked about it with any of my friends until much later, like it was some sort of special secret that I should keep to myself .
Secret Style Icon: Weetzie Bat
I’ve always loved, LOVED movies about a group of kids having an adventure, especially if they end up saving the world, whether it’s literally THE WORLD ( Super 8 ), or the one they reside in ( The Goonies ). Hell, even if it’s just a personal exploration or a curious mystery, I love it. So let’s take some fashion inspiration from these young explorers and pack a lunch, fill up our canteens, and go on a search for buried treasure—or at least do some geocaching .
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
There was a time when you were five years old, and you woke up full of awesome. You knew you were awesome.