Pistachio

sit down and fire away,
i know it's tricky when you're feeling low,
when you feel like your flavour
has gone the way of a pre-shelled pistachio...
--Pistachio by Lisa Hannigan

It wasn’t the best of days for my sister—oh, let me count the ways!

1. UCLA library books due, Autumn crouched to pick them up from her bedroom floor, only to find that a particular impossible pooch had also been there! The corners of the books showed signs being chewed! Autumn would have some explaining to do in front of the college librarian.
2. Autumn’s sprained ankle from skim boarding at the beach some weeks before makes so that she whizzes from class to class on a motorized Razor scooter. It’s a good solution, unless she’s traveling near one of the groups of middle schoolers that constantly seem to be visiting the campus, which she did that day. “The kids were laughing, and I would think that it was at me,” Autumn later confided.
3. Then, in the halls of UCLA, Autumn called out to a professor that she needed to talk with and soon realized that the man that she was addressing was not in fact her professor! Thinking fast, Autumn turned around and busied herself with her cell phone just as this man turned to see what all the commotion was about.  


What to do when you feel like a “pre-shelled pistachio?”

Take care of yourself—of course!

According to H&M Magazine for spring 2009, the look this season is sporty chic. As you will read in the “how-to,” the look's all about the brows:

1. Trim your eyebrows. Try to create a gently rounded oval shape. Trim the outside of the brows in particular. Be sure not to overdo it. Keep them looking natural.
2. Use matte powder eye shadow in a color close to your eyebrow color. Use a slightly blunted pencil to fill in the color where needed—in holes underneath and to extend the brow. Don’t actually draw with the pencil—you’re just making little corrections.
3. If you want to darken your eyebrows, use brown mascara. If your brows don’t want to behave, clear mascara will keep them in place. Brush upwards for a bushy effect.
4. Apply black mascara to the top lashes. Putting mascara only on the top lashes is a good way of emphasizing the almond shape of your eyes.
5. Finish the look with a beige-pink lipstick.

My sister does this simple look perfectly, don’t you think?



When I was a student at UCLA, there were nights when I didn’t get a wink of sleep for staying up to finish a final paper or to study for an exam. Despite the exhaustion that I probably felt, I chose to dress in my favorite clothes—for the purpose of helping to lift my spirits. It wasn’t uncommon on these days for me to wear my click-clicking high-heeled shoes because they made me happy!

Autumn dresses for style and comfort in her pastel-colored jeans that are fashionable now. Isn’t it appropriate that they are in pistachio?

Don't worry, Autumn, everybody has days like this...