A New Chapter

A much-belated and mini rite of passage for me is updating my About Me page to describe my current life as a medical student. Below is the retired one for 2011-2012, describing my personal mission as a science major with born-with-it artistic inclinations.

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pan·da·phil·ia     noun     \ˈpan-də-ˈfi-lē-ə\
1 : friendly feeling toward pandas
2 : fashion philosophy that is never black and white
3 : St. Louis-based style blog of a Neuroscience student who likes to "lab in style" and experiment in the wardrobe

I am a 22-year-old Neuroscience student at a predominantly pre-med Midwest university. When not racking my brain for names of sulci and neurotransmitters, I delve deep into the world of aesthetics. I refuse to wear the collegiate uniform of sweatpants and hoodies every day, so I throw open the doors of my growing closet and pick out something fashionable to wear. People will stare as I take pictures of myself, wondering, "Who's that crazy girl always macro'ing her eye?" or "What is she all dressed up for?" I've got someplace to be, and that's far, far away from the reality of the mundane.

I am a firm believer in huge, macro photographs and picture spam. Pandaphilia's all about the obsessions of a panda fanatic who sees the world beyond the black and white. I grew up playing with robots and helicopters, shunning those ridiculous Barbie dolls and their unrealistic proportions. I grew up doing math problems, reading the entire library's section on animals, and with a serious attitude. Now, I kick back and try to enjoy the dying days of the childhood that passed me by -  while reconciling a new, materialistic girly side with my lifetime pragmatism and nerdiness.

You can't slap a label on me. I am a girly tomboy, a daydreaming realist, a writer, a musician. I blog about anything and everything that sneaks into my mind, spilling it out in 010011's for the world wide web to remember forever. My very existence depends on unraveling what's stirring in my brain and making something beautiful out of the chaos.

Camera: Canon Rebel T2i
(photos prior to 6/22/11 taken with Canon Powershot SX120 IS)
Lens: Canon 50mm f/1.8 USM lens
Photos of me are usually by my boyfriend (JJ); other pictures are usually by me.
Photo editing by me: Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5

Height: 5'3" (160 cm)
Weight: 110 lbs (50 kg)
Size: XS-S
Shoe size: US 4-5 (foot length 215 mm)

List of blog awards

Contact me at angie [at] pandaphilia [dot] com

Strawberry Banana | Spring Transition Work Outfit

H&M light pink scallop edge blouse // Thrifted Escada bright yellow pencil skirt (steal) //
Pitaya patent yellow skinny belt (steal) // H&M opaque black tights // 
Target Merona faux calfhair scallop edge leopard print ballet flats (steal) // 

Photography: self, tripod and remote

'Ello there! Welcome to my new and improved blog design, clean and minimalistic. Thanks to JJ for helping me work out all the kinks in this old tangle of code and sharing his artistic eye. Last week/Spring Break was a fantastic blur of food, reading, snoozing. Key highlights include reinventing Lunchables with gouda cheese, crackers, and deli slice turkey, watching The Croods and Hercules, dusting off my interior design/DIY renovation skills, observing strange animal behavior at the zoo, exploring the botanical gardens, discovering a vegetarian reuben that features savory wheat-meat (cray, I know) all with JJ. What I would give for another week to spend with my best friends in Arizona and Kentucky and my St. Louis babies.

This was my work outfit for today (4/1), featuring a silky light pink blouse with a scallop edge that I picked up on sale this weekend. Something needs to be done about the way it poofs unruly when tucked in, but besides that the girly touch makes this top very special. My much beloved bright yellow pencil skirt is also too big, so soon I will be searching for a tailor to fix up these two pieces. A quick fix to make the skirt more playful was to tie a yellow skinny belt to cinch it like a paperbag waist style.

Spring is just around the corner (I hope), and here's to rekindling old passions. A fresh blog face has made me more excited to post and share tidbits from my daily life again, especially because of the busy-ness. As Ferris Bueller says, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

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Spotty Reception

H&M cropped mustard yellow sweater // H&M chambray button down (underneath) //

H&M black and white dotted pants // Target hot pink loafer flats w/ tassels //

Totes pink and yellow polka dot umbrella // 

Photography: JJ

Continuing my "blog-the-zillion-blue-folders-on-my-desktop" project, here is a fun outfit from fall fitting for a rainy mood like today's (10/12/12). This is my best antidote for the gloomy greys and soggy hair-frizzing atmosphere: wear the brightest colours and quirkiest prints in my wardrobe and a 100-watt smile. Start with my Dalmatian pants and polka dot umbrella, building the rest according to the colour scheme of hot pink and yellow.

What do rainy days make you crave? I like lying in bed listening to the pitter-patter against tin rain gutters, drifting between daydreaming and sleep. A delicious perfect cup of coffee brings a smile to my lips and I'll put on some indie playlist that I don't know the songs to and read until I'm tired of turning pages. Or I'll run around outside trying my luck in a storm. If the pros to being fun-sized include never being the tallest thing around to be struck by lightning and not having to worry about hitting your head on overlying branches or doorframes, I'll take it.

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Cherry Danish | Solvang, CA

Black lace cardigan // Red tshirt (underneath) // H&M faux leather biker jacket // 
H&M forest green skinny pants // Forever 21 red slouchy beanie // Xhilaration black and white oxford flats //

JJ is wearing a Nerdy Domokun hat :D

Photography: JJ's Dad, me

Fast forward through 3 months of living inside Powerpoints and the library and we arrive at a snowy, well-deserved, super laidback Spring Break. So far I've hiked 7 miles on a waterfall crawl in the great outdoors, eaten my weight in comfort food, and done some digging through my memory cards to shake out these ole blogging legs. Thank you for your supportive comments on my last post, saying hi on social media, and sticking with me for all these years.

Solvang is a quaint little Danish town in the mountains near Santa Barbara (12/30/12). JJ and his family and I frolicked around the village admiring the windmills, munching pastries and sausages, trying on clogs. Though it might feel odd to be seeing photos of real pretzels adorning Christmas trees in late March, the persistence of current coat-weather makes it quite fitting. Note to curator of weird American traditions: please fire The Groundhog.

The rest of this week will be spent drinking fancy coffee and reading for pleasure, exploring the zoo and botanical gardens, and writing a letter-to-self disaster preparedness plan to avoid repeating the same "med school + winter ate my blog" excuse next year. Step 1: hunt down a floor length puffy coat to act as full-body shield against the elements and to hide presentable outfits underneath. Step 2: clone self to take outfit pictures or convince the world that library-cubicles-are-the-next-thing-in-fashion. Step 3: laugh at the last photo and how often my priceless weirdo moments are captured on film.

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