Sometimes I just need to remind myself to seize the day and enjoy life. I get very wrapped up in my goals that I often forget.
So here’s my reminder:
Carpe diem
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Category Archives: inspiration
I am human
This video is amazing. That’s all I’m going to say. It’s about nine minutes long. Watch, enjoy.
(Dear girl at 1:26, me too. Me too.)
The broadcasting team at Liberty Middle School in Madison, Alabama, put together this incredibly powerful video called “I’m Human.” The video features students, faculty, and staff standing against a wall, each holding up a sign that tells you how they’re different. But one thing is the same- they’re all human.
Fall trends I will either make or avoid
The new fall fashions that hit stores in late August are often the harbinger of the cooler weather we’ve been waiting for. So of course the very first day it’s 60 degrees I buy myself a new pair of boots (my old one were falling apart at the seams, literally). But, as mother nature would have it, it was 80 the next day.
As I struggle to decide between packing away my summer togs, and keeping them around a little longer, I wonder how many of the new trends I already own, could easily make, or wouldn’t wear. One rainy afternoon, I decided to do some investigating. (Photos via Refinery 29)
Colored pants are one of the top new trends this fall. But, oh wait, they were also a trend last year. So rather than shelling out money on new pants, why not just dig out the maroon and purple pants I wore last year? Trend 1, check.
Next up are leather skirts. I’ve been rocking one for a few years now that I picked up in a thrift store for pennies. Nice to see that investment is paying off!
Ponchos. Well, I fail this one because I own a cropped cape, but I feel more like Batman wearing it than fashionable. So we’ll just add that to my “to donate” box, and I’ll probably steer clear of this trend, or else I might fool myself into thinking I’m more of a super hero than the Green Hornet, and we all Kato was the real hero there.
High slits are desirable this fall. Well, hand me some scissors so I can hack up my maxi skirts. Or I’ll just skip this trend because it feels more runway or warmer weather appropriate. Can you imagine me walking through snow, with a slit up the front of my skirt? Yeah, me neither.
Tuxedo chic. Why don’t we call it what it really is: fancy waitress. Now I have nothing against menswear as a look for women, I think it can look quite sleek. But these looks make me feel like I should ask what you’d like to drink and tell you the specials. That being said, I did inherit a tie after my father passed away that I will probably wear. Joe and I gave it to him to wear to our wedding, so it’s special to us. Back to fall fashions…
Long duster coats. Also know as “that thing that will get dragged through the snow and trapped in the door of my car on my way to work.” I do own a trench coat that is on the longer side, but again, because of the snow we get here in metro Detroit, I’m not going to wear a floor-length coat anywhere. That’s just asking for trouble.
Rich blue. I actually really like this color. I own a tee-shirt that’s very similar to this color. I think it looks cerulean, which is the best crayon in the entire box. At least it is for me.
Graphic stripes. Didn’t we just go through this trend with all those Prada dresses? I suppose the only way I want to look like I’m wearing baseball pants with garter belts on them is if I’m told it’s fashionable. Time to dig out my old softball uniform and a paint brush. It’s going to be a long night.
Mid calf skirts (weren’t these called midi skirts last year?). Is it just me, or does it seem like skirts on the runways are anything but flattering for the average woman? Sure, these stick-thin models look great in these skirts (even that gold one), but I have a feeling if I wore a skirt to my mid calf that I’d look like I had hiked up my maxi too high.
A few other trends to take note of: pattern mixing, polka dots and dyed furs. I’ve never met a pattern I didn’t like, especially polka dots, but I think I’ll be steering clear of the furs. The last time I brought faux fur into my home Loafy thought it was a new friends and proceeded to groom it for three days.
Are there any fall trends you can’t wait for, or are waiting to disappear?
Nordic Reach
One of my coworkers subscribes to Nordic Reach, a Scandinavian magazine. She brought it in for me, because there was a pretty cool editorial. The photos were taken in Iceland, and were supposed to reflect a volcano… they were all taken before the ash cloud debacle, and the magazine was also in print before that happened.
I love the makeup, the collars, the headbands and hats and the coats. But, oddly enough, the last photo is my favorite. I love her sweater with the scarf, pink top and shiny green skirt. It’s totally wearable, and I wish I could wear it right now and not melt in the heat, LOL.
My review of the Jean Paul Gaultier collection for Target
I woke up this morning super early to head to Target. There were two stores near me carrying the Jean Paul Gaultier collection. I was SO excited to see everything after nearly memorizing the lookbook.
I was so in love with these looks:
I couldn’t wait to try on the tattoo tights, yellow halter, floral dress, green dress and trench.
My only reaction to everything was “eh.” I was very underwhelmed and unimpressed. Most of the items were made from TERRIBLE fabric. That pretty yellow halter dress felt like a vinyl umbrella. The red dress looked (and felt) like a high-school wrestling uniform!
Anyway, when I went in, everything looked like this:
I grabbed this stuff I semi-liked, in my size, and headed off to the dressing room. Then, I tried it all on, and took some photos!
Here’s the giant (ugly) tent of a weird red dress.
Now, it might just be me, but the weird thing that went between my legs looked odd. Another lady trying dresses on suggested that I wear the thingy around my neck and belt the dress. But why should I spend $50 on a dress I’m going to have to alter myself? No.
This skirt was too short (for my taste), the top was TOO big (another photo below, where I’m holding it on and holding about half of it in my hand), but the tattoo leggings were really cute. But, for $25 they needed to be thicker. I would be crushed if they ripped, so I didn’t want to spend my money on those.
I couldn’t even get this black dress on!
I got it TWO SIZES LARGER than I normally wear, knowing it was slim and I have a huge butt (haha). Yeah. Totally wouldn’t go on. I’d need pliers, a tub of butter, Saran wrap and a whole bunch of spanx to get it on. Not happening. I didn’t even attempt to put on the red floral cut out dress because it was the exact same silhouette and shape.
This was the dress I REALLY wanted to try on. It was terrible. It did not look cute, not at all! It was also a weird fabric, which I didn’t like. I like my clothes to breathe, not make me sweat more!
The trench was a LUCKY find! As I wrote about before, each Target store only got one of each size, so there were only FIVE trench coats in the whole store. Some lady didn’t want hers, asked if I was looking for it because it would fit me (since I’m tall).
I do like it, it has great shape and cute details, but I own a million trench coats already. Read my other post if you’re interested in purchasing it from me (I don’t want to return it if someone REALLY wants it).
Finally, I tried on the green polka dotted dress.
I really liked this one. Obviously I would have to wear something over it to go to work, but it was long enough and wasn’t super revealing and had some cute pleating detail. Plus, it was made of a more normal fabric (polyester) so it wouldn’t make me feel like I was wearing a picnic blanket.
Yay!
And, lastly, I tried on the floral halter dress (same design and shape as the yellow one, but that color yellow doesn’t look good on me).
It’s a great maternity dress. It’s just not figure-flattering.
There was some other stuff I didn’t even bother to try on:
Oh well. Did you go to Target? What did you try on? What did you like/dislike?
My Vintage Valentine
For Valentines Day, Joe and I aren’t able to do much. He’ll have to work, per usual, so we were planning to just hangout at home and watch movies, maybe listen to a few records. So, we decided to celebrate early, since our plans are so lax. So, being a creative (and slightly crazy) person, I dressed up in nearly all Forever 21 clothes, attempted a ’40s faux bang and convinced Joe to take some vintage-y photos of me for kicks.
This was the inspiration board I created to get ready for the pics:
And these are some of the shots we got:
The “joe” tattoo is fake. Don’t worry mom! I added it in after 
It’s just to symbolize that Joe has my heart.
(Faked some wallpaper over the blinds…)
Those were all edited. Here are some others, unedited, including a very curious Ruckus.
(I have no idea what she’s doing, or what I’m doing, for that matter. I’m holding the cake topper from my wedding, thats about all I know!)
The ’40s faux bangs were seriously the EASIEST thing I have ever done to my hair. They took about three minutes to do, with NO hairspray. None. There is actually no hairspray whatsoever in my hair in these photos. I’m not kidding. It’s that easy! I might need to do a DIY post, if any of you want to try!
Dress: Forever 21 Twist (no longer online)
Bolero: Forever 21 (no longer in red, but still online)
Tights: Betsey Johnson
Shoes: Charlotte Russe (I think)
Scarf: Vintage, thrifted
Earrings: Borrowed from Cher a looooong time ago… (and never returned)
Haircomb: Purchased for my wedding on Etsy
So, Alya informed me, Chictopia is having a Forever21 Valentine outfit contest thing. I want to enter this outfit and one of these photos, but I’d love to get some feedback and suggestions on which on to enter.
What to wear for Valentines Day?
It’s no secret that I love mixing unexpected color combinations, my favorite being shades of orange/red with blue. I cam across a fabulous dress (Floral Cornucopia Dress) on Modcloth, that I’d love to own (are you reading this mom? Joe’s birthday is in a month, and I know he’s love it if I could own this dress!).
Anyway, expected colors for Valentines Days are always pink, red or purple, so I decided to play with those and create a look around this great dress.
The reviews on the dress aren’t the best, although there are only two, so who knows if they’re totally true.
I also love these shoes. If only I have $300 to spend on Kate Spade shoes. If I did, I’d already own this dress though. I’d own everything I wanted if I could afford $300 shoes, in case you were wondering.
Goodbye January, hello February!
It’s freezing out today! It’s so cold, my car didn’t want to start today. Thankfully, after a jump, it did.
Days like this make me long for spring, or even summer. I would rather wear a skirt to work, but I don’t feel warm enough when it’s only 17 degrees outside!
I’ve taken to wearing leggings under my jeans or pants to help keep warm, and today was no exception. I wore one of my go-to outfits when it’s this cold outside- nice pants, cable-knit sweater, colorful shirt underneath and a bright scarf to liven it up. I’m wearing sneakers today, because I have a couple nasty blisters from this weekend. Don’t worry, I have some black flats to wear at work (because I wouldn’t wear sneakers there, except for Fridays). I am, once again, ready for the weekend, even though it’s only Monday. This week will be much less stressful though, because I don’t have an event on Friday I need to prepare for. This week is all about cleaning my apartment, doing some laundry, finishing my DIY post and the three skirts I’ve started to make (because I want to wear them.
Time to dream of spring and wait for the weather to warm up!
Alice (from Syfy) on DVD!
I just pre-ordered Alice from Syfy on DVD. It’s releasing on March 2, and ordering it through Amazon is only $14.99 (free with a gift card!) They also offer “price guarantee” which means if the price drops between now and March 2 (it has once) you’ll pay the lowest amount.
So excited!!!
Inspired by…
The week of as little black as possible is off to a good start. I’ve decided rather than just getting up and throwing on clothes, which has served me well in the past, I’m going to dress for a reason. This week it’s all about proving I can wear minimal black and still pull an outfit together.
I’m thinking next week I will dress each day inspired by a book, movie, musician or character suggested to me by one of the wonderful people out there who read this. (That still amazes me, and I seriously appreciate it). I’ve had random comments on my outfits in the past, twi-hards (or not) yelling at me for my opinion on those movies and random link-backs and it’s awesome. So, I figure I’ll give five of you a chance to dictate how I dress next week.
(This isn’t meant to sway you, just give you a brief overview of some quick inspiration points I thought of.) Obviously who/what I use as inspiration will be very specific to the clothes I already own, since I’m not spending money for the next month (already failed on that end. But that has to do with food, not clothes), so I will either remix stuff I have, edit it or just work with it!
Please leave your suggestion below. I will either do another post letting you know who will be my inspiration or I’ll just dress like them next week, depending on how many suggestions are left.
Thanks!
