Thursday, January 28, 2010

Longing


Oh dress. How perfect you would be with a straw cloche and cute flats, on a seaside vacation.
How pretty you are! How delightful and effortless and charming! How you remind me of all that is beautiful and good about spring. How I would love to wear you.
How I wish you were not in childrens sizes. Hrmph.

Oh well, time to break out the sewing machine.

Dress from here

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

out there

Its such a nice day today. And, of course, I am inside.

Oh well. I can just imagine the nice weather.

Monday, January 25, 2010

You say obsession like its a bad thing....


(Via (who else but) Martha Stewart)

This is kinda my perfect kitchen. A yellow industrial/french stool? A simple shade? A wall full of gorgeous latte bowls?
I am obsessed with all of these things, with a big emphisis on the latte bowls. I cannot walk into an Anthropologie without finding a dozen new colors of latte bowl that I need.
Its a good thing I cant order single bowls online, or else my closet would already look like tha picture.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Pretty Powerful

On my 17th birthday I braved a local Macy's department store, with a particular mission in mind, and a Macys gift card clutched in my hand.

Three weeks earlier, on Christmas, I had been given that gift card and a book, Bobbi Brown, Teenage Beauty, and this appointment to meet with the makeup people at the Bobbi Brown counter.

I didnt really know what to expect. I had been an actor for years, so I knew how to do stage makeup, but stage makeup is not something you wear out onto the street, and I had pegged myself as a non makeup wearer.

Plus I was convinced that I wasnt a pretty girl to begin with, so makeup would just not do much. I was very pale, not at all like my classmates, who tanned religiously, I had short hair, and I was not the picture of feminine perfections that was constantly being shot at me from the media. What would they have to work with? What would they think of me?

I shouldent have been nervous about what the expertly made up, knowlegable women behind the counter would think about me. They were positively wonderful. Instead of sighing and shaking their heads at me when I explained I hardly ever wore makeup, and I didnt know anything, they nodded and smiled and started opening mysterious pots of color and lotions and showed me the brushes and how to use them. They asked me questions, exclaimed over the color of my eyes and my hair, did not slap me with bronzer, but showed me how to enjoy being pale.

And when I was done I looked like me. And I looked lovely. I was given a glimpse of how I could be. I was quietly pretty, and even if no one else really noticed, I was aware of how much better I felt, how much less shy.

Its still true that I'm not an every day makeup wearer. But I really do love putting it on, now that I know how to do and make it look like me, just a touch more polished.

In the years sense seventeen I have expanded my makeup, expirimenting with bolder looks, but I usually default to my beloved Bobbi Brown, who seemed to perfectly understand that most of the time I just wanted to look like me. Like a real person, with real skin, and real hair, and a real smile.

And its because of my unending love of Bobbi Brown and her natural aproach to beauty, that I compleatly love this campain of hers, Pretty Powerful.

How awesome that she's using her friends for models! There are women with freckles! And full lips! And curly hair! And they all look like themselves, which is totally gorgeous.

If I was in posession of a video camera and the ability to edit film I'd totally enter the Pretty Powerful Competition, but as it is I hope someone else can show how being yourself in all ways is Pretty Powerful stuff.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Birthday


(errr.... where did this come from? Do you know? I'd like to credit the artist)

Its my birthday today! I ate pretty pasta, and a delicuous lemon square, watched a pretty movie, and got some pretty lovely things.

Its a good day.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Opera

Tommorow is a day of culture with the Metropolotain Opera Simucast! I love the Met broadcasts, they made it possible for me to indulge in opera even in the wilds of Oregon.
Tommorows opera is one of the big famous ones, Carmen, which has gorgeous music. I reccomend it.
Dont know anything about opera? Never fear! We've got all you'll ever need to know right here.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Fashionable

I dont know what it is, but I've seen so many stylish ladies wandering around lately.
Fashion has taken a turn for the cute, with berets, striped shirts, ballet flats, and little capes.
I approve.
I used to be a very shy girl, and I wore things that would keep attention away from me, and particularly my body. Like so many young women, I was plauged with poor body image, and while I have always loved pretty clothes, I used to wear pretty things with great self conciousness, and an idea that the pretty thing itself would be noticed, and I would mercifully be left out of the attention.
Fortunatly I'm not the same girl I was when I left high school. I've got a much more positive body image, and a newfound love of being pretty, and I'd like to cultivate this desire.

Now that I've reached a more comfortable view of my body I am in short supply of a) clothing that fits my body, and b) clothing that fits my idea of a stylish lady.
The former (and, admittedly, the latter) is because I am sixty pounds lighter then I was when I graduated high school, a big accomplishment for me.
Now the trick is finding a style that makes me feel fantastic.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

So you had a bad day.


(Photo from Anthropologie)


My day was not fantastique today. Sometimes things just frustrate me up a wall, and then I can dig myself into a little pit of bitterness, and not even a visit from Eddie Izzard bearing chocolate can pull me out of it.
But I’d rather not get myself into that funk, even if my day has not been 100% wonderful. After all, a bad day is part circumstance and part mindset, so even if I cant fix the situation I can change how I will deal with it, and how I will conduct myself for the rest of the day.
These are the things I try when I know its going to be a nasty-no-good-very-tricky-frustrating-teeth-gnashing sort of day.

1. Dress Well- I find it difficult to be completely unhappy or out of sorts when I feel put together and generally cute. Wear a hat, put on extra blush, wear your favorite earrings, spray your favorite perfume on a ribbon to wear in your hair. Its hard to be sad or frustrated when you feel like a million bucks.

2. Accept help- This is hard for me to do sometimes, without it feeling like I’m copping out, or that I’m somehow unable to handle it. While its true that I can handle things on my own, asking for help, and then accepting it, is often very good for me.

3. Do something fun- Read a book you love, take a long hot shower, watch a Say Yes to the Dress marathon, cook up a delicious new desert. Watch funny movies (might I recommend some Eddie Izzard stand up?). Have some fun, and don’t let yourself brood on the frustrating things.

4. Move!- Exercise, jump up and down, dance to the funkiest music you know, do a yoga pose, kick a soccer ball, do anything to get your heart beating and the endorphins releasing. But make sure its something you actually like. I will happily play on the Wii if I’m sad or stressed, but if I run around a track I’ll just get into an even darker mood.

5. Create- Write a furious, long winded complaint in your journal. Read it over a month later and wonder what all the fuss was about. Pretend to be Jackson Pollock, and fling paint at a canvas. Get clay all over your hands as your throw a bowl, or play music with all your soul.

6. Let yourself be sad, or frustrated, or angry with your day. Accept it, and then, when you wake up, resolve to have a better day then you did before!


How do you handle a bad day?

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Post

The first letter of the year has been written, and will be posted tommorow!

My next post will be something exciting and insightful, I promice, but I just wanted to get my letter-glee out in the open.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Resolutions




In my quest to be a modern lady, these are my resolutions.

1. Start a blog (done and done.)

2. Write in said blog at least three times a week (hmm.)

3. Keep up with my exercise (equaling walking everywhere I can, and playing my Wii at minimum of five times a week.)

4. Embrace my body, work up my self confidence.

5. Expand my wardrobe, develop style.

6. Fix my bloody camera so I can take photos (set up a flicker account? Ehhh, scary world of pictures)

7. Cook more! Its fun, its healthy, and I only burn things occasionally.

8. Write a MINIMUM of 52 letters (and mail them, obviously). This averages one letter a week, more or less. I don’t know how many letters I wrote last year, but I’d like to write more. I will charitably include cards (valentine, Christmas, birthday, etc), and perhaps packages as well.

9. Travel somewhere! Its been to long sense I’ve taken a trip.

10. Figure out more interesting things then my list of resolutions to write in the newfound blog!