Fashion Rule: Stay True to Who You Are

In fashion, I'm a pretty big advocate for the school of thought, "When you find a rule, break it." Style is too personal to have every fad that graces the glossies apply to everyone. Generally, style is painting a portrait of who you are inside, for the world to see outside...and that may not always be the same picture. Some days I play the girly Sex and the City New Yorker, some days I subscribe to my laid back, music loving, Chuck wearing, weekender psyche. Fashion not only changes person to person, but within the varied moods and needs of each individual as well. 

{merci LookBooks}

The one deviation from this principle is quite possibly the crux of why I'm so passionate about fashion. You must stay true to who you are. Fashion exists to be a personalized, wearable art. To find something that makes you feel good in your skin and shine as the unique individual you are. Whether that calls for wearing white after Labor Day, black with brown, or even socks with sandals (!!!) you. be. you. I once read, "Just be yourself, everyone else is already taken." I really feel it is as simple as that. 

Lately I've seen many of the fashion elite running around New York in silk scarves....but I just can't do it. I think I just have internalized that as a Mom Jean marker rather than the classic stigma I'm fully aware they carry. 

Here is the silk scarf in the current (and classic) fashion :

{merci Pinterest}

I can completely agree this is a beautiful scarf, but every top I wear is generally low cut, so I have a hard time wearing things with a lot of fabric around the chest and neck without feeling frumpy. I do not know why...it just feels constricting. 

Here is how I wear a silk scarf:

It is still a classic silk scarf, Dolce & Gabbana no less, just with some added funk and flair...like me!

Fashion Rule: Stay True to Who You Are.

Taking Chances in Fashion

Mes cheris sometimes you must take chances in fashion, in dating, and in general. Think of the boy that got away because you never showed how you felt, the city you never lived in because home was where you were "supposed" to be. Now stop. Think of where'd you be if you took chances, threw chance to the wind and said "I'm going to make that happen" and low and behold it does.

Sometimes the risk is scary, but it is supposed to be, if it wasn't it wouldn't be a risk. But you don't get the reward without the leap, the reward is all in the risk. Its only for the people foolish enough to go 100 miles an hour toward their dreams and grab it for themselves. You may end up married to your prince, or living in a foreign country, or singing to 1,000 people 3 nights a week, but it will all be a greater story and a fuller life than your typical clocked night of TV watching from your home of some-odd decades. Take the risk.

In fashion there are risks too. You may not always have a home-run outfit. Where do you think the Worst Dressed List comes from? There have been many a day where by 2pm when I actually stop for 2 seconds to look in the mirror I think...Wow I wish I had a do-over on this outfit. You don't always walk out of the house looking like Carrie Bradshaw. But the success comes from the experimentation.

{photos merci de weheartit}

What is your fashion fear? That trend that you are dying to wear, not because you are not at the right figure or income, but merely because its scary. For me its the unknown realm of the belly shirt! (Eeek)!! I was never allowed to wear the midriff shirts in school growing up, back when they were in style last, now they are back and I'm super excited to finally pull them off. But I'm nervous, I keep thinking I look like I'm wearing too little, like I'm saying too much by wearing half a shirt. But I love the look on others...pourquoi?

So this Summer I am going to go for it. Throw two sheets to the wind and sail away on a confident and stylish boat of crop tops! So tell me my dears...

What are you afraid of?

Road Trip! Spring Time means Travel Time

I'm officially ready to be doing something. Spring time is supposedly here (all evidence to the contrary in NYC) and I am ready for shorts, sandals, sunnies, and the open road. There is nothing better than travel time, with the windows rolled down and the best songs jamming on the radio. I have a good road trip burning a whole in my pocket and I need to stretch my legs...unfornately this may not be happening soon.

These two photos put me in that exact Road Trip state that I needed. I guess it will have to be my fix for now. Be sure to check out the new photo finding site I am officially addicted to...Pinterest! Create inspiration boards, like I have done since childhood, but with much less cutting, gluing, and general mess. Stop by and Follow me!

Broken Roads & Hope

I was listening to a certain Rascal Flatts song this past week. Its a song I've heard so much that I tune it out automatically, but for some reason a phrase caught my attention and got me thinking...this song really does speak volumes to the truth.

Others who broke my heart, they were like Northern Stars, leading me on my way into your loving arms. God blessed the broken road, that led me straight to you.

Each time we fall, we get back up, we keep hoping. Why is that? Are we all just habitual masochists? Maybe. Or maybe we know its worth the journey. With every heartbreak we are one heartbreak closer to being done. With every guy who doesn't call, we need'nt worry, we've just narrowed it down one more. Stood up, overlooked, moved on...out, out, out. 

{merci weheartit}

Although it may hurt (and you should never deny that), we heal ourselves, brush ourselves off and keep on swimming. Because we have to, because that one fish is out there, swimming in circles, just as lost as we are.

Here's to broken roads...cheers.

Au Revoir 2010

This year has seemed to have flown by! From staying alone in Warsaw last year, unable to be close to any friends and family...to this year living my dream and snagging a party to watch the ball drop live in NYC... I must say words cannot properly express my elation over the past few months.

I think we're raised to be synical...dream big, but don't get your hopes up because all too often things are not what they seem. Normally this tactic works, as it shelters us from a whole array of disappointing outcomes, but every once and a while you will find yourself pleasantly surprised with sheer happiness. New York has been my surprise, since the days of dress up in my mother's high heels I have dreamed of being a New Yorker. I couldn't wait to prance across town hailing cabs and climbing career ladders... all in the highest of styles of course ;)

This city certainly hazes anyone who dares try to live here, but once you make it in, its absolutely fabulous. So this New Year's I have a bounty of greatness to celebrate. Dreams come true, home sweet home established, and new adventures to embark upon. My favorite thing about New Year's is the look back of the last year, and how many incredible changes can happen in just 365 days. I am sure 2011 will bring about some changes of its own and personally cannot wait set out on the next 365 adventure!

Here is my recap of 2010... what is yours darlings?

{merci weheartit for the photo love}

 Rang in the New Year in a new country!

 Traveled to 4 new countries!

Fell in love in a romantic city!

Life long goal realized!

Not bad. No pressure 2011...

Come Hell or High Water

{thanks Tumblr}

I'm pressing forward to make my dreams come true, and I'm not going to lie to you...its hard.

But sometimes the thing you want has to mean more than the comfort of not going for it.

What will you reach for today mes cheries?

The New Hair Conundrum - The Guest Blogger Series

My transition to NY is moving along wonderfully and things are starting to come into place, and in the meantime I am having some lovely blogger friends help me with some posts! Today enjoy Jessica from Fashion Limbo as she debates on gettin her heer did!

New season? new hair? This is the question lodging in my brain as soon as September arrives. By the end of said month I am desperately looking for an excuse to book my appointment at the salon, bugging friends with celebrity pictures asking “would this style suit me?”. By October I have seen my stylist, with no clue about what to ask for. I’ll just let him do whatever he fancies, changing my mind along the way, begging for more length here, less there... the results end up being, more often than not, questionable. Insert sad face here.

So, in the name of patience, and good taste, I have decided to take a step back and truly consider what I want done to my hair... and more importantly, what would really look good.

Right now I’m contemplating having a new hair colour. I should add I’m a natural brunette. The good thing about being brunette is that one can go bare-faced in terms of make-up, unlike platinum blondes. A shade of red on the lips can look positively stunning, especially if one goes for blue shades. I am lusting after a shade of pink by MAC and I know it would work great with darker locks.

However, being a brunette, I’m yawning. Going platinum blonde has always been a secret desire of mine. The sad truth is that platinum is not for the regular wallflower. As stated above, one could never, and I mean never, leave the house without any make-up.

Additionally I would have to invest in good shampoos, conditioning treatments and much more. No harsh methods such as hair-straighteners allowed and head to a trusted colourist to keep the black roots at bay... every fortnight.

And then there is Florence Welch (Florence + The Machine), parading her red locks around and looking truly amazing. Maybe it’s time to become a fake, yet stylish, redhead?

Or maybe it’s just time to settle as a brunette, love my natural hair colour for what it is, embrace all chocolate shades, and stop torturing myself lusting after other people’s heads?

... naaah! that would be too boring. So! how about jet black...?

{thanks weheartit for the photos}

Be sure to check out more from Jessica at Fashion Limbo everyday darlings!

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Dream Big

It is a strange feeling to know you are smack dab in the middle of living out your dreams. But your wildest dreams only happen if you seize them mes cheries. Yes it is risky, because to gain big you have to gamble big, but what if you always played it safe? If you always live in the black and white box where nothing happens to you, you may never get hurt, you may never fail, but you will also never fly and you will never succeed. Life is too short to rob yourself of its fullest potential. Have you ever considered that you are the only thing holding you back from your greatest potential?

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When we are kids we dream big and don't think about any repercussions because nothing in our minds is worth sacrificing the prize where we have our eyes fixed. Then somewhere between Barbie dolls and diplomas we enter a world of confusion and hesitation. We justify ourselves by calling this reality, but isn't reality just the environment you create for yourself? Of course we have responsibilities, financially and so forth, but who's to say you can't up and change your life if its not what you want? You can. We psych ourselves out and say that no one really lives out their dreams once they grow up, is that really being a grown-up? Living a bland vanilla life of paycheck to paycheck, mortgage payment to car payment to the grave? What if you want a world of color, a world of adventure, excitement, and challenge? What if you actually delivered on all the things you promised your daring younger self?

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Faith was never meant to be a drug,

to sedate us through a life that we hated.

~Steven Furtick

{weheartit}

Find your dream and take that leap of faith. It is better to gain wisdom through living your dreams then to always live in the depression of what-if. Your dreams are what make you unique, so go get them and show me what you've got mes cheries!

Recapturing Fulfillment

Yesterday was a moving day for me. After a year of being in France, I have missed being in an environment where I could feel something more than skin deep. A community where I can feel included to believe in the one thing that I believe in most of all without having to defend myself for it. Even more than that, I have missed the feeling that my spirit is alive and full and about to burst with untainted joy and peace. It is really something hard to put into words; one of those things you only understand if you have taken the time to explore your spiritual level and nurture your soul.

Faith is a funny thing; it is something we all have, yet it is a word that can make people nervous. You have faith in opportunity that the perfect job will come along, faith in your man to take care of your heart, and faith in yourself to overcome all things that may alter your plans, but to have faith in a higher being; that is iffy. Why? Personally for me, having faith in God was never the problem, because no matter what problems have befallen me, He has cleaned them up and pulled me through. Now you most certainly can chalk that up to dumb luck or fate and I wouldn't blame you for it, why not? Except inside my soul, deep down in my gut I have this feeling; this undeniable truth that I cannot avoid.

Just like being in love is hard to pin down in words. You can have a range of emotions, and rant on and on about how that person makes you feel like you can fly, but love itself is pretty ineffable. That is what faith is to me, something crucial, necessary to my existence, but hard to always eloquently express. But regardless of how intangible it is, it will always be like my wind, impossible to have proof by sight but I can see its effects on everything around me and can feel its assured presence on my skin.

{tumblr and weheartit}

Try a cup of faith today mes cheries.

The Way I See It

{weheartit}

Isn't it fun how you can travel and discover that this new culture has a beautiful custom you would love to adapt as your own? Or you can meet someone halfway around the world that shares a friend with you or went to your small college? These are things I love, finding the beauty in people and learning how expansively small our world can really be.

How about you lovelies?

One Day at a Time

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Are you happy with your journey?

Only you can change it.

Wish You Were Here

I'm off to Amsterdam for the day darlings and am have high hopes for a wonderful trip. Fingers crossed, I'll get some blue skies for some beautiful photos. My American friend (that lives in Germany now) has flown in to visit my other American friend and me here in France, so us three are off to have a fun girls day out.

thanks flikr

I'll report back to you soon mes cheries!

Bucket List

I love this idea of dreams in a bucket. How cute and inspirational would this be on your home office desk...or even in your cubicle?! The important thing to remember is that you have your Dream List but no matter how you store them away you never forget to take them out and make them come true. Dreams are no good without the realization.

*thanks tumblr*

I have my own bucket list that I have been compiling and I am learning that I have accomplished many things so far. For being in my twenties I have a great head start and I plan on keeping it up. What good is life without squeezing all the very best out of it?

What is your Bucket List darlings?

BlogLovin Sunday!

Follow my blog with bloglovin

Its a relaxing Sunday although I can't say all too much lazy...I have tons to catch up on! As I simultaneously update my Etsy shop pictures I have decided to join Blog Lovin! So I'm expanding my Social Media Networking further, so join the party guys and follow me on BlogLovin'!!

Do you guys know of any other fun social media sites I should check out?

Hourglasses & Mirrors

Its funny how quickly things can change; sometimes subtle and other times like a bomb. One day you can wake up and find that the person you thought was your future has all too quickly become your past; you can discover the person you thought you would be has yet to be near what you are so far.

Character as well as destiny is made up of many tiny moments that over a lapse of time give us the complete picture. Its like looking at one of those collage pictures that create a huge picture by a bunch of very tiny pictures, in hindsight it is clear what the big picture is but as you are ticking away along your path of life each little puzzle piece seems to be unrelated and all too confusing. Maybe we sit perplexed by the man whom we were convinced was perfect in every way...at least until the Perfect Man comes along and than we have the "Ooooh" moment when suddenly all the failed relationships, broken plans, and heartache make sense.

*thanks tumblr*

But if anything is sure at all, it is that it all works out in the end, and worrying never added one glimpse of the future's answer. So the best we can do is have faith, in ourselves and each other, and soak up every moment like its our last. Maybe then, when we look back, we won't regret anything because we know, without a doubt, that we truly experienced all there was to offer and can be happy about that.

How do you live in the moment?

Don't Stop Believing

*thanks Joy Cenicole*

I'm off to Paris this week mes cheries! My parents are flying in to visit me, and I am so excited. All my life I dreamed of Paris; the romance, the ambiance, and now I am actually blessed to live in France. I never would've dreamed of that, so today I'm sending out a hopeful message to the masses, don't ever stop believing. If there is something you want in life, go for it with all the gusto you can muster, it'll happen, just believe.

Stay tuned for a week of fun posts while I'm gone!

Tick Tock

Time is running out my darlings, by the end of Sunday this awesome giveaway from Flip & Tumble will be all too soon a thing of the past!

thanks tumblr ;)

Hurry and Comment HERE while you still can!

Pourquoi Pas?

Why not find a hunky computer nerd in the nearest cafe? You can break the ice over being confused with HTML writing and then quickly learn why its so great when they develop brains before beauty...

*merci weheartit*

I happen to be in my own HTML crash course crisis right now and could personally use my own computer geek rendez vous to set me straight...and not want to throw my computer against the wall.

Any suggestions?

In Lights

Let me tell you about a little obsession I have had since childhood darlings: singing. I also happen to love dancing, although I have no training in this area. So naturally a world where you can break out into song and dance at any (and most) given moments is of course one in which I would love to live. Just think of Amy Adams in Enchanted and you will understand.

*merci tumblr*

I usually manage to catch one musical a year and I am beginning to feel the urge to be enchanted by another one soon, although I know it will sadly be a while before I can. Far away from the glistening lights of Broadway, I must wait until I can get myself back to the Theater District. My first stop will be Wicked which I have been dying to see for years now, ever since it came out. Immediately followed of course by Junior's Cheesecake just down the block, if you haven't ever tried this cheesecake, your life is not complete. It is single handedly the greatest thing in all the world.

What is the next musical on your list?

Pourquoi Pas?

Why not give that diet a break?

Walk into your nearest candy store...

*thanks weheartit*

...and literally be a kid in a candy store!

Fill up a bag with the most colorful,

fun looking goodies to brighten your day!