The Next Step

I told myself a little more than a year ago that I wanted to keep my fashion blog up, consistently, for a year. I told myself to keep to a weekly posting. I must say, I was really inspired by a good friend who had been doing it since we were college classmates. I never imagined anyone would look at mine, but I did it all the same, because to me, the whole concept-- and the friend-- were beyond cool.

Now that the year is done and gone, and I actually have surpassed it by several weeks, I wonder: Should I stop posting? Should I move on to another blog that's a little less fashion and a little more philosophy?

But lately, it's felt more like a little plant than a form of self-discipline. I feel the desire to prune it (edit former posts) and water it (keep doing more/maybe post more often). I'm not going to hold myself to a rigid schedule. I tried that before, and would stay up late even on stressful/tiring days just to make sure the post would be at some point on Thursday. Towards the end of the year, that didn't happen quite so faithfully.

Along the way, I got to enjoy seeing how the international community works, seeing that people had read by blog from France, Estonia, Brazil... That was exciting to see.

I also got a little more brave and put my blog where my peers could see, even though I assumed for years that I was the ugly duckling and none of them would be interested (well... just a select few, anyway). I've wondered if I should photoshop, or if I should buy and expensive camera. I wondered if without those things I could call myself a blogger (even a part-time) one, and compared myself to others with coding experience and million dollar wardrobes. Suffice it to say, I was quite insecure about the whole process.

Now I'm thinking that this is a joy for me, not an opening to let negativity in. And to take good advise and ideas from others, but still ultimately rely on my own mind for how this blog 'should' function or 'should' look. Perhaps that will make this blog slightly more sustainable. After all, fear of any intensity takes up a lot of energy.


To my readers who stop by and read; you're helping to make changes in me.

Thanks,


SomethingNew

New Layout for Now

Hey, guys, hey!

I as you might have noticed if you've checked out this blog before, I have changed up the colour and few of the other features. I think it's kind of nice for fall, and I'd love to switch it up in the future, as well.

I guess I've kept the plain black in the past because I was unsure of what would be right, and decided from that place of insecurity. Funny how both big and little details change when a heart frees itself from insecurity, and I'm so happy and feel so blessed that I can make this little step today.

I find it's a lot more fun to look at, anyway.

:)


Thanks for reading.

Gray Joy! or A New Favorite Colour!

Gray and ocean colours...

Hello all my readers! Thanks for coming by my little blog spot, and happy Thursday!

I hope you are all as filled with joy and inspiration as this week summer officially moved into fall. I know it's one of my favorites seasons, as has been since I was a kid in Massachusetts, stunned by the wonder of the turning colours of my world.

This would go great with a skirt I own!

And for the most part, I've loved those classic clothing colour choices as well. That classic navy peacoat than anyone can rock regardless of age or gender. Mulberry, burnt rose and siena-- anything that resembles a toasted sunset (that's a weird picture, I guess!).

But I have a confession: Ever since the second half of summer a new colour has filled my eyes and sparked an interest. Gray! Heather, charcoal, it doesn't matter. Nearly white? Nearly black? I'll take one in each shade! (No book references, please!)

Way too happy in a gray staircase... haha!

I used to see gray as the official colour of dirty sweat-pants and -shirts. I was only impressed if it was clean and fit well, in that case. But now, I see it as the delicate and subtle treatment of a milieu of materials. And I guess I have designers all over the world to thank for that, since they branched out and did as the pleased with it.

One way...

Either way, I'm ready to jump on this bandwagon, gung-ho! So if you see me rocking a gray T-shirt in an ironic way, or wearing my ankle-booties of envy, know that this is a little wink to one of my new favorite things I'm noticing (finally!) in the fashion world.

Or another... 

It makes a great neutral for bold colours...

Has there ever been colour, shade, or material that you never noticed you liked until recently? Feel free to talk about it in the comments below! 

...Or looks great in a monochrome context

Thanks for stopping by, and again, Happy Thursday!

Some original photography by Yours Truly...

Late Summer Uniform

Hello, hello my dear readers, and happy Friday! I've fallen for a style of outfits during the last half of the summer. I don't wear this exclusively, but a great deal of the time I find it comfortable.

Sunroom in the summer.

I've completely fallen for these olive green shorts, as well as some lighter ones, and some white ones. I've found myself pairing them with either sheer, flowy tops... 

...or purposefully long sleeves. (I guess I've always loved that irony.)

My sister caught me checking out my reflection in the Geiser Grand's elevator.

This table came from the Neuschwanstein Castle!

Long sleeves and a foxy friend!

I'll have more to add, shortly. Until then, thanks for reading! Happy Friday!

Acting like we're too cool to be nice...

But yeah, we *can* smile! Heehee!

Late summer parties...

...Gotta love it while it lasts. 

"I'm told it's a big deal in Korea."

Hi everyone!

I've taken a little break as things got hectic, and have been thinking a lot of this blog. Hope all my readers, past and present, are doing well!

I came across a Refinery 29 Article talking about Korea's newest lipstick sensation: Gradient lips! As so as I saw it, I thought to myself: That would be so weird here in America... I *have* to try it!

So I tried it for the first time last week... and it... did not, umm... go well. (I tried using a beige lipstick on the outer rim, instead of concealer.)

This time I got dead serious on a relaxed Wednesday morning and started with the concealer, then the lip stain, then lip liner in bright red! Next I used a lip brush to blend the red out from the center. After that I used an almost negligible amount of clear and sparkle gloss and finally put tiny bit of un-blended red right at the center. I found that it didn't look quite as nice unless the gradient sort of followed the basic shape of the lip itself.

Tickets to see 2NE1?

Sleepy or Energetic?

Kim Bap!!

Check out this excellent example from BeautifulShoes.com!



I didn't think I would like this look on me, but now I'm pretty sure I'll do it again, and soon! I think though, next time, I'll to a little more colour on the eyes, so I don't look washed out.

I don't know much about her, but I'd like to nominate Rihanna to try this look next...

Look at that perfect canvas! Mmm!

Oh wait... It doesn't work that way? I guess that's just the ice bucket challenge! Haha!

I added a little update. Since it's hard to photograph this look without direct sunlight, I decided I would try again this morning. Further, I noticed that gloss, even on the lighter part of the lip, makes the look seem less washed out and ghost-like.

Why hello!

So hard to hold my eyes open in the sunlight...!

WaterLouge: A Watercolor Fantasy

Happy very late Thursday evening everyone! I was afraid I wouldn't get to post anything at all today, but it turned out to be possible after all. 

Some time ago my sister got an iPad to use at work. She found an application that changes photographs into virtual watercolor paintings. I sent her some photos I took while on a water color adventure, myself. I didn't turn up with too much that was ready to post, but this little app turned photos from a lovely little spot into a dreamy painting pastiche. I thought I might share them with you.

Starting place

Style 1

This one shows a slight rainbow lens flair.

Style 3

The Original photograph

The application is called Waterlouge and it takes the above photo, for example, and gives you the options below, and some more as well.

It was good for me to watch, as it shows you the graphite, the lightest colors going down first and the darker colors being added eventually. Hopefully I'll remember some of those principles as I sit down with my watercolor set next time.

great little place 

Thanks for checking out this short little post. I've got lots more photos from my Oregon trip, but am not having the best of luck putting those things together quite yet. More from me soon, hopefully!

Thanks for reading! Happy (now) Friday! Haha!

P.S. I thought I might share with you a little song song that I feel goes with the view. :)

Glassworks: memories of creativity

Hi everyone! Happy Saturday night!

It's been a cool minute since I wrote anything here, and I suppose that stepping away from a hobby or even an avocation can remind us precisely why we chose that outlet in the first place. (More on that later.)

When I was in Oregon, visiting my parents, my sister, mom and I came across an art gallery. There were all kinds of interesting mediums, including watercolour and ceramic works. But what really caught my eye and got me dreaming again was the glasswork. I've never seen some of the styles before, and it was fun to conjecture on how they were made. Here are some of them that I really liked.  

A curved glass plate next to a ceramic work

deep blue

Amber light

This one was really fascinating to me. It seems it's a plate of clear class and a white one as well, with slender chunks of glass in brown, streamers of black and yellow, green, blue and a little red frit (glass that has been ground down to sand). They all work together to create the image of trees. What a fun way to paint!

I shared a little of my glasswork in the past, here on blogger in my Unity post. I have also done a little non-fusion work. I made a stain glass panel with lead, and a few other fusion pieces that I haven't posted as of yet. Seeing the other artists' pieces gave me the itch to work with my hands to create something fun and colourful. I have to look around and see if there are glass studios in my area, or at least glass kilns.

Is there something you haven't done in a long time that you'd like to start up again?

;) If so, get to dreamin', friend! I encourage you to go for it!


Happy Saturday night, everyone! Hope you have a good night and a great tomorrow!