365 Project: Day 244

What a great day! I finally got my t.u.k. punk inspired pumps, which arrived at my workplace last Wednesday about 20 minutes after I left, and waited for me, alone, over a sick day and a weekend... Crazy high heel, but surprisingly padded inside. Happy-happy joy-joy!

What a cool box.

And hey, look what’s inside:

And after all that goodness, some fresh baked apple pie, courtesy of my husband’s baking…

365 Project: Day 107 + fabric, shoes & a sukkah

I started my day early, around 6:45 or so, but it stayed pretty dark throughout the morning. It’s actually pretty dark right now (~13:30). Well, I guess the seasons are actually changing. I dislike this time of year, because you never know what you’re going to get tomorrow, and some days you don’t know what you’re going to get later in the day. You might leave the house in the morning wearing short sleeves, and come back in the evening to pouring rain. I wish the weather could decide: summer or winter.
  

First thing in the morning, I went to the post office to get my latest delivery of fabrics, for dirt-cheap prices (from Good Sewing and Crafts). Yey! I can’t wait to start on some projects I’m planning, but I’ve been crazy busy with work, and haven’t had any time to do anything…

365 Project: Day 85, shopping fun!

I’m getting over a bout of the flu, so today I was planning to take it easy. Go get a few supplies from the yarn store, and come straight back. I ended up walking around for about 4 and a half hours, with plenty of loot to show for it.

I started out by taking advantage of the end of season sales, and bought a comfortable pair of simple black pumps. I mean, that kind of shoe is good for all seasons and extremely useful, so why pay more? I discovered that you really must be a professional photographer to take a good picture of shoes. So, no pictures (also, they’re nice, but actually quite boring, so I don’t think you’re missing anything).

Then, I went to the fabric store and bought some fabric to cover my son’s bicycle, about to be left outside for the winter. I was planning to actually make the cover today, but 4 and half hours later, I still wasn’t home. So, no.

For some reason, after this, my camera decided it wasn’t going to focus any more, so this got to be the picture of the day.



It’s been getting cold at night, and I realized that winter is actually going to happen at some point (not really soon, but sometime), and it’s time to start thinking about hats for the kids. Since my stash is practically empty, after the fabric store, I went and bought some yarn. I love going to those stores, they’re so much fun. They’re all colorful and full of stuff you want to buy (but I don’t. I make a real effort to always buy only what’s on my list).



These are the yarns I chose: The dark pink yarn is for Hodaya (I haven’t picked a design yet), and the “poison green” and very dark green yarn in the back are for a dragon hat, which is what Noam requested (I promise a tutorial, when it’s ready).

What I learned and a jewelry organizer mini-tutorial (or: my adventures with a stylist part 2)

It’s been almost two months since my session with a stylist. After my previous post, the change had a little bit of time to set in, and I started feeling really bad. Look at all of those women crying on Trinny & Susannah or Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style and you’ll get an idea of what it felt like in the days and weeks afterwards. Even though I’ve gone through it, I can’t quite explain the feeling, I guess you just have to try it yourself to understand. Because it really is quite traumatic.

However, I did eventually get over the shock. When I put on clothes that I thought weren’t that bad and looked in the mirror – I saw what the stylist was talking about, they just weren’t flattering. That’s when I realized I had internalized the change and cleaned out my closet. Nothing less than perfect is left, except for casual hanging around the house wit the kids clothes.

Then I went shopping. I knew exactly the shapes and colors I needed, and didn’t stray one bit. It made the whole process much more focused, easy and fun. I added two questions to the shopping process: Not only is this nice, but also 1. Is it flattering to me? and 2. Is this consistent with my style?

My adventures with a stylist and the making of a skirt which followed

About 6 weeks ago, I won a facebook competition at one of the malls near where I work. The prize was 1000 NIS to spend in a store of my choice with a stylist, and a haircut. I had asked for a meeting with a stylist for my birthday, now – having won this excellent prize, I can ask for something else. I’m debating between a tablet of some sort or a makeup session (now that I know how to dress, I should learn how to wear makeup, right?). Money is, of course, not an issue in my fantasies of what I want for my birthday…

On Friday two weeks ago, I met with the stylist at the mall. First we sat down and discussed my body type and colors and she told me which colors and shapes I should wear. I have red hair, white skin with reddish highlights, blue eyes, and a non-slim hour glass shape (I’m really lucky – I gain weight evenly across all my body, so it doesn’t show as much as it could).
She recommended a V neckline but never spaghetti straps or elbow length shirts – they make your shoulders look much wider than they are. She recommended high waists and tucking my shirt in (sorry, I just can’t). She also said that because I’m tall, I could wear whatever length skirt or pants I want, but I still think that 3/4 length is not flattering to anyone really.

I didn't take these pictures, but you get the idea

Regarding colors, she recommended green, blue, brown and purple (which I already knew) and no red, orange or yellow (how boring, but I guess she’s right). She said nothing about black, because everyone wears black so stylists are on a mission to ignore that color, even though it’s one of the best colors for me. She also recommended off-white instead of white-white (which I wouldn’t have thought of myself), and camel (I disagree entirely).

Now starts the fun: we went to the store and tried out a million outfits. We picked a pair of black skinny dress pants which I would have never picked out myself, ever. They looked amazing! The cut was just right! I also got a drapy-tied black sleeveless top with an off-white lining and it was also perfect. The tied part hid any extra flab I have around my middle, without making me look like I was trying. Excellent. I also got a nicely tailored blue dress. We were running out of time and we needed to pick a 4th item, so I ended up with a light pink top which looked really nice on the hanger, but not on me. I have no idea what I was thinking when I took it, it’s a classic mistake of taking what there is. By the time I got home I already knew it was wrong for me, so I went back the next week and exchanged it for a black tailored dress. Much better.

365 Project: Day 8

French is easy if you have the right tools

If I'm not going for dark red/purple heavy-metal-rock kind of look (which I haven't lately), my favorite is a french manicure (I do my feet as well). I used to pay a manicurist to do it for me, but then I realized that it was just a waste of money.
I bought white nail polish with a thin brush, the really sheer-see-through-light pink nail polish for the slightly blurring effect and a quick drying top coat. I like CHIC nail polish because it gives great value for money, they cost only about 10-15 NIS a bottle, and they're smooth and durable.
The thin brush makes applying the thin white line so easy, and the top coat ensures everything dries before I have a chance to ruin it by touching anything.
Now, after several months I've been doing it on my own, I usually get it right at the first or second try. Not too shabby.
On the other hand, the picture was taken really late at night, the lighting was impossible and I couldn't get the camera to focus without the flash, so photography-wise, not the best item. Still, gotta take one a day, I'll do better next time...
Maybe I'll make this a recurring thing as well, "beauty Tuesday".