Bright Colors

Here's the prompt for today. I didn't even go that bright. I think after the last couple of challenges I needed something easy, comfortable, and relaxing.

This is all I did -

You maybe won't believe how hard it was to get a picture that showed the blue. It kept looking washed out and blended in with my so-not-tan skin...

A Change of Title

While driving to work I was trying to decide on a possible title for today's post.

What seemed to come out winner was:

'I'm Getting Braver or Just Shameless... But Wait: EPIC FAIL.'

Then I was going to blog all about how I had gotten dressed with the prompt in mind, chickened out and changed clothes at work.

Let me explain.

Seeing yesterday's prompt (I'm glad I remembered to check last night!) telling us to dress with a decade or region in mind, my first thought was of these wraps that I brought back from Africa. I've worn one of them as a wrapped skirt (the way the natives wear them) to church, school, etc. before so I thought - this is going to be easy! Then this morning when getting dressed I thought - isn't the point of the challenge to be *challenged*. So then I decided that maybe the example of the girl wearing a scarf would be a good option.

So I got dressed.

And I sent this picture to Katie (from Friday's post) with this caption - 'should i keep my coat on today? or just change since i haven't left yet...'

She hadn't responded by the time I was leaving so I stuffed a shirt in my shoulder bag and headed out. She texted back just as I was getting into my car asking about the challenge, so I quickly texted back telling her that I had a backup shirt and I'd be swinging past her desk first thing.

She approved - adding that she hadn't loved it in the picture but was glad to see it in person since she thought it was really cute, helped me adjust the shawl and now I have this -

Not sure that I love it... but I don't hate it. And I've gotten some compliments on it.

So for now, that extra shirt in my bag will stay in my bag.

I Can't Believe I Did This One...

When I saw today's prompt come up yesterday my first thought was - 'yeah right.' It was pattern-mixing. I don't do pattern-mixing. Unless it's stripes with a solid or flowers with a solid or anything with a solid. Which maybe doesn't totally count and is definitely the coward's way out. So my second thought was - 'stripes with a solid. i've totally got this covered.'

Then last night I was standing in my closet and looking around. And I spot this shirt that I may have worn once since bringing it home from a thrift store. I looked at it and thought... 'maybe...' And I came up with this -

I liked the color combo because the skirt was neutral and with the subtle stripes (same-to-same color), I thought it wouldn't look too bad. But I wasn't in love with the flowy dressy skirt and the straighter no-frills shirt.

So I ventured into my closet again and came out with this -

 
And then I walked out of the house to go to work. Nervous the whole way thinking that I may very well look ridiculous and should probably keep my coat on all day.

Thankfully I have some good friends who work here too, one of which comes in the same time I do. So I went straight to her desk for approval. She wasn't there so I left a note telling her that I needed approval. She came to my desk when she got in and convinced me to take off my coat so that she could actually see what I was wearing (this after I prepped her with the whole pattern-mixing thing and how I wasn't going to do it, etc...).

She approved (thanks Katie!).

So here I sit. Coatless. And feeling pretty okay about it.
I won't go so far as to say that I love it. But I don't think I hate it either.

a close-up of the patterns

these aren't part of the challenge at all, but I rediscovered them when I was going through my closet a few weeks ago and wanted to share since I like them so much. (:

No make-up or hair related to this challenge, so thankfully this post is close-up free. (: (but I am wearing make-up. and hair.)

Another Day...

Day Four of Kayla's challenge - channel someone.

I read this and my first thought was of Miss Audrey Hepburn. I love her. So I started google-searching.

I came across this website and looked at Audrey's information. I then went to look at all the stars they had and saw Princess Grace Kelly. I saw that she was not only a Scorpio, but that her birthday was two days after mine. I figured it was a sign. (: Not that I would ever presume that I could compete or compare with either of them, but looking around their pages gave me a couple of ideas.

End result - I'm wearing something that I would not have normally worn had I not been attempting today's challenge. So, even though I don't think anyone would guess by my outfit who I'm 'channeling'... I think because I'm out of my comfort zone a bit that means it was successful, right?

Here we go again -

I figured a dress seemed appropriate...

(secret - my dress is actually a skirt pulled up)

And I wanted a soft overall look, so I pulled this sweater (a gift from my sister-in-law) off the hanger.

Hair in soft and loose waves.

 And softer, light make-up.

I hope Princess Grace would be proud! (:

Models of inspiration -

(obviously I wasn't trying to copy her dress, I just like her)

Another Good One

Again seen here -

I like this whole letter that John Steinbeck wrote to his son:


Dear Thom:

We had your letter this morning. I will answer it from my point of view and of course Elaine will from hers.

First -- if you are in love -- that's a good thing -- that's about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don't let anyone make it small or light to you.

Second -- There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and crippling kind. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you -- of kindness and consideration and respect -- not only the social respect of manners but the greater respect which is recognition of another person as unique and valuable. The first kind can make you sick and small and weak but the second can release in you strength, and courage and goodness and even wisdom you didn't know you had.

You say this is not puppy love. If you feel so deeply -- of course it isn't puppy love.

But I don't think you were asking me what you feel. You know better than anyone. What you wanted me to help you with is what to do about it -- and that I can tell you.

Glory in it for one thing and be very glad and grateful for it.

The object of love is the best and most beautiful. Try to live up to it.

If you love someone -- there is no possible harm in saying so -- only you must remember that some people are very shy and sometimes the saying must take that shyness into consideration.

Girls have a way of knowing or feeling what you feel, but they usually like to hear it also.

It sometimes happens that what you feel is not returned for one reason or another -- but that does not make your feeling less valuable and good.

Lastly, I know your feeling because I have it and I'm glad you have it.

We will be glad to meet Susan. She will be very welcome. But Elaine will make all such arrangements because that is her province and she will be very glad to. She knows about love too and maybe she can give you more help than I can.

And don't worry about losing. If it is right, it happens -- The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.

Love,
Fa


I especially like the last line (which is why I emphasized it).(:

I Did It Again

Yesterday's prompt from Kayla was - embrace a trend. She suggested clothing, hair, makeup, etc. I figured make-up or hair would probably be the easiest for me since I have both. (: Obviously I have clothes too, but I don't know that any of them can be labeled trendy... (I always say that my clothes rarely go out of style since they were never in style.)

I found a tutorial last night on how to make daytime smokey eyes.

Here's my attempt (hopefully the up close and personal pictures of my face - bags under the eyes included - don't scare you)

And that's that. I don't think you get a great view of it in the pictures, but I do like it.

If you have any disparaging remarks / criticism, please wait until after 4 pm mountain time as I will then be gone from work and away from the public. (:

My First Fashion Challenge Post

I've had this blog in my google reader for... a while. I'm not sure how long. I love her posts. While I'm not super-fashion minded myself, I like seeing things that she comes up with. She also - and this is amazing - makes me want to do crafty-type things. Which in and of itself is a miracle.

She's doing a short fashion challenge this week and I decided I'd maybe try to follow some of the prompts...

Here's my first go.

Her prompt for today was monochrome.

And here I am -

Not great quality. I took them with my phone while sitting down at my desk. I must say, I'm not heartbroken that my face isn't well seen. (: I do kinda wish you could see my necklace a little better because I really like it.

So, I went with a brown/cream thing. Not too exciting, but I like the way it turned out. My undershirt is actually rose-colored, but I like that too. So I'm not completely monochromatic... oh well. I still like it. (:

I Like -

“There isn’t a person anywhere who isn’t capable of doing more than he thinks he can.”

~Henry Ford

and this -

-why don't you tell me that 

'if the girl had been worth having, she'd have waited for you'? 

-no, sir, the girl really worth having won't wait for anybody.

{ f. scott fitzgerald }

 

 

 

saw it on another blog yesterday and really liked it. (the quote is from 'this side of paradise.')

What A Day

I left the house at about 7:15.

I returned home almost 14 hours later.

I haven't eaten since lunch at 1 (I'm toasting bread - or rather, bread is in the toaster - as I write this).

I get hit with insurance stuff I have to deal with as soon as I walk in the door (nothing major, just setting up benefits stuff, but *still*).

On the way home I hear a song on the oldies station that was released when I was 2. Okay, only two, but still. I was alive when it was released and now it's considered an oldie?!

That's depressing.

Columbus Day Saved My Life

Yes, I realize that the day I'm writing this does not happen to be the day the coincides with the celebration of a white Italian man who set out to discover a country that already had native inhabitants and who didn't ever set foot on this continent; but happens to be celebrating a black man who rallied the troops (by troops I mean lay citizens) to demand equality in their country. However, it's a post that has been in my head since Columbus Day - 10 October, 2011.


I'm a government worker. A state employee. There are some pretty nice benefits that come with this position. One of them is the opportunity to take off those obscure federal holidays which I normally only recognized as those days which closed down banks and the post office, but were of no good to me. Now they're good to me. In fact one of them saved my life. It was Columbus Day.

My car has had a rough year. It started with my yearly inspection which I did in August. I can't remember what it was, but something major had to be fixed. Then came September and something else major had to be fixed. Then comes October. The end of the first week in October (the week before Columbus Day) I had been smelling gas while driving my car. I couldn't take it in any time that week, but would have time the next Friday - a week away - and decided I'd just do it then.

Then came Columbus Day. Co-workers told me that we'd have that day off. I was thrilled. Mostly because it was a day that I didn't have to go to work. Then I realized that I would be able to take my car in four days earlier. So I did.

I got the 'diagnosis phone call' later that same day. It went something like this:

awesome-mechanic-who-has-known-me-by-name-for-way-too-long-because-my-car-is-really-old: 'That thing you were smelling, it's not gas, but oil.'

me-who-knows-close-to-nothing-about-cars: 'Oh... well...'

amwhkmbnfwtlbmciro: 'Well, they're both petroleum, so you were close.'

mwkctnac: 'Oh... well...'

amwhkmbnfwtlbmciro: 'Yeah, you have an (insert mechanics technical language which sounds like he's swearing at me in another language here)... and the oil is dripping onto the exhaust. Now, I don't want to scare you, but if that doesn't get fixed, it could catch fire while you're driving.'

mwkctnac: 'That's bad... Yeah. Let's get that fixed.'

And we did. He fixed it. And my car has yet to catch on fire (hopefully it will never happen).

And that is how Columbus Day saved my life.

And no one can convince me that it didn't.

So thank you, Christopher Columbus, for not setting foot in America. And also for being awesome enough that we want to celebrate you anyway.

(nice article here about the silliness of celebrating this day. posted by hannah on columbus day)

Christmas and the New Year

When people have asked me how my Christmas was this year, my response has been -

'Great. In fact, pretty much perfect.'

And I hold to that. It really was a great Christmas.

I loved the whole season. I listened to a whole lot of Christmas music - which always makes me happy. However, I have a method when it comes to Christmas music. It's simple. Don't listen to Christmas music on the radio. That's the stuff that drives me nuts. Some of it is way too schmultzy and cheesy... etc. On my phone - I have only songs I like, versions that I like, by artists that I like. It's perfect. I also avoid all the awful consumerism-focused commercials on the radio that way. Speaking of which, I almost never watch live TV anymore which means I get to miss all of those awful commercials on TV too. Which, I've decided, really helps me not get annoyed with how 'me, me, me, this is what I want' this season can be for some people. So yay for that.

That being said - I happened to get some really nice gifts this year. One of them was a canon DSLR from my parents. It's one gift that I'm going to be contributing too because they cost more than what my parents spend for Christmas. That being the case, my mom asked me a couple of weeks before Christmas if I would be interested in getting one and contributing toward it and I said - YES! I had actually looked at getting one before... but they are really expensive so I decided I'd wait. I waited and now I don't have to wait anymore. I've already really, really enjoyed it.

While the battery was charging I told Harper that the last camera I got was also a Christmas present and since I had been sitting at the hearth and he was on the couch across from me, he was the first picture I took on that camera. He said I better not mess with tradition -

2008 -

2011 - (a la george costanza)

then I hooked up the telephoto lens. this was as 'unzoomed' as it got.

I took another - as zoomed as it goes - picture, but I'll spare Harps the posting of that one. 

Next came Annikki and I messing around with it

I had to auto-focus this one since without the flash the face was too dark for the camera to really focus on. Not bad detail, eh?

candid of Annikki -

always-available photography subjects -

Katie's and Neil's cat that we were watching for a couple of weeks while they were out of town visiting their families -

my first official outing with the camera - temple square -

I've gotten a shot similar to this for the last few years. I love this view -

this is, unfortunately, the back of the nativity, but the red reflection was seen a lot better on this side of the water -

next outing - BYU v. USD -

my nephew and I had some fun messing around -

And now it's the New Year. I'm looking forward to 2012. I have a feeling it's going to be awesome.

Happy New Year!