Quick Share ~ This is why I’ll never be adult

I found this post by Allie{and consequentially the blog of awesomeness ~ Hyperbole and a Half} through a FB post and just had to share. 

It’s humour in pictures and text and well….  I can’t really explain how funny I found it, so I’ll let you read it yourselves.   But I must add a warning: strong language is used, so if you find that offensive, please do not click through. 

This Is Why I’ll Never Be Adult

I have repeatedly discovered that it is important for me not to surpass my capacity for responsibility.  Over the years, this capacity has grown, but the results of exceeding it have not changed.  Normally, my capacity is exceeded gradually, through the accumulation of simple, daily tasks.

But a few times a year, I spontaneously decide that I'm ready to be a real adult.  I don't know why I decide this; it always ends terribly for me.  But I do it anyway.  I sit myself down and tell myself how I'm going to start cleaning the house every day and paying my bills on time and replying to emails before my inbox reaches quadruple digits. 

Schedules are drafted.  Day-planners are purchased.  I stock up on fancy food because I'm also planning on morphing into a master chef and actually cooking instead of just eating nachos for dinner every night.   I prepare for  my new life as an adult like some people prepare for the apocalypse….

~ * ♥ * ~ * ♥ * ~ * ♥ * ~

Oh and if you liked that one; you should try this post:

Dog

and this one:

Dogs Don’t Understand Basic Concepts

because after reading them I swear my ribs felt like they had split from laughing so hard.  And there were tears.   These posts are pure gold.   Enjoy!

xox,

bonita

Quick Share ~ My Milk Toof

So I thought I’d take a break from all the serious “improve your blog” post sharing because I have to tell you all about this absolutely adorable blog I found!  Created by the incredibly talented Inhae Renee Lee, this blog showcases great photography and imagination.

It has nothing to do with vintage or fashion, but it is a whole lot of cuteness that is hard to resist….   I must admit there was a bit of squee~ing going on when I discovered it.  But I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

My Milk Toof ~  The art of Lardee

"Lardee, that's not how you paint a fish."

"You have to observe,"

"be precise,"

"...and execute."

"Like this, see? Now you try."

"Observe,"

"be precise,"

"and execute."

"Good!"

"It's okay Lardee, nevermind."

xox,

bonita

sassyNpunk feature ~ cuteness overload!

Okay, I would like to do a post featuring sassyNpunk.   Yes, I talking about how awesome I find the shop.  No, I haven’t bought anything from there yet, so I can’t give you a full review.   I am however, writing a disclosure so that you know that a}.  While I might receive a gift from sassyNpunk for doing this, I am writing out of my own experiences and opinions.   That being said, I haven’t had the full experience yet, so I can’t tell you if it is good or bad. 

And b}. If I do happen to receive something for my work I will do a review on it and let you know what the products are like in real life, not just internet land.  So I hope you don’t mind the topic, and hey, you might find a new favourite store too. 

The main reason I decided to do this feature post is that I heard rumours that sassyNpunk were doing a special offer where you can blog about their store and they’ll send you a package of freebies…   And who doesn’t love freebies?

For myself, I actually found this one pretty amazing.  I don’t know many shops that will give away items in return for a bit of publicity.   Most of the time you have to be famous in blog land before any company will look your way twice. 

I am glad that sassyNpunk are doing this offer though, because I have been drawn to their website on numerous occasions, and I think I leave a little piece of my heart with them every time I go there… 

I love, love, love their products.  Like this Happy Mushroom Cameo for AUD $10.13 ~

Or this gorgeous Cherries Necklace {which would look great with my new dress btw!}

Or the Cherry Cameo Necklace ~ which I love even more.  Cherry obsessed much?  Why yes!

Then there’s the Hello Kitty stuff {Hello Kitty in a tea pot?  Love it!!}, the hair stuff, the cute stationary stuff ~ all of which could pretty much be on my wish list at any point.

However, let’s not forget the other side of sassyNpunk.  The shop does not just cater to the cute and cuddly ~ there is a wide variety of goth/emo/punk type items for sale too.

I am not so fond of the punk stuff…  Too many zombies and guns and knives.   Not up my ally, but sure to appeal to anyone looking for a lot less cute and a lot more punk.   {Actually, that would be my sister!  >o<} 

In my mind, it’s a good shop for online cute and you can find a range of stuff for almost any girl.   Sorry, guys, but it is pretty gender specified!   sassyNpunk would be great at providing Christmas gifts ~ for you or some else you know. 

Check it out if you like, and let me know what you think.   > ω <

xox,

bonita

 

P.S.  ~  All images are from the sassyNpunk website and are copyright to sassyNpunk.

Feature ~ The Random Rocker

So there are four girls in out family ~ myself being the eldest, then my BFF who is number two, number three is my co~author and storytelling pal, and number four is my horse riding/photographic/drawing conspirator. 

We are all friends, and we all hang out together which is a total blast {I love my family sooo much ~ ~ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ *infinity!}.  I am amazed that as the years pass and as I watch them grow, at the same time we have become so much closer.  I also love that I can share the things that I love to do with them!

It’s great because I have a least one sister to share my one of my hobbies with so I am never without someone to talk about the latest thing I am into.

{Except they do not quite get the vintage thing yet.  They admit that it looks good on me, but still have a grand old laugh when I come home with something that looks like it belongs in my grandmother’s wardrobe.  It’s funny how much my mom does not get it ~ she absolutely cracks up because of course she remembers HER mother wearing it and being “unfashionable”.  

It is a bit hard to explain when I spent the first half of my teenage life trying to show my mom the difference between ‘daggy’ and ‘cool’ then in my early twenties, turn around and proclaim the clothes she would have deemed ‘daggy’ back then as ‘cool’!!  Of course, vintage is not actually cool, for me it’s timeless elegance from the past.  But not everyone understands that.  I do not mind, they’ll get it one of these days.  ^__^}

*phew*  Side track’d.  So sorry about that.  But any who, back to my sisters.  I am constantly in awe of their talents ~ Two can cook pies {pasty, filling and all} from scratch and from a recipe made up in her head {!!} as well as having multiple talents in card making, organizing the best parties and decorating random stuff. {All the best cooking genes went to her, then to the other two.  I got nadda….  >o<}

Four is chasing me down in the photography/drawing skills and Three…. 

Well, let me introduce you to Three.  Otherwise known as The Random Rocker. 

~ Art Appreciation ~

by The Random Rocker

And my personal favourite ~ 

~ The Emo and The Eyeliner ~

by The Random Rocker

She has two other videos up so check out her channel, but I think that these two are the best she’s done so far.  Yay for Random!

She also has a drabble blog ~ short stories written about pictures that she likes. 

Find it here:  A thousand words…. 

It is really cool, but only just started, so please do not be too disappointed if there is still only one story up.  {There was only one last time I looked}

So that is my summary of Three and her creative stuff.  I hope you enjoyed this feature. 

xox,

bonita

Feature ~ The Paradoxes of Blogging

When getting dressed these days I often wonder at how much harder it seems to be.  Before I would just throw on the clothes and be done with it. 

But now I find myself fussing over the outfit ~ am I wearing too much RTW?  Will readers out there shun my blog for my outfits not being vintage enough?  If I do crazy outfits all the time will I scare people away or attract them to Depict This!? 

All this thinking was intensified by this post from Rebecca of The Clothes Horse.

 

~* ♥ *~* ♥ *~* ♥ *~

 

The Paradoxes of Blogging 

by The Clothes Horse

I wanted to clarify (or perhaps continue) the points I mentioned in my post Paradoxes of Blogging.  The main point today is: wearing an outfit for the sake of a photograph….

…More often, I will have my "style experiments" which I wear all day, but my point is: I wouldn't have worn them all day if I didn't have this old fashion blog and the thought of pictures in the back of my head. That is what I meant by "the process of recording alters the record." In the conscious act of deciding to record things we begin to construct items to record and alter what we are recording; if we hadn't decided to write blogs then the day, outfits, and ourselves would be different (although possibly this difference is minor). My outfits are definitely being worn, but in a "normal" world they probably wouldn't have been outfits I tried out. My blog has given me some sartorial courage and a reason to exercise it. If you came upon me on the street (or path in the woods), they are what I would be wearing that day.

There is the inherent staging effect of taking pictures; particularly when you take them of yourself. I mentioned this way back in 2008 and with photographic illustration. In that post slightly clashing elements of a tote bag and leopard print headphones were highlighted when they normally would have been removed for the sake of blog images. Such edits happen frequently and not always by conscious choice (often I merely forget to photograph my purse rather than purposely leave it out). Many other factors lead to the staging of outfit shots as well. Most of the winter I removed my coats in order to photograph the outfits I was wearing underneath them, misleading some people to think I lived in a warmer climate than I do. I also spend more time every day barefoot than I do in heels; one of the joys of working from home, no?

Truthfully, even if I could paint a perfectly accurate and realistic image of my life and my outfits: I doubt I would.  This blog is escapism as much for me as it might be for others visiting; so if only idealized images of this period in time remain to jog my memory later, I'm content with that.

~* ♥ *~* ♥ *~* ♥ *~

I started doing outfit posts because occasionally I would put on a cute outfit and think, “Gee, I wish I was going somewhere that I would get a photo taken in this outfit!  I really like it!”  but now I find that outfit posts are determining a great portion of what I wear.

It is the process that Rebecca calls “recording altering the record”.   I find that an interesting concept in its truth because you can not escape from the fact that when you start thinking about writing something down, or recording your efforts permanently there seems to be a sort of automatic staging, or self censorship ~ much like how you censor yourself before you say something.  {At least, if you are me you do!}

I find it very intriguing how it can be just as much of what we do than who we are that influences what we wear.  I used to think that I was a “This is who I am” only dresser, but I have realised that particularly now that I am outfit posting that I am just as much a “This is what I do” dresser too.

How do you dress?  By what you do or by who you are?

xox,

b.

Feature ~ Words of Wisdom

some days…

[ click for a larger view. ]

… it’s just nice to pull out my colored pencils and outlining markers. Go through all the images on my computer and just sketch.

Creativity is a funny creature. Sometimes it likes to play nice and give you oh-so-many lovely ideas and motivations. Other times it goes to hibernate and hangs a big ol’ “do not disturb” sign on it’s door. This year has been a huge growing period for me in understanding how my creativity works, that it sometimes goes into remission and that it’s okay to give it a rest to recharge. For long periods of time I’ve been uninspired by my ideas. I’m grateful to my sister especially (who is another creative soul) for encouraging me to keep doing things, even though I felt the ideas were sub-par. Not to let it go completely, but to gently cultivate it even though there wasn’t much to cultivate.

It actually wasn’t until quite recently that things started to feel less forced and more like the way I remember them. I finally finished the sketchbook I started in January (I usually go through 2-3 big sketchbooks a year). I had been picking out sewing projects that inspired me and also were useful to fill gaps in my wardrobe. I gave myself “permission” to just create something if it caught my eye (and I had the time to do so). Even seemingly mundane, daily tasks like doing my hair or makeup I tried to view through the lens of being creative in a small way. Infusing that sense of wonder and excitement back into the littlest things was important.

[ click for a larger view. ]

I know many others go through dry periods too (whether or not you are “creative” in the art sense, or your talents lie in another area!). We all hit bumps in life that throw us a bit harder than we expected and sometimes it isn’t as easy as getting back up right away and dusting ourselves off. Sometimes you just need to lie still and heal a bit. I’ve come to realize that that’s okay and not to censure myself for feeling any less than 100% creative. But to enjoy and be thankful for it when it’s there.

Have you ever been through a “creative dry spell”?

~ Hooo boy, have I ever!  The reason I’m re-posting this post I found on Casey’s Elegant Musings is because I do find that I go through long creative ‘dry’ spells and it frustrates the heck out of me.  I hate it when you sit down with a pencil and paper and find that the ideas just won’t come…   You prod, you probe and you try desperately to seek out that elusive being known as “Inspiration” ~ but alas, if you push too hard it flies away faster than you can chase it and your left sitting in the dirt otherwise known as writer’s block (or artist’s blank). 

I have heard the theory that if you refuse to succumb to the dreaded block (in whatever form it may appear – sewers know it as ‘losing the sewing mojo’) and keep on pressing on, eventually you’ll get into the habit of just working through it and then it won’t bother you any more.  I’ve also heard that changing projects is a good idea as well.  This is the first time I’ve ever heard of someone saying “Just let it be.” 

To be sure, Casey isn’t saying to drop it altogether, but rather to gently work on what you can, and if you can’t do much, not to see it as the end of the world.  I really like this point of view.   ~ I’ve come to realize that that’s okay and not to censure myself for feeling any less than 100% creative. But to enjoy and be thankful for it when it’s there. ~  The main reason I like it so much is that I’m always beating myself up for not being 1oo% creative all the time!!  But just like I’m slowly accepting the fact that I am never going to be able to focus on just one particular medium to express my artistic creativity through, I guess I can learn to accept the fact that neither am I going to be able to burn the flame of inspiration all the time.

And this is why it is important to be connected into a community of like-minded people.  They can help you realize things that may take you years to learn on your own.

I can be a Michelangelo-type artist, but more importantly, I don’t have to be producing stuff all the time.  I can let the creative juices simmer away.  Maybe if I learn to let them rest I can create better end results with my projects!  In the mean time, I can not be afraid of producing mediocre works.  Somewhere along the line I have gotten the idea that each piece should be a master piece or it’s not worth it.  Rather, I think I want to start thinking of the average pieces as practising the lessons.   The results may not be the best, and I may never show them to anyone, I may even just screw them up and throw them out.  But at least it’s practise!

Thank you Casey for helping me work another knotty problem out.

xox,

b.