How to have style is Isaac Mizrahi’s fashion bible and another find from the local library. While the book claims that it is “not a makeover book”, it pretty much is. He profiles a bunch of different women of different sizes, ages, coloring, etc. and helps them find a style.
The first interesting that Isaac suggests doing is keeping a style board. This is not just ripping stuff out of fashion magazines (though can be part of it), but anything you find inspiring – fabric swatches, tickets, etc. He had each lady in the book create one on a bulletin board to help inspire her fashion sense. However, I think this board could help inspire art projects, interior decorations, etc. I think I want one for my craft room!
Going through this book for me was picking women with whom I could relate to and reading their sections. Obviously I’m not feeling the style of an older woman who wears tribal prints! haha. I most enjoyed reading about Lara. Isaac suggested dying her hair platinum blonde (which looked, interesting.. haha) and he put her in very brightly colored clothes. Hotness. See, my pastel purple pants can’t be an entire fashion no-no, right? haha.
Isaac’s fashion illustration is all throughout the book, and is very fun. My favorite segment of his talk show, when it was on TV, was when he would sketch outfits for women and then give them the sketch! That’s worth framing!!! 
So, overall I would say the book is worth a skim through if you can get it from the library or at the bookstore. Find the looks that are you and see if there’s anything new and different you can try. My new resolution is to try 2 bright colors together with a neutral. This was done on Lara with turquoise pants + white top + yellow scarf. Tres hot! Will report back soon.
Figured I’d share how I use delicious to plan trips. Like anyone else, I surf the web and come across interesting places that I want to visit one day. I save them to my delicious links so they are in one place online that’s independent of which computer I’m on. No duh, right?
Well, what I do when I am planning a particular trip is to create a tag that is a specific name for that trip. For example, we’re going to Chicago for Belinda’s wedding in March. We’re also planning on doing a little bit of travelling after the wedding around Wisconsin. So, I’ve created a tag called “midwest2009” for all the links I am saving for that trip.
That’s all fine and good, right? Well, how this really becomes handy is to copy and paste the addresses and phone numbers of the places into each delicious entry. You can then print out a list of all of the places you’ve bookmarked with the trip tag you chose, with addresses all ready to put in your GPS unit before you leave for your trip! Ding!
Happy travels!
OK, well somehow I had found out that Carmindy from What Not to Wear had a book. And, believe it or not, our local library actually carries it. So, I requested it and it was reserved for me way faster than I thought it actually would be! Our library is awesome.
This book is as much of a book about building your self-confidence as it is makeup tips. I read through mostly the whole thing last night (OK, some of it I skimmed), and there were a few good tips. I was more interested in the how-to stuff than the “being happy about yourself” stuff, because I’m already pretty happy. However, I can see that stuff being inspiring to some people.
However, if you’re a regular What Not to Wear watcher, you probably already know a lot of it. Here are some of the things I learned:
- Carmindy was an awkward teenager! I couldn’t believe it until I saw the picture. I always kind of figured she was one of those girls that everyone looked up to in high school.
- A review of the signature “Carmindy eye” is white highlighter on the inside of your eye and just under the eyebrows. (I have tried this and the eyebrow part still looks weird to me.) There are some helpful “maps” in the book for applying eyeshadow for different eye shapes (also for other things like blush, etc). Though, I’m not really sure what shape my eyes are – sigh!
- Blotting papers. Who knew there was such a thing? I guess I will pick some up to combat my mid-day shine. She says to use them and then apply powder over to refresh your look.
- There are 3 things to carry in your purse make-up wise: the aforementioned blotting papers, a powder compact with a mirror, and lip gloss or lipstick. Nice to know it’s not very much, but still more than I normally carry… haha.
- There’s something called “primer” that you can use to prepare your face to hold onto makeup better. I’ve never seen it before.
- I like that she finally shares with us some of the products she uses in the last chapter. They are listed at several price points, though many are clever product-placements for her Sally Hansen Natural Beauty line (I’m planning on checking out the videos on here, maybe it will help to see this stuff actually done in person). I actually purchased the “fast-fix concealer” a few months ago and have been super happy with it, so I might try some more of the product line. However, the “all-over brightener” was weird.. who wants to have lavender under their eyes? Luckily Ulta has a very nice return policy.
So, I discovered there’s now a Picasa plug-in for Dotphoto, which is the service I use to get my pictures printed. Then.. I discovered Picasa can do Web galleries and can directly FTP to my personal site! Hellow hotness.
Therefore, many of the digital galleries have been updated. I still have to put a bunch of stuff from mid-2008 up there, but that’s all on our not-currently-set-up desktop configuration. I also never posted our India photos (other than a few in blog posts), but I’m thinking whenever I get the India scrapbook done, I’ll take pictures of those pages and post them that way. Tricky.
In other news, I finally learned my Project 365 kit was backordered. What-ever!! They had already charged my credit card so I was falsely led to believe that I was receiving a kit this month. Apparently there’s another shipment coming in mid-February, and my kit should ship then. Geez louise. It better come! Luckily those that didn’t even have as much luck as I did have come up with a bunch of ideas to make your own. I’m already finding Project 365 a handy way to journal those photos that I might not normally make a scrapbook layout about – a meal out, some new-to-me shoes, dinner with family, etc. Those everyday occurrences. That’s what the project is all about!
So, what do you do with your photos? Please share!
Holy moly, I’ve been blogging for almost 9 years. Sure, most of my early posts would be considered more like Twitter tweets nowadays, but hey, I was on it yo! Here’s what I’ve been up to in Januaries past:
2001 – Apparently I use watching the Superbowl as a form of procrastination. Now I say it’s for the commercials.
2002 – I hoofed it all the way across campus in an ice storm only to find that class was cancelled. I wonder if you can remote log-in to class these days.
2003 – Killer squirrels break into my graphic design class. Apparently I thought 23 degrees F was warm back then. I do (kind of) miss the RPI albino squirrels.
2004 – I realize I’m becoming old when a group of 14-year-old girls ruin a movie experience. I also spot my very first binary license plate, not so much of an oddity in RTP.
2005 – My very first (and only) mechanical bull-riding experience at the (now defunct) Longbranch saloon. This was also when we had the legendary 1-inch of snow that caused 7 hour commutes home. People still talk about this storm today.
2006 – Lamenting over work and wishing that we had tropical drink deliveries. Heck, now we don’t even have free WATER! haha.
2007 – I didn’t post anything the entire month! Shame on me! I do know that we went on a cruise though!
2008 – We tested an America’s Test Kitchen recipe. What the heck happened to these? I liked at least pretending we were a part of the test kitchen. Christopher Kimball, if you’re listening, send me more “secret” recipes!
My friend Julie, from high school, tagged me on Facebook to write down 25 random facts about myself. I figured I would also publish it here because it was a huge pain to come up with 25 things. Try it. It’s harder than it sounds. In fact, if you have ever left a comment on this blog, consider yourself tagged!
- My job as an information developer means that “I write documentation so the engineers don’t have to! I am a word and computer nerd, dammit!” (Bonus points if you understand the Office Space reference.) Seriously though, the job suits my personality and, even though I only took 1 technical writing job in college, I’m not too bad. Side effect: Everyone either wants me to edit their writing or thinks that I am secretly criticizing their writing.
- Although Oak is the serious cook at our house and often does the cooking when we are having friends or family over, I’m pretty proud to say that I can rock quite a few dishes and am a very good sous-chef. After all, sometimes we do need still to eat when Oak is not feeling the cooking. My specialties are Asian-inspired stir fries, southern-style greens, and pasta.
- I love Bloody Maries. There aren’t many others out there that love them as much as I do, but my mom and mother-in-law both approve, so they are always flowing at family gatherings.
- Despite having a job in the high-tech industry, I’m generally dis-interested with new advances in consumer technology devices. My phone does not access the internet, my iPod has a gray screen, and I don’t own any gaming systems. The only exception is my Silhouette cutter that I use for scrapbooking. I also consider the GPS an amazing invention. Purchase one and see how many road-rage arguments you avoid with your significant other.
- I drive a 2007 light blue Honda Civic. I love it. It’s the first car I have actually gotten excited about/loved! (Sorry to all my other un-stylish cars.. you served your purpose of getting me from point A to point B.)
- The biggest thing I learned in college was stress management… though my perfectionist tendencies are still there, I finally realized there is always going to be someone out there that can not study, show up drunk, and still get an A on an exam.
- I like to think I have a good sense of style – or, at least, “a style.” (I think if people identify certain colors, patterns, or styles as “Carrie-esque”, I have succeeded.) Thanks to my mom for always sending me to school in coordinating outfits in elementary school. Those lessons have endured to my real life.
- I love smelly products – Bath and Body works is an everyday indulgence for me! In the past few years I have gotten some nice-ish perfumes too – my favorites are the tropical scents by Escada and Paris Hilton (uum, I know Paris is dumb but she smells good!). I also have a French citrusy scent that I got in the London-Heathrow airport duty free.
- I have a “craft room.” (I am thinking of renaming it to my “scrap studio.”) It’s bright pink and houses all of my scrapbooking stuff. It makes me happy.
- The Swiffer wet-jet commercials never get old to me. Also, I enjoy making fun of infomercials. When I was young I knew part of the Ronco Food Dehydrator infomercial script by heart. Yes, I know this is sad.
- I’ve recently realized that I am starting to be Too Old for half of the clothes at some of the clothing stores I loved in high school and college. Sigh. Luckily I can still wear most everything at New York and Company and Express, two of my favorites.
- I am one of the least athletic people on planet Earth. Seriously. I don’t think or move fast enough for organized/team sports, and am seriously accident-prone. I even managed to injure myself a few times playing tennis — tennis ball directly IN THE EYE. Hellow! It’s better if I stick to things without flying objects or possible contact – I don’t mind aerobics and the occasional hike.
- I hate chewing noises. It seriously drives me up the wall, especially if you’re chewing gum or something in a quiet room. Yes, I fully realize that sometimes people need to eat. haha.
- Planning trips and weekend getaways keeps life exciting! In the past year we’ve been to India, Mexico, California, and various trips along the east coast – Savannah, Myrtle Beach, Asheville.. I’m dying to go to Europe and French Polynesia/Tahiti.
- The optometrist makes fun of how strong my eyeglasses perscription is. You know when Velma from Scooby-Doo loses her glasses and crawls around on the ground with squinty eyes? That’s me. I used to hate wearing glasses, but I wear them most of the time now because of the inordinate amount of time I spend staring at a computer screen. I’ve thought about getting Lasik but realize I’ll be needing glasses for reading again eventually.. so what’s the point?
- I am pretty sure I have a Black Thumb, but Oak is trying to convince me to enjoy gardening. We’ll see. I do enjoy looking at and visiting gardens, so maybe picturing the end result will help! haha.
- I am a certified Scuba diver, but I only like diving in warm oceans. My favorite dive so far was the wreck of the Rhone in the British Virgin Islands. It was a tough dive with some pretty rough water, but the sea life around the wreck was pretty awesome – even saw a few huge manta rays, and I rubbed the lucky porthole! lol.
- I had super long hair growing up. After high school, i started taking more and more length off at about 6 inches at a time. Now it’s shoulder length. It dries MUCH faster! And, I don’t get the World’s Largest Tangle in it every time I go swimming.
- Scrapbooking has long been a hobby of mine- I started in high school but have gotten much more into it in the past year or so. It gives me an outlet for my visual design background from college, and, luckily, gives me a break from the computer most of the time!
- I have a few things I try to find when travelling – a cupcake shop, some interesting ethnic or local food, a local style piece of clothing or costume jewelry, and if possible, a paper arts or scrapbooking store! And, I accompany Oak to the local brewery, brew-pub, or beer store. I like brew-pubs because they normally have pretty tasty food.
- My favorite bird is the flamingo. I don’t know what attracts me to them other than their color and that they are odd-looking. When I was young my parents built me a little “flamingo park” in the backyard that had plastic flamingos under the trees. It was hot.
- I played the clarinet in high school. Though I haven’t really played since college, I appreciate that I have some knowledge of music, which I have leveraged when playing Guitar Hero.
- I am working on getting an MBA at Brixx Pizzeria. In case you’re wondering, that’s a masters of beer appreciation. It’s a serious degree that I am considering adding to my resume.
- I grew up a Yankee in NY, but have adapted to the Southern way of life – I particularly enjoy the weather and the local cuisine. Northerners do not understand chicken biscuits and sweet tea, two of the world’s finest breakfast items.
- I am a total night person. Carrie Does Not Like Waking Up Early. Thank god for flex hours and weekends!!
Progress has been made on the scrappy chica cutting machine front. I’ve done more than just cut out letters. I finished a Christmas-style title that has little trees as part of the background. I’m also working on a tracing of a map of India, which I’m planning on using as a title page for that book, with dots for each city. (Or , I am seriously considering Belinda’s suggestion of using bling-bling for this purpose!)
Another thing I’m finding this handy for is to create my own version of licensed scrapbook embellishments. Of course, I’m sure this is violating some copyright law, so I won’t share those files, but I think it will be pretty neat to have the Warner Brother’s logo on the page about the studio tour that we did there, for example. I figure as long as I’m not selling, sharing, or otherwise profiting off of the cut-outs or the files I’m okay. Heck, you can acquire tons of vector files of logos for free on the web.
I now know that I took those courses in college that involved Adobe Ilustrator for a reason. bwah-haha. More soon.
Well, I finally took our tree and decorations down today. (yes – delayed reaction! I was so lazy last weekend!)
Christmas was at our house this year! Santa was very good to us as usual - I got some clothing staples I had been wishing for – a few shirts and sweaters, a new purse, new jammies (a hello kitty set and some Victoria’s Secret Pink pj bottoms) and of course every year I get socks because I have a hole sock problem. haha. My stocking had some fun scrappy goodies (stickles! Ink! storage! and the silhouette of course!). There was metal water bottle to replace my apparently toxic Nalgene one. I also got my very first Webkinz – a hippo that I’ve named Harry. Luckily Oak’s sister was there to teach me about the World of Webkinz, because I am like 20 years too old to be using it. That’s okay. It’s actually pretty cool 
Oak’s family also got me a gift card to Victoria’s secret so I had a shopping spree at the semi-annual sale. Is it just me or is shopping in the regular VS store a freaking nightmare, especially during sales? This time I used the website and it was much less stressful. Hopefully my goodies will arrive any day now!
Oak got some awesome new kitchen goodies like a pasta machine, new fiestaware pasta bowls, a few other cool gadgets, and a book that has 1001 foods you must taste before you die. How appropriate is that? He also got a pressure canner from me, which he offered a not-so-subtle hint about. haha. Hotness. I’m sure I’m forgetting something!
Anyway, we found many ways to entertain ourselves during the holiday. There was the annual Christmas Craft – which this year was glittered pinecones with Martha Stewart craft glitter. We also played some games – of the video, computer, and board sort. Skye, Mom, and I also had a few serious coloring sessions. I got a new box of some crazy number of Crayola crayons and a Hello Kitty coloring book. I just love to color. haha.
Here are the pictures. I’m trying out this “gallery” thing in wordpress for the first time – so you can click on a picture to see it larger with the caption. Enjoy!
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- Gathered around the hors d’ouerves on Christmas eve
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- Oak receives fiestaware
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- The annual Christmas fruitcake
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- This year’s Christmas craft was glittered pinecones
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- The moms play Guitar Hero with Skye’s assistance
Well, the holidays were good this year! Santa treated us well and we had tons of fun (I am so NOT ready for the 4th button on Guitar Hero). After the New year, we did nothing but blob out completely. Yes, my Christmas decorations are still up. Oh well. It was nice to not have to DO anything for a few days!
We had a small new year’s gathering at our house. Nothing crazy, but Oak made a roast leg of lamb that was pretty tasty and a recipe with cotechino sausage and lentils from Titina, the lady at CapriFlavors. (Have I ever said how handy it is that we have many specialty groceries here? ding!).
Here I am, ready to smash the peppermint pig, a sign of good luck for 2009. Though, apparently I am feeling very sinister about it.
Happy New Year!
