Sundays’ Game: Daydream Shopping Spree

So, something that I really want to do on Sunday’s is take an imaginary internet shopping spree and just find the perfect dream outfit for an occasion. This week I’ll be looking for an outfit for a Valentine’s Day Date!
Personally, I don’t like to go too overboard on accessories for an occasion like this. Also, I tend to shy away from traditional color schemes. To me it’s too cliche. First of all, I apologize for the low quality image, as soon as I have access again to my Creative Suite, they’ll all be better! Also, the only image I could find for the dress was very low quality, but I fell in love with it.

So! Let’s get down to basics!

The dress – it’s not designer, but like I said, I fell in love with it the minute I saw it! Infact, it’s hand made, and I couldn’t even find enough information to know where it came from. It’s a navy blue, polka dot, corset top, ballet style dress. The true navy is closer to the color of the shoes.

The shoes – beautiful navy satin ballet flats by Pedro Garcia.

The Jewelry – both from the new Claire’s line, the earrings are black steel-lace drop hearts and the infinity bangles are done in iridescent over black.

I love the outfit and think that it’s the perfect little get up to get your sweetie’s motor running on that special day. Let’s hope he brings balloon’s 😉

– Olio ❤

It’s All About Style; Not Fashion

Image, of me, by my very own brother, GCTIII

By no means would I refer to myself as a fashion guru of any sort. I live in Nowhereville, USA, I don”t have the money to buy very fashionable outfits or accessories, and I’m kind of “out there” in my thinking. On the other hand, I constantly get compliments on the way that I’m dressed, or have put an out fit together, or my intense make-up. (I love love LOVE make-up, and plan to write an article all about it later on.) I’ve had all kinds of hair styles from luscious, curly, layered hair down to my derriere – to a crazy colorful mohawk – to short short boy cuts – to dreadlocks, and any color/style in between. I have gobs of piercings (thirty-two is the latest count) and tattoos. I’m my own person, and I don’t really care how other people perceive me as long as I am happy with the way that I look.

Which brings me to my point. In every day life, it’s not about fashion, it’s about style. It’s not about designer labels or even designer knock-offs. For me, it’s about taking the common jeans and a t-shirt look, for example, and making it my own. In muy line of work I get tons of free t-shirts, that are already super fly, but always come in a men’s large. What I generally do is cut the collars out and sometimes slit up the sides and lace them back together or something of that nature to make that generic t-shirt my own. I’ll pair it with my comfy jeans, crazy belts, fun shoes (I LOVE shoes and have tons and tons) and fancy, matchy matchy make-up.

People are coming to me constantly asking for advice on how to do something I’ve done with my look or complimenting me on what I’ve done. It’s a fun way for me to express myself, and I always tell people, make a fashion your own, thus becoming style. Take it and run with it, you can still be hip and trendy, but you’ll stand out from the crowd with a perfectly placed twist added into the mix.

– Olio ❤

Smoking: Cutbacks and Inspirations

For years I’ve been a smoker, and I do mean big time. Right now I probably average approximately two packs a day. That’s roughly 600 cigarettes per month! That’s bad. Bad! Now, I’ve been heard saying that I have no desire to quit smoking. This is true, maybe not the most sane desire, but it is true. I would, however, like to cut back a great deal.

I like the fact that I smoke. I like the feeling I get when I smoke. I just like smoking period. Unfortunately, it is extremely unhealthy. Audrey Hepburn has been quoted as saying that six cigarettes per day is still ladylike and acceptable socially. Granted this was nearly fifty years ago, I believe it to be ideal.

Recently, a very good friend of mine went from two packs a day to five or six cigarettes a day. The reason that he decided to do this is because he decided to walk from our apartment complex to the college which is roughly fifteen to twenty blocks. In the area that we live in that is not an extremely large distance to walk. BUT once he had reached about three blocks he was so out of breath he couldn’t continue and had to turn back and drive himself to classes that day. Seeing him be able to do this has been such an inspiration to me that I have decided to cut back myself!

There is a bit of glamour that goes with smoking. I’ll be the first to admit that I started smoking the Camel No. 9 Menthe’s because they had a pretty package. At one point, once I started going to college, I decided that I was going to quit, but had made the comment that if my cigarettes came out in 100’s (stiletto) I would start up again. A week after I made that comment, I was in a gas station with a friend and saw and advertisement for the 100’s version. At that point I decided that it was useless to continue torturing myself by not smoking.

I realize that this article is starting to sound like I am anti-quitting-smoking, but I am not. Infact, I’ve done some research on quitting smoking, and I’ve found a great site full of resources to help you quit!

-Olio ❤

Never Leave Home Without It!

Image by http://www.iheartluxe.com/

I’ve been known to carry a journal on me no matter where I go or what I’m doing. It may just be my favorite hobby. I always have random thoughts in my head that I want to spill out – so – I pour them across the pages of my journals.
Generally I’m not that picky on the kind of journal, I just pick up whichever one catches my eye at the time. Also, I’m fairly sparatic and never fill up a journal consecutively. Infact, I tend to stick to one journal for two or three days and then change, but eventually, when I’m going through all of them I go back to one I’d used in the past. That makes it more fun to discover what it was I was going through at the time.
One day about six or seven months back, in the hunt for a new journal I stumbled across a really fun journal called Wreck this Journal, by Keri Smith. It’s delightfully silly. I highly recommend checking it out.

I’ve found journalling to be quite therapeutic as well. In flipping back through the pages of one of my older journals, I found and entry that said something to the effect of “my journal is like my best friend, I can tell it all my deepest, darkest secrets and it won’t judge. It knows me better than I know myself.“

-Olio ❤

Balloons and Cupcakes vs. Flowers and Chocolates

Image by http://blog.craftzine.com

With St. Valentine’s Day fast approaching, ads for flowers and chocolates are becoming more and more evident. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a sweet gesture, flowers smell great look beautiful and bring a genuine smile to your face when you get them. Chocolates are so cute and wonderful and tasty tasty mmmm. But personally, I’d rather have balloons and cupcakes.

Balloons are so whimsical and bright and shiny and they can seem to float away to anywhere, balloons tend to let my imagination run free and keep me from being too grounded (something I like to avoid). And cupcakes… Well, it’s not so much about getting them for me as it is about the time spent making them with someone special. This time of year, in most place around me anyway, it’s pretty chilly outside – so being inside next a nice cozy oven is idealistic for me. Cupcakes can have so many flavors and colors and decorations, always make a great gift, and well… are wonderful to bite into as soon as you’re done decorating. Taste the glory!

Personally my favorite memory of decorating cupcakes with someone is of a couple of summer’s ago my sister and I were getting ready to go to visit her boyfriend who lived in another town so we decided to make a big old batch of cupcakes and decorated them in all kinds of silly ways. It was one of the most enjoyable times I’d ever spent with my sister.

The best part in all of this is when you get either the balloons or flowers not for Valentine’s Day, or your birthday, but simply just because. Those are always the most heart warming gifts. I like to just get balloons for people I know at random, because it always makes their day!

So my question, really is, in a knock-down, drag-out fight between Balloons and Cupcakes vs. Flowers and Chocolates, who do you think would win, and why?

– Olio ❤

Delicious Cupcake Recipe (not to be attempted alone!*)

Scrumptious Strawberry Cupcakes with Real Strawberries!**

Ingredients

– 10 tablespoons butter, room temperature
– 3/4 cup white sugar
– 3 eggs
– 1 teaspoon strawberry extract
– 1 3/4 cups self-rising flour
– 1/4 teaspoon salt
– 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh strawberries, drained

Directions

– Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease 12 cupcake pan cups or line with paper liners.
– In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the strawberry extract. Combine the self-rising flour and salt; stir into the batter just until blended. Fold in strawberries last. Spoon the batter into the prepared cups, dividing evenly.
– Bake in the preheated oven until the tops spring back when lightly pressed, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in the pan set over a wire rack. When cool, arrange the cupcakes on a serving platter. Frost with desired frosting.

*Decorating tip! Use rolled fondant or marzipan to create fun designs!

**Recipe found at http://www.allrecipes.com/