Recent Shenanigans

I love how I said at the end of my last post I would write about our Christmas, and then I dropped off the face of the planet. Well, that's how my journal looks like. I've been so busy I don't know what to do with myself! Well, let's get caught up, shall we?

Christmas happened. It was awesome. You can see pics from the last post. I ate a lot. And relaxed a lot. It was wonderful. I laid by the fire. I read a book. I got to spend time with Caleb. Caleb got to relax from school. Christmas is great as always.

We spent New Year's Eve back home in Michigan. Our neighbors invited us over for fondue. This was the first time I had ever had cheese and chocolate fondue in a home setting. It was mind-blowingly awesome.

style me #3 sew your own scarf

A while back, like last October, we went to my in-laws for a weekend trip. My mother-in-law loves wearing scarves and thought it would be fun to try and sew our own. Needless to say, it was a success. I don't think I'll ever buy another scarf again. This was before I had Bobbie (my sewing machine), but my mother-in-law also has a good sewing machine and we were both able to make 3-4 in one night.  

When you see all of the cute scarves at the store, they're easily at least twenty dollars. I know there are some of those soft cashmere scarves with beautiful designs that you really can't make on your own, but for the most part, you can make the rest.

style me #2 the psychology of color

When I was in high school, I had taken a class called Advertising Art. This class introduced me to a whole slew of different types of art. I learned about graphic design, lettering, photography, photoshop, and illustrator. It was a really fun class. I remember the day our teacher gave a lecture on color. As much as I loved black and white photography, I came to learn that color was a completely different dimension of art that made the possibilities endless. Our teacher went on to explain to us the psychology of color. I have long since thrown out my notes from that class, but a lot of those principles had stuck with me. I recently found an infographic about color, so I thought I would share it with you all. It is quite long, so just peruse the individual colors. I'm not a believer in the chakra stuff at the very end, but it was part of the infographic so it had to be included. Just focus on the color info. It's pretty intriguing. 

style me #1 know your strengths

Welcome to my first "style me." Once again, these posts are really more for myself to help me figure out exactly what kind of style I have developed over the years. This series is not meant to be numbered by importance, but I did feel that my very first style me should be somewhat overarching for everyone. So I went with something pretty general. Read the intro to my style series here.

KNOW YOUR STRENGTHS

I feel like this applies to everyone, men and women. This tip is not meant to start criticizing yourself and point out everything that is wrong and what you want to change. Please don't do that. This tip is meant to help you (and me) realize what we have going for us. And really, in my opinion, everyone has A LOT going for them. If you can't find any of your strengths, then you need to talk with someone with whom you are close with, and find out what those strengths are. I know they are there. We are all different, but we have all been blessed with many good attributes that can aid us in forming our unique style. 

Let me give you a couple of very simple examples:
All of my sister-in-laws are gorgeous, but for the sake of time (and lack of good photos) I wanted to highlight one of them:

Now among all the wonderful things about her style, I'm just going to point out one tiny thing. I envy those eyebrows of hers. They are dark and very nicely shaped, not to mention how much they stand out against her beautiful fair skin. They were probably not that nicely shaped growing up, but she has learned to shape them in the best way for her. Having dark eyebrows is a strength, and then shaping them to what they need to be is using that strength. 

look at that handsome man!

See this tall, handsome fellow? That's Caleb's brother, Ben. Ben's got great style. Ben's body type is tall and lean. His body shape I think has made him choose clothing that is more...streamlined. Because of his body shape, he wears more of the slim fit cuts and skinny jeans (but not too skinny). He looks great wearing skinny ties to church and his pointy-toed dress shoes make a tasteful style statement against the backdrop of his long legs. Anyway, I think he has good taste. He uses his body shape as a strength to create his own unique style.

Well I think that will be all for style tip #1. I challenge you to look in the mirror and realize your strengths. Then go and use them!

tootles,

Jessie