Fashion Friday Featuring JBR Clothing

This week’s Fashion Friday is featuring JBR Clothing, a company that carries all of your favorite pinup and vintage inspired brands, and also happens to have some of the best costumer service you will ever have the fortune to experience. When I was unsure about sizing for this particular dress I shot the JBR team an email, was helped immediately and because of their expert advice my dress fits me perfectly!

Check out this fantastic company here http://www.jbrclothing.com/default.asp

Dress: JBR Clothing Have you ever seen an article of clothing that was your personality made into a garment? Well this H & R London Polka dot dress was so me I knew we deserved each other 😉 With its black and white polka dot print, classic swing dress shape, tulle underskirt, and fantastic pleated collar this dress is the embodiment of pinup. Not only was this dress visually “me” but the fit is spectacular. The H&R London dresses have a tendency to run on the small side but they provide a size chart that is positively spot on, so need to worry about the dreaded size gambling game. My measurement are 36″ 27 1/2″ 36″ and the medium is a gorgeous fit.

High Heels: DSW yes yes I wear these shoes too much, but am I sorry? Absolutely not.

I hope you all enjoyed this post and that you have a very Happy Valentines! PS if you’re looking for a last minute gift you couldn’t go wrong with a gift certificate from JBR Clothing or you could even buy yourself your own Valentines gift. No need to wait around to get what you really want. Love you guys!

Learning from Oscar Wilde

One of my favorite quotes of all time is from the Oscar Wilde play The Importance of Being Earnest, that quote is “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance”. At first glance most people merely find this quote humorous and rather vain, but in all honesty its rather smart. I know I joke a lot about being single, find that one of my most used hashtags on twitter is #ForeverAlone, and I would very much like to be done with the weeding out the terrible guys and find The One already, but even with these these slight annoyances in my life I’m actually quite happy, don’t get me wrong I still have my moments, but for the most part I am a pretty happy person.  I think the main reason I am happy even though I am all “alone” is that I honestly do love myself. Some people cringe to say things like that, I was one of those people just a couple of years ago, I had scarcely any self-esteem and was so eager to have a relationship. During the time I had zip confidence just so happens to be the same time I attracted some really awful guys, talk about heartbreak, having no confidence and have someone who you thought was wonderful treat you with no concern certainly can damage you further. But I learned from my mistakes and have essentially been uninterested in guys since then, of course there is the random cute cashier, jogger, etc that catches my eye, but no one has captured my interest. I am good deal more discriminating and a heck of a lot more confident. Keep in mind it wasn’t an overnight transformation, but everyone can learn to love themselves better. I didn’t like my body (too fat) and since I could change it I did, nothing like a bit of yoga and healthy eating to change your shape, I also used to hate my nose, thought it was too big, then I thought what could I do about it? I could have surgery to change it as drastic as that may seem, but then I thought even if I could change it to a perfect little nose would it suit me? No it wouldn’t, God knew what he was doing so I should leave well enough alone. Then began the real work, dealing with the internal issues, we all have baggage and we all need to learn to let go of what’s hurting us. Most of my baggage was self inflicted, for the most part people were kind to me, my lack of confidence came from me tearing myself down, I was my own worst “mean girl”. Learning to love myself was not quick but it was definitely worth it. Remember to be kind and to extend grace to yourself, because if you’re not even kind to you can you really expect anyone else to? I know this post is beyond sappy but I felt as though I should write it regardless of me sounding like a preachy life coach. So all of you singles who are reading my blog let’s start our lifelong romance with ourselves, Valentines is coming up so be your own valentine. Do you want flowers? Buy some for yourself? Want a steak dinner? Make it happen! Been wanting a certain gift? What better day than Valentines to buy it? You’re unattached so it’s not as though you need to buy something for boyfriend or girlfriend, so splurge and buy yourself that camera, shoes, tv, or whatever it is you’ve been eyeballing! Honestly this is even good advice for those of you who are in relationships, by loving yourself better you also love those around you better. So let us all be little kinder hmmm? You guys are the best, and I hope you all enjoyed this post. Happy Monday and wish you all a Happy Valentines too.

My Life As A Man Repeller.

In honor of the always fast approaching, depression inducing, stress causing holiday Valentines, that is only a matter of days away. I thought I might share this wee little post with all of you.

You know in social situations how you filter what you’re going to say more so than hanging with family or best friends? Well I try, I really do, but the problem is responses are expected in a timely manner, so my filter doesn’t work that well with time restraints…and certainly not when I am around guys. It’s not so much that I get flustered (I’m not that girl) I think it just comes from growing up with brothers. I’ve spent my entire life around guys, my brothers and their friends. So I essentially learned to be one of the guys, I mean I am a girly girl in most respects. But my whole, let’s see who can burp the loudest, batman is the greatest hero of all time, and if the opportunity arises to tease someone you take it, thing cancels out the girly! Most guys say they want a girl who can hang with the guys, but I’m pretty sure this is a lie, having guy say “you’re just like a dude” never ends in “so let’s have dinner sometime”.

Who remember’s this movie?

I thought I might give you some examples of my man repellent ways. I was at a concert and a guy walked up to me and some of my friends, he was selling band posters, and he tried to get me to buy one, but I hadn’t any money so I said no. Then he tried to sell some to the friends I was with, they politely said no and complimented him, one said she liked his beard and the other said she liked his shirt. Seriously it never even occurred to me to compliment him to soften the flat-out no he received. Well instead of walking away he looked at me and said “You’re the only one who hasn’t complimented me” wow he gave me a chance to redeem myself and what did I say? I said “You’re pushy…your sales tactics will get you far”. Admittedly he responded quite well to this he gave me high-five and we’re actually friends now. But most guys who have similar encounters with me do not respond as well.

Another not so charming encounter that comes to mind is when I was at birthday party of a friend. Well one of guys she invited sauntered up to me after a while and used the oh so “original” line”Hey I know you right?” Well my mind went into overdrive trying to find something polite to say. I couldn’t think of anything so I just said “No…I don’t think so”. He literally took a step back stammered then said “Ugh ya I mean she just has so many friends so um ya”. Seriously there were so many other polite things I could have said but I cannot come up with anything because I am truly gifted in killing any flirtatious mood.

At this very birthday party I managed to make a complete fool of myself again. At the end of the evening one of the guys I met, and had actually managed to get along with through the party, said that it was nice meeting me and that I was very beautiful. I did my ugly laugh (seriously I cannot even describe how terrible this laugh sounds) then managed a smile and said thank you. I wasn’t laughing to be mean, I just have a really hard time accepting a compliment without getting all embarrassed.

Honestly I think this post does a pretty good job at telling people why I am still single, so the next time someone asks me I’ll just direct them to this post. Do you guys have similar issues? What are some of your worst kill the mood moments? I always love hearing back from you guys. I hope you enjoyed this post and that you’re having a very happy February.

“We’ll Always Have Paris”

WARNING! this post contains a lot of pictures! If you have very little patience for people who feel the need to over-document events in their life this post is not for you!

Hello Guys! Sorry I’ve been MIA for a while, but I have a good excuse…I was helping plan my 20th! Ya I guess that may not be a great excuse…but it’s my party and I’ll slack off if I want to. So normally I never do anything terribly over the top for my birthdays, but for my 20th I wanted to do something with a bit of umph, a fun, slightly glamorous, but still laid back-ish in style party. So I decided I would throw a French (Parisian) inspired dinner party, with some of my closest friends. I had such a blast planning, cooking, and spending time with my great friends! I am sort of a foodie so this party was the perfect excuse for me to cook all of the fussy dishes I wouldn’t normally prepare, like French Macaroons, those are some work! But lucky me I have a loving family so I didn’t have to do a lot of the work on my own. So enough talking I am sure you would much prefer to see what my party looked like so here ya go.

We strung up lights and set the table in the living room, so we had plenty of space.

This is the gorgeous flower arrangement my mother put together, might I add she said she has “never done arrangements before”. So even without training or practice my mother puts Martha Stewart to shame!

These are the awesome posters that we found for 60% off!

We decided to even decorate the front door area!

Our adorable little sandwich board. PS mommy wrote this! How cute is her handwriting?

Now for my favorite part…the food! These are the French Macaroons.

The gorgeous red fondant raspberry cake my mommy made me. Isn’t she just the best?

The delicious cheese tray.

Tapenade in endive leaves.

Our entire cocktail menu. Bloody Mary’s, tapenade in endive, cheese tray, and prosciutto wrapped around cantaloupe and asparagus. It was all incredibly delicious.

Quite possibly the most delish dish I have ever made…Boeuf Bourgingon and mashed potatoes. It was so good my mother who really detests beef, loved this meal like crazy!

Tea and coffee break. I of course had tea yummy 🙂

Then onto dessert cake and Shirley Temple’s.

Gifts! My sweet mommy got me real pearls for my 20th! Cute thing was when she gave me my gift I was wearing my fake pearls 🙂

This necklace was given to me by my very best friend (we’ve been inseparable for the past 11 years). This necklace is either from the late 50’s or early 60’s. And I am not ashamed to say when she gave me this I got pretty choked up.

I also got some other fabulous gifts too, I made out like a bandit, I received some lovely perfume (which I am wearing right now) and some great cards and cash (you can never go wrong with cash is all I am saying).

My great friends and lovely family honestly made this one of the most special birthday’s ever! I love you guys.

So I hope you guys enjoyed my post! And if any of you want the recipe to anything feel free to ask. Have a super happy Monday and a great Valentines. Love you!

 

I’ve got a crush on you.

Wow Valentines is coming up quite fast! And with that in mind I though I might do a little post on some of my celebrity crushes…not your traditionally attractive one’s though, I mean any girl with eyes can see Johnny Depp is oh so very handsome! I am talking about those crushes that you lie about having, because if anyone knew they would mock you endlessly. So because I don’t really care what people think and I enjoy a good laugh, even when it’s at my own expense, I thought I would post about my embarrassing celebrity crushes.

1.Jon Goodman.

I honestly think the main reason I find Jon Goodman so adorable is because he reminds me of my pop, he’s a big dude, with a great smile, awesome sense of humour, and fabulous voice…what’s not to love?

2.Mr. Rogers.

I was glued to the tv when Mr. Rogers was on! He was so sweet and his show was so entertaining!

3.Ty Burrell.

So I love the show Modern Family…It is beyond hilarious. But as I was watching it I realized something slightly frightening, I have an ever-growing crush on Ty Burrell! I mean he isn’t exactly unattractive, but he genuinely looks like he could be the father of one of my friends (I am not one of “those girls”) so in that sense my crush is a little embarrassing.

4.Ben Savage.

Anyone who watched Boy Meets World knows that Cory’s friend Shawn was the one all the girls loved. But not me, I was smitten with Cory, he was funny, awkward, adorable, and had super curly hair…just about everything I fall for.

5.Dick Van Dyke!

My first introduction to Dick Van Dyke was either Marry Poppins or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, it was love at first sight is all I remember, I just love his sweet personality and that infectious smirk he has working for him.

I hope you guys got a kick out of this post, and feel free to share any of the embarrassing crushes you had or still have. Anyway Happy Tuesday. 🙂

 

Valentine Plans For A Super Single Girl!

With Valentines fast approaching I thought I might do a little post on what Valentines means for those of us who are not so fortunate in love, as the rest of you coupled up show offs. 😉

Step 1. Pretend that we are happy for our gushing friend, who is bragging about how they have the best significant other in the world.

“I’m happy for you…really I am”

Step 2. Mock affectionate couples from afar.

“Hahahaha do you realize how ridiculous the two of you look?”

Step 3. Buy pity party supplies for your evening alone…all alone *sigh*.

Step 4. Stalk your exes and their relationships on facebook! And console yourself with the fact “you are much prettier than her”

“I have no idea what he sees in her”

Step 5. After all that stalking burnt some calories you decide you derserve a little Ben and Jerry’s, and by a little I mean eating your weight in the stuff.

“this ought to do…for now anyways”

Step 6. Throw yourself on the floor like a small child who can not get their way, and wallow in self pity!

Step 7. Get up brush yourself off and realize you feel a lot better, and that you are thankful that this day comes only once a year.

I really hope you guys got a kick out of this post! Happy Tuesday!