Ode to the worst of Mondays so far (at 10 in the morning)

This is what we call the start of the winter, I suppose, but to wake up to such an intense wind blowing sound was not to be meant to be experimented on an end November Monday. Especially on a Monday, I would say. Not much after I realised, it was just a pilot comparing to walking out to the street. Hollymolly fcking what! Just a day ago it was considered a mild November for god sake! All of a sudden, we people are faced heavy winter day. With wind and snowing. And all of these on a Monday? Thanking the atmosphere of the day the mood I represent in the picture is in all black. Please disregard all the shoeboxes still need to be packed away, even though the picture meant to show those as well, referring to the bloody Monday of the November as today.  Still, the worst things on this picture are my legs, which are in generally speaking are considered slim. However in this picture all you can see, that the black leggings I have on are pretty tight, and shapeless. To tell you a hint, and perhaps for you no to  get shocked by the visuals, these are not leggings but slim fit black jeans. For the record though, I'm not fat, and I don't consider myself fat either. I would also say, in any mirrors, but this would not be true. I hate specific mirrors, especially the one in that specific store, I usually not go into at all. Probably mainly for the above mentioned problematic. Also, even though the jeans considered slim, for me, slim means not super tight, but rather loose. So, again, for the factive objectives, I'm wearing a bit of a loose slim black jeans. A bit faded, but this is how I like it. Something to like in this supergray Monday. 

Midterm

What a better thing on a Saturday morning than going to a midterm to the Uni? Right part of the picture refers to the brain state I was in, when the questions were handed over to me. 

Rest of the weekend went pretty well, perhaps a little bit better to say, than the test itself. Keenly in awaiting mode of the retake dates. And only for the record: I took off the hat before entering the student hall, and stating my student number. 

This picture was actually taken before I had the chance to put on the coat.

holiday season inspiration

Source: COS

No words to describe. Possible DIY? 

surviving Friday mode

I guess if you look close, it says it all. Black on black on black. Friday today. 

Not to forget the fact, that my thoughts are coming from my shoes today. 

mood of the day

source: Style.com

Some jeans and something to sparkle.   Just a little bit of shining.  Not to much, just to add a little something to the minimalistic approach of clothing of the day. Perfect for a Friday work day. Jeans are worn by everyone, why not add something of a n individuality. Perfect combination makes the day also perfect. Perhaps a little bit of a smile can add a little more to the  effect. Whatever it takes to make the this grey November day - also called black Friday - better. 

Coffebreak

Because I just know that coffee is not healthy, well, the third for the day, definitely is not, I decided to trick myself, by having the usual after lunch coffee-break, having a coffee-mug, but putting into the cup something else instead. Something healthy perhaps.  Today, it is manhattan olives as they are called.   Unfortunately, this is not yet time for a Manhattan though.  A daily creative process is good for your brain, not to mention the good effect of not causing my associates big trouble understanding me while running around in the office due to the overdosing of caffeine.  A little fact on olives: they are called the on of the healthiest foods on Earth. It is high in iron, associated with cancer prevention, and lately also prevention of one loss, antioxidant.  It is good before a night which includes major alcohol intake, as you get tanked harder, and the aftereffects can be less effective. For this, by the way, I used to take a spoonful of olive oil, before a long night.  Not that it mattered the next day though...hangovers really know how to kick people the next day, no matter how awfully bad a olive oil tasted, so you can better skip that. Skip coffee in the afternoon as well, eat some olives instead. Tastes good, and gives you a different taste in your mouth, and maybe a different kick in work? What do you do to avoid too much caffeine intake in your daily life? 

Hair matters

Even if I decide over the summer to push myself to the limit not to cut my hair first day of autumn knocks on the door - in other words, when you get your new season's IKEA brochure in the mailbox - I always end up cutting it anyways.
Therefore I would call myself short haired.
It is either the length or the color which always needs a makeover on my head, so basically, it is a renewing process every month.
I can feel Linda Evangelista, even though I still have to get out of bed, even if noone pays for me for it, because my little girl Emma is about to be just as awake as me, which means menace to start in the house.
But back to the hair issue, I often admire women, who are happy with their hair from he age of 10 to the age of 99.
Or at least they pretend to be happy with it, and don't want to change it on a daily basis.

I know, that the topic is not new, and it isn't me who invented the wheel.
But, still would love to understand the psychology behind the hair issue.
Why is the hair getting a makeover after every break up, or even after someone dies?
There is even a theory, how should you be cutting your hair to succeed in the work environment. And of course, the blond jokes must have gotten its roots from somewhere.

It is the brunettes' era in the fashion world right now, brown haired models are everywhere. I decided to try out the brown in my hair. Not only I had to re-consider my whole wardrobe, but I began to feel depressed by looking at myself in the mirror.
Is that possible that I'm a born blond to be?

Wardrobe-wise - you know, grey on grey on black on white on black looks awesome on the ash blonde, but rather boring on a brown. Or so as I saw it.
Soon, realising, that nothing looks good on me, winter is in the corner, I should definitely color it back. But i was already so upset about my own appearance, that I wasn't even sure going back to blond helps at all.
Not a minute more I thought of not coloring back, when my dear hubby addressed his advise to me on a low, sympathetic voice: you look older with this haircolor.
Thank you. By saying this, he really meant: run to the hairdresser, you look fxxking awful.

But he did not mention the length of my hair.... I indeed succeed of not have it cut by the end of September, so it was definitely long, almost to the middle of my back. Or so, if I arched myself in bridge pose. I also loved it so much, by the end of the day, my hair was always in a bun.
So after a month of being back to my favorite blond, I realised, that even though I can finally wear my long missed wardrobe-pieces in white and grey and black, I'm still not happy.

So again, as it was always an answer to every question, I ran again to the hair salon, and have it cut the way it was cut in the 5th grade.
So far, so good. I guess, even though I thought I'm in a war, with my hair to be styled awesome, I should by now probably realise, that I am the one, who should be happy with the style her hair was done at age 10, because it looked good on her.
Hard to admit, but at last I feel good, even in this ugly november day.

Except, that of course, I'm having my hair in a ponytail, little as it is, but still in a tail.  So much for the new cut.

White and brown

New obsession is to wear something white and brown. Still experimenting with it, as I mainly have white, grey and black on my wardrobe - thanks to the total reset a week ago. 

But as I looked at the pretzels on my desk the other day, I so had the moment of realising the existence of colour brown. Specifically a shade of well worn and washed brown. 

I'm still looking for the touch of saltiness in my dressing up, so my apologies no to show any outfit of the day picture :). 

Later!

Men

Did you know that Leandra actually has a husband? She is funny, she is smart, and she has a husband. We should probably meet someday. 

And jump around on the master bed trying to hit the ceiling. 

If our husbands lets us. 

probably already, everyone knew about it...


But I mean she is the manrepeller, does she supposed to get married? And what is next? Being pregnant in overalls? Cool though, cannot wait.

But this brings up the question regarding men and relationship with them. Do we dress up to them? Do we buy things to make them look at us, admire us, fall in love with us, and marry us?

What happens after?
Finally you nailed the guy, you move together happy everafter.
If you are lucky enough as I am, with the man comes the walk-in-closet, yuppy, even if it is shared with him, it is a walk in closet. Yes, he does have a tiny little part of the shelves, where he can place his clothes. Nice of me, I know.
After a year or two, his place reduces even more, understandable.
I need the place.
After even more and more years, he turns the question to you: Why on earth do you need so much clothes at all?

Even though we women all know there is no answer logical enough to this stupid question, you just all of a sudden realise, that you nailed him, because you dressed up the way you dressed up. Blabla about the soulmate stuff, right, that does not show on the clothes you wore, when he looked at you the first time ever. This leaves you to the no right answer situation, an the only cool answer for this is to theatrically feel hurt.

Or, start to give away your not so used clothes to the ones in need, and admit, the you never ever in your life wear the shade of magenta, in fact, and magenta, nor pink, nor light blue or electric yellow in fact, since you are a grey and its shades person.

Please notice, that my Isabel Marant and COS bracelet are indeed red, so I do wear colours on a daily basis, yesh.

What are your colors? And what do you do to nail the desired man? 

SECRET

I never wear make up.
Not because I'm cool.
Just because it is easier.

I'm not saying that because of the above, I still don't have beautiful skin.

In fact, my daughter has beautiful skin.
Yes, Emma does.
Well, she is almost 2.

Already fashionably confident.
And wears no make up either.

L'Invitation Au Voyage

Mood of the day. Marc is genius. I want to be Arizona Muse, but stay blond. I want to be Marc's muse too. I want to be there right now. Thank you. 
It is just so enormously OK. Great for a day like this, this shitty, grey, dark day. November, go away.

Empty closet

Ever dreamed of an empty closet, so you can just restart all over again, and start spending and shopping on new things? 

Perhaps a little late, but after almost 20 years of never discarding one pair of shoes from my closet, I got to the point to giving them away. 

THE GOOD CAUSE. 

One might think it is never hard to give out fashionable, cool, vintage almost new, and some never used shoes, since there are so many out there needing them. 

But, how do you find them? 

After searching through quiet a few charities calling them up, I realised:  to be nice is not as easy as it might seem. There are specific dates, where you can give away your shoes - obviously, they do not have the warehouse to keep them.
The dates are nowhere near. I thought Christmas is almost here, but I guess, only the stores are giving us the idea, not the charity organisations. 

THE IDEA

Who would need quiet a few high heel boots anyways for the harsh winter time? What about all the special occasion high heel sandals with swarovski crystals on them, etc.?  Definitely not the average homeless in a big town, unless a really big charity ball to attend,  I suppose. They are by the way never ever invited, have you realised? 

BUT

What about the orphanage and special institution for girls? They must like to feel lucky to wear all these treasures from the past? Would be nice for them to dress up for the Christmas Ball, I thought. I called them up, and after inspecting all shoes as jpegs attached to a mail, they approved, and I became the happy person for the day. 

And I hope they will feel also happy wearing them, and I hope it does help them in anyway. 

AND

Through the whole process of giving away, I never for one second thought of finally having the empty place in my walk-in closet to be able to buy new things. For once, I'm happy with what I still have left, and I will try to back up the habit of shopping, and only look for the really special things I need in life.  

Or not need, but the things make me feel better about it for not only seconds, but perhaps for a lifetime.  

Or for at least a year. 

smell of war

#hmisabelmarant

Sadly, this could not be mine. 

I was wondering and dreaming how I could accidentally push the mannequin wearing it, without the guard to suspect anything, easily take out all pins, try it on, finding it perfectly suitable, and rush to the cashier, to pay, and make it mine. 

BUT

This did not happen. 

In fact what happened was, I did not even see the mannequin, only head tops of blondes and brunettes, seeking through the leftovers of the collection. Not much though. 

At 9:42 it was already robbed out, and the bright HM associates already pushed their regular HM garment in, so that perhaps, accidentally you would buy something with a lot cheaper price tag on. 

And in fact what happened was, that I ran to the children section, found my coveted slip-ons, the other cardigan, the pants, the top, the other top, the bracelet, and the other bracelet, and some other tops. 

No pants though, I'm having a bad leg image day once again, surprise. 

But what really happened was, is that by the superslow, but super stylish cashier, while admiring the slip-ons I could put my hand on, I looked to the right not to start to grab and shake him to make him awake, I all of a sudden saw a beautiful girl, holding the grey shopping bag, with the sign written on it: Shopping bag, actually containing the cardigan of me, THE one and only cardigan I wanted, but did not get.  And while my super slow but super nice shop assistant assisted me with the paying, I overheard the conversation between the beautiful lady and her much quicker, but less cooler HM assistant. As she couldn't find the price tag on the coveted garment, the girl explained her, how she took it off from the mannequin, and put it into her shopping bag, how lucky she is! WHAAAT? 

I could have owned that nice little cardigan, and would be the happiest person on earth even though I was and still am having a major bad leg day. 

Congratulations for the girl for not only being pretty as beautiful, but smart as to act on the mission. 

This was WAR I say, and she won it. 

Parisian vs. Russian

There used to be the coveted woman, the parisian lady. I admit, it still exists, but nowadays, the new trend is to admire the woman of Russia, especially the woman whose names are: Miroslava Duma, Lena Perminova, Natasha Goldbenberg, just to say a few.

In the beginning, everyone thought they try too hard, they all have rich husbands, they don't have to work, only job they ever took is hard cash shopping. Even though famous street-style bloggers tried to avoid them, by not photographing them, they all made the scene in couple of seconds, and became regular on all fashion related  magazines, e-publications. 

We got to know their names, we started to believe, that they are cool, they are so flawless, they are chosen, and they are the luckiest in the world.  But we still thought, they are lucky, because they have all the fashion treasures of the world. 

We started to follow them on all possible social platforms we could, we sneak peaked into their lives by looking into their instagram profiles. 

And we covet them even more, because we see them smile, we see them having a family, we see them as mothers. 

They are mothers, and they work. And they still look effortlessly chic, and they sometimes cook, and get messy by playing with their kids. OF course they are chosen, and of course, they are the luckiest in the world, but they made it on their own!

Just as the 30 is the new 20, Russian lady is the new Parisian. 

(Even though they all dress a bit like a dream Parisian). 

From ladies looking cool in Ladurée, we now want to be mothers with the best possible outfits, and smile to the world constantly with pushing our strollers effortlessly. 

Mornings and clothing

Dear Reader, 

You, who sit neatly next to your morning coffee, checking #hmisablemarant or #isabelmarantpourhm, or prehaps if yo live in some shitty place, where autumn is gray and we you hashtag for the maldives on your Instagram, twitter. 

How ready are you for the day? 

Are you totally aware what are you going to wear today, from head to toe? 

Are you a coffee or a tea person? 

Or simply a room temperature water with some lemon will start you day? 

Do you prefer your beverage in china, or glass? Or a whole carafe? 

Croissant or omelette? 

Bacon or cigarette? 

Or de nada? 

What is your routine? 

Easy, this seems to be all routine, right? 

Why dressing up cannot be part of the routine as lets say, simple, obvious and quick? 

When I was 16 I used to wear make up. Typical american make up, with a bit of european influence, by using a big part of foundation. Bit of mascara, bit of blush, which was a must in Texas that time. 

I looked ridiculous every day, no matter how down on the neck I put the foundation you always seemed to see the border line on me. yes, yes, bad product, I know now, but hated to talk to the ladies in the mall telling meg my skin type, touching my face at least 5 times in 20 second. No thank you, I said I can handle it myself. 

No I couldn't. 

Shortly, moving from TX, I stopped using make up. I saved at least 20 minutes in the mornings, and even though I thought I still looked ridiculous at least I was ready on time. 

I still spent the money on make up things, they look so cute, and packaged nice, but never used them. 

I also stopped having breakfast. In fact, I think I never really had breakfast. That also saves a lot of time, and gives me the confidence of the light stomach in the morning. 

(Weekends are different, on weekend we do have breakfast with my boyfriend, we go out, and make it a proper breakfast. Quality time!). 

This gives me a lot of time in the morning, right? 

And all this time is given for wardrobe time! And this is a problem. Because no matter how much time you have, you always take it until the last minute, and just after the lastest of the lastes seconds you manage to put on something. 

Please notice that I didn't use the word decide on purpose. 

Of course you are not decided, nor confident of your choice by the time you need to leave the house. 

I'm not a coffee nor a tea person in the morning. 

I drink coffee and a carafe tea at work, after done with all the hassle that is called morning. 

Isabel and Hennes and Mauritz

Nice couple you are Isabel and Hennes and Mauritz, get along really well, I believe. 

Cannot wait, cannot sleep, and I cannot control myself!

It is a countdown already in my mind. 

Thursday 9 am is the time. 

And: 

It is that cardigan in my mind. 

It is that sparkly pants in my mind. 

And those slip ons are obviously on my mind. 

Isabel, Hennes and Mauritz, I hope you make my day tomorrow. 

Until tomorrow!

See you than! 

(but please don't make it a lot of us! I need garments to choose from, don't leave me some empty hangers please.)

ps.: and I just love her smile!

So, what...

... if you don't have the legs for it? 

Legs for so long, especially.  But to keep it simple, legs for a normal, average everyday, legs for fast fashion jeans, trousers, pants. Wow, not even mentioning skirts here, am I right? Bad, Bad, Bad. 

Legs. 

This is a leg issue. 

Being a learning fashionista, being a person living in a city, a city which is proud to be a fashion city, with its edge, but obviously, a city with no real fashion sense, nor the money to keep its individuals fashionably well dressed. 

Individuals do exists however. 

As well as our avenue with high end stores. Kept empty, but tidy for most of the days. Even on sale days. 

But what do you do with the legs? 

Legs, that are having a lifelong of constant bad day. 

No matter how hard I try, no high fashion, no fast fashion, no sales, no nosales, nothing can help. 

Running, heh.  NOT. 

You go to stores, have all the mirrors document every try ons. 

Wonder how many mirrors in how many stores and how many stories. None of its are a happy one. 

It is a constant struggle finding the best of the best, or at least the pair you feel ok in it. Not a bad thing, if the jeans itself look good too. Ultra bonus, if it looks good on you too. 

Welcome to the daily struggles. 

How many minutes (hours) do you spend in the morning agonising either front of the mirror or your entire wardrobe? 

I CALL FOR A WAR! It is a WARdrobe situation.