Fabric Necklaces - The new fad?

The most recent neckwear trend is the string look. Why; I couldn't possibly tell. I don't particularly grasp the beauty of the 'neck lush' fabric necklace or the purpose. It's a ripped up scarf. Does anyone actually like these things?

I do admit, the one on the right is fairly cute, direct from necklush.com. They call this one the necklushie and it's only $22 dollars. I can't help but think of bungie chord though, and why you'd want a piece of jump rope around your neck, I can't imagine.

I think they have latched on to this fad and made the most of it in comparison to the companies I have seen that produce these thread necklaces, but is this a sustainable business plan? I certainly don't think so. I guess that's biased based on my dislike for the product in general but it just looks like a machinated scarf to me.

Maybe my tastes aren't eclectic or eccentric enough to take interest in a product like this. If I just had to have one, I think I would try to make one instead of just going out and buying it. Anyone interested in going that route can simply find some cute color yarn such as this kind at yarn.com and create something unique and fun by themselves. Fun fashion craft project, perhaps?

On another note, I received a surprise gift in the mail last week. I figure since it's also a necklace I can throw it out there and brag a little on my boyfriend at the same time. He saw my blog post apparently and ordered the Swarovski Golden Shadow Briolette necklace under the radar. I almost even sabotaged him by ordering it last weekend when I freaked out over it being sold out, and having emailed briguysgirls, the necklace was put back up for sale. I must mention, this etsy retailer has great customer service!!! Ray proceeded to ruin my glee at the necklace being up again and kept telling me that buying the necklace was probably not a good idea and that I was supposed to be saving money.

I thought nothing of this, as I have a problem (i.e. wanting to buy a lot of cute things I see), and was bummed out for the rest of the day over it. (How fickle, I know.) A few days ago, I received my mystery gift in complete shock and created a bit of a tizzy at work, enlisting co-workers to help me figure out why I just received the necklace I had wanted so bad. Ray done good!

Gone Boutique Fishing: Cute Finds

Today showing signs of a true addiction to etsy dumpster diving. To the right, I have a piece from an artist that shows the type of abstract painting that I really enjoy. It reminds me of a multicolored hibiscus/azalea flower mix. Nataera designs and develops dozens of this form of abstract art on etsy and her personal site. I believe my favorite part about the pieces I've seen is how warm and vivid they are. They are still not too abstract to prevent a relation with something in real life, thus leaving the imagination ample space to roam and decipher.

I also began to search for particular locations for the first time today. I had to, of course, search my hometown Birmingham, AL before doing anything else. I happened to run across the cutest little baby outfits at bakd's boutique; I've seen some of these designs in the Nomad Supply, at least I am fairly sure that they were the same label.

I also ran across some very minimalistic jewelry designed by a local designer named sundreams. My favorite piece is the Rebirth earrings, and at $7, it's hard to go wrong.

Two of my favorite pieces came from randomly searching locales away from my own. Of course the first location I searched after Birmingham was Ireland. I decided to give the entire country a shot at pleasing my tastes so I could happily show my Irish boyfriend my treasure trove of celtic goodies.

My favorite item was the Eau de Nil Triple Drop Earrings. I don't really have a reason to love them as much as I do, but given they are only $15 (or better yet, 10 euros) and absolutely adorable, I have the perfect reason to bug said Irish boyfriend into sharing some Celtic charm with the southern girl writing this post. Ooh la la. The designer's name is PearlyQueenJewelry and her designs are listed on etsy at very affordable prices.



The next designer that I found, on a completely unrelated search under the Paris locale, is Lunedhiver. Her pieces are all extremely delicate, simple, and tasteful, but with details that embody the inspiration that she writes below each piece. My favorite piece is the Josephine earrings - Gray Agate and Copper and the earrings are so feminine and unique that I just love them. The price is a little high at $26, but well worth it if the quality is as good as seems.



Today I've officially decided that this blog should be solely for fashion, beauty, and art (maybe pop culture as I expand). I have been puzzled over what focus I should have in this blog because I also want to write about several other things and wasn't sure how to mix everything together. For that reason, I am not going to. I am going to focus only on the nicer things in life, and give this blog a purpose of being a getaway for my busy life.

Boutique of the Week: White Owl

Detroit has slowly been destroyed by the de-emphasis on American ingenuity and credence in the automotive industry. Okay so all things aside, that's the big 4's fault (mostly) for not acknowledging changing needs of the American auto owner and the residents of the city have been punished for being a part of the crock. It was good while it lasted.

The so-called "ruins of Detroit" pictures are examples of how far the previously 4th largest city in America has fallen. One of my favorite examples is the Michigan Theater, because it's previous glory is completely long lost in the new parking deck form. The deterioration and lost opulence is apparent in the quick side by side comparison. (Thanks slate.com for this great example.)

I picked White Owl this week because it is a perfect example of someone that is using pieces that, in my mind at least, commemorate the fallen city of Detroit. The energy of that glamor and sophistication is offset by the tinged metals and use of chain. All are very vintage, all strikingly simple and unique.

Also interesting, the most fabulous necklace sold out before I saved the image for this blog. We will have to do with a few other products that I fancy.

1st we have the Vivienne Pearl multichain necklace. It sells for $38 on etsy.

I really like the Mixed Metallic Chunky multichain earrings. These are also on etsy for $18.

I really like the lace that is used, and although I wouldn't personally wear the lace necklaces, I find these earrings adorable. They are called the Xandra lace earrings (vintage green bead) and retail on etsy for $22.

After doing a little history diving, I managed to find my favorite necklace in the pile even though it's sold out. It's called the Lillian multichain and if I remember correctly it cost under $40.

My dream ModCloth outfit ... Today.

Today I formulated the cutest ModCloth outfit ever.

Beginning with the the Empress Hotel Dress (here), I then decided some tights would be appropriate and chose the Satine Tights (here). As the delirium from impending cuteness developed, I questioned what else i could add to create my look.

From the ModLife blog, I found the most adorable jacket I have seen. It makes me think of the Coldplay's Violet Hill (or general image anyway these days). Which in turn is very powerful, seductive, and creative. Okay so this is the pretty posh princess cutesy version of the dingy battalion leader, but it's still beyond adorable and makes me think of... Daisies.

The Battalion Jacket in Ivory can be found here.

Finally, I picked the Toulouse Lau-Wedges to complete the look. With a mixture of grey and gold, all pieces of the outfit come together superbly (Or at least I think so.) This shoe can be found here.

Okay... I cheated. The last piece is actually from a completely different site (Etsy) and I just love it and think it matches the whole ensemble quite well. The designer is Briguysgirls and I love how detailed and ornately simple a special few of her pieces are. The necklace is called the Swarovski Golden Shadow Briolette on 14k Gold Filled Chain, Double Layered Necklace. The daintiness of the piece is what draws me to it.

Overall, I am very pleased with this look from ModCloth. Now if only I could afford to buy it right now. Such is my luck!

April... To July? Oops

I have obviously not posted here in too long. I could say that things have been absolutely, inanely crazy, but that would be slightly cliche and obvious. So I'll say this: I've spent my time as of late working about twice as much as ever and still taking classes through the summer. Definitely haven't had much of a break and I am presently so excited that I only have two weeks left until I have a whole two week break from school. I'm going to have to make the most of that two weeks because after that I am back in school for more hours than I've ever taken at once.

Here's to hoping they can find a new Adoption Specialist so I can, with clear conscience, relax the hours some when the semester starts.

Life has been eye-opening lately to areas that I could use improvement, and I feel as if I have been abusing several resources. A few concerned people may never forgive me for taking so long to return books that were borrowed early in the summer. Gosh, did I really completely forget about the outline? What is wrong with me!

I think about this question and realize that nothing is wrong with me at all. My brain is just tired. That's okay too.

So how do I make it through these last few weeks and keep getting by in these two excessively crazy and abusive classes? I don't know yet. I'm working on it. That's all for now, back to the 3-4 page paper I have to write by tomorrow and that nagging sensation that tells me I have completely ignored everything else that was important to do this weekend.

Still a five year old and very content.

Sometimes I wonder how the short term and long term converge and morph and become the future, present, and past and leave me in a substantially subjective area known as now. Who am I? What do I want to become? There are so many pressing challenges that seek to overthrow the ambivalent stance in this time frame and so many more that slowly condense my world into a pool of dehydrated rose petals. Soft, bumpy, and vividly in memory of what could be but is not. Now, if only to introduce the water into this pool to give them life. Then though, the problem becomes not about what to put into the pool, but how much, and in what increments?

And so begins finals week, with a underlying current of confusion and a good level of stress. So much to do, so much that's undone, and so much will be done and completed tonight. Ray's not particularly helping the situation lately. It's all good.

So I've been trying to focus most of today with little progress done but a lot of mental work/time attributed to this worthwhile focus. Too many diversions are involved in the disconnection between what I'm doing and what I should be doing. At least last night I was able to catch up on the year round bible reading. Keep running into the "I don't have time today" situation and putting it off for a few days and then catching up. It's amazing how calming and focusing it is.

To explain the five year old statement in the title, I still have this feeling that I'm mentally far below my age deep down and don't understand reality well enough. There are these random states of excitement and shock that show discomposure and make me seem that I am not completely there. I love the idea of being ready for any news but I'm still extremely green to so much. The passion to learn and experience so that I am not so at odds with the world is my focus, but the stories of the CEO's/leaders with clear, concise focus are bringing out the jealousy.

Anyway back to the marketing plan. This semester has been fabulous and informational just extremely busy which is why I've not even posted since March. Apologies to all that stumble around here.

Mid-Terms, Motivation, and Exaggeration

What's this grand feeling of inadequacy? I can read for hours and never see the difference between my writing ability and someone elses, then I can read one article and feel as if I have no right writing at all. I love how there are so many writing styles and how unique certain writers become by making their own of it. There's something vaguely mysterious about the process of putting thoughts down; so much must have shaped the individual to allow them to see the world from all sorts of different angles and rely on their history to model the use of the words that they use. Language intricacies are so interesting, albeit complex I'm sure. Maybe one day I'll be interested enough to make time to study it, but for now I'd prefer just musing about the matter.

This week was amazing, miserable, and wonderful all at the same time. Now the deadlines loom over my head, somewhat reachable but just far away that they seem convoluted by the very fog that gave me this splotchy tan at the beach. Recap:

Saturday -
Ate at Red Pearl with my sister and a friend. It was pretty delicious, but in the end I think I preferred the chicken noodles to the beef pot (will note for future reference.) We got tons of snacks, from taro strips to an Indonesian candy bar. More than half of it was inedible due to holes in the bag. Big disappointment, especially when the taro had to be thrown away. Ben and Jerry's made up for it though. I forget what I had, but it was really good and had coconut in it. We stumbled around in different stores but didn't have enough time before the movie to wander aimlessly. My sister bought us both popcorn and drinks (Tally: 15 bucks) and the tickets (14 bucks.... Movies are less important to the theater than popcorn and drinks? Wild concept.) The Watchmen was an awesome movie; I really enjoyed Rorschach throughout the movie. He was pretty cool. Otherwise the movie was like extremely graphic, so much so that I thought it should not have had R rating anymore. Can't complain though, it was thought provoking, intriguing, and beautifully done.

Sunday -
Went to the Rec center with my family because I wanted them to experience the coolness. Attempted rock climbing and only my little sister agreed to do it. The boys stood back away from us and made fun of most attempts. Played racquetball for a while, or rather taught my siblings to play racquetball, and enjoyed it a lot. I need to play more; It's mildly addictive. Played basketball, which has never been my forte, but it was a lot of fun. I surprisingly hit a lot of baskets as soon as my little brother stopped trying to hog the ball and be the superstar of our half court game. I still missed enough that I could remember my lack of proficiency, and will leave that game to random bursts of curiosity or interest. Then went to the ping pong tables and practiced. My siblings need to get out more so they can compete in these odd little outings.

Monday -
Worked all day and got to follow Jodie around some. Also learned that there was a possibility that I could fall into a similar role as her in the near future if I work hard enough. Very exciting stuff, given it would be my first serious real job that had nothing to do with interning or clerking or something silly. The heightened responsibility is exciting. It would be a stable position too, which is even more cool.

Tuesday -
Same as Monday, except there was strawberry cupcakes gratis my awesome boss, and it was also the other Amy's birthday. We all went to lunch at Salsaritas, which is one of my favorite random restaurants right now, and had a good old time. Pretty awesome! My boss was superiorly sweet and made me strawberry cupcakes. (Very delicious ones at that.) Then I went bowling for the first time in about officially 14 years or so and had a great little party thing and had a big "oh no they're booked" moment and had to resend people to the right destination. I had a really great time even though only a bare minimum amount of people were able to attend because everyone was out of town. Merritt had his chance to make everyone look really badly and did so with enough grace that no one really minded the slaughter. Nothing was lacking besides food, because I couldn't bring myself to eat in front of everyone else when no one else had eaten dinner. I ended up being fairly hypoglycemic by the end of the night due to this but still managed to beat my sister in air hockey.

Wednesday - Overall, sucky day. It was depressing. Ray wasn't on, no special typical birthday treatment, and I even managed being responsible for purchasing my birthday cake and cooking dinner (which I didn't even want). I was definitely feeling a bit diva haha. Funny way to start off 21.

Thursday - Tres adore. My birthday wish was to be at the beach, and to the beach we did go. We ended up waking around 5:15, got ready, and were gone by 5:30. I managed to catch up with the around the year bible reading thing and was proud of myself for doing so (even though I keep managing to get behind and lost in the shuffle of life.) After a slight side track to the Panama City mall for dumb bells (don't ask), we made our way onto the gloriously perfect beach. About 30 minutes into my mini-vacation, fog began drifting in and totally obscured the sun and things relatively close to the beach. Not my picture perfect idea of the beach, but still had an awesome time and even managed to burn myself in several places. On the way home, we stopped in Dothan for food at Santa Fe restaurant. I'd never been there before but I was assured that it was good. Happily, I found out that it was. I had a steak and salad and sweet potato, all cooked quite well. It wasn't anything fancy or seriously memorable, but I definitely haven't had a sweet potato that was that good in a long time. (The practical bucket of butter and brown sugar that came with it probably helped this along splendidly.) It was very remniscient of Logan's steak house, complete with cowboy decor, and peanuts on the floor. I think I definitely prefer Santa Fe, even though the constant country music was relatively annoying.

Friday - My good friend Chandra met me after work to take me to lunch in honor of my birthday. I was given the opportunity to try Indian food for the first time, which I must say, was amazing. I will hopefully get the opportunity to go to Silver Coin very often in the future, but at the price, I will have to settle for on occasion. For now, Red Pearl still trumps all, because I've always loved Chinese food and this is relatively authentic compared to the Americanized version, and way better than. I'll always have a soft spot for Egg Drop soup, but those chicken fried noodles were to die for. I'm sure there are plentiful amounts of other things on the menu that I would just love. Surin's moving down on my 'cool' list because I feel like I'm missing out on real thai food when I eat there. A lot of the food just seems to be thrown together and lacking substance. I suppose that could be why I started to just eat Maki when I was there and avoided the entre's all together. Ah I'm rambling about food, I will do this further in a latter post, back to Friday. After lunch, we ended up perusing some stores, even got a little dolled up. We were going to go to Sephora for a makeover but they were totally booked. Instead, I told her about the Bare Escentials store, and ended up going there. She ended up looking like a full blown movie star or something after they were done with her. I bet she'll forget about it again like last time and not wear anything for a while until I get her set up with yet another one. All in all, a very fun day, complete with a happy birthday present to myself in the form of some very heely, super cute shoes.

Saturday and Sunday - Given the whole responsibility thing, I managed to study and research most of these days. Nothing happened that was terribly exciting. After the awesome week I had, I couldn't imagine wanting to do anything at all though. It was all cloudy and dreadful and uninteresting outside anyway.