Mirror Me: Things that make me happy

Jeans vest: Pimkies

Sandals: Tally Weijl

Jeggings: H and M accessories

Dress: Pimkies

Flower hair pin: So Good Jewelry

Dearest Devotees,

As I've mentioned before I've just recently decided to join the Creative Everyday Challenge hosted by Leah on her blog and this month's topic is Bliss. So I've decided to tell you some of the things that make me happy. This ties in with being indie because an independent person can come close to but does not fit any real stereotypical style. You don't blindly follow trends but instead have your own style that you adapt as you deem fit. Seeing people that exude personality in their dressing makes me really happy. That as well as having a pretty indie inspired day like this:

9 am wake up to the sound of loudly playing Ingrid Michaelson music. Throw open my curtains to beautiful sunlight streaming into my window. Do yoga to a special playlist. Have a lovely hot shower with wildflower shower gel. Dress in a lovely new summer dress and sandals with daisy in hair. Eat strawberries with cream and vanilla yoghurt for breakfast. Bike out to favorite orchard and take random black and white pictures of nature up close with my SLR camera. Spend afternoon writing songs and poetry with my recorder and notebook by the creek. Have picnic with friends at a cute little family owned cafe. Go for poetry reading at jazz club in the evening. Go to indie rock concert (Flyleaf!) at night. Come home and bathe in lavender-scented therapeutic bath oils. Practice piano and french before bed. Meditate and pray. Go to window and wish the stars goodnight. Sleep.

This would make me subliminally happy.

Other things making me happy in my life:

Having lovely friends and family that love me.

A strong faith and belief that sustain me.

Working on my creativity and finding inspiration again :)

Exploring the idea of an artistic retreat after summer school for two weeks...

Hip Hop Classes- So much fun and an awesome workout.

Friends of mine getting engaged!!!!

Having 72 followers on GoogleReader and 7 on Bloglovin'. I love my devotees so much!

Turning my desk, now that its organized, into an inspiration station.

Being almost done with my first collaboration song!

Recording lectures and studying at my own pace. Honestly if you have ADHD or just have problems paying attention during lectures the idea of recording them is a godsend.

This poster makes me really happy.

Finishing my silhouette for the seeking inspiration: cross-training post I did. I said I'd share my translation of this picture:

And here it is:

Not too bad considering this is my first attempt at a silhouette drawing and my first use of acrylic paints to draw. I mean at least it looks vaguely like the photo above. Also I really loved playing with the trees. Practice makes perfect I guess. (Note I only share this with you because I love and respect you all. If you have any constructive criticism to help me with my silhouette drawing I am totally open to it. But please be nice because I am really sensitive about my art. )

Getting ready to attend the 2010 Where Bloggers Create online party! It's open to everyone and anyone who wants to show people their real life creative spaces. You post images and explain the decor and you get to see other peoples creative spaces too! I invite you all to come!!!

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. What makes you happy? What makes you blissful? Will you come for the Where bloggers create party (Please come) ? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Mirror Me: I love Teal and Leopard prints

Cocktail ring: So Good Jewelry

Earrings: Iam's

Vest: H and M

Dress: Tailored from African traditional material

Shoes: black thrifted pumps?

My Darling Devotees,

I have finally turned in my costume design project on the opera, Werther, and after having spent the whole week trying to complete it I can not completely explain the immense feeling of relief that overcame me. As soon as my Economics exam was over I was free!!! And after a day of traveling, I am finally back home now and able to carry out some of the plans I've been keeping on the back burner for the past couple of weeks. I will let you know more about each one as they come to realization, but most of all I'm just really happy to be back with you amazing people.

On the plane home, I watched 3 really interesting but really different movies. The first one was Percy Jackson, which was an amazing movie! It was seriously one of the best movies I've seen this year and one of the best based on books movies I have ever seen. It was quite true to the use of Greek mythology in the book but was still an epic movie in its own right. The second movie was It's Complicated, and I thought it was definitely a good romantic comedy but not really memorable. The 3rd one Leap Year and it was incredibly memorable and truly lovely. Although it was a romantic comedy too, it somehow managed to balance the hilarious comedic aspect with the sweet romantic aspect. Plus it was mostly set in Ireland and you all know how much I love Ireland. All in all, I totally recommend it.

Finally, I'm currently trying to catch up on all of my blog trawling and commenting so I can see what's good out there for this week's Seeking Inspiration post, and just to know how the blogosphere's been so if you have a blog and want me to stop by and say hi just let me know in the comments below.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. Does the dress I wore seem semi-formal to you? What is your definition of semi-formal?Have you seen any of the movies above? What did you think of them? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Mirror Me: I am not afraid to mix prints...

*Edit* i.e I totally forgot

Scarf: Clockhouse

Sweater: C and A

Top: Gift from roommie :)

Jeans: White House Black Market

Boots: Barnes and Nobles

My Darling Devotees,

Say hello to Mirror Me, my outfit post segment!

For the longest time, there was a huge disconnect between the person I appeared to be, and the person I knew I really was, and this gap was only bridged through my personal style. Ever since I was 8 I think, I've had a huge investment in my style because it was around that time that I started to lose the ability to just be the outgoing, flamboyantly creative, whimsically free-spirited, predominantly happy person I knew I could be. I began to be more self-conscious, more reserved and more withdrawn. At first, it was just little things, like I would not like to be surrounded by people at parties, but would instead take my food and curl up in a corner with whatever novel I happened to be carrying around at the time. But it got worse, and with every additional unkindness done to me, or hardship I encountered, I withdrew even more until the difference between the way I dressed, (which was always really colourful, bright, bold and fun) and the way I acted (which was awkward and/or reserved at best and antisocial at worse) was comical. People would be amazed by my style, and they were shocked by how comfortable I was in taking what they saw as 'fashion risks' (i.e. anything that was different from the normal trends of the time) but what I saw as part of who I really was. I knew what I liked and no fleeting trend could change that, it could only enhance it.

The peak of this disparity was probably junior high and since then the gap has become a lot less evident. Today, you can barely see any resemblance of the girl I was in the girl I am today. College has sort of liberated me from the imaginary ropes I had myself in and allowed me to be the person I've always been inside. My style, which I describe as predominantly Boho-Whimsical in the summer and spring, and boho glam in the fall and winter (although it is going a sort of odd transition right now as can be seen above) is truly reflective of who I am. My friends describe me as always really energetic, bubbly, vivacious and cheerful but even though I know there are times this doesn't describe me all the time (nervous breakdown at 3 am working on english essay, anyone?) I think it's a pretty accurate description of me most of the time.

Anyway, this was just a little peak into my style history and explanation for why personal style is so important to me. My personal style spoke up for me when I couldn't speak up for myself. It told people there was something more about me than the shy, reserved girl I used to be. I decided to start doing outfit posts because individuality and personal style mean so much to me and seeing others' style can be a huge source of inspiration. I hope to elaborate more on the concept of my personal style and style history soon, so look out for that.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. What are your views on personal style? Do you get inspired by other people's style? What is more important to you, following trends or maintaining personal style? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.