Happy (belated) New Years

via google images

Every December, people spend a countless amount of time coming up with New Year’s Resolutions.  Personally, I believe any day of the year is a good day to make a positive change in your life, but the organization freak in me can’t resist the idea of starting fresh from the very beginning. Although I know NYR have a lifespan of about a week, I couldn’t help but think of a few of my own. But I didn’t want them to be the usual empty promises, I wanted them to actually mean something to me, something I would actually WANT to stick with, and not feel forced to do. So January 1^st, 2011 (wow, that’s my first time dating anything this year) I sat down and made a list of things I really wanted for myself. And here they are.

5. Take better care of myself

I will be the first to admit, that as a full time college student I can get pretty lazy when it comes to taking care of myself. I often find myself too tired and unmotivated to wash my makeup off at night, I’m constantly sipping on a Sprite or some type of sugary juice offered in the caf, and don’t even get me started on my eating habits, especially on Mexican Food Fridays. And as I’ve learned, little things add up. So this year instead of the all too common “I want to lose X number of pounds”, I’ve decided to opt for the more practical “I want to feel good about the way I look.”

4. Be more positive

Every semester, I start off with a good attitude, convinced I’m going to 4.0 every class. Fast forward about a month and a half and I’m convinced I’m destined for academic probation (which has never happened in all of my time in college, thank goodness). When things get hard I tend to think the worst, which just stress me out more than I was to begin with. Staying positive will not only be better for my sanity, but for my GPA as well.

3. Look out for myself

I tend to be a people pleaser. Anytime someone needs homework help? I’m there (despite the piles of homework on my desk that I should be working on). Need someone to go eat with? I’m down (even though I just got back from the caf, and had just settled down for some study time). Want to hang out? I didn’t need those extra couple of hours of sleep for my major exam tomorrow anyway… you get my point. I have a hard time telling people “no”, even when I know for a fact that when I need them, even if they aren’t super busy they usually don’t come through. This year I would like to stand up for myself, and focus more on what is best for ME.

2. Write more

Growing up, I always wanted to be some type of writer. My dream job would have been writing teen novels or becoming a movie writer. Through my rough adolescent years, my journal was my best friend. But after hitting some rough patches (such as my sister stealing my journal, my older cousin’s gift of being amazingly ahead of me in her writing, and other life issues that took up most of my energy) I no longer felt comfortable or had enough energy or motivation to write. So I stopped. Whereas I had been a really good writer for my age back then, I find myself to be mediocre now, because I avoided it as much as possible so never had the chance to grow. It wasn’t until a TA in one of my classes this semester pulled me aside after class to discuss my writing did I realize how much I missed it. It had been so long since I had had any praise, she really did spark my motivation again. Not only will writing more help me academically, but sometimes its just good for the soul.

1. Enjoy life

As you have seen through my other resolutions, I am a compulsive worrier, struggle with my confidence, never stand up for myself, and have little passion for something that once meant the world to me. Although I like to think of myself as generally a happy person, everyone has things they dislike about themselves. My problem is I let the little things add up, until they consume a larger portion of my life than planned. The most important thing I would like to focus on this year is to simply let loose a bit, go out and have fun, do some stupid stuff, maybe even get in a little bit of trouble. This is college, and you only get to do it once. I don’t want to look back years from now and have any regrets. Like they say, college is the best years of your life, and I want mine to be just that

Love to all,

demariee

♥

Voulez vous coucher avec moi ce soir?

(For all you French speaking readers out there, I'm just kidding about the title, by the way)

I know I have been MIA for a good month or so, but things have been ridiculously busy since school started again. Between classes every day, tons of homework, hanging with friends, spending time with the boyfriend, and football games/extra activities, I haven't had a lot of time to sit down and write. But I am going to try my hardest to change that.

The reason for this recent kick to get restarted is I am constantly being inspired to post, but I have yet to find time. One of my biggest inspirations has been the amazing weather lately. Honestly, what is there not to love about fall? The colors are gorgeous, its not to hot, yet not to cold. On top of that, it’s the perfect time for hayrides, apple orchards, pumpkin picking, apple cider and donuts, and my favorite: Halloween.

I very well may be the biggest little kid you will ever meet. To me, Halloween = Love. But then again, who doesn’t love tons of candy and getting dressed up in something you would never in a million years wear on any of the other 364 days of the year? It's safe to say that I have had my Halloween costume for this year picked out since about November 1, 2009. Because there is absolutely no way I want to be wearing the same costume as anyone else, I decided to take it back a few years (sorry to all you dressing as Snooki/Gaga/Slutty insert animal here, those costumes just weren't for me this year). My Halloween inspiration this year comes from the Moulin Rouge version of the song,  Lady Marmalade.

In case you haven't seen the video (or don't remember it from nine years ago), it is a remake by Christina Aguilera, Mya, Pink, Lil Kim, and produced by Missy Elliot. The vocals are amazing, and the video is a perfect blend of sexy, sassy, and fun. For my costume, I decided to try and reproduce a mix of Christina and Mya's costumes.

Here are the Originals:

                                            

                                                Image via google images

*Note: Each singer wears two different costumes in the video, but its nearly impossible to find pictures of their second costumes. For the sake of my remake, I must note that Christina's second costume is purple, and my personal favorite.

My version:

   
     

                                                                corset, shorts, fishnets, gloves

Of course when I actually wear the costume, there will be a few alterations/accessories, but because I'm not sure where I got the rest or cant find pictures of them, they were left out. 

Want to see how the whole costume turns out? Check back in a week or so, pictures will be posted :) Until then,

love to all,

demariee

♥

Every little thing is gonna be alright...

via google images

It’s funny how every fall we return to school to further our education, but many of us find ourselves learning more than just formulas and theorems we will never use in real life, or how to be more grammatically correct, big vocabulary words we will never remember when second semester rolls around, or dates that seem completely irrelevant to the rest of our lives. Often times, we learn lessons about life as well. My freshman year of college I definitely learned a lot.

I learned how to take care of myself without the help of my parents.

I learned how to be more responsible and how to take care of business.

I learned how to handle myself in certain situations, and I learned to be more comfortable with myself.

I learned that I don’t need to be “cool” to be happy, that getting drunk every night of my life wouldn’t make people like me more.  Actually, I learned that getting that drunk all the time doesn’t make you cool at all, the only thing it does is scream out “freshman”.

Most importantly, I learned that the world doesn’t revolve around me. And once I learned this, I in turn learned to care for others and not just myself.

But was this a mistake?

While learning to care for others is a great quality to have, but where do you draw the line? Is it still a great thing when you care so much about the feelings of others that your needs are no longer a priority? Is it okay to let people walk all over you, if it is in their best interest?  Is it acceptable to put people as a priority that leave you as second place or even a last resort? It seems that I now care so much about the thoughts of other people, that I often forget what makes me, me. And that’s not fair.

I’m not blaming anyone for this other than myself. A tend to have an “all or nothing” personality, and if I am going to do something, I put my whole heart into it. And in this process, I forget other things that are important to me.

So as fall rolls around once again, I find myself learning a new lesson. Maybe there can be a balance between doing for others, and doing for myself as well. And maybe, in making myself more of a priority, I can learn to fully appreciate others around me as well.

love to all (and more to myself)

demariee

♥

First Week Update.

Sorry I haven't been posting this past week. As I told you before, I returned back to school on Sunday and I have been extremely busy ever since. I wanted to do outfit posts during the week for events such as move-in day and the first day of class, but on top of being super busy all week the weather has been absolute CRAP. My first day of class outfit was ruined after getting caught in a huge rainstorm. The combination of being constantly on the move and terrible weather has forced me to dress more practically then fashionably, so those outfits weren't worth posting anyways. 

On top of all of this, I must say I have become a bit discouraged about this blog. The lack of views/comments/followers makes me feel like this may be a waste of time, and being back at school my time is pretty limited. I don't have a problem with making time for my blog, but I would be a lot more enthusiastic about it if I had some type of encouragement. So to all of you bloggers out there who are reading this, if you have any suggestions as to how I can improve my blog I would LOVE to hear them. This is a first time thing for me, so advice from more experienced bloggers would be greatly appreciated.

But overall, my first week of school went well. I'm happy to be back (although I would love some nice weather). I love having my single room, and I love being able to see everyone again. I'm excited for my classes to actually start, even though I can tell already they will be a LOT of work. I don't mind though, its definitely worth all the work to be back.

I have a long weekend because of Labor Day, so hopefully I'll have something worth posting before classes start up again on Tuesday. Have a nice weekend everyone!

love to all,

demariee

♥

They say two wrongs don't make a right, but its suiting me just fine

When I started this blog, my full intention was for it to be mostly fashion based, mixed with bits of my life as a college student. But the way things have been going, it has turned out almost 100% about my life so far.

So let me explain.

Yes, this blog will still be about fashion (mostly...or at least half way).

But unfortunately, I started this blog really late into summer, with all of the fun events (such as open houses, Fourth of July parties, the annual city carnival, weekends trips, etc.) having long since past. And since I have less than a week left of being home where I do nothing but sit around the house all day, I find no point in getting dressed in anything other than comfy pajama type clothing. But I PROMISE once I get back up to school things will change. SO unless anything major happens between today and Sunday, this will probably be my only post this week.

Now on to business.

When I think of going back to school, I think of those last lingering days of summer where you're trying to fit in the making of a last few memories. Of sleeping in, because after all this may be your last chance. I think of fall, leaves changing colors and crunching under my feet. Of new school supplies, new friends, and most importantly, new clothes.

Unfortunately this year my family doesn't have much money for any back to school shopping, so I'm just going to have to get creative with things I already have or can find for cheap. But on the bright side, I was able to find a few things I like that were really cheap.

Before I post the pictures, I must apologize for a couple things.

First, the mirror I used to take the pictures was kinda dirty, so please ignore that.

Second, like I mentioned earlier, I have been extremely lazy about getting dressed and ready for the day. So try not to pay much attention to my pajama shorts.

Other than that, enjoy :)

                                           

        

         

        

purple jacket- Calvin Klein (medium), thrifted $4

black patterned sweater- unknown brand (small) gifted by my grandma :)

jean jacket- GAP (medium), bought at thrifted $1

green cardigan- unknown brand, (mens medium), thrifted $1

slouchy white t-shirt- Miley Cyrus/Max Azria (large), Walmart $8

owl necklace- Wet Seal, (I bought it a while back got home and realized it was broke and I just now fixed it, I don't remember the cost but is was under $10. I was so excited I fixed it I had to post it as well)

I have some ideas on how I'm going to incorporate these new pieces into my wardrobe, but if any of you guys have outfit ideas of your own, i would love to hear them :)


love to all, 

demariee

♥

Give me that line again...

photo credit

Alright, so I know I promised these post would be more interesting soon, so I've been trying not to post until I have something worth reading. Unfortunately, these last lingering days of summer will not be the stereotypical memory filled moments captured through the all too familiar pictures taken of goodbye bonfires or beach parties, filled with warm hugs and teary eyed smiles. I would be lying if I said I was going to miss this place or anything about it.Which leads to one of the biggest lessons I learned in college: life goes on.

As cliché as it sounds, it is one of the more truthful things I can tell you about your college experience. Going away to school at the end of summer last year, like everyone else I was excited for this new start. I left my small town home knowing that although I would miss my family and friends, there was plenty of opportunity to meet new friends (whom I would be sharing such an amazing, life changing experience with and hopefully I would come to find as a second family). I wasn't nervous at all, just ready to begin this new chapter in my life.

Or so I thought. 

It only took me a few weeks to realize how much I missed my friends from home, and it only got worse. I didn't go out of my way to make friends because I saw no point, I had perfectly good friends at home. I began to spend my evenings constantly looking over my Facebook new feed to see what all of my friends from home were doing and what was going on in their lives now that I wasn't there to share all of the experiences I used to be able to. I was making my self miserable.

I went home for the weekend about a month after school started, and it was really nice to see everyone (none of my friends had gone away to school, they had all stayed home to go to community college). They were all excited to see me and hear how life away from small town living was. The visit was everything I expected it to be. Naturally I couldn't wait until Thanksgiving Break to be able to come home an see everyone again.

But that is when I realized things had changed. Coming home in November was completely different than it had been when I had made my first visit home. All of those friends I had so desperately clung to had made new friends at school, and I was no longer the "best friend who just happened to go to a different school", I was now "just a friend that moved away". Making time to visit me on my rare visits home became lower in their list of priorities because they now had a new circle of friends, a new best friend, new people to hang out with that "wouldn't interest me anyways".  Of course I was angry that I had forfeited my opportunity to make new friends because I felt the only ones I needed were the ones I had had the longest, the ones that had always been there for me. But they were no longer there

It took me a while to realize that not only had my friends and I had drifted in how close we once were, but when faced with a new stage in life we chose different life paths as well. Where as they liked to spend every night out partying and drinking and hooking up with every possible cute guy they could (it is a small town after all, there isn't much else to do here), going away to school I didn't really have the same choice. Sure, there are a lot more parties at a major university, but because I was now living an hour and a half away from home, I was now completely responsible for myself. If I needed something taken care of, there was no walking downstairs to talk to mom and dad to ask them to do it for me. There was no one to gently wake me every morning to make sure I got to class on time, no one to make sure I was eating properly, and no ones to clean up after my mistakes. I was on my own, learning how to be the adult me so called "friends" still haven't quite gotten around to becoming. 

Don't get me wrong, I still like to go out and have fun, and I do go to parties at school on occasion. The difference is partying is not my only definition of fun anymore. While my old friends prefer to go to different parties every night, I rather go out to eat with a small group of friends. My old friends thinking they have to drink to have fun, but I find movie nights to be more enjoyable. My old friends chose to hook up with any hot guy that tried, and I (much to their disapproval) have found one good guy that I love being with (and who I will also be spending our one year anniversary with in just two weeks). And even though I started off so unhappy at school without my "friends", in the end I feel campus is more of a home to me than the actual place I was born and raised. Even now, after being home for four months, I am closer with my friends I was with for eight months of school together than those I have known since the early days of middle or even elementary school.

I apologize for such a long post, when I started writing it I had no idea where I would end up or what I was even going to talk about. But in the end things worked out, just as they so often do. I hope that (for those of you who actually stuck around to read this ridiculously long story) you may be able to take something from it: while it is okay to stay close with those who are important to us, simply looking back on memories should never be a substitute for the making of new ones. Because after all, people change and life goes on. 

love to all,

demariee

♥

Blahhh.

So I’m back from my wonderful weekend with my bf and his family, and I had a great time. I had met a lot of his family before, but this weekend I got to meet EVERYONE, including those who live out of town but came in for the wedding. Everyone was really nice, the ceremony was beautiful and the reception was…interesting (it was  themed, need I say more?).  


Over all I really enjoyed myself, but I forgot my camera at home so I wont be able to post pictures of the event like I had promised :( But I won't leave you completely picture-less, when I got home I took a picture of everything I wore that day, so here you go!


*Disclaimer: I did not wear the necklace pictured to the wedding. I had borrowed a pearl necklace and matching earrings from my grandmother that I wore to the ceremonies, but as they were real pearls I had to give them back to her as soon as I got home. The one in the picture is a substitute.

love to all,

demariee

♥