Negativity is bad for you
Something I realized last year was that I’m actually not a negative person. When I was younger, I was quite pessimistic… but as I grew up and started accepting more and more responsibility for myself and my own life I realized how big an impact my own attitude had on it.
I also realized the impact that negative people had on me. I actually began the slow process of removing people that brought out the worst in me in 2006 when a relationship ended… Other relationships are more difficult to end, however. And that’s understandable and completely normal! It’s hard to accept that just trying your best to deal isn’t enough, but sometimes it’s necessary for your own mental health.
I discovered this article, “Negative People,” by Gala Darling in 2007. I had an immediate, physical reaction to because I was reading about MY LIFE and how I FELT. Still, I didn’t do anything because it was easier not to. But when I finally did expel from my life all the negative people, things began to change. I felt freer and more confident than I had ever done before because I didn’t have this weight on my shoulders.
From that article, Gala links to another piece about negative people being bad for your brain. It’s also an interesting read. And today, also from her site, I read this:
http://www.dumblittleman.com/2008/03/protect-yourself-against-energy.html
We have all had friends like this. I think that we can all, at times, be people like this. But it’s so much more worthwhile to try and stay positive, as hard as it can be.
Published by Kerri on March 20th, 2008 tagged friends, growing up is hard | Comment now »
My Hair, When I Wake Up.
Published by Kerri on March 9th, 2008 tagged Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
don’t wig out
Fashion/style bloggers when crazy over the Posh Bob and Kate Moss’ fringe/bangs…
Many attributed Katie Holmes’ change in hairdo to the influence of Posh… but honestly, with the big sunglasses and Hermes, doesn’t she remind us of someone else? Say…. Anna Wintour?
Christina Ricci has a similar look going on. I preferred her in Now and Then.
Seriously, I’d like the Wintour-imitation to just stop now.
Published by Kerri on January 21st, 2008 tagged fashion | Comment now »
it’s my party
I tried to have this separate little space where I could upload all the images I saved from the many, many, many fashion blogs I read and write about why I like them. It was a silly idea. I have enough difficulty motivating myself to write in this blog or in Livejournal.
Since this is a public space, I don’t want to talk about anything personal because it’s not the business of the rest of the world. On Livejournal, I am only sharing information with my closest friends thanks to the lovely feature of filters. But I like having my own site and I feel guilty not using it. I never know what to write about. I’m certainly not very interesting, nor do I know how to make the mundane details of my life interesting like other bloggers are able to do.
They say “write what you know,” but I feel like there is very little I know well. I certainly don’t know myself very well, and even if I did, I wouldn’t be comfortable sharing it with more people than I have fingers. You never know who is going to find what when on the internet. Though websites often have the shelf life of a peeled banana, they can be saved and archived and cached and brought up for general LOLs ten years down the line. Believe me, I’m an internet veteran. I was one among the first generation of children who grew up on the internet. I was interviewed for a book once about being a girl with a website on the internet. I don’t remember who wrote it or what it was called. I had a website on <a href=”http://www.worldkids.net”>, which has not changed in over 10 years and I’m not sure why it’s still up at all… I was on a really popular website called delish.net. I didn’t realize it then, but I was part of this internet clique. I didn’t know it was so exclusive or that I came across as a snob. I was only 12 years old. Anyway, the point of this digression is that the most embarrassing years of my life were published - BY ME - on the internet. It’s probably in some web archive - that makes it sound exclusive and worthy of being archived, but it’s not. Every website you visit is saved by your computer in its cache. That way, next time you visit the site, it loads faster. Thats how these things gets saved. I’ve found archived pages of the main page of delish.net before.
Now, there’s YouTube and videoblogging. You have teenagers recording themselves defending “emo kids” and “punk kids” and “goth kids,” and we roll our eyes because it’s so ridiculous and also because we were once one of them. And we know that we’ll never be able to explain that to them. We know that they’ll never understand that we DO understand. We forget that we have it easier because we’ve already been through it. When you are feeling so confused about doing something for the first time - like high school, like handling responsibility, applying to colleges, first jobs… there is no amount of advice or reassurance that will help you get through it. You just have to GET THROUGH IT. So, you freak out and obsess and you fight with your family. Your family reacts at you yelling by yelling back and they just don’t understand why you are so upset because they deal with these things every day… but when you are only beginning to deal with the day-to-day responsibilities, it’s hard and it’s scary. And you’re just sitting there, trying to understand what is going on and figure out who you are. It’s all so awkward and embarrassing to look back to.
I think the only major regret I have about high school is my choice in prom dress. I would have studied harder, too, but I’m doing just fine not having done so.
Anyway. The whole point of this entry is that I’m just going to absorb my ~fashion blog~ into this one, because I can’t be bothered to maintain more than one.
Now, I write these blogs on my website, http://www.flameth.com/kerri/, and they cross-post to LJ. On Livejournal, I do not have separate filters for the things I write about. So, when I notice people request to be removed from certain filters from journals I kind of have to smile at their hard luck when it comes to me. In conversation, I will not discuss politics, money, or religion. But in a private journal, and largely in a public journal, that just doesn’t stand. It’s all or nothing, unfiltered. If you aren’t interested or if you are irritated or angered, then choose not to read it. Not that I write anything particularly incendiary.
You are more likely to be bored by what I write.
I just hope I stop being so lazy and write more.
Published by Kerri on January 21st, 2008 tagged fashion, growing up is hard, internet | Comment now »
Shirt-Dress
I have a fascination with shirt dresses. They always look structured and neat, but when I try to wear one I end up feeling like a frumpy impostor. This could be that the only shirt dress I own is a kind of beige one with tiny teal hearts on it from Wet Seal. It’s not ugly, but it’s certainly not quality. Wet Seal can surprise you sometimes, though.
I bought a mini shirt dress from Topshop in 2006, but I gained weight and it hasn’t fit me since. (Why do people need any more “thinspiration” than their favorite clothes not fitting them anymore?)
This image I snagged from The Sartorialist. I love the short, black shirt dress with the red belt. I wish I could wear that. It’s just the thing I would buy and never wear because I lack confidence. I know - it’s so basic, why would I? I would just second guess myself and convince myself that I’m not the type of person that could pull it off. Ridiculous, though, I think most women would look marvelous in a shirt dress. They vary in shape and style and as long as you find the right one, it can flatter any body.
Published by Kerri on January 21st, 2008 tagged fashion | Comment now »
Shorts and Tights
This kind of has an indie/scenester feel to it, doesn’t it? I don’t know. I think I snagged the image from flickr or something during the summer when all the English rock festivals were going on. (Someday, I will attend… someday.)
Blair Waldorf (character on Gossip Girl) recently wore something akin to this. Her version was, of course, far more prim and proper and suited to the Upper East Side and involved red tights instead of black. I wore red tights in high school and, while I love colorful tights, am not sure how I would pull them off at 22.
I have worn black tights with shorts before and it’s a surprisingly comfortable outfit. I like the simple grey cardigan and white shirt. (An example of the versatility of the white oxford in all its variations.)
As someone who always forgets to accsessorize, the red beads are a reminder of just how easy it is.
Published by Kerri on January 21st, 2008 tagged fashion | Comment now »
My Favorite Looks
This year I began saving images of looks I particularly liked. I have, quite literally, hundreds of images saved from various sources - many from The Sartorialist, some from Face Hunter, and lord knows where else. Probably a lot of other street fashion blogs, as that’s primarily where I divine my inspiration.
I love everything about this look. I think the boots look a bit cheap, but what can you do? I love the coat. I always go for black coats, but this purpley-red/mauvey coat is just so rich and lovely. I love that texture contrasted with her dress, tights, and scarf. It’s something I could see myself wearing comfortably. That’s really key.
I sometimes find it very difficult to try new things when dressing myself because I worry about how people will perceive me. Being a shy person, I don’t react well to be noticed or standing out from the crowd. I am comfortable when I am recognized for the things I do, but it’s entirely different when you are more aware of people judging you on appearances alone. The amount of times I have been late for something because I realized I couldn’t walk outside wearing what I had on is innumerable… horrible, I know, but you know… you have to be confident. You can’t walk out wearing something that you are going to spend all day worrying about: you’ll get nothing done!
It’s better to take baby steps. Start wearing a different style of shoe - if you typically wear black flats, try a different color. Any small element that you can disrupt as a start is good. You test the waters. I usually keep a spare pair of black flats in my car in case of an emergency - this sounds silly, but I am an accident prone person and I attempt to have a spare EVERYTHING in my car. This is useful in the eventuality that I feel really uncomfortable in whatever new thing I am trying, I have a fallback option of something I know I am comfortable with - be it black flats, a black cardigan, what have you.
This is my all-time favorite street shot. It’s so basic, yet I think this girl looks casual and chic in a really effortless way. It looks like she’s at a train station - with a really great suitcase. I love the skinny jeans and black boots. The boots don’t look shiny and cheap and the jeans aren’t TOO light. I hate light-washed jeans - I think very few people can carry them off well. This image is what convinced me to get a leather jacket. I don’t like seeing skin like this, but I do like how her green shirt is poking out underneath her jacket. I wish I knew what kind of shirt it was so I could replicate the look! The only green shirt I have is this too-large silk top from Banana Republic that I really must get altered so I can get some use from it….
The girl looks comfortable wearing this, too. Why wouldn’t she - it’s all basics, but there’s something about it that just really works for me. I think it must be the suitcase. As an accessory, it really indicates that the girl has a funkier side of her personality and she isn’t afraid to show it off. I wish I could find something like that and avoid all my initial impulses to buy solid colors only.
NOTE: I cannot remember from whence these pictures come. If you are the photographer or know where I got them, please comment or send an email too applelikeorb at gmail dot com and let me know!
Published by Kerri on January 21st, 2008 tagged Uncategorized | Comment now »
Turn up the radio. Turn up the tape machine. Look into the sunset up ahead.
The title is from a page I am on in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Obviously, there’s very little I can actually relate to in the book, but it is a really amusing read.
Turn up the radio. Turn up the tape machine. Look into the sunset up ahead. Roll the windows down for a better taste of the cool desert wind. Ah yes. This is what it’s all about. Total control ow. Tooling along the main drag on a Saturday night in Las Vegas, two good old boys in a fireapple-red convertible… stoned, ripped, twisted… Good People.
It amuses me.
I’m going to have to switch from my gorgeous red moleskine back to my filofax for a while, I think. I may try to maintain both… but with everything I am doing, I NEED the filofax. It just holds EVERYTHING, whereas the moleskine only has the one folder in the back. I can’t live a life full of paperclips. This is actually really upsetting because I feel like I’ve wasted money. Oh, well. I wonder if moleskines are just better suited to full-time students?
Published by Kerri on January 12th, 2008 tagged Uncategorized | Comment now »
“Torpor? It means apathy.”
Torpor is actually the opposite of what I’m feeling lately, but it’s from a scene from the second season of The West Wing that is echoing in my brain.
My classes were canceled today due to tornado warnings. This was somewhat disappointing in that I was looking forward to day 2, but I was exhausted and not fully prepared anyway. So, I got to sleep.
I’m interning and I really don’t want to talk about it except to say that it’s REALLY interesting and such an honor to be involved in the project. I may talk about it after everything is over. Probably will.
Published by Kerri on January 11th, 2008 tagged Uncategorized | Comment now »
Eventful Eventualities
As 2007 draws to a close, I find myself in the midst of a job search which looks like it will continue through the start of 2008. Things went sour very quickly at the book store, culminating with my manager quitting on Christmas Eve. One of my co-workers promptly walked out after a bad phone call with one of the owners. Not wanting to go down with the ship, I put in my notice. I planned to work the rest of my scheduled hours, but the owner called me two hours before I was scheduled today and said she was accepting my resignation “effective now.” She asked if my time card was complete and that was that.
I will miss my manager and my co-workers. Apart from the last month, I really enjoyed the job.
Joblessness aside, I really enjoyed my Christmas and I am looking forward to the new year. My parents were exceedingly generous. I received the following:
itouch!!
rayban wayfarers!
panasonic headphones
Just click the images to see them! Yet to arrive is Gilmore Girls Season 7 and a tshirt that says “I Heart Stephen Fry!” I’m very excited for both, as you may well imagine.
In other news, winter has finally arrived in Alabama and it’s cold and damp. Having developed arthritis in the past year, I’m not responding well to this change in the weather. Oh, well! Now that I am without a job, I can spend time cuddled up in bed with a heading pad, reading all the books I have acquired from my old job and for Christmas.