Peter Pan Collars and Foam Curlers

Inspired by my new swimsuit and some kind words from my husband, I have officially dived into the retro-chic style with both feet. Here is how the progression has gone:

• Research pictures online for 4 hours and start a new Pinterest board.
• Go to Goodwill and search for shirts or dresses that strike me as retro, i.e. wide collars, peter pan collars, sweet heart cuts, or button downs with a v-neck. 
• Spend $50 on said outfits and two rockin-retro pairs of shoes.
• Try to mimic retro hair-dos and fail because I don't have the right supplies.
• Watch a how-to video for a bouffant.
• Successfully pull of a bouffant.
• Purchase make-up, brushes, and curlers to help craft the look.
• Test out curlers.
• Sleep on test hair before I get to wear it anywhere.

So, needless to say, this hasn't been a cheap process, but I feel like after I have the basics and a general handle on the look itself, it will be pretty simple. I really like this idea because I want so much to have my own "look," but I also work in an office where I need to dress professionally every day. This lets me balance those two things. 

Last week, when I tried out some of my new outfits, I got tons of positive feed back. I even had a lady at Starbucks stop dead in her tracks to tell my how cute I looked. While I do like all of the compliments, I want to get to the point where this is just how I dress all the time. The goal being that I can just look cute, dress like I'm from the 40s or 50s and no one thinks twice about it. I don't really like being the center of attention or drawing a lot of attention to myself (despite what I may have been like in high school!) but I still want to have my own thing and look different from most other people.

Because I can only afford to spend so much money on new clothes, I've tried to put most of my effort into my hair and makeup. I finally found my red lipstick, so that is a huge plus! I got my first liquid eyeliner, so I should be able to pull off a more convincing "cat eye," but I haven't tried that out yet. I was working with gel eyeliner, which most of the how-tos suggest, but it just keeps smearing, so I'm trying something else. I've got the eyeshadow and blush down, but for the lips and eyebrows, fuller is better. Unfortunately, I have rather narrow lips and eyebrows. I'm working up the confidence to draw in fuller eyebrows and extend my lips with liner, but I can't convince myself that I won't look like I just have makeup smeared all over my face. Until now, I've usually gone with a more minimalist look for the makeup, sticking to natural tones and just accenting my features. 

My hair is finally long enough that I can start to make it do what I want. Here are my attempts so far.

What I typically do with my hair, now that I finally understand how to use a flat iron.

Rocking a swept back 50s do for a work party. This was a total fluke and kind of inspired my whole fashion shift. Also, I love this pic and use it for everything now.

Practicing a bouffant

Nailing the bouffant, and also one of my cute new tops.

A great swept back style complete with giant flower in the back. You can't quite see it,but I was trying really hard to get a pic of it along with my new swimsuit. I looked way cute when I laid out in the sun that day.

Trying out foam curlers, then taking them out and sleeping on the result before I took a picture.

I'm really excited to figure out how to do new styles with the curlers. Honestly, I was surprised that my hair actually worked with them. Usually, I put curl in and it falls out within an hour. These stuck around for quite a while. My husband has requested victory rolls, which usually go in longer hair, but we'll see what I can work out while my hair is still short.

Clearly, I'm very excited about this transformation and there will be much more to come. Up next on my list of things to learn are eyebrows.

Broadening My Horizons: Understanding That I'm an Idiot and Camp NaNoWriMo

Alright, in my recent attempts to better myself, I have very quickly come to terms with the fact that I am an idiot in many respects. Thank god for the Internet. I'm sure my search history is insane this week. Luckily, I tend to commit fun little tips and tricks to memory easily and can usually pull them out when I need them (or I pin them to Pinterest!) Unfortunately, I don't know many bloggers, or if I do, I don't talk to them enough to get some insights on their success. I have found a few helpful sites though and was even brave enough to put in for a transcribing job! Hopefully, I will work up enough nerve to put in for an actual writing job, but I've got to start somewhere.

I've also been practicing writing everyday. It has been easy because it was the weekend and I took today and tomorrow off of work. The real struggle will be later in the week once I go back to work. I'm especially excited about Camp NaNoWriMo that starts in July. For the last 9 years (wow, I didn't realize it had been that long) I have been participating in National Novel Writing Month, which takes place each November and challenges the participants to write a 50,000 word novella in just one month. For some reason or another, November is always a terrible month for me to focus on that sort of thing, so I have never made the 50,000 word goal. I don't really expect that I really will, but this year they have introduced a summer version of the competition. Luckily, July is a particularly slow month for me this year, so there is a chance I might actually make my goal. On top of that, I came to the conclusion that I want to be a writer just a few weeks before the challenge starts. I feel like this confluence of events is just what I need to get myself started and force myself to get those ideas fleshed out into actual stories. In order to keep myself accountable, I will try to update my word count here, as well as the Camp NaNoWriMo website.

I'm not sure how pertinent this is, but I'm including a list of the websites that helped my find some directions in regards to freelancing and blogging. Honestly, this list is here for my own good more than anyone else's. I hope to find more as I continue researching.

• Odesk a website to find freelance writers and to put in for freelance jobs
• Elance similar to Odesk, but it seems to have more searching capabilities when seeking jobs
• The Write Life a site for writers, packed with helpful articles, tips, links, and anything else I might need to know
• WikiHow Gotta love WikiHow, found this article about getting blog subscribers.

Really, what I'm learning is that I need to start commenting on the blogs that I read. I can link my site to my comment, therefore generating more traffic. Lord knows I read enough blogs and have plenty of comments on them, so that can be part of my practice with daily writing. On a side note, I have to tell everyone about Feedly, this is the best RSS feed I have ever used! It took me forever to find one that I liked and it makes keeping up with the 20+ blogs I follow easy as pie. It even helps me to follow YouTube channels and my friends personal blogs.  I highly recommend it.

Just one more day of easily finding time to write. I want to wish myself luck writing for the rest of the week, but I know better than anyone that it is just going to take dedication and forcing myself to stick with it.