The Stupidness of Averages, Stereotypes and General Normalness

We all get just a bit scared of standing out. No one wants to be viewed as weird. Stereotypes barricade us. It’s as if they keep us in little boxes. Peer pressure pushes us over the edge. We’re all scared of being a current instead of just going with the rest of the river. I was inspired to write this because of an article I read in the latest Frankie. It was about creatives with disabilities. I was drawn to a story about a blind furniture designer. I loved the fact he was unique. People expect designers to we women with red hair, cat eyeglasses and architectural jewelry. But this guy pushed boundaries. He wasn’t an average.  It made me realize how stupid stereotypes are. How they barricade us and stop us from doing things we love.  

  

This is a message to everyone. It doesn’t matter how normal you are.  There are two words that have been said so much they are a bit of a cliché but they’re true so I’ll share them with you.  Normal’s boring.  As is fitting in with the crowd. If we didn’t have creatives, unique people and weirdoes our world would be so boring we’d all fall asleep. So, do your bit for our world and don’t be afraid to stand out. Jump up and down, wear a banana suit and dance like no one’s watching.  

Have a good week

Xoxoxo

Isabella

Photo from http://cdnimg.visualizeus.com/thumbs/44/36/blue,eyes,bunny,bunny,ears,bunny,rabbit,bunny,whisker,carrot,color,colour,eyes,girl,green,hipster,indie,long,hair,make,up-4436c9fc1721c03d3c6ecab2f90e6610_m.jpg/ 

A Sophisticate's Guide To Shopping

Shopping. It's fab. But it has it bad side. It makes you blow money you don't have. It's time consuming. It's addictive!  
This article helps you bask in the sun of shopping and veer away from those bad things about it.  

To prepare..... 
Before you go shopping do these things. Don't worry they won't take more than 2 minutes, it won't take up any of you're shopping time!  


Firstly. SET A BUDGET. Only bring the amount of money you plan to spend. This way you aren't tempted to blow your budget. 
Also set a time limit. You don't want to miss anything. 


Ask yourself these questions 


Do I need any garments? For example: you are low on skirts, it's cold and you need a coat, you need a new bag as yours is getting old.  
What are the trends and do I care about them enough to buy around them?   
What shops should I go to? 


You can even check online at your favourite stores before you leave so you have an idea of what you might buy.  


Where to shop
Go somewhere where you have a bit of variety. Your local mall, department store or high street are usually the best spots. 


It's important to keep a balance. Have a browse at all types of stores. High-end, vintage, op shop! Keep it mixed! 


How to ENJOY shopping  
The best way to enjoy shopping is to go with your favourite people. Walk along chatting and then get second opinions about all your favourite garnments. Sit down and get a drink. Talk. Eat. Shop. Laugh. Enjoy. 


Happy shopping! 
Xoxoxo
Isabella  


Photo from http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8qY_8uKRbQg/Tmt32QRHE5I/AAAAAAAABWw/hhtvFasiapc/s1600/day+12+-+shopping.jpg   

The Picks of the Month - Music, Fashion and Food

So view this as a plug in to the amazing things I’ve seen this and last month.  We can all admit these few months have definitely have their ups and downs like most months. But let’s be optimistic and focus on the good stuff. 

Music

Lana Del Rey

Not amazing live but fabulous songs and big lips.  Ring any bells? It must because Lana Del Rey is the new big thing.  Sure, she’s liked and disliked all over the world but the amount of hate she gets doesn’t stop her from producing amazing music.  I give her massive thumbs up.  

Lonely Boy by The Black Keys  

The new song by The Black Keys has gone absolutely viral. It is loved all over the world. The tune is catchy AND they are talented. This can be very rare in the current pop music scene.  I utterly adore it. There’s only one problem…I can never get it out of my head.   

Boys Like You by 360 feat. Gossling

I love the chores and the voice of Gossling plays my heart strings but 360 annoys me (all rappers do) and the theme of the song is really horrible and not the most pleasant to listen to when you take the lyrics seriously (shown in music video, which is not displayed here as I feel it isn’t all that appropriate for this blog).  

Tongue Tied by Grouplove

I’ve run out of words for love. I think I’ve already said love and adore so many times in this article. I’ll just say I’m nuts about this song. The backing line with the instruments in the background is so fabulous and bold. This means the song is wonderful to listen to and never drags. 

Fashion  

Collard Shirts

Those collard seem to ensure sophistication and funkiness. They absolutely ooze coolness whether they are covered in a bold print or in a simple colour.  I heart these shirts!  

Photo From
http://rockinthatbling.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/vanessa-collar.jpg 

Polka Dots

Oh my gosh. Who knew these tiny little spots could make me feel so happy. They absolutely scream cuteness.  I love them on 50’s styles dresses, on skirts, on headbands on EVERYTHING. 

Photo from http://www.isdress.net/img/black-embroidered-polka-dot.jpg

High Waisted Skirts

Oh, how I love wearing a skirt tucked in.  It seems elegant and cool all at the same time. Wearing one with a cute blouse and a pair on sunnies is one of my new favourite outfit combos

Photo from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoJ9ggK9U_5BY254wL1jdzInpibpfggaKEa8udPQgFayHArL6bRZg4nzjCn5-6YpeNnYG-sOKT3dCzt5qmrXwnTeNTf3x1Cr7wFTsjcNQhLmMVCYTEopW_MmBc1DliscLvPhbzfmd_IbQ3/s400/2b86082e-9d20-47a1-948f-2cbedeee309e.jpg

Vintage

Ahh, the love of the old and lost. Rekindling new trends in one of my new favourite things to do and vintage can really help with that. 

Photo from http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nlnE3r1mn-A/Tb7hbEwGqRI/AAAAAAAAAEY/LZQt-K4wcAc/s1600/pretty-pink-vintage-collage.png

Food

Tofu

I love tofu in all forms.  It is high in protein and iron and low in calories. It’s also highly delicious. A perfect healthy snack. What’s not to love? 

Photo from http://www.thefatlossauthority.com/fat_loss_tips/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Tofu-Image.jpg

Thai Food

Mmmmm. I love the bold and delicious flavour of Thai Food. Pad Thai anyone?  

Photo from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHrAYkbRtk-EIvfXOzit2vhHV0WoHl3l4P2NiVPnMGiLgX5jNu4darunsL90qpmpaA0YQrtYh5T4W0MyAVFkpfMPqXrlJiH0-BJsYxc2HXxoJV4DGb8y17ExacLj49PMlpGKk-UBqwalyI/s400/padthai.jpg 

Scones

Is there anything better than a warm scone with jam and cream, a cup of tea and a really good read. No there is not?

Photo from http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/02/12/scones_narrowweb__300x449,0.jpg

Have a nice weekend

Xoxoxoxo

Isabella 

Chocolate, Pink Baths and That Little Thing Called Love - A Guide To Having The Perfect Valentine's Day

I have never celebrated Valentine's day in my life so for me tomorrow will be a first. It seems no one does in Australia.  Valentines day is corny and retailers see it as a way to sell more stuff so people often forget about it's true meaning which is love. Now I'll stop there or I'll go into motivational speaker mode. What I don't get is why people only view it as a day to celebrate our love for another person. Why can't we celebrate our love for the world or for ourselves!  This guide tell you how to celebrate love in it's many forms. So curl up and read all about celebrating love for...well.....everything. 

5 Fabulous Ways To Celebrate Your Love With Someone

1. Go to a drive in movie

2. Bring out the corny heart chocolate and have a picnic!

3. Go out for a fancy lunch or dinner.

4. Each of you pick a movie and watch both of them back to back!

5.  Make love heart cookies

5 Fabulous Ways To Celebrate Your Love For The Amazing World Around You
Who doesn't love our amazing world.  Sure, it has it's flaws but it's beautiful and full of culture and diversity. 

1. Go away for a day to a new place

2. Take photos of everything you see that is beautiful or interesting.

3. Spend the day gardening

4. Go for a picnic

5. Go for a walk around your city  


6 (I had to throw in an extra one) Fabulous Ways To Celebrate Your Love For Yourself
Self love isn't about being full of yourself, cocky or selfish. It's about having confidence and a high sense of self worth.  Gala darling is the ultimate self lover and has amazing tips about how to be confident and how to love yourself so for more ideas have a look at her.

1. Treat yourself to a mini shopping trip. Come on, you deserve it!

2. Have some exercise.

3. Write down the 100 things you love about yourself

4. Paint your nails a new colour

5. Cook yourself a special meal.

6. Hang out with friends

The Ultimate Valentine's Day Thing
OK, so a couple of weeks ago I discovered a Lush bath bomb in my room. 'Oh, how lovely' I thought and I put it in the bath and hopped in. As the bath bomb spread the bath turned pink (yes, pink) and little confetti hearts went everywhere. I felt intensely happy and put on some calming music thinking about well....everything as one often does in the bath. It was INSANELY relaxing and I plan of doing it every Valentines day for the next couple of years. It's amazing how the little things can make you happy.

This is the bath bomb. I'm pretty sure you can buy on line. 

Have a fabulous Valentine's Day
Stay wonderful
Xoxo
Isabella

Needles, Cookies and Computers- Finding Ways To Release Your Creativity

Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That's because they were able to connect experiences they've had and synthesize new things.

Steve Jobs

So, we’ve established that creativity is a pretty damn awesome thing. It fuels jobs, hearts and brains. For those with a day job that they may not particularly like or a thirst for a creative outlet I’ve put together a little list of creative outlets and the pros and cons of each one. 

Blogging

Blogging is a wonderful thing.  It is something that leaves you with a lot of possibilities. You can blog about whatever you like.  If you don’t enjoy it than stop because really, what’s the point of doing it if you don’t? The main pros for me are the happiness it gives me. That is the reason I persist despite the fact I have quite few readers.

Another thing that will be a pro for me, hopefully in the future is money. You can actually make really good amounts of money from a blog but at the same time I would be happy to just keep writing and have no ads.

The things that sort of suck about having a blog is the hate. You can get really awful comments that make you feel like you blog is horrible. Of course, I hate the awful comments but for me the main con of blogging is the fact that sometimes I feel (and I’m sure it’s the same with lots of other bloggers) like I’m just sending articles out into the big wide internet and they’re getting lost and no one can find them or read them. I think ‘who is actually reading this?’ I absolutely love it though and I don’t think I’ll be stopping any time soon.  

Small Business 

Having a small business is a really fun thing to do.  It means making really direct money really quite quickly. The expenses are really quite high though.  You can sell homemade toys, cushions and all sorts of other little things.  You can sell your little things at a market or on Etsy.  

Other things you ay want to do are

-  - Sewing classes

-  - Baking with friends every month

-  - Knitting

Happy releasing creativity.  

Have a lovely weekend

Xoxo

Isabella

Why Fast Food is a Horrible Thing and the MUCH better Alternative

Well, I think we can all admit that most of the time fast food is pretty damn horrible. Not to mention the fact that it seems to destroy you from the inside.  

Equally, I see the appeal. It's fast and cheap.I have realized quite a lot of people that go to Macdonald's and other fast food chains are really quite lazy. Why do you think a lot of them are so obese?  


No one deserves fast food. No one deserves heart disease, no one deserves diabetes and no one deserves obesity. 


If I haven't convinced you then look at this article, go read The Omnivore's Dilemma or watch this. 


The alternative is simple. Fresh, easy food you cook at home. Check out my blog roll where you can find food blogs packed with fantastic recipes. A few cheap and VERY easy (I'm talking 5-10 minutes) recipes if you're in a lazy mood and that happens to all of us. 


- Udon Noodles with Soy Sauce, Spring Onions and a little Sweet Chili Sauce. This is one I sort of invented but I love.
-Pasta with Pesto (You can actually make the pesto on the weekend or buy a little pot) 
- Lettuce Leaves with Satay (which is easier to make than you think, just mix peanut butter, soy sauce, fish sauce, lime, sesame oil, coriander and a little chili) and Egg White Noodles
-Guacamole with Cheesy Tortillas 


As I always say with both food and fashion. Experiment! If you're too busy in the week to cook than cook meals on weekends and then pop them in the freezer. 


Fast food is bad for both you and the earth around you. So do us all a favour and don't eat it! Of coarse if you love fast food no one's going to stop you from eating it occasionally but too much of it is bad for everyone. 


Stay fabulously healthy 
Xoxoxoxo 
Isabella 

Lana Del Rey: Fabulous or Fake?

Lana Del Rey aka Lizzy Grant seems to be the new ‘thing.’  Her deep and somewhat mournful voice is beautiful, in my opinion. I have been a supporter of her songs since I found out about them. I’m ecstatic for when her album comes out.   

Source

Her career has, in some parts, been influenced and supported by her very wealthy father. Maybe that’s why so many people seem to hate her.  

I believe the thing people have to except is that she is really talented and it doesn’t really matter how she got to the top because she’s there now and I don’t think she’ll be climbing down any time soon. It’s hard to make it in the music biz and she just had a bit of a boost to help her (her father’s money).   If anyone is most likely to sell millions of albums this year it’s her.  

Another thing people seem to dis her about is her massive lips. This is just plain vein. Music isn’t about beauty it’s about, well…music. And if people do care about beauty so much they shouldn’t be complaining, as Lana Del Rey is a beautiful girl.

I can’t say much about her fashion sense, as the world hasn’t seen much of it yet. From what I can tell it seems feminine, elegant and in some cases regal.  

So in conclusion I would say Lana Del Rey is amazing. I respect the fact that she isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but if she isn’t yours than can you please not write nasty things about her all over the Internet. Hate is a horrible thing and I think Lana Del Rey has more than her fair share of it. Put yourself in her shoes.  Who would want people calling them ‘duck lips’ and ‘fake’ and ‘untalented?’  Hmmm, Let me think…exactly…no one.

What you think of Lana Del Rey?

Stay exceptionally fantastic

Xoxoxoxo

Isabella

10 Things You Should Do This Fabulous February

Hello! So yesterday is the first day of February and I'm feeling on top of the world! February is a month where everyone is still easing into the new year. Christmas feels like ages ago and people have already forgotten about their new years resolutions! You, yes you, should have a fabulous Febuary. To help you do this I've written a long checklist so we can all feel on top of the world!  




1. Send a letter 
That's right, be old fashioned. It's lovely to recieve a letter in the mail. Send a letter to a couple of people you know and see if they send one back. 

Photo from
http://coconutandcream.blogspot.com.au/2010_07_01_archive.html

2. Take Care of Your Skin 
Who wants to have peeling, oily, dirty or generallty icky skin? Exactly...... no one. Here are my tips for perfectish skin. 

Step One: Cleanse and tone your skin in the morning, also, put on a tinted sunscreen. Sunburn sucks and no one can notice a tinted sunscreen. Then in the evening give your face another wash. Simple as pie.  

Photo from http://drsecretstore.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/1374.jpg

3. Have Flowers In Your House 
It is a fact* that flowers make people happy. Having them in your house adds ambiance to a room. They are beautiful and uplifting. Unless they are dead. 
*not an actual fact 

Photo from http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tTmQkCG7xqg/
TLcZoicnuZI/AAAAAAAAAH0
/e1_VTYoGz7s/s1600/flowers1+copy.jpg

4.  Try A New Tea
Tea is a wonderful thing. I DO NOT BELIEVE IN LIMITING YOURSELF TO ENGLISH BREAKFAST. There's so many teas out there we should all experiment.  

Photo from http://www.countryliving.com/cm/countryliving/images
/tea-party-teacups-rep0507-de.jpg

5. Buy a polka dot garnment 
I utterly adore polka dots. And it seems they are making a bit of a come back. They seem to be popping up everywhere. So go out and buy a polka dot garnment. A skirt? A dress? A top? Polka dots= guarenteed cuteness! 

Photo from http://www.thisnext.com/tag/
polka-dot-party-dress/

6. Have a candlelit dinner 
Sometimes its great to make things a bit special. A candlelit dinner is a fab way to do this. Invite some friends or family over a cook a spectacular dinner.   

Photo from http://www.artisansofleisuretraveler.com/photos
/Bali_private_beach_dinner_t.jpg

7. Give yourself a new hobby  
Start a blog or a shop on Etsy. You could make a bit of extra cash and have a ton of fun.  

Photo from http://heartifb.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09
/green-blog-image.jpg

8. Read a couple of new blogs 
Go for a bit of surf on the internet (or refer to my Blogroll) and find a few little gems to add to your google reader.   

http://higher-and-higher.com/wp-content/uploads
/2010/10/fashion-blogs.jpg

9. Give a batch of cookies to a friend 
If have a friend who has stayed with you through thick and thin and is always there to lend a helping hand or a sholder to cry on.  It's good to give back. Give her a batch of her favourite cookies. Complete with a little tag saying how great she/he is.   

Photo from http://www.trotski-ash.com/2010/01
/recipes/chocolate-chip-cookies/

10. Do this 
I love gala darling. I especially love her idea of radical self love. This is a fabulous idea to get yourself feeling self confident this Febuary.  

Photo from galadarling.com

Happy New Month!!! 
Stay happy
Xoxoxoxo
Isabella