We are what We wear...

Hello my dears,

Today I want to talk with you about something that’s been on my mind for a long time already. I’ve actually had stickies on my closet with reminders and notes for this subject. 

As you might have notices already, Fashion is a really big deal for me. No matter which route I take I always go back to fashion one way or another. Just like fashion my dreams of fashion are constantly changing, as do my wishes and goals for the future. But some time ago I started wondering: what does fashion actually mean to me?

10 Day Challenge: Progress

Hello my dears,

It has been some time since I last posted, I know. Lets just say a lot of things have been going on in my live, like work, love, hate, confusion and just plain chaos. There are a lot of things I'm looking forward to (positive things) and an equal lot of things I do not look forward to (negative things). For one, I'm going to meet a person again, whom I'm afraid of, in the very near future. Not something to look forward to.

But! School is also starting soon. And as weird as it might sound to some of you, I'm really looking forward to it! I can't wait to get started again and learn new things, get to know new people! And to show myself (and others) I can actually do it!

After some fighting with myself I finally started the 10 day challenge. It has turned out to be a lot harder then I thought. To think up all the details I want my "perfect day" to have. Not to mention, my "perfect day" sometimes changes from day to day. But at least I started. I'm working on my "perfect days" and I already learned a thing or to about myself.

I have changed my mind about posting them though. I AM still going to post them, just not on my blog. The 10 day challenge posts will be posted on my Live journal (yes, very oldschool, but you got to love it) and I will posts the links to them in a combined post about the end result! How does that sound?

An other thing I changed: There are going to be 10 days, but not 10 days right after each other. Sometimes I'm so confused about things that I can hardly write about them. So I'm just working on things until I finished an other "perfect day". I'm just doing it the way I think will help me best , so... None will blame me for it, right?

I'm just going to do it the way I think is the best. I think thats the best way to go, don't you?

There are a lot of things I want to write, and want to do right now. But I think the best thing for me to do, is to try to study a little, and after that to maybe write about my perfect day again.

Love you,

Chibi Ohimesama

(Re)learning concentration

Hello my Dears,

I have finally found the will to post something again. I still have a hard time realizing I actually passed. I don't think I will actually realize it until I have my first day of school as a Ninensei (second year student).

Even if I'm still in a bit of a cloud, finally having some peace and time for myself, I try to keep going with my studies. I need to keep repeating my Japanese (all of it) in order to not forget it during this summer holiday (I know I will) and to improve it (I really need to). But, I noticed I have a really hard time concentrating on one thing at a time!

Lately there are a lot of articles on how the internet screws and changes our brain. Articles like this one is an example of those articles. The point is: internet is shortening our attention span. The first time I read about this (about 2 years ago) I didn't believe it. I mean, why should I? I read the whole twilight serie, and the last harry potter book, in one week. But this year I started noticing, I could not concentrate on my homework, or my studies, for much longer then 30 minuts (and even that was stretching it). I get bored by long blog posts, when I'm reading fanfiction I switch from fanfiction to facebook to twitter to tumblr and back to my fanfiction. I've gotten so used to quick information, short messages and changing screens, that I have a hard time keeping to one thing at a time!

Within a year time I've shortened my attention span AND become a social media addict!

I'm sort of at a loss on what to do about this! And internet stop would be an idea, but everything I have is on the internet! e-mail (both personal and for school), msn (with my family), facebook (for friends AND school), school information, bank account, moving to a new room, we need the internet!!! Sure I still have my cellphone, but none of my friends call anymore! They use smartphones, so we use facebook and msn for that! I could send out letters, but as cute and fashionable old fashion it is, I will most likely get my very late response through mail, facebook or msn.

Being online less is an option, an option I'm trying, but what to do in the meantime?

So I have gone back to reading books. I've started reading books again before going to sleep, and I'm trying to read about an hour per day for now. Which I noticed already isn't quite as easy as it was a year or so ago. I keep wanting to check facebook and twitter and my e-mail.

But what else to do? So besides reading books I have started to do write in my dairy. I just start writing and continue writing until I have nothing to write about anymore, or until I feel content. I use it to release the thoughts in my head, and to concentrate on something! It is actually quite funny to do. I realize a lot of things while being busy with free writing. One of those things? My head is a complete and utter mess! One more reason to (re)learn to focus on one thing at a time.

The last thing on my list of "ways to (re)learn concentration" is a list of things I need to do for Japanese homework each day. 1 whole A4 page of kanji per day, and when I can do that without to much distractions, 1 hole A4 page of words per day, and so on. This way I keep busy with my studies and maybe expand my attention span again.

I want to (re)learn to concentrate for a longer time period, like I could do before I became a social media addict. If you have the same problem, if you have any tips, or just a comment, please leave a message!

Love you,

Chibi Ohimesama

(picture source: Tumblr.com)

Do it my way: Keeping a white skin!

Hello my Dears,

How are you all doing?? Enjoying the nice weather??
In Holland we have had super nice weather the past few days. A lot of sun, little rain, 20C and up. Perfect summer weather! I have been enjoying it as well, although I have mostly enjoyed it inside, with the window wide open. And when I went out, I wore a summer coat, factor 50 sunblock and sunglasses!

Why? Well, because I want to keep my skin white, of course! Now I know the ideal in our western countries is currently a sun tanned skin, but I love my white skin. It is actually what I think is most beautiful. And I mean white, not pale. I mean what kind of fashion would it be if you looked sick?

An other reason why I try to keep my skin white, is because the UV rays age your skin and, eventually, can cause skin cancer. Not something I really want so~ I just try to do my best to take care of my skin.

Tips to keep a white skin can be found all over the internet and in magazines. You can actually find more every year. Mom told me last year, that there had been a Australian researcher on the radio who said that white skin should actually be the Fashion Ideal. In Australia it already was (thats what my mom said, I wouldn't know). He predicted that white skin would eventually become a fashion ideal, again. Because white skin would equal a healthy skin! I can't wait for that to happen!!

Well, most of these "Keep your skin white" tips are already known, but I'm going to put them in a little list anyways.

Wear sunblock. Not just when you go tanning, but also when you go outside to shop, or bike or whatever. Your daycream might say it has a UV blocker, but you'd have to put your whole bottle on your face to get even just a little bit of sun protection. Sunblock is cheaper and works better.
Now I use a factor 50, because I burn really fast and I want to stay white. The difference between the factors gets smaller the higher the factor goes. So don't buy factor 90 or 100, it has almost no difference from factor 50. Unless you are talking about the price difference.
Don't use to little sunblock, reapply after about 2 hour and cover every part of your body thats not covert by your cloths or shoes!!

Wear sunglasses Not only do they protect your eyes from the sun (and the UV), when you wear sunglasses you don't have to squeeze your eyes together to see things. And squeezing your eyes gives you wrinkles! Something we don't really like, now do we?
The nice part about sunglasses is that they can be super cute! I actually have 2 pair of sunglasses right now. And they look so good on me! Theres a new sunglass fashion every year. So time to start a sunglass collection besides your shoes and bags collection!

Wear sun protection on your lips! This is actually something a lot of people forget (me including). You can get special lip balsams that protect against UV!

Wear a cute, sun blocking hat This year hats actually got back into fashion! Fashion and sun blocking in one! perfect!!

Try to stay out of the sun between 11 am and 3 pm These are the times when the sun is at its meanest. If you have to go into the sun, wear long sleeves (white reflects light and heat), try to wear a hat and don't forget your sunblock~!!

Well thats about it. Of course there are a lot more things to think to protect your skin. But these are pretty much the basics.

I wish you all a super nice summer, lots of fun and a healthy skin.

Love, Me.

(Picture source)

Do it my way: Being cute

Hello my Dearest readers,

Welcome to my first real "Do it my way" post!!
The last few weeks I have been working on writing a guide about "How to be cute". I looked up lists, articles and tons of other things that had to do with how to be cute. While looking up all these things I discovered something: All those lists and articles just tell you how to act cute and, while some of the steps are helpful, they just feel fake to me. I even found a list where it said I had to act like a 10 year old in order to be cute.

After I discovered this I went back to thinking about the basics: What is cute? When I started thinking about this I realized I never ever thought about this before (have you?). I now think "cute" differs per person. There is really no real standard for being cute. I believe that you have to make your own "cute" standard, for yourself, and to not let other be a huge influence on your idea's.

So instead of making a guide on "How to be cute", I am going to write about the steps I took, and am taking, to try and be cute. Maybe my way of doing things can give you new idea's.
These idea's can also be used by other styles. Just insert any other style where the word cute is used, like cool. Goes for the guys as well. How to be manly *wink*.

> I think about myself being and acting cute. I think I do this about once a day. How would I dress if I could just magically make clothing appear, how do I act if I didn't have any barriers, those kind of things. I try to dress the way I thought about and I try to act the way I imagined it. In a way you could say I'm trying to shape myself to my own fantasies. Sometimes I write it down. It is really funny to see how my idea of cute changes from day to day!

> I practice being cute. This might sound kind of sad and/or crazy but I make poses and faces in frond of the mirror. In a way you could say I train myself to act in a way I find cute. This way I can make this way of acting my own and if it becomes natural to me, I will never look fake! It really makes me laugh as well. Sometimes I pull really weird faces and I end up laughing about myself. (A lot of models do this as well! Try it!)

> I smile when I feel like smiling. Smiling makes me happy. And I think smiling is cute, thus, I smile. Smiling is good for you (even the scientists say so!). All in all, I have lots of reasons to smile, so I smile.

> I can't always act cute. Sometimes, when I feel really depressed, I just can't act cute. I used to try to always act cute, even if I felt bad, especially when I felt depressed, but it takes up a lot of energy. When I'm not feeling well I just act the way I feel at that moment. Theres really no reason to force yourself to act a way you don't want to. I even think that it is bad for you.

> I wear cloths that suit my body type, are comfortable and that I think are cute. This is actually something I found in a lot of lists. And I think you should always wear cloths that suit your body type and where you are comfortable in. So this pretty much goes for any style.
When I wear comfortable cloths that I think are cute and suit my body, I feel a lot more cute and happy when when I wear cloths that are to tight or to big and saggie (big cloths can be cute, if you know how to wear them).

> I try to have a cute air around me, more then a cute image. This one is a bit hard to explain. I try to recreate the feeling I get with cute, more then that I try to be like the people in the pictures I find, or to have the cloths they wear.

> I noticed my opinion about what is cute changes a lot. One day I can find a picture that I think is totally cute and a week later I can't remember why I thought it was cute again. So I try to look up new cute things every day (or every other day). Tumblr is a great place to look up pictures. I reblog the pictures to keep this memorized. I only save the really cute or pretty pictures.

This is pretty much how I try to be cute. There are a lot more things I do to be/become cute, but these are the ones I want to share with you. I hope you can get some idea's out of it.

Please let me know what you think! I love to hear about other peoples idea's and opinions.

Until my next post <3

Do it my way: Intro

Hello my dear readers,

Today I'm going to tell you a little more about the "Do it my way" project I have been working on. Things like the why of the whole project.

I wanted to create something on my blog that is more then me just ranting about random stuff. When I started this blog, my whole idea was to become this huge blog writer, writing about fashion and the things I create. Back then I thought that I could just become a writer like that just by starting a blog. Well, things didn't really turn out that way.

But this past period I've been having the same kind of idea's about this blog again. I want to make it into something. You don't just become, you have to work hard to create things too become.

And thats what this whole project is about.

With these "Do it my way" posts I want to learn how to research things that are interesting to share, and really write about them. I want to create posts that are interesting and fun to read, that give you idea's or support you with the idea's you have.

My goal for now is to set a date each month for these "Do it my way" posts. Each month I'm going to look for something interesting to write about. Right now I'm working on gathering idea's and writing drafts.

My second goal is to post a little something about fashion each month. Just something I like, or an idea I got, something small. I am, after all, a graduate in fashion, and it is still a big passion of mine, so I want to share little idea's about my fashion styles.

So in the end there will be 2 blog posts per month that will actually be well thought-out and planned. I can't give you any guarantees about the rest of the posts though. They will probably end up being rants again.

I am looking forward to writing these blog posts. I hope you are looking forward to reading them. I will try my very best. And I will probably curse myself more then once for setting these goals. But I'm going to see this through to the end and create something I can use for my other goals.

Until next time,
which might very well be the first of my real "Do it my way".

Work in progress...

Hello my dear readers~

I would Love to write a really long post about all the things I have done, thought about, brain stormed about and .. really just write a lot of stuff, but~... M not gonna do that.
No, everything I still work in progress.

So~ What am I going to write about??

-> To start things off.. I GOT A 70% for 2 of my JAPANESE TESTS which is sooo good for me. yay~. I did fail an other one BUT I hoped to fail it so I could retake it. I really messed it up with stupid mistakes which I hope to be able to redo now.

-> M still working on "the "Do it my way" way of doing things" blog posts. I got a lot of idea's, but I really need to work them out. Along with the fashion view I'm working on. Fashion thing? yes, I'm working on a fashion thing. I'm half going against fashion, half following the Japanese fashion, half following what had been predicted here in Europe and America. It's really fun. I enjoy being busy with fashion again. And totally not following the rules~ of fashion~... aka the fashion prognoses. Well half of the times, anyways.

-> Animecon is coming up, so in between studying and having fun I'm sewing the last bit of the maid costumes. Why am I sewing maid costumes? check this post and maybe you'll get it. If not, just leave a comment ;) Anyways, it's really soon, and... I'm looking kind of forward to it.. kind of not.. I wonder if an Animecon is still the right place for me to be... well I guess I'll find out then, no?

And I guess thats it for today. I could totally fill this post with a lot more random ranting but, I really don't feel like it so. I'll leave it at this.

Love you guys,
Untill next time~