The Grammys

Oh the Grammys. It's the one night in award show season when anything can happen on the red carpet. I mean one year Lady Gaga arrived in an egg! I do remember the one year they had to update the dress code or apply one because so many stars we're crossing the line.

But this year, is it just me or was I the only one unimpressed with what the stars were wearing. Nothing really caught my eye and made me go "wowzers". That is until Queen Beyoncé arrived...I mean am I right?

You cannot tell me she doesn't look elegant, stunning and sexy in this gown. As for the rest of the red carpet looks, it was interesting. Yes, interesting. We will go with that...

White was all over the carpet. It's really starting to prevail and became acceptable and I'm loving it as long as you can work it, and they all do.

Then we have the women wearing suits. I'm probably going to get a lot of scowls for this, but I just don't get it. I understand a great business suit or a perfectly tailored blazer on a women's body but this is award season. A perfectly structured tailored gown can do the same thing.

Ah, color! Isn't it so refreshing and stunning?

And the couples and groups didn't stop at looking ordinary or blending it. Each artists looks make so much sense as to who they are as an artist, actually everyone this night did. 

I've decided to start and end this blog post with the looks that had me the moment the artists stepped on the carpet. Miss Ariana Grande and Kelly Osborne, good job. Beyoncé, you go girl, you do run this world.

Fashionably Late

Wow oh wow. Talk about major procrastination. I live for award season and the red carpets. So far this red carpet season I've seen some major trends arriving on the carpets. Tuxedo inspired looks (black and white) , navy's, reds, nudes and patterns are all showing up. 

I'm loving that the actresses and actors are starting to surprise us. Past red carpets you would always see the same actress in the same silhouette just a different color( ahem, Sofia Vergara with your mermaid/trumpet dresses) but this season were seeing growth and change. I love the looks and it's hard to pick a favorite, because each one of these stars looked amazing.

This will probably be my longest post to date, but seeing as I'm doing less chatting and more picture showing I hope you can forgive me.

Let's look at the golden globes shall we...

I remember the one red carpet I watched and stars were arriving wearing red gowns, at first I was all "woah, there going to blend in" then I was all "woah, this color is such a great color and it could be the new black". That last statement I still believe in, when I think of an award show I think of blacks,navy more classic colors, but who says red can't be classic? 

I mean look at these gorgeous stars, how can you pick just one that you love? Although JLaw will always be my girl. Her dress was getting a lot of hilarious spoofs after she walked the red carpet, my favorite? I saw a photo of a girl who took a duvet cover and some duct tape and made her own gown, how hilariously inspiring! I love that tuxedo looks are starting to break out and shine. Of course black will always be great, look at how many stars chose it!

I love this nude trend we have been seeing lately on the carpet! It's such a neutral that you can do anything with it, or just rock it as is like many of these stars are, also a little pattern never hurt anyone.

Ah, how refreshing color on the carpet! I really enjoy that the pastel trend from last spring is starting to carry over into evening wear but in a better less Easter egg painting way. 

Up next is the SAG awards! I really enjoy this award show because it's kind of the forgotten one but the one that has meaning, not that the others don't. The screen actors guild, or SAG-AFTRA, is pretty much the union that media artists are apart of. The sag awards are awards given to these faces we all know and love. The best part, is these artists vote for who should win, so ultimately your peers are giving you these awards and not a committee that's behind closed doors. 

So let's see the fashion!

Navy seemed to be the big trend of the night, and the big trend overall on the carpet so far this award season. It's a great color and works for most skin types. I love how classic it can be but it can also be used for a fun modern take on a classical Hollywood silhouette. 

Find me a red carpet where there isn't black and not one actress didn't look stunning wearing it...seriously challenge me...

We didn't see much color this sag award but the colors we did see we're smaller suggestions of what we saw the week before at the golden globes.

White and nude are becoming second most appeared on these red carpets and I'm not really hating it. I say if you can rock it, style it and not look washed out wearing it then you go, glen coco. Anyone get that reference? Please tell me you did, or we can no longer be friends. 

Like I said its so hard for me to choose who is my favorite and what designer had the best dress. I loved them all! I can't wait to see the fashion that shows up this Sunday at the Grammys, the Grammys are the one award show where I feel you can have the most fun, it's ultimately a big concert. You know ill be watching!!!

Please don't break, please don't burn me.

...was being said over and over in my head during this whole process.

I decided to get crafty this year with one of my gifts. I wanted to paint wine glasses for my secret Santa. I've done it once before and it didn't really work. My sister and I were planning her wedding and this is about the time Pinterest really blew up, especially for all things wedding. We found it online that we could paint our own glasses, so like most things we tried it. It went okay but not like we invisioned. 

That is until I tried it once again. Moral of this story: if you believe it will work, if you believe in the project, if you believe you won't get burned as you put the glasses in the oven (more on that later), if you just believe it will all work out. And work out it did. I love them so much, I may make a set for myself.

I really really love how they came out. I'm glad I decided to paint the wine stems all black, it's more classic and really let's the polka dots shine. 

For this I just went to Target to get the wine glasses, originally I was planning on getting 4 but didn't know if they sold them in a set or separately. They thankfully did, so I was able to put the finished product back in the box and wrap it later on. 

Besides the glasses I had everything else on hand. I'm a craft hoarder. Seriously, name me something I probably have it or have something that could work in its place. 

This next part is really important. I didn't take a picture of it (eek, dummy alert) before you do anything to the glasses, wipe them down with hydrogen peroxide. This helps clean the surface and allows the paint to grab onto a fresh surface. 

If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen this sneak peak. Now you know what I was doing! I chose black, purple and raspberry pink. The pink isn't very raspberry, but it actually worked, labels lie sometimes.

Make sure you are painting with enamel paint. While I understand there are other paints, enamel paint is what you need for this project. Acrylic paint will do the job but once you wash it, all your hard work will be gone. Trust me from experience. Enamel paint.

I just took the rounded edge of one of my paint brushes and dipped in into my black paint. With no real grid or guideline I just started to dab,dab, dab the paint brush around my glass to create polka dots.

I did this with all the colors, but I finished one color before going onto the next.

Painting the stem was a challenge, the outside of the glass was still wet and I couldn't hold the stem to paint it. So I just put my hand in the glass and held it as I painted, this was the best way to do this.

I just took my black enamel paint and painted the stem and the bottom. Making sure you couldn't really see any brush strokes (thank you art classes) and made sure the surface was covered with enough paint. Do not glob it on, the stem is the hardest point to paint on the glass because of its small surface area, but if you use just enough paint it won't drip onto the sides or glob up. Glob up is so a phrase, btw, you can use it now. 

 Once you're all done painting, you need to preserve your work. If you're like me and don't have the full 21 days to let it air dry ( and let's be honest if we air dried it, I would probably touch it to see if it's done and then have a paw mark on it forever) you can just do the other step which isn't complicated at all. Preheat your oven to 350° and place your painted wine glasses on a cookie sheet. 

Make sure they aren't touching but they are just enough apart to balance the cookie sheet since they are so light. 

Then carefully, while chanting in your head "please don't break, please don't burn me" over and over again, place them on the top rack of the oven for 15 minutes. The bottle says 30 minutes, oven heatness varies, but at 15 minutes I was getting nervous. So nervous that I was starting to think the heat would shatter the glass and then I would be spending my night cleaning out glass in the oven. So 15 minutes worked for me. No shattered glass and preserved painted wine glasses for me.

I also said the chant over and over in my head while taking them out. Let them cool for about an hour on the cookie sheet. Then carefully remove them and you just made a painted wine glass!

Enjoy!

Blizzard of 2014

This storm is serious. A blizzard warning was issued yesterday night, we haven't had one issued since 1993. We get Lake Effect warnings all the time, but very rare are blizzard warnings.

It's so cold, it's currently 3° but feels like -25°. WHAT?! That's just crazy. The news is mentioning something called a polar vortex. It's serious.

There are also driving bans in various towns and an overall travel advisory. Look at this map of the expected snowfall...

This is no joke. The thruway is closed, our airport has the most flights cancelled on the whole east coast. I'm use to snow, to cold, I'm use to storms. I've grown up in a snowy lake effected area my whole life. But this is blizzard is a beast. 

I cannot see the neighbors house, across the street or the intersection near my home. 

Along with driving bans many of the towns are under a state of emergency. EMERGENCY!!! Just wanted to stop in to say, stay warm, stay safe, stay inside and don't leave your homes!

Resolve!

...New Years Resolutions....

Raise your hand if you make them and then by March, sadly you have either forgotten what you resolved to do or just simply didn't have time to follow it through. Raise your hand if you resolve to do the cliche "Get healthier, Eat Better and Work out". Raise your hand if you have resolved to not make a resolution and wished you had.

I've had my hand up, and I know you did too.

This year is going to be different. I'm really looking forward to 2014. I have a feeling this will be the year of change and growth, for the good. This year is going to change my life, I will be graduating with a BFA in a short five months (Eeek!) and will finally be in the "real world". It's crazy to think about.

In years past I've made new years resolutions that I wasn't passionate about, but not this year. I will be making small resolutions that I can actually accomplish. Because let's be honest here, saying you will do a detox every month and go to the gym three times a week...it gets old once you taste that first sip of tasteless liquid while you look like you just ran a marathon but really all you did was do a push up.

The gym is just not for me, it's a lifestyle that one day I will probably pursue, but in the mean time...I'm good.

So here is what I resolve to do this year:

1. Learn How to Crochet
I have heard from many friends and acquaintences that it's a personal preference, if crotchet or knitting is easier than the other. I have knitted in the past, and found I didn't stick with it. So, I want to learn how to crochet. I'm going big on this one, I'm not looking to make a scarf here. A friend of mine has a gorgeous and I mean gorgeous hand crocheted blanket. I love a good blanket. Here are some inspiration photos of what I'm thinking...I'm really leaning towards a grey color palette with hints of black and a pop of color like pink or magenta. That way this blanket can live anywhere since it's so neutral.

2. Unplug 
I will be the first to admit that my phone is always on my person, and 95% of the time I'm on it. If i'm not on my phone, I'm on my other devices. I am a very creative person and have found myself lately saying "I wish I could just sit and do this and not have a distraction". Hello!! Once a month I'm going to unplug from everything for the whole day and do something I would probably not get around to because life gets in the way. I may craft, continue to crotchet my blanket, paint, get to that pile of laundry, who knows really! I think it's going to be hard but well worth it.

3. Learn more recipes to bake and cook
I love to bake, it relaxes me. That may sound odd, but after a long day I would rather bake some sweets. Cooking panics me, like near panic attack. I like to know how much of an ingredient I need to put in, just throwing in whatever and not measuring, lord help me. I'm going to try to cook more, and bake more. I want to save up some money and maybe for my birthday buy myself a kitchen aid mixer. I was gifted a crock pot for christmas and I couldn't be more excited. I'm searching for recipes!

Can't wait to check in a few months down the line to see how I'm doing on these. Of course I'll be keeping the blog as well and updating, growing, learning and sharing this whole experience. So what about you? What are your resolutions?