Beautiful Books Three.

Recommended:

Expand your mind

Here are two recommendations of books that I have read and enjoyed and a third recommendation that is on my to-read list (as I seem to always have a lot of books on that list):

1.  The Burn Journals by Brent Runyon

2. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

3. (On my to-read list) JR by William Gaddis

Happy reading!

***

Sincerely, Ella

April Outfit of the Day Two

Heart shirt: American Eagle (thrifted)

Skirt: Forever 21 (thrifted)

Tights: HUE

Shoes: Call it Spring

Hat: thrifted

Scarf: street vendor

Lipstick: MAUVE-ULOUS by Maybelline

Today, it being a Friday and all, I decided to go with a super comfy outfit. The breeze was a bit chilly (then again, it could have been the ice coffee that was making me chilly) so I went for my warm sweater shirt with the big heart on it and decided to be a bit monochromatic in the red-plum shade for everything else. Since the Spring decided to arrive, I've rediscovered my oxfords. They are my go-to shoe at the moment. I decided to top everything off with a deep plum lipstick, my red scarf, and my western style hat.

Thanks for reading!

***

Sincerely, Ella

An April Outfit of the Day

Recommended:

Dress as you please

Today, as I wore my new Forever 21 vest, I decided it was high time for an outfit of the day post. I'm new to this whole shindig, so pardon my inexperienced looking photographs. I hope you can take some inspiration from this post nevertheless. Hope you enjoy!

What I'm wearing:

Horse vest: Forever 21

Lace Shirt: Forever 21

Black pants: TJ Maxx

Red boots: thrifted

Bow ring: Ebay

Sunglasses: Steve Madden

Scarf: Urban Outfitters

Lipstick: So Chaud by MAC

Nail polish: Fiesta by Essie

Thanks for reading!

***

Sincerely, Ella

In Love With The Breakfast Club

Recommended:

If you think you've seen The Breakfast Club already, WATCH IT AGAIN! 

March 24 marks the anniversary of the detention in The Breakfast Club! Seeing as I'm completely obsessed with this John Hughes film, I've decided to share my favorite quote from the movie:

[opening narration immediately after the title sequence]
"Saturday, March 24,1984. Shermer High School, Shermer, Illinois, 60062. Dear Mr. Vernon, We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. What we did *was* wrong. But we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. What do you care? You see us as you want to see us - in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal. Correct? That's the way we saw each other at 7:00 this morning. We were brainwashed." -Most amazing movie ever (The Breakfast Club) 

 

I'm simply in love with this film.

Any other Breakfast Club fans out there?

***

Sincerely, Ella

Rainy Day Western Wear.

Recommended:

Make a rainy day an excuse to do something new

With the rain this morning, I decided to finally try out my new hat. A little while ago, we discovered this hat. It was sitting all lonely in the corner of the coat rack at the restaurant. It had been left there, for what could have been years, and was never claimed. One of my coworkers, who discovered another hat one other time but had to say goodbye to it when it was claimed, put it on for fun and that was that. I was in love with the hat. So I brushed it off and found it a home. On my head. The end.

The water is good for the crops.

***

Sincerely, Ella

A Beautiful Birthday.

I recently had a birthday celebration and it was such an amazing time. At one point I was completely overwhelmed by the outpouring of love I was getting from my guests and really just had to sit down to take it all in. I decided to try my hand at a poem to describe the moment, even though my poetry skills are super elementary. No making fun of my needing to end every line with a rhyme! Hey, that rhymed too! Anyway, here it is:

I felt so completely surrounded by people who love me.

I had to sit down so I could really see.

For a moment I just wanted to flee.

But then I thought, ghee,

This ‘me’ is really ‘we’.

I’m surrounded by glee.

I really am free.

I felt as big as a tree.

Not as small as a pea,

Although I did need to pee.

But here I could just be.

I could flow like the sea,

That was really key.

Instead of one, I was like three.

I was so on a spree.

There was no plea,

It was perfect to a tee.

Happy birthday, said she.

I love you, said he.

I could really see,

It was as perfect as a cup of tea.

Thank you all for making my birthday feel so special!

***

Sincerely, Ella

Beautiful Books Two.

Recommended:

Expand your mind

Here are two recommendations of books that I have read and enjoyed and a third recommendation that is on my to-read list (as I seem to always have a lot of books on that list):

1.      Our Town by Thornton Wilder 
2.      The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

3. (On my to-read list)  A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

Happy reading!

***

Sincerely, Ella

Tips for My Teenage Self

Recommended:

Don't look too harshly on your past self; you didn't know then what you do now.

A while back I discovered this tag floating among other bloggers and I decided to join in with some advice and fashion DOs and DON'Ts of my own for my teenage self . It would have been pretty cool if back then someone (who may or may not have looked vaguely like an older version of myself) would have dropped off some sort of memo with these things attached:

A piece of advice: If you don’t come out of that rock you’re under, you won’t enjoy your teenage years.

DO wear at least some makeup.

DO pay attention to what you look like in those clothes.

DO watch some YouTube videos to help you with your style.

DON’T pluck your eyebrows that thin.

DON’T wear that just because it still fits.

DON’T, for goodness sake, ever wear your hair like that again.

A tip for school: Pay attention so that you won’t feel dumb later. And actually read the books!

A tip for friends: It’s ok to talk to people.

A tip for fun: Discover creative writing please.

 To put things in context, this is who I'm addressing:

If you're a blogger, feel free to keep the tag going!

***

Sincerely, Ella

Winter Self Portraits with Favorite Winter Lip Products

Recommended:

Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius. 

-Pietro Aretino

Sometimes, on mornings when I like my makeup or hair or if I'm just feeling like it,  I take pictures of my face. There's no particular reason. I think it may stem from my obsession with portraits. I love browsing through tumbler looking at different artistic portraits, among other things, and whenever I draw; my go-to choice is always a portrait as well. So I've decided to compile my recent self-portraits from this Winter:

I'm also quite obsessed with lip products, as you can see by some of these portraits. Here are a few I've been using a lot this winter (some of them are not available anymore but I've given descriptions for if you'd like to look for a similar shade):

Burt's Bees: Lip Shimmer in Watermelon; a light plum shade that smells delicious

Covergirl: Temptation Tentation (285); a medium orange with gold shimmer

MAC: A deep red-pink lipstick with a FROST finish that I'm pretty sure is part of the Viva Glam collection but the name is completely worn away (it was my first ever MAC purchase)

Maybelline: MAUVE-ULOUS (455); a deep plum shade

Rimmel: Lasting Finish by Kate Moss Lipstick (11); a medium-deep shade of classic red

I hope you are having a nice winter season (even in the cold)!

***

Sincerely, Ella