Inspired by: Chinese Blue & White Porcelain

My mom LOVES blue and white plates and decorative figurines, and I used to be obsessed with anything oriental (still kind of am actually). I saw some blue and white kitchenware in a shop on King Street yesterday and got a little nostalgic, so I decided to base a blog post on it!

I don't know why so few people have heard of DENY Designs. They have some of the cutest prints and color schemes for any room decor you could possibly want. This shower curtain is in the print "Blueberry", and they have pillows, blankets, duvet covers, wall prints, and a whole lot of other things in this print. 

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The Chinese designs are so ornate and beautiful, but the blue and white colors are pretty simple. I think they balance each other out very well. Blue and white porcelain became popular in China in the 14th century, though it was probably around before that. From what I understand, the blue and white porcelain was fairly expensive because it was made with cobalt, which was more expensive than gold at the time.

Oriental Outfit

This is just a simple little outfit for spring. The blue and white shawl is light and breezy, and has an oriental look to it. I think gold accessories would look nice with this because the porcelain plates and such often had a gold trim on them. Stacked bracelets have been growing on me lately as well. Unfortunately for me, it's hard to find bracelets that fit my tiny wrists.

Gingham

Gingham for spring! This would be adorable for going to a garden party or any outside event for spring really. I went with rose gold instead of gold for this one, no real reason really other than I like rose gold. And stacked bracelets/watch yet again. Just pop on some wedges, grab a cute tote bag and your sunglasses, and you're ready to go!

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If anyone can do their nails like this, PLEASE send me a picture. That is ridiculously beautiful. If they are nail stickers, I really need to find them. 

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This is a little more doable. I've never tried the OPI Matte Top Coat, or any matte top coat for that matter, but I do like the look.  

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Just saying

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Just saying, again. 

So, what do you think? Would you decorate your house in some blue and white porcelain? Do you like the oriental influences? Also, let me know what your favorite matte top coat is for nail polish. Seriously, if anyone tries those nails, send me a pic. 

Summer Lust List Part 1: Shoes

Since I don't really have any spare spending money right now, I'm just going to gawk at things that I want. Maybe a secret Santa (Easter Bunny?) will see this and leave some at my door. A girl can dream.

Target

Target never fails to have the cutest clothes and shoes at reasonable prices. I need some shoes other than flats to wear this spring/summer and these are just perfect. I LOVE the gladiator look, so I'll also be looking for some gladiator flats. These look super comfortable, but looks can be deceiving. They also come in black, yay!

Target

Also from Target. I LOVE the beaded style on these. I could see myself wearing these with my black maxi dress. It shrunk a little so you can just barely see the shoes I'm wearing with it, especially when I sit. But really you could wear these with anything, I'd probably go with a flowy dress or skirt. 

Target

Last one from Target, I swear (though I could probably do an entire blog post on just Target shoes). I only have one pair of flats suitable for summer, because the rest are beyond dirty or falling apart. These are cute, casual, and you can wear them with almost anything. They also come in white, leopard print, a few different neutral colors, and a light snakeskin. 

Aldo

Picasso much? I tend to lean towards blacks and dark blues, so my goal for the summer is to add as much color as possible. Pretty simple, but I like the geometric shape. They also come in a dark blue/light blue combination, but like I said, color is key this summer. 

Nine West

Nine West also never fails me, but they are also a lot more expensive than Target. I LOVE this purple color, they give a little height and have a peep toe. Like I said, I'm trying my hardest to stay away from black. Also comes in black, green, and neutral. 

Aldo

I just need new rain boots. I'm ok with black in this case because I will need to be able to wear them with literally anything if the skies open up. They also come in grey and red. 

Giuseppe Zanoti

Look at them! Do I need to explain? This is high up on my lust list, probably just because of the price. They are Giuseppe Zanotti shoes but you can buy them on Bluefly for a lot less. True for most designer shoes, actually. Ah well, I'll dream of these tonight. 

I could go on and on with just shoes, but I'll stop here. More lust lists to come. Feel free to send in pictures of your favorite spring and summer shoes, I'm hoping to do a post on that as well. 

What shoes are you lusting after right now? Are you leaning towards colors or neutrals? Flats or heels? Let me know, have a great day! 

*click on the link under the pictures if you want to go to the website and purchase them (which I will be insanely jealous of). 

Long Time No Post (Again)

Once again, I'm incredibly sorry about my slackness. Hopefully for real I will have time to blog again, I have a bit more time on my hands. I'd like to do some more reviews and outfit posts for you all, but I'm jobless at the moment and don't want to spend that much money.

Not much is new here; I'm dating my best friend and my hair is short and dark brown instead of long and blonde. I turned 21 in October and surprisingly my ID has only been rejected once. Probably because it's falling apart, I look 12, and I had long blonde hair in it.

Woop Woop! Dark hair! Sorry for the bad quality, the lighting was weird and I was using an old phone. More and better pictures coming soon. My forehead is also a little red because I had just gotten my eyebrows waxed. 

SO since reviews and outfit posts are going to be limited, I need some good post ideas. So far I'm asking ANY and ALL of you to pretty please send me a picture of anything at all. Seriously, it doesn't have to be one you took; it can be a bag of chips, a chair, shoes, lipstick, carpet, one of your outfits, a bottle of vodka, a teddy bear...you name it, I want it! I'm going to write a post based on whatever picture you send me, and see how interesting I can make it. I'm begging, please! You can email me (graceyloo252@hotmail.com), Tweet me (@graceyloo252), paste on Facebook, or comment. 

Hope you all have been well! 

We Have a Winner!

I finally joined the iPhone cult, because Verizon was giving me hell and Sprint would work with me. But the downside is Verizon was a lost faster and I got more coverage with them, but whatever, Sprint was more helpful. ANYWAY I've been having the hardest time learning how to use this damn thing (even though I have an iPad and should know the basics) and syncing it with my computer.

But the giveaway is finally over! I will be emailing the winner or contacting them somehow. I'd rather not announce the winner publicly, just because you know, privacy issues.

But congratulations winner! You will know who you are in just a few moments! Thanks to everyone who entered, I will be doing another giveaway soon!

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I love all of you and thank you for your input and entries! Congratulations to the winner, and I will hear from you all soon. Or you will hear from me. 

Update: I heard from the winner, Erika Sorocco, and got permission from her to be mentioned in this post. Congratulations again! 

Inspired by: Stevie Nicks!

For the rest of the summer, I'm going to be stealing Stevie Nicks's style. I LOVE Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac. Seriously I'm obsessed. I found making this post very difficult, because it's pretty hard to imitate her style. Mostly bohemian but she takes it a liiiitle further.

"I think they all went too far. Their jeans got too low, their tops got too see-through. Personally, I think that sexy is keeping yourself mysterious. I'm really an old-fashioned girl, and I think I'm totally sexy" -Stevie Nicks

Flowy everything was a staple in her style. ALWAYS had long necklaces, a big cross necklace, or a moon necklace.

There's an oh so famous shawl that she always wears and twirls around in. And of course, some aviators to top off the look! I was surprised at the amount of cute bell bottoms there are!

Stevie was always famous for wearing a bunch of black at once (glad I'm not the only one, practically my whole closet is black -___-) I just added a shawl, because we know how much she loves those, and a red lip just for some color. Side note: Leather and Lace is a Stevie Nicks song, just to clear that up.

Get a Stevie Nicks-esque crescent moon charm! You can wear it pretty much with anything. They have one on Amazon but I'm sure you can find them on Etsy or in another store. Halloween stores will probably be carrying them too. 

If you can manage to find a dress or a shawl THAT flowy and free, go for it. I had a really hard time trying to find something that would do her justice. Again, you can probably find one on Etsy or something. They would be awesome when it starts getting colder, too. 

Oh, did you know she made an appearance on American Horror Story? Yup! A character in that season named Misty completely idolized Stevie Nicks, and she made an appearance! 

What do you think? Do you like Fleetwood Mac and/or Stevie Nicks as much as I am currently? My favorite songs right now are Tusk and Seven Wonders right now, check them out! 

Would you try to dress like Stevie Nicks on a regular basis? Use her as a bohemian inspiration? Or play it safe and save it for Halloween? 

11 Websites You Need to Bookmark

Bookmarks by gracey featuring tech accessories

I have a lot of pages bookmarked for inspiration, random cool stuff, post ideas, etc. But I'm saving those for my revamped Lovely Links series (coming soon). These are websites you really really should bookmark, most of them are pretty useful in real life.

1. Chandoo.org. I was looking for some office/receptionist/personal assistant jobs recently, and EVERY one of them required that you be proficient in Excel. This has the basics, formulas, charts, and everything else you need to know. You can do a lot more with Excel than I ever thought, and it's really complicated if you don't know how to use it.

2. Allrecipes.com. Good if you are looking for a recipe or need inspiration for recipes with a specific ingredient(s). You can save recipes you like, post recipes, and even make a shopping list. This works well if you have a smart phone, because you can pull up the app while you're shopping and see what you need. I'm stuck with my dinosaur of a Blackberry and don't have that luxury, but take advantage if you have a smart phone!

3. Lookbook is great if you need some fashion inspiration. There was a girl that I found on Lookbook and I absolutely adored her style, but I cannot for the life of me remember her name. I want to say she lives in Italy, but I don't remember for sure. I'd know her if I saw her, so I'm going to go searching after this post is finished! Lesson learned: make sure you add looks that you like to a collection. Oh you can also add your pictures and looks to Lookbook as well.

4. Spreeder.com. This is a website designed to help you improve how fast you read. I haven't tried it yet but I will this week and see if there is any improvement.

5. Yogameditationhome.com is a free website with a crap ton of yoga videos. You can select your age, level, health issues, etc. AND you can favorite videos so you don't have to search for them every time. There is probably somewhere that offers yoga classes near you, and I don't know about you, but I don't want to dish out the money and be self conscious the whole time because I'm new at this.

6. Instructables.com teaches you how to make things (with you know, instructions). Learn to knit, because why not?

7. Documentaryaddict.com. I use this site when I need a break from watching House, or I'm just bored and want to watch something really interesting. You can search by category, newest, top rated, and more. Seriously, when you're bored or have time to kill, watch a documentary.

9. Ted.com. If you're not feeling the documentaries, watch/listen to a TED Talk. You can also filter by category and such. All of the talks they have turn out to be really interesting, even if I have no interest in the subject they are talking about. You really will get sucked in.

10. Wolframalpha.com helps you with anything related to math. I JUST used this a few minutes ago because for some reason I was talking about physics with my mom and I couldn't remember the quadratic formula. Now I do!

11. Polyvore.com. If these were in order of importance to me, this would be at the top. It's SO necessary for bloggers (specifically fashion and beauty bloggers). You can create really cool pictures for your blog, and even import your own pictures if it doesn't have what you are looking for (using the Polyvore Clipper).


Well now you have some sites to sift through, I just cured your boredom. You're welcome. What necessary websites do you have bookmarked? Have you ever been on any of these?

Life Tips #1 and #2

1. Don't buy a razor without checking how much the razor blade refills are going to be. 
They can cost more than the razor itself! Don't invest in a "high end" razor just because it presumably takes hair off your skin better than others, because chances are you'll have to pay a million more dollars when the blades dull and you need to get refills. If we're talking about shaving our heads, then we're going to need something a little more intense probably. But my lovely ladies, taking hair off your legs, arm pits, bikini area, wherever: you don't need an expensive razor. Don't limit yourself to the pretty pink razors either, look at all of your razor options, even if it means getting a men's razor. Maybe invest in a good shaving cream, just because it moisturizes your skin and makes the shave smoother. Just don't stoop to disposable razors, especially if you have sensitive skin. By the way, did any of you ever try this scary thing? It didn't do a thing. Good marketing sucks.

2. Don't watch House if you are a hypochondriac. 
I don't think this needs an explanation.

By the way, I currently use the Schick Quattro for women as my razor. Not the scary one that claims to trim. It fits comfortably in my hand and I get a smooth shave; no complaints.

Also should add, I'm NOT affiliated with Schick in any way. Or House, though I wish I was!