Redress Style Consulting is Open for Business!

Hey, remember how I was considering going into the styling business? Well, it’s actually happening. It is my honor to present my new business, Redress.

Redress Style Consulting operates in the Atlanta area (but will soon be open to clients outside ATL) offering guidance and advice on all things style. It is my goal to help my clients build fabulous and functional wardrobes that fits their lifestyle, body type, budget, and personal aesthetics. Whether you’re looking for a little pep in your wardrobe, buying clothes for work or a special event, or a total style overhaul, I can help. I believe developing personal style has a huge impact on one’s life, self-esteem, and opportunities. My services right now include the following:

Style Assessment and Consultation: An in-depth discussion to assess your current style and where you would like to go with it. A good choice for someone looking for a style update or total change, but not sure what they want specifically. We’ll also discuss how to flatter your body with silhouettes and color.

Shop Your Closet: I take a look at your current wardrobe and create new outfits from pieces you already own.

Wardrobe Cleanup: I come to your home and we go through your wardrobe piece by piece to assess what works, what needs alteration and what needs to go. Clients will try on all clothes to check for fit and flattery. We’ll also develop a shopping list to help fill gaps in your closet. I’ll take all unwanted clothes to local charities.

Personal Shopping with Client: We go out shopping for about 3 hours together to build up your wardrobe.

Personal Shopping for Client: I do the shopping for you and bring all selected items to your home. From there you try things on and make the decision what to keep. I’ll handle all returns.

Group Style Workshops: Available for your party, conference, business, or seminar. I can teach small or large groups on a wide variety of style topics.

I plan to add more services and a packages as my business grows. For more updates and info on Redress, please like the Facebook page and share it with everyone you know. I’m very excited to start on this new career path. Thank you to all the people who have supported this move.

Have a Delightful Weekend!

Great article about how the “real women have curves” phrase is just another form of body policing. My favorite quote: “In so many marginalized communities, there’s a temptation—an easy temptation—to simply flip the script on oppression…Here’s the problem: flipping the script leaves the script intact.” 

Love this series of outfits inspired by various authors.

I like Tumblrs that feature funny gifs such as My Life in GIFs, but they haven’t made me burst out laughing quite like this one about life as an editor. Reminds me of my days as the editor-in-chief of my high school yearbook. Makes me want to start one about being a nanny.

These paleo desserts look scrumptious! Banana Nut Waffles and Grain-Free Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cake.

While I’d characterize my current style as quirky girly with a retro influence, I still think I have a pretty wide range of looks. However, if you’re more of a single style kind of dresser,this article on dressing within a specific aesthetic gives some great tips on cultivating an integrated and focused wardrobe.

I sometimes forget that men’s fashion has a lot more diversity than I immediately think. But this post for men on what to wear to spring/summer weddings reminded me that there a lot of creative combinations within the formal suit uniform. Also, this post is super helpful for figuring out what to wear based on the invitation.

Outfit equations for moms. Go beyond the yoga pants.

My Favorite iPhone Apps

I love a good app. I download (mostly free) apps all the time, but rarely do they improve my life, so I end up deleting most of them after a couple weeks. Here are a few of my favorites that have made the cut time and time again.

Book Crawler: This app helps me keep track of my reading. You can add books by scanning the barcode (the quickest and my favorite), looking them up on Google Books, or entering the information in manually. From there you can tag and sort them any way you want. I like to tag books by subject. I also separate the books into 3 categories: To Read, Reading Now, and Read. This helps me keep track of what I’ve read and what I want to read next. Every time I get a book recommendation, I quickly add it to the list. It’s help make me a more avid and directed reader.

Evernote: A great note taking app that I use on my iPhone and laptop. I also like the button available for Chrome that allows me to clip photos, articles, or whole pages from the internet. It was a great tool for quickly pulling resources for my style class and sifting through them later. I wish I’d known about it in college.

Sleep Cycle: I got this app after reading Tori’s blog post about it. The app tracks your movements in your sleep. You set a half hour window in which you’d like to wake up, and the alarm goes off during a light phase of sleeping. The goal is to wake up more naturally rather than yanked out of deep sleep.  I was skeptical at first, but the app really does wake you up during a light cycle of sleep. Yes, it’s incredibly J of me to track my sleeping, but I feel better in the mornings and the charts I get every morning are fun to look over. Also, I now know that on average I get about 8 hours of sleep every night. A lot more than I had originally thought!

Wunderlist: This is just a simple list app I use this to keep track of my blog post ideas. I love the sleek design. I also keep this app on my desktop for quick reference while blogging. You can also share the lists with other people.

Hours Tracker: Since I work so many jobs, I have a lot of hours to document. Hours Tracker is an easy to use app that lets me set wages and overtime for each job. There’s also a feature for factoring taxes. At the end of each pay period, you can easily export the hours in a document and email.

Take My Style Class at ATLOSCon!

Did I mention I’m giving a talk on the importance and value of cultivating personal style at ATLOSCon 2012? It will be the first in several classes and workshops I plan to give over the next year. My class is on Saturday, May 16 at 10:15 am at the Cherokee Recreation Center in Woodstock. Here’s the class description:

Developing your appearance can have an incredible impact on your life. With good personal style comes higher self-esteem, better rapport with coworkers/friends/family, and a zap of positive energy that comes from knowing your outside reflects your inside. However, many of us don’t look our best,  either from holding bad premises about our bodies and the validity of appearance, or a lack of technical knowledge about how to dress well. In this interactive talk, we’ll examine the philosophical reasons for looking good and the mental, emotional, and practical benefits that follow. We’ll also dissect some of the psychological hurdles that keep us from dressing our best. We’ll end with some technical advice for how to build a stylish wardrobe to fit your body, lifestyle, and personality. There will be a Q&A afterwards. This class is open to both men and women.

Registration for ATLOSCon is $15 for kids under 16, $50 for adults 16-25, and $75 for adults 26+. It’s a super fun conference with lots of fun and interesting people. We also have some fun surprises planned for this year. Hope to see you there!

ATLOSCon 2012 Ads

I’ve had a blast makingads for ATLOSCon 2012′s Facebook page based on popular internet memes. As I’ve said before, I think it’s time that Objectivists start marketing in new ways beyond the classroom. We had a great response to the ads and got a lot more traffic on our FB page. Here are some of my favorite ads:

Have a Peachy Weekend!

Have you liked the ATLOSCon 2012 Facebook page yet? If you’re going to the conference or just think it’s awesome, go have a look now. We’ve been releasing lots of funny internet meme-based ads for the con. It’s also chock full of information about hotels, registration, and t-shirt orders.

Cool! Art Nouveau posters based on the women of Firefly. I particularly like the Inara one.

Reading these memories of life at 22 makes me think I’m doing okay for where I am. It also gives me hope that one day I won’t be living paycheck to paycheck.

Miss James at Bleubird Vintage is starting another maternity style series with her 4th pregnancy. I loved her last pregnancy style series. I love seeing women who look fabulous up through their due date. I know it’s really hard to give a crap, especially in the third trimester.

Kendi is my top style inspiration. I love her mixed prints outfit.

If you’re at a loss for things to do with all those photos, Pinhole Press has some stunning products to display them. My favorite is the book of names and faces. It’s basically a picture book for kids to learn and remember the names of important people in their lives. Great for families who have far away relatives and friends.

This Goyte parody is cracking me up.

P.S. You should follow me on Pinterest. I have boards to help you identify your style, learn how to mix prints, and get inspired. I’ll be making more in the coming weeks.

Have a Rocking Weekend!

Classes for ATLOCon have been announced! I’m teaching a class on the value of personal style and doing a “Growing Up Objectivist” part two talk with Dad. I’m so excited for all the awesome classes we have this year. To keep up with announcements about ATLOSCon 2012, like our Facebook page.

Pulling out a loose tooth with a nerf gun. Why didn’t I do something like that?

I know this has made it’s rounds on the web, but Shit Yogis Say is still hilarious. I about fell over when they made the Diva Cup reference.

I am loving these sheets with unique prints and illustrations.

Bookshelf porn. 

Not a baby person? Here’s a great post about how to respond to people nagging you to have children.  Here’s another great article on the subject. And some great snappy comebacks to rude questions about your babymaking plans.

This recipe for paleo hot chocolate looks scrumptious!

I’m made this daily postcard calendar journal in January and I’ve been filling it in every day since. It’s low stress journaling and I look forward to seeing how this year will compare to future ones.

Now that we’re a few months into the new year, how are you doing on your resolutions? If your goals to lose weight/save money/quit a bad habit aren’t going so well, here’s a different take on New Year’s Resolutions. 

Loving these menswear inspired outfits.

It happens when you’re 28 or 30 or so. My older friends have told me it’s true, though at 21
I kind of see it happening already.

21 New Things: Get Bangs

Okay, when I originally wrote this goal, I meant like bangs with long layers. I didn’t expect I would get the urge to chop all my hair off. But after my third Lions Camp portrait in a row with the same long haircut, I decided a change was necessary. And a drastic one at that. I got attached to the idea of a pixie cut for several reasons:

• Low maintenance
• Unique
• Requires some measure of daring

I didn’t want to be the kind of person that couldn’t take the plunge on something as non-permanent as hair, so cutting it all off became a sort of challenge to myself. I drew inspiration from Mia Farrow and Ginnifer Goodwin, who have face shapes similar to mine.

This video also made me bubbly with girly excitement about the chop.

I was really nervous when I got it cut. Most of the celebrities I’d seen who looked awesome in a pixie were wafer thin. I was afraid the cut wouldn’t look good on me. I was also afraid I’d look like a boy. Oddly enough though, once I sat down and the length came off, I was perfectly calm. By that point most of my hair was already gone (donated to Locks of Love), so I was committed. The build up is always more nerve-wracking than anything else.

After the cut was done I immediately loved it! It was short and carefree and perfect for the hot summer weather. I couldn’t stop running my hands over the the short fluffy hairs on the back of my head.

Quickly the new haircut euphoria faded. It didn’t look right at home. The part was weird. I woke up with cowlicks in the morning. It looked more like a mom cut than a cool twenty-something cut. One little bit kept poking my in the eyes. I felt totally unfeminine at times.

But then I learned how to style it. I got the part in the right place. I dyed my roots and relished that it only took a few ounces of color versus two whole bottles. I got used to not relying on my long hair to look like a girl. I realized that I didn’t need to have a panic attack every morning about looking like a girl because a little makeup would make me look more girly.

After some minor changes to the cut and having gotten used to it over a few months, I love it! It really puts a focus on my face and eyes. Halter tops and earrings look fabulous on me. It takes 5 minutes to style in the mornings and I always feel put together. Definite hair win!

My Own Brand of Unschooling

Lately I’ve been reading several books about unschooling and thinking about my stance on the matter. (Jury is still out on that one, but I’m definitely leaning in favor of it.) What I’ve mostly felt throughout the process is, “Damn. Wish I could just study whatever I wanted, whenever and however.” How lovely it would be to not worry about the rent or bills and just explore the world. Learn and live at my own pace. Carpe diem and all that jazz.

But as I read more about a typical week in an unschooler’s life, I realized my own pursuits weren’t too far off. Sure, I work and do responsible adult things, but I do have a lot of free time that I try to put to good use. Here’s what I have been doing as of late:

• Listen to podcasts on history and women’s issues (How Stuff Works)
• Read read read and read some more. Lately I’ve been reading about unschooling, organizing your library, choosing a career path, and lots of fiction.
• Go to museums (Fernbank, High, Tellus, Zoo)
• Get books from library and used books store
• Keep a running list of what I’ve read and want to read so I always have a great book lined up
• Learn Positive Discipline and child rearing skills through real experience nannying and babysitting
• ATLOSCon! I attended talks about effective communication, sexual ethics, the virtue of pride, and art appreciation.
• Have frequent discussions about wide variety of topics and issues (usually after a few glasses of wine)
• Book clubs (Atlas Shrugged, Ender’s Game, and next The Art of Non-Fiction)
• Movies and TV: They springboard me into other topics. For example: An Education/500 Days of Summer about relationships and first impressions, Battlestar Galactica about morality during war/extreme circumstances, John Adams about tough decisions during American Revolution, The Sound and Fury documentary about cochlear implant choices, and movies based on books lead me to originals.
• I’m learning leadership and planning skills through working with ATLOS (trivia night, book club, ATLOSCon talks, website, book swap)
• Graphic design principles and Adobe programs by working with Tori and doing my own independent work
• Cooking: learning to how to put different flavors together, follow recipes, and do weekly meal plans
• Budgeting with bills and income

And suddenly I feel much better about not being in college. Actually, I feel like I’ve learned more in the past year than any other time in my life. Cool!

Links for a Happy Weekend!

A post from Kelly about what to do when you try to establish good communication with someone and they can’t or won’t reciprocate.

If you can’t ignore the annoying PB&J song dancing banana mascot, school him with a few moves of your own. (Did some further research on YouTube and I think this guy is hired by the Tampa Rays to portray various workers and just bust out dancing. Coolest job ever?)

An interesting method of teaching by turning a class into a game. It certainly works for my kids at homeschool co-op.

Cute drawing of movie twins.

As I’ve said before, I just love Red Velvet. I love the idea of collaborating with other creative minds to make a business that allows for so many forms of expression. I’m super interested in the setup of the business and how I can plug my own interests into that model. So it was a treat to read how the local shop is run.

What should you do today? Pull the lever on this fun activity generator for simple, but impressive tricks to try.

Good advice from Yes and Yes about some problems and solutions for non-niche blogs.

Have you heard about my new project to promote a youth culture in Objectivism? And do you want to contribute?

And here’s a nice sign song for you too!