Flawless finish

via Serendipitous Romance

Love, love this article of a father writing to his daughter from the makeup aisle via The Huffington Post: "When you have a daughter, you start to realize she's just as strong as everyone else in the house -- a force to be reckoned with, a soul on fire with the same life and gifts and passions as any man. But sitting in this store aisle, you also begin to realize most people won't see her that way. They'll see her as a pretty face and a body to enjoy. And they'll tell her she has to look a certain way to have any worth or influence."

This is my favourite:

"Naked. The world wants you to take your clothes off. Please keep them on. But take your gloves off. Pull no punches. Say what is in your heart. Be vulnerable. Embrace risk. Love a world that barely knows what it means to love itself. Do so nakedly. Openly. With abandon."

Not to mention the concept of infallible grace.  So good.

Sit. Feast on your life.

Love After Love

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life. 

Derek Walcott

Do not be afraid.

via Serendipitous Romance

Do not be afraid of your difficulties.  Do not wish you could be in other circumstances than you are. For when you have made the best of an adversity, it becomes the stepping stone to a splendid opportunity.

- H.P. Blavatsky

Reminders to meditate

"Don’t let your mind get weary and confused. Your will be still, don’t try. Don’t let your heart get heavy, child; inside you, there’s a strength that lies. Don’t let your soul get lonely, child; it’s only time, it will go by. Don’t look for love in faces, places; it’s in you, that’s where you’ll find kindness. Be here now, here now. Be here now, here now. Don’t lose your faith in me and I will try not to lose faith in you. Don’t put your trust in walls, ‘cause walls will only crush you when they fall. Be here now, here now. Be here now, here now."▼

--  Be Here Now // Ray LaMontagne 

Whitman

via someone's Tumblr somewhere

Heal yourself

via Lost in the Moment

"Take a day to heal from the lies you’ve told yourself and the ones that have been told to you." --Maya Angelou 

Let it all go

via Serendipitous Romance 

 

You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy.

 

- C. Joybell

Surround yourself

via Tumblr

Une motto: Leave it all behind

 

via Serendipitous Romance

Never were truer words spoken.  One for the list.

First Lady of fashion: Mobama wins our votes (and hearts) too

Top 5 Mobama looks from the 2012 Campaign

 

 

Custom made Tracy Reese dress and J.Crew heels on the 1st day of the DNC.  This is far and away my favourite.  What I (and it seems all the real fashion commentators) love about this dress, is that it absolutely reflects who she is.  Read about it here and here.  I love the description from the New York Times's Eric Wilson: "From a distance, the dress had a shimmering effect, like wet paint in a blast of unreadable pastels, but in close-ups, viewers could practically study the pattern of the gold brocade."

 

Dresses aside, the speech she gave was brilliant - you should remind yourself how awesome she is by watching it here or reading the full transcript here. 

 

As a friend of mine posted on Facebook yesterday: "Hilary/[M]Obama 2016" - if only!

 

 

 

Preen at the First Debate.

 

 

 

Thom Browne at the Third Debate

 

 

I've not been able to find a better picture than these of Obama at a DC book signing.  But it's a killer.  Brooks Brother silk sweater with keyhole, J.Crew pencil skirt and Alexis Bittar brooch.

 

 

BCBG MAXAZARIA

 

 

And some other favourites, just for fun:

 

Keen observors will have noticed she recycled this Michael Kors dress, complete with black cardi (but a different brooch) for election night.  As many commentators said, this was symbolic of an entire campaign trail filled with more austere (but still fashionable) fashion choices, reflecting her husband's economic policies and a little more cognisant of the tough times many of their public were facing.

 

 

 

Sherbet - how on trend!

Rocking the flats with gingham.

 

In Chris Benz

 

In DVF prepping for the DNC.

 

In Laura Smalls - final day of the DNC

 

 

In Michael Kors at the second debate - comes in close for the top 5.

 

 

 

Miss Wu by Jason Wu

 

 

Moschino

 

Prabal Gurung

Photos via The DailyBeast, Stylite, FashionBombDaily. 

Une motto: "Life, this life I have, is like a party"

"The great gift of Sarah Watt is that when I think of her, or when anyone who knew her thinks of her, we remember to look to the sky, not to lose our head in the clouds but to see the beauty that's there. The glory of the every day, the magnificence of the simple essence of our lives. And when we do, in our hearts there may be a small corner of despair and disappointment but overwhelmingly we will be filled with grace and hope."

- William McInnes

You must read this article, Remembering Sarah Watt, by William McInnes on the "challenges of living, loving and grieving, almost one year after his wife's death".  It's simply beautiful, and a reminder to live this life you have - it's a beautiful party and there is glory in every day.

Une motto: happiness and health

via someone's tumblr somewhere

It's gonna hurt

A great happiness

via Lost in the Moment

 

 

"She believed a great happiness awaited her somewhere, and for this reason she remained calm as the days flew by."

 

- Gyula Krudy

 

May I

May I see the things as they are, not as I think them to be.

May I walk the steps ahead bravely, not wondering if there’s a map.

May I say the things that fix things, not break them further apart.

May I do what I need to do, not be distracted by what I can’t.

May I dream of what I hope for, not of what I fear.

May I love you like I love you, not as any other.

(Source Unknown)

via http://dangerouslydebonair.com/

"This is my little girl"

My beautiful niece, Anya.

Photo credit: Chrysta

This makes my heart sing and cry at the same time.

Explode

Propel yourself to greatness.

The tough sh*t in life makes you who you are (and that's kind of beautiful)

"And then I felt sad because I realized that once people are broken in certain ways, they can’t ever be fixed, and this is something nobody ever tells you when you are young and it never fails to surprise you as you grow older as you see the people in your life break one by one. You wonder when your turn is going to be, or if it’s already happened."

 

- Douglas Coupland, Life after God

Feeling the road under your pounding feet

The feeling of running away from all your problems.  And running toward the best of the day.  That glorious rhythmic pounding on the road.

Prioritise this.

"You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage – pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically – to say ‘no’ to other things. And the way to that is by having a bigger ‘yes’ burning inside. The enemy of the ‘best’ is often the ‘good’."

- Stephen Cove



via Dangerously Debonair