I’m going to Greece soon! FIVE weeks to go! Got a friend’s wedding in Mykonos (PARTY TIME) then lots of relaxation!!! (with my man)

I look forward to beautiful breakfasts, crepes with banana and delectable melted chocolate, home made chips with Greek salad and marinated octopus.  And , of course, the daily Frappe. The last time I went, which was in 2010, George’s mum would always make me a Frappe or a freshly squeezed juice in the morning. SO GOOD!

Travelling for me is therapy. It revitalises me. I wish I could do it more often, don’t we all. Maybe I can, just need to plan better. Even weekends away more often would be amazing.

I look forward to being inspired. Seeing the world from a different perspective.

Nafplion 2010 – LOVE the water in Greece. The best.

Frappe time! Greece 2010

Santorini 2010

Love my Frappe! Greece 2010.

Santorini 2010

Santorini 2010

Do you have any travel planned, or have gone somewhere amazing recently?? Would love to hear about it!

Some photos borrowed from Pinterest  

The 100, a fabulous book by Nina Garcia, gives us some awesome ideas for essentials we need in our closet! I picked my top 10 fashion essentials from the book. Items I can’t live without!!!

1. A-Line Dress: 60′s “it” girls Twiggy, Penelope Tree, Edie Sedgwick & Jackie O sported one.

2. Ballet Flat: Chic & Timeless. Think Bridget Bardot & Audrey Hepburn. These are a wardrobe must have.

3. Aviators: My favourite kind of sunglass style. They are way cool and

4. Ankle Bootie: Hell yes. So comfie. Wear them with a cute dress or cropped skinny jeans. Or shorts. They are so versatile.

5.Black opaque tights: Can’t get enough of them in Autumn and Winter. It’s that time of year. Gotta stock up!

6. Cable Knit Sweater: I love my cotton selection of cable knit jumpers (sorry, I’m not american and cannot say sweater ) So comfie. So warm. So always in style. Classic.

7.Havainas: Thongs/Flipflops. Can’t live without them in Summer.

8. Little Black Dress: Don’t need an explanation here. We all need one!!!

9. Jeans: I was trying to pick an outfit to wear out one weekend, and my mum said to me. Just wear Jeans. Whenever in doubt, pick Jeans. Great advice Mum!

10.Pencil Skirt: Sophisticated. As Nina Garcia says, “It asserts femininity, but it also asserts power, which is the best feature a skirt can have: powerful femininity.

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Love this feature! Do think my simpsons cartoon character should have  a tad darker skin, but hey, I’ve been made into a cartoon character. I can’t complain! I work a 35 hour week, but I guess my blog work in the evenings counts as well (Even though it’s a hobby!) Check out the other 4 bloggers featured in RY.com.au’s Five Influential Fashion Bloggers’ to Follow

Portmans Peplum Top | Next Skirt | Betty Shoe Heels | Kardashian Kollection Bag

What I wore to a beautiful friend’s kitchen tea recently. #funtimes

I have been LOVING my recent findings on the web lately. Stuff No One Told Me is such a cute site! Lately, I’ve been doing exactly what this cute cartoon is trying to tell us. On my journey of gratitude, writing down what I’m grateful for, every single day, I’ve been noticing more and more the beauty which surrounds me. I am now making a distinct effort to spend more time being inspired.

This is about my journey from feeling pretty crappy to feeling pretty great!

It started probably at the beginning of the year. Had a nice break from work, went away to Jervis Bay. Felt quite relaxed.

Then it was time to return back to my usual work routine. Found it pretty hard to get up each morning. Slackened off my exercise routine and couldn’t bring myself to make that decision to go back to Pilates. The next few months, were just getting worse. Wasn’t motivated to do the washing of clothes – it all started to pile up, and each time I had to do it, it was so tiring. Every action felt like a mountain of effort. Was just in some sort of rut.

So I realised, a major contributor to my feeling like crap, was not excercising. So I eventually got off my bum and started going to pilates. Felt amazingly great. Happy endorphins make a huge difference.

But then realised I still wasn’t feeling my complete usual self. So, searching for a reason as to why I was feeling like this, trying to point my finger at something, I decided it was my job that might be the problem. Was I challenged enough?

A job opportunity arose, and I thought, great – this is what I need! I then weighed up the pros and cons of taking this new job, and realised, I actually really like my current job.

So what could it be? Why was I feeling like this?

I had a whole weekend of R&R. It was raining outside and I was thoroughly enjoying sitting on my bed with my laptop, cozy and warm. Looking up inspirational blogs, music and did a bit of reading.

I decided to take out my journal and start writing. What do I like about my life? What am I grateful for? What’s really awesome in my life?

My perspective started to change. Instead of seeing myself as missing something, I started to feel more complete. Writing down what I was grateful for, and appreciative of in my life, miraculously changed my perspective and feelings.

It’s like I was asleep, and the universe was nudging me, trying to tell me something through my negative emotions. And finally, it woke me up. It was trying to tell me to take a step back, and realise I have many things to be grateful for – stop taking them for granted!

Now, I accept that I’m where I should be. By practising and remembering to be grateful for what I have and remaining positive.

Feeling stuck?  Try to raise your vibrational energy by focusing on all the things that are already great in your life.

Once you do that, you’ll find, that some magic starts to happen, which is what happened to me. By being more appreciative today, this sends out a positive energy out into the universe, which attracts what you desire in life.

By doing this, opportunities started to pop up for me. What I had been yearning for, was starting to manifest!!!

Some inspiration I’ve come across which might help you too;

• The Magic and The Secret by Rhonda Burn
• The Law of Attraction by Abraham Hicks
• A Guide to Practical Contentment, Zen Habits
• Do you hate your job?, True Shining Self

5 things I’m grateful for at the moment;

• My job which allows me to pay off my mortgage, so that I can live in this wonderful apartment.
•  Where I work – I’m surrounded by beautiful trees, parks and nature. I love that! Now that I’m realising how great that is, I make sure to take some time out of my day, around 10 minutes to sit under a tree and just think of all the things I’m grateful for.
• My boyfriend, family and friends. They’re very encouraging, loving and bring out the best in me.
• My blog, which allows me to connect with so many amazing people.
• My upcoming holiday!!! Going to Greece again. The last time I went was 3 years ago! You might remember! Spetses and Ia.

I’m curious about what you think. Do you believe that you can attract what you desire in life by being grateful? And, what are you grateful for?

Photo courtesy of: Conde Nast Traveler

I’ve been wanting to express myself on a more personal level ever since I wrote this post. Well, that was a year and a half ago.

I did a post about how I set goals, and how I achieve what I want in life. But I left it there, as I didn’t have the courage to continue to be really open and honest. I also was afraid that a lot of my readers wouldn’t like what I was writing.

I didn’t know if personal writing would fit in to my fashion & beauty blog. I’ve always wanted it to be more than that.

Thanks to some inspiration from my mum on facebook, who has an amazing ‘facebook blog’ ~~ L O V E ~~ , and updates her readers with inspiring and positive words on a daily basis, I now feel like I’m ready to do the same. Share a more inspiring, personal and positive side of myself.

To add to that, lately, there have been some really amazing blogs that have popped up into my life and have also inspired me.

A week or so ago, I discovered one of my work colleagues has a blog too! I couldn’t wait to see what her blog was all about, so as soon as I got home that day from work, I checked it out. Gosh, she writes so well. After reading it I felt like I was hiding such a vital piece of myself from the world. Her blog was so honest, genuine, and authentic. Very giving.

Another heartfelt blog I came across, True Shining Self. Wow, this girl has so much courage to just be so completely open about her life, beliefs, thoughts and dreams. And people love what she’s got to say. I’m so happy for her!

Seeing these blogs made me re-evaluate my blog, and how I wanted it to portray me. I want to be real, and I don’t want to keep trying to fit into this box that I’ve been putting myself in to for so long. I love writing, I’ve kept a journal since I could write and and as a child I remember so clearly cherishing my diary, with scented pages, complete with a tiny lock and key and hiding it under my pillow along with all my favourite books.

A friend recently was quite honest with me, and I’m thankful for that. She said “Joelyne, you’re very comfortable in your comfort zone aren’t you? You need to somehow find the strength to step out of it.” And you know what, she hit the nail right on the head!

 

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone”

Some other things I’d like to do to step out of my comfort zone:

• Find a form of exercise other than Pilates, that keeps me interested. It doesn’t have to be in my area (which is usually my comfort zone).
• Go somewhere different on the weekend. I am so comfortable (there’s that word again) doing my ol’ usual routine. I need to mix it up a bit.
• Go to a blogger event every now and then. Connect with my fellow bloggers.
• Eat a proper breakfast in the morning. I’ve started, but need to keep it up. I haven’t been eating breakfast for years. Bad, comfortable habit.

So, I’m going to start writing more posts about my thoughts, views, and generally, sharing my life journey. This is me taking one step out of my comfort zone. I’m taking a leap of faith. Doing something different. Something I’ve wanted to do for quite a while. How about you? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments area below. Is there something in particular you’d like to start?

For me, it has always been a process of learning and growing, discovering how to be more myself (which I’m still learning – a life long journey), what my hopes, dreams and passions are.

For some insight into my journey, and what I think it takes to be a successful fashion blogger (or blogger in fact, whatever the genre), please head over to my good friend Asha’s blog, Girl Talk HQ —-> How to be a Successful Fashion Blogger!

Kardashian Kollection Handbag | Pinclove Tribal Skirt

How I’m feeling…

When I feel like crap, and it’s raining, I’ve just got to realise that life goes on, and the sunshine will return.

I’m way too hard on myself. I need to remind myself of this.

And sometimes, I need to just relax, and let my soul breathe.

 Miu Miu Sunglasses | Jane Iredale Lip Stain

I’ve always loved miu miu for their very feminine yet edgy fashion. You might remember I attempted miu miu swallow nails, inspired by the print which was made so famous. (Not sure how well of a job I did!) And this post I did to tribute the amazing DIYS on the net.

These Miu Miu sunglasses are so glittery and glamorous. I seriously could own as many sunglasses as I have shoes, I love them that much.

Thanks to Vision Direct, I have a pair of Miu Mius to give away as well! Head here to enter!

Pinclove Skirt

Hey hey! There are so many ways you can style a plain white tee. Do a knot either at the back or front to wear it as a crop top, leave it out, or tuck it in! I love wearing a simple tee with a gorgeous skirt or jeans.

This skirt is from PinClove. Affordable clothing, with beautiful prints (as you can see) and quality materials. You might remember I wore PinClove here in an outfit post on The Sydney Girl. I also have work pants in this brand that are so flattering and comfie. I’ll have to take some photos to show you. I got them cheap, on sale, at brandsexclusive.com.