Good bye 2012, Hello 2013!

Sadly, my 366 project is over!  Can you believe it?!  2012 - GONE!  Well, almost...
I know I had all these grand ideas for my 366 project and even though I didn't do a "Theme Week" or whatever else I had set out to do, my photos have proven that the Photo-A-Day thing can be fun!  It's also my equivalent to a Gratitude Jar.
What's that, you ask?  I've been seeing some posts on Tumblr and Pinterest about making a Gratitude Jar on January 1st.  Basically, you write one nice thing that happened to you everyday (or for that month) and then on December 31st, you read them all and express your gratitude for such a wonderful year.  Not bad.  I thought about how nice that would be and then I realized that my 366 project was already doing that for me!
So to honour that, I'll post my 5 favorite photo(s) from each month from my 366 photos.  This might be a tough one...

Photos after the jump!

Happy New Year to all!

Hello all!  I hope you all had a wonderful new year! Here is my first "Official" photo of the New Year:

I had every intention of putting that through Instagram after I had taken it with the default camera but then I realized that I've never taken a photo in the Instagram app - I've always taken it with the default and then I'd run it through Instagram later. Why not try something new on the New Year?! Here's my first in-app Instagram photo of the New Year:

How exciting!  I'm glad it turned out pretty.  I wanted to keep with the sparkly idea for the New Year.
Yes, I wore my sparkly heels but I altered the outfit a little...

I saved my "LOVE" shirt for our annual black eyed peas and greens dinner and I made my "Out with the old ghosts" t-shirt based on a few designs I had seen on the web.

The first inspiration was this shirt that I had seen on Pinterest:

And that post led me to this shirt:

I follow A LOT of DIY/Craft stuff on there and I'm constantly "liking" different things but keeping my "re-pins" to a minimum.  I could NOT pass this one up - especially since I saw some shirts like this at the mall.  I didn't do the glitter/glue combo since I already had glittery fabric paint that I LOVE to use.

The next inspiration was a post I remembered from a while back from my favorite DIY fashion blogger: Marlena at Self Constructed Freak.  Once I saw this shirt, I knew I HAD to do it.

Thank goodness she made a tutorial for it because I never would've had the patience to figure out on my own - even though it's quite easy. I'm just really impatient and if I can't visualize it on my own, I'm screwed.

Needless to say, I didn't do the crop-top version of this but because I bought a larger-than-normal shirt, I had enough fabric to cut off the the bottom to use for the ruffle sleeves - which I ended up having to take OFF since my sleeves ended up connecting, which I thought was awesome, but it added a lot of bulk to my armpit area.
While the ruffle sleeves were a cute addition, they just were not working and sadly, I cut the whole sleeve off and started over with the original sleeve of the t-shirt without the extra ruffle part.  Once I re-sewed the ruffled original sleeve back on, I felt a little better about it.  Especially since I brought the sleeve in a little more when I cut the sleeves off.  I think that was the main problem.  I guess I hadn't factored in that I was working with a larger-than-normal t-shirt, so there was going to be some bulk.  I ended up taking it in an inch on each side.  I wanted to take it in more but I didn't think it would be ready by New Year's Eve and I didn't want to risk messing it up by accident.

Yeah, so all that talk about my skeleton shirt and guess what - I only have ONE photo of it and that's with the OLD sleeves!  I with all the holiday hoopla, I totally forgot to take photos of my holiday outfits!  Gah!!  Oh well, here it is in it's bulky sleeve glory:



And that's BEFORE I tacked down the ruffles to connect at the armholes...
At least there's proof that I did do it but I had to make it my own!
The outfit still looked like this on the bottom:


But because I knew I was going to be running around (which I did A LOT), I brought a sparkly pair of flats with me. But you'll be happy to know that I was wearing my heels at midnight and I wore them during the midnight rituals:

• The Midnight Kiss
• Eating 12 grapes (one for each month - if you get a sour one, that month will be "sour" but all mine were sweet!)
• "Crossing over" into the new year with: a backpack (to travel in the new year), money in your hand (for prosperity) and making noise (to chase the "old ghosts" out)

It was very noisy, extremely hectic but ridiculously fun!  The only ritual we didn't do was going down to a four way intersection and throwing pennies while making a wish for the new year in each direction.  Come to think of it, we haven't done that one in a while.  Oh well.  Maybe next year?

Are there any traditions you do for New Year's?

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

New Year's Resolution #1: Be Girly

I wasn't planning on having any New Year's Resolutions but I've been toying with the idea of getting more "girly" ever since I spent a weekend with co-workers during a massive work event.  I've never felt so un-girly in my entire life!  When I laid out my toiletries, I felt like such a tomboy.  First of all, I had them in a freaking plastic Target bag and I had the basics: toothpaste, tooth brush, deodorant, basic soap, basic shampoo and conditioner, a hair brush and that's pretty much it.  My fabulous roommate had the cutest toiletries bag, perfumes, body sprays, and more girly things than you could shake a stick at.  I felt like such a punk.  But you know, my job is very physical and there's really no point in me getting all dolled up - especially on that particular weekend since there was a lot of eye-rubbing, camera time (behind the camera), virtually no sleep and lots and LOTS of running around.  I had to switch rooms on the last day to an even girlier set of girls and I just felt so...so...well let's just say I felt like even less of a girl - even though I had to get dolled up that day for the work-related after party.

I made a choice then.  I decided I would make the effort to be more girly.  Like, body spray girly.  Like, more glittery girly.  And you know what?  

I'm failing.  Well, I'm not failing too bad but I'm not doing as well as I had hoped.  

And that was in August.

I've been thinking all this time about what I could possibly do to be more girly.  I got a cute toiletries bag (which is girly but edgy, I guess) and today, I made a HUGE milestone.  

I decided that, for New Year's, I will wear as many cutesy, girly and sparkly items as I can to help catapult me into girly-ness.  Not for anyone else but myself.

The only reason I'm pushing this is because my style isn't defined.  Sometimes I like gothy things and sometimes I like girly things and most times (because of work) I like to be casual so I feel like my style tends to be disjointed and a little all over the place.  I'd like my styles to combine successfully but still be able to work.  Like, say, my co-worker friend.

With her in mind, I went on a mini shopping spree and acquired the following items:

Yes!  I've purchased some glittery heels!  The lift is 5 inches and I've been running around the house alternating between silver stilettos and pink wedges.

Mind you, I'm no stranger to heels but I usually take them off after about 20 minutes.  I've only been to one party where I've had to keep them on all night and it was terrible.  This time, I'm making myself keep them on for longer than just 20 minutes and I WILL be taking my sister's advice: if your feet hurt, keep drinking!  Don't mind if I do.

I even put together some potential outfits.

This first one is a potential outfit for my Dad's birthday dinner tomorrow night.

I might get rid of the H&M necklace for the final look...  Is it a little showy?  Yes.  But I want to wear the wedges as a "starter" before my New Year's Eve outfit:

This outfit actually has some meaning to it.  I want 2012 to be filled with love, light and prosperity so I wanted to showcase those things with the things I'm wearing - the "Love" t-shirt, the anchor necklace which symbolizes my gratitude for all the people who have been my "anchors" in my life and the silver sparkly shoes (and sparky toenail polish) for prosperity.  Why?  Why not?!  It will be an entry to my newfound girly-ness and the glitter reminds me of money and diamonds.  A stretch?  Mayyyyyybeeeee but why not have fun with it?!  (Not pictured: my pink glitter and animal print bracelet.)  

So there you have it.  My first, concrete New Year's Resolution for 2012.  Like I said before, I have zero regrets for this year and I'm hoping 2012 will be bigger and better than this year.

Love and light to you all!

What are your New Year's Resolutions for 2K12?

Katzi

S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.