If you are like me – Pinterest has become that secret online affair that you turn to whenever work, life or blogging gets you down. You type the letters into your URL bar, and instantly you are transported to a magical online world full of beautiful photos. Nothing is too expensive or out-of-reach as you gracefully click and pin away all of your hopes, dreams and fantasies. Your boards are your own personal vacation and there are no budgets or responsibilities to limit the possibilities of imagination and inspiration. Each board is sacred – holding a small piece of your soul – and careful time and consideration goes into the decision to pin each and every picture onto your profile.
And then, just as you are entering a state of ecstasy, you see it; the most awful thing that can show up in a girl’s Pinterest feed: The Ugly Pin.
You don’t know why this joy-sucking leech of a picture has invaded your otherwise harmoniously tiled screen. You try to quickly click into the (evil) user who pinned it, unfollow them, and then return to your feed; but by the time you take those steps and refresh the page your Pin-flow has been interrupted and you just can’t achieve the same state of euphoria. It’s official – you’ve left Pinterest paradise.
And we’ve all been there – stuck wondering how and why you ever followed the person who committed this abominable act. How could you have been so naive? Perhaps they once pinned something so amazing – it didn’t occur to you to check in on the rest of their boards – you just blindly followed them after seeing that one amazing pin. Maybe you followed this user when you first signed up for Pinterest and you were thirsty for content – your standards were so much lower then – you hadn’t yet learnt proper curation and discipline in following.
Don’t get too down on yourself – we were all once new to Pinterest. We were more forgiving of lower-quality content. Our tastes hadn’t matured to the level at which they now sit.
And if you followed so many regrettable users that your Pinterest feed is beyond saving – go unfollow every single user. Wipe your slate completely clean. It will take time to build back up – but it will be worth it.
Bonus! Below are 7 ladies who you should be following, but you have probably never heard of. These women so carefully curate their Pinterest content – I have never once seen even an ounce of questionability in their pins. Follow them now or forever hold your piece:
And you can also follow me on Pinterest (and on Twitter too).
xoxo
Natasha
Though I was just visiting SF for work, I was able to spend a few hours catching up with the lovely Amanda of Fashionablee Me - a necessity while I was in such close quarters with her! If you’ve never checked out her fashion blog – do your self a favor and head there now. Oh, and did I mention she’s responsible for much of the marketing over at Poshmark? Yea – Amanda has got it going on (with a side of sass – a favorite friend trait).
If you’ve never had a chance to explore San Francisco – put that on your list of things to do. And bring layers, because just like Seattle and my emotions, the weather tends to be a bit unpredictable!
My Outfit Details:
Hat: Forever 21 | Scarf: Zara (old, similar here) | Cross-body bag: Gifted | Sheer top: H&M (old) | Skinny star print jeans: GAP | Ballerina Flats: J.Crew
xoxo
Natasha
My recent obsession with Jane Birkin and 60s glam is only intensifying as summer draws near. Her wispy bangs, thick lower lashes and pinched-rosy cheeks are beautiful, enviable qualities that I can only hope to emulate in the coming months. I’ll spend hours in the mirror trying to achieve the look that comes nearly natural to Jane. And I can’t wait for every minute of my Jane-ridden desire to push me into a carefree, poetic season of music festivals and love at first sights.
xoxo
Natasha
Here I am again, having all these thoughtful thoughts racing around in my head.
I just got back to my apartment, which is a small 1960s one-bedroom that sits on the top of a hill in Seattle overlooking the Space Needle. I spent my morning walking down to my favorite coffee shop, buying a couple new books at a used bookstore and sitting on a bench underneath the Space Needle reading. It was a beautiful Fall morning, sun shining & leaves crisping underneath my brown leather loafers.
And as I was walking back up the hill, I began thinking about expectations. Expectations are the source of all disappointment. Does anything good come of expectations? I once knew (well, sort of dated) a man who believed in having no expectations - and by living this way he’d never be disappointed in anyone. Well to me, that just sounds like no way to live. But perhaps there’s something to it?
Well I’ll never know, because I could never live my life that way. I love the fluttering feeling in your stomach when you know something amazing is about to happen. I also hate the feeling in my stomach when I know something bad is about to happen. But feeling – and never losing that emotional ability within myself – is something I believe in holding on to.
A good friend of mine once said she truly believed that “if someone really wanted to find love, they will find it. They would find love, maybe in an unexpected place, but they’d find it.” I loved the look on her face when she said it – it was like she just knew it to be true, and that’s it. She went on to talk about how having set expectations on what you are looking for in love doesn’t always work, and doesn’t always matter. That perfect person that meets all your check-boxes on your lover-list may end up dissapearing for no reason, leaving you crushed. And that special person that you never thought could be the one, may turn out to be just that. You never know. Love throws expectations out the window.
We spend our single-time creating expectations. It’s true. We sit around and talk about what we want – physically, emotionally, financially. But in the end, when someone comes along and changes you – it won’t matter if they have what you thought you were looking for. All that will matter is that they make you happy.
So why do we spend so much time developing these expectations? Maybe it’s the only way to fill an empty part of our lives until the thing that is supposed to fill it comes along.
I’m not sure. This isn’t an answers post – it’s just a thought.
xoxo
Natasha
Hey there good lookin’.
Well the sun may still be out here in Seattle, but fall has arrived. The colors of the leaves are slowly changing to yellows and reds, and the temperature is getting quite chilly – chilly enough to break out your favorite fall coat! So I had to break out my couch coat, as my friend calls these coats – for all we know, there’s a factory that turns old couches from the 60s into stylish new mod fall coats! This mustard yellow plaid + burgundy + black + brown outfit makes me look like a walking autumn tree – and I’m totally into that, so it’s OK.
Fall is my favorite season for fashion, and being a blogger, I get to share some of the looks I put together with you. And get ready for tons of pics in this post – my friend at FlashShots Photag. did such an amazing job I couldn’t narrow it down to just a couple (plus don’t we all want to see this couch coat from every possible angle?).
What I’m Wearing: I’m rocking my favorite oxblood lipstain from YSL (it’s the most amazing lipstain gloss I’ve ever used) – and this will probably end up being my statement lip color for fall this year (hope you like it, get ready to see it a lot). The coat is vintage (but this one from Anthro is amazing. My top is from Forever21 (another great blouse here), the bag is gifted from my good friend Heather’s trip to NYFW & the boots are Steve Madden (similar here). The wonderful printed scarf is something I picked up in Italy back in 2008, and it’s still my favorite fall accessory.
xoxo
Natasha
Hello there.
You may be wondering…gosh that sweater looks familiar! And yes – you are right. It was in my last blog post as well! Now – let me clear something up – I did not wear this sweater 2 days in a row. Because in case you haven’t figured it out – every outfit isn’t blog worthy (no really, you should have seen what I strolled into work wearing on Monday. Natasha the lazy pants not fashion blogger). To sum up what you’ve just learned: fashion bloggers don’t look amazingly adorable every single day, and I’m here to K.I.R. (keep it real, c’mon).
ASOS Je T’aime Sweater – H&M Snakeskin Dress (old, similar here) – Chunky Matisse Heels – H&M Envelope Clutch (similar)
And now let me distract you from fashion for a quick, deep-thinking moment. How old are you? 21? 25? 36? 45? 78? Who cares. Why do we let age dictate so much of the direction of our lives?
Let me back up for a minute. I had a conversation with a blogger-pal who recently wrote a post about how she would love to die her hair pink & get tattoos – but she’s too “old” to acceptably do so in today’s society. And do you know what I told her? SCREW IT! Since when did we let our age stop up from doing daring, fun or even stupid, regrettable things?!
My mom doesn’t live by those rules. She dances crazy to hip-hop at weddings, turns up the Top 40 station in her car and belts out her favorite Katy Perry jams, makes inappropriate jokes & laughs likes she still in her twenties. And she’s beautiful, and she’s confident in who she is. And no matter how embarrassed I feel to have such a “cool” mom (cooler than myself at times) – I know I’ll be just like her when I’m older – young at heart forever.
This is your life – no matter how far along in it you are. Whether you are in your twenties or in your fifties – you have to just start living. You have to do what you want! And if what you want is to dress like Carrie from Sex and the City, but you are 60 years old – why let that stop you? If you want to die your hair pink but you are a 40 year old soccer mom – then DIE YOUR HAIR PINK and be a 40 year old soccer mom rockin’ a hot pink do!
One thing I have learned as I’ve gotten older is that the farther along you get, the less you do for yourself. And eventually, nobody is encouraging you to do things for yourself (like you experienced during childhood).
So follow your dreams NOW. Make yourself happy TODAY. Don’t stall. Don’t hesitate. Because you know, you are only getting older (oh yes, I went there!).
xoxo
Natasha
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
I may have my eye on a boy,
But my true Valentine is you.
I orginally found all these images on Pinterest, where I’ve created a Valentine’s Day board that I’ve love for you to check out.
Make someone a handmade Valentine’s Day card this year and let’s bring back the forgotten romance.
xoxo
Natasha
