Saturday, June 16, 2012

Fearlessly Fuchsia





Dress: Angie. Shoes: Tory Burch. Belt: Vince Camuto. Sunnies: Forever 21.
  Necklace: Nordstrom Rack. Watch: Michael Kors. Arm Party: Stella and Dot, Forever 21, Nordstrom.

Have you ever found something fabulous but it wasn't your size? I know the answer is probably yes. Most of the time I shop for things that I like and if I cant find my size, I try the wrong one anyway, disregarding the size to a certain extent. Of course when it comes to some things (high priced items, shoes, etc) shopping for the right size is crucial but there are lots of situations when you can bend the rules in terms of fit and make something work.
Thats just what I did with this dress. I found it at Nordstrom Rack and just loved the bright somewhat neon fuchsia color and couldnt find another one anywhere in the store (and believe me, I searched high and low). So even though it was 3x my usual size, I knew that I could make it work with a belt and decided to take it home to play around with. Threw some accessories into the mix and voila! I love how it looks and think that the belt completes the outfit entirely. I love being a resourceful fashionista! ;)

xoxox Ashiee B

Listening: "Another Kind of Green" John Mayer Trio
Feeling: a little "under the weather" if you will, from a night out with my friends blahhhh :/
Anticipating: A relaxing night in doing absolutely nothing but hanging out... A much needed break!

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Little red hot crops and a peplum with ditzy dots

Over the past week I have been doing a lot of adjusting to my new schedule. Checking things off my list of "to-do's" before leaving the country, purging of unnecessary possessions, organizing, etc. I have to say that as each day goes by I am getting more and more used to, and excited about, the idea that I am actually pursuing going to Italy again.  Not going to lie, my first weekend (last weekend) without work made me feel a little out of sorts. I got so used to working 6 days a week that when I had more then one day off, I went a little stir crazy.

I made the most of my time and got a lot of the "to-do's" done.  The recent series at my church has been about money management and last week after the service they had shredders for people to cut their credit cards.  I made the bold move to jump in and shred away. I've been meaning to get rid of them anyways and watching them run through a shredder was somewhat a relieving yet anxiety-driven experience. Feeling inspired by the message, I decided to reduce, reuse, recycle and made a trip to Plato's closet to sell some of my "un-loved" clothes and made a whopping $93+ dollars... cha-ching! ;) Besides hanging out with friends, I spent the rest of the rainy days enjoying my cozy bed and catching up on my blog reading. It was the week from heaven! :) 

Empty hangers from cleaning out my closet... So many!


Four bags of goodies off to Plato's Closet! 

Yesterday I judged auditions for the competition team at the dance studio I grew up dancing at. It's called Turning Pointe and is one of the best studios in the Seattle area for competitive dance. Many of the girls I grew up dancing with have gone on to have dance careers in New York, LA and a few have been on the T.V. series So You Think You Can Dance (Paris Torres, Natalie Reid, and Sarah James, to name a few).  The girls auditioning had the long, lean bodies of a dancer that you see in the movies and could dance like what you see on T.V.  It was amazing to watch and judge such talented dancers, some just barely 12 years old.  

It was so great to see old friends, and the instructors that I used to take dance classes from. With all the hours we spent together dancing at the studio, they always felt more like family rather then friends and it was so, so good to see them again! :) I decided to wear this outfit for the auditions...  my favorite red hot crops with this cute little peplum top! 

xoxox Ashiee B










Peplum top: H&M. Red Crops: Vince Camuto. Sandals: Forever 21 (old). 
Necklace: Nordstrom Rack. Sunnies: Ray Ban "Wayfarer". Watch: Michael Kors (old). 
Lipgloss: Butter London Lippy "Trout Pout"

Listening: "She is love" Parachute 
Feeling: Excited to be getting discovered by more bloggers. Your comments make me so happy and encourage me to keep going! :) Thank youuu!!
Anticipating: The start of my new job and teaching course


Tuesday, June 5, 2012

InstaStyle

Some days when I couldn't photograph my outfits to blog about, I resorted to Instagram and Diptic. Not a bad way to change things up and double dipping with apps is kind of fun. Still waiting for PicFX to release an app for the Android... or for me to breakdown and switch carriers so I can have an iPhone again. #firstworldproblems ;) Hope everyone is having a great start to the week!


xoxox Ashiee B









Listening: John Mayer "Gravity" on Where the light is: John Mayer live in Los Angeles 
Anticipating: The start of my teaching certification course... Italy here I come! :)
Feeling: Cozy all snuggled up in my bed on a rainy day off of work. Candles lit, music on... I really cant complain right now! 

Friday, June 1, 2012

All in the name of change...

Lets rewind to May 31st, 2011:

Exactly one year ago, I left for the trip of a lifetime. I decided to spend my summer in Italy. All in the name of change. 


Italy was a place that I wanted to travel to since I was 16. I don't know where my obsession with the country came from at the ripe old age of 16, but I talked about going there a lot with my first love, making him promise me that we would go there together some day. I fell in love with the phrase "la vita é bella" meaning "life is beautiful" in Italian and wrote it all over my notebooks, myspace and facebook, once I got one.  When I got my first tattoo (the little heart on my left foot) I wanted to get "la vita é bella" but knew it wasn't relevant to my life at that point. I told myself that once I traveled to Italy or maybe even lived there, I would get it as a tattoo.


So this past year I decided to go to Italy. All in the name of change. 

At the end of my senior year of college, I decided to fulfill my dream. After spending 4 years of college with friends from the greek system, dancing on the collegiate dance team and dating a guy that I had fallen in and out of love with, I felt like I had really done it all.  I needed to create change for myself, for my life post college. I went to Italy to find what really made me tick and to fulfill my dreams of traveling to an amazing place far, far away.

I flew out of Seattle on May 31st and really did have the summer of my life. I met friends from all over the world and really began to love myself and life again. Each day that I was there, I learned about myself, others and lived a life that really made sense to me. I never really got home sick and knew that what I was doing for myself was a lot more riveting than anything that I could have been doing at home. When it came time for me to leave Italy, I cried the whole way from Florence to Rome, where I was catching my flight home. I didn't want to leave.

I know you're probably wondering where all of this is going....

Well yesterday, May 31st, 2012... exactly one year from when I flew to Italy...

I had my last day at Nordstrom as a Personal Stylist. I have made the decision to quit my potential career in Seattle and return to Italy.  All in the name of change.

After returning home from an amazing experience abroad, I knew that I wanted to go back and thought about teaching English as a means to get there but felt compelled to settle down a little, get a job and "pursuit growing up".  I moved back in with my parents and began job searching. I interviewed for a Women's Active and swim wear position at the Northgate Nordstrom, with hopes of moving my way up on the sales floor to a Personal Styling position. During the interview, I really hit it off with the HR director and he suggested I work in the t.b.d/Savvy departments instead. I interviewed with that manager (a girl 3 yrs older than me from my sorority) and was given the job on the spot. As soon as I left the store, the HR director called me and said that they wanted to interview me for a Personal Styling position. I was beyond ecstatic! After interviewing again, I was given the position.  Being hired as a Personal Stylist from outside the company was something that Nordstrom seldom does so I knew I was privileged to have my position.

I had amazing managers and made amazing friends. Girls that I spent a lot of time with at work and outside of work because we got to know each other as more than just coworkers.  I think I may have had the most enjoyable work atmosphere ever. I had become friends with people all over the store. And when I told them I was leaving, there was a sense of sadness because of the relationships and bonds we had built over my past nine months there. But I knew something wasn't right for me...

Working day in and day out as a Personal Stylist at Nordstrom wasn't answering my dreams and calling at this point in my life. No matter the title I had, I still thought of Italy. I talked about it with all of my customers and friends at work.  Many of them thinking that I was just a dreamer for saying that I was going to live there again.  I needed to make a change.

I began researching teaching English abroad and attended an informational meeting about it in the Seattle area.  From there on, I was convinced. It's what I need to do right now for myself in my life.  I began talking about it with people at work and started to get so much support and positive feedback. Women who were in their 30's and 40's began telling me "Honey,  if I could go back to 23 and do anything, it would be travel. Do it before you meet your husband, settle into your career and have children."  The more I thought about it, the more I realized that they were right.  Now is the time for me to pursuit this dream in my life. So I put in my notice at Nordstrom and I made a plan to return to one of my favorite places in the world. Italy. All in the name of change.


Now, I know that quitting your job and moving across the world may not be the right step for everyone and that you are going to have your opinions about my choice. But to be honest, this doesn't have to make sense to you. Because it makes sense to me. And no I'm not running away from anything. I know that moving across the world won't solve my problems, but if I had problems to solve, I'd start to work on them right here at home. I'm simply running back to a place that I loved and felt like I wasn't done exploring. And its something that I couldn't be more excited about.
All in the name of change.




 Photo with some of my managers (left to right): Store Manager- Trevor Cobb. Regional Personal Styling Manager- Melissa Merrit. *ME*. Customer Relationship Manager- Jessica Stewart and Personal Styling Manager- Emily Auza

One of my Personal Styling coworkers and buddies, Britta Satterlund.


Me and my friend Lacey Marek, who worked with me in t.b.d and Savvy


Me, Allie Gotz and Lacey Marek. Some of the girls of t.b.d and Savvy.


Personal Stylists of Northgate. (Left to right) Amy Foss, Britta Satterlund, Me and Samantha Horvath. 


On to the next thing...
All in the name of change  ;)

xoxox Ashiee B
 
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