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Fashion Outfits

Outfit Post: Ready to Fall

posted on September 2, 2013

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This is my first post for the 30×30 remix challenge! I’ll be sharing a list of the items I picked sometime this week as well. For my first outfit, I was fairly lazy — as usual — and paired up a comfortable dress with a flower crown I got in May and hadn’t yet got around to wearing. I had the pleasure of working with Mary Katherine from The Evergreen Nest on Etsy — highly recommend you check out her shop if you like flower crowns or anything fairy-related! My bracelet was also made by an Etsy seller, Melissa of You Can Sparkle.

Back to this outfit, this is the first time I’ve shot a full-body outfit since around May; I’m a bit rusty. I really need to find a guinea pig to model for me so I can learn how to do this then transfer the info onto my mom (and use it myself once I’ve got a tripod. Oh, if only). But it was fun and an excellent start to the month to get going right away on all my projects.

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Diaries

Weekly Wishes (03)

posted on September 2, 2013

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It’s time for a new Weekly Wishes post! This is how I did on last week’s goals:

  • √ Keep up the daily blogging — half check. Had a hard time finding alone time, but I did get tons of ideas for future posts and I did post four times and kept up with my Bloglovin’ feed, so I’m satisfied.
  • √ Make a big dent in my product photography to-do list — check. I’m nowhere near done, but I got started and I feel a lot better about my ability to get through my open orders in a timely fashion — and my abilities as a product photographer as well.
  • Work exercise into routine tasks — 95% fail. Will keep trying.
  • √ Go to sleep before 2 AM — check. Actually, I never did go to sleep before 2 AM (except last night, total coincidence) but I feel like my sleep schedule’s improved considerably. Then again, things were so out of hand that going to bed at anything resembling bedtime would have been an improvement, so take that with a grain of salt. The point is I feel like I succeeded.
  • Open my graphic design shop on Etsy — fail. But I’ll get to it this month. Maybe even this week.

This week’s goals:

  • Get modeling. For product photography and outfit posts. I have things to shoot and I’d like to get photographs of at least four of my 30×30 challenge outfits this week. I’m going to toss vlogging under this umbrella too.
  • Get organized. Get my new blog planner ready through September, start my bookkeeping notepad, start e-mailing Indiegogo contributors for info on what they want (print, fabric, size). Sort out my jewelry shelf and the shelf above my bed; maybe my wardrobe as well (oh, that’s daunting) and my desk drawers (a little, again). Recycle the box my MacBook Air came in (not the MBA box, but the box that box was in) and the papers I’ve been tossing inside.

Short and sweet. Helps that I got my monthly goals written out as well.

Have goals for the week? Link up on Melyssa’s blog!

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Diaries

Welcome to September

posted on September 1, 2013

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(similar print)

I’ve been waiting for September since June, and it has — to my surprise — not disappointed! It’s cooler now, I’m able to think, I feel human for at least a combined hour every day (big change from July and August), and my sister’s going back to school soon and leaving me alone.

Basically, it’s the perfect time to be ambitious, and I don’t always feel that way so I’m running with it. For starters, I’m putting two notebooks I’ve been holding onto — an A4 lined notepad I bought in Oxford (in 2008, shut up) and which I cannot find anything like here, and a gorgeous journal I’m shooting for Watermark Bindery — to good use: I’m going to start keeping track of my finances, such as they are, on the big notepad, and I’m turning the Watermark Bindery journal into a blog planner.

I also have a running to-do list on a little travel-themed notebook I bought at a store, and then I have this other steel gray notebook where I used to have a running to-do list until I decided to start over. Now I use it to jot down notes for lists I’ll make elsewhere. Stationery is awesome and I’m weird. Bear with me.

Here are some things you can look forward to seeing on the blog this month:

1. The 30×30 remix challenge. 30 pieces of clothing to make 30 outfits. I’ve picked out what I’ll be using, and I’m excited to start putting outfits together! I haven’t decided if I’ll post one every day, but given the limited cool weather garments on my list, I’d definitely like to have everything up by the end of October. Then I can do it again with cozier clothes… or kickstart a closet cosplay challenge.

2. In fact, I have two ideas that I really love for fun link-up challenges, and they’re both in the area of outfit posts. One is a weekly geeky thing; the other one would be monthly and involve matching people in pairs. This month I’d like to flesh out these ideas and perhaps find someone with a larger following and/or a tighter focus on style to co-host them/run them with me. Interested? Leave a comment here or shoot me an e-mail!

3. Blogtember! Jenni from Story Of My Life is running a blog-every-working-day challenge, and I’m going to be participating on and off. Not all the prompts call out to me, but I love the ones that do!

4. Travel Tuesday: I had it in my head that I couldn’t possibly play in Travel Tuesday (as hosted by Belinda of Found Love, Now What? and Bonnie of A Compass Rose) because I haven’t stepped out of my city in… a while, but it occurred to me last week that I have a massive number of pictures from the time(s) I was in England, and I could easily focus on corners and themes and show you guys all the little details that haven’t made it into my shop yet (though they might!). There’s a lot of pretty in these folders that needs to see the light more often, so I’ll be nudging it out.

5. I’ll also be sticking with my Weekly Wishes and Friday Loves posts. In addition to Friday Loves — well, you may have noticed I have a “Showcase” section. I’d like to get some action in there this month, and I already have a few shops — all handmade Etsy sellers for now — in mind that I want to highlight. I’ll be honing my interviewing skills as well — or rather finding out if I have any! Should be really fun for me, and if I can match a shop I love with a new customer, all the better!

6. Vlogging: I’ve finally got over my block regarding coming up with ideas for vlogs, and I have lots! I haven’t been able to film any due to problems getting enough alone time to stay sane (thanks, baby sister) but once school starts up, I should be able to get into a nice habit of vlogging mid morning — when the lighting in my room is coincidentally really nice.

7. Crafts: I need to get back into sewing as soon as possible, and make my photo-printed fashion collection a reality! I won’t be sharing any tutorials or anything of the kind for the time being — I’m far too new for that! — but at some point I’d like to compile some links I’ve found helpful for you guys. In the meanwhile, you can always follow my DIYs & ideas board on Pinterest.

In addition to all of that, I want to catch up on open orders and as many Indiegogo rewards as I can, and open my graphic design shop. I’ve even got plans for a couple of freebies (and perhaps a giveaway!) to celebrate with you all. ;) And I’d like to figure out this having-sponsors thing — starting with switching to manual coding (or possibly Adproval, we’ll see).

In just a few words, it’s going to be a busy month, and I’m really excited about finally doing something. Lots of somethings, in fact. I’m always much more motivated when I’m super busy.

Do you have any ambitious plans for September? Let’s cheer each other on!

Linking up with My So-Called Chaos!

13 Comments

Oxford the Cat Photography

Meet My Cat, Oxford

posted on August 29, 2013
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These are the paws of a cat who likes to get in the way of his momma’s shooting.

I was vaguely planning on doing an outfit post, but then I saw the Photo Gallery theme on Sticky Fingers this week was “pets,” and what do you know, I happened to take a good dozen pictures of mine today! I don’t actually go after him with my camera (anymore), but I spent most of my morning taking pictures of things, and he spent most of his morning trying to leap onto the shelf behind my desk chair. (He succeeded. Twice. Once I was around to get him down; the second time I was out ordering prints and accidentally buying two pairs of flats, and I came home to see my shelf mirror lying on the floor. Miracle that it was intact given it fell down four shelves and two drawers.)

So, my cat: his name is Oxford, he’s a common house cat as far as I know, and on September 19th I will have had him for a whole two years.

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Diaries

Weekly Wishes (02)

posted on August 27, 2013

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Late and brief this time. I feel like my #1 weekly wish this week should be: do not sleep any more days away! Because I kind of slept right through Monday. I’m so sorry, world. I’m so sorry, me.

How I did on last week’s wishes: I blogged every day! I vlogged twice, too. I stretched on and off, which is something. But I totally failed at taking pictures regularly. I may not have taken a single shot. I am a disaster. But the weather’s getting better (read: cooler) and that can only mean good things for my productivity and general ability to behave like an adult human.

This week’s goals:

1. Keep up the daily blogging! I’ve been doing well, but I want to keep this as a daily wish another week or two, just in case. I’d like to put up a couple more videos this week (maybe one with singing! and guitar! I’m thinking one of the April Smith songs I know well, to start with), and I want to pick an outfit challenge to start in September (help me choose?). I’d also like to figure out how I’m going to approach the sponsorship thing going forward – it’s totally new to me and yeah, sidebar ads are easy enough, but there’s gotta be more than that! Need to think on that.

2. Make a big dent in my product photography to-do list. Super important! Exclamation point!

3. Work exercise into routine tasks. This occurred to me on Sunday and I started doing it right away. Basically, exercise – especially the little-bits way I do it – doesn’t have to be its own thing, and it’s easier for me to do if I integrate it into other tasks. I can do straddle stretching while I’m working on my laptop in bed; I can do the butterfly while I play with my iPod; I can stretch my knees while I wash my hair or wait for my coffee to heat up; I can do batches of dips when I walk in and out of my room (I put my hands on the footboard of my bed). So I’m going to try and do that.

4. Go to sleep before 2 AM. As to avoid, you know, yesterday. And all those times I’m awake at night and sleep in the day. I can’t force myself to get out of bed in the morning (I have a really hard time doing that, anyway) but I can make myself go to sleep at a decent hour. I am not an owl! Also, I like mornings. Also, I need daylight for most of my work. So let’s be awake during it.

5. Open my graphic design shop on Etsy. Fill out the policies, come up with something to list so I can open the thing*. Any ideas? (Want me to design something for you? Let me know! You could be my first listing!)

* I used my own referral code to sign up as lixhewettdesign – that means my first 40 listings there are free, and when the shop opens, I’ll get 40 free listings for my photography shop as well. I really, really want those so I can list more photos (like the ones I’ve used for Weekly Wishes art) and phone cases. I know listing fees are small, but they seem kind of scary when you’re as broke and lacking in a regular source of income as I am.

You’ll notice that looks a lot like last week’s list – and that would be because it does. Still working on building back those good habits. Normalcy wasn’t built in a day, and all that. I did feel human again for a few brief moments last week, so there’s hope!

What are your goals for this week? Go here to link them up!

13 Comments

Diaries

Weekly Wrap-Up (01)

posted on August 26, 2013

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(similar print)

When I started this blog, I thought it’d be mainly pictures – I adjusted my main content width accordingly, and it’s still my plan to be fairly photography-heavy. I’m a photographer and (relatedly, but not necessarily consequentially) I take a lot of pictures of stuff. Most of my blog categories – which I created before I started posting – reflect that. I’m not all that surprised that I haven’t got around to posting many pics, though – it’s been a weird summer, I’ve had a working laptop for just two weeks, and I’m still getting back into the swing of things.

I did manage to start vlogging, which I’m really pleased about. It’s definitely a new thing for me, and the kind of new thing where I really don’t know what I’m doing, but it’s fun and I’m glad I jumped in. My vlogging goal for this coming week is the same as last – put up two videos, no content requirements, though it would be nice if I could manage to get a song up with my guitar! I recorded (audio only, vocals only) and posted a version of For You by Angus and Julia Stone this week, which is a start. I’m also proud of myself for only feeling the briefest of needs to make excuses for my singing. Not sure if that will extend to my guitar playing, but at this point I feel like I’ve said I’m terrible at these things so frequently that it would be impossible for someone to think I think I’m good. Makes no sense, but that’s my brain for you. And anyway, if they do, what of it?

Maybe I’ll make some “channel art” for my youtube channel, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one. Design-wise, what I really want to do is open my graphic design shop on Etsy. I made a banner and avatar this week, and now I need to fill out my profile, policies, and come up with something to list. I don’t have a lot of premade work handy and I’m looking to focus on custom work, so it’s a bit tricky.

Also tricky: talking to strangers. For some reason I don’t even want to pinpoint, I’d been thinking about signing up on OKCupid for a while, and earlier this week – one sleepless night at 3 AM – I did just that. Things I like about OKCupid: it’s an excellent time-waster if you like answering questions! Things I don’t like about OKCupid: the body type options, the lack of options outside the gender binary and the heterosexual/bisexual/homosexual trifecta. The weird shit that pops up as you type your signup. You’re a bot! The person who programmed you has probably never heard of where I live! Also, whatever their ‘Special Blend’ thing is when you sort your matches – you’re not supposed to show me people who are racist and fatphobic! Especially if they’re cute-looking enough for me to check their profile and be horrified!

Things I’m unsure about about OKCupid: uh, people. I’m… not great at people. I actually haven’t answered any messages in three days. I did put a note in my profile that sometimes my anxiety gets the best of me and it may take me a while to sit down and write back. Things that aren’t specific to OKCupid but being on that site has made me aware of: there are a lot of people who suck for a lot of different reasons. I’m so glad I have my dealbreakers straight.

What I’ve been watching this week: 2013 P&G Championships, Senior Women.

Other thoughts: I want to do an outfit challenge, but I’m not decided on what type yet. I like the 30×30 remix challenge (found via Kaity) – my life is a remix challenge already, but drawing the lines would make it more fun and creative. I have a couple of ideas that will have to wait until October at the earliest, like # days of hats or # days of knitwear, or maybe even # days of wearing things I made. The other challenge I’m thinking about for September is something like ’30 days of closet cosplay,’ i.e., 30 days of outfits inspired by fictional characters. Which one should I do? Somebody choose for me.

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Things I'm Thinking

Blogging About Blogging

posted on August 22, 2013

I think a lot about blogging but none of it seems to lead to actual blog posts. I need very specific ideas – and then I need to be able to execute them, which can be hard at times. See:

1. Style posts: I have to shoot! Outside! In the heat! The horror. Plus, my mom has been doing morning hours for an elderly lady and she’s always tired in the evening. It’s a bit tricky to shoot when your tripod doesn’t want to get off the couch.

2. Showcase posts: I have to shoot… and I honestly don’t know why I’m not doing it. I actually feel super guilty about this. I blame my anxiety and Indiegogo.

3. I still want to vlog about Indiegogo and I’m not sure what’s taking me so long. Lack of coherence due to heat? Let’s go with that. Also, my sister insists on being here. Which, fine, whatever, it is our room now for the next six months but I need a lot of alone time to function and even more alone time to work once I do function, and it’s becoming increasingly harder to get. When does school start? Can it be now? Bonus: it will be fall and it won’t be as hot! Yes, let’s fast-forward to September.

4. Fashion design and sewing: Also not doing any of it! Because my sewing machine (my mom’s Alfa from the 80s) gets pretty hot and because I’m prioritizing catching up on product photography over sewing my rewards. But I’m definitely placing a Spoonflower order this week… which means I should send some emails. This is not how I expected this bullet point to go. My to-do list keeps crawling into things. Shoo.

5. Graphic design: I actually don’t know how to blog about this. But I’m working on my Etsy shop for it! Just having trouble coming up with something to list so I can open it. It would probably help if I got back to this one person. Probably. And if I told this other person I got their stuff. Maybe. Who knows. Personing is hard.

6. Issues I have with news reactions and the like: My problem with this is what I want to say often feels too long for Twitter but too short for a blog post or a video, so I end up not saying anything. Which is not a good thing. Short posts are good, right? I keep seeing that. I need to get out of the mindset that I need some substance to start a blog post – things always get out of hand length-wise anyway. (See also: this post.) Also, I don’t have a tag or category for this. What would I call that? I have an Everything Else category, but if I actually start ranting about issues, that could get flooded.

7. Guitar videos: I’m actually mostly concerned with the copyright issues/what YouTube allows. I sing (poorly) and play (also poorly) songs by other people, so as I understand it, I can’t monetize those videos, but I’m not all that familiar with the monetization thing yet and I don’t want to fuck up in some way I’m not aware of. Any posts on this out there?

But hey, I wrote this up! That’s a post. And my sister left, and I have a vlog I want to make. So it’s all getting easier. Maybe. It might.

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Diaries

Weekly Wishes

posted on August 20, 2013

I haven’t done Weekly Wishes in a few weeks, ever since I failed catastrophically at doing any sewing at all, but new laptop, new blog, new motivation! At least a new attempt to find some in the depths of this heat-induced laziness I’ve fallen victim to. Yes, let’s not blame me. Let’s blame the summer. Let’s be real, in large part it is the summer’s fault. That’s why this week’s image is some yellowed leaves in October; I am turning my back on the season. Indiegogo shares some of the blame, too, for giving my anxiety so much time to be paranoid that I had to take it slow and stay calm to avoid a full-on meltdown. I maintain that they should give me a gift card for therapy or something. I’ll probably vlog about this.

While I try to remember how to be a functional human being, I’ve been thinking about the past year and how much has changed for me since I started taking antidepressants last August. I sort of quit writing altogether, which had been stressing me out more than it had been making me happy for some time, but for six months – until Etsy ate my life – I kept up with my daily to-do lists.

My daily to-do lists basically started three years ago in the hope that I’d eventually fix my sleep schedule. Technically, I just ran one long to-do list, and every ten-twelve days, I listed six new tasks with the days listed next to them in a row. I’d circle each day if I accomplished its respective task. At the end of the ten-twelve-day period, if I’d managed the task a majority of days, I marked the overall to-do item as complete (with a checkmark and color marker); if not, I marked it as unfilled (with a cross and no color).

Before I gave that up for the new year, I was doing a fairly decent job of keeping up with the four middle tasks (self-care, reading, exercising, and playing guitar), and my usual awful job of accomplishing the frame two (get up and go to bed early).

All this to say my weekly wishes for this week are in the vein of those tasks. I’m setting three goals for myself that I’m hoping to do every day for the next week. Was it The Happiness Project that had a line about how things are easy to do if you do them every day or only once in a while, but not if you do them every other day, or once a week, etc.? I know I read that somewhere. Which is not to say it’s true, but it’s true for me that doing things every single day without skipping any is the only way they become close to a habit and therefore easier to do.

These are the habits I’m hoping to build/regain this week:

1. Take pictures every day: We’re talking take pictures of things, mainly, because I owe a ton of product photography to Etsy sellers I’ve traded with; my old laptop wouldn’t cooperate when it came to editing, so I kept putting off the shooting part until I had the new one, and like I mentioned above, Indiegogo made me wait forever for my funds. So there’s a lot to shoot (fun, as long as I’m awake during daylight), and there’s a lot to model (which is the hardest part sometimes, putting on makeup and doing anything that requires me to step out of my room in this heat), and there’s a lot to edit (which is blissfully smooth now that my laptop doesn’t freeze every minute or overheat and shut down on a regular basis).

2. Stretch every day: I want to get back into exercising daily, but I don’t particularly have any intention of doing proper workouts. When I was doing well in this area, I was basically doing sets of stretching/sit-ups/dips/leaps/etc. scattered along the day – low time commitment, no sweat (literally). My energy levels are too low for strength conditioning at the moment, but there is one thing I can do, and that’s stretch. By which I mean pike stretching and straddle stretching (and stretching as warmup, but that’s not the goal). Last year I came so close to the splits! Now that I can watch gymnastics on my laptop again, I’m hoping that will motivate me.

3. Blog every day: This overlaps with #1 in a way – it would be nice to get back into fashion blogging! But mostly I want to get into blogging in general, and this is really something that only becomes a habit if I do it every day. Otherwise I’m prone to let two days become two weeks, at which point I feel like I should apologize for not being around, and that’s no way to build a blog.

I also want to start vlogging – I’m not shooting for doing that every day, but if I could get a video up before, say, Thursday, and then another one before the next Weekly Wishes, that would be pretty great. I just need to zero in on a subject, or decide to do an intro vid once and for all. Do any of you guys vlog? How did you get started?

4 Comments

Diaries

Snail Mail Collective: July 2013

posted on August 18, 2013

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Saying I love getting mail would be an understatement. Things! For me! What could possibly be better? My love for mail has been rekindled since I started selling on Etsy – trading is amazing, y’all – so when Melyssa from The Nectar Collective decided to start a snail mail exchange, I was pretty quick to sign up. (I’d say I signed up immediately, but that would have been irresponsible. I take my budget into account for these things. For most everything. It’s a good trait to have! Especially when your budget is practically zero.)

Anyway, I haven’t signed up this month for – the very reason I just mentioned in that parenthetical, but I was paired with Dana from Stationery Lover in July, and I had a wonderful experience! I felt a little inadequate when I got my package – all I sent was a postcard and some prints! In my defense, I’m pretty new at this penpal thing. I’ll do better next time. Whenever that is.

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Meet Lix

Welcome to my blog! I'm Lix: full-time graphic designer for bloggers and freelancers, and part-time photographer. I'm an unapologetic cat lady and perpetually angry feminist nightmare. I like attention and pretty things, and that's why I run a lifestyle blog. Learn more.
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