Grecian Gowns

Although beautiful Julianne Hough's dress is too structured for my taste in this length. However, I do like these looks in this shorter length and would wear Hough's dress if it were knee length.

Too cute not to re-post (Scarlett Johansson)

That being said, if ever need I to wear a gown in the near future, I will aim for something like these:

Katy Perry in a beautiful pale blush colored gown. Kinda crazy, but she pulls it off without going over the top with excessive jewelry.

Love this Reem Acra gown on Olivia Wilde. The color and detailed shoulder beading is the perfect compliment to the exquisite pleating.

When I think of layered dresses, I imagine something similar to this gem:

So matronly in a nice camo green. Just kidding. This is horrid.

In general, I don't like layered ruffles, but this dress has asymmetrical styling that makes ruffles impressive. The skin tone is terrific. Cate Blanchett in Armani Privé.

This dress if somewhat off topic, but I like the youthfulness:

I like  the vertical ruffles. The muted colors in all of the dresses is a tiered that I find pleasing.

Sandra Bullock, a classic beauty, is wearing a beautiful purple, which seems to be this season's color; however, I dislike that her leg is visible through the see through fabric. An underskirt would make is less risky for me.

Brook Shields is wearing my favorite gown of this blog in a beautiful pink. A bold color set with painted black nails to provide stability. Great color and beautiful, airy movement in the gown.

Nude Pumps and One shoulder Dresses

Lately I have been noticing the understated beige shoe to offset a colorful or printed dress. Most often people do the exact opposite: wear the simple black dress with a colorful shoes. Predictable, but still fun in a hurry.

Megan Fox with a beautiful nude shoe that blends right into her skin tone. Not a fan of how revealing this dress is, but a great color on her.

Diane Kruger in Jason Wu love the dress, the shoe looks slightly bride's maid. Still like the color choice for the shoe.

Scarlett Johansson in an adorable one shoulder ruffle dress with the cutest beige pumps with a jewel embellishment in the leather.

Scarlett, again, with a beautiful floral print strapless dress, I know, not a one shoulder, but love the peep toe shoes. Love the hint of green eyeshadow to match the floral print.

Lily Allen in a vibrant red structured satin dress with a downplayed leopard print cardigan. Love, love the entire ensemble, again not a one shoulder, but the shoes/outfit are too cute to leave out. I would totally wear this outfit.

Wales: horse back riding

Recently, I had the amazing opportunity to go on a horseback riding trip in Wales. It was beautiful. The scenery there is so much more different than that of England's. I'll let the pictures explain. 

Mt. Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales.

The beautiful Betws-y-Coed-the town near where we stayed.

Welsh slate stacked up as refuse from mining.

This is an old Roman Bridge.

All the animals are so cute.

Enjoy! I did!

The other flag of England

My fellow Americans, the above flag does NOT stand solely for England, but for England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. For the rest of the world, please chuckle to yourself about how clueless we are. This flag is known as the Union Jack. For those of you who are also flag illiterate, join with me in an interesting lesson on flags.

After I moved here, I started seeing this flag:

This was around the time of the world cup. I had NO idea what it was about. Then one day it hit me, it was the flag of England. I felt like a dunce after living here for a month and moving here thinking the Union Jack was the English flag.

Now it gets interesting, this is the flag of Scotland:

And this is a flag for Northern Ireland (I'll explain more later)

Now superimpose all the images into one and TA DA!

 This was pointed out to me here , trust me, I did  not think of this one my own.

Ireland has a lot of flags and can't make up their mind on which to use, in my opinion. A Google Search provides this alternate flag, but this flag does not fit into my Union Jack tutorial.:

And Wales, well, poor thing, it was not even included into the Union Jack, but is looks awesome:

Anyways, that is my nerdy info on flags. I thought it was really cool how each flag is incorporated into the Union Jack, except Wales, poor thing.

Eco Awesome

So living in England has really made me think twice about my hair product. When Herbal Essence does not cut it we are in for trouble! The water here is so much more harsh than in the states. My hair was becoming dry, dull, and brittle. It was time to make the plunge and buy the expensive stuff. While I was at it, I thought I might as well go organic! :) It actually works-no fear it does not leave your hair feeling greasy. Now my hair is soft and supple. This makes it easier to grow out and avoid getting a horrible English whack attack hair cut. Horror story: one English hairstylist left my friend's hair un-even, and no, she did not ask for an artsy do. I cannot complain about my hair experience here, but it was pricey and without the amazing haircut feeling. I'm sure there is a hair mecca here that is kept a secret for fear of invasion by loud-mouthed Americans.

Here is some additional product information:

Tigi Love, Peace and the Planet Eco Awesome Cranberry Orange and Mint Moisturising Shampoo 750ml.
Don't panic its organic!
Nourished, rehydrated hair and scalp feels so Eco Awesome!.
Go green and get gorgeous with a with a fusion of geranium, lavender, rosemary, jojaba oil and aloe vera.
Go Green and look good doing it.
71% Organic Content.
No Parabens.
No Artificial Colours.
No Synthetic Fragances.
No Sodium Lauryl/ Laureth Sulfates.
Bottle 50% post consumer recycled material.


Tigi Love, Peace and the Planet Eco Awesome Cranberry Orange and Mint Moisturising Conditioner.

Don't panic its organic!
White tea leaf, algae and chamomile flower extracts combine with oliver fruit to deliver Eco Awesome moisture and shine.
Pamper yourself and mother earth too!
80% Organic Content.
No Parabens.
No synthetic fragances.
Bottle 50% post consumer recycled material.


Basically it is really good for you and the environment and it smells wonderful!

Philippians 4

Philippians 4:

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

You know how you just keep getting hit with the same thing over and over? Well, this Sunday makes the 3rd time in a week I have been shown this scripture. The first time I read it in my bible study and shared it with my friends. The second was in a book about military life (I would recommend reading it, she does an exquisite job of not being an over the top whiner). The last time was today in our sermon. God is really trying to show me the true meaning of being content and how it differs from being stoic. The pastor pointed out that during the time this was written, the Romans were extremely good at being stoic. The difference between the two is a matter of acceptance or denial. People who are stoic will bravely deny their true emotions and keep trucking along, I tend to fall into this category. However, being truly content is being aware of your emotions and realizing the God is giving you the ability to be content, despite how you should feel.

Well, I thought this was really interesting and hope to delve into this further.

DogBlog

Saying I love dogs would be an understatement. Currently I have a cute little chap sleeping next to me. Oh, how cute he is. His name is Smokey. He is a foster dog from Wood Green. He is a Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Staffies are the much beloved hyperactive dog near and dear to England's heart. Research tells me it is 5th on England's dog like list. I would say that is true because most of the dogs I foster are staffies. They don't stay on foster long as they are adopted almost as soon as they are behaviourally cleared. That being said, Smokey already has a potential home and I have only had him a week! The last foster dog was another staffie name Roxy and I only had her for a week, too!

This breed cracks me up. Their legs are comically short, their muscles are bulging, their head is huge, and if they were aquatic, they would be the bull shark. This leads me to conclude about staffies:

1. Their owners love them
2. Their friends don't-or else they would offer to take them while their friend was sick or unable to
3. They ARE hyperactive
4. In their most hyperactive state, they can appear braindead as they leap into the air and come crashing down on their backs because they forgot about gravity and how to land on their feet
5. They're feisty
6. They do whatever they want, whenever they want
7. Pitt Bulls are the bigger version of them
8. They make comical turkey-like sounds instead of the standard dog whine, it is hilarious until one has listened to it for HOURS
9. When they choose to obey it makes you want to start your own dog training show, step aside Cesar!
10. They are comical
11. Staffies make owning other dogs that listen and behave as they should seem boring (I still miss/want my angel, Maverick though!)
12. They can be sweet as can be if they decide they like you

Smokey has, for some reason, decided he LOVES me and will sleep with me every night. If I'm sitting on the couch, he has to be too. He has to be laying on my stomach or right alongside me. Whatever Smokey can do to sleep next to me all night, he will do. It is really endearing. He somehow manages to make me feel like I will fall out of bed at night because he scoots closer to me all night and he weighs just 40 pounds! Sad news for me if Smokey is adopted by his forever home, but good news for him. I'll have to be strong and grabe extra blankets because I'll miss my spaceheater. For Smokey's sake, I must admit he behaves well for a staffie, or he has me brainwashed. I think it is both. More on that later...

Adios Facebook

So I never thought I would deactivate my Facebook account. How freeing it has become. I must admit at times I do have withdrawls and feel an urge to peruse through random people's photos, which then links me to another random person's photos, except this person is even more random because I don't know them. GUH! I am starting to value my privacy. Plus, I'm living in England, I need to take advantage of its beauty, not sitting and waiting for that beautiful red notification flag... Plus, it really was irritating listening to people constantly talk about "FB" in real life. Yes, I know how does deactivating my account prevent people talking about Facebook? It does not, it just makes the endless stories new since I have not been watching the news feed. And news feed? If that is what the new generation thinks a newsfeed, then God help us as the stadard for mediocracy is lowered.

So why am I ranting about FB? Well, after cute little nicknames for it, movies about it, references about it in moves, and smart phone addicted people giving consant updates, I want to be disconnected from it all. I want people to talk TO me to find out how my day was, not cheat and read my status or foster some weird friendship because they follow me. BLAH! Those who stay in contact with me will be my friends.

Ironic, yes, that I start blogging again to fill the huge void of free hours in my life. I will justify the use of this social media as a somewhat literary experiance...