Long necked ladies have it easy.

If you have a long neck, I envy you. No, really, I wish I had a long neck so I could wear big earrings without it looking weird. I have a really short stature, short arms, short legs, short waist, short fingers, short neck. I love big earrings, though. Big, bronzed, dangling earrings, or long feathery earrings, or long strands of beaded earrings. It doesn't matter, the bigger the better.

Edie Sedgwick, who I've mentioned before, was infamous for wearing larger-than-life earrings. She was a petite girl, which means her neck couldn't have been very long, but somehow she pulls them off with ease. They look great with her short hair. I have long hair, and on the days I wear it up I feel like I need the big earrings to make up for the lack of hair.

Despite the earrings not always looking right on me, and despite that they create an odd feeling when I tilt my head only to be stopped from tilting all the way by my earring, I still like to wear them.

I'm not too crazy about Target's jewelry selection right now, but they occasionally have cute earrings for a low price. This pair featured is only $9.99 online. They're not my favorite, but for the price I'm sure I could find something to wear them with.

What annoys me...

Don't you hate when you start wearing something random only to find out a few months later that it's mainstream? I do!

I remember when I could pick my boyfriend's flannel western shirt up off the floor and put it on without trying to be fashionable, just trying not to freeze! And then I'd run to the Harris Teeter in it and pull it off fine. Now, everyone has one of those red or yellow flannels from Urban Outfitters or Forever 21, or whoever else is selling them. Now I can't even wear them out in public without being just one of the other "trendy" girls. What's worse, they're wearing it like it's supposed to be a boy's shirt. Go get a shirt from a real boy, not a mannequin!

Same thing with the hippie headband. Not that I sported it, but I would occasionally do the braids, creating the same effect. I technically could still rock the look, but I don't even want to anymore.

This is different than my being excited about flared jeans coming back. I don't care about that because jeans are a basic item. These shirts and headbands, although they are just examples, are more underground items that have no place in the mainstream world. Maybe I'm overreacting, but it just aggravates me.

(Both images from that annoying urban outfitters, grr!)

Handbag search continues.

I am not an easy shopper. I can't just go into a store and find something. Yes, sometimes I have my impulse buys, but most of the time I have a whole list of criteria to go through before I buy something. One of the items that suffers this list the most? Bags.


Prada handbags - by Norma M on Polyvore.com

I love a good bag, I really do, but you wouldn't know it if you met me. Right now I have this granny looking low-slung braided brown bag that really looks like I wove it together myself. I'll admit I'm tired of it, but right now it's just so perfect for all my needs, and I haven't been able to find another to replace it.

For one, the strap is long so when I wear it over one shoulder, it hits right there my hand does and I can keep a nice grip on the opening. It's really easy to reach in and get my keys or cell phone. There's a smaller inner pocket that can stay open or zip closed which is perfect for storing the smaller items (keys, phone, flash drive) and I can clip my school badge onto it and never worry about losing it. It also has a snap closure on the inside which makes it easy to close and open, no annoying zippers. Another reason I can't give up this bag is the space inside. It's a rather small bag in comparison to the huge monster bags that some girls carry around, but I can still fit my wallet, checkbook, a bottle of water, a bunch of crap, and a snack in it without it looking bulgy. Perfect fit.

Right now I think the only other kind of bag I'd get is a nice fringed hobo. I thought I saw one I liked at Target, but when I went back to give it the ol' critique it totally failed. So now I'm still searching, and still using my granny bag.

Woah, Charlotte Russe!

I remember going into Charlotte Russe about two years ago, looking around, and not really finding much that interested me. Although the prices are great, it just wasn't my style. It was just too "high heeled and tight shirted" for me. So, imagine my surprise when I go onto their website (out of plain curiosity) to find a totally different look. Hippie beads and boho skirts?! In Charlotte Russe?! Now they're starting to look like their main competitor, Forever 21. Coincidence?

No, not a coincidence. I read an article in WWD yesterday that stated Charlotte Russe has just redone their merchandising for spring to a more "boho" trend. This was meant to increase sales (since not only the economy sucks, but apparently their sales sucked to begin with) and attract a new crowd. Hmm, could that be the crowd from Forever 21?

Looking deeper into the website, I found that not all their merchandise has changed from teenage cocktail dresses to boho just yet. I doubt that everything in their store will make the switch, which is good for keeping the customers they already have. I'll have to keep an eye out to see just how many of these boho items do grace their sales floor. I might even have to make a trip out to the mall!

(Image taken from front page of Charlotte Russe's website.)

Copycats.

A lot of girls I know look stupid celebrity magazines to see what's in, what's popular, and what they should rush to buy next. I think this is horribly, horribly, stupid.

If I look to something to get inspiration for clothing, I either look to editorial spreads that are rather avant garde, or look to some of the real "it girls" of the past decades. Edie Sedgwick is an example of one of my favorite real girls.

I see girls looking at Mary Kate Olsen and swooning over her "original" and "vintage" style. First off, a style cannot be original and vintage at the same time, that contradicts itself. Sure, I like the Olsen's for being brave and going into the fashion industry when all the high designers pretty much laughed at them, I think that's swell. However, please remember that nothing is new, everything has been done, and being original is a difficult task to master. If you look to ANYONE for inspiration, no matter how creative you are, you are looking at something that has been done before and not gaining anything completely new and untouched.

Mary Kate Olsen has listed Edie Sedgwick as one of her style inspirations. End of story. Please stop idolizing celebrities, no matter if they are designers or not, and basing your entire wardrobe off what they wear each week.

The super flare is super exiciting.

I'm very excited about the return of flared jeans, now with even more flare. Heavily influenced by the bell bottoms of the 60's and 70's, the new "super flare" is supposed to be the "it jean" of spring/summer this year. I, for one, and thrilled.

You see, I never stopped wearing my flared jeans. Oh not, not me, I wasn't going to give into that skinny jean crap that everyone else was wearing. Not a hippy girl like myself. (And by by hippy, I don't mean hippie, but as in my family was blessed with child bearing hips.) Sure, the skinny jeans look cute on select (skinny!) body types when tucked into cute boots. Skinny legs look good in skinny jeans. Short, rounder, stumpier legs like mine do not.

I just ordered this pair from Victoria's Secret, because I love their London Jean brand and I still wear my pair of (flared!) highly worn out distressed jeans from them that desperately need to be retired.

I was going to splurge on a pair of shoes this season, but I've done it on a pair of jeans instead. Welcome back, flare leg, I've missed you dearly.

I always through Ariel was stylish.

I remember walking the seashore with my sister early in the morning and seeing who could find the best seashells before the beach crowds came and scooped them all up. Growing up on the coast of the Atlantic really made me partial to the smell of the saltwater, the feel of sand between my toes, and the look of seashells strung around my neck. Real ones, of course, not that fake Panama Jack hemp surfer-wanna-be costume jewelry that they sell in Wal-Mart.

I stumbled across this website, Oceanic Splendors, and it immediately took me back to the sunrise shoreline of home. What the actual website lacks in creativity, the jewelry makes up for in elegance and beauty. A mermaid would be proud.

Just thought I'd reminisce of the good ol' days of childhood summer. Oh, what I'd give to leave the cold snow in trade for a warm, sunny day at the beach...