Hello Tuesday

Hello All!

Hope you are all having a lovely Tuesday! It's been a busy last couple of days and I am scrambling just to keep my head on straight. Spent the day today racing around to complete errands for my new job, yup you heard me right, I got a new job! Now, don't get me wrong I am still in pursuit of my dream of becoming my own boss, however, this new job will align my schedule more so with that of my husbands schedule. YAY! I am excited! More than anything else it will be so nice to end my day seeing his face rather than merely hearing his voice on the phone. The beginning of this week will stay busy all the way through Wednesday so I am really looking forward to Thursday, a day off and maybe even a date night with the hubby, ahhhhh!

The picture below is of one lone Black Eyed Susan in a pot of pretty little red blooms. I seem to still be obsessed with the look of a shallow depth of field and how it changes the feeling of a picture. Pretty pretty!

Amidst all of the changes I have been making this past week and the ones sure to take place within the next couple of weeks, it is more important than ever to remember to keep my focus and not become sidetracked. I do have some powerful goals that I do ideally want to lead into a full-time business and the opportunity to do what I really love. Achieving these goals have definitely not been an easy road to carve and I am hoping that with the addition of this new job that I regain a little bit of my self worth that I have let slip away recently. I am on a path, and I am gonna make it happen!!!

Happy Tuesday All!

Hello All,

Just a quick post today. I have been all over the place running errands and trying to get my day wrapped up before I have to go to work this evening. So, quick post with my photo of the day.

This old window was found in a back alley in the East Village in Des Moines. I loved the chipped red paint and the exposed and battered brick. Again, just a boring old window with a unique view!

Happy Monday All!

Enjoy the rest of your day and a much longer post tomorrow, promise:) 

Looking at the smaller picture

Its raining here today, which means no boating, which also means lots of downtime deciding, or ahem arguing, over what household task needs done more. Clean the carpet?.. clean the garage?.., my answer: take a nap and then re-visit the issue. Ha!

The picture above is of the windshield of my car, kinda boring idea huh? But I wanted to capture a shot of rain that really showed the droplets and didn't absorb all of the natural light that was available in the shot. I love rain. I love the way it smells, the sound of it hitting the roof, thunder and lightning, I love it all! So by taking a step in and viewing something that ordinarily is not very exciting, or at least not very artistic, and viewing the smaller picture I was able change the view of an old boring car windshield. Ta da!

Baby bear

This is my baby bear, Navi. I know I have shared pictures of him before but he really is my best subject. He doesn't complain as long as there are treats or swimming involved, and tends to be very real in front of the camera, haha! I like this picture...except that I wish I hadn't cut the tops of his ears off. Oh well, I am sure that he will forgive me:)

Today has been a busy day already. Awaiting some news on a couple of different fronts, one being a large purchase and the other being the source of a new paycheck, hmmm keeping my fingers crossed! Looking forward to grabbing some dinner with a dear friend tonight and spending the weekend in a mix of boating, sun, farmers market-ing, and...work, haha I was on a roll there!

In addition to today's post about my photo, I also came across a great article about "When Life Does NOT Hand You Lemons" by Carrie Swails. It is short, sweet, and very blunt, well worth a quick read, now if you'll excuse me, I'm out to buy some lemons:)

Happy Friday All!

Romantic Details

I am in love with great detail shots. I think this fact alone has intensified my love for wedding photography. Well captured detail shots are the best way to detail a mood to really set the stage for the story being told with your photos. I captured this shot while at Saylorville Lake taking Navi swimming, normally our experience there details lots of mud, smelly water, and sand EVERYWHERE! I felt that this shot captured a romantic mood (rarely seen there:) with the muted colors, shallow depth of field, and the delicate nature of the suspended bloom.

I love Thursday's, I get the whole day to myself and then get to spend some time with my hubby. Today is no exception, we will be headed back out to Saylorville Lake to take the boat out late this afternoon. The sun is shining and it's gorgeous out today, might be a good day to try out round two with my attempt to learn to water ski (attempt 1 was met with much frustration!). Stay tuned, hopefully no broken bones:)

Happy Thursday All!

Photog Project: Day 1

Hello All,

Happy Wednesday! It is day one of my proposed photog project of taking a picture every day for 30 days to establish my vision as an artist.  Well, I am going to start off by slightly cheating....yup you heard right, but I figured since I proposed the project I get to make the rules. I want to use this project to  support my view of myself as an artist and in order to do so I feel it is necessary to back up the train a bit. During my time in college I made a decision that has since changed my life and set the stage, if you will, for my obsession with vintage, glamour, and all things chic. I studied abroad in France, and not just a study abroad but I lived in Paris in the Latin Quarter amongst all of the beautiful gardens, stunning architecture (my apartment was two blocks from Notre Dame!), mouthwatering patisseries, subway access to anywhere in the city, flea markets, Seine riverboat tours, and chic Parisians. It was amazing! I used my experiences there and the people that I met to shape my vision as a student in the Apparel Design Program so.... without further adieu I would like to dedicate Day 1 to my time in Paris.

I chose two pictures that I adore to share today.

A bridge over the Seine. Everyday views in Paris, beautiful!

A fountain of Poseidon's horses in the Gardens of Versailles, breathtaking!

Enjoy your Wednesday All!

Blogging Bootcamp

Hello All,

So as you can all see it has been a few days since my last post. I have to admit that I seem to have fallen into a bit of a rut on the blogging, and just basically life in general, fronts. Yes, I do know that I am infamous for my numerous personal pity parties and hope that I do not scare you all away with my ever standard inability to remain clearly focused. I will go ahead and attribute this to my being a dreamer. I can spend an entire day dreaming up possibilities of how I can develop my creative potential and the different paths it may take on leading me into my ideal "super fabulous" future. But, eventually you have to stop dreaming and ACT, and sadly that is where I struggle. I let my doubts get the best of me and I succumb to the feelings of being inexperienced and ultimately afraid to invest in my own future for fear of failure. And I can say it because I see it, HOW RIDICULOUS!, but what I can't seem to do is just move past this and...jump. Instead I settle to work a job that I don't have any passion for and which I let steal my energy and motivation to do anything else, shame on me. I possess all of the tools in which to build my own future, I am personable, artistic, creative minded, and I really am a go-getter (that is when I don't stand in my own way).

The truth is this rut really is self-imposed, I have been applying for numerous jobs and waiting to hear back on a job that will provide me the stability in which I can build my business while still maintaining a happy medium between work and play......what? Does that statement sound weird to anyone else? Looking for a new job to replace my current one and then to eventually replace with my own business, why so many stepping stones? I need to remind myself why I started this blog in the first place: to detail my struggles into self-employment and the growing of my OWN business!

In order to re-ignite my blogging flame I am going to propose a project for myself. I will be doing a photog project and taking a photo everyday for 30 days and then posting and blogging about why that particular image is a direct reflection of who I am as an artist. I think this will help me to 1.) whip my blog back into shape, and 2.) recognize myself as an artist and switch my focus from what if to making it happen! Thank you all for staying with me so far and I hope that you enjoy the photog project and maybe, just maybe, this post can serve to be a reminder that we are all human and life really is too short to not do what we enjoy, reach for your dreams and though the road will be rocky, hopefully the path will be so worth it.

Some well timed inspiration to end on a positive note:)

July Birchbox

I about squealed when I saw it in the mailbox yesterday, my July Birchbox is here!!!

See what I mean, very squeal worthy!

Pretty!

Eau Flirt Perfume by Harry Prince

Nail Lacquer in Blue-Ming by Color Club

 Bamboo UV+ Color Protection Fade-Proof Fluide by Alterna

Cherry Cobbler Bar (YUMMY!) by Larabar

Skinny liquid Eyeliner in Olive by Eyeko

Custom Designed Ear Buds and the perfect "getting pretty" playlist by Glamour on Spotify

Seriously people a Birchbox monthly subscription is, drumroll please,.......$10!!!! That is an amazing value for the great quality samples that you get! I.Love.It!

Bridal Shower Bliss!

Tsk tsk on my part, it is Wednesday and this is my first post of the week, ahhhh! I have let this week get away from me already:( I spent this past weekend in Omaha for my cousins bridal shower and bachelorette party and ultimately some very needed and fun family time. Monday was spent recovering from said family time and Tuesday I spent the majority of the day searching out neat antique furniture to  beautify my home. Pretty good week so far!

The shower was a great time and Kristin scored some amazing loot! These were a few of my favorite pictures from the shower:

Happy Wednesday All!

Omaha bound, AGAIN!

Hey All,

So we had a minor animal emergency on the home front Wednesday afternoon and through out yesterday. All is good, no worries there was just a lot of cleaning involved, ha! So now I figured I must make up for not posting yesterday, boooo on my part:(

This weekend will be a BUSY one! I am headed to Omaha this afternoon to spend time with family and to attend my cousin's Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party, yeah!! I am foreseeing lots of eating, boozing, and photog-ing, the perfect weekend to forget some less than great moments from this past week and focus on family...and partying:) (Don't think I'm really supposed to verbalize that last part for professionalisms sake but let's be honest here, when you need a mental rejuvenation a cocktail or two is almost always necessary)Another topic I have meant to touch on recently is that I think you can all tell by now that my posts really haven't followed my initially proposed schedule. What's more is that less and less focus has been on Libby and Jean and more of my content has focused on, well, me. I am going to be straight forward here and state that I have no less passion for becoming my own boss and really living my life for me but I also wanted to take an opportunity to try new things and re-align where my focus truly is. Ultimately, I want to make sure that I am truly in love with what I am doing so that I may devote myself fully to making my dreams a realization. Cue this amazingly well timed article,  Crazy Talk: The Do What You Love Guide by Leo Babauta. I came across this article while looking  through Gala Darling's blog today (speaking of which, if you've never heard of Gala Darling you absolutely must check out her blog and specifically her promotion of "Radical Self Love".

Well, long story short, I came across this article about really living your life for yourself and truly discovering what makes you happy. With my constant stressing over how to better identify my ideal life/work balance this article was really a "Hello, Libby breath deep and read" moment. Check out the actual article at the link below and gain additional insight into several of the steps. I re-posted the list below:

Crazy Talk: The Do What You Love Guide

 by Leo Babauta

1. If you don’t think it’s possible, do a small easy test. Don’t think you can start a blog? Sign up for a free WordPress.com or Blogger.com account and do a short post. Don’t tell anyone about it. Just write a post. It costs nothing, risks nothing, takes almost no time. But you will learn you can do that one little thing, and if you pass that test, you now know your theory of impossibility was wrong. You can do this with any skill, btw, not just blogging.
2. Expand your tests. If you pass the first test, do another small one. Then another. Keep going and notice your confidence grow. Your skills grow along with the confidence. It’s amazingly simple. Iterate and re-iterate as long as you are having fun.
3. If you don’t know what you love, don’t worry. There’s no need to figure that out right away. Try something that someone else is doing, and see if you think it’s fun. The real fun part, btw, comes when you start to get good at it, so perhaps stick with it for awhile and enjoy the learning, then enjoy being good at it. If that first try doesn’t work, try something else. You don’t have to commit to one thing for your entire life. You can do a dozen a year if you want, for a decade. You’ll probably find something by then.
4. Find inspiration. Who else is doing what you love doing? Who is excited about it most? Follow them. Learn about them. See what path they took. Watch closely how they execute, what they do right. Learn from the best.
5. Reach out to a mentor. Of the people who inspire you the most, try to make contact with a few of them. If they never respond, try a few more. See if you can buy them lunch or coffee. Don’t pitch them on anything. Just ask for their help, and say you’d love for them to mentor you in a way that won’t take up much of their time. Don’t demand a lot of time, but go to them when you’re having trouble making big decisions.
6. Choose one passion at random. Some people have many interests and don’t know where to start. Pick one or two randomly if they’re all about equal, and just get started. Don’t let choice paralyze you. Get started, because in the end it won’t matter if you started with the wrong passion — you’ll learn something valuable no matter what. 
7. Get good at it. You get good at something with practice. Allow your friends and family to be your first audience, readers, customers. Then take on a few others at a low cost, or increase your audience slowly. But always have an audience or customers if possible — you’ll get good much faster this way, with feedback and accountability. Read about it. Watch videos. Take a class. Join a group of others learning. Find people to partner with. Before long, you’ll be good at it.
8. Help others. One of the best ways to get good at something is to help others learn. Making someone’s life better with your new skill is also an amazing way to get satisfaction out of what you do, to love what you do. Help as many people as you can in any way possible — it will pay off.
9. Find your voice. Eventually, as you master your skill, you will learn that you are different than the thousands of others doing it. You will find your uniqueness. It’s not necessarily there at first, because you might not have the technical skills to express yourself. But eventually, find that voice. Find the thing that sets you apart, that helps you to stand out from the crowd. Then emphasize that. 
10. How can you be valuable? What can you do that is valuable to others? Sometimes it’s doing something that they really need. Sometimes it’s doing it better than others. Sometimes it’s saving people time, or money. Other times it’s just making their lives better, brighter, pleasanter in some way.
11. Become an expert. If you get good at something, and help others, and find a voice, and become valuable — you’ll become an expert at what you do. Others will turn to you for advice. Help them. 
12. Sell your own stuff. I’ve found that the best way to make a revenue, by far, is by selling your own stuff. I’ve tried ads and affiliate links, and while I have nothing against those things, the thing that works best for me is selling my own stuff. I’ve already proven to my audience that I’m valuable and honest and trustworthy, and so they are much more likely to want something that I’ve created than something I recommend made by others. So create something valuable that will help others, and sell it.
13. Don’t be a jerk. Too many people online are so worried about maximizing subscriber numbers or pageviews that they do things that are disrespectful to their readers. Asking me to click “Next Page” five times to read your article? Jerk move. Having a pop-up asking me to subscribe before I’ve even read the article I came to read? Jerk move. Screaming at me to “Like” your page on Facebook, when I could decide that on my own without being asked if the article was really good? Jerk move. Learn to feel what is respectful, and what’s a jerk move.
14. Don’t let numbers rule you. Numbers are arbitrary and basically worthless. How many readers do you have? No one really knows, and in the end the number of readers doesn’t matter as much as things like: how much do they care about your articles, how much have you helped them, how much do they trust you, how excited are they? Pageviews don’t matter, neither do Facebook fans or Twitter followers or the number of people on your mailing list. Instead of worrying about numbers, pour yourself into your work, make yourself incredibly valuable, help people as much as possible, love what you do. The numbers will come as a side effect.
15. It’s the doing and loving that matters. Many people focus on growing, or hitting goals, or making money, but they forget what matters. What matters most is loving what you do. If you love it, and you’re doing it, you’ve already succeeded. Don’t worry so much about achieving certain levels of success — people push themselves so hard to reach those things that they forget to enjoy what they’re doing, and in the process they lose the reason they’re doing it in the first place.
16. Dream bigger. Once you’ve overcome the initial fear and started to become good at something you love, dream bigger. The first stage is small steps, but don’t stop there. You can change lives. You can change the world. Doing so will change you.

Wednesday Life Lift

Hello All,

So anyone that knows me knows that I absolutely adore the Bravo reality TV show, Real Housewives of New Jersey. I get my full fix of gossip fueled drama and petty catfights in just one hour on Sunday nights (unless a marathon is on and I am feeling particularly lazy). I myself am not a drama fueled person therefore I live vicariously through the women on the show so that I may get slightly caught up in their drama whilst having no real stress of my own nor anyone throwing a table at me. It's grand!

The reason I love the Jersey Housewives so much is that instead of being completely absorbed in the latest realm of plastic surgery (ahem Real Housewives of Orange County) these women are Jersey women, they pull hair, throw punches, name call with the best of them, and are all fiercely protective of their families. Seriously, if you've never watched an episode it really is entertainment at it's best.  Another reason why I love this show is the over abundant entrepreneurial spirit these women have from apparently an over abundance of money. Now, while I do not have the aforementioned "over abundance of money", I like watching the connections they make in order to promote their loves wether it be catering, makeup development, a singing career, yadda yadda pretty much whatever pops into their minds. As a person that is striving to make a difference in the small business world it is reassuring to watch others dream big and go for it, and what's more is that not everything works out proving that it takes a myriad of elements to get a business off the ground, not just money, whew! Nice little lesson learned from watching my favorite smutty TV, or at least that is how I am going to justify it to my husband:) Ha!

And what's Wednesday without a little middle of the week inspiration:

And lastly my personal favorite that I hope to be able to loudly proclaim someday soon..(maybe even Jersey-style complete with a hair toss, wave of the hand, and perfectly smokey eye).....

Happy Wednesday!

Handling criticism

Hello All,

Happy Tuesday! Hopefully everyone survived their Monday, somedays surviving a Monday is easier said than done! Or is that just me? I always get excited on Monday's for the coming week and then on the same note a little bit depressed about the things I did not manage to get done the previous week. It's a never ending cycle.

I came across a great article to share with you all by Heather Wagner of Form+Function about how to handle criticism from co-workers. I have a tendency to not see criticism for what it is and to instead take it more personally than I should. This often results in not receiving the original intended message and a cry fest on my part. Criticism, when done in a healthy and constructive way can be a good motivator for personal growth and change but when done in a harsh or negative way it can invoke self doubt and...sheer terror about what other people think, AGGHHHHH! I have shared my thoughts on criticism before (here) and I'll be the first to say that damn, that stuff is tough! I tend to get defensive when someone criticizes me, my business, my products, my shoes, my hair, you name it I can pry figure out some way to get ruffled feathers over it. It has been a struggle for me, one that in fact I am still working on, but I have come to realize that without criticism I am not going to grow. And, more so, by welcoming criticism, from those with good intentions, I can learn so much and what's more is that someone is taking the time to notice something about me, the way I run my business, how I do my hair, or whatever it was that invoked a reaction. That alone should make me feel good, just being noticed enough to elicit a response.

Cheers, and happy Tuesday folks!

Hello Monday

Hello All,

It is Monday again. Big week up ahead and attempting to get geared up for it but really relenting to having a lazy day today instead. I am currently watching Sex and the City, the movie, and thinking about how I really want to go shopping now:)

So I played around with Polyvore, if you haven't tried it I highly recommend it, it's kinda like pinterest where you pin things you like onto pretty inspiration boards. It's like shopping without the bills. Check out my board in the post below!

Sex and the City Chic

Sex and the City Chic by libbyandjean featuring hot pink heels

Lipsy cocktail party dress
$170 - lipsy.co.uk

Dorothy Perkins pink jacket
$62 - dorothyperkins.com

Hot pink heels
boohoo.com

Marc B tote handbag
$73 - topshop.com

Oasis stackable jewelry
$9.32 - asos.com

H M hair clip accessory
$3.09 - hm.com

Maison Martin Margiela bracelet
$490 - net-a-porter.com

Wildfox Couture ring
$110 - jades24.com

Bobbi Brown Cosmetics face powder
neimanmarcus.com

Christian Dior fragrance
$76 - johnlewis.com

Trish McEvoy gift sets kit
saksfifthavenue.com

Pinpointing a Millenial

Hello All,

Hope you all had a fabulous 4th of July!! I am sunburnt crispy from being on the lake all morning and then had to work last night so I am holding onto the hope that someone somewhere still has fireworks to set off so that I may get to watch them. At the very least I will have to buy some sparklers to play with:)

I came across an interesting article this morning on Liene Stevens blog Think Splendid. I have shared my love for Liene's  articles on my blog before (see here) and how much I love reading her interpretations of wedding industry based purchasing and decision making stats. She pegs "millenials" (those born from 1979-2000) with an eerie 100% accuracy, at least I feel that way when I read them. It's like she can read my mind! Below is an excerpt of her post "Why Millennials Need So Much Praise and Feedback":


        Millennials (born 1979-2000), on the other hand see the world as a series of interconnected networks, and feel that a       
        victory is not as sweet if it does not involve everyone on their team. Hierarchies represented by ladders hold little 
        value to them. Millennials are not compelled to work upward to a more important level because they grew up being 
        told they are important simply because they exist. They do, however, feel the need to be valued and appreciated as 
        significant and as a member of the team. They need to know that the group could not function without them. 
        Because of this, withholding praise and positive feedback does not entice a millennial to work harder for you. 
        Instead it produces the opposite: "If they don't value what I do, why 
        am I here? Does my work even matter? Life is too short to do 
        something you don't love and to do work that doesn't make a 
        difference. I'm going to go find a job where my contributions bring 
        value and if that job doesn't exist I'm going to create it." 
        Read more: http://www.thinksplendid.com

See what I'm talking about?! I certainly feel that she has picked through my brain, reiterating statements that I have made numerous times when sizing up a job I have had on wether or not I was in the "right spot" for me. This article was such a nice read this morning because...well...it was reassuring. Reassuring that maybe what I constantly struggle with is normal. I struggle to find a work/life balance that works for me, and I'll be honest here and state that I still have yet to find it. A sense of fulfillment from my work is so important to me and such a powerful, at least for myself, measure of success that sometimes it's hard to articulate why that even though I may have a job with a paycheck, a loving and supportive family and great group of friends, that I am still not "happy". I want to have a sense of pride from what I do and really, because we are being honest today, if we will spend a vast majority of our lives "working", shouldn't we love what we do? Or at the very least, not dread it? 

 I'm going to go for it here and do some quote dropping, we've all heard it before but Confucious said "Chose a job you love and you will never work a day in your life". I know that not everything about every job every day is going to be wonderful and sugar coated but is it possible to be overall "happy" with your job, and if so what does that feel like? I have come to realize that a major source of my "un-happiness" is that maybe what I am desiring is less of a "job" and more of a lifestyle. I want to lead a life that when I look back on I don't regret my use of my time here. I don't want to bounce around from profession to profession and company to company, each time I do so I feel a bit more lost. Up until the last couple of years I have always maintained a positive outlook on my goals and my direction knowing that I was working toward my goals that were just on the horizon. No, I didn't necessarily know exactly what I wanted but I knew that by putting in the leg work then that I would have an opportunity to cultivate something meaningful for my future. Yet, some days that horizon seems just as far away as it did to begin with, prompting me to ask what have I been working towards and where has all the effort gone? 

 Really All, is it possible to have a mid-life crisis at 25? HA! 

Get Veiled

So my cousin is getting married in September and hasn't quite decided what kind of a veil or headpiece she would like for her wedding. Her shower is quickly approaching on the 14th of July and we are set to chat about 'hair decor' options then. I figured I would use the blog today to scope out some good images to take to her to get ideas. I compiled mostly veils since she does tend to lean more toward the traditional bridal appeal but I put a few crazy ones in there too:)

Lace edge or mantilla style.

Feather Flowers! (of course:)

If my wedding weren't so informal I would have had a cathedral length, English net veil, so dreamy!!

A fun mix of hair piece and veil element and could be changed to incorporate more veil.

Crystal or pearl studded double layer blusher veil at either shoulder length

or fingertip length.

Gotta love a birdcage veil!

Even a fun take on a birdcage headband! I think I might need one of these:)

And of course to top them all off, a total me look, a lace edged veil cap, LOVE!