I realized it is Thursday! And while I do not have time to write in here very much anymore, I can definitely rustle up things I love this Thursday! (Please note that TiLT is a creation of Gala Darling, blog here)

I was Amy Winehouse for Halloween!

- I loveeeee Halloween. I grew up in a really religious home and my parents preferred not to celebrate Halloween, which is fine with me but I think I enjoy it even more now as a grown-up because it’s such a novel thing for me! Haha. This Halloween included a chill get-together on Friday night with some great friends, pictured above. Saturday night, however, was total madness, to the point where no photos were taken because I was having so much fun! I went to another friend’s house and it was hilarious from one end to the other. Spotted: a guy curled up on the floor by the fridge, someone who decided they were cold and turned on the stove burners to warm their hands over them (omg, haha.), another Amy Winehouse who I soon made friends with, several people sans pants, and two super-creepy Jokers. To cap off the hilarity, I woke up in the morning on Sunday and went to put on my shoes only to find one perfect little pot leaf in the heel of the right one. Not kidding you. I don’t smoke, and I didn’t see anyone doing it, but apparently it somehow found its way into my shoe. This amused me enormously.

- Boys with blue eyes are the creme de la creme. That is all. Word.

- This video, which my best friend sent me today. Pretty funny regardless of your political affiliations, but probably NSFW.

- Speaking of my best friend, she is ALSO the creme de la creme. I miss her so much it hurts my heart.

- Speaking of politics, I am proud to have voted for and live in an America that is about to have its first black President!!!!! Let’s let Nas help us celebrate, shall we?

- Going home and laughing till the wee hours with my mom. If any of you have a relationship with yours like I do with mine, you know what I’m talking about. She’s become more like a friend than a Mom and I could probably tell her anything and often do. We have the same sense of humor and it’s so nice to live close enough to go home and bask in the familiarity and hilarity of home and her and my sister too!

- TWITTER! I have become stupidly obsessed with Twitter. I love finding new and fun people to follow and it’s a fun, quick way to get tabs on the world as I know it and put my two cents in without blogging. You can follow me here, if you like

Also amusing me and rocking my world this week? Old-school brand new songs, hilarious voice mails from my favorite Texan, that my bestie’s friend has a gay admirer in the craigslist missed connections who apparently really enjoyed his Jack Sparrow costume, having six thousand pictures of my rocking my Amy beehive tagged on facebook, breakfasts with said blue-eyed boy, clean sheets, reading amazing books (keeping faith by jodi picoult and extremely loud and incredibly close by jonathan safran foer), taking naps in the student center on campus (haha yes!), text messages that say ridiculously random things, veggie burgers that don’t taste like crap, oatmeal raisin cookies, cuddling, my amazing professor crying in class over the Obama win, random people dressed as penguins and running down the road, not having classes next Tues, library desk shifts with emily–who makes me laugh till i wanna cry, hilarious book titles in the lib– “Good Sex,” (mishelved in the religion section, no less!) and a big orange book that only says “Book of the Dead,” and silly patrons. Whew. It’s been real. Love and respect!

Hi all!

As you’ve probably noticed, things around here have been absolutely, utterly dead. I just moved, started a brand new school that is almost four times bigger than my old one, started doing academics again after taking a semester off, began a brand new job which I had to learn how to do from scratch, and completely started from square one in terms of having a group of local friends.

I never really formally decided to take September off, it just happened, but now that I am three weeks into the month it seems like a good idea to just continue this way. I haven’t had internet access at home that’s been reliable and although that is finally going to be rectified this coming week, there are so many things demanding my attention at the moment!

All these new experiences have made for so many great ideas for this site, but as you can imagine, making a new circle of friends and giving my all to an education that is extremely important to me has been a time-consuming affair. My hope is that this site is one with quality content, which is something I’m not equipped to gear up at the moment.

All this to say that I plan to take the last two weeks of September off from Hipsterette and take that time to continue to adjust and hopefully also get a better idea of what the focus of the site will be. Having started pretty haphazardly, the ideals and message and content of what I want hipsterette to be have been coming more sharply into focus through trial and error. My hope is that by the first week in October I will be back with regular posts and a better idea of what I want to do for my readers!

Thanks so much for your patience and I really can’t wait to get back into this again and get your feedback.

With love,

Melissa-Leigh

And no mixtape monday this time (my internet access situation is still a horrible mess) but here is some funny and silly music from Julia Nunes that will make you smile. So get out of the Monday blues, little babies, this will make your night bright!

I still don’t have reliable internet, so sorry for the week of down-time we’ve had here at hipsterette! It’s a pain!

However, I was browsing today and saw the Le Sac dress on the American Apparel website. I’m loving all how versatile it is, and for the low price of thirty eight bucks, bets are on this making its way into my wardrobe sometime in the near future! It has really long straps that you can replace and re-wrap a billion different ways, making it a new dress every time you wear it. Plus, it’s available in a range of sweet colors. Hooray!

Click here to check it out!

Hey hipsterettes!

As many of you know, I just moved this weekend! I’m all moved in and the new digs look great–I will post some pictures soon–but I still don’t have internet at home (currently chillin at a local coffee shop and moochin’ on the wireless ) so updates here will be slow until we can get the internet guy to come by and hook us up! Hope you all are well, and I’ll be back soon with a super fantastic mixtape and some loveliness to get your week started off right.

Love,

Melissa-Leigh

Hey hipsterettes, what do you think about Sarah Palin, John McCain’s choice of running-mate?

I’m going to leave my opinion out of this one, as you can probably guess how I feel. Here are some links to help you learn a little more and hear some opinions about the governor from Alaska.

Adam Serwer offers some criticism at the “Tapped” Archives

Ann at Feministing weighs in on Palin’s abortion and GLBT views.

The NY Times offers some thoughts and background on Palin.

Andrew Leonard at Salon.com talks about Palin’s views on drilling for oil in the States.

Joan Walsh, also from Salon.com, talks about her opinions on the choice of Palin as McCain’s running mate.

Fox News has gathered soundbites from major political heavy-weights on the decision. They’re fairly predictable but worth a read.

Watch her speak at a rally in Ohio.

Salon.com had a great article about summer cocktails, complete with yummy recipes. Break these out for your balmy, end-of-summer backyard parties!

Lifehack has a cool article about three types of people: Connectors, Salesmen, and Mavens. I’m a strong cross between a Salesman and a Connector–I use my Salesman traits to make the most of my connector ones. Which are you, pretty babies?

Great article to circulate through groups of blogger friends–how to help a blogger!

Hhahahahah how’d you like to be dating this guy?

How to make rock candy! Yum!

Appropriate seeing as I am currently away on a trip and this is auto-publishing, here is an article on making your home safe from theft while you are away!

Would you wear a Paris Hilton hair-extension headband?

So you’ve spilled coffee on your brand new sweater, your boss is hating on you big-time, and you got a parking ticket. Talk about a rough day. However, it doesn’t have to be the end of the world! Really!

I’m of the belief that when at all possible, you ought to just flush out the negativity and move on! We have such a limited number of days to be alive, I want to waste as little time as possible sitting around moping about things that are silly.

The disclaimer: Keep in mind that this post references run-of-the-mill bad days, and not bad days that deal with death, personal tragedy, or serious crisis. Giving yourself permission to be upset about truly upsetting things is key to getting over them. More on this at a later date.

That being said, here are ten of my favorite ways to turn a bad day into a happier one, if not a really great one!

1) Be radically kind to everyone you meet. This is one of my favorite tips of all time, whether it’s to turn a bad day around or just to improve your life in general. There’s nothing as contagious as a really great attitude, so put one on, even if you aren’t feeling it, and shine it around. Take the time to tell that mother in the store that her little baby is the sweetest thing you’ve ever seen, put money in someone’s parking meter, hold the door for someone, tell your co-worker she has a great laugh, smile at everyone you see, compliment a perfect stranger, institute an impromptu dance party on the sidewalk–the sky is the limit! Believe me, as hard as this may be to *start* doing when you feel crappy already, it will never fail. People love to encounter positive people, and you will feel the happiness you’re shining around to the people in your life come back in spades.

2) YouTube is a goldmine of happy, funny, ridiculous things to put a goofy grin on your face. Here’s a few favorites of mine, running the gamut from unbelievably ridiculous to really funny to inspiring.

3) Eat something good for you and have a liter of water. This might sound a little bit boring, but sometimes crabbiness can be vanquished with a little bit of hydration and some fuel. Have some fresh fruit or veggies and drink a bunch of water, it can sometimes help you refresh and refocus, and if nothing else your body will feel better.

4) In line with number three, do some exercise. Exercise releases endorphins, and can be a good way to get frustration out too. You’ll get a chance to pound away all that negativity into the pavement or a punching bag, and move on with your day!

5) Make a list of things you’re thankful for! I’ve mentioned this before, but gratitude is just a practice that will make your life so much richer. I write down things I am thankful for every morning, as I’ve mentioned before here at hipsterette, but it’s a good thing to do when you are losing perspective too. It will snap you right back to earth and a positive mindset!

6) Take a minute to meditate or pray. This can be so simple. Just close your eyes for a couple of minutes and center yourself! Having some affirmations to say or some positive imagery to focus on will help bring your heart rate down a bit, slow that fight-or-flight adrenaline rush that can accompany a string of bad events, and chill you right out.

7) Listen to a completely ridiculous or unapologetically upbeat song. Having a playlist just for times like these is super-key. Make it when you’re in your best mood ever, and whip it right out when you need to get back to those warm and fuzzy feelings. Some of my favorites (some of them are pretty silly, haha) are these:
- Steal my Sunshine, Len
- Life is Short, Butterfly Boucher
- Damn Girl, Justin Timberlake
- It’s Tricky, Run DMC
- Maneater, Nelly Furtado
- Feel Good, Inc, the Gorillaz
- Girl for All Seasons, Northern State
- Bossy, Kelis
- Ain’t Nothing Wrong With That, Robert Randolph and the Family Band
- Paper Planes, M.I.A.
- Praise Chorus, Jimmy Eat World
- I’m Shipping up to Boston, Dropkick Murphys (might not appeal to those who aren’t natives of Beantown, haha )
- Short Skirt/Long Jacket, Cake
- ANY GirlTalk mashup, haha

8 ) Make something pretty! Whether it’s a collage of magazine cutouts, a mixtape of great music for your best friend, or a batch of super fantastic cupcakes, creating something is a good way to get positive energy flowing again and it gives you a sense of accomplishment.

9) Do a little something nice for yourself. Paint your nails, soak in the bathtub, buy a new little something– a lipstick or some pretty stationery, call an old friend to catch up, make some ice cold lemonade, anything that is a little bit of pampering and is a little out of the ordinary for what you usually make time for. This infuses your day with a “special” quality and helps you cut yourself some slack and move forward with better spirits.

10) Get out in nature! Even if it’s just for a few minutes, listening to some running water or some birds chirping will take the angst-o-meter down a few notches.

Bonus tip! (and really the underlying reason for the post…)
If you really must be pissed off, negative, or sad, make it count. Meaning this: take a limited amount of time (Probably no more than ten minutes) and be pissy, cry, scribble out what you are upset about on some scrap paper…just plain indulge those crabby feelings. Once the time is up, be determined that you are going to officially move on. Say to yourself, “I just let myself have those feelings, but now the time for them has passed. The rest of my day is not going to be ruined by what happened earlier.” And truly, let it go. If you find your mind wandering back to your frustration, replace it with something else. This is where a happy song, a beautiful mental image, an affirmation, or a little prayer can come in very handy.
The bottom line is that there are very few things worth you sitting around, stewing over. Learn to make letting go and making the best of the rest of the day a habit, and you’ll find life will be smoother for you. Rather than seeing disasters waiting around every corner, you’ll see the light at the end of a string of unfortunate events. Hooray positivity!

Got any more tips for beating the bad day blues? Tell me in the comments!

Here are my favorite looks for this week, and why!

This is from hel-looks, and can be found originally here.

This girl proves my very sincere fashion theory–it’s all about the attitude, and with an amazing one, you can wear anything you want. Not to mention, I love her suspenders. She’s just brimming over with sass and funky taste. Love it.

This picture from wardrobe_remix, posted by eighteeneleven.

Who doesn’t love some wild print tights? I love how they add a zap of color to this outfit. Also, her confidence is totally apparent. Love it, love it. Can you tell I really love black today?

From wardrobe_remix, posted by strike.match.

This outfit is fantastic. I love the preciousness of the crocheted dress, but it is sassed up by the scarf she added. So chic!

From lookbook.nu, posted by Elin J.

How ethereal! This is a great photograph, which adds a lot to the outfit, but it is a great one nonetheless. I’m really digging the matching hair and dress, and the teeny-tiny pocketbook. Precious.

Face Hunter, link is here.

The floral dress is so sweet but it’s sassed up with the black accents–the masculine hat, the shoes, and the bag. I really like how a slightly precious floral dress can be sassed up with tougher accessories and accents, and her hat is definitely a great example of that.

Anybody have any favorites they’ve seen this week? I have weird taste, so tell me about your favorite street fashion babes in the comments!!