Take Charge of Your Life

The other day, one of my loyal and a very kind reader posted a comment on one of the my post which said - "Your life is very colorful"! (Thank you, dear reader!). As much as I was happy about reading it, it made me think what is so special in my life which makes it so colorful? Am I the chosen one or did I do something special to make things work in my life?

And the answer to all of the above is, actually it is ME who choses whether to live life happily or just crib about the problems around me. And that gives me the control over things I want to pay attention to in my life and neglect the ones which I don’t think will do any good to me (or deserves my time and attention).
Can we all do this? Of course we can. We all CAN solve our problems. No one else can do this for us. Make your life simpler and happier, if I may say, take the charge, TODAY!
As my mother always says – ‘Every problem has as Solution’. If God has thrown you in to a difficult situation, he wants you to climb up by helping yourself and not drown in it thinking that’s your destiny.

Whatever happens in our lives, happens for a reason and leaves us with good experience. 'YOU' choose whether to live with a problem or to eradicate it from your life completely!
I understand that all our lives are different and all our problems are different and I am no one to judge how complicated your life could be. But trust me, every problem has a solution. At the end of the day, it depends on us, how soon we raise our hand to help ourselves instead of just sit there and wait for a miracle to happen.

Take Charge. Today! And make your life colorful!

On the outfit - Keeping it plain and simple here, maintaining the focus on prints and shoes! Printed shorts are so much fun, by the way..!

Cheers
Ritika

T-Shirt: Tommy Hilfiger
Shorts: Old Navy (similar here and here)
Shoes: Franco Sarto Glinda via DSW

T-shirt Crisis & Summer Monochrome

Is it just me or is there a scarcity of good t-shirts and blouses in the market? And if you thought everything looks good on models and/or fashion bloggers, the answer is no! We work hard on finding what looks best on us. My body type is also one of them who finds it difficult to cope with certain kinds of clothes like sheer blouses, cropped tops, body-conscious dresses etc. The thing is I am curvier at the top than the bottom.

Hence, if a shirt (button-down) fits me fine at the waist and hips, there is a high chance that the one button right at the top of my chest may pop open and leave me embarrassed, or worse, the button may stay closed but the shirt gets stretched and decides to play peek-a-boo! Finding good quality shirts is so difficult for me. Now you know why.

I am also not a big fan of sheer blouses or shirts. The idea of wearing a camisole underneath a sheer top makes me cringe, since I don’t like layering. May be because summers in India have always been too hot to layer 2 or 3 pieces, and it's the same story in Phoenix. Oh, but winter layering is a necessity, and of course I am ok with that!

Hence, even though I am a medium size (in top wear), I have to go with the large sized tops, so that the chest area gets ample of room and looks decent and because of this, the top or the shirt sits lose at the waist, which to me does not look very flattering - (my true life story.. phew!!)..

Now you know why I say that good tops are hard to find these days (at least for me), and I am sure there are so many out there, who run in-between sizes and share the same story as me.

Well, I am sure the designer pieces could be tried, only if I had that kind of savings or earnings on a regular basis! So my dear friends, if you have recommendations for me, please feel free to drop a note, I would be so thankful!

The t-shirt I am wearing with this skirt here is also a large size and does no good to my curves! Well, I think my hunt for good t-shirts and blouses will be carried on till eternity! Do you also have such problems while shopping or dressing up? Share them with me!

Oh and be prepared to see a lot of summer monochrome in the coming posts! I am obsessed with wearing black and white these days. The combination looks so very elegant and compliments each other so well.

P.S. I am leaving for San Diego this weekend (yes once again, this time with husband and friends)!! Yayyy for me!!
More travel, more fun, more outfits, more pictures = Happy me.. hahaha..!

Cheers
Ritika

T-shirt: Target
Skirt: The Limited
Sandals: Aeropostale
Clutch: Gifted by MIL
Sunglasses: Forever 21 (similar here)
Watch: Fossil (similar in white)
Necklace: Claire's

Ditch those Sweatpants

It struck me today when I was sitting at this hip café for a brunch on a weekday that dressing up is so much more important in our daily lives! It lays a very deep impact on others when they look at you. And why not? Your clothes and dressing style lays a big impact on the other person. Your first impression is already created, even before you open your mouth to say something!

It was the perfect weather to sit on the café patio, eat and not sweat. I was wearing a high-waist black and white hounds-tooth print pencil skirt and a green collared shirt tucked-in with black pumps. As I was enjoying my super light and super tasty brunch (which was by the way, a Mediterranean Veggie sandwich and a cup of hot mocha), I was equally engrossed in to people watching. Just to let you know, this is one of the most famous bakery shops in Phoenix and hence the breakfast and lunch hours are always crowded.
Out of the very few people who were dressed up, one could easily point out the ones coming straight from office (as they were wearing fromal work wear, and again, few of them were very boring-ly dressed, what happend to those interesting work wear experiments, people?), however most of the other people stepping in, were wearing their sweatpants or workout wear. I was shocked to see this at first! Even mommies entering with their children were also wearing sweatpants (they learn from us, don't they?).

via

To be honest, I was highly disappointed and was feeling over-dressed in front of them! Well, anyways, being a blogger has its own cons, and one of them is that you feel over-dressed most of the times, considering these days people dress up well only if they are going to attend a party or a formal occasion or something like that (of course, exceptions are always there). But is it right? Well, I don’t think so! How can one step out of their house wearing their gym wear to grab lunch at such a nice place? Wearing sweats in pulic? This is a fashion crime, people!! Yes it is.

On the other side, dressing up is so much fun and we all agree to that! Putting on a pair of sweatpants and a lose t-shirt is a no-brainer and on top of it, it does no good to your attitude, self-confidence or for that matter, your first impression.
I feel so good when I am all dressed up, don’t we all? No offense, but this trend of NOT dressing up is mostly seen in the United States. I mean if we look at other fashion-aware countries like Paris, United Kingdom or Italy etc. you would rarely see people stepping out like that (unless they are out for a run or heading to the gym).

Apparently, how long does it take to swap those sweatpants with a Jeans or a Skirt? Less than a minute I guess! But it earns you so many brownie points for sure, and one should never forget that opportunities usually come your way in the least expected situations and you may not want to accept it wearing your PJs! Or do you?

So next time, when you are heading to that grocery store or for that cup of daily coffee wearing your Pajama’s or track pants, think again, take a minute and go change it!!

P.S. All of the above applies to both men and women. We believe in gender equality! Dressing up is important for all of us.

My Crazy Obsession

We all will agree to the fact that we have that one clothing item in our life which we are really crazy for. Some don’t get enough of blazers, some like short dresses and some are simply mad about trousers! For me it has to be SKIRTS. Yes, that is my major interest in fashion. I can wear them for days. My heart starts pounding when I see an amazing skirt on display in a store or even while surfing online shopping sites. I feel this urgent need to buy that wonderful piece and own it for the rest of my life. On many occasions I give up to this urge and rarely do I hold myself back from giving in! After all, life is all about living it the way you like it. Isn't it? (I know, I know savings are important too, and I DO save too!)

Thinking of it, I never realized when did my love for skirts became so huge. I love all kinds of them – be it short, maxi, pencil, frilly, long or sporty, basically all sorts of it. There are occasions when I have less than 5 minutes to dress up and there is not much time to think about doing the pairings and/or trials, even in those tensed moments, I straight away reach out to my skirts section, pull out a short skirt and pair it with any random blouse I can think of!

This outfit was also paired in one such situation, where the timelines were strict and the outcome not only made me happy, but made my husband (very) happy too (of course, he is usually the first to witness my outfits when I come out of the dressing room).

I have shared my love for skirts (on the blog) before as well – 

Here in a short frilly number

Here in a long basic skirt with shades of grey and white

Here in a solid tangerine color

Here in a silky black number while travelling and, 

Here – the same beauty (which I am wearing in today’s post ) styled casually!

By now, you know I adore skirts more than any other clothing piece and have tons of them. I love collecting vintage skirts too!

Do you also have that one item that you are very fond of? What is it?

Cheers

Ritika

Linking this post to the IFB Project #107: Printed Matters

Blouse: Forever 21 (similar here)

Skirt: Forever 21

Shoes: Levity Austin via DSW

Sunglasses: Oakley (similar here)

Necklace: Gifted by MIL

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Castles N' Coasters

I don't normally post twice in one day, but today I simply wanted to! It was an official event where the families of our office employees were invited. Since me and my husband work at the same place, we had to attend the event being each other’s families (LOL)..!

We were given a full day pass to Castles N' Coasters, an amusement park based in Phoenix, Arizona.

It was a half an hour drive to the venue, and needless to say we had some great time with friends and their families. Few of the rides were quite scary but at the end it was too much fun!

The day was bright and sunny, which is why, I chose to wear cotton shorts with my favorite high rise sneakers.

Cheers

Ritika

Blouse: UMM, Pantaloons, India

Shorts: Loft

Shoes: Forever 21 (similar here)

Sunglasses: Ray-Ban

Watch: Fossil

Bag: Wilsons Leather (similar here)

Goldfield Ghost Town

This post is due since last week, when we went to Goldfield Ghost Town on a weekend with friends. I am amazed with the fact that we have so many things to do and so many places to visit in Arizona itself. I believe for a long time, I may never have to look out for tourist options in other states, since my own state is a hub of all such amazing and fun activities.

One of our such ventures was Ghost Town which is located on Apache Trail in Arizona. It was a scenic two hour drive from Phoenix and was totally worth it!

We had some great time there, but I am not making this post a travelogue, since I am not very good at it.

I would like to leave you with few of pictures we clicked there and you can imagine what an awesome sunny day it was!

Hope all you had a great weekend, well I sure did :)

And yes, it's a picture-heavy post. Sorry about it, had to share it all!
P.S. This is my 100th Post.. Can you believe it?? Yayyy!!

Cheers

Ritika

Tunic: Tommy Hilfiger (now on sale!)

Jeans: Gap

Shoes: Vans (similar here)

Sunglasses: Forever 21

Watch: Fossil

Bag: Forever 21