The Unraveling of Designer Ella * Shopping * Fashion * Blogging * Lifestyle

Did anyone see Kellie Pickler guest co-host on The View yesterday? She was fantastic! Full of personality, not a bit shy and so funny!

I know I said I wanted a black replacement for Star Jones, but now I really think Miss Pickler is perfect for the show.

Singing career? Eh!

Now how do we get her on?

Today’s guest host is Tanika Ray from the t.v. show Extra. She’s good, too; she speaks up with interesting points. But she’s just not quite the same as cute cute Kellie.

I really hope they go with the best choice. When’s the announcement? I can’t wait for the Fall season (wait, that means Autumn, oh well).

Photo credit: Pop Tower

I worked hard all day yesterday (through even worse heat once 2 p.m. struck) to get this blog ready. And I worked all Sunday night, after getting some Monday posts ready.

My weekend was full with bill paying, putting up an eBay auction, and then I was backed into a last-minute stylist-for-family session, as I mentioned yesterday. (And that didn’t even go well.)

I blew past all my deadlines for officially announcing this blog in a hardcore way. I prefer even (almost Monkish) times for posting big things. Mondays and last thing Fridays are best. And of course Carnivale publishing days are for anything big (that’s Friday this week, at Fashion-Incubator, but the topic’s so tough).

So … maybe Friday? But I worked my tushie off and we’re all ready, now! Hmm. Maybe I’ll see you soon.

I watched a repeat of House (M.D.) last night with an ending I loved.

There are always good bits, but this one dealt with the complexities of life as they relate to addiction.

“I’m an addict, [but] I’m not stopping. I said I was an addict, I didn’t say I had a problem. I pay my bills, I make my meals. I function.” (credit)

Well, I’m still learning to be completely functional, but I’m doing okay. I’m pretty much paying bills, too!

Still, is being addicted to a passion always a bad thing? Sure, my shopping’s somewhat out of control, but I never want to let go of “collecting” new handbags. I’ll be healthy when I learn to manage it but hold on to the love.

We don’t always have to quit “bad” things completely, we just need to maintain a reasonable level of our addictions. Like I’m probably also addicted to soda, but I cut down and usually drink only all natural drinks. Yes, I’m off of the fructose and corn syrup. That’s some Bad stuff, man.

Yesterday was gloomy and I swear I have “Seasonal Affective Disorder,” in which I get depressed during the Spring & Summer, when the sky is dark and grey when it should be bright. It should be a thing. But my Best Dude Forever (BDF) thinks I’m lazy and whiny. (At first he said I have no disorder, then said I have “lazy” disorder. Tuh!)

Today is unbearably hot in our barely–air-conditioned little house. Opposite, but causing a slightly similar effect. I’m tired and melty. I still exercised, which I need but it made me feel worse in the hot & melt department. Why am I too lazy to go to a proper, nice gym? (At least I have the official disorder as an excuse. ;-))

One thing this means is that I can’t muster the energy and creative forces to blog properly.

But why can’t I have a good excuse to not blog on occasional week days? What I’m doing is not rocket science, and I should get some benefit from my work being so casual.

It may be cash and for entertainment, but it’s still hard work. Product blogging is a specific type of tough. I have to be inspired.

So, it’s only Friday, but gosh, I need the break!

Disorder, no disorder, or even multiple disorders. It’s really my prerogative!

Somehow, I liked Star Jones Reynolds. I felt she was a different personality of a host since she lost weight, and I don’t respect the manner in which she lost it (surgery), but I enjoyed her on The View.

I don’t know why, so I can’t quite understand why she was “sacked” and I just have to comment that this rotating array of “Token Black” replacements has not done it for me.

Keep searching, Barbara et. al. A suggestion: get another sassy sister of color and size.

Whether or not she gets along with Mrs. Rosie O’Donnell [sic, yes I sic’d myself] is fine, either way. The first option is great, because I’m a Rosie-loving-person kind of girl. The second option is still good, because I love a good cat argument on the show!

or… *Back to the Beginning* …

I read in Glamour Magazine’s July issue (Glam’s so my mag, girls) a quote from SNL’s Rachel Dratch;

I believe that your childhood interests reveal your true calling.

Let’s see… *diddly-oop*

1. I dressed my Barbie dolls and sewed extra wishes for them to don.
2. I drew … and coloured … and pasted …
3. I wrote cute stories that never ended because I wanted to keep going…

It really looks like I was meant to wind up in the fashion journalism, fashion design or styling industries.

And I thought I veered off some course of “propriety” and “morality” by shopping and caring about this “art” so much. Ha!

But I really am following my original dream? Perhaps this even means I will succeed along this path.

That makes me feel fuzzy to think about.

That’s what somebody might say about my first fashion blog started when I didn’t have a clue, Kiss Me, Stace (www.kissmestace.com).

Sure, it’s successful with its name (a recent Google PR rise!) and partly because I did stick with it. But I often regret a silly titling choice.

I started the blog without even a domain name. I really had no idea I would come to love it or fashion blogging so.

It takes some explaining for anyone to get it. I even have to reason with myself to like it anymore (and for quite some time). (Oh, Entry continued, read more »

Fashion has steadily changed me over the last year and a half to two years, most of that from fashion blogging.

Fashion could likely lead to my demise.

To blog about fashion (which is something I somehow decided I wanted to do because I wanted to chronicle shoes and then everything snowballed) one must become an expert. Well that’s true of almost anything.

So in doing this, I must memorize styles of all designers and materials and of course, dress the part.

So …

1. Fashion is eating up my money.
2. I don’t know if I can hold a man when I find him, because—for one, he may not like the fact that I buy 3 (or more) handbags a month that will seem very expensive to him—and two, do men even like that fashionista type? I’m so much more, and aren’t we all, but with my being easily distracted into noticing and blurting out fashion stuff, will guys get that far to see it all?
3. Then I could mention that I’m a part of an industry that is not exactly saving puppies … I’m not exactly writing Pulitzer material. But this is so suited to me—does that say something?

Hmm. So in conclusion, screw any man who doesn’t like me. Forget them all if I must. Do what I love … but make sure to make loads of cash to support my habit.

Okay!

Today’s Handbag: Marc by Marc Jacobs