Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo

flickr photo by Anna in NY

This might be the longest blog post I've written on here...but I also think it could be one of the most important. Hope you'll bear with me and take it in. :)


Hi, everyone...wow, I don't even know where to begin on this holiday season! It was crazy, busy, and filled with love and family and friends...and also one night filled with pure fear in my heart. Last night, KameraWhore, her sister, our bff Bonarcissist, and I met for dinner to finally do our Christmas gift exchange. We'd been trying forever (seemingly) to coordinate all our schedules and finally pinned it down for last night. We had barely ordered our food and started opening gifts when I got a call that my husband had been in a head-on collision. (This was New Year's Day in the evening.) It wasn't his fault...we don't know for sure, but we suspect the other driver was drunk. My husband was going uphill around a bend, when suddenly this other car was heading towards him downhill...IN HIS LANE. There was nowhere he could go to get out of the way, and the other car did not even TRY. Because of three airbags deploying in his car, my husband walked away from it with only minor bruising and scraping. His car ended up on one side of the road in someone's driveway; the other car landed across the street. One of their axles was lying in the middle of the road (not sure which yet). The other driver was hurt pretty bad and was transported to the hospital in an ambulance. I rushed home, crying, to get my husband to the hospital to have him checked out, just to be sure. They said he was fine. I still don't know how to process all of this. I am just so thankful to God for sparing my husband. I can't even describe the feeling. My husband and I COULD view the start of our new year as really horrible...but we are choosing to view it as exceptionally happy because we are sharing it together. It's really all a matter of perspective.


I don't know what to say about it beyond: please, I beg of you, for your own sake and other people on the road, do not EVER drive after you've been drinking. When you have alcohol in your system, sometimes you can trick yourself into thinking you're capable of driving safely anyway. Don't listen to that voice in your head. Just please, don't.


Oh, my. It's just so hard to even think about. Anyway, I did want to post some pictures of the evening's festivities before I got the news. 

I got Kam (and, yes, one for me...) an Avett Brothers shirt and makeup setting spray...

and she got me kitty PJ pants and a bird necklace. :)

I don't quite know how to segue this after what I've just written...but I sincerely hope that all of you out there had a peaceful holiday season. The holidays can be really great or really sad, depending on what you might be going through at the time. I had some really awful, hard ones after my mom died...the last few have taught me that it can be a happy season again for me. This year, more than ever, I am just immensely grateful!!! Here's a snapshot of my Christmas:

FOOTIE PAJAMAS!!! Eeekk!! Reminiscent of Ralphie's bunny suit, and I LOVE IT!! 

And handmade legwarmers from my mom-in-law!!

Now, obviously, New Year's Day is typically a time for people to make well-intentioned resolutions to change a habit, become better in some way, or finally do something they've always wanted to do but have been putting off. It got me thinking about this time last year, when KW and I were making vision boards for things we wanted to accomplish in the upcoming year of 2010. I actually managed to accomplish almost everything on my board. If you don't know, a vision board is where you compile pictures and phrases you've cut out/written/drawn on a piece of paper (or, in our case, tri-fold foam board) that represent your goals and dreams. The idea behind it is that the more you focus on visualizing those things, the more of them you'll accomplish. Making mine was one of the best things I've ever done for myself! We made a group event out of it, which made it even more fun. If you've never made one, I'd highly recommend it! We also wrote down, on little strips of paper, any fears that were holding us back from achieving what we wanted in life. Then we burned them in a candle flame. It was very symbolic...and apparently worked!

Another tip I'd like to share concerning resolutions is to change your phrasing. Instead of saying, "I resolve to..." or "I will no longer..." and the like (because we all know it almost always fizzles out eventually), try switching up your wording to something like, "I am so thankful that I..." This is basic law of attraction/The Secret type of stuff. But trust me, it really works! The key to getting anything you want out of life is first being grateful for what you already have. The more grateful you are, the more you open yourself up to receiving even more of what you want. If you thank God/the Universe/your own self that you have already accomplished whatever it is, even though you haven't, you're more likely to believe that it's possible and therefore end up doing it. Just try it!


I hope that all of you will decide to be thankful that you are more confident now than you have EVER been before. :) I hope you love yourself with more fervor, intentionally focus on how grateful you are simply to be alive and be given the body and face you were given, and remember that you are a one-of-a-kind gift to the world that NO ONE else could ever be like or replace. Cheers to YOU!


TCN was barely more than a twinkle in our eye at the time we made our vision boards, and now we've been going strong for almost a whole year...wow!! And it feels awesome. I'm never one to blog just for the sake of having a post every day; I only write when something feels like it needs to be posted for whatever reason. But, oh, how I thrive on all of this...and I'm so lucky to be on this ride with KW. Pulling our vision boards together absolutely helped us to cement our plans in what we wanted to do with this thing and believing we could do anything we wanted. It's something we just feel compelled to do. We're thankful for all of you who read us and hopefully get something out of it! We have become more confident women ourselves just by doing this project, and I hope that has rubbed off on many of you.


And, hopefully tomorrow, we'll be making a big announcement! To get ready for this exciting new thing, we're planning to change our blog address to blog.theclosetnarcissist.com (don't type in the www) to better tie in with our web site. It will still be the same blog and will look the same, just with a different address, and those of you who follow us SHOULD automatically be redirected. If you experience any issues with this, please let us know somehow. :)

Need last-minute gifts?? (Or something cute for you?)

My mom-in-law and I have recently opened up an etsy shop called juniper + clover, and we have some REALLY cute things you should check out - get something for a last-minute gift...or get something for YOU! ;) 


They're reasonably priced and all handmade. It will mostly be a wedding and baby item shop once we really get rolling, but right now, we're featuring some adorable, stylish wintry staples she has knitted and crocheted. They'll keep you warm, cozy, AND fashionable! 


We have warm and fuzzy scarves, trendy fingerless gloves, and cute purses for sale right now, and we can also take custom orders. 


If you need your order in time for Christmas, make sure to buy today (tomorrow at the absolute latest) so we can get it shipped out to you in time for the USPS' holiday deadline! (Custom orders would of course take longer, though.)


As I've mentioned before, KameraWhore and I will also be opening up our own online shop for the closet narcissist soon...we've been working steadily to make, by hand, some really great things for you!! We really wish we could have had some of our stuff listed in time for the holidays, but we're still perfecting everything to make double sure what we're bringing you is JUST RIGHT. :) It's stuff that's so cute, we can hardly bring ourselves to sell it!!


In the meantime, you can buy some lovin'-yourself-themed shirts I designed here:
http://www.cafepress.com/pixelpixiesshop/6118911


I can't believe Christmas is almost here and 2010 will soon be drawing to a close!! How strange!


Hope you're all enjoying this time of year and not staying too stressed out!

Announcing the L'Bri Rejuvenating Facial Peel Winner!

Congratulations, Kylee!!

You have won the L'Bri Rejuvenating Facial Peel! I know you're going to like it.

We will get it out to you as soon as possible once we've received your mailing address.

Wow, looks like a lot of us aren't doing so great with our nightly skincare regimen! lol I think it's the common consensus that we're just too tired at the end of the day.

Thanks SO much to ALL of you for checking out our blog and entering the giveaway...we hope you'll like our blog enough to come back often! :)

I took the number of comments and retweets and used random.org to pick our winner.

Walk this way, talk this way...

Flickr photo by Pierre Mallien

What does the way you walk say about you? Have you ever thought about it?


When I was in high school, I somehow got it in my head that I had a weird walk. haha It's funny looking back on it now, but you know how if you really hone in on something you do or don't do, suddenly you can't stop thinking about it and judging it to a ridiculous point? I felt like the way I walked was too stiff or awkward or something; I'm not even really sure why now, other than the fact that back then I assumed I was being judged on every minute detail of my being by my peers. At some point, I stopped worrying about it, though I do have different walks for different situations...more on that in a minute. But the other day, I caught my reflection as I was walking down a hallway where the opposite wall was a reflective surface, and I tried to assess how I was walking in a normal, everyday situation.


Reminds me of that episode of "Friends" where Joey and Chandler are having a conversation about how Joey walks. 

Joey: Do you think I need a new walk?

Chandler: What?

Joey: Well, I've been walking the same way since high school. You know how some people walk in a room and everybody takes notice? I think I need a "take-notice" walk!

Chandler: Are you actually saying these words?

Anyway, there have been all kinds of studies done on body language and the way you walk, and while I don't think it's all 100% accurate, I think there's definitely truth in some of it. You can even pay a coach to train you how to walk differently so that you appear more professional or confident.


I will just admit it - I tend to get super frustrated with people who walk slow. I tend to walk fast and talk fast; I like to get where I'm going, and slow people are in my way! You'd never know I was born in the South to listen to me talk or watch me walk through the mall! (You can hear how fast I talk in our first video - I don't realize how bad it is til I listen back to myself.) Some might perceive slow walkers as lazy. But maybe they are just of a different mindset that they don't need to be in such a frenzied hurry and should take time to smell the roses.  And what's so wrong with that? Nothing. And people might look at fast walkers in a negative light as well. But the point is, people do tend to get an impression of you based on the way you walk and carry yourself, whether their impression is right or wrong. Joey's right that some people carry themselves in such a way that commands more attention.


If, internally, you aren't as confident as you'd like to be, if you tweak the way you carry yourself when walking around and externally seem more confident, it could very well end up increasing your confidence level. You've probably heard people say that if you fake smile, eventually you'll feel happier, and this is the same concept. If you walk with your shoulders straight, your head up with your eyes looking around  (rather than at the ground or fixed stubbornly on your destination point and without frantically darting, which exudes insecurity), and go at a natural pace, you will appear more confident and therefore more approachable. Once it becomes second nature to you after a while, you may just find that you actually FEEL more confident and in line with the way you are presenting yourself to others. If you allow yourself to believe anything for long enough, it will become your reality. 


I always make sure to keep my shoulders straight and my head up when I walk. I think that part has always come pretty naturally to me; part of it is confidence, and part is just wanting to be very aware of my surroundings, and plus, I like to smile at people I pass because it's just something I believe in. When I don't want to be bothered, I'll consciously walk faster with my eyes fixed ahead and make a beeline. When I'm walking in the dark alone, I constantly look all around me (yet without darting) to present myself as being aware and not vulnerable. I don't know if I'll ever master the sexy walk, though! 


So just something to think about if you want to appear (and become) more confident...but don't obsess over it like I used to! ;)

One girl's guide to loving her "imperfections."

Along the lines of yesterday's post about being a Body Image Warrior, I wanted to share with you this great video by Caty. She found us on our new YouTube channel (due to our ONE and only mega-hit makeup tutorial, heeheehee), and my eyes were immediately drawn to the title of this video when I looked up her channel. 


If you've ever hated even just one part of your face/body/hair/whatever, and who of us hasn't, you really should take a look at this. She has a really interesting perspective. You might start to view those things in a new light. :)

Just for conversation's sake, since Barbie is mentioned in the video (and I'm not trying to be argumentative towards the video at ALL - just stating my own experience), it was never my dolls that made me try to live up to an impossible standard; for me, it was models in magazines, as I've talked about before. Actually, it was Niki and Krissy Taylor on the cover of Seventeen, if you want me to be specific. lol I was endlessly tormented over not looking like them. Oh, yeah, and Cindy Crawford's workout video. I was not a size 6 in high school, and every time she mentioned her size 6 jeans in that video, I felt fat, despite the fact that she was saying it wasn't a big deal not to be a size 6. Nowadays, I'm secure enough in myself (okay, MOST of the time) where I can look at models with appreciation rather than comparing myself, because I got older and started learning to appreciate me just for being me, but it wasn't always that way during those awful, sensitive pre-teen and teen years. Anyway, to me, Barbie was just a doll, not an ideal, and she taught me to hone my creativity by making up stories with characters, plots, and conflict resolution, as well as decorating, sewing, and improvising since I didn't have a "real" Barbie house and furniture. Some of my happiest childhood memories are of holing myself up in my room to play. 


Anyway, I guess maybe what I'm trying to say is that while I can definitely see why Barbie can easily be criticized, I think it's important to teach kids that she's JUST a doll and that magazines are JUST magazines. Appreciate them for what they are without internalizing it into your self-esteem. Easier said than done, but that's the goal. It's a weird, fine line, I think, between taking personal responsibility for how you feel about yourself and whether society has a moral obligation not to impose its standards onto you. On the one hand, I don't think society should impose beauty standards on us, yet I don't think it's completely unavoidable either, and I don't think Barbies should be banned either because I don't see them as inherently bad. It's all in how you perceive them, I think. I can feel myself beginning to ramble, so I will leave it at this. haha