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hobbitsnapes · 3 years ago

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YOU GUYS ARE DATING

Corpse x MGK!sister reader

(Found this image on Pinterest so all credit goes to artist, if you know who it is please comment below so I can credit them)

A/N: this was requested by @heyitssab

Tree is tall of sex in this, but it’s more in a joking matter, plus corpse has stated he doesn’t mind as long as you are not a minor or send or tag him. I’m literally 2 years younger than him, and have no intentions of ever tagging him or sending him any of my work XD

Summary: how many idiots does it take to tell the brother and friend they’re dating? Apparently takes 2 very forgetful people, who kept their relationship secret without knowing it.

It had just been by chance, a small chance that he had been scrolling through his tags. liking and reposting art, when he saw a tag from someone he followed. He wrecked his brain for when he had followed her, coming up empty. She was cute, no denying the beauty she had as she laughed in the video. It was a clip from a stream that he didn’t know she had, as he couldn’t even remember her name, wearing his merch as it fit her snug. It fit her perfectly in fact, the large hood covering her face, hiding the flush to her face from her rather large chuckles that left her body. He couldn’t help but like the photo, and he couldn’t help but to press message either.

It was first only small likes to posts, an Occasional message, and a view on their livestreams, but that all changed when he spoke of the song he was working on with her older brother.

It all started that night, when both lay in their beds as they talked, laughed, and felt their hearts flutter each time they heard one another speak.

Her phone rang violently in her bag, nearly making her drop the to go bag all over the ground as she walked. “Hello?” She asked, as she held both bags with her hands as her shoulder gripped the phone as if it’d fall down a cliff. “Hey bug!” He exclaimed, making her chuckle as she heard the booming sound of his voice. She had always detested the nickname, as he gave it to her as kids due to her horrendous fear of the creatures. But, it brought more joy to her, as it reminded her of their youth. Having been adults for years, it was fun to hear such a childish name that’s stuck.

“Hey mopey.” She chuckled, as that was the name she gave him when he was in his emo phase that he never outgrew.

Both talked as she walked towards the elevator, mainly about how his day had gone as she silently listened.

She had always been this way, always the shyer of the two, the one to listen to others first before she said a word. He had teased her for it most of their childhood and teen life, but he had grown to love it, as he could let loose or rant to her about anything, and he knew she’d be there just to listen to him.

“So what’re you doing right now?” He asked, as she got into the elevator. “Just grabbed some dinner a few minutes before you called and nearly made me shit.” A smile painted on her face at his boisterous laughter.

“Are you at home?” He asked, as he heard the sound of the elevator beeping in the background. “No, I’m spending the night with my boyfriend.”

She had mentioned about a month prior that she was seeing someone, the joy it brought him to hear the excitement and joy in her tone as she gushed about their first date.

If this was 7 or 8 years prior, he would be bombarding her with questions about the man, who he was, where he lived, where he could meet him to find his intentions with his baby sister. But, in the last few years, he found himself feeling calmer whenever she’d mentioned her love life. He knew she was smart, and would never date a man who treated her poorly. The few breakups she had, they always ended amicably, her head still high as she told him. So, he never asked her any questions about the man, as he could tell from the few times she mentioned him, he could feel the love this man had for her, and Vice versa.

The strong barreling of her phone alerted them awake, both groaning out as she reached for her phone without lifting her head from his shoulder. “Hello?” She mumbled, voice slurred as the saliva was thick in her mouth, barely awake as she fought to listen in on who dares to wake them up.

“Hey!” He exclaimed, making her equally exhausted lover groan. She shifted off of him, laying on her back as he turned away from her, as to hopefully shut his eyes and fall back asleep. She was used to her brother's large voice, as it hardly phased her after growing up with him. “Colson, why are you calling me this ungodly hour?” “Oh come on, it’s not that early.” “Col its-“ She pulled her phone from her ear, eyes shutting violently as the bright light blinded her “5 o’clock in the morning. So again, I’m going to ask you, why did you call me at the asscrack of dawn?” “You don’t remember?” He asked, making her irritation grow. “No, that’s why I’m asking.” She says, as she rubbed her sleep crusted eyes. “You were coming up today to hang out with casie, remember?” Her hand stopped rubbing her face, as she felt her heart stop momentarily. “Wait, you mean today? I thought I was coming Friday?” “No, both of you settled on today, remember I told you that’s perfect because I have a day off?” She felt her heart pain as she heard the sadness in his tone, knowing he’s expecting her to bail. “Yeah sorry, I thought you meant Friday so I mixed it up, let me get ready and I’ll be out the door okay? Love you” she said, as she hung up the line.

Before she could even move, she felt his arm wrap around her body. A tired groan leaving his lips. “Nooo stayyyy.” He groaned, pulling her body to his. She smiled as she looked down at him, wrapping her arm on his chest and the other behind his neck. “I wish I could live, but I can’t.” Planting a soft kiss against his lips. “Stay in bed for a few more hours, please?” Her heart pulled at his tone, hearing just how tired he was. “I can’t, casies wanted me to come up for weeks now. And it takes a good 3 hours to get there. I wanna spend as much time as I can with them before it gets dark so I can get back safely.” He groaned at this, wrapping his arms around her. “Yeah but it’s only 5, it wouldn’t be safe to drive since we went to bed like, 2 hours ago.” “Yeah, and whos fault was that mister?” She teased, “hmm, sorry but I just couldn’t keep my hands to myself after not seeing you for a few days.” He mused, pulling her body closer to his, planting his lips against hers. A small hum left her lips as he pulled her thigh over his, grabbing the flesh harshly as their lips cascaded together. “Mm, no no no, you’re not gonna convince me to stay here just to go another round.” She said, as she got off from his warm body, throwing his large hoodie over her bare body. “Oh come on babe, are you sure about that?” He said, making her turn around to him. A small gasp left her lips as her eyes took in his milky white complexion. His honey brown eyes looking back at her with a small smile etched onto his face. His hair a tousled mess that resembled a bird's nest, some pieces falling onto his face. “Honey, I’ve been wanting to see my family for weeks now, I see you almost everyday and practically live here. I’ll be back tomorrow so I can grab more clothes from my place okay?” She placed a kiss to his lips, both holding one another in their arms. “I don’t know why you don’t just say fuck that place and just move in.” He mumbled, making her chuckle and heart warm. “Don't you think it’s a little soon though? I mean we’ve only been together a few months love.” “Yeah, but you’ve practically lived here since we got together, you literally just go there to get more clothes that you end up leaving here.” She looked into his eyes as she thought about his words. “Hm, I’ll think about it today okay?” She mused, planting a kiss to his lips. A soft okay leaving him as she got up.

“And babe, remember if you live here, we can have all the sex we want and not have to worry about driving to get one another.” He exclaimed, laughing at the loud honey she screamed from the bathroom.

She couldn’t help but laugh out as she watched, as her niece tried her hardest to braid her fathers grown out hair. It was near impossible not to, as pieces would fall out, resulting in her pulling them harsher, nearly pulling his eyelids back due to the tension from his temples. “Okay okay you’re gonna fuckin scalp me.” He chuckled , as all three bursted out in large laughter.

“So how’s school going this year?” She asked her, as she delicately painted her nails. Both of the girls had found themselves on the floor in front of the nice coffee table, as colson sat and chatted with them. “It’s going really well.” “Oh yeah? Make any new friends?” She teased. “I mean, kinda.” She couldn’t help but hear the wavering in her tone, spotting the faint blush dusting her skin. “Ohh, so there’s a someone eh?” She teased to her, making the preteen hide her face as to conceal the flush. “His names Garrett, and we both take social studies together. He always sits next to me at lunch, and we’ll draw on my notebook.” She gushed, making her smile. “Soo, do you think he likes you?” “I mean, that’s what everyone keeps saying.” “Yeah well don’t worry about it to much cas, you’re not dating anyone for many more years. You’re still a kid.” Her das said, making the young girls face fall.

Y/N knew he was only saying this to protect her, as he said the same thing to her growing up. “Hey, don’t be bummed out about it. He is right, you both are only 12 and should focus on school. But don’t worry, he’ll come around. He was just like that with me up until my current boyfriend.” She whispered, making the young girl chuckle.

“Speaking of which, how are you guys doing?” He asked, as she hadn’t mentioned hun to her in a while. He didn’t think it’d hurt to ask. “Great actually, we’re thinking of moving in together actually.” “That’s great! I’m really happy that y’all met.” “Yeah, I am too.” She hummed, a flush dusting her cheeks.

Both men laughed as they chatted on the phone, talking about anything that would come to mind. What was once only a collaboration for a song, turned into an amazing friendship that caused both of them to call at late hours just to shoot the shit.

A yawn left his lips, as he listened to colson ramble on about another song he was making. “Woah, you tired man?” Colson asked, shocked to hear the sound. “Yeah sorry, was up most of the night last night.” He mumbled, rubbing his eyes. “Were you feeling alright?” He asked, worry laced in his tone. He knew all about his friends illnesses, even once being on the other end of the phone during a bad spell one day.” “Oh yeah yeah yeah, was just, up with the misses last night.” He chuckled, a flush blooming on his cheeks. “Ohhh yeah? And how was it?” This shocked him, nearly feeling his heart stop. Like, does he usually know about his sisters sex life? He didn’t think much of it, as he knew just how close both were. “It was absolutely fucking amazing. Like I thought we’d be done for the night, fully tapped out but after like 5 minutes she’d be right back on me for another round.” He chuckled, his flush even worse than before. “Ayyyeee good for you corpse, glad to hear that puss is bussin.” He laughed at this, throwing his head back. “Yeah, it’s bussin bussin.”

Both men talk as they read from their phones, eyes wide in absolute awe of the love they received from the song. They had just dropped it a few days prior, not expecting the cry of joy from both fan bases.

He didn’t even look up from it when she walked in, until she bent down to plant a kiss to his forehead. “Sorry I had completely forgot about the tea I made you an hour ago, but I put it back on the stove to heat it up so if it’s twisting funky just tell me okay?” Before he could even thank her, both their heads whipped towards the loudness from the other line. “Y/N? Is that you? What in the hell are you doing there with corpse!” He didn’t sound angry, more shocked than anything, both of them looking at the phone in confusion. “I, I love here? Remember I told you like a month ago I was moving in with him?” “WHAT!” Both jumped at the loud scream. “Wait so you guys are dating!?” Both we’re even more perplexed, until it dawned on both of them. Their eyes wide as they turned their heads to one another slowly. “Wait you didn’t tell him?” “No? He’s one of your best friends so I thought you did!” “He’s your brother! So I thought you did!” Both whisper, until all three lay silent. That was until, the large cry of laughter that leaves the two, leaving colson even more confused. He wasn’t mad, not at all actually. More shocked and confused than anything. Until he started thinking, it does make sense, all the times they spoke about one another without him knowing, all the times they mentioned-“OH GOD!” He yelled, gagging violently, making them stop their laughing fit. “What's wrong? Why are you yelling?” She asks “like a month ago corpse was talking about how he was tired cause he was up all night having sex AND I HAD NO IDEA HE WAS TALKING ABOUT YOU! OH GOD WAS THAT WHY YOU WERE LIMPING THAT DAY WITH CAS AND I!” Both laugh even harder, as they listen to his ever growing gags.

“So yeah,. That’s literally how we had no idea we were keeping the relationship secret from her brother.” He laughed, as he red the comments and listened to his friends' laughter. She sat beside him, head laying on his shoulder as he told the story. She couldn’t help but to look back up into his eyes, as he glanced down at her, planting a soft kiss to her lips. “Keep it pg guys.” Colson said from the other line, making them chuckle.

#corpse husband imagine #corpse #corpse husband fanfic #corpse x reader #corpse imagine #corpse fic #corpse x you #corpse husband x reader #corpse husband

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withcolebrock · 4 years ago

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I Drew That

Corpse Husband x fem!reader

Summary: Corpse finds out that Y/N has a drawing of him as her background

Warnings: swearing :)

Word Count: 1,818

Author’s Note: I’ve spent weeks trying to write this piece :/ I just couldn’t find a way to make it how I wanted it if that makes sense but I tried my best. This idea was very cute because I can totally see this happening lol. Especially with like the whole flirty voice thing Corpse has been doing with like Brentman and like James and stuff haha. I hope you guys enjoy it!!

~~~

Tonight was one of the many nights that she was playing Among Us. It had taken over her life, a flood of success followed her once she had played with Sean and Felix. She had gained over two hundred thousand subscribers on her YouTube channel. It had changed her life for the better, in many ways.

For the last three rounds, it had been strict imposter wins. Felix won two of those. Everyone was shocked when it was him the second time, Felix was getting great at the game. The group then decided to switch lobbies because Felix was throwing a fit about getting imposter too much. It was the usual group of Felix, Sean, Poki, Rae, Sykkuno, Leslie, Toast, Dave, Corpse, and Y/N.

Over the last few months everyone in the group had gotten a lot closer. Especially Corpse and Y/N. After the first time they played together, a lobby Sean had created, they had talked for hours after the first game they played. This had continued almost every time they had played Most of the time, Corpse would be editing his videos while talking with her. It calmed him as he worked. She would be working on her art or scrolling through Pinterest or Tumblr.

They had even FaceTimed several times, where Corpse revealed his face to her. He made a big deal out of it, saying a whole monologue before he turned the camera to his face. She followed in pursuit being very dramatic as well. Whenever they would talk he would play her his music, waiting to see if she liked it. She loved any song he put out, despite it not being her usual music taste.

One night she was scrolling through Tumblr and found an artist who was drawing Among Us players with their little characters. One particular character made her smile and her heart flutter slightly. It was an amazing drawing of Corpse and his little character sitting on his shoulder. It was an art style she was familiar with, she loved supporting smaller artists. It was the cutest thing she has ever seen. Weirdly, it perfectly described him. She loved it so much, she decided to keep it as her phone Wallpaper.

The round started on Mira, where Y/N was a crewmate again. Throughout the whole night, she still hasn’t gotten imposter. “Dammit,” she groaned at the screen. She stood still at the start of the map, waiting to see if anyone would fake tasks at the start. Everyone ran off, not doing them. She quickly followed.

After a long thirty seconds lights get shut off. She ignores the emergency and continues doing her tasks, she stood by the vending machine when Felix killed her. “It’s fucking Felix again!” she leaned back in her chair groaning. She covered her face with her hands. “He’s gotta stop killing me first,” she shook her head. She tried to hide how annoyed she was.

Her body was called by Poki, she was the only dead one. “Oh my god,” Poki said once the screen popped up.

“Y/N no!” Rae yelled, “You guys, she’s died first the last three rounds,”

“Wait really? Oh Jesus, sorry Y/N,” Sykkuo said, a breathy laugh leaving his lips.

“I’ll protect you next round, Y/N, I promise,” Corpse said. Y/N tried to hide her smile and the heat rushing to her cheeks.

“We’ll avenge you, Y/N!” Sean yelled. Soon after everyone grieved her death they began asking each other where they were. Everyone had a solid alibi making it impossible for them to figure out who did it.

“Guys, guys, Y/N died first the last three rounds right?” Toast started, everyone hummed, “Who was imposter these past few rounds?” he explained. Everyone gasped.

“You really think I would kill her first three rounds in a row?” Felix tried to defend himself as the voting time clock turned red.

“You’ve done it twice already!” Sean yelled, voting Felix. Felix was saved since half of the group skipped. She floated around the map trying to get her tasks done quickly so she could talk to her chat without holding back the rest of the group.

She glanced towards her chat, reading a few questions, she shifted her gaze to the game and thought about the questions. “I’ve been working on a cute little animation for you guys, I might do another art stream with you guys. Only if you guys want it, of course.” she read through a few more questions while answering them, while she waited for the meetings to end.

Once all of her tasks were done, she began to talk about her art and fanart. “Yeah, there’s an artist on Tumblr, they are amazing, they deserve so much more recognition,” she explained as she showed them her lock screen with the drawing of Corpse; without thinking about her chat being curious as to why it was him. Turning her phone back towards her, her eyes widened as realization dawned on her.

The chat began to flood in with questions, begging Y/N to tell them why she had Corpse’s drawing as her background. She chose to ignore the question and continue talking about her own art and showing fan art. Despite trying to change the subject, she sighed dramatically. “Chat, there’s no reason why Corpse’s character is my background, the artist is just good, stop talking about it,” she giggled as the victory screen popped up on her screen.

“Felix what the fuck!” she unmuted in discord. He began laughing as he began to defend his actions. “No, no it doesn’t matter if I know your liar voice, Felix-” After about five minutes of everyone talking the next round started. She was a crewmate again, “I feel like I’m bugged,” she groaned as she started running around doing her tasks. Corpse’s little black character was following her.

“Looks like I got myself a little body guard,” she smiled as she spoke. They walked passed the medbay room, as Corpse moved his character dramatically. She rolled her eyes as they both walked into the medbay room. She didn’t have medbay, but she sat waiting for Corpse to finish. They continued doing tasks together until a body was called. It was Sean’s.

“Y/N’s cleared I was with her the entire time,” Corpse said confidently into his mic. She said the same about him. Poki was acting a little weird during the call, which made Y/N a little suspicious of her.

~~~

When the lights were shut off Corpse was killed by Poki, and he groaned as his body was killed immediately. Poki called out Y/N right away, saying that she was with Corpse the whole time. Corpse glanced towards his chat, finally able to try and read everything everyone was saying. His eyes lit up as he saw her name flash the screen several times.

One person kept spamming the chat saying, Y/N’s has your Among Us character as her background, he smiled as he read it. He knew exactly what the picture was, “Oh really?” he hummed as he continued reading. Everyone was saying how nervous she got when they kept asking her about it. He pressed his lips together nervously. He decided to drop it for now, but he was curious. He looked back up to the screen and began to listen to what was happening during the meeting.

“...You really think I would spend this whole game marinating Corpse for me to kill him in front of Poki? What about that double kill that happened, there was no way I would’ve done that if I was with him.” Y/N explained, over Poki trying to defend herself.

“I think she’s got it guys,” It was down to Toast, Y/N, Sykkuno, and Poki. Everyone quickly voted for Poki. The Victory screen popped up. “I knew you had it, Y/N,” Corpse said as everyone started shouting into the discord.

After a few minutes of them discussing the round, they decided to switch over to Polius. “Hey, Y/N, can I ask you something?” Corpse asked, the group quickly went quiet.

“Sure,” she giggled.

“My chat keeps saying you have my character as your phone background, is that true?” he asked, teasingly. He smiled widely. The entire group started cheering while teasing Y/N and Corpse.

Her mouth dropped open as she tried to find a way to explain it, “Well, uh,” she cleared her throat, “I do actually, it was great art, what was I supposed to do?” she laughed.

“Oooo, someone has a little crush,” Sean teased, Felix quickly joined. The rest of the group was simply laughing along. Corpse stayed silent while the group was teasing Y/N, and Corpse for that matter.

He pulled up Y/N’s Twitter and began to scroll through her feed to find the perfect drawing. He took the drawing that Y/N did of her own Among Us character. It was a drawing of Y/N holding her little character in her hand. It was his favorite piece of art she has done. Mainly because she drew it while on FaceTime with him. He quickly changed it to his iphone background, he glanced back towards the screen, seeing if the game started. He took a screenshot of it and immediately texted it to Y/N.

“Y/N, look at our messages,” he said simply into his mic. The group slowly stopped talking as they waited for Y/N to open the message.

“Corpse, I’m scared,” she whispered, everyone started laughing.

“Just open the message,” he giggled.

She sighed dramatically while she pulled up the messages with Corpse, seeing the screenshot. Her lips fell into a pout as she saw it. “I drew that,” she mumbled into the mic.

“You did,” he whispered, as he felt heat rise in his cheeks. He loved hearing her voice. “It’s my favorite,” he continued.

“Corpse,” she whined as her eyes began to tear up. She didn’t know why, but her heart felt so full. “You didn’t have to do that,” she mumbled, readjusting herself in her chair. She shifted her gaze towards the contact name, Corpseyyy.

“Of course I did, It was beautiful art,” he muttered while he looked back towards his phone, admiring his new phone background.

“Is this..a possible.. New relationship starting?” Sean whispered dramatically into his mic.

“It sounds like it,” Rae interjected. Corpse rolled his eyes dramatically, but he didn’t oppose the idea; neither did Y/N. Rae quickly started the game, letting the tension ease between everyone. Corpse and Y/N got imposter together.

“Oh my god finally,” Y/N said into the mic as she started faking tasks, “Chat, please stop saying I’m blushing, you aren’t helping,” she giggled as she continued the game. She raised her hand to her cheek, feeling the warmth.

#corpse husband #corpse #corpse husband imagines #corpse husband x reader #corpse husband fanfic #corpse imagines #corpse x reader #corpse fanfic #e girls are ruining my life #cat girls are ruining my life #miss you!#agoraphobia

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ericsonclan · 4 years ago

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Pinterest Perfect

Summary: An overheard conversation leads Prisha to wonder what she'd want her own wedding to look like someday.

Read on AO3:

Sophie and Marlon were eating lunch together in the break room when Prisha came in, planning to grab her coat before heading out for the day. As she passed by the table, she overheard some of the conversation they were having.

“Absolutely no meatballs at our wedding,” Marlon declared, taking another bite of his meatloaf.

“Really? I would have had you pegged as a meatball sub sorta dude,” Sophie replied, chewing on a carrot stick.

“Had a bad experience as a kid. Scarred me for life,” Marlon shivered before returning to his food.

“Well, we both know my number one rule…”

“No clowns,” the couple said in unison, fist bumping with a smile.

Prisha watched the conversation with amusement. She’d heard of this game the two of them liked to play: listing things they should and should not have at their wedding. It was some sort of ongoing joke between the couple, to continue casually planning their wedding even as they weren’t engaged or anywhere near that sort of thing. “Tell me, Sophie,” Prisha began, putting on her coat. “Do you think it ever could have been a real possibility that Marlon would arrange for clowns to come to your wedding?”

“Can never be too careful,” Sophie waggled the end of her carrot stick before popping it into her mouth. “Clowns show up when you least expect them. They’re sneaky that way,”

Prisha chuckled at her friend’s logic. “Well, you two have a good lunch. I’ll see you tomorrow,”

“Bye, Prisha!” the couple called in unison before returning to their mock wedding plans.

Prisha smiled to herself as she headed out to her car. Planning out their wedding so causally with no actual arrangements in place. Those two really make quite the pair.

---

Once she was home, Prisha found herself lost as to what she would do with the rest of her day. It had been an unexpected half-day at work, the builders coming in early to begin work on improvements to the bar. Perhaps she would finally get around to clearing out her inbox. Sitting on her couch, Prisha opened her laptop and began the monotonous but rewarding process. A few minutes into the process, she accidentally clicked a Pinterest notification that popped up rather than the email she’d intended and was whisked off in a separate tab for the website. Prisha glanced with mild interest at her feed. She hadn’t used Pinterest in a while, mostly referencing it for inspiration when decorating her apartment as well as providing the occasional healthy recipe.

It was so easy to get sucked in again with all the aesthetic, perfectly framed images. One in particular caught Prisha’s eye: a girl in a white sundress standing in a field of sunflowers. The girl’s short blonde hair reminded her of Violet’s. As Prisha gazed at the picture, a thought wandered into her mind. That sort of looks like a wedding dress. As soon as the thought coalesced, Prisha felt her cheeks heating up in embarrassment. Immediately she closed her computer, standing up to get the tea she’d been considering. Beginning the electric kettle, she tried to think of other things to distract herself, but her thoughts simply kept returning to Sophie and Marlon and that lighthearted wedding conversation they’d been planning. They made the whole discussion look so easy, so natural.

Prisha poured the hot water over her packet of Earl Grey, warily eyeing her laptop as it lay upon the couch. There’s nothing wrong with daydreaming, is there? Hesitantly, Prisha returned to her computer, opening it back up. The screen immediately displayed Pinterest again. As she clicked on the search bar, a menu of suggested searches popped down with several categories. Desserts, sunsets, DIY furniture… weddings. This site is reading my mind. Prisha gulped heavily before clicking on the Weddings option. What sort of rabbit hole had she let herself wander into?

There were endless ideas for weddings on Pinterest: color schemes, flower arrangements, wedding gowns, cakes, there seemed to be an infinitesimal number of things to take into consideration when planning a wedding. Scrolling through the feed, Prisha found her eyes drawn to the wedding dresses first. There were so many options, so many different styles. Long, short, fitted, flowy, the fashion choices seemed infinite. Prisha gazed at a fitted mermaid, lace dress for several seconds, entranced by it. Could I pull something like that off? The woman in the photo appeared to have a similar body type. What would Violet think?

Violet always seemed to like whatever Prisha was wearing. There hadn’t been a single time where she’d said anything against a single one of Prisha’s outfits. Truth be told, she probably didn’t think about fashion very much, but her eyes did light up a certain way when she noticed Prisha was wearing one of her favorites: the cranberry red cocktail dress, that one pair of jeans that always did wonders for Prisha’s butt, her warm grey cardigan that was extra snuggly on cold nights. Whatever Prisha chose, she wanted it to make Violet’s eyes sparkle in that way.

I don’t know why I’m talking as though this is an inevitability, Prisha scolded herself. Marriage wasn’t even something that either of them had put on the table. But rather than continuing to scold herself on the likelihood of this even happening, Prisha found her mind back on the wedding dress train. Would they both wear dresses? She’d never seen Violet in a suit before. The girl didn’t own anything fancier than a jean jacket. Prisha found herself liking the idea of them both wearing dresses more and more though. Perhaps in different styles so they’d both stand out. Violet could wear something comfortable, maybe one of those cute shorter dresses with the pockets. They didn’t have to both be in white either. Prisha wondered how a cream dress would look against her own skin. There was a particularly lovely gray dress that she quite fancied too…

Amongst all the wedding dresses there were a myriad of other wedding ideas too. Prisha found the outdoor weddings to be the loveliest. It would be beautiful to be married under the trees with the natural light breaking through the branches and scattering upon us. Then at night we could dance under the stars. There were several photos of trees covered in twinkle and curtain lights. Such a simple touch truly brought magic with it. After coming across a particularly lovely photo of just such an arrangement, Prisha finally bit the bullet and made a secret board for herself so she could keep track of her favorite photos. Scrolling back up a ways, she collected several other pins that had caught her eye before returning to the point where she had been.

There were so many elaborate weddings, ones that looked as though they would be massively expensive. I believe we’d both want to keep things simple, Prisha thought to herself. A small ceremony with only our closest friends. Things like the cake and the bouquet could be kept simple as well. A white cake, classic, with some flowers curling round its tiers. Violets would be too on the nose and probably just irk Violet. Prisha didn’t see any cakes with them, but she wondered to herself if it would be possible to decorate a cake with morning glories. After all, Violet was her Morning Glory, it would be lovely to have that special name be celebrated at their wedding.

I’m smiling like a fool, aren’t I? Prisha thought, feeling the expression tug at the corner of her lips. No matter. It wasn’t as though there were anybody about to see her giddiness. Should we both have bouquets or just one of us? Would we walk up the aisle together? One at a time? Prisha supposed with all these things it would come down to what worked best for them. She’d never really considered being walked down the aisle, but Prisha supposed that if her father weren’t there to walk her down the aisle as would likely be the case, she’d rather do it on her own or not at all. Violet on the other hand… Would Louis walk her down the aisle? Prisha chuckled aloud at the thought. She knew Louis would be absolutely ecstatic about that idea. He’d probably fight off anyone else who tried to take the role, though Prisha didn’t think Mitch or Marlon would put up much of a fight.

Ringbearers, flower girls… Willy could be the ring bearer. Prisha was quite fond of the boy. Then again Violet was very much attached to Tenn. Why not both? Then A.J. as the flower boy. Probably not, Prisha thought with a smile imagining the chaos that would ensue with those three together. But it’s certainly an entertaining thought. Bridesmaids and brides.. men? Why not both? That seems to be the theme of this whole ceremony, Prisha thought wryly. Clementine and Louis were most likely to take the positions of honor among the wedding party, making the toasts and planning the bachelorette parties.

Ruby and Omar would likely take on the catering for the wedding while Renata handled the cake. Prisha was sure come hell or high water, Ruby would get involved in other aspects of the wedding as well: dress shopping, flower arrangements, wedding decorations. Considering how excited Ruby got during themed nights at Ericson’s Diner, that excitement was sure to rise tenfold for a wedding. Thinking of their friends and coworkers getting involved in wedding prep filled Prisha with a warm, fuzzy feeling. Prisha could just imagine all of them coming together and helping make this dream a reality. Perhaps I should look at rings next.

The sound of the front door unlocking had Prisha jumping off the couch in fright. Violet stood in the doorway, a to-go bag in one hand and the key to Prisha’s apartment in the other. She looked apologetically at her girlfriend. “Shit, did I scare you? Louis asked to switch shifts with me so I got off early. Picked up some food on the way here. Figured we could make a night of it, have an early dinner, but if you’re busy-”

“Not at all,” Prisha declared, closing the tab and slamming her laptop shut. She threw it off to the side where it landed upon a beige pouf she kept off in the corner. “What sort of food did you bring?”

“Thai. Figured we’d switch things up,” Violet closed the door behind her and walked over into the kitchen, beginning to take out the various boxes of food she’d carried within the bag. Prisha came over to help her. Violet glanced up and a shy smile crossed her face before she looked away.

“What is it?”

“Nothing,” Violet paused. “You’re wearing the earrings I got you,”

Prisha’s hand came up instinctively, brushing against one of the earrings. It had been a six-month anniversary present: a gold pair of earrings, a moon and a star. Prisha knew they were far nicer than anything Violet owned herself. “I love them. They match with everything too,”

Violet nodded. “I thought they would,” She glanced over at the television. “So… Cutthroat Kitchen tonight?”

“Sounds perfect,” They’d soon found the show to be the perfect combination of strategy and chaos to keep both of them entertained. After grabbing their food, both girls settled down on the couch, ready for a night of relaxation. Raising her legs up, Violet put them across Prisha’s lap without another thought. Prisha smiled. Violet had been so nervous about physical touch when they first started dating. It was nice to see how far they’d come together.

Running her hand absentmindedly along her girlfriend’s leg, Prisha glanced over at her abandoned laptop. The board she’d made for herself seemed like a faraway dream now. But being here with Violet, Prisha knew it wasn’t simply a fantasy for her. It was something she wanted, not quite yet, but someday. And every day with Violet made that someday feel closer and closer. With that thought in mind, Prisha grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.

#twdg #twdg violet #twdg prisha #twdg privet #twdg sophie #twdg marlon #twdg marlie #fanfic #ericson's diner au

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loadingoliver · 6 years ago

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compulsive shopping

something I never thought I would be dealing with. for one, I was never a big spender. since being very little, I hated the thought of people having to spend money on me and I was very good at saving it. yet I've never bought as much as I have the past year and I don't remembered why I bought most of the things or even what they were. which means I've never owned as many unnecessary things before. during that year I also spent all of my savings including some money I’ve had put away for years and rarely touched before because I never had big needs that would require extra money. whenever I reached for those savings this year it felt like an emergency, I planned on putting it back there after my next paycheck, but I never did - some new purchase would always seem more urgent. “I was living from paycheck to paycheck. I was living FOR the paycheck”*(The Minimalism documentary). pretty early on I found myself in a financial crisis and had a lot less money to spend, unfortunately it wasn't about how much I would spend, but the way I would spend it.

since I can recall I’ve always hated spending money going out, going to movies, eating with friends, buying food for myself - it seemed like such a waste of money - on something that lasted a moment instead of something material that I could have forever and that would bring me joy and serve purpose. or better yet, multiple purposes, right? too bad I wouldn’t use anything for long. I own some clothes that I wore literally once or twice. most things I would get were horrible quality and poor source which I was aware of. a lot of clothes didn't fit me, therefore didn't serve purpose, but instead would make me feel frustrated with what I looked like. and the joy, momentary excitement, dopamine kick - that was what would initially drive my constant need to buy new things, but it would last less and less time. the rush I would get from checking out “inspirations”, looking up things, reading product reviews, planning purchases, placing orders, waiting for deliveries and then using those items for the first few times- gradually it shrunk to feeling excited until the end of each transaction. I haven't even worn something, I didn't even get it in the mail, I would already look for something else, I was already hung up on something new. I had never-ending lists in my head of stuff I wanted to get next, that I needed next. I had a few private Pinterest boards specifically for that, that's what all my Instagram likes went to. and I would obsess over them. that’s what I would spend all of my free time on. my energy, thoughts, motivation to get up, to work, to survive through bad days. to live, I guess. they were my treats for doing well, my consolation prizes and my what the hell’s. I didn't plan on buying 10 things at once, but just this one and, of course, these two. while still in my head, most things felt essential, unlike previous ones- I was crazy getting that previous item, but this? I clearly need this. if I look better, I’ll feel better. my shopping habits were gradually becoming more impulsive and compulsive. I was no longer thinking through or questioning what I needed, practicality was not high on my list. I would almost never try on stuff, I would base my decisions on the fact that I liked the way something looked on someone I saw. usually on Pinterest or Instagram- so people of completely different proportions, physical features, lifestyles, preferences and identities - not me. it usually looked good with other articles of clothing that I didn't own, so when shoes arrived in the mail and I wasn’t so sure about them, I would sometimes convince myself that I also needed different trousers, t-shirts, different colours or materials to go with them, that would solve it. when I had less money, I would buy more, but cheaper items. it made so much more sense to buy multiple things for less. and if it’s cheap, why think twice?what's the harm? I actually knew enough about the harms of fast fashion industry, but I chose to ignore them. I thought I couldn’t afford to be environmentally conscious, to make ethical choices, to consider people behind products, to pick more intentionally. I couldn’t afford to buy as many quality items, so I chose quantity over quality. and it’s hard to appreciate quality, when you get bored and dissatisfied with everything so quickly. but each time it felt like that one item was the one that would perfectly fill in the painful space in my life, each product seemed ridiculously important for a short while, it somehow was supposed to be the start of a new life- a toothbrush that, at least in the pictures, matches my bathroom tiles and other beautiful, pure, and organic-looking sink accessories that I was getting next; or a running windbreaker that I can fold into the size of my fist and that might not go with any of my clothes, but I could always have it with me and it would help me save space in my giant everyday backpack full of other essentials. it felt like every little thing would weirdly define me for a second. that when I pick a product, I decide what kind of a person I am. but who I was and what I liked was becoming very blurry.

style and clothing felt like such an easy way or opportunity to redefine or redesign myself. it gave me a sense of identity, it was a symbol of a different better life. and when I was out of ideas for myself and my life, any image that gave me a sense of what I lacked i.e. self-confidence, self-respect, ease, balance or even better social skills or ability to fit in among certain people sounded great. I reached a point where there were too many different voices saying what would make me feel better and I would get very confused. not even with what I needed or wanted, but as to what I liked, what was aesthetically pleasing. which btw, while not the most important in life, comes in pretty fucking handy when you work as a product designer and a craftsman. that lead me to my worse state. I could change my mind about what I wanted to look like, which subconsciously translated into whom I wanted to be, in five minutes while randomly scrolling through a board of pictures on my Pinterest or checking out my Instagram feed. it didn’t come out of nowhere, I was never able to stick to the same clothes, I went through so many stages, I tried out more haircuts within the last five years than most people have in their lifetime. I actually would feel sorry for people who had the same hairstyle their whole life and wore the same type of clothes for years- how boring are you and how unadventurous is your life? I didn’t see the integrity some of those people have, the lack of need to fix what already works, the peace, the contentment, the blissful zero fucks to give about something this empty and unimportant. I thought they lacked sensitivity, awareness and were afraid to experiment or take a risk, while it seemed natural for me to play around, constantly research, look for something. I even convinced myself that I had to be that way to keep an open mind and my creativity levels high. but when it got out of control and started changing so fast I couldn't keep up with it, I realised how much my low-self esteem was being used by the industry convincing me to want new things to fix me and immediately hate the old ones. definitely wasn’t news to me as a phenomenon, but took me a while to realise that it affected me, and how much. as those things tend to, it aligned with various work stuff, break ups, prolonged health problems, family conflicts, other everyday stuff and social media apps, including Instagram and Pinterest, have become my pacifiers, a way to push away all sorts of thoughts, issues, anxiety, to look away, to avoid, to calm down, to entertain myself, to distract me and keep me busy. once I realised just that, they stopped working that well. I suddenly felt like notifications, badges, sponsored posts, fake smiles, free trials, special discount codes, pictures carefully selected for me were attacking me more and more, but none of them no longer made much sense. it all quickly turned into an uninteresting, disturbing, worthless noise and waste of my time that I was able to, surprisingly easily, let go off. sadly, that didn't make my shopping urges and impulses go away. in fact, I still have to fight them pretty much every day and it will take a while. but I really want to work on this. work on this by not letting things be more than things are and define me or change the way I feel about myself. even though I don’t feel great about myself right now. I want to end this post on a positive note because I’m really feeling incomparably better most days now, but the truth is I obviously just started uncovering some stuff and it’s not pretty, so it might take more than giving up retail therapy.

if you can relate, feel more than free to message me, bother me, ask me questions, but beware I might recommend you an endless list of podcasts, essays and videos that helped me and that my friends can’t take any more. if you can’t relate, you lucky fuck, hope you found this interesting. and if you did, the interesting part actually is the shit that happens next, now that I’m taking steps to live a simpler, slower live, without all that excess bullshit, so stay tuned.

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sleeplessintothenight · 6 years ago

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Love Your Shelf

I took a deep breath hoping to calm my nerves before opening my eyes. The room felt empty despite the endless boxes that walled me in. I ran my fingers through the shaggy carpet as I laid on my back, contorting my body to fit between the towers I had yet to unpack. I began to feel my chest tighten as my mind began to list out all the tasks that remained incomplete. I took another deep breath in an attempted to postpone the mental list making for a few minutes.

I sat up and pulled out my phone from my pocket. I swiped around before opening my notes app and began to list out all the tasks I had already completed. Turns out I had accomplished more than I thought. All the foundational stuff had already been unpacked. The furniture placement needed to be fine tuned, but it was pretty much there. My clothes had been neatly tucked away into my dressers and the kitchen just needed a trip down grocery lane. With a plan of attack on paper and out of the endless thoughts in my head I set out to accomplish what had felt impossible moments ago. I stood up, using a stack of boxes as support and began to discover what each box had hidden away. Part of me wished I knew what I was unpacking or that I had been smart enough to label everything before I hid it away.

As I opened box after box, revealing parts of a home before this one, I began moving them to where they needed to be. Additional cooking supplies found its way to the kitchen room table. Toiletries to the bathroom. Shoes to a pile by the front door. And then the rest of it stayed in my bedroom. Despite clearing out box after box, it felt like I hadn’t removed anything. The stacks of boxes still lined my bedroom like a labyrinth from the door to my mattress.

Feeling overwhelmed again, I took a step back, put on my shoes and made my way to my car. I sat in the driver’s seat and took a breath. Surprisingly, the confinement of my car felt less claustrophobic than the boxes I had yet to unpack. Maybe it was less about how much space they took up, but rather the daunting task I shied away from. I looked up the closest grocery, turned the my keys in the ignition and started to drive away. I hoped I wouldn’t get lost in unfamiliar territory, but at the same time I didn’t mind if I never came back.

After strolling up and down aisles, I found myself pulling back into my driveway with even more bags to unpack. I laughed thinking about how I’m only hurting myself. I felt the cool evening air as I grabbed a couple bags from my trunk. I placed the bags in front of my refrigerator, prepping them to be put away. I stepped away for a second and closed my bedroom door, pretending that if it was out of sight, it would be out of mind. I finished putting away my food and sat down on the sofa to enjoy the takeout I had stumbled upon while I was away.

I finished up my last bite as the credits began to roll. I debated watching another episode, but I snuck a glance at my watch and decided I needed to get back to work if I had any hopes of not sleeping on this couch this evening. I said goodbye to my bed of yesterday and slowly opened the door the labyrinth. I cautiously peeked inside, fearing that a sea of junk would come pouring out. But it was just as I had left it hours earlier.

I opened a box to find it filled with the books to be placed on my shelf. Sadly, my shelf couldn’t hold every book I owned, but I had to bring my collection with me. Every book I’ve read and owned is like a personal memory. Some of them are my favorites, some I could barely remember, and others were just there. It was only fitting that atop the pile was “My Ideal Bookshelf” – a collection of interviews with famous people across all industries about the contents on their shelf and why.

I remembered back to when I found that book. I was a little bit younger, but not much. I was browsing the aisles of the local bookstore in my hometown searching for something to help me on my search for myself. I had given up hope that day until that book caught my eye on the way out. I lightly flipped through the pages to skim its contents. I flipped to a page about a chef and was surprised his shelf contained more than just cookbooks. Next I read about an engineer who had just as many self-help books as physics textbooks. Lastly I found my favorite actress. Her bookshelf ranged nearly every genre. There felt like there was no rhyme or reason to what she had chosen. As I continued to read, she mentioned that people probably assumed she had so many different books because of all the roles, but in reality, it was the opposite. She excelled in a variety of roles because she had so many interests. She wrote, “My passion for everything allowed me to chase so many dreams. All these things are a part of who I am.” I closed it up and noticed it was on sale, so I said to myself, “Why not?”

Ironically, I hadn’t opened the book since.

As I stared at my empty bookshelf, it felt like the perfect piece to start my rebuild. I placed it there, alone, waiting to be joined by its friends. Next I began to pour the contents of the boxes onto my floor. I estimated I could fit about a third of my collection on the shelf in a tasteful arrangement. If people came to visit, what would they think of my bookshelf? Would they sarcastically ask why I had that book or be confused as to why I didn’t include any from their favorite author? Would I be typecast? Maybe the off chance that they’ll see a random book and say it was their favorite as well.

Decisions had to be made. In preparation, I began to sort the mess around me into smaller piles based on genres. Books about photography were stacked next to the books about art history. Mystery was the neighbor to poetry. Sci-fi rubbed shoulders with sports. Romance flirted with self-help. The more I tried to pull them apart, the more I realized that most of my books couldn’t be categorized by one thing. They may lean more one way than another, but that wouldn’t be fair to neglect the other parts that made them so great.

A couple more hours had passed and the only progress I made was rearranging the piles once again. Frustrated, I started to shove books randomly into the shelf with a determination to fit them all into it. It was an impossible task, but at 2:00am anything felt possible. Minutes later the shelf was full after I was able to squeeze a tiny notebook in. I half smiled. The shelf was filled at last.

I still felt dissatisfied. I titled my head and stared at the bookshelf as I sat in a pool of my own books. It didn’t feel right. As I sifted through those that were left behind, I knew I had made a mistake. Some of my favorite lay next to me as one-night-reads took the forefront for all to see. I knew I had to make a couple switches. As I ran my finger across the spines of those neatly lined up, I began to pull them overboard one by one into the waters below until only one book remained safe. I was back at square one.

I double fisted books ready to start again, but I stopped myself. I took a deep breath and felt I needed to step away. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I put the books down and left the room to get some water. As I got up, I knocked over a box. This one was filled with little trinkets, Funko POPs, and miscellaneous memorabilia I had collected over the years. I laughed at opening Pandora’s box, even more for me to fit into this shelf puzzle.

In the kitchen I poured a glass of water. I popped down on the couch and scrolled through Instagram and Pinterest for inspiration. Every photo was different, yet still looked elegant, perfect in their own ways. Some were organized by height, others by color, others perfectly splicing them all together to create a rainbow. All of them balanced. All of them showing their best possible self to the world. I zoomed in on a couple and couldn’t even tell what books they were, but did it matter? They looked beautiful and had more likes than I could ever get. The best version of my bookshelf would never be as good as these. My inspiration was an unattainable goal, yet I felt saddened by the gap between the two.

If I’ll never be as good as those, what’s the point of even trying? I thought about this as I reluctantly waded my way back into the ocean of books, sending ripples outward as I made room to sit. If I’ll never be as good as those, what’s the point in even trying? Was trying to make the idea bookshelf an impossible task? Too many sports books and people would think I’m too much of a jock. Not enough “classics” and I’d look uncultured. Too many self-help books and people would realize I’m more of a mess than they thought. Too many design textbooks and I’d feel like a nerd. Without any comic books I’d be too serious. Paralyzed by indecision, all I could do was leer at the singular title that survived everything else: “My Ideal Bookshelf.” What pointless pressure I had brought into my life with this book.

It was hard enough figuring out who I was, how did I ever expect to represent that through a pile of books?

I angrily grabbed the last book standing and prepared to throw it amongst the others. I ran my thumb across its side as I flipped through it asking if it had any last words. About midway through, something had fallen out. I fished between my legs to find it. Nothing more than a receipt from that day. I let it drop once again. As I primed myself to finish what I started, I saw what page I had landed on. I backed my thumb off and reread about the seemingly random assortment of books. At the end of her section, the interviewer asked her if there was a method to her madness or if she just threw something together for the interview.

She replied, “Yeah, it does look pretty messy. It’s just a collection of my favorites. There’s no real rhyme or reason aside from ‘I like these books and that’s good enough for me.’ But each of them holds a bundle of memories. This one helped me get over my ex, my mom and I read this one together last year as part of a book club, this book inspired me to quit my day job to follow my passion. To be honest, if you came back again in a year or even a couple of months, this bookshelf would probably be different, but that’s the beauty of it. These books aren’t glued to the shelf, they’re meant to be taken out and read, shared with others, left on a couch somewhere. Maybe I’ll lend a couple out and they’ll never return, but I’ll find new books and rediscover old ones. The collection just keeps growing and growing. I love my shelf even if it’s bursting at the seams sometimes. Maybe one day I’ll realize I should probably build a library in my house, but I can’t afford that right now.”

I fished for the receipt and put it back into the book. I closed it up and returned it to safety atop the lifeboat. I was still lost at sea, but felt my internal compass start to point in a new direction.

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amiafairyprincessyet · 6 years ago

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I absolutely love your blog! Your outfits are so well put together, and the whole thing has a really nice positive aesthetic. I'm curious though, what got you into fashion? And how did you learn to curate your look?

Thank you so much! And I’m afraid my answer for this stuff is always a bit useless, because I’ve been obsessed with fashion since I was old enough to be obsessed with stuff in general. A lot of the stuff that I do when putting an outfit together is completely instinctual; I just know what works and what doesn’t. I can tell you that these shoes won’t work with that dress, but I can’t tell you why. (I have the same problem with grammar and writing conventions, since I grew up reading so much that I never consciously learned the rules.)

I can give you a few tips on how to curate a wardrobe/aesthetic, but they’re pretty general. But also very long, as it turns out, so let’s continue this under the cut.

The first thing is just figuring out what you like and what you’re going for. I recommend using something like Pinterest and just pinning stuff every time you see something you like. It can be all kinds of things–runway models, someone’s selfie, a photo of a landscape, etc. After you’ve been doing this for a while, scroll through the board and think about recurring patterns. What are some things you keep seeing over and over again? Are there any colors that are present in most of the pictures you’ve pinned? Looking at that, you can figure out some stuff that you really want to incorporate into your aesthetic. Let’s use me as an example; looking at my Pinterest, I’m noticing some patterns. Right now, I seem to be into:

earth tones and neutrals, esp. dark green and off-white

stripes

athleisure

draped, loose stuff

fun details, like jewelry and embroidery

(My Pinterest actually tends to lag a little behind what I’m really into, because now that I’m a High Level Fashion™ I kinda do things in the reverse order of what I’m advocating here. So I’m actually into more tailored, somewhat professional stuff now. But this is a good way to start out.)

So I’ve got that. Now, I might think about my closet–what stuff do I already have? I definitely have some draped/loose stuff, and plenty of earth tones and neutrals. I also own a lot of jewelry, but I don’t wear most of it. So if I want to move closer to this aesthetic I seem to like, what do I need? I need striped stuff–I don’t have much–and athleisure clothing. I also might want to look for some embroidered stuff, and I should sort through my jewelry and get rid of the stuff I don’t wear.

With that in mind, I can go shopping. I find that having a list like this really helps keep me from a) spending too much, and b) buying random crap that doesn’t actually work in my wardrobe. If I know that I’m looking for stripes, athleisure, and embroidered stuff with an emphasis on earth tones, neutrals, and loose-fitting things, that rules out a ton of clothing! I can also go through stuff I don’t wear very often and see if any of it fits what I’m into, and maybe that clothing will get a second chance instead of getting donated.

(I do also recommend getting rid of as much clothing as possible, basically, because having stuff in your closet that you don’t actually wear much can make it harder to see the stuff you do like and wear. But I don’t mean “oh you should own thirty articles of clothing and No More” since I am absolutely a cluttered maximalist. If minimalism works for you, cool, but I don’t recommend it as a hard-and-fast rule. I just recommend getting rid of excess crap.)

Now, let’s say I’ve bought some new stuff, and pulled some old stuff out of the depths of my closet. Combined with the stuff that survived my hypothetical closet clean-out, I have a pretty decent wardrobe set up. It’s not totally complete yet, but I can definitely make enough outfits for most Life Stuff I have to do. Next, I have to turn it into outfits!

(A note on storing clothes–I’m boring and practical and do it by function. So shirts are together, dresses are together, etc. But I’ve found that, when I’m in situations where my closet ends up jumbled, I come up with some cool outfits because I see two things near each other and realize they could go well together.)

When I’m getting dressed in the morning (or picking my outfit out the night before, if I’ve got my shit together) I ask myself three things:

What’s the weather going to be like?

What am I going to be doing?

What do I want to wear?

These questions all interact with each other. For example, if I want to wear a crop top but it’s gonna be twenty degrees Fahrenheit all day, I’m shit outta luck. But what if it’s going to be forty degrees, and I want to wear a light, summery dress? I can make that work, with clever layering. Unless! What if I’m going to be outside a lot, catching buses and maybe walking through town? Then I might want to wear pants; a lightweight dress in cold weather only really works if you’re gonna be mostly indoors, no matter how well you layer.

Let’s use today as an example. Right now I’m typing this partially dressed–I didn’t have work this morning, and I don’t have to leave for class until 12:50 pm. (I should be doing homework in this time, but whatever.) So, what’s the weather going to be like? It’s going to be in the low seventies, overcast, with a low chance of rain later. What am I going to be doing? I’m going to class, and then I have work in the evening. I also rinsed my hair this morning, and the dye is fresh enough that it’s leaking/rubbing off on things a little still. Since it’s wet, I want to leave it down to air dry. That means I can’t wear anything too light-colored on top, since my hair will touch it and stain it; if it was dry, and I put it up, I could wear a lighter shirt. (It comes out with some stain remover spray and a wash in cold water, usually, but it’s not a risk I enjoy taking.) With both school and work, I want to dress a little nicer/more professionally. And, because of work, I have to wear a brightly colored top. What do I want to wear? Well, luckily enough, I want to wear a brightly colored top that I bought recently and haven’t had a chance to wear yet. And it’s orangey-pink, so once my hair’s air dried a bit more, the stains shouldn’t show.

This top works with the weather (although I may need a light jacket) and what I have to do today. Now, what should I wear with it? My black pleated skirt would be cute, but I just wore it yesterday. It doesn’t need to be washed, since it didn’t actually touch my skin and I didn’t do anything strenuous, but I don’t want to wear it two outfits in a row. My dad just made a trip up to drop off some things I forgot at home, including some bottoms. But none of those work; they clash with the top, aren’t right with the weather, or would just look a bit weird. Maybe a pair of jeans? It’s going to be cool enough that I can do that without overheating. I think my mom jeans would look too ‘80s-in-a-bad-way with the shirt, but my skinny jeans would look nice! And I can wear a random pair of compression stockings under them.

Now, with my skinny jeans, I have to wear boots. Which ones? Well, I also want to wear my newish watch, which will kinda match the shirt. It has a brown band. My brown boots will look nice with that, although I’ll need to remember to wear socks on top of my compression stockings, since those boots are a tad large. The boots are leather, and I’ve never bothered to seal them, so I try not to wear them when it’s going to rain. The chance is low enough, though, that I’m not worried about it. But wait! The brown boots have brass buttons, and the watch has silver parts. Oh no, not mixed metals! Well, I’ll have to make it obvious that it’s intentional–I’ll wear the chevron earrings that have a few different metals in them*, and I’ll mix it up with my other earrings too. I might wear a necklace, if I can find one that I think works.

None of my jackets that I have with me at college work perfectly with the outfit, so I’ll just grab my olive green one with the daisies embroidered on it. It’ll look fine, and I won’t include it in my photos. With my makeup, I’ll probably do some brown, and I might mix some metallic stuff there as well. I’ll most likely go for a darker lipstick, since bright ones would clash with my shirt.

So yeah, that’s my thought process picking out my outfit today–I started a lot of it last night, because I was thinking this was a day where I could finally wear that new shirt. It looks like a lot written out like this, but I go through it pretty quickly in real life.

I hope that helps!

*this is why I wear that pair so often lmao

#international-howk-of-mystery #ask #fashion advice I guess #blog business

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cuddlyyeti · 7 years ago

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day 19 of 30 days of monsters: cursed [demon, bez’gel]

It’d been a strange few weeks. One of your distant uncles—one that you hadn’t met in your life—had passed away recently, and for some reason he had bequeathed you a… box. A perfectly ordinary box, made of simple, light wood, with a tiny, insubstantial lock on the front that looked like it came from a regular hardware shop. All in all, it had seemed pretty… normal.

And it was. For a while, it sat on your table, getting surrounded by random sheets of paper, menus, pens and pencils—waiting for a time when you could get around to figuring out how to open it. (Your uncle, for all his foresight, hadn’t thought to leave you the key.)

It sits there untouched for quite a time, gathering dust and becoming part of the furniture. In fact, it isn’t until you decide to do one of those yearly massive clear-outs that you give it a second thought. Rummaging in the toolbox hidden in the back of the closet throws up a pair of heavy duty pliers—you aren’t going to question why you own them—and the thought of finally uncovering this little secret gives you a thrum of excitement.

The hook of the lock gives way easily, and though you aren’t sure what you were expecting to be inside the box, you’re still surprised to find a ring. The hoop itself is a strange matte black, almost as if it were absorbing light instead of reflecting it off of paint. At its apex, a bright red stone is set haughtily between the heads of a lion and a horse, heavy and proud and… alive? For some reason, looking at it reminds you of a beating heart, a working muscle. Reaching your hand into the box to take it out feels like sticking your hand into someone's chest.

When the ring comes into contact with your skin, you feel something change, like the switching of wind from one direction to another, catching the mild tinnitus that exists in silence changing from one pitch to another. It’s the feeling of noticing something that had always been there.

A raspy voice from everywhere and nowhere sighs. “Finally.”

Cleaning is suddenly the last thing on your mind. Frantically, you look around for an intruder, but find nothing. In your surprise, you find that your hand had clenched painfully around the ring, indents marking the soft fleshy part of your palm.

“It has been many moons since I last had a companion.” This time, the voice felt convincingly as if it were behind you. “A long while since someone held my mark.”

“Uh…”

“Nah, I’m just messing with ya’. The name’s Bez’gel, indentured demon and inhabitant of that there ring. You must be the niece, huh. You can turn around, kid, ‘m not gonna kill you—you won’t even have to get a glimpse of my ugly mug.”

Slowly—so, so slowly—you turn around. You find nothing. There’s nothing behind you, there’s nothing anywhere in the room—nothing that you can see, anyhow. The world still just feels slightly to the left, and you know that you’re not alone.

“Don’t suppose the old man told you anything about me, huh?” You shake your head, and it scoffs. “Of course not. Well, to cut a long story short: that ring you got there is, well, where I’m stuck. Big bad ol’ demon, summoned and stuck into that there gem, uh… what year is it?”

“...2018.”

“Woof. Around 500 years ago, I’d say.”

“So… what do I do now. Are you going to start trying to kill me, or possess me or something? Do you need sacrifices? ‘Cause I’m not into ritual murder.”

The creature you can’t see laughs heartily, and you smell something earthy, wet and grassy alongside it. “Well, that’ll surely hamper my strength, but I’ll make do. No, I’m supposed to be at yer every whim, magicing up the most outlandish of things as a price for my not having to live in, well. Where demons live. As well as the original owners immortal soul.”

“You… escaped Hell?”

“Eh. You humans have a very specific vision of Hell, and that ain’t where I come from. Let’s leave it at this: long as you’re in ownership of that there ring, I’m your best friend, and spectral butler. That you can’t see.”

Alright, you think. You make your polite goodbyes to thin air, and then you head to bed, because you’re clearly suffering from the worst case of sleep deprivation that the world has ever seen.

A few months go by, and you’ve almost come to accept Bez’gel as part of your life. It’s nice to get your favourite takeaway without having to spend money, and the demon offers up some pretty interesting insights on most of the things you watch on Netflix. You start to think of it as a roommate, rather than a spectral disaster waiting to happen.

And it’s not long until you become… friends. Not being able to see it doesn’t stop you from finding fun things you think it’ll like: from a little cactus that it seemed to like the look of when you were scrolling through Pinterest, to a 100-in-1 collection of cowboy films, you’d do pretty much anything to hear a smile in that Western accent. And that includes checking through some of your distant uncle’s books to see if you could find some way to… see it. Bez’gel never explicitly said that it longed for a visible form, but you had to think that it was pretty lonely not being seen—it sounded incredibly lonely.

Thankfully, your (great? grand? step? half? Who Knows) uncle had left his home to an aunt of yours that you got along pretty well with, and she agrees to let you look through the extensive library he left behind. It’s a room in the attic that you have to stoop a little to walk through, but it feels homely all the same—walls lined with shelves laden heavy with books, a window seat that is covered in a soft, diverse array of cushions and blankets, and a table that was clearly well loved and well used.

Trailing your fingers over the grain of the wood, you feel something similar to the feeling of Bez’gel appearing out of nowhere; a charged feeling that accumulates at the tips of your fingers, that changes the smell of the air.

“Magic,” you whisper, incredulous. That’s the only word you think fits.

His desk was clearly the hub of his research. There are loose pages of paper thick with looping scrawls of blue ink, hardback books with makeshift bookmarks sticking out of them, and notebooks and journals half open. Thankfully, it seems that your uncle was a man who was very good at organisation (or perhaps he was expecting someone else to have to read his notes, someday?), and you find what you’re looking for with minimal stress.

“So he’d been… he’d found this… and asked Bez’gel for this… and so… aha! I have no idea what any of this means.”

“You thinkin’ of askin’ me for help, or am I to be a silent witness in all ‘a this?”

You jump, hitting your head on the low ceiling in the process. “WHY ARE YOU HERE?”

“What? You thought I was stuck in yer house, or somethin’? I’m in that ring, buddy. I just don’t follow you places that ain’t interestin’. Or maybe I do—seein’ as how you can’t see me in the first place, I figure you’ll never know,” it says, letting out a chuckle.

“Well, you’ve ruined my surprise now,” you huff, “so you might as well help. You think you can figure out what all these… shorthand bits mean? I’ve figured that he was trying to find a way to see you, but I can’t make out what he figures would work.”

“Show me,” it says, almost a question. You feel a hand, or the vague approximation of one, on your shoulder, as if it was holding on as it peered over your shoulder. For some reason, you find yourself flustered, hands moving faster and clumsier than they had before.

“Here,” you point out. Your words are quieter than they’d been before.

“Hmm…”

“Did he ever tell you about what he was writing?”

“Sure did. Figure he wasn’t too sure what to make of my disinterest, though.”

“You don’t want to be seen? You aren’t… lonely?”

“Never seen much point before. Seems the only people who wanted to see me wanted to know who they were bossin’ around. Not ‘til him—yer uncle—not ‘til him that it seemed anyone cared about me much at all.”

You’re quiet for a moment, letting Bez’gel flip through the pages, searching for passages it recognises. “I’m sorry, Bez’gel.”

The fluttering of pages stops. “What for? Seems to me that the only folk who care about me have been yer uncle and you. Don’t see that you’ve anything to be apologising for.”

“You’ve been treated—mistreated—for centuries, Bez’gel. And you’re—you’re my friend, and it just seems ridiculously unfair—”

“But now I got a friend like you, and things start seeming fair again.” A pen starts floating, and you watch words appear on a blank sheet of paper. “Don’t think I’d mind being seen, not by charming folk such as yerself.”

You blush once more.

“... so all we’re missing is a piece of you, Bez. Remember, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to—”

“So you keep saying,” it responds, chuckling. “No, I think I’m ready to stop being invisible. At least to you.”

The two of you had gone searching for all the ingredients your uncle had suggested would work, along with continuing to try and decipher his notes. Most of the issues had really been his handwriting, and the fact that Bez’gel hadn’t taken the least bit of interest in his work while it was with him.

But now your (mostly your uncles, you suppose) hard work is coming to fruition. You feel the smallest shift in the atmosphere—a piece of Bez’gel, moving, you assume—and then—

Then you can see it. Bez’gel is in front of you, a tall, looming mass of shadow and mist, pretty much scraping the ceiling. Its form is lithe, shrouded in an ever changing vision of black rags and gray haze. You can’t make out any discernible face, or head, or body, really, but it’s not a disappointment. It’s… yeah, this pretty much fits in with everything else you know about Bez’gel. Why would it be corporeal?

“Take it you can see me, then?” it asks, voice cheeky as always, but you can taste a hint of worry in it too.

“Sure can. You’re full of surprises, Bez.” You try and keep your voice as friendly and familiar as always, but slide in some warmth so it knows that it’s not scared you away.

“Well, wouldn’t want to be a disappointment to my good ol’ human pal, now would I?”

“You couldn’t disappoint me, Bez. I’m just glad that now when I try and like… stroke your cheek or something, I’ll be able to—well, I still won’t be able to find your cheek, but I can definitely stroke… a part of you?”

“Well now, that sounds like just about the nicest gift I could get, honey.”

#terato #demon bf #demon gf #demon df #cause its a demon... who has no gender #monster partner #it has a cowboy accent... i love it...#yeti words #me a month ago: more consistent uploads! me now: I Was Lying #tbh... this will probably have a sequel? because like... I Wanna Write The Bez'Gel NSFW...#this is the first story ive tagged as terato :| my other ones are... More fitting i think

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goddessesandheroines · 8 years ago

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How should you brainstorm?

The brainstorming stage is important to the writing process because it’s where you build the foundations for your story. I used to brainstorm by taking notes of everything I thought of, but I found that didn’t work really well for me because so many of my early ideas were just images. That got me into pinterest, which is way easier for me because it’s so visual.

But that got me thinking, does it work better for some people to brainstorm with notes vs visually, or other ways?

So you probably know that there are different types of learners. I’m a visual learner, and I think that’s why pinterest works so well for me. I had a few ideas for how other types of learners might want to brainstorm.

You probably don’t fit just under one type, so read though all the type descriptions and pick and choose the strategies that sound like they’d work for you. The important thing is to do what helps you and what feels right.

Visual learners:

You might be a visual learner like me if you picture your story ideas as images or scenes from a movie. You might also do things like color code your notes, act things out when you tell your friends stories, or picture the music video that might go along with the song you’re listening to.

If you’re a visual learner, Pinterest would probably really help you brainstorm. There are so many boards specifically for story inspiration, but there’s also a lot of photography to look into. Here is a board I like for character inspiration. It will probably also help you to color code your outline (I do mine by character, you could do yours by location or plot thread, etc.) and draw a map if you’re writing a fantasy or sci fi. Even if you’re using a real world setting, Google Earth is a great resource (psst, use streetview. Super helpful for writing about places you’re not currently in.).

Auditory learners:

You might be an auditory learner if you like to talk your ideas out loud, if you prefer to just listen during lectures, and you get a lot of your ideas from listening to music. You might also prefer audiobooks to physical books and prefer phone calls to texting.

You probably already know it helps you to talk out loud to get your ideas. However, there’s not always a person around to talk to. If that’s the case, you can use the notes function on your phone (or voice memos, or record yourself on your laptop) to dictate your ideas. Just enable dictation on the keyboard, and talk to yourself. Seriously. Something else you might like to do is make a playlist for your idea. (Spotify is good for this, but you can also just use youtube for free.) Every time you hear a song that gives you an idea for your book, add it to the playlist. Then listen to the playlist again while you’re writing.

Read-Write learners:

These people can also be called Verbal learners. If you get your ideas while reading - even just while scrolling through twitter or reading your textbooks - this might be you. You probably prefer to take notes than just listen, and you might get lost if you’re listening to rather than reading a story.

If this is you, I suggest you stick by the age-old author advice to keep a notebook on you at all times. You can use a free app like Evernote or a purchasable software like Scrivener to organize your notes, or you can just write them down by hand, old-fashioned style. You might also find mind maps useful, or plotting worksheets like this one. Even if you’re not a plotter, I’d advise you to keep a brain dump document to write down your ideas so you can go back and find them later.

Kinesthetic learners:

If you consider yourself a hands-on person, you don’t like following directions, and/or you think trial and error is the best way to figure something out, this is probably you. You might also be a slow decision-maker and prefer real life scenarios over abstract thinking.

You probably need something you can physically manipulate to help your brainstorming, like a bulletin board. Write all your ideas on sticky notes or notecards and put them up, so you can move them around and see how they might best fit together. I’d also encourage you not to plot your book in too much detail, and don’t worry if you end up needing to edit as you go. Despite what people say, you won’t literally summon the spirit of satan to your room if you change something you wrote before it’s done. I promise.

Remember that you probably don’t fit perfectly under one heading, so it’s important to try out several strategies in combination to find what works for you. I’m visual and kinesthetic, so I have pinterest boards and I write my scenes out of order. The way you brainstorm can also vary project to project, so do what feels natural and don’t hold yourself to doing the same thing every time.

Good luck and (the most important part) have fun as you brainstorm!

#writing advice #brainstorming #advice

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92technology-blog · 7 years ago

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TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENTS – 12 OUGHT TO REGARDED FACTORS FOR PRESENT DAY WEB DESIGN

Website design is a continuously evolving industry. New elements and patterns are continuously making their way inside a blink of a watch.

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This universal makes your web design greater intuitive, adaptable and enhances its usability. You get a step nearer inside the method of growing a human-focused layout, and this is what pleases the customers – crafting human like moments vividly.

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To achieve this:

Rather than giving some fixed range values as the dimensions of the images, use percentage to define them

Use responsive and server aspect – RESS

Be conscious that lots many JavaScript components received paintings on smaller gadgets. As a result, use conditional loading.

But responsive web design is just no longer about it. There are other ways too via which you can make sure that website is rendered flawlessly, irrespective of what device is used. And albeit speak me, clients don’t even hassle about what goes on in the back end, until they may be getting what they expected. Adaptive web designing is yet another element that you could focus on. It makes use of numerous components of innovative enhancement that target the person and not at the web browser.

Further, to make your web design appearance extra appealing, you could employ ribbons that are aware of the window/screen size.

6. MAKE USE OF RICH ANIMATIONS ACCURATELY

The web design is all approximately telling memories. And you turn out to be a better storyteller if animations are employed. It makes the overall enjoy loads more enjoyable and interactive. As lovely the experience it makes, sticking the animation anywhere senselessly can damage the consumer revel in to the equal degree.

– Loading animations

Not anything is greater uninteresting than a loading web page with white heritage. Loading animations have a tendency to entertain the users and preserve them hooked in such instances. Loading animations could upload stars to a simple flat and minimalistic web design.

But, maintain them simple and pick the ones that fit the personality of your website. They ought to be in same coloration coordination as your topic.

– Hover animation

Hover animation is thought for providing instantaneous visible remarks. User hover the mouse over the content, and the hover animation just surprises the person by using bringing earlier than him the hidden details amazingly.

– Non-scrolling menus and navigation

They assist you keep the display space and add to the general aesthetic look of the website design.They best come out when a specific button triggering their action is clicked.

– Movement animation

Nicely, this could serve as your ace if played properly. If yours is an eCommerce website, simply catch greater eyes with movement animation. You can make use of this effective approach while showing your product from numerous angles – upside and downside, left and proper. Movement absolutely catches the consumer’s attention more than some thing. This facilitates you gain the interest of your customers – and that is what you want, right?

7) WEB FONTS

Typography is ready to hit its all-new excessive inside the approaching years. With the likes of Google fonts, type kit and others taking the net via storm, typography has turn out to be an increasing number of famous. The brand new fonts which might be less complicated, clean and crisp are positive to replace the age old fonts like Arial, Georgia, veranda and others.

Web fonts have an immediate effect on appear of a website and consequently, care should be taken that fonts aren't overruling the web design fetching the complete attention.

8. CONVERTIBLE CONTENT MATERIAL

The layout enterprise has developed like anything. An increasing number of on line groups are actually focusing on the concept which uses the mixture of each web design and content. The content that would be converted to arrange of codec’s is at the rise. Web sites like slide share and pictographic provide you with the freedom to transform your content in the shape of a presentation slide or info graphic likewise. Not simplest this, there are numerous different codec’s as nicely the content material creators you to select from. Storytelling has grow to be an art now, and this is best going to experience a steep rise.

9. STAY PRODUCT PREVIEWS

One aspect that has skilled most modern boom is the touchdown web design page. And the most current fashion is the addition of live product previews on touchdown pages. The video showcases the virtual excursion of the entire product. This became currently followed by using slack, wherein the vector snap shots covering the slack interface turned into illustrated superbly.

10. PRINCIPAL ATTENTION OVER UX LAYOUT

UX design stays an undisputed center of attraction for all. 5 years returned, UX became slightly popular. But now with the appearance of free UX eBooks and UX stack alternate, you could without difficulty make the combination of interface layout and UX paintings like something, with the give up result being a extraordinary person enjoy.

11. CARD LAYOUTS

They had been first made famous through pinterest and on the grounds that then, there was no looking again for them. The cardboard layout could without difficulty be mimicked used Jquery and masonry. The cardboard format serves the web sites that have masses of statistics. Card layouts are a large hit among on line website design, and websites like the next web and USA are already showcasing it.

12. MORE-BIG PRODUCT PIX

You’ve got some unique features for your product. Why now not spotlight the ones and seize eyes? This is the simple good judgment that diverse b2b websites are now showing huge product photos on their websites. Those photographs aren't most effective responsive but without difficulty scannable as well. This instantly catches the tourist’s attention supporting him fetch a solid knowledge of the product via pictures.

There are lots greater to the need to-recognized factors, however then you don’t want to follow them blindly. Be careful and pick out the right ones that fit your business.

#web design #website designing #web development #webdesigner

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endlessarchite · 7 years ago

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DIY Outdoor Drink Station for Backyard Entertaining

This post is sponsored by Krazy Glue. All opinions are — for better or worse — 100% my own.

For years now, I’ve been dreaming of using my back yard for lots of outdoor entertaining. While some plans might take a little longer to come to fruition, in this case, all it took was a little challenge and voilà: a DIY outdoor drink station made for a crowd.

Prepare for photo overload, folks: this project took a little scheming!

First things first: this project was sponsored by Krazy Glue. I say that not because (well, not only because) I’m legally required to disclose that fact by the FTC, but also it’s precisely because of them that this project came together the way it did. They emailed me a few months ago and basically hinted that I might just be crazy enough undeterred enough to take on their challenge: to try to put together something large, heavy, and using only Krazy Glue to do it.

And of course I did. Krazy Glue says that their ultra-fast drying adhesive can hold up to 2,000 pounds and I’ve only ever really seen people us it for crafts and repairs — so of course I’m the person that wants to test out their claims. And then I might accidentally glue my fingers together a few times, but something cool like this happens:

I know, right? Don’t worry; I didn’t glue myself to my project (um… except maybe get a little in my hair).

Now, I should add that as far as woodworking goes, I consider myself really only at a beginner’s skill level (DIY home renovation has taught me plenty of things, but making a piece of furniture seems to exhaust a different part of my brain… the part that gets cross-eyed when discussing structural engineering). I own a few basic tools like a miter saw and drill, and because of things like pocket holes, I haven��t really forced myself to learn much beyond that. But because Krazy Glue wanted me to really test out the performance of their product, I wasn’t going to rely on any of those familiar tricks.

While that may sound at first like a complaint, it actually led me down the mind-melting rabbit hole that is woodworking joinery. I tried a few new types of joints and learned a little more vocabulary (and at times, used some of the ol’ standbys when I got frustrated at myself). I kind of want to hug Krazy Glue for forcing me to challenge my typical thought process on something like this; it turned out to be so much better than I thought!

Charlie agrees and can’t sit still from all the excitement (or because dog).

DIY Outdoor Drink Station

Ok, so let’s jump right in to the basics: what I wanted, in general, was a drink buffet setup for when I have friends come over. I plan on doing more entertaining this fall, so it seemed like a great opportunity to build something I could use as frequently as I like. But I also wanted it to not be a permanent structure, or else I’d have maintain it outside. Ideally, it would be something I could build in parts and assemble/disassemble as needed. That meant needing a solid base with enough distributed weight on top to hold ice and drinks, but not tip over (or worse, bow in the middle and become a major party foul).

I got started with a simple inspiration idea from this post about a wedding rehearsal in 2012 (the image is all over Pinterest so I’m betting there’s a 99% chance you’ve seen it before, but I didn’t feel comfortable using the photo on this site unless I got the original wedding photographer’s permission to feature it). I’d seen it around the web for a long time but figured it was a DIY up until I started trying to build one myself. So, since I couldn’t find a DIY equivalent, I made plans for you guys as well (they’re below as you scroll through). I’ll make a downloadable version soon!

Building the wood tray

This project was made almost entirely by using scrap wood, and just like my coffee table, assembly began in my living room while watching TV. Using a couple of pine 1×6’s, I cut the sides (5 feet) and ends (2 feet) and mitered each corner to fit into a box. I glued and clamped things together, but I noticed that the mitered corners were still pretty weak after waiting a few minutes to let the bond set up (immediately thinking that I maybe should have just left it as simple squared cuts instead… my experience with glue in general is that it does best when it has a nice surface to hold on to). I taped up the edges with some painter’s tape to give it a little extra hold. I also went ahead and cut 3 bottom supports using some scrap poplar and glued that, too.

Assembling the concrete block base

While all of that was going on, I moved outside to assemble the cinder block bases. The inspiration photo looked like they used a standard 8-inch width, but I wanted something sleeker using three 4-inch blocks per side (making the entire structure a little lower than waist-high for me). This narrower block risked that my project could be top-heavy, so I needed to make sure these were nice and solidly glued together.

This was the part that I was genuinely concerned that my project would fall apart before I even got the chance to put it all together, so I took my time here and used a good amount of my glue supply. I found that one side stuck really well immediately, while the second side needed to be filled, cure, and then re-glued in the same spots (essentially gluing the product to itself to help fill in the rough surface of the cinder block). It definitely needed plenty of opportunity to cure, so I just let it be overnight and let the weight of each block keep the stack together. But the most important part: my diligence paid off, and I could pick up the stack from the top like one solid piece!

Supporting the bottom of the drink tray

After the basic frame of the top tray was finishing curing, I moved everything outside and flipped it upside down to work on the bottom. The scrap plywood I cut for the base would make the tray much heavier (not to mention the waterproofing I’d be adding too), so I decided to add some additional support to the bottom in the way of gluing in 1/4″ dowels. Using larger and larger drill bits (start with a narrower bit and then re-drill the same hole with a larger bit until you can dry fit the dowel into the hole), I created two dowel spots for each end of the supporting cross pieces along the bottom (which again, looks like the top in the below pic because it’s flipped).

Then, I dry fit a 1/4″ dowel through the hole and marked a line to cut it to the right length. I noticed that by sanding the dowels on the end first, it made for less friction and made the gluing process easier.

With the dowels all in place, I could remove the clamps and flip things over for the final steps.

Since I had a little bit more scrap wood, I also glued in triangular pieces to sit in the bottom of each corner of the tray (you can see these below and in the build plans). Since the scrap plywood I used wasn’t perfectly flat, I figured a little extra support can’t hurt.

Finishing the plywood base

Tape off, clamps off, and ready to drop the plywood in!

I’ll admit right away: the plywood wound up not being a perfectly square cut. It worked out in my favor in the end though, since it meant I didn’t need to drill holes into the bottom to account for melting ice (it instead dripped out of these gaps… love a happy accident, right?).

I weighted down the plywood to help to glue it to the bottom supports, but it just didn’t work out in my favor enough and I had to use a few screws to secure the bottom (#scrapwoodproblems).

Finally, I glued in another small corner cut on top of the plywood to sort of sandwich the plywood between the two corner pieces. And the best part? According to this woodworking chart, this is called a BUTT RUB JOINT. Because of course, when I decide to finally learn more about joinery, the first thing I try (unbeknownst to me) is a butt rub joint. I am not mature enough not to find that hilarious.

Still need the plans? Here they are!

Outdoor Drink Station Plans

(closeup version of that little corner “M” above)

Full assembly

And here it is in a quick little assembly GIF:

Protect, Stain and Paint

Once the assembly of the tray was complete, it was time to add in waterproofing, stain, and finishing touches. I had a bunch of the paint-on waterproofing membrane I used in my bathroom renovation left over, so that made a convenient option for the interior (especially because it dries fast enough to paint on two coats in just a few hours). I just love finding alternative uses for leftover home renovation products!

It goes on pink and then dries bright red, but I’ll cover over that soon enough!

For added color, I stained the outside with a mixture of Minwax Ipswich Pine and Early American stain colors (I like to wash on multiple colors if I’m not quite achieving the hue I want; it usually produces a small mixture of the first color with a hint of the second). I also sprayed on three coats of Indoor/Outdoor spar urethane (to help protect from UV damage, rain, etc.). As you can see in the photo above, I used the corners to test out stain colors with the intention of covering over them with decorative corners that matched the concrete block base.

I taped off a small lip of the inside of the tray and sprayed it, along with the corners (made from simple wooden lath) and the concrete block base with a nearly-black spray paint (Valspar Outdoor Spray Paint in Dark Knight). I’ll have a video for you guys soon where I tried out a few different spray paints and there is a clear different in cheap versus quality paint when it comes to these kinds of surfaces!

Just for fun, I positioned everything over near the new hedge line along the fence in the back yard (can you imagine how awesome it’s going to look when the hedges grow in??). For added greenery (because it’s fall and everything beginning to turn brown), I added some potted gardenias, clipped off a few hydrangeas for a bouquet, an olive leaf wreath, and a few decorative outdoor lights to my setup.

Small tip on the cinder blocks: because I wanted to keep this easy for disassembling, I chose to reinforce each piece of the base with rebar I just hammered into the dirt just in case it got too top-heavy. I think it probably would have been fine without it, but I didn’t want to leave things to chance. The upside to that is that I can just remove the rebar and store all the pieces much more conveniently than if it were all attached together, not to mention this lets me move it in and out of the garage without assistance (it rained earlier this week and I actually already moved it into the garage for the next use). If it lasts a good while, I may add a few more small pieces of scrap to the underside of the wooden tray so that it has an exact space to interlock over the top of each cinder block.

But once I was done with assembly, it was time for a party!

This thing really does hold a lot of drinks! The ice drains out nicely as it melts, and the waterproofing worked like a champ! The all-purpose formula of the Krazy Glue held nicely throughout the evening, so I can definitely say I think it’s well suited for outdoor use.

I plan to bring out the drink station again for the next get-together, but until then, it is being stored in separate sections (tray + two cinder block legs) in the garage so I can more easily fit it into my narrow storage space. Win-win.

So, that’s it! At least, for now. I’m planning on adding a new video to my Youtube channel about what I learned on this build, as well as more info about the spray paint. This project really piqued my curiosity on other woodworking ideas, so I may have found yet another hobby I’m going to buy way too many toys for.

Have you used Krazy Glue for anything lately?

This post was sponsored by Krazy Glue, the all-purpose formula instant adhesive available in a wide assortment for multiple applications and bonds to a variety of surfaces. Thanks so much to their team for making this a fun challenge to do!

The post DIY Outdoor Drink Station for Backyard Entertaining appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

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DIY Outdoor Drink Station for Backyard Entertaining published first on http://ift.tt/2qxZz2j

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homefixsite · 7 years ago

Text

DIY Outdoor Drink Station for Backyard Entertaining

This post is sponsored by Krazy Glue. All opinions are — for better or worse — 100% my own.

Prepare for photo overload, folks: this project took a little scheming!

I know, right? Don’t worry; I didn’t glue myself to my project (um… except maybe get a little in my hair).

Now, I should add that as far as woodworking goes, I consider myself really only at a beginner’s skill level (DIY home renovation has taught me plenty of things, but making a piece of furniture seems to exhaust a different part of my brain… the part that gets cross-eyed when discussing structural engineering). I own a few basic tools like a miter saw and drill, and because of things like pocket holes, I haven’t really forced myself to learn much beyond that. But because Krazy Glue wanted me to really test out the performance of their product, I wasn’t going to rely on any of those familiar tricks.

Charlie agrees and can’t sit still from all the excitement (or because dog).

DIY Outdoor Drink Station

Building the wood tray

Assembling the concrete block base

Supporting the bottom of the drink tray

With the dowels all in place, I could remove the clamps and flip things over for the final steps.

Finishing the plywood base

Tape off, clamps off, and ready to drop the plywood in!

I weighted down the plywood to help to glue it to the bottom supports, but it just didn’t work out in my favor enough and I had to use a few screws to secure the bottom (#scrapwoodproblems).

Still need the plans? Here they are!

Outdoor Drink Station Plans

(closeup version of that little corner “M” above)

Full assembly

And here it is in a quick little assembly GIF:

Protect, Stain and Paint

It goes on pink and then dries bright red, but I’ll cover over that soon enough!

But once I was done with assembly, it was time for a party!

Have you used Krazy Glue for anything lately?

The post DIY Outdoor Drink Station for Backyard Entertaining appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+

Read more http://ift.tt/2g6qkHr Areas served: Winston-Salem, High Point, Yadkinville, Mocksville, Advance, Clemmons, Kernersville, Greensboro, Walnut Cove, Statesville, NC, North Carolina Services: House painting, roofing, deck building, landscaping, Carpentry, Flooring, tile, hardwood, remodeling, home improvement, interior, exterior

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sherlocklexa · 7 years ago

Text

DIY Outdoor Drink Station for Backyard Entertaining

This post is sponsored by Krazy Glue. All opinions are — for better or worse — 100% my own.

Prepare for photo overload, folks: this project took a little scheming!

I know, right? Don’t worry; I didn’t glue myself to my project (um… except maybe get a little in my hair).

Now, I should add that as far as woodworking goes, I consider myself really only at a beginner’s skill level (DIY home renovation has taught me plenty of things, but making a piece of furniture seems to exhaust a different part of my brain… the part that gets cross-eyed when discussing structural engineering). I own a few basic tools like a miter saw and drill, and because of things like pocket holes, I haven’t really forced myself to learn much beyond that. But because Krazy Glue wanted me to really test out the performance of their product, I wasn’t going to rely on any of those familiar tricks.

Charlie agrees and can’t sit still from all the excitement (or because dog).

DIY Outdoor Drink Station

Building the wood tray

Assembling the concrete block base

Supporting the bottom of the drink tray

With the dowels all in place, I could remove the clamps and flip things over for the final steps.

Finishing the plywood base

Tape off, clamps off, and ready to drop the plywood in!

I weighted down the plywood to help to glue it to the bottom supports, but it just didn’t work out in my favor enough and I had to use a few screws to secure the bottom (#scrapwoodproblems).

Still need the plans? Here they are!

Outdoor Drink Station Plans

(closeup version of that little corner “M” above)

Full assembly

And here it is in a quick little assembly GIF:

Protect, Stain and Paint

It goes on pink and then dries bright red, but I’ll cover over that soon enough!

But once I was done with assembly, it was time for a party!

Have you used Krazy Glue for anything lately?

The post DIY Outdoor Drink Station for Backyard Entertaining appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+

from car2 http://ift.tt/2g6qkHr via as shown a lot

#car2

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darwinbigelow · 7 years ago

Text

DIY Outdoor Drink Station for Backyard Entertaining

This post is sponsored by Krazy Glue. All opinions are — for better or worse — 100% my own.

Prepare for photo overload, folks: this project took a little scheming!

I know, right? Don’t worry; I didn’t glue myself to my project (um… except maybe get a little in my hair).

Now, I should add that as far as woodworking goes, I consider myself really only at a beginner’s skill level (DIY home renovation has taught me plenty of things, but making a piece of furniture seems to exhaust a different part of my brain… the part that gets cross-eyed when discussing structural engineering). I own a few basic tools like a miter saw and drill, and because of things like pocket holes, I haven’t really forced myself to learn much beyond that. But because Krazy Glue wanted me to really test out the performance of their product, I wasn’t going to rely on any of those familiar tricks.

Charlie agrees and can’t sit still from all the excitement (or because dog).

DIY Outdoor Drink Station

Building the wood tray

Assembling the concrete block base

Supporting the bottom of the drink tray

With the dowels all in place, I could remove the clamps and flip things over for the final steps.

Finishing the plywood base

Tape off, clamps off, and ready to drop the plywood in!

I weighted down the plywood to help to glue it to the bottom supports, but it just didn’t work out in my favor enough and I had to use a few screws to secure the bottom (#scrapwoodproblems).

Still need the plans? Here they are!

Outdoor Drink Station Plans

(closeup version of that little corner “M” above)

Full assembly

And here it is in a quick little assembly GIF:

Protect, Stain and Paint

It goes on pink and then dries bright red, but I’ll cover over that soon enough!

But once I was done with assembly, it was time for a party!

Have you used Krazy Glue for anything lately?

The post DIY Outdoor Drink Station for Backyard Entertaining appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+

from Home Improvement https://www.uglyducklinghouse.com/diy-outdoor-drink-station/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

#home improvement

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chocdono · 7 years ago

Text

DIY Outdoor Drink Station for Backyard Entertaining

This post is sponsored by Krazy Glue. All opinions are — for better or worse — 100% my own.

Prepare for photo overload, folks: this project took a little scheming!

And of course I did. Because when a brand wants to brag about how strong and fast-drying their product is and I’ve only ever really seen people use it for repairing things, I’m exactly the person that wants to see if they’re full of it. And then I might accidentally glue my fingers together a few times, but something cool like this happens:

I know, right? Don’t worry; I didn’t glue myself to my project (um… except maybe get a little in my hair).

Now, I should add that as far as woodworking goes, I consider myself really only at a beginner’s skill level (DIY home renovation has taught me plenty of things, but making a piece of furniture seems to exhaust a different part of my brain… the part that gets cross-eyed when discussing structural engineering). I own a few basic tools like a miter saw and drill, and because of things like pocket holes, I haven’t really forced myself to learn much beyond that. But because Krazy Glue wanted me to really test out the performance of their product, I wasn’t going to rely on any of those familiar tricks.

Charlie agrees and can’t sit still from all the excitement (or because dog).

DIY Outdoor Drink Station

Building the wood tray

Assembling the concrete block base

Supporting the bottom of the drink tray

With the dowels all in place, I could remove the clamps and flip things over for the final steps.

Finishing the plywood base

Tape off, clamps off, and ready to drop the plywood in!

I’ll admit right away: the plywood wound up not being a perfectly square cut. It wound up working out in my favor in the end though, since it meant I didn’t need to drill holes into the bottom to account for melting ice (it instead dripped out of these gaps… love a happy accident, right?).

I weighted down the plywood to help to glue it to the bottom supports, but it just didn’t work out in my favor enough and I had to use a few screws to secure the bottom (#scrapwoodproblems).

Still need the plans? Here they are!

Outdoor Drink Station Plans

(closeup version of that little corner “M” above)

Full assembly

And here it is in a quick little assembly GIF:

Protect, Stain and Paint

It goes on pink and then dries bright red, but I’ll cover over that soon enough!

But once I was done with assembly, it was time for a party!

This thing really does hold a lot of drinks! The ice drains out nicely as it melts, and the waterproofing worked like a champ! Krazy Glue is meant for outdoor use too, so it basically all added up to a nice drink station I can use many times over.

Have you used Krazy Glue for anything lately?

The post DIY Outdoor Drink Station for Backyard Entertaining appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+

from mix1 http://ift.tt/2g6qkHr via with this info

#mix1

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