#found this on pinterest while working on my boards btw

[jump4beef]

this is Seavbo to me

[rincolonthree]

Clover found chips Ö

Haven't drawn for a while (Krita didn't work) and just in general didn't draw for fun forever, and finally decided to put my Pinterest boards to good use, so I randomly chose some pins saved in my inspiration and tutorial art boards and meshed them together to try to create something consistent. I wanna do that more so I'm gonna call this a PinMesh series :3

This is the website for UT text boxes btw

[arthurmorgansmalewife]

HI HUSBANDDD ITS Y'A BOY, anyway erm could u PLSSSS find me ressources liek anything (pixels, dividers, stamps/blinkies/buttons, graphics ect...) related 2 white, grey, and light blue colors, angelic themes, also medical themes maybe if that makes sense ,,, liek that ine pinterest board u have yk :3 IF ITS TOO HARD TO FIND THEN ITS OKAY DON'T FEEL FORCED TO DO MY REQUEST, TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF AND I LOVE YOUUUUU🤍🤍🤍 /p

HAIIIII HUSBANDD !!!! lauv u tewww,,,, /p u know u could have just told me u wanted these pixels in my dms !!!! (๑•̀ㅁ•́๑)

also sorry 4 like taking so long for this ,,,, (´•ω•̥`)

(i love using kaomojis theyre so cute,, i found a whole document & website full of them,,,)

but i lauv yew.....   so here r ur stuff , loveloveeelove u so much /p , request all u want !!!!!!!!!! ヾ(o´▽｀o)♡(˃͈ દ ˂͈ ༶ )

LMK IF U WANT MORE STUFF BTW,,, I'D LOVELOVEEEE 2 DO ALL UR REQUESTS U HAVE 4 ME !! ♡ ৻( •̀ ᗜ •́ ৻)

scroll down 4 the stuff,,, sorray 4 making this long, (´｡• ◡ •｡`) ♡

1/2 of the batch

I HOPE THIS IS WHAT U WANTED !!! (U BETTER LIKE IT.... /NF I WORKED MY ASS OFF FOR SOME OF THESE THINGS 2 BECOME PNGS...) IF ITS NOT DM ME ABT IT , I TRIED MY BEST BC I RLLY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT 2 DO (´∀｀；)

some of these r uncropped while others r sized 2 like around 20x20 , 35x35 , 25x30 iirc ? (˃ ⌑ ˂ )

all these r completely f2u , no need 4 credits on ANY platform including discord , tho credits r heavily appreciated ꒰⁎ᵉ̷͈ ꒵ ᵉ̷͈ ꒱໊

just dont claim u made these ! ｡°(°.◜ᯅ◝°)°｡

also extra note : sorryyy 4 not posting or anything .... i completely forgot abt me posting on here tbh !!!! AND NEW DIVIDERRR bc my old 1 is 2 ugly (｡•́︿•̀｡)

[samptlay]

To My Sweetheart Who Carries A Wounded Heart Ch. 8

A/N: February 29... It's been more than two weeks, my apologies... But enjoy, btw I'm uploading 9 & 10 today.

~

Series Masterlist, Chapter 1 🤍, Chapter 2 🖤, Chapter 3 🤍, Chapter 4🖤, Chapter 5🤍, Chapter 6🖤, Chapter 7🤍, Blade & Reader's Relationship,

Taking a deep breath in and out, you make a beeline out of the guest bedroom and make your way towards the kitchen. At this point, you've lost your appetite and don't feel like eating.

You're not eating for two any longer either way, so the only person you're harming is yourself. Who cares?

Deciding that coffee is enough to satisfy your needs, you open your phone to find no new notifications, (from other human beings, not some Pinterest board of house decor) which makes you both relieved and irritated. At this time of the day, March and Stelle would be bantering or debating on some random political topic in your group chat (including Himeko, Welt & Dan Heng) that you would jump in on for fun. It was oddly quiet today, and you were glad that they were taking into account the loss of life, yet conflicted about the change.

It wasn't routine. It was change, something you suddenly weren't accustomed to yesterday night. You physically shiver at the thought of everything that’s happened. You felt the same way when you woke up alone today, but you’ll get over it. Speaking of alone, you still have no idea where your husband is. You trust him, but did he have to leave without any notice? You gave him a call, but after two rings it went to voicemail, Opening Messages, you click on “Dearest💙” and write a text.

(Y/N) ❤ Honey, where are you? I went to the guest room and found the bed empty, I was hoping we could make breakfast together this morning. Call me when you can. I’m sure there’s a lot of things on our minds but we’ll be okay.

Well, it was delivered, so you know it went through. But after sitting in silence for a few minutes, which turned into ten, you wondered if it did. It wasn’t like him to take long to respond to you, especially since he’s been all over his phone for the past 6 weeks. Protective as well, he even changed the password on it without telling you. You’d leave the memories of confrontations in the past since thinking about them is what caused all this to happen. But you’ll inevitably think of them again.

The silence takes you back to a conversation with Himeko around two weeks ago when she invited you over for afternoon tea (or coffee). It was a rainy day and the breeze was chilly, so what better thing to do but have a friend over to talk to while enjoying the beautiful scenery outside? She could tell there was lots on your mind, so she decided you needed a small break from your husband and his shenanigans.

During this relaxing afternoon, it suddenly turned sour whenever she mentioned that you had seemed more on edge lately. It was likely because he was at home more frequently, caused by a catastrophic event at his workplace he refuses to tell you about. According to him, HR was sticking their noses into something that shouldn’t have concerned them, and since he worked with computers he was sent home with his stuff to work from there.

You didn’t want to seem pushy or disrespect his boundaries since the matter seemed personal to him, so you didn’t pry further. Himeko was intrigued by this and looked a bit taken aback, since you were his wife, exactly what boundaries were there that would be crossed by asking a simple question? She found this suspicious, which rubbed you the wrong way and caused you to become defensive. He was your husband, you trusted him more than anything and she was his friend as well, so why would anything be said by her that painted him in a bad way?

Irritated, you stormed out of her penthouse and made your way down with Himeko calling out to you. She had meant no harm and was only trying to look out for you, but you were too caught up in your own head to see that. However, later that evening you gave her a call pleading for forgiveness & blaming it on the pregnancy. She knew you wouldn’t usually react that way if she had advised you of something similar, so she wasn’t upset with you at all. She even apologized for doubting Levi. You two quickly made amends and all was forgotten, but the conversation still replayed in the back of your mind occasionally.

You were sad to admit you felt rather lonely and were left alone with your thoughts. Looking out the window, and bringing your mug to your mouth your mind trails off into a place you don’t want it to be. You’re in desperate need of a distraction, and you want to distract yourself with someone else. You could be entertained together, shut away from the rest of the world.

Picking up your phone again, you scroll through your favorite contacts until you come across the one name that always made you smile.

‘Ren🥀🖤’

What better way to get away from it all than to spend your time with the person associated with the one thing you knew would never change?

His stance by your side.

~

Taglist: @uhfhfhfhf @xdrin @msun1c0rn @lovingnahida @strrawb3rrysh0rtcak3 @ssecylia @skyl8ver @immahuman @meowmeowraven @01234 @markexplanation @esthelily @dawnofazrael

Borders by @cafekitsune

[sstartwork]

Btw ur “Romani redesign” of Wanda has nothing to do with actual Romani traditional clothing it’s purely based on stereotypes I recommend researching Kalderash traditional clothing (that’s most likely her vista/subgroup) and romani caricatures (searching “[insert g-slur] costume” is a good start) to avoid this in the future

Here’s a Pinterest board my friend made (look at the Romani designed section): https://www.pinterest.co.uk/hannahperson1/wanda-maximoff

Here’s a photography thing of a Romani community in Romania: https://www.thefader.com/2010/08/30/photo-faces-of-the-roma https://jeremysuttonhibbert.photoshelter.com/gallery-collection/C0000JCPLrqL3xbs

Here’s the Getty images thing for it: https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/photos/kalderash-roma

And here’s the linktree to a Romani tiktoker/youtuber/activist you can learn a lot from https://linktr.ee/florida.florian

Hey there! Thanks so much for the shout out. I checked out your friends Pinterest board and found almost every element I had put into my version of Wanda, I also looked up Romani people and Romani looks before I started working on my piece, so as much as I always appreciate an open dialogue on my work, you came at me slightly spicy. Not sure where you read that she’s most likely Kalderash, I can only assume that’s what you *think* her roots are, which is fine, you can absolutely draw a version of that. Things to keep in mind though:

This is a drawing of a superhero, so some elements will be lifted or exaggerated. A billowing shirt with a capelet and a corset, with a spiked hair wrap and gold accessories isn’t exactly pushing any offensive stereotypes. If you see them, then I can categorically tell you that wasn’t the intention. I very much enjoy Wanda and wanted to pay tribute to her and her Romani characterisation past and future.

Almost all of the colour scheme (for me) had to be red, as she’s the scarlet witch, with accents of black and gold to keep with her previous looks, so while of course there are much more colours in Roma clothing, I was working on a very limited palette.

She is a fictional character who has had her origins and lineage changed a few times, her most recent origin has placed her in Serbia, which would probably make her closer to The Chergashe, which is a subgroup of the Kalderash (although not all were) but again, she’s a fictional character, with cultural significance which has been ignored by writers and artists throughout history (thankfully that’s changing now).

I’ll absolutely take your “friendly advice” on board, but will impart some to you in summary:

If you are going to approach someone with snark and air quotes, with reference boards for them to check over, best have a look at them yourself first, because when most of the elements in my piece are on your pals board, I struggle to see why you took the time to come at me.

Peace and love ✌️

[kip-loric]

The turtles in my TMNT iteration (this post is long as hell btw 👍)

All turtles:

Yellow-bellied sliders

Have faint yellow stripes, mostly on their necks

Shells are tough enough to be semi-bullet proof

Bullets and slashes still hurt a lot

Can’t retract into their shells

Lungs are larger than a humans

Can hold their breath for 20 to 30 minutes

Weigh 300 to 400 pounds

Can eat what turtles do (AKA worms, snails, raw fish, algae)

Only Mikey and Donnie eat them on a semi regular basis

Heal faster and have a better immune system than humans

Warm blooded but get cold easily

Need to sleep more in the winter

Basking heat lamp in the living room for really cold days

Usually smell somewhat gross from living in the sewers

Have tails, cloacas, and anus’

They tuck their tails close to their bodies

Can’t reach their own shells so they have each other wash them

Donatello:

He/him

Gay

Intersex

Has a smaller tail than his brothers

Internal scans showed that he has some female anatomy

It doesn’t really bother him

Tallest (6’0)

Has the darkest color skin and his stripes are very faint

Wears cargo pants

Mostly for carrying stuff in the pockets

Is always wearing at least one bag

Wears fanny packs regularly

Plastic knee pads

Wears boots when outside of the liar

Can sew but isn’t as good as Mikey

Poor eyesight

Wears glasses that he had found in the dump

They stay because he tapes them to the side of his face/mask

Brothers always bring him any glasses that they find

April eventually helps him find his prescription and order glasses online

Most knowledge is technology based

Basic medical knowledge

Collects everything of interest

ADHD gives him lots of hyperfixation that he then researches for days

Has the largest room to contain all his stuff, aka several computer monitors, spare mechanical parts, and laboratory setup

Bad sleep schedule

Drinks coffee daily

Official bug catcher because he doesn’t care about them touching him

Listens to every type of music

Watches anime and documentaries

Usually needs to be doing something with his hands while watching shows/movies

Had a crush on Casey for a short time

Let's Mikey paint and draw on his shell

Takes the most time to get ready before going somewhere or to get ready for a fight

Usually only swears when fighting or when something goes wrong with technology he’s working on

Raphael:

He/him

Bisexual (prefers men)

Has a lot of internalized homophobia about it

Asked Donnie about it and came out to him first

Has a few teeth missing from fights

Same height as Leo (5’9)

The only clothes he likes to wear are athletic shorts, but will wear warmer stuff in the winter

Second biggest room

Has a personal punching bag in his room

Has a bed, a hammock, and a blanket nest on the floor

Switches up where he sleeps a lot because of neck/back pain

Has a mostly broken drum set

Casey eventually buys him a new one

Raph barley uses it because he’s afraid of breaking it

Listens to rock, rap, and pop but is embarrassed about the pop artists that he likes

Finds most bugs very gross

Can knit simple things

Is usually super tired but hates the taste of anything caffeinated

Has a big sweet tooth and especially loves chocolate

Has depression and anxiety

Will go long times without eating if depression is bad

Self harm in the form of working out too much and purposefully getting in tough fights

Occasionally cuts himself with knives or his sai

Uses swear words the most (in every sentence unless around Splinter)

Wants to get lots of tattoos

Has a tattoo pinterest board

Likes to smoke weed or take edibles with Casey

Very lovey-dovey when high or drunk

Takes a shower afterwards so that Leo and Splinter don’t smell it (weed) on him

Mostly showers at Casey’s since there’s not a good way to get clean in the sewers

Starts dating Casey a yearish after they meet

Oblivious to Casey's flirting

Headbutts and light punches to show affection

Cuddly and clingy when it’s just him and Casey

Hates it when Casey shows PDA in front of his brothers

Michelangelo:

He/him

Demisexual

Hetrosexual

Gender questioning?

Doesn’t think too much about his sexuality or gender

“Straight but sometimes it’s kinda gay.”

Usually male/masculine but sometimes likes skirts and dresses

Often wears human clothes

XXL hawaiian shirts are the only kind that will fit over his shell

Built himself some flip-flops to wear

Shortest turtle (5’7)

Has the lightest color skin and very bright stripes

Is thought of as the youngest

Loves animals and wants a pet (especially likes cats)

Splinter and Leo say no

Once hid a hamster in his room until it died

Raph helped him hide it

Goes with Donnie to dumps to look for interesting things

Likes to collect things but has a much smaller collection than Donnie

Has some trouble seeing up close but doesn’t want to wear glasses

Good at sewing and patches up ripped clothes that they find

Him and Splinter do most of the cooking

Will try any food at least once

Has a big sweet tooth and especially likes gummy candy

Likes to try the spicy foods that Casey likes

Puts random spices in the food he cooks

Banned from drinking anything caffeinated

Likes to paint and draw on his brothers shells but Raph and Leo usually don’t let him

Goes with Casey and April to graffiti spots

Does most of the art while Casey and April watch and give feedback

Tries to play Raph’s drum set sometimes

Has a harmonica that he annoys them all with

Leonardo:

He/him

Hetrosexual

Scarring on hands and arms from trying to do katana tricks

Same height as Raph (5’9)

No clothes because he thinks they will limit his movement

Was self conscious about it around human friends for the first couple weeks of knowing each other

Is thought of as the oldest

Leader

Has a very minimalist room

Has the smallest room besides from Splinter’s

Most of his things are kept very neat

Doesn’t enter Mikey’s room because he will want to clean it

Star Trek and Star Wars geek

Collects figurines of his favorite characters

Can cook but isn’t very good at it

Does the cooking only if Splinter and Mikey don’t want to

Can hold his breath the longest (30 mins) and is very proud of it

Is the best swimmer

ADHD/autism gives him some sensory issues

Must wear gloves when washing dishes and cleaning the bathroom

Avoids sewer water at all costs

Cleans himself the most often

Often joins Splinter in doing yoga

Fascinated with Asian cultures and is slowly trying to learn to speak Japanese

Likes Asian food but can’t handle very much spice

Tries to not eat processed foods

Refuses to try anything that could be considered a drug (this includes caffeine)

Doesn’t use swear words and gets annoyed when his brothers do

Gave up on getting mad about it a long time ago

Worries that Casey is a bad influence on Raph

Has a small crush on Karai but is embarrassed about it

[shadowglens]

what was portia up to while cassian was in prison on narkina 5? (i LOVE her pinterest board btw—i always try color-coordinating mine but i usually give up pretty early on)

Send me an episode/chapter/scene/ect. and I’ll tell you what my OC was doing during it

portia was still working in luthen's network, and had been tasked along with the others to find and kill cassian. while cinta was stationed on ferrix to keep an eye on cassian's friends and family, portia was tasked with searching the galaxy for him. she always was good at hunting.

there were definitely a few secret rendezvous with saw during that time as well, at which point portia found out that he'd dumped jyn (who was 16 at the time). a fight broke out, and she and saw didn't part on the best of terms.

[leviiackrman]

Okay you’ve all waited patiently enough so I hope she was worth it:

Face Claim | Character Page | Pinterest Board

I’ve been trying so hard not to just work solely on her atm aha but I have sm work to do so this is what I have so far - there will be more soon drawings to come baby and also had to feed my deep love for levi in some way (more under the cut):

born to a travelling family between walls Maria and Rose

lived on the road her whole life, travelling to towns with her family band so they could perform for money and provide a little ‘pick-me-up’ to those who needed it

she was a singer and played a number of instruments but always loved the flute

was also a songwriter for her family and made up tunes about memories they shared/experienced

loves dancing too so can be very agile in combat

collectively they sang songs passed down through her family tho their origin is(/was) unknown

is the 3rd oldest of 7 kids (no i haven’t named them all yet but i will soon aha) but the order goes: brother (3 years older), sister (2 years older), margot, sister (2 years younger), brother (3 years younger), sister (5 years younger) and sister (7 years younger)

queue sadness - family were ambushed and murdered one night when she was 12 (she always assumed it bandits stealing their earnings but she later discovers thats not the case)

all members of her family were killed - while she had her own throat slit and was left for dead

lost the ability to speak fully - small words or phrases she can now speak but found it too painful to try anything more

her voice also became incredibly gravelly and she hated it so she chose to remain silent from then on

was taken in by an older couple when they found her familys camp the next morning

lived with the couple for a few years until she was 16

developed her own way of communicating with her hands for longer conversations

signed up as a recruit not long after the older couple passed away

felt she could serve a better purpose than she already did, and with a lot of pain and guilt for what happened to her family she wasn’t fussed if it ended up costing her life

was prepared to defend herself for not speaking, writing her own note saying: “my name is margot durand. i have a vocal injury so cannot speak.” etc that she showed to her superiors even tho they didnt like it nor think she would make a good soldier because of it

obviously proved them wrong with her ditermination in all areas of her training

always felt that bit more alone than the rest, but made some friends after some time

chose to join the survey corps in the hopes she would be useful to them

struggled a lot to begin with, her friends having joined with her but they didn’t survive very long ):

was told to meet with erwin after he heard of her unique communication skills and her proved agility in combat

was asked to write down what her hand gestures meant so that others could learn it and actually talk to her finally (also ended up boosting her trust amongst everyone else because “oh wow the commander thinks shes cool so she must be”)

hangi was obsessed with it - kicked off a very close bond between the 2

ended up being shared with her closest people - so basically not everyone can read what shes saying but the people who need to know, do. 

originally offered herself as a ‘decoy’ - if she could be a distraction during missions etc with her agility proving useful then she felt better about herself even tho it was always risky - anything to keep the rest safe

worked her way up the ranks as it were, proving she could be a firm leader even without speaking - she has mastered the glare so i mean if looks could kill *shrug*

became fasinated with hanji’s work and ended up serving as an assistant of sorts

yknow how in labs someone is standing by with a fire extinguisher just in case? thats margot during hanji’s experiments. and she loves it.

oh btw is a member of hanji’s squad obvs but later on swaps between squad hanji and levi when things start getting worse for the scouts

made fast friends with everyone hanji knew - tho was always a little intimidated by levi (context: she is 4 years younger than him)

became a respected member amongst the troops so she felt ‘at home’ again

shes the big sister of the group - need a hug? shes there. being an asshole? she will beat the shit outta you.

when leading her own teams shes given at least one person she knows well so they can serve as a translator for her hand gestures basically

her love interest is levi so of course they end up getting along?? what are you on?? i don’t need to explain that shit??

FINALLY we’re at the events of the show...

anyway stuff and things: is quite reserved around eren and the other recruits to start with - tries to keep a distance to not get attatched (that’ll only hurt more when they die *shrugs again*)

can’t help but get along with armin tho as he reminds her A LOT of her little brother

shes there during most of the stuff of the show lets just say that - saves me having to explain everything

ends up getting really close with everyone and sees the recruits as her lost siblings in some ways

HOWEVER: when kenny reappears and the interior police is discovered, with the help of hanji (and no one else knowing) she pieces together what actually happened to her family - her past isn’t exactly common knowledge

the songs her family sang were always uplifting - tales of strange places and love stories etc

none of her family knew they referred to outside the walls tho... and the plot CHICKENS (get it? thickens...chickens...nevermind)

so naturally when its brought to the governments attention that a travelling family are spreading info they shouldn’t be/know about, they had to be taken out - didn’t expect one of them to survive tho

struggled to share this info with levi obvs

the further the show progresses, she tried learning to speak again - practising when she could but knew that those around her could still understand her sign language

is HEARTBROKEN when having to choose between armin and erwin so this time she stays silent. fully.

did also end up getting badly hurt during the ‘retake shiganshina mission’ but tried to hide it cus bigger things were happening

that pissed levi off because she had a pretty bad injury on her stomach but she was more worried about him and everyone else so aRgUmEnTs *jazz hands*

recovered pretty well tho and made up with levi - kicked off their romantic relationship

writes songs of what they all went through so that no one forgets - heroic tales for some, quiet moments amongst their group for others

SPOILERY STUFF FOR SEASON 4:

with the marleyans providing a lot of info and aid in expanding the island she took it upon herself to ask if they knew anything about languages/learning to speak again

spent a while with all her friends and the marleyans learning to speak in sentances again without causing her pain or discomfort

(i have 5 episodes left of season 4 so am yet to know how things end and in general for the whole show so there will be changes but for now she is happily in love with levi and trying to do everything she can to help - even tho so is still a little careless with her life at times)

these ‘general info’ notes get longer and longer i’m terribly sorry

[adorpheus]

on fujoshi and fetishization

Lately, more and more, both here on tumblr and on other sites, I keep seeing people spew unfiltered hatred at fujoshi - that is, women who like mlm content such as gay fanfic and fanart featuring men with other men. And I don’t mean like a specific type of fujoshi, like the ones who are genuinely being weird about it, but just like a general hatred for girls (but especially straight identifying girls) who express love for gay romance.

I hate to break this to you all, but women (including straight women!) actually are allowed to like mlm fanfiction and fanart, even enthusiastically so. A woman simply expressing her love of gay fanfic, even if it is in kind of a cringey way or a way that you personally don’t like, is NOT automatically fetishization.

I’ve been on the receiving end of fetishization for my entire life, from a very young age, as many black and brown folx have, so I consider myself pretty well acquainted with how it works. Fetishization isn’t just like, being really into drawings of boys kissing, or whatever the fuck y’all are trying to imply on this god forsaken site. 

Fetishization is complicated imo, and can encompass a lot of things, such as (but not limited to):

1 - dehumanization, e.g. viewing a group of people as sexual objects who exist purely for entertainment purposes, rather than acknowledging them as actual people who deserve respect and rights

and

2 - projecting certain assumptions onto said people based on their race/sexuality/whatever is being fetishized. These assumptions are often, but not always, sexual in nature (like the idea that black people in general are more sexual than other races, etc etc etc).

I’m going to use myself as an example to illustrate my point. Please note this isn’t the best or most nuanced example, but it is the most simplistic. A white person finding me attractive and respectfully appreciating my black features as part of what makes me beautiful is not, on its own, fetishization. A white person finding me attractive solely or mostly because I’m a PoC is now in fetishization territory. Similarly, assuming I’m dominant because of my blackness (like saying “step on me mommy” and shit like that) is hella fetishistic. 

That being said, theres definitely a difference between how fetishization works in real life with real people, and how it shows up in fandom. 

Fetishization manifests in many different ways in fandom, but most commonly on the mlm side of things, I personally see it appear as conservative (or centrist) women who love the idea of two men together, but don’t actually like gay people, and don’t necessarily think LGBT+ people deserve rights (or “special treatment” as its sometimes dog whistled). These women view queer men as sexual objects for entertainment rather than an actual group of people who deserve to be protected from systemic oppression. I’ve noticed that they often don’t even think of the men they “ship” together as actually being gay, and may even express disgust at the idea of a character in an mlm ship being headcanon’d gay. In case its not obvious, this is pretty much exactly the same way a lot of cishet men fetishize lesbians (they see “lesbian” as a porn category, rather than like, what actual LGBT people think of when we read the word lesbian). There’s a pretty popular viral tweet thread going around where someone explains seeing this trend of conservative women who like mlm stuff, and I have also personally witnessed this phenomenon myself in more than one fandom. 

The funny thing is, maybe its just me buuuut.... The place I see this particular kind of fetishization happen most is not in the anime/BL fandom, from which the term fujoshi originates - I actually see these type of women way way more in western fandom spaces like Supernatural, Harry Potter, and Hannibal. I can’t stress this enough, there’s a shocking amount of people who are like, straight up trump supporters in these fandoms. If you want to experience it, try joining a Hannigram or Destiel group on facebook and you will probably encounter one eventually especially if you happen to be living through a major historical event. Like these women probably wouldn’t even be considered “fujoshi”, because that term doesn’t really apply to them given they aren’t in the BL/anime fandom, yet they’re the ones I personally see actually doing the most harm.

Of course this isn’t the ONLY kind of fetishizing woman in the mlm/BL world, there are other ways fetishization shows up, but this is the most toxic kind that I see.

A girl just being really into BL or whatever may be “cringe” to you, or she may be expressing her love for BL in a “cringey” way, but a straight woman really enjoying BL is not, on its own, somehow inherently fetishization. Yes, sometimes teenage girls act kind of cringe about how much they like BL and that might be annoying to you, but its not necessarily ~problematic~. 

That being said, IT NEEDS BE REMARKED that a lot of the “fujoshi” that you all hate so deeply, are actually closeted trans men or nonbinary people who haven’t yet come to terms with their gender identity, or are otherwise just NOT cishet. I know because I was one of these closeted people for years, and I honestly think tumblr and the cultural obsession around purity is one of the many reasons I was closeted so deeply for so long. STORYTIME LOL!!! In my early adolescence, I was a sort of proto “fujoshi”. I identified as a bi girl who was mostly attracted to men, or as most (biphobic) people called it, “practically straight”. I wrote and read “slash” fanfic and looked at as well as drew my own fanart. We didn’t use the term fujoshi back then, but that’s definitely how I could have been described. I was obsessed with yaoi, BL, whatever you want to call it, to a cringe-inducing degree. I really struggled to relate to most het romances, so when I first discovered yaoi fanfics (as we called them at the time), I fell in love and felt like I finally found the type of romance content that was made for me. I didn’t know exactly why, I just knew it hit different. LGBT+ fanart and fanfiction brought me an immense amount of joy, and I didn’t really think too hard about why.

At some point, in my early 20s, after reading lots of discourse™ here on tumblr and other places like twitter, I started to get the sinking feeling that my passion for gay fanfiction was ~problematic~. I had always felt a sense of guilt for being into mlm content, because literally anyone who found out I liked BL (especially the men I dated) shamed me for liking it all the fucking time (which btw is literally just homophobic, like can we talk about that?). In addition to THAT bullshit, now I’m seeing posts telling me that girls who like BL are cringey gross fetishists who inspire rage and should go die? 

Let me tell you, I internalized the fuck out of messages like this. I desperately wanted to avoid being ~problematic~. At the time, I thought being problematic was like the worst thing you could be. I was terrified of being “cancelled”, before canceling was even really a thing. I thought to myself, “oh my god, I’m gross for liking this stuff? I should stop.” I beat myself up over this. I wanted so badly to be accepted, and to be deemed a Good Person by the internet and society at large.

I tried to shape up and become a good ally (lmfao). I stopped writing fanfic and deleted all the ones I was working on at the time. I made a concerted effort to assimilate into cishet culture, including trying to indulge myself more deeply in the few fandoms I could find that had het content I did enjoy (Buffy, True Blood, Pretty Little Liars, etc). I would occasionally look at BL/fanfic/etc in private, but then I would repress my interest in it and not look for a while. Instead I would look at women in straight relationships, and create extremely heterosexual Couple Goals pinterest boards, and try to figure out how I could become more like these women, so I, too, could be loved someday. 

This cycle of repression lasted like eight years. Throughout it all, I was performing womanhood to the best of my ability and trying to become a woman that was worthy of being in a relationship. I went in and out of several “straight” relationships, wondering why they didn’t make me feel the way reading fanfic did. Most of all, I couldn’t figure out why straight intimacy didn’t work for me. I just didn’t enjoy it. I always preferred looking at or making gay fanfiction/fanart over actual intimacy with men in real life. 

Eventually, I stumbled upon a trans coming out video that someone I was following posted online, my egg started to crack, and to make an extremely long story short, after like 3 years of introspection and many gender panic attacks that I still experience to this day, I realized that I’m uh... MAYBE... NOT CIS..!? :|

I truly believe if I had just been ALLOWED TO LIKE GAY STUFF WITHOUT BEING SHAMED FOR IT, I probably would have realized I was trans way way sooner. Because for me, indulging in my love of gay romance and writing gay fanfic wasn’t me being a weirdo fetishist, it was actually me exploring my own gender identity. It is what helped me come to terms with being a nonbinary trans boy.

Not everyone realizes they are trans at age 2 or whatever the fuck. Sometimes you have to go through a cringey fujoshi phase and multiple existential crises to realize how fucking gay you are AND THATS FINE.

And one more thing - can we just be real here? 

A lot of anti-fujoshi sentiment is literally just misogyny. omg please realize this. Its “women aren’t allowed to enjoy things” but, like... with gay fanfics. Some of the anti-fujoshi posts I see come across my dash are clearly ppl projecting a caricature they invented in their head of a demonic fujoshi fetishist onto any woman who expresses what they consider to be a little too much enthusiasm for gay content and then using their perception of that individual as an excuse to justify their disdain for any women, especially straight women, ‘invading’ their ~oh so exclusive~ queer fandom spaces.

 god get over yrselfs this is gatekeeping by another name

idk why i spent so long writing this no one is even going to read it, does anyone even still use this site

*EDIT: HOLY SHIT WHEN DOING RESEARCH FOR THIS POST I FOUND OUT THAT Y-GALLERY IS BACK OMG!!! 

[thepurplequeenofwitchcraft]

CLAIRAUDIENCE.

Crystals to Develop Clairaudience (and how to use them)

3 Fab Crystals to Develop Clairaudience

1. Phantom Quartz

Phantom quartz is one of the most fabulous crystals to develop clairaudience.

These mesmerizing crystals actually help OPEN clairaudience and have “ghosts” of crystals within them from where the crystal stopped growing and then started again.

They are also SUPER high-vibe so they improve your connection to your Spirit Guides, Higher Self, and the Akashic Records.

Tip: I don’t recommend that you place this particular crystal in your pocket or purse because you might forget you have it. And you don’t want to be too psychically “open” while at the super market! (Ask me how I know this!)

 And just so that your eyeballs don’t fall out of your head, be forewarned that Phantom Quartz is pricey. BUT, you can totally substitute Clear Quartz for Phantom Quartz, as it can take on the properties of any crystal. Simply set the intention of Phantom Quartz for clairaudience development. Voila!

2. Selenite

Selenite is another great supporter of clairaudience!

This milky white crystal is said to:

Provide clarity of the mind (and who can’t use a little more of that?) :)

Help connect you with the angelic and higher realms

Support you during meditation and energy work

Increase clairaudience

Basically it’s a great all-purpose crystal to add to your collection and one of the best crystals to develop clairaudience.

Shop my favorite Selenite here.*



3. Sapphire

Don’t let the beauty of this crystal fool you — it packs some serious power.

Sapphire is well known for:

Wisdom

Increasing psychic abilities (including clairaudience!)

Promoting spiritual awareness

Helping you reach your full potential in this lifetime (Yes, please!)

Shop my favorite Sapphire crystals.

But it’s important to note that all crystals hold powerful energy. So if you’re at the store and feel drawn to a crystal not on the list — make sure to take it home with you!

(855) 693-2888 (Tap to call from Mobile)



You can even take this fun Crystal Test to see which crystal

Crystals can also help you sleep, recall dreams, clear negative energy, deepen meditation, and more. Long story short: You can’t have too many crystals (thankfully).

Tip: set up a psychic development board on Pinterest. Then, hover over the image to save it!

How to Use Crystals to Increase Clairaudience

Once you’ve selected your crystal (or left the store with all 3 — no judgement here) it’s time to get to work.

Try a few of these (or all of them) and see which you like best!

During Meditation

You’ll be hard pressed to find a clairaudience development post on my blog that DOESN’T mention meditation, and this is no exception. :)

On your third eye. Try meditating in savasana (or corpse) pose, with your Phantom quartz, Selenite, or sapphire on your third eye.

On your throat chakra. Get into a savasana pose and place your crystal of your choice on your throat chakra. The throat chakra (which has to do with communication) is connected to your clairaudient abilities.

Hold it. Hold your crystal as you meditate in your traditional position. (These Selenite harmonizers* are PERFECT to hold during meditation!)

With any of these options, you’ll experience a deeper connection to your Higher Self and Spirit Guides who will help you develop your clairaudience.

BTW, if you need a hand getting started with meditation, this post will help.

These crystals are small enough to place on your chakras during meditation: Selenite, Clear Quartz*

Wear Your Crystal!

This one is so much fun! Fashion your Phantom quartz, Selenite, or sapphire into a necklace and develop your clairaudience while looking fabulous! If you choose to go this route you can have someone make your crystal into a necklace or purchase one pre-made.

During meditation. Wear your necklace during meditation.

While practicing. Put your necklace on and wear it while doing psychic development exercises! I LOVE to teach this tip to beginner psychics because it helps signal the universe that you are open to receiving psychic impressions as you wear it!

When you are done wearing your crystal necklace, be sure to “charge it” by saging it or letting it sit in the sun. This will clear its energy and allow it to receive positive light.

Shop Clear Quartz bracelet*

Shop Clear Quartz necklace*

During psychic development exercises

To get double-duty from your psychic development exercises:

Hold it. Hold your crystal of choice as you practice one of these clairaudient exercises.

Keep it close. Place the crystal near you as you practice.

Catch some Zzz’s

Take advantage of your Zen state during sleep with your new-found crystal! This will increase your clairaudience while you sleep and improve dream recall – it doesn’t get much simpler than that!

Near your head. Sleep with the crystal near your head (near the pillow or on the nightstand).

Under your bed. Make a crystal grid and sleep with it under your bed. Tip: Crystal grids are powerful ways to declare intentions.

Crystals to Develop Clairaudience Takeaways

Obviously you don’t want to skip crystals when it comes to developing clairaudience. Not only are they gorgeous to look at, they punch up your psychic development and take it to the next level.

[your-isolation-buddy]

One week of social distance vs 3 years

Snapshots of the pinterest boards from when I first stopped school and became housebound due to illness vs the one I made at the start of this year

Then:

Now:

I didn't quite realise how much my attitude had changed towards myself and how I should be behaving and responding in difficult times.

Looking back, I can see that I felt like I had something to prove. Even though I didn't choose to get sick, I still felt guilty for allowing myself 'time out' (when it was really just time spent doing something else that was just as if not more important: healing). I thought I was hitting pause or copping out of what I thought I 'should' be doing in that stage of my life.

I had all these expectations in the years leading up to that time of what I should do, the path I should take, what I should 'achieve'. So I thought I had to justify the time I spent not doing what I thought I was supposed to be doing, like school or work.

Although it's not exactly the same, I wanted to share this because I think a lot of people right now might be feeling like they have to prove something too. That maybe you think that in order to justify this time not doing what you think you should be doing, you have to achieve a lot and prove to yourself or others that you deserve it.

That's just not true. You have nothing to prove. You didn't choose this. This isn't your fault. And you don't have to justify it or make the most of it.

Everything right now is so uncertain. And while this is my first time living through a global pandemic (go figure ha), I do know what it feels like to suddenly be stuck at home and cut off from your life before and I know that it sucks. Isolation is scary, it's uncertain and exhausting and each day there's a constant background noise of 'how much longer?'. You lose track of time, motivation can seem harder to come by and some days it's just so damn lonely.

So please, please do not beat yourself up. Please don't feel guilty.

I know the feeling of thinking you have to make the most of the time and not 'waste' it. As though any time not spend doing whatever it is someone your age is 'supposed' to be doing (which is nonsense btw, there's no set formula that works for everyone) is somehow wasted. There is so much value to be found in the little things. The small moments that don't take up much space when written in the back of a notebook but make your heart feel big when you look back on them.

You will learn so much about yourself in this time if you'll give yourself the space.

I'm still learning all the time. Now I know that taking care of myself, learning about myself etc is the most valuable thing I could do with that time and learning to love myself and the people that I love will never, ever be a waste.

Maybe strict timetables, changing my diet and learning a few languages might look good on social media but to me they will never beat investing in genuine friendships, learning what my love language is, or understanding how I can communicate better and care about others. Few things I've learned in my life have been as important as learning to self-regulate and understand when things are too much. 

You didn’t choose this. Neither did I. It’s not something we asked for; something we’re selfishly holding onto when we should be getting on with other things. 

So be kind to yourself. Stay safe. And know that you're not alone, because we're all experiencing this together

Love, your isolation buddy 💜

[loadingoliver]

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.

[saintprivateer]

Domestic bf Asra

Sooo ever since I’ve downloaded The Arcana I haven’t stopped thinking about it (from my recent rb’s that’s probably very obvious though)! Here’s some headcanons I’ve been hoarding about my endearing magic boi Asra and the bliss of domesticity with him.

Rating: very fluffy :o)

Pairing: Asra x Apprentice (genderneutral)

Time: Modern for the most part, but I’ve tried to include aspects that still pertain to the Arcana universe (magic, his shop business, etc.)

Asra not only loves painting his nails but also yours (if you’re into that of course.) Lots of nail painting days together. His favorite colors include (rose) gold, purple, fuchsia, and deep-sea indigo. It’s therapeutic to him to feel the coolness of the polish on his nails, plus he likes watching your concentrated expression as you scrutinize your work. This goes the other way too! You love watching him pull your hand closer, add just the right amount of the last coat, smile to himself, and kiss your knuckles. “All done.”

Spa days!! You better believe he’d set out an entire day solely for pampering. You’ll both spend the evening in fluffy/sheer robes, and it gives him an excuse to take a nap while his clay mask dries. Makes the best exfoliates and sugar scrubs, and he usually charms the products so that your skin is feeling extra refreshed and moisturized (literally it’s no wonder his skin is so baby smooth and dewy fresh)

Bubble baths happen on spa days too, but this in itself could be an event on its own. Candles made of flower extract, magic bath bombs with iridescent gems and healing spells, suddy bubble beards and kingdoms of foam when you’re both feeling playful. Faust likes being in the water too, so Asra sets up minature bath for her in a water basin or a floating water orb that shifts in the middle of you two as she nestles in the warmth. You take turns bathing eachother and he loves to help you dry off. He’s a caretaker at heart with his lovers!!

Scheduled naps every other day or weekend. I needn’t go into more detail but... yes I do. He’s the best nap partner but we already knew that. Usually likes being the big spoon of course, but if he ever turns over during his rest you’ll naturally follow eventually, wrapping an arm around his lithe torso and snuggling close, burying yourself in his natural Asra scent. If you’re smaller, you might opt for pressing your cheek against the cushion of his back or shoulder, and if you’re taller you nestle your chin on his fluffy marshmallow hair. He loves to intertwine fingers around stomachs, lazily kiss shoulders and collarbones, and vise versa. Takes his time to get up and stretch out his muscles, but usually resorts to a second nap.

LOVES THUNDERSTORM NAPS

Loooves to try new recipes and ethnic foods he’s scribbled about in his journal from the places he’s traveled. He also has a Pinterest board for all his culinary interests (loves Pinterest btw). He takes over the stirring + prepares desserts while you add base ingredients and spices, invites you to try the techniques he’s been told about. Feeds you samples on a wooden spoon and accidentally gets icing on your cheek so that he can kiss it off. Has a designated apron and everything. When the meals don’t turn out the way he planned, he might just use a charm to make it taste up to par, but this rarely happens hence his refined pallet and being a fast learner. Gets creative!!(Alternatively, I think it’s also very canon for him to think almost anything is good as long as it’s edible, like when he asked himself where he last left his sandwich out on the counter. This boy would eat battery acid if it was covered in cheese.)

He always has a chill playlist humming softly throughout the shop. It can play during opening hours or when you’re both cleaning around the house. I imagine songs like this and/or this....and/or this. :)

Sharing jewelry!! Loves to see you in his chokers and doesn’t normally ask to wear your rings or bracelets, but once you assure him you don’t mind he wears the metals like a lover’s sweater and takes extra good care of them, putting them back in their proper place once he’s done. Holds the chains in his fingers when he’s wearing them while he’s away and thinks of you. Replays memories interlaced in the amulets. Peppers you with compliments when you wear his things and makes a mental note to gift you something similar to the jewels in the future.

On slow business days, he might just close the shop after some convincing from you and perch on anything comfy with a book and tea. Reading days are also very regular. In the afternoon light he flips through what he can while the sunlight still flutters through the windows, and alternates to his salt lamp once the day is over (he has enough lanterns and fairy lights to power a small city). He loves when you get so caught up in a book that you hardly put it down, but when it gets too late in the evening he gently reminds you to get some rest soon, kissing you goodnight and shuffling up the stairs. He’s found you sleeping in the exact same lounge chair you sat in that night in the morning, and he can’t decide whether to lightly scold you or admire how adorable you look with your book half opened on your chest and your head lulled sideways on a fluffy throw pillow. He’s compared you to a tiny sleeping cat or bear cub.

The mere concept of being domestic with you is just as thrilling to him as it is reassuring and grounding. He loves to switch routine, and his airyness is a catalyst for movement and change, but you are the foundational constant in his life. Someone that he can always see as home.

[kentonramsey]

Here's What It's Really Like to Shop For a Wedding Dress at Kleinfeld

After trying on wedding dresses at Carolina Herrera, where the gown I fell in love with and set my heart on practically swallowed me whole (too much fabric, too little person), I was disheartened. I hit up a few more bridal boutiques and chose a wedding date somewhere in between, but would I walk down the aisle naked? I mean, it sure looked like it. My kind-hearted, caring, always-optimistic future mother-in-law had a request: could we go to Kleinfeld? Yes, that Kleinfeld - the one where they film TLC's Say Yes to the Dress. We live in the New York area, so I didn't see why not. As in, yes we could, but would I ever actually book an appointment?

Having watched a few episodes of SYTTD in my lifetime, I was curious about what the whole experience would be like. Would it be fancy-shmancy inside the bridal boutique? Would it be superloud, with brides-to-be, stylists, and maid of honors fussing all over the place? How many girls would say yes to the dress while I was in the store, and furthermore, would they get glasses of champagne delivered if they said yes at 9 a.m? Because that's what time my appointment was at - 9 a.m. So yes, BTW, I did make that appointment.

When I walked into Kleinfeld with my mother-in-law, her sister (aka my future aunt), and my future brother-in-law's girlfriend, I was overwhelmed. Dang, it was really fancy in there. 15 minutes after we entered, the lobby was packed with excited brides and their families waiting to be assigned to a stylist (we'll get to how that works later). It quickly became obvious which customers were fans of SYTTD, because they pointed out and took photos with the stylists whose segments are televised most often.

I found myself a) tired and b) thirsty, as I picked up a Kleinfeld branded water bottle from a table near the threshold of the bridal room floor. I peeked over the mannequins wearing the latest from Pronovias, Hayley Paige, and Pnina Tornai, trying to figure out how this whole system worked, and whether or not I'd get to browse through the racks myself. The fashion editor in me began writing a post in her head: "I Got Trampled By Brides-to-Be at Kleinfeld Trying to Find a Wedding Dress." Seriously, how were all these people going to shop in here at the same time?

Related:

I Went to Bridal Week With a Celebrity Stylist, and Now I Know How to Find My Wedding Dress

The boutique wasn't small by any means, but it appeared to be extremely organized, and there were mirrors facing "stations," if you will, spread out from wall to wall, each one separated by a couch for the bride's guests. The gowns hung on metal supports that lined the walls, each one spaced efficiently for stylists who knew the stock well and could easily recognize a dress by its details. I felt unprepared to step into the well-oiled machine that was before me - this coming from a girl who starts half marathon trail runs outside in the cold at 6:30 a.m. Yes, believe it or not, trying on wedding dresses is more daunting than that.

Eventually, I was greeted by bridal consultant Antonella, who has made many appearances on Say Yes to the Dress. That felt pretty neat! Antonella calmed my nerves as she brought me directly back to my fitting room and handed me a silk robe, introducing herself as my personal stylist and quizzing me about my bridal likes and dislikes. Naturally, I just showed her my Pinterest board, because that's an easy answer to everything, right? She left, and minutes later returned with an intern (yes, you can be a Kleinfeld intern!), plus three gowns.

The next 90 minutes flew by at a speedy pace, so I don't think I was far off at all by comparing this experience to a marathon. While I didn't find a dress, I learned a lot about what it's like to shop at Kleinfeld and gathered a bunch of interesting facts to share with you. By the end of it all, I had made new friends and developed a newfound appreciation for consultants like Antonella, who do a lot to make women from all over the world feel beautiful when they fly into New York just to visit Kleinfeld. Now I understand why so many people end up choosing The One at Kleinfeld. I myself did not say yes to the dress, but at least I said yes to the store, and I'm really glad I did.

Related:

2020 Brides Have Some Stunning Wedding Dress Trends to Choose From

Here's What It's Really Like to Shop For a Wedding Dress at Kleinfeld published first on https://mariakistler.tumblr.com/

[remakethestars]

Tag Game!

Tagged by @iwillbeherespn. 

Nickname(s): Allie. That’s what most everyone uses. 

Zodiac: Pisces. 

Height: 5′0″. Yes, the weather’s nice down here. Please get your arm off my head -- I am nOT AN ARMREST

Time: A quarter to six in the morning (I didn’t sleep). 

Favorite Band/Artist: Noah Kahan. No contest. 

Song Stuck in My Head: “How Do You Sleep?” by Sam Smith. 

Last Movie I Saw: In theaters? Avengers: Endgame, I think. But yesterday, I watched God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness on Netflix. 

Last Thing I Googled: “Rebound” by Abigail Duhon (it’s the second song in the credits of A Light in Darkness). 

Other Blogs: @alexisaraindrop, @illfigureitoutialwaysdo, & @iwanttohearyourlaugh. 

Do I Get Asks?: No. But I definitley wouldn’t mind! 

Why Is My Username?: I came up with a quote in an it’s-three-in-the-morning-and-i-can’t-sleep haze about creating something so great it out-shines the stars. This was before The Greatest Showman came out, BTW. 

Following: Deadass 829 people.

Average Amount of Sleep: Bold of you to assume I sleep. 

Lucky Number: 2. It’s blue. 

What Am I Wearing?: Uh, a black shirt that the cat put a hole in and I darned with blue, purple, and yellow embroidery threads; a pair of black leggings with a hole in the knee I darned and another hole I’ve yet to tackle; and a pair of black, fuzzy socks that belonged to my great grandma. 

Dream Job: Not having to work; I’m lazy AF. 

Dream Trip(s): I dunno. I’m from the country, but I guess I never really imagined going anywhere. Alaska seems like the plot of a horror movie, but my grandma always talks about how much she liked it there, so I don’t think I’d mind going there. 

Favorite Food: I have to pick just one? For a meal, stromboli. For a dessert, Mamaw’s chocolate chip cookies. Oh --! I don’t usually have breakfast because I find it difficult to eat in the morning, but if I do, blueberry muffins with some lemon zest (there no good if you don’t melt butter over them while they’re cooling and sprinkle on some sugar). 

Instraments I Play: I learn to play the ukulele off and on. I can only do one strum pattern.

Eye Color: Gray. But I have central heterochromia, so sometimes, they look green. 

Hair Color: Brown. 

Aesthetic: Overpacking, cracking your neck loudly without touching it, running your hand through water with your fingers splayed, turning the toilet paper roll around to face the right direction, turning the music up when a good song comes on, forgetting to turn it back down, figuring out technology for the older generations, offering others a pocketknife when they need to open something, hitting the target on the first try, saying “Hmm?” when someone asks a question because whatever they were saying wasn’t interesting thirty seconds ago and you stopped listening, silently staring out the window, surprising people just by being yourself, saying something at the same time as someone else, writing and highlighting in your own books, unabashedly correcting someone’s grammar IRL, using both shift keys, shameless self-promo -- You know what, I have an aesthetic board on Pinterest; why don’t you just check that out? 

Languages I Speak: English. But I know a little ASL (American Sign Language), and I’m learning Español and Français on Duolingo (it’s free). 

Most Iconic Song: I don’t understand this question. The song I think is the most iconic? Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” obviously. 

Random Fact: I have associating grapheme-color synesthesia. Letters and numbers appear in color in my head. I never knew what it was called or that other people had it until my grandma found mention of it in a book on the brain she was reading and said, “Oh, that sounds like what Allie’s always talking about.” 

I Tag: No one. I don’t like making people feel like they’re obligated to do things. 

[additionallysad]

Easy Makeover: Taking A Neutral Living Room From Plain To Polished http://ift.tt/2o41tth

I love a baller room makeover as much as the next person (Lisa Vanderpump’s closet? I could stare at it for HOURS), but scrapping all of your existing stuff and completely overhauling every nook and cranny of your room isn’t always realistic, especially if you don’t have a Housewives-sized budget. Sometimes using what you have and just getting a few new things to revive the entire room is the sweet spot (have I mentioned how much fun I had staging my friend’s house to sell a few weeks ago?!). So when my best friend asked for some help with her bare bones living room, I immediately started shouting out ideas and scribbling sketches like a lone weirdo playing solo Pictionary.

You can see where we started below shortly after they moved in. Pretty sparse with just a rug, sofa, armchair, and tufted ottoman. It’s their “formal” living room, so the TV and big cozy sectional is elsewhere – but this room still gets lots of use (by the kiddos, for holiday entertaining, for spirited adult game nights, etc). After the move she was feeling so underwhelmed by how her existing stuff looked, she actually had convinced herself everything needed to be craigslisted so she could start over.

In her mind that felt like the only option since she was so tired of the things she had, and she just couldn’t imagine them ending up in a space she truly LOVED. But her current reality = three young kids (and a cat). So after some pretty deep talks about what we coined “that sticky fingers and rogue Cheerio dust life” – all off which will be around for at least five more years – she realized she would much rather wait a few more years to update her sofa and rug with something awesome that her kids would probably be a lot nicer to when they’re a little older.

Enter Captain Optimism stage right (that’s me, btw – my other aliases include Sergeant Enthusiasm and Petty Officer Peppy).  I was all “Woah, woah, woah – this stuff is neutral enough that it can work with anything! Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater.” Then we took a long conversational detour to discuss how weird that whole baby/bathwater expression is, but eventually circled back to the task at hand: me successfully convincing her to Tim Gunn it in there (aka: make it work).

By just moving in some stuff she already owned and purchasing a couple of accent chairs, a pair of super inexpensive bookshelves, and three pieces of art that she adores – we breathed a ton of new life into her old stuff (btw, her neutral sofa and armchair are more tan and less pink in person than they look in these pics). Plus everything we added will not only work with this existing stuff, but should she replace their seating or their rug down the line, well, these new pieces will play nicely with whatever else she chooses.

The main “projects” in the room were the gold display shelves flanking the couch. They were a DIY effort that we tackled together and they only required two $50 Ikea shelves, this gold spray paint (the primer is built-in so it’s just one step, and it’s the best gold color I’ve found), and this marble contact paper. As for the how-to details, after we assembled the frames of each bookshelf (leaving the actual shelves aside), we spray painted both of them with a few thin and even coats of gold spray paint and allowed them to cure outside for two days so they wouldn’t stink up the house or get dinged up when we brought them inside.

Here’s a detail of the bottom shelf (you can see the top shelf in the pic above). All of the middle shelves are glass, but the top and bottom were solid metal – so when we dressed them up with the marbleized contact paper, we only covered the visible side of each one. It was sorta like wrapping a present where you just fold an inch or so of excess around the backside of each one. The contact paper didn’t affect the fit, so they still slid right into place. It was an idea that she found on Pinterest a while back and had always wanted to try – and it could not have been easier.

The other high-impact addition was the art. The large piece on the back wall is this photograph from Minted (in the 40 x 30″ size with the whitewashed herringbone frame – my favorite of theirs). The other two that were added to the mix are Paris View and Day in Paris (both 24 x 18″ with the same whitewashed frame).

The art was definitely the splurge (the total for all three pieces came to around $480 with a discount code that we googled) but thanks to such inexpensive Ikea bookcases, and the fact that they kept their existing sofa/chair/rug/ottoman instead of rebuying any major pieces, the makeover still came in under budget. Best of all the art has become their new favorite thing in the room, especially because of what it represents to them. She and her husband go to France once a year (he goes for business, and she gets to tag along for fun) so they love having a little bit of France in their living room. I know, I’m jealous too. #NeverBeenToEurope

The funny thing is that everyone who walks into the room says “Woah, that’s such a cool picture of your husband!!!” because he wears a bright orange jacket like that all the time. So people literally think the guy in the foreground is him, which leads to some pretty hilarious “I can’t believe you think I can take a picture like that!” revelations from my BFF. Sometimes she’s like “oh, you know, just a little snap I got on my phone...”

Also: this is Kitty Purry (named after Katie Perry’s cat by their oldest child). I like her because she matches the art. Also because she’s a sweet kitty who only occasionally makes my eyes itch thanks to my stellar cat-intolerant genetics.

Let’s bring it back around to the before shot one more time, just to show one last “zone” that we added to fill out the room.

The only other purchases for the room were the two $65 ghost chairs that we added on the exposed edge of the rug, which help the seating area feel more complete and extra functional (now we can squeeze in two more butts on game night). They actually already owned two of these acrylic chairs in their dining room, so I just dragged them in here to test them out. We liked that the clear acrylic lets your eye travel through them (if they were larger or more solid it might feel like a jarring “wall” of chairs in your face). Once they were sold on the look, they just ordered two more so they weren’t short on dining room chairs. And that side table between them? That’s a basket they already had turned upside down. How’s that for using what you have?

We also brought in (and anchored!) a leaning mirror they already owned for one last hit of gold in the room. She got it a few years ago at West Elm, but it’s back in stock in brass (it tends to go in and out, so here’s a similar one on Wayfair). And for the accessories on the shelves, we just used stuff she had around the house – some magazines stacked horizontally, framed photos, boxes, vases, and these perfectly-sized lamps that put out a nice glow at night. Most of their books live on built-ins in the other room, so these shelves got to be more decorative and light.

For anyone else who is faced with bare shelves, or crazy cluttered ones, my best shelf-styling tip would be that a few larger scale items are better than a bunch of little busy or piddly looking ones, and I love decorative boxes, stacks of mags and books, framed photos, and a few vases – perhaps with some cheap grocery store flowers if you’re feeling fancy (we paid $4 total for the two bunches that you see in the after pics).

Here’s a little board full of ideas if you’re looking to fill out your shelves with items other than the books & magazines you already have on hand:

1 / 2 / 3 /4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16

This probably isn’t the last time you’ll see this house (you’ve actually already seen their son’s room, and we’re slowly working with them on a bunch more). But I just couldn’t wait to share this tale of turning a room’s frown upside down with just a few new items. Total time spent: around 5 hours including planning, measuring, assembling, spray painting, marble-papering, ordering things online, and hanging prints. Taking a detail shot for the post just as Kitty Purry saunters by: priceless.

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