Outfit • Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty

OOTD Soft Kitty Warm Kitty (28) OOTD Soft Kitty Warm Kitty (18) OOTD Soft Kitty Warm Kitty (27) OOTD Soft Kitty Warm Kitty (29) OOTD Soft Kitty Warm Kitty (14) OOTD Soft Kitty Warm Kitty (08)

Tee: Softcat (Lodz‘s employer) / Blazer: H&M / Jeans: Fashion Union / Shoes: TopShop / Bag: New Look

The last few weeks I’ve been battling with illness and depression, which is so hard. If you’ve ever suffered from depression you’ll know that it is so paralysing. You can’t move, you can’t think straight, you can’t make sense of the world around you. Seeing the silver lining isn’t even an option because there’s no choice. When you suffer from depression, it doesn’t need any trigger, it just catches you off-guard and no one canreally help you because it’s all in your head. But telling yourself that it’s just in your head doesn’t make the voices and feelings go away.

Crawling out of that hole is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I’m still crawling. It feels like I’ve dropped into a well and I’m struggling to crawl up the walls. Screaming for help doesn’t help. I know I need to do this on my own. So I crawl. And my fingers slip and I have to start all over. The easiest thing can throw you back into the deep end.

The amount of times I’ve had to pull myself out of that hole. You think that makes the next time easier to deal with. But it doesn’t. Instead all the new stuff AND the old stuff comes back and hits you in the face.

It ruthlessly makes you doubt everything you are, everything you’ve done. Every single decision that you’ve taken to be where you are, regardless of how minor the decision was. You question it all. And then you question the plan that you’ve got in your head where you want to go, the path that you’re on.

I wish I could’ve brought you a happier post, but this just needed to be… I just needed to air how I feel.

Maria xoxo

HOLY SH*T, I’ve Been SHORTLISTED!!!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Can you believe it? I bloody can’t! I really, really, really can’t believe that I’ve been shortlisted for the Company Style Blogger Awards 2013! I cannot believe it. Seriously! I literally screamed when I found out!

I’ve been shortlisted for the ‘Best Use of Photography‘ which is such an insanely huge honour that it literally made me cry. I know I don’t have the most amazing style or the most awesome figure, face or long legs. I’m a realist and I know in terms of fashion blogging II’m a nobody and that’s ok. There are so, so many amazing fashion bloggers out there who I admire and wish I could swap bodies and lives with for a day!

Being nominated for photography, that’s sooooo amazing! I work so hard on improving my pictures constantly, getting the best camera, lenses and software programmes and I try my best to share that knowledge with you guys so that it makes your lives easier. SO THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR NOMINATING ME!

please, please, please vote for me

I’m in the 10th Category.

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you ♥♥♥

Maria xoxo

Outfit Inspiration / Wishlist • Festival, Date & Shopping

With being so ill over the last week, I’ve been cheering myself up with browsing a million and two websites with the most beautiful clothes. But it’s sometimes so overwhelming – the million and two retailers out there. SO TIME CONSUMING! And though I had plenty of time to kill, I’m also the most impatient person ever!

Have you heard of ShopStyle or Uniprice though? WHY DID NO ONE EVER TELL ME ABOUT THESE?!?! I found these two sites from surfing and I’m so freaking happy I did because basically they list like loads of products from other online retailers all in one go and you can sort it any way you like and find what you need in a really neat overview. You MUST check those sites out.

So having that kind of overview, it was really hard to resist spending any money, but I’m just too broke right now :(

BUT it was so much easier to put together outfit inspiration collages!

collage 2

I’m not going to a festival this year, but I am going to quite a few stadium gigs (Muse with Lodz and Robbie Williams with my mum and one of my best friends Helen). God I’m really hoping it’ll be nice and warm! I’m an early queuing kind of girl, because of my acute lack of height! So if it’s nice and warm it’s practically like a festival, right?

I’m not sure whether these things work together, but then again for a gig or festival it’s all about being comfortable right? I have to say I was well surprised to find out that that wicked pair of shorts is from Matalan!

See, websites like ShopStyle or Uniprice are sooo useful! Wouldn’t have thought of looking on Matalan‘s website.

collage 1

I love monochrome, I always have. Black & white are just beautiful together. But I’m not huuuge on those B&W prints (unless they’re aztec) – I rather wear all black with a pop of colour or like this, alternating black & white.

This outfit I think can work both for a date as well as for work. Weird, right? Or maybe I’m wrong? I don’t know! Maybe the Boohoo leather skirt would be better replaced with a different fabric skirt and the New Look bag be replaced too?

collage 3

This gotta be my favourite outfit. I just realised though looking at the collage that I probably wouldn’t wear those sandals with that playsuit, because I hate the way my legs look in flat shoes. I’d probably wear that outfit with some New Look wedge sandals.

Do make sure you check out the two websites as well as places like Lookbook and Pinterest if you’re looking for outfit inspiration as well as some savings :)

Maria xoxo