Advanced Details

One of the biggest trends in street style photography is capturing great detail shots and accessories. The ladies I photograph all tell me that accessories have the power to transform an outfit from ordinary to extraordinary. These women have had time to amass wonderful adornments and can easily mix and match them with any outfit. What are your favorite accessories?

Navigating Road Blocks with Faith

     Road blocks are part of life. Two steps forward, three steps back. Sometimes it seems like the detours take you so far out of the way you don’t even recognize the path you were on when you finally get back to it because everything has changed. Even the most perfectly laid plans can be destroyed in an instance. In the blink of an eye…someone dies, a job is lost, a job is found, and everything can change.

      I used to scoff at the people that I would encounter when I made my sporadic visits to church. You know the ones. They jump up in front of everyone and give testimony about how the L0rd spoke to them personally. “Look at me! Look at me!“ One person went so far as to say G0d told them to do cartwheels in church.  For a long time I was doubtful and cynical. In my opinion they just wanted attention…period. G0d had never wasted His precious time on me…he had bigger fish to fry. That was my opinion then.

      One Thanksgiving morning I went to the grocery store to get a newspaper. I managed to fall flat on my face in the parking lot tearing my favorite pants. Unfortunately, from that day on I experienced pain in my leg that became progressively worse. It got to a point where I had moments of paralysis and pain. I spent months running to doctors and therapists finally finding myself with back surgery looming. With pain a constant companion, I buried myself between the covers of my Bible. I withdrew into myself and had a heart to heart with G0d. I put the whole situation into His capable hands praying for the strength to get me through it and be able to take care of my children in the aftermath. If I never walked again, so be it. I just wanted the strength to survive and persevere through whatever I needed to.

 

     It seemed I was destined for back surgery and I fretted about how I was going to handle life alone once my husband went back on the road. When it was time for my pre-op appointment, I returned to the surgeon. After examining me he sat down and took my hand. He looked me straight in the eye and told me I no longer needed surgery with a smile that lit up the whole room. The herniated disk and pinched nerve had miraculously healed themselves. He had no other explanations on how this could have occurred. I cried the whole way home thanking G0d for healing me. It was the first time in my life I really knew G0d was present for me. He has been an obvious presence ever since. Not just a force that took my parents from me, but an almighty presence that watches over me, helps me, and does provide in all ways. Even when writer’s block rears its nasty head, He provides the words and they flow.

      Since that time, my faith has grown to overwhelming proportions. Prayers are answered. Lessons are learned. Roadblocks are overcome. Strength is given. I may not have a lot, but I have all I need. Amazingly enough, I get it now. I have faith, and I believe. Until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.

The Advanced Style Book:Available For Preorder on Amazon

Today there is a wonderful write up about me in the New York Times Style Section--My grandma would be so proud!You can read the entire article online HERE . Also my book, due out Spring 2012, is now available for preorder on Amazon, HERE. It will be full of photos, style quotes from your favorite advanced stylistas and a great interview between Ilona Royce Smithkin and Dita Von Teese.

I just got off the phone with 100 year old Ruth from yesterday's post. She called to congratulate me on the Times article and tell me about her birthday trip to Bermuda. I can't wait to see the pics!!!

Wordless Wednesday: Here Come the Pumpkins!!

Advanced Style Profile of a 100 Year Old Lady

To my great surprise,I ran into Ruth just days before her 100th birthday. She had just gotten out of Pilates class on the Upper West Side, when I spotted her. She told me that she was getting ready to cruise off to Bermuda with her boyfriend in a few days. Ruth's motto is to celebrate everyday and to not look at the calendar. She likes simple and elegant clothes paired with great accessories. Ruth's best advice comes straight from an old Arden campaign which reads, " If you want to look this good when you are 40, start when you are 20." Check out the video below for more words of wisdom from this amazing 100 year old woman.

ATV’s, Golf Carts, and Utility Trailers!!

     My husband has a 4 wheeler that basically sits and takes up space in the garage.  Occasionally he will give my son rides when he is home, but the rest of the time it simply takes up space.  It was a toy that he had to have.  I wondered where exactly he planned to ride it when he bought it but knew better than to voice my opinion.  Sometimes it is just better to keep my big mouth shut no matter how much I am wondering why.


      Since you can’t ride ATV’s on the highway, there is no choice but to get a utility trailer to haul it to somewhere you can.  We have an old utility trailer which has seen better days and is currently used for everything from a holder of outside toys and junk to a make shift deck by the pool in the summer time.  Yes, I have actually set lawn chairs on the old rusty thing and hung it with party lights!!  When I made a big fuss about the fact that only he would be riding the 4 wheeler, and I would be alongside the road watching…he suggested I get a “toy” too.  The only problem is that when I was much younger I was thrown from a 4 wheeler and that kind of ruined me for getting to adventurous again. 

     On a past camping trip to a local campground we had rented a golf cart and had a blast riding it everywhere.  Not only that, when we visited Put In Bay, Ohio and Kelley’s Island on our honeymoon we had cruised everywhere on the island on a golf cart.  So when pressed what kind of toy I wanted, I threw out there the notion of getting a golf cart.  To be honest, I never really entertained the notion that we would ever buy one.  To my complete surprise, when tax refund time rolled around, my husband went shopping for golf carts and bought me a used model that just happened to have all the bells and whistles.  It has become a highlight of our family time together because whenever my husband is home and the weather is decent, we take the kids for a cruise of the neighborhood.

     Since the old utility trailer is minus lights, has seen better days, and has become part holder of outdoor toys and make shift deck, it may be a good idea to go shopping for utility trailers in the future.  With a new utility trailer, we would be all set to take the 4 wheeler or golf cart to a cool location for a day of fun kicking up mud or cruising the countryside.  It is definitely something to think about!! Until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.

The Wizard of Oz: Under the Microscope

     Like everyone else, I grew up watching the Wizard of Oz on television eagerly looking forward to every single airing.  When it came out on videocassette I made sure to snatch up a copy.  It is a movie that’s legend will live on forever freezing Judy Garland in time as the one and only “Dorothy.    I have to admit that when I was a little kid there were parts of that movie that really scared the be Je$u$ out of me and held the magical mystical power to leave me mesmerized.

       It took me forever to realize that Dorothy actually hit her head and dreamed this whole little adventure!  Even when she woke up at the end with her Auntie Em and Uncle Henry surrounding her bed I didn’t catch on.  It blows my mind now to realize just how dense I was.  Talk about head up the a$$ syndrome taking its toll.  Ahh, innocence!!!  Kids today aren’t so easily fooled and have more marbles rolling around upstairs than I ever could have hoped to have at that age.  


       In my impressionable youth I never once contemplated that the witch was eliminated by Dorothy throwing water on her head.  Today it was raining  while I waited for the school bus with my son and I got to thinking….that witch must have never had a bath if water was lethal to her.  Think how that woman must have reeked!!  I mean seriously, her skin was green!!  What powerful leverage to convince kids to take a bath!! You don’t wash, your skin will turn green like the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz!!  There was a reason why everyone started dancing and singing “Ding Dong the Wicked Witch is Dead!!”  Not only was she meaner than snot, but she had to reek too.  I will have to give her credit, that witchy screechy laugh of hers is stereotypically nails on the chalkboard fabulous.

        When I was a little kid I was terrified of the flying monkeys.  Do you remember that scene where the witch is in the window looking out and a million monkeys are flying by??  That segment used to freak me out.  The monkeys then proceed to swoop down and start tearing the scarecrow to smithereens.  Maybe the kids of today wouldn’t be horrified by a scarecrow head laying on the ground screaming with all his straw all around him, but I was!!!  

        There is one point that really gets me  and I just realized it.  Glenda, the good witch of the North knew all along  that all Dorothy had to do was tap her heels and repeat “There is no place like home” three times and she would be right back to good ole black and white Kansas.  I realize that the movie would have been a lot shorter if she would have shared that with the class in the beginning, but how infuriating for Dorothy!!  If I would have been Dorothy, I may have had to wipe that simpering smile off her face by kicking her butt clear back to Munchkin Land with my magical ruby slippers, especially after having the $hit scared out of me by the flying monkeys and that smelly old green witch melting before my eyes! Just saying!  

     The story was written to reveal a moral and highlight what Dorothy had learned from her adventures which is sadly lacking in today’s movies.  “The “Wizard of Oz” will always be a timeless example of the progress the production of motion pictures had made in those early years.  It was 1939’s technological breakthrough that wowed the world only comparable to the present day effects of “Avatar”!  Even though decades have passed, the fanciful timelessness of the story continues to captivate audiences of all ages to this day.  Until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.

Real Vintage

Sometimes our most cherished items are ones that we have held on to throughout the years. Many of the women I stop to photograph proudly announce how long they have had a certain dress or wonderful vintage accessory. I told this woman that I take street style photographs and she immediately smiled and told me that her dress was probably older than I was.

The 11 Halloween Pumpkin Coloring Pages

The 11 Hhalloween Pumpkin Coloring Pages

Tasty Tuesday: Calzone

As a special treat, occasionally I will make a home made Calzone for supper.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Pizza Dough

1 package of yeast

1 Cup warm water

1 TBSP sugar

2 TBSP vegetable oil

1 tsp salt

2 3/4 to 3 1/4 cups flour

Dissolve the yeast in warm water.  Stir in sugar, oil, salt, and I cup of flour.  Beat ingredients until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.  Place in a greased bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place until almost double, about 30 minutes.

1 can tomato sauce

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1 clove garlic, crushed

Mix the above ingredients together to make the sauce.  Prepare pizza pan by spraying with non stick spray.  Roll dough out into big circle and place on pizza pan.  

1 pound hamburger or Italian sausage browned and crumbled

1 onion chopped

pepperoni slices

mushrooms sliced

1 green pepper chopped

mozzarella cheese

Arrange your choice of pizza toppings on half the circle of dough.  When finished, fold dough over to make one large Calzone.  Seal the dough by pinching with fingertips.

Beat one egg and brush across the dough.  Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown.  Slice and serve!

Bon Appetit'!

Judgment

      When I was little, I discovered just how hurtful others judgments could be. Kids are cruel, plain and simple. No matter how much a school preaches about a no bully tolerance, a lot of teasing and bullying still goes on. As I have grown older I have found that where people congregate, hate, gossip, and judgment will follow. Maybe that is why I am such a loner and why I stay home and keep to myself. I have never went in for treating others in that fashion no matter how deserving they may be.

      My parents brought me up to treat others as I would like to be treated. If there is nothing nice to say about someone, it is better to say nothing at all. I believe the old saying with conviction that what goes around will come around. Is it up to us mere mortals to exact judgment and the ultimate punishment on another?? Somehow, I just can’t bring myself to think so. I was the little girl that was teased constantly. I was to short, had glasses, and because of a small upper palette my front teeth never came in like they were supposed to. I was the only eighth grader with no front teeth. I went through surgeries to correct the problem only to discover that my front teeth were deformed. One day I left school without teeth and returned with a partial plate. Don’t think that didn’t open me up for a whole lot more ridicule. I was a freak, undeserving of friendship, and wide open for torment. There were plenty of people that had no problem stepping up to the plate. After a while, they grew bored with it…and their neglect was almost worse than the constant ridicule.

 

      There was a time in my life when I was filled with so much hatred and anger that it consumed me. I wanted the people who tormented me to pay dearly for the hurtful way they had treated me. I tried to take the matter into my own hands welding my own brand of judgment and censure and in the end the whole mess began to eat me alive and blow up in my face. Finally, while reading my Bible I discovered the all powerful truth that G0d carries the almighty judgment over us all. His judgment is far fairer than mine could ever be as He can see all sides and knows all things. He has more compassion and love for everyone than any person could imagine. Still, he passes judgment in His time, not ours.  It is designed to be a wake up call. It is a call for submission to all that is right and good. Evil isn’t tolerated forever, and no one is given more than they can handle. I have learned that everything that happens has a reason. Whether good or bad, we are to take that knowledge and learn from it. It shapes the people we are and become.

     Although we all make split judgments about everything from people’s appearances, what's for supper, television shows, and even whether a song sucks a$$ or something is the next best thing to sliced bread, is any one of us really qualified to judge another? When assigned this challenge this week, one bible passage instantly sprang into mind where Je$u$ forgave an adulterous woman. Everyone was out for her blood, ready to stone her. He basically stood up for her and said “Fine, whomever is perfect here and without sins and faults can throw the first stone!” That got their attention, and no one stepped up to the plate. 

    What about the evil soul who is attacking innocents?? Who is there for them? Do they ever finally get what they deserve? In my opinion, they are already getting it or they wouldn’t be so miserable and so quick to spew their venom on others. Ultimately, the same almighty presence that is there for all of us is also there for them. What goes around comes around, and when it does, I surely don’t want it biting me in the a$$ too. I have been the tormented, and have no desire to be the tormentor. I have even less desire to be the judge. I don’t have to associate with those that choose to act that way and I don’t.  I will leave that to someone bigger than I and keep my big mouth shut. Until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.

Corey Lynn Calter Loves Advanced Style

Last Spring I met designer Corey Lynn Calter and team, for lunch in the West Village, and an idea was born. They were inspired by the style and spirit of ladies, like Ilona Royce Smithkin(above), and thought it would be great fun to have them self style the CLC collection for a small shoot. We called up 91 year old artist and performer, Ilona Royce Smithkin, and she thought this sounded like a grand idea.

[Video by Lina Plioplyte]

After Mary,one of Advanced Style's chicest ladies, agreed as well, we started planning two exciting days of shooting.Mary was a real sport, shooting in over 100 degree weather, but keeping her cool the whole time. Ilona and Mary had a wonderful time making the clothes their own. They added their signature accessories,mixed and matched pieces to their liking,and used their years of fashion experience to style magnificent outfits.Check out the video of Ilona, above, explaining why Corey's designs can be worn by women of all ages.