Chasing Cherry Blossoms

We are well into the New Year, 4 months to be precise. There were so many things I wanted to do this year. For that matter, every year!! 😛 Have I done everything that was on my list? Nope. Will I ever be able to do everything? Mmmm, maybe not. And that’s the one thing that I’m learning to make peace with. That it’s ok to leave some items unchecked in my to-do list. Sometimes, we are too hard on ourselves that we tend to not look at what we have and what we have done. I’m trying to learn to change that attitude and cultivate the habit of being content with what I can do and make the most of it. Every day is a blessing, and here I am mentally ruining my otherwise perfect day by clouding my mind with negative thoughts without realizing that! And that’s when I found this exercise really helpful in staying positive and appreciating small things in life: writing down one thing I’m grateful for, every day after I wake up or go to sleep. One of my fav bloggers, Monica, wrote a blogpost about it here. Give that a try, I’m sure you will see a difference in your attitude!

Now that I’m done sharing my wisdom :P, let’s talk about all the cherry blossoms that have been blooming here in Cali! Every street is so beautiful here, I have mentally noted down a 1000 different places that I need to go to and take pictures of. The weather is so perfect, just the right amount of heat and all my dresses and jumpsuits are back from the attic! 😀 One thing I realized is that, half of my clothes don’t fit me anymore and I’m planning to finally inaugurate the sewing machine that I had gotten last year and alter them! I’ll update you on how that goes (I’m a newbie). But anyways, out of the clothes that fit me, I picked this gorgeous jumpsuit that I had gotten back in 2013 (WHAT!) from India and wore it for this photoshoot. I paired it up with super bright accessories like yellow bag and shoes and this blue statement earrings!

Two things I learnt from this photoshoot – 1) Always get clothes from good brands so that they last longer (5 years in my case) 2) Try to get clothes that have a forgiving silhouette so that you don’t have to alter them incase you go up/down one/two sizes.

For the first case, I learnt the lesson the hard way. If you go back and read my older blog posts, most of the clothes that I had purchased were from fast fashion brands like Forver21, H&M, Zaful, Shein etc. Now, depending on the material, they are bound to wear out in about 4-5 washes. So invest in quality clothing so that they last you much longer and you don’t have to throw/rebuy that often. For the second case, choosing silhouettes like shift dresses, Jumpsuits, loose wide-legged pants are always a safe option. You can use a statement belt to clinch the waist and give the dress some shape if you wish.

Here are some brands that I have tried and tested to be long-lasting in the last one/two seasons. Notice, not all of them are ethical and sustainable brands, but what I’ve realized is that as long as I buy stuff on a “NEED” basis and not a “WANT” basis, it works for me!

Express, LOFT for office wear, dresses

PACT, FairIndigo for basic tees, leggings