Style Pearls // Making an effort

 I don't know if you can relate, but it seems that there's this style learning curve I've gone through while working from home. At first, I was all about staying in my PJ's all day, sometimes not even leaving the house for a couple of days. Then, I got sort of sick and tired of wearing the same slacking off clothes each and every day, but wasn't motivated enough to do anything about it. And now, I'm slowly getting back into a rhythm of getting at least somewhat dressed every day. I even did my hair and make-up yesterday. I would only expect this to bounce back to getting dressed most days, and looking like a normal working human being again. 

What I've learned from this experience is that I love comfort, but I hate frumpy. Which means, I'm all about jeans with cool sweaters, and wearing comfy yet stylish dresses, but spending days on end in sweatpants will have a negative impact on my self-confidence in the long run. So, while it may be awesome to spend a day in my nighties once in a while, it's not at all awesome when I do it every day.

 The second thing I've learned is that not only does the way I dress influence my self-confidence, it also has an impact on my mood and my productivity level. I feel so much more productive when I get dressed and pull myself together. It sort of says to my brain that I mean business. That I'm not just going to goof off all day, or perhaps get a couple of things done "when I get around to it". It really sets the tone for my day, and I''m making an effort to start my days with lots of action. 

So, while I still gravitate towards comfort, I'm slowly building a new style for myself. I think whenever we make a huge transition, whether it's from an office job to a work-from-home situation, or staying home with kids, it takes some time to get used to the new routine, and it's implications to our style as well. It's not just about adjusting to a new work/life schedule, it's also about making those adjustments in other areas of life, including what we wear daily. 

Wearing // Sweater - from a clothing swap party / Jeans - gift from Mom / Top - thrifted / Shoes - thrifted and restyled / Earrings and necklace - DIY

On a completely other note, I'm still writing this on Blogger, so I haven't made the switch to Wordpress yet. It's taking longer than expected to set up my hosting and get all the ducks in a row before I can transfer the blog. But, it will probably happen before the end of the week. So, whenever you happen to visit the site, and see a weird message or something that's a bit off, just know it's ok, and the blog will be up and running like normal in no time. 

I'm excited, but super nervous about this transition. It's a whole new platform to learn, but I'm confident it's the right move.

Also, thank you all  who have given me much-needed feedback, and who have tried to help me with my job-search. You are seriously the most supportive internet friends out there!

xo. Hanna

How to repair flaking pleather shoes with fabric

Today I'm waving my thrifty-gal flag loud and proud. This is the sort of project my husband would look at in disbelief when we first started dating. Why on earth, would he say, would you try and repair a pair of 5€ thrifted shoes? The answer is very simple. Because I can!

I was actually stoked when I found these gorgeous Oxford style heels for just 5€ in a reuse center. They looked in a good condition at that point. I walked out smiling thinking I'd just gotten a pretty good deal. You know the feeling, right? I even had the heeltaps changed. So, you can probably understand my disappointment when I noticed how the faux leather just peeled off after only a couple of wears. Well, at this point I was a little pissed that I'd just spend around 12€ on a pair I could only wear 2 times. So, I decided I would just have to fix it.

Fabric seemed like the perfect solution for these, as I'd seen others use fabric to cover shoes before. A layer of fabric would be just thin enough to cover the leather without adding bulk or being all that noticeable. And, it would also be flexible enough to bend with the shoe. It's a great way to repair this type of flaking problem on pleather shoes.

Here's what I used:

• Paper and pencil
• Scissors
• Fabric
• Embroidery thread
• Mod Podge + brush
• E6000 glue

1) I started by peeling off all the loose flakes of pleather.

2) Then, I used a piece of paper and pencil to trace a pattern of the middle pleather piece I was about to cover. It was a bit tricky to follow the curve of the shoe, but cutting a few slashes into the paper made it much easier.

3) Once I was pretty sure I had a good draft ready, I cut it out and placed it on on half of the pleather piece to check the fit and make necessary changes.

4) When the final pattern piece was ready, I could cut out the fabric pieces (on the fold). I cut the fabric about 0.5cm bigger than the pattern piece to account for possible mistakes that I could still have made during drafting.

5) Then, I cover the pleather with Mod Podge, applying it generously.

6) I applied the fabric to the shoe and used  the Mod Podge and brush to flatten it into place and make sure it was adhered to the pleather. Then, I cut the fabric edges to match the pleather piece underneath it, and let the glue dry.

7) To cover up the edge of the fabric for a neater overall look, I braided two long ribbons from black embroidery thread. One slightly thicker than the other. I just did double strands of thread for the thicker one. I used super glue (like E6000) to glue the braid to the shoe, covering the fabric edge. In case you're wondering, I always use a toothpick to apply glue with precision. I knotted both the start and the end of the braid ribbon. The end is easy to knot once you're about 4cm away from the finish-line.

I'm so proud to have rescued these shoes, and happy I can keep wearing them. I'll let you know how this treatment holds up, but so far so good. It's fun to think of how my own thriftiness has evolved. I used to apply it to only clothes, but by now it's taken over almost all aspects of my life. And of course, my husband has more than gotten used to it. Just yesterday he asked me if I'd like to keep the empty ice cream containers for a project. I love you, hun! And, yes, of course I would.

Have you ever tried to repair shoes at home? If not, do you think you would ever? Let me know in the comments!

xo. Hanna

A latte thoughts, a latte talk & a latte feelings

Did you know that although I'm a self-proclaimed coffee lover I actually only drink Café Latte? I make them at home and drink about 3 a day.

Come, pour yourself a cup of jo and have a seat. I feel as if we haven't really had time to catch up lately. I've been busy. You've probably also been busy, right? I miss our little chats and so I thought it was time to do something about that.

I've shared bits and pieces of my business lately, like how I enrolled in B-School, and how the blog is doing financially, and how taking myself more seriously has had some unexpected results, but I haven't really talked about how I'm doing, have I? So what's Hanna up to these days?

I feel like every day is a sort of a roller coaster for me. There are good days (mostly the sunny ones) where I feel full of energy to create, and photograph, and most of all, am hopeful that things will fall into place - that somehow an opportunity will arise that will lead us into an easier situation. But then there are also days where it's not that easy. Those mornings when I wish the alarm clock would just shut up and I could sleep for hours on end, and not do anything. But, I know that is not who I am, and that is not what's going to make me happy. So, I drag myself out of bed every morning and start doing what's on my list. Some days are more successful than others, but I know that no matter what, at least I'll have done something by the end of the night. And that, as I've learned, is what makes me tick - creative time and ticking things of the list.

I've been digging deeper into who I am these past few days. Not that I didn't know who I was before, but to analyze certain sides of me. We had an assignment for B-School that entailed finding out our biggest strengths by way of doing a test and also asking our friends what they thought our biggest strengths were. Reading the results was like looking into a mirror. I always new I had those qualities, but seeing them written out and explained was sort of liberating. It was like I was being given permission to be who I am. Even more, I was celebrated for traits I had disliked at times, like my over-achiever quality, my constant stream of ideas and the need to always be after something new. Sometimes it makes me feel as if I'm all over the place and don't know what I really want. I could finally see how good these qualities really are, and how much they can help me get to where I want to be, if I learn to use them to my advantage. I think that's the biggest gain from studying yourself with these sorts of tests - they help you make sense of how you could best use the qualities and personality traits you have. It's a constant process of self-discovery and affirmation. And, day by day, I feel better about my multi-passionate over-achiever self. Who says you can only pursue one passion? Or do one thing in life?

These days, my time pretty much consist of doing projects and writing for the blog, doing B-School, trying to develop the business from all angles possible, and singing in between. There's a lot of behind the scenes stuff that I don't share on the blog, mostly because it's simple boring. Like developing ad programs, finding exposure opportunities and ways to better grow my business. Snooze.... But, you know what? It's actually the perfect balance of all my passions grammed into one day. And that's something I'm hugely grateful for. Despite the tough times.

There are two things I miss about working outside of home, though. The first is the interactions with people. I love talking! I love communicating (which was actually also one of my top 5 strengths according to both the test and my friends)! I need to grow this blog fast so I could hire an assistant already. Ha, just kidding! It's probably going to take a few years until I can afford that.

The other thing is getting dressed and doing my hair and make-up. I know, I could still do that, but it's so easy to be lazy and just throw something on in the morning rather than put together an outfit, much less mess with my hair and put on make-up. But, I'm slowly making progress.

As for the outside job front, so far I've only had bad news. I've had nothing but rejection letters coming my way. I'm currently looking at babysitter jobs, but I'm getting rejections from those as well. Man, those Germans just can't give me a break. I'm actually pretty smart, and funny, and an over-all nice person, but I somehow can't get that message across. Still hoping something might pop up, though. Any good advice from German readers?

Whew! That was a lot of talk, but I so enjoyed being able to share this with you.

How have you been, my friend?

xo. Hanna