Date Night: Nutcracker at the Cutler Majestic Theatre Boston

         Yesterday we had a long overdue date night. Life has been very busy the last few weeks and I didn't realize how much we needed to relax and just enjoy some time with each other. Anthony had received some free tickets to see the Nutcracker playing at the Cutler Majestic Theatre, from his work, so we were forced to go out into the world explore. We had dinner at our favorite vegan spot in Boston, My Thai Vegan Cafe. They have a mix of asian cuisine that we love and we always get the same thing when we go, vietnamese roll up dish, tofu fingers and the Tom Yum Gai soup which is basically the best soup I've ever had!
         I got really excited to get all fancy and dressed up and I decided to bring my camera and capture the beauty of downtown Boston at this time of year (last shot was a phone selfie). Although I don't celebrate Christmas I love seeing the lights and feeling the merry spirit. I took a night off from all the sadness in the world and pretended it was all good <3. I do believe at the end of the day love is all we need, to give and to receive, and we can't give from a place that is empty. So this night I was ready to fill up and I did just that.
         The play was cute and funny and the dancers all amazing! I have seen the Nutcracker before at the Boston Ballet and didn't know they played it somewhere else in town. Although it wasn't as big and grand as that one, it definately had its own charm that I preferred in some ways. It was a more intimate setting and the theatre itself was so magical! I was so pleasantly surprised by the amount of diversity in the cast too! I was so surprised, I did some research and found that the ballet company Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre has a unique approach to dance that is centered around the dancer and  works with the community to make ballet accessible to all. They also put together the Dance for World Community Festival that Anthony plays for every year with Flamenco Boston. Really cool to read up on that. I think diversity is so beautiful!
         I'm wearing mostly thrifted and gifted things. My favorite vintage winter dress which I have worn on the blog here and my moms red shawl that I "borrowed" ;) The faux fur collar and blazer (which you can't really see) was thrifted and gifted to me by my dear friend Jean of Drossintogold. I always love wearing it this time of year. Shoes were gifted by my friend Heidi and I had some funky thrifted huge rose earrings that are also hard to see in the pics -I'll do better next time with some of the details. Anthony is also getting more into the thrift world or should I say wants to thrift but it's mostly just me doing it for him because he's very lazy when it comes to clothes. I knew the plaid tie would come in handy at some point this season so I was happy when I found it at Goodwill.
          I realize I have been very away from internet land lately. I do update more frequently on instagram but in general I just haven't been feeling social media lately. I don't enjoy forcing myself to do anything and this is an outlet for me more than anything else so for now I will write when I'm moved to. There is so much happening at the moment-moving and just some big girl growing with my photography business BUT my head has been brewing so many ideas. I am dying to create, make, and bake them so hopefully I can DO and then DO more sharing. Now is the time to BE BRAVE <3
       
XO

Winter. Spring. Blanck & White. Contrast.

“Earth teach me to forget myself as melted snow forgets its life. Earth teach me resignation as the leaves which die in the fall. Each teach me courage as the tree which stands all alone. Earth teach me regeneration as the seed which rises in the spring." William Alexander

"There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast.” Charles Dickens

I realized that I have been experiencing a lot of contrasts lately. It's been a long winter in Boston. We've had record snowfall with lots and lots of shoveling. I don't hate snow, I actually enjoy the seasons in New England, but it can test your patience when it's week after week of snow piling up with no place to put it. That along with some of the incredibly ugly things happening around the world had me feeling some pretty low lows. Winter blues started to take on a different tone this year and I was having trouble working through it all.

I do feel that without the bad, in contrast you can't appreciate the good. I mean without winter do you really appreciate when spring finally arrives? There is beauty in all the stages but we have to be wise enough to trust and know that it will pass. Without the lows you can't appreciate the highs and everything in between. It is a process and a cycle just like nature.

I've actually been wanting to photograph this outfit for some time. Once I got through some of the mental block that had been piling up, I mustered up the courage and just did it. It felt sooo amazing to do this little outfit post for ME. The mind can tire you out and it's important to do things that make you feel good. Things that help you to let things out and express whatever it is inside. For me it's dressing up, putting colors and textures together and creating art on my body. In those moments I can let go and play. What good are you to the world if you're constantly in a negative state of mind?

This outfit was inspired by winter and the awakening of spring. I had fun doing the makeup with this one with pops of pink and yellow. Speaking of contrast, I've been wearing a lot of black and white lately. I was excited when I found this very in trend checkered print vintage dress while thrifting! The outfit is almost all thrifted by the way besides the boots and the jewelry. This scarf is just my favorite ever and I thrifted it last year when Jean from Drossintogold came up to Boston. She gave me some lucky energy that day ;) I'm just sooo in love with the Russian/Eastern European floral prints and I'm not sure if I'll ever get over them. I did an entire editorial with them with an amazing team but it will be some time before I can share anything. The necklace was very kindly gifted to me by Alina of Zamarut Jewel and it added just the right touch of tribal energy along with the ring from Avizeh Jewelry.

My husband Anthony was kind enough to take these for me in the freezing cold. Thankful <3

Fringe coat: Otello Pelle Vintage thrifted
Belt: thrifted unknown
Checkered black and white dress: Appleseed's vintage thrifted
Moto vest: DIY cut jacket thrifted
Boots: Steve Madden Marshalls
Scarf: thrifted unknown - has a stamp on it with 1992 but I can't make out the name
Necklace: Zamarut Jewel
Large blue ring: Avizeh Jewelry
Small round ring: cart in Boston commons
Lipstick: Wet N Wild Liquid Lip Color in Back to the Fuchsia

How has your winter been? How do you overcome the not so pleasant sides of life??

MUCH LOVE TO YOU ALL!
XO
Feda

Hazy Landscapes Part II

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
― Rumi

Hazy Landscapes Part I

“Be empty of worrying.
Think of who created thought!

Why do you stay in prison
When the door is so wide open?”
― Rumi

We went up to the Vermont/Newhampshire area for the weekend to ski and enjoy the scenery. Winter is beautiful up there. I have such a love hate relationship with winter ever since I experienced winter up north. The snow covered mountains just take my breath away!

I didn't take too many photos on this trip. I took a lot on my phone and posted on instagram if you want to check those out. I mostly wanted to take it all in and relax but we did a whole lot of driving back and forth so I decided to experiment a bit with the camera while in motion. I let the shutter speed drag a bit and because we were already moving it created a hazy/moody feeling. I wanted to capture an emotion and not necessarily a perfect image. I've been in an imperfect state of mind lately. Letting things flow and be as they are. I loved taking these! It was a good release. I had fun exploring the colors in the sky and the shapes of the trees and mountains. SO SURREAL! For REAL!

XO
Feda

P.S. I will now be uploading posts every Monday and Thursday!!! I've tried the whole do as you feel thing and I feel like I need some structure to help me continually create and work. The old way wasn't working so I'll try this out and see how it goes. When something isn't working you have to change something! Change is good. It keeps you moving.  I'm really excited to see what I can come up with. If there's anything you would like to see or if there's certain posts you want more of, please do let me know. I appreciate any feedback :)

Freedom: In the Dead of Winter

There's freedom and beauty even in the dead of winter

We're free to think positive

Free to forgive

Free to make better choices

Free to love ourselves

Free to not judge or be envious

Free to appreciate and be grateful for the good

Free to love a little more

Free to see the beauty in the small things

Free to see hope for tomorrow

There is freedom even in the darkest and coldest of times.

It's the dead of winter here and it can really take a toll on you when it's so dark day after day. Anthony and the kids went outside to play and I decided to go out too. It was a bit before sunset and there was a glow in the sky that was just so beautiful. An overwhelming release and sense of freedom came over me and out came a poem similar to the one I wrote above. I ran back inside and grabbed my camera of course. Everything seemed dead from afar but then I started seeing such beautiful intricate details, each one more beautiful than the next. A story started to unfold. The color scheme, the elements just started to fit like puzzle pieces. Black leaves, small cotton-like flowers, rose-like pine cones, purple thorny branches, dark leafy vines climbing up the trees, the texture of bark on a tree, and bare branches. There were so many beautiful things in nature even in the dead of winter.