Does Anyone Else Make End of the Year Goals?

Hey everyone! How was Thanksgiving for everyone?! I for one had a great one. Nothing like sitting down and having dinner with the family. :) As the year goes on and 2010 slowly disappears, I find myself coming up with my end of the year goals, which is all the things I want to have accomplished by December 31, 2010 at 11:59:59. I like to ring in the new year knowing I got done what I wanted to get done last year. I rarely stick to my New Year's resolutions so I think in a way my end of the year ritual makes up for that. With Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate around the time of year, just around the corner I find myself getting pretty busy. most of my end of the year goals involve Embrace Couture. I want to release at least one shirt either by the end of December if money allows it or right in the beginning of the year. I'll have a link for my website in a couple of weeks where you can buy Embrace Couture merchandise. I have so much planned out for Embrace Couture, it is actually getting really close to not just being an idea or a sketch on a piece of paper. It is actually going to be real soon! Anyways, as soon as things become more finalized, I will be filling all of you in on more and more details and hopefully you'll show your support by continuing to follow me and support Embrace Couture.

Looks yummy right?

Let us get on to the shopping talk! I went to LUSH this weekend, I know, again. I got a few things for myself this time and 1 other present that I can not mention until after Christmas. I picked out one bath bomb, one bubble bar I have been wanting, and a shampoo bar for myself. The bath bomb is called So White and it is an apple scented bath bomb. I read some reviews on it and it seems to have a snow effect on your water which sounds pretty nice. It just has this crisp smell to it and I can't wait to try it. The bubble bar I picked out is the Gingerbread House. It looks like a cupcake and I kind of wish it was edible because it smells and looks absolutely delicious. It looks like it has icing on the top of it and I love love love icing. The last thing I bought was a shampoo bar and the name of it was Seanik. I have to say I was a little skeptical of a shampoo bar but after using it once I am in love. All you do is stroke your hair three times, both sides and from the scalp to the bottom of your hair, with the shampoo bar, lather your hair and rinse. You wouldn't think you would get that much of a lather from a solid shampoo but you really do. Maybe even more so than liquid shampoos. I asked for one that would give my hair some volume and shine, I haven't seen a difference yet but I have also only used it once. I'm not sure if I will continue buying shampoo bars but I do not feel I wasted my $10 at all. Another thing that was bought for me, not by me though, by my Mom was the Flying Fox shower gel. I worked my magic and got her to pick it up for me for Christmas. The Flying Fox shower gel is really for honey and jasmine lovers. As I think I have said before, my Honey I Washed the Kids soap is my absolute favorite from there so I picked up a bottle to smell it and man does honey and jasmine smell good together. Kind of a floral and sweeter scent. I was very happy with my LUSH trip even though I didn't go with very much money and my Mom almost killed my sister and I running a red light. :)

So does anyone else make end of the year goals? Let me know in the comments if you do or if I'm the only opposite person around! Tell people about Embrace Couture and if you aren't following me already please do. Also follow me on twitter: Chr1st1neScally! Thanks! Until next time!

Much love,
Christine for Embrace Couture

Embrace Couture's Sexiest Man!

I had a dream last night, which is what made me think of this blog subject. I was originally going to write a LUSH bath bomb review because I took a bath last night and used Cinders bath bomb but I think this might be a more fun subject. It is that time of year where People Magazine picks their sexiest man. They never seem to award the men I would give it to and sometimes the really gorgeous ones aren't even in the running which always upsets me. Now for those of you who know me, you probably think you already know who number 1 is. Although James Marsters will always be number one in my heart, I'm not going to include him just to change it up and surprise some people with my choices. And yes, I am a huge Buffy fan. :) I'm going to give you the top 10 I believe should have the honor of being called sexiest man and of course number 1 will be Embrace Couture's sexiest man! I might actually do up a little badge on the computer and do a t-shirt in honor of him. That sounds fun and every time People picks their sexiest man, I'll do a list of my own. Some of my picks however do match People's second choices but hey, sexy is sexy.

10. Taye Diggs- I have to admit I'm an Addison/Sam fan on Private Practice. I know shoot me, but I am. But only because when he smiles, I smile.

9. Brian Austin Green- He got a hottie like Megan Fox to settle down. Come on, he's gorgeous. And I'm a big sucker for his tattoos.

8. Ryan Madson- My sexy sports guy! Ok, so if you don't watch the Phillies or know anything about the Philadelphia Baseball team you're probably like who the heck is Ryan Madson? He is a pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies and the most underrated Phillie I might add. Chase Utley is beautiful but lets show a  little love for the other good looking guy. Plus, I saw him in person- tall, handsome, and a great smile. And I had to use this picture, look how long his legs are. But please, Google his face too.

7. Isiah Mustafa- He's the funny guy on the list! Come on ladies, he turns tickets into diamonds and I bet sometimes you wish your man was him!

6. Daniel Craig- He's our "George Clooney" on the list. Older, smoldering good lucks, his eyes are freaking breath-taking.

5. Heath Ledger- Ok, I know what you're thinking but he is forever beautiful and should still be honored even though he is gone. Plus, my heart breaks every time I think there will never be a new Heath Ledger movie. :(

4. Eric Dane- McSteamy! The facial hair on this man is perfection.

3. Bradley Cooper- I know. Painfully obvious choice but he got me in the Hangover. I like the long hair. He actually isn't that impressive with short. I'm just going to pretend it was always long and will always be long.

2. Joseph-Gordon Levitt- This might be the big surprise of the list but have you seen Inception? He has come an extremely long way from being awkward in 10 Things I Hate About You. I'm not sure if it's because he played kind of a wall-crawling bad ass or how he still managed to be adorable when he kissed that chick from Juno.

DRUMROLL PLEASE...............................................................................................................

1. ALEXANDER SKARSGARD- I know I got a vampire in here but it isn't Robert Pattinson so be happy. He is probably on of the real reasons I watch True Blood. He's foreign, he's dangerous, he can pull of long or short hair. Need I say more? Because I can. This was the guy my dream was about and I, am of course, happy he entered my dreams. Sure he tried to kill me but he looked good doing it! His eyes showed he didn't really want to. HAHA! Just stare at his picture for a second. He takes your breath away doesn't he? And that gay sex scene he had on True Blood, umm ladies did you read the response on that the day after it aired? If not, find it. And find the scene itself. You won't be sorry.

That is my list and Alexander is my guy. I had a very hard time not putting James up here. Go look at his picture too and you'll see why he always tops my list. It's the cheekbones. Give me some of your top sexy men in the comments. Is everyone a Alexander fan like I am or do you agree with People putting Ryan Reynolds at number 1? Until next time!

Much love,
Christine for Embrace Couture

Mistletoe, Black Friday, and Embrace Couture Update!

Hey everyone! I started writing this blog Sunday night and did not like how it was turning out, so I am starting over now and apologizing for not posting this weekend like I said I would. First off, I want to tell everyone about something I bought this weekend. I actually bought a lot this weekend, beauty products mostly, but my favorite thing has to be the Mistletoe Candle I bought at Bed, Bath, an Beyond. It is a Yankee Candle Christmas Collection candle and it is Christmas Heaven in a jar. If only one smell could sum up Christmas it would be Mistletoe by Yankee Candle. It has a lot of the same scent that a balsam candle would have but there is something extra about this smell. It isn't just Christmas Tree it HAS to have something else in it to make it even more to die for! So if you need a candle that IS Christmas go buy this Mistletoe Candle. It is regularly $25 but it is on sale at Bed. Bath, and Beyond for $18 and some change. Luckily I had a $5 off coupon so it only came to $13 and change but they send out those 20% off coupons out on a daily basis it seems, so make sure to cash one of them in when you're getting it!

Black Friday is in a couple days and if you are as big as  a shopaholic as I am you've been counting down the days until your favorite stores open. Now last year me and my mom got up at 4am so we could be at Target by 5am for the insanely cheap DVD sales. I'm talking all the Weeds seasons regularly $40 for $9!! That to me is worth getting up in the dark. However, this year we are doing things a bit differently. Macy's and countless stores in the mall closest to my house are opening at midnight! I'm going to go on record saying I love love love Macy's. (And every store in the mall!) We are definitely starting at midnight this year! I actually have bought almost everything already. Amazon had some of the DVDs I needed for people on sale already so I snagged them up so Target is an optional place to stop. I just love being out on Black Friday. Sure the people are crazy and rude and sometimes an entire store just stops walking and no one can go anywhere, but we are all there for the same reason. We love deals and we love the holidays! You can't hate people near the holidays! I would love to go to LUSH on Black Friday but I'm not sure I'd love the city on Black Friday. Might be a little scary over there.
I also have an update on the reason I started this blog, Embrace Couture! I just got my tax id number so I can buy from this wholesale retailer I found and as soon as pay day comes, I'm also going to be purchasing my domain name and get started on the website. Black Friday will also be a research day for Embrace Couture. I think I am going to give up sleep for the day. So much to do, so little time. So as you can tell I am pretty excited and my excitement will only increase as Christmas gets closer and I get to work more and more on the clothing line. Also, I need to invest in a good sewing machine. What kind would be good to work with lace and more delicate materials. Also would like it to be able to work on denim and any other materials. I know I'm greedy! Well let me know in the comments or in an e-mail if you have any suggestions for a good one! Thanks! Until next time!

Much love,
Christine for Embrace Couture

It's Winter In My Bath!

Hey everyone! So sorry for ignoring this blog for a couple days! I missed writing for it! I've been busy getting ready for the holidays and trying to make my room a place where I can actually walk, which is a pretty big challenge. It has been a little hectic around my house and work so I decided to take a nice hot bath the other night. I had just gotten in some of the LUSH products I ordered and I was extremely excited to take a bath. I picked the Winter Bath bath bomb because the other two products I got were Christmas Eve, which will be used on Christmas Eve, and Cinders which is supposed to have a fireplace feel to it and I just felt like something more soothing than having my water crackle the whole time. Winter Bath has clove bud oil and ginger oil as its main ingredients. LUSH'S description is "Everyone needs a good, hot winter bath every once in a while to keep the cold at bay, but they can dry your skin out if they are too hot. That's where we step in with our Winter Bath. This Bath Bomb is actually made with a little of our bath melt mixture, too, to keep skin moisturized. We've also mixed in some soothing, softening soya milk powder, which disperses in the water to create a milky bath." This was a very soothing bath and I don't know if I just had it in my head or if the smells gave me this feeling of snow coming down outside and it being at the height of winter. I think it was the smells that went to my head. They just had that snow kind of feeling to them. It gave the water kind of a milky green color to it which was nicer than I thought it would be and the small suds it made did stick to me in the water but that resulted in smelling like the bath bomb until I showered the next day which was really nice. The scent really lingered and I really liked that. After all I did just take a $4 bath, so I'd like some kind of proof I took a bath with a bath bomb and not just a regular free bath. Unfortunately, this bath bomb didn't have a little baby surprise in it like some of them do but overall it was still a very nice LUSH experience. I want to make sure I go buy up the rest of the Christmas Editions at LUSH so I don't have to wait a whole year to get them again but I can;t spend anymore money on myself until Black Friday is over! I did type of my list of presents I have left to buy and I only have a couple left which makes me smile from ear to ear! I feel like I wasn't the procrastinator I usually am. I got up off my big behind and got my things done ahead of time! Yay me! This was super short but I will write up something this weekend! Promise! Until next time!

Much love,
Christine for Embrace Couture

I Can Smell Christmas Right Around The Corner :)

It is Monday, November 15 which means we are already half way through November. Insane right?! I have no idea where the time is going. All I do know is that Christmas 2010 is already poking its way into our hearts. I am 20 years old but when it comes to the holidays I revert back to my 5 year old self again. I can't sleep Christmas Eve and when I do fall asleep it is only for 2 hours because I'm up at 5am jumping on my (younger) sister so we can go downstairs and open our presents. This will be my last Christmas at home, next year I'll be in my own place so I'm going to have to tame the 5 year old within. I even bought a Lush bath bomb called "Christmas Eve" that is supposed to calm and soothe you even if you are so pumped up for Christmas morning. I swear by Lush and if this can put ME to sleep on Christmas Eve, I am buying stock in Lush! Christmas is pretty big in my family. I tend to get spoiled on Christmas and I also love to spoil the people I am buying for. My extreme happiness tends to hurt my bank account but I figure Christmas is one time a year. This year I think I might know every gift my mom has gotten me. Maybe because every time I saw something I wanted when my bank account said $0 and I said, "Mom, can you pleeeeaaasseeee buy me this for Christmas?"

Looks comfy right?

This being my last year at home, I realized that I have nothing one would need for an apartment. Nothing! So for a little while now I have been collecting a few odds and ends here and there for my apartment but I did ask for a lot to decorate with for Christmas. One thing I am extremely excited for I'll have to wait until after Christmas to talk about when I tell my boyfriend my plan because it is kind of a surprise for him. Now I love to decorate, I love furniture, pictures, anything that adds something special to a space. So, luckily my boyfriend is super easy going with how our place is going to look. He just wants things comfy and relaxing. Easy peasy, I say. I did ask for some things for Christmas that I am more doing for him once we move in but if they make him happy, I'm happy. I am in love with the store Anthropologie, especially the "home" department. If you haven't been in an Anthropologie yet, please go in one soon! The whole atmosphere is gorgeous and it is my exact style for a home. It is a little pricey so I am going to have to work up to affording all of this but I won't have room for everything I want in an apartment anyways. They have my dream bed and that is all that I am thinking of at the moment.
Christmas lists are something I start making in August. I'm not going to bore anyone with specifics but so far I want most of my items from these places: Anthropologie, Victoria's Secret, Lush, Steve Madden, Wildfox, LnA, Urban Outfitters, Singer22, and the list could probably go on forever. My birthday isn't far behind Christmas anyway it is February 20, so I don't have a long wait for more presents. :) This was a bit pointless but I'm super excited for Christmas. I'm pretty sure I could watch ELF everyday from now until Christmas and not get sick of it. I already have my Christmas candles burning and I want to hang my stocking! In the comments below, tell me what you want for Christmas! Until next time!

Much Love,
Christine for Embrace Couture

Focus Fridays!

Hey everybody! I was thinking about this blog instead of writing yesterday, as you can see, but I actually think it was beneficial. I came up with a new idea for this blog and I'm going to call it Focus Fridays! I'm going to pick one celebrity or I'll also take requests and focus on them for at least 3 Focus Fridays. So for example, for the first 3 Focus Fridays I am going to focus on Megan Fox. (I love her!) I might do 3, maybe 4 or 5 Fridays focusing on her style and clothes. I figure to make this kind of special I should do it for more than 1 because if it's only 1 what makes it different than any other blog post I write up? If anyone gives me requests I'll probably just do 3 on her even though when it comes to fashion I could write about her for at least 20 weeks! Sound like a good idea? It also makes me definitely write on Friday. Like for most people, I have a tough time getting through Friday. It's the end of the week and the work day just won't end and you end up not getting much accomplished. Now I have something that is really fun and easy to write about. :) Sadly, I'll probably start this next week not today unless I get some free time tonight. I want to do the first one justice so I want to be more prepared and really write up something good.
As you can see on my side bar I got accepted into two organizations because of this blog, Independent Fashion Bloggers and FashionsBlogs. I am extremely honored to be apart of both of these and I can only hope that it helps Embrace Couture's message to be spread. Positive body image is something girls really struggle to have. Also you can follow me on BlogLovin' if you do not have a Blogger account to follow me with. Like I said, any support helps and motivates me. I also have a video camera coming to me pretty soon, not sure if it is gong to be a Christmas gift or just a present but when I get that I'm going to start posting YouTube videos up. I'll probably just start with some hauls and stuff, maybe a Christmas haul until I can get some of my clothes made. Then I can show them off there as well. Show me some love and click some follow buttons on the side bars. Pretty please with marshmallows on top! ( I hate cherries!) Until next time!

Much love,
Christine for Embrace Couture

People, People, People

Hey everyone! I'm going to try to keep posting everyday in the week because I know on the weekend I usually have a lot going on and I surprisingly don't touch my computer once! I have a Blackberry that sends all of my e-mails to my phone so I never need to touch my laptop and the weekend feeling totally wins over and I'm either running errands or napping and eating on and off. The problem with my laptop is that for some reason the almost damage resistant Mac Book decided that I would be one customer, that after only two years of having it and taking care of it like I would a child, that would suffer the pain of my battery being destroyed. Now it only will stay on if it is plugged into the outlet, which considering it is a magnetic charger, it can be a real pain in the butt. The slightest tug pulls it out and I have to reboot my computer all over again. It looks like it is going to cost around $250 to fix but with my Christmas shopping like a maniac, it will have to wait until later. By the way, it is time to start watching ELF four times a week in my opinion.

So that isn't all I planned on writing today. I read the headlines of People.com on a regular basis. I know celebrities up and down and I'm proud of it. As some people may know on People.com under the style section you can rate star's looks as hits or misses. A couple stuck out to me today but I chose to talk about Eva Longoria's obvious HIT of a dress! Not only is it Emilio Pucci but it looks absolutely gorgeous on her. She is so tiny, not that I have room to talk, and she has found her style in this dress! The color looks great on her because of her honey tan skin tone and she looks sexy! To me, she has always dressed more conservative than I would pick for her. Maybe I think she would dress more racy because of her Desperate Housewives character but she just has that look to me that says she should be in these kinds of dresses all the time. Her gowns are always gorgeous, yes, but they don't show off her tiny frame! I love the tie up feature in the front and the short in the front and long in the back has always been one of my favorite styles. Actually one of the first designs I had ever thought up was this big cream gown that was mid thigh in the front and floor length in the back. Maybe that's why this look on her holds a special place in my heart. Or maybe it's because it rocks THAT much! Either way, I voted HIT on this and sadly only 49% of the people did the same. Open your eyes my friends, open your eyes. This is beautiful!

I'd like to actually try to redraw that cream gown of mine up. If I get it looking good enough I can post it up here. Would anyone like a look at it? My first gown drawing for Embrace Couture, now I can't wait to try and work on it! Until next time!

Much love,

Christine for Embrace Couture

Glamour Delivery!

My monthly Glamour came today! I am an avid magazine reader. I think I have about 8 different subscriptions to fashion magazines and Glamour is my all time favorite. It is that time for "Women of the Year," in Glamour and I didn't get to thoroughly read it on my lunch break but I skimmed through it and I can already tell you there is going to be tons of pages I am going to have to tag for things I want to buy! Now I am not sure if this is in the actual magazine but I also frequently go to glamour.com and they have The Top 10 Women of the Year Awards Red Carpet Looks Of All Time on their site. I have to say I was surprised with some of their picks. I agree with Rihanna's daring prism-like dress. She can pull that off. The others however are lacking to me. I mean, out of all the red carpet looks you can pick from you're going to pick Katie Holmes in a red dress that is anything but glamorous and in fact might be one of her most boring looks. Also, Jennifer Garner is gorgeous but her dress...not so much. Even Britney Spears has rocked much better looks than the one hey have her in here. I just don't agree in saying these are the best red carpet looks of all time. Am I alone in feeling this way? Check it out: http://www.glamour.com/fashion/blogs/slaves-to-fashion/2010/11/best-dressed-awards-the-top-10.html. I think most of you will agree in saying we could come up with 100 better looks than most of these.

For instance, an actress that has a special place in my heart as one of my favorites, Rachel McAdams. She isn't just one of the best actresses in Hollywood right now, she is one of the most beautiful and one of the most best dressed in my opinion. Sure she's been known to put a pale pink streak in her hair but look at Iman's dress in the list above! And I love the Chanel jacket on Kerry Washington but you ruined Chanel with that skirt! Do you hear me Kerry? That skirt ruined CHANEL. Who would mix that together? So I think Glamour should ponder on over to Google and type in "Rachel McAdams Red Carpet" to see one of the best red carpet looks of all time. I love these two looks because they show two sides of her style. Her one more feisty look in the short white Eimilio Pucci dress with the plunging neckline and the other shows the Rachel McAdams we all seem to be more familiar with. The gorgeous, flowing Elie Saab gown seems to capture the personality that made her one of America's Sweethearts. She stole movie watchers hearts, (male and female), in The Notebook, and she stole fashion bloggers hearts with the stunning gown.

So Glamour, please, reevaluate your previous list and give it to at least one woman that deserves it, Rachel McAdams. Until next time!

Much Love,

Christine for Embrace Couture

P.S. They had this on their list. THIS?!

Fall Cleaning!

Doesn't this closet look like heaven?! I must have one like this!

I might be one of the most messy girls I know. My room looks like a tornado hit it. I don't think I have seen much worse than my room as far as clutter goes. My friend Chelsea gives me a run for my money, but I still think I am worse! Love you Chels! Anyways, I really think my problem is that I have too many things. Things meaning clothes, shoes, furniture, any item I collected within the last couple years that I'm not going to take when I get my apartment next year. I might need a solid week to go through all of my things and weed out the things I want to keep and the things I have to part with. Unfortunately, I hate getting rid of things. I don't consider myself a hoarder because I get rid of boxes and things that don't work for me now. Problem is, I'm 5'1 and 100lbs and have fit in the same clothes since I was a sophomore in high school! I didn't have to get rid of clothes I got to tall for because I never got tall! So I have all these clothes I was once madly in love with and it is hard to get rid of things you are madly in love with, am I right? I'm not sure how to tackle this issue. My boyfriend, which by the way his name is JJ and that is just so much easier to type than my boyfriend all time, so JJ thinks I should keep on it and keep cleaning all the way until it is time to move me into an apartment. However, if you know me, if I clean one day it is messy again within 2 days and that is just a pain if you ask me. Also, JJ's family is insanely clean so I don't think he understands the mind of a messy person. So here is what I am thinking maybe when I plan on moving out I will take a couple days off work and just go through the place then. Good idea? Anyways, I think I need a walk in closet. I would love to be one of the people with a miraculously organized walk in closet that looks like a store but the way I see it is if I have a walk in closet the mess would probably be in there and it would not interrupt, ya know, walking in my room. So any advice from clean people?! :) Until next time!

Much Love,

Christine for Embrace Couture

Careless Man's Careful Daughter

I have to say I go back and forth on my opinion on Taylor Swift. I don't know what it is but I can't decide if I like her or not. Her music is pretty good, she has some songs that I really love to sing to in the shower or off key in my car. I'm like most girls, crazy about following celebrities, so when I found this picture of Taylor Swift, I was like, "Wow, they made her look pretty good!" She wasn't overdone in one of her gowns that drown her tiny frame an I really liked that. Her vest adds a cute tailored look to a simple t-shirt and jeans. She pulled off the cool laid back California girl look. I actually thinks she comes off a bit too innocent and she dwells on things but you know she gets a guy like Jake Gyllenhaal so she can't be all that bad.  This is super short but I am getting picked up to go out so I'm going to write a much longer one tomorrow! Feedback please! Also, does anyone know how to upload a color picture from a scanner? Do you have to have a color scanner? I need to upload my designs to give everyone a sneak peek! Until next time!

Much love,
Christine for Embrace Couture