Beauty & Britches

Hello! I refuse to believe it is almost August. I have been a bit busy these last two weeks. Dorothee and I still plan on shooting, but in the meantime you are stuck with me for another post. But before we get into this week, I have a few great announcements!

This Saturday are the Philadelphia Geek Awards and I wrote an awesome post over on Geekadelphia for it, along with a giveaway! Congrats to the two winners! Check out the article for all of the great Geek Awards beauty deals. I also learn how to put these kind of giveaways together. They are a lot of fun, other than the whole post office part. I wish I lived next door to one.

I also wrote a non-fashion article focusing on two cool geeks headed to Nationals with their cool invention. If that isn’t enough cool for you!

Most importantly, I soft launched my brand new mental health & wellness site, Down to Utopia. It is a site dedicated to talking mental health and wellness from a cultural and every day perspective. I was going to narrow the focus to women of color, since I am writing the blog, but the response has been so overwhelming that I don’t think it is right to not have a platform for everyone who wants to talk. Though a lot of the articles will be cultural issues & I am interviewing my Dad and Step-Mummy when I get home, I can’t wait to talk to all of you! All of your outpouring of love and support has meant so much! I look forward to next week’s posts. Check it out if you get a chance. Special thanks to Endy Photography & Annie Design Co. for the page set up, design, beautiful ‘Meet Nena‘ graphic, the photo, hand painted logo and basically the most beautiful page ever. Annie Design Co. is designing our wedding invite as well!

Okay, my plug life is over!

Layering is caring when it comes to me. I never really thought of the genius of it until Abby posted a photo of her layered sweater with shorts. With me spending way too much time in air conditioning, I just had to try it. All of my knit sweaters immediately became layer pieces on those (rare) light August nights. I only owned one pair of shorts and am not into shorts, so I actually went and bought a pair. What are your layered summer looks?

Let me know in the comments!

   Sequin Sweater   Wilbur’s Vintage  716 S. 4th st, Philadelphia ($25)

I adore this ‘sweater’. It is all sequins, but you wouldn’t be able to tell if one fell off, so it is a great piece to have in regular rotation and transitions with the seasons. I always go inside of Wilbur’s to shop, but this time I linked his Etsy shop if you aren’t close by. This sweater almost was placed on there! 

Blue Tank  H & M  ($5)

You know I love my sales! Basics at H&M are usually pretty cheap, so I bought two colorful tanks for $10. I only saved a dollar, but that’s a dollar for, um..it can buy a small coffee or two stamps! Remember when you could buy a gallon of gas for under a dollar? 

Gold Clutch  H & M

I don’t remember the price of this clutch, but I remember it being the last one and under $20. I get so many compliments on it and love it to death. It use to be a little more, well, gold, but I wore it out. 

Vintage Pearl Necklace Salt Lake City, Utah (gift from Dev)

I love this necklace! My friend, Devaney, as usual, knows what I love! She is actually sharing what she loves soon when she opens her own Etsy shop featuring pillows, amazing clutches and more! You can get a sneak peek, order early, see her home decor style and catch up on what shenanigans Coco is up to on her Instagram. I will update you on her store when it opens! 

David Bowie Ring (Aladdin Sane)  Smak Parlour ($16)

You know I love my Bowie from my Rockin’ Out post. I love this ring, though I rarely change my rings out. I ended up forgetting I had this ring on and was cleaning a whole sea bass. Not a good idea! Smak has more than David, I personally love their Darth Vader ring too! 

Jean Shorts  H & M  ($10)

These are basic jean shorts. Nothing to write home about. 

Lexii Gold Wedges Steve Madden ($80)

Last time I featured these sandals, I complained about them, but turns out I had the strap on too tight. They actually are comfortable and I learned how to walk in them. I am a fan of the strap. I question the dark purple pedicure. 

 Photography by Eric S.

What a summer! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer… or what’s left of it! I just finished turning in two articles for Geekadelphia. One is on style tips for the 4th annual Philadelphia Geek Awards. I am doing my first ever giveaway and it isn’t even on my own site! Boo! Once the article posts, I will repost it here and do a little giveaway for my readers.

I do want to say thank you so much for everyone that takes the time out to read, talk to me, comment and be a part of my blog. I didn’t realize how much my little blog would grow in less than a year and I always say that I love my readers. You are more stylish than me, but you read anyway!

I am asked questions once in awhile so I added a FAQ section called ‘Stitches‘, because I am a lover of bad puns. I am also going to up my posting again to once a week and will be shooting Dorothee on Friday along with doing a few boutique reviews to switch things up. Dorothee is also natural, but uses heat, so I look forward to talking to her about how she avoids heat damage and her hair care routine.

Any who! This week’s blog is not about fashion, but about something I always wanted to do. My Dad says my blog is boring and not for guys (and he hates my septum piercing), but when I told him about registering to be a potential bone marrow donor he became interested. He remembered in 1995 when Rod Carew’s daughter, Michelle, battled Leukemia, and though 70,000 volunteers came forward, she unfortunately passed.

Mr. Carew asked for those with a similar heritage as his daughter to come forward. Even though donor donation has gone up for Black/African-Americans from the 5% in 1996, there still is a very large gap in donation and research is being done on why. Heritage is important when matching and with a more diverse group of volunteers helps save more lives.

Since my Dad and I fall between the 18 and 55 year old age perimeters of donation, I decided to be the first one to take the plunge and register. I signed up via Delete Blood Cancer. By signing up here (IT’S FREE!), you are on the National Registry.

In about a week, I received my kit in the mail. My Dad asked me if I was worried about sending an organization my DNA. I reminded him that we were both in the military and the government has every form of our DNA. Plus, our bank robbing days are over.

Inside the kit were a few envelopes to send back my swab with instructions as well as registration key cards and every other form of instructions. One of the reasons I never got around to donating was because I thought I had to go to a hospital to donate and I only use the VA. The kit came about a week after I registered.

Swabbing was pretty easy and self explanatory. Eric thought it was a little too ‘in my mouth’ to show me swabbing, but you get the idea.

The biggest thing people forget to do is SEND BACK THE SWAB! I sent my back and received a confirmation letter saying I am now registered.

Being registered doesn’t mean you are now forced to donate. Life does change, but when you do donate, the donation is much easier than you might think.

Bone Marrow is taken from your pelvic bone (not your spine) with a special syringe and you are able to go back to normal activities in about a week. Stem Cells replenish within a week and you should feel better within two days.

If you are a match, you are contacted for further testing, so it is important to keep your contact information updated. With bone marrow use advancing in so many ways, including Sickle Cell Anemia, and with the relative ease of donating, please take the time to donate if you can.

Don’t leave me after this non-fashion entry! I will be back next week with clothes galore! Have a non-profit or cause you love! Talk about it in the comments, especially if they are here in Philadelphia!

 Photography by Eric S.