What to Wear for Prom, Wedding or Class Reunion

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This year I am having lots of special events going on. I have my ten years high-school reunion in April, my cousin's wedding in August and who knows what other special event until the end of the year. So I started browsing the internet for different dresses. If I were to check all the shops and try on all the clothes I liked I think I would totally go crazy, so online shopping is always a good option for me. 

I have been considering at the beginning how fancy it should be. I know it is prom season now so many lady readers of mine might be looking for a prom dress. For this occasion you want to be as fancy as possible, because it is a great and exciting event. You want to go for something really fancy for this once in a lifetime event. All eyes on you! I think it is kind of the same in case of a wedding, especially if you are the bridesmaid. Here are some dresses I would pick for these kinds of events. If you want to look like a Greek goddess this is the look I would be going for:

Source: JenJenHouse ©

If you are a bridesmaid you might want to avoid white, and go for a more colorful solution. This one is really discreet and I could totally picture myself wearing it. The color transition is ombre, which is really fashionable right now.

Source: JenJenHouse ©

The next one is an intense royal blue color. What I like about this is the overlapping on the bust and the flattering form it gives to the silhouette.

Source: JenJenHouse ©

On the other hand for a 10 year reunion, you want to show another side of you. In my case, I want to show more like sense of personal style. Hopefully, it is in fact about you that people will want to know, you will have many fun discussions with old friends whom for some reason or other you have not seen for years (Facebook stalking not included). So for such an event my pick would still be a long dress, but more personalized style. Still princessy, but a pastel mild champagne color. I also like the asymmetry in the tailoring and the layering on the top area which looks very flattering on the bust.

Source: JenJenHouse ©

Of course when you pick your dress you have to think of the dresses that fit your figure best, you should feel gorgeous in the dress. Other additional things to think of are your hair color and style, undertone of your skin (warm or cold) and last but not least your budget. The good thing about JenJenHouse is that you can filter for the desired price, occasion, silhouette, neckline, straps, sleeves and what not. So if you have a vague idea of what you would like, all this filters will come in handy in picking the ideal dress for you.

Hope you found these tips useful. I am sure you will be the most gorgeous on that party!

How to Improve as an Aikidoka

Source: http://www.nanzan.hu/

I have set as a goal to myself about a year ago, to always practice with a beginner's mindset. This is particularly important when you practice on bigger training seminars. This weekend I had the opportunity to train on the training seminar held in Budapest by Kuribayashi Takanori, 7 dan Hombu Shihan.

Here are three basic ideas that he emphasized:

1. Never Train Automatically
2. Move
3. Don't Train Selfishly

Never Train Automatically

You should not execute the technique automatically, just because you learned that it should be done in a specific way. Challenge each and every motion. Get to understand and then let go of the logic of the movements. But for that to happen first you have to understand why and how you step in the irmi, why and how you move your body in order to take uke’s balance for example. On the uke side, don’t take ukemi just because you know what movement is coming next. Wait for the tori to make you take the ukemi. Whenever I attend such training seminars I always feel like I am a beginner. Sometimes I felt a bit guilty of not having enough routine and stupid for not understanding how a technique works exactly. But when Kuribayashi Sensei underlined training with a beginner's mindset as a positive trait, I gained faith in it again. One should get rid of old habits and adapt to what is being shown there and then. Only this will improve your technique.

Move

Movement is important in aikido. Don’t be like a golf player, stiffly hitting the ball with the rocket without barely any muscle moving. Be like a baseball player, move around, adapt. Lower your posture. Especially for westerners who are not used to seiza, lowering their center is something they have to consciously build into their practice. As you lower, pay attention to move into the right point to execute the technique. Don’t get stuck at a certain point, always move along and develop.

Don’t Train Selfishly

Look around, pay attention to others. Train in a way that both of the training partners are learning something in the process.

He made several other points also, but these are the main ones that came into my mind. The seminar ended with the Dan examination, which I followed with great interest. We had to sit in seiza and sometimes in agura because this is one of the important skills of the aikidoka.

I hope this small article was helpful for both beginners and advanced people practicing aikido. Please also check my article from last year about last year's Kuribayashi Seminar here.

Coco Fashion Spring Review - Floral Tunic

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Spring is here and I wanted to review some spring style clothing that I got from Coco Fashion. What I picked this time is a tunic with an abstract painting of a flower. I liked the grey, black and white contrast. What I also liked is the combination of the textures. Cotton combined with the smooth silky  and slightly see-through material from which the sleeves are made. The pattern on the sleeves match very well the floral pattern from the from of the tunic.

If you are petite, you can wear this tunic just with leggings. In my case, I had to pear it with a short blue jean skirt and some leggings.

You can browse more tunics here.