Adore Your Life: Graduate in Style

Graduation season is upon us and it is a time to celebrate, I mean you just spent the last four to five years in a textbook.  So it is beyond me who thought a potato sack with a cap that gives instantaneous hat hair was a fashionable combination.  But its what we have to work with so I have some tips and tricks to make sure you are not a fashion “don’t” on your graduation day.

First of is the gown. If you want a slightly more fitted gown and I mean slightly, put down measurements a tad bit smaller then you actually are.  So if I’m 5′ 6″ I would probably order an inch or two shorter. It will still be a potato sack, there really is no great solution to this one, but it might make the gown fit a bit better. Don’t forget to wear a cute dress, or for boys a pants and a tie underneath the gown. You have to remember that you will probably be taking pictures after the ceremony so this is your time to be a real fashionista.

Shoes are everything. It’s the only thing people are going to see anyway. I would stick with a pair that you are comfortable in, we don’t need you tripping on stage, but definitely pick a low heel or cute wedge with a pop of color to add some spice to your outfit.

The cap will give you hat hair, it’s inevitable.  I made my cap extra girly and showed off school spirit by cutting out my school logo with glitter paper and bedazzling it with gemstones. I glued it all on with fabric glue. If your school allows it I think this is a great way to make you stand out from the crowd, and to show a bit of your personality.

Most importantly make sure your are wearing a big bright pearly white smile!

Congratulations to the class of 2012!

What are you going to be wearing on Graduation Day?

 

Adore Your Life: Finding a Career. Yes We Can Do It!

Well its that time of year. Graduation.

In case you are an employer …….I am on the market and ready to tackle the real world for my first actual job. You know a job that doesn’t include food service, retail, or other part time endeavors.

I am talking about a real 9-5 workday job. My dream is to move to New York City write for a magazine and live an exciting adventure.

Whether you are looking for a job in another city, state, or country, it is always helpful to get advice straight from the source. I had an opportunity to pick my former editor’s brain. She is Sarah Yang, the editorial assistant for The Bump, a brand from XO Group Inc. She is such a influence to me since not to long ago she was in my exact shoes.

Tell us a bit about yourself and background.

I’m from Pasadena, California originally. I went to NYU and I studied journalism and politics there. I graduated in December 2010. Currently, I’m the Editorial Assistant at The Bump. In my free time, I like trying out new restaurants and cooking with my friends, exploring New York City and hanging out with my friends, whether we’re out at brunch or getting drinks.

Was there a certain inspiration that made you decide to pursue journalism?

I’ve wanted to be a journalist since I was 8 years old. I didn’t even know what journalism meant back then, I just wanted to be one of those people on TV. Then as I got older, I realized I loved to write, tell stories and meet new people — which is a perfect way to describe what a journalist does. I remember in the fifth grade we had to do these extra credit projects for history class and of course the project I came up with was to create a newspaper. It was called the Colonial Times. I did the layouts, drawings and I wrote all the articles. I even got some fancy newspaper paper to make it. I was such a journalism geek back then — I still am, too!

What has been your career journey so far?

In college, I had a lot of internships — I’ve worked at the New York Daily News, iVillage and Avenue Magazine. After I graduated, I had a part-time writing job at a hospital and then I got my job at The Bump a few months later.

What is a typical day like working at XO Group Inc./The Bump? Have there been any projects that have been your favorite to work on?

I do a little bit of everything as an Editorial Assistant. I write a couple blog posts during the day, work on my longer stories and slideshows, make sure the site is maintained and I sometimes attend press previews and product reveals. There’s never a dull moment and it’s always challenging but in a good way. As for favorite projects, we’ve revamped our blog, so that’s been really fun to work on. Of course, I love writing about all the celeb stuff and baby names (I love covering baby names!)

What is your best advice for small town girls looking to make it in the big city? What can make them stand out?

From what I’ve been through in the past year while applying to jobs and trying to figure out my next step, I say just keep applying to jobs. Send as many as 20 resumes a day if you can. Talk to professors or alumni from your school, just let everyone know you’re looking for a job. Stay in touch with everyone that you met at your internships (even the other interns!). Looking for a job is basically a job itself — it takes a lot of work and perseverance. It’s frustrating at times, but don’t let it get to you, just keep applying and networking and something will eventually come out of it.

What is your favorite part about living and working in a big city?

I love the energy. Everyone is always on the go. I also love coming across so many different people — there are plenty of characters out there!

Follow Sarah on Twitter! @sarahayang

 

Adore Your Life: My Go To Content Driven Magazine

There are plenty of magazines out there that talk about the same  fashion focused, health and beauty content making it hard to find differentiation between them.

Personally when I’m reading a magazine I get in different moods as to what I actually want to get out of them, which is why I have at least 5 I go to for different reasons. Marie Claire Magazine makes the list by a good mix of photographs that make me flip the glossy pages, but includes more than pictures that keep me wanting to read more.

The content Marie Claire provides through the pages of each issue can leave me reading the magazine for the whole month (making the $3.50/issue way worth it!). Other magazines I can go through in a day skimming the pictures and captions, but Marie Claire provides interesting and relate-able articles that are sometimes 2-3 pages long. The articles have such great content that you cant help but not read each and every one.  Of course the editorial fashion spreads, and photographs of beauty products help to add some color and life to the pages, but it is the content and stories that really give the magazine differentiation from the others like it. The reader can read a story and really come out of it having a clear understanding of how to use a product, or a full answer to a question they might have.

Marie Claire is my go to magazine on those rainy days when you want to curl up with a good read, or even on a sunny afternoon at the park after class. Either way you wont be disappointed with the content  from the experts at Marie Claire.

What magazine do you spend all month reading?