Mercedes-Benz of Buffalo Fashion Week , Coming Soon!

I am really looking forward to the Mercedes-Benz of Buffalo Fashion Week this year because it will be held at the new Statler City, one of the most beautiful, historic hotels in our city. Over the years, I would drive by the signs over Chippewa that would announce the upcoming event and would say to myself, I want to be involved in this event. Fashion and Beauty have been a passion of mine since I was a teenager, when I would buy every fashion magazine I could get my hands on.

And so, now in my forties, I have come full circle and pursued some of my life long dreams, one of which is to be involved in the modeling and fashion world.  Years ago was an avid fan of TLC's show, What Not to Wear, starring Stacy London and Clinton Kelly. Every friday night, I would sit in front of the television soaking up every bit of knowledge I could from them.  One day, I even sent them a message on TLC's website asking if I could intern with them. I never heard back from TLC but years later, I would have my opportunity to meet and learn from Stacy, live and in-person on an august weekend in New York City.

It was a dream come true.  Stacy was starting her own network of stylists called Style for Hire and she was holding classes in New York three weeks after I had accidentally bumped into the information on the internet.  So, I confidently submitted my resume for review to be selected as a student.  I just knew this was meant to be.

Not two days later, I was booking my hotel and flight reservations. I was off to New York City to be a student of fashion, a dream I wanted so badly as an eighteen year old girl, was now coming to fruition at forty-seven.

It would be a full weekend of class time in the heart of New York. I was so excited!

I arrived a bit scared as to what I would walk into but I discovered a world that was so unique and different from the one I lived everyday.  There were stylists there mostly from New York City, some from Boston and another from Denver.  And I got to meet Stacy in person and discovered that we had a lot in common.

I was surrounded by the New York City vibe and lived for a weekend in a world I had longed to be a part of as a young girl.

Prior to attending the workshop, I had sent a proposal to Stacy's team asking them to bring Style for Hire to Buffalo.  They weren't quite ready to do that as they were focusing on a few major cities at first. 

So, I decided to bring what I had learned back to my beloved city and share it with everyone. I came back from New York and started my own Wardrobe Styling and Life Coaching Business. I love to help people become all they can be and transform their lives into something they never dreamt possible.

If there are a few tidbits of wisdom that I had already known and some that I learned from Stacy, it would be these:

 Style is unique to oneself.  It is an expression of who we are.  Style is wearing what showcases our best assets and helps to balance out those areas we wish plastic surgery would assist with!  Style is wearing your confidence from the inside out! Style is about feeling good about yourself as you choose the clothing that is right for your body type, not someone's in a magazine.  Style is about colors that suit your skin color.  Fashion is the latest trend on the runway and the newest looks from Marc Jacobs and Calvin Klein.

And lastly....
               Style is about wearing You.

In just a few short weeks I will be at the Mercedes-Benz of BuffaloFashion Week 2012, on September 25 at the Boutique Show.  It is there that I will help people discover their very best selves through both style and fashion.  I would love for you to join me!  Please go to their facebook page for all the delicious details: http://www.facebook.com/BuffaloFashionWeek


With fun, color and lots's of Passion,                                                
          Kimberley

I AM STRONG

I AM STRONG
    .... and know no limits

 I can defy gravity and
         shatter the stereotypes.

       My curves are earned
         as my weakness is shed.

I trade soft for firm and tears for sweat.

    I turn guilt into satisfaction and tomorrow's chore
                    into today's opportunity.

My purpose becomes defined as

      MY STRENGTH RUNS WILD.

     I TRAIN..................................................DO YOU?



BRING IT! WIN!    


To all my readers:  I read this ad in Oxygen Magazine a while back.  I love it! and decided to adopt it as my personal motto.

I hope it inspires you to do something great with your life.

Kimberley

The Autumn New Year

I love when the calendar rolls around to September 1st.  It marks the beginning of the school year for most and for me, it marks the beginning of a New Year with reflection and new hopes for the future. Nature gently turns her leaves different colors without a sound and the air turns crisp.

The smell of number two pencils and shopping for that brand new outfit for the first day of school brings back warm childhood memories.

Now, as an adult, each year in September,  I still treat myself to some new pencils, pens and new writing tablets.  I still write my novels by hand.  I know its hard to believe in this age of computer technology but the hands have a strange way of expressing emotion through a pen more so than through a keyboard.  It does for me anyway.

So, as parents make the coffee and get the kids up for school and the school buses roll out onto the roads tomorrow morning, how will you greet this new time of year?

What has changed in your life since this time last year? What have you learned? Have you grown in some way? Growth can come in so many forms, it doesn't have to be big.  As long as we continue to grow in some way.  In my eyes, if I am not constantly growing, learning, experiencing, for me this is certainly a death.  Again, it can be as small as tasting a new food, bringing a new pet into your life, making a new friend or learning to play the guitar. 

Take some time during this Autumn New Year and reflect back on your life.  As you do that,  think about how you can become a more "true you" in these coming months.  Making a committment to yourself is the gift we give ourselves.

The Beauty of Discovering Oneself at 50, A Poem from My Mother

Yes, hard to believe I am actually going to post this. Actually admitting that I am going to turn 50 this year is a huge step for me.  But, I must say that today, somehow and in some strange way, I am proud to say that this is simply a number and yes , that will be my age.

Today, I bless the fact that I have personally grown so much over these last few years and that as I walk toward this number in a few months, I know in my heart of hearts that it truly is a celebration of life.  A celebration that I am a very healthy woman.  I have energy that is difficult for most people to keep up with as I dance until 4am and I am not afraid to embrace my sexuality as a woman.  I am an independent, fun-spirited, vulnerable and loving woman who embraces life.  Do I get scared when new things appear?  yes, absolutely!  Do I say, "Bring It On!" Absolutely! After all, I am my mothers daughter and she is the strongest woman I know!

As I embrace, the woman I am today, I am reminded of a poem that my mother wrote me when I turned 13 years old:


                                             My Daughter's Courage


                             To live each day, with it's contstant onslaught on our being,
                                              takes Courage

                             To endure, to persevere in the face of pain and adversity, take
                               the strength of a mountain.

                             It stands firm in the buffeting of snow and winds and rain.


                             To stop fighting, to loosen your grasp on Courage would be for you,
                                to die a little, to stop living.

                             For you it would be as the shore line, eroded by the tide as it washes over it.
                             Lost forever - never to return to its place.

                             Courage, my dearest daughter, can only be drawn, from the hills we climb
                                 over and overcome each moment.

                             As we conquer them, we build for ourselves
                                
                                               A Mountain

                                             Strong and Sure

                                             A Mountain
               
                                            Called our Lives.

                                          Keep climbing my Darling

                                                                Love Mom
                            



Thank you Mom, for your unending love and strength.

                                    
                     

An old time favorite, Martha Stewart Living Magazine

So, I was at the grocery store tonight after an intense workout and I spotted a Martha Stewart Living magazine.  It had been ages since I had browsed on.  Martha was one of my first "home management" mentors.  I was an avid fan of her TV show and the binding of her cookbook on my shelf is about to come apart.  It was so tempting to grab it off the shelf but I knew I was supposed to be writing and working when I arrived home.

I walked out of the store, with a cooked lemon,pepper chicken, brocolli, some energy bars, sour cream to make banana bread and , yes - Martha Stewart Living.  I went home and poured a glass of wine, cooked a nice, healthy meal of stir fried vegetables and chicken, sat down and opened the magazine.

It was as familiar as an old friend that you haven't seen in ages, but you pick up right where you left off. The pages are beautiful crafted and there are so many little treasures on each one.  I think my favorite find in the September issue was the breakfast cookies! Perfect!  I love cookies and they are filled with everything healthy, including sunflower seeds, oats, banana chips, etc.  And she pairs it with a cappachino. Does breakfast get better than that?

I have always admired Martha's organization skills, her cooking and garden abilities.  I don't care what anyone says, I think she has taken Home Management to a level to aspire to.

Everything that Martha does in her magazine centers around the Home.  Perhaps that is why I am so drawn to it, because my home is my sacred space.  It is where I withdraw from the craziness of the day.  It is my cats universe.  It is a special place where I love to have family come to eat and drink and laugh.  It is where my girfriends and I share our deepest secrets and most importantly, it is where I love to be more than anywhere else.

Thank you Martha for your continued inspiration in my life.

Kimberley

"Don't Die with the Music Still in You"

I cannot seem to forget this statement from a Wayne Dyer segment I watched on You Tube.  It has resonated within my soul for days now. The words call to me, knowing that there is a higher purpose to be served by all of us. 


We all must share our true gifts with the world.  Some of us sing, some of us paint, some of us write novels and some of us grow fruit and some of us teach. Whatever it is that is our true passion and love, we must freely pass it on to others.  The world would most certainly be sad if we didn't.

This message clearly resonated with me as I take what feels like baby steps toward my true calling. It was God's way of telling me,

       Don't give up, don't give up, keep moving forward, look at how far you have come, keep moving
       forward.

I haven't written too much in weeks, perhaps its been a few months. Tonight I ask myself why. Because I am not writing what my soul wants to write, I am writing because I am demanding it of myself, for a purpose other than what my soul wants to write. I have discovered this does not work, our writing must come from the soul, the heart.  The world will know when it's not our truth. For truth comes from inside ourselves.  Its not something you think about, its something you know.

It's my promise to myself and I hope you will make it for yourself too, that you won't die with the music still in you. Do whatever it takes to bring it out and share it with the world.

The Moon Shines Brightly Tonight

The moon shines brightly tonight through my kitchen window. I turn off all of the lights so that I may view it in all its glory against the darkness of the night sky. I take my tea cup upstairs, open the patio doors so that I may hear the sounds of the darkness. The insects are a buzz and cars can be heard from far away.  My street is quiet, not a soul around.  This I call tranquility. This I call peace. 

I never used to appreciate this time of night until a very dear, long distance,friend of mine and I would chat way into the wee hours of the morning about life, design, animals, favorite places we have been.  All the while we were chatting, we would listen to music together.  Songs my friend would share with me that I would never find on my own.  These were precious nights. I would almost go so far as to call them sacred.  Sacred to me anyway.  He gave me the gift of appreciating and embracing the stillness of the night instead of fearing it as I often did.

As I contemplate life on this beautiful, summer evening, I look back at these last couple years of my life and feel a sense of gratitude for the tremendous growth I have experienced as a person and the people I have met along the way. They might have been in my life for a short time, and others are still in my life but all of them have enriched my life in some way.

I can remember a time as a young girl when I desired the approval of others and now as a woman, I find it doesn't matter so much what others think or feel about me.  My mother sent me a Valentines Day card in the mail this past February and I have it sitting on my kitchen window sill as a reminder of who I am.  The front of the card has a light pink border with scrolls and flowers through it. And in the middle of the card is a little girl in a pink ballet leotard and tights, with a pink sweater-like headband around her head.  Her right arm is in the air and her left down at her side as she attempts to balance by the bar.  The saying of the card goes like this:

                                                 In the blink of an eye,
                                                      the little girl
                                                      who did pirouettes
                                                      down the hall
                                                      is dancing her way through
                                                      her own
                                                                 Life.

                                               Your song has always been different
                                                  from those around you.
                                               Like you it is special and a unique thing
                                                  you alone can hear.
                                              I have loved watching you dance t
                                                              to it"

                                                  Loved you then
                                                   Love you now
                                                 Love you always.

                                                 Happy Valentines Day

                                                          Mom


As I sip my tea and listen to the night air, I honor that little girl still in me, dancing her way through Life, to my own song, the song that plays in my heart and is true to myself.  Thank you Mom.