Perfect365

So there's this really intense new app that can basically do anything except turn you into a baboon... Maybe it can under the wild section I didn't check.

As a designer I believe in the power of manipulating a photo...  It wasn't created to manipulate our bodies or faces, but it's used for that in a major major way. Heck, I've done it. But how far is too far?

It's impressive how accurate the app is.  But it just reminds me of that South Park episode...

 

 

 

I tried the app anyway... This is the original photo which features no make up or you know... Any type of emotional expression. It also looks like I have a black eye that I'm pretty sure I acquired in my sleep. I sleep on my fist sometimes.

 

 

So once they analyze your photo, you could go the preset route, in which you can choose from 50 different looks:

 

 

 

Some are dramatic

 Some are more subtle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some are straight up ridiculous!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is also an option to dig in and personalize. For this I went all out:

 



 

 

Look, I even made myself smile. This is crazy. You can thin your face and everything. The fact that I did nothing to my hair doesn't really matter because it looks on purpose with the makeup.

 

This is a cool app, but it's not really me, is it? The eyes look almost fake now. So weird.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't lose yourself and what makes you beautiful by something that isn't real. You are beautiful!

 

Lots of love,

Samantha the fatulous



Model Makes History

One of my readers asked me to write about Tess Munster, who just made history by being the first size 22 to be signed to a major model management company: MiLK Management Company. Looking into the company, they are completely plus size friendly and it's super exciting.

She's a 5'5 woman who is a stunning 29 years of awesome from Mississippi. She has makeup tutorials on youtube and she's quite opinionated. She was found by an agent on a plus size modeling website and became a hit overnight it seems.

She also writes a pretty awesome blog on her website:

www.tessmunster.com

Check her out!







This has actually happened before. A model who is praised for revolutionizing the model industry...

Twiggy. Twiggy made it in to be thin. Before Twiggy, it was cool for women to have curves.

It's not Twiggy's fault that she was so thin, and it's not her fault that the entire world decided her look was the only acceptable look... But no way in hell will I ever praise Twiggy for making 'thin' the only way to be. Thinking about Twiggy makes me mad when I think about how many women have body issues today.

It's probably not fair that I blame this all on her. I don't believe in skinny shaming. I think there should be NO body shaming. We're all different and that's FINE.

So I'm so glad Tess is becoming recognized. She's so much more than a sexy model, she also has her own self love campaign. #Effyourbeautystandards 

It sounds like we're meant to be BFFs.

She even poses nude... Which between you and I, random reader... Has been a secret wish of mine. I mean, I think the human body is beautiful and people take nudity way too seriously. It's sexual when you make it sexual. If I could, I would never wear pants. And the local  Market Basket sure knows I don't always want to wear a bra.

Consider bikinis, which are often more revealing than bras and underwear. You're totally cool with looking at someone in a bikini, right? (Looking not gawking)

As soon as it's underwear it's taboo. It doesn't make sense, but society tells you that's what is right. It's silly I tell you.

Back to Tess, I'm so glad young ladies can have a model they can look up to and say, I'm her size and she's beautiful. It opens the doors to self love in the plus size community.

She's the balance that Twiggy created. Maybe, slowly, all body types will be considered beautiful? It's most definitely a step in the right direction.

I wanna be a plus size modelllll (whine voice). Yeah right (adult voice)


Lots of love,
Samantha the fatulous.

PS SNOW BUNNY ME PRETENDING TO BE TESS:

I went to the RMV today and it wasn't the worst part of my day

I feel like my life is full of complicated situations for no particular reason.

The RMV is horrible. Like it's really bad. It's filled with wooden benches, broken pens, and angry people. I actually had a pretty easy time today. I avoided eye contact with my road test administrator because he was an asshat but other than that it was a pretty okay time. I listened to music and took some selfies. I just really couldn't wait to get home and drive alone for the first time.

Well, because I was going to GET my license, I couldn't drive there. So I took a taxi there... Nice and easy.

So why was the following hour and a half AFTER I left the RMV so difficult?

Well the blizzard of the year had started. I called the taxi service and decided to hide out in Marshalls.

20 minutes pass, no taxi

I end up peeing, Marshalls has a pretty and spacious bathroom.

30 minutes pass, no taxi

I find a particularly interesting piece I consider getting for my best friend's birthday. I can't decide if it's ugly or not. I text her and her reaction leads to me to believe it is.

40 minutes pass, no taxi and I call to see why they aren't there. They say they'll be there in 5 minutes.

I wait outside, and take some more selfies because I was bored. I did my makeup, okay? I needed a new profile picture and I was bored. Plus, I wanted to make myself feel better about the terrible ID photo they chose. Seriously though why does EVERYONE look horrible on their ID? Do they do it on purpose?

It's starting to get dark and the town I was in is known for being a little sketchy. I check my phone, and it's about to die. I'm starting to get nervous... What if this happened???

1 hour mark, no taxi. I call to say my phone is about to die and to ask why the taxi wasn't here yet.

Another taxi from a different company pulls up, they won't take me because I don't have cash. My phone dies so I can't pay the company over the phone.

I start to think I'm in real trouble because the taxis from this particular company are not marked. How am I supposed to know now? They were supposed to call me. I could be getting in to a complete psycho's car now.

1 hour 15 minutes, I'm pacing around Marshalls, deciding if I should ask to use a phone and looking out the window to see if there was someone obviously waiting for a passenger. I decide to ask for help. None of the 5 people working up from speak fluent English. I have to explain why I have my license, don't have a car, have a dead phone, can't call a taxi, can't get in one because I don't have cash, and I don't know the number of the taxi service because it's on my dead phone. FIVE TIMES...

I finally order a new cab when I look out the window and..... My taxi is there. I get home, look at my car half covered in snow... And in defeat, accept I won't be able to drive alone for at least 3 or 4 more days. DAMN YOU SNOW!

This is my life, complicated but pretty humorous once you think about it.

Lots of love,
Samantha the fatulous

Fictional Couples I Grew Up Loving

Corey and Topanga

They are so amazing. They gave me hope in the world let's be honest. I watch Girl Meets World because I wasn't ready to say goodbye to them. COREY AND TOPANGA FOREVER!












Lizzie and Gordo

I always felt so bad for Gordo. Like, hello. He was so amazing.

GORDO YOU'RE BREAKING MY HEART! DAMN IT LIZZIE!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



At least it was end game. That's what is most important. It's not like he had to track down an international pop star for you, and get kicked off a class trip, oh and set up for you to sing in front of thousands of people. IS THAT WHAT YOU NEED TO GET YOUR BEST FRIENDS ATTENTION? Jesus she's blind.


Kevin Arnold and Winnie Cooper

It breaks my heart that they weren't end game. But you know, that's okay... Because they were epic. Never regret that epic love, even if it wasn't forever.


















Lots of love,
Samantha the fatulous

Rent The Runway

I have a new obsession. Or, I will once I have a paying job and can indulge this obsession (cross your fingers for me I have one coming up I'm really excited about)

It's called Rent The Runway! My readers aren't the 1%. As someone who recommends websites I will never purposefully show you something that is super expensive. I don't see the point when there's alternatives.

This website lets you try the 400, 500, 2000 dollar dresses for basically nothing. Yes, they have plus sizes. Let me show you:

Rent this Badgley Mischka which was originally $430 for only $70!

This BCBGMAXAZRIA can be rented for only $135 when it was originally $578!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



This beautiful Carmen Marc Valvo was originally $1150... You can rent it for $150!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 This Badgley Mischka can be rented for $150, opposed to the $990 retail price.

They also have jewelry, hats, clutches... It's all just fabulous. Love it.

 

Lots of love,

Samantha the fatulous 

 

 



The R Word

So, the house passed this anti abortion bill. I'm not interested in debating abortion with anyone. I've been fortunate enough in my life to not be in a position in which I have had to decide that I needed one. I'm not going to judge you if you have. That's a difficult thing to go through and there is an exception to every rule. There is a reason why they should be available. If you don't believe in it fine don't get one. It's a personal choice.

No, I really don't want to fight about it, if you don't agree with me we never will. They say Obama is going to veto the bill anyway.

What I want to talk about is an aspect of the bill that filled me with such rage that I had to get off the internet for a few hours to calm down.

That an exception to the rule is that if you report rape to the police, then you can get an abortion after 20 weeks. 

Listen, maybe a woman had a right to her privacy. Maybe, she's not ready to tell anyone she was raped. 

Do you know how it feels to have an unwanted sexual act happen to you? I bet many of my readers do because it's a grotesque underbelly of our society that continues to happen even though it's public knowledge that it's disgusting. 

In our society, it's so hard to come out and say something happened to you. I didn't tell my family until I was in college though the things that happened to me were in middle and elementary school. So why are you going to force someone to come out and say they were raped within a 20 week period?

When it happened to me, I felt gross. I felt like I let everyone around me down. I felt like I was alone and not worth anything. These feelings just don't go away and the journey is different for anyone.

Did I want to tell the police? Hell no. That would mean everyone would know. That would mean uncomfortable tests and the possibility of disbelief of friends and family. It meant the possibility of disbelief of a judge and jury. That's crushing. And I've seen it happen. How?

Because rapists don't have signs on their head that says 'Hi I'm a rapist.' 

So forcing someone to come forward is so completely mentally damaging in the long run I can't even. I can't even because most of my friends have stories and they will never come forward. That I never did. That a group of lawmakers are deciding for such a large group of people that if they get pregnant from one of the most traumatic things in the world, that they have to suffer further from public judgment. 

It should be the choice of the individual to deal with the situation anyway they can so they can BE a survivor. 

After I spoke at Take Back The Night at school, I felt bad because I didn't tell the whole story. I told the part of the story I was comfortable with accepting out loud. But even still so many women and men reached out to me (I didn't forget you male survivors we just happened to be talking about a bill about abortion) and doing something like that really puts in perspective that even though the statistics are scary, they are still way way off. 

We need to start talking about consent in all sense of the word. The house does not have my consent to take away my right to privacy. My right to grieve in private. You are forcing women to have children when you have not lived their lives. You don't know what they're going through. You don't know how they will treat the child after being forced to have it. Or if the mother is desperate enough, illegal abortions. You can't stop someone who is desperate.

Sure, there are many cases in which the child is born and things turn out great. But life is not one size fits all. It's complicated and messy and there is more than one way to deal with trauma.

Don't forget that you deserve happiness. And someone else's choice does not make you gross, or worthless. Don't let anyone dull your shine and take back the night.

Lots of love,

Samantha the fatulous

Reinventing Your Space

Let's face it, with all our technology, when something is out of sight it's out of mind.

For me, it's my jewelry box. I just don't have a place for it so it's hidden away in the closet... So I never end up wearing jewelry.

I don't think I'm the only one here. I just feel like many people now don't utilize jewelry boxes. I see friends constantly hanging their necklaces all over the place. Well I have an alternative for you now.

I've been researching them for months, but they tend to be a bit expensive. A new way to organize your jewelry while using the object as something else as well!

Door Hanger , $59.99

I recommend using this in your closet, so you can mix and match easily with the clothes you will be wearing that day.

Bulliten Board, $29.99

 

Dress it up with some photos of your friends and it's just a little something to look at and make you happy. Super cute.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Full Length Mirror, $109.00

 

Super in love with this. Your jewelry hidden behind the mirror. It makes it so easy to finish an outfit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is the one I stumbled upon at TJ Maxx:

 

It's a jewelry box hidden within a picture frame. It was on super sale for only $25.00. So lucky they had them. So I went with a floating lanterns theme from my wedding and voila!





  The only downside is that I couldn't fit EVERYTHING as it's a smaller holder... And I definitely couldn't fit my chunky pieces. But I still have my old jewelry box and at least this way I can go over to this one and it will remind me that I have other pieces that could fit with the outfit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obsessed

 

Lots of love,

Samantha the fatulous

Five Shows I Feel Bad About Myself for Enjoying

• Bridalplasty- Brides competing for plastic surgery so they can look 'perfect' on their wedding day.

It's everything I hate. Telling a woman she needs to be a certain way. Telling her that if she isn't this way she won't have a perfect wedding day unless she has these surgeries. These women were physically perfectly fine before.

It's like watching a car crash... You can't look away. Well actually I don't get that saying because that's not something I'd want to look at either but you get what I'm saying.

My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding

 

 

Where to start...

 

Exploiting a culture that already faces a lot of prejudice and stereotypes and only flaunting the stereotypes.

 

 

These people on this show mostly live in trailers and save their entire lives for these dresses from Waltham Massachusetts that START at $600.00. WHAT?

 

 

 

Breaking Amish                               I don't know if this show is as racey as I think it is, or I just feel super awkward watching these people go against their beliefs so aggressively. Either way I think the Amish community is extremely interesting.

 

 

Dance Moms

You basically watch these amazing kids get overworked while they are surrounded by the screaming people who make choices for them. I love to watch the dances, but I feel so bad for those kids.

 

 

Are You The One?

They purposely chose people notorious for being terrible in relationships and put them in a house together. Honestly though if they thought about this all together in a room the game would be so much easier. Who cares who is ACTUALLY hooking up? Drama drama drama... Anyway if they guess their perfect match within 10 weeks they split a million dollars.

 

 

 



 



 I can feel your judging

 



 

 

I know I know... I don't care though I sort of really enjoy them.

 

Lots of love,

Samantha the fatulous

PTSD and me

Most of my posts have been really positive. It's important to try and stay positive.

Sometimes though you just need  a little help.

The day of the Boston Bombing, I saw things I can't unsee. I'm not going to pretend it's my first traumatic event, but it was the one that pushed me into therapy. It was bad, I was bad. I cried loudly and openly in public. I hit the floor with every loud noise. For the first Fourth of July after the bombing, Chris and I shut our windows and watched movies and tried to ignore the fireworks. I couldn't understand why people didn't care more. I needed more, which was unfair to ask.

 I had a panic attack at my wedding. Not because of what I was doing. It was overwhelming, everyone wanting my attention. The flashing lights, calling out for my name. It was too much.

I couldn't watch normal TV shows. I was basically stuck on My Little Pony for months. It was the only thing that I could handle. But you know what I LIKE IT SO BOO ON YOU HATERS

That was when I was at my worst... But I've been struggling for years.

We don't need to dive into my childhood. Everyone has a past. The wiki version includes an abusive father, a dead brother, a sexually assaulting neighbor, and 7 car accidents.

By the time I got to college I was pretty messed up, but I didn't want to be. So, looking back at it now I can see how needy I was. How I over shared too much. College is a bad place for someone who doesn't deal well with emotions. But I tried, and I grew a lot.

But then the bombing happened and I totally broke. I couldn't function anymore. It took a friend basically telling me they didn't want to see me on my birthday because I was depressed to push me into therapy.

So I went, and it was great. It's not for everyone--and it's a lot like dating you have to find the right one. But I needed it. And I had a label for it: PTSD

Now it's almost been three years, woah that's weird... Since the bombing. I think I'm the most emotionally healthy I have ever been. I'm happy, I love myself, I have a healthy support system.

But some days are harder than others. I wake up screaming. I just don't sleep. Sometimes I just feel like a failure, or like I'm not good enough for anyone.

Today I started thinking bad thoughts about my weight, and how I wish weight loss was immediate. Which is the opposite of what I believe in and promote.

So what's the point of this long post? Well for my readers out there... Everyone has bad days and you're not alone. I'm not alone. We need to remember that we cannot change the past but you can choose how to move toward your future. If you are anxious, or depressed it's important to find SOME WAY to deal with it. It can get better. I know a lot of people are against therapy, or medication and that's fine. But life is too precious to cry in public--trust me I know it gets awkward.

There are so many good things in the world and everyone has baggage, be mindful of that. All you can do is try your best. Take a breath and do what you can to stay positive.

I hope this is helpful.

Lots of love,
Samantha the Fatulous

Missguided

So there's a website called Missguided that goes to size 20 that is fabulous. I haven't written about it yet because I'm bitter that I do not fit in that parameter. However, I have hopes with these new LIFESTYLE CHANGES (don't use that diet word--be healthy forever) that I will get there. So here are some fabulous clothes that you should put on your radar:

NEED, only $57.00

Like come on how cute is this? 3/4th sleeve, wrap velvet dress... So cute and flattering in all the right places for the plus size ladies.

MUST HAVE, $66.50

 

The oversized peplum, the lace, the cap sleeve, the pencil skirt? COME ON... Perfection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WANT, $38.00

This knot top is just too cool. IT

FUN COLORED PANTS, $22.80

 

 

Weird combination but I always appreciate not black or jean bottoms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you like them as much as I do!

 

 

Lots of love,

Samantha the Fatulous 



Delete Diet

Diets annoy me. The word, the concept... Everything about them. There's a reason they don't work. Diets are temporary. Living a healthy lifestyle is forever. And doing so, there IS more than one way. You need to figure out which way works for you. What YOU can live with.



When I was young, I was forced to eat foods I did not like. I was told it was because of my weight. So I cried in secret and snuck unhealthy foods I could get my hands on.

It's easy to find delicious healthy food, you have to experiment. You have to commit to things.

When have temporary changes ever worked in any part of life?

In relationships, it's normal to fight or discuss problems. If you were to only change for a few days and the problem persists... Then the relationship becomes toxic. You'll keep fighting. No. You need to find a common ground. Something you both can live with.

Don't diet your relationship. Love is worth compromising over. But most important is to love yourself. There's a difference between compromising and being walked over. Relationships should be equal.

And as far as loving yourself when food and exercise is involved-- if you don't love it you're going to revert to old habits. Make that lifestyle change. I know that may sound weird from a plus size girl. But I'm still figuring out what foods and exercise makes me happy. Right now I'm trying the Nutribullet--which I can see doing forever. It's easy and makes me genuinely full. I'm also trying zumba at home. If you literally don't even have to leave your house then you have no excuse, right? hahaha but really it's dancing--and dancing is my favorite thing in the world so I can see myself keeping at it long term.

What about you, readers? What 'diets' are you dropping for some good ol' lifestyle changes?


Lots of Love,
Samantha the Fatulous