21 things

21 things I've learnt during the first 21 years of my life in no particular order.

1. Everything and everyone deserves to be understood. Receiving it is another story
2. People, who make bad/lame/just-unfunny jokes, are their best when making fun of their own lack of humor
3. Sour candy can make anything better
4. You can't fix broken people, but you can hear them out
5. Robbie Williams was right- secretly deep inside "all we've ever wanted is to look good naked, hope that someone can take it"
6. And Barbra Streisand also, when she sang "people, who need people, are the luckiest people in the world". Fighting against your demons with someone else is much more efficient. Besides, human connection is onne of the most beautiful things you can experience
7. Bullshit happens. It just does
8. When you have too much things to finish, YouTube will almost always suggest watching an Ellen DeGeneres video
9. You can never watch just one Ellen video
10. 90% of a change is taking the first step. The Universe will take care of the rest
11. Nothing can compare to the love you can have for yourself
12. Truth is subjective
13. A deodorant that will not leave white spots on dark clothes does not exist. Just stop searching for it
14. The weirdest and most eccentric people only seem weird/eccentric until they've found their element. After that we refer to them as geniuses
15. Openly dirty-minded people are most fun to be around
16. Suffering is overrated
17. Love is a game of egos
18. Save a document after every 5-10 minute. Save yourself from a future heart attack.
19. The best things in life come in threes. E.g bacon, eggs and toast or meringue, strawberries and whipped cream or shampoo, conditioner and oil
20. Life nowadays would be so much more complicated without Google. We should all be thankful
21. You don't have to have it all figured out by 21

And apparently you still have some time

Picture source: PostSecret

Shoes from out of this world

THE shoes of 2012.
This obsession with galaxy shoes began from a moment of confusion. Followed by serious moments of experimenting.

With time my tidy-whitey sneakers began to change their color from brilliant white to rusty-ish. And the rusty spots were impossible to remove even with bleaching. 

But, as they say "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade".

So to hide that spotty rustiness I decided to cover them with paint. 

The outcome was unexpected, based on mistakes, but reminiscent of what seemed to be a galaxy print. So I full-on went for it. 

The first pair was a pure experimentation. I wet them and used a somewhat watercolor technique. The subtle clouds and stars are from dabbing the rusty spots with white acrylic paint. Something that come from SOS hiding ended up as a brilliant idea as it gave the image another dimension. Instead of actually covering them with a thick layer of paint I blended/melted the thin layers of colors. The finishing step was making small clouds of stars with a toothpick and bling-bling shinier stars with a thin brush. 

That pair was made purely for the purpose of making really colorful interpretation of what a Photoshopped galaxy would look like. When they received some attention that lead to orders from fascinated friends I dug further and used actual images as sources of inspiration. 

Yeah, best pictures ever. Taken on a bed. Yeah.

So I would recommend you looking for pictures for an actual reference. It will make them look more realistic. Also YouTube is full of useful tutorials as well as Google. 

You can experiment with different techniques and different colors: layering colors or blending them in, using a sponge or a brush, painting on white sneakers or black sneakers. Don't forget to tape the sides of the soles if you don't want them to get dirty, because taping is much easier than having to hide your mistakes with white paint afterwards. 

From my experience, if you use acrylic paint your sneakers will withstand a rainfall, even a flood, an unexpected hike in fields of wet clay and dusty trails, without even the paint cracking. 

So...Jane confirms. 

About love at first sight

To be honest,

I think the concept behind love at first sight is quite scary. It's believed to be the most romantic thing ever- when two souls unite unanimously at the first glance. To maybe grasp the concept of it all a bit more clearly let's think of something we've all went through and is fairly similar: shopping.
Right? Genius!

I know, you may be thinking about how it's not completely fair. Clothes and human beings.
Elementary, my dear Watson. 

Let's imagine this scene. You're walking around a clothing store during sales. Just wandering around, starting to feel a bit bored until you spot something. It's a piece you've been searching for seasons, but found nothing until now.
It's on sale. It's your size. It's perfect. You're in love.
You're almost dancing to the fitting room all giddy and excited. If you know what I mean. While you're standing in line (because it's sales season), waiting and anticipating, you're caressing the material and giving it a couple of up-and-down gazes while imagining all kinds of different scenarios that are probable to happen while fitting and wondering if that item will be merciful for your a-bit-wider thighs and the small bump you managed to pick up during Christmas holidays, but with all those worries you stop on that one image: that dress being the perfect match to your body. Finally, you reach the fitting room. And owh my. Well, let's put it this way. It's nothing close to what you had imagined and hoped. But during that silly fraction of time you managed to get so attached to it that you're starting to un-convince yourself of the faults.
"Maybe I can sew something additional the the hem so it wouldn't be so short?".
"The zipper isn't working that smoothly, but I can definitely fix it, somehow".
"The pleads are not doing what they are supposed to be doing, they need some directions".
"I can probably dye it for a more fitting color".
"Maybe a push-up bra will make my chest look a bit more appealing in this".
 "I'll use professional help when I can't manage myself"

If you've been thinking about that one specific thing to come into your life for too long to bare some more then I've got news for you. It's a trap! A trap you've set for yourself.
Yes, you are Winnie-the-Pooh, who set up a trap for the Backson- an imaginary monster- using honey as bait, but eventually forget about the trap and fall for the empty honey pot, because of a growling stomach and a naive mind. 
I've been watching too many animated movies. 
No, I'm not hinting it's foolish. No, I'm not saying it's that extreme. Yes, I do believe in magic and not the "ow, hey, what's a rabbit doing in my hat, silly rabbit, you" magic.
But when our emotions take over and our mind is sent on an all expenses trip to somewhere far from civilization we can get into some wacky business.
If you manage to keep a clear head then you'd take that item off and retrieve it back to where you found it.
If you've gone all ga-ga for goo-goo then owh-no for you, honey-boo-boo.
I guess it's all the cheeseball romantic Hollywood movies that have brainwashed us. Where men will do anything to get your attention, look like Ryan Gosling (or -insert movie crush-), kiss you passionately in the pouring rain while your mascara is dripping off your face and you feel like drowning. The women will be 170 cm tall with Grecian goddess bodies and wake up with flawless make-up.
Nevertheless, I do feel compassion when I saw Disney's Oscar winning short movie "Paperman". Don't hide it, you were also secretly rooting for this couple, even though you knew it was bound to end like that.
I just wish someone would just acknowledge the beauty and magic after that first contact, after the (read the next in a princess voice) "will we be finally united or not?" part.
It does seem like I'm expecting perfection from the first second, either be it with clothes or relationships. Here and now I will refute these beliefs.
But the question still remains- how much work and effort is still okay to not change entirely what was once there?