Palate for Style

Hi, I am Monika. I repeat clothes and rarely post on schedule. There. I said it. 🙈 Oh also, I am total badass supporter of self-love. 

In other exciting news, I am starting a new series dedicated to the month of love.. all about loving yourself. So I’ll be posting about things that make me happy and how I practise self-love.. You see self-love is extremely important and nothing to be ashamed of. No, it doesn’t make you self-obsessed and if someone does think that way, well isn’t it better to be obsessed with yourself than disliking everything you are? I have vowed to make myself priority and focus on my well-being. It’s so so important to fill yourself with all the love and care before you can give it to others. So please don’t put yourself last in the list of to-do’s.. You deserve to be your no.1 always!! *Ok Monika, all this advice is good but honestly all I heard was yourself, myself and some more yourself..* 🙈

Let’s kick off this series by talking about something I love with all my heart and something I am working on improving.

Self-Love 101 : Fashion 

What a surprise!🙈 I have always felt that fashion is so much more than looking pretty. To me, fashion is and always will be a form of art. It is also a form of self-expression; my dressing usually reflects my mood. It pushes me to be more creative. Playing with different colors, patterns, prints, accessories can be so much fun and therapeutic.. I am not at all ashamed to say that I love clothes and playing dress up. The immense pleasure of using the same pieces of clothing to create a completely different look is beyond words. Take this sweater for example. I wore it just a couple of weeks back in this post and here I am flaunting it again. I repeat clothes in real life so why not do it here. After all my blog is an extension of who I am and keeping it real is my jaamm. 😎 That rhymed!!!! I can totally become a rapper!!

Or maybe not bcoz I ain’t so cool. Why? Hmm do you see the pic below? Does it look like someone who is even remotely cool? I was trying to take some artsy picture and ended up looking like a distorted piece. 🙈

Moving on.. I wanted to do more of what I truly enjoy and love. Starting this blog took a lot of courage but I am so glad I did. It’s my escape,my creative outlet where I can explore my sense of style and ideas. So if there is absolutely anything you have always wanted to do that gives you pure joy, just do it. I know it’s not easy fighting the inner voice trying to stop you from moving out of the comfort zone but as they say “baby magic happens outside the comfort zone”.. Being honest, I still struggle with this whole comfort zone thingy. It’s such a safe, warm, marshmallowy place but slowly and steadily I am realizing that this cozy comforting place will never let me grow! So let’s take baby steps and create messy magic.. 🌟

Self-Love 101 : Be Gentle

My posting schedule has been all over the place.. I beat myself up for not having a proper schedule. I beat myself up for not creating more content. I beat myself up for not being more proactive.. I beat myself up for completely failing to meet my goals. I beat myself up for not being more successful in the blogging world.I beat myself up for so many more things.

NO MORE.. I have been making a conscious effort to be more gentle with myself. Ofcourse I’ll screw up a million times, fail even more and fall a trillion times but beating myself to the ground is not a solution and neither should it be for you. We are a living, breathing being and so deserving of all the respect that we so freely give to others. It’s so easy to be disappointed with yourself.. But why not celebrate everything we are doing right! So here I am celebrating some of the things I am so proud of in the past few weeks –

• Publishing a blog post consistently every week irrespective of the day.
• Pushing myself to be more interactive on social media even though every ounce of me wants to curl up with a book.
• Getting dressed up and putting on makeup for a shoot even though I have no place to go and will eventually  remove it in 30 minutes.
• Cooking dinner almost 4-5 times a week.. Ranting on insta stories definitely helps. 🙈

Now go give yourself a pat on the back for everything you are doing right. If you do screw up, give yourself a big hug and move on. Remember to alway be gentle.

Winter Layering cont. contd.

I love colors irrespective of the season and accessories are a perfect way to add a pop of color. Oh I also absolutely love this shirt. It’s super comfortable and adds a fun touch to the whole winter layering concept.

Trend alert – Embroidered shirts are so totally in nowadays.

Putting on sunglasses on days when there is no sun is another not-so-cool-but-trying-to-be-cool thing I do.. 🙈 Another proof that I am not rapper material. But then rappers wear glasses even at night so maybe there is a glimmer of hope.. 🙌🏽 I digress again.. but overall, this is a simple outfit that any of you can put together and totally rock it!

What are your plans for this month? Do you celebrate valentines day? I would love love to hear your thoughts on this post.. Thank you so much for reading. See ya next week. Ciao – Love, M ❤️

Be gentle.

Fill yourself up with love instead of hate.

Fill yourself up with art, books, knowledge, experiences.

Surround yourself with people who have nothing but love to give. 

These things, they are important.

They will help you learn how to love.

OUTFIT DETAILS 

Shirt – Zara – $30

Sweater – Old navy – $15

Leggings – Old navy (similar for $15)

Booties – DSW – (tonnes of wonderful options here) $30

Bag – Zara – $30

Sunglasses – Rayban – $160

Neckpiece – Target (similar)