Arm Akimbo

What do you do to meet potential suitors when the ratio of women to men at work is high, everyone is way older than you anyway, and whenever you leave the house, you are mostly found shopping for plums, tripods and Chobani?  In my case, your mother encourages you to try speed dating and you are already ahead of her.

It was a month ago when I registered for this 20s to 30s singles mixer event thing similar to speed dating but not really.  The event details read "dress to impress" and all I could think about was finding a freakum dress to wear (but not too freakum, excuse me). I was too excited about getting dressed up to be too nervous about doing something so far out of my comfort zone.

It all went down two weeks ago.  No romantic connections made, but I made a couple of friends and won two drawings: free admission to another event and $20! The most luck I've ever had was in elementary school cake walks...so this was a pleasant surprise.

♥

Now for self-taught lessons in photography.  No lighting, highlight or contrast changes have been made by my minimal editing resources.  Only the first one below with two overexposed images juxtaposed followed by two crops (which takes away crispness, but still better images than before).

The light engulfs me

The top photo was a first attempt on a makeshift tripod around 7 pm.  A little too much light. Second and third attempts with changed camera angles gave me the combo below lol.  Then I balanced the camera on a car facing an open space--success!  See, people take great photos; cameras can make it easier but can never do all the work. Later, pretending to know anything about white balance and ISO beyond their names, I tried manual settings when indoors at night (probably the worst combination for taking clear, crisp photos).  I remember increasing the light sensitivity (bigger ISO) and changing the white balance to tungsten--not as successful.

Car as tripod #1

Car as tripod #2
It's amazing how a person uses the same camera
to capture the light-floods above
and then these two pieces of clarity

Deep into the night at 10 pm

dress by Phoebe Couture
clutch by Michael Kors
spiky heels by Guess
(hidden) black earrings by Ruche
chunky bangles from my momma
twist-out by me

Natural light is the best light. That's what I've learned. Also, I love to put one arm on my hip.

It's A Little Much

uh oh!

dress from somewhere
bangle/bracelets from that one place
Nine West heels
Steve Madden crossbody purse

Hello, hello!

I nearly killed my point-and-shoot trying to take these photos. Hold, fiddle, fumble, drop. The lens got jammed in and like it was someone's dislocated shoulder, I popped it out with a little force.  I then revived it from unconsciousness, so behold... I wore these things this past Sunday. A little much right? Short skirt, tsk tsk.

Since I'm without a tripod or a servant to be my personal photographer, I'm sticking indoors for now and using impromptu (yet totally stable) household items to balance the camera. It was really cool to play with the natural lighting from the window shutters, to see what happens when there's too much light and when there's not enough. This is too much fun already. Good day to you!

Don't Break The Bank

I knew that guitar was good for something!

I don't know WHY you got that stank face on, but...

Ruche dress
L: vest from ThredUp
R: F21 chaqueta
Steve Madden crossbody bag
Cole Haan leather boots from Nordstrom Rack
(jk, they only came in a Cole Haan shoebox)

When I saw my cousin that Saturday afternoon he said "So you just decided to wear a dress today?" Yup. I wanted to get dressed. For an ordinary trip to the bank to ♪ get my money up ♫. And to visit my second home, Walmart. ♫ No lie ♪

Last Sunday Grey

Oh, my face is out of focus? Well....

Dear Potential Readers,

Welcome to my slice of (modest) vanity. Thank you for checking it out.  It's a little embarrassing and/or nerve-wracking to post anything online, but I'm just gonna do it. Our world is already used to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and all the other modes of sharing through the web. Part of the inspiration for this blog is the belief that we can all be extraordinary too. Using whatever resources you have (different personalities, styles, and opinions), you can be just as great as all the people you admire. So here it is. My kind of extraordinary. Hope you enjoy it!

Love Always,

Ifeoma Adaora

silk-something top from ThredUp
H&M skirt
 F21 necklace
Steve Madden crossbody purse
wedges "stolen" from my cousin's closet

If Only for Posterity

Dear Future Me,

You were a girl--er, young woman-- whose coming of age themes were to be bold and gorgeous. Bold and beautiful, gorgeous and gracious, et cetera, et cetera.  At twenty-something (ooh, one of those) you are still coming of age and creating yourself.  ♫ One step at a time ♪.  But how are you to know just how you grew to be who you are at whatever the present time?  Well, part of your identity lies in how you express yourself in the most obvious and widely cited arts-- music, design, writing, and fashion. Not the most important things of course, but in the running for the most fun.  

Yeah! (this was you way way back in '09)

In 2012 you started a blog called "Some Kind of Colorful" and it was canceled after a year in favor of "Extraordinary Too." Why? Just because. Or you wanted a new direction, a focus for artistic creativity. And you really wanted to document the development of your personal style. Maybe so your daughters could see just how chic you were then (but you're probably still ♪ rocking the hottest outfits ♫). Oh, and because of photography. You're kind of obsessed with the idea of taking it up as a hobby and thought "Why not practice by joining the other thousands of women and girls blogging about style?"  So here it is.  Hope you enjoy it!

Love Always,

You