The Nail Art Gallery, which is a lovely place to get pictures of interesting nail art designs.

I just got mine done, which is always an interesting adventure. I find the 20-30 minutes of being taken care of by someone else to be relaxing. Am I the only woman out there that has a trip to the nail folks on the guilty pleasures list?

I’ll be posting a picture of my latest nail design tomorrow — it would be sooner, but um…it pays to actually have your digital camera batteries charged before thinking about taking pictures…

I got an email the other day from a lady doing PR for missphit, an interestingly in-your-face website selling clothing for in-your-face fashionistas. Considering my great respect for the PR field (lot of hard work and your deluxe bloghost wouldn’t mind getting involved in that side of the field), I figured I’d write a little bit about the site and knock out a blog post at the same time.

I checked out the site with a little bit of tension — I’m willing to see that there’s a lot more players in the women’s plus size fashion market, but usually the website lets me down in more ways than one. Coming from a more technical background, I’m a little picky when it comes time to actually break out the credit card and start shopping. I have to say that I’m really pleased with what Missphit is doing right now with their site.

I had to include one of their kimono style tops as part of this blog piece — it caught my eye, and I really like it. I think a lot of the designs are really, really neat — some are classic, others are retro, some are funky and others are nice for a white collar office dweller that wants to look more …ahem, management.

One thing that caught my eye was that Missphit is making their way into stores near you — if you’ve got a Dillards nearby, you might want to see if the Missphit collection has made it to your local store. I am a fairly large Dillard’s fan, even though department stores are generally a little too rich for my blood most of the time (I will still spend the money for a good, one of a kind item if it screams at me loud enough!)

Missphit also has some awesome copy — another kudos to them — about what sets their fit apart from the rest — I thought that was a great way to explain it, without getting too technical (I’m a dummy about the actual construction of clothing, so I thought it was very informative)

Overall, I thought the site was pretty interesting. As far as opportunities go, my biggest gripe is the lack of pants. I know this is most likely intentional, as missphit seems to be more focused on a line of really cute tops and jackets, but I would like to see more plus size retailers offering pants that are well, comfortable, for lack of a better word. I would slaughter my own dinner (instead of shyly walking into the supermarket) for a pair of pants that didn’t make it look like I was ahem, compensating for something, if you know what I mean.

Happy surfing,

Isabella Murphy, signing off to dream about kimono tops and pinstriped slacks (my original and first love)

This is a question that’s been on my mind for the last couple of months now. I was pulled away from this site in 2007 due to a lot of different factors, including the loss of people very close to me. I didn’t mean to make such an abrupt departure, and hope that 2008 brings me a bit more positivity and light, as it well should.

Luxury, for me, is the ability to follow my passion — having a solid work - life balance is part of that. I like being able to just sit down and talk with you all, share what I think is popular in fashion, what ought to be popular, and otherwise just have a conversation. The Internet is the ultimate manifestation of the dream of so many — to be able to make change regardless of class, race, age, gender, orientation, or background.

I get to talk about bracelets and dresses, earrings and belts, with the best of them — and get linked to, and read — even as I was away, I saw links and eyeballs all over this blog. I’m very thankful for that.

My resolution for 2008 is to reach out and just write for pleasure — as a commercial writer, I tend to search for the next project — only to come back here and find that writing for all of you is a thousand times more satisfying than whatever assignment may find itself on my desk demanding my attention.

So, for the fashion side of it: I’ve discovered that I’m still obsessed with the kimono style of shirt, and more recently, the dress. And apparently, looking at more of the plus size resources out there, I’m noticing that the plus size fashion industry agrees with my obsession.

I also finally took the plunge and got acrylic nails, which cured my nail biting …until I discovered the tip of a few nails turning um…interesting colors. So they came off, but I’m seriously thinking about putting them back on. Why not? I love the feeling of them, and I love the colors. So…I’ll think about it, and if I take the plunge, I’ll be sure to take pictures.

Once again, thank you. I don’t expect everyone to forgive me for my absence, but that’s done with now. I hope you’ll tune in, and of course, there is an RSS feed so that you’ll never miss a moment of DeluxeGrrl!