Oh, so thankful. It’s a great pleasure to announce that DeluxeGrrl.com is 2 years old today, and man, has it been a journey. I have grown with this site, and the people I’ve met have been simply amazing. It started out being one woman’s journey through fashion and became a journey of acceptance - loving myself as-is, rather than trying to be something manufactured.

I didn’t have any extravagant plans to celebrate that this site is two years old - there’s always a lot going on in the world of DG, and I wish there were more hours in the day to share with you some awesome finds. For the here and right now, I figured I’d talk to all of you about what I’ve been working on in the background.

I want all of my content sites to represent the very best of what I have to offer. I’ve been working on a set of guides that everyone can refer to — I want to build a library. I was going to do this on another site, but I decided to keep the fashion conversation right here on DeluxeGrrl.

I had thought about changing the name of the site, and then I realized that the site is everything I want to represent: luxury for every lady, luxury for every price. I hesitated talking about stores for a long time — as a marketer, I think sometimes I’m hyper-sensitive about that sort of thing. I’m going to make a renewed venture of showing you the very best, and explaining the why behind it.

We’ve had some great advertisers, and some great stores. I’ve gotten several requests from advertisers, and I’ve turned down a couple, because I don’t think they’ll represent something good for you. I don’t mind lingerie sites, but I will never promote adult-oriented material to you. I want this to be a site you can bring your mother to (mine is aware of this site, after all, and I hope your mom is too!), which can be a tall order sometimes.

I have an awesome interview, well…”interview” is pushing it. It’s unlike any interview I’ve ever done. If you’d like to be interviewed by me, don’t hesitate to send me an email: nichelady@gmail.com - it’s where all emails should go from now on. My poor deluxegrrl email address has been eaten by crazy spammers. Same bat woman, same bat replies. And by the way: my name is Isabella Murphy. I’ve gotten a lot of emails that don’t bother to address me by name — so I just chalked it up to maybe they didn’t know my name or something. Benefit of the doubt.

Happy Birthday, DeluxeGrrl.com. I love you and the readers who come here more than anything else, and I hope this year will be filled with more content, more laughter, and of course, more style!

Like most humans, I still have to eat, sleep, drink, and yes, go to the ladies’ room. A quite obvious fact of life. However, I’m usually hiding in the pink scented hall of doom with several other women. As I’m washing my hands, I try to be as cordial as possible. Over time, I’ve noticed that I’m in the middle of a group of women that are all indulging in these little one time conversations with each other during the handwashing ritual.

The topic can be virtually anything under the sun, but as I begin wandering around in public more, the topic seems to shift to size. We women are masterminds at checking for every microscopic piece of invisible fat on parts of our bodies that nobody’s even looking at!

“I’m so fat. My legs are huge!” chirps one lady. The other lady responds with, “Well, at least you don’t have these love handles or these huge feet.”

I am blissfully unaware of either of them, until both turn on me in classic “me and my sister against the enemy” fashion. “Well, don’t you dislike something?”

I found it very hard to respond. I mean, I don’t get on that level that often anymore, because my life has turned so digital. Where I play online, most care more about your grammar skills than how well you can twirl that mascara wand, and they could honestly not give two shades of lipstick if you can’t seem to fit into that pair of skinny jeans from the 10th grade.

The thing is…when I look into the mirror, I see a person. I believe that we are only bound by the limits we set — how else could I have created such a responsive blog about women’s plus size fashion if there was some inherent “block” put on that?

I love fashion. I love makeup. I love hair. That’s why it saddens me when I see the very things that I delight in become such a negative drain on women. Instead of fighting things that I don’t like about myself, I turn them into positives.

Going through high school I was teased because my hips were so big — I’d knock things off countertops and bump into shelves all the time. It used to really embarrass me because everytime it happened, somebody would have something snotty to say. I never understood that at all, but the most interesting thing is that now that I’m out of that environment, I get a lot of women that go “I want those kind of hips!” Not too long back they were the butt (no pun intended) of far too many jokes, and now I get praise for them. Ah, if we could all be so fickle.

The mirror isn’t the enemy. It’s not even the friend. It’s a tool, much like a hammer or a screwdriver or even some of those fancy dremel widgets, I like those too. Learning to accept that what you’re seeing in the mirror isn’t what gets you the job, the house, the friends of the car that goes vroom is the tricky part, but it can be learned.

How do I overcome the “mirror game”? I tell myself that I’m the greatest. Cocky? Probably, but it starts and ends the day with a smile on my face all the same.

How do you “beat the mirror”? Is it something that took time, or did you find the road to enlightenment early on?

OK, so “hate” is a pretty strong word. Maybe strongly dislike Vitamin Water. I was doing my shopping and saw I could pick up a couple of bottles for $1 each. At work, Vitamin Water is considered the top dog of the mineral-infused water products, and I’m outnumbered, swarmed by passionate Vitamin Water supporters.

But I haven’t gotten on the train. Oh, I can see why people like it — it’s doing something healthy for yourself, and a great way to avoid the siren song of the soda pop, but I just can’t get with it.

It tastes weird. Granted, I had Formula 50, which tasted like weak grape kool-aid. I hate real grape kool aid, so its weak little brother wasn’t doing my any favors. I’ve been told repeatedly that I just got a bad flavor, and there are several other varieties to choose from.

Once bitten, twice shy. Does anyone have any experience with this Vitamin Water bonanza?

(and you thought plus size fashion was all about luxury clothes — apparently, Vitamin Water is the luxury of choice for cubicle beans everywhere…)

Every cloud has a silver lining, and after hitting my head hard enough to make the world spin last week, I learned that it still pays to pay attention to the little details. After being moved to a bench to sit down, I got to meet the delightful (and utterly fantastic) paramedics. While they were taking down all the vital information, they both said how lovely I looked in my nice-fitting slacks and blouse with the cap sleeves. Am I the only one that likes cap sleeves?

Getting my nails done was also a talking point. While they were happily practicing secret paramedic-fu on my arm with a needle, I was telling them where I got my nails done and everything about taking care of them.

No matter where I go, I realize that size acceptance starts with me — I have to accept that style comes in all shapes, all colors, and all sizes, and mine is like good porridge: just right. Looking back, I realize that even if I had been wearing sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt, I would have still been just right, because it’s not the clothes, it’s the woman that everyone was worried sick over.

While I’m better now, I am thankful for one thing: I was wearing clean underwear. Well, as innocent as lacey hipster panties can be…

Reading through all the lovely fashion, makeup, and hair blogs lately makes me wonder if I’ll ever earn the “fashionista” badge for real. I mean, I’m sure you’re reading this and wondering why I started writing about fashion, hair, and makeup in the first place. Good question.

I started DeluxeGrrl because I thought it would be interesting to go from geekalicious codermuffin to rockstar fashionista. There was a lot of things I needed to learn along the way — like becoming one with the makeup brush and realizing that not everything halter is good — but I’m getting there, slowly…

And then I realized that plus size fashion was more than just clothes — it was downright political. It was this stream of blogs that I had never really ventured out to read before — talking about this new-yet-not-new concept to me of size acceptance. It was amazing — and downright frightening. And yet, I dived deeper.

I discovered clothing stores like Kiyonna, Igigi, and my new fascination, Missphit. I also met interesting designers like Tara, and friends like Sarah, Glen, and Aja. I even learned, somewhere along the way, to embrace my hips and curves…

Creative link-love aside, I have found this journey through size, clothes, fashion, health, beauty, and style to be both a neverending source of wonder and also a level of frustration.

I blog because I want to reach out to girls like me that never really held up a piece of clothing and felt something intangible from it before growing into a vein where they had to have that, they had to start looking sharper, presenting themselves better. I could post some of my nerd pictures, but I don’t believe in torturing the innocent.

So, at two in the morning, as I sit coffeeless, I’m reviewing the numerous press releases, stories, link lists and other publicity drippings that get sent to me. To everyone that has linked to me, emailed me things, and, in the case of some of my commenters, dropped a line to let me know the other side of my argument, thank you! I hope as we merrily walk down this deluxe little path there will be much more to share. I have to say that sometimes it’s hard to come up with posts like this — I want to make sure that I’m being heard, but I also don’t want to stretch fashion out into this textbook thing that isn’t living.

All this, from the nerd in pinstriped slacks. My wardrobe just isn’t fashionista enough, I might want to give Di (of legendary, incredible Fat Chic fame) a call and let her pimp my ‘drobe? perfect my pants? pimp my hangers? There just aren’t enough streetcorners for everything in my wardrobe that needs to be pimped out, I tell you…

I’ve been thinking about price, style, fashion, and why we spend. As a shopper as well as a marketer, I’m often curious as to why certain lines/brands get a free pass for being spendy whilst others get raked over the coals to dare price a blouse/skirt/dress/pant higher than $X or so.

I might as well admit it: I am not a fashionista. I would like to think someday I’ll become a fashionista, but since it’s generally inappropriate (and ahem, illegal) to run outside sans clothes, I have to find something that fits, looks fairly nice, and wards off evil…I mean, oglers.

Fashion is so fickle. I have a hard time purchasing something trendy to watch it fall out of favor, then watch it come BACK in style 2 years down the road. To ward off this sadness, I generally stick to the classic pieces: pinstriped slacks, heather-gray pants, black, close-fitted jackets and button down blouses with adorable princess seams.

I’m often agitated when I surf through general fashion sites, as they carry an air of “oh, look at me, I paid all this money for these items…” — is that how we want to look as women, breaking the bank on the latest designer, yet struggling with the concept of automagically withdrawing money every month for that nest egg at the end of the rainbow?

Granted, you can do both — $600 shoes and the 401(k), but sometimes I get a little itchy when the expectation is that you have to be spending money on the latest dress from …you name it…no matter what the cost.

in plus size fashion land, the phenomenon seems to be even more intense, as it’s seen to be /expected/ that prices can skyrocket out of this world. Huh? What? If we’re going to make plus size fashion political, then I think pricing and justifications also need a close look-over as well.

I’m intensely interested in this, because I know that for every woman that can buy a Monif C., Abby Z., or Igigi / Kiyonna / SizeAppeal / etc creation, there’s three women that can’t. It’s not just college students that I’m thinking of — I’m also thinking of the woman that’s struggling to make ends meet, the one that’s trying to get an interview for a job that could pay a lot more than what she’s making now, but if only she could find proper interview clothing in her size…

Price, as most of you know, is always going to be relative, perception wise. A $125 dress may not seem like a lot to some people, but for the groups I’m speaking of, that could easily be groceries, or an electric/gas bill, or a car payment. I’ve seen the prices of looking halfway decent brushed off as “that’s just the way it is”, but is it really?

I attack the problem from the other side of the house — I write, coach, mentor, and speak to women (and men, I’m an equal-opportunity business builder) about starting microbusinesses and passive income streams.

Although I’m one person, my greatest wish isn’t that every woman in America can purchase a $150 dress from Igigi — it’s that every woman in American can freely decide to do that without having to juggle 2834982732092 other expenses that are keeping her up at night.

Today I went to the Lane Bryant Outlet Store in Branson, MO to check out what they had in stock, and also what steals and deals I could wrangle. It is, after all, an outlet store, and the inherent assumption is that there would be a deal that I couldn’t refuse, right?

The general consensus is more meh than wow, but it could have been worse. One prop that I appreciated: the ladies that ruled the counter there were efficient, courteous, friendly, and downright fantastic. I called earlier to get store hours and while the conversation only lasted a moment, the voice that greeted me definitely made me feel like the hour ride down the road was worth it.

I still think that if you’re going to shop in an LB, it may be best to stick to the retail store rather than the outlets — the one I’ve visited is a touch lacking as far as I’m concerned; then again, my style of dress is also different (I dress business causal year-round; I’ve found that the style covers a wide range of situations and makes me look darn cool in the process).

I have three LB gift cards. Silly me, I forgot that they cover Fashion Bug, Lane, and Catherine’s (don’t laugh, I like some of their stuff too). I cashed in a couple of “bonus” points at work for the gift cards, so it’s not like I’m at a loss. I have enough gift card cash to stock up on a few underthings, a couple of camis or blouses, and maybe a pair of slacks: I’ve been eyeing those high-waist trousers for a while, but OUCH — my college student id quivers.

Maybe I’m just super-picky — I can’t shop for clothes to save my life, because I consider clothing a huge lock-in of my overall dollars. I dislike buying clothing that’s going to go on sale two to three months after I purchase it, and fade/pop/crinkle/pill after a couple of washes. That’s a comment not directly aimed at Charming Shoppes’s lines exclusively, just to clarify — it’s merely something I’m beginning to get fed up with.

Something tells me that Singer hiding in my closet is about to get used, but I have zero experience with an actual sewing machine. We’ll just have to fix that too, now won’t we?

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!