Friends x First Night Out

What about your friends??...Two post in one day. Damn Gina! I said I will be posting here and there right? Well why wait another day. Plus it is a quick post. I had my first night out last Friday at the Phoenix Art museum. It was for a happy hour event that they do every first and third Friday of the month. 

Three Stacks x July 26

I gave birth to my third seed on July 26th, 2016. His name is Andre "Three Stacks". We call him three stacks for short. He is nothing but amazing! He has a head full of hair and a smile bigger than mine. His eyes are bright and big, ready to take on the world. I always wanted three boys and I have them. I am so happy and content with my life

32 Weeks x Baby Shower

I miss blogging so much and interacting with my followers and friends. I am 32 weeks and 6 days today. I have 50 more days left of this pregnancy and I am happy I was able to rest for majority of it.

I see other pregnant bloggers who stay on their once a week blog schedule and I just think to myself "How?". Then I realize most of them are first time parents and blogging is their occupation. 

Venice Beach x Starry Night

Halloween was lit for me this year. I don’t dress up anymore, but I had a lot of fun with the boys and some friends. Bought a silver tin foil wig and dipped out to California. My grandpa’s birthday is on Halloween, so we had a lot to celebrate. 

I thought trick or treating in the Cali suburbs was going to be better, but it was a bit weak. The houses in my neighborhood in Arizona give out king sized bars and a lot of variety. This neighborhood handed out small trinkets and craisans, which I took and ate by the way.

Kanye West x Henny Cocktail

Ever since I started this blog, I wanted to do recipes and such. I am not a chef or anything, but thought it would be fun to try different recipes and share my experience with them. The actual real experience, even if it comes out looking like a kindergarten project. 

I decided to start small and see how my life could handle it. Starting with a cocktail recipe in honor of my best friend (in my head) Kanye West. I recently went to see him at the Arizona Summer Ends Festival. Along with Pusha T, Travis Scott, Vic Mensa, and Chance the Rapper. The show was dope, but the experience was a rough one. 

For those of you who don't already know, I am a die heart Kanye fan. Chicago at heart and he can never do me wrong lol. I choose Hennessy because my favorite outburst of his was when he showed up on the red carpet with a bottle of Henny and Amber Rose booty. 

Maintaining a Blog x Life x Open Letter

I know it has been some time now since I have posted an outfit or anything really. I have a few reasons for that and I promise you that I will get right back. I have worked so hard on this blog. I made it a main priority since I started it over a year ago. I was dealing with a bit of depression and lost myself two years back and decided to start a blog to create an escape and separate world for me.

When I stared the blog I didn't know what was going to become of it. I followed a few blogs before I decided to start my own. I woke up one morning and said "I am going to start a blog about my personal fashion and how to save money, while still looking cute" It took a few weeks to find a name, design, and photographer. I didn't really think about the future of it and how it would effect my life, but it felt good. It was a rush of excitement for me and something new to focus on.

I've been experimenting with post and looks to see what I like and what my followers enjoyed best. When I first started my blog I wanted to discuss life, art, travel, and food. Not thinking that I have to take time away from my everyday life to provide that. I put a lot of pressure on myself to post weekly and different days throughout the week. If I didn't I would scold myself for it.

I am a very private person when it comes to my life, yet I am very open and friendly. I am a people person, but I still stay guarded. Which made me think about my followers. I am open with people I meet regarding my life and a lot of people say I have a positive open energy about me. So why do I feel I need to be guarded when it comes to my blog or social media? In order for me to maintain my true reasoning for starting the blog in the first place is to be myself right?

I have been myself of course, but not my entire self on here.

I want to start off by saying I am a 28 year old mother of two amazing children. I am a daughter, granddaughter, an aunt, sister, niece, cousin, friend, an entrepreneur, an employee, and then I am Traci.

Mother's Day

I wake up everyday as a mother first at 5am. I get my children ready for school in the mornings, drop them off, go to work, pick them up, help them study, then I study, cook dinner, then I blog. That is a smooth day. This doesn't count when they are sick or I am sick or stopping my day to be the many other things that I am today. I wear several mask to get through the day.

I am a "single" mother who had children at a very early age. I had my first when I was 18 and my second at 21. I always hated the term "single mother" I never really understood it. I am still trying to justify the use of it. I never stopped to say "I am a single mother, how will I get things done today?" I just wake up and do it and I like it best that way. I don't have time to stop and ask someone "How are you dealing with today?" because I am dealing with it. I am working on that by the way.

 I have had help from my mother and father mainly from the time I gave birth to the time I am typing this now. Everything I do is for my children and they are the most prized possession that I own. Which is why I never shared them with you all. I felt that by sharing my prized possession, it gave room for negative energy.

In L.A. picking up things for my store

The blog was actually created around them. The name Just Mariklo is me and my two children names combined. 9 times out of 10 they are with me when I am taking pictures and sometimes behind the camera. They are even in the reflection of some photos that I posted on here. Sometimes I feel bad that I am dragging them along with me, but other times I am happy to give them the experience. They travel with me most of the time when I go out of town, even for fashion week. I cut my schedule up to be a mother and show them things in between.

I have always been a busy person. I've been working cubicle desk jobs since I gave birth to my oldest. It was always good money to maintain my life, but I just watched my life go by daily staring at a grey cubicle wall. My kids also suffered because they sit in school or child care for ten hours a day waiting for me, then to have to sit longer and wait for me while I take a photo of my outfit.

So, I had to change some things around to fit my passion, work, school, and kids into my everyday life. Which is why I haven't posted in two weeks. I had to take a step back to figure out how to make that happen. To figure out how to still be Traci and these other things. To be able to still provide content to my readers and be more transparent with you.

I want to inspire people beyond with just my clothes. I also want to be able to show you guys the struggle behind everything that I do. We tend to share just the glitter of life instead of the back end. I don't want people to ever come to my blog, Instagram, Tumblr or whatever and say "I wish I could do that, why can't my life be this way?". We all do it. That is just a negative mindset and I don't want to be the cause of anyone's negative thoughts.

Right before photos I took last year

I also want people to truly understand the hard work that I put behind this blog and the things I have to give up each time I post something. I love doing this and want to continue to do it, but I want to do it better. I want to maintain it better and I want to post the things that actually mean something to me that is worth me staying up late or taking time away from my children.

I want my children to be able to see why mommy is taking time away from them. I want my family and friends to have a positive place to go to. I will still post about fashion and majority of my content will remain that way, but I need to get back to why I started the blog in the first place.

I went part time at work to give me more time to be a mother, daughter, friend, blogger, etc. I have 100 goals and I want to accomplish them all. I want to be able to not have to clock in at a "job" and give my all to my children and myself.

Many people see bloggers as local rappers handing out their CD's in the parking lot LOL, but it is more to that. It is a lot of work and I just want my followers to stick around and be patient with me while I figure this life out. I want you to follow me as I do it and possibly help each other figure it all out.

California for Christmas

I am redesigning the blog in the upcoming weeks and moving platforms. I will try to post things and looks in the meantime, but please just be patient. I decided to write this because I was feeling down and out, caught in a funk of "why am I doing this and does this matter". I was feeling uninspired and felt like a sheep in a herd, but I am not a sheep and refuse to be.

I know this is a lot and I will end it here. Just make sure that you always remain yourself in anything that you do in life. I feel like a weight is lifted off of my shoulders and I can now be Traci. I am very thankful for having such positive family, friends, and support group behind me. I am thankful to have met so many new friends along the way, that I know I wouldn't of met if I didn't have this blog. It has pushed me to do more things alone and find positive people along the way.

Thank you for being supportive and I can't wait to see the new version of the blog.

XOXO

Traci Mari Smith

Nars vs Mac - Breakout Rant

It’s been a long time since I wrote anything about beauty products, but I recently had a breakthrough moment. I am not a beauty guru at all. In fact I think less is more and I am really simple when it comes to a full face look. I consider a full face lip stick, mascara, and blush. I also despise eye shadows, I think because I have a small pallet to work with, every time I get involved I look like a clown.

As an adult woman, I feel we need to upgrade certain things in our life. Investing in certain products and everyday beauty needs. Foundation for me was one of them. I never felt I needed foundation, but it does complete the look. Whenever I did use foundation it was just for going out or special occasions. I always used drug store foundation, which didn’t last long or just looked cheap.

My mom used Mary Kay all of her life, but who wants to order shit from catalogs? So I went where every woman went, MAC right? People swear by MAC and it is everywhere, a trend at best. Makeup gurus, celebrities, they mama, they grand mamma. I didn’t do any research at all, thinking if it matches and felt than anything Walgreen's sells me, I was good. 

Black Suit x Warhol

I am warning you now, there are a lot of pictures in this post. This weekend was very eventful for me, but yesterday I was finally able to go see my favorite artist exhibit, Andy Warhol. Not too many people like Warhol, but I am obsessed by any form of pop art.

 Actually I love most art made during the late 60's throughout the 80's. When everyone was high and made the best shit from emotions. 

Now everyone is sober and mimics others...I digress. I am warning you now that some of the pics are not that great in quality. They wouldn't allow pictures, so me and my friend Akeem had to sneak them all on his phone. Except a few that were not part of the exhibit. 

I also went in a suit after almost having a break down of not knowing what to wear. Akeem suggested that I wear a suit. What other outfit would I wear to honor my ex-husband Warhol? The suit didn't help me blend in though, that was almost a mistake.

Leopard Print x Vegas Pics

It's Friday! Can you believe that clothes are still in my suit case? That's how busy I have been. Now that school is out, I am preparing for summer. Which means more traveling and more goals to accomplish.

I decided to live in denim cut off shorts this summer on my most lazy days. I have been buying them left and right since March. Shout out to Arizona for staying in decent temperatures so far. It hasn't reached the triple digits yet. I also decided to share all of my basic Vegas selfies and pictures at the end of this post.

Also shout out to Steve Madden for keeping my feet in some sexy heels this summer. I needed animal print pumps, but happy I found them in sandals instead. 

Day 1 Water Challenge - Infused Water

Today is day 1 of my drink a gallon of water a day challenge and so far so good. I am on my second quart of water, a total of four to make a gallon. I figured I will break it up into sections of the day for the best results. 

In the morning before work, before lunch, mid-afternoon, and evening. I think the main issue I am having so far with the water is going to the bathroom every 15 minutes. I had to pull over at McDonald's this morning on my way to work to use their stalls. So I have to plan out, the best way possible, to be near a restroom during my drinking binge. 

Remember I am donating $10 for everyone who joins my challenge to The Water Project. The Water Project assist rural countries with access to clean water.

LAFW Part 1 - New Friends x Random Pics

This weekend I slept a total of 24 hours! It was like a vacation. I had mid-terms and was still sleepy from my California trip. Besides a cool thrifting trip, I sipped wine and went to sleep. So I will admit that I wasn't able to go through all of the hundreds of pics from L.A., but I did go through the personal ones, that doesn't show the designers. I will share the designer/runway pics tomorrow. 

So here are a few pics between my phone, camera, and Instagram. I also tried to post in order. I only went for two days and I did a lot. The first day events were hosted by L.A. Council, featuring numerous designers.

Vest: Calvin Klein; Top: Thrift; Skirt: Express; Wedges: Prada; Glasses: Versace

For the day I tied to go casual. Wedges to keep my feet from hurting all throughout the day and my nerd frames lol. My wedges were sequin to help give some flare.

Oh, there was also open bar...five hours of open bar. By the end of the day all you heard was loud laughter and glasses breaking. My type of party. I linked up with a few of my older friends as soon I arrived, after getting my drink of course.

Update on LAFW x Dry Body Oil

Just giving a quick update about L.A. Fashion Week. I literally just drove back home last night around 11pm. I am dead tired and now at work. So I will go through pics and update you on my trip over the weekend. I did enjoy myself a little too much, which is why I am now paying for it. 

Until then I know I just went over a healthy skin regime, but while I was in L.A., my father hooked me up with a shower body oil that I must tell you about. I have used many shower oils in the past, but they always kept me a bit too oily.

They eventually gave me further breakouts down the line, but I used this shower oil the past three days without oily residue, breakouts, and my skin feels like a new born baby. I didn't have to reapply lotion throughout many outfit changes.

It is called Dry Body Oil, by Argan Oil of Morocco and only cost $6

You just rub the oil all over your body, right before getting out of the shower, then rinse. It also said that if you have really dry skin you can just pat dry instead of rinsing.

Melanin Poppin - Summer/Healthy Skin Tips

Since it is March, Spring and Summer is around the corner and I wanted to touch on some personal skin benefits. I have dry skin that sometimes causes eczema being in the desert, so I wanted to give a few tips that have helped me over the years. 

Tanning! Yes, tanning. Black girls tan too boo. Also hydro-derma fusion and Red Light Therapy are my go to favorites to keep my skin in check. I also personally hate using bronzing lotion, it is a waste of my money and time. Plus last only a day.

 

Black History Month x Black Theater x Black Panther

This is the last week of Black History Month and I want to go out with a bang by paying homage to a few legends and what I call my Black Panther Look. Between the tear jerker performance last night by Common and John Legend, I've been a bit on edge this morning. 

Congrats are in order to Common and John Legend on their Oscar win last night. If you missed their performance last night, watch it below.

Ashley from Striped Anchor - Nordstrom Winner

Congrats to Ashley of Striped Anchor, for the winner of the Nordstrom gift card giveaway! After reading through everyone's stories, goals, and creative ideas, Ashley stood out to me the most. Mainly because her goals were simple and to the point. 

They don't put too much pressure on you mentally, which makes them easier for you to accomplish and create even more goals for yourself. One step at a time is how life should be, however I loved reading through everyone's goals and ideas for this year. It was hard to choose and Thank you for sending them in.

I also enjoyed her background story and she is from Chi-town! Hey girl Hey....

Her style is classy, chic, and I want to say mod. I love it! 

She wrote:

"My goals & ambitions for 2015 are pretty simple, being a better person than I was in 2014 & I wanna travel more, take risks, release a part of me that no one's ever seen before, in a positive aspect of course. And pushing myself beyond the limits, blogging more, networking, getting my name out there & not holding back."
 

"I'm from Chicago as well, been here all my life, I have a few fashion icons but my top one would be my grandmother, Dollie. Growing up with her she influenced me a lot, not just with fashion but being a lady over all. She was the sweetest, most giving person ever. Her style was very classy & I've always liked that..."

1st Anniversay Dinner and A Year in Pics

Today is the day! My blog turned 1. Yaaaay! I committed to something, like actually committed lol. I should've been blogging since the beginning of time, but better late than never. So to celebrate I am sharing pics from the anniversary dinner and lots of personal pics throughout the year. From my cell phone, friends cell phone, outfits that never made the blog, and more.

Check them out!

Thank you to all of my followers, new followers, friends, family, loved ones that have been with me to give me the extra push. But I will continue my thanks you's on Friday. Love you guys and can't wait for another year!

Top: Thirft; Skirt: Nordstroms; Shoes: Steve Madden

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas Fashionistas! I hope you find some time to out of your day to put the phone down and enjoy your family and friends.

Back in the day, my mom would put her five disk CD changer in rotate throughout the day for the Holidays or whenever she deep cleaned the house on Sundays lol. Dancing in the living room, running around with my cousins, while watching my family do many champagne and brandy toast in the kitchen.

So to continue that tradition, I put together a playlist of old school favorites and a few new hits. This isn't your traditional Christmas playlist, there are songs on here that will take you way back. Also some EXPLICIT LYRICS. Hope you enjoy...

Merry Christmas and Drive Safely!

L.A. - Life x Fashion x Booze x New Friends x After Party

Finally, I finished sorting through all of my pictures and videos from L.A. Fashion Week and a few Phoenix events. As I said before I am still struggling with living in moments, while still trying to capture it. I think I am doing much better, this time I left the camera at home and just utilized my camera phone. I would prefer to have most pics a bit clearer, but this was a test for me. So it seems like I should invest in a smaller camera for when I am on the go.

Instead of placing the pictures in sections, I put them in order of how each event occurred. This is what I was able to capture between shows, outfit changes, driving, conversations, and low phone battery. Hope you enjoy...

I woke up at 3AM to get on the road to Cali and these were the amazing views I captured along the way. It kept me awake and motivated.

Pants: H&M; Shoes: Nine West; Shirt: Marshalls

 Even  though I have had weeks to prepare for the events, I didn't have time to think about what I was wearing. So when I made it to Cali, I decided to throw on this all denim look for the day time shows.

Escapades x Food x Life

Sorry I haven't posted anything new yet as of this week in the fashion world, but I am just getting back on track from a trip over the weekend. I have been quite busy with travels, work, events, and life. I captured of few moments that I wanted to share.

Escapades - Back to Cali

I just came back from a quick trip to California, where I helped move my grandfather. I will be  back and forth to Cali a lot, which I am very excited about. I love love love the beach and boarding. While there I was able to capture a few moments and quick casual outfit looks. 

Shirt: Target; Shorts: Zara; Shoes: Asos (Similar Here); Hat: H&M (Similar Here)