Treasure Hunter Gem

Curated by an earthy Martian pixie.

[treasurehuntergem]

Big Gem’s Annual Horoscope 2023-2024

After countless hours analyzing my natal chart, reviewing my profection year themes, and comparing these to my solar return chart, I have Achievement Unlocked like a mf and compiled and written my own annual horoscope, in effect from my most recent birthday until my next birthday. Here she is, gleaming like the Pearl that is the representative gemstone of the sign of my profection year (yeah I’m deep in this hobby now; I can’t lie).

Your overall theme for the next year is exploring the balance between your home and family, and your job, career, and public life. Focus on beautifying your home with fresh florals and cozy scents. Explore your roots by honoring your ancestors in your home, and work on addressing unresolved familial challenges from childhood. You may feel a pull to stay home with loved ones more, rather than going out and socializing.

With such a strong focus on your inner world this year, you may experience intense emotional shifts with no clear avenue to express them. This can be lonely and isolating - reach out to those closest to you so you can safely share how you’re feeling.

Regarding your career and public life, this is a year of increased visibility, recognition, and reward for you. You will likely be frequently invited as a guest or speaker at numerous networking events. As a leader in your field, you will be called to push back and challenge oppressive systems. This may rankle authority figures who are comfortable with the status quo and balk at being checked. However, if you use diplomacy, tact, and point to valid objections, you should find those in power agreeable to your recommendations.

All of these responsibilities you must manage can feel daunting to take on, so you may feel restless and directionless at times. But you are being called to become more organized in all areas of your life, eliminating procrastination as much as possible in the face of everyday disruptions. Lack of patience and frustration could discourage you from persevering with these goals, but remember to build the muscle rather than strive for perfection. Fortunately, you have the gift of mental clarity this year to achieve your goals in an open-minded, less rigid way. Tap into your innate creativity, take some risks, and you will be rewarded in abundance.

As you face and ultimately answer difficult questions about what this balance between your home and career looks like, you must also put a significant amount of time and energy into your physical health. You must protect your physical and emotional energy, as you are particularly susceptible to burnout this year. Transformative health outcomes will be a constant undercurrent for you and your family this year. Caring for ill family members may be an added burden to your already heavy workload.

Your need for adventure allows you to feel your own defined sense of freedom, and serves as a motivating force when your energy is low. You will travel many times this year, with the reasons often ttied to the overarching themes of family.

Big, external changes (including long-term romantic partnership) are not likely this year, which means you can focus on the aforementioned themes with a foundation of stability. Generally, this is a stay low and build year.

I also set ten New Year Resolutions that I’d like to accomplish over the next year, based on the themes above.

Reduce procrastination

Make aesthetic and functional improvements to the home

Explore natal charts of my mother and daughters

Start an inner child workbook

Set up ancestral altar

Order ancestry test

Establish a manageable exercise routine

Work toward healthier eating habits

Work to respond to negativity in good conscious rather than anger

Take on volunteer projects and efforts that aim to tackle inequalities.

I have specific sub tasks for all of these written out as well. It has been amazing to see what has already come to be from this horoscope and what I’ve been able to do toward the goals above. I’ll be very excited to share a 4th House Year in Review when it’s time.

[treasurehuntergem]

Reflecting on dressing for my body in the spring…

If you haven’t read the first post in this series, start here.

Spring was a bit bleh for me style-wise due to a number of factors - cooler than usual weather, a hectic schedule, a budget, fluctuating weight gain due to my autoimmune disorder, and not being able to find the kind of clothes (mostly tops) when I was able to shop. But, I still learned a lot.

My spring takeaways

Why the fuck are they still out here making women’s pants with no or faux pockets?

Me and vertically patterned or colorblocked short-sleeve tops get along so well together. But they’re so hard to find.

I continue to have a blast pattern-mixing with a neutral palate, much to my shock.

But I’ll never stray too far from my colorful DNA. This neon color-block look tempered with black combat boots was one of my favorites from an unseasonably cool day.

No matter how much I try out flamboyant gamine looks, the Natural/Bohemian and the Ethereal essences are LOUD. Beyonce yelling in Olive Garden on ‘Girl’ loud. Reference the purple close-up pic and you’ll understand.

Speaking of said Ethereal essence, I realized that the best dresses on me are actually maxi dresses. The Kibbe Kult would need a fainting couch at reading that a short person dare to sport a long line, but maxis work for me with colorblocking, other patterns, or subtle textured details. I need more for next spring.

I got some new summer blouses that are clutch. I debuted a couple in the spring (see the salmon top/turquoise pants pic), and I can already tell they’ll be a dependable staple. Ethereal Essence jumping out with the sheerness and slight drape with a faint “aht aht” from Flamboyant Gamine, making sure the top still had some structure/shape via the neckline and the vertically-centered subtle piping.

Onward to summer, where I continue my search of natural whimsical printed short-sleeved or sleeveless blouses with enough structure to sate my flamboyant gamine overlord, and ankle pants WITH POCKETS for the office.

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[vangoghcore]

by thuffmanphoto

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christinekilger on instagram

[treasurehuntergem]

March in Color

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The Sunflower door in Prague, Hastalska street 6, architects: Osvald Polivka, Vaclav Haver, built: 1900. Czech Republic.

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On this dressing for your body and essence journey, winter has been my first full season of experimenting, learning, lightbulb moments, Weebey gifs, answers that lead to more questions, spectacular failures (let us not speak of that Banana Republic haul), and gathering as much visual data to note the common threads and ultimately get me closer to trusting my instincts.

Huge shout-out to @mythirdhouselife who has been a joy to bounce ideas off of, cackle with, exchange objective looks at what works and what doesn’t, shake heads at the swagless in the chaotic forums, make pop culture and straight up cultural analysis breakthroughs with, and most importantly helped keep things FUN. I feel sorry for people embarking on this journey without a friend who loves a deep dive as much as you do while always keeping in check the insidious perspectives of what others think you’re “supposed” to do based on any given arbitrary patriarchal norm.

Starting with Kibbe gave me a crucial understanding of my body’s lines and a firm starting point. Kitchener helped me really look at faces and see essences that may not have been reflected on the body. McJimsey was the smug Oprah gif that basically said I told your monkey ass from the beginning this is how to look at it. Or as Rob puts it, men need to stay out of women’s business. Anyhoo, my lines and essence blends are Natural, Ethereal, and Gamine (FG if you’re nasty). Gamine is the structural foundation of my look - I can’t go all the way Natural or I look like Mayor Lightfoot (I SAID we don’t talk about that Banana Republic haul). I can’t go all the way Ethereal or I actually lose the glow it gives me. So while I think of my blends as telling an overall dreamy narrative evocative of birds, butterflies, sunrise, sunset, oceans, and treasure…the Gamine provides the juxtaposition that keeps things uniquely ME, the color-blocking that keeps things from getting too nebulous and watercolor-y, and the straightness and tapered-ness to keep me from getting lost in billowing fabrics and maintain my playfully blunt sharpness.

Here is a DEEP AF DIVE on some style lessons l learned about myself this winter along with looks that show my best style foundations and elements.

Excuse The Purge happening in the background. This is one of my favorite looks and the Flamboyant Gamine JUMPED out here with the help of my red-loving Aries Rising. Juxtaposition (box tucked slightly relaxed striped top and form-fitting straight skirt with a subtle pattern). Red tights sandwiched between the line break of the skirt and patterned red boots. The Natural peeked in via the jewelry and a boatneck on the top, emphasizing the sloped broadness of my shoulders in a flattering way.

This was me playing around with blazers before Rob helped me realize my yang (angles vs curves) is more blunt than sharp. Blazers are sharp af. This helped me understand why I’ve always intuitively felt lackluster about them. The blazer in this pic is about 7-8 years and 2 sizes ago. But even though I was a functionally busted can of biscuits in this due to not being able to close it, I really liked how this looked. I had 3 other even older blazers that I only used for job interviews in navy, black, and charcoal. In my style experiments, they never curled all the way over the way this one did for me. I think it’s because this look put a lighter blazer over a darker top and the others were the opposite. I can’t have anything too dark for a denser outer layer because that’s too heavy for my Ethereal essence. Ethereal essence wants light and airy (kinda like busted cans of biscuits). Relatedly, I recently tried a red plaid blazer - it hit on all FG checkpoints (sharp yang, bold color, geometric print), so I was confused about why it wasn’t working. That’s when I realized a foundational blends principle for me: I can’t do the FG small/geometric/Yang patterns. My Natural essence takes over when it comes to print and pattern mixing. This is why you’ve got to keep an open mind to your BLENDS and not be a Kibbe Kunt (the kultish followers who say you can only be one category and that’s it). Back to this look - we’ve got a more Natural color palette here but with FG color-blocking emphasized by a sunshine yellow. More FG with the combat boots - and as an aside, adding combat and Oxford style boots to my wardrobe for the first time ever has been one of my best moves ever. They really added a ‘PERIODT’ to my looks this winter. I should have done a regular tuck instead of box tuck here because there’s not enough juxtaposition between the shirt and pants to make it work (both slim fit).

Sweaters have been an emotional rollercoaster; no Vivian. I figured out that the higher the percentage of natural fibers (cotton, wool) in a sweater, the higher the chance of it looking like a shapeless blob on me. I took a chance on ordering this color-blocked (FG again says “Hello!”) near-cropped sweater from Target, praying it wouldn’t be too bulky. Paired with color-blocked slim-straight jeans (Gamine juxtaposition jazz hands), and my beloved combat boots? Loved how this look turned out. I also noted the Natural color palette - who knew playing with neutrals could be so fun? Not me, not me. Check my ‘January in Color’ post for some iridescent Ethereal entering the chat via the jewelry for this outfit.

This look was a sleeper hit that had me shook because I was just throwing stuff on to see how they fit. I’m always reluctant to wear these pants even though they’re SO comfortable and the fabric is such nice quality because I’m afraid they look too big on me. But when I pair it with a slim top, this is where my Natural essence glows. Natural palette, wax (“ethnic”) print, pants relaxed at the waist. But my Gamine’s shiny suit is always dancing in the videos which you can see from the tapered bottom of the pants, the straightness of the pattern on the pants, and the juxtaposition of a slim-fit top. I’ve been trying to find more pants like these to no avail so far. Jade, lemme hold some more pants Fam.

Whew, this?? One of my favorite looks. I like to think of this look as me letting my Mars-ruled red and black flag fly (I have significant placements in both Aries and Scorpio). Alternatively, I’m dressed as my visual interpretation of ‘All Up In Your Mind’, which I was obsessed with at that time. I’ll note that as an Autumn in coloring, I really haven’t worn black at ALL in many years. I actively avoided it from clothes to shoes to accessories. Incorporating it into my looks this winter has been surprisingly pleasing, balanced with a warmer or bolder color here, or a regal gold flash there. We’ve got an FG base with the red skirt from Pic #1 rolled up for some miniskirt energy. Ethereal as above, so below with a sheer black top (the sheerness removing the heaviness from the black) and celestial patterned tights. By the way, patterned tights are right behind combat boots as Most Valuable Purchases by me this winter - a quick scroll through my Tumblr will net you some fantastic patterned tights eye candy. Finally, the combat boots gave the look a firm FG anchor.

My winter style takeaways: Out with the bulky sweaters and flimsy tees. Out with button-downs unless they’re ethereal utility or chambray/denim. Out with sharper yang like dark blazers and small geometric prints. In with broader tartans and larger abstract patterns. In with slim, straight, and slightly relaxed structure. In with the solids - reds, blacks, yellows, golds. In with mixed prints and color-blocking neutrals. In with a box tucked relaxed top and slim bottom or a slim top with relaxed but structured bottom. In with ethereal draping of maxi skirts and headwraps that draw your eyes up and then back down. In with what has become a signature look of patterned tights with combat or oxford-style boots.

Thank you, Winter, for allowing me to clear out what was dead, stale, stagnant to make room for what is colorful, fresh, and intuitive. For what is me.

[treasurehuntergem]

Couldn’t resist some final berry-saturated photos for the end of Valentine’s month.

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"When you live inside the illusion that you’re failing yourself, or that someone else’s adoration and attention determines your value, or that some external factor outside of your control dictates your happiness, you’re misaligned with nature. When you believe you’re not enough for someone else or you’re not enough for this life, you’re willfully ignoring the unique, joyful baby inside you that just wants to play and be loved. When people have affairs, sometimes what they’re really saying is I deserve to play. I deserve love. I deserve to make a mess."

'I Need More Recklessness in My Life' | Ask Polly

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A few more quotes that resonated with me:

“You have a very specific magic to share with this world. And yet here you are, trudging along bored and numb, not daring to express how big and colorful you are, or how deeply in love you are, or how full of exuberance and joy you are. Here you are, tricking yourself into thinking you’re not enough, yet again. Here you are, believing that you don’t have boundless joy and endless love to share with the world, simply because someone else (who also might’ve lost sight of their own gifts) can’t see you that clearly. Here you are, trusting someone else’s hasty, incomplete impressions of you more than you trust the truth that lives inside your cells, that you have magic to offer others, that you have joy to spread, that some core part of you wants to dance and sing and share this joy as much as you possibly can.”

“You were born to treasure every soiled and misshapen piece of this precious planet, to hoard every spring breeze, to hungrily soak in every ray of sunlight, to slip into a trance at the songbird’s call, and to fall in love over and over again.”

“When you show yourself, you make more space in the world for other people to show themselves.”

Always comforting to find someone more eloquent than me articulate the way I try to live and embody life.

[treasurehuntergem]

The debut self-titled album from Destiny’s Child just turned 25 years old.

I remember being enamored with their debut video for ‘No, No, No Part 2’ and later the video for ‘With Me’. I watched them over and over as a sheltered and shy 13-year old freshman in high school. Their videos pulled me into the world (I thought) older teenagers were living in. Destiny’s Child was close to my age, from my city, and had an accessible look and sound. I became an instant fan.

‘No, No, No Part 2’

Wyclef created magic with this beat and Beyoncé’s fast-singing is iconic to this day. I loved the colors and styling in this video, the song bridge paired with visuals of the girls on swings, with floating feathers and high ponytails, then the dance breakdown when the beat dropped. Beyoncé’s animated expressions, Kelly’s arched eyebrow sass, LeToya’s perfectly coiffed bangs and pretty eyes, LaTavia’s red hair and big grin…there was something or someone different to look at every time I watched the video.

‘With Me Part 1’

This video is one of my earliest core memories of music group aesthetics via archetype visuals. I was LIVING for each of the vignettes; obsessed in particular with Beyoncé’s mermaid visual and LaTavia’s genie in a bottle scene. LeToya was captivating as a bombshell spider-woman (I cannot type ‘sexy spider’ with a straight face). I thought they phoned in Kelly as a giant but whatever. This song didn’t age well in my library, partly because the lyrics are so trife. But this video is probably one of my all-time favorites.

Side note: I had to manually screen capture several of these images. Google results are abysmal. We losing recipes.

Interestingly, I was never really moved by the video for ‘No, No, No Part 1’ although I do still sing along to the song whenever I hear it. That video didn’t get much play on BET/MTV for some reason; it mainly played on WB/CW which played all the local/hood videos. 💀

I think a lot of the songs on this album sound a bit heavy for their teenage voices and lifestyle, which is why I didn’t keep much from it over the years, but they had some standout tracks. I’ve often imagined how lovely some of the slower-tempo songs would sound with their current adult voices. The harmonies were THERE, though, and the backing harmonies remain some of my favorite parts of the songs from this album - and I think a big part of what set them apart from their contemporaries early on.

Never a question, always a pleasure to

Love you, love you, love you

I'm giving you my all, but it's not pleasing

Your distant heart…

‘Killing Time’ should have been a single. It’s one of their best songs. I had a black and white video treatment for it and everything. 💀 I know it was on the MiB soundtrack but it was still very slept on. Beyoncé’s adlibs toward the end of the song? Love them to this day.

Here’s a bonus pic of Destiny’s Child in sari fabric for good luck.

[treasurehuntergem]

Never gets old

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I wish I could add short audio clips because she has some one-liners (or shorter) where the delivery just cracks me up. My favorite Megan sound bites :

1. “Rockin’ his chain, wearin’ his rang, gettin’ some brain, AH AH AH” - Captain Hook (the sound effect both goes hard and sends me)

2. “Bitch so bad, when I walk past niggas sing my name a capella” - Tina Montana (this always makes me visualize, like, a barbershop quartet 🤣)

3. “Yeah, look, bitch…” - Tina Montana (she comes off of a first verse and chorus going HARD and just takes a break to casually address a bitch)

4. “And if you don’t like it, tune the fuck out; and you MUST like it, cause you tuned the fuck in” - Tina Montana (more from the same talking shit break after the chorus 🤣)

5. “SAY, NIGGA, I DON’T WANNA TALK” on Realer (To start a song like this YELLING…iconic)

6. “Fucked him good, now he shakin’, call that nigga Crazy Legs” - Movie (I cannot properly articulate how much Crazy Legs takes me DOWN EVERY TIME LMAO THE VISUAL)

7. “Eat my coochie….let’s make a movie nigga” - Movie (the delivery is just hilarious because she comes off a flow to just…say this. LOL)

8. “I want a Birkin-kinkinkin, finna find out that SSN” - Movie (The abrupt playful switch to scamming)

9. “And I don’t kiss you cause I KNOW you eatin’ ass” - Movie (She didn’t have to drag him like this)

10. “I see how ya mama felt; finna go find my belt” - Movie (Fed up 😭)

Finally, here are some screenshots of my favorite Megan bars.

-Freak Nasty. One of the best song openers of all time.

-Realer. The delivery on this was 😮‍💨🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

-Runnin’ Up Freestyle. This ENTIRE section. The lyrical talent and flow were DIZZYING.

-Runnin’ Up Freestyle again. These two lines belong in a museum.

-Tina Montana. This whole section is a hype-up. I randomly go around saying “Bitch, Bitch, it’s Tina Montana.” Can’t forget the 2nd Bitch.

Megan is a global treasure and I hope she is having a Happy Birthday.

[treasurehuntergem]

February in Color

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The joy I feel every time I look down!

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I always look at Da Brat in this clip. She was having a good ol time back there. 🤣 I always wondered what she was yelling.

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Da Brat ft T-Boz - Ghetto Love (1997)

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An Autumn Gamine Queen. I forgot how much I liked her vocals on this track.