Casey Shteamer: Imperfect Wonder

I commented on one of Casey Shteamer's Instagram photos with high hopes that she would respond to me. I asked her if she would be willing to do an interview with me and to e-mail me if she was interested. Being the sweetheart that she is, she responded right away and sent me an e-mail agreeing to do an interview. She even used the word HONORED. I'm telling you, she may be one of the nicest people I've interacted with. 

I first became a fan of Casey's when she apeared on season 16 of The Bachelor. (Also Ben's season. Still not a fan.) I have always wanted to steal her wardrobe and now I can (kind of) because she is now a fashion blogger! {Insert party emoji} Sadly, we live in different states and couldn't do our interview in person so we did a unique interview through e-mail. Thank goodness for the internet. 

Madi: What was your favorite and least favorite part about being on The Bachelor?

Casey: I actually loved being on the show. My favorite part was definitely getting to know everyone.  I loved being there and filming it, not as much watching it. I would say my least favorite part was being cut off from my family and friends. But in a way, it is such a unique experience. I just threw myself in and knew that in time I would get to see and talk to them again as much as I wanted. 

M: Do you still watch the show? If so, who is your favorite and who do you think will win over Juan Pablo's venezualan heart? 

C: I will be 100% honest with you. I used to always watch the show, since Trista Sutter's season, I have been a dedicated fan. However, after being on the show, I am not as big of a fan anymore and I dont know why. It just doesn't seem to keep my attention like it used to. I have been watching this season for the most part. I really like Nicky for Juan (who happens to be from my hometown!). Seems like after Monday, the girls weren't that into her, but I think they really seem to have a connection.

M: If you could've chosen a Bachelor from another season to be The Bachelor of your season who would it have been? 

C: Oh I LOVED Travis (the guy on that doctor show now). He was soooo dreamy back in the day. I remember watching it with my college roommates and being so jealous I couldn't have him!

M: Was it hard for you to be confined in a house with 24 girls, no phone, no internet, no nothing? I feel like, for me, it would be nice to get away from everything.

C: I mean, the nature of it is very different than how we have become accustomed to living our lives these days.  But knowing that it will suck, it really wasn't all that bad. It was kind of fun in a way actually. I like just casually hanging out in big groups and that is pretty much all we did. It made it so people didn't just go hole up in their rooms with a book or on the phone, and I liked that aspect of it.  

M: What made you want to go on The Bachelor? Are you as into the show now that you've been a part of it? 

C: I am obsessed with new experiences. I love putting myself in weird situations, and this TV show seemed to be a great one. I was open to the show, but I didn't go in thinking "Oh, I'm going to find my soulmate". I think that is naive. I went in thinking, "This should be interesting. Let's see what happens."

M: When you were sent home there was a little bit of drama going on. You were accused of having a boyfriend at home. How much of that was real? 

C: Everything they showed was real. I had no idea they were coming to get me and talk to me. I really did get dropped off at the hotel with no shoes (if anymore remembers that) and then my stuff arrived later. I was really confused why they were pulling me aside since I didn't have a boyfriend haha.  I did have a guy back home that I still had feelings for though. So that upset me because I felt like they were lying to me. But what they didn't show, is that I had said in my interview that day that I was going to tell Ben I was going home at the rose ceremony that night. I didn't feel right being there any longer because I had decided I wasn't into Ben. I don't know if me saying I was going home in my interview made them do something differently with my departure considering after I told them that they came to kick me off a couple hours later. But I'll never know. Nor does it really matter. I wasn't sad to leave Ben because I was already planning on leaving and they knew that. I just didn't appreciate how it all went down.  

M: How did you come up with the name of your blog, Imperfect Wonder? Which I'm in love with. I feel like it's really hard to come up with a blog name! Was it hard for you or did you know from the get go what you would call your blog? 

C: Yeah, coming up with a name is hard!  My name came from the song,"Snow" by Red Hot Chili Peppers. Anthony Kiedis (who I am obsessed with, btw) sings,  

'Deep beneath the cover of another perfect wonder

Where it's so white as snow'

When he says 'perfect wonder' I just love it. I, however, am the antithesis of perfect. So I decided to call my blog "Imperfect Wonder". It just seemed fitting, as it encompassed my imperfection as well as a wonder for the surrounding world. 

M: So amazing! Do you have a celebrity "fashion icon"

C: Oh gosh, I love Nicole Richie, Rachel Zoe, Sienna Miller, Elin Kling, Cara Delevingne, Alexa Chung, Kate Bosworth, Olivia Lopez, I could go on...

M: What is your go-to outfit that you would wear everyday if you could?

C: Hmm, that's tough. One of my favorite thing is wearing something new and different everyday. I feel like there aren't enough days to wear everything I want to wear! But it would have to be a really well fitting, low cut, baggy tank with a great pair of black jeans, and black pointy ankle boots with maybe a black leather jacket--at least for now. 

M: I love your natural look. I'm like you, messy hair is the best. A minimal amount of make-up is the best. You are such a natural beauty you pull that natural look off so well. I know a lot of people love your hair. Is it natural or do you do something special to it?

C: Ha, well that is nice of you to say! I have been hating my hair lately! I never learned the how-to's of hair and make-up so the reason my hair is always so messy is literally just because I don't know how to do it! I would think my hair would be like silk since I blow-dry it about 5 times a year. However, somehow it is still rather damaged. Ugh. Anyway, my goal for this year is to learn how to apply make-up and do my hair. I mean, I am 28 - I should probably know how to do a blowout. 

(Side note: I feel like I should learn how to do a blowout too. They are so hard.)

M: What stores do you find yourself shopping at most? 

C: Urban Outfitters. I am always there. They have great sales. My budget doesn't allow me to be shopping at Shopbop and Nordstrom all the time. Although, I do splurge here and there. Nastygal has been steadily creeping up on my love list as well. I think it might be #1 soon. 

M: Current obsession? Fashion wise. 

C: Black jeans. It's not crazy, but it's a staple. Also, pointy-toed boots. I have never been one to keep up with fashion weeks and designers so who knows if those are in or not, but I am loving them right now. Oh, and oversized camel coats. In Chicago, you have to get into coats.  

M: You have such a hott body. Do you exercise and eat really well or are you genetically blessed or both?!

C: Again, thank you! I feel otherwise, but I will take it! I don't really exercise to be honest but I have decided I am going to start in April....ha. We will see if that actually happens. I am lucky to have thin genes but I also try to eat well. I got into the whole raw foods movement several years ago and read lots and lots of health books and studies. It turned me on to a very holistic living approach. Unless I am indulging, I try to be all natural and organic when I can. I look at the labels of everything and try to very rarely buy packaged foods. I never buy snack foods or breads for home but going out to dinner always does me in!

Follow Casey on Instagram @marycasey27 & you MUST follow her BLOG http://www.imperfectwonder.com/ you can thank me later.

Lindzi Cox Talks The Bachelor

If you loved her on The Bachelor you would love her even more in real life. Lindzi Cox competed on season 16 of The Bachelor, Ben Flajnik the wine maker's season. She made it to the very end and sadly didn't get proposed to. (Props to her for not winning because I was not Ben's biggest fan.) My new friend was also on season 3 of Bachelor Pad (a show they should totally bring back). She now works, lives, and plays in Seattle and is an IT recruiter for Harvey Nash. She has a horse named Token, a rabbit named bunny Benassi, and a Volkswagen Beetle named Bubbles. This interview took place in random locations.
1. Michelle Money's salon
2. My car
3. Roaming the streets of the Sundance Film Festival.

It was so fun and I absolutely adore Lindzi; she's a beautiful person inside and out.

Madi: So the first question is easy. What was your favorite part of being on the Bachelor?

Lindzi: All of the people I got to meet and am still meeting from it. You meet random people. Just this morning in the airport line we met this lady and she recognized me, which is so weird that people recognize me from that, it's kind of surreal. We chatted the whole airport line and people are so nice and it's just a good way to make friends. And all the places I got to go and experience were so special, but it's such a tease because you can't go off and do your own thing. I'm so excited to go back to Park City so I can explore.

M: Oh yeah cause you went there right?

L: Yeah! The only day I got to leave I went fly fishing and rode horses and that was so amazing. But ya know when you are somewhere and you can see the little village and you want to go explore it but you can't...

M: Cause you're confined!

L: You can't leave. I don't do well with confinement.

M: Do you get a lot of people that recognize you?

L: It comes in waves. And it's weird. One day everyone I run into recognizes me or I get a lot of the, "You look really familiar where do I know you from?"

M: Do you think it's really like that and they honestly don't know how they know you or they're just trying to play it cool, like, "I don't watch The Bachelor, no no"

L: I don't know. I have a candid answer that I'm not going to say in front of her (Bella) that I always throw back at them and their reactions are pretty good.

M: Ok well you're going to text that to me later.

L: Yeah.

The answer is: "Do you watch a lot of porn?" HA!

M: Ok so what was the worst part about being on The Bachelor?

L: I don't think there was a worst part. But it was really hard to be secluded for so long with a bunch of  the same people.

M: Yeah especially girls that you don't know.

L: Oh, you get to know them real fast. And a lot of them were people I'm like ehh I don't know if I want to be secluded with you. That part was hard for me. Just like what we were just talking about, I am so into "roaming the village" and I like to go do what I want when I want and I don't do well being told no so that was just hard for me.

M: Yeah that would be hard. That was another question I was asked to ask you. What do you do all day? Cause you don't have a phone right?

L: Ya

M: You don't have the internet.

L: Noo.

M: You don't have anything.

L: You don't have anything.

M: So you literally just do nothing.

L: When I did Bachelor Pad, I learned to get smart and use work as an excuse cause everyone else was doing it so I would call in to work to see what was going on. And it was kind of my sanity. I'm not normally that connected to work.

M: But you still didn't have a cell phone on Bachelor Pad right?

L: Yeah.

Me: You just had to associate with the people there.

L: Yeah. It was...BP was OK cause it was only a couple weeks. So it was doable. But the other one (The Bachelor) was like 9 weeks so that's a long time.

M: Well yeah you were there for a long time.

L: I was there the whole time!

M: You made it to the end, I forgot!

L: The places we got to go were so cool though.

M: Favorite place?

L: Switzerland

M: Switzerland?! Ah.

L: It was so beautiful. SO beautiful. But I want to go back when I can explore.

Meanwhile Bella decides her hair tastes really good so we are totally sidetracked with that.

M: So, if Ben were to call you and say, "Lindzi I made a mistake let's go out and try this again."

L: Laughs. Well, isn't Ben kind of busy like...

M: I don't really follow Ben.

L: I think Ben is preoccupied dating the Kardashian mom.

M: I actually did hear that! Ok, ok.

L: So I don't think Ben will be calling me. And Ben is a really nice guy but I don't think we'd be good together.

M: If there was a Bachelor from another season that you could've chosen to be The Bachelor for your season who would it have been?

L: Oh, Andrew Firestone! But he was like 10 years ago. He was so dreamy! I was 17 and I was watching it then.

M: What about Juan Pablo? I think he's so cute.

L: I don't...

M: You don't know? You've seen him right?

L: Yeah. You want to know why I don't like Juan Pablo?

M: Yes I do.

L: This is weird. He was in Seattle and I was following him on twitter, a long time ago before he was announced as The Bachelor, and I tweeted him and was like, "Hey! Welcome to my town." And he never wrote me back! And it made me really not happy. He big leagued me!

M: That kind of stuff bugs me too though, so bad.

M: After watching yourself on TV did you say or do anything that you regret? Did you watch your season?

L: Yeah I did watch it with with a lot of alcohol!

M: Good I feel like that's the only way to go!

L: I didn't really do or say anything I regretted but it was weird because I think I was myself during it but the parts they showed, I looked so boring.

M: Really?! I don't think you seemed boring.

L: Yeah! Everyone that knows me well was like uh, where were you?!

Michelle Money: Yeah a I think that they totally made you look boring.

L: YES!

MM: When I first met you for the first time I was like? Where the hell was this chick?!

L: And I was there I just got really uncomfortable when they made me talk about the relationship aspect of Ben. Which I have to talk about, it's a dating show where you are supposed to marry the guy, ya know? But for some reason I felt really uncomfortable and they showed all of those parts and I just, I don't know. But even on Bachelor Pad I was spunky and I guess on The Bachelor they just showed the non spunky parts. At the end of the day my parents and my boss were probably quite pleased with it. Except for the one part...where they showed my bare butt uh yeah, real good side shot.

M: So you're like flower child!

L: I am like flower child. It's just uncomfortable cause I go to work the next day and I'm like, "Oh hey co-workers!"

M: Did people treat you differently when you came back?

L: Um not my friends, no.

M: People you worked with?

L: Not really. Everyone was really normal. I mean, everyone got really into it and excited about it but people were really real. It was really cool. They didn't get wrapped up in anything so it was nice.

M: So all 25 women can't all really be in love with The Bachelor. Did you really like Ben or were you just there for the fun and all of the cool places you got to go?

L: I went along with it. I liked Ben. I thought he was really nice and we had fun. But literally the next thing I knew it was the very end. And I didn't have an agenda ya know? I was just there for the adventure. And I think that's why he kept me cuz I was pretty easy to have around. I wasn't like his fiancé who caused a little bit of drama.

M: And it's no different from normal dating in the aspect that you don't know super fast if you're in love with a guy or not so you just stick around as long as you can and see what happens.

L: Ya exactly.

M: So you like Lucy aka Flower Child aka Free Spirit?

L: I like Lucy! I like that she's just like a free little flowing spirit. And how cool is it that her title is free spirit?!

M: Right? But would you ever be brave enough to do that? I feel like if I went on The Bachelor I would never even think to put "Free Spirit". I don't have that mind set.

L: I'm not creative enough to think of that. I'd like to be friends with her. I mean, I don't know if we'd be like BFF's cause I couldn't keep up with her travel schedule.

M: What if to initiate you to be her friend she wanted you to walk around naked with her?

L: Um, hahaha, I wouldn't walk around naked with her! "Hey, do you want to be friends and walk around naked together?" That'd be kind of weird.

M: Like, "You can only be my friend if you get naked."

L: I don't think I would go on TV naked.

M: NEVER! She doesn't care.

L: I'd totally refrain from that.

M: Speaking of nakedness, how do you know how much clothing to pack?

L: I literally packed everything I owned. I bought a bunch of dresses and gowns from Nordstrom and then after I got off the show sold them on Ebay. You kind of don't know what to pack because you don't know how long you will be there.

M: Can we talk about Kalon? (Lindzi and Kalon were contestants on Bachelor Pad and dated during the show and after for a bit.)

L: Basically Kalon thought it was okay to have more than one girlfriend. And I wasn't cool with that.

M: Amen. Is there anything else you want to say?

L: I'd just like to thank Bella for being my friend today.

To keep up with Lindzi follow her on Instagram @lindzicox.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall...

Mirrors are so confusing. So it's always rational to blame them for the way you look. I know I do. I feel like some mirrors make me look larger, and other mirrors make me look skinny. And if I come across a "fat mirror" it's always the mirror's fault. Not mine. Blame the mirror, (and the lighting). Always! (Except for when you look amazing then it's just you...you go Glen Coco.) There is a certain mirror at my gym that makes me look a bit wide and I HATE it. I avoid it at all costs. So, it got me thinking. Are all mirrors different? Do they REALLY distort the way your body looks? Making you look bigger than you are and ruining your entire day? And, are there mirrors that do the opposite and make you look extremely skinny? What the HELL does my body really look like?! I did my research and this is what I found.

According to Oklahoma physics teacher Jodi Bowie even the slightest bend in a mirror can distort your image. "Really it's just a piece of glass with a reflection on the back so if the glass is bent in any way, shape or fashion," Bowie says. "If you make it bend this way, the light would hit the mirror and go off in an angle so it would make you look larger. A bend in the opposite direction will make you look slimmer." 

"A completely flat mirror will show an image behind it of exactly the same shape and size as the actual object. Slight curvature along only one axis can make a person look fat or skinny. To make you look thin, your image needs to be compressed horizontally or extended vertically. Most mirrors bend over time top to bottom. If seen from the side, there is a slight curvature in the edge. The top and bottom edges are usually straight. Your home mirror can do this due to its own weight. If the center bulges out a little bit, your height will appear slightly smaller but your width will not be changed. This can make a person look a little fat."

If you're like me and need the above quotes simplified all you need to know is this: Mirrors aren't always accurate. They are all different and really do distort the way you are seeing yourself. So, the next time you come across a fat mirror, continue on your merry way because it's the mirror; not you! 

And The Bachelor Begins

I LOVE The Bachelor. The show and the literal bachelor himself, Juan Pablo. He's dreamy. I tuned in Sunday and Monday night to be a part of the action, drama, and awkwardness. And the previews for the upcoming season were very promising to provide us lots of that...and crying. Probably too much crying. Here is a list of my favorite girls thus far.

1. Lucy aka Free Spirit aka Flower Child (as I like to call her): She is SO freaking funny. I love weird people and she's right up there with the top weirdies. Her bio of Free Spirit was extremely accurate and I love when she twirls around. Who is brave enough to actually not wear shoes? Or make up? On television. Not me. Every time the camera panned to her she looked like she was the queen of her lala land. This chick is going to make the season. I think she will be HIGHLY entertaining. I stalked her insta and she is also friends with Kate Upton so that's cool I guess. As fond of her as I am there is actually no way that she ends up with Juan Pablo. Nope. Can you imagine flower child as a mother?!

2. Andi: Babe town USA that's all I have to say. Plus she had a simple dress which I love and am all about.

3. Mama: Due to the fact that Juan Pablo referred to her as mama I am going to too. She seems extremely sweet and easy going. My type of lady.

GIRLS THAT MADE ME CRINGE

1. AMY J: WTF. Does she get pleasure from giving massages? Why was she airplane feeding the camera? I felt extremely uncomfortable watching her.

2.  Chelsie: No rational reason why, she just bugs.

3. Lauren: I had to look up her name because I missed it due to the high amount of crying she was doing. All I have to say is she must have a lot of other issues going on in her life if she is that upset over going home on the first night. Poor thing.

4. Top cringe worthy/awkward moment: When Kylie thought she was called to accept a rose. AWK, AWK, AWK! I was dying. Literally I felt so sad for her. My dad almost started crying. He hates the show because he feels so bad for the girls that get rejected. Tender hearted man.

I know all of this is very judgemental and I know first hand from having bachelor friends how edited the show can be BUT I can't help it. I'm sure they're all nice ladies and I mean no harm in anything I say. So here is yet another list of positive things about them that I've learned from Instagram.

Amy J: I'm sorry I can't compliment you because your profile is private but you have big pretty eyes.
Chelsie: You like chocolate and will run for it. Props.
Lauren: You have an amazing stomach.
Kylie: You've met Steven Tyler and I feel so bad for you so I love you.

PS: For further Bachelor related posts visit Jaclyn Swartz's blog (former bachelor and bachelor pad contestant and one of the funniest people I've ever met) blondhairdontcare.com

PSS: Here are the girl's Instagram names...stalk away.
1. Lucy Aragon: @lucyaragon
2. Andi Dorfman: @andi_dorfman
3. Mama aka Renee Oteri (fine I found out her name): @floridaray18 (private)
4. Amy Jokinen: @amyjokinen
5. Chelsie Webster: @chelsiewebby
6. Lauren Higginson: @lohigg
7. Kylie Lewis: @kyliemlewis