let’s be friends : @nicole_fichera 

 
This photo was taken a year ago, at the end of my first ever photo shoot. Earlier that day, I was fighting off tears and a panic attack, thinking to myself, “You’re not a model, you idiot. Why are you doing this? Who wants to see photos of you? You’re going to look bad, and you’re going to embarrass yourself....” etc. . An hour later, I was climbing barefoot onto a concrete wall in a ballgown skirt, feeling the sun and breeze on my skin, and just existing in front of the camera, letting my inner performer call the shots while my anxiety looked on from the sidelines. . This day was self-indulgent in the best way. It was the first time I ever enjoyed myself in front of a camera, letting go of my fears of judgment and impropriety and looking silly and just being in the moment with my hair and my boobs and my skin and my clothes. It was magic. . (It took me a long time to actually post these photos because *gasp* boobs—but the world didn’t end. Shocker.) . Photos used to crush me. During my engagement shoot, I had panic attacks in the bathroom because I was so afraid of looking bad. Since these photos were taken, I’ve changed a lot. I can face down a camera without crumbling. And for me that means accepting my physical self, accepting my limits and my magic, accepting that my body is worth documenting, accepting that you need a lot of bad photos to get a good one, accepting that bodies are dynamic and weird and three-dimensional, and that I can be interested in the process of making art with my body, that I can observe my movements and shapes neutrally, that I can make things that produce connection and emotional reaction with the lump of cells and bones I carry around all day. . It’s a cool feeling. I’m gonna keep chasing it. . (A huge shoutout to @an_erin, who convinced me I’m worth photographing, and @ally schmaling, whose tender energy helped me move through my anxiety. Love to you both.) . #imagedescription: Nicole sits on the concrete wall of a super modern house with steel beams and columns. She’s wearing just a gold brocade skirt, and she’s laughing in the sunshine.
Felt cute last night with @thistlebelle, WILL NEVER DELETE⠀ .⠀ #imagedescription: A bathroom selfie of Nicole and Annabelle. Nicole is wearing a marble print dress and aqua earrings with her hair slicked into a low bun. Annabelle is wearing a pink embellished jacket by @an_erin with a red dress, and her face is framed by wavy hair tendrils.
When you’re at an art show ⠀ but you’re like I am art tho ✨⠀ .⠀ #imagedescription: Nicole is wearing a long maxi dress with a white and black marble pattern, paired with an aqua belt and earrings. She’s in an art space with blank white walls and a geometric floor, and she’s posing with her pink scooter and pink bag. Photo by @discocreo.
Making jewelry and filling orders today! My energy is coming back, my mobility is improving, and the creative juices are starting to flow! ⠀ .⠀ If you ordered earrings recently, they are getting packed and sent tomorrow, and I’m making a new batch of goodies for @ouimillie (including these new pink mirror ones—I love how they cast pink shadows on the table).⠀ .⠀ Other stuff coming soon: gold mirror, glitter, glassy lavender, tons of iridescent, and BAGS. 😁😁😁⠀ .⠀ #imagedescription: Geometric lucite and acrylic earring parts laid out on a table, with tools in the background.
Today’s menu: serving FACE and, finally, CLEAN HAIR!!! I’m finally healing better and so I got to take a real bath yesterday!! Wowweeee!!!!⠀ .⠀ PS I did my makeup in bed!! I have had to come up with a very simple makeup approach since I got surgery because it’s too tiring to do precision makeup in the mirror standing on one foot. I did a full how-to for simple lying-in-bed makeup for my IGTV, so check it out if you wanna! ⠀ .⠀ A note on accessibility: I’ve been working hard to make my posts and stories accessible with image descriptions and auto-caption, but it’s harder to do for IGTV—my captioning app doesn’t work for videos longer than one minute. I’m working on finding a better way for future videos!⠀ .⠀ #imagedescription: A selfie of Nicole lying in bed, smizing at the camera like Tyra Banks taught us all. She’s wearing a striped shirt with simple, fresh makeup.
I LASERED TODAY!!!!!!!!! For the first time since surgery!!!! New earring styles coming soon!!!! A huge thank you to sweet nugget @an_erin for chaperoning me and my scooter to the lab and helping me carry one million acrylic pieces ♥️ .⠀ #imagedescription: A colorful, multi-textured pile of lucite and acrylic, some in sheets, some lasercut into earring components.
Today’s post goes out to me and everyone else that has had to mother themselves. We all need tenderness, nurturing, care and guidance, and sometimes, for many reasons, our mothers can’t give us those things. ⠀ .⠀ If you had to learn how to mother yourself, I see you. If you went through pain and trauma and neglect, and you are still working your way to self-compassion and tenderness, I see you. If you absorbed judgment and criticism and you are still doing the painstaking work of affirming yourself, I see you. If you felt abandoned or lost, if you felt no one was there to listen and comfort you, if you wanted to collapse into someone’s arms but they weren’t there, if you knew that your own toughness was the only way through, I see you. ⠀ .⠀ It takes work to learn to mother ourselves. I had to learn to listen to my pain, to stop judging it. I had to develop patience with my patterns and faults. I had to teach myself about tampons. I had to learn, through painstaking work in therapy, how to have relationships with womxn, how to allow care into my life, how to break down.⠀ .⠀ Today I’m mothering myself through this post, by allowing myself to feel pride in everything I’ve accomplished. I’m sticking these words up in a place of honor on a virtual refrigerator, so I can see them when I walk by and smile. I hope you’re proud of yourself today too. You should be. ⠀ .⠀ #imagedescription: Nicole stands behind a white desk with a gold laptop on it, in front of a backdrop of patterned pink wallpaper. She’s wearing a striped dress with puffed sleeves, a pink metallic belt, and her own acrylic earrings. Her hair is down, and she looks confident and relaxed. Photo by @thediahannproject for @hourglassboston.
Lucite earrings in organza bags: one of life’s small pleasures. ⠀ .⠀ #imagedescription: a flash photo of blue, green, iridescent and burgundy earrings in translucent white organza bags. The light is bouncing off all the different transparent textures and creating flares and sparkles.
No deep thoughts today. Just sunshine and snacks. Not every day is for understanding, analyzing, processing. Some are just for feeling.⠀ .⠀ #imagedescription: A photo of Nicole perched on her pink knee scooter, looking up into the sunshine. She’s wearing a gingham top and a gingham skirt that is catching the wind. Photo by @discocreo
These earrings aren’t magic or anything, really ✨⠀ .⠀ #imagedescription: A selfie of Nicole. She’s wearing her Neon Pink Chill Pill Earrings, and the sunlight is lighting them up so they are glowing with orange, magenta, fuchsia and yellow highlights, and casting pink shadows on her neck and jaw. She’s also wearing a pink patterned scarf, a white T-shirt and a purple puffer jacket. ⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ #bostonstyle #bostonblogger #earringsoftheday #earringaddict #earringlove #fashionearrings #jewelrylovers #dangleearrings #earringsforsale #trendmood
Haven’t showered in 5 weeks 💅🏻✨ still cute AF tho⠀ .⠀ #imagedescription: A selfie of Nicole wearing a cropped bright orange T-shirt and a black and white gingham skirt. Her hair is in a messy bun, and she’s not wearing makeup (not even her eyebrows 😱)⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ #bostonstylist #bostonbloggers #brocade #pockets #selfloveisthebestlove #bostonfashion #printandpattern #styledaily #bostonartist
Today’s obsessions: sunshine and 90s magazine graphics.⠀ .⠀ #imagedescription: A graphic that says “Every day is new somehow. I like that.” The text has a flat, digitally stretched out feel common to early word art, and the background is a collage of washed out pastel textures, yellow scribbles and bright colors. ⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ #bostonstyle #creativesontherise #createeveryday #selfloveisthebestlove #ihavethisthingwithcolor #ihavethisthingwithpink #selfesteem #selfknowledge #creativelifehappylife