Pink Warmth

scarf, jacket, & skirt | forever 21

Just cause I love y'all so much, I went out last night to take these pictures, even though the sun had already gone down and after being at school for seven hours I just wanted to make a drink and put my feet up.  But I didn't.  Because I know how important your outfit post reads are to you.

Also, I'm madly in love with this skirt (madly) and wanted to broadcast it across the interwebs.

But mostly because I love you.

Seriously though, what is not to love about this skirt?  It's pink, pink ombré at that!, and it's a high-low skirt.  Nothing is not to love about it, that's what.  I got it last week on my Forever 21 spring spree, and have been itching to wear it since.  Rainstorms and windy days had kind of thrown a wrench in my plans though, so yesterday was the soonest big reveal day.  Let me tell you, after months of wearing jeans and dress/tight combos, wearing a skirt on a cloudless, sunny, 65º day was heaven.

Also for funsies, I included a "then and now" picture, taken 5.5 years apart.  And because I know it's going to be your very first thought when you see it, that's not my hair.  I'm standing in front of a hanging plant.  So don't freak out, cause I know you'll want to.  

Have you broken out any skirts for spring yet?  I'm biting at the bit for summer and more of these warm outfits!   xx

ps.  if you're wondering, still no word from ucsc; I'm checking religiously, and I'll mention it as soon as I hear anything!

currently listening to..// Good Girl - Carrie Underwood

Matchy Matchy

sweater, belt, necklace, & shoes | forever 21   jeans | the gap

If we got down to it, I am not a girly girl.  I own cowboy boots, am obsessed with horses and know how to drive a manual four-wheeler.  I'm more comfortable with my hair like this and in jeans than anything else.  Yes, I'm a girl and love to look pretty, but I'm not a stereotypical girly-girl.

But when it comes to coral (a shade of pink), I am obsessed.  When I found this sweater and shoes at Forever 21 yesterday, I about died.  First off because they was coral, and second because they never have shoes in my size (10... ugh. being tall sucks).  And believe me when I say never.  These are also now my only flat shoes in my closet that are not sandals.  Sad, I know.  I've taken to wearing my non-slip, unnattractive, black work shoes at non-work places just to get out of wearing 3" heels, since it's still too cold for sandals.  So, major breakthrough here!  Three cheers for flat shoes, I'll tell you that.

I forgot to mention in my post yesterday - I took myself on a movie date yesterday (first time ever!  Can I get a 'hell yeah!'?) in the middle of the day to see The Host - do you know it?  It was published by Stephanie Meyer in 2008 (the only non-Twilight book she's written), and it was given to me as a Christmas present that year.  To say I devoured it is an understatement.  That woman knows how to write a good book!  Good enough that even then, I knew it was going to be turned into a movie someday.  Lo and behold, four years later, I catch wind of its March 2013 release, and FREAK OUT.  As a lifelong bookworm, I have extremely high standards when it comes to book adaptations, and I've been disappointed by them in the past, so I was skeptical of this movie.

But this.

I was blown away.  Every character, set, and conversation was portrayed exactly the way Stephanie had put in my head.  I'm still in awe.

So if you haven't seen it yet, do.  But the book has to come first.  Just trust me.  It does.

Have you seen it yet?  If so, what did you think?  Did you like the book or movie better?   xx

currently listening to..//  Your Man - Josh Turner

Pretty in Pastel

dress, belt, shoes, jacket, and bows | forever 21   bag | the gap  sunglasses | street vendor

I just have to start this off by saying, you guys are the BEST.  Seriously though, the amount of support and love I got from my last post was overwhelming and I am so grateful to you for it!  Sometimes I wonder if blogging is still worth it, and times like these definitely reaffirm my belief that it is.  Just from your comments alone, I've already gained so much confidence about the bumper sticker - so, again.  You girls rock.  <3

Alright sssoo.  Confession.  I bought $130 worth of clothes today at Forever 21.  Don't judge.  I know it's tempting.  ;)  With a brand-spanking-new pay raise, what would you have done??  This girl badly needed a spring wardrobe update.  This dress, belt, bows, and shoes are some of what I got today, along with a few knit sweaters, a pink ombré skirt, and some new workout capris!  Good lord, I have been meaning to get a pair of those babies for months now.  I dunno about you, but going to the gym at night in spandex track shorts is not pleasant.  I don't know if you've noticed, but I've got some long legs, and when 90% of them are bare at night.... Cold.  To say the least.  Hence my excitement over capris! It's an improvement. I'll get to pants. Eventually.

So.  Back to the shopping spree.  Apparently spring has already happened because the entire store was covered with pastel and neon colors.  With all the pouring rain that happened yesterday, I didn't realize spring was even a thing anymore.  California, why do you have to be so bipolar!?  Ah, well.  Such is life.   xx

^ if you look closely, I'm not holding/touching my dress in any way.  the beauty of photo magic!  ;)

currently listening to..// A Little Bit Stronger - Sara Evans

outfit post // 21st birthday edition !

dress | earthsong   jacket | forever 21   flats | nine west

As you're reading this, I'll probably be out barhopping (or maybe already have, for my abroad, time-zones-ahead readers!)  to celebrate my 21st birthday!  This here is my birthday outfit, and I made sure to snap these pictures while it was still light out tonight because it's probably going to be the only chance I'll have for a few days.  I've got 3 birthday dinners to go to this week!  What can I say, folks love a good party, especially when the birthday girl can drink.

I was tooling around downtown last week after picking up some birthday yarn (a girl's gotta treat herself sometime, right?!), and decided to stop into a cute little hippie-ish botique that I've passed a million times and always wanted to go in, but never did.  I didn't have anything on my agenda that afternoon so I thought to myself, Heck, why not?  Within five minutes of clicking hangers together on the racks, I spotted this beauty of a dress.  There was only a large and a small, so I grabbed the large and tried it on.  Too big.  Put it back and tried on the small.  Too tiny.  

Do you see the dilemma here??!  I could NOT let this dress slip through my hands because I knew it was THE dress of all the birthday dresses.  (scroll down to the bottom. you'll see.  it was THE birthday dress.)  So I marched on up to the counter and as politely as possible demanded to know if there was a medium in this birthday dress I just had to have and if so could I buy it??

Since I'm wearing the right size dress, you can guess what they said.  :)  Since it was for my 21st birthday, and since it was the most perfect dress ever, they made a special exception to fly it in from San Francisco.  Not really.  But that's what I like to tell myself.

In other news.... I was pleasantly surprised a little bit ago to notice this on my screen - I put it into my phone's calendar months ago, and completely forgot!  Kind of a nice reminder.  ;)

I also have really big news!!  You are now looking at Jamba Juice's newest shift manager!  (also known as an assistant general manager)  I am so ecstatic beyond words for my promotion to be official (as of today!).  Even sweeter is that I am not only gettting a $1 raise like I expected, but I'm getting a $2 raise!  Not gonna lie, I did a little happy dance that involved some jumping around.  Maybe just a little bit.  Talk about the best birthday present EVER!  

It is now 10:30 pm and only a mere 90 minutes remains before the clock chimes at midnight to usher me into my 21st  year.  Here's to it!   xx

My hair's saga

That's right.  My hair has its own saga.  You can be jealous.

In these quick and easy steps I'm going to explain to you why it took six full hours to change the color of my hair!  Crazy, I know.  I'm going to save you that pain though and spill all in only two minutes.  Ready go!

A week or two ago I tried dying my hair a bright, coppery red.  Didn't work.  The result is what you see in the first picture, so my mom offered to treat me to professional color for my birthday (which is in FIVE DAYS if anyone was wondering.  21 here I come!).

1. //  This is the hair I went into the appointment with.  A dark reddish brown.

2. //  6 strand tests were done on my hair, two of which you can see here (red and coppery).

3. //  My hair was lightened.  This was the biggest problem we faced.  Since it was chemically straightened two months ago, high volumes of bleach would damage and/or break my hair, so it was lightened with a mild amount of peroxide/bleach mixed into shampoo.

4. //  Finally matched color to the picture I brought in (the box of color I'd originally tried to dye it) and it was put on my hair!

Six hours for all of that.  And now for what you've all been waiting for, on the edge of your seats, no doubt:  my new hair!  For your viewing pleasure, two 'after' pictures are included: the first picture was taken under fog, and the second under sunlight. 

Yep, I was Ariel in a past life.  Except for my roots, which are a bit bright, this (the first picture) is pretty much my natural hair color, that I had when I was a youngin'.  Also for your viewing pleasure is a comparison of my hair - pictures taken 360 days apart!  Sometimes I feel like my hair never grows, and that it's still so short, but then I saw this and now I feel like Rapunzel!  Ha, not really.  You know what I mean!  I'm thrilled to say that I am finally, and completely, in love with my hair.  It's long, straight, red, and bangin'!  Pun intended.  (pun about my bangs, if you're still confused)  I literally never, ever, EVER thought the day would come when I was in love with my hair.  As they say, there is a first for everything!  True story bro.

How do you feel about your hair?  Love, hate, or both?   xx

currently listening to..// Feel That Fire - Dierks Bentley

Easy breezing.

top & jacket | forever 21   boots | madden girl   hat | my own creation!

I was originally at this location to shoot my most recent knit items (a post on that soon!) for the application I'm working on for my first craft show (eeek!), and on my walk to this bridge I realized, Hey, this is an awesome opportunity for an outfit shoot too!  So here we are.

  

Let me just say for the record: the best part of shooting outdoors (and for those of you in the area, Petaluma) is the natural wind machine you get.  This city is notoriously windy, and it worked fabulously to my advantage - I can't wait to show you the Etsy photos!  Also going to say for the record: you'll be able to see in a moment (or maybe you already have, if you're one of those jump-around-the-page-read-the-text-last kind of people) that I had a LOT of fun with this shoot.  Maybe it was just nice to get away from my usual front yard spot.  :)

  

It's been almost a full year (just about 50 weeks) since I've worn this shirt, and as I stood in front of my wardrobe this morning, wondering to it what I wanted to wear, on a whim I pulled it out and instantly paired it with this jacket.  

BAM.  An outfit was born.  Just like that.

That's all I have for today, folks.  I know.  You wanted a dog and pony show, glitter and flaming wands and everything.  Well, we can't always have everything.  Better you learned that now.   ;)  Take your Tuesday easy.   xx

currently listening to..//  Better Dig Two - The Band Perry

That time I woke up looking like I'd been electrocuted

That time was actually this morning.  And be aware, this is the after picture.  After I slaved over my hair to make it look nice and presentable.  Actually I didn't really slave, but it did take work!  It's not easy looking this fabulous.

Here's the 411.  I thought I'd be a cool hipster and jump on the friar tuck method  bandwagon of curling your hair and this is what happened.  I was hoping/expecting awesome, beautiful curls like Aunie's but no.  Who was I kidding thinking that I'd roll out of bed with my hair looking like anything but a mess?  It's funny how after all these years, I'm still waiting for it to happen...

Anyway!  Back to the story.

I got out of bed and my hair was disheveled and a little bit unkempt.  Then I tried taking it out of the headband.  How's that for fun!  Let's just say, the look of frustration I saw on my face as I was trying to take my hair down has made me rethink ever doing this again.

Yeah.. How'd you like to wake up to that every morning?  You're right.  I've probably got seven messages waiting for me from potential suitors as we speak.

It doesn't look so bad here, but up close it was like a personal rat's nest.  The way it used to look in the morning before I had it permanently straightened.  Talk about déjà vu!  Certainly don't miss that.

After I carefully brushed it out to tame the rat's nest I had going on, I pinned back the front pieces which were practically ringlets next to the rest of my hair, because I couldn't go out looking like what you see in the picture above, now could I?  After some gel and a lot of hairspray, this is the result.  Semi-decent.  Somewhere between I-slept-over-at-my-boyfriend's-house-and-didn't-have-a-flatiron and this-was-all-I-could-put-together-in-ten-minutes.  I can work it.

Now tell me, have you ever tried to curl your hair like this?  Was it a total disaster or did you look like you'd just stepped off the runway?   xx

The big reveal! (and an outfit)

blouse | inherited from a friend   necklace | forever 21   boots | madden girl

Alright guys, like I said, Tuesday was the last day you'd see me without bangs.  Here they (it? are bangs plural?) are!  Still can't believe I did it.  While sitting in the chair, I was freaking out as much as when I got my tattoo.  You can kind of guess, I'm very attached to my hair.  I knew I wanted bangs, and have for a long time, but that last single moment of doubt as the scissors are laid against your hair... it's a very tense moment.  Those of you who have gotton a drastically different hair cut before will know that moment of doubt I'm talking about.  ;)  Anyway, I'm in love with them, but since it's been 13 years since I've had bangs (which were very thin to begin with), they're extremely hard to get used to.  I know they look nice from this point of view, but think about it like this: every time I look up (only using my eyes) it's like.. BAM.  There they are.  Right in my face.

I'm kind of in love with this outfit.  I even cheated a little bit and wore it twice this week.  Don't tell anyone.  I've looongg admired the outfits girls wear with a long shirt and boots over leggings, but I never had a long shirt for said outfit.  And I'm definitely not one of those girls who can wear leggings or yoga pants in public without anything covering their behind!  This shirt was long enough to do that, but I still felt.. naked.  I've never worn leggings just by themselves.  It was weird.  Just had to follow Chrystina's advice and just mentally rock it.  ;)

Have you ever worn leggings by themselves? What about bangs? Do you wear those by themselves too? ;) Just kidding!  xx

currently listening to..// Cruise - Florida Georgia Line