My 21st birthday!

I'm guest posting for Laura today about the fabulous time I had on Tuesday, my 21st birthday!

Go check it out for a detailed account of my day.  :)   xx

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

hurting.

unknown source//

I've been thinking a lot about writing this post - if I even wanted to publish it or not.  It's hard to put your most guarded emotions and thoughts into a blogpost and hit 'publish' for the rest of the world to see.  But at the same time, I'm not peppy/bubbly/happy all of the time, and I owe it to you to let you see all of me, which includes the less-than-cheerful sides.  So here we go.

A few weeks ago I found out that I wasn't accepted to Cal Poly State University at San Luis Obispo, my ultimate #1 choice.  I was positive I'd get in, and almost didn't apply to UCSC (University of California at Santa Cruz, for those not in the area), my "Plan B", because I was so sure of my admission.  The reason for that being that I'm going to be a junior transfer student, who has done all of her underdivision work for a specific major, and will be transferring with an AA in that major.  I thought that would seal the deal.  Nope.

I had been checking my Cal Poly account daily for news, and as soon as I saw "you have not been selected for admission" my heart practically stopped, and I burst into tears.  I cried for an hour straight.  I know you're probably thinking, "Well, it's just a school.  Go to a different one."  It wasn't just the school.  In that one, single moment, I watched the future I had dreamed of for months go spiraling down the drain.  I fell in love with the town of SLO when I was there last March, and couldn't wait to live there.  Jamba Juice was also founded there and I had planned on transferring down to work at the original location (I work for them and have for 16 months!).  It may seem kind of silly to hear this, but I love my company in its entirety and it meant so much to me to work at the original store.  And now I won't.

It's really tough to realize that you have no idea where your life is going to be in six months, when you had just had it all planned out last week.  To have your future ripped out of your hands like that.  But it's also an opportunity to learn to pick yourself up and try to convince yourself that it wasn't meant to be.  'Try' being the keyword.  I'm still struggling immensely with trying to accept that I wasn't meant to be at Cal Poly.  I don't believe in any higher power (I've been to church a whopping two times! both as a child at that), but I do believe that things happen for a reason.  What reason that is, I have no idea right now.  But hopefully it'll become apparent soon.

This quote is really helping me, so I thought I'd share it in case you needed to hear it too:  "The important thing is not to be bitter about life's disappointments, but to let go of the past.  And recognize that every day won't be something.  And when you find yourself lost in darkness and despair... remember it's only in the black of night that you see the stars, and those stars will lead you back home.  Maybe you'll get everything you wish for, maybe you'll get more than you could ever imagine.  Who knows where life will take you.  The road is long, and in the end, the journey is the destination."

If you're still reading, thank you - for listening.   xx

P.S.  I'm still waiting to hear from UCSC.  Fingers ultimately crossed for that because if I don't get in, I won't be going to school in the fall.  :/

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

Avoiding the heat by.. waiting for a tow?

For dramatical purposes, as we speak I am waiting at Starbucks for a tow truck.

Yep.  Right now.  This very instant.  Well, probably (hopefully) not this instant as you read it, but you know.

This is supposed to be my trying-to-look-worried-and-anxious face.

But let's face it.  I'm not that worried or anxious at all.  I only said that because I think that's how people normally react in these kinds of situations.  Mostly it's just garnering me some pretty weird looks from the people sitting nearby.  They must think I'm certifiably crazy holding that expression.  Sitting all by myself.  Staring at my laptop.  Maybe I should carry a sign.  "It's okay.  I do this for a living" or "Don't worry, I'm a blogger."

Yeah.  That would do it.

Well since I now have your rapt attention, as you are no doubtedly waiting for my explanation as to why I need my car towed, you are about to be met with a very anti-climactic story.

I was driving along to Starbucks this morning, you know, for my morning coffee, and after I left (coffee in hand), I walked back to my car and started it up.  No problem.  I was even running a little early for my 9 AM bio class.  Which never happens, by the way.  Never.

But then.  Oh, but then.  My car refused to move out of park.  A small child plopping itself on the ground at a grocery store with crossed arms and a frown on its face comes to mind.  This was a similar experience.  My car being the child, if you didn't catch that.

She (my car - her name is Abbey if you were wondering. You probably weren't. Oh well) sat in the Starbucks parking lot from 9 AM until 5:30 PM when we finally got her onto the truck.  I wasn't waiting for the tow that whole time, mind you!  I was in class for most of the day, and luckily the school is (relatively) right next to the Starbucks I visited.

So, that is why I am here waiting for a tow truck; for the first time in my life, at that.  Should we celebrate?  My tow-cherry has been popped.  Maybe some champagne?

And that, my friends, is my exciting story for the day.  Hopefully yours wasn't this crazy!   xx

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