This is Cute for a Walmart Shirt

Skirt - GAP (Thrifted) // Shirt & Tights - Walmart // Socks - Target // Shoes - Madden Girl

It's so gross outside, but at least my first class was cancelled today--awesome! Also, I just found out that I have to start my senior project next week even though I'm a junior. Fun.

Dreaming of Florida

Shirt - Old Navy // Skirt - GAP (Thrifted) // Necklace - Forever21 // Shoes - Hot Cakes

I like to keep little icons on my laptop of what the weather is in Akron and Geneva since I tend to spend a lot of time in both cities. This summer I added a weather icon for Ocala, FL while I was down there. It just makes me sad to see that it's like 80-something in Florida...and it's generally really cold here. (Oddly enough, right now they all say 70 degrees, although the window is open right now and I'm pretty sure it is not 70 outside). As much as I love cardigans, it was so nice to not have to worry about bringing a cardigan with me everywhere in Florida! Anyways, I just thought of that 'cause these are pictures from Florida.

On a completely different note, I've really been enjoying my illustration class and I may post some of my work at some point. I'm really excited this semester 'cause I don't have any classes I absolutely hate. There are, obviously, some I like better than others. But for the most part, I'm enjoying the semester!

Sweater Weather

Sweater - Arizona Jeans // Skirt - GAP (Thrifted) // Tights - Merona // Boots - Thrifted

It's funny 'cause for years I hated both sweaters and dresses. And now, that's basically all I wear. Anyways, I finished all my finals and I am officially home for Christmas break! I haven't done much yet, but I did go to see Catching Fire and The Hobbit. Catching Fire was sooo much better than the first movie, but I thought the first Hobbit was better than this one. Well, I wish I could write more, but I have to go help my sister with her costume and makeup--she's in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Hope y'all have a wonderful break!

Erza Scarlet

Shirt - Merona  // Skirt - Gap (Thrifted) // Boots - Yoki // Bow - Pat Catan's Ribbon // Sword - Flea Market

I realize it's a wee bit late for a Halloween post, but I still had to show y'all my costume! I'm a huge fan of the anime Fairy Tail and I've always wanted to cosplay as the character Erza Scarlet. Aside from being a redhead, she's actually pretty awesome and usually wears a variety of armor. Since I don't actually own any armor (yet) I went with her street clothes. Believe it or not, I actually straightened my hair for this, but as soon as I put the hair dye in my hair just got all weird and sort-of-curly :p oh well! It was either straight and ginger or weirdly curly and red...it was for a Halloween party, so I'm glad I went with the red hair dye :p Anyways, if you haven't watched Fairy Tail...do it. It's great. And the subs are way better than the dubs, just so ya know.

Well, hope you had a great Halloween...two weeks ago, haha. I don't know about you, but I'm actually really excited about the holidays. I bought a bunch of candles and my house smells like pine needles now :) So, even though it's really early, I'm thinking I might put my Christmas tree up this weekend! Maybe it's because of the snow we had today, or maybe I'm just looking forward to Christmas break! Can't wait for the end of the semester!

Mauve on Over

Shirt - Mossimo (Thrifted) // Skirt - GAP (Thrifted) // Tights - Mossimo // Shoes - Rocket Dog // Jacket - Delia*s

Yeah, I know. Nothing I'm wearing is mauve. The reference? My lipstick! I have not worn lipstick in years (balm stain, yes...lipstick, no) but one day I decided I wanted this color of lipstick. So I bought it. And well, I've worn it every day since! It's L'Oreal Saucy Mauve. And I kind of really love the color! It smells kind of weird though. Like it doesn't smell bad, it just smells like lipstick. And to me, that's never been a pleasant smell. I guess I've gotten used to it, but I don't know... we'll see!

Anyways, I'm really hoping I don't get sick again so I can focus more on blogging! (random subject change, i know) I've basically given up on not trying to get sick. No amount of hand sanitizer has kept me well this semester. Seriously, it's like the germs can infect me from 10 feet away! Yeah...it's been a fun semester. (sarcasm) If one of my classmates is sick I have it the next day! And, well, there's always at least one sick person (besides me) in the classroom...and that's why I've basically given up. Except for the hand sanitizer. I will never give that up. I do not apologize for my love of clean hands. (It also works in a pinch if a certain feline decides to sneeze on my face in the middle of the night...)

Yeah, I don't even know what I originally wanted to write about, but I wanna get back to watching more Psych (Whaaaaaat?) and sleeping. So I'm gonna leave you with that lovely description of my various ailments throughout the semester. (Which, in reality, wasn't even that thorough. I could get several more blog posts out of this...) Anyways, what do y'all do to deal with colds and other nasty fall/winter ailments?

At Least my Work is Done!

Shirt - Forever21 (Thrifted) // Skirt - Gap (Thrifted) // Cardigan - Mossimo (Thrifted) // Shoes - Restricted Betsy // Socks - Marc's

Well, I don't know about you, but I kind of like the results of my impromptu blog re-design!  But I really need to blog earlier in the day...I worked on my poster designs for several hours and I, again, don't feel like writing. Come to think of it, I actually had a very productive day. Aside from doing 4 poster designs and a website design, I also did a ton of housework and finally purchased a rake! Yeah, I have a huge oak tree in my front yard and...well it's shedding :p Most of the leaves haven't fallen off yet and I still ended up picking up two bags of leaves!! I'm really not looking forward to the rest of the leaves falling off.

Bringing Creative Back!

Skirt - GAP (Thrifted) // Shirt - a.n.a. // Socks - Marc's // Cardigan - Mossimo // Shoes - St. John's Bay

Yeah, so I didn't actually go to the Brown's game, but I was right across from the stadium and just had to take some pictures of all the people. It was ridiculous how many people there were! We couldn't even park in the Science Center's parking lot 'cause it was a Brown's game day. And there were so many people that they started walking in the street--in front of cars--and wouldn't even stop walking to let us into the place where we could actually park. Seriously, people really were walking in the middle of the street like "the Brown's game is more important than my life." 

Anyways, the real reason we went to Cleveland was to go to the Titanic exhibit at the Science Center. Wow, it was amazing! So well done and well designed too! I never get tired of studying the Titanic. There was no photography allowed in the exhibit...so I have no pictures for you. Probably the coolest part was one part of the exhibit that showed which passengers were headed for the Northeast Ohio area. 

On another note...if you've visited my blog before, you'll notice it looks completely different! I've been planning a new site design for awhile and well, this isn't it. I'm still planning the other one. But, I was bored and I just decided to do this! Also, I'm finally feeling creative again! Anyways, I'm kinda like this design...so at least I'm happy with it until my other new design is done :p

Does Anyone Else Hate Thinking of Titles?

Shirt - Faded Glory // Skirt - GAP (Thrifted) // Shoes - Hotcakes // Necklace - Forever21 // Balm Stain - Revlon Romantic // Scarf - Thrifted? Maybe, I guess. I don't really know. I just found it in the dress up stuff at my parent's house.

See the scarf? Yeah, we're gonna pretend that was there in the picture of my outfit for the first day of school (first outfit with the pinkish floral dress). I knew something was missing in the pictures!! Anyways, like this skirt? Just thrifted it yesterday! My sister needed some shirts to wear with black jeans and I happened to find this skirt for me! 

So, I'm starting to feel a bit better from being sick all last week. Being so sick made the first week of school so fun! Seriously, in one class we weren't even allowed to take water in with us! I was just like Ok, but when I cough during your entire class just remember who said no water. That said, coughing is almost gone!! Yeah! I was going to go home for the entire weekend, but I really need to just rest and do nothing for a bit so I can (hopefully) get completely well. I was supposed to do that today after class, but I got home today and just had to clean my house. But, I already feel better now that I my stuff is almost moved in and put away!

Btw, love the pictures? Yeah, this is basically what I was doing when I started my blog. Except I'm using a real camera instead of a cell phone camera...and I'm using a real tripod instead of masking tape. My photographer transferred to Kent :( I also don't have the forest to photograph in...and I don't have a backyard either. So, we'll see what happens with pictures. I think there are some parks nearby, but I still just don't like taking pictures in front of people. I also don't even have a sibling to help now :/ Stay with me while I get stuff all figured out! So please excuse my stellar photography and my I have no idea what I'm doing poses. Anyways, hope y'all have a great weekend!!!

What's in a Name?

Skirt - Gap (Thrifted) // Shirt - Old Navy (Thrifted) // Cardigan - Mossimo (Thrifted) // Shoes - Faded Glory

Don't you just love my super creative title? Speaking of titles and names....I've been thinking of changing my blog name for awhile. I spent so long deciding on a name and when I thought of Finding Inspiration it just said me. It seemed perfect. I love inspiration and I love finding it in unexpected places. But....it's the name of so many other websites and blogs already it's just not unique. I didn't find that out until after I had been blogging for about a month though.

I have an idea for a name and I LOVE it. Heck, I even have a new header designed already. But my OCD self is screaming Noooooo! Then the website address won't match the blog name!!! (btw, it should be CDO...that way all the letters will be in order. And yes, I know you can change the address in blogger...but I wouldn't want to do that). But, I've seen bloggers where there names don't match their addresses either. So I'm torn. Just out of curiosity...would it bother you if I changed the name? It's not like a whim or anything... I started doodling designs and names in my idea book that I keep in my purse like...well long time ago. I mean, I haven't even been blogging that long. And no, I don't plan to be one of those people that changes names like 3 times a month. I just think that if I'm going to change my name, it should be sooner rather than later. It wouldn't be completely different from my name now...just enough to be unique. And actually, now that I think of it, it would be similar enough to my name now that it wouldn't bother me to have the same web address. Ideas or opinions? Please let me know I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading my ramblings. Have a wonderful weekend!

A Lovely Red Scarf

Shirt - American Eagle Outfitters (Thrifted) // Skirt - Gap (Thrifted) // Scarf - Thrifted // Shoes - Faded Glory // Ring - Gift from my Dad
Photos by Natalie

I went to the mall with my sister today...and I didn't buy anything. It was so hard, but I have no money right now. Anyways, the hardest thing was not buying scarves. I'm kind of in love with almost any scarf from Charlotte Russe. Laura needed some sunglasses and Charlotte Russe usually has cute, inexpensive sunglasses. So, as I'm trying to help Laura pick out some sunglasses for an upcoming trip (more on that later) my eyes keep wandering over to the scarves. But...I bought zero scarves. After cleaning my closet (ok so it's almost done) I realized that I really never need to buy another scarf. It's scary how many I have...

Later today I went with my mom and youngest sister, Natalie (who took the photos today), to a local library for a crochet class. It's actually pretty fun! And Natalie did really well :) I learned how to crochet at probably around her age, but no one taught me anything beyond the basic chain stitch and not how to do rows or anything. So...I had a bunch of long crocheted yarn chains when I was little. Today I actually learned how do rows! My crocheting is pretty crappy at this point, but I now have a little bit of an idea of what I'm doing. I have some ideas of projects I'd love to do when I get better at it. One book had directions on how to do an adorable crocheted purse!

That's it for now :) I just worked for like 5 hours at least on a self portrait for my life drawing final...so I skipped exercising. But, I did my Bible reading today. Well, thanks for reading and I hope you have a great day!

PS yeah...photos still not the best. I'm tpo far away from my other photographers and my mom's camera is still broken. My cell phone camera takes ok pics when there's good light out...but it was after 8 and the sun was setting fast! Hoping this will change soon...

Belle

Shirt - St. John's Bay (Thrifted) // Vest - American Eagle Outfitters (Thrifted) // Skirt - Gap (Thrifted) // Shoes - Maurices // Rings - Thrifted // Earrings - Forever21 // Necklace - Gift // Balm Stain - Revlon Charm // Nail Polish - Revlon Vintage Rose

This is another Beauty and the Beast inspired outfit. Well it wasn't really inspired by Beauty and the Beast, but it's another outfit that makes me think of Belle. I really like this outfit and it's definitely more my style than my outfits last month. I think this would look great with a pair of brown oxfords, but it looks fine with my moccasins. I was going to wear the oxfords, but I felt really sick this morning and my moccasins are just the most comfortable shoes I own :) It's funny 'cause I was out shopping with my mom on black Friday last year and these moccasins were an impulse buy. But, it was definitely the best impulse buy I've ever made! I wear these shoes all the time!

So...I only have a week and a half of school left! Well and then finals week, but after that I'm free! It was a really rough school year, but I think I'm gonna make it! I can't wait for summer. I know I'll have to work, but I like that better than school. I'm really looking forward to graduating, 'cause I'm really tired of being in school. Don't get me wrong, I like graphic design. But, I wish I didn't have three more years of it before I could work for real :(

Bible reading...check. Exercise ....check well sort of. I felt sick all day so I did a really quick exercise today. I knew that if I skipped altogether my motivation to exercise ever again would be completely gone. That's what always happens. Every time I think I'll start exercising something happens. Usually I get sick and then decide to start exercising as soon as I feel well...and then, well you know, I just never do it. On another note, it's hilarious because whenever I exercise my cat decides she has to be right there. Today she sat on my back while I did push-ups, on my stomach while I did crunches, and on my shoulders when I did squats. No joke! It was hilarious!

Well, thanks for reading and I hope y'all have a great day!