Blue and Yellow

Dress - Doe and Rae // Shoes - Restricted // Cardigan - Thrifted // Belt - Nine & Co. // Tights - JCPenney // Necklace & Socks - Modcloth

For some reason I felt like turning on the hall light in these pictures just to see what would happen. Guess what... the natural light from the window made the foreground and lower part of the photo really blue and the hallway light made the top of the picture really yellow. Hence, the photos were really difficult to edit/color-correct. As in, they were actually even worse than they are now. I definitely won't be doing that again!

2 Years of Blogging + A Very Disney Adventure

Well, hey there! Guess what this week marks? Two entire years of blogging! So, to celebrate, instead of doing a recap post, I'm gonna post something I've been waiting to post since January! While we were in Florida for Christmas, my family went and spent 3 days at Disney!


Day 1: Downtown Disney

It's so fun to walk around Downtown Disney and it's great to get any shopping you want to do done so you can just enjoy the parks when you're there! Not surprisingly I bought a few more mugs. I may have a problem. We had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe--that place is awesome! My dad got an amazingly good deal to stay at a hotel that was really close to Disney, so we went back there and spent some time swimming before going to sleep.


Don't you love the alligator about to bite my brother's head?

Remember when my hair was this long?

Day 2: Magic Kingdom

There's nothing like a day at Magic Kingdom. I LOVE it there. There were even a few new rides this time! I was so disappointed when they got rid of the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride (years ago, obviously) and replaced it with Ariel's Grotto. Which is basically nothing. At least this time around Ariel finally got a cool ride! Unfortunately, the Snow White ride was gone. I mean, I think a lot of kids were scared of it (even more so than the Haunted Mansion) but hey, your childhood memories are lacking if they're void of the terror that was the Snow White ride! Oh, there was also a new circus area which was really cool. But I think I spent most of my time on the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean rides.

Laura DisneyBounding as Peter Pan.

Terrible lighting from the flash. I should have taken a picture before the sun went down. But yeah, I'm DisneyBounding as Merida. A few people actually thought I worked there :p This is actually why I waited to cut my hair. I wanted crazy Merida hair for Disney!

Day 3: Hollywood Studios

I think most of my family hadn't been to Hollywood Studios, but since I'd gone over the summer and loved it, I really wanted them to go! You guys, the Star Wars ride. It's amazing! And magical. It's the best! I can't even count how many times I went on that ride!

Outfit 1: Dress - Modcloth // Shoes - Hotcakes

Outfit 2: Dress - Modcloth // Shoes - Rocket Dog // Belt - Nine and Co. // Shirt - Kohl's // Arrow Necklace - Forever21

Outfit 3: Skirt and Necklace - Modcloth // Shirt - Kohl's

Well, that's that. Have you been to Disney? What have you thought of my past few years of blogging? I love to hear from you all!

The Swing of Things

Shirt - Thrifted // Skirt - Charlotte Russe // Tights - George // Boots - Madden Girl // Belt - Nine & Co.

So, the first day of classes is over! I have a weird schedule, so it'll be interesting to see how things turn out this semester. I know I'm wearing all neutrals, but black, navy, and brown all together? Yeah, I'm a rule breaker. Anyways, I set up my tripod and have a sort of decent spot to take pictures now. Even if the pictures aren't fantastic, I just like having a record of what I've worn. It's so fun to go back and see everything!  Well, after the craziness of yesterday (see post) I am ready for a better nights sleep!

Finals Week

Dress - Doe and Rae (Modcloth) // Shoes - Resricted // Belt - Nine & Co. // Tights - Walmart // Cardigan - Thrifted

So, it's finals week. I'm exhausted. I've pulled a ton of all-nighters. But I'm almost done... Also, I'm definitely posting my illustration projects after this crazy week is over!

I decided that even though I don't really have the chance to get outside and get super nice pictures, I still like to have pictures of what I've worn. So, I set up my tripod and took a few pictures by my tiny tree! And the ISO's super high 'cause I didn't want to use flash.

This title has nothing to do with the content of the following post

Dress - Fleet Collection (also available at Modcloth) // Belt - Nine & Co. // Shoes - Thrifted // Socks - Thrifted // Jacket - Gift // Sunglasses - Walmart

These are actually all the way back from Mother's Day. Dang, I'm a little behind on posting pictures, haha. But hey, at least I have plenty to post! Every year for Mother's Day we go down to Geneva-on-the-Lake, eat at Eddie's Grill, and play mini golf. It's a fun tradition and I'm glad my mom enjoys it!

I wanted to leave y'all with a picture of my mom and all of her kids (all eight...) but we're not especially photogenic (well, of course I am . . . har. har.) and there's lots of us. That makes taking good pictures, shall we say, difficult. So how did the pictures turn out? I'll leave that to your imagination. They're not pretty though. Well, of course my mom's pretty in the pictures. Duh.

Instead you get to see a picture of her with my dad. Not a bad picture either, which is amazing 'cause if my dad so much as sees a camera his eyes automatically close. I'm not sure if it's harder to get a picture with all the kids or with just my dad. Taking a picture with the kids and dad? Ha. That's where Photoshop really comes in handy.

Well, I meant to spend most of this post talking about how awesome my mom is. Really, in retrospect, that's what I should have thought to talk about with the pictures being from Mother's Day and all. But instead I decided to let you in on our definitely-not best guarded secret ever--we're hardly a photogenic family. (Except for mom...of course).

And mom, when you read this, I love you. (But the rest of your family is not fun to take pictures of. And yes, I did just end a sentence with a preposition.)

One Year and One Week . . . ish

Dress - Tocce (Thrifted)// Cardigan - Mossimo (Thrifted) // Tights - George // Belt - Nine & Co. // Shoes - GoJane

So I've been officially blogging for an entire year now! Technically March 5 was the actual date...that's why it's one year and one week. With midterm projects and stuff, I kind of had to put this off a bit. I had wanted to wait so I could put together a cool post with my thoughts on blogging after an entire year and some of my favorite photos. But, that did not happen. My life will hopefully be a little less crazy next week (hopefully) but yeah, I figured that it might be better to just get something posted now and wait 'til I actually have time to do a good job.

One of the huge projects I've been working on is my portfolio website! Now, it's far from being done. But...you can see what I've done so far here.

hopefully the last summer pictures + guilty pleasures?

Dress - Nine and Co. // Belt - Vintage // Scarf - Thrifted

So I went through my saved posts from earlier this year and I'm pretty sure these are the absolute last pictures I have from the summer...and the last non DSLR photos! Now that I'm almost done with my digital imaging class, I see that these need a lot of editing and color correcting. But yeah, I'm just not gonna bother  :p PS: beehives are super easy to do + awesome for hot weather!

So anyways, guilty pleasures Um, yeah...so I just watched High School Musical. And I wish I could say this is the first and only time I've watched it. But it's not. It's not that I like the movie at all (so technically it's not even a guilty pleasure), I was just really in the mood to watch something cheesy and stupid (please tell me I'm not the only one who does this). Plus, Netflix, unfortunately, has an abundance of new Disney stuff available.

It was great though 'cause I spent the entire time just rolling my eyes at the random singing and then just yelling at the screen the rest of the time. Why yes, I am crazy. No seriously, when I'm the only one watching a movie, I like to yell at characters when they do stupid things. I've thought about filming myself watching movies Mystery Science Theater 3000 style just so ya'll could see how really crazy I am. I also say quite poignant and amusing things when I'm not yelling at people that don't actually exist.

And speaking of stupid things, can I just rant about the movie for a minute...or twelve? Keep in mind, these are only a few of the things that bothered me as I have basically zero memory retention, a short attention span...and because it's this movie and I just didn't care enough to bother remembering anything else. So first, why would Gabriella care about making sure people did not know how ridiculously smart she was? Girl, you're smart! Don't hide that under a bushel basket.... Also, Why would Troy's and Gabriella's groupies care if they were in a musical? It's really not that lame or even a big deal. Their plan for making Troy and Gabriella quit the musical is ridiculous. People can actually handle more than one activity at once...unless *gasp* they're scheduled at the same time. But more on that later.

Why was there a kids' New Years Party? I can't see any way that could possibly go wrong. Why would Gabriella's mom make her go to the party? The entire movie wouldn't have happened if Gabriella had just stayed back and read like she wanted. So Troy and Gabriella both know this random song and can sing? How convenient! They also are very well groomed for highschoolers. (Where's their acne??)

Why didn't more people audition for the musical? Why was Sharpay so worried about competition? Is she really that insecure? When you think about it (please don't...) Troy's good at basketball, Gabriella's smart, and theater is Sharpay's thing (who names their kid Sharpay? isn't that a dog? Oh wait, that's Shar-Pei...). So, I guess I can see her not wanting them to take over her activity. Oh, and Kelsi, speak up for yourself!!

Why didn't Troy and Gabriella just speak to the crazy theater lady and tell her that the callback times didn't work? Because, obviously, sabotaging both the basketball game and the scholastic decathlon was so much easier. But it's ok because everything worked out and no one suspected a thing. No wonder Troy's and Gabriella's posse didn't want them in the theater.

The wrap-up at the end...I just don't even know what to say. Just suddenly everyone gets along? Then they start having overly long + weird conversations just to tie up loose ends. And then everyone starts singing and dancing again. Oh, and for some reason almost everyone had time to change into relatively nice clothes? (Gabriella's dress here is pretty awesome though).

Most annoying thing about the movie? The karaoke lyrics at the New Year's Party were written out in Hobo. Really. As my type teacher says, "never use a typeface where the 'o' looks like a urinal." Truer words were never spoken...

But the real lesson here is :  Have a problem? Sing about it! And then sing some more. Actually, the lesson is :  Have a problem? Don't talk it out like normal people. (singing's ok though) Come up with some round-about crazy scheme that may or may not work and may or may not be legal. Ok. Rant over. I promise to never bring this up again. (But now I want to watch the sequels so I can rant about those too...)

Well, that was way more than I wanted to write. I'm probably going to regret posting this at some point...but ya know. Some things just need to be ranted about.

The Girl Who Waited...

The Hungry Earth Outfit 1: Shirt - St. John's Bay // Shorts - Walmart // Tights - JCPenney // Boots - Unknown // Jacket - Delia's

The Vampires of Venice Outfit 2: Shirt - Mossimo // Belt - Nine & Co. // Skirt - Gander Mountain // Tights - Mossimo // Boots - Hotcakes // Jacket - Delia's // Scarf - Walmart

The Rebel Flesh Outfit 3: Shirt - a.n.a // Jeans - Old Navy // Boots - l.e.i. // Jacket - Forever21 

The girl who waited...an entire week to post. Well, I guess not an entire week, but it's been awhile. After I posted Paul's Halloween costume on my blog I was really looking forward to posting mine! Now, technically I only wore the first outfit this year, but I wanted pictures of the other two that I wore last year...and now I have all of my Amy Pond outfits together! I only went to one Halloween party this year :( because I was so sick the weekend before Halloween. Oh, and this is what I wore to school on Halloween, and I have one more picture to post of my other costume.

So, I don't know about you, but I just love Doctor Who! And Amy's outfit's are so fun! Seriously, she's why I own a bomber jacket. Yeah, Amy is probably my favorite companion. I could go on for awhile about how much I love Doctor Who...but I just realized I have one more assignment to do before tomorrow morning! Oops!

School Outfits!

Dress - J. Taylor (JCPenney) // Belt - Body Central // Shoes - Hotcakes

Dress - Nine & Co. // Belt - Vintage // Shoes - Hotcakes

Dress - Max Studio // Shoes - Hotcakes // Bracelet - Glitter // Necklace - Forever21

What?? Seriously? An outfit post? Finally! I just realized I've done like...well, one outfit post this entire month. Well, I guess I posted my outfits at the beach, but this is the first official outfit post since the beginning of August. Anyways, these are the outfits I wore the first three days of school! Love the first one--the dress is so super comfy! Second one I like too. And I'm really glad that the third one turned out alright. Here's why... 

So this morning I woke up feeling alright considering that I'm still pretty sick. Then I hear this weird whining noise in the background. Guess what! It's the alarm on my cellphone...that was really quiet for some reason. And it's not my You Should Probably Get Up in the Next 15 Minutes alarm. It's the PANIC! YOU HAVE TO LEAVE IN 15 MINUTES alarm. So I got ready in record time today! And I basically walked out of the house with just some random clothes I somehow found in the huge mess in my room as I'm trying to unpack!

I'm definitely glad to be back to regular outfit posts, but since I am still a bit sick I really need to get some sleep. So goodnight, y'all!

BLT (Bears, Lions, and Tigers)

Dress - JCPenney ("borrowed" from my sister)  // Belt - Nine and Co. // Scarf - Thrifted // Shoes - Restricted Shoes

Today I told my siblings that instead of bacon, lettuce, and tomato BLT really stood for bears, lions, and tigers...oh my. (I know that's not the right order...but it's so close!) Anyways, yes. Bacon sandwiches for lunch. Oh yeah, I think there was lettuce and tomato on the sandwich too...but honestly all I remember is the bacon. On a completely unrelated note, I felt like a boy scout in this tied scarf...I may wear this outfit to camp now.

So I know that I don't really talk about my faith that much on my blog, but I'm gonna make an exception today. My family visited another church today (the church where my siblings did VBS this year) and I was just struck by something the pastor said. Not an exact quote, but I'll do my best. He basically said that God is not our friend, He is our judge. I mean, I know that. But, it's not something that's usually taught in our culture. We usually hear how merciful and kind God is. And those things are so true, but there's so much more! I think that by saying "God is our friend" we are trying to make an all-powerful God sound more relatable and accessible to the general public. 

I just see such a nonchalant attitude towards God now...gosh, that made me sound like an old person (but wait, it gets worse). And even in the way we dress at church. Now, I know there's nothing wrong with dressing casually for church. My family usually dresses casually for church. But would you dress like that if you knew you were going to meet someone important...say, royalty? I hope not! But, when you're going to church you're in the presence of the King of kings. He's way more important than anyone on earth!

But, I digress...that really wasn't the point. Dressing up at church is really not that big of an issue--just a personal preference. My point was that we should not think of God like a best friend when he's a judge and a king. I don't want my salvation to depend upon a friend, I'd rather trust in someone of authority. And besides, you wouldn't refer to the Queen of England as your bestie. That would be ...really weird. Unless she is your best friend, of course, then it would be totally ok. I just think that we should stop thinking of God in such a casual manner and realize just who He is. The all-powerful and all-knowing God.

Well...those are my unexpected theological ramblings for the day.