Forest Park

 The other day after we got off work Rickey and I met up at Forest Park with plans to take outfit photos. When we showed up it was pretty cloudy and thought all of the pictures were turning out too dark, so we decided against taking outfit pictures. Now that I've gone through the couple pictures I snapped while we were sitting around that really wasn't the case. And it's kind of a bummer that we didn't just go for it. 

 Rickey showed me this little area of the park that I had never seen before. There were some nice little ponds, some huge bugs, these crazy formations and a funny bird that just stood on top of the water for a good 15 minutes. It was a pretty neat place. After the park we rode our bikes to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and rented a movie, but I couldn't manage to stay awake for too long. Whoops!


P.S. I just noticed that this is my 70th post this year, which already beats last year's count of 69! And we're only halfway into the year. I think that's a pretty good sign!

Shop Spotlight

Pure Natural Minerals

Pure Natural Minerals is a mineral make up brand based in New York. The shop is filled with colorful eyeshadows, pretty blushes, foundation, yummy lip balms and most recently soap! I have purchased both the Chai Tea and Pomegranate lip balms and love them! I just can't wait for some lip color and more lip balm to be added, especially after seeing the Pineapple and Tangerine mix (seen below). The product pictures are nice to look at, they give off a fresh and airy feel. And another cool thing, everything in the shop is super affordable! I would definitely recommend checking it out! 

All photos taken from the Pure Natural Minerals Shop

business cards

I just realized the other day that I have never shared any of my business cards here before. So, here they are the three styles so far. The one on the bottom is the most recent and only double-sided one (front and back pictured). Even if they're not the most interesting looking I like to design new ones every few months to hand out and pin up on bulletin boards around town.

The Loved One

While making my way through the 400+ blog posts I missed during my trip I came across Hannah's photos from The Loved One's very own 'forever shop'. They've had a few pop-up shops that have always looked wonderful so I was especially excited to see what they had done in their new permanent space.

They once again have filled their space with tons of pretty flowers! I love it! Along with being jam packed with beautiful vintage goods and lingerie. I sure hope I make it out to Los Angeles one today to see it all in person!

All photos along with what Hannah had to say about it found here.

shop update

These are the pieces that I added to the shop yesterday. I really love the first two dresses and almost just kept them for myself, but decided I'd share them instead! They're all in the shop already so head over and check them out!

Destin, Florida

We had a nice long relaxing vacation, but I'm happy to finally be home and back to the real world. We went to Destin, Florida with 60+ of Rickey's relatives and stayed in houses right on the beach. These first two pictures are the view from our back deck! Outside our back door was the ocean, outside the front door was our own pool! 

This was one of the two thrift stores we made it to. I'd never seen a Goodwill that didn't have the normal logo signage plus this one was even decorated with mosaic tiles! It looked pretty neat, but they didn't have anything good there. We also shopped around at a couple malls and I actually got 4 new dresses! I'm excited to share them with you all! A few days after I bought them I saw Starr wearing one of them on her blog!

One of the nights Rickey and I made our way down to the boardwalk for dinner and exploring. While we were deciding where to eat we spotted an adorable pack of beach kittens! Can you spot the one in the photo below? This was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip! We saw two just lounging, started walking some more and kept spotting them! There had to be at least 7 or 8.

I had a nice week full of swimming, sleeping in, staying up late, getting sunburnt, eating too much, mixed drinks, shopping, long walks and other fun! Plus while we were away it was our 3 year anniversary! 

summer vacation

Isn't this a wonderfully generic beach photo? haha. It does make it look pretty nice though. Tomorrow morning we'll be hitting the road on our way to Destin, Florida for a week of swimming and relaxing mostly. Both of which I am really looking forward to! I've never been to Destin before, so if you know of anything good to do there please let me know! I'm sure I'll be tweeting throughout the trip, but probably won't have a chance to do any blogging. And when I return I should have some real life pictures to share with you all! As long as my camera keeps cooperating. Hope you guys have a good week!

p.s. Thanks everyone who commented on my Shopper's Guilt post! It is nice to know I'm not the only one out there that feels that way!

Film Fest Vol. 4

Wes ANDERSON

I'm a little surprised it has taken me this long to talk about my all-time favorite filmmaker, Wes Anderson. Maybe it was to keep myself from scaring you all away with my crazy obsession with everything he does. So I'll try not to go into too much detail or bore you with a million fun facts.

One of my favorite things about Wes Anderson and the work he does is his precise consistency and his attention to aesthetic detail. No matter what each film may be about you can always count on his recurring trademark elements like beautiful design and style, rich, bold colors, similar camera shots, powerful slow motion scenes, recurring cast members and his trademark font among many others.

Not only are his film wonderful to look at, they have powerful stories filled with dark and dry humored characters, quirk and wit. All of Anderson's films have made it into the Criterion Collection except for The Fantastic Mr. Fox (yet!). I cannot wait for his next movie, Moonrise Kingdom.

Not only am I in love with the work of Wes, but his brother, Eric Chase Anderson, too! Eric Anderson does all of the illustrations for Wes' movies, but more on him later, he'll get a post all to himself! 

My tattoo is from this Anderson illustration.
If you haven't seen one of his movies watch one NOW! And tell me what you think!

Watch them all!

Bottle Rocket

Rushmore

The Life Aquatic

The Royal Tenenbaums

The Darjeeling Limited

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6

Summer Fun!

This is what my weekend mostly looked like, except for the fact that this photo is from last summer. I am so bad about bringing my camera with me anywhere. I never take my nice camera out because I'm terrified of breaking it and my other camera is always messed up! Hopefully it'll be fixed soon though.

On Friday Rickey and I went to this river spot (above) and swam and played for a couple of hours before going out to dinner. Then, on Saturday I worked during the day. When I got off I headed over to a friend's house where they were already swimming and joined in. After that Rickey and I went out to dinner again and back over to our friend's for some more night swimming. Finally, on Sunday the entire afternoon was spent in another friend's pool!  I don't know how I went almost all weekend without getting any sun, but I finally got a pretty wicked sunburn on Sunday. Overall it was an awesome weekend! 3 days of swimming in 3 different bodies of water! I don't think I could really ask for much more from a Summer weekend!

Shopper's Guilt

I've always been a pretty thrifty person, always aware of what I can and cannot afford. I don't think I have ever bought anything full priced at Urban Outfitters, or other places like it, why pay $60 for one item when I can get 2 or 3 pieces for the same amount somewhere else? But not until the last few years since I've gotten more into thrifting have I just felt kind of guilty shopping for new clothes. I always think, "I could find something just like that in a thrift store" or "I could totally make that myself!" even if I never actually get around to making it or actually find something similar. I think I could actually list all of the new clothing I have gotten in the last year (the last was a dress for Valentine's Day). Shoes are pretty much the only exception. It is sometimes hard to find shoes in a certain size in thrift stores, you can't really fake it or alter shoes like you can any other garment. 

I sometimes feel like my wardrobe does kind of suffer from this and that's probably why I've felt pretty "blah" about getting dressed for the last couple of months. But I know that I just need to man up, continue to not go spending crazy and try to become a little bit more creative with my thrifting and altering. End of ramble.

 Do any of you guys feel the same way? Or am I just a weirdo?


image

06.01.11

These are a few of the pieces that have been added to the shop yesterday and today. I was so close to keeping that red and white polka dot dress for myself, I may have taken it out for a little joyride to the post office the other day. I also held on to that novelty cat print dress for myself for a little bit, but never brought myself to wear it out after all the comments and laughs it got from the boy. So, I guess I'll let someone else enjoy it. haha. 

Today after I got out of work I was on a mission to find some sandals. We have some pretty strict dress codes at work and I have a shortage of cute shoes that fit their standards so I need to find some quickly. I searched the mall, Target and the TJ Maxx next door. Nothing! Can anyone tell me where all of the cute, flat and affordable sandals are?