In a Perfect World

Here in Utah today was a rainy day. One of those days that start out overcast and cloudy. One of those days that when you step out early in the morning and inhale that first breath of outdoor air you can smell that crisp refreshing scent of rain that hasn't quite trickled down yet. As the day progressed, the rain started coming down. Slowly at first and then full force by midday. Instead of doing the usual outfit post today, I decided to just share some thoughts I've been having and some images off of Pinterest that I'm really loving. Like this dog, isn't he just the cutest thing you ever did see?

Today, I got around to imagining my perfect world. In my perfect world I would eat and never get fat. I would run and never get tired. I would have endless amounts of time, and resources to finance whatever I desired. In a perfect world, college would be free! I could take class after class, and learn every tiny detail that my heart desires to learn without paying a penny! In a perfect world, I would never have to do my hair. I would be able to just imagine the exact style or hairdo I wanted for the day, close my eyes, and when I opened them my hair would look exactly how I imagined! 

In my perfect world I wouldn't have to go in for another day of work ever again. I would just have perfect liberty to chase every last dream no matter how big or small that I've ever had. I would be an Olympic runner, a professional ballet and or hip hop dancer -I'm kind of envisioning Jessica Alba in "Honey" here-, world class photographer/painter, renowned author, celebrated actress a la Jennifer Lawrence or Natalie Portman, have my own clothing line, be a pro street racer -this one would actually be one of the most important ones...I have weird dreams. I know-, be a lauded cellist and pianist who has played all around the world, and or maybe have my own rock band who I tour and record sick albums with on the side...I know. It's a lot. But this is my perfect world here, I never said it'd be realistic! :) Oh, and how awesome is the photo of the old couple up there? I thought it was just so...incredible!

This isn't my "perfect" world, though. I have to style my own hair, I'm not a pro street racer, and I have to go into work five days a week to actually PAY for college. When I see these beautiful images, though (I mean, look at that deer...breathtaking! And that baby wolf? Heart achingly adorable!), I think to myself, "why am I wasting time envisioning a 'perfect' world when there is such beauty all around? When I get to admire all of God's creations on a daily basis?" Then I get to thinking about days like today. Today I got to spend almost an entire day with my older sister at her job at my dad's dealership. We goofed around, enjoying each other's company, while simultaneously working. We got to stop by one of my favorite vegan eateries for lunch. I got to eat a black bean veggie burger and almost die over a mouth watering delicious raspberry lemon bar. I drove a GINORMOUS truck for the first time...and I got to do one of my favorite things ever...annoy, annoy, and annoy my older sister. Hey, I'm an older sister to two people and only a little sister to one person, I might as well enjoy the simple pleasures of a younger sibling right? Plus, I only annoy her enough that she finds it amusing more than anything. ;) In my book, today was perfection. I can take not being limitless and being able to do anything I want, for days like today any day. Life isn't always perfect, problem free, without stress, or without trials and pain but maybe that's what makes life amazing; the fact that since there is imperfection in our lives we can enjoy those simple and small moments of perfection that much more. 

Much Love!

Whatever (Because I can't think of a better title)

{Pacsun: oversize t-shirt similar; F21: shorts similar, bird ring similar here in gold; Steve Madden: sandals  similar here, here, and here; Van Heusen: sunnies similar; Earrings: gift similar} 

Summer, summer, summer, summer. At last! It's finally the season of watermelons, shorts, late-night runs, crazy tan lines, and best of all POOL TIME! I don't know about you guys, though, but I tend to get my laziest during the summer. Aside from my running I don't feel like doing much else other than lying about in the sun, reading, drinking iced tea, and taking cat naps. Heaven. Well, I lied. There IS one other thing that I obsessively do during the summer...go to concerts! How are you lovelies envisioning your summers?

Much Love!

P.S. Notice how my eyes are super squinty in that last photo? You can expect to see a lot more of that now that summer's started. I'm a photo squinter by nature, and it only gets worse when the suns out so I'm pretty much expecting to spend the next few months with my eyes closed. ;)

If it Looks like a Duck, Walks like a Duck, and Quacks like a Duck...

{Ross: top similar, denim vest similar; Hollister: boot cut jeans; Charlotte Russe: shoes similar; F21: fedora similar, arrow necklace similar} 
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, is it a duck? One would assume yes, am I right? Well, no. Not all is as it seems. Just because a duck happens to be heart achingly gorgeous, annoyingly good at heart melting like warm butter down hot toast winking, and expert at saying errrr I mean quacking the right phrases, I mean quacks, at the right time does that necessarily mean that he's a gentleman...I mean duck?? NO. And yes, of course the metaphorical ducks I am referring to here would be men. Obviously. More specifically of the utterly attractive variety. Not all that glitters is golden. Not all perfectly coiffed hair equals great personality. Not all perfectly fitted outfits and snug jeans equal compatibility. Not all bright white even smiles and perfectly timed glances equal perfect gentleman.

Growing up, my dear mom always told me about how her own dad told her to watch out for those guys who were solid 10's on the 1-10 attractive scale, because they were the ones who had been around the block, who were accustomed to getting whatever they wanted and knew exactly how to get it. She told me that of course not all attractive men were like this, I mean, just look at Dad, but I needed to be on the look out nonetheless. Be on my toes. Growing up she also stressed the importance of marrying someone who I was physically attracted to because I didn't want to wake up every morning and not like the person I saw lying next to me. Somewhere along the way, though, I seem to have jumbled up all of this advice. I stopped being on my toes for those attractive jerks. I stopped noticing when the person I was drinking hot coco with, or watching a movie with, was a total and complete jerk to everyone other than myself. I took, "find someone that YOU'RE attracted to", to mean find the hottest piece of male specimen on the entire face of the earth.

Only in recent years did I realize my mistake, and how I had completely forgotten the point of my mom's sage advice. People in general are just so interesting, unique, and beautiful in their own way. Everyone has their own quirks and adorable tendencies that make them just so dang loveable and worth the time to get to know them whether or not their shoes match their shirt, or their nose is perfectly European. That's not to say that every Joe out there has the potential to be "the one", but they shouldn't just be brushed off purely based on lack of "perfect" hotness. When I realized my mistake I decided to reevaluate my priorities. I decided to see the person behind the hair, the person behind the jeans, the person behind the perfect or not so perfect smile. Not every guy out there has to be the perfect 6ft tall Josiah Hawley type. That wouldn't be fair.

Not that I'd say no to a guy that just so happened to look like that AND have the type of personality and qualities that are important to this girl...(; But, I realize it's not fair to expect all guys out there to look utterly divine. There's so much more to people and the world in general than outer appearances. As my mom now told me recently, "As long as YOU like him, it doesn't matter whether or not he's America's next male model. Looks aren't everything." Looks aren't everything, simple concept yet so important. What do you guys think? What made YOU fall in love with your significant others, OR what do YOU look for when you're looking for that significant other? Well, that's all I guess. I'm off to celebrate one of my best friend's birthday!

Much Love!

Lazy Hobgoblin. Piglets. Tadpoles...I'm strange.

{Tanger Outlets: skirt similar; Pacsun: top similar; Charlotte Russe: shoes similar; F21: earrings similar}

I know, I know. I have yet again been a lazy as a hobgoblin blogger. I just was having a week in which I felt like a break from the internet was necessary for my mental health. Have you guys ever had one of those? When you just feel like you need a little bit of a disconnect? It'd be nice if we could do that with our lives as well; just push pause on everything for a good hour or so just to catch our breath. That'd be stellar. Anyway, it's a good thing I gave you all a break from me this week because weird was just ooozing out of my every pore. Not that I'm ever very normal, but this week for some reason it was just as if my soul had been bottling up about a months worth of weirdness and it all just decided to finally spill out. I was skipping about all over the place, karate chopping invisible piglet ninjas, randomly breaking out in crazy dances in public, changing the lyrics to popular songs to more funny vaguely inappropriate versions and -to the great annoyance of my older sister- singing them at the top of my lungs at Walmart, and my personal slightly embarrassing favorite...singing customers names in a weird/creepy voice at work...while they were still standing there staring at me like I was a complete and total oddball. Which I am. :) Also, this week I had a strange fascination/obsession with the word piglet. Piglet. Piglet. Piglet. Piglet. PIGLET. Isn't it just the funniest and cutest word your ears have ever been tickled enough to hear? I love it. Piglet. I seem to have word obsessions a lot. My last word obsession before piglet, was tadpole. Remember? I mentioned my weird like of them here. Anyway, I was able to go up to the Tanger Outlets in Park City with my mom this week, and I got some preeeeetty awesome stuff for good prices! Mostly much needed running gear, but still. I got this skirt while I was up there for a whopping $6! Pretty sweet right? Except that I got it at...dun, dun, dun. The ever odious Abercrombie. Guys, I know. The owner said some real d-bag things and he's a total moron...but I didn't know about it when I bought the skirt....and it was $6...and just soooo pretty! Let's just pretend I got the cuter version from SheInside that I gave the link to up there, ok?? Ok. Piglets. Sorry, I just had to add piglets in there one more time for luck.

Much love!

All My Single Ladies welcome to What She Wears: On a Date

Hello friends! Today I'm doing a link up with one of my personal favorite blogs whose author I consider my personal blogging coach -whether she knows it or not-, Meagan from Because of Jackie and one of my new blogging obsessions A Rambling Fancy! They're doing a monthly link up called "What She Wears" with some other cute bloggers. This months theme is "what she wears on a date". Since most of the lovely ladies linking up are already married I decided I'd focus my "what she wears on a date" link up on us wee little single ladies! I decided that most dates for us singletons fall into one of four categories. There's the classic "dinner and a movie" date, the "fro-yo and chat(in the summer)/coffee -or in my case hot chocolate- and chat(in the winter)" date, the "something active" date planned by the daring and bold fellas, and/or the "going out somewhere fancy" date. I put together four different looks for each of the above mentioned sections.

"Going out Somewhere Fancy"

 {F21: dress; H&M: trench coat; Charlotte Russe: heels}

I would wear this to go to the Utah Symphony, being the classical music lover that I am...but honestly I know of absolutely no 21 year old boys that would actually enjoy that. I mean, do you ladies know of any 21 year old guys that would willingly subject themselves to sitting still with little to no talking for FOUR hours while the beautiful sounds of an orchestra tickled their ears? I sure don't. Heck, I don't think anyone under the age of 55 would enjoy that...but then again half of the time I have the personality of an 80 year old. But a girl can dream can't she? Picture it now: a tall, fit, blond, and light eyed hunk (that's my fantasy man feel free to replace him with your own) coming to your door step all crisp and clean shaven in a heart achingly sexy tuxedo and cravat with a pair of symphony tickets in his hand. Yummm. Oh, and when he gets there he leans in close and whispers in your ear that he got "tickets in the front row right up close to the cello section", because he of course knows that you were a former orch dork and passionately played the cello for four years! ;)

"Dinner and a Movie"

{F21: skirt; H&M: booties; Aldos: cross body purse; Hollister: ruffle tank; Earings: gift}

Oh the classic dinner and a movie! We've all probably been on a million and one of these! There's a reason it's a classic, though. Dinner for chatting and discovering whether or not you're into the other person and a movie because EVERYONE loves a good movie, and it's a good time to sit and not have to talk if the date is going south. Just sayin'. I personally try not to look too dressed up for these but I still want to have a look that's not too relaxed. I mean, I'm going to be oggled by a fellow for potentially 3+ hours. Girl's gotta have a look that impresses. 

"Fro-Yo and Hang"

{H&M: graphic tee; Abercrombie: skirt; Nine West: flats; Aldos: cross body purse; F21: belt}

The fro-yo and chat. The quick and completely relaxed date. Totally non-committal and is as quick as your tolerance for awkward silence lasts or as long as your non-stop chemistry wants to keep it going. I always try to go for a flirty and fun look, and what's more flirty and fun than a frilly skirt and artsy t-shirt? Nothing. These are always hit and miss kinds of dates for me, mostly because I can be the queen of AWKWARD silence or as you've all learned the queen of non-stop talking. Just depends on who I'm with.

"Something Active"

{F21: basic tee, denim shorts, pink watch; Puma: shoes; Rue21: scarf}

Oh, the "something active" date. I love these. They're usually planned by the hunky fit, spunky, and fun types. Which is basically my kind of man. Duh. ;) They can range anywhere from a simple walk in the park to an adventurous trip rock climbing somewhere in the gorgeous Utah mountains. For these I like to wear clothes that I can move around in easily, shoes that I could run one of my half marathons in, and cute girly accessories to jazz it up. My latest "something active" date was an evening of frisbee golf. I basically suck at it, but it's fun nonetheless. Some of my dream "something active" dates would probably involve spelunking with a Christian Bale type babe (I blame Batman Begins for this fantasy), a helicopter ride through somewhere scenic, or my personal favorite a "drive, stop, and explore". This last one requires some explanation. I usually have no idea where the heck I am when I'm in a car. Mostly because I pay far too much attention to the scenery than to where I actually am and end up focusing more on cool looking spots that I notice when I'm on the freeway and wonder how the heck I could possibly get to them. I think it'd be super fun to just fill up the tank, hop in my dates car, and play "drive, stop, and explore". We'd just hop on the freeway and I'd point out all of the cool locations that I always notice but never stop at, we'd figure out how to get to them and once we got to them we'd stop, explore, and move onto the next location. Oh, and when I envision this date we're totally blasting music from one of my many awesome playlists on Spotify because we have the same taste in totally awesome music! You know, just some good old Dashboard, Jimmy Eat World, and GooGoo Dolls. The good old teenage years classics. ;)

Much Love!

Flipped and Never Shutting Up...

{F21: dress worn as skirt similar, belt similar, sunnies similar; AE: button up top similar; H&M: shoes similar}

Hello poppets! Have any of you lovelies ever watched "Flipped"? Well, it's an adorable movie based on a book about two little young'ins as they discover "first love" and define who they are and who they are to each other. Just wrote a pretty good synopsis right there didn't I? Haha, maybe I should write movie/book summaries as a living? Anyway, best part of the movie? It's set in the late 50's! Naturally, the outfits in the movie are INcredible!

I was having one of those 'try on a million and one things and I don't like any of it' types of mornings. Then I thought, "Flipped" and my problem was solved! I pulled out my polka dot dress from this post and turned it into a skirt and voila 50's vibe outfit!

Also, I realized, I ramble. A lot. It makes my posts ridiculously long. Sorry guys. It's just that once I get writing, the words just start flowing and there's no stopping them. My fingers just don't know how to not make everything I write ridiculously verbose. This will be my attempt at shortening things. Here's a list of the top 5 things that really mattered today.

1. I went to one of my heaven on earth locations, Barnes & Noble, today. I still have a gift card from there that I got for my birthday that I've been saving for the right moment. I left empty handed, though, because I suck at making decisions and I couldn't decide on just one book to buy. I did, however, leave with a rather large list of books that I need to read. I think I'll just go through my reading list and then go back and buy whichever book I liked best.
2. I stopped by one of my favorite frozen yogurt joints, Red Mango, with my little sister and got some raspberry fro-yo with strawberries. Yuuuuuummmmmmmmm!!
3. On the way home from fro-yo my sister and I spotted this adorable antique shop that's literally like 3 minutes away from home. That's where the outfit pictures where taken, isn't it adorable?! We actually didn't get a chance to go inside because our fro-yo was melting in the car, BUT we will be returning! Soon.
4. I watched "500 Days of Summer". I have a love/hate relationship with this movie. I always love it at the start and then by the end of it I hate it. I hate Summer. I hate girls. I hate Summer. I hate men. I hate Summer. I hate everyone...but mostly Summer. Life sucks. I should probably stop watching this movie....stupid Summer. 
5. My Pops brought pupusas, a delicious Salvadorian dish that's basically two tortillas stuffed with cheese -heeeeeeeeeeeavnly!, home for dinner. Paradise. 

Weeeeeell, that was basically my day friends. How'd I do on condensing things? Awful? Eh, eh? Yeah, I did pretty bad. I guess I'm just no good at shutting up....and on that note,

Much Love!

P.S. (See? I just can't stop! It's impossible to shut my fingers up!) Here's my book list in case I've got any fellow readers out there. Wait. What am I saying? Of course I have fellow readers out there. You're all reading this post! Derp. 

• The 5 Wave by Rick Yancey
• Gorgeous by Paul Rudwick
• Panic by Sharon M. Draper
• An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (John Green can do no wrong so obvi this was a must read) 
• North of Beautiful by Justina Chen
• Being Friends with Boys by Terra Elan McVoy
• Dear Life You Suck by Scott Blagden
• Blaze by Laurie Boyle Crompton
• Prodigy by Marie Lu
• Pulse by Patrick Carmin
• Taken by Erin Bowman (This one is apparently about a land where boys are mysteriously disappearing. Sounds heavenly right? Just kidding boys, I love you all. Seriously. I do.) 
• Paper Towers by John Green

Five Stupid Decisions

{F21: shorts similar, belt similar, sunnies similar; H&M: booties similar; Coke T-Shirt: stolen from my brother similar here and here!}

Guys I'm soooo sick, can you tell? No? Well then, my sunnies are doing their job properly! My throat started to get slightly scratchy on Sunday so I figured I'd be all preemptive and what not by taking some cold medicine to nip it in the bud. No such luck. On Monday I woke up and my throat had gone from mildly scratchy to full on achey. My mom kept advising me to do gargles with one of our family home remedies, but I kept insisting that it wasn't necessary and I'd be fine -stupid decision numero uno.

I told myself all I needed to do was sweat it out and I'd be fine by the next day, so I went to the gym -stupid decision numero dos. My workout was killer and I got home feeling all pumped and totally cured! I told myself, "see, all I needed to do was sweat it out". Ha, of course I was so wrong. As the evening progressed the ache came back ten fold. It even got to that point where your throat is so achey it hurts to even mumble a simple hello. I was in baaaaaad shape.

Of course, my sisters and mom yet again advised me to do gargles and take a theraflu. I, being stubborn as a cow, and thinking I knew better refused their sage advise thinking that if I just slept it off I'd be fine by the morning -stupid decision numero three. Well, I had one of the most awful nights of sleep last night. I kept choking on the ache of my throat the whole night long, I somehow managed to work up a fever, and even started to feel as though I was going to upchuck at any minute. Let me tell you, soooo fun! ;) Anyway, I woke up feeling like the most miserable girl in the whole world but I told my body, "I'm in charge here body, and I say it's time you stopped being a pansy. We're going to the gym and this time it's going to work and you're going to get over yourself and stop hurting" -stupid decision numero four. Yes, I'm that mean when I talk to myself in my head. I got dressed and headed down stairs fully intending to go to the gym. I must have looked really awful, though, because my mom stopped me in my tracks and forbid me from going anywhere. She whipped up our home remedy, a tall glass of hot water with copious amounts of salt stirred in, and sent me to the bathroom to do gargles. I know that our home remedy must sound like the craziest thing ever, but guys, I swear it's like magic. By the time I was done, a lot of the ache/sting had been taken away from my sore throat. My mom then instantly made me a theraflu. Which, I was adamantly refusing because we only had the night time kind and I did not want to go to sleep. I hate sleeping. Yes, I realize that sounds so insane, but I do.  She wouldn't take no for an answer, though, so I drank it.

I got drowsy in a few minutes and completely passed out. I was deep in my medicine induced sleep when my stubborn mind suddenly burst awake with a, "that's enough. No more napping for you! I hate napping, so rise and shine sicko head!" I groggily got up and decided that I should shower -aaaaaand stupid decision numero cinco. I hopped in the shower still pretty sleepy because the medicine hadn't quite worn off, and had the weirdest shower of my life. I swear I must have dozed off at least twice. Not safe. I got out of the shower, got dressed, and just totally passed out on my bed again.

And now here I am, typing away while I dogsit my puppy, Roku. I think he's pretty mad at me right now. I keep basically hacking up a lung every few minutes and it keeps waking him up from his attempts at napping. Poor guy. I also don't think he's a fan of the coke t-shirt I'm wearing (which, by the way, I stole out of my little brothers closet, without asking) because he gave me the most skeptical look as I was pulling it on. His disapproving look totally screamed, "Really? You're seriously going with that top? Mmmm girl, you cray". Yes, when my dog speaks he speaks like a sassy black woman. Or, you know, maybe he didn't approve of my shirt choice because he saw me steal it out of my little brothers closet without permission, who knows. Only my puppy's inner black woman can tell us that.

Happy Tuesday friends, and much love!

Weddings, Freakum Dresses, and Gentlemen!

{Target: dress; F21: belt similar, earrings similar; White House Black Market: crochet cardi similar; Charlotte Russe: shoes similar}

Every time I've worn an eyelet dress this year all I can think is, "no I did not get my eyelet dress at old navy". Not that there's anything wrong with Old Navy, it's just that they've played that airplane eyelet dress commercial so many times that it always gives me a chuckle when I wear an eyelet dress not from Old Navy. Does anyone know what commercial I'm even talking about here? Anyway, I got this particular dress at Target -the place were all paychecks go to die- and I'm totally loving it! Mostly because I wanted to feel hot today, and red just always does that for me. Ya feel me ladies? It's just one of those insta hot babe colors. Don't ask me why I wanted to feel extra pizzazy today because I honestly don't even know, I was just feelin' it. Anyone ever heard of that Beyonce song, "Freakum Dress"? Well, it's a song all about hot dresses, and as we all know Beyonce is the reigning diva of hot, so of course it makes perfect sense for her to sing about sassy dresses. Anyway, I guess I was just having a Freakum dress moment! :)

In other news, one of my very best friends from high school got married on Friday! It was so crazy and surreal! I'm so insanely happy for her! It's hard to believe that the whacky 15 year old I once knew is married now! Her reception was small and intimate but totally fun! For reasons not to be blogged about I felt it absolutely incumbent to bring a friend of the male variety to accompany me to the wedding. I ended up inviting a friend that I had actually just met the week before. I know, I know, you guys think that's totally weird right? Who invites somebody they've just met to their best friends wedding? Well, I'll tell you who, crazy weird little me. Weird is what weird does, and I'm a weird girl so it works. :) Anyway, the friend of the male variety was a total gentleman about the whole thing and just an all around fun guy to be around so it worked out perfectly!

 The bride and me!

The beautiful bride!

and, the absolutely adorable charm bracelet I got for being a bridesmaid!

Much love!