Not So Far Away

June 18th

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away (Brooklyn), there was a picnic. Since then I've been doing exactly what I said I would. I've been getting out and away from my computer whenever I can, taking in this summer for whatever it needs to be, restoring old friendships, and securing new ones. 

It's strange looking through these pictures and suddenly realizing how much has happened since they were taken. The summer was practically just getting started. I was beginning to like my city again, which meant spending a lot of time exploring and ending up at places I hadn't been before. Which of course led to meeting new people and plenty of new experiences.

Before the summer started I made a point to try and get myself all sorts of put together, in a cute little package with a big ribbon on top. Over the last couple of months it would seem that I've lost interest in that. I've been acting in the moment so often that it became easy to stop worrying about the future. I wanted to be more hands on and in control of my life. I now find myself doing almost the exact opposite of that.

In the past few months I had some unforgettable first time New York City moments. I got swept up and did things I never thought I would do. I don't regret any of it, I can't. I was there and I made those decisions too, and for a lot of reasons I'm glad things happened the way they did. I'm learning from them. One choice, one moment, can't possibly define everything about me. I happen to be a nice little collection of things. 

 

It's interesting to realize how different I thought of things just a few months ago. I certainly never would have predicted or planned everything thats happened. Being able to accept things as they are is clearly something I have to learn to be better at.

Selima Optique Sunglasses, Tank from H&M, Shorts from Madewell, Dolce Vita Sandals from Piperlime

Wooden Bangles & Necklace borrowed from Melissa, Taurus Pendant Necklace from Julie Nolan Jewelry

For now I'm content with living in these moments, however right or wrong they end up being. It's easy, it's dramatic, and you learn quickly. Summer doesn't really lend itself to deep, life shattering thinking anyway. That's what the fall is for.

Photos by Veronika

By the way, I love Veronika's camera, or lens, or whatever it is that's doing amazing things here. Many thanks to Veronika for snapping a few for me after the blogger picnic. Oh, and HELLO AGAIN. 

At Home

Vacation was great. Its been more than a week since I've been back. It seems like it was so long ago now. If you've been hanging out here for a while, it's fairly obvious I tend to over think, over analyze, and obsess about certain things in my life. Being away for those two weeks gave me a great opportunity to slow my mind down.

Before I went, I thought that while I was out there I was going to sit down and try to figure out a lot about my life. What ended up happening was much different than that. I almost entirely shut off. I coasted. Everything was alright, and each day just floated by. Wake up, make breakfast, relax outside with the pup, walks and naps at the beach, afternoon drives, easy dinners, and winding down at home. With the exception of the weekends when friends came to visit, that's pretty much how my entire time away went.

Apparently that was what I needed more than anything else. When I'm in the city I can feel my mind racing. What's next, what am I doing, why am I doing this, and on and on. But going away gave me the opportunity to be my best self. To go back to being the girl I truly enjoy being. Taking things as they come, not over thinking, being happy where I am, and enjoying my life in the small moments. 

Hat from JCrew, Selima Optique Sunglasses, Madewell Dress
Victoria's Secret Bikini, Wooden Bangle borrowed

I felt relaxed, at ease, and like there was nowhere else I possibly wanted to be. I grew up with lazy summer days spent at the beach. It's such a huge part of who I am, and has remained a way to remind myself of the girl I always want to be. If you put me at the beach I'll feel more at home than anywhere else and you'll get to see the most genuine me that I've experienced yet. No makeup, no outfits, no fuss, a lot of smiles, time spent with people I care about, and easy living. I absolutely love being there.

Photos by Melissa

Thanks for being so understanding of my more laid back summer schedule. I contributed a Guest Post for the lovely Jessie of The Concrete Catwalk last week while she was away enjoying her own beach vacation. I hope you all are making the most of your summer. It's going far too fast for me!

It's Summer

Oh hi there. Remember me? I'm back after a glorious two week vacation at the beach. I spent my time away from the city, away from work, and away from almost all thinking. I absolutely couldn't have had such a stress free vacation without the help of my Guest Bloggers. A HUGE thank you to the girls for filling in for me while I was away. It gave me the chance to push everything aside and enjoy my quiet time off. I know I've mentioned how hard as it is to keep a blog going, but whenever I think of all the wonderful people I've gotten to know it really makes it all worthwhile. Thank you so much girls!

It's summer. And the list of things I want to do in the summer is very short. 1, go to the beach. 2, be with friends. The end. If I can't pull myself away from these for long enough to sit at the computer and plug out a post, you'll have to excuse me for a bit. It feels like it's already going too fast! I have a few posts from June that I want to share as well as plenty of pictures that I took while I was away. I'm sorry if posts aren't going to be as regular as they used to be. I'm trying to be as present in my real life as I can right now. If there's ever a shortage of posts on here you can find me sharing away on twitter.

How has everyone been? I need to play major catch up with my emails and blog reading in the next few weeks, but I hope everyone's summer is going just as great as mine. Don't forget to check out the girls who were so kind to take time out of their busy schedules to help me be away from mine!

Andrea from Blonde Bedhead

Meg from Design Diary

Julie of Orchid Grey

Annie of The Friendly Fox

Jessie of The Concrete Catwalk

Veronika of Tick Tock Vintage

Vacation

Hi all! I've been busy this past week getting ready, packing, making last minute plans with friends, running errands, the usual pre-vacation routine. I'm off work and out of the city for two weeks! In light of my most recent post, I decided I would use my time off to be truly off, from everything. I have so many back posts waiting to be posted and plenty of new ideas, but for now I'm going to step away to enjoy some R&R. 

I asked a few amazing blogging friends if they would fill in for me over the next couple of weeks. I'm sure you'll be very happy seeing these lovely ladies stop by. I know I will. I'm really looking forward to using my time off to reset, relax, and enjoy the summer. Thank you so much to my guest bloggers for helping out while I'm away!

Happy 4th of July to everyone! The sunset tonight (see above) was absolutely breath taking. I have to say it certainly out shined any of the fireworks that went off. You can stay in touch with me on Twitter while the girls take over posting here. Make sure to show them lots of love while I'm away! Best to everyone!

A Breather

These pictures are from Memorial Day Weekend. It goes without saying that I am more than a little behind on posting. For the past couple of weeks I've been a one-post-a-week kind of girl. I was a little caught up living my tangible life. That's the one where I get together with friends for mid-week laughs, take myself on romantic dates, and go for long afternoon runs with Lua. And I got to do all that without pressuring myself to rush back to my apartment to get a post or two done before my eyes would start to close for the night. It ended up that I took an unintentional breather from blogging. 

I've written about similar issues with finding a balance between blogging and real life before. I bounced back from those breaks with a fresh take on how to approach this whole blogging business. Maybe this is just the breather I needed to kick myself into gear again. Blogging has become so important this past year and has opened up endless opportunities for me. In some ways, I feel like I'm being unfair to my blogging persona by taking such a step back. It's amazing to be even a small part of this vast community. I absolutely love the people I have met, and am so grateful that I've been able to use this space as a way to make some incredible new friends. I almost feel I'm being selfish in my relationship with this blog. It seems that I want to reap all the benefits, without putting in all the hard work. 

I honestly don't know how some of you do it. Full time jobs, full time blogs, some full time parents, all while balancing a seemingly active social schedule that keeps you healthy and happy. I was putting a lot of work into my blog, until I realized that I was putting more work into my blog then into some of my face-to-face relationships. And with the addition of gorgeous weather I really began to feel the itch to be outside my apartment after work, instead of cooped up, spending even more time sitting by a computer screen. 

I have a few options. I can continue to blog in a less than predictable way, constantly feeling guilty than I'm not providing enough inspiring, new, or thought provoking content. I can go back to the days where I came home from work to immediately sit down at the computer and work on the blog way past my bedtime. Or I can dive head first into this blogging world, start accepting sponsors, offering giveaway upon giveaway, spend all my time outside of work shopping for new clothes, networking with companies, and scouting outfit photo locations. Now, that doesn't necessarily sound terrible at all, but it does seem like more occupied time I'd have to take away from the time that I like to leave unscheduled in my life. 

My problem with going down the road of sponsors, is that I think it would change my blog tremendously. Right now, it's all me. I get to post whenever I want, write about the topics I want to, and say pretty much anything, all this over sharing included. If I start having to be a voice that represents different companies, that will unavoidably change. Personally, I would feel a responsibility to keep a certain level of professionalism on the blog. I'm just not sure I'm ready to be held accountable to anyone besides myself for this space. I share a lot here (probably too much). I'm not sure a clothing, jewelry, vintage, handbag, etc. company cares that I share my deepest darkest feeling with their target audience. Yet, I'm still being contacted. What am I missing here. What should I be doing here? 

AG Top, Brandy & Melville Skirt, Espadrilles from DSW
Friendship Bracelets from Madewell, Coral Bracelet Gift, Pendant from Clyde's Rebirth

I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on all of this. I know it's hard for everyone to juggle all the things they have going on. I'm not giving myself an excuse, or saying that I'm more busy than anyone else, I'm just asking for advice. I know that most of the people who read my blog are also incredibly busy, want-to-do-everything-but-just-don't-have-the-time people too. Maybe you have some inside advice you wouldn't mind lending me. Or any advice on partnering with companies and how it's changed your blogging experience for the better or the worse. I'm all ears. 

Photos by Melissa

Thank you again for sticking around while the posting has been so spotty here. I'm going to try to do my best to get back up to speed and start sharing and interacting with you all more because that's what this is really supposed to be all about right? 

Two of Us

Hi! I'm guest posting for Emily over at The Daily Fashionista today. She asked us to write posts inspired by a favorite song, or our favorite music. Of course I chose a Beatles song as my inspiration and shared a little love for Lua. Thank you so much to Emily for being the sweet stylish lady that she is and for asking me to contribute today!

Sunglasses from Sucre, Hat borrowed from my Mom
Dress from Pavement, Dolce Vita Sandals

You can head over to Emily's blog to see the full post, some different photos, and read a bit about my buddy - buddy relationship with Lua.

Guest Post : Morgan and Lua

Photos by Melissa

The Beatles -  Two of Us

I figured it was only fair to share some Beatles love. After all, they did inspire the post. 

Scenes from a Weekend : XX

Memorial Day Weekend! I spent the long weekend out of the city at my parent's house. Melissa and her pup Cooper came out to enjoy the vacation. I was really looking forward to having a girls weekend at the beach. It's always nice to spend quality time with good friends, especially when there's no pressure to entertain or make plans. We both just wanted to relax the weekend away. I picked up Melissa, and the two girls and two pups drove out together. 

In true girl's weekend style, we filled our time with plenty of pampering. Saturday morning I took Lua with us and we all went for a morning run. After we got cleaned up, Melissa and I went into town and shopped around for a bit. Mostly window shopping, but we did pick up these friendship bracelets from Madewell. One of my oldest friends and her boyfriend came out to spend the night. We all grabbed a quick bite at a low key place near by. Then we went to a beer tasting that was hosted by my friends who brew their own. They use local ingredients as much as possible and are really getting good at their craft. As soon as their company gets off and running I'll be sure to let you guys know all about it!

Sunday morning we drove to the deli for breakfast and I took my friends by my absolute favorite beach. We lounged at the house for the rest of the afternoon. I whipped up some homemade hummus that hit the spot. My friends had to leave for a BBQ, so Melissa and I were basically on a date for the rest of the night. I took her to a great sunset spot, followed by an amazing dinner, and wound down the night sitting by a bonfire with friends.

Monday we slept in late. It's not really a vacation until you sleep past your work alarm. Melissa and I eventually rolled out of bed and made some coffee and breakfast. We sat  at the table and talked for a while. Discussed the nights events, our goals for this summer, our pups, and anything else that crossed our minds while sipping down our cups of joe. I love leisurely mornings like that. 

We packed up, cleaned up, made a quick pit stop at the beach, then started the long drive back into the city. It was great to have a real girls weekend away from all the hustle and bustle. I always love being able to show people my favorite places and I'm really glad that Melissa could make the trip out! I'm sure there will be plenty more summer weekends that look pretty similar to this one. I can't wait. 

Hope everyone had a great week! Sorry it was so quiet on the blog. Hopefully you can understand that sometimes enjoying real life just has to come first. That said, how is everyone?