happy halloween!

trick r treat

halloween is my favorite holiday. it's austin's, too! unfortunately this year, celebrations were just not in order. i closed at work saturday night and i close again tonight, so i'm probably just going to end up wearing a little hat with ears and calling it a day. for today, i thought i'd share my faaaavorite halloween that austin and i have spent together, ever.

first of all, my costume requires very little explaining, but austin's requires a lot. so, i was the morton salt girl:

i literally owned every item for this costume, except for the umbrella that i borrowed from a friend, and the salt canister which i bought, emptied, and used as a purse for the night. this picture was taken when we were meeting up with austin at his work, a local coffee shop, to see his costume and do some homework (which is why i had the bag).

now, my best friend at the time (who i miss soooooo much. so much.), jeff, is this real cool guy who dresses straight out of the 1940s. it's perfect and awesome and i love it. so for halloween, we all thought it would be so cute if jeff and austin dressed up as each other.

that's jeff on the left dressed as austin and austin on the right dressed as jeff. oh man. it was a confusing night for me, to be honest.

jeff served me some coffee.

austin didn't look like himself.

is it weird to say that they smelled like each other? i mean obviously they did, but i also think it's weird to say that. i don't know. either way, it was a confusing night and i didn't end up liking them dressing like each other very much beyond the initial hilariousity of the whole thing. seeing jeff in "normal" clothes was so perfect! we bet him he'd get a million numbers. ;) ;) i can't remember if he did or not, though..

and just because last year's costume was a DREAM. COME. TRUE., i'll share one of the two pictures that was taken of us ( :/ ):

i've been obsessed with wayne's world for as long as i can remember. and i've wanted to do this costume for probably just as long. i'm hoping to resurrect and upgrade it one day, because i know we can do better than this. and we already own the hat! :)

what are you dressing up as this year, so i can live vicariously through you?! <3

my days off

working in retail, my days off are random and scattered, which is kind of how i like them. usually, i have two mini work weeks, while everyone else has a long one. this is how i spent my last couple of days off:

1. i went shopping with my grandma and my aunt cindy, who was visiting from colorado. we were at the mall for about 3 hours, so i made sure to find some time to sit. down. haha. shopping trips are exhausting!!
2. i babysat my girl for a little bit. she started climbing into my laundry basket, which was adorable.. then she wouldn't stop, so i had to move it. but obviously i had to snap some pictures first.
3. austin and i celebrated halloween last night, since i have to close on actual halloween night. we carved our giant pumpkin, roasted a million pumpkin seeds, and watched trick r treat (our fave).
4. austin got this weird card with a working plastic lightbulb in it awhile ago, and avery LOVED it. she was dying over it.
5. i bought the new taylor swift cd (from target for the six extra songs!!) and read all of the lyrics. ;) she's perfect. i'm scheming a way to see her in concert now.
6. i wore a really silly outfit. i actually only wore it to the doctor's office and then changed into leggings and socks, buuuut whatever. i took a picture for becca's approval before leaving the house.

i like to think that since my days off are sort of scattered, i use them more thoughtfully than i would if i had weekends off like everyone else. <3

little spots at home that i love

since making the decision to move out of our house in the near future, i've fallen even more in love with it than i ever was. that always seems to be the way that things go, right?

to be honest, decorating this space was never important to me at all. mostly because we lived with someone else, and i wasn't interested in dealing with all of that, but also because i knew we'd be leaving after a year. but lately i've been throwing stuff up for the heck of it, and really getting excited about making it a home. even if it's just temporary.

becca always sends me these really random and gorgeous pieces of art, and whether they're postcard collages, prints of angela chase, drawings of john cusack, or a color palette from a school assignment, i try to give them the respect they deserve. this little guy is perfect on my bedside windowsill. it's usually the first thing i see in the morning. thanks, b!

amanda and i made these bat chandeliers last week and i love when i walk past our record room and it catches my eye. ;) i especially love the little ghosties that i added. i only wish it was easier to photograph!

this is another idea that i stole from heidi kinney (she's my serious blogger crush these days, if you haven't noticed yet), but i wasn't ready for the real flowers and we're pretty sure our neighbor doesn't like us decorating the porch. at the risk of sounding tacky, i kinda wanna leave these little cuties out year-round <3<3.

<3

how do you dress for a hayride?

the title is a joke. ;) obviously i did not dress appropriately for a hayride. i was just too excited for layers and tights and this perfect lace dress.

sunglasses: tumbleweeds
necklace: locket from my parents when i was in high school
dress: ae
button-up (men's): old ae (similar)
cardigan: old ae
tights: old uo
socks: ae
boots: docs

i've been wearing my little dollywood purse for just about any outing lately. i'm obsessed with it. also obsessed with these lil polka dot socks.

i don't regret dressing inappropriately for one second. <3

every year since our first anniversary, we've gone to the layman family corn maze to spend a day in rows of corn and grab that year's pumpkin and some apple cider. i look forward to it every year, and it only seems to get better (and easier).

this year, i took control of mapping out our corn maze routes. ;) usually i just like roaming around, but for some reason, i was on a mission. austin and i have fun ducking into dead ends when we get stuck between big groups of families. i like how peaceful it is in between the stalks, and screaming kiddos kind of ruin the effect.

after we finished the two sections of the maze, we walked around the farm for a little bit.. and checked out how tall we are.

i'm standing on my tip toes.

the hayride is my favorite part of the entire shebang.

a man and his pumpkin

i love this little tradition we've started for ourselves. <3

late night rambles

super into all of the new accessories at work (ae) right now

lately, i've spent a lot of time thinking about the kind of person that i am or that i want to be, and what parts of my life i want to put emphasis on. i am finally back working in the one retail job i've felt at home in, and now i want the rest of my life to make sense for me, too. in a lot of ways, i think i've really been coming into my own in the last few years, but i never want to stop pushing myself to be better, happier, and more comfortable in my own skin. this may be coming about solely because of the change in seasons, but i think i can feel a big change in my whole life. cheesy!

so, although these days i'm happy with the majority of my life, i've really, really felt like i've been failing in a couple of ways: in my friendships, and in my reading (i know).

i've been trying to fix my lack of communication with my friends, whether it be a 30 minute skype before work with becca, a sweet little craft date with amanda, and hopefully soon plans with kayla, i'm really trying! i want to spend more time with friends, and less of my free time watching tv (which is really hard with EVERY SINGLE SHOW I WATCH coming back on! ah!) or doing the dishes (sometimes i feel like all i do while i'm at home is wash dishes? although austin would disagree, haha). i just really miss my girls, y'all. so i'm hoping i'm on the right path to remedying the damage i accidentally did while transitioning jobs and being lazy bones!

would you believe that i'm STILL reading "geek love" ????? remember this post? i was (and still am) SO excited about those books. i just.. stopped reading. for no reason. i'm hoping to change that tonight, right after i finish this post. i'm not going to pressure myself into finishing in a certain time frame or whatever, but geez. i can't believe i let myself slip so much. it's annoying and embarrassing and i miss reading so much!

i can't wait to make more time for these two things (because they're two of my faaaavorite things). does the fall ever have you thinking about changes you want to make? <3

guess i'll go to sleep

man, i'm tired. this week has been never ending, it seems. i did start my new job, but my work schedule went like this: sunday at my new job, monday and tuesday at my old job, wednesday through now at my new job. thankfully, i'll actually get two days off this week, but they could. not. come. sooner. to be honest, i'm glad to finally be in my forever job (please don't tell me that i just jinxed myself), because everything changing all of the time is THE WORST. but everyone knows that american eagle has always been my kind of retail home. ae cult status. so i'm stoked on life. obviously. just a sleepy, burnt out girl.

on top of that: last monday night, when austin and i were out to celebrate our anniversary, someone hit my car. womp. i still haven't even gotten to handle it fully with my insurance company, and my little dented door is so sad, but thankfully we were fine and everything is fine. just stressful, you know? i don't handle things like that well (i'm kinda the worst at dealing with STUFF), so i'm glad austin was there to chill me out. it wasn't even a big deal!

also this past week, kendall and her little family adopted a puppy! i'm mostly excited to puppy-sit, so that austin and i can get some practice in. since we're moving soon.. and that (hopefully) means puppy time!! ah! i even have baby/puppy pictures to share.. one day.

so halloween is coming up, and there are a few things i'm pretty serious about getting done beforehand:
- coming up with costumes that beat last years (we were wayne and garth from wayne's world - something that i've wanted to do for as long as i can remember, so this may be impossible)
- the corn maze! we go to the same one every year, and it's perfect and pretty and fun and i love it. unfortunately, i have no idea when i'm going to have a day off with austin, so this actually might not happen :( :(:(
- going to see frankenweenie! i don't even really like tim burton, but i love frankenstein everything, and it just looks so cute. eep.

i promise i'll be around this week. we didn't have the internet last week, and things will be a little bit calmer. :) <3

sweater swednesday

in the interest of full disclosure, i should let you know that it was actually way too hot for me to be wearing this sweater on this day. WAY too hot. but i was so excited! i've been layering like crazy for the past couple of days, and this sweater has just been WAITING to be worn, and i jumped the gun today.

but it was too hot.

but i made it work, kind of. either way i was super excited to be wearing it! even if my bangs got sweat-greasy. you know that kind of greasy bangs. :(

sweater: vintage
necklace: cm via local honey
tank top: c/o bentley via austin (you know, my band tee source for life)
jeans: bullhead
shoes: converse

you would think my excitement over this season finally being here would dissipate at least a little, but i think i'm only getting crazier about it? i keep hearing that this is going to be a "BAD winter" and you know what that means: lots and lots and lots of snow. i couldn't be more excited. more clothes in every outfit! snow! this sweater! being outside for more than five seconds!

life rules. :) <3

our trip to chicago/renegade

the most flattering photobooth pictures ever? probably.

mine and bekuh's chicago trip was so perfect. it was basically the quintessential girls' trip.. lots of chatting, shopping, and eating. i had been harboring a lot of reservations about the trip as a whole and they were almost all gone from the very beginning. as a warning: this post is a modgepodge of my cell phone pictures, becca's pictures, and bekuh's pictures..

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the twelve hour drive seemed to go by preeeetty quickly, which helped. we only stopped a few times, for coffee and mcdonalds. ;) of course.

i went with my own advice and wore a cotton dress, leggings, and boots.. my minnetonka fringe boots, to be exact. it was perfect for driving! i didn't need to make the switch to the passenger seat until a little bit before we got to the city (i had asked bekuh earlier if she could do all of the city driving for me.. i'm a baby).

the first night, i was exhausted but also just so happy to be reunited with becca! we drove around to find a parking spot (i was really nervous about where we were going to leave my car for three days), and then ordered a pizza (obviously - we were in chicago) to eat in becca's apartment. i hadn't gotten to see this apartment yet, so it was nice to be able to piece together all of the pictures she had sent me of it. ;) and also to go through her closet! it was huge and awesome. i want to share a closet with becca one day.

lately, i've been waking up at the crack of dawn (even if i'm still sleepy.. annoying), and chicago was no different. i got up and took a shower before the girls were awake. this was the outfit i wore to renegade!! only i took off the tights for the daytime. the skirt is vintage, found at an amazing vintage attic sale that bekuh and i went to a couple of weeks ago, and the shoes are becca's. :)

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mine and bekuh's feet on the platform, waiting for the l

originally, we were hoping to meet up with katherine (my lovely package exchange partner) for donuts before renegade, but there was construction on the l that got us to wicker park right when renegade was starting. our first stop was the tumbleweeds booth, where there were THREE be(ca)(cca)(kuh)s surrounding me. it was ridiculous. we all oohed and ahhed over the glasses that they brought with them, and bekuh and i both left with some pretty sunglasses.. :)

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at first, we thought it'd be best to do a walk-through and see everything before we started buying, but that quickly dissolved, and we just started checking everything out. there was so much to see! and we even realized that we missed a few booths that we were looking forward to, but it was seriously impossible to navigate around all of those people.

we had lunch at a really cute cafe right off of the festival.

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after about 6 hours (!!!!!) of shopping, we figured it was maybe time to head back to becca's to refresh and go over our purchases. i got a few gifts for family and austin, and my favorite finds (besides my sunglasses, omg) were these little things for our house:

these prints caught my eye early on in the day, and i'm glad i remembered to go back for them. i had been envisioning a tattooed lady/tattooed man print pair for hanging over our bed, but these changed my mind completely. :) they're from methane studios, and you can buy them here and here.

this tea towel is, hands down, my favorite thing that i bought in chicago. it's ridiculous! it's a tea towel with little naked ladies on it! ahhh i'm obsessed. i almost never want to use it so that it's never dirty, but. yeah. it was from bespoke uprising.

this tea towel is a little more traditional. ;) i couldn't pass it up, it was so stinking cute. i actually bought two things from the little canoe, but one is a gift, sooooooooo. i love everything she does, though.

via becca :)
waiting on the l to go shopping, day 2

the next day, we decided we'd be doing more shopping. bekuh was super excited to visit a topshop, and i was looking forward to picking up my dream sweatshirt from an urban outfitters. :) we got so lucky this day, with sales and things we had our hearts set on fitting and being cute. becca took us to an urban surplus store, which was nice because i could get a few things for austin on the cheap.

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this trip came and went SO fast, and i'm so glad that i stressed so much over getting to take it. it was necessary. i wish i could have had more time with becca, but i know we'll see each other again soon. ;)

renegade was everything i thought it would be, and i'd love to go to another one next year! hopefully this time with austin in tow, so i can do more home goods shopping.

<3

pretty things on the internet

i really only have two things to share today, so i almost didn't even do this post. but these two things are SO perfect and SO beautiful and SO interesting and SO awe-inspiring, that they are definitely worth both a post, and your time. :)

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first, remember the lauren moffatt fall 2012 presentation back in february (remember how i got the idea for my haircut from one of the models?!)? well, it was pretty then, but now.. i'm obsessing. because, you know, it's almost fall. and i can wear these things. i maybe just maybe am dreaming and scheming about how much money i can save in order to own sooooomething from this collection. here are some of my favorites:

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seriously groaning at how pretty everything is. if i had to choose one collection of clothing to wear forever and ever, it'd be this.

second, this adorable article: the blogger and the radio star. tavi has been an inspiration of mine since she was 12, which is both ridiculous and awesome. i try to keep up with all of the talks and interviews that she gives, even though i avoid reading rookie because honestly, i'm too old. but she rules, and so does ira glass. even if you only care about one of them - this article is so cute. i've read it like three times this week, and never could let myself close the tab. i only do that with things i really like. ;)

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have a good weekend! <3

a little button factory update

i don't know if i've made this clear, but working with the button factory stuff makes me SO. HAPPY. happier than i can put into words. i'm just so glad that bekuh and i found each other, and decided to make this happen.

a couple of weeks ago, we combined our inventory, and were SO excited over how much we had collected. i hung the dresses that we're keeping for our (crossing our fingers) one-day-real-life-store, and i see them every day and swoon and dream over the whole thing. while combining inventory, we realized how many pretty shoes we had! so bekuh uploaded them today for you ladies to snatch up. :)

this pair is my FAVORITE (unfortunately they're a whole size too big, wah):

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someone please buy them and post a million outfit pictures and make me an even happier (albeit jealous) girl?!

on top of THAT, we're gearing up for our first fall update! fall dresses are actually my favorite, which is probably obvious now that you all know me so well. here are some super top secret sneak peeks (and can we talk about bekuh's photography for a second? omg):

and that's only three of them! eep. also, i know you're mostly wondering where we find our pretty models.. first caroline, and now lauren? we're just lucky when it comes to having gorgeous friends.

last, but definitely not least, we're offering free shipping(!!!!) in the shop until october 1st with the code "BACKTOSCHOOL"

<3