if only i was organized

so, this is the time of year that i always wish i had my life together enough to send out christmas cards. obviously, austin and i would not send out cards with our pictures because ... who cares. if we had a puppy, it'd be different. ;) but, with all of the pretty and fun options on etsy, i know i could collect a different one for everybody on my loved list. since we decidedly do not have our lives together enough to send out christmas cards, i thought i would share some of my favorites here.. in case you DO have your life together.

quill and fox

runaway handmade

this one is from my best friend becca's new etsy shop. she has a few others, including a pretty one with snowflakes, that i had to choose from. generally, when i like an artist, i really like an artist and (lucky for me) she's one of my favorites.

the little canoe

this shop was one that i discovered at renegade, and it's still one of my favorites. i had like four of her holiday cards open to choose from!

vintage confections

i just want to be a cool friend who sends you lollipop greetings.

freya art

<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

we're back !

i have so many thoughts and things to share from our chicago trip, but i just wanted to pop in and post this picture of me and my girls. this is us sharing a two-seater on the l. :)

thank you, becca, for letting us take over your teeny tiny precious perfect apartment. thanks for handling my car parking neuroses like a champ, thanks for letting me sleep in your bed and being the sweetest about my kitty allergies, thanks for letting me borrow your shoes, thanks for taking us to the cutest restaurants and being cool with my being a serious granny, thanks for being my favorite girl forever.

thank you, bekuh, for the 24(+) hours of constant conversation in the car. thanks for going with the flow when i know you're a planner, thanks for being up for such a silly adventure and being so awesome with my annoying schedule, thanks for letting me borrow your tights!, thanks for encouraging me to go for some of my most favorite goofy purchases, thanks for having the best sense of direction, thanks for constantly pushing me to remember just how much is out there for me to explore (whether you know it or not).

seriously, i missed austin more than i thought i could and i kinda want to go ahead and plan on taking him to renegade next year, but this girls trip was PERFECT. i was sleepy and my sinuses were not feelin it a lot of the time, but we ended up loving renegade more than i thought we would and even the parts of chicago i was nervous about ended up being fun (and yummy).

i'm excited to see bekuh's pictures and to write a more descriptive post at some point. <3

chicago & renegade bound

as you're reading this, bekuh and i are on the road towards chicago. yay! i'm so excited to spend this weekend shopping with two of my favorite girls (becca lives in chicago, so we get to stay with her, too), and taking in all of the handmade at renegade.

i thought a small round-up of some vendors i'm excited about would be appropriate. :)

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alternate histories seems like a store right up austin's alley, and since this trip is partially dedicated to christmas shopping.. i'm excited to check out their booth.

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surprisingly enough, tea towels are something that we're SERIOUSLY lacking at our house. why not stock up on some pretty ones? bespoke uprising has some promising prints on their etsy.

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i knew i was going to love boyfren girlfren solely based on the name of the shop. i'm excited to see what goodies they have at their booth.

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i just really want a jackalope pillow. that shouldn't be a surprise.

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i think i'm maybe becoming a notebook hoarder. but i'm OBSESSED with these from kelso doesn't dance.

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i don't think i'll be able to afford them, but i can't wait to see garth borovicka's bookends and other wooden sculptures. the pizza?! omg.

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i've written about homako here before, so i'm extra excited to finally get my hands on something!

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i basically love everything in iamhome's shop, but i think i'd get more use out of these swimmer magnets than a trophy. but they're so. cute.

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i've been a fan of little pancakes on etsy for a looong time, but i don't think i've ever bought anything. i can't wait to check out her work in person.

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i would kill for one of mimi kirchner's tattooed dolls, but since i definitely cannot afford one, i'm sooo excited to just look at them! so. excited.

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i actually wish that i could buy this valentine for becca, but since she'll be right there with me, it wouldn't be as awesome. i'm excited to see what else owly shadow puppets stocks their booth with.

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obviously i'm excited for tumbleweeds! beca posted a picture of a polka dot pair on her instagram, and i instantly started calculating how much money i was bringing. ;)

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i love everything on uncommon's etsy.

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i'm obviously super excited about all of the jewelry at renegade. water and salt's stuff is gorgeous.

other things i'm going to be on the hunt for: a midwest is best tshirt (because i think it'd be hilarious to own one, idek), a ring for kendall, maybe matching tshirts for avery and i, handmade frames for christmas gifts, and A TON of presents for austin for letting me take this super selfish trip. :)

see you guys next week! <3

becca

becca was in town last week, and i was lucky enough to for real see her like four times. it ruled. it didn't fully pull me out of my never-ending funk over stressful grown-up stuff (could i BE more vague? whoops), but man oh man who knows what kinda mood i would've been in if she hadn't been in town.

every time we see each other we create these silly alternate lives where we live together in chicago and can take each other's outfit photos. ;) considering all i do is take pictures of her while she's talking, i don't know if it'd actually work out.. but it was nice to have her around for mine.

i really like her, and i'm forever the happiest that american eagle introduced us so long ago. :') <3

dear internet, meet my child

you guys, this is kerri. she's becca's little sister and i've basically all but adopted her as my own. look at her!! definitely my favorite teenager to ever exist. tonight i had dinner with her and her big sister and spent most of the time begging her to let me do an outfit post of her on my blog. ;)

i didn't get any details in terms of where she got her clothes or whatever, but we did have an in-depth discussion regarding the one direction boys and which ones may or may not be gay. it was perfect.

kerri's a dancer (i've gotten to see her twice), and i loved this necklace that becca gave her - the charm is teeny tiny pointe shoes!

we giggled a lot. :)

<3

ps, i'm planning on posting my outfit in a separate post one day, but i died over this picture and had to share it RIGHT NOW. i have no clue what our drama was, but uh. enjoy.

taking a breather

livin' the life

things are pretty rough right now, and i'm spending most of my time wading through a lot of stress and emotions (and even some paperwork! haha). lately, anything that i write turns into a big block of complaints (which is why all of last week was a bunch of wish lists), and i don't want to memorialize anything like that for anyone. all you gotta know is i'm alive, i'm wearing taylor swift's perfume and painting my nails lilac, my boyfriend knows exactly how to calm me down, and my best friend is finally in town for the week. i'm sure everything else will fall into it's right place when it's supposed to. right???

<3

i don't have instagram, but that doesn't really stop me

i find myself snapping little pictures on my phone all of the time. some of them are for practical reasons, like needing confirmation on an outfit, but others are because the moment is 2 cute 2 b 4gotten.

1. avery fell asleep on me and i couldn't resist her lil chubby legs
2. i had lunch with my mama at a place in town last week, and our sandwiches came out shaped like little hearts :)
3. mine and austin's drinks at lunch were pretty, summery, and complementary.
4. a favorite christmas gift finally found a home.. i've since given him a couple of necklaces.

5. i needed confirmation from becca that i didn't look like an insane person in this outfit. i couldn't find my left black flat, and doc martens were my only option. i've since cleaned our closet, and found it.
6. has anyone else seen the newest issue of bust magazine? i love every copy of this magazine, but this month tavi is on the cover. her interview and the pictures are perfect.
7. mixing bathing suit patterns at work. i loved this one.

hopefully one day i'll have instagram, so this nonsensical picture taking won't be in vain. ;) <3

lucky in friends

unfortunately, i think sometimes i forget how lucky i've been when it comes to having a really great group of people surrounding me at any given time. my friends are a constant in my life, and i'm forever grateful for my luck in that respect.

most of my best friends have moved since we first became close, but i still consider them important pieces of my life (and generally assume i'll see them again someday). :)

even these days, with everyone being SO busy, and usually knowing that we won't see each other for a few weeks at a time, we continue to keep up with one another's lives, and i'm super thankful for texting in that respect. ;)

as i looked through my facebook for these pictures, i noticed how many of my friends i haven't been so good at keeping up with, which is sad. but i know that those types of things happen, and i'm so happy to have had those people in my life for as long as i did.

i've been seeing so many blog posts lately about how hard it is to make friends, and i wish i could collect all of those people and share my friends with them, because i can't even put into words how obsessed with my friends i am.

<3

road trippin' with becca

late last week, becca and i took a road trip to richmond.

sometimes you just need a little bit of a break with your best friend. the actual circumstances taking us to richmond were not awesome, but we made it relaxing and enjoyable all the same. originally planning to leave friday morning at 5am, becca's mom angelically offered us up a hotel room for thursday night, so we got our hairs cut and were on our way.

there were some slight gps setbacks, and we arrived around midnight. i think i passed out in bed soon after, while becca worked on a paper.

the next morning, we took full advantage of the free breakfast, and even though the room was FULL (like every table full) of a family headed to a quinceañera, the coffee was good, there was bacon, and i really like cereal.

after we took care of some business, we headed to a nearby starbucks to talk literature.



not really. kind of. becca worked on a paper, i made notes for the store, and we sometimes discussed literature. then we went shopping! we both got lots of perfect things and took advantage of those big summer sales deals and it was just so good to go shopping with my best friend. i needed some new clothes for my new job, and i'm sure you'll end up seeing some of my spoils here soon. :)
then we left to go home.

the floor at my seat: my shopping bags, my purse, my overnight bag

i'm pretty sure i just say this every time i see becca, but i'm so glad i get to see her as often as i do. she'll be back in town in a month or so, and i'm planning a trip to her for september (for renegade! with bekuh!), so our long distance best friendship isn't actually as dire as it sometimes seems.

i'm mostly posting both of these pictures to show how inconveniently unphotogenic we can be at times. sometimes we're so cute, sometimes we're not so cute. to be fair, we'd been awake since 6:30 am, shopping all day in the heat, and driving for 4 hours when we took these. :) <3