soon, i will be sharing an in-depth town profile,
as well as some restaurant reviews...
so be on the lookout for those!
photos: all around kinston \ iphone
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
remembering: a simple day, summer 2010.
here's to manicures, cupcakes, & mother-daughter excursions.
photos: summer 2010 in shreveport \ hipstamatic
Friday, May 25, 2012
friday's fancies #31 + friday's letters.
oh, to be on the beach at a bbq.
cold drink in my hand.
music pouring from the speakers.
this love dress.
this jemima hat.
these dries van noten sunglasses.
this essie hue on my toes.
this playful blue nile necklace.
dear motivation to eat well, please come back. dear laura, thank you so much for taking charge & getting my bachelorette party planned. and thank you for my upcoming shower! dear 2505, thank you for the endless entertainment in the form of work emails. and text convos. and real convos. and skype convos. dear mom, thank you for letting me contact you every time i encounter a social media overshare. i'm grateful that someone else understands that these kind of updates are unacceptable & something to be frowned upon. dear justin, thank you so much for my nook! i am in love with it, as well as the two books i'm currently reading on it: dracula & fifty shades freed. dear dad, i'm so glad you're reading the girl who played with fire. that is my favorite of the girl with the dragon tattoo series. dear kara, i'm glad you share my love of lazy days & endless strings of tv shows. and i'm so glad we get to hang out in the next couple weeks when i come home to visit. dear lindsey, i miss you. and i love our engagement photos. and i've been loving your emails this week. dear soldiers, thank you. dear weekend, please be a relaxing source of rejuvenation & recharging. justin & i both need it. dear bloggers, keep on truckin. this week was a completely non-inspired week for me. but i'm going to keep on keeping on. dear hair, get ready for a change coming up in a couple weeks. you're going to love me for it, i just know. dear justin, thank you AGAIN for your encouragement in everything i set out to do. thank you for helping me brainstorm blog features. thank you for being creative & helpful & unfailingly supportive.
happy weekend!
link ups:
friday's fancies on {long distance loving}
friday's letters on adventures of newlweds
Monday, May 21, 2012
weekend finds.
mondays tend to be a little bit difficult.
saying goodbye to the weekend, trekking back to work,
& a whole new slew of responsibilities & plans.
but maybe just a little bit of inspiration
will help you out of the back-to-the-grind funk...
- youtube beauty guru [emilynoel83] is one of the most informative makeup & beauty enthusiasts i've ever come across. she is informative, entertaining, and extremely knowledgable.
- i am in love with the bridesmaids' necklaces from [this wedding]. perhaps providing inspiration for my girls on the big day? the hunt now begins...
- i am in love with the bridesmaids' necklaces from [this wedding]. perhaps providing inspiration for my girls on the big day? the hunt now begins...
- i came across a quote i really enjoyed while reading the [may real simple] the other day:
"other people have windows overlooking a cityscape, the mountains, or the water, but the crab-apple tree is the 'view' we see from our bedroom window, the ever changing vista that my husband and i watch as we drink coffee in bed on the mornings when we have a little extra time." - francine prose
- justin bought me a [nook color] on saturday night! my excitement has been unrelenting. after i finish my paper copy of fifty shades darker, i will christen my nook with the final installment of the series, fifty shades freed. i have already begun reading dracula on my lovely e-reader - it's a book i've always wanted to read.
- the new editing capabilities on [photobucket] have kept my attention for the past few days; i feel they'll soon become an integral part of my blogging experience. plus, it's just plain fun!
- justin found an interesting article on [why law school is still worth it]. an interesting read.
- only recently have i discovered that some of my material has been [pinned on pinterest]. i wish you could have seen the massive grin that spread across my face upon this discovery.
- justin bought me a [nook color] on saturday night! my excitement has been unrelenting. after i finish my paper copy of fifty shades darker, i will christen my nook with the final installment of the series, fifty shades freed. i have already begun reading dracula on my lovely e-reader - it's a book i've always wanted to read.
- the new editing capabilities on [photobucket] have kept my attention for the past few days; i feel they'll soon become an integral part of my blogging experience. plus, it's just plain fun!
- justin found an interesting article on [why law school is still worth it]. an interesting read.
- only recently have i discovered that some of my material has been [pinned on pinterest]. i wish you could have seen the massive grin that spread across my face upon this discovery.
here's to a productive week!
Friday, May 18, 2012
the ugly truth about my career, part two.
to read the first installment of this series, click here.
after the whirlwind that was my emotionally & academically draining [but FUN]
freshman year of college, i came back to louisiana tech [after a very near switch to lsu]
ready for an academically straightforward year.
and that's exactly how it started.
i'm just going to take general requirements for the first quarter, i told myself.
and after a quick convo with my advisor, i had acquired the 'general studies'
major declaration, a perfect match for my decisiveness (or lack thereof).
and as the year took off, i sat leisurely back in my sophomore seat, ready to coast.
i took some more of those lovely required courses - making As in some, Cs in others.
and you know, at first, i wasn't really all that worried about what letters showed up on my 'report card.'
this little bit of careless apathy is absolutely something i regret.
and the sad thing is, it began as just a little blip on the radar in high school,
and grew to be something that [more than slightly] sabotaged a GPA that could have been more impressive.
but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
i intended to coast, & coast i did, through much of the sophomore-year frivolity.
parties, dates, work out sessions... oh yeah, and some school.
and this is exactly what it looked like...
and this is exactly what it looked like...
and suddenly, on a normal day, headed to history class,
it hit me: the breaking point... a big fat ugly grade on a big fat ugly test.
to make matters worse? justin & i were in this class together, & he got an 'A.'
off i ran into the hallway, pausing to embarrassingly cry in front of my peers
next to a door leading out into the GTM building courtyard. justin, brave soul, followed.
i don't know what it was about this particular test, on this particular day,
or in this particular class. but suddenly, i was yelling, through the tears,
what am i doing with my life? why am i even in this class? i've got to figure out my major!
justin did his best to answer these questions,
to reassure me that my history failure wasn't the end of the world,
and to remind me that class was about to start.
i - quickly as i could - mustered up the courage to enter the classroom of a man who had shamed me
in such a way that i never wanted to learn about things that had happened before the right now ever again.
many times i've wondered what my face looked like during that two-hour class.
i have a pretty good guess, & i bet it involved hatred lasers shooting out of my eyeballs,
my anger stare searing into the skin of any who crossed its path.
i told you i was dramatic.
of course, when i look back on this little moment in time, i laugh.
was it funny then? no, but now i laugh.
because it was a culmination of events just like this one that pushed me to really think.
to really make the gears begin turning in my mind about what i wanted to do.
and by the last third of my sophomore year, i had chosen a path.
a path i decided i wasn't going to deviate from.
a path that allowed me to rely upon a few of my strengths: english, grammar, writing.
and then - keeping a safe distance from charcoal pencils & classroom sinks - it was official:
i was a journalism major.
and i told myself: this is it.
and, of course, i thought that it was.
to be continued...
photo: vintage college years \ point & shoot
photo: vintage college years \ point & shoot
friday's fancies #30 + friday's letters.
earlier this week, justin looked over at me & asked a simple question:
can we have a lazy weekend?
as a person who values 'down time' more than almost anything, i was happy to oblige his request. and if money was no object, i think that this chambray top from j.crew would perfectly fit the bill for a relaxing day. honestly, i contemplated pairing it with some white cropped pants, or even some bottoms of the pajama variety, but once i laid eyes on these lipsy floral scalloped shorts, i couldn't say no. i kept it simple with these mint sandals from asos & these cream stella mccartney shades. now all i have to do is kick back & wait for our low-key weekend to begin. i honestly cannot wait.
happy friday! here's to a relaxing weekend.
link ups:
friday's fancies on {long distance loving}
friday's letters on adventures of newlyweds
Thursday, May 17, 2012
simple pleasures: a combo + a natural phenomenon.
i knew i was going to love it. i love taking time
out of the hustle & bustle of the every day,
to focus on the simple things that make life a little bit sweeter.
today, there are a couple of things on my mind,
making my day better, however incrementally.
so i figured i'd do what i do best & list them out.
making my day better, however incrementally.
so i figured i'd do what i do best & list them out.
1. a combination.
what two things combined today to make me ultra happy? well, none other than sugar free red bull & peanut m&ms. and this isn't the first time this duo put a smile on my face - in fact, back in shreveport, it happened often. you see, i have this habit... right after a hard workout, i will often pop into a store like wal mart or target, to peruse their makeup section, perhaps... or to scope out the dvd section. and well, today was no different. i ambled into the kinston walmart, ready to take a gander at the goods in the makeup section, pick up a coffee mug, & scoop up a bottle of some vitamins i've been meaning to get my hands on. as i prepped for the checkout line, i had a thought. and it involved candy. and red bull. i'm sure you can see where this is headed. i don't know what it is about the creamy chocolate, the rich peanuts, & the fizzy carbonation that makes me so happy, but oh, it does.
2. today's weather.
when it rains here, i like to sit in the living room, pull the blinds all the way up so the windows are completely open, & read blogs. or write. or read a magazine. or watch the food network.
on the agenda for today? all of the above.
on the agenda for today? all of the above.
what are your simple pleasures this week? go link up with classic & glam & let everyone know.
photos: snapster
link up: simple pleasures on classic & glam
may photo challenge, day seventeen: snack.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
may photo challenge, day sixteen: what i'm reading.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
fifty shades: first impressions.
the other day, i told my friend laura that i was considering picking up the first book in the fifty shades trilogy - fifty shades of grey. as both of us love reading, we often suggest books to each other, as well as discuss reads currently on our radars.
oooh, i'm reading it now, she said.
it's scandalous.
i tucked her impression into the back of my mind, wondering just how scandalous it could be. i knew of its growing popularity: a few weeks ago, i saw that its display in books-a-million had been completely torn apart, leaving no copies of the first book & a tiny smattering of the second & third.
i caught snippets of reviews on twitter, which likened the series to the twilight saga, all the while driving home the point of its illicit crudeness, of its no-holds-barred approach to the main characters' relationship.
and, finally, due to a combination of all of the above,
i finally swooped into barnes & noble & took captive
my very own copy of the novel in question.
i'll be quite frank with you. i was nothing short of appalled at its explicitness.
many times, i wondered aloud to myself,
how is it that this can be readily available to any person walking through a book store?
are people under the age of eighteen allowed to buy this book?
[this called to mind unwelcome thoughts of the romance novel section i've always avoided in book stores.]
but at the same time, i was completely sucked in to the story, completely at the mercy of the pages turned, wanting to know the fates of the people with whom i'd grown so closely [and graphically] acquainted.
i will say, however, that i feel parts of the story, as well as aspects of the characters themselves, unsettlingly echo that of the twilight books. in areas, it feels a little blatant. i also drew some parallels between the book & the film cruel intentions, as i watched this particular favorite of mine on sunday night.
apparently, though, none of the above criticisms have quelled my insatiable pull toward these books. i am nearly half way through the second installment, fifty shades darker, & i'll be honest & tell you that an immediate trip to the nearest book store will be made, as soon as the final page of this tome has been turned.
i'll conclude with a simple sentiment -
if you're looking for an easy - albeit guilty pleasure - read... a page-turner, if you will - read these books. if you're looking to be astounded by an immense work of literary fiction - steer clear.
photo: my instagram.
may photo challenge, day fifteen: love.
Monday, May 14, 2012
may photo challenge, day fourteen: grass.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
may photo challenge, day thirteen: mom.
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