This city's silver in the moon, and mountains heaped with sugar spoons...

For an interesting change of pace, it appears that Maggie isn't actually writing this blog post. I've heard rumors that you all wanted to see pictures from my (yes, that would make me Niklaas) trip to Europe. She was only going to upload them, but I asked her if I could write a bit about all of these, since every picture always has a story behind it. 

But first...A little background on where I went. For the first week, I traveled up to Northern Sweden, Umeå to be exact, and for the second week, Northern Spain. 

With that out of the way...here are the pictures: 

Alright, so this first one was taken of...you guessed it...a brick building. To be honest, I'm completely unsure as to the significance of this building, but anyways, I'm always trying to keep it fresh, especially when it comes down to something as "static" as a building. More on that in a few.

Number one...

And number two.
These two pictures were my first venture into posed still life pictures, and I ended up being pretty happy with the result overall. In order to soften the light, and get the effect I wanted out of these, I ended up bumping up the ISO to 1600, and putting a white t-shirt over my ghetto strobe flash. I think the graininess, added to the really soft focus and even softer light, makes these infinitely more interesting.

Oh my goodness. This is absolutely my favorite picture from the trip. This one was taken in the Stockholm airport while we were waiting for a long, long time, for our flight to Barcelona. The sheer number of patterns in this picture, and the fact that they don't really detract from one another makes this picture.
So after airporting it up, we finally ended up in Barcelona. I'm still pretty much in awe of the city. Although we didn't have much time to spend in the city, since the real reason for the trip was work, what I managed to see, effectively blew my mind.

Side note: Like Castanets by Bishop Allen completely sums up how I feel about Barcelona

This restaurant was amazing. I always feel so weird taking pictures inside restaurants, but for this one, it absolutely had to happen. Although you can't see much of the decor, the whole thing was decorated in a kind of euro-american chic way. The picture would've been better, I suppose, if I had used a flash, since the whole place was insanely dim, so the shutter speed on this is huge...1/8s, and I didn't have a tripod, so I had to make do with the table top. Anyways--best part of the restaurant? Regina Spektor. Walking into a restaurant and hearing Fidelity playing is one of the greatest things ever (Well, and the food, of course).

So this was the view out of my hotel.


the click and clatter of my feet on the lonely crooked cobbled streets...like castanets. 

The building on the left is an apartment complex, same with the one that I'm in, but I have no idea what that one in the background is. Oh well.

This is another one of my very favorite pictures from the trip...
This one was taken on the train ride from Barcelona to Valencia, and I'm a huge fan. The ways that the lines on the table take one's eyes up to the soft focus reflection in the window are amazing. And, in my opinion, completely expresses the feeling of traveling by train at night.

Alright, this is the last one! This one was taken out the window of the house we stayed at in Valencia. In all of these pictures, I tried to focus on the patterns (especially in architecture) and usually, I suppose, I mostly succeeded.

The end.

Niklaas

P.S. I'm (maggie) going to be reading these comments, but I'm going to show them to Niklaas too ;)!!
P.P.S. And yes! This means he is home, so I'm a happy camper! I'll blog later this week. We had a photoshoot:)
P.P.P.S. I just made a twitter! Add me :) maggeygrace

i'd lie (my 30th post!)

-My 30th post!!! My, these threeish months have gone fast!!-

In the past three days, I have been eating, sleeping, watching world cup, and taking pictures. Oh, and swimming, but that's not important. Not when I have a nikon d5000 and can take wonderful, beautiful pictures!! This camera is seriously power surging my love for photography. It's always been there, but now with the tools to create my vision, it's that much more fun. I'm in love. This camera is totally going to change my blog, too!

What it comes down to is: I'm in love with summer and I'm definitely making up for the loss of my past four summers right now:). 

I guess I don't really have a whole lot to say (a first, perhaps??). That's what happens when I blog so frequently, I guess. You all are going to have to live without my lively and always entertaining commentary, I suppose (kidding!).  I'll have a lot more to report next week!

Since I got my package from Jasmine of Transient Withdrawl, I've been having a blast creating outfits from what she sent me! I mean, there were only two tops, but I have been able to create so many outfits from just those pieces. The green top I'm wearing was one of them, and so far, I've been matching it to all my patterned bottoms. It just works with everything! You all know me and my love for mixing patterns. 

Last weekend, I went with my family to Oregon for a soccer tournament and got to go shopping. Was it worth the 8+ hour car ride with my younger and whinier sister?? Well, yes. Very much so. $9.99 Calvin Klein bra sales are the best. Actually, any Macy's one day sale is amazing. Is it weird that I love Macy's so much?? Being a fashion blogger and being surrounded by fashionistas who have Topshops and Urban Outfitters in their backyard, I always feel funny cruising department stores. But I absolutely LOVE this skirt, and I got it for $6, so I'll just let that little anxiety rest. 

top- forever21 via Jasmine skirt- random brand $6 belt-my momma necklace- forever21 shoes-walmart

I think the sun is hardest to shoot with. It was impossible to get pictures in the sun. I miss my photographer.

I love this print.

Here goes my first try with photography...Bear with me, folks! I'm a beginner!

(my personal favorite)

I kind of have a thing for flowers, can you tell?:)

my 13 year old puppy! 

Anyways, I guess this post doesn't have a whole lot to it. I have a feeling "photography" will become another sector of my blog, which I've realized, seems to be a jumble of fashion, writing, and random nothing. Oh,well.

My next post will more than likely be my giveaway- and it's a big one!

Thank you thank you thank you!!

Love always,

maggie:)

and yes, quoting taylor swift. 

warm whispers.

Howdy!!

Yesterday, was the greatest day ever. Well, as good as it could have been!

It's always funny how things happen when you absolutely, completely don't expect them to.

I woke up yesterday morning and got off skype with my dear feeling kind of mopey. Kind of. He's in Europe so while it's been nice to read and catch up on things I haven't had time for in months, I still miss him and keeping myself entertained can be quite the challenge! So I got offline after calling Amazon and after finding out my camera wouldn't be here until THURSDAY (12 days after I ordered it, mind you. Overnight shipping?? Whatt??), I decided to be productive and clean my room. A few minutes into cleaning my room, the mail came and much, much to my excitement, my package came from Jasmine of Transient Withdrawl! Clothes!!! So I dressed up for a while and because I was expecting a crappy day to ensue, that alone made it all better.

Not two hours later, I walked into the living room and a UPS truck showed up outside our house. Huh! What could that be?!?!

Long and behold, it was my camera!!!!!


AHHHHHHH!!! So, two hours after declaring in my mind that today (and the next few days, for that matter) would be utterly horribly boring, my day turned out to be one of the best ALL summer! Because now not only was my room sparkly clean, but I had new clothes to outfitize AND MY NEW SLR!!! What did I do after that? Well! I experimented with my camera of course! And made an outfit out of Jasmine's top that I lusted for :)

so, yes, all of these pictures are taken with my new Nikon d5000!! eeeeee!! So, I apologize for the picture heavy post in advance.

isn't the quality beautiful??? I'm so, so ecstatic!

I feel kind of silly that all of these pictures are OF me, because i was supposed to be the one taking pictures, but Jenni didn't dress appropriately so I had to be the model. sigh. But I'm almost done with the barn pictures! *I love barns!*

top-forever21 (courtesy of jasmine) belt-thrifed jeans-delias shoes-keds

After playing around with the barn, we played in the flowers! Oh, yeah, we went to our university arboretum to take pictures. I think I am officially and completely in love with flowers. Wow.

(I think this is my favorite picture. I LOVE purple and I love this flower!)

The sharpness!! I can't get over how sharp the pictures are! AHH. SO wonderful!

I really don't know what is up with my style these days. It's been so different! I've been wearing darker clothes and wearing less frills and florals. It's strange. My girliness WILL come back, I promise! I really dislike these pants, but it was too cold for shorts and jeans didn't seem to work. I know I literally just did an outfit post with this belt, but I love it so much! And then there's my top from Jasmine! eee! Clothing swaps are the best. I'm so excited about it! I'm sending her delightful clothes too! You all may recognize my necklace from prom, I love that I can use it for everyday looks too. It's perfect!

I got these keds in 7th grade. Ha! 5 years ago! I can just remember being completely obsessive over them and stalking them everywhere online. It took me a few months to convince my mom to buy them for me! I just found them yesterday and well, they seemed to sort of work for what I was wearing.

my best friend and photographer.

and sometimes model:)

My giveaway is ALMOST done! Just one more dress and I have five for you!!! :) It's going to be fantastic.
I love you alll so much and appreciate every single one of your comments and all of my followers. I am blown away by your comments, seriously!

Oh, and I'm sorry for the picture overload :)

Love always,
maggie!

P.S. Warm Whispers by Missy Higgins is a beautiful song. Listen to it:)

how lucky we are.

Is it June 17th? Looking outside, you really wouldn't think so. According to Krem2news, June 17th, 2010 is a record LOW day. At the "height" (hahaha) of the cold day, it was 39 degrees. You hear all about record HIGH days, but record cold days?? Yeah. Uh huh. Fabulous! What happened to the sunshine??

 I guess when I got dressed today I was feeling the mood of the cold weather because I dressed a lot differently than my normal bright colored florals and "feminine" style. The first thing I grabbed was my plaid shirt....and from there my tights. I thought about throwing on my same old cutoffs, but wasn't feeling it so instead I went for my green AE studded skirt that sort of makes me feel...like a badass? Haha. Last, a pink scarf just to add that touch of "cuteness" that I usually wear.

shirt-aeropostale tee-american eagle skirt-american eagle scarf-forever21 tights- urbanoutfitters shoes-thrifted

 the best part about summer is going without makeup. I love it!! I literally swipe on a little tiny bit of mascara and maybe some concealer, and I'm gone. I absolutely hate getting out of the shower in the morning and having to remove all my mascara. Same with at night before bed. It's so annoying!

My lovely dear bought me these shoesss!! I have been lusting for them for months and he got them for me as a graduation present downtown at a thrift store!! Ahhh! He's the best. I've been a little mopey around the house because he left early in the week for his big annual europe excursion. But thank god, he is only gone for 2 weeks and not 2 months. However, the mopey periods are short and keeping myself busy has been key. It also takes me back to a couple months ago when he wasn't mine to miss, and I am basking in the fact that he is now :).

 I can't decide if I like these boots with my skirtt and such. Hmm.

To keep busy, I thought I'd show you in pictures some of what I've been up to.I got a new wallet and it seems the most accurate way to represent all the shopping I've been doing. Hehe. I got soooo much money from graduation and put away a huge chunk of change, so I've let myself go a little bit. I went shopping yesterday and bought seven dresses! Three are going to be a part of my giveaway and they are gorgeous. Be excited!!

the bird is SO cute! I love fossil anything. I feel spoiled!

 My grandma also bought me a couple books and this is my current book at hand. I've had so much time to read and it's divine. I have missed reading so much.

I am also reading the Teen Vogue hand book!! My grandma bought me this as well and I LOVE it. I really have no idea if I will ever go into fashion, but reading it is really inspiring. Especially the journalism, design, and photography sections :) you should all pick it up!

Cruising forever21 today, I recognized this model....think about it...where is she from??? it was then that I realized that it was Nicole from America's Next Top Model! The petite season! Eeee. After some more research, I found out that she is modeling for Forever21, Urban Outfitters, and Free People. How cool is that!?!?!

:)
I started watching Parenthood at one in the morning last night, and I am falling in loveee. It's so funny! Lauren Graham will always hold a special place in my heart after I obsessed over her on Gilmore Girls!








Well I suppose that's all I have for now. I'll post again soon! My giveaway is ALMOST ready and I'm SO excited. I'm planning on buying two more dresses, completing the set to five dresses!

Love always,

Maggie:)