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Sunday, October 31

Giveaway #2!

I was going to wait to post this until a little later when I gained four new followers...but, alas, it's Halloween and I don't have a real post for you all, so why not post a giveaway??
Yay!
Anyways, CSN stores is sponsoring this giveaway which is awesome. I won Catherine's giveaway for CSN stores and I bought some lovely dorm equipment and a pair of fuzzy leather moccasin shoes which is kind of fantastic. They are so soft and comfy! CSN Stores has over 200 online stores where you can find everything from contemporary coffee tables to fantastic fitness equipment to cookware, so virtually, you can find anything you want! 
They are giving away a $35 gift certificate to the winner!
GIVEAWAY ENDS: NOVEMBER 13

Rules for the giveaway:
One: Leave a comment with your name, email, and blog link.
Two: A comment = 1 entry
          Blogging about giveaway= 3 (total) entries
          Following my tumblr here OR following my twitter here =  5 (total) entries
Three: If you blog about the giveaway or follow me on tumblr, leave a comment with your comment entry or in a separate comment.
Four: Tell me one good thing that has happened to you this year in your comment :)
Five: You must be a follower! :)

I'm going to do another giveaway this month, too, of clothing items/accessories I pick out, so keep your eyes on the lookout too!

Thank you!
Love,
Maggie

Thursday, October 28

whisper soft and slow

If you haven't heard that Taylor Swift's new album came out this week, then you must be living under a rock. I hope that when you did see her, you all thought of me :) You can bet that I went to target and bought the physical edition and...yes, cried of joy. You can also bet that I'm pretty much not going to listen to anything else for the next few months. I am just dying of joy!

In honor of my lovely Taylor, I wore my cowboy boots and a dress every single day this week. Even in the thirty degree weather we experienced all week long and even with a few snowflakes in the air. Virtually, there is snow covering every single mountain surrounding little Missoula and I'm just waiting for it to reach us! I can taste it, it's so close!
I debated whether I was going to post these pictures or not- they aren't my normal pictures and it wasn't anything I had planned to blog. I went to go take fall pictures of my friends and then they had my camera in my hands and told me to go play with leaves. So I asked them to just take full body shots since I figured maybe, maybe they were blog worthy. I think this might be my problem. I over-analyze everything and want everything to be absolutely perfect. But I am posting them as a spontaneous gesture, so I hope it pleases you ;).
dress: delias coat: delias boots: Ross tights: Target
These tights are a very recent purchase and I've found myself wearing them...constantly. A girl in my hall that I'm not particularly fond of was like, "Wow! I haven't worn white tights since I was like...four years old! Theyre....cute." I was like, huh, thanks. Ha! This outfit was maybe a bit more youthful than I've been dressing lately since it seems my wardrobe has grown into a fleet of dark clothing, but still. If you remember, I wore this dress in our 4th of July shoot from forever ago. Remember how this was my sister's dress and I wanted to keep it? Well the date passed for her to return it...so guess who got it? :) You know I'm having a bad hair day or just a busy day when I have my knit beanies on as I do in these pictures. Seriously. There is nothing cute you can do with short hair if you have two minutes to get out the door!
Oh! And this jacket, of course! I bought this in the middle of summer knowing Missoula was going to be cold. It was on clearance for thirty dollars and unfortunately, they only had mediums left when I would have preferred a small or an extra-small so it's a little large on me...but it's warm. And that's what counts! I LOVE that it's yellow. Someone told me it was very fitting for me since they said I am always smiling and it was probably the nicest compliment ever. Wearing it does make me smile though!
What is everyone doing for halloween?? I'm planning on....studying...because even though I literally just announced that I did amazing on my last chemistry test, we have another one next week. That means another 30 hours of studying this weekend. Plus some more because this unit is harder than the last. Ugh. But, I have faith in myself now! My best friend from home, Margaret, is also coming to visit this weekend and I hope to see her :)! EEEP! Next weekend after the test, I'm going home too, so the next two weeks will just be wonderful. Minus chemistry ;)

Have a wonderful weekend!
Love,
Maggie

Sunday, October 24

just a dream

AH! HELLO! It's me! I, Maggie, have returned from the great abyss of college! It truly sucked me into this black hole of sleepless long days of studying and uncute outfits and television withdrawals and summer nostalgia. However...*drumroll*, it was perhaps two of the best weeks of college yet! 
I had a conversation with my friend the other day after significant events happened and he was like, "Maggie, you're crazy. Don't you want to have any fun?" Well, of course I have fun! I relplied, "I'm not crazy! A night of fun is nice and all, but the feeling of getting an amazing test grade is more fun than just a singular night." He looked at me, laughed, and shook his head and mumbled on about how crazy I was. Well. I think I might be, too, actually. The week I left the blogging world I studied for 26 hours for one test in 4 days. That's six a day!! Just for chemistry. Remember how I failed the first one? Yeah. I told myself I wasn't going to fail this one, thus, massive amounts of studying. WELL....as I foreshadowed previously, I did well. So well in fact, I got the best grade in the class of 250 people. I aced that sucker and I started crying in the middle of the class. And squealing, yes. So, THANK YOU for your words of encouragement. It seems I'm always the last person to believe in my academic success.
I guess that means so much for my back-up future plans I had going. I made a list that I put on my mirror of my alternate careers if I couldn't pass chemistry and those included: A) Interior Design (What with all my pattern, color, texture doing in my clothes, I just realized this could actually be something I could loveeee) B) Wedding Planner (I've been stalking wedding blogs constantly and I love them more than anything) C) Wedding Dress Designer (You're going to think I'm crazy, but I seriously have sketched about five possible dresses I want for myself. And for my sister. And my good friends. Hahaha) D) Writer (although, this is definitely still at the forefront of my "future" plans).
Other than studying, I went home, as you all know and it was the most splendidly fantastic weekend ever. I spent all of Friday night with my lovely sister and thinking about it almost makes me tear up. Seriously. I've missed her so much lately. She truly is my "other half" and going back, it makes me see how much she really is growing up! We went to "Easy A" together which is the BEST movie ever and also surprised my best friend Jenni at the football game. Which turned into her scaring me, me screaming, me causing a scene, and a massive (okay, only like 10) crowd of people surrounding me wondering how I could be there. Haaa! Also, without planning this, Niklaas was at the football game and it was almost like the you belong with me music video as we embraced in the bleachers! Teeheee.
(this is my favorite shot)
I won't go into detail about the rest of the weekend because then I'll end up writing a novel, but basically I spent Saturday seeing everyone I could and every moment I wasn't with various best friends, I was with Niklaas taking pictures, walking around the perfectly fall-ed town, and couch-ing. My mom took us to breakfast and he had dinner at our house and I went to their house to watch a movie. Our parents want us...a lot :) Which is cute! I don't mind. Hehe.
My blog break was wonderful. I missed it, and you all, quite frequently, but it gave me some new perspective. I got up every morning excited to get dressed again because I didn't feel any pressure to wear something that I could take pictures in later. I was reminded of why I blog in the first place which is to share my love of getting dressed every day and in the past month, that joy wasn't there. It also didn't help that I don't have my amazing photography at disposal so that even if my outfit is lacking creativity, we can incorporate an awesome location into it to make it creative. I needed a breather just to refresh my mind and now I'm feeling so much more lively and ME. I got an amazing letter from Alex this week, too, that made me remember: when blogging becomes a popularity contest and comment number race, that's when the point is defeated. I've met some truly amazing people here and I need to stop stressing about page views and comments and sponsors. It's about YOU all and being inspired.
 On to this photoshoot...I am SO excited about it. Niklaas was purely experimenting and for the first time, we shot indoors. In fact, we used his garage. They turned out so.... ahhhh! I love them. Love love love. They're the kind of pictures I look at and think, "Wow. It is so cool that it's me in these amazing pictures." The lighting is so nifty and I love how the sheet ended up working. Niklaas and I have this innate way of without really talking about our creative contributions, combining our efforts into something that works so well. I told him I wanted to wear pearls and  a fancy black dress and he said we wanted to shoot indoors . And the two ideas look like they should be married. They look made for each other! This happens allll the time. I love our team effort!
This was one of the dresses I gave away in my giveaway and...yes, I did steal it for a shoot. I love the included pearls and frilly skirt. I got these tights this summer and I love them. I've used them once on this blog! Add in my favorite vintage heels and floral headband updo....and this turned out perfectly.
This here is our fancy little setup and Niklaas :) Hehe. 
The color turned out interesting...but I like the black and white more:)
This (above) is Niklaas' favorite shot of the day.
 dress-Ross headband-wetseal shoes-thrifted tights-urbanoutfitters
I cleaned my entire dorm today complete with vacuuming and dusting and it's fantastic. One of my favorite things in the world is to lie on the floor and it's finally clean enough that I can!
Well, that's all :) I hope you all have a wonderful week and I'm going to catch up on all of your blogs now!! Yayyyy! It feels good to be back!!
Love, Maggie

Wednesday, October 20

Guest Blogger: Simply Sunstar.

Hello lovely readers of Lifesize Paperdoll! I'm Heather from Simply Sunstar. I'm so excited to be filling in for Maggie today and to be a part of her blog! So you all get to witness a first for me, I had my brother take my outfit pictures today. Normally, my fiance Jeff is my full time photographer but he's stuck at work. My brother did a great job though and was hilarious throughout our shoot. He thought it was hysterical that I kept looking down. He said "That's my favorite pose because it looks like you're looking for something." Then he would say "Maybe it's under that yellow leaf...no not that one...that one." Ahh siblings! So needless to say, I had fun shooting pictures for Maggie's blog!

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So I haven't worn this dress in 3-4 years! Last night I was staring at my closet (something I do rather often) and thought to myself "I'm finally going to wear this!" So I looked closely at the colors and just slowly started adding until I felt like it was ready. I'm so excited with the result.

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life2

So I know Kate challenged you all earlier this week, so I'm going to do a small challenge of my own. Go into your closet and wear that one thing that you've been contemplating getting rid of. Dig out an item you haven't worn in years and work your blogger magic. Since it's fall, add layers until you accomplish a look you love. I promise you, you'll surprise yourself. I would love to see what you all come up with so send me a link to your blog and if enough people are interested and participate, I'll do a feature on it!

life5

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read my thoughts and look at my pictures that were taken just for you! I know Maggie has truly amazing readers and I feel so lucky to get to share with you! :)

Monday, October 18

Octspiration

Hello gorgeous readers! Its Kate from Postcards From here sending you some big online waves (and hugs!) all the way from the sunny land of Australia. I am guest posting for Maggie today, and very excited about it - since this is my very first guest post! I couldnt think of a better blog to kick it off on. Maggie is such a sweetheart! Dont you guys just love her?

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I thought alot about what to write about this morning, and nothing was really sticking out - and then I just thought "inspire!" - Im always wanting to inspire, but today I thought I would do something a bit different. I thought of some things that are easy to do - and sometimes we forget how easy they truly are, or the importance of them. So I challenge you to do one thing on this list by the end of the month, and let me know if you do! I want to hear stories! I promise I will do the challenge, also.

1. Bake a cupcake/pie/cake for your neighbor.
2. Take photo's in a pumpkin patch and send it to a friend that is not with you right now. Tell them you wish they were with you, frollicking through fields of pumpkins!
3. Setting up your candy bowls beside your door for the 31st? Put some loose change in another bowl and give it to kids that are collecting for charitys on the night.
4. Rake your parents yard, then jump into the pile (make them do it with you!!) 
5. Go to the thrift store and get some oldschool canning jars, make some homemade jam and give it to someone as a gift.
6. Find a homeless person and buy them a jacket (and throw in some halloween candy, too!)
7. Try being thankful for everything for one day, instead of asking for things or complaining (its difficult, but amazing!)
8.  Go to your favorite coffee shop and buy the person behind you a coffee too. 
9.Go find your old school box full of all your kindergarten art. Pick your favorite one, and frame it and give it to your parents.
10. Love more. 


I hope you feel inspired. Thanks for reading my guest post, and have a lovely rest of your October! Big hugs from down under. xx

Love,
Kate Maggie <3

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skirt:cotton on/velvet leotard:forever 21/leopard scarf:urban outfitters/buckle wedges:asos/knee high socks:we love colors/belt:urban outfitters

Sunday, October 17

I want to grow older with a girl like you...

So it looks like I've been commissioned to write another one of Maggie's guest posts. And, I was actually have supposed to have done this on...Thursday, but all kinds of things, (especially Maggie herself) have gotten in my way, so I'm FINALLY writing this four days late.

Since you probably don't recognize my writing, even though I've guest posted before, I suppose I'll say that this is Niklaas, yes, the boyfriend, and also the one who takes many a picture for Maggie. Since I don't have a whole lot to say, I'm gonna put up some pictures from around town, as well as a few sneak peeks at some of Maggie's future posts.

Before I begin, I feel like I should tell you all about myself. Even though there's been a lot said, you and I have never really been introduced. Let's see... So, I'm a senior in high school, I play soccer and take pictures, I've decided that I way prefer fashion and portraits to any other style, aannnddd....that's probably about it. As far as other things go...I shot most of these pictures on the Canon 40D, if it wasn't on that, I'll let you know. P.S. I'm totally going to photography-nerd-out on these pictures, so bear with me. (If you don't it could get grizzly) (Hahahahaha...)



So this first picture was taken at a wedding that I ended up being drafted to shoot backup pictures at, and this was the one that I absolutely ended up falling in love with. The focusing absolutely wins it, in my opinion. To be honest, I was a lucky duck that any of these wedding pictures ended up turning out, since it was my very, very first day with the the 40D, and since it didn't come with an instruction manual (buy cameras used on Amazon...best. deal. ever.) I had to basically brute force good (read: decent) pictures out of it. Plus, it was super bright that day, so there was terrible, terrible glare coming off this wheat field there was all that to contend with too.




Alright, so I took this next one on the beach in Mexico almost a year ago today. Back when I finally met Maggie (such nostalgia!), but since we were effectively living for a week on a beach, there wasn't a way in HELL I would take any kind of "fancy" camera. But I've got to admit, after using a disposable camera, I actually liked it way more than I thought I would...I absolutely love the romantic qualities that some really hardcore film grain makes pictures, and with some ISO way out there (it must've been in the 1000's) in the cheap, Mexican, disposable camera that I used, I got some awesome, awesome unintended effects.



This one was taken while I was out on a photography "date" with another one of my good friends. We managed to get to the top of our nearby mountain JUST as the sun was going down. The lighting was actually kind of weird, since it was a hazy day, but I suppose things turned out in the end.



So this is a sneak peek, so to speak (rhyme!) though you MAY have seen this a while ago, I don't actually remember, but there it is. This was our first (and only!) indoor shoot, and I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome! We were using the sketchiest lighting set up ever though (see the next picture!)
 and there definitely wasn't enough light so I was shooting way slow (1/30, 1/40) so a lot of them ended up blurry.

So this is the lighting from that indoor shoot. And yes, it's a tad bit sketchy. The worst part was that bare, incandescent, bulb next to my left arm. That thing heated up to about a million degrees, and when I tried to soften up the light, I ended up setting one of my t-shirts on fire.



This is the last picture...sorry kids! And it, as you (hopefully) guessed isn't of me nor Maggie. This is of a kid who used to go to our high school, and has since graduated. His mom wanted me to get a few pictures of him playing the accordion (long story) and this was the best one I managed to take.

So that's it for now! I hope you enjoyed the guest post, y'all! If you want to see MORE of my pictures, and quite a few more sneak peeks of Maggie, you ought to check out my tumblr.

--Niklaas

Tuesday, October 12

inside of you

I am up first! This is such a great responsibility, so let's see how it goes. The picture above is seriously one of my favorites... I can't figure out what it is that makes me love it so much. The patterns together look beautiful and  the belt is simply amazing. In fact, I have tons of pictures that I love, so I had to have them all together! Therefore, I made a video with some of my favorites and then after it you'll learn about my identity. Enjoy!



Hello readers from lifesize paperdoll! I am Alex from Inside the Mind of Alex and today I am here as a guest blogger due to Maggie's complicated schedule this week... and she is also about to have a nice four-day weekend! So... I really want to make this post as beautiful as the ones Maggie has every week. That actually led me to take outfit pictures outside, which I've never done before. It was weird because I felt that my neighbor was actually watching me take pictures of myself, but I can't prove he was there. I was so nervous someone would see me! I hope no one cared because I almost dropped my camera in order to take the pictures so I could show them here. Hehehe. The things we do for our blogs.

I live on far West Texas and the temperature here it's so warm! That's not good for me because I love cardigans and tights and boots and all those winter things. As you can clearly see, our grass is still completely green! However, I kind of like to disobey mother nature and I wore my red cardigan the whole morning. Sadly, I had to take it off during the afternoon because it was around 80F! I was initially going for a dress-with-tights look, but my legs can't take it when it is this warm.



These shoes are incredibly awesome! They have small studs on the sides and they are nude! What else could you ask for? Oh, and the LBD is just the best purchase I've done so far. It goes with anything! I seriously should stop buying so many black clothes... but they're irresistible. 
I love the trees behind my house because they look as if they were ours! The good thing is that we don't have to take care of them... and they are our best decoration outside. Hehehe. The grass had grown so much that my feet kept getting trapped. I think there's some remainders of it on my shoes. 

This ring is the coolest thing my mother has bought for me. I also have the earrings, but they don't look as magical as the ring. My boyfriend kept joking that the little heart on my ring symbolized the real heart I posses. Ha-ha, very funny young man. Speaking of my boyfriend... we are about to celebrate our 3rd year anniversary and I don't know what to buy! The first year I ordered a pair of custom made Nike's. The second year I bought this awesome jigsaw puzzle from the The Beatles' Revolver album. I am so stressed! He is like this Halo obsessed, Beatles fan, thick (real) glasses, Ben Sherman/Penguin shirt, "Wired" magazine, Scrubs/30 Rock kind of guy. Eh, I don't know if that made any sense at all! So yeah /: Phew, I wish I had a clue what to buy next.

Moving on with the post. I bought some great finds this weekend at a thrift store!
 This leather bag was six dollars! I mean, come one! It's beautiful, even though it's somewhat small... I fell in love so quickly that I couldn't let go of it.
The first belt is a leather Abercrombie & Fitch belt! I didn't even notice it was A&F until I came home. Meh, I can live with that because it's a belt and it was six dollars! The last belt is actually from Target, but I just had to show it! It's the one I wore yesterday for school with the little black dress. Finally, I purchased a green J. Crew sweater for five bucks, but I couldn't picture it because my mom took it for dry cleaning.

Oh, I almost forgot. Tomorrow's my brother's 18th birthday. Half of him is happy and the other half wants to stay "Seventeen Forever" (I can't believe he quotes Metro Station so many times). Anyway, tomorrow after class my boyfriend and I are taking him to Wingstop (one of his favorite places near campus... because he wanted Hooters, but that's too far from school and... yeah, no). Later that day it's the Shakira concert! (I just basically gave out where I live haha) So tomorrow will be pretty interesting because we will be at school from 8:30 in the morning until the concert finishes (which I predict will be around 11). What a day. She actually had to open another date because tickets were sold out in hours! It's like she's some Elton John for our community! I was impressed. Bravo, Shakira. I just hope she doesn't sing that song "Loca" because that's the most annoying song. It sounds like... Ninel Conde (YouTube that). Oh, I just YouTubed that! Ninel Conde... that's freaking hilarious! I would've translated everything here for you guys, but it's just so trashy and dumb that I won't do it. OK, I got caught up. Sorry.




I really have nothing else to share, but thanks for reading all of this and I hope you enjoyed the guest post. Stay tuned for the next guest bloggers! :)

Love, 
Alex.