a post from shelby

so shelby is more or less one of my favorite people

and i asked her to guest post on my blog because i am so very busy and 

semi internet-less

on the beach getting burnt and eating smores. 

THANKS, shelby!

also, read her blog.

that is a command.

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There’s this weird phenomenon where people who are young and in love are somehow supposed to publicly acknowledge that we know it might not work out and that if it doesn’t, you know, whatever, life. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard “oh, you’re so young!” or “you don’t even know yourself until you’re thirty!” after hearing that I’m engaged, and I don’t disagree. I hope that I’ll be constantly growing for the rest of my life. I’ll just have Sam by my side.

There’s also this weird need for people to tell me that I need to date a wider variety of people before I “pick” one. I suppose this means that I’m supposed to go to clubs or bars and try to “find” someone. I went to college away from Sam. I had opportunities to meet more interesting and more desirable people, but I didn’t find any. Admittedly, I wasn’t looking, but I wasn’t looking for Sam, either. He just kind of happened. I found a good one at a young age and I’d like to keep him. Why wade through the creepers, cheaters, and generally boring individuals in pursuit of finding something only half as interesting and perfect for me than Sam? I have absolutely zero interest in dating around, and anyone that has ever married someone for love can absolutely attest to that fact. I like to joke that if Ryan Gosling was at my door, I’d still choose Sammy every time. And I would. 

You know how you have those moments where everything feels right and you’re right where you’re supposed to be? That’s how I feel with Sam. When he unexpectedly showed up at OSU after driving for three hours because I’d had a bad day and he wanted to cheer me up – that was one of those moments. When he asked me to marry him, after we had been baking scones after a really bad day and I knocked over a bowl of water that splashed all over the floor, only to turn around when I heard a chuckle to see him on one knee with an earnest look on his face – that was one of those moments. When we split grilled cheese sandwiches on his floor, or when I wake up to him giggling like a schoolboy as he parts my hair down the middle, or when I always, always forget to hang up my towels after I get out of the shower and he hangs them up for me with minimal complaint – those are those moments.

About a month ago, we adopted a puppy. In exactly eleven days, Sammy and I will be signing the lease on our first apartment. In about a year, we’ll be getting married. After almost three years of living in different states and going to different colleges, we’ll finally be together. Hopefully, in about ten years, we’ll be having babies that look like the triplets from Brave. I know that we’re young, but we’re also happy. Why wait?

A really long post about my sunny Saturday in Seattle

My weekend was packed. So packed that I'm just, erm, getting to most of the pictures now. And I still have some! But I'm just going to go with that being a good thing because, you know, that means more than just text posts. Which are fun. But not as fun as seeing the fabulously dressed and wonderful people I know in Seattle plastered on my blog, right? Right.

I got to spend my Saturday morning reuniting with some old friends from high school I haven't seen literally in years. I was half expecting that it might be weird or uncomfortable to get into the swing of the old high school days and yet it was like not a day had passed since we last went to Mexico and scaled buildings together (the latter of which I would not recommend and is one of my favorite memories with this bunch in particular- but that is a story for another day). It was really intriguing and kind of surreal to feel like high school was just yesterday sitting with people that knew me better than anyone a few years back but to realize, too, that each of us had been doing things with our lives and discovering what we were passionate about. Majors declared while some are already finished and onto Law school in Europe, stories upon stories of their travels across the world, and lives that have paralleled and diverged completely from the ones back in Idaho. It was truly fascinating and great to see where everyone has gone and to hear about the people they surround themselves with. It was a joyous morning where I was sort of designated the navigation leader since I actually live here (I do what!?) which was more or less a decent idea but I still managed to screw us up a couple times. We wandered Pike's, ate the largest strawberries I've ever seen that took me eight bites to finish, drank coffee, found a park, and just laughed. It was perfect.

Unfortunately my time with my old friends was interrupted by an appointment and a meeting by which time they were already out of Seattle due to parking fees being tremendously expensive (if you ever come to Seattle, don't drive downtown- take public transportation by all means necessary) and so I then got to meet up once more with my good pal Dillon who has made his appearance on my blog now a few times and a blogger who also recently moved to Seattle of whom we all shared a mutual friend. I knew I was going to be late and Dillon knew he was going to be late (don't make plans with us) but thankfully we ended up beating her to Cherry Street Coffee House and I only mention that we had coffee there because it's where I a) had the best iced chai tea latte of my life b) left my perfect cream cardigan. It's not the end of the world that I left it there but it mostly means buying a new one and since I'm on a tight budget being that Seattle is so expensive and I can't waste money all on clothes, I'm bummed.

I suppose I should also mention that as a coffee shop, Cherry Street Coffee House is really great and is a franchise so if you're ever in the area, I encourage the iced chai tea latte. So far it beats the Starbucks, Cafe Ladro, Pegasus, and Peet's. Yes, I'm making it my mission to find the best coffee and chai in Seattle this summer. My budget is definitely food centered and not clothing centered this summer.

After, the three of us headed to the Seattle Art Museum which marks my first time in a real museum and it was very different from my expectations. First of all, you're allowed to talk in museums. Second, not everything is abstract lines and squares randomly painted that you're supposed to interpret as meaning something by the color and orientation of the lines? There was history from around the world to read about and culture to see in front of your eyes. There was some questionable pieces of art I still don't really understand but there were some I could not stop looking at. In particular, the "vertigo" room in which paintings were supposed to be of texture and hold an optical allusion. My favorite painting that stands out was even a postcard that I'm definitely going back to the shop for because I still want it. We spent a solid couple hours in there and honestly I could have spent longer/want to spend longer (I was the slow person that walked slowly through each room).

Lastly, it was beautiful outside and Dillon nor I were quite ready to leave downtown in all of its sunny glory (cue lots of pasty arms and legs emerging from Northface jackets- Seattle and Missoula have something in common!) but Kayleigh had to commute home so the two of us walked around Seattle for the rest of the early evening/late afternoon. And, um, no big deal or anything but I may have beat a local at knowing where the Olympic Statue Park is downtown and the best place to view the skyline/ferris wheel was. Not that I'm bragging. I knocked another item off my bucket list which included buying flowers from Pike's on a sunny day and very lastly, took pictures in an alley of which Dillon and I had to wait for a man going to the bathroom not twenty yards from the street. I took photos of him because, duh, and although I can't show the (best) worst ones, I was laughing so hard.

It was a great, full day. One of the best days I've had in Seattle because it was so jam packed. I have a step counter on my iPhone and I walked ten miles, TEN miles, at the end of the day not counting the ten I walked on Friday. My life is so good to me right now.

Beechers on a Friday night with Nicole and Elanor!

I can tell you one thing for certain and that's that meeting up with fellow bloggers is something that never, ever gets old. And something special about this summer is that I have the chance to not only just "meet" a few, but hang out with them more than a few times which is such a rare and amazing opportunity. I got to finally meet Nicole over dinner with Elanor, who I met last fall, and it was the best Friday evening I could have asked for. We started with (wait for it) ... the BEST Mac & Cheese I've ever had (it is infamously named the best Mac & Cheese in Seattle so it's not just me) and then ran to my ferry where I ended up missing it. Um, hello opportunity to explore. So we did just that. And ended up in the Pioneer Square district, the oldest part of Seattle, saw many interesting people, and finished with getting matching ice cream cones in a shop with a stuffed bear that was quite seriously the creepiest stuffed anything I've seen.

This evening was so fun. Seattle timed its sunny weather for the perfect weekend. I might have worn tights, but I was ready to pull them off in a bathroom by lunchtime. I think I'm officially maybe putting them away for good. Maybe.

Also, aren't Nicole and Elanor just the prettiest girls you have ever seen?

you mean they aren't even related?

let's go back in time for a second to last weekend.

something i realized after these two set off on their merry way back to washington: i am getting old. i mean you don't really realize you're getting old while you're getting old until a 17 year old is staring you in the face and you suddenly realize you can hardly keep up. i couldn't believe the speed at which these two talked, ate, laughed, and did everything they did. i kept asking myself, what is wrong with me!? where did my energy go!? these two had me falling asleep on the couch by 11:30pm every night. danielle and katy, tell me how to get the energy you two have back. either i've lost it and it's never coming back or hanging out with 20 year olds has forced me to reign in the energy i once had.

thanks for reminding me what it's like to laugh to the point of tears and toots. seriously. tears and toots, guys. it was a fun fun fun weekend. these two can come back any time that they wish because not only did they let me drag them all over missoula to do my favorite things (coffee! pictures! ice cream! pizza! movies! drives! trying on clothes!) but they let me curl their hair and even cleaned my living room before leaving. i like them alright. and it was fun to pretend that i was friends with a set of twins because apparently that's what everyone i introduced them to thought they were, too. you two are the prettiest and funniest gals around.

they made me the happiest.

also, katy blogs. and took all of these pictures. and i only wish my blog had been half as good as hers when i was her age.

someone else blogged what i did today for me

i'm e x h a u s t e d.

now i know i'm not in the position to complain, but hawaii can tire a girl out. i almost feel like i need a spring break to recover from spring break.

which is why i got halfway through going through all of the hawaii pictures on my computer before having to stop and catch up with school and generally want to get twelve hours of sleep a night.

and this is also why i didn't blog... all week.

so here! look! a blog post my dear friend pal katy wrote about our day because she and my other dear friend pal danielle are here! and it includes a wonderful picture of me burning my tongue on hot coffee. oops. 

coffee in seattle

it was on my plane flight back to montana that i realized just how many planes i've been on in the last six months. i don't even want to count. it's a lot. and then i came home and the feeling of holy crap why did i leave my bedroom in this state before i left now i have to spend five hours catching up on all that i didn't do before i left set in. apparently i still haven't learned to clean everything before i leave. but, i was exhausted, so it wasn't until this afternoon that i looked at my bedroom floor and said to heck with all of this clutter! and i buckled down to it. it was the ultimate challenge! could i vacuum, do three loads of laundry, tidy everything, carry everything to my car and drive to the recycling center, do my homework, paint my nails, and do it all in less than five hours before bed!? turns out, i could! except when multitasking maggie gets busy, she gets way too far ahead of herself. and while all of my homework got done, the laundry was put in, and i even found time for a lovely run in the sixty degree weather, i may have put the laundry in before my shower resulting in an image i'm not going to dare describe to you. way to go, multitasking maggie. at least it's all done and i'm finally dry without the use of towels because they are still in the drier...?

anyways, outfit photos! what do you know! it's been a long time since those happened. while in seattle on sunday, i got to steal dillon (or rather, he stole me because he drove all the way out to where i was staying to get me) for the morning. breakfast and coffee at the sweetest little cafe occurred. just as we were leaving, he asked me if i wanted blog pictures taken. in my head i was like, you're asking ME!? because i'm so used to begging my friends and dragging tripods to railroad tracks by now. i even hesitated. so, we can all thank him for these pictures because it surely didn't cross my mind to even bother and in case you were ever wondering if i really do dress like this in the real world... i do. impractical skirts for montana wind and all! the realization that a long coat solves every skirt-blowing-in-the-wind problem was a big one in my life. har har har. but let me just say, this dress is my new go to for every occasion dress. so far it has met two incredibly dressed bloggers. 

aside from that i have exciting things that benefit you all if you can type a comment in an entry box soooooooon!

and thank you for the morning, dillon.

dress: ruche // tights: modcloth // shoes: steve madden