him & her: spring

"

thanks again, danielle!!!

it was a lot of fun to take pictures with you and i'm

excited to take more with you this summer!

we might be getting down the whole picture thing...trust me, it used to be awful.  the age old question seems to be: what do i do with my hands!? it turned out to be pure coincidence that  we wore red accents which worked pretty darn well if i do say so myself. also, it should be mentioned that if my sister is reading this and any other real life lurkers: i apologize for the pda. it's only reserved for the camera, promise. 

i'm struck every day by how awesome it is that i get to take this kid with me to college and take him back home for the summer. sometimes when we're at school together, i forget that we came from the same high school and share the same home town. it isn't like we're one couple here at home and another away at school, but it's so easy to forget where we started from as just two kids from a small town that had a crush. i see my friends at the beginning stages of their relationships sometimes and see how giddy they are and sometimes almost miss that newness, but then i realize i'm more comfortable around niklaas than any of my friends and that is something only two years of friendship can give and i'm happy. it really just gets better and better, friends!

Modcloth Dainty Squid dress

Red F21 tights

uo black flats

jcrew blazer & pants

h&m shirt & cardigan

uo oxfords

ascot thrifted

(another) rainy day

The weather around here doesn't seem to want to make up its mind, but then again, being a PNW girl through and through, I'm used to that. It seems like spring in Montana means that I have to change what I'm wearing three times a day. It can be in the low 40's and storming when I wake up at 7am, hot and sunny by the time 2pm rolls around, and warm but breezy at dinner time. Pants, dress, shorts.

I'm still getting used to the whole curling my hair thing. These pictures are actually a few weeks old and I think I'm getting used to it, but it's still a process! I don't technically have to curl my hair, but there's something about curls that makes my hair feel so much lighter on my shoulders. I have such thick hair that I usually have a hard time leaving it down all day and usually end up throwing it into a ponytail by the end of the day.

On a less superficial note (clothes and hair rant over), I'm getting really excited for what summer has in store! I'm working two jobs, both in labs, and taking two summer courses. All are happening on the same campus where I'll be working two floors below my dad in the same building and I'm kind of excited to get to take my lunch breaks with him again. It's seriously one of the coolest things to go a full year at school away from home to coming back for the summer working so close to my dad. I love his random visits or when our labs work together and I actually get to spend an entire day in his lab. Being that I'll be moving into a rental house next year that I will have to pay for on my own, I'll be working more to earn more money this summer and I'm a teensy bit excited about the additional responsibility. I think my summer was a little too relaxed last year and this summer will probably be my last going back to Idaho for a few years!

*these pictures aren't edited at all!

outfit deets:

dress & sweater- borrowed from my roommate

boots- Sperry via Nordstroms

tights- Urban Outfitters

bow- Forever21

pictures with danielle {part 2}

see part 1 here!

my sister and i are really, really different.

case in point, we got in a fight yesterday about towels. 

i'm the kind of person

that doesn't really think twice about using whatever clean towels are on the

towel rack when i get out of the shower, but she is. 

i'm the kind of person who is pretty easy going and free flowing,

i don't have much of a personal space bubble at home, but she does.
her room is her room, her stuff is her stuff.

i'm really, really bad sometimes at being considerate of these things because
our mindsets are so different that i don't think
about the fact that someone else will be upset if i do something
differently than they do.
it's pretty much the only thing that ever causes fights. and they almost
always start that way.
i feel bad, i really do.

i think one of the most interesting things about humanity
is the way people see themselves.
i think i'm an easy person to live with because of how well my roommates
and i mesh at school. at school, i've learned to be very conscious
of my actions and how they affect others.
but at home, i'm comfortable. and i've realized that i do
make terrible messes and i do push buttons, even if it isn't intentionally done.
i clean when i want to but not always when i need to.
i really do want to be better but to do that i'm realizing
i really do have to place those thoughts into priorities in my head
like i do at school.

it's one thing to grow up and excel at being on my own
(i'm still not always perfect there, either) while i'm at school,
but if i haven't learned that at home then what have i accomplished
really?

 i think that's what my sister has been saying all along...
and i should probably start to listen to her.

i'm home

with all of this

and i'm happy happy happy.

the first official post: him and her!

after i posted a joint q&a post that niklaas contributed to, i got so many emails and comments requesting much to my surprise for more of niklaas. i came up with the idea of specific "him and her" posts that each of us would contribute to much like the q&a one and make it a weekly/bi-weekly thing we'd do. it will range from clothes to music to youtube videos to more q&a's to outfit posts to email answers to what's on our mind and more! this marks our first official one in which we just made simple spring wishlists. i'm really really excited about this and had more fun than i anticipated! please please please email me if you have anything at all you'd like to see or if you have any questions (especially for him!!!!!)! lifesizepaperdoll(at)yahoo(dot)com!

1// 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 

*niklaas has a serious jcrew crush. i just wish that they had as amazing clothes for women as they do men! and i would seriously be okay with him buying that cashmere sweater if only there was $298 lying around to buy it with.

*i'm dying over that anthropologie top. if i'm unlucky while at the mall of america, i may splurge on it (but probably not)

*i'm a lucky girl.

first day of school

nothing says hello to spring semester like a 7:00am wake-up alarm. however, on only the first day, i managed to oversleep when in the middle of tossing and turning in my bed in the hour prior (i'm always restless before the first day)(also, it's quite an adjustment to go from my perfect soul mate mattress at home to a still uncomfortable with three mattress pads dorm bed) and mid dream, i managed to convince myself that it was actually tuesday. thus, making myself think i could sleep in because after all, i didn't have classes on tuesday. this was in the middle of dreaming. even my subconscious wasn't ready for school to begin.

and yet, after a skipped shower (at one point, i was awake enough to realize that my dreaming self was completely and utterly wrong and all too manipulative) and quick hair brushing (it's a good morning when that gets done), i walked to my 8:10am class. it was pretty dreary outside and still a wee bit dark, but it was oddly peaceful, too. 

i might regret saying this later, but i'm actually kind of excited and motivated for my genetics class. it might be the first biology class in college where i'm not scratching my head 75% of the time wondering why i'm taking the class and why my major is biology. genetics just sounds cool, doesn't it? my professor also spent 18 months in chile and tends to veer off into random stories about it. also, he has a southern drawl. i like it. i like it a lot.

at 9:10 in the exact same room (pretty much every single one of my classes are in the same two rooms in the same building)(that's what happens when you're a science major) i had stats. um, ew? i don't know why but i just don't get the stats vibe. thankfully, i do have friends in there. how cool is it to recognize five or six people in college? i think it's cool. anyways, my stats teacher seems a little bit like professor trelawney from harry potter (do i even need to specify who she is?) except with a southern drawl as well. i'll be listening to "ya'll's" all semester long. for two hours a day three times a week. welp.

after stats, i walked across campus to my next class: creative writing. fiction. i don't think i've ever been more nervous for a class in my life. aside from writing 101, i've taken all science and math classes in college. not because i'm scared of the work, but because i'm scared of actually going to figure out if this is something worth pursing (aka if it's something i'm good at). plus, letting other people read my fictional efforts makes me want to scratch my eyes out this second. seriously, my blood pressure is rising just thinking about it. i walked in and sat in the second to the last row in the middle of the room between a girl with eleven piercings from her nose and chin (i'm not judging, she actually seems pretty awesome) and a girl with a white iPhone. Sorry, but people with white iPhones immediately earn my admiration. they are classy devices. and, just as class was about to start, she entered the room. and my first thought (after my jaw promptly snapped closed) was THIS GIRL COULD BE A MODCLOTH MODEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she was wearing the most amazing vintage black knee length dress with a white ruffled color and shoulder pads. plus, adorable patterned tights and the cutest oxford brown heels that i've ever seen. oh, and a red belt. and her dark hair was pulled aside in a side pony. she is adorable.

so, of course, being the awesome person she is, she made us read our writing out loud on the first day (ohhhhhhhh shoot). of course, we didn't know we'd be writing our handwritten biographies to the class. so of course, mine was definitely a page long run on sentence of facts about myself here and there consisting of the statements that taylor swift should seriously have a restraining order against me, i am 19 and never want to turn 20, i believe in fairytales, i hated dinner, i sometimes expelled flatulence when i laughed really hard (along with my sister), i wanted my name to be maggey grace with an -ey, i spent too much money at modcloth, and i had no idea what i really wanted to do with my life except write about it in composition notebooks because my obsession with everything ultimately leads to my own demise because i can't for the life of me decide on one major. anyways, it basically sounded like someone on drugs and as people went before me, i was like shoot. everyone of these crazy cool creative writing people kept theirs "normal". i didn't even mention where i grew up or what i did in high school or who was in my family or anything as factual and normal like theirs. so when it came to be my turn, i started reading my page long run on sentence and heard laughter around the room (making me red in the face). ugh. when i finished, modcloth model beamed at me and clapped and said, "i love sentences that never seem to end. that was excellent!" um, okay. the girl after me was still laughing and began her biography with, "well, mine is not nearly as interesting but here we go." interesting? you mean out of her mind? so, moral of the story? i walked away somewhat excited.

it's only 1:00pm, but already my first day is starting off well. i could finish this blog post at the end of the day, but really, who am i kidding? everything notable just happened. and i don't think i've ever been more excited to be in a class than i am for creative writing. because reading out loud was actually somewhat... refreshing/cool/exhilarating? minus the tmi part.

Feels Like Spring

Onions. Onions. Onions. I spent four hours at work today scrubbing rotten onion residue off of 50 onion crates. Have you ever smelled rotten onions? Or...rotten onion week old juice? My sense of smell is completely shot and onions are all I can smell and taste. I guess I better get used to it considering I have three and a half months left and onions will be my mantra until August 28th. Woot.

So, lately I've toyed with the idea of making some sort of blog shop. I know a lot of people have them, but I really don't know how effective bloggers are in selling their old clothes nor how much interest there would be. And then there's the "how". Do I make a separate "blog"? A separate "page" on my blog? A "tumblr" shop? I only intend on selling items that I have showed on my blog because I only want to sell things that I would continue to wear. I wear a S-M and most of my clothes only get worn a few times (thus, blog shop!). Anyways, if you have any comments/feedback/interest, please, please, please let me know!

I've been grumpy and entirely pathetic these three days of summer. The last two weeks have killed me. Between finals, flying home for prom in a whirlwind trip, soccer tournaments, packing, and studying, I have reached my max. I still haven't unpacked and I have four suitcases on my bedroom floor littered with clothes thrown to and fro. It's bad. I've basically been going to work, watching Netflix, driving my sister to where she needs to go, and doing her homework. Somehow, I'm still pretty busy following my sister's schedule and I really just need a solid weekend of nothing!

I got this top from Forever21 for Christmas and I love that I'm still wearing it in the spring! I need to love these shorts more- they're so perfect and comfortable and match everything! I'm loving the break from bad weather to go tights free. I love my tights, but there's only so much I can handle. One of my favorite things is exploring my moms closet and finding old shoes. None of them are fancy, per say, but simple black heels? Score! I added socks and voila!

Have a wonderful Thursday!

Floor Nine

So here's what's going down on floor 9 of Aber Hall:

At the start of the school year, our neighbors kindly invited us over for some birthday cake and some quality sing-a-long jamming on their guitar. It all seemed pretty jolly and ho-hum, the kind of thing you anticipate when you go to college. A spontaneous birthday party on your dorm floor, meeting tons of new people, singing Matt Nathanson...what could go wrong?!?

And then it started. Now, personally, I don't care if you smoke or drink or what you decide to do in your free time. It's your choice and while I wouldn't necessarily make the same decisions, if it doesn't affect me directly, who am I to say anything? One night in the middle of a Chemistry crisis, I smelled it. And...ten minutes later, my head started to ache. And then the yelling and music started. And for the next three hours, our room absolutely reeked and people in the hallways started knocking on our door to see where the smoke was coming from. Nope, not us. Just our neighbors smoking pot and stinking up both our room and the hall way. That's when it did start to affect me and when all of us started to get a wee bit annoyed.

Luckily, it didn't happen again for another month. And then it did, again, in the middle of a Chemistry crisis at my desk. It was an ugh moment but we let it pass again without notice. By this point, it was mid-November and there was only a month left in the semester so no one really cared enough to do anything. The next time, it was only 2 weeks later. And then twice more before the semester over. And, the worst night of all, the night before my Chemistry final. Now, we started to really get annoyed. I mean, really!?!? In our dorm? How could they not know that you could smell it from the other end of the hallway? How could you not think that our RA could catch them in a second? 

Semester finally ended and my roommate and I and everyone on floor 9 forgot about our neighbors and their illicit activities in our dorm. After 5 weeks, we came back to semester and were nothing but smiles. It didn't take long for our neighbors to return to their old regime, however, and soon enough, it became once a day. And then....two times a day. And, as it got worse, so did their attitudes. Their sleeping schedules got messy and they started yelling at us to be quiet at 3PM...in the afternoon. And then staying up all night playing music. One day, we noticed a piece of paper next to their door in the hallway where the window at the end of the hall was located. People sometimes talk on the phone there because it's at the end of the hallway and a convenient place to  talk without disrupting the whole dorm. 

The sign said, "This is not a place to talk on the phone, please don't. -room 958." Our entire floor was pissed, I mean, where else do we have the option of going to talk on the phone for two minutes at night when our roommates are sleeping? And besides, did they ever respect any of us!? So, my friend Maggie taped another piece of paper right next to the other sign saying, "This is not a place to smoke your pot, please don't. -floor 9." Maybe not the most mature way to handle things, but after hearing a slew of obscenities and the ripping of paper when they discovered it, it stopped completely and once again floor 9 was drama free!

And then, again, things got worse. I guess we should have predicted this, fight fire with fire, and the whole floor would burn. Slowly, they started writing comments on our door white-board. And then unplugging our Christmas lights multiple times a day. And then unscrewing the lightbulbs. We only know that it was them because one of the other floor 9 gals saw them do it and told our RA. Finally, two days ago, my roommate woke up at the usual 7AM to shower. She walked outside her door to discover her shower caddy...gone. Gone. Literally, gone. Now, I guess we don't technically know who did it. But considering our neighbors across from us and next to us moved out and every other shower caddy was there perfectly intact, we have our fair guess. Together, we banged on their door and asked if they knew where it was. Our neighbor looked at us, smiled and laughed sarcastically, and said, "Why would we do that?" And slammed the door in our face. Huh.

So that's where we're at now. Missing shower caddies. Awkward passings in the hallway. Watching them and all their friends look up when we enter the cafeteria. And, even if it's not them, who would honestly be stupid enough to steal a used razor, shampoo and conditioner, a body sponge, face wash, body wash, and awkward items that only belong to their rightful users in the shower? Like, honestly. The last thing I would want to do out of revenge is take something that has been where God only knows in the shower. It's laughable. It's hilarious. It's down right weird. My only guess as to who might be dumb enough to do this: people who will smoke pot in their dorm room with their door open when the RA is home. 

Truth be known, we'll probably never solve the mystery. And we'll never get along with our neighbors. But, I'll miss floor 9 in three weeks when the semester ends and I can't wait to laugh about the mystery of the missing shower caddy for years to come.

under my umbrella

It was the middle of the night, lying on the baby blue floral couch we'd laid on just the same a thousand times before. Your fingers ran along my cheek, lips brushing familiar ground. Beneath layers of flannel and down comforters by the plenty, I could feel the warmth and pounding of your heart; irregularly regular at best. Everything was exactly as it should be; together, nestled in a singular place that could be pinpointed with the same tack on a map. And when your fingers brushed just there, I could feel the giggle rising in my throat without my consent and your lips smile as you tickled by accident. I pulled back ever so slightly feeling your warmth breath fill the space between us. I wanted to memorize every moment and keep it locked away tightly where I could always hold you again. I wanted the infinite ability to come back to precisely this. This moment that would forever hold us to the ease of our youth, just two kids on a single couch as nothing more than just kids. Under the blue light of the television screen, I saw your green eyes looking at me looking at you. And again, without a thought, I giggled.


I find myself going back to everything these days. Thinking about those memories and thoughts that are now four seasons old. Remembering what I was doing, what I was thinking, where I was going just one year ago. So much has changed and all of it for the better, but it's only when the sun comes out granting coat-free weather once again that I realize just exactly where I am and where I was. I'm almost done with my freshmen year of college. I was a graduating senior. I'm going to college with my friendboy. I was best friends with someone I thought wasn't going to be in my life for more than a couple more months, if that. I'm almost 19. I was almost 18.  I am completely content. I was confused. I know it's not a lot and I know I tend to be a bit of a drama-queen, but I feel like a completely different person in a completely different relationship than I was on April 8th of last year. It's amazing, really, to come so far in just a year and to be able to really see in front of my eyes everything that's changed. I love being able to look at my diary from exactly a year ago and so specifically remember everything that was happening and comparing just how different they are now.



One year ago, Niklaas and I had our first 'photoshoot'. We were driving around today, me in my new Modcloth umbrella dress and hot pink umbrella Niklaas made the decision of me purchasing. It's true, I'm so bad at weighing out in my head whether I want to spend the six dollars on something I know I will use frequently and is a practical choice. Like, impulse oxfords at Ross. Or a hot pink umbrella. We ended up at the exact same place where we had our first shoot one year ago. Last time, we didn't really know what we were doing. I laughed, awkwardly, a lot. And he clicked hesitantly, a lot. This time, it was easy. I laughed naturally and he clicked as he pleased. And, at the end of the day, I came away loving these pictures more than almost all of ours combined.

dress-Modcloth tights-Forever21 shoes-Lulus bow-Forever21 umbrella-Ross

Most of the time (okay, half of the time) I can regain debit card control against Modcloth when I fall in love. This was not one of these times. I saw the umbrella print and that was really all it took. It was an added bonus that it was not rayon and that it had buttons on the back. I knew upon first glance that I was going to use an umbrella when I finally took pictures of it. It seems that whenever we have the clearest visions for our shoots, they turn out the most different. However, this almost always means they turn out different for the best! I wanted dark and dreary for this shoot but we got bright and sunny. Which turned out perfect because I haven't had a drop of spring on the blog yet. I know everyone has long since dove into spring, but consider this my spring debut!


I felt a little silly in yellow tights and an umbrella printed dress with a hot pink umbrella and blue bow in my hair. In fact, I felt like I was five years old again. But I couldn't be happier with how all the colors worked together and how happy these pictures are! I swear, this is the kind of photoshoot I want every single time. I think the constant in the equation is Niklaas. Hehe ;)




Tonight, we are going to dinner and watching Tangled and doing fun adventure things. For those of you in a relationship, do you have designated "dates"?? It's so funny because if everything we planned together was considered a date...then we would have been dating much longer than we actually have. So when people like my mom say, "Oh, are you and Niklaas going on a date tomorrow?" I have to stop and think... well is it? Hahaha. I guess it depends on the definition ;) Nonetheless, it doesn't really matter to me. I have fun date or no date!