red wall, green boots

Let's get one thing straight. My Hunter Wellingtons are my favorite item that I own. I wear them in rain, sun, and snow. If they weren't so expensive, I'd probably buy them in every color and wear them every single day. They are absolutely my favorite gift that I've ever received and I get so many wears out of these babies! I realized today that I'd never worn them here, which is strange considering how often I do wear them. I got dressed today prepared for a rain day and put on my atypical rain uniform: a dress, tights, Hunters, big cozy scarf, and a big bun. It didn't rain... but finding this red wall while I was wearing my Wellies seemed like fate anyways.

Also! I've sometimes worn my fake UO readers here... but I always feel a bit silly walking around in fake glasses. Today, I just happened to be wearing my actual prescription glasses when we went out to take pictures and happily obliged to show them off! I used to have boring glasses that were cheap and completely covered by my insurance. But once my eyes got worse enough that I had to wear glasses all day long at school, I invested in a nicer pair with a bit more punch and I love them. Maybe one day when I get over my fear of touching my own eye, I'll opt for contacts but for now I'm happy being a four eyes when I drive, go to class, watch movies, and watch tv.

coffee date

As far as spring break goes, so far it's been pretty dreamy. And by that I mean a whole lot of sleeping (my bed at home > dorm beds), playing sims 3, baking, not showering, wearing niklaas' flannel, freezing my buns off, and going running. It's nice. A lot of my friends are off on tropical vacations (...all of them) and while being on a beach seems nice, I'm really really happy I am at home with my family. There isn't a better paradise than that and I say that with unwavering truth!

Niklaas and I took these pictures during a little coffee date a couple weeks back. They were taken before I got my haircut!I still have a couple old sets of pictures left to post until I'm caught up. It was insanely windy on this day and that made it hard to take pictures. It's been really fun to explore Missoula and take pictures there but I definitely miss the good old Palouse. I guess I'm more inspired by the rolling hills than by brick buildings! That's the one thing that hits the hardest when I come back home. The environments are completely different. While the culture of both towns are very similar (hippie oriented, outdoorsy, college towny, and full of downtown hipster coffee shops), Montana definitely lacks the rolling wheat fields that kind of seem to go on and on forever. And the farms. And the many old abandoned buildings nestled between those hills. Montana has pretty and impressive mountains that put our little mountain to shame, but they don't compare to the wheat fields of the rolling hills.

After borrowing my roommate's Jcrew cardigan for months, I finally decided I wanted one of my own. My sweet Grandma picked me out this color and sent it along as a treat during midterms- I'm so thankful!! You seriously can't go wrong with a Jcrew cardigan, especially the 'favorite fit' ones. They are so soft yet they fit perfectly. I hate cardigans that aren't quite baggy but not quite fitted, either. Or ones that hit in a weird place or are too short. I know I've been a bit on the predictable side lately by pairing colors with black and white patterns (*cough* the past three posts *cough*) but it's just so easy! I'm kind of stuck in that winter blah mood I guess! Here's to spring and hoping for some variety ;).

I'm wearing:

dress- Urban Outfitters

cardigan- Jcrew

tights- Nordstroms

shoes- Target

necklace- Forever21

We Are the Tide

Back in the day when my sister used to make videos for her French class, it seemed like she always always used my wardrobe to supply for the films costumes. I used to be flattered. Then one day I finally asked her why we always used my clothes for the costumes and she replied, "Because you have a lot of 'bright' colors." It wasn't exactly a compliment on her terms but I took a step back and looked at my clothes hanging in my closet and realized... she was on to something. Most of my clothes were indeed, brightly colored with loud prints. It was the first time I really thought about that and what that said about me especially in comparison to my sister's closet which primarily consists of neutral colors and different shades of blues. And I realized... yes, yes, I am a bright colors person.

Niklaas wasn't sold on wearing yellow tights with this outfit when we started taking pictures. In a way, I agreed. Black solid tights would have been more sophisticated and balanced out the loud pattern mixing I was having fun with. For the duration of our photo session, I regretted my mustard yellow tights. Then I looked at my camera when he handed it back to me and felt silly. Of course I didn't regret wearing yellow tights! It is so very me to wear mustard yellow tights with two crazy patterns being mixed together and it is so very me to stand in front of a blue wall and make the colors *pop* against one another! This was the day, my friends, that I realized I didn't mind being told by my roommates and friends that I have a collectively 'bright' wardrobe.

Outfit:

top- Gap

skirt- swapped with Tieka

glasses - Urban Outfitters

necklace & tights- Modcloth

shoes- Target

stereo hearts

A couple months ago, Tieka posted an outfit of herself wearing the cutest polka dot skirt I'd ever seen. I commented on the post jokingly asking if she'd ever want to do a swap and less than three weeks later, it was in my mailbox along with this adorable also polka dotted dress! It was awesome. The best part about blogging to me will always be the people I've met and girls I've gotten to know. There are so many of you that inspire me beyond words and I just love being a part of this amazing community!

I feel like I've been on a blogging roll these days which is so refreshing. I always say that if I'm blogging regularly, the rest of my life is also happening on a regularly organized fashion as well. It feels so good to dress up every day and schedule little dates with Niklaas downtown to go take pictures, get coffee, thrift, or walk around exploring. Those little dates keep school stress manageable and I just love hanging out with him so much. (It seems as if I'm on a gushing spree today!)

I got the news this morning as I was walking to my first class that some of my favorite people in the world and the nicest family in the world would be coming into town today! So it looks as if I'll be showing them my dorm room today and getting to talk to people that are almost my second family. This weekend I'm also dragging Niklaas to Silent House which I've been dying to see, seeing my best friend in the world who is also coming into town and going out with her on Saturday night, spending a day writing at a coffee shop, and sleeping in. I never really realized how much of a sleeper I was until all of my roommates delightfully pointed out that I'm always the last to wake up on weekends. It never even crossed my mind as to how much I love sleeping in and how late I'll sleep if I'm interrupted. I slept in until noon on Sunday at Maggie's house in Minnesota! Oops!

I am wearing:

dress- Swap with Tieka

tights- Jcrew

heels & sunglasses - Urban Outfitters

not a drive by

You know that amazing feeling you get when you wake up and make your bed in the morning? When you just know you're going to have a wonderful kind of day just because you started your day right from the moment you woke up? This morning I decided not only was I going to make my bed, but that I was going to wash my sheets, my towels, and all two loads of laundry stuffed into my too small laundry bin. I woke up three hours earlier than my per usual Tuesday regime and between loads, completed my lab report, drank coffee, ate muffins, and showered. All before noon! It was amazing. Oh, and not having class today after being gone in Minnesota for a weekend helped a lot, too.



I had an amazing weekend and came away with a successful load of new items to add to my closet. I discovered that I'm a completely different shopper in a store than I am online. I'm serious. I do 99.9999% of all shopping online and I have found that I'm increasingly unhappy with what I get online. I woke up this morning and chose the smallest item I got: my new mustard yellow belt from Francessca's Collections! I wasn't sure if spending $14 on a belt was going to be worthwhile when I could get a $2 one from Forever21 and the more I thought about it the more I realized that most of my belts are from Forever21 and I no longer wear them because of how worn they are. And the color was really too perfect to pass up. So I went for it and I'm really happy because there's nothing like a quality belt. I threw it on with an older dress and aha! My polka dot cardigan ironically from Forever21. I really do love playing with patterns and bold colors. I wasn't even going to take pictures today but I texted Niklaas and was like you know what!? I like what I'm wearing, let's do it!


It is currently scaring me how close to summer we are. Our spring break falls in April so it's still two and a half weeks away, but directly after spring break we have three full weeks, finals week, and then summer. That's five and a half weeks of school until finals. People think I'm crazy when I freak out about it being so close but I'm honestly not ready! I guess it's a good thing if I want it to remain spring and stay in school? I think I'm just so happy with life and living on my own over here that I'm not entirely ready to go home and live in my little bedroom squished at the back of the house shared with my family again! I hope that doesn't mean that I'm growing up.

Outfit:

dress,scarf, & cardigan- Forever21

tights- Jcrew

flats & readers- Urban Outfitters

belt- Francessca's Collections

Leap Day

It's leap day! This happens only once every four years so I felt silly not posting on this day. It won't happen for another four years and who knows if I'll still be blogging! To be honest, I never really "got" leap year all through elementary school. One of my best friends back then had a leap year birthday and I never quite understood why she always joked that she was only two years old. Now that I get it, I think it would be the coolest thing ever to have a birthday today. How awesome would that be!?

I've been seriously slacking on the outfit posts lately (I know, I know...) but I have a few backed up and I'm hoping to get into the swing of things. I survived my crazy week that I had last week and now I finally feel like I can breathe again and start looking ahead. I'm going to Minneapolis in a couple weeks and I'm so beyond excited!!! I've never stepped foot in an Anthropologie, Francessca's Collection, Sephora, Aerie, a real H&M nor Urban. It's going to be nuts! It's crazy to think people have access to all of these places on a day to day basis. I have to drive for hours and hours just to hit one of these stores and to see them all in one place... well, it blows an Idaho girls mind. I'm so, so excited. And I'll even have a bit of shopping money, too. Not to mention our front row tickets to see Lady Antebellum that weekend, too... AHHHH!


So a few weeks ago, I got contacted by an online Jewelry seller to review a product. I've never done this and sponsorship is still a pretty new thing to me even if I've had a few opportunities in my time. I looked at their site and what kind of girl doesn't say yes to diamonds!? I got to customize my selected item from their selection of diamond bracelets. I chose one from their classic tennis bracelets with topaz gemstones. I largely chose topaz because my sister has such a refined taste in jewelry that I always find myself adoring over and knew that if she could pick a gemstone, she would pick a blue one. The bracelet arrived and of course, I threw it on immediately. I gave the bracelet a solid week of wear before writing a review and while I was given the bracelet to write the review, I can honestly say I am impressed. If I didn't like it, I would say so! But it has proven to be of high quality and something I can definitely wear with just about anything- it's modest enough to wear casually but I could see myself wearing it out for an evening dinner or a wedding, too! I'm really really happy with it and kind of estactic. If you haven't been over to the Anjolee website, you should go customize a diamond bracelet for yourself just for fun! I didn't think diamonds could be a girls best friend... but I'm starting to change my mind ;)


Whenever I'm bored with my closet, I always find myself in my roommates' closets scrounging around for something that I've never worn or tried to wear. Today I had thrown on my new Jcrew cardigan and caramel scarf and couldn't find a single thing in my closet with the same undertones. It was like magic that my roommate Maggie had these flouncy shorts that matched perfectly! However, when we were taking pictures, Niklaas told me he didn't like them. We disagree on clothing on occasion, but when I looked over these pictures I realized he was right. They have a little bit too much flounce and not enough "shorts" to them! I still adore the pattern, however, and I do like how the colors worked.

Keep an eye out in the next week! I have a surprise post to share and the promised giveaway coming! :)

Outfit:

shorts- Modcloth borrowed from roommate

cardigan- Jcrew

tights- Nordstroms

shoes- target

Diamond Bracelet - c/o Anjolee jewelry

a very belated valentine's day post

I am one of those Valentine's lovers. In elementary school, it meant pulling out the crafty guns and going all out. I made most of my Valentine's and there was nothing I enjoyed more than decorating a box and opening it up after school on Valentine's day to read messages from my classmates. Granted, most of them were standard boxed Valentine's with simply a name written on the bottom from the classmate who threw it in there, but the ones that did have a note or had some extra craftsmanship won over my heart. I was also the kid in elementary school who always hoped to be that one girl in class that always seemed to get a red rose from a secret admirer. I was never that girl, but it was alright. I loved it anyways.



To me Valentine's day can go either way. You can love it. You can hate it. You can choose to make it all about your relationship status. But for me, it's always just been a day to celebrate other people. I'm a sucker for watching other people be made happy. It just puts me in a wonderful mood. And although none of the flowers at the desk downstairs were for me, I did like seeing the eyes that lit up. I liked seeing the eyes of my card swiping 11:00am buddy light up when I told him Happy Valentine's day at the cafeteria today.


Niklaas and I kicked it pretty cliche for us. We went to a matinee showing of The Vow, which I was slightly disappointed by but thought was a good story nonetheless, and then went to iHop. That wasn't planned but made the ever so cliche movie-and-dinner date "us" and fun. I have a separate blog post idea for that alone (overheard conversations at the dinner table are priceless). I had a soccer game immediately after in which I nearly puked but scored a goal in anyways like a bamf (haaaa, i make myself laugh) so we ended early, but it was a lovely day anyways.

I've been taking so many pictures of Niklaas lately. Be prepared. You are probably going to see a lot more of what he's wearing lately. I was talking to my roommate and fashionable bff about how much we adore his clothes lately and I can't help but agree. It's nice to know I'm not just biased! He really is just too cute, though. I swear, every time we're out in public together, girls stare at him. Granted, I'd probably do the same thing if I didn't know him. I guess I'll count myself lucky. But really, I love having a boyfriend that wears cardigans and button down gingham shirts and boat shoes and khaki skinny chinos. MMM.

I'm going to post pictures of his Valentine's Day present this week because it was too perfect for words! <3

Outfit

tights- Modcloth

dress- Delias

shoes- Target

cardigan-  Jcrew borrowed from roommate

belt- the Gap