Collect Call

In High School, Tuesday's were my favorite night of the week. It meant one thing: dollar scoop!! It became sort of a tradition last year to go to Baskin Robbins every Tuesday night and spend way too much thinking about all 31 flavors of ice cream although I always ended up getting the same thing: peanut butter chocolate! Mmmmmm. Peanut butter and chocolate has to be the best combination of anything in the world. I want to bow down to the creator of such genius. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

dress-Forever21 tights-Oldnavy belt-Goodwill boots-Thrifted necklace- Alex

For the past ten days, I have had a lot of time alone. And it's been kind of refreshing. And frustrating. And lovely. Yesterday, I spent the whole day wallowing in the woman monthly pits and did absolutely nothing. Today, I woke up absolutely frustrated with my pathetic-ism, popped a couple Ibprofen that took me twenty minutes to swallow (really) and got my butt to it. As my dad likes to say. I showered, made my bed, dug through all the clothes on my floor and put a load of laundry in the washer, and by ten I was taking portraits for my best friend Margaret (the other half of Margaret squared!). After that, I picked up my sister from my orthodonist appointment making me feel way too much like a Mother Dearest, had lunch with Niklaas, and resumed my household duties. While making cookies, I continued my laundry, cleaned my room, edited Margaret's portraits, finished crocheting a hat, and vacuumed my room. All of this before 3pm! Here are some pictures I took of Margaret!

(my favorite. Isn't she gorgeous??????)

The time alone has also spurred a lot of thoughts. Like, one of the best inventions ever created was a towel rack. It has to be one of the most useful pieces of metal (?) in my house (what is a towel rack made of anyways?). And, whoever invented decided to use cake mix in tiny little round spheres and call them muffins so that it was socially acceptable to eat cake for breakfast was also a genius. Seriously. These kinds of things cross my mind. But. I've also been thinking about other things. In light of the new year, I did a bit of reminscing in my head and in thinking about myself last year and my then-mindset of trying to finish high school and move on to "bigger and better things", it made me want to pat then-Maggie on the head and tell her everything would be okay. And then it made me realize, every single year in thinking about the previous year, I look at myself in the past and see myself as a naiive know-nothing little girl. Every year! So, does that mean right now I am naiive and know nothing and pale in comparison to the "old" and "matured" Maggie that I will be next year? Hmmmm...

It seems that I keep telling myself I'm going to save the shoots I take the day of for another day- but then I just end up posting them that day anyways! I took these pictures with Margaret today and I love how they turned out. How could I not post them? At least this way, I can save all of Niklaas' magical pictures for later when I'm not in Moscow, I guess. Hahaha. I was going to save this dress for spring too (has anyone else been buying for spring already?) but..ooh well. I got this dress from Forever21 and it was only twelve bucks! It might be my new all time favorite too. It's so soft and stretchy and comfortable- it feels like wearing a normal T-Shirt! I got this bike necklace from Alex a few months ago but I wore it so often that it broke! Well, my dad fixed it for me today and I am just the happiest girl ever now!

(yes, I did cut my bangs!)

You all are way too familiar with these boots but I couldn't not wear them, sorry! I loved wearing them with this outfit. I felt almost...grunge today and it was probably my favorite outfit I've worn in a while. While pulling out this dress to wear this morning I thought to myself, gee, wouldn't it be nice if I owned purple tights? And in the midst of going through my thirty some tights, I found PURPLE tights. It was a serious Spongebob Squarepants nerd worthy geek out moment. I loved wearing this whole outfit so much!

Romanov Winter

When I was just four years old, I laid my hands on a book titled, "Anastasia," and was forevermore in love with the Romanov family. Of course, it didn't matter to my four year old self weather or not Tsar Nicholas II was a political nincompoop, Anastasia was a princess with three sisters and lived in a giant castle where she got to paint all day long in the sunshine. My dad reminded me of my obsession tonight while watching Gilmore Girls and told me the story of my first movie theater experience. My sister was sick for much of her very early childhood and on a particular bad night, my dad took me to the movie I had been talking nonstop obsessively over. The whole time during the Disney adaptation of Anastasia I was a "Mexican jumping bean" and squealing in my chair. And to this day, I still remember the magic of just going to my first movie with my dad who at the time, was the person I spent the most time with while my mom had to look after my sister. I haven't thought about those early years in forever, but tonight watching Gilmore Girls with him held some sort of the same magic as sitting in the theater of Anastasia and I'm only now realizing that it wasn't the fact that I got to watch the Romanov's on screen finally that made it so special, it was sharing it with him. Just dad and Maggie time.



I leave for school in exactly fourteen days. Two weeks. Home has been an experience like nothing else. I've decided since that by the time I have to leave I will have over twenty five photoshoots downloaded onto my hard drive that I am only going to take five dresses to school. If that. At the end of the semester, I ended up wearing jeans every single day. It's not to say I won't ever wear dresses, but I'm going to wait until spring to start frolicking around in them every day. It's a lot to hold up when you have to walk ten minutes to and from class everyday a few times a day in ten degree weather and wind. It was easier in High School when I had to endure thirty seconds in the cold to walk to my car. I miss it! But at least for the next two months I won't have to worry about what I'm going to wear so that I can take blog pictures!


I wasn't going to post these pictures so soon because they feel more like spring rather than smack dab in the middle of winter like my previous pictures have felt, but I couldn't resist. They turned out so wonderfully! In a last minute decision, I ran to Ross before I took these pictures deciding I needed leather gloves to complete everything. Luckily, they were on sale for five dollars so I got a steal and they are super warm so they may have a shelf-life of more than just a photoshoot after all! This dress was another Christmas present. I was so excited to get not just one Modcloth dress, but two. I definitely like this one more than the other- it will incorporate into spring and summer so much better than the other (but I still love it too!). The floral and open back are just too endearing! I finally bought some brown tights and wearing them with this dress seemed perfect. I usually opt for pattern mixing with my florals but taking away from the dress seemed like a crime!

dress-Modcloth tights-Nordstroms boots-Urbanog hat-Urban Outfitters belt-Momma gloves-Ross

I also discovered the magic of Pandora today! Huzzaah! I created my very own account and listened to new music all day long in my bedroom. Niklaas came over last night and helped me clean my room. It wasn't intended to go the way it went (the way being that he cleaned 90% of it) but he did an amazing job. I have been sleeping on the couch lately because my room is a disaster and also completely freezing so now I have a room to sleep in! Yay! I think I'll miss this couch tonight, though. It's seriously the most delightful huge oversize couch in the world.


I got these boots from Urbanog- they're my first Urbanog purchase! I originally wanted the leather-y ones like my brown boots that Niklaas got me but they were out of stock and suede was the only kind they had left. But they are still cute and possibly more comfortable than they would have been had they been made of leather! I haven't worn my fedora since the summer and lately, I can't not wear an accessory in my hair whether it be a bow, beanie, or hat. I guess it has to do with the fact that I really hate the length of my hair these days. I miss my length!! It's in that awkwardly not-short but not-long either phase. Hmph!


I did only three things today. I wrote (6 more pages!), crocheted (2 more hats in the making!), and watched television with my dad. It was a lovely perfect Sunday. Tomorrow I have a breakfast date with my friend from High School who goes to a fancy engineering school in Boston and another mutual friend who lives here at home. It's actually pretty funny because we used to be part of a large group of about fifteen girls in junior high that dwindled as the years progressed. And now we are just five and unfortunately, we're not as close as we used to be. One of my "goals" taht isn't particularly a New Year's Resolution is to try harder to keep friends with people at home. It's so hard sometimes when I can't catch people on IM or skype and when letter writing takes time on both ends. But I'm determined to be there for them and work at it because there are some friendships I really can't lose no matter the business of our schedules.

Currently Listening: January

Alright. I'm going to try a new "thing". On my sidebar, you may have noticed I have the "Fave Songs" list. Well, I'm terrible about keeping this updated and it recently came to my attention to post my monthly playlists on my blog! Woo! I am obsessed with playlists and I have over sixty on  my iPod. Ha! I start a new one every single month that I find myself listening to on repeat and as of right now, I'm going to start posting them. Yay!

January:
1) Winter Song- Sara Berellias and Ingrid Michaelson
2) Erase Me- Kid Cudi
3) Ghosts- Laura Marling
4) The Time (Dirty Bit)- Black Eyed Peas
5) Haunted- Taylor Swift
6) Sleepyhead- Passion Pit
7) Kids- MGMT
8) Still Beating- Josh Ritter
9) We Are Who We are- Ke$ha
10) I'm Coming Home- J.Cole
11) Dying Day- Brandi Carlile
12) King of Anything- Sara Berellias
13) The Story of Us- Taylor Swift
14) The Gambler- Fun.
15) Up- Shania Twain

So that's January! As you can tell, it follows no pattern whatsoever and no song is really like another. I hope you like this little addition to my blog! :) Also, I'm starting to gather together items for a giveaway! I just reached 250 (!!!!!) followers and I'm doing another large giveaway like the last one. Remember this giveaway?? I'm trying to make this one so that everyone can enjoy the prize- last time, I bought five dresses and I know there were issues with sizing and such. I'm so excited! I'm hoping it can coincide with my 100th blog post (!!) so we'll see! :)

Thank you for all of your comments! Seriously! They are making me such a happy girl these days!

P.S. I'm also trying to come up with a way to feature all of you lovely bloggers. I was thinking about a monthly featured blogger or just a monthly blog post of blogs I'm obsessing over or weekly posting outfits I love, but i don't want to do something that's been done before. Ideas?? I'm most liking the blogs I'm obsessing over idea :) But we'll see! I like interviews!

crochet crush

It's official. Over winter break, I have transformed into an eighty year old woman almost over night. It wasn't until I was sitting in the living room rocking chair with my glasses on and an old ratty cardigan crocheting that my sister walked in and I realized what I had become. Here I was, on a perfectly normal Wednesday while the kids were at school and the middle aged parents were working using my free time to crochet. HA! I have fallen deeply in love with crochet and I predict a long, healthy relationship between us.

This week has been the weirdest week of the semester. The first two and a half weeks of winter break were rather busy and full of visiting family and trying to see everyone as much as possible. However, when everyone went on with their lives on Monday, I was left with the house to myself for eight hours a day. As I figured out, there is only so much scrubbing and dusting you can do and eventually you have to find a hobby. I understand the life of a retired old woman so much better now! I taught myself to crochet on youtube and have since been doing it avidly between reading and writing. Writing! That's right. I have sixteen pages on my computer. I'm so excited about it, too. I can't really recall a time ever in my life where I've had literally days and days of time to fill.

cardigan-Urban Outfitters flannel-American Eagle shorts-Old Navy tights-Modcloth shoes-Steve Madden hat-F21

Tonight, I had plans, however. Lucky me! I went to the High School basketball and had to actually pay to get in. Weird. Last year, and I can only admit it now because we are actually together, I only went to games so that I could talk to Niklaas. I mean, I didn't say that and I didn't admit to myself, but yeah. That was totally the case. He's a band geek (sorry Niklaas, there's no nice way to say that) and has to play pep band at every single game. He's able to escape between half time, timeouts, and between periods and just like last year, sits next to me and annoys me. Nonstop. Tickling. That's what she said jokes. But, apparently I like it. Because I keep going to them:)


I got my tripod at the beginning of the semester fully intending to use it every day but as it turns out, I only used it for my major photography projects. It's a lot different to use a tripod to take a picture of a mountain in the middle of a crowded sidewalk than to use it to take a picture of yourself. Ha! So I pulled it out yesterday because Niklaas wasn't available and this time around it was way more effective! I always buy the most girly dresses ever but whenever I wear jeans or shorts with tights, I end up being the opposite! I would say...this is as hipster as I get. Ha! I love flannel. So much. I have five of them in my closet and I wore them constantly in Montana. This one is one of my favorites- the colors are just so pretty!

I got this yellow perfect mustard cardigan for Christmas and it remains a favorite reworn piece since. I love how it brings out the yellow in my flannel! Yay! The only feminine aspect to this outfit are my bow tights, which were almost solid gray ones. Ha. But, my modcloth bow tights make me feel me and I needed a bit of me in my outfit. You all know about these lovely oxfords that Niklaas forced me to buy last year. Twelve dollars. Steve Madden. EEEP. It doesn't get much better than that. At all! Whenever I don't blow dry my hair or my hair is a mess, I throw on a hat. So you know that today, I definitely was having one of those days. Hahaha.


I am babysitting tomorrow, but tomorrow night I get to hang out with Niklaas! Yay! I have a little over two weeks left of break. Which I know is longer than most people, but it still eats me up a little inside that I have to leave for another four months. Ironically, though, even as I'm sad to leave, coming here and experiencing what life would be like if I had stayed at home for school, I know it's what I have to do this time. Coming into the whole moving away thing I was unsure if it was really what would be best for me, but after three weeks of break, I know it's the only way things can be.

P.S. Thank you for the comments lately on my writing. It makes me all fuzzy and warm inside:)

brought up that way

Today, in a stint of pure insanity, I decided to go running. My mom and dad are both very into the whole exercising-eating right thing. Which, if you knew me, seems like an impossibility. A few days before I was born, my dad did the Ironman (110 mile bike ride, 26 smile run, and 3 mile swim). For most of my early years, I was dragged to countless marathons and triathlons across the Northwest seeking entertainment desperately on playgrounds or in parking lots waiting for him to reach the finish line. It's something they've bonded over and something they've worked so hard at in their life. When my mom's running partner and best friend's daughter died three years ago, running became their therapy together. Every single day, they run on "The Mountain" a full 16-18 miles. Six days a week. It's pure insanity. Completely. And even as it makes me feel really really pathetic because I hate running, I'm still awe-struck by them. I was blessed with my mom's runner genes but I've never really put them to use. I like to say that I do the bare minimum to just stay in decent shape. Ha! Isn't that terrible?  While I was running the mere two miles of hills that I did, I couldn't help but think of my mom and how if I were with her, we'd still have 14-16 left. Crazy!

Speaking of insanity, I also woke up at 7am this morning. Granted, this time I had actual incentive beyond feeling good about myself. Niklaas and I were going to get the very best in the whole world cinnamon rolls, but they weren't open. I saw him at breakfast before he went to school, at lunch, and after school! It was awesome. Now that school has started for my sister and friends at home, I will be...at home...not doing a whole lot. Ha! I plan to write, knit, crochet, read, and watch Smallville. And clean. Which I did today!

top-Urban Outfitters skirt-Urban Outfitters headband-F21 tights-F21 boots-Ross


OH! So. I have exciting news. I finally got a flickr, or at least, Niklaas got a flickr in the name of the blog, and in styling my new dress from Modcloth, I decided to just simply upload it to the Modcloth Style Exchange group. I had no idea initially that there was a contest in the works, but as luck would have it, I won!! Currently, I have 2,500 views on it. Isn't that insane???? I won a $50 gift certificate to Modcloth that I've already spent. Hehe! I was going to buy two dresses...but instead, I opted for buying a pair of Jeffrey Campbell oxfords. JEFFREY CAMPBELL! I mean, personally, I've always thought they were a little overrated and definitely overpriced, but these oxfords are classy and I'm going to wear them...all the time. They were already on sale and with my $50 gift card, I ended up getting them for $20 bucks! How sweet is that??



I got this top in August as part of my school shopping- and I haven't blogged it yet. I was in a lust for stripes and the bow took hold of my attention. I wear it all the time! This skirt is a remix- it was actually my very first chictopia post ever and I wore it here! This is the winterized edition ;) Pattern mixing has always been my favorite. When I walked into the living room with this outfit on my mom looked me up and down and asked, "How does this work together???" Hahaha. I've learned to ignore...all doubts. Niklaas got me these grey floral pretty tights and they're lovely! I feel like I've been wearing these cowboy boots often lately- the brown just seems to fit with the snow!

Today I went to the orthodontist and was prepared for a long appointment to replace my retainer. After a wasteful twenty minutes in the waiting room and ten more in the actual reclining chair waiting for the orthodontist, he looked at my teeth, poked around, and said I was free. It took all of thirty seconds. *Sigh*. I then came home, ran, showered, went to the High School, came home, took down the ornaments off the tree (so long, Christmas), took out the trash, cleaned my room, planned 16 outfits for the next two weeks, hung out with Niklaas, went to the arts and crafts store, and then came home where I am now watching Gilmore Girls with my dad and sister. That's right- my sister and I have hooked my dad into the show. It is totally a cross-gender show!


Love,
Maggie

winter song

One second, I had no plans for tomorrow. I was going to wake up, go running, plan outfits for the week, write, read, sew, and knit. Then, I got a phone call asking to babysit the most adorable two year old in the world for two days. Babysitting? Toddler? For a full six hours? You don't have to ask me twice. So now, my plan for tomorrow is to wake up, go running, plan two outfits really quick, babysit for six hours, hang out with Niklaas, and come home. I don't know what I'm more excited about...having an actual plan *eeep* for the day or that I get to hang out with a two year old all day. I mean, I know it will probably be tiring, but I've seen this kid grow up and he's always been one of my favorite babies. Also, most of my babysitting has consisted of children over the age of eight, unfortunately. I love them at all ages, but babies are really my expertise. I'm so excited.

Anyways. My New Years was pretty uneventful but that is nothing to complain about! Niklaas and I sat on a teensy couch in a coffee shop with my mother listening to hippie folk for open mic playing all assortments of music. Accordions were used and harmonicas were hummed. Is that the right adjective? Hmm. I had both coffee and a steamer both after eight o'clock. Remind me to never again have coffee so late again. I decided to take a caffeine cleanse at the start of break, but that was much too shameful. Now the rule is to only have caffeine before ten in the morning which seemed to slip my mind on New Year's Eve. Whoops. As a result, after coming home at midnight, I couldn't sleep. I read and finished The Girl Who Played With Fire until almost 4:00AM. While most people were out doing other things, I was reading. Haha!



dress-Forever21 tights-Modcloth shoes-thrifted 

This precious dress was from my Christmas stash! I've wanted a silky bow colorful dress from forever21 for soo long! I don't know how many of you are Gleeks, or clothes obsessed to the point that you can pick up on specific items from specific stores that you notice where an article of clothing comes from, but Rachel on Glee was wearing a dress almost identical to this on an episode! I knew it from forever21 and almost bought it...but I held out until Christmas. I love bows! I got these bow tights from Modcloth and I figured, why not go all out in "bows"? To top it all off, I put on my black sequin bow. It's probably a little too much bow, especially considering the bow belt...but, oh well. What can I say!


I've been rewatching episodes of Gilmore Girls with my sister for the umpteenth time and it's getting to the point of obsessive...again. I planned on only watching a few of my favorites but what do you know. We watched all of the third season...then started over with the first...and now we're on the second season. I fully expect we will finish the series by the time I go back to school, which is probably ridiculous. I would guess this is our seventh or eighth time rewatching the series in addition to the episodes we catch on abc family every so often. I strive to be a Gilmore. (Shh, don't tell me it's impossible.)

I'm off to read! I went to the public library last week and I hope to finish three a week. Eeeep. Thank goodness for winter break. I hope your New Years' were wonderful!

A New Year

Dear 2010,

I'm a list person. I've always been a list person. Which might make you think that in writing lists obsessively in my phone, on post-its, in notebooks, on white-boards, and on random receipts, I would make "New Years" resolutions lists. False. I never have and probably never have. Instead, I seem to have a never-ending, always growing, continually changing list divided into two categories: goals and aspirations that I dream of happening and work everyday towards and things that could happen any day that don't happen because I'm scared of it or because I haven't made it happen. And in reconciling with the idea of yet another year ending, I mentally check off items from the list and asses the year in how many things were completed. Well, 2010, you happen to have been a very busy list-overtaking year. In both aspects of futuristic goals and things to try, which is a rare happening.

This year I: tried peas (nom nom nom), went on a roller coaster (for real), made a pen pal (try four), tried cheesecake (and loved it), labeled a relationship (8 months, babyy), attempted water-skiing (and failed), killed my own spider (not fun), quit stealing my sisters clothes (seriously), talked to cashiers (still scary, at times), had a job interview (fml), went to a foreign country without my parents and subjected myself to their food (<3), had a slumberparty (....seriously), watched Gilmore Girls and Lost from pilot to end again (maybe one of my only renewable items on the list), survived calculus (and then came Chemistry), graduated High School (eeeep), went to college (bigger eeeep), finished a semester of college (ouch), went to a Josh Ritter concert (definitely a highlight of the year), stood in line for hours for something ridiculous (thank you, Eclipse), bought a dress from Modcloth (three!), wore skirts and dresses to school...regularly (yayy!), learned how to do laundry (so. so. fun), kept my dorm room clean (new passion), learned how to use photoshop (best class ever), made new friends unawkwardly (okay, most of it was awkward), learned how to drive stick (mastered), avoided getting sick(until the last two days of the year...but it still counts!), obsessed over skype (yes), cut my bangs (I miss them), hosted an exchange student (favorite), turned 18 (Wyoming style), smooched (nuff said), learned how to charge my phone overnight and not in fifteen minute stints all day long (finally) bought every member of my family a Christmas present (finally achieved), and figured out how to put music onto my phone (so I don't lose my iPod...again).

All in all, I liked you 2010. And I liked you a lot. Call it an elementary crush, but remembering you will always make me giddy and silly. Everyone told me going into my senior year of High School that it was going to be the best year of my life, but who wants to hear that? Certainly, I didn't, who wanted to finish High School as painlessly as possible and just. Get. To. College. Asap. However, I'm so happy that you ended up being so much more than just a "filler" year. And as sappy as it was, you really were the best year I've had yet. Thank you for the best graduation ever and a myriad of "first" experiences to lock in my memory bank forever. Everything seemed to come together this year in a way I wasn't expecting. I'm happier now than I've ever been. 2011 won't have the same milestones, but nonetheless, I only hope to continue with what lovely things 2010 brought.




Love,
Maggie