mint and navy polka dots

I'm not really sure when I became one of those polka-dot-pants-wearing kind of people. I guess I did... today? It happened. Still not entirely sure I'm confident enough to rock them in public, but you know, I kind of like them anyways regardless of the fact that I feel a little clown-like. I'm also not sure when I became one of those people that dragged their best friend, however willingly, out to the middle of a field to take these pictures and when I wasn't happy with them, dragged her to a different location only one block from my house making her almost late for her date with her boyfriend. She was a saint and didn't mind, but I definitely felt guilty anyways. Also, I realized halfway into taking these pictures that not only did I just wear this top on the 4th of July, but I also used the exact same backdrop. Oops.

Is anyone else having a hard time processing that it's August tomorrow? I'm having a little bit of a hard time with that. The past few months have been amazing in that I've concentrated all of my time on working, taking pictures of other people, blogging, and hanging out with my friends and new people, but it's time to face reality here and deal with some things and people. It was nice living in a nice soft bubble for a while. Really nice. Eye opening, even. But reality is here. It's time.

Also, if you're reading this Sophie, I promise I didn't wear your shoes except to take these pictures. Once they were photographed, I put on my other white shoes. Promise. I'm sorry for lying to you about taking them for twenty minutes. Sometimes, I'm also one of those people who suck at being an older sister.

top: Shop Ruche // pants: Francesca's Collections // hat: Urban Outfitters

shoes: stolen from my sister

room-spiration

i told you all that i'm moving into an apartment soon with my best friend, and while i have such a small budget for the furniture and things i can buy for my room, i'm convinced that i can still get things i like with a cohesive feel that'll make my bedroom feel like home without spending a ridiculous amount of money. i've already found a vintage iron headboard and frame that included a queen mattress set (don't worry, it's clean, i've checked it out), an old chair that i can reupholster with a fabric i want and save hundreds of dollars otherwise that I would have spent on that ridiculously expensive chevron Urban Outfitters chair. i've found countless DIY's for pillows and little things to hang on walls. i'm planning on using frames that i've found for cheap to make a cluster of pictures on one wall, reupholster a chair with either a solid color and find chevron printed pillows for it or do it entirely in chevron, use my plain white down comforter and play with different pillow DIY's, and find some fun end tables. i like color, but in small doses for a bedroom. i have no idea how this will all come together but i think i have a vision and a vision i like. my manta, however, is cheap cheap cheap. minus the bed, i'm not spending over $40 on anything. the chair i was talking about? $35. each frame i found? $1 each. it's the small details.

pictures of other people (that i took)

as i've booked more gigs lately (paying ones at that!), i've continued to practice on other people at an even more obsessed rate. i don't know if my pictures have gotten better or worse, but i know that taking them has gotten easier. knowing how to position someone relative to the sun, getting the light i want, nailing the poses, taking one or two shots instead of ten of the same exact picture, and knowing what to say when people ask 'what do you want me to do??'. it's an incredibly challenging yet intoxicating process and i only want to keep improving with time. they aren't anything too special yet as i kind of want to nail composition and exposure before i get into more challenging areas, but i'm getting more excited about the outcomes of my pictures lately. also, i've learned to downsize my editing and for the most part, these are largely unedited save for brightening in a couple areas!

p.s. if i can keep it up, i'm hoping i can turn this 'pictures of other people that i took' thing up regularly and keep posting my photography as it develops. it's already fun to look back on and it's fun to document.

it started with a whisper

i have a secret to share with you all... i think i'm falling out of love with dresses.  i honestly can't remember the last time i wore one and i certainly haven't posted a blog post in one in forever. is this an identity crisis?! for whatever reason, i'm really loving separates these days and have only purchased separates this summer. for my birthday, i got only tops and pants and skirts. seriously, guys. what's happening here? maggie without dresses is like the earth without water. maybe i'll wear one sometime soon, but for now, it seems like skirts and shirts and scalloped shorts are what i'm gravitating towards. this is the last time you'll be seeing this skirt (sorry, Tieka!) but I wanted to style it up one last time before sending it back. also, i'm a little bit in love with this shirt.

without sounding toooo narcissistic, i spent my entire shift at work today thinking about myself. i know, i know. it does sound bad. but normally all i do is think about other people and today, i spent the entire shift thinking about what i wanted to do in the next few months and over this next school year. i have this theory that doing dishes is the best way to get yourself out of any sort of mind-bloggling matter- within three hours, i'd devised a page worth of ideas and things i wanted to accomplish in the next school year. grades, extracurricular activities, my relationships, jobs, hobbies, photography, blogging, ect. i think for the most part i've been using photography and work as a bit of an escape from reality to just let things sit in my mind for a while. i think i might incorporate some of these things i want to do into a '22 before 21' list like so many bloggers do and having a list always helps me actually do instead of talk about doing. immediately after my shift i ran to my dad's office downstairs where i hammered everything out into an email that i sent to myself. progress.

THANK YOU all so much for your kind tweets, emails, comments, and instagram messages on my birthday! i had a spectacular if not low-key birthday and it was exactly perfect. i love you all dearly.

shirt: Forever21 // skirt: borrowed from Tieka // shoes: Urban Outfitters //

sunglasses: birthday present // hat: Modcloth

FAQ

What kind of camera do you use? i use a nikon d5000 and my favorite lens is my 50mm portrait lens.

How old are you? I am 20 years old and my birthday is July 24th.

Where are you from and where do you live? I'm from a teensy tiny town in Northern Idaho and go to college in Montana.

What do you study in college? I am double majoring in biology and creative writing at the University of Montana.

What are your favorite places to shop? Shop Ruche, Urban Outfitters, Modcloth, Lulus, and Goodwill.

What is your 'style'? My style never seems to fit in one category, but I tend to gravitate towards bright colors and patterns, overly feminine pieces with little details, and lots and lots of dresses. I wouldn't consider myself trendy nor particularly one to push the envelope. I'm pretty much your average girl on the street and love a good bargain.

Why do you blog and how did you start? I started blogging back in 2010 when I was feeling a little bit claustrophobic by the confines of high school. I felt like I needed my own niche where I could write and talk about what I wanted. Originally, it was a day to day way to document how I was feeling and what I was up to, which later evolved into documenting what I was wearing after I fell in love with fashion blogs. Now, it's a little bit of everything. Life, lists, personal writing, outfits, and tidbits about college!

What beauty products do you use? I'm terrible with makeup and only use store bought cheap eyeliner and mascara. My favorite shampoo is Herbal Essences (any and all!) and I don't use any products once I straighten/curl. 

How tall are you? 4'11"! 

Why are you so open about your personal life on your blog? I've gotten some slack for being so honest, but I've also gotten a lot of amazing emails from people when I'm completely honest about anything I'm going through who can relate. I started my blog for myself and years down the road, I don't want to see it ever become anyone else's blog aside from my own. I blog so that I can look back on my life and where I was at the time. Experiences are a crucial part of that. I'll always be honest and if it's something that's more difficult to articulate, such as a break-up or family circumstance, it might take me a while to be able to openly discuss it. But, I've pretty much accepted that everything big (and small!) that happens to me will be talked about and it will be talked about openly; much like my own personal diary but an edited version.

What are your favorite blogs? I love Little Girl in a Big World, Transient Withdrawal, Wearing It On My Sleeves, Little Chief Honeybee, The Moptop, and Paper Crown.

officially not a teenager

my 20th birthday was today and it was a first of its kind. never have i spent a birthday at home, not even once. usually i'm somewhere between butte and missoula montana, driving in sweltering heat and living out of a suitcase of dirty camping clothes. usually, i spend my birthday evenings eating at a randomly chosen restaurant and end the night in a hotel room where i scribble in my diary before the night is over about what it's like to be another year older. this year, i spent the day at the beach with my sister and mom and two close friends. i slept in, in my own bed. i had pancakes made for me. i had coffee brought to me. 

what is it like being twenty? it doesn't feel different, of course it doesn't. it never really does. but there's something about turning twenty that is different than the other years; i'm officially in my 'twenties'. i'm sure that this doesn't mean i'm a drastically changed person nor will things really become that different down the road, but i'm well aware of the new responsibilities ahead. paying my own rent of my new apartment, paying the car insurance and gas of my 2001 subaru outback, going to school full time and working part time, and all of these things that suddenly feel more adult than my teen years of responsibilities. it's new, it's liberating, and it's exciting. but it's also somewhat crazy knowing i'll never be that young nor that free of responsibility ever again. we'll never, ever be younger than we are right now.

then again, is that any different than before? no, not really. not really at all.

livy love designs giveaway!

today is my BIRTHDAY! i am officially 20 years old. holla.

i'm one of those people that feels like when something good happens to me or for me, i immediately feel like i need to dish it back out. so, being that it's my birthday and i can't individually send you all cupcakes and the fact that i'm barely shy of 600 followers at the same time, i teamed up with Livy Love Designs to post a giveaway!

i absolutely adore Livy's shop. previous to working together, i actually had her custom make me a print to hang up in my apartment. at the same time, she was running a sale on her 'keep calm and bake on' prints so i also bought one of those. her designs can be as simple or as intricate as you want them to be and for a college student, a really affordable way for me to add something to my very white blank walls.

RULES:

-follow my blog

-leave a comment with a way to reach you

*BONUS ENTIRES*

- follow me on twitter (maggeygrace),

instagram (maggeygrace), and on

bloglovin'

-leave one additional comment for each

giveaway ends on august 3rd!

let's just pretend...

...that i didn't ruin my hat on vacation by getting it completely soaked and then sitting on it the entire duration of the drive home.

...my shirt isn't wrinkled because i only do laundry once every i've-worn-every-pair-of-underwear-i-have cycle. 

...i didn't spend an hour curling my hair for it to turn out flat and dead.

...the tan i managed to get after camping for six days isn't already nearly gone and i'm a bronzed goddess.

saturdays are and always have been my favorite day of the week. unless i have an enormous pile of homework to do, saturdays are my days that i spend doing absolutely nothing that should get done. that includes showering and getting too dressed up. yesterday, i opted for 'simple' and honestly, i think i need to channel my inner saturday more frequently. i usually end up grabbing what's at the top of my drawers or closest to my bed on the floor. saturdays are comfy days. loose skirts, loose tees, and easy breezy. i didn't plan on taking photos yesterday, but ended up doing so knowing my top priority right now is to take pictures of other people instead of myself and hardly have the time to keep up with my own outfit posting (speaking of which, i have a "website" so that potential cliental can see what i've done here )(i'm ridiculously excited to shoot a wedding).

my birthday is in two days and i have a little surprise for you guys. don't ask me why, but whenever something cool happens, i always feel a little guilty stealing all the fun for myself (if i could share my birthday cake with you all, i would, hands down) so i have something arranged for the day! come back on tuesday!

p.s. have i mentioned lately that i'm having the best summer? i am.
p.p.s. thank you SOPHIE for taking my photos.
p.p.p.s. thank you JASMINE for this amazing skirt. favorite to date.

skirt: thrifted // shirt: the gap // wedges: urban outfitters // 

belt: francesca's collections // necklace: modcloth

a living cliche

the thing about breakups, i'm realizing, is that you feel like you're the only one going through it and no one in the world has ever been through what you're going through. slightly selfish, sure, but suddenly, everything seems so specific to you. every song on the radio seems like it was written for me and me alone. when the 'sad' songs are suddenly relatable, they hit you that much harder. it took me a few weeks to get over the self-loathing-no-one-can-relate-to-me-so-i'm-not-going-to-talk-to-anyone-because-they-just-don't-understand-me stage, but once i did, i realized the truth of it. every single person will go through this and most people have. i'm living a cliche. i am a cliche. nothing about my situation is very unique. boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, boy and girl break-up. does the reason really matter? does how long we were together matter? it hardly matters. at the end of the day, it hurts no matter what when someone disappoints you. i remember at the beginning of our relationship, i reasoned through every step of it and tried obsessively hard to be 'smart' about it. i tried to prevent myself from falling too fast or too hard and i tried to take it as slowly as possible. i was smart until i wasn't being smart anymore and letting things slide that i shouldn't have, but in the end, every logical thought didn't matter. pain demands to felt, as said by john green, and it's a constant roller coaster of being absolutely positive to missing like crazy to the point of pits in my stomach to not even knowing if i am even attracted to him anymore.

but i'm not unique. maybe we had (maybe even still have) something special, but the feelings aren't. it's simple. and in some ways, i like that. because with every break-up, is something better afterwards. everyone is eventually okay. everyone ends up okay. everyone eventually learns more afterwards (i definitely have). i'm happy to say that i'm thinking about it less than i was a week ago and the week before that and the week before that. i can't say that it's any easier, but gaining perspective the past couple of months has made all the difference. and i can say that i'm no longer thinking about it to no end or wrapping my mind in circles around it. i'm better than i was, i'm happier than i was, and whatever happens will be for the best.