30 Day Photo Challenge

January 31, 2012

This month I participated in a 30 day photo challenge created by Fat Mum Slim on Instagram (as if I'm not addicted enough...) and I thought I would share the results with you! I had fun doing it and it was a nice way to challenge me to look at things in a different light and try to capture them creatively.
Which is what a photo challenge is for right?

(I missed day 4 because I was at Passion and there were no mailboxes to be seen anywhere... And day 29 because I forgot...)

1. You

2. Breakfast

3. Something you adore

5. Something you wore

6. Makes you smile

7. Favorite

8. Your sky

9. Daily routine

10. Childhood

11. Where you sleep

12. Close up

13. In your bag

14. Something you're reading

15. Happiness

16. Morning

17. Water

18. Something you bought

19. Sweet

20. Someone you love

21. Reflection

22. Your shoes

23. Something old

24. Guilty pleasure

25. Something you made

26. Color

27. Lunch

28. Light

30. Nature

31. You. Again.

There's also a photo challenge for February I am thinking about doing as well!

Want to join me?

Blogger Feature: London of Young Dumb Love

January 30, 2012

This Monday is the start of what I hope to be a fairly regular thing here on the blog from now on:

Features and interviews with some fellow bloggers!

Today I'm excited to introduce to you my friend London of Young Dumb Love.

London and I met at a fashion blogger meet up and she struck me instantly as such a sweet and fun person, not to mention her style was impeccable.

And I wanted you all to have the opportunity to experience that as well.
So without further ado...

Hi! My name is London and I from a small town in Southwest Virginia called Bluefield. I transferred from VT to VCU in 2005 and fell in love with Richmond. I graduated in 2008, worked a few "big girl" jobs, and decided I wanted to pursue a something I love...fashion. Now I am back in school at VCU studying Fashion Merchandising. I have a crazy schedule between four jobs, school, and dancing for VCU. My friends think I am crazy, I say I am just doing what I gotta do.

Why do you blog? Because it allows me to put my stamp on something. It gives me ownership of something creative. I don't care if five or fifty people read my blog, I just like to share my passion for fashion and food and my experiences along the way. In the meantime I have discovered I like fiddling with photography and design for my blog.

What inspires you? A lot of fashion bloggers inspired me to start a blog and they keep me motivated, still. I was stuck in an office all day at my last job (before I decided to go back to school) so I'd spend a good bit of my day reading fashion blogs. I like putting unexpected pieces together and people often ask me where I get my clothes. I am flattered when they do and I love to share with them. So I thought having a blog would be great fun because I could share with more people. Also, Richmond inspires me. There are so many amazingly creative people in this town. They push me to not be afraid and be more creative.

How would you Describe your style? That's a tough one for me to pinpoint because I have a few different fashion personas. It depends on who I feel like that day. I can rock skinny jeans, riding boots, a tee and a blazer with minimal makeup and wavy hair. Or I can wear a chic silk pencil skirt, blouse, red lips, sleek hair and sky high heels. I can tell you what I don't do...I don't do girly-girl or retro very well. I like it on other people, but it just doesn't work for me.

Why do you think fashion is important? It is the ultimate expression of who you are. I know it isn't for everyone, just like sports aren't for everyone, but I still have a hard time understanding that concept. You have to wear clothes, don't you want them to reflect who you are and how you feel? There are so many layers as to why I think it is important but ultimately I feel it is a statement of who you are or how you feel.

Do you have any favorite styling tips? I like to stick to balance when dressing. If I wear tight pants or jeans

I like a flowy top or if the shorts are short, be modest up top. At the same time I say, ignore the rules. If you want to wear white jeans in January, or suede in July, just do it and own it.

What is your current favorite thing in your closet? Oo! Tough one, I have lots of favorites. I might say my new black patent leather lace up oxfords or my new faux leather pencil skirt.

What are a some of your hobbies? I dance for VCU Gold Rush Dancers and teach dance. I have danced my whole life so I like to keep it around however I can. I love going out to eat or throwing dinner parties. I love food and like to experience new dishes or share with others. And I thrift store shop, not as much as I'd like to, but it is definitely my go-to on days off.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever gotten? Don't take some else's temperature to decide how you feel. My father told me that and I have to remind myself of this often because I worry too much about others and not enough about myself.

Do you have any big goals for this upcoming year? My biggest goal is to keep up with my blog. I want to spend more time photographing material from adventures to outfits to food to share with everyone. I've certainly done better this year so far than i did in 2011. I am also contemplating transferring to FIT in NYC but we will see...

Follow London's

Blog

Twitter

Bloglovin

Isn't she a love?

Make sure you go check her out!

Have a happy Monday.

In the Words of Eleanor Roosevelt

January 29, 2012

"Do one thing every day that scares you."

-Eleanor Roosevelt

And that's exactly what I did today.

This morning I went to a beautiful little church out in the country and stood on a stage and sung in front of a little over 100 people.

Up until a week ago I hadn't even really sung in front of one person.

But my boyfriend got it into his head recently that he wanted me to help him lead worship at some point.

(He sings and plays guitar and is super talented. Not that I'm biased or anything...)

And so along came this opportunity and, with about a week of practice, I got up on a stage and sang into a microphone.

For people to hear.

And sing along to.

It was pretty nerve wracking thinking about it all week, never having done anything like that before.

Surprisingly though, I wasn't even that nervous this morning. Which would not normally be the case. I'm not a huge center-of-attention "look at me" kind of person really. And when anything like that is required of me, (giving speeches, talking in front of big groups of people, etc.) I get really nervous.

However, people kept telling me that I just needed to focus on the fact that it wasn't about me, that it was about God. And as long as I sung with joy and a heart full of worship it couldn't be that bad.

And that's what I did.

And people told me I was good!

(Though, even if I had been terrible, people wouldn't just go and tell me so. That would just be mean)

Now I'm sure I wasn't fantastic.

And I'm not the next Adele or anything.

However, the fact that I was at least able to sing in key and also that my musically gifted boyfriend (hopefully unbiasedly) was willing to give his stamp of approval, was good enough for me.

And as cheesy as it sounds... it kind of just felt right being up there.

I genuinely love singing.

Who knew?

So we'll see where that goes. Maybe I'll do it more, maybe it was a one time thing. I don't know.

But I think I'm allowed to be pretty proud of myself.

Conquering fears and being all brave!

I made sure I at least dressed nicely today though.

Just, you know, in case I really did sound horrible. At least I would look cute while doing it... ;)

Happy Talent

January 28, 2012

It is a happy talent to know how to play. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Friday I'm In Love

January 27, 2012

With....

This blog post

A pretty lamp

A fun tutorial for a crown

Being featured in this post

A pretty braid tutorial (I want to try it this week!)

This encouraging post

A cute photoshoot

This recipe (I will try all these recipes I keep posting... one day...)

A tutorial for a cute collar

This article written by my friend Larissa

And I'm also in love with the fact that I have my window open right now.
That's how nice it is outside.
It feels so good to let some fresh air in. I'm sure it will be short lived, but this spring-like weather we have been having is simply heavenly.

Happy Friday, and I wish a lovely rest of the weekend to you!