Saturday, March 5, 2011

Between Bolly and Hollywood



Between Bolly and Hollywood



What better way to start off my re-vamped blog than with a post near and dear to my heart, fashion. Being a Florida girl (for now!) I live in flowy dresses and sandals whether I want to or not pretty much year round. It can be hard to create your own style when everywhere you turn there are girls wearing a similar variation of your outfit. I like to keep things simple by choosing a theme and adding a few eye catching accents and mixing easily attainable pieces with my own vintage or thrifted harder to find items. Right now I'm really inspired by Eastern prints and I love the mix of bright colors with more earthy, neutral tones.


This American Eagle dress is at the top of my want list right now. I love the almost tribal floral print and the pink accents in the ruffle at the neckline.


I love bright and neon colors for spring and summer. Right now I am loving that sort of hybrid neon between pink and orange that isn't quite coral and isn't quite salmon. To tie in the pink in the dress I love that hybrid neon nail polish and some pretty pink Indian bangles from Amazon.


Sam Edelman makes quite possibly my favorite shoes on the planet. These simple sandals bring in another pop of pink but are still simple and effortless.


When I visited Thailand I found this amazing elephant charm that I quickly made into a long necklace as soon as I got home. Mine looks quite similar to this little guy from Modcloth.com and I love how it brings a little rustic element back to the outfit and also adds a little more of that Indian flair.


To add a little more of the earthy element I would finish this outfit with a wide braided belt around the waist and a chunky sweater for when the sun goes down.


For prices and where to get any of the items featured just click on the picture!


Wednesday, March 2, 2011

She's a fake!

Growing up my mom used to tell my sister and me stories of all the places we would go someday. She told us about her senior trip to Paris and how much she wanted to take us back there someday, and how we would walk through the narrow streets of Santorini admiring the beautiful stark white and blue buildings. We haven't made it to either of those places as a family yet, but both my sister and I have dabbled in those areas of Europe, althrough separately. I've realized over the last few weeks that I fully and completely blame my mother for becoming the little nomad I claim to be today.
This is the place my mind wanders to whenever I'm stressed or am having a bad day. Beautiful Coogee in Sydney. Not many things are as perfect to me as the moment captured in this photo.

I have a secret though. I'm a fake! Yep, this nomad hasn't moved in 2 years, yes 2! In fact the only time I've been out of Florida was to go home to Chicago twice, not my idea of a crazy adventure. And while I know I'm working toward something better in my life, I can't help but feel the longing to get on a plane to somewhere beautiful and never look back.
The most beautiful place I've ever seen: New Zealand. I wish I knew the exact lake, but it's somewhere on the South Island.


My sister, Alana, and I have a not so secret dream to be on The Amazing Race. Sometimes on Sunday nights we spend the hour on the phone discussing who would do the roadblock and which detour we would take. Of course the whole time complaining that we could have done that so much faster and discussing what kind of matching outfits we would get (Come on, we're girls!). Last week we realized we have never been out of the country with each other though, except for some family cruises to the Caribbean! We both have quite a growing list of amazing places we've been to and with much regret, none of them match. The only upside to that. . .major Amazing Race advantage in a lot of different parts of the world. And none of this is good for my growing need to see the world right now!

By far the scariest and most enlightening trip of my life. Even though it's probably inappropriate, this picture was taken in Bangkok, Thailand. My ideal home decor is a mix of Thai and Indian patterns. I love the rich colors and the abstract geometric designs.

There is a lot of change going on in my life and the lives of my family right now. With all of this said, this blog is going to be changing a lot. I've realized I don't write much because I don't really know what to write anymore. I've grown up a lot since I started this and I want this blog to reflect that. I'm more interested in diy interior design and decorating now, ugh! I think that means I'm getting old! Also cooking and fashion have always been passions of mine. So I think this will be turning into a more diy type blog. Some home improvement projects I've been doing, outfits I'm putting together and loving, recipes I've made. All while still focusing on my love of travel and need to see the world. I find a lot of my home projects and the clothes I wear are reflections of far off beautiful places that I've either seen or would love to see someday. I'm also going to be sharing some stories from my travels. I find myself remembering crazy stories occasionally and not being able to believe that I almost forgot about that. I want them written down somewhere so they'll never be forgotten.


Stay tuned for the changes! It will be fun! xoxo