Gorgeous

I first saw this photo in the tumblr blog Pretty Foods & Pretty Drinks. I was struck both by how beautiful the cupcakes were and how beautiful the photo was so I sought it out across the internet. I followed the link to the blog that had posted it and followed that to the flickr page of user non jamais, a teenage girl from Vancouver. She doesn't have that many pictures posted but all of them are stunning. My other favorite from her photostream is this one:
I think all the people who complain about Vogue using Caroline Trentini jumping all over the place would approve of a picture like this. I certainly do. I love how it looks foggy and magical and the flowers and the suitcase, well I love all of it. Definitely follow the link to her photostream, it's a click you won't regret.

Hanna versus Winter: Day 26 & 27

Saturday, January 30
High: 23
Low: 16
Snow: flurries

Coat: Gap, Hat: H&M, dress: Forever 21, tights: gift, boots: Nordstrom

I'm a little bit obsessed with winter white. I'm not really sure why people aren't supposed to wear white in the winter, unless it's a certain shade of white. My thought process is this: if we're supposed to wear florals in spring and bright colors in summer, we're just mimicking the season right? So if it snows in winter, why shouldn't I wear white? I figured this dress was the antithesis to my outfit on Friday with the jeans. I felt kind of floaty all day in the dress, which I enjoyed since I spent the day in and around the dorm, mostly hanging out. One of my friends and I have decided on our Saturday morning/early-afternoon ritual which is to head out to Einstein for bagels and Starbucks for coffee and then sit and watch some tv or a movie while we eat. It's nice, sort of the college equivalent of a Sunday morning drinking coffee and reading the paper, which I miss from home.

Sunday, January 31
High: 29
Low: 15
Snow: none

Sweater: from a friend, dress: Forever 21, shirt: Old Navy

I experimented a little bit today and yesterday with turning the flash off on my camera, but I think the light in my room is so poor (both from the overhead light and the window) that I'll stick to using the flash. The sun never shines into my room because of the way the dorm is and I'm not brave enough to go outside for natural light. I got this sweater from my best friend, who had bought it but then realized that it wasn't the right shade for her skin tone (she's very pale). She thought it would work better for me and it does and I like the sweater a lot. Since it's not long sleeved and it's also long, I mainly like to layer it with dresses. None of my pictures have shoes in them because I'm being lazy today around the dorm which generally doesn't require much footwear.

Wanderlust

Maybe it's just winter in Chicago, but I've been feeling a little more restless than usual recently. Pictures of foreign countries incite more desire in me and I've found myself daydreaming about going away to somewhere where I don't know the language. I've been thinking about it for awhile now, but I think I want to learn another language. I took Spanish in high school and could probably muddle my way through conversation, as long as people don't care about what tense I use (no past perfect for me anymore). When I was a little one, going to day camp during the summer, I used to take French. I think maybe I want to start learning French again. I know it's not particularly useful in the United States, but I'm optimistic that one day I will travel to France, and besides that it's a beautiful language. And how can someone not want to go to a country that looks like this:

source: A Cup of Jo

Of course there are other countries on my list as well. Basically anywhere I've seen a beautiful picture of recently. The J. Crew website showcases behind-the-scenes photos from their catalog shoot in Lisbon. Portuguese is another language that has intrigued me, though my fascination with it sprouted from my love of the Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card. Ender, the protagonist, spends time living on a planet with a Brazilian colony, so there is Portuguese interspersed into some of the English dialogue and narration. Books have a large influence on places I want to go. I hope someday to go to Prince Edward Island in Canada, due to my passion for Anne of Green Gables as a child (and currently. I could read Anne of the Island all the time).

I never thought that Croatia would make it on to my list (or not this soon anyway) but that was until I saw this picture:

source: here

That is a real place. A national park in Croatia actually looks like that. When I first saw the pictures I didn't believe it was real - it looks like a set for a fantasy movie, but there are actually places in the world that are that beautiful and magical looking. I've already told my friend who will be in Serbia for the summer that she should take a trip to Croatia to visit this place. I know I want to.
Maybe someday I'll have enough money, and perhaps a flexible writing job that I can go and visit all of these places. In the meantime, I'll spend my days dreaming and reading and accumulating pictures.

Hanna versus Winter: Day 25

Casual Friday
High: 18
Low: 9
Snow: none

Coat: ModCloth, jacket: F21, shirt: North Face (gift), jeans: F21, socks: LL Bean, booties: ModCloth

That's right, I wore pants today. It's been awhile, it really has and I can't say that I was thrilled. It wasn't a bad experience, but I think I'll be sticking to skirts and dresses for awhile. That said, i did like the outfit I put together with the jeans. The socks kept my feet and ankles warm and covered up the fact that I had cuffed my jeans because they are a little bit too long. I also think that pairing the leopard coat with jeans was a good idea. The pants dress down the coat and the coat dresses the jeans up. It's a win-win. One of my friends came to see me earlier today and said to me "You look different today," which she immediately followed with "you're wearing pants." So I guess I accomplished my goal - I changed it up and did something a little different, both with my pants and with my hair, since I was too lazy to straighten it last night. I will be getting that done though, since it's difficult to deal with in this state. Today was a fun experiment, but I think I'll be getting back to normal.

Hanna versus Winter: Day 25

High: 14 (feels like -2)
Low: 7
Snow: nope

Coat: LL Bean, hat: H&M, scarf: homemade, gloves: H&M, sweater: H&M, skirt: Richard Chai for Target, tights: Target and We Love Colors

Today was really cold. It was the kind of cold where when you walk outside it arrests your lungs and you wonder if someone can drown in air. The kind of cold that turns campus into a sea of marshmallow people, faces framed by faux-fur from the hoods of their puffy jackets or their trapper hats. Every part of exposed skin fights against the biting wind, losing terribly, coming inside red and chapped. These are the kinds of days moisturizer companies live for. Anyhow, I decided not to let the cold get me down, by putting together what I thought was a cute outfit. I wore my hat, but at times the wind was so bad that I had to cover up with my hood as well. One of my friends likes to refer to me as an ice climber when I wear my coat and pull up the hood. For the uninitiated, this is an ice climber:I'll admit, I do see a resemblance. I bought the black tights at Target over winter break, but since it's so cold, I haven't really gotten the chance to wear them. I finally decided that my best bet would be to layer them, and I think it's a pretty cool effect. And it doesn't even feel like I'm wearing more than one pair of tights. I'm definitely planning to do this again, maybe when the weather is a little warmer so that I don't have to cover it up with boots.

Duck Duck Goose

I've got a pretty big affinity for duck boots. I know that they do appear a little bit ugly sometimes, but I've always liked them when going into LL Bean. So naturally, a couple years ago when Tory Burch came out with her duck shoes in various colors - instead of the drab brown or black often found at LL Bean, I was enamored of them.

Duck shoes by Tory Burch

Of course, they were well out of my price range, so I was extremely excited to see that LL Bean has come out with pretty little duck flats in colors other than black and brown.

LL Bean's skimmers

They look perfect for someone like me who likes to wear flats, but doesn't want a soaked foot when it rains. They come in black, brown, navy, yellow and red and I think I'll be trying to find a way to get more than one color into my closet.

Hanna versus Winter: Day 24

High: 24
Low: 11
Snow: showers

Coat: Gap, scarf: homemade, gloves: H&M, sweater: Gap, shirt: Old Navy, skirt: F21, boots: Cole Haan

I feel like such a bum right now, since I've been so lax on my posting. I just haven't felt the greatest over the past couple days on top of being busy. Basically when I'm not at class or doing work I've been sleeping which is why I've been posting so late and not as much as usual. I will try to pick it up over the weekend, make things a little more interesting. Today it was really windy, which made the cold pretty biting. I wore running tights instead of regular tights for an added layer of warmth. I love mixing this striped shirt with the patterned skirt, since they have basically the same color palette. I'm considering doing a casual Friday type of thing this week, maybe wearing a pair of jeans. I've just felt a little uninspired when looking at my closet recently, but maybe that's just because I'm super tired in the morning. I feel like if I mix it up one day, I'll be able to look at my clothes with new eyes the next.

Hanna versus Winter: Day 23

High: 25
Low: 13 (felt like -3!)
Snow: flurries

Coat: Gap, hat: H&M, button-down: banana republic, shirt: old navy, kilt: Scottish shop in Williamsburg, VA, tights: Old Navy, socks: target, boots: Nordstrom

This is just a short post before I get in bed, as I didn't sleep well last night and am aiming for in bed by midnight. I wanted to wear this kilt today, but since I was deprived of sleep and got out of bed later than I should have this morning I only had ten minutes to get dressed before leaving early for class for the purpose of getting coffee along the way. I realized midway through the day that I looked kind of haphazard, but since I was both tired and busy I didn't really care. I love this kilt though. I bought it in September when I visited my sister in Williamsburg. Right outside of the colonial part, there are some more contemporary stores and one of them is a little shop that sells clothes and other goods from Scotland. They have a range of kilts in different lengths and all different tartans. I really wanted a black watch tartan, but they didn't have it in my size, so I chose this one instead. If I can, though, I'll get a black watch one too. Something about wearing a longer kilt makes me feel like a school girl - like I'm wearing a uniform. But since I'm not actually wearing a uniform, I like it a lot.

Hanna versus Winter: Day 22

High: 33
Low: 22
Snow: the snow has returned - scattered showers

Cape: vintage (via The Clothes Horse), hat: Urban outfitters sweater: Gap (hand-me-down), armwarmers: H&M, dress: American Eagle, boots: Urban Outfitters

Since this was the first day of it getting colder again, I wanted a warm sweater. This forest green sweater from Gap in the 90s certainly fits the bill. Even though the knit is pretty big and thus has a lot of holes, once I've worn it for a while I'm always really warm. I decided to wear the cape as well because I hadn't worn it in a while and I figured that it would match the sweater and that the dress would look sweet poking out from the bottom. The dress, by the way, is really a nightgown, but it's so fun and frilly that I can't resist wearing it out.

Spring Forward, part I

My friends and I have been talking about spring break recently (the current plan is to go down to Texas and take a little road trip down to South padre island) so I've been thinking about and looking at spring clothes. I know I don't need any more clothes, but I can't help looking at pretty florals and pastels.
First: I saw this dress on What I Wore and went to Megan Nielsen's site to look at the clothes. I highly recommend going there, because all of it's really cute and exactly the kinds of clothes I'd love to have for spring. I'm especially enamored with the dress and blouse below but I wouldn't say no to any of it.

Anthropologie always has the prettiest dresses though they're pretty much all out of my range. It can't ever hurt to dream though, right? I can barely resist their jewelry as well.And of course, I look at Modcloth every day, so it seems logical to include a couple pieces from there.

There's always going to be more that I love for spring, so I think this is just the first part of my picks for the next season. I have to do something to keep myself optimistic when the weather's getting cold again.

Hanna versus Winter: Day 21

High: 47
Low: 30
Snow: rain.

Dress: Urban Outfitters, Belt: from an H&M dress, Tights: Hue, Shoes: Gap

I was pretty lazy today, I didn't go outside and mostly I just sat and did homework or read articles and blogs online. Google reader is basically my new favorite thing, which means that now I'm actually following blogs formally and able to see what's new all in one place. I know it's not new in general, but I just recently started using it and it is a godsend for someone like me who reads so many blogs. It might actually get back to being legitimately cold later this week, which is mildly exciting to me, because I don't really like this weird winter limbo we've been in. I'm sure when it actually is cold that I'll complain about it though. I got this dress at Urban Outfitters the summer before college and I've had interesting experiences wearing it. I've never been completely happy with how it looked, but I think the solution is a wider belt. The cloth one that matches the dress is not thick enough and just sort of hangs limply but I like how this belt looks with the dress. I think I'll be trying some different belts from now on.

Music Monday

Last week I mentioned my love for American Dreams, so I decided that my music Monday post would be dedicated to the show and some of its wonderful musical performances. I wish that they would release the second and third seasons of this show on DVD. For those of you who never saw it, American Dreams was a show on NBC that focused on a family during the early to mid 1960s. The oldest daughter in the family, Meg, was a dancer on American Bandstand and so the show had contemporary artists guest star as the artists on the show.


Hilary and Haylie Duff as the Shangri-Las

Jennifer Love Hewitt as Nancy Sinatra

Kelly Clarkson as Brenda Lee

Brandy as Gladys Knight

Prep School

Yesterday I wore my Lilly Pulitzer vest, which was one of my first purchases with my hard-earned summer job money the summer after I graduated from high school. The other purchase I made was a houndstooth skirt from Vineyard Vines. I've always been a fan of preppy styles. Part of that has to do with growing up in the Northern Virginia suburbs of DC and part of that probably has to do with both where I spent summers as a child and where my parents grew up/were educated. My parents are both from New England and as a child we would go visit my grandparents on Nantucket.

image found here

Nantucket is probably the epicenter of preppiness for me. Summer in Nantucket is full of people in bright colored polo shirts and those crazy pants with lobsters embroidered on them. Last time I went to Nantucket I was in high school and we stayed with my Aunt Sarah and her family in their house there. Nantucket is beautiful - with its distinctive style of house and the gorgeous flowers that line people's fences, as well as the beach and the center of town where the streets are made of cobblestones and are lined with cute little shops. It was on Nantucket that I first went into a Lilly Pulitzer store. I fell in love with the bright colors and patterns (which are unfortunately out of my price range).
In high school, my favorite colors were pink and green which I wore together with aplomb. I had a drawer in my dresser reserved for Polo shirts, which I would buy every time we went to the Ralph Lauren outlet. I also started a bit of a Vera Bradley collection and am in possession of more brightly colored patterned quilted bags than is probably advisable. There's now a Vera store in the mall in my hometown and it's beautiful. I've also got a lot of argyle and plaid, cable-knit sweaters, sweater vests and hair ribbons. After all, I did play field hockey and lacrosse in high school. It's basically required to have a ribbon. For prom my senior year, I decided to not look for something that was a traditional prom dress and instead convinced my mom to buy me a Lilly Pulitzer dress - and matched it with green eyeliner and pink mascara.My prom dress - it's full length and I plan on getting it hemmed into a knee length (or a little shorter) dress so that I can wear it again and again. This isn't the best picture - taken indoors - the colors are a lot more vibrant in person.High school Christmas card picture. Note the argyle sweater, polo shirt, khakis and pearls.
Freshman year of high school: pink polo shirt
The Vera Bradley stuff I have at school (trust me, there's a lot more at home)
I think I like preppy clothes so much because they always seem classy to me. There's never too much skin showing, and there's rarely a dearth of bright colors or patterns. I love walking into a store like Ralph Lauren or Lacoste and looking at the stacks of vividly colored polo shirts. I'm definitely influenced by places like Nantucket and clothing lines like Lilly Pulitzer and Kate Spade. Really, anything with a bright color or print and I'm there. I even own pink and green suitcases.
Below, some of my favorites from Lilly and Kate.
Lilly (from lillypulitzer.com):
Kate (from katespade.com):