Throwback Thursday

While these pictures are only actually from yesterday, this dress is what I was wearing in my very first outfit I posted to the blog. Allll the way back in 2013. Granted I haven't been blogging consistently since then, but I thought it'd make a good throwback.

While not much has changed, there is one very exciting change coming-- I just bought my first dslr camera!! I'm so, so, so excited! I've wanted one for so long, and I finally took the plunge and ordered it last night. Obviously there's going to be a bit of a learning curve while I figure out how to use it, but I'm so excited to start playing with it. I haven't had a (real) camera in so long-- let alone a nice one-- so it's going to be such a nice change.

In other news, sorry about how quiet it's been around here lately! While construction's been going on, I've been mostly living out of a suitcase, so there's been a whole lot of outfit repeating going on. That, combined with excessive heat, has made for a boring blog. Unfortunately, construction has been extended, but there is an end in sight! I hope.

Dress: Fred Meyer. Sandals: Fred Meyer.

In the meantime, I've got a couple friends coming into town (including one I haven't seen in WAY too long) and a Taylor Swift concert coming up, so I'm pretty psyched. Things may continue to be quiet for a bit with everything going on, but once things calm down a bit, posts should ramp up a bit. I'd also like to start branching out from outfit photos again too, to add in a bit more variety.

Leavenworth, WA

Over the Fourth of July weekend, I went to Leavenworth with my family. For those of you who don't know, Leavenworth is a picture perfect Bavarian-themed town located in the mountains in Central Washington.

We spent the weekend alternating between exploring the shops and trying not to melt from the 100 degree temperatures. Instead of rambling about the specifics of what we did, I thought I'd just share the pictures I took while we were exploring.

Their flower game is on point.

The prettiest sign.

My favorite series of shops.

Note: We didn't actually stay here, they just had a pretty sign.

Isn't Leavenworth gorgeous? I highly recommend visiting if you're ever in the area. 

Feeling indecisive.

Crop Top: Target. Shorts: Old Navy. Shoes: Toms (via Nordstrom)

As a side note, the outfit above is what I actually wore on the Fourth. It took me over an hour to decide. There was a lot of bugging my mom, and consulting with friends (which would be when I took the photo of my options above). Fortunately, I have very patient family and friends, who put up with how indecisive I am.

Not a Bag

Day two of my sunburn called for another loose shirt, so I'm wearing my other new one from Old Navy. I love this shirt, but when I first tried it on, I wasn't sure if it was oversized in a cute way or in an 'it looks like a bag' way. I texted McKenna a picture, and she assured me it was former. I had been leaning that way too, so I gladly bought it. It's not often I find oversized anything that looks cute.

This shirt didn't get quite as much visibility as I'd have liked today, since it was actually cool out so I ended up wearing a zip up jacket over it most of the day. I'll wear it to death, though, so soon everyone will be sick of it.

And I'm not complaining because it was actually cool. It only got to 73 or so today, and it even sprinkled a little this morning. I don't love the rain, but considering we've only gotten 1/16th of our average rainfall or something this summer and brush fires are a problem, it's needed.

I had today off from work today, which was so nice. I've been doing so much lately, it was nice to have a break. I was still gone for most of the day, visiting with my great aunt, but that was a lot of sitting and talking and not a lot of go, go, go.

It was weird, though. We went to a mall I used to frequent growing up, and it's changed so much! Even by the time I graduated, it had changed a lot, but half the stores are new there. Like, I'm a little bit jealous because there are quite of few new ones that look really cool and another few others have been remodeled so they look much nicer. It's always so weird going somewhere that used to be so familiar.

Shirt: Old Navy. Jeans; Old Navy. Flats: Payless.

Just a head's up, tomorrow I plan on posting the Leavenworth recap that I mentioned a couple weeks ago. It's just a tad late... But it's such a pretty town, it's worth the wait.

Back At It

So, I took an unintentional blog break last week... My bad! I actually had plans more nights than not, which is super weird for me. I usually have zero plans. I apparently don't know how to deal, so I didn't post anything. Sorry about that!

My great aunt has been in town from England, so I've been pretty busy trying to spend as much time with her as possible (she's sassy and British, what more could you want?). We went to Bite of Seattle Saturday and yesterday we went to a pow wow at Discovery Park. Saturday was around 90, and yesterday was around 95. And I spent the majority of both days outside. While I had a lot of shade and sunscreen Saturday, I spent 5-6 hours outside Sunday without either of those. Needless to say, I'm a little crispy today.

Fortunately for me, I had just bought this shirt on Saturday. It's loose and flowy and exactly what I needed to avoid agitating my sunburn today at work. The worst of it is on my back, so I didn't want anything too close fitting (or anything that showed how much of a lobster I am). Fun fact but this shirt is also like a suede-y material. I love it. I do wish I had added a necklace, though, but I didn't have that thought until I had already left for work.

It's funny, I actually had gone to Old Navy looking for shorts because they were 50% off. But out of the four things I bought, only one was shorts, and not even denim like I had hoped. They were out of all of the ones I liked in my size. But I got two cute shirts and a purse I've liked for awhile now, all for 30% off, so I can't complain. And I picked up two pairs of shorts at Forever 21.

idk what my face was doing.

Top: Old Navy. Jeans: Target. Shoes: Payless. Not Pictured: Killer Sunburn.

As you can see by the lack of furniture, the construction has started again in my apartment. It's handy for picture taking (wasn't a fan of that last set up), but not so handy for the rest of my life. I'm too lazy to keep moving my tv stand, so it means that I'm without tv again until they finish (I hate watching things on my laptop. With a passion). So until then, I'm pretty much listening to Spotify nonstop. I'm awful at figuring out what to listening to, though. I actually took a Buzzfeed quiz with the hopes of it helping. Needless to say, if you have suggestions, send them my way.

The quiz totally did help, though. "War Paint" by FLETCHER is totally my jam now.

Patriotic Railroad Worker

So, when I first tried these shortalls (shorteralls?) on, I texted my friend McKenna a picture for her opinion. Accompanying the picture, I said something along the lines of, "I feel like a patriotic railroad worker." She assured me they were cute. Still undecided, I took it to Twitter and Instagram. I didn't get many comments but I didn't get any nos either, so I bought them. 

I wore them for the first time last Sunday for the drive back from Leavenworth. I also paired them with a crop top that I bought a few months ago, but haven't gotten a chance to wear yet. I love it, but I don't actually own much that goes with it. Gotta love those pesky details. 

Unfortunately, I had to change out of them almost as soon as I got done taking these pictures. I'd only been home for half an hour (I hadn't even really sat down yet) and they were already covered in cat hair. It appears that I need to get better at dehairing my life whenever white denim is involved.

As a sidenote, I did take a few pictures while we were in Leavenworth-- I plan on posting them sometime next week, so stay tuned! The whole town is so photogenic and picturesque, it just looks like one big postcard.

I did also plan on showing you the outfit I wore on Friday for the drive out and our first day there, but unfortunately the photos turned out too dark for editing to salvage. I have no doubt I'll wear the same outfit again (it's so comfy, it's basically like pajamas) so I'll have to be sure to get better pictures next time I wear it.

Shortalls: Target. Crop Top: Target. Sandals: Fred Meyer.

That's about it for now! Now that the weather is cooling down a few degrees and getting closer to normal Washington summer weather, I should start posting more outfits again. We either tied or broke the record for most days over 90 in a row (it was five) which is insane and way too hot. I've pretty much been wearing the same few outfits over and over again, so posting them wouldn't have been too terribly exciting. With cooler weather should hopefully come a bit of variety, though.

Review: Garnier Color Styler in Purple Mania

So, I want to preface this by saying that I am the biggest chicken when it comes to dying my hair. Like, I'm 23 (almost 24 yikes) and I've never actually dyed it, aside from that spray on color you can get at party stores for Halloween. I've talked about it extensively for years, but I've always been too afraid to bite the bullet and do it.

That's where Garnier Color Styler comes in. As I've mentioned, I have been OBSESSED with having colorful ends lately. Particularly, I've wanted purple ends. I was talking to a friend, and she recommended trying out that spray on stuff from party stores to try it out before I committed. I didn't see that when I was at Target, but I did find Garnier Color Styler which seemed like a classier version.

I tried it out the next morning, before the Pride Parade. Putting it in was super easy, even for someone as inexperienced as me. It came with some gloves, and all I had to do was shake the bottle for a few seconds, squeeze out the dye, and apply it where I wanted. Then, once it was dry, I had to brush it out. 

From the instructions, it seemed like I only needed a little bit, but I kept adding more and more to make it brighter (likely because my hair is so dark). But I can't complain, because it actually did show up! My hair is obviously pretty dark, so I didn't really believe that it would. But it did! 

I do want to add a quick note that the dye gives your hair a weird chalky texture, but I was willing to deal with that because my hair was purple and I was obsessed.

Unfortunately, by the end of the day it became hard to see in my hair when I wasn't in natural light. The picture below was taken at the end of the day, after I had spent like twenty minutes trying to figure out if the purple was even still there or not. The next day it was still there, but it was impossible to see except when I was outside under the sun. That night I took a shower, and it was gone for real.

The dye supposedly lasts 2-3 shampoos, but didn't even make it to one with my hair. I imagine it was probably still there, just faded enough you couldn't see it with my dark hair. That's all I can think off, because it was true to promise in that it didn't rub off at all overnight.

I imagine that it would last longer for those with lighter hair, since it won't blend in as quickly when it fades. It does also say it lasts longer on damaged hair, and mine is about as healthy as it can get-- I don't have split ends, I don't dye it, and I don't use heat-- so that probably factored in quite a bit as well.

Overall though, I would absolutely recommend it to someone (and I think I told like three of my friends they should). I have more left, so next time I want to try adding more to see if it shows up brighter or lasts longer.

Either way, my trial run was definitely a success and I want to do it for real. I do still want my hair to be longer first, but I don't know that I want to wait that long. Good thing I've got this to tide me over now.

I was also having an amazing hair day, btw.

Happy Fourth of July!

Just popping in to wish you all a happy Fourth of July! There won't be any fireworks where I'm at due to the wildfire hazard, so I wanted to share some of the pictures I took last year at the big Seattle fireworks show over Lake Union.

I hope everyone has a great holiday!