SUMMER

 

I haven't post anything on this blog in way too long, but there's a good reason for it. I've been living my life, man. I haven't been so preoccupied with the internet, and recording everything and talking about everything to everyone. However, I have had my camera through all of this life-living nonsense, and they say a picture's worth 1000 words, so here goes!

Bellingham, for Libby's birthday.

Capitol Hill, during Pridefest.

(Also sunrise at Madison Park because WHO NEEDS SLEEP?)

West Seattle Summer Fest

TIMBERFEST

 

Kayaking with the Lushies

Friends 'n booze

And there you go. This is what my Summer has entailed so far. 

-A

Life Lately | Hangin' On

You know those times when you have so much to do that you don't do any of it? I've had a bit of that lately, mainly just with writing, which is weird because it's one of my favorite things in the world. I feel like I do my best writing at the wee hours of the morning in my bed, but then those are also the times when I'm the closest to sleeping. Usually sleeping beats out writing. I need to change that, especially because I have a lot to catch up on.

It's summer now, which really doesn't have any significance for me anymore, since I'm not in school. What really is summer for non-students, anyway? For those of us that work retail, it's the time of year where teenagers are running around the mall for hours at a time with $20 to waste our time instead of their parents'. It's a joyous time, most definitely. Last year it was around this time when I got hired at Lush (so it's been a year, which is crazy as hell), but this summer feels different. Last summer I was all about finding my place in my new job with my new coworkers in a new company. It's been an amazing year, for so many reasons. So many reasons that if I tried to list them, it would take too much time. But the TL;DR version of it - Lushies, YouTube, new friends, being okay with myself.

The last one is the most important one. It's been almost a year and a half of being single, and I've never felt more confident and sexy in my own skin than I have the last few months. I've made some amazing connections with new friends that I attribute a lot of this to, but it feels good to feel good for once. 

I'm not entirely sure what the significance of these photos are - maybe it's the mood, maybe it was my overall lazy day attitude last week, who knows. This week is going to be much busier for reasons I'd rather leave to the imagination, but it will also be a lot more exhilarating. I'll keep you posted, for sure. 

But for the last bit of business - I'm currently constantly spinning this new record from My Goodness. It's seriously so good you guys. I've only seen them twice and I feel like a doofus for not discovering them sooner. Buy this thing, guys. It's loud and fast and heavy and raw and perfect. I've been shouting out all the lyrics along with Joel Schneider in my car the last two weeks. It's some heavy shit.

What are you recent inner musings? I felt the need to spit out words for no particular reason tonight. Also you seriously need to check out My Goodness. Today's post title is, after all, a track from Shiver + Shake.

Back in the Saddle

Get it, saddle? Cowboy boots? I thought I was pretty clever. 

Lousy Reputation

 Yes I am aware that I'm rocking the bitch face in a lot of these. It works okay. I felt very Busy Philipps circa Freaks and Geeks that day, and the face needed to be just as "IDGAF" as the outfit.

Electric Bloom

It was actually 9 o'clock when we took these pictures (granted my camera settings were far different than when it's 4 p.m), but you can see why I love this time of the year. It stays so light so late and it's wonderful!

NEW STUFF: May

 Here we have another edition of NEW STUFF. I got some new stuff in the mail today and I bought some new stuff today, so I thought what better way to break it all in than do a blog post about it?!

Wishful Thinking: May

Tryst Pump - Nastygal // Topshop Wonder Pinafore - Nordstrom // Feel Younger Primer - Lush // Charisma Primer - Lush // Skin79 Super+ Beblesh Balm - Amazon // Laura Mercier Hydrating Foundation Primer

Festival Fashion: The Perfect Dress

Ever since I heard about the lineup for the Sasquatch Music Festival, I have been planning my outfits for the fest. Seriously. It's not until the end of May, but I'm already trying to figure out what I'm going to wear on those four days. And since SXSW is happening this week and Coachella is next month, I thought I'd start my festival fashion series now so anyone else can start getting ideas.

I've been scouring web boutiques for maxi dresses under $50, and to be honest it's been quite hard to find something that will work for me. I'll explain in a minute. Here are a few that I've been ogling at the last couple of days from favourite online shops Karmaloop and Nastygal.

The two dresses on top are gorgeous (and both on sale on Nastygal), but the sizing is iffy on that website. I'm a 38DD in bra size, and a size 10 in pants and dresses, so neither of these at a size 8 would work. Sigh.

 

These next two would probably be a lot easier to fit because of the naturally loose fit, but the one main problem here is that I can't wear a bra with them. I ain't that confident to walk around Sasquatch with my sweater puppies bouncing all around. Sigh.

 

There is one on Karmaloop that I might give in after my next paycheck and get if there's a coupon code that I can use. I've said this before - I'm cheap.

Why have I been looking for a maxi dress specifically? Well, I hate my legs when they're bare. I have eczema all over my calves and they make me self conscious, so I don't rock short dresses without tights very much. Urban Outfitters has a whole festival fashion lookbook right now on their site that I've been drooling over.

I've been especially loving the flower headwrap look, and it will definitely go with my hair once I get this red out of it and I'm back to my natural dirty blonde and my bangs grow out a bit. I'm bored with this hair so much.

There are a couple of pieces that I have already for the festival - a rather ugly collared maxi dress I got from the Goodwill today that is too small for me to button up, but I'll wear it as a duster vest. And I got a fringe mesh (yeah both of them) tank from H&M. At some point I'll be doing an outfit post with these, hence the "part 1" at the beginning of this post.

But there are a couple of pieces that I've got my eye on from Ebay. This one in particular I LOVE. It's not a maxi dress by any means, but the pattern is so vibrant that it would detract any sort of attention from the red splotches on my calves. Plus it looks uber comfy. 

This whole shop Meat Market, on Ebay, is amazing. I'm also watching a pair of Dolce Vita heels from their shop as well.

I've never shopped on Ebay before besides one of my camera lenses, but I might have to look more, because I've found that the prices are cheaper than Etsy.

One last thing that I'm excited to add to my festival gear is this tank I just ordered today (when I say festival gear, I basically mean summer, I'll be dressing for Sasquatch all summer to be honest).

I've literally been looking for a tank top like this for months, and I finally found one on Nastygal for not an obscene amount of money, and it will look super cute with a pair of jeans and wedges for days when I'm not running up and down dusty hills with a giant camera.

Once I have found the perfect maxi dress (that's relatively cheap), hopefully I'll have more planned out for the fest and I can do a part 2!

Best wishes!
-Abby