staycation

"Lovers are patient and know that the moon needs time to become full." — Rumi 

Two weeks spent exploring the beautiful state of California. Sometimes it's good to be reminded of all of the incredible places to see outside of the city. Nature is just so extraordinary and sometimes I can't wrap my head around the beauty of absolutely everything. It's nice feeling a little more grounded.

These are just a few of my favorite shots. You can find some more here.
taken at: golden gate park / ocean beach / big sur / muir woods

Where I've Been: July/August

Mini hiatus = over.

I'm a blogger. I love this little space of mine. I put everything I've got into it, I really do. BUT, I think it's healthy to get away. When I'm spending time with those I love I think it's good to leave the internet for a bit. Breathing space is nice — especially because it's so easy to get up in the blogging world. Now that I'm back I thought it'd be fun to explain where I've been...

· I turned 24 and spent the weekend with some of the most amazing people I know
· New addition to my ever-growing Catbird stack: Teensy Evil Eye ring c/o my love
· Got a sweet new haircut
· I flew to Jersey to spend some time with my family — here until Aug 21! Yay!
· Celebrated my Grandpa's 75th birthday... with about five courses of real New Jersey Italian goodness.
· Bought my sister her first few bits of real makeup (and gave her a makeover)

I'm happy to be blogging again after this little break and plus: tomorrow I'm announcing the winner of my giveaway. So exciting. ♡

True&Co · Wanderlust

A few weeks back a shot a lookbook for True&Co's newest launch: their Adventure Pack Panties. These are a few of my favorite shots. Now go get those cute little panties! 

If you want to see more, check my portfolio! 

A visit with Melissa Joy Manning

A month or so back I was invited to visit the studio of jewelry designer, Melissa Joy Manning. So I drove up to Berkeley and spent two glorious hours basking in the greatness that is her work.

Melissa makes sustainable hand-made pieces, and has done for 15 years now. Ethically sourced gems and stones, up-cycled and recycled metals and materials, what's not to love? You know when you meet someone who radiates passion for what they do and then it makes you want to go out and conquer the world? That's what meeting Melissa was like. Her store/studio was incredible; you walk into this stunning little shop full of antique wood boxes that are filled with gorgeous engagement rings. As you make your way to the back there's a door with glass windows and a peek inside showed her staff crafting some custom pieces.

I got to see an engagement ring being made, some earrings, and random other bits. She explained to me how she just couldn't have a conventional job, about how she needed to be creative, which is something that seriously resonated with me. If you're into jewelry or other little gifts and you're in the Bay Area, GO TO HER STUDIO. You will leave enlightened and inspired, I promise. Aaaand if you don't live in the Bay Area you can peruse the site for hours on end here.

There's something about being surrounded by people that are really passionate about what they do that makes you want to accomplish even more than you (currently) are. Especially those that are in a creative space, in my opinion. The fact that something like jewelry making, a handicraft if you will, is still around is amazing. I love the idea that things like this haven't been fully lost in the tech-age that we're currently in.

It's all very romantic to me.

p.s. sorry this is so photo heavy, I just love so many photos I took this day. If you'd like to see more I posted a ton of them here.

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My week in a nutshell. P.S. Bigger photos, yay!

· Precious little Dior lipsticks
· Current nails + OOTD coming soon!
· I love daffodils
· Jasmine milk tea with boba
· Catbird candle + things
· The newest addition: lotus

via my Flickr.

everyday

As you guys might already know, I'm not all cupcakes and lipstick all the time and when it comes to what I do, photography is my #1. As a part of wanting to take on photography more full-time, I'm starting an ever so cliché 365 project. If you're not familiar, it's basically where you take a photo each day and document them somewhere — be it Flickr or a tumblr, or whatever. I'll be putting my photos here (I have an actual domain but it's still configuring), but you can also check them out here if you'd like. I'm pretty excited to see how this goes.

Does anyone else have any personal projects (outside of beauty and blogging) that they're working on?

Public Service Announcement

Not really a PSA, but...

I'm currently back in New Jersey for the Thanksgiving holiday and I'm super excited to be here for a while (plus that means we'll be in England in less than a month, eeeeeep). That said, be prepared for regular blogging to happen, for the most part!

Anyway I'm writing this post to say: I'm going to be selling some of my prints on Society6! If you didn't know, aside from blogging, photography is what I'm most passionate about. You can see a bunch of my photos here and see the prints and such that I'm selling here. I'm currently uploading a ton of stuff so stay tuned! Even if you don't buy anything I'd really love for you to just check out my stuff and tell me what you think! Also if you see anything on Flickr that you'd like to see in print form, let me know <3

...and now back to our scheduled programming...

A few of my favorite things

So I thought I'd do a little something different and show you guys where I keep all my makeup. It's not really storage or anything of that sort — I usually keep out what I use most and throw the rest in my left over Glossybox which is still gives me pretty easy access. This is only really my makeup collection; my hair products, accessories, and tools are a-whole-nother issue I need to tackle one of these days!

I've got a few more Instax photos to put on the wall but I seem to have lost them in the move a few months back, so hopefully I'll be able to find 'em and stick them up soon. The two cards are from Richard and his sister and were for my 23rd birthday this past July. They're just so cute I love having them out. There are a few products here that I haven't reviewed yet, but will be soon! I've fallen (madly) in love with YSL Le Teint Touché Éclat and Marc Jacobs Daisy as of late; I can't stop wearing them! Anywho, let me know what you think of my little setup as I'm loving it right now :)

That little moleskine in the pictures is probably one of my most prized possessions — it was a little gift from Richard when we first started dating and I still love it as much as I did when I got it. Also present is my 'lil pink Nintendo DS loaded up with Harvest Moon Cute.  P.S. shooting/writing this post has put me in a Francoise Hardy/French music mood - go listen.

Monthly Recap: L I F E

I haven't done one of these in a while and I thought it'd be fun to give a little update on what I've been doing outside of my blog. That said, I've been so busy lately between blogging and work, I barely have time to do anything else!

Richard and I did a ton of shopping last month which resulted in new shoes for the both of us as well as leather jackets. I don't even know if it'll get cold enough here to wear it a lot, but I have worn it a few times and it'll definitely be perfect for nights in SF. Other than that, I bought some collartips, worked from the comfort of my bed, ate some beans on toast <3, and got a haircut! Yay life.

The next few months are going to be packed solid full of trips to see family for holidays and I'm interested to see how long it takes before I get seriously stressed, ha. Aside from that, I need to get a new passport which I've been putting off for a while (procrastination at it's finest). I'll be applying to LCC this year which means the possibility of me moving to London which I'm both excited and scared about (which is also something I've been putting off, oops!). Weeeeee'll see what happens!

What has everyone else been up to this past month? Any fun trips planned?