Cardigan - Target / Skirt - Tatyana / Heels - Sears
My Black Friday purchases have started to arrive and I am in LOVE with this skirt! It's the
Fanny Skirt from Tatyana in green and it's heavenly! This has possibly become my new favorite outfit. I may even wear it on Christmas. I JUST LOVE IT SO MUCH!
A few months ago I discovered a lovely activity called Postcrossing.
Originating on this lovely site, Postcrossing is a way to send and receive postcards from all over the world.
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| Check out postcrossing.com to learn all about this awesome hobby! |
I signed up for an account and automatically went searching for postcards online. Obviously if you live somewhere where postcards of your city are readily available, I would definitely recommend buying those, as most people like to receive cards that feature a picture of where they came from on the front. Finding postcards where I live isn't the easiest, so I started by picking a few books of postcards out on Amazon.
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| I started out with these Charley Harper postcards, but have since picked up a few more to send out |
After I received my postcards from Amazon in the mail, I went to
Postcrossing.com and requested a few addresses to send postcards to. I wrote a little note and applied the proper amount of postage (about $1.15 from the US) and made sure to include the postcard ID, which is given to you with each address. It is VERY important that the postcard ID is written at least once on the postcard. This is how your postcard will be registered and how Postcrossing.com knows to give your address to someone else.
When you first start out, you can have up to five postcards out at a time. As soon as a postcard is received and registered, someone else in the world randomly gets your address to send a postcard to and you are able to send another postcard out. It's like a wonderful circle of postcard sending goodness.
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| So many stamps, so little space... |
If you live in the US, I would recommend getting some International Forever stamps. They have a value of $1.10, and you would just need a $0.05 stamp to make the $1.15 postage. I checked on the US Postal site and was quoted $1.15 each time, regardless of the country I was sending to, but double checking wouldn't be a bad idea.
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| I use my Mod by This is Ground to carry my Postcrossing goodies on the go. It's perfect for summer travels |
While the amount of time I've spent participating in Postcrossing has been small, it's definitely been enjoyable. I've sent postcards out to 8 different countries and have received postcards from 5 different countries.
I enjoy picking out postcards for my recipients and reading the lovely notes that come through my mail box from around the world. Whether you collect postcards, or you just enjoy receiving and sending snail mail, Postcrossing is a wonderful worthwhile activity for everyone. In fact, I think this is the perfect opportunity for kids to practice writing, reading, and geography skills, so get them involved to!
Do you participate in Postcrossing? What's your favorite thing you've received from a penpal? Leave some snail mail love in the comments below.
Top - Forever 21 / Skirt - Forever 21 / Belt - Forever 21 / Sunglasses - Forever 21
This is one of my favorite outfits to wear. I love the dark blue with bright pop of red. And I really think the buttons down the front of the skirt make it unique. I wish the skirt photographed better; it's wonderful in person! The top I'm wearing is a lace peplum top that I fell in love with when I saw it in the store, but it wasn't until I paired it with this skirt that I liked the way it looked on me.
Everything I'm wearing came from Forever 21... I think I may like Forever 21? At least half my closet originated there, so it's probably safe to say I like it a lot.
In an alternate universe where I have mass amounts of money, I own ModCloth and have one of everything they sell. It's an awesome universe. Unfortunately, that is not the universe I live in. Fortunately, ModCloth has a sale going on at the moment and I was able to pick up the adorable Amidst the Masters dress and the Call it a Day Trip sandals.
The sandals are a great neutral color and very comfortable. Perhaps a little on the loose side, but nothing a little adjusting of the back strap couldn't fix. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the sandals and I'm sure they'll get a lot of use.
What I was really excited about trying on was the dress. I love dresses, and I am in LOVE with this dress! While short dresses can be fun, I've always been one for a little more length to my dresses. I can wear it to work, which is great. And accidentally flashing people isn't as much of a worry, which is always good.
The sleeves are another great feature of this dress. I've only recently started feeling slightly comfortable leaving the house in anything sleeveless, so I usually wear a cardigan, but in the heat of summer that's not always the most comfortable of options. The sleeves on this dress are just the right fit and I felt fine being out in the LA heat (ok I was still hot, but not because of the dress).
The color is perfect for any season and the leaf pattern is lovely. The dress fits and flares in all the right places, which is perfect for someone like me who has a small waist and full hips. I felt that the quality of the dress was very nice. The material isn't super thin and the whole dress is lined. It comes with a belt and there are pockets! Who doesn't love a dress with pockets?!
If you have a chance, head over to
ModCloth and check out their awesome sale. There are so many great pieces and some for 50% off! If you click
this magical link and spend $50, we both get $20!
Be on the lookout for another ModCloth dress review soon; I may have taken advantage of the sale more than once... Oops?
A few weekends ago, Man Friend and I went with some of his family to Long Beach in an attempt to see some whales on a three hour boat tour (cue the Gilligan's Island theme song). The day was lovely; cool in the shade, and not too horribly hot while out in the sun.
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| We enjoyed our time aboard the Triumphant |
The water was quite choppy, but not horribly so. Although the mass amounts of passengers bent over trashcans may disagree with me there.
Obviously I had my DSLR along to document the entire trip. Not much went on for most of the first half. We saw a few sunfish, which was exciting until we realized it was just a sunfish. Finally, about an hour or so into the ride, we saw some common dolphins. They were fun and swam around us and I got a few pictures. Or so I thought. Unfortunately I must have accidentally touched something during a particularly bumpy wave and every picture I have of the dolphins is way too overexposed. Very annoying.
What is even more annoying is that I didn't notice this until later. After we saw even MORE dolphins. This time they were bottle nosed dolphins and they were ACTIVE. It was so neat watching them jump and twist in the air all around us. They were everywhere and there was a lot of them.
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| I managed to slightly salvage one of the ruined pictures... kind of? |
By this time we had been out for about an hour and a half, and it was time to start heading back. The view on our side of the boat on the way back allowed for us to get a better look at the Queen Mary side of the harbor.
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| The robot lighthouse |
Arriving back in the bay meant that no whales were going to be seen on this particular whale watching venture, but it was still a good time.
I have become obsessed with Bloglovin! One of my morning rituals is definitely reading through the recent blog posts on my favorite blogs.
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Hello and welcome to my blog! If you've decided to take a look through my little space on the web, it'd probably be nice to know a little bit about me. Whenever I have to try and describe myself there are a few things that automatically pop in to my head:
I'm a vegetarian (since I was six) and can't, nor do I care to, remember what meat tastes like. If it wasn't for my love of cheese I would probably be vegan.
I love the theatre. Specifically musical theatre. Going to see a big wonderful musical production is one of the most exciting things I can think of. I cry at least once during every show I see. Not necessarily because what I'm seeing is sad, but because I am so happy to be there experience such magic.
My love for Bette Midler knows no bounds. I also firmly believe she is the reason I have such a love for the art of performance. My three ear old self was obsessed with rewinding Hocus Pocus over and over again just to see her sing "I Put a Spell on You". I don't remember much about my early childhood, but I remember that.
I love vintage fashion, especially the 20's through the 50's. If I could dress in vintage style everyday I totally would. My collection of vintage or vintage style clothing is small, but definitely loved.
In 2007 I had the opportunity to spend 32 glorious days exploring Europe and it changed my life. Needless to say I have a very serious case of wanderlust and ache for the day I get to explore new places again.
I consider myself a fairly creative person. Music is big for me. I play a few instruments and enjoy singing. I like to doodle weird little things and experiment with different mediums. I took up Project Life last year and have really enjoyed using it as a way to not only document my life, but as a way to be creative and try new things with paper.
And last (although not really because I swear I could probably go on forever), I'm a bit of an Anglophile.
Oh, and I love tea. A lot.
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