currently obsessing: seattle engagement shoot by Andria Lindquist

okay y'all, have you seen this gorgeous seattle engagement shoot by the over-the-top cool & talented Andria Lindquist? so chic, so sexy, so lovely. my one dream in life is that I will be able to afford her by the time I get married, because she is so BOMB. and this shoot is one of my favorites to date. see the rest of the set here, but be prepared to losing an hour or two to browsing the rest of her photo adventures. xo! 

Seattle, you so fly.

This weekend was spent reppin' my city: cheering on the Mariners to beat the Oakland A's on Friday and the Sounders killing the San Jose Earthquake on Saturday. Seattle, sunshine, friends, garlic fries, cold beer, cheering at the top of our lungs, completely carefree...Seattle, you'll always be my city. so good. 

don't forgot to enter our vintage giveaway before Wednesday! xo. 

summer memories in winter air

Sometimes you go to your favorite music festival in your favorite city with your two favorite people, carrying nothing but a sweater & a disposable camera, and you lay on the grass at the Seattle Center and dance to Passion Pit and M83 and City & Colour and other gorgeous bands and laugh in the beer garden and breathe in that northwest air. And sometimes, you find that disposable camera in the middle of cold, cold January and you develop it and fall in love with those memory all over again. 

Seattle, music, friends, cheap disposable cameras: je t'aime! 

insta lately.

rainy, vanilla chai kind of afternoon / chambray, stripes, & a color pop

grad parties / dancing on tables because Katy Perry said to

brother & my favorite piece at the Seattle Art Museum / Aboriginal art feature

blue & green Seattle / black & white Seattle

grad ceremony / gorgeous, colorful grad flowers

my best boys / beer & salmon burgers to celebrate

silly boy on a summer afternoon / brunch

celebrating our last night of Bible Study with kittens & brownie sundaes

fresh flowers in my room always make me smile / brunch

Life's been fun & I only see it getting better as the summer rolls in. xo! 

Bumbershoot 2012

Alright all you Washington residents, who's coming with me? One of my favorite events of the year, I can't wait! xo. 

Sleepless in Seattle...and everywhere else.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I must apologize once more for being a bad blogger. Though I am extremely grateful for the opportunity I have to be a student and all of the wonderful roles I get to fill in my life, I am getting tired. Being right in the middle of my senior year while leading a small group/being in a small group/attending church/trying to get writing pieces ready to submit AND attempting to be a good  friend/girlfriend/daughter/sister/roommate is starting to pile up a bit. Even just keeping my house cleaned up is hard enough at this point! Again, I don't mean to complain, because I am very lucky to get to do all of the things I do. But my personality is the type that needs time alone to recharge & be creative, and I am missing that right now. I am also missing having time to read! I have a stack of books on my bedside table waiting for me, not to mention that I need to be reading my Bible much more often. Finals are starting to peek around the corner, and I am feeling the stress. But blogging is something I love and something I want to make time for--it really is a relaxing thing for me.  

ANYWAY! I wore this outfit to a show at The Showbox at the Market in Seattle last week. I bought tickets to see Thrice, O Brother, and La Dispute for Raleigh's birthday in August (you might remember the birthday scheming I did) and it finaaally came time to actually go! It was a great show, lots of energy and the bands were all very genuine in thanking their fans for being there, which is something I really appreciate. I wanted to wear an outfit I could be comfortable standing in for 4+ hours but something that would also be good for a bit of time in Seattle beforehand--and be somewhat warm in. We got sushi before the show & visited the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, too...not a bad day at all!

As a last note, I also wanted to show you guys the beautiful "Pretty Powerful" palette I won from a giveaway  that Jessie @ The Concrete Catwalk hosted recently. I was so excited to get it in the mail, and adore how chic the packaging is, not to mention the delicate shades of pink inside. My 21st birthday is coming up next month, and I can't wait to get all fabulous for the celebrations with the help of this collection. Thanks, Jessie! If you guys haven't visited her blog, you must. She's fierce. 

Hope you are all doing well & staying warm! I will be more active this week, promise. xoxo. 

What I Wore: Anniversary

Raleigh & I celebrated our two year anniversary with a day in Seattle, which was lovely and much-needed. It was so nice to have a day just the two of us, walking around the city hand-in-hand and laughing about the various memories of the past two years. Since we walked around during the day and had a nice dinner in the evening, I needed to wear something that could easily transition from casual to a tiny bit less casual, so I went with this dress I bought at Target a few months ago paired with a necklace my sister found me when she lived in Hawaii. I love the prints together! The ring is one that Raleigh gave me when we first started dating.
Some other shots from the day:

I love when my brother is working, because it means yummy & free coffee whenever I'm downtown (also I love seeing my brother, but c'mon--FREE mochas!)




I was mildly obsessed with these displays from Tiffany's--so fun!




Wasabi Bistro is my absolute favorite sushi place in Seattle. Yummy sushi, chic interior, and the most fashionable servers I've ever seen. Walking through the Belltown area is always a pretty walk, too.

My present from Raleigh! I love this dress from Urban Outfitters. He also got me Tina Fey's book "Bossypants" which I can't wait to read...she's one of my favorite women.
Sorry for the photo overload, but it was a great day & I can't help but share it all. What are some of your best date memories? Do tell!

Bumbershoot 2011

Seriously, I love photobooths. We hit this one up twice and probably would have gone again if the Starbucks lounge hadn't been so alluring..

Like I said in my last post, several friends and I went to one day of Bumbershoot last weekend. If you aren't familiar, Bumbershoot is Seattle's 3-day music and arts festival that happens every Labor Day Weekend at the Seattle Center. It's so much fun! There are tons of musical acts from local to international, art exhibits, comedy shows, book readings, street performers, showings from the Seattle Film Festival, and on and on. That's not even mentioning the yummy food everywhere or the amazing people watching! I went every year in high school but was out of town last year and really missed it--in past years I've seen people such as Metric, Modest Mouse, Kanye West, The Shins, John Legend, Ingrid Michaelson, Blue Scholars, Katy Perry, Stone Temple Pilots, and even Blondie (strangely enough).

This year's festival went back to its roots and featured more local acts than before. We went on Sunday and saw hip hop artist Sol w. the Blue Scholars, Mad Rad, Massy Ferguson, Broken Social Scene, Seattle local Macklemore and rapper Wiz Khalifa. If you like hip hop and haven't checked out Macklemore's music, you really should--he reps the Pacific Northwest with pride and has some really insightful, thought-provoking lyrics.

The rest of the day was spent laying by the fountain, eating yum festival food, getting free drinks in the Starbucks lounge, and just taking in the last of the Seattle Summer. I wish I had more photos, but cameras with removable lenses aren't allowed and I wasn't feeling sneaky that day. So I leave you with these and even a peek of my cast...lucky, lucky, lucky.

Shirt: Forever 21, Shorts & Belt: thrifted (the belt was only $1!)