Hello, summer! & some recent crushes

Memorial Day Weekend!!! Does anyone else think instantly of the neighborhood pool opening when they hear those three words? I mean, it's the official start of summer, right?! 

Speaking of summer, I just have a few things to get out into the blogosphere that I'm really pumped for: this weekend last year, I was on a trip to Nashville to celebrate one lovely Bride. & in few weeks, I'll be making the trip again to celebrate another! In mid June, I'm going on a little weekend flash trip to Half Moon Bay, then jetting off to Nashville for the bachelorette party. In July I'll be traveling again, first to Lake Michigan for some family time, then to Cleveland for my bestie's wedding(!!!!!!!), then heading down to Cincinnati for a few days at home. In August I'm camping for the first time EVER... & I'm starting with a bang! Yosemite National Park, here I come! Later that  month, I'm flying back to Michigan for a quick work trip. In September, my mom is visiting & my sister, mom and I are driving out to Big Sur. Phew. It's going to be a busy but awesome summer!

But I'm bringing it in nice and slow, just the way I like it  :) I'm spending Memorial Day Weekend in San Francisco. Maybe the weather will cooperate & I can head over to a beach & sport my new America Spirit Jersey. 

I hope you have an amazing weekend. & in the meantime, take a read at my recent crushes below (because I know you have too much spring, I mean summer, fever to be focused on the work day). 

xox

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• This lipstick.
• This duffel bag.
• These headphones.
• These towels. 
• This homemade granola.

• This blog. 
• This podcast. 
• These sandals.
• This Beauty & the Beast Trailer.
• This tank.

• This bedding.
• This summer jam.
• This sexy maxi. 
• These linen slip ons.
• This singer.

Photos: Nikond3200 35mm / Edits: Adobe Lightroom 

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On The Day Your Ex Gets Married

I'm entering my fifth year of blogging. I don't talk about it, ever, but those five years = two serious boyfriends. 

Blog Boyfriend #1 got married a few weekends ago.  I didn't expect to feel any way about it. I knew it was happening, and I knew the date it was happening, but I kind of thought the page would just fall away from my mental calendar without a second glance. I mean, I live 2000 miles across the country, and I've only kept contact with one or two of our mutual friends in the three years since our break up. There was a very small chance I could stumble on a photo from the big day on social media -- but even then, I'd have to go searching for it.

I didn't think I would notice. 
But guys, the day came, and it was WEIRD.

So, how should you feel on the day your Ex is getting married? Any way you damn please. It's strange to think about someone you once shared your life with, permanently pledging their life to someone else. 

I am so, very happy in my current relationship. I am so, so thankful for my past relationships that brought me here. I feel good that my Ex found a fulfilling life partner. But it's still weird.

So, on the day your Ex gets married, here's what I suggest:

• Acknowledge it. It's happening. It's weird. You noticed it & that doesn't mean anything besides the fact that you're a human being. 
• Be grateful. I believe in fate, which means your Ex is your ex for a reason. There's something else in store for you.
• It's okay to be a little nostalgic.
• But don't forget the reasons it didn't work.
• If you ARE dating someone, be honest with them! I told my current boyfriend what was going on. He nodded. He said, "Yea, I bet that IS weird."  And then we had an amazing day. We ate donuts, hung out with friends, took blog photos, drank too much coffee, followed it up with a few dark and stormies, chatted, walked, explored the city. It wasn't until the end of the day, laying sunburnt in my bed, that my mind wandered back to the wedding, just for a fleeting second.
• If you're NOT dating someone: make plans! There are a lot of people in your life in the present. There's no reason to dwell in the past. 

And know this: when your Ex pledges his life to another woman, well there's no more permanent kind of closure in the world! Ha!

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Photo: Nikond3200 35mm / Edits: Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop

5 years ago...

What were you doing five years ago today?
You might have been in college, like me, studying for finals.
Or, instead of studying, starting a blog.

Yep. I've been blogging for five, whole, crazy, entire years. For better or worse, every embarrassing memory, style of writing, emo fashion post, and a little random poetry, are documented in this site. Much of it is buried, thank God, but you can still find it. It's a matter of searching the right terms in my search bar. (Lucky for you, I linked some of my most embarrassing ones at the end of this post 🙈.) 

So let's see, where was I five years ago? Well, I was 20 years old. I was at the end of my third year of undergrad. & I thought certainly, life was as complicated as it would ever get.

HA.

That's one really neat thing about blogging. Every year, I get to look back at my old posts, use a time warp (that I will hopefully find by next year) to smack myself in the face for thinking homemade filters were a good photo edit, and revel in the fact that I've grown up.

I barely recognize the girl I was when I started this blog five years ago. 
So, I guess that's the lesson I want to share: everything changes.

Including this blog!  Feast your heart out on the embarrassing posts of my youth. & from the bottom of my heart, thank you for taking the time to visit me here for these past five years. It's been a true honor to travel this journey with you.

• When I was into rhyming, and I guess, really loved the beach. Here. 
• Then, for a little while, haikus. Here.
• My second ever fashion post, also around the time I stopped using capitalization. Here.
• Then I started to draw. Here.
• & omg my first power tool. Here.
• When I thought I was finally an adult.... because I did my laundry at the laundromat. Here.
• I pretended to care about sports: here, here, here and here.
• I confessed a crush on ee cummings (what?! ya big weirdo) here.
• Then I decided to write and illustrate my own children's novel. Here & here.
• I got all emo about graduating here.
• & then I actually graduated here.
• I kept on drawing here.
• I went back to Miami University as an alum, here.
• I took ridiculous photos in front of construction sign here.
• I posed in front of the side of a house here....
• & in a parking lot behind my office here.
• I used wrapping paper for a background (and it looked horrible) here.
• & then told you guys all about my embarrassing posts... HERE!

I love you so much. Thanks for five tremendous years. xox

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Photography: Jake Heath, Nikond3200 35mm and Kit Zoom Lens / Edits: Adbobe Lightroom and Photoshop

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Questions from a 20-something: vol 3

We’re young. We’re learning. There are still some life skills that need to be fixed. Which reminds me, my skirt just ripped -- is there any way to fix it?

There are a lot of questions I have on the daily, some answers are an easy google search away. Some, though, are harder and more thought provoking. But you know what? I usually figure it out, and I thought you might benefit from what I’ve found. So here we go: five of my recent questions AND answers. 

Can you post emojis from your mac keyboard? 

YES! From the new macs, anyway. Press control + command + spacebar inside a text field (tweet, Facebook post, etc) to open up an old version of the emoji keyboard that is on your iPhone. Warning: the emojis will probably change to the format of your platform. ie: in gchat they change to the gchat emojis.. which are equally awesome and sometimes animated.

Can I freeze glass? 

Food expands when it freezes, so as long as you leave room for it to expand, your glass should be fine. To be safe, go with tempered glass or canning jars. My glass storage containers from Bed Bath and Beyond are freezer safe. Or you could also freeze individual meal portions of soup (or whatever) in plastic bags for easiest future dinner options. When you’re ready to eat, simply run warm water over it for thirty seconds or so, cut the bag and warm in a soup pan! 

How do you "Hand Wash" clothes?

I have an embarrassingly huge section of my closet filled with dirty clothes that are waiting to go to the dry cleaner or are marked "hand wash only." Now. Sometimes I risk it and wash these clothes with all my other gear. But, this weekend I'm going to try to hand wash. Here's what to do (I just looked it up): Fill up your sink with warm water (or what it says on the label). Add a teaspoon of detergent. Submerge and gently swish around the clothing . Drain the sink and refill with cool water. Push the item up and down until the soap is gone. Done. <source>

my tiny apartment is so damp, what can I do?

Hi there, El Nino. How long are you planning to hang out? Guys. My apartment is old and DAMP. I'm not kidding. Usually, I can keep the windows open and things are fine, but when it's raining for 10 days in a row...... buy a dehumidifer. It is the only answer. I got this little guy on Amazon and haven't turned it off for about 6 weeks. No joke. I have to empty it out about every other day, but when it's raining outside and my windows are closed, this little puppy keeps things dry.

How do I add line breaks in my instagram bio?

Omg, I have been SO jealous of the people that do that:

.
.
. 
#hastags #allunderthecaptionbreak #line.

So how do you do it? NOTES! Yea, go on your iPhone Notes app and write out your hashtags how you want them to appear. Copy and paste to Instagram and your line breaks will hold. Also works in your insta bio 😉. <source>

Have a question? Let me know! I bet I can figure it out :D & in the meantime, let me know if you found any of these useful. 

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Photo: Nikond3200 zoom kit lens / Edits: Adobe Lightroom

A One-Weekend Itinerary for Portland, OR

I didn't know much about Portland when we booked our trip to the city a few weeks ago. I had heard of Voodoo Doughnuts and seen a few episodes of Portlandia. That was about it.

So, I asked my cool older sister what her top suggestions would be, and then posed the same question to a few coworkers and friends. Portland is a popular destination, apparently, and suddenly I had suggestions out to Wazoo.

In the end, my travel buddy and I each decided to pick a "must see" from the suggestion list, and then we chose one together. These three activities became the backbone of our itinerary. It was a pretty fun weekend, all in all, and I thought I'd share our little schedule for those of you thinking of a visit to the City of Roses.

Day One:
Land at 8am
Brunch in downtown Portland
Walk through the city
Moltnomah Falls (this was our jointly picked activity)
Dinner in Boise (East Portland)
Drinks at a few of the breweries nearby

Day Two:
Sleep in
Voodoo Doughnuts for brunch (this was my activity)
Pearl District for drinks, breweries, coffee shops, shopping and dinner (this was my travel buddy's activity)
Powell's City of Books (while walking through the Pearl District)
Fly out at 9pm

Other tips: Rent a car, it's so worth it.  Bring a jacket, an umbrella, and a beanie 😋. It will rain, and it will likely be cold. There will be a line for Voodoo, but it's a shorter line at the location across the river! You'll love the Pearl District. Wear walking shoes and comfortable pants for spontaneous hikes and lots of brewery drinks. Let me know how it goes :)

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Photos: Jake Heath and Annie Butler; Edits: Adobe Lightroom