{Spring}ing Back

     When I took this photos, the temperature had sprung up to almost 60, most of the snow had melted, and some birds had even bravely begun to sing in hopes that maybe, just maybe, spring was coming back.  Like most Chicago weather patterns, this was a freak accident not to be repeated for another month.  However, I took advantage of this 24-hour long respite from the weather to squeeze in some pictures.  I found this beautiful skirt tucked away in the corner of a thrift shop and immediately fell in love with it.  The print reminds me of an upholstery I would find in some house decorated in the 70's, its cheesy but perfect.  Hopefully I'll have time to upload more if the weather decides to get nice again, but seeing as it took me two and a half weeks to put together a simple paragraph for these four photos, I sincerely doubt it.

Skirt - Belmont Army Thrift

Shoes - Timberlands

Shirt - American Apparel

Belt- Stolen from my mom

The Lob (Long Bob)

 It seems that with every new season in the fashion world, there is a new hair icon to set the tone for every woman looking to change things up.  Historic examples include Marie Antoinette and Queen Elizabeth whereas some slightly more recent ones include Louise Brooks, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Cher.  On the heels of the pixie trend, à la Emma Watson, is the lob.  The lob is a tad longer than the traditional bob, coming to a little below the shoulders.  The best think about this haircut is that it works for practically anyone, as long as your hair isn't super curly.  Any shape face can wear this haircut, which is a miracle in itself, and most textures from super straight to moderately curly.  About three days ago I finally made the move and cut off eight inches that I had been growing out ever since the dreaded middle school bob.  It's a drastic change from the long, and mostly straight locks that reached the middle of my back, but I haven't felt those all too familiar pangs of longing when I look at pictures from "BeforeThe Cut" so hopefully that will hold out.

At first it was hard to recognize Lily Collins without the signature flowing mane that almost reached her butt, however I think she looks a lot more mature with the shorter hair.

Alexa Chung is an iconic and timeless example of the lob, I can't remember her without this cut actually.  And look at her, does she even try or does she just roll out of bed looking like the pinacle of high fashion?

Although a shorter haircut has always been a bit of a staple for Kiera Knightly, I had to include her simply because she is Kiera and no one else can pull off a regular bob or a lob quite like she can.  

Disposable

While it can be nice to shoot all kinds of fancy shots with your nikon and your fifty bajillion mm lens, sometimes its nice to appreciate the grittiness of a bad quality photo.  And I'm not talking about blurry pictures of your friend's foot, I'm talking about the beautiful aspect of a photo shot with a ten dollar disposable camera from CVS.  For some reason those crappy 35 mm lenses make some ordinary things seem entirely unordinary (I know that's not a word but none of the other words seemed to fit so I made one up).  One of the beauties of the disposable camera is that you can do pretty much anything to it -drop it in a pool, take a screwdriver to the lens, poke holes in it with your brother's pocket knife- and it can only make the pictures better.  Its a good alternative if you either don't know how to edit pictures, or you're simply too lazy like me.  Below are a few of my favorites from my first developed camera, I went easy on this one and simply scratched up the lens with a phillips head.  I would also like the apologize for the weird shiny look; I stupidly only asked for the photo prints and not a CD so I had to take pictures of the pictures to upload them to my computer.

Pantalones

 If you've had your eyes open for the past couple months, you've probably noticed the new trend of pants that's taken over the storefronts of Urban Outfitters and can be spotted on almost any block in Wicker Park.  Recently pants of the drop-crotch and harem variety have cropped up everywhere, but if you're like me, anything besides skinny jeans makes you look like an overweight midget.  However, I was not about to let my unproportionately short legs and long torso stop me from joining in on this trend.  After trying on almost every pair of harem pants in Akira and Urban, and gazing longingly at countless more pairs that I knew better than to even try on, I finally found a pair at Forever21 of all places.  Most people would style these with a crop and maybe keds, but I'm never satisfied until I look at least a little like a hobo.

Pants - Forever 21

Shirt - Hanes

Shoes - Timberlands

Saugatuck

As I've said before, fall is by far my favorite season.  While I love summer with its easy looseness, spring with the excitement over warm weather and florals, and winter with snowmen and heavy coats, something about fall just makes me feel happy and comfortable.  One place in particular brings to mind so many fall memories; Saugatuck.  I took a few photos while I was there with the family and decided to share them with the rest of you.  Hopefully these will get you in the mood for my next blog post which will definitely show off some comfy fall fashion.

Au Revoir Ete

     Like most other high school students, I'm still in denial about school starting up again.  However, after a month being back, I'm starting to finally accept reality.  It doesn't hurt that with the beginning of school comes fall and with fall comes sweaters and leaves and pumpkin spice lattes.  I can't wait to snuggle up against the warm fire with my cute new oversize thrifted sweaters cupping a large mug of steaming hot chocolate.  Before I completely immerse myself in fall though, I have time for one last summer post.  This was taken right before the beginning of school and makes me a little nostalgic already.  Enjoy...

Akira Bamboo Shoes

Hanes Tee

American Apparel Circle Skirt

vintage gold necklace

au revoir summer

Sad Humble Beginner Attempts

     This summer I took a photography class at The Chicago Photography Academy in Chicago and as you might have guessed from the title, I'm still very much a beginner.  However I am proud of a few select photos, and I decided to put them out there.  There's some motion blur, stop motion, and portrait stuff thrown in here.  This was all done with  Nikon D40 and a 52mm lense, please enjoy...