School's out for summer

Summer officially starts for me tomorrow, after the last bell rings.  Although I'm going to miss my kiddies from this year, I'm looking forward to a few things. They include: sleeping in (and staying up) late, spending tons of time outside, taking trips, and wearing non school-appropriate outfits :D

Tank top: hand-me-down // Skirt: Jacob //  Nail polish: China Glaze in "Pool Party" //

Oh bright floral prints, how I adore thee.  I wanted to wear my flower crown to work today... but I thought it maaay be a bit too much.  I'll wait until it's really summer to prance around with flowers in my hair.

Side note: très sorry that my skirt is super wrinkled -- driving to and from work in hot hot weather tends to create the wrinkles. C'est la vie.

Sandals: Old Navy // Toe polish: essie in "shake your $$ maker" //

Someone told me that my toe and nail polish clashed today. Um... what?  They don't have to match.  PLUS,  both of the colours are in my shirt. So there. haha.

Tank top: hand-me-down // Skirt: Jacob // Nail polish: China Glaze in "Pool Party" // 

The sun decided to shine brighter in this pose. Weird. 

Happy summer, pals.  We made it. 

♥ Meg xoxo

Wanderlust

 wan`der`lust (n) -  a strong desire or urge to travel or wander

It's summer and all I want to do is pack the car, and hit the road.  I want to go on an adventure. I want to go somewhere I've never been before. I want to take a hundred Polaroids. And I want to wear a flowy skirt and moccasins on the way.

Top: Anthropologie // Skirt: J.C. Penney //

Lots of people I work with hate the half-maxi skirt or dress.  I, on the other hand, am still in love with this trend. You get to wear a short skirt and show off your legs, but you still get that breezy, long skirt feel.  Perfect for adventuring, if you ask me.

Top: Anthropologie // Skirt: J.C. Penney //

Moccasins: Minnetonka // 

Today, these moccasin-wearing feet just want to wander. :)

Where will your summer take you?  My summer will take me (and M) on an adventure; I'm sure of it.

♥ Meg xoxo

Paper Towns

by John Green

"You can see how fake it all is.  It's not even hard enough to be plastic. It's a paper town."

Margo Roth Spiegelman is beautiful. She's a dreamer. She's popular. She's wild and adventurous.  She's a bit of a legend in the Orlando high school she attends.  At least, she is to Quentin Jacobsen - the narrator of Paper Towns, and Margo's next-door neighbour.  As children, they were playmates.  As high school seniors, not so much.  Margo's queen of the popular people, while Quentin (Q to his friends) is more interested in video games, graduating, and hanging out with his two best friends.  

One night, Margo climbs into Q's window and takes him on a one-night adventure around the city, committing minor crimes in the name of revenge. Q is more smitten than ever - he got to spend the whole night with Margo Roth Spiegelman, take part in one of her adventures, and cheer her up when things got too heavy.  He awakes the next day to find that Margo has disappeared.  Q follows a series of clues to find Margo - the girls he thinks he knows. Q's quest leads him to realize that real-life Margo is not the same as the Margo he's always dreamed of... and he's not sure who real-life Margo is at all. 

This book was excellent.  On the surface, it's a teenage romance quest novel: boy likes girl, girl disappears, boy goes on a quest to save her, and they live happily ever after.  But, reading deeper, this book is about so much more.  It's about the importance of outward images and perception.  It's about being in love with a dream.  It's about poetic imagery of keeping it all together. It poses big questions, like are we just a series of strings being held together just right?

I recommend reading this book and then rethinking the way by which you see certain people.  Do you really like / dislike / admire / hate that person? Or do you feel the way you feel about a construct of them?

Read it and think about it.
♥ Meg xoxo

Anchors away!

So, the nautical trend is cool.  I like the stripes and the anchors and the sailors and all that.  In fact, when I see nautical-themed outfits, I'm reminded of the time Erin and I went to a pub randomly filled with uniformed sailors in NYC... We tried on their hats; no big deal.

Shirt: Garage // Capris: Old Navy //  Necklace: Globo Shoes // Nail polish: China Glaze in "For Audrey" //

As you may already know, I heart* Old Navy because of its use of bright colours [and its sweet sales].  Add a fun pattern and I'm in more in love.  Oh, by the way, the pattern is embroidered baby blue anchors. Bright colour, and on trend? Swoons*

Shirt: Garage // Capris: Old Navy // Necklace: Globo Shoes // Nail polish: China Glaze in "For Audrey" //

Here you can see me casually adjusting my matching anchor necklace, with rhinestones.  This morning when I caught sight of it on my necklace display bulletin board, I knew that it was a must for this outfit.

Necklace: Globo Shoes //  Sandals: Aldo //

Just look at all of the anchors and love them.  Nautical lovin' bloggers like Whitney would be so proud. 

Off to boathouse... or something.

♥ Meg xoxo

Knee sockin' it

The weather's been a little tricky these past days in my area of the world.  It was hot, sunny summer one day... then cool, rainy spring the next.  I want to wear summer dresses, but don't want to wear tights.  What's a girl to wear? Knee socks.

Dress: Old Navy // Cardigan: thrifted A&F // Belt: borrowed from another dress//

Be prepared for strange looks and a series of questions, if you choose to pair knee socks with booties and a girly dress.  Just own your look.  That's the idea I went with today.  :)

Socks: Topshop// Booties: Burlington Coat Factory // 

These socks are sort of woolly and sort of slouchy. They served their purpose beautifully; they could keep my legs warm(-ish) if it got chilly, or could get pushed down if it got warm out.  Oh. And I think they look cool.

Mini Diana: Amazon.com //

Step aside for a moment, knee socks.

I'm pleased to introduce my newest love, and frequent accessory: Lady.  Lady is a Mini-Diana lomography camera.  She uses film, that I loaded myself.  She takes 36 beautifully imperfect pictures per roll.  And she has to have her pictures developed when the roll of film is done. I'm in love.  Maybe I'll share developed pictures when the first roll is done.  Hopefully I did okay.

This summer, I'm looking forward to dresses without socks and work-appropriate cardigans.
What are you looking forward to?
♥ Meg xoxo

In costume?

Sometimes I think that there's no such thing as a sense of style.  I think that people just dress up in costumes everyday and pretend that it's a style.  There's a Work Costume, Weekend Costume, Dressed Up Costume and so on.  Maybe it's just me. . .
In any case, here's my I-feel-like-a-cowgirl Costume. :)

Dress: Old Navy //  Infinity scarf: Topshop // 

Thoughts while taking this pic: *I'm posing in front of a barn door in my cowgirl outfit.  I'm so legit. Maybe this isn't a costume.*  

Dress: Old Navy // Infinity scarf: Topshop // Boots: Target // 

Okay... so it was a barn door on the side of a restaurant, in the middle of the city.  I guess I was more of an urban cowgirl today.  haha. I love the look of a summer dress with cowboy boots and a side braid.  I wore something like this outfit to a country bar for a friend's birthday, and found myself in a sea of denim and plaid. I think a sundress and boots can be made appropriate anywhere from work (with a cardi), to a country bar (with a denim vest), to a T Swift concert.

Boots: Target // 

Aren't these tiny flowers the prettiest? 

Channel your inner cowgirl (or boy) this summer- even if you live nowhere near a real farm. 

♥ Meg xoxo

After the Fall

by Victoria Roberts

"The next morning I awoke in Central Park. Everything was in its usual place, except out-of doors."

Meet Pops, an inventor, husband, and father from New York City.  He lives with his family, along with their three pugs and two maids in a penthouse apartment.  After the Fall is narrated by Pops' son who wakes up one day to find that his family has nothing left. He wakes up amidst their scattered possessions in Central Park. 

The story follows the family and their day to day adventures in their new home.  The narrator gets turned away from his private school when he can't afford tuition.  Instead he goes to the Met, follows guided tours, and learns new languages by way of the tour guides.  His budding actress sister trains her pugs, and later squirrels, to be the actors in her television show and play from the park.  The two maids still come to the park to take care of the family. A gourmet chef from one of their favourite restaurants brings them leftovers every night. Pops tries to think up new inventions, while Mother becomes infatuated with another man.  

This story is light and fun, and is peppered with cartoons.  It normalizes a family being homeless in Central Park as a sort of fun adventure.  Roberts deals with homelessness and marital stress in an unassuming manner. She makes clear in her story that New Yorkers can always find solace in Central Park; the park itself can be a home for you when you have no where else to go and nothing left to do. 

Interesting and unique read. 

♥ Meg xoxo

Sunshiney June

June is sunshiney.  It's counting down 'til summer vacation. It's summer dresses and flowers.  It's the sun in the sky and a smile on my face. It's a yellow eyelet dress. 

Dress: Old Navy // 

T and I saw this dress for sale at Old Navy way way back in March, when the summer seemed extremely far away.  We decided that $35 was too much for an eyelet dress which we would have to wait months to wear.  Fast forward to June; this lovely dress is on clearance for $7.99*. Perfection.

Dress: Old Navy // 

I didn't do much to style this sunny number for its first wear.  I threw on some heels with bows on them, tied a ribbon in my hair, and was on my way.  So many people told me that I looked so fancy. :) Add a cardi and tights and this dress is totally making an appearance in my winter (spring and fall) wardrobe.

Heels: Nine West // 

Oh, bows... you make me smile. There's something lovely about wearing a very feminine outfit, on which bows are the figurative cherry on top. 

Welcome June.  I am so very happy to see you. 

♥ Meg xoxo

*Sadly this extreme deal is in stores only, it seems.  The dresses are still reduced online, just not cleared. 

Evening sunlight in the forest

Sometimes I just want to set off into the forest, look at the wildflowers, and think about the risk of poison ivy only after I've removed my shoes.  Here's one of those times:

Tank top: Forever XXI // Skirt and belt: Old Navy // 

I startled some people who were on a cycling trail beside this little wooded area.  That's when I realized that I was sort of camouflaged.  Maybe I should have ambled around the woods when I was wearing something a little brighter.  :D 

Sandals: Costa Blanca // 

I found this tree which used to be the base for a tree house.  It, helpfully, still had its ladder... which acted as a display area for my sandals.  Obviously I couldn't hoof around the forest in my "summer heels," as I like to call them.  I've realized that in the summer (and hot spring) time I'm happiest when my toes are free.

Bracelet: gift from the bff from her trip to China // 

I love it when a piece of your outfit tells a story all on its own.  Loads of people asked me about this bracelet today... and where they could get one.  Hmm... it might be tricky, unless your best bud is already planning a trip to China.

Necklace: Forever XXI // 

Speaks for itself, right?  I love love. It's way better than hate. 

♥ Meg xoxo