The Return of Grunge (or how to do summer grunge)

The Return of Grunge (or how to do summer grunge)

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

As each August chapter sprouts, I slowly begin to wish for autumnal waves to enchant my world. As much as I try to live in the moment, it is so very difficult to show gratitude for hot, humid 90 degree Fahrenheit days, especially when you have been having them since early May. In so many words: I am weary of summer's thickness wrapped around my neck.

With these feelings in tow, I can honestly say that although I definitely identify my style as bohemian on the strength of grunge, the latter does take a bit of a backseat when the May tide brings waves of heat. Whispers of autumn, however, trigger cravings of it's return, and thus, this year, I am tempted to find summer grunge styles that capture the slight edge I so crave, but also give way to my summer bohemian love affair.

Needless to say, I have done it. With a dress that I have literally worn at least 4 times on this blog. Donning my trusty floral friend, black stiff tee, tenacious combat boots, and a berry lip that I wear regardless of the calender's whims, I can dance my way into that autumnal waltz, while still remaining cool enough to function in summer's blistering fever.

I am glad of it. I always miss the grunge aesthetic in summer, but now, perhaps I can have a marriage of the two. Or at least a peaceful tolerance.

How do you dress grunge in the summer? How do you transition from summer to fall without feeling like you are baking in an oven? Are you craving autumn as much as me, as much as I do every year? Why do I have so many questions?

Dance your way through the seasons, loves.

Stay Beautiful,

Liz

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How I have Spent Summer at Home

How I have Spent Summer at Home

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

I'll be honest. I have been less involved with blogging because of days like these. I have tendency to put artificial pressure on myself to stick to rigid schedules and constantly be running through to do lists, but this summer has been different. The blogging break I forced to take thanks to moving taught me that I don't need to do anything in my spare time. Whatever I want to do will make me happy.

And so I have been focusing on reading, thrifting, and making my home a place I love to be. For the first time in my adult life, I feel like my whole life is a tranquil act of beauty. So I am happy to sit in this place, filled with new life, thrifted furniture, incense, and natural light pouring in through the windows. These are my Sundays.

I thrifted this dress recently, have been wearing it non stop, and could not think of a better place to photograph it than my lovely home we have carved for ourselves. Besides, this is what I look like most days lately - a thrifted dress, hair pulled back, bare faced and footed on the rug... just enjoying everything that comes.

My home is still a work in progress, and I have much more to show you, but for now, I will be content to read, smell the luscious smoke creeping away from my incense tray, and water philodendrons and bromeliads.

I am sure I will find new energy come fall - I usually do. But for now, let's enjoy these pictures for what they are - a moment of rest and peace and, hopefully, a foretelling of many Sunday afternoons to come.

What have you done with your summer? Also, do you have any favorite houseplants? I'm a little obsessed and may have to dedicate a post to show off all my little green children. :)

P.S. New lens, 35mm. I am so so happy to finally be able to get wider shots for indoors. So happy.

Stay Beautiful,

Liz

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The Joy of a Thrifted Dress

The Joy of a Thrifted Dress

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Some moons ago, when the winter winds were still nipping at what little bits were still exposed, a little accident unraveled on a Saturday afternoon. At least, I think it was Saturday, though it doesn't really matter because the truth is that I was on a mission to avoid chores and errands and these other boring things known to adulthood.

And it happened that I wound into a thrift store instead and this beautiful dress pulled me into its orbit and a prayer was born. Lord, please let this fit.

That's the thing with thrifting - you often return home with empty palms.







Nevertheless, I needn't have worried because the odds were in my favor. What can I say? I am so happy with the dress - the colors, the patterns, the little bits of embroidery, the fact that I can wear combat boots with it (any item of clothing that enters my home must first pass the combat boot or Converse test, preferably both).

And that is the joy of thrifting. When you do find something, it's all the more special. It's like a little birthday gift waiting in the aisle of your local Goodwill, hoping to unfold into your arms and squeeze its way over your head.

Hopefully, it will look fantastic with my black cropped sweater this fall, with black tights, and, of course, woolly socks and black boots. Maybe I could thrift a tight black turtleneck like I wore here, as that one finally wore all the way through.

Speaking of thrifting, I recently found a Canon AE-1 I've been meaning to bust out. Even though I'm a Nikon user, the camera came with a lens, so who could resist?

What is your best thrift store find?

P.S. This beautiful tree is drooping in my front lawn. I am a blessed woman.

Stay Beautiful,

Liz

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Why some dreams should never come true

Why some dreams should never come true

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Sometimes I dream of a little woodland cottage, where one can awake with the sun and sleep with the moon, gather wild mint and raise hens for eggs. I dream of being a medicine woman, knowing exactly which herbs and concoctions for which ailment will best soothe an aching belly. I dream of a simpler life.

But it is only a dream. Truthfully, while I would love to learn more about natural medicine, I know I would never be happy in a woodland cottage. For a time, I would love the having the birds be my only music, the flowers my friends, and the wild nuts and berries my nourishment. After several sunrises though, I know that, in sincerity, I would grow weary of it. I would miss coffee shops and libraries. I would miss the noise! Truly, even though I adore my lovely little home with its vintage hardwood floors, I cannot help but miss the noise of apartment living.

I have always thrived on activity and noise, and, most importantly, people.

Nonetheless, it is nice to have a dream that you never fulfill. You know, the kind of dream that you want to remain a dream. The kind that should forever be a haze because, truthfully, you know it is not a good fit. In your heart, you are infatuated with the result, not the path to get there or the consequences of the result. The dream is just that - a dream! You simply want to be someone else for a few moments a day - to have something to ponder, to distract you from the cruelty of reality. Those are the kinds of dreams that should forever remain unfulfilled.

Because, truly, I could never live in a woodland cottage and I don't want to do farm work. But it is nice to step into new shoes for momentary lapse of reason.

Do you have a dream that you have no intention on pursuing?


Stay Beautiful,

Liz

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How I have come to love summer

How I have come to love summer

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

A swipe of grunge on the strength of bohemian.

That is what I called my personal style this past spring, when the leaves were not yet on the trees and a chilly air lingered among the city's rooftop. I was right then, and perhaps I am still right today, but the thickness of the summer's breath has left my fingterips grazing across fabrics that barely touch my skin. Things that lightly sit there, floating downwards onto my shoulders when I sit like a feather dropped from a rooftop.

Today, I am drifting from the sublime into the ridiculous and further into the realm of clothes that technically, I should never wear. But I am happiest in breezy fabrics and layers and softness kissing my skin, bare without its under-layers that I so clung to only two months ago. In fact, summer makes me crave a soft, form melting wardrobe even more. Really, I think am in love with the soft haze of summer, period.

Simply typing those words is hard for me to believe because I used to hate summer, you know. I've mentioned many times in the past how the thickness of the air feels like a pillow shoved onto my face, making me want to vomit onto the sharp blades of grass, but this summer has become oddly different. Maybe it was the long winter. Maybe I enjoy photography too much. Maybe the humidity levels are much lower than they ever were before, but this summer, I feel as if I wasn't simply born to die.*

Once you become buried in the woods or look out into a thick blanket of green and see life everywhere you go, you become grateful not for just life, but all life. In turn, it makes me love my surroundings in a way that must have been buried somewhere in my past. I am in love with all the life I see - the baby birds who have made my front porch fern their home, the clover that is in full bloom two days after mowing, and even the weeds in my strawberry bed. I am in love with the life summer brings and the thunderstorms and the long golden days.

I am even in love with myself. I find myself hardly ever wearing makeup this summer... on this day I think that I wore none. Perhaps that is bad for photographs, but I feel so alive and free of late, that it would be a crime to blanket my natural color with something God did not place there (that is to say, I love makeup, but I just don't want it right now, kind of how one loves a good earl gray, but this is not the right time).

Do not get me wrong. There will always be a place in my heart for crisp leaves followed by that first snowfall, but for the first time in my adult life, I am in love with the summer. Let us rejoice together.

Do you love summer, or do you wait it out for cooler temperatures?

*After writing this, I realized: I moved. Into a beautiful tiny space with a front porch and flowers and bushes. That is probably why I enjoy this summer, thus this post is wasted, but alas! It is already written.

Stay Beautiful,

XOXO Liz

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Put on Your Big Boy Boots

Put on Your Big Boy Boots

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

I have a love affair with boots, though perhaps you may have noticed this. They make me feel solid in a way that other shoes cannot. A sneaker says casual, a sandal says laid back, but a boot means business. These boots, however, are rather special for no reason other than I am in love with them.

You see, they have rather boyish attributes to them, providing the balance to my usual array of lace and soft layers. I can wear them with any dress I own. They are the yin to my lace yang. Soft enough to not create harsh lines against whispering skirts. They are responsible for nostalgic memories of forest adventures in years gone past. I remember my childhood.

When I was but a girl my brothers would get their yearly "big boy boots," which were really just work-boots that looked like my Dad's rustic soles he used for gardening, car repairs, and fieldwork. Tiny feet pattered around in these big boy boots. I can remember heaters and hot soups and flannel shirts. I remember sunny gardening days, the picking of plump, sweet blackberries, the splashing of rain against overgrown blades of grass.

The shoes often remind me of these days, though perhaps mine are a tad more fashionable than what my brothers wore. Either way, whenever I think to wear them, I look down at my darling toes and see big boy boots standing in the summer grass and somehow, there are always those memories.

Boots, even the work-boot type, are typically reserved for non-summer months unless one is doing, well, work, but I think boots are really an every time shoe. There is something about a good boot that a sandal or sneaker cannot replicate. And so I wear them all year - with tights, with knee socks, with lace anklets touching bare skin.

And so I put on my big boy boots whenever I want to get out into the world. Whenever I want to walk the busy downtown streets. Whenever I want to wander into the sunshine or waltz into the woods. Whenever there are crunchy leaves creating a rug in my driveway or little puddles glimmering in the road. Somehow, just that little touch of menswear, I feel powerful.

What insignificant thing takes you down memory lane?

Stay Beautiful,

XOXO Liz

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