dress: borrowed // shirt/tights: thrifted // boots: target
Today has possibly been the marker of the beginning of a life change. Now of course, the next step in this life change won't happen for a couple more years, but current me has no idea what amazing results are going to culminate from this day. I talked to a representative for a study abroad program in New York, and I'm already dreaming of commuting on the subway and studying art and writing in the heart of New York City with other people who are super passionate and excited about their talents. Perhaps I know I'm overdramatizing this and getting my hopes up super high (is anyone surprised?), but regardless, I can't wait to see where life takes me in the next few years.
I've been thinking a lot about life (but then again, I'm always thinking about it), and how I really want to love the life I live, and live the life I love. I want to build more self-motivation and make opportunities for myself and take a chance one in a while, because, and don't hate me for saying this, you really only live once (#yolo #swag #isntthatwhatkidsthesedaysaresaying?). You might as well make the most of life. Remind me to never do anything I don't love (and if I don't love it but I have to do it, then I need to turn it into something I can love), and to always love my life despite any hardships that come my way. Since coming out of some pretty dark days in my life, all I want to do is be happy and do things that make me happy. There's no point in being sad. It helps no one. But when you're happy, it affects everyone you come in contact with. If that isn't absolutely amazing, then I don't know what is.
I hope you have a very happy day today.
shirt/vest: borrowed // suspenders: hot topic // jean: gift // shoes: target // jacket: forever 21 // scarf: asos
People have always told me that high school would be the best years of my life. Well I've finally come and gone through all of high school, and part of me thinks they were right, and part of me thinks they were wrong. I suppose it's like everything in life though, there were good things about it and bad things about it. Another thing that people have always told me is that college will be the best years of my life, and while right now I'm loving college, I still hope those people aren't right. Every day you gain a little more knowledge than the one before, so hypothetically you should be better prepared for each day that you come to. Now of course there are some things in life that we can't control, but for the most part, there's a lot that we can, including how we feel (all of this is to an extent of course, because if there's one thing I've learned, it's that there are always exceptions to everything).
So what did I learn today that can improve my life tomorrow?
1. When I actually sit down to do my homework, it takes a total of five minutes to do. All day I had been avoiding my homework, and after stressing about it for so long, I actually read the paper, typed up the half a page that I was supposed to, and was done in five minutes. Seriously, starting something is the hardest part.
2. It's hard to do something after you haven't been doing it for a long time. I've been working on my story for my photo assignment, and man, my writing is pretty rusty and it takes everything in me to even write one good, creative sentence. Even though writing is something I love, sometimes it does take a lot of work.
3. While usually sleepy Lauren makes bad wardrobe decisions, sometimes she makes awesome ones. My outfit was awesome today. And I was still half asleep when I put everything together. I didn't get any photos of it, but trust me, it was super cute.
4. My outfit making mind is ready for summer. After seeing this outfit on tumblr, I've just been thinking up so many cute summer outfits. I need to write them down.
5. I love my friends. Right now they're all sitting on Annette's bed watching stumbleupon videos and I just really love them so much. It's the small moments like these that I'm really thankful I finally have a good strong group of girl friends that love me and get me. Thank you, Lord.
Basically, I'm constantly learning that I should be thankful for every little thing I have.
drinking hot chocolate and doing homework // celebrating two years with my best friend // beautiful clouds over a beautiful school // goodies Matt sent me // sunny days // developing film in the dark room // making lasers // the best spy with the best time through the obstacle course // hopscotch and blanket forts
You can follow more instagram awesomeness @impulsings :)
Weekly roundup (an effort to maintain my new years resolutions):
1. novel: currently working on a short story as this is on hold.
2. photos: done!
3. diy project: coming up later tonight!
4. outfit photos: yep!
5. college street style: not this week.
6. book: working through reading it.
7. sketch: I'm changing this one to anything creative, in which case yes, yesterday I worked on making photo props.
Have an awesome week everyone!
Over the past few days and weeks I've gotten several inquiries about my novel writing endeavors, and since writing isn't something that is as blatantly obvious on Introvert's Introduction as, say photography, what better way to talk about it than with a blog post!
Writing has always been a big interest of mine. I still have my very first "book" I ever wrote, which was written in a spiral bound notebook and illustrated in colored pencil. The title was humbly called "Lauren goes out to eat lunch" and depicted not only my burrito lunch, but also the adventures of my stuffed animal cat, my move to Iceland (which actually happened before I wrote the book, but in my story it occurred after a lot of events that it preceded in real life), and other things such as getting sick and going to the zoo. One of my earliest memories was of me sitting at our cedar chest in the living room one morning eating a bowl of cheerios, watching tv (I think it was Winnie the Pooh), and writing that story. I still have it today thanks to my hoarding self.
So writing has been a part of my life for my entire life, and since it's been so steadfast, I think that's a safe bet I'm meant to do it for a long time. My first "successful" short story was one that was an assignment for our sixth grade literature class, in which it was voted the best story by my peers. And I've been working on that particular tale ever since.
So for about seven years that short story has been cultivating in my mind to one extent or another, and it was only in my senior year of high school when our final project was to write a 100 page novel did that story come alive again. I won't give away too many details about it, but basically the entire allegory is actually about the human depiction of Wisdom in the book of Proverbs from the Bible. The story is also about pirates. I would say it's a fantasy fiction geared towards upper young adults (16-25 or so). As I keep writing it while I grow older, the age range grows older, go figure. One of my resolutions was to write one page in it a week, but currently that's on hold as the entire novel is on an external hard drive which I currently cannot access, also go figure.
In the meantime, I've been doing what I always do when I put off my novel (I've put it off for seven years, and I'm sure it will still be a long time before it's done), which is write other stories, write assignments for school, write for this blog. With photography entering my life, much of my energy goes into that, which is not a bad thing in the least because it is something I can't live without and has given me a lot of meaning in life, but I really am trying to combine the two arts that I so dearly love. Like I mentioned in a previous post, for one of my photography assignments I'm also writing a story to go along with it, and I can't wait to share it with you guys. As for the novel, I'm still dreaming about it and am fine with it cultivating some more in my mind. It's grown a lot from the short story I wrote in sixth grade and I'm sure it will grow even more as time goes on.
shirt: old navy // pullover: borrowed // pants/boots: forever 21
I've been making a lot of lists recently, to-do lists mostly, of all the things that constantly have to get done. Homework assignments, cleaning, laundry, projects. It seems like right when I'm done with everything on my list, I'm back to making another list of things to check off. That's not to say I don't like it. I was listening to my itunes playlist called "songs to photos," in which all the songs are ones I think would become great photos, and it made me really miss taking a creative photo on a regular basis. My to-do lists don't include anything creative that's not related to school. Perhaps I need to add a photoshoot into my list because I have a lot of great ideas but I just haven't set aside any time to do them.
With that in mind, I'm actually working on a big photo assignment this weekend, and of course by big, I mean I'm making it big. It's actually just a regular assignment, but I've yet again turned an assignment into a giant production complete with a full cast. This will have the most people I've ever shot creatively for one photo, so I'm really excited to be stretched a little bit. I'm also writing a fairly long story that goes along with the photo (since my novel is currently on hold due to technical difficulties), both of which I cannot wait to share with you!
Here's to everyone's to-do lists. I hope you add something really awesome to yours.
dress: asos // shirt: thrifted // leggings: forever 21 // shoes: target
A few days ago was the first sunny day in a while and everyone flocked outdoors. I personally thought I was going to die from the heat, but sitting outside in the shade being serenaded by people was really relaxing. Now of course it's been raining all day and I'm itching for some sun. I'm starting to become bored with my tights and leggings (gasp! I never thought I'd say that!) and I just want to wear shorts. Alas, I fear it will still be several more weeks before these legs see the light of day.
I've been photographing my outfits less and less, and I don't know if that's a good thing or not. It is certainly nice to not always have to make time to take pictures of myself, but then at the end of the day I feel so bad for not getting around to it. I always have to remind myself that it's okay to not blog about everything and it's okay if I miss a day in taking pictures of my outfit. I love blogging and taking photos for it, but man, I'm making it sound like work. Which (and I know I'm about to go off on a rabbit trail here), work shouldn't have such a negative connotation to it. I mean, were humans meant to laze around all day? I don't think so. We were meant to work! And work shouldn't be not fun (ignore that poor grammar, just roll with it). In my schoolwork specifically, I always try to make it the best that it can be as a kind of game between myself and my professor. If it's in a class I don't like or a class that's really hard, I try to do my best just to spite the thoughts that I won't do good on it, and if it's in a class I do like, then I try to see if I can outdo my expectations. The hardest part for me though is just finding the motivation to start!
What do you guys think about work? What gets you motivated? As always, I hope you have a great day!
