express yourself

shirt/skirt: thrifted // leopard shirt: mom's closet // tights: forever 21 // boot: target // coat/socks: from a friend



Yay! First outfit post of the year! I've had a nice little break from the camera ever since finishing my 365 project, but now I'm excited to get back into the swing of things. I leave for school again in exactly one week, and I'm ready for life to kick into gear. Of course, I say that now, but probably in a few weeks when my eighteen credits is killing me, I'll regret saying that. But I can't wait to see all my friends again and take classes and be surrounded by beautiful Oregon landscape. And of course being in this Alaskan weather has hardened me up for what I thought was a cold Oregon winter.



Check out my super fun camera nails! I posted a previous version of these on instagram (you can follow me @impulsings), and I loved them so much (or rather, hated how poorly done they were, haha) that I redid them! The trick is to use sharpie. And when you put your top coat on, be very quick about it so the marker doesn't run at all. I really love these nails and I'll probably experiment with more designs like this in the future.




Also, I entered the Modcloth year of dresses contest and have a fun blooper video for you guys! I promise I'm not this dorky in real life, or maybe I am. At any rate, the contest made me really excited for 2013 and even if I don't win, I really want to focus on print/color mixing because I really do love it a lot and want to help out anyone who's a bit scared to try it out. 2013 is going to be a fantastic year!

bloopers from Lauren Parker on Vimeo.

I hope you all have a really awesome day, and I would love it if you voted for my entry here! Also don't forget to enter my print giveaway. I want as many people who want to enter to do so. The more the merrier!

It's the most wonderful time of the year

shirt: forever 21 // jean shirt: ebay // lace shirt: from a friend jeans/shoes: target // coat: sugarlips




Merry Christmas everyone! I'm so so excited that it's Christmas once more. The snow is falling, the fire is crackling, the presents are waiting to be opened, and I cannot wait to see everyone's faces when they open their presents! That's one of my favorite things about Christmas, being able to give people gifts. It just makes me so happy giving things that make others happy.




As for my outfit, I often hang multiple things on one hanger because my closet has always been super small, and these three shirts ended up on top of one another and I really loved how it turned out. I don't think I would have thought to wear this lace top as more of a cardigan, but now that I know of its existence, I'll definitely be wearing more of it in the future!




Well, I hope you have a safe and wonderful Christmas and that this post meets you with a lot of joy and happiness in your life. I love you guys so much; you definitely deserve to have a super awesome day!

Merry Christmas!

I'm just a little bit caught in the middle

shirt: borrowed // dress (as skirt): thrifted // tights: target // shoes/coat: forever 21




It's the big day today! In just a few hours I hop on a plane (by myself for the very first time) and head home for a whole month of relaxation! There are so many emotions swirling inside me right now. I'm happy, sad, nervous, excited ... and there are multiple reasons for each of those feelings. I have a couple more finals today and a little bit of packing left to do. The fish's bowl is clean and our fridge is unplugged and defrosted and all our Christmas decorations over our door have been taken down. My ticket is printed and my fingers are crossed that my bags are under the fifty pound weight limit. I'm ready for this.




As for my outfit, it was taken from one of my inspirations on my pinterest board, and I really like the idea of actually following through with the random things that I pin. You can see my friend Jordan sporting the inspiration for my outfit here! I really liked her hair and how she paired the yellow top with yellow tights, so I wanted to have that same idea when creating my outfit. I felt like a fairy princess running around in this--especially when the sun came out while I was taking photos! I'm sad I found this photo spot on the last day of school--it's literally thirty seconds from my dorm and no one ever uses the road so there are never any prying eyes on me being ridiculous in front of the camera--but at least I'll have a fun new location to come back to!





The next time you see me, I'll be standing in some snow!

Have a safe Friday everyone!

let's dance

shirt: thrifted // sweater: borrowed // skirt/tights/shoes: forever 21 // bow tie: diy




How do you guys like my new hair? My friend Annette and Tabatha helped me finally dye my hair purple last friday! I've been wanting to dye my hair purple since the beginning of summer, and after I dyed my tips to make sure I liked the color, I did my whole head! I'm really happy about it and have already gotten so many compliments from random students and random old ladies that pass by me on my walks (they ended up talking about how they wanted to dye their hair purple too!). I'm excited to watch it fade over the next months as well, because with my tips, the color always remained really pretty.




Also, it's pretty cool that we have the technology to change our hair color. I really love my natural brown locks, but it's also fun to change things up. My philosophy is that life is too short to live with any regrets, and I think I would be sad if I never dyed my hair a fun color; plus I think it would be best to do it in college while I'm still a "kid," so that I can still use rebellion as an excuse, haha. Even though this color isn't as crazy as I could have gone. ;)





I hope you have a great day!

lotus flower

dress (polka dot undershirt): handmade / shirt/skirt/jacket: borrowed // tights: mom's closet // shoes: forever 21 // ring #1/#2: Matt/antique shop




I wore this outfit to the Bombay Bicycle Club concert and have worn a couple other variations since then. I seriously love being able to borrow other people's clothes. It really opens up your options and I've been able to explore and hone in my personal style. I really love mixing patterns so much, I don't think I can wear anything without contrasting patterns. And the joy of having friends with cute closets is that I can experiment without having to buy a million things. But it also makes me realize how few basic pieces I actually have. My own closet, I've had many people say, seems like the inside of a drama closet (I literally have things in there from my high school's drama department), which is cool for quirky pieces but not so much basics. Even though I'm a poor college student now, I definitely will one day start working on building a more functional wardrobe that has good basic pieces that are easier to wear multiple times.





The first ring is from Matt. We got each other rings as 1 1/2 anniversary presents before we moved, and I recently got it resized to fit my finger. It makes me super happy when I look down at it, because it reminds me of him and he is pretty awesome.

The second ring is from an antique shop here in Oregon. It was only six dollars and fit my finger perfectly, so of course I had to snatch it up. I like to imagine it was someone's wedding ring, but then I wonder why it was given up, and why it was sold for only six dollars (pretty sure the stones aren't real, so that's probably why), but it's fun to think of a story to go with a piece like that.






I can't believe it's already Thursday. Hope you guys have a great day!

wild, wild west

vest/jacket/dress: borrowed // scarf: gift // tights: forever 21 // shoes/shirt: thrifted




This is kind of an out there outfit for me. I don't know what it is, maybe all the weird proportions going on, but I was so comfy wearing this that I didn't really care. There's just something about snuggling up in a warm, fuzzy scarf that makes everything in life awesome.

Perhaps the vest wasn't necessary, but I really wanted to wear it because it reminded me of cowboys livin' it up on the prarie. It's so weird because while I was living in Alaska, everyone would call me Oklahoma girl, but now that I'm in Oregon everyone calls me Alaska girl. Well there's definitely Oklahoma blood in me. I always get excited about tornadoes (thanks to my mom) and am too excited to play the cow game on road trips. Some days I still pine for Mount Trashmore and thunderstorms and tornado sirens going off at noon, right on time.




The inevitable cowboy reference also reminds me of Matt because he loves cowboys. In fact, this upcoming summer we're planning to watch all the episodes of Firefly, Matt's favorite show, in which the main character is a cowboy figure in the future. I really love our tv dates together. Last year it was Mega64, Community, and Doctor Who, and this year it will be even more Doctor Who, Firefly, and Sherlock (which I'm hoping to get him hooked on).




I hope you have a super wonderful day today!

pattern mixing

skirt: forever 21 // polka dot dress (as shirt): from mom // bird shirt: borrowed // shoes: target





I found the perfect spot to take photos. This place is right outside my dorm and even when people walk past it, most don't notice a person taking photos because they are usually looking straight ahead. So you will definitely be seeing this sidewalk again.

Also, my friend and I were creeping through some of my old blog posts, and man, I have improved a lot in terms of taking outfit photos. Some of my older posts were baaad! Haha, but I do love looking back on them and seeing how much I've grown in almost a year of having this blog.





I hope you guys have a fantastic day!