I'm especially excited for this month's Blogger Spotlight, as Lauren has become one of my favorite blogger friends. She kindly agreed to be September's Blogger and do a little interview with me, so without further adieu, here's Lauren!
1. First things first, please tell us a little bit about yourself.
Alrighty! :D My name is Lauren and I’m a bashful, nineteen year old spirit who’s a freshman in college studying fashion merchandising. I believe in going after your dreams, not holding anything back, and never (ever) having too many dresses with peter pan collars ♥
2. Why and when did you start blogging?
I started blogging in November of 2009; almost three years ago! Golly do I feel like an old lady, heh. But I found that I could never consistently write in a diary so I thought that I’d give blogging a go and see if it was easier. My blog originally started out as a diary, something no one was supposed to even read. At the time I was still developing and finding my own personal style, as well, so I started documenting my every day outfits to see how I transformed. Someone Like You has been a fashion + diary blog ever since!
3. If you were stranded on a deserted island and could only wear one outfit for the rest of your life, which outfit would it be?
Well, I don’t care if it’s 100 degrees…I at least have to have one of my berets on! Besides that…my favorite dress that’s lace and mint green; it’s literally the dreamiest and I wear it nearly every day anyhow ;)
4. What is one piece of advice you can give to people just about to or first starting out in college?
Push yourself. Don’t let the person you were in high school define who you were in college. You don’t have to have the stigma you had there; college is a fresh start to be the gal you’ve always wanted to be. I was so shy in high school and wasn’t involved in anything…I’m really trying to change that here at college and not fall into that comfort zone. I want to have a college experience with no regrets !
5. What was/is the hardest thing about college so far? The easiest (or best)?
It’s probably so silly but it’s the honest to goodness truth…it is so hard to take showers instead of baths! I’ve taken baths my entire life. It’s my time in the evening to sit, relax, read, and think. In a shower…er, I just don’t know what to do! Still haven’t figured out how to shave my legs… (don’t laugh at me!) The best is getting to study and do what you love. There’s no one here at college telling you what to do; your life is what you make it right now. I am the happiest I’ve ever been studying fashion; it was the best decision for me.
6. What is one style or trend you’ve never really been excited about?
I really don’t understand the whole bandage skirt trend that’s so popular. They just look so uncomfortable; like you can hardly move. Give me a pretty fit and flare dress any day!
7. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
I would go to Paris (so stereotypical, I know). I’m just such a romantic and a dreamer and I feel like Paris is the ultimate place for individuals who are those things . I want to explore the streets, twirl around in a pretty dress, drink expensive coffee at an outside café, visit the original Chanel, look at cute French Boys, smell flowers at the street venders, speak bad French, and try a real macaroon. Paris probably isn’t any of these things, but even if it’s not, I want to find that out for myself.
8. Where do you see yourself in ten years?
Happy. I’ve had a tumultuous few years and I’m still going through tumultuous times. I hope that all of this is worth it and I can be the one thing I truly want out of my life here on Earth; happy.
Lauren, thank you so much for letting me interview you! Everyone, be sure to check out Lauren's blog, Someone Like You, today. You definitely won't regret it!
I am so excited to introduce you to Hannah of She Could Be a Pharmer! Hannah is one of my blogging friends and I am so glad she agreed to grace the halls of Introvert's Introduction with her presence. So without further adieu, I give you Hannah of She Could Be a Pharmer!
1. First things first, can you tell everyone a little bit about yourself?
My name is Hannah and I write the blog she could be a pharmer in those clothes. My blog is a frivolous collection of outfit posts, science, cooking, and bitching about grad school. I was born and raised in Colorado, but right now I live in the Washington, DC area where I’m studying to get my PhD in pharmacology. I live with my boyfriend, Jason. He’s pretty much the best person in the universe and our nights usually involve sitting on the couch, drinking beer, and watching some sort of geeky TV show. We have two cats named Aspen and Velcro. They fight a lot. We also have a scorpion named Fenrir. He gives me nightmares.
2. What inspired you to start your blog (congrats on your one year anniversary a few weeks ago!)?
I had been an avid blog reader for some time and after a while I thought, “hey, I could do this!” Plus you don’t see many bloggers in the sciences and I was excited about contributing to an underdeveloped niche. Plus I grew up “blogging” (does livejournal count as blogging?), but hadn’t done it for a few years and I found that I really missed it!
3. What is the meaning behind your blog name?
“She could be a pharmer in those clothes” is a pun from a line from Clueless:
Gym teacher: Tai- you don’t have time to change, but you could hit a few balls in those clothes.
Amber: She could be a farmer in those clothes.
(Maniacal laugh, maniacal laugh)
(skip to 1:00)
Ah yes Clueless, a classic.
The “pharmer” bit comes from what I’m studying in grad school – pharmacology, often shortened to “pharm,” therefore making us pharm students the “pharmers.” I mean, a Clueless reference and science puns? How could I resist?
4. How do you balance between blogging and grad school?
Not very well! Haha. My blogging definitely tends to go in spurts. When I’m having normal/slow weeks at school I will blog a lot more, but when school gets crazy my blog definitely suffers. Being a grad student, school isn’t just about my education but it’s also my job, so it comes first. I try really hard never to blog or check blogs while I’m in lab. It’s a bad habit and it totally kills my productivity for the day. I have a hard time with self-control though, so I downloaded this awesome app for Google Chrome called StayFocused. Essentially, it limits how much time you can spend on certain websites each day. I set it so all of the “distraction” websites (facebook, pinterest, tumblr, blogspot, etc) have a limit of 30 minutes/day (cause I need a few minutes of downtime a day or I will go crazy!) It’s made me way more productive and I definitely recommend it!
5. Since I'm just about to finish my first week of college, can you give any advice for incoming freshmen?
Oh yes! I love giving advice. Don’t like to follow it, but loooove to dish it out.
- Get involved, especially in the first few months. Join every club that even sounds remotely interesting. You’ll probably end up only sticking with a few of them, but it’s worth it. People like to pretend that college is more mature than high school and it’s some sort of clique-less utopia, but it’s not. Social groups form tight and fast. I was too shy to go to a lot of social gatherings for the first few months of college and it made it really hard to break into them later – everyone had already formed their social circles, which meant I was always on the outside. It sucked. Don’t do it!
- Don’t bring your laptop to class unless you have to, and even then download some sort of productivity software like StayFocused or Concentrate (an app for Macs). 90% of the time I brought my laptop to class it ended up with me talking to my friends on aim (yes, when I went to college everyone still used aim. Don’t judge me!)
- Go to class. I know I know, this is probably the opposite of what so many other people would tell you. Yes, college is the perfect time to try new things and party and have an awesome time. But don’t do that at the expense of your education. College is expensive - make the best of your money! (Or your parents hard-earned money! Or a scholarship!)
- Take fun electives. I was in such a rush to finish college in four years with all the majors possible, that I forgot to relax a bit and take some fun classes. Some of my friends took classes like history of The Lord of the Rings, yoga, and glass blowing – for credit! The only elective I took for “fun” was called “insane in the membrane” and it was about membrane proteins. Even for someone who is a proud nerd, this is painfully lame.
6. How would you describe your personal style and how has it evolved over the years?
I would describe my style as “geek chic.” In college I wore jeans, thrifted t-shirts, and converse non-stop (I also woke up every day at 6am to straighten my hair. Insanity.) In recent years I’ve started to expand from my tomboy roots by incorporating more dresses and skirts. Also a necessity since it is crazy hot in the summer here in DC.
7. What would you say you have improved on since starting your blog?
My photography skills have definitely improved! In high school I had a passionate infatuation with photography, but my SLR camera broke sometime in college and I never really got back into the hobby. But with blogging I have started to get into photography again. I’ve been dabbling with lomography and just bought the chemicals to develop my own film, and I got a DSLR for my birthday and it’s been a blast figuring out how to use it! I probably wouldn’t have started up on any of this if not for blogging.
8. If you could try anything in the world (be it food, an activity, anything), what would it be?
I’d love to travel. I never studied abroad in college (ooh, add that to the college advice – study abroad! I will never forgive myself for missing out on that opportunity!), and I’ve never traveled around Europe or Asia or anything. I’ve been with my family and I even got to go to Italy for a conference last year, which was amazing, but I definitely want that experience of gallivanting abroad for a few weeks/months with no real schedule or obligations.
Thank you Hannah so much for letting me interview you!
Today I have an awesome awesome post for you guys. Elanor is the beautiful blogger behind Missing Lovebirds and one of my blogging friends! She's super sweet and kindly agreed to let me interview her for July's blogger spotlight (I did my very first spotlight way back in March and am now going to make it a regular thing on the blog.)
1. First things, first, can you tell everyone just a bit about yourself?
Of course! My name is Elanor and I am 18 years old - currently living in the San Francisco bay area. But not for long! At the end of the summer I will be moving to Seattle, Washington for college. If it isn't already obvious, I'm a huge believer in personal expression and style which is part of the reason I have my blog! I have many loves, some of which include thrifting and vintage treasure hunting, listening to and playing music, cuddling my darling kitty Zoey, and of course adventuring with my friends.
2. Congrats on finishing high school (hooray it's over!), what do you plan on majoring in at college?
Ahh and I am so glad highschool is over! As for your question, I do not know what I am going to major in yet. I am one of those "undecideds". I am hoping that through the process of taking classes and learning about different things, I will figure out what I want to do. At this point, I'm all about opening my mind and just learning. I shall be a sponge and absorb everything!
3. How did you decide to start a blog?
It all began when I was a freshman in high school and I began dabbling in fashion. I was previously into the "scene" style (unfortunately...) but after I discovered sites like Lookbook.nu and found blogs like Selective Potential and Delightfully Tacky - my interests in having a new style of my own blossomed! Over the next few months I kept up with their blogs and discovered more, and soon I questioned myself - why can't I do this? So I made Missing Lovebirds!
4. What is the meaning behind your blog name?
In all actuality, Missing Lovebirds does not really mean anything. When I was thinking of a name, somehow along the process I imagined a poster with lost lovebirds on it saying "missing lovebirds! call this number if you find them..." etc. I have no idea! Truly, I just liked how the words sounded together!
5. Are there any current fashion trends you don't like and why?
I am not one to follow fashion trends extremely religiously. I only really know of the big trends and sometimes not even till they are out of style anyway! So I can't really give you any trends I don't like...! Sorry! ;)
6. Likewise, are there any that you were excited to incorporate into your wardrobe?
One again, I'm not too aware of many trends! However, I do enjoy the pastel trend that has been going on for a while now. :) Pale shades of pink, purple, and blue are lovely! Especially mint as well.
7. Here's a fun one: if you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? What would you do?
If I could go anywhere in the world, I think I would first go to Paris or Spain. I have never been out of the country, unfortunately, so truly anywhere would be amazing to explore. But if I were to go to Paris or Spain, I would love to just see everything and photograph everything. Perhaps if these were my wildest dreams, I would like to sing and play music by night in small restaurants or outside...and by day, perhaps I would have some sort of design job or maybe I could just blog for a living. ;)
8. What would you say is the best thing about blogging? The worst thing?
I have no hesitation in saying that the best thing about blogging is the people you meet through it. The community has been amazing and I've met so many beautiful people through it. The worst thing about it, I admit, is having it be another thing that I need to be "perfect at" (I'm a perfectionist...) but that ruins the true reason for blogging if it's all about page views and comments. It's easy to compare your blog to other blogs and get down on yourself so that is one struggle I've faced throughout the years and one reason that blogging becomes something that isn't good.
9. How would you say your style has changed over the years?
Well, as I mentioned, early on my style was an attempt to be "scene" so it has DEFINITELY changed since then. But since I've been blogging, I guess I'd say that it has become a bit more refined. My outfits seem more put together now, and I definitely try to channel the vintage vibe in some way or another in my outfits.
10. What's one piece of advice you would give to bloggers first starting out?
One advice I would give to bloggers first starting out is simply, be passionate about what you're blogging about and try your very hardest to make your blog something that you yourself would like to read. This advice for me means that I try to concentrate on making my photos and my blog design the very best I can because for me, that is what first draws in and keeps me reading a blog. In addition, I try to focus on my personal style as well as just my plain old life because simply, style is my passion and my life is my life! And people have an innate interest in your life, believe it or not. People strive to make connections and really know people. Blogging can be a great outlet for that.
Thank you Elanor for letting me interview you, and be sure to check out her blog, Missing Lovebirds!
Sandra and Eve are the two beautiful girls behind The Hearabouts and kindly agreed to be featured in my very first blogger spotlight!
Eve
1. First off, can you tell everyone a little bit about yourself?
S: I’m a 24 year old blogger from Romania, I completed my post-graduate studies last year and I’m currently trying to find my place in the world. I adore photography, cats, London and anything fashion-related.
E: My name is Eve, I am 24 years young, I am a student with a passion for fashion, photography and all that's colorful and sparkly.
Sandra
2. How did you get started with fashion blogging?
We were already following many blogs from different countries and we have had a passion for fashion and photography for many years, so it all came natural. Some time passed until we finally decided to take the big step but we are thrilled that we did.
3. What made you decide to start a blog together?
We’ve been friends for many years and we used to take photos of one another for our Lookbook.nu accounts. We thought that it would be a great idea to start a blog where we would be able to post more photos, not only of our outfits, but also snapshots from our day-to-day lives. Plus, everything’s easier if there’s two of us, we share both the joys and downsides that come from blogging.
Eve
4. How would you describe your style and how has it changed over the years?
S: My style changes a lot, I can say that I am quite influenced by trends, but I have always had a soft spot for vintage fashion. I tried almost everything, from punk-chic, to ultra-feminine and I felt great. But I usually don’t put on clothes I don’t feel comfortable wearing, clothes that don’t allow me to be myself.
E: If i could find one word to describe my style it would be: eclectic. It depends on the mood that I am in...it can be edgy, rock and roll but sometimes it can be romantic and really feminine with a vintage touch. I think that over the years it has become more creative and colorful.
5. What's your favorite thing about blogging?
The people we’ve met, the places we’ve been invited to and last but not least, the feeling that we are appreciated by our readers, as few or numerous they might be at a certain point.
Sandra
6. Is there any piece you've been aching to add to your closet?
S: This spring, a dress in soft shades of green, pink or yellow and a pair of flatforms. Oh, and I’ve always dreamed of owning a Vivienne Westwood orb necklace.
E: I've been dreaming of a pair of red velvet Doc Martens for a while.
Eve
7. What would you say is the most important blogging skill and how did you go about achieving it?
The most important blogging skills, in our view, are patience and sincerity. We learned that we should be patient and work hard, because success doesn’t come easy, at least not to us. And we’ve always tried to stay true to ourselves and our readers.
8. What's your favorite piece in your wardrobe?
S: Right now it’s a Vivienne Westwood vest, but I will always love all the vintage pieces from my grandmother.
E: At the moment, my favorite piece in the wardrobe is a pair of boots I have recently purchased.
Sandra
9. Who is your biggest inspiration?
S: My grandmother.
E: My biggest inspiration is my aunt.
10. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
We’d both love to visit Japan, it’s been a life-long dream of ours.
Thank you very much Sandra and Eve! And you can check out their lookbooks here (Eve), and here (Sandra), and don't forget to take a peek at their blog here!
