film friday: paperman

In honor of Valentine's Day, here is a super cute movie for you. From Disney, "Introducing a groundbreaking technique that seamlessly merges computer-generated and hand-drawn animation techniques, first-time director John Kahrs takes the art of animation in a bold new direction with the Oscar®-nominated short, "Paperman." Using a minimalist black-and-white style, the short follows the story of a lonely young man in mid-century New York City, whose destiny takes an unexpected turn after a chance meeting with a beautiful woman on his morning commute. Convinced the girl of his dreams is gone forever, he gets a second chance when he spots her in a skyscraper window across the avenue from his office. With only his heart, imagination and a stack of papers to get her attention, his efforts are no match for what the fates have in store for him. Created by a small, innovative team working at Walt Disney Animation Studios, "Paperman" pushes the animation medium in an exciting new direction."

you make me blush

dress/lace shirt/shoes: thrifted // shirt/tights: forever 21





Happy Valentines Day, everyone! This holiday always has mixed feelings between people, and I have mixed feelings for the day too. Part of me thinks it's a stupid excuse for boys to be extra nice to girls, part of me adores the holiday because it's super cute and romantic, and part of me thinks it's highly overrated. Welcome to the confusing world of Lauren. I guess it really depends on the year for me. This year I'm not too excited about it, because there will be a ton of cute couple-y stuff and it will make me miss Matt more than I usually do. I don't think I've talked about him for a while on here, but we are doing good. Long distance relationships are really hard and they stink but it's totally worth it. Some days are harder than others but you just have to keep the line of communication open and be trusting and understanding. And you always have to stay positive. I've learned a lot that my emotions affect other people, so keeping a positive spirit is of the utmost importance. But Matt is my best friend and he really balances out my insanity perfectly, and I'm so so thankful for him every day. Sure, not being able to see him in person is really hard, but he is more than worth it.




But today is going to be a good day. There are so many people I love and I can't wait to spend it with my friends. Every day I'm thankful for them and where I am and I just love my college and my life so much. Even though I have bad days (like everyone does), I would say that life is pretty fantastic and I'm really glad I've reached that mindset.




I hope you have a marvelous holiday! I love you all so much and I'm so thankful for you, and you deserve to have an awesome day. :)

from the darkroom

I present to you my first prints from the darkroom! Obviously my scanner isn't the best, but that's alright! I've basically fallen head over heels for film photography, and that may be detrimental to my digital loving self. Haha you may never see another digital photo from me again! That probably won't actually be true, but I just want to spend every moment taking photos and hanging out in the darkroom. It really gives photography that handmade art feeling that really makes it feel like a fine art. And I love being able to combine creating something with my hands with photography. The possibilities of what I can do in the darkroom are literally endless, and I'm so excited to explore everything it has to offer.

superpowers

dress/shoes: target // shirt: thrifted // tights: diy




When I was younger, I went to a really conservative Christian school. The guys were only allowed to wear jeans on Fridays, and slacks the rest of the days, and girls were only allowed to wear slacks on Fridays, and skirts/dresses that touched the knee (or longer) the rest of the week. There were a lot of other strict rules about dress code, such as no shirts with words, sleeves had to cover your shoulders, guys' hair couldn't touch their ears and they weren't allowed to have facial hair. On Wednesdays they had to wear a button down shirt, and most of them just wore a tie with it (the girls were always excited about that). I'm not saying these things to put down my old school, because that was the best school I ever went to. The administrators said that one reason they had such a strict dress code was because of the fact that when students dress better, they perform better.




I've really taken that to heart over the years and have discovered that to one extent or another it's true. Clothes have this powerful ability to manipulate our emotions and how we feel, and oftentimes we aren't even aware of it. That's why my old school never let us come to class wearing sweatpants and t-shirts, because if we did we would be more likely to slack on our schoolwork. That's not to say that wearing sweats and t-shirts equates to slacking, but wearing something that resembles pajamas does have an impact on performance. But it's not only about fabric options as much as whether or not you feel confident in what you're wearing. Despite all the fashion trends that come and go, if you don't feel confident in what you're wearing, then it will affect how you feel. Clothes can make us feel sexy, powerful, adventurous, you name it, and they can also make us feel ugly, frumpy, sluggish. And the list goes on and on. Not only do clothes have this ability to change how we feel, but we have the ability to change our clothes. It's all an effort of tapping in to the power of a garment to feel a certain way as you go throughout your day. You don't necessarily have to dress up all the time. I have a few staple outfits that I wear over again on those days where I don't really feel like stepping outside of the fashion box, but when I still want to feel good. If you feel confident and alert in a t-shirt and jeans, then by all means, wear that. That's the joy of personal style. It is completely unique to each person. For me personally, I've found that I usually feel most confident in fun colors and patterns, and while that's not always "in style," those are the things that make me perform the best and make me feel the most happy about who I am. When we realize that a simple article of clothing has this power and when we realize that we can use that power to our advantage, then there's nothing we won't be able to do.





I hope you have a really beautiful day!