monochrome

white dress: c/o sugarlips // white cardigan/leggings: forever 21 // black cardigan: gift // skirt: thrifted // boots: target




Long time no see! A lot of crazy things have happened since the last time we spoke. First of all, I finally became an art major! Well, still not officially yet, all I have to do is get a signature from my adviser who is currently on maternity leave ... but other than that I am ready to jump right in! I've already gotten to talk to a couple art majors and those conversations made me incredibly excited to get my work out there and join the community of artists and learn as much as possible. As for the English side of my double major, I was promoted on my university's newspaper and now I am an official writer and photographer (whereas before I was a copy editor), and our newspaper is about to launch a new website, of which I'm one of the bloggers. It's already been a lot of work on top of all my classes but it's been a blast and I'm so excited to share the finished product of the website with you guys!




As for the outfit, I usually am not one to wear something so monochromatic, but I really loved all the classic and elegant elements in this ensemble. The flared skirt, the lace cardigan, the frilly dress ... I felt like I was from the renaissance. It would have been easy for me to add more color to this. For example, I could have switched out the skirts or added a big statement necklace or put on a different pair of tights. When the outfit is mostly neutral it's incredibly easy to throw in a little pop of color. So if you wanted to become more daring with colors and prints, wearing a monochromatic and then adding one bold color would be the first step!





Have a great day everyone!

birthday celebration

+ chocolate festival


sweater/dress: borrowed // shirt: garage sale // tights: thrifted // shoes: target





Yesterday was my nineteenth birthday! On top of a million facebook messages, dorm decorations, and hugs, Ivy and Amy took me to the chocolate festival in Portland! It was super fun to be able to hang out with them in such a beautiful city, and we couldn't have asked for better weather. It was sunny and not too cold, which made walking around downtown that much more enjoyable, especially when we wanted to burn off all the chocolate we ate.



Ivy; she took the pictures of me.




Amy!



I don't think I've ever tasted such delicious chocolate. My favorites were the dark chocolate with bacon, actually. It was such an interesting and awesome flavor--just enough crispiness and bitter chocolatyness to make me want to eat it all! The salted chocolates were also fantastic, as well as the fudge and chocolate covered almonds. Mmm! So many of the companies were organic and fair trade and advertised healthier chocolates, which was also fantastic. I love learning about companies that are passionate about things like that, especially when those companies hand out free samples!







By the end of the day, we were all so stuffed from free samples that we could hardly move. I never knew there could be so many different flavors and combinations of chocolates. On top of the bacon filled ones, there were also jalapenos, dried blueberries and other fruits, alcohol (too bad we couldn't taste those, haha), and so many other things. By the end of the festival we all had chocolate hangovers, but it was totally worth it. Towards the end, vendors were trying to get rid of their last bit of goods, so we even got a couple free chocolate bars! I know what I'll be eating tomorrow.






All in all, my birthday was definitely a blast. It's crazy to think that I'm now in my last year of being a teenager and basically a fourth of my life is over with. I'm old! ;) I can't wait to see what this year holds and what memories are about to be made.






Hope you all have a super awesome day.

print giveaway winners!

Congratulations to those who won! Please message me your address and the print you would like by February 3rd so I can get it sent out to you!

Also, I'm happy to announce that you can now purchase my prints at my new print shop here! 100% of the proceeds will fund my trip to a photo gathering.

Have a great day everyone!

p.s. if you want to watch the awkward video of me winning, you can see it here.

my week in instagram #31

I got the van stuck in the driveway because it was so slippery // Oscar is my blogging/editing partner // saying "see you soon" to Matt and my family and Alaska // saying "hi" to beautiful Oregon // drawing with my birthday present from Matt // cards got a little wild // built my first flat all by myself at my job // finally became an art major (now I'm majoring in English AND art whoop!) // got a cookie cupcake from my friends

Hope you all have a fantastic week!

mad world

Today is my last day of being eighteen. And life is good.

film friday: sweater

Willow - Sweater from Filip Sterckx on Vimeo.

Hey guys! Sorry for the little blog hiatus. It was definitely unintended and I missed blogging a lot. My laptop's power cord bit the dust the first day of classes, so I quickly bought a new cord and even got the quickest shipping, but of course it only came on the last day of the week. Being without a computer has left me kind of crutched since a lot of my schoolwork is online, but thankfully my friends have let me use their computers this first week. But now I am back and ready to go!

And thankfully I'm back just in time for film friday! I really love this music video. For one thing, I love finding new (to me) bands that are really good at what they do, and for another thing I'm a sucker for really imaginative music videos. This one blows my mind every time I watch it, and you definitely should take a look. Now it's time for me to catch up on everybody's blogs since I missed a whole week. (you guys wrote over 100 posts while I was gone ... either I'm following too many people or you guys are writing a ton!)

Have a great weekend!

my week in instagram #30

sledding and watching the sunset // making quality art with photographer friends // staying motivated to save money for a plane ticket // being silly // my boy playing with the dog // everyone's gingerbread houses // shooting people is what photographers do best // scouting out photoshoot locations // waking up to a sleepy cat next to me

These photos are actually from the past two weeks, as the holidays took over last week in instagram's time slot. In just a couple of hours I'll get on the plane to go back to Oregon, so wish me luck!

(you can follow me on instagram @impulsings)

Have a great day everyone!

her unknown surroundings

"She had been traveling for days, a slow paced snail’s race, for the memories of a forgetting town rattled in her brain too much if she ran. Her legs clutched to the cold damp ground every time she tried to lift them and her eyes no longer cared to search for any little speck of light. But when a glimmer of dust caught her gaze, she lifted her eyes and her unknown surroundings were suddenly a vast array of opportunities to become known."

First upload of the new year! It's been really nice not having to take a photo every day, but I have missed shooting and editing and sharing things with you guys. One of my resolutions is to do at least two photoshoots a month, as well as incorporate writing into my photos, so you guys will have to keep me accountable.

This photo was the first I shot during my mini meetup with the incredibly talented Grace Adams and Sarah Joann a couple days ago. It was such an honor to finally be able to meet and hang out with them in person! (In a few days I'll have a blog post up with some fun photos from this day). It is a surreal feeling to meet someone you've been admiring online for a long time. When I woke up the next day I wondered if it actually happened. They are both so beautiful and nice and awesome and I hope we can hang out again in the future!

I hope this first meetup is a sign of how the rest of my year will go.

film friday: this is oregon

THIS IS OREGON from Shwood Eyewear on Vimeo.

In honor of me flying back to the beautiful state of Oregon on Sunday, I thought it would be appropriate to show this video. Oregon is seriously so gorgeous and I love that it only takes a little bit of time to drive out and suddenly be completely immersed in nature. I think it's one of the most beautiful places on earth. If you have time, I highly recommend going to their website (thisisor.com) and checking out the photos, and would even more highly recommend actually going to Oregon and exploring all it has to offer.

so try to be somebody

dress/skirt/shirt/tights/shoes: thrifted // belt: forever 21 // jacket: from a friend




Can I just say that I'm quite proud the majority of this outfit is thrifted? I for one absolutely adore thrift stores. When I was a lot younger, I thought it was so uncool to have clothes that were bought from a thrift store, probably because that was back when I thought brands of clothes made you popular. My junior high self went so far as to shop at all the popular stores just so that people would think I was cool. Newsflash: it didn't work out so much. People didn't think I was cool when I suddenly had "Hollister" plastered all over my chest. Thankfully that phase of my life has ended (the brands and t-shirts and jeans phase) and I can roam the thrift store isles in all their glory!

I've been trying to purchase more basic pieces for my wardrobe, such as this skirt and dress. I have a lot of crazy pieces but not a lot of basic ones I can mix a whole bunch of times. I think this skirt will be just what I need and I already predict I'll be wearing it at least once a week this year. It will be hard to refrain from doing so. The red shoes were definitely a fun purchase. In Oregon I had my eye on some $20 red shoes (c'mon thrift stores, you're supposed to be cheap!), but I didn't buy them for that price tag reason. Now I'm so glad I didn't do it because these red shoes only cost me $6! Yuuus I love negotiating with sales people to get good deals.




This outfit works because most of these colors are neutrals. Neutrals are colors (blacks, whites, browns, navys) that go with any other color, and that includes other neutrals. Whoever decided to say that brown and black didn't go together was crazy, because they do, because they are neutrals. Even my cream colored shirt can be considered a neutral because it's a member of the brown family. Then I just added a little pop of color--red--to make the outfit stand out. I could have chosen any color shoes and bow because again, everything else was a neutral. And as far as print goes, I'm actually wearing two prints. The navy dress has some flower embossment (not a real word, but it makes sense, haha) sewn into the fabric (which you can't quite tell from the photos, but trust me, it's there), and then my cream top has some neutral flowers on it as well. They are nice subtle prints that work together.

I hope this helps you guys out in mixing prints and colors together! :)





Have a super awesome day. Love you!

birthday wishlist

1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12

Also this shirt, one calendar for school, one for blogging/goals, one journal for diary, one for dreams, and a moo gift card.

Now that the holidays are finally over, it's time to focus on birthdays in the Parker family. My dad's, brother's, and my birthdays are all within the span of eight days, so it's nothing short of a celebration at our house. Of course, I head back to college before my birthday, so the party party party time will have to be a little premature, but I'm still really excited about it! My dad had me put together a wishlist of things I want, so I browsed around and found things that I claim I can't live without. But really I am content with where I am in life and this is just stuff (not saying that I don't want to get stuff for my birthday though, parents! Wink wink.) I'm just really thankful I've had an awesome break with my family and boyfriend and that in a week I get to go back to an awesome school with some of the most amazing people I've ever met.

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!

my new years resolutions

A lot of people are against new years resolutions, and for good reason. They get so excited about changing their life and then after about a month or so the excitement fizzles out and they forget their lofty goals that they set up at the beginning of the year. I'm no different, and I've definitely had my share of unresolved resolutions. But I am a firm believer in improvement, and I think every person can improve and learn and become better in some way, so no matter how many years I fail, I'll probably always make new years resolutions.

But this year I've been reading a lot about setting goals and have learned a few tricks that will help me actually stay on track with the things I want to do. I highly suggest you read this article (with a link to another article that you should also read) about setting goals and sticking with them. I certainly will be utilizing some of the suggestions to make this year fantastic.

Here are my tentative resolutions for 2013 (I may or may not get rid of some in a couple months after seeing if I can handle so many goals):

1. Write one page a week in my novel.
2. Produce two photos a month.
3. Do one blog diy a month.
4. Do 8 outfit posts a month.
5. Take one college street style photo a week.
6. Read 12 books a year.
7. Draw one sketch a week.
8. Set aside $5 a week for savings.

And some dreams that I have for 2013 (as opposed to resolutions because there are other factors that could play into these things actually occurring):

1. Get my work "out there." (whatever that means, haha)
2. Get a photo on a book cover.
3. Gain more clients.
4. Go to a photo gathering.
5. Gain 100 more readers on Introvert's Introduction.
6. Gain 300 more likes on facebook.
7. Gain 25,000 more views on flickr.

(I want to pause here to say that numbers 5-7 aren't dreams because of gaining views on their own, but because I want to be able to share my photos and blog posts with as many people as possible. I love every single one of my readers a lot and would never turn them into a number or take them for granted. You make my day so much brighter just by me knowing that the things I post have the ability to make an impact on your life.)

I do realize this is a lot of stuff to take on, but I think it can be done as long as I purposely set aside time to do each thing. I can't become lazy and I need constant reminders, which is partly why I'm writing about them here, so you guys can keep me accountable. You'll actually be able to see if I'm keeping up with them based on what things I post. I love blogging, but I know if I don't set a goal for myself, there won't be any structure and I'll feel a bit lost. I'm also writing them here so you will hopefully stick with your own resolutions. I had never even thought about some of the steps to take to stick with my goals, and it will be exciting to see what becomes of them. Already I've been working hard on fulfilling some of these resolutions. In particular, the "getting my work out there resolution" has been going good so far. I've submitted my work to several places and am beginning the process to sell my images through a company that businesses and authors go to (hello book cover!). It's really nerve wracking because I'm not one who really likes to self advertise all that much because I don't want people to think that I think I'm the coolest thing since sliced bread (which I'm not), but I just wanted to give you guys a bit of encouragement that I've found to be helpful. You never ever know what will become of something if you don't try. The worst thing anyone can do is say no, and if you're too scared of the "no," then you'll never know what will happen if they say "yes." That's helped me press the 'send' button on multiple emails and I hope it will help you too!

So what are your resolutions? Let me know so that we can keep each other accountable!