alaskan adventures // fishing in prince william sound

This past weekend I got to go with my parents, my brother, and my dad's friend (who owned the boat) to go fishing out of Prince William Sound. As someone who doesn't particularly like standing in a river waiting for hours for a fish, but loves spending time on a boat and actually catching fish, I was excited to spend an entire day on the ocean. Don't be fooled by the awesome weather in these photos! Usually it's pretty miserable weather, but I seem to always go on the one sunny day of the year. That's a good curse to have though, so I'm not complaining!





We woke up early and donned our warmest gear (though we shedded all but the minimum as the day progressed), prepared for intrepid winds and harsh seas. The extra water, Dramamine, and camera batteries were packed, and we began our trek in a camo-lined truck pulling a 25 foot boat down the highway.






Upon arriving and stowing our belongings and ourselves onto the boat, my brother William and I immediately fell asleep. Strangely though, it wasn't from taking any medicine to help with motion sickness, it was just because the waves were lulling us to sleep. I was actually surprised that I didn't need to take any drugs, considering driving for any amount of time in Oregon makes me carsick. But turbulent sea waves in Alaska? My tummy was in heaven, apparently.







We sailed out to one of the many lagoons in the area simply to explore, and came upon a school of fish jumping out of the water. So the anchor went down and our fishing poles went up, and we floating on the water's surface while a fresh breeze blew in and the sun shined overhead. It was in that moment I discovered what being an old man feels like, and let me tell you, it is a great feeling.

Over the course of the day, I caught only one fish, a Silver, but it was still quite exciting. My dad thought I had gotten stuck on a rock since I never felt the fish bite and it seems like he was swimming with us, but when we reeled it in, there was a fish on the end of the line! He put up quite a fight, but in the end I won and booped him on the head and soon I shall eat him. And he shall be delicious.






We also caught some shrimp (those were consumed very quickly) and an octopus, although he was returned to the sea. You can see a few more photos plus the fish I caught on instagram under the tag #hardcoreparkours2013 (and other family summer adventures as well).

wishful thinking

dress: urban outfitters // shirt: mom's closet // tights/belt: forever 21 // cardigan: target





It seems like every possible version of this outfit has been on my body for the past few weeks. I love having opaque tights that let me sit criss-cross even in a dress, because I can never seem to sit like a normal person should. Whether I'm sitting in the office, at school, at home or wherever, I always love sitting criss-cross or with one knee up. Not very appropriate when I'm wearing not so opaque tights! It's usually so cold in the morning that I'm itching to cover up as much as possible (plus I hate being cold and having to get out of bed--that's an awful combination), but then by the time I'm done with work, I'm rushing to the car to take them off because of the heat.

Of course when I took these photos it was overcast, so not only did I need tights, but also a cardigan! Do you know what all these layers are really used for? Protection. They are my armor against the dreaded villain, the mosquito. Ugh, they have been so bad this summer, I can't even stand it. Strangely though, I've hardly been bitten, but maybe that's just because I drench myself in repellant every time I leave the house.





Hope you have a good day! May your weather be warm and your mosquito repellent strong.

all that power

6/30

day 5 is here!

Hope you're having a good day!

sunshine central

shirt: thrifted // skirt: forever 21 // shoes: payless




Man, this weekend has NOT been long enough. All day Saturday I went fishing out of Prince William Sound (pictures to come soon!), and Sunday I accidentally slept longer than I had planned. There was no productivity whatsoever this weekend, but since I am one to always think, "What's done is done and there's nothing I can change about it," I'm not going to stress about it. Back to business today though!




I feel like I'm in a strange cross section in my life right now. Is this what turning into an adult feels like? I'm afraid that I dabble in too many things, and am not completely passionate about one thing. Writing, photography ... I'm okay at both, but sometimes it feels like I have to choose one or the other. That's a really scary thought, so I'm not doing anything right now to improve at either. Why can't I just do both and be really great at both? And on a side note, why do the things I want to do have to be so hard business-wise? I have to be my own boss and financial person and advertiser either way, and right now I'm not very good at those things either. But I guess no one said it would be easy.

But for now, I'm just going to enjoy this summer. Sometimes I feel like there's not enough time and I have to start things right now, but I'm always having to remind myself that I'm only nineteen and I still have many years to get my act together. Well, I don't want you guys to think that I'm feeling sad or stressed out about all of this (sometimes I am, but not right now). Everything will work out in the end, I'm sure of it. :)




I hope you all have a really wonderful Monday!

apartment wishlist // kitchen

In just under six weeks, I will be moving into an apartment at college with my friends, and I'm already dreaming up ways to personalize it and make it super cute. There's not really much I know about putting things on the wall, or if purchasing furniture will come back to haunt me come time to move out in the summer, but that hasn't stopped me from pinning and gathering things that I want to put in the space! Today we are focusing on the kitchen. My friends and I set up a plan where one night a week, a different one of us cooks dinner (we shall see how that actually turns out), so I foresee we will be in the kitchen a lot.



(from Modcloth)

These film salt and pepper shakers were basically made for me. No question.

(from modcloth) These kitchen utensils are seriously the most adorable things ever.

(from modcloth) A cat dish towel featuring all the tricks a cat can do? Uhm, YES.

(from Modcloth)

When I saw this, I was freaking out about how ingenious it was. This is the kind of product where I go, "Man, I wish I could have thought of that!"

(from UO) Trashcans are a necessity, and I'm loving this lime green one!

(from Modcloth) To show off my love of writing, this mug would be absolutely perfect. I can just picture myself sipping coffee from it in the mornings before school.

(from Modcloth)

All I can say is that I need this on my body right now. And then I will turn into a baking master!

(from IKEA) :3 Cute cupcakes!

(from IKEA) I'm pretty sure we are provided a table in the apartment, and these table runners would be perfect for parties!

(from Modcloth)

My friends and I are huge grammar nazis, so these plates would definitely be a hit amongst them.

mourning shall come

4/30

Time was fading with the sun. Weeks and months passed without a stirring. Grass twitched between stone fingers that still pointed towards the sky, only now it was in desperation, as with a last dying breath they hoped to reach the sun.

Detail (which is actually only at 33% and a lot sharper on the high res version of this photo):



Thank you to my boyfriend Matt for giving me some critique on this. Considering this was my first miniature composite ever, I'd say I did pretty good.

Here's a behind the scenes instagram photo from the endeavor:



(The bench was what I sat on, the shovel was for digging a hole in the grass to put my hand in)

I think the hardest part with pulling this off was getting the angle of myself to match the height of my fingers, which I don't think I did 100% accurately. (Perhaps I shouldn't have tried something so hard as fingers to experiment with this type of photograph, hah.) But all in all, I'm pretty pleased with the result! It was a lot of fun to come up with, and I'm actually thinking of using other body parts as giant stone figures. We shall see.

Have a great weekend everyone!

film friday: ekki múkk

Sigur Rós - Ekki múkk from Sigur Rós Valtari Mystery Films on Vimeo.

This video is part of the valtari mystery film experiment, in which the band Sigur Rós allowed filmmakers to take their music and have complete freedom to create a short film surrounding it. They are all very beautiful films, but I think this one is my favorite. My friend Ivy and I sat around one day a few months ago in Oregon and watched all of them, and this was one of her favorites as well. I love all the dark/hopeful artisty that is portrayed along the narration. It's soo gorgeous and I hope you enjoy it!

I hope you have a great weekend!

Laurynne

3/30

The elves were grand in their time, building empires amongst trees in the riverlands of Rael, their palaces interwoven with stone and flowers so grandeur, there was no match. The throne room itself was a vast chamber with a blazing waterfall as a backdrop to the high queen's chair. From the shorelines of the Agail Sea to the Western side of Coppern Mountain their empire stretched. Yes, the elves were grand in their time. But there is a time for everything.


I probably could have done a better job of this, in regards to the textures and whatnot, but I left my tablet and pen at work, so I had to use my computer's trackpad. Don't know how I ever managed to use that thing before. But anyways, this is the start of a new photo series! I'm so excited about it too, and am trying to come up with ideas for this world. Also, I can't believe it's already Friday. This week has gone by way too fast!

mixology results // I scream for ice cream

dress: handmade // shirt: thrifted // tights/boots: forever 21




This will be the last outfit I "officially" style from the Remix my Closet post, so sorry if your outfit wasn't included! (I'm inevitably going to wear them though, it's just that I am pretty backed up on outfits currently, heh.) This outfit was put together by Alex, but I totally had a brainfart moment and didn't wear the green tights that she had suggested! So I apologize for that. I totally forgot to even double check and was just picking out the clothes from memory. Green tights with this would have been so much more fun, and it would have worked because my dress is a light green and the tights are a dark green.




But anyways, I'm so excited for this weekend because my family is going fishing! But not just any ol' put-the-boots-on-and-stand-in-a-river-for-hours, we get to go to Prince William Sound on my dad's friend's boat and fish for salmon and halibut. Mmmm yummy in my tummy! I'm not much of a fan of fishing from a river, but I love boats a whole bunch and being anywhere even remotely near the ocean, so I can't wait. I can just taste the salty air and feel my hair whip against my cheeks now.




Have a wonderful day!