First ever giveaway!

skirt: urban vibe // dress: mother's closet // shirt: mother's closet // shoes: thrift store/diy

You read that right! In honor of 200+ fans on lookbook and 30+ awesome readers on my blog, I'm holding my very first giveaway! This bracelet I made myself and it's so fun that I made one to keep, but this one pictured here will go to one lucky reader! It wraps around my hand twice, but if it's too small to fit around twice you can always trim it.

To enter, you must be following me via google friend connect or bloglovin', and just comment with your name and one random fact about yourself, because those are always fun! Oh and some way to contact you, be that by email or through your blog. Contest will run until March 21, 2012 at 10 PM Alaska time. Good luck! (I may even throw in a couple other goodies.)





This is seriously one of my favorite outfits ever. It's so comfortable, yet it looks put together, which is funny because usually I forget to lay out outfits the night before school and this was a total last minute clothing decision. Definitely one of my better ones. And on a side note, don't you just hate it when you hate everything you try on and have to go through an entire day convincing yourself you look crummy? And it's even worse when you look in the mirror near the end of the school day and you see that hey, you actually don't look that bad. I hate that! Haha, worrying over nothing. And really, in the whole big scheme of things, clothes don't matter that much. But on the other hand, clothes really help us express who we are and give us confidence to do things we never thought we could.




There was a really strict dress code at my school in Oklahoma. Girls weren't allowed to wear jeans and we could only wear slacks on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (and that was a step up--in years previous we could only wear slacks on Friday!). The guys could wear jeans, but on Wednesday they had to wear slacks. (Us girls loved that though because the guys usually wore ties as well ... and who doesn't love a guy in a tie?) That was the biggest rule in my mind. There were a ton of others though, and some people complained, but for the most part I was fine with it. It forced little ol' elementary and junior high me to really get creative with the way I dressed, and even though I had no idea what was stylish or what went together, it was a chance to not wear jeans and a t-shirt all the time.

They always told us at school that one of the reasons they had such a strict dress code was because we performed better when we dressed better. And I believe that is completely true. I'm probably more susceptible to slouch around when I'm wearing slouchy clothes. And to this day I have never owned a pair of sweatpants or yoga pants (not to say that they're bad or anything, no worries :)).

So at the same time, I hate it to no end when people at my current school complain about the dress code. I get to wear jeans everyday here, so you can shut up about not being allowed to have holes in your jeans thank you very much.



This isn't to say that I don't have my lazy days, because let me tell you, I do. The difference is, I still try to look presentable with jeans and a blouse rather than yoga pants and an oversized sweatshirt. Not only does that not look very nice, but I know I won't do as well in my studies (and with me I need all the help I can get).




Haha sorry for rambling so much in this post, but that's just what I've been thinking about.
Be sure to have an awesome day, and please enter the giveaway!
Hey, it's free stuff! (Even if I hand made it ... it's still pretty cool.)

and the fog comes up

day 73



Isn't my sister just the cutest thing ever? I swear she's going to be a supermodel when she grows up. She's one of the best and easiest models to work with, plus she's pretty, and my sister, so she's readily available (if she's in a good mood). How much better can it get?





Today has been pretty fun for me. My mom and I went to coffee this morning and then she took me to a store for a belated birthday present. Afterwards Matt came over to our house to help me make pillows and then all the kids and my mom played video games! It was seriously a ton of fun. I love having everyone together, just laughing and having a good time.




So day number two of spring break has been a smashing success, and I cannot wait for tomorrow!

diy bird skirt

This really shows a good before and after of my editing with photoshop. Part of me hates photoshop because of the way it distorts the truth and many people use that in the wrong way, but part of me loves it. I think of photoshop as a tool to correct what the camera cannot capture (because some details of reality are lost in a photograph) as well as another art form. It's amazing what some people can create with photoshop ... even I'm amazed by what I can accomplish through it. And there's still a ton to learn.



On to the outfit! Matt's mom cleaned out her craft closet a couple weekends ago and let me go through all the things she was going to give away. It felt like Christmas! Matt was really bored while I sat on the floor going through bags of fabric and paints and stickers and anything and everything. I went away with three boxes stuffed with things (much to my mother's disdain ... she knows how bad of a hoarder and unorganized person I am). One box was filled mostly with picture frames and feathers, one with scrapbooking stuff and stamps, and the other with fabric! This crazy awesome bird print was in one so I cut it up and made a skirt out of it!




I would say this is my best skirt to date, although I still managed to screw up big time on it. It's still wearable, but you can definitely tell it's homemade. Oh well, practice makes perfect!



I painted my nails to match my skirt. :)



I'm flying!



Hahahaha these are silly.



There was just enough fabric left over to make a bow with a button to match the skirt. I also snagged some of Matt's sister's supplies from when she began making headbands and this one was already made, which was perfect for my bird ensemble!




As always, have a very awesome day. Are you enjoying your spring break?

strength is in my hand

day 72

Spent a nice evening with my dear. We went to go see Act of Valor, which made me very proud of my dad for being a part of the military, really glad that he is now retired, and really glad that Matt doesn't want to be in the military. I could never do what my dad did, and I am forever proud to have him as my father.