march's guest blogger!

kate fodera of 'live inspired' shares with us her struggles with adulthood, and the creative journey she is taking to overcome them.

I was sitting on my couch and eating an obscene amount of Ramen noodles a few weeks ago when it hit me  -  Oh God... I’m 25 years old. 

This realization shouldn't have been as life-altering as it was, considering I’ve been this age for a little over 3 months, but regardless... it was. As I had crinkled, limp, soggy noodles hanging from the right side of my perfectly glossed lip, I thought to myself, “What am I doing with my life?”

I’m successful when it comes to having a career I love and enjoy doing day in and day out. I’m successful when it comes to following my dreams of writing professionally. I’m successful when it comes to surrounding myself with amazing, hilarious, supportive, and loving friends and family. 

Don’t get me wrong, all of these things are EXTREMELY important when it comes to living a happy, healthy, and fruitful life; however, there are other things a girl should know. She should know that you cannot substitute Squirt soda for lemon juice when cooking. She should be able to kill scary spiders. She should be able to successfully pass as a functioning member of society.

To put it bluntly - I’m perhaps one of the worst stereotypical adults I know. I’m successful when it comes to completely useless things:

• I can lick my elbow
• I can make killer Ramen
• I can make my hair insanely huge (no seriously, I can)

Things I’m not successful with:

• Cooking something other than killer Ramen
• Sewing/hemming
• Crafting
• Other stereotypical adult-stuff

Whether I was ready or not, I realized that it was time to learn. 

I understand that these skills are “old-fashioned” but whether the date is year 1945 or 2012, a girl has to know how to cook something both edible and healthy. That’s when I decided to start my new blog, Perfectly Aware.

I became perfectly aware of the fact that I’m not really a functioning adult in the stereotypical sense of the word. It was time to make a change and not only would I make this change, but I would document my trials and tribulations. Being 25, I know myself... I know that I’m going to struggle. This journey to adulthood is going to be tough, it’s going to be messy, it’s going to be full of perfectly-strung-together swearwords. 

Cross your fingers that I make it out alive, wearing hemmed jeans and holding a load of freshly baked banana bread.

*follow kate's journey by checking out her new blog, perfectly aware!*

music monday.

since 'the hunger games' came out this past weekend, i had to make this music monday about the movie :] 

 i've have listened to most of the songs off the soundtrack, but wasn't really impressed by any of them except for these two [and the tay swift song, of course]. the lyrics are just so sweet in the low anthem song, and really gave a glimpse into the next book. the maroon 5 song definitely gives off the essence of the hunger games - deep, dark & haunting.

low anthem ~ love is childlike

maroon 5 ~ come away to the water

i have a date to see the movie tomorrow, but so far, i have heard good things. 

what did you think of it? 

p.s. 606 days until 'catching fire'! ;]

recap friday.

happy friday!

this week has been full of work, parenthood episodes, photo editing and many caramel macchiatos. here are some of the pictures i have been working on :]

 

 

  

i took family portraits of mariana, her husband and her daughter last year. but just a couple weeks ago, i met mariana's mother and was lucky enough to get a couple pictures of them for their business. it was tons of fun!

any good plans this weekend? for me, the next couple days include a wedding in the burbs, more work & a lot more caramel macchiatos ;]

hope you have a wonderful weekend! xoxo.

arts n' crafts time!

i've had these anthropologie candles for about a year now, and they've just been sitting in our guest bathroom. i loved them when i bought them [and they were a steal!], but when i look at them now, they feel a little blah.

so, i decided to add a little character with some sharpies!

now we have two dapper looking candles ;]

terrifically thrifty tuesday!

this past weekend was spent visiting friends and family back in michigan. it was so nice. a. and i even had a chance to visit two antique malls! needless to say, we got some goodies :]

we found:

a 1972 spice and herb print

six beautiful old keys

a great gatsby-inspired belt

a pair of ceramic owlies

three yards of amazing blush-colored lace

a vintage red lantern that adam loved

the grand total? 

$35.28!

have you found any goodies lately? i'd love to see them!

happy first day of spring!

this past week has been heaven.

seventy five degrees.

sun shining.

flowers blooming.

birds chirping.

this kind of weather makes me want to skip down the sidewalk in a handmade dress, while holding a picnic basket and singing 'do-re-mi'. what? you don't think of sound of music when you think of spring...?

anywho, here are some spring-y things that are inspiring me lately :]

   

1. anthropologie leaf rug

2. striped coral modcloth dress

3. red velvet arrow tote

4. pantone colored desserts

  

music monday.

happy monday!

sorry for the silence this past week/weekend - we were in michigan visiting friends & family :]

this music monday is brought to you by walk the moon. 

turn this song up, it's catchy!

walk the moon ~ anna sun

terrifically thrifty tuesday!

yesterday was tuesday.

tuesday's are my [only] day off.

[almost] every tuesday i go thrifting. 

on those tuesday's that i do go thrifting [& find something good], i plan on showing off what i got :]

ready? let's go!

  

  

i must admit that i normally don't find these many goodies on a typical thrift day - i'll get one or two things if i'm lucky. so this tuesday was an exception. an amazing exception! i found such great pieces. maybe the closet gods were pointing me in the right direction since i gave away so many of my old clothes... ;]

i found:

a long-sleeved, retro-looking dress

a super soft, black gap sweater

a long, swingy, bright blue vintage skirt

an amazingly vintage, navy/red blazer [it fits like a glove!]

a checkered yellow & white tablecloth

an older version of the lion, the witch and the wardrobe

the grand total?

$13.87!

have you found any goodies lately? i'd love to hear about them!

thank you.

can i just take a moment to be real? like, real-real?

today i just found out that this new blog has gotten over 2,000 views in the past two months!

i know 1,000 views a month isn't a legendary amount, but it's a pretty big deal to me! my wordpress account was lucky to get 300 views a month! 

so, i just want to say thank you.

thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to take a glimpse into my life. 

music monday.

i know that this song by the head and the heart is not new... but the new breathtaking music video is. which is why this music monday post is brought to you by them.

sit back, take a sip of your coffee, and enjoy :]

100!

umm you guys, i made it to 100! 

can you believe it? 

so i know the last couple things are little [and maaaybe shouldn't count], but i am so proud of myself for getting rid of so much.

two pairs of shoes

five magazines & one notebook

three books & two recipe booklets

pair of glasses & case

pair of jeans

sleeveless collared shirt

one wine glass & one cracked stella glass

wallet

four cups

'vino' wall art

many miscellaneous beauty products

leather belt

like i said before, i really did this to eliminate some of the clutter around me. this exercise didn't give you a 'snapshot' of my 'creatively inspired life', but it does give me more freedom to become more creative with my belongings and my future purchases - which is something i am very excited about.

think you want to do something like this? i urge you to! if i can do it, you can too :]

60 and counting.

day two of purging! 

nine tank tops

two bras

three collared shirts

one shirt dress

one skirt

three cardigans

five shirts

one dress

three jackets

one pair of yoga pants

one sweatshirt

my closet was super easy to go through, but now i'm not sure i can find forty more things to get rid of! check back tomorrow to see what i find :]

30 and counting.

in an effort to become somewhat of a minimalist, i have decided to get rid of some of my stuff. well, that and a] it's spring cleaning time and b] less stuff means less packing for when we decide to move. plus, i feel like having less will force me to be more creative with the things i do own :]

feeling really inspired by jess' post on throwing out 100 things [100!], i gave it a try! here are some of the things i rounded up, so far.

two sets of coasters

eight books

old ihome

dvd player

laptop purse

five picture frames

two bottles of lotion

two necklaces

candle

old glasses

five magnets

one sheet set

two scarves

one pair of flats

silver purse

pair of shelves

next up is the closet! wish me luck :]

music monday.

this music monday is brought to you by the wombats.

enjoy! :]

recap...

...saturday?

sorry! i have had one interesting week. between being sickly, getting better, and then a. getting sick, i haven't had much time to do much. i am still not feeling 100% which makes matters even worse. aka this instagram/recap is quite boring lol. cross your fingers we can kick this virus to the curb soon!

   

 

 

1. the kittens snuggling up with their sick mama.

2. the gorgeous boygirlparty journal that i keep ideas in.

3. a little vitamin c.

4. the first real meal i had had in four days [pancakes, of course!]

5. my new cape. adam said i looked like an owl.

6. diving back into the real world on march 1st.

  

 hope you had a great week and have an even better weekend :]