Portrait of the Blogger as a Young Woman

Spent the weekend in Dublin -  and it was perfect.  I mean, it was cold, which is not my ideal, but it only rained on one of our days and it wasn't for the whole day, I got to do some really fun things, I met some fun people...and it was just exactly what I needed.  You know when sometimes you just have to get away from where you've been, because unless you get a change of scenery you're just going to keep doing everything wrong?  That was me at the end of this week, and Dublin has absolutely revived me.

1. A Bridge over the River Liffey

2. A view of the single remaining medieval tower of the Dublin Castle

3.Christ Church

4. Enjoying the best Guinness of my life in the Gravity Bar at the Guinness Storehouse

5. Joyce Quotes referring to different landmarks looked out over Dublin.

6. A Better shot of "Trinity College" view.

I spent two days in the city where Joyce and Yeats lived and wrote.  I drank Jameson Whiskey and Guinness with the Irish. For a little while I was in the country that my father's family came from.  I had some great laughs, a cathartic heart to heart, a wild time, a relaxing stroll, a food coma, coffee and bailey's, and a good kiss.  Thanks Dublin, seeya on the flip side.  

Ooof.

So, today I was checking my inbox, and I had an email from a woman founding a new "how to" article website who had come across my blog, liked it, and wanted me to come on over to her website and join the writers there.  And I thought "OH YEAH.  My blog.  That thing I write.  That people read sometimes."

Clearly, I have been lax.  More than lax.  I'm sure there's a word for that that my poor brain cannot produce right now.  Thing is, I went from super awesome amazing London, to crazy vacationing in Berlin and Rome, to now being here at Lancaster University.  Frankly, I thought the American college kids loved them some booze, but then I hadn't met any Brits yet.  Let's just say a good part of "fresher's week", the week before classes actually started, was spent in various states of inebriation.  (Because it's legal here, duh.)  And then there was the first week of classes, and then there was me going back to London to visit my cousin (hi Steve, I know you read this), and, I mean, let's face it.  I'm kind of being the wild child I never was, because here I have the time to do it.

Today though, I refocused, and have spent all day being "Productive Girl" who went all organized on this University's ass, until I found out I needed to pay into my printing budget (gburg unlimited printing, I misses you).  But yeah, I've been cute sometimes here (and abroad) and I have some photos to prove it, and I know you're tired of this semi intelligible rant anyway.  I loveeeeee you and I promise I will get the courage to ask a flatmate to take my picture in a good outfit...tomorrow. 

Soooo the deets.

1. Me and a fragment of the Berlin wall.

2. Eating Doner, the new love of my life, in Berlin.

3. Pretty killer view of rome.

4. Even better view, from the cupola of the Basilica de San Pietro in the Vatican.  Damn straight, they let me in and I climbed a terrifyingly high cupola.

5. This picture needed to be retaken so you could see the inside of the Basilica behind me, but I just really love this picture of me. ha.

6. Killing it at a club in Rome.  My hair was apparently awesome that night.

7. Pre rave with some Lancaster girlies.

8. With a Mojito on an excellent and successful girls night out last Monday.

Photo credit for the last three to....someone with Hannah's camera, Charm, and Hannah, respectively. 

As if.

Forever 21 sweater.  H&M blouse.  BDG (urban) leggings. Frye Boots.  Gifted necklace.

Ahaaaa, did I say I'd be posting today's outfit tomorrow?  I lied.  You see, tomorrow's kind of a special day for me, so I figured I'd want to post about tomorrow, tomorrow, instead of today.  Ah repeating the same word always gives me a grammar crisis.  Anyway.

So do I not look like I just dashed out of the pages of a J. Crew catalogue?  I stood in front of my (rather tiny) closet this morning, declaring "I'm tired of looking boring!"  To no one in particular.  My roommate answered "You look fine!"  Of course, at the time I was still in my pajamas, my white hanes t shirt and soffee shorts, but still, fine is not what I usually go for.  This outfit is not as interesting as I'd hoped for...You see, the button down blouse is sheer, which I love, and kind of longish, also awesome, so what I really need is a cropped sweater to wear over it, because I buy longer cut sweaters for my torso usually, like this blue one.  The desired effect would be something like this: 

Literally the ONLY image I could find of this outfit, but you get it.  Really sheer really long blouse, and if you look close you can see her teeny little cropped sweater over it.  I actually like how the blouse covered her high waisted mini skirt too, but you can still see it because the blouse is so sheer.

Sidenote: this is the outfit Cher wears to take her driver's test, since she can't find her most responsible looking shirt.  The scene where she fails played through my head a hundred times when I failed my driver's test the first time.  I also thought of the moment this photo shows "I'm buttcrazy in love with Josh!" the first time I realized I was in love.  Yes, I identify with the movie Clueless, and I don't care who knows it.

P.S. saw the changing of the guard today!  Still want a big fuzzy hat!

I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris

Meant to post this business on Monday, but I ended up coming down with some weird cold/fever that had me sleeping most of the day instead.  Also, forgot to have people take pictures of me in Paris,  because I'm silly.  In any case, here is my Paris sampler for you.

1. view of the Louvre 2. cupid and psyche 3. Arc De Triomphe 4. The Tower and I 5. A view while climbing the tower 6. Sacre Coeur 7. Notre Dame 8. The Seine 9. The Tower Sparkling at night

Highlights of my Parisian experience: Crepes are absolutely delicious.  Despite the fact that I am absolutely terrified of heights, I climbed the Eiffel Tower, all the way up.  I didn't exactly conquer my fear of heights (pretty sure I sweat buckets, and I was clinging desperately to whatever walls were nearest) but I can forever say that I didn't miss out on climbing the tower.  The group I was with stumbled upon a local hangout along the Seine and got to talking with people about school, stereotypes, movies...it was such a European experience.  Toward the end of that night, a young french man even came up to me and said right out "Can I kiss you?  You're gorgeous!"  I didn't let him, but what a compliment!  How french!

I promise to post today's outfit tomorrow, and by the way, I bought a ticket to London fashion weekend yesterday!  I'm super pumped, can't wait to detail it for you guys!

IC, EV Abroad.

Fact: I am too shy for my own good.  So, when I mentioned fashion blogging in class and got a hearty laugh from the entire class...I became terrified of asking anyone to take my picture.  This morning I went out to get tea and brought my camera, determined to take street style photos, and I chickened out of that too.

Long story short, I finally manned up and asked the lovely Ellie to take my picture, and she was all too happy to oblige.  So, post dedicated to Ellie, for being super nice to me while I was being an overly self conscious lameo. 

Forever 21 top and leggings.  Frye boots.  Fossil watch. 

So yeah, I manned up, but I also look kind of yucky today.  We had class in two parts, then I took a trip to ASDA (British Wal Mart, literally) with my kitchen mates for food, and then these were taken while I was cooking dinner.  Yes, that's right people at home picking their jaws up off of the floor right now, I've been cooking.  (That doesn't mean I like it.)

I also ripped these leggings today so now they're out of commission.  Bummer.  Anyway, let me give you some pretty England pictures to look at instead of my shiny face. 

Just a sampling of my favorites, from top to bottom:

The Royal Albert Hall.

The smallest and largest suit of armour in the Tower of London.

Drinks with a view of Tower Bridge.

A little boy looking at the ducks in Kensington Gardens.

Canterbury Castle.

Canterbury Cathedral.

Brighton Beach.

A place to sit and eat at one of the Camden Markets.

The Globe.

London Got Us Falling in Love

Wearing: BDG leggings (jeggings?). DKNY trench. H&M bag and scarf.  Old Navy tee.  Cole Haan sunglasses.  Frye boots.

Today was our second day in London, and it finally started to feel real.  We took a walking tour and saw a lot of the major sites and I have to say, it was incredible.  The architecture alone is enough to drive anybody with a taste for aesthetics wild.  And the fact that these buildings are so old and have so much history, more than we could ever understand...it makes my head spin, in a good way.  

Ah, there's so much I want to say, and yet I know I could never tell you everything there is to know about what I'm feeling and experiencing right now.  The simplest way to put it is that visiting somewhere you can't help but love...it's like breathing new life.  I'm literally speechless trying to come up with something to entertain you, so enjoy the photos for now (I'm rather proud of my walking around London outfit, no?) and you'll hear from me again soon.