A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive.

To them… a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise,

a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy,

a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death.

Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create —

so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning,

their very breath is cut off…

They must create, must pour out creation.

By some strange, unknown, inward urgency they are not really alive unless they are creating.”

-Pearl S. Buck-

Thanks to Emily Davis for sharing the quote! :) Simply beautiful.

sometimes i just want to push the reset button.

i want to wake up without all the chaos or complications whirling around me.

i want to feel fresh. clean. open.

i need to make some changes.

i need to reevaluate some priorities.

i need to learn to say no.

i’ve never been big on new year’s resolutions (they just stress me out).

but a new year feels like a blank slate and a fresh piece of chalk and complete freedom to just go for it…

…whatever “it” is.

a new year is an excuse to make the decisions you’ve i’ve been putting off all year because apathy is easier than action.*

a new year stretches out like a forest path, transparent yet cloudly, beckoning you into its mists and secrets.

it’s exciting. terrifying. refreshing.

i need to make some changes.

some i’ve decided on.

some are still being weighed.

some i may not even know about yet.

there are certain areas of my life i must focus on….

…for the sake of my health, sanity, and even my creativity.

so changes there shall be.

heh. i’m getting excited just thinking about it.

images here and here

*thanks to John Acuff for writing about apathy in Quitter. I needed that.

i like collections.

something about the repetition, the symmetry.

especially collections of pretty, colorful things.

who doesn’t like that?

images here and here

in florida we have a grand total of two seasons…

season 1: HOT

season 2: slightly-less-hot-and-occasionally-cold-ish

i think people who live in legitimately cold climates actually own clothes meant only for summer or only for winter, and they can “put away” certain items of clothing for a good part of the year, knowing they won’t have the opportunity to wear them.

not so in florida, my friends. it could be 80 degrees on christmas day and then in the 20s on new year’s eve…florida weather is schizo like that.

so, while i do “put away” my coats and heavy sweaters during the HOT season, i keep absolutely everything else in my closet year ’round.

i use the tights and boots method of dress to keep my shorts relevant and practical throughout the year. as much as i love the shorts and a blazer look, shorts are only practical for me during the winter cold-ish season with tights or leggings thrown into the mix.

what? i freeze  in the cold-ish season, peoples! and even though we are taught (brainwashed?) that beauty is pain, i mostly disagree with that. i enjoy being comfortable. i just do. sure, i might rock pair of heels on a night out, knowing i will be barefoot and wincing by 2am, but that’s about the only time i’ll sacrifice a body part for the sake of fashion. plus, i heart tights (have you noticed that by now?), so any excuse to wear them is a-ok with me.

but i digress.

the point is, when you are getting dressed, don’t forget your shorts.

EDITED TO ADD: i got asked whether i wore this to work, and i realized i totally should have specified. still new to this style posting thing…bear with me! i actually wore this outfit on the weekend, to a wii/board game party. :)

****************************************

scarf: modcloth.com

shirt: target

shorts: forever 21 via sandy’s savvy chic resale boutique

tights: nine west via ross

boots: gojane.com

yep. should be good times all around.

but that’s not really what i’m here to share with you peoples today.

i want to start a new friday blog topic called “girl’s got style.” you’ve probably seen that i’ve started posting some of my own personal style pictures, but trust me…i am just one of MANY girls who do this, and there are some truly fabulous girls out there sporting some seriously killer outfits. i find inspiration in their blogs all the time, and i want to share that loveliness with you!

so, every friday (hopefully), i will feature a style/fashion blogger. i wish i could say i knew these people and they were providing me with original content, but nope…i am just picking some of my favorite looks from what they’ve posted on their site to show you here.

make sense? okie dokie then!

first up, i want you all to know about bri emery. she’s a graphic designer in LA, the art director for rue magazine, the talent behind the fabulously awesome blog designlovefest, and she’s half of the duo that puts on blogshops all over the world. in other words, she’s awesome incarnate, with an insanely cool sense of style and a flair for the fantastic.

meet bri! (and seriously, go read her blog. the amount of inspiration is redonkulous.)

first of all, forgive the poor picture quality…i took these after work, when the sun was already setting, which never works out well, and yeah…the photographer in me is shamed by the photo quality.

but despite the bad lighting and slight color problems, i think you can see what i did here.

mini-dress over skirt = work appropriate.

mini-dress by itself = night on the town!

whouda thunk it??

when i shop, i often look for pieces that can translate into multiple situations. a tank top that could go with shorts in the summer or be covered by a cardigan in the winter or go under a blazer for work…you get the idea. i like my clothes to multi-task. not only does it get me more for my money, but it also means i can wear the majority of my closet year round, if i just get a little creative with how i combine the pieces.

but this little skirt over dress combo was a first for me! i wish i could say i was just that brilliant and came up with this myself, but nope. i jacked the idea from kendi.

i’ve been wanting to do this for so long, but i hadn’t met the right dress yet. i tend to buy dresses with defined waists and fuller bottoms (they suit my body type better), but those don’t fit under a skirt very well. so when i stumbled upon this little mod number at francesca’s, i new i had struck gold. not only is it shaped correctly and light-weight enough to tuck under a longer skirt, but it also can be worn with tights and heels for a 60s vibe (as I did above), or it could be worn with cute ballet flats and a cardigan…you get the picture.

completely versatile and oh-so-cute! and really, it had me at puff sleeves. the gorgeous color and awesome versatility were just a bonus.

i loved wearing it to work with the gray skirt and knowing my little secret…hehe, it’s a dress people! A DRESS! tucked into a skirt!! and you never would have known, except i spilled the beans. you’re welcome. :)

dress: Francesca’s | skirt: LOFT via Sandy’s Savvy Chic Resale Boutique | shoes: Payless | bracelet: Sandy’s Savvy Chic Resale Boutique

yep, i thought i was the luckiest ever that i got to see sesame street live AND go to the fair in my birthday month every year…i think i may have actually thought that was why they came in october–you know, FOR my birthday. but i also thought “winnie the pooh” was actually called “wendy the pooh,” AND i told my friends in kindergarten that i worked at the local wendy’s restaurant after school, because i was THE wendy.

nah…bloggers aren’t narcissistic in the slightest, and it’s definitely NOT evident from a young age. ;)

anyways, obviously sesame street live doesn’t hold quite the appeal for me these days, but i sure as heck haven’t outgrown the fair! ok, well maybe i have a little, considering most of what me, jimena, and lisa talked about as we walked around was how that ride would make us motion sick, or that one would give us a headache, or we would definitely throw up if we rode that one.

ha. old fogies much??

really all we wanted was the fatty food and the people watching, and we got plenty of each. and of course, i wanted to take pictures of all the spectacular color, like the manic little photo-blogger i am. so we wandered. we ate. i shot. we ate some more. and we didn’t ride one.single.ride.

still, it was so much fun! made me feel like a kid again. and brought back memories of the time when a drunk carnie took a liking to my little 5 year old self and gave me a free teddy bear. or that time when i won three goldfish in the ping pong ball game and they proceeded to live for THREE WHOLE YEARS. hardy little fellas, those fair fish.

this post was a bit rambly, but really, did you except anything else from me? didn’t think so. :)

jimena had NEVER had a corndog before. so obviously, we had to get one.

and no fair experience is complete without cotton candy, which i brought home with me because i was too stuffed after the corndog/curly fries/lemonade combo. i may or may not have eaten all the cotton candy by the next day. oh, and recognize that outfit? :)

i didn’t know you could fry half the things they were frying there…like oreos…

…and straight up BUTTER. not evening kidding. they take half a stick of butter, put some brown sugar on it, and then DEEP FRY IT. good lord. part of me wanted to try it, but more of me wanted to live to see 27.

i don’t know about you, but i get so many emails from j.crew/francesca’s/urban outfitters/modcloth/banana republic/piperlime/etc that i’ve started to kind of block them out. occasionally a message gets through to my oversaturated brain (like the sale i hit up at francesca’s last weekend), but more often than not i barely bother to click the button that makes the pictures appear in the body of the email. it’s open, skim, delete, forget. or, just delete.

but, i’m oh-so-glad i paused for a second and actually took in the loveliness of j.crew’s latest email blast.

the styling. the witty copy. the colors. the clothes. the pose.

the perfection.

we all know jenna lyons is pretty close to perfection herself (she’s the creative director for j.crew, in case you didn’t know), but really, when you can make a standard email marketing campaign into a work of art…that’s pure genius.

let’s be honest.

owls are trendy.

they have been for awhile.

sometimes i’m all about trends.

sometimes i’m not.

i was resisting the owl trend like whoa.

it was too hipster.

too expected.

too…something.

just not me.

and then i saw this poster.

adorable, yes?

love. love. love.

yep.

just call me trendy wendy.

it’s no secret…i’m addicted to scarves.

but, i would venture to say it’s for good reason…

a scarf can turn an otherwise so-so outfit into a

bam-in-your-face-awesometastic outfit!

it’s true.

look at each of the outfits above…

would ANY of them be as lovely without a scarf?

negative, ghostrider.

i rest my case.

1. cozy comfort

2. sugary sweet

3. hobo chic

4. pop of color

5. light and easy

6. pattern mixing

7. ch-ch-ch-chunky

8. preppy pretty