officially summer

Today consisted of many "firsts" of this summer:

Mom and I enjoyed our first farmer's market outing of the summer.

I got my hair into my first faux topknot! 

(I've been growing my ex-pixie cut out from last summer 

and I am finally at my ideal length, may actually be a tad longer than ideal length.)

I tasted Goose Poop*..

*see/read photo below

Listened to live street musicians.

I saw a sign promoting a vendor selling coffee and passed it up! 

(This is kind of a huge deal for me considering I am working toward drinking significantly less coffee and getting over my caffeine headaches I've been having due to cutting out the decadent beverage.)

Not only did I experience many summer firsts for yet another summer season, I got to spend a lovely morning with my mom at the farmer's market, in the absolutely perfect weather, purchasing colorful, tasty foods, and observing some seriously cool people. What better way could I spend my day?

outfit details:

shirt-PacSun

skirt-Target (girl's section)

vest-UO

scarf-gift

earrings-Old Navy

learning for miles and miles

What a brilliant, cloudy day full of wonder, exploring, lots of coffee, hiking, lovely conversation, and a good 'ole friend. The day was spent with the beautiful Hannah as we wandered through the Miles Cemetery viewing miles upon miles of Illinois (gee, I wonder why they call it "Miles"), venturing over to one of the many bluffs in this area and hiking up to another incredible, breathtaking overlook. We met some ever so intriguing people, as we always somehow manage to do, and simply discovered new places, people, thoughts, ideas. I could go on and on about my dearest moments spent with this gem of a person. I certainly do have bragging rights to have a friend like her and I will especially cherish our explorations and conversations shared together.

Some things we discussed lead me to further contemplation on my own time; many of which I feel are topics and opinions to be shared, although today I won't elaborate too incredibly much of any sort, leaving the idea out in the open for other minds to contemplate as I did.

Beauty-There's truly something to be said about beauty. Or lack of something to say, rather. I hope to open eyes, including my own, to see things without judgement, with complete objectivity. I'm not trying to create world peace or anything, but I really do think that when the more people begin to see the world as it is, appreciate it, dare not to change people, and know oneself inside and out for the true beauty, flaws, imperfections, and the whole sha-bang they consist of, there will be a silent sigh of relief in the tiny world in this giant universe.

on mother's day

This mother's day began with mom and I taking a trip to one of the sculpture parks in St. Louis for an art show. This particular show had over 100 vendors, music, food, and awesomely unique people of many sorts. Afterward, we met up with the rest of the dad, my brother, and grandma and we journeyed (also waiting for quite some time) around Grant's Farm. The weather was absolutely glorious and the company was more than perfect.

 While we were out and about, I overheard a few random tidbits that I found fun to share.

"Mom, have you ever found a four leaf clover?" 

"More jewelry? Come ON!"

"Would you like to see something bazaar?"

"Hey, art is in the eye of the beholder."

"Oh! There's the lady in the blue hat again."

"When we got nothin to do, we go to Grant's Farm. When we got somethin to do, we go to Grant's Farm."

Mom and I fell in love with a father-son run business under the name Palnik whom create these works of art called Eternaloons. I could have looked at their work for hours upon hours. They created these extensively detailed doodles about specific subjects, all equipped with a quirky illustration, with a wide variety of topics from: Find 42 Ways To Manage Stress And 42 Ways To Go Bonkers (Can You Tell Which is Which?), to Free Spirit, to People Named Bob. 

Mother's Day has deemed very special in my life, particularly this year because of the free time my family had allowing us to spend doing things mom wanted to do, rather than me being away at college, or having a dance competition to go to (which always seemed to fall on Mother's Day in years past). It was a day filled with love, laughter, friendship, and the outdoors. 

"Embrace all of your mistakes. Examine them. Learn from them. Correct them. Never run from them." -Palnik

days of adventure

Out of sheer spontaneity and with a bit of luck that some of my closest friends happened to all be free within the same time slot, which is quite rare, we decided to explore the lands unknown: across the bridge into Illinois. We have lived in Cape for nearly two years now, and had yet to venture ten minutes across the Muddy Mississippi into the Illinois-cornfield-ghost town region.

Once we crossed the bridge, we made a turn onto the first, tiny gravel road we saw. It was an incredibly different perspective because the river has been flooding much recently. Needless to say, we took full advantage of the different scenery and simply soaked it up.

And then this perfectly captured awkward photo of sand blowing into our eyes.

new beginnings

 

As the end of my sophomore year of college has come to a close, I figured why not start something new (not like I need any new hobbies added to my outrageously busy life). By reading so many intriguing blogs recently, I was inspired to dive on into the blogging world myself. I had been thinking about starting a blog for months now, and summertime couldn't be more of a perfect window of opportunity to do so. 

On this day, my roommate and I decided to celebrate the freedom of summer with an adventure around our quaint little town.

outfit details:

hat- thrifted

top- urban outfitters

skirt- forever 21