Black and white

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I had another day off of work today, so I went to the pool, cleaned out my car, and took some photos. I think later I might go to the movies solo, because we all need to do that every so often! I snapped these just a little while ago, though. It's such a nice day here, perfect to get outside and not die of heat. I played around with edits and really liked the black and white. Photos like this always seem to make it look like life is standing still...

Photos by me, with my Nikon D3100.

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Postsecret

"Song of Myself" excerpt

I have heard what the talkers were talking, the talk of the

     beginning and the end,

But I do not talk of the beginning or the end.

There was never any more inception than there is now,

Nor any more youth or age than there is now,

And will never be any more perfection than there is now,

Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.

Urge and urge and urge,

Always the procreant urge of the world.

Out of the dimness opposite equals advance, always

     substance and increase, always sex,

Always a knit of identity, always distinction, always a breed

     of life.

Photos by Maud Chalard.
Words by Walt Whitman.

Love yourself

**

"You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection."

-Buddha

Beautiful photos by Dennis Auburn

Days off

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The other day I had a day off of work and it was fabulous! It's been a while since I've gone an entire day without some kind of work. I really took advantage of it! I went to my favorite stores, baked some deserts, painted, watched Degrassi. All my friends were away, but I think it worked out for the better because it  was a perfect 'me' day. So great! I like my job, but it's always nice to get a break every now and then.

What do you like to do on your days off?

Photo by Fabrizio Milia, on Flickr.

Some forms of self care (you may not think about)

I talk about this a lot, but I feel like everyone should participate in some form of self care. To get some ideas if you're stuck, here are some that I thought of recently! I hope you try some out.

Cleaning your room

The other day I helped friend clean and rearrange her room and I thought to myself "wow, that felt good!" so right after, I went home and did the same for my room and I felt amazing! I moved things around, found some new storage for my movies and books, threw some things out... I felt my head space immediately clear up!

Drink water

Duh! What a simple one, right? If you're deciding what you want to drink, go for the water, not the soda! slice up some lemons and cucumbers and get some mint leaves and throw them in! So good and so good for you!

Pamper evening

I won't go on about this one too much, because I think I mention it on here every day, but one night have yourself a pamper night. Take a bath, put on a face mask, eat some snacks, watch a movie. I prefer alone, but if you like doing it with friends, by all means, make a night of it! A good face mask can heal almost anything, I'd say.

Do little things to improve everyday life
I couldn't really figure out how to word this one... this is just things like washing your makeup brushes. Today I washed mine and I feel like a new person. It's amazing what cleaning some brushes and changing some sponges can do for a lady. Also other things like watch a movie, journal your thoughts, light a candle, wear your favorite slippers. Little things that make you smile and feel good!

What do you do as a form of self care?

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Have any of you been to this museum in Boston? It's so beautiful! The courtyard is breathtaking. I could sit here everyday with a book or a sketch pad!

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Photos by me.

Film

I love love love these beautiful photos by rrrroza, on Flickr! They're so perfect. I wish I would take my camera with me more places... especially polaroid and film.

Do you typically just take all pictures on your phone? I have a point and shoot that I try to take with me most of the time, just because it's so small but it's something other than my phone.

You!

via

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What have you all been up to? Tell me about your life or send me links!

Simplicity

"In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity." -Henry Longfellow

"The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity." -Walt Whitman

"Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, have few desires." -Lao Tzu

If you know me, you know I love every thing simplistic and minimalistic.

P.S. I can't wait for Fall! I'm currently listening to Birdy and scrolling through Tina Sosna's Flickr and they are both making me completely lust for Fall. 

Happy 4th of July! Stay safe today.

Happy July!

Wow, is time going fast or slow? I'm going to say fast. Life has been pretty good! June was a little weird - a lot happened that month. But now I finally have a Summer job that is fun and easy and everything is going well. Yay! I hope you all are doing just as well.

Photo taken by me last week of the sunset behind the NYC skyline. So pretty!

Here's to a happy and healthy July!

Currently

Loving: SUMMER! Ahh, it's so great. The fun, the friends, the freedom. How can you not love time off school? Every Summer gets better and better and so far my Summer is going amazingly.

Watching: OITNB and Modern Family. I've pretty much been re watching Modern Family like crazy recently - it's such a great show and I love watching it while I paint. OITNB has never been one of my favorite shows, but season 4 is here and I figured why not? UPDATE: I finished season 4 and it was SO good! If you've seen it, message me and let's talk about it!

Reading: I just finished Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (can you tell? I think I've mentioned it about 30 times in the past few posts haha!) and now I'm starting An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. I think this will be the last John Green book that I need to read before I've read them all! And then I'm going to borrow a book of my friend's to read Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children before the movie comes out!

Anticipating: Yikes... I'm not really sure if I have anything to anticipate right now. Maybe that's a good thing! I have a job, I have day trips planned with friends, school is a few months away, we move in about a month and a half. It seems like everything planned and I should just 'enjoy the now'!

Listening: Hmm... I haven't been listening to too many new songs, but my friend made me a mix CD and that's pretty much been on repeat in the car lately. Have you heard of Jonnyswim? So great!! Check out their song Home. Love!!

Working on: Enjoying my Summer. I want to worry less about work and stuff - I just want to spend money on fun days with all my friends. I work 25 hours a week during the school year! Right now I just want to enjoy my freedom and friends.

As usual, the photo is from my Tumblr and I got this great post idea from Dani over at Sometimes Sweet! Thanks for reading - what are you currently up to? I'd love to read, send me your link!

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

I'm sure most of you have either read or seen Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close... what did you think of it? Have you read and seen it? I guess I shouldn't give too much away, just in case. There were so many differences between the two! I wasn't a fan at how much was changed, but I thought both were so good! If the movie was way more true to the book, it would have been a fantastic film!

I'm a little late in the game here, since the movie came out in 2011! Let me know what you think, though.

5 happy things

1. Reading in a warm bath

I love self care (if you can't tell) and I love taking baths. Recently, I've been trying to put my phone down for a bit and every few nights a week, I'll take a bath, read a book, and wear a nice face mask. It's the most relaxing, simplest thing you can do for yourself.

2. Reading a book and watching the movie right away

Do you sense a theme here? I would never have called myself a reader, but lately I've been reading all the time. My friend, Alexandra, and I have been reading books at the same time and then watching the movies that we've never seen before. The most recent was Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - we both had never seen the movie or read the book, so we read it at the same time, then watched the movie, and discussed our thoughts.

3. Alone time

The other night my parents went out to dinner with friends and my sister was at camp, so it was just my dog and me. It was SO great. My parents rarely leave the house, so it was a nice change of pace. The house was quiet, it was a cozy, rainy night, I got Chipotle and watched Degrassi. It was perfection!

4. Old friends

For some reason, this Summer I've been bumping into and hanging out with so many old friends. It's awesome! Last Summer I didn't hang out with anyone from high school, so I kind of thought it was just over with those friends. Everyone moves on! It's nice getting back together with them all, though.

5. Open windows

The second floor of my house gets really hot, so when we open the windows it's almost cooler. I just love the fresh air, the openness, and everything. I can't really explain it, but the feeling of having the windows open just makes me feel better.

Is this what we've become?

I came across this video recently and it's so shocking! It makes me so, so sad that this is what we're turing into. I understand that things like this are to be remembered, but they should also be completely personal. It's just a video, but i have no doubt that this really happens!

Whenever I'm with friends I try super hard to not be on my phone! What's the point of being together if you're just going to go off onto Instagram and Twitter? I like to take pictures, but I like to wait until later that night to do anything with them, like Instagram or Facebook. It's just common curtesy, you know? I have some friends that sit on their phones constantly and it drives me insane.

Just enjoy the moment and don't live your life through a screen! Be with people you love in real life!!

Summer evenings

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Last night was such a great time! I just love Summer nights in general.

Yesterday some friends and I got half price tickets to the Baltimore Aquarium, so we went a little earlier and hung out around the harbor. We got ice cream, walked through the fountain, took tons of pictures - it was so fun! Then we had a blast at the aquarium, and afterwards we got dinner and sat outside because the weather was fantastic. After dinner we just wanted to take a walk around and enjoy Baltimore! It was so nice out and it was perfect with the city lights, the people, the harbor. We left around 9:30, and I couldn't have asked for a better day. It was such a nice change going there with friends rather than with family! Like a breath of fresh air.

“The law of probability combined with the law of large numbers states that to beat the odds, sometimes you have to repeat an event an increasing number of times in order to get you to the outcome you desire. The more you do, the closer you get. Or… basically, sometimes you just have to keep going.” 
― Jojo Moyes, One Plus One

Photo by me, of the beautiful Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Autumn

I get this way every Summer, and it's so weird. I love Fall so much! And right around this time I start lusting for changing leaves, pumpkins, scarves, and hot apple cider.

I was listening to Lorde earlier today and, without fail, I always seem to be reminded to Fall when I listen to her. Maybe it's because I discovered her during Fall many years ago? I don't know, but it's crazy how a song can make you feel so many things!

Here are some pretty Fall photos from one of my favorite Tumblrs, Autumn Cozy.

Thanks, Lorde.

Happy Monday!

Home...

I've been missing school so much. Well, Boston mostly. I miss so much! Being able to walk anywhere, all the people, the fun things to do, even my job! I can't wait to be back... in 3 months. Right now I'm not really loving my job and getting gas every other day isn't a good time (I never fill it up haha! I realize every other day sounds like a lot). I was talking with friends last night and we were all saying how our homes are where school is. I'm in Boston, my friend Emmy's in South Carolina, and my friend Alexandra's in Philly. We always manage to come back together though!

This is a picture I took on a gorgeous day. I was sitting on the steps of the library on a busy street, shoes off, reading a book and drinking coffee. Bliss! You definitely can't do that here in my hometown.

Oh, Boston.

Bologna, Italy

Taken by Tiberio Frascari.