Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Blogger Spotlight: Elanor of Missing Lovebirds!




Today I have an awesome awesome post for you guys. Elanor is the beautiful blogger behind Missing Lovebirds and one of my blogging friends! She's super sweet and kindly agreed to let me interview her for July's blogger spotlight (I did my very first spotlight way back in March and am now going to make it a regular thing on the blog.)



1. First things, first, can you tell everyone just a bit about yourself?

Of course! My name is Elanor and I am 18 years old - currently living in the San Francisco bay area. But not for long! At the end of the summer I will be moving to Seattle, Washington for college. If it isn't already obvious, I'm a huge believer in personal expression and style which is part of the reason I have my blog! I have many loves, some of which include thrifting and vintage treasure hunting, listening to and playing music, cuddling my darling kitty Zoey, and of course adventuring with my friends.



2. Congrats on finishing high school (hooray it's over!), what do you plan on majoring in at college?

Ahh and I am so glad highschool is over! As for your question, I do not know what I am going to major in yet. I am one of those "undecideds". I am hoping that through the process of taking classes and learning about different things, I will figure out what I want to do. At this point, I'm all about opening my mind and just learning. I shall be a sponge and absorb everything!



3. How did you decide to start a blog?

It all began when I was a freshman in high school and I began dabbling in fashion. I was previously into the "scene" style (unfortunately...) but after I discovered sites like Lookbook.nu and found blogs like Selective Potential and Delightfully Tacky - my interests in having a new style of my own blossomed! Over the next few months I kept up with their blogs and discovered more, and soon I questioned myself - why can't I do this? So I made Missing Lovebirds!



4. What is the meaning behind your blog name?

In all actuality, Missing Lovebirds does not really mean anything. When I was thinking of a name, somehow along the process I imagined a poster with lost lovebirds on it saying "missing lovebirds! call this number if you find them..." etc. I have no idea! Truly, I just liked how the words sounded together!



5. Are there any current fashion trends you don't like and why?

I am not one to follow fashion trends extremely religiously. I only really know of the big trends and sometimes not even till they are out of style anyway! So I can't really give you any trends I don't like...! Sorry! ;)

6. Likewise, are there any that you were excited to incorporate into your wardrobe?

One again, I'm not too aware of many trends! However, I do enjoy the pastel trend that has been going on for a while now. :) Pale shades of pink, purple, and blue are lovely! Especially mint as well.



7. Here's a fun one: if you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? What would you do?

If I could go anywhere in the world, I think I would first go to Paris or Spain. I have never been out of the country, unfortunately, so truly anywhere would be amazing to explore. But if I were to go to Paris or Spain, I would love to just see everything and photograph everything. Perhaps if these were my wildest dreams, I would like to sing and play music by night in small restaurants or outside...and by day, perhaps I would have some sort of design job or maybe I could just blog for a living. ;)



8. What would you say is the best thing about blogging? The worst thing?

I have no hesitation in saying that the best thing about blogging is the people you meet through it. The community has been amazing and I've met so many beautiful people through it. The worst thing about it, I admit, is having it be another thing that I need to be "perfect at" (I'm a perfectionist...) but that ruins the true reason for blogging if it's all about page views and comments. It's easy to compare your blog to other blogs and get down on yourself so that is one struggle I've faced throughout the years and one reason that blogging becomes something that isn't good.



9. How would you say your style has changed over the years?

Well, as I mentioned, early on my style was an attempt to be "scene" so it has DEFINITELY changed since then. But since I've been blogging, I guess I'd say that it has become a bit more refined. My outfits seem more put together now, and I definitely try to channel the vintage vibe in some way or another in my outfits.

10. What's one piece of advice you would give to bloggers first starting out?

One advice I would give to bloggers first starting out is simply, be passionate about what you're blogging about and try your very hardest to make your blog something that you yourself would like to read. This advice for me means that I try to concentrate on making my photos and my blog design the very best I can because for me, that is what first draws in and keeps me reading a blog. In addition, I try to focus on my personal style as well as just my plain old life because simply, style is my passion and my life is my life! And people have an innate interest in your life, believe it or not. People strive to make connections and really know people. Blogging can be a great outlet for that.



Thank you Elanor for letting me interview you, and be sure to check out her blog, Missing Lovebirds!

Also don't forget to enter the We Love Colors giveaway. Today is the last day to enter!

and you were a house on fire



day 212

It's been another boring day, but a good one. I looked back on some of my old old posts and now I am going to try to make an effort to write about more details of my day. I want to look back years from now and be able to recall everything that happened, even if it was boring.

So my morning schedule for lazy days, such as today, is as follows. I wake up around noon, text my boyfriend, check instagram (which today hasn't been working on my phone, which is super frustrating), then lay in bed and surf the interwebs. Check facebook, flickr, emails, read blogs, go on tumblr. Then I convince myself to get out of bed around two o'clock in the afternoon, when my stomach starts to crave food. Today it really wanted tater tots, so I put some in the oven and snacked on some bad tasting pizza snacks (the off brand of the off brand so they had a weird flavor) while watching reruns of The Last Airbender. Then ... TATER TOTS! I also knitted on my scarf that I've been working on and off on for the past few months. After saying that I'll just watch one more episode and then go take outfit photos a million times (and I never did take outfit photos), my dad came home from work. I got dressed. We ate supper. Then I left to go babysit my kids. I had been catsitting their cat while they were away on vacation, but now they're back and I missed them so much! Their mom said that throughout the whole day they kept asking when I would come and if it was time for me to be there yet or not. Gosh I love those little crazy kids. Then after playing around with them, I drove home, ate some cereal, watched the Olympics and screamed at the tv during any remotely dangerous part, and then took today's 365 photo. Then I came back inside, stormed into my brothers' room to annoy them, and then I did more random things on the internet and also edited this photo.

... okay, maybe I won't go into that much detail every day, but maybe if I stick to giving details it will encourage me to actually do something productive. Maybe? We'll see.

Also, my friend and fellow blogger Hannah has been doing a photography challenge, and it's been written on one of my sticky notes to actually do it, so this photo is a combination of both of her challenges so far: night and action shots. It only gets really dark during the wee hours of the night (and by then I'm afraid to go outside because of bears), but this photo was taken around 10:30pm so I guess it counts as a night shot. And the water is moving, so ... action! I'm excited for the next challenge she gives us, and you should check out her photos from the challenge as well (her night shots are actual night shots. They're way cool).

Wow, sorry to make this such a text heavy post, guess I just got excited or something. (Maybe I'm in a weird mood.) Anyways, hope you have an awesome day!



Sunday, July 29, 2012

we sang just to bless the morning



day 211





I'm currently watching the Olympics (the gymnastics portion), and man is it nerve wracking! I was in gymnastics when I was really little and the small pieces that I remember of it are not happy memories. Let's just say I'm not the most athletic person out there. But those girls are crazy awesome. I couldn't even imagine how much work is put into a sport like that, and how much extra work to get into the Olympics.





In other news, I recently bought this dress from ASOS and it is officially my new favorite dress. They were having a sale, so even though I've been trying to purchase more separates, I couldn't resist the fun print. And I am so so glad I didn't. You guys, you don't even know how in love with this dress I am (It's going to show up a lot on the blog, I have a feeling).





Today I sang in church for the first time. Even though I've been in plays and musicals, it still makes me nervous to stand in front of a crowd and sing. Thankfully I didn't mess up and I'm singing again next week!





Matt was able to come watch me sing (thank you so so much baby!) and afterwards he took me on a date! We haven't been on an "eat-at-a-restaurant" date in awhile so I was super excited. But then again, I always get excited when I get to hang out with him.





I hope you had a fantastic Sunday as well!

Also don't forget to enter the We Love Colors giveaway. Deadline to enter is July 31.



my week in instagram #10



coffee with Megan and Matt // a cute butterfly pin // Megan's bandu tower fell, making me the winner! // practicing my song for church // crazy set up for a photoshoot // Matt playing with Simon // went to the air show // made a fort with my sister // the coolest meme table ever

If you want to keep up with me and see even more instagram photos, feel free to follow me @impulsings!



Saturday, July 28, 2012

the world is no boundary




day 210


(click on the photo to view it bigger)




When I was a kid, I used to dig in the trashcans and take out all the empty toilet paper rolls and tissue boxes; I begged my parents to keep egg cartons and mailing boxes ... one could say I had an obsession. I would cut, tape, glue, paint all the cardboard to build forts and castles and even houses for my dolls. Today my little sister, Moriah, and I took a giant box and transformed it into a "tree" house. It's complete with doors, windows, and even a shelf (that can hold the weight of a very fat cat); and the sign on the front door says, "Lauren & Moriah's tree house - no boys allowed (except Matt)". Moriah made the sign and I didn't even ask her to allow my boyfriend in the secret clubhouse!





Also today we went to a garage sale, where I purchased a few trinkets and we got this spy notebook so after bringing the fort inside from the rain threatening to come down, we snuck some snacks and went to reading up on spy operations. And that is all I am allowed to reveal to you; the rest--top secret stuff.







the air show







Yesterday my family (minus my brothers because they are away at camp) went to the air show! The guys at my dad's work had a cook out set up, complete with bad country music (sorry people, I'm not the biggest fan of country), greasy food, and awkward standing around while the adults talked about who knows what.







I had been pretty bummed out because I had forgotten to bring my telephoto lens (I always forget that darn thing when I need it the most), but after Matt slapping some sense into me (via a nice text message) I started to enjoy myself and now looking back, I'm actually happy I used my 50mm because, I won't even lie, the photos turned out kind of awesome.







Watching the planes make close calls and crazy flips was pretty astounding. My sensitive stomach definitely would not be able to take it, though I think it would be really awesome to fly through the sky like those pilots do. Matt's dad is a pilot, and even though he doesn't fly fast jets like the airplanes we saw at the air show, I can't imagine how hard it would be to actually fly a plane. But then again, a lot of people fly planes here in Alaska and you can even get your pilot license while you're still in high school (I'm unsure of the age, but I think it's sixteen), so perhaps it's not too hard.






I ended up having a really great time at the air show. It was a beautifully sunny day (I don't know how the military manages to have the air show on sunny days every single year) and my parents and I (Moriah hid in the car because of the loud noises) had a lot of fun laughing and enjoying all the cool airplanes!





How did you spend your weekend?