BLOG REVAMP

HELLO 2016! 

From now on, I will be blogging at 

www.braidsnbooks.wordpress.com

Go check it out, follow me and join the "braid-y" bunch! 

See you there! :)

Now She's In Me, Always With Me.

Hi everyone!

So, as the dynamic duo, Jordan and I had to hit up thrift shops and secondhand stores, not only because we're broke college kids, but also because she was hunting for a flannel that was hopefully broken in and soft and extra cozy. I went in thinking I wouldn't buy anything because I'm very stingy and will not pay for anything unless I can find five ways to style the item with what I have at home.

And then I met this vintage seventies coat...

And I finally realized what it meant to fall in love.
Okay, that sounded very materialistic. But I was obsessed with the quality of the coat and how it has stood up to wear and tear that comes with age, and I have been looking for a statement piece that I can call my own and really make my own staple as I realize where I stand in style.

Putting the coat on, I became Penny Lane, and I had nothing to say. I smiled goofily, and I was even enticed to take a selfie- which if you know me, you'll know this never happens- and there's Jordan, watching me all amused as I take pictures of the glorious coat.

So, you're probably thinking, "Hmm, Sarah, did you buy this coat?"

Well, no. And it sucked. I had a moment of sensibility and put the coat on the hanger. But then I remembered that I've been trying to be more ethical when it comes to shopping since so many clothes are wasted every year and thrown out. Buying secondhand was cheaper, and here was the coat of my dreams (in my size, too. I'm slapping myself I feel so dumb), and it was a fraction of a denim jacket at the Gap. AND I PUT IT BACK ON THE HANGER AND LAUGHED IT OFF.

Bye, Penny Lane. Guess I won't meet the Band-Aids anytime soon.

Moral of the story: DON'T PUT BACK CHEAP STUFF THAT FITS YOU. Even less if its good quality, and comes from your favorite decade. Still slapping myself. 

Jordan offered to take me back and find my coat, since she saw how much it hurt me to leave the coat behind. See? I even referred to my coat as "MY" coat, haha. It's meant to be. Jordan, I know you're reading...Operation: Cool Off And Talk is still a thing. 

Anyway, since I was now walking lethargically due to the parting with my coat, we walked until we found an antique shop. We found a rather avant-garde shop, with items that are vintage but redone by local artists. The result was beyond awesome. I got so much inspiration by furniture and reupholstered love-seats that I'm now excited to get my own place in a few years and fix it up with secondhand stuff. 

Not sure what you could do with this large box, but I love that the inside of the box matches the red soles of Louboutin shoes. 

This has inspired my idea of what I want in my closet. The skirts are vintage too!

I still don't understand taxidermy, but this was another level of confusing.

vegan sandwich heaven at Empire Cafe.

Common Bond-ing. Ft. Jordan the Hipster.

Common Bond-Ing parte deux. She drank a latte, and I drank a chamomile tea.

We found the Biscuit Wall!
Outfit Details: Sweater: AE / Shorts: AF / Scarf: Gift / Oxfords:Steven by Steve Madden

Jordan and a really cool mural that we swear was not there last time. 

I liked this wall too much. It made me look vibrant. 

When you're a hipster but obvious to how hipster-y you look. 

There was my latest Montrose adventure! I hope you all learned to not give up what you want so easily for quickly ( ahem, my coat...*sniffles*). Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Put a Beanie on, Wear Black, and Suck it Up.

If I were to pinpoint my usual style, it would be something along the lines of "Pared down classic peppered with European touches," or "Serena Van der Woodsen's long lost sibling from Montmatre" or something equally pretentious. Or maybe even "Feminist/vegan who avoids wearing bras at all costs"...

Anyway, I like to think that my ideal outfits consist of hats, jackets that I layer with a bunch of stuff, and tight pants, and cool shoes that are comfortable but don't look like it. The hat is NEVER a beanie, though. I normally fear and avoid beanies like the plague. I've just seen too many fails at wearing beanies, and I didn't want to parade around thinking I looked like Cara Delevingne when I actually looked like a sock puppet. 

Today, my hair just wasn't feeling it. It wouldn't let me tame it in a ponytail, and my attempts at cramming it into a bun failed miserably. Now, I have a weakness for berets, so I rummaged around for mine, annnd failed as well. And then I saw this gray beanie that I hadn't touched in almost two years. I was in a rush to leave the house, so this would have to do. I consoled myself in the car mentally, repeating the same thing over and over until it became a mantra: No one I know will see me like this No one I know will see me like this- I don't look like a sock puppet, I don't look like a sock puppet...

All jokes aside, I honestly hesitated before pulling the hat over my head, and it made me sad to think that I was letting fear let me from even putting the hat on before. I had never before gotten a good look at myself in a beanie, or even keeping one on for a long enough time to make sure I even put it on correctly. 

I was so excited, I asked my sister to take a picture of me. 

Lately I've been losing all interest in wearing color. Its just easier to wear dark colors- I don't have the mind to consider what matches and what doesn't!

Outfit Details:

Beanie: Gap/Moto: AE/Top:Kohls/Leggings:VS Pink/Booties: Aldo 

That blogger pose where you crouch and try to look cool even though you're crouching for no real reason. 

When you want to be a skinny blogger but you're too hungry to make it through the pictures. 

My mom took the last picture. Her justification was that people should see realistic images, like bloggers eating instead of posing unrealistically( ahem, notice my earlier crouching picture).

I'd also like to reassure everyone by saying those almonds are vegan, and no, I'm not sponsored.


'Til next time!

Return of the Dynamic Duo

Today I finally reunited with my best friend and partner in crime Jordan! You most likely remember her from my favorite post ever when we trekked about Houston.

We were very original and went to Starbucks and talked about everything. I'll spare everyone the details because we somehow found a way to go from our hair growth (or in my case, lack thereof) to our roommates to my veganism to her future goals in life.

Here we are for your enjoyment, in our sweaters. I admittedly take a selfie every time we hang out.

Call us sweater queens. 

I got a tea lemonade, because I wanted to feel actual cold. And she got a chai tea latte.

Clearly, you will see her again soon, since we plan on hanging out as much as we normally did in high school. I can't really say how happy I was to see her besides just clapping my hands and saying "EEEEEEP MEEEP EEEP MEEP." 

Also, if you care to know, my turtleneck is my one and only thrift find, also doubling as my halloween costume from a while back, when I was a Beatnik from Montmartre. 

See you all soon! 

What the Semester Brought

Hey, What's Up, Hello (Imagine me extending the 'O' part)?

It has been an entire semester of college for me. If you are still here reading, then you know that I struggled a bit to post while I was bouncing between college and my house, where I took pictures. After a while, homework began to pile up, and I realized that I was standing at a fork in the road. On one hand, I could go all out and try to post all the time and just plan outfits to wear. But isn't that a bit, I don't know...fake? The reason I was inspired to blog when I was thirteen was because I saw that the bloggers I looked up to actually wore those outfits they captured in photographs. They woke up, and chose those flawless and chic outfits and ran errands. They didn't (hopefully didn't) take pictures and then fall back into sweatpants and lie around. In my imagination, my ideal blogger and style crush would go to someone who wore her pointy toed pumps with an obscene blanket scarf and bag and death grip skinny trousers and walked- YES, walked- to her destination, and sweat in her blazer and got blisters from her shoes but still did it anyway. She would walk to work and take the stairs and print papers and make phone calls and order coffee and maybe spill some, I don't know- the point is, I would hope she had a real life behind her awesome outfit. So her Rag and Bone jeans wouldn't be fresh out of a shipment box and worn once for five minutes for the sake of a picture, they would be those jeans that got sriracha stains on them that she had to secretly scrub for twenty minutes in her bathroom.

End rant.

Oh, and on the other hand I neglected in the analogy earlier, there was the option I chose; I decided to rise to the occasion and act like a mature adult. Let me explain my thought process:

• "My parents are paying for a large chunk of my college career. It goes without saying that they expect the best grades from me as a sign of my undying gratitude."

• "Writing for my blog is great, yeah, its the best, BUT I don't actually get paid or get any college credit/recognition for it. So I can't show up at home with an amateur blog and expect them to give me a standing ovation."

• "Ultimately, I want to be a professional with an office job, and to do that, I should probably get a degree in something..." *chuckles dryly*

• "All jokes aside, I want to go to college and do well, and this blog is kind of in the way of that."

• "Looks like I should postpone this until I have more time..." 

*Accidentally waits two months*

So here I am, saying sorry to you, bloggy friend. I've left you hanging. I'll pick this back up while I'm home, and try to figure out when I'll post at school. Because it really is a shame to refuse your hobby (mine is writing, if I had not made that clear before). After a while, the creativity dies if its not nurtured. And this is embarrassingly narcissistic of me to say, but I had some great outfit ideas that came to me during the past two months and I hate when bad ideas are not shared. Because when I'm on the run some other day, I might be out of outfit ideas because I forgot the cute idea I had before. 

So because of that, I'll use this time to throw some photos at you, because after reading this far, your eyes deserve a break from all this text filled monotony.

Let's catch up, since Texas did not get much colder. 

So on this nice day, I came to the conclusion that jumpsuits were the sugar to my tea. Once you experience choosing an outfit in 0.0004 seconds, you cannot possibly go back willingly. 

I deleted the one where I was smiling. This was a second later, when I was going to talk. Sorry about that strange face. 

In the case that I cannot wear a jumpsuit/romper, I love maxi dresses more than words can describe.

My hair has grown since then, you'll see it soon. *Serene smile* or *indigestion smile*

And then I went to the library with my brother, who I then blackmailed into taking a picture of my outfit. 

Wow, I feel terrible saying that. 

Canvas tote bags for the win. Who needs designer bags when you have a solid and reliable conversation starter? 

I found another more 'artsy' shot by my brother, who seems to be best at candids of me. Especially of me talking or grimacing while the sun blinds me. 

Oh trees. I had nothing else to say about this photo, as crazy as that seems. 

Now that I've given you a crazy amount of text and adequate visual aids, I think I'll sign off for today.
If you somehow found me, or have been here all along,

THANKS. Fifty points for Ravenclaw House for being loyal to their fellow Ravenclaw's blog!

If you don't hate me yet for such a cumbersome post and still want more visual aids and awkward rambling, you can check out my Instagram! 


XOXO- but I'm giving you an intense bear hug for reading, seriously.  Okay. See you soon!

Quotidienne | Storytime

Thanks for reading! xx

Autumnal Musings.

When Houston is finally 'cold,' and you wear long sleeves. 

Every blogger does this view from above shot. Hey, my toenails match the grass! #itsthelittlethings

Sarah Times Three

Top: the Gap // Trousers: H&M // Heels: Call It Spring (Canada) // Sunglasses: random boutique

Hi everyone!

I'm testing out a new format (photos before text), so I hope it works out okay. Today I'm at home! Normally I get home about this time on Fridays, but I actually got to come home a day earlier this week because one of my professors was kind enough to cancel class this morning. So here I am, lying around at home, casually sipping water as I realize how ridiculously obsessed I am with autumn. (EDIT: I also noticed that my water was full of orange colored Mio...making it look like a pumpkin)

Ruminating the various things there are to love about this season of snuggling and giving thanks --too soon?-- I find that writing these down will help me remember them later. Note that I'm terrible at titles; I'm sure many of you know that by now from seeing my crap blog post titles. 

"Some Things I Would Like to Do, That Occur To Me When Sipping Orange Water"

1. Make something pumpkin-y (fun fact: I'm head over heels in love with pumpkin foods)
2. Go to a pumpkin patch and hunt down my next victim to bake into something
3. Go to Starbucks and actually sit outside to enjoy the weather and people watch
4. Thrift a Halloween costume
5. Thrift a few fall/winter sweaters
6. Dust off and polish my old fall/winter boots
7. Write a few more short stories for Storytime Posts

And it's a list in progress.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to mention any of your bucket list items for fall.

STATUS REPORT: Baking VEGAN pumpkin bread in the oven a few feet away. Maybe I will share it with you guys if it works out! Haha.