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!

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!

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.  

The Ideal Uniform.

Hi everyone! I actually wore this outfit yesterday, but I never got around to posting it, so here I am, blogging when I should be studying...

The sun was still out a few seconds before I got into the car, so I dragged Nick over to take a picture. When I say I dragged him, I mean I got him to hold onto the camera strap and I dragged him along, reminding him of all the I-O-Us that he has promised me in the past two weeks. 

Also, the weather is changing!!! It was actually cold- is it meteorologically correct to say cold? Or can I argue that cold is relative to everyone and that to me it was chilly...

Note to self: I need to stop using ellipses, I'm not making myself sound mysterious and alluring, I sound like I fear commitment with finite sentences. 

I digress. It was cold (to me!), so I finally busted out my denim jacket again. 

*Concentrates on flies near face* And what is up with my legs.

What's so great about jumpsuits is the fact that you can just pop it on and not have to care about matching a top with pants. Also, you wouldn't know this unless you had been there, but this jumpsuit was what I wore to my graduation a few months ago. That's also why I got this jumpsuit; if one of the many joys of fall fashion is layering, why not challenge myself to remix my summer and personal style staples (aka jumpsuits/rompers)?

The best way to appear taller in outfits: tilt the camera back, something I keep forgetting to ask my brother to do.

Jacket: Gap

Jumpsuit: AE

Sandals: Aldo

Bag: Fossil

I wasn't actually planning on wearing wedges, but I forgot to bring more shoes home, so I found these in my closet and figured it matched. I'm actually really pleased with how this look came out! I look most like myself.  If there were ever a piece of clothing that could represent me, it would be a jumpsuit. Maybe the seventies music I listen to just translated to jumpsuits-?

Thanks for reading! 

P.S. Wish me luck tomorrow on this test! *cringes*

C'est La Vie

I was at home this weekend, and I had a lot of homework to catch up on, so I wore a pretty basic outfit. You can tell I was doing homework by my bun/ponytail hybrid. Here's to hoping these shorts can come out again before autumn starts! Up until now, I have avoided wearing anything remotely 'cute' while at college- I'm an incredibly messy eater, so I have labeled all of my white bottoms 'off-limits' until I feel like I will be able to control the weather, food, and drinks in a ten foot radius around me.

On another note, since this blog is primarily for me to remember certain things that happen to me that I feel

1. are important
2. were funny and will probably make me laugh forever
3. are inspiring
4. are surprising

...And so, I feel the need to share a story so you all can find some solace in someone else's sad/funny sorry.

Storytime! 
It was a hot and humid Thursday afternoon. There were, admittedly, some clouds in the sky, and the weather in the area had been for the most part rainy and stormy. Nevertheless, stubborn Sarah wanted to do some exercise that day. So off she went to eat lunch, and then to class. When she left her classroom, she noted the increase in clouds, so she ducked into another building, figuring that she would stay dry inside while the storm subsided. After almost an hour, she decided that the rain was much slower than she had expected, and so she supposed she would simply bike back to her apartment faster and get (at most) a few drops on her. Fast forward to halfway home. The clouds parted, and buckets of water decided to fall. Realizing that she was going to get wet no matter what, Sarah tried to bike faster. She saw one corner stood between her and the straight road that would lead her straight home. Upon turning the corner, the bike slid in a puddle. Attempting to brake, Sarah leaned slightly over onto her left side, and she felt her stomach drop. She was very well aware of what was about to happen. She stuck her leg out and bent it and squatted unevenly and dug her hip into the concrete. She was on her side, her bike jammed into her right shin, and her flip flop a few feet away, the stupid slippery thing. Angrily, Sarah got back on her bike, and started pedaling again, reminding herself that no one saw, she was fine. She was drenched now, and sore in a few places, but she was fine. Somewhere behind her, tires squeaked and there was the noise of water splashing about. Oh NO. NO NO NO NO NO. Sarah turned ever so slightly. Right behind her, in the same lane as her, the bus going back to her apartment stood, full to the brim with fellow students. Now furious and embarrassed and getting cold from the water in her clothes, Sarah pedaled harder- and within a matter of minutes, she was angrily locking her bike in its spot,and then squishing her way, step by step up the flight of stairs into her apartment, where she sat shivering for hours, her teeth chattering with anger over her unfortunate bike ride home, and her lack of sound decision making. 

If you guys ever have a bad or embarrassing moment, just know its okay, and that tomorrow will be better.   

That blogger pose where you crouch and look away because you're self concious of your under-eye bags. 

"I wasn't ready yet, I was trying to stretch."

"Wait, I can't see with the light in my eyes-"

If you cared to see what I was wearing without the shadows...


Top: Gap//Shorts: Lauren Conrad//Sandals: Ivanka Trump//Jewelry: bought in Colombia

Thanks for reading!! xx

Time to Hit the Books.

Week one of college: Done!
After what felt like a never-ending week, I subtly mentioned that I might be interested in coming home- actually, I asked my parents three days in a row over the phone to pick me up. It felt like the perfect reward for my efforts this week, which were the ideal test for my nerves. My initiation of fire included marathons of power walking to search for classes even though I had walked my schedule twice beforehand. Add in the struggle with finding shade in ninety plus degrees and blistered feet that are unaccustomed to walking so much, and there is my week in a brief recap.

It feels so good to be home. I didn't realize how much I missed my mom's food. Nick even agreed to snap a few pictures, and we decided the theme of them would be spontaneity, and me basically rejoicing that I was home and that I survived classes without slipping up on homework, or showing up late to class, etc.  

Literally hitting the books with all my assigned readings for one of my classes. 

Sunglasses make good makeshift headbands.

Fact: I skip everywhere when I'm at home. 

Top: I honestly don't remember, but the tag says 'Awake'
Shorts: Abercrombie & Fitch
Shoes: Vans
Sunglasses: gift at college
Bracelets: gift from my friend Deborah!


Thanks for reading! And don't worry, I'll continue to post even while in college! You can't take the fashion out of the girl ;)  xx

Stormy.

This is actually my new favorite picture of me ever. My last favorite picture was taken almost 7 years ago. 

Today was a good day.
No, seriously. Contrary to how I appear to feel, I was pretty calm all day. You know those days when you stay in and listen to Fleetwood Mac and drink tea and relax? Yeah, today was like that, and it was rainy. I absolutely adore rain...that's also why you see I'm indoors today. But anyway, I've noticed many people don't find rain so nice- "humid and depressing" is the average response I get. After Nick (my bro-tographer; my brother/photographer) showed me the pictures he took, he left in a rush, so I couldn't complain about how angry I looked and ask for a do-over. But after sixty seconds of thought (actually Nick said he wouldn't take more pictures of me, so did I really have a choice?), I realized I rather liked how I looked. Honestly, I appear this way most of the time and do normally have a bit of a darker disposition, so I felt that today would be that moody post where I just go all out and just be myself, regardless of how boring I appear. On a lighter note, I finally got part of my hair to work in a bun! Let's just savor this moment, Sarah. This moment will probably not repeat itself for a long time. And rompers. They are the truest element of my style. Rompers are the key to being cute and effortless and mostly the key to looking put together and style savvy. Keep in mind though, they will be your enemy when you make the mistake of drinking too much water. Try unbuttoning them in a hurry and see how efficient you are at it.

I literally said "Wait, isn't it dark in here?" before Nick took this.

Just casually cowering in fear after hearing thunder.

Stay moody, and have a nice Thursday! xoxo

the Sun also Sets Quickly.

Days until I leave for college: 5 (!!!)

I returned to Kemah Boardwalk for the first time since 2010.  I was thirteen then, which added to the nostalgia and my growing awareness of just how old I really am. I realized that my parents don't always remember to bring a camera along so we can look back on what we did, so I did! I'm not sure how I looked with both a cross-body bag and a camera bag crisscrossing over my outfit...oh well! 

At first it was all nice and light and full of late afternoon laziness...

When we got there, we had just been cooped up in a car for two and a half hours, so we walked around a bit to liven up our legs, and if you were me, you hobbled about to pop your knees. After a bit, we stopped trying to ignore the fact that we were all secretly starving even though we had eaten pretty recently. We popped into the Flying Dutchman (I promise its real, I'm not referencing Spongebob), and we stared at the sunset. It was so nice, that I didn't even take pictures, preferring to just stare at it. And then stuff my face later with food. 

Everyone runs away the moment I pull out a camera...fine...I see how it is...

And the sun set between the time we sat down to eat and the time we decided to pull out the camera...

 And then my brother took over the camera and asked me to pose-- just kidding, he wanted to take a picture of the ocean behind me, and I was in the frame, so he told me to smile anyway.

The picture minus mom equals me, probably not smiling. See? She was necessary.

 My mom didn't want the pictures to miss out on her presence. It was totally understandable. 

I called him Kemah Kat. He does't actually answer to it, though, surprisingly. 

 I SAW A CAT. We spotted three around all of the boardwalk, actually, but this was the closest the cat ever came to me. I tried to make it come closer by staring at it without blinking, but it sadly didn't work, and my contacts got dry and burned, so that was clearly was not one of my stellar ideas.

Even typing this post I'm laughing at this picture, because that is my face when I'm not in resting bitch face. 

This is what I got in return from my brother after I asked at least thirty times for a picture that I quote "won't make me look lazy, tired, gross, or anything else with a negative connotation." ("I run a blog, you know, Nick. I have to look decent.") I'm still trying to check off at least one of those requirements, but I got kick out of this picture anyways.

Why can't this pole just not exist?! I like everything else about the picture!!!?!!!
Oh, my top is Stradivarius,my shorts are by Gap, my bag is from fossil, my flip-flops are from AE, and my earrings are Colombian. 

My brother and I got on the ferris wheel- my favorite because I like the views- and we got our own gondola, and my parents got the next one, so every seven seconds, they floated past and waved at us. By now, it was pretty late though, so we really just saw the distant scattered lights on the bay, a relaxing view regardless.

An imposing structure built to scare and torment me. 

Fun fact: I'm terrified of rides that try to scare you by using speed and height. But I was also feeling excited after going on another ride that's not pictured here called the Aviator, and that one happens to go pretty high for me, so I made another nonsensical decision and promised my mom I would go on this ride picture above called the Pharaoh's Fury. I don't really feel obligated to tell you if I carried out that promise.

The gondola on the far right- my parents were in there! 

For the memories and nostalgia of being surrounded by hundreds of people I don't know, and the funnel cake people would trail on the ground, and the soda left everywhere, and the constant smell of sweat, not sea salt, I'll say I had fun. No, really though, I had fun. 

Just a friendly tip, though; don't wear dangly earrings when its windy out. Don't ask. 

Courtesy of yours truly. 

Thanks for reading!!!

P.S. I didn't go on it. She thinks I'll make it up to her "next time". *laughs nervously*

One Last Time!!

More like "One Last Adventure." More like "One Last Hurrah and Stuff." More like "One Last Attempt to Finish the Ultimate-Never-Ending-Bucket-List."

Annnyway, today, I have a guest to introduce! My best friend (actually, my oldest friend) Jordan joined me today on a quest. The objective: to go to the Montrose area in Houston. The goal? To actually get to know a popular, hipster-y area of our city. Plus, I figured it would up my hipster status a little bit. And as a an anxious college student in need of reassurance of her youth and ability to act immaturely, this was genius. So, in classic immature behavior, we set out today in search of food, coffee, small shops, independent stores, art, culture, vintage items, antiques, and photo opportunities. Besides, she's leaving soon (insert sobbing emoji + sad girl emoji), so it was only more motivating to take pictures of super cliche best friend poses, which, in our case today, came out hilarious, and I decided to keep a few unpublished so I can laugh at them later. So here goes- and I hope I inspire you all to travel your cities and immerse yourselves in them.

Shout-out to Jord for reading this. I call her 'Jord' (sometimes).

Jordan's Outfit:

Top: Agaci, Shorts: AE, Sandals: Target, Bag: Fossil, Accessories: gifts

Smiling at my jewels and laughing at the world...there was NO way I could get my scarf to look normal.


My outfit:
Top: H&M, Shorts: Gap, Sandals: Ivanka Trump, Bag: Fossil, Sunglasses: Target, Scarf: some indie shop

We found a cute vintage store with a matching mural...

And a few antique shops that were too dark for decent pictures but were very colorful and intriguing at the same time...

There were so many pretty mirrors to look at! Some of them were from as early as the fifties!

And an awesome photo that really screamed 1960's feminism...yeah, that's my head at the bottom right corner

And this mini statue that as extremely intricate given its petite size...

The last antique store we walked by...

A baby toy set in a glass case...

We found an even more colorful mural, which obviously meant more photos...

This counts as a smile I think...

We walked around a bit more until we found the Menil Collection- a free art gallery in Houston full of surrealist/modern/classic/ancient art...

And here are some trees that were a really intense green color near the Menil Collection...

The view from above...aka my two week old pedicure...

We never figured out if this coin had a symbolic or artistic meaning, or if that was the number of trees planted before this one...

GUYS GUYS GUYS- we found a swing in front of the Menil Collection...

We took turns, of course...

We found a spiritual chapel next door and figured, "why not?"

And we left five minutes later...

And we ended the day with some Starbucks, and good laughs. So it was basically like every episode of Cheers, except since we're not 21, we had Starbucks instead. So it was more like "Cheers: Basic Edition." 

All in all, it was awesome. And bittersweet at the same time. Thanks Jordan for hanging out today!!!! 

Love ya!- 

Your best friend

P.S. Who knew we were so stylish? I think we gained major hipster cred today. 

P.S.S. Bonus points to those who sang the title like Ariana Grande. You found the deeper meaning of the title and my reasons for using it.