What a Lovely Salad!

TGIF! Warning, this post is extra peppy because I'm feeling EXTRA ENERGIZED. This weekend, one of my bfferboos from the bay is visiting me for a lady weekend. Jade (who runs an AMAZING food/fitness/hilarious blog, And Curiously) and I share a love for all things brunch and clothes. We were originally going to head to Augusta, GA this weekend for a shameless/indulgent/excessive adventure to visit the Anthropologie OUTLET where pricing works like this... All dresses = $15, All bottoms = $10, All Tops = $5. Yes. We were about to spend $500 to fly across the country to shop at an Anthro outlet. AH. Our plans were thwarted when we found out the outlet closed down AFTER we bought the tickets. The ridiculous thing is that the outlet actually closed two weeks BEFORE we bought the tickets, we just didn't find out until after :P After much relenting, I decided to just eat the $200 change fee and bank $400 ticket for later and Jade decided to reroute herself to the PNW for the weekend. OKAY BUT THE CRAZIER THING is that the outlet actually REOPENED LAST WEEK. WHY?!?!?!

LOLs. I mean, I shouldn't even be complaining. What is this life I live? So instead, Jade and I are taking ourselves to Portland for a weekend of vegetarian brunch, tax free shopping and gallivanting around one of the coolest cities everrrrr. Jade, being the A+ chef that she is, planned a super fun, easy meal for us to cook together at home before we head out for our fun weekend. We made chili from (mostly) scratch, eggless cornbread muffins and an absolutely lovely salad made from spinach, strawberries, home toasted almonds and goat cheese. Check out Jade's amazing chili recipe on her blog! So easy, so yummy, so good!

It's been super fun gabbing about the blog life! It's awesome being able to shamelessly admit how much time I actually spend thinking about blog things :) We happened to finish making our meal around that beautiful just-before-sundown daylight hour, so of course we had to snap some photos. Hopefully I'll return next week with a fully documented post about our shenanigans!

Have the best weekend ever!

For the love of Date Night!

Aaaaaaannnnndddddd I'm back! Hi friends! I didn't mean to be away for so long but this month took me all over the country (Boston, Disneyland, San Francisco, Las Vegas) and once I got off my regular schedule of blogging, it all just went downhill. It was good to have the break. When you're on a posting schedule, it's sometimes difficult to know if you're still liking what you're doing because the schedule drives you to be consistent and accountable. But I actually missed blogging! And after seeing all the amazing posts from Katrina, Hector, and Nini over this last month I knew I NEEDED to get back on my blog game :)

We're kicking off the comeback with a look I rocked for a Friday Date Night (& the next Monday so I could get outfit shots from Kat, lol). Mitch and I try to be consistent with our weekly night out. It's a little harder when I'm travelling but I'm glad we have an activity to anchor ourselves at the end of a long work week. Our go to is dinner + movie (so classic, so simple, so good), but we've been trying to mix it up! Any suggestions for date night in the PNW?

This outfit features none other than the KIMono that I'm obsessed with. I can't believe how versatile this piece is in my wardrobe. It's probably why you see it on le blog so often. You can create so many different looks and vibes! I went with a bodycon silhouette underneath, which I don't typically go for as much anymore, but I was craving a pencil skirt and picked this one up from Forever 21 for $9. Real talk, the skirt is a tad bit thinner than I would have liked, but I think it's more than fine for a $9 item of clothing and works very well when layered with other pieces.

My date night look isn't complete without a little something extra. Y'all may have noticed that I go completely bare faced 99.99% of the time. Nothing against makeup, I just never learned how to use it and am too lazy now! I like that it makes me a little unique, though. Sometimes, I like to add a little liner or a little lipstick, but I wanted to add something different this time around.

Scent Bird reached out to me and asked me if I wanted to try their monthly subscription box for perfume and I jumped at the chance! Mitch is my smellspiration! He never leaves home without an aura of gorgeous man scent surrounding his beautiful body. Haha, but actually. He's currently rotating between 2 - 3 different colognes. On the rare times that we go shopping together (typically once a season), we sometimes stop by the perfume counter to try to find a scent for me. The large, varying selection is a little overwhelming and my problem has been not wanting to commit to a $60-$100 bottle of whatever that I probably won't be able to get through by its expiration date.

Enter Scent Bird, which offers a reasonably priced trial of practically any designer perfume that you could want! For $14.95 you get a 30 day supply (0.27 oz to be exact!) of designer perfume that comes in a convenient mini spray container. They did an A+ job on the bottle design, it looks so sleek! I think they intended their site to be a way for you to discover new perfumes by having you take a quiz. To be honest, I don't think the quiz is really thorough enough to do a good job of suggesting relevant scents, however I LOVE the idea of using this service to try out scents that you already think you might like. For my first go, I'm trying out J'adore Dior. I'm liking it so far! I plan on hitting up my local Nordstrom/Sephora and building out a list of perfumes that I want to try in the future.

That's my little plug on Scent Bird. Check 'em out if you like these sorts of things :) I'll see you guys next week!

Check out Scent Bird
KIMono Forever 21, an assortment
Mock Neck Crop Top Forever 21, similar here and here
Knit Pencil Skirt Forever 21, exact
Sandals Calvin Klein via Nordstrom Rack

BRB, Reset, Refresh

Hello blog family :) It's been a while! I didn't intend to take such a long break from the blog, it sort of just happened. Unexpectedly, my grandmother passed last week and I have been spending a lot of time with my family. We're holding up okay! She lived a very full life of 93 years, with 10 children and thirty-something grandchildren to always love and remember her. It's been wonderful to honor my grandmother by surrounding myself with my family. Special thanks to Mitch, my family and my friends for all of their love and support. I'm lucky to have y'all in my life.

In addition, work has been requiring more focus than usual. Countdown to interns, T-2 Weeks! They're almost here! I love summers at Microsoft. So many festivities and activities, the campus is bursting with extra creativity and energy. I'm excited to share that I've been given my school set for the 2015-2016 school year! UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Irvine, Harvey Mudd and Penn State, we're going to have one hell of a time! Although I am excited about new possibilities and new adventures, I am sad to let Duke, Texas A&M and Rice go. The alumni and students of these schools have been nothing short of wonderful and I am so grateful that you welcomed me into your communities with open arms.

That's my update for you. I'm currently on a plane to Disneyland with Mitch for some much needed us time. I'm a bit swamped with travel and funtivities through next week, but I plan to pick up blogging again at the end of the month. I've missed you guys. Looking forward to getting back on it soon! For now, enjoy these photos from my blogger BFF day with Katrina last week!

Tips for Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

Happy Wednesday, friends :) It's out of control how excited I am to share these photos with you guys today. I've been going to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival every year since my first Seattle Spring in 2009. It started out as one of those random day trips I wrangled my friends into attending. Although the gorgeous photos that pop up around March every year are what inspired me to originally go, experiencing endless fields of tulips and daffodils in real life keeps me coming back. I really can't say enough good things about visiting the tulips as it's basically a perfect mini trip for you and your best friends if you live in the PNW, but personally, my favorite part is taking pictures.

I've labeled myself as an amateur photographer for 7ish years now, frequently bombarding my facebook friends with "editorial" shoots and littering newsfeeds with countless photographs of Niky Champion. But I got to say, pretty pictures of pretty girls in pretty fields of flowers is seriously MY JAM. I live for this shit, you guys. I am so grateful to be able to have easy access to such a beautiful location every year and have friends that are willing to subject themselves to me and my camera.

I hope you enjoy a few of my favorites from this year's trip. I've included some tips for visiting the tulips if you're thinking of going this year. Please share your photos if you do! I'd love to see them!

Tulip Tip #1: Where to go
There are two different businesses that run Tulip attractions, Roozengaarde and Tulip Town. I've never been to Tulip Town, but based on their site photos they seem to have more variety in their tulip fields, but it does look smaller than Roozengaarde. Roozengaarde was the first place I ever went to visit the tulips and their fields have been so great, that I've never felt the need to check out Tulip Town. Roozengaarde has MULTIPLE fields that you can visit. This is the first year that I ventured out to visit fields other than the main site with the show garden and I HIGHLY recommend it. This is seriously my #1 tip. We went to field #4 on Best Rd. and it was GORGEOUS and way easier to access than the main site.

Tulip Tip #2: BLOOM MAP
You definitely want to use the Bloom Map to check when fields are in bloom. In 2010, we went too late in the season and like complete noobs didn't check the bloom map. The tulips had been cut and we basically drove 2 hours to visit fields of dirt! Lol, never again. Roozengaarde does an A+ job keeping their site updated.

Tulip Tip #3: When to go
This is also the first year I didn't go on a weekend. Not gonna lie y'all, going on the weekend can get pretty miserable, especially when the flowers are in peak season. I love that the PNW rallies for Skagit Valley and it's super adorable seeing all the families frolic among the flowers, but the high influx of people causes a ton of traffic and doesn't really make for nice photos. If you have to go on a weekend, GO EARLY. The fields open at 9 AM. You can grab breakfast with your crew afterwards! OR if you can swing it, go on a week day! We went yesterday morning (up in dis club on Tuesday!) and it was just us and the flower flaggers (responsible for keeping you on the main path, which we blatantly disobeyed).

Okay but, pause. Because I need a personal moment to appreciate how incredible these photos of Kasey in the red tulips are. Seriously a couple of my favorite pictures of all time!

Tulip Tip #4: Check Weather
This seems like a duh, but it's something to remember when you're planning your trip, especially if you have some flexibility. Make sure to base it on Mt. Vernon, WA weather, not just Seattle, WA weather. It was pouring rain when we left Seattle yesterday morning and continued to do so but Mt Vernon was far enough away that we avoided the rain clouds. I'm glad we didn't give up on going :)

Tulip Tip #5: Rain Boots
There's always a high chance that the fields will be muddy. Wear shoes that you don't mind sloshing around in. Hooray for Hunters!

Tulip Tip #6: What to Wear
Whatever you want! However, I've always encouraged all the groups I've taken to coordinate, usually in white or a nice solid in a primary color. It makes for nice photos :) I'm also a fan of multiple outfits, lol. So this year, we also did a floral theme.

I hope these photos brought a little cheer to your Wednesday! See you guys at the end of the week.