special birthday girl + fashion post outtakes...

today is a bitter sweet one for me. 

it's sweet because it's my beautiful mom's birthday, and bitter because i don't get to celebrate with her.

~~~~~~~

when i started this blog about a year ago, i had no intentions of turning it into a fashion blog. 

i had planned on just focusing on my life and crafty projects.

but somewhere along the line i decided to start journaling about my outfits. 

and i'm so glad i did.

my mom and i have made some of the best memories while out doing photo shoots.

we both like to be very silly.

and when there's one of us pretending to be a serious photographer and the other one pretending to know how to model- things can get a bit crazy. 

i wouldn't trade anything for those times- just the two of us. 

out and about.

exploring new places.

laughing.

i'm so grateful that she always made the time to go with me and support me in every way possible.

i'm one lucky girl.

so today this post is dedicated to her.

but i also wanted to share with the rest of you some of our best memories of photo shoots together.

i realized i deleted most of the bad, silly pictures because most of them were so hideous i would never put them on my blog! 

but here are some of the ones that didn't make it into my recycle bin...

here's to you mom...

ok this one isn't silly i know, and this one actually did make it on to my blog.

but this was the first photo shoot that me and you ever did together.

we didn't really know what we were doing, we didn't even know how to use my camera!

and it was like january so it was freezing!! 

but remember how excited we were when the pictures were done being edited. 

we were so proud of ourselves...

and this was the same day.

you were always the best at teaching me how to properly strike a pose ;)

little tiny hands!

remember this day?

when i thought it was a brilliant idea to go out in the freezing cold wearing a tiny romper! 

luckily dad's jacket was in the car to keep me warm. 

and this would eventually start happening towards the end of every shoot...

remember me awkwardly posing with this post?

this was one of my very favorite days, when we went out to the old farm.

remember that dang cat that wouldn't stop stepping into every picture??

yet another one of your fabulous pose ideas...

this was a fun day too.

remember how awkward i got when we actually went down to the carnival and i had to pose in front of those gross carny workers?

and then when our carnival prop got ruined...

you're a natural...

umm yeah and remember this day in boise?

i wore those insanely high heels in the park and had to take them off after about five minutes...

but that didn't stop us from getting our silly on...

and this was an unsuccessful shoot.

my shoes were brand new, still had the stickers on the bottom and everything.

i decided i wanted to return them but wanted to continue with the shoot.

it was rainy and the ground was muddy so you had to drive me every few yards through the alley so that the bottoms wouldn't get dirty.

and then my camera died.

and i was in trouble for not charging it :( 

we had to redo the shoot on another day.

this was taken the night we decided to leave the house an hour or so before magic hour so that we would have enough time to drive around and find a pretty spot.

after an hour we STILL couldn't find anywhere to take the pictures.

then we started to panic because we thought we were going to miss magic hour.

so we finally settled on a spot... and it was too late, we missed the magical hour!

no success that night.

and yet another unsuccessful shoot.

this night we had to stop after about ten minutes because my hands were getting blood all over them from swatting at the mosquitoes that were eating my legs through my tights! 

we tried this outfit another day too and i decided that i hated the outfit altogether.

so it never made its appearance on here.... until now.

this shoot was sad because it was our last one before i moved to california.

it was in our favorite spot.

and we realized halfway through that i was posing with my clutch upside down! 

our first photo shoot together in california.

"maybe i should pose with this stick."

maybe notttt....

and having cousins there on the side to distract me...

thank you mom for being the bestest photographer...

we have many more photo shoots to come.

happy birthday- i love you!!!

~~~~~

if you are new to my blog, here are the links to all of my fashion posts! 

here/here/here/here/here/here

here/here/here/here/here/here  

here/here/here/here/here/here

here/here/here

my birthday week...

when you hear people talk about how their family is the "best", do you secretly think in your head that they're crazy? 

i hope so.

i hope for everyone that they are fortunate enough to believe that they belong to a family that is unlike any other. 

i'm one of the lucky ones. 

i have the BEST family.

i'm gonna let you in on a family tradition of mine that makes my heart swell.

it's a tradition that started only a few years ago.

(which is proof that it is never too late to start new traditions!)

my mom started giving my brother and i a week of presents leading up to our birthday.

these presents are small of course, leading up to the main gift.

and i love that because sometimes the smallest gifts are the most meaningful.

and it also helps to make our birthday week special, giving us something to look forward to every morning. 

so if you are looking for new traditions to start with your loved ones- i'm telling you, this one is pretty amazing! 

i actually wasn't expecting a week of presents this year since my mom and i live so far apart.

but like i said, my family is the best, and they found a way to get me those seven presents.

so i just wanted to share with you the goodies that i got, in hopes that you will want to start this same tradition! 

1.

 this car charm was special because of the words "be happy".

my mom thought i needed that reminder every time that i get into my car because some days are rough being out here all alone.

2.

i love getting jewelry! 

this bracelet is perfect for me because it fits my tiny wrist.

i have the hardest time finding bracelets that aren't huge on me.

you can change out the center of this bracelet as well with different magnetic pieces- so awesome! 

3.

i did pink ombre nails for valentines day this year and had complained to my mom that i didn't have white polish.

of course, she remembered and got me some!  

4.

i'm a sucker for quotes.

i need them.

i've spent hours and hours out of my life finding quotes that inspire and speak to me.

now i have a quote to read every day for a full year :)

5.

 i absolutely adore this pink felted bag.

i'm one of those that saves every meaningful receipt, movie stub, even clothing tags.

i'm always looking for cute storage.

this is perfect.

and it has a heart on it.

did i say it's perfect?  

6.

these are lavender sachets.

my mom bought them for me because she thought they were cute.

however, they have way more meaning to me than that. 

when i was growing up, my grandparents lived on a farm.

every weekend they would sell produce at the farmer's market.

 my grandma would sell lavender sachets and bouquets made from lavender grown in their gardens. 

sometimes i would help her prepare the lavender to sell. 

when i got these sachets for my birthday, i put them inside my pillow so that i could fall asleep to a special memory from my childhood.

7.

my main present.

okay there's a story behind this.

when i lived at home, i had hopes of starting a shop on etsy.

my mom and i would scour thrift stores for things i could fix up and sell.

we came across an old glasses case.

i got the idea that i could cover glasses cases with cute fabrics and ribbons.

well, i never got around to it.

but my mom took the case that i had bought and covered it with magazine pages and ribbon.

and is it not the cutest thing ever?! 

she is so talented.

inside was some money.

my dad gave me strict instructions that the money was only for shopping, not bills. 

i have a pretty sweet dad.

so for all of you crafty girls- remember this when you see an old glasses case at the thrift store! 

it was a great birthday week.

xoxo

the holidays with my family {as seen through my iphone}

this christmas may have been a little odd, being away from the cold weather and all, but it was still an unforgettable one.

 my family was able to come down and spend two whole weeks with me.

we were able to spend a day in disneyland- it was really special because i haven't been to disneyland at christmas time since i was little (we used to go to disneyland every other christmas). 

it was as fun as it always is- my family will never grow out of disneyland!

we spent christmas eve slaving away in my aunt's kitchen.

my mom made it rock, however, because she made all of us girls our own aprons. 

christmas eve i performed my first real haircut on my brother!

and let me tell you- we have it on video and that is something that i will be saving to look back and laugh at when i am through with school and experienced.

(it was kind of a whole entire family affair!)

we were able to spend a day after christmas in palm springs- my first time.

the giant statue of marilyn monroe was by far my favorite thing about it! (see below)

my mom and i were able to spend a day, just the two of us in laguna beach.

and she may or may not have talked me into skipping school for that ;)

we spent new years eve in san diego.

while there, we went to a museum in balboa park that had a special exhibit that was all about human torture machines.

yeah- if you ever find yourself in balboa park, don't go to that. 

then on new year's day, the rest of my family came to california for my granddad's memorial service which was held later in the week.

that was a very painful day for us all, but it honestly has brought my family much closer, especially my cousins and i. 

it was an amazing two weeks. 

i cried and cried for days when my family left me. 

we are already planning their next trip to come and see me.

i already can. not. wait. 

now- time for picture overload!  

hope that everyone had an amazing holdiay! 

xoxo