Hello

Today I'm a little bit nervous, big girl life and such stuff.  I feel like these sunglasses would give me the kind of confidence I need, perhaps it's time to whip out the Jackie O shades? 

Wish me luck, loves!

Truly yours,

Rachel

Road Full of Promise

{via tumblr, we heart it}

Happy Inspirational Humpday, loves!  Today we're going to get a bit serious, a bit personal, just bear with me here.  I want to talk about the relationship that exists between style and strength. 

 A few months ago things seemed to shatter.  Everything that I thought was undeniably true turned false, my sweet turned sour.  This was a new pain, a big girl pain, the kind that leaves you walking around with a gaping hole in your chest for weeks at a time, the kind that creates silent sobs.  I'll be honest with you, for a bit there, I gave in.  I succumbed to the hurt, wallowed in it, and let it envelope me {and I read Pride and Prejudice...three times}.  But after a few days I did something so seemingly insignificant that would turn out to be the single most impactful move I could've made on my path to regaining a sense of myself.  

I got dressed.

I put on the most ridiculously chic, seasonally inappropriate outfit I could assemble of rose chiffon, skin hugging satin, and sky-high heels and I wore it in bed.  Every day, no matter how terrible I was feeling, I managed to put together an ensemble that I knew made me look and feel good, and every day I felt the strength grow within me.  It is in this way that personal style is undeniably empowering.  It is a form of creative expression that serves as the armour to give us the strength to face the day.  Without style this incredible struggle, {which I am grateful for everyday}, could have very well eaten me alive.  I can't express to you how much I value the roll that my personal style and this incredible online community has played in leading me through this experience. I don't believe that there is a bounty of influences out there that could make a person so much stronger in the way that fashion has done for me.    

Thanks for listening, dolls.

Happy humpday :)

Truly yours,

Rachel 

Santa Abandonment Issues

{via We <3 It}

I know you all may be expecting a post dedicated to my holiday celebrations, but it seems I don't celebrate Christmas, soooooooo.......AWKWARD!

I figured that, even though I wont be celebrating little baby Jesus' b-day today, I could still talk about my obsession with twinkle lights.  We've spoken time and time again about my love affair with all things sparkly, so this really shouldn't come as a surprise.  That being said, I swear I will punch you in the face if I see you assaulting a tree with those ugly rainbow lights.   Hehe, just kidding...{kinda}.  

So now that you guys know about my undying love for twinkle lights and peppermint, do ya wanna hear a story?  Once upon a time there was a little Rachel.  Little Rachel was about 6 years old, and was seriously concerned about Santa Claus coming to her house, so she wrote the following letter.

Dear Santa,

Please do not come to my house, because I am Jewish.  Even if you do try to come, I will shut the chimney flue, and you will get stuck. 

Love, Rachel 

I was so darn cute!  

Truly yours,

Rachel

Rambling Man

 

So here is the second and final batch of photos from my amazing European adventure!  I know you all were waiting anxiously at the edge of your seats, refreshing this page over and over again in anticipation of these photos! {this is the part where you all nod your heads fervently in agreement, am I right?}.  These photos start in Granada and track our trip through Barcelona, Venice, Vernazza, Sienna, Florence, and Rome.  Vernazza is a place you all MUST go to if you ever travel to Italy.  It is a tiny harbor town in the Cinque Terre region and I swear I have never traveled anywhere so beautiful in my life.  

{seriously, if you don't go we may not be able to be friends anymore. seriously.}

I am seriously sorry for my incredible case of bloggerus slackerus, I will do my best to overcome this ailment and get my little butt back into the blogosphere!

Truly yours,

Rachel

I'd Travel The World With Your Hand In Mine

Guess who's baaaaaccckkkk?  That's right, we have finally {reluctantly} returned from our incredible European adventure!  I am SO excited to begin to share some of the photos with you all!  We didn't really take any outfit photos while there, as we didn't have the fancy camera and my wardrobe was incredibly limited, but I hope you guys still enjoy getting a peek into our vacation {right guys?  you all like to look at photos of other peoples' vacations...right...right?!}.  Hehe well these photos are just from Amsterdam, London, and Paris, but there will absolutely be more to come!  As you can see, the trip basically consisted of posing like HUGE dorks in front of important sites and eating really amazing food, {note the incredible vietnamese pho and orgasmic chocolate and coffee flavored french macaroons above, they were both religious food experiences}.

Thanks so so so SO much for hanging in there while I was on vacay {Harvard?! Like on vacay?! ROADTRIP!}.  I promise to never abandon you all ever again!   

Truly yours,

Rachel 

Where In The World Is The Girl With Kaleidoscope Eyes?

Here are your hints, hehe.  I know, I know, it's pretty blatant!

Truly yours,

Rachel

Country Roads Take Me Home

(via we love it, ryan mcginley, stylecaster, daily mail)

First, an apology. I have been a bad, baaaddddd blogger!  I originally said I would be out of town for just 8 days, but that 8 days turned into something more like 2.5 weeks!  After our whirlwind tour of the Olympic Peninsula I returned home only to find that it was time to move out of my college apartment in Bloomington, IN.  This very lengthy process took 3 days and was followed up with a trip to Indianapolis to help Sam move into his new house, where there was no internet :(.  So I was essentially without internet the entire 2.5 weeks, making it impossible to blog.  I'm sure you can just imagine the state of my Bloglovin' feed when I returned, it was so overwhelming that I was compelled to simply press "mark all as read" and be done with it.  Sooooo in short, I apologize for my extensive absence from the blogosphere, I am still madly in love with every single one of you and hope that you will not hold a grudge! 

This short collection of pictures all have one thing in common; upon first seeing them they all stirred up serious emotions and memories directly related to my lifelong romance with summer camps.  I attended various sleep-away camps for over 14 years, and had a very serious attachment to one such camp for over a decade.  Nothing can really sum up the impact camps had on me, but these photos do a pretty good job of embodying some of the best aspects of the experience.  How about a good camp fire with amazing friends?  Faux woodstock celebrations with tie dye, bohemian garments, and ridiculous dancing?  Arts and crafts and, of course, the ever so important counselor early night out featuring reckless driving down abandoned country roads?  To put it simply, perfection. 

Truly yours,

Rachel