Outfit Post:: Plaid and Simple

I have an outfit post!! I saw this plaid shirt and knew I needed it because a) I have nothing

like it and b) it's plaid and kind of reminded me of Christmas which always makes

me happy. 

I don't know about you (and please don't judge me) but I've been listening to Christmas 

and jazz music non-stop. It's pretty much the only music I can listen it. Everything

else sounds too busy to me now. You should listen to the jazz playlist on Pandora.

It's perfect. 

Anyways, have a happy halloween!! I'm volunteering at a hospital around 

here for their little Halloween party! I'm going to be Minnie Mouse. :)

Here's the facts: {pants, shirt-similar, shoes}

Papa Hack's Visit to Arizona

My dad (or Papa Hack as we lovingly call him) came to visit me last weekend

and it was a blast! He spoiled me rotten by taking me to the yummiest 

restaurants and we bought a bunch of Christmas presents for the rest of 

the family at an Arts & Crafts fair we stumbled upon! 

Some other things we did include:

 Having coffee at his favorite coffee place, Exo. 

And touring Kartchner Caverns! If you haven't been, I definitely

recommend making a reservation to see this amazing cave and hear

the story of how it was found! 

Tucson was killing it with the weather while he was here and I even had

to wear my windbreaker for the football game (where we won!!). 

I love having visitors so I'm so excited that my best friend is coming in two weekends!!

Can't wait to frolic around the desert with her!

Aren't visitors just the best?

A Peek at the Weekend

This past weekend I went on a little retreat with my service fraternity up to Mt. Lemmon

and it was the perfect little getaway. The weather was cool (I was constantly bundled

up) and there were some trees changing colors so I was happy. 

After the past two weeks of craziness and constant stress, the fact that I could 

escape up to a cooler climate with some friends was truly wonderful. 

This upcoming week is going to be a lot easier to manage so I'm excited to 

be back to blogging and looking over other people's blogs! 

If you didn't notice, I am apart of the Her Campus Blogging Network now!! 

I'm so excited to be a part of a group such as this and can't wait

to meet more people. :)

Real Talk: School

{via tumblr}

Lately, life has been great. I have been busy in the best way possible,

I feel strong in my friendships and have kept up with my family, and everyday

I try and brush off the frustrations that occur but somedays are more difficult

than others. But that's normal. And that's life. 

Yet, lately school has been killing me. I'm not feeling passionate or inspired, I'm

running through the motions and spending copious amounts of energy trying

to achieve good grades with no results. It's exhausting, ya know? Somedays

I get so exhausted from the constant grade beat downs and trying to brush it all off

with a "you'll do better next time" kind of mentality that I literally go to sleep early

just so my mind will shut off. 

Then next time occurs.

Still there's nothing. The cycle begins again. I often think of my favorite Great Gatsby

quote, "So we beat on, boats against the current..." to get by.  And I smile

and push back the frustrations. 

Maybe school is not my forte and I need to accept that. 

Maybe I just need a break away from the schooling.

Maybe I need to suck it up.

Maybe.

And so as the quote says, I am arming myself with coffee and the willingness

to be wrong as I make my way through this week and the rest of this semester.

 Join me?

My Favorite Things

{1, 2, 3, 4}

(Is the Sound of Music song stuck in your head now??)

Whenever my week is absolutely insane I tend to online shop to decompress. I love

gaining some inspiration looking at pretty things on the internet. :) For anyone

that follows me on Pinterest, you've probably noticed the giant influx in the amount

of pinning I've done recently. (I used to barely go on Pinterest.) 

The items above are some of my favorite things that I found on the web 

that added just that little bit of an inspiration break to help me study even more. 

And friends, let me tell you, it feels good to be back. 

I Promise I'll Be Back

{photo}

So this blog is going to be quiet this week... again. I really hate this because I love

this creative space but I need to give my all to the exams and papers

I have due soon.

I have to say, these past few weeks have been rough. These are the weeks that are

classic college but not a part of the good memories, just the "oh yeah,

college is hard and remember when the library was your home?" memories. But
mixed in with those rough moments have been some pretty great ones as well.
So don't you worry! 

So the library is where I will be. I'll see you all next week! :) 

My Wish List

I recently stumbled upon this website and it blew me away!

How perfect is that yellow coat and the sweater and that shirt and the navy coat??

I love how the yellow coat could add a burst of color to the more drab and neutral

colors of winter. I would be extremely happy if any of these articles of clothing found 

a home in my closet. 

This week is midterm week (and the week after that- ugh) so it's going to be pretty quiet 

around these parts for a little while. My dad comes on Thursday (!!!) for Family Weekend

so I'll have some updates from his trip when I return. :)

I'll miss you all as I am drowning under books and college-ruled paper.  

What I Learned This Weekend

{photo}

And what I learn the most, every single day, is how important it is to trust others. Trusting shows you care, you believe in them and most importantly, it opens us up and piece-by-piece begins molding us into the best versions of ourselves.

Friday Inspiration

“Still, what I want in my life is to be willing to be dazzled---to cast aside the weight of facts and maybe even to float a little above this difficult world. ”

-Mary Oliver

{photo here}

Outfit Post:: In My Old Blue Jeans

I'm not typically a fan of jeans. I like my colored jeans that I have and my velvet black pants that

I wore pretty much everyday in Europe but honestly, before I bought this pair I only owned 2 

pairs of jeans and one is high-waisted and the other are more flare. I knew I needed to buy

a pair for the everyday but also could be dressed up or down so I went to Twice! 

I got these dark washed Levi's for $10 on Twice!! You get $10 off your first purchase

and so without thinking, I said YES! Also, they feel like you're wearing pajamas. 

And, the sweater? It was buy one for $25 and get another

 FREE at H&M! Yes, two sweaters for $25. Done. 

And with that, a college gal's day is made! 

Charley even loves the jeans!! 

What are your favorite brands of jeans? 

{Here's the facts:: sweater-similar, jeans-similar, shoes, necklace}

Thank You Letter

Dear Tucson,

Thank you for this beautiful weather!! It does the soul some good having what seems like a desert fall. Cooler evenings and mornings are all this girl needs to get through this month of October filled with midterms.

Thank you for the little leaf I got to crunch earlier last week. I'm not sure where the leaf came from considering most trees around these parts don't have normal leaves, but I won't question it too much. That little crunch of a leaf was all I needed.

Thank you for being such a weird but lovely city filled with fun events and interesting people. And thanks for the amazing coffee shops on every corner. I very much appreciate them. :)

Sincerely,

Allie

The Grown Up Bag

{1, 2, 3, 4, 5}

I have been actively looking for the perfect "grown up" bag for quite some time. I haven't

found the one yet but the bags above serve as perfect inspiration for the bag of my

dreams. I don't spend a lot of money on bags or shoes (clothes on the other hand I spend

too much money on...) so the purchase of this bag would be a big deal. 

Hopefully over winter break my mom and I will do a little shopping around for a 

Christmas/ 21st birthday present. (Hellooo January birthdays!) 

What was your first "grown up"bag? 

Real Talk:: 5 Weeks

I took this photo two days ago while volunteering with my service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega,
for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Light the Night Walk. 5 weeks ago I
had no idea that Alpha Phi Omega existed and that soon my weekends would be filled
with volunteering, fellowship and fundraising for this fraternity.

5 weeks ago I would have never known I'd take the plunge and join a fashion club on
campus and love it. I also didn't know I'd doubt what I am striving to become
and working my butt off to accomplish. (And that doubt and seeking other alternatives
is completely ok!!)

And the insane thing is... I don't know what or where I will be in the next 5 weeks!!
God works in mysterious ways and He is truly present in my life right now
and is pushing me towards something fantastic. I'm not sure what it is but that's
all part of the fun.

In Jesus Calling they mentioned walking by faith and not by sight (which made me
really want to get another tattoo next to "Be Still" that says "Walk by Faith"...) and
I realized that's exactly what I've been doing and will work at doing every single day. I'm
going to practice giving up what I can't control and see where I am being led.
So far I've been led to great clubs, new friendships, sudden realizations and
overall, a general appreciation of the life I am blessed to live.

Cheers to another 5 weeks!

Friday Inspiration

The Head & the Heart's new album, Let's Be Still,

is going to be phenomenal. (I'm pretty sure they named the album

after my tattoo ;) ) I thought a beautiful song could be some nice

Friday inspiration. You can read about what the band said about the 

song here. Listen to the song once without reading the article on the

song and then listen again after knowing the meaning behind the song.

It changed my interpretation of the lyrics completely!

Enjoy!

What I've Learned This Week

{photo}

And boy, is he ever. 

I thought I would start a new little series with little bits I learn each week either about

myself, others, or life around me. So let's get started!

• Good things come when you finally loosen your tight grasp on whatever it is you're holding onto.

• God places amazing people in your life for reasons, the point is to figure out why. 

• A funny/creepy moment that happens to you should be shared, always.

• The best kind of cries happen while listening to Bon Iver. 

• Document moments because you never know when you'll need to flip through old pictures to either gain some inspiration or to have a quiet moment reminiscing. 

Outfit Post:: A Little Bit of Country

This outfit that I threw together yesterday morning reminds me of America and country

music. This dress is ridiculously comfortable and this chambray shirt is as cozy 

as pajamas. The dress is thrifted and is one of those perfect thrifted items that are

completely versatile. My sister wore this dress once with a cardigan and a belt

around the waist and it looked great! 

Versatile pieces are the best pieces. 

Here's the facts: {shirt (similar), dress (thrifted), shoes}

Favorite Fall TV Shows

The four shows above are my all time favorite shows at the moment. The ones I actually

will make time for because let's be real, life is busy and TV shows are often last

 on the list of importance. But these four are worth my time and I'd love to know 

what your favorite shows are! It's pretty obvious I like a wide array of themes

but I think that's what makes things interesting! ((Parenthood is another show I 

watch every once in a while but I don't take the time out of my week to watch it,

only when I have some free time. ))

Also, I just got into Scandal because everyone was talking about Olivia Pope

and ohmygosh my roommate and I are working our way through season 2 and

loving every second. Dang this show is intense! 

Sleepy Hollow is the one show that is new for me and at first I loved it and then

last week it creeped me out a little bit and I don't know if I can handle it. haha

It's so scary!! Have you watched it?

The Perfect Fall/Winter Coats

{1, 2, 3, 4, 5}

I'm a huge fan of the girly coat. Any coat that Jess from New Girl would wear is my idea of perfection. The purple and cool blue coats are probably my favorites

but I love the mix of sweater material or leather with two of the coats and then

I had to add in the trench from Phillip Lim's Target collection because it's

perfect. Pretty much all of these coats are way out of my budget

(and I also live in Arizona currently so it's not entirely needed) but I can still admire!

What's your favorite new coat for the season?