Busy Weeks Call for Big Sweaters

Last week was a busy one, so sometimes throwing on a big comfy sweater is necessary. The weather has been a little gray and rainy too (loving it!!!), so all the more reason for a tiny bit more warmth. My boyfriend moved over from the east side of the state, so we have been running around everywhere it seems like. Driving around neighborhoods looking for rent signs and looking at possible places for him to live and test riding the bus to Seattle to make sure he would get to work on time. Im looking forward to slowing down a bit and am currently working on a new blog design. Super excited about that!!

Hope you all have a great week!

Outfit Details

Sweater & Shorts || Forever 21

Shoes || Urban Outfitters

Photos by the Boyfriend

My Love for Red Convertibles

I am so glad I finally got photos with this car. A random fact about me, I LOVE old, red convertibles. Old cars in general are pretty much the best cars out there, but a red convertible takes the cake. I wish I could drive this everywhere. You know what I mean?

I hope everyones week went well! Now that I have nothing big planned for awhile, I'm excited to get back into the swing of things and really focus on this blog! I took some photos today, that will hopefully (crossing fingers!) become a new blog banner. Ive got some big plans :)

Outfit Details

Top || Target 

Shorts || H&M

Jacket || Nordstrom

Shoes || TOMS

Flora Focus || Yarrow & Lupin

Last week I was in Okanogan (Eastern Washington), so this weeks Floral Focus will focus on the wildflowers that you can find in the mountains and fields there. I was hoping to find a field just filled with wildflowers, but no such luck. I think I never would have left if I was that lucky.

Yarrow
Botanical Name: Achillea spp.
Flower: Flowers can be white, yellow, orange, red or pink and blooms spring through fall. Flat clusters of little flowers form on top of a long skinny stem, 1-5 inches across.
Leaf: Very green to grayish green and long to 8+ inches. Finely pinnate.
Meaning: Cure for a broken heart

Lupin
Botanical Name: Lupinus spp.
Flower: Comes in many colors. Blooms are like a pea flower, arranged around an upright stem.
Leaf: Palmately compound, with 9-6 leaflets. Tip pointed on leaflet.
Meaning: Imagination  

Past Flora Focus Posts

• Anemone & Ranunculus
• Tulips
• Forget-Me-Not & Evergreen Candytuft
• Bluebells & Honesty        
• Lilac    
• Dogwood
• Balsamroot  
• Peony   
• Oriental Poppy                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

A Celebratory Bouquet

Some of you may have already seen this photo from Instagram. Last Thursday, I signed up for quite possibly a once in a lifetime floral workshop with Erin Benzakein of Floret. I could not be anymore excited and just wish it was for this week instead of August! So this little tiny bouquet is somewhat of a celebratory bouquet. Its made entirely of wildflowers picked from the hills of Okanogan. Lupin, yarrow and a little yellow flower I am not sure of the name.

I can't wait to write a post and show you guys everything I learned from this workshop!

Have a great day and get out and enjoy the flowers!

eShakti

Well that was a little unintentional blog break. But Im back and wearing this dress that the amazing people at eShakti sent me! Not going to lie, I was not in love with it when I first opened the package. It had nothing to do with the packaging or how it was sent, but about the dress and how I remembered it on the site. Thankfully, however, this is one of those dresses that definitely looks better on, than hanging on a hanger. Im happy to say that I kind of love it now.

eShakti is a site where you can customize any dress, shirt or skirt that you pick out. For this dress I had the option to choose my size from the given sizes or type in my specific measurements. I just chose a standard size and can confidently say that this is without a doubt my best fitting dress. Its amazing. I also gave them my height and chose the length of the dress that I wanted. This one is the above the knee length. They also gave you the option to remove the embroidery and remove the pockets, but why would you want to remove either of those!? Pockets in dresses are possibly the greatest thing ever.

If you are someone that has trouble finding dresses that fit, I would definitely give eShakti a shot. They didn't disappoint me.

Outfit Details

Dress ℅ eShakti

Shoes || Shoemint

Necklace || Forever 21

Belt || Target

Life of a Blogger

You guys! I found a wildflower patch! This is at my grandparents farm, which I go to very often and have taken pictures here so many times but I had no idea that come late spring a wildflower patch would pop up! I was so happy to see this. It just makes picking a location a no brainer. I would shoot in fields of wildflowers all the time if I could. Immediately after twirling around in flowers, I would get splattered all over with concrete. My grandpa was working on a new part of his house and I was helping lay the concrete. Life of a blogger, right? I love it.

Outfit Details

Top || Kohls

Skirt || Urban Outfitters

Vegetable Garden Inspired

I really wish I had some green beans or little cherry tomatoes on the vine for this arrangement. I think this looks very veggie inspired and I kind of like it. I wasn't going for this look at all, but the tomato juice pitcher sort of pulled that look together. A very fresh and crisp look. You can find Geum (the orange flowers), Coreopsis (yellow), Pansies (light orange), poppy seed pods, honeysuckle and ferns.

Flora Focus || Oriental Poppy

I need to get myself some more of these poppies. I think they are gorgeous! These photos don't do them justice, but their bloom is huge! We have had this plant growing in our backyard for the longest time and it is literally wedged between a rock and a piece of wood and grows on its side. This guy is a trooper and comes back year after year despite his growing conditions. My grandma has a gorgeous pink one that I took a seed pod from last year, but didn't do anything with. I have to get another one this year and try growing them, because hers are unbelievable.

Oriental Poppy
Botanical Name: Papaver orientale 
Flower: Large, papery petals with a large seed pod in the middle. Blooms can be orange, pink, purple or white. Can grow up to 4 feet tall with a 6 inch bloom.
Leaf: Very hairy, long, finely cut leaf.
Meaning: Fantastic Extravagance

The blooms only last a couple of days, which is too bad and that is why they are rarely used in floral arrangements and bouquets. Instead the large seed pod that they leave behind is used to add some interest.

While looking up this flower, I found this poem by Ffrida Wolfe and loved it.

The poppies in the garden, they all wear frocks of silk,

Some are purple, some are pink, and others white as milk,

Light, light for dancing in, for dancing when the breeze

Play a little two-step for the blossoms and the bees.

Fine, fine, for dancing in, frilly at the hem,

Oh, when I watch the poppies dance I long to dance like them!

The poppies in the garden have let their silk frocks fall

All about the border paths, but where are they at all?

Here a frill and there a flounce – a rag of silky red,

But not a poppy-girl is left – I think they went to bed.

Gone to bed and gone to sleep; and weary they must be,

For each has left her box of dreams upon the stem for me.

~ Ffrida Wolfe, 19th c. poet

The Green is Back!

I feel like its been awhile since I have shot in this location. I kind of stayed away from it during the winter because I realized that all of the leaves and vegetation acted as a barrier between me and the road/sidewalks. So everyone that was driving and walking by had clear site of me and my odd behavior. It felt weird. But now that everything has grown back, Im back! Im glad, because this place is only like 30 seconds away from me :)

Outfit Details

Top || Forever 21

Dress || Modcloth

Socks || Target

Shoes || Borrowed from mom