Eleven Random Things.

Michele at short girl, long island tagged me in her 11 things post. Of course I'll participate, because I've always loved surveys! Also, my month of free ad space is just about over at Delightfully Tacky, but maybe sharing some things about myself will persuade my new readers to stick around. <3 ;)

I like how Michele referred to this as a "community building exercise", hehe. Totally is!

There are five rules:
1. Post these rules.
2. Post a photo of yourself and 11 random things.
3. Answer the questions set for you in the original post.
4. Create 11 new questions and tag people to answer them.
5. Go to their blog/twitter and tell them you've tagged them.

11 random things:

01. I live in my boyfriend's mom's house, in my own bedroom. People always find this odd, for some reason. Andrew's mom is like my second mom, though. It's an extremely comfortable situation, and my bedroom is actually bigger than Andrew's, which is convenient for both of us since I have so. much. stuff. We're going to stay here until we have a security fund built up for our upcoming move to Nashville, Tennessee. Since I'm still on Long Island, I sometimes do miss having my own apartment. The house I lived in before this one was perfect for me, but my roommates graduated and both moved out of state for grad school, and I knew I got really lucky with them. Living with total strangers can be a hit or a miss, and I wasn't emotionally prepared for a miss. So I moved here!

02. My desert island album would probably be Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

03. I love driving, but only when I'm alone. I've gone on two hour long drives, for no reason, just to clear my head and take the scenic route. I used to drive past my first home a lot, where I was raised. We shared it with my grandparents (as we did with our second home) and most of my favorite memories of my family took place there. We had a beautiful Japanese cherry blossom tree in the front yard and a bunch of birds nests scattered about, among bird houses and bird feeders. I had a little pink and purple bedroom. I loved that house. I always will.

04. Whenever I'm shopping for clothes, I imagine myself wearing specific items either to Port Jefferson (a beachy, touristy town on Long Island) or to a show. If they meet the criteria for things I like to wear to either of those places, I buy it. It's just a weird thing I do.

05. Autumn kind of defines me. The changing and the colors and the feel. I have a large tattoo taking up my right side of falling autumn leaves to keep them with me throughout the year.

06. I went through a few of the worst years of my life recently. Maybe I'll talk about that in a separate post sometime. It was so rough, and I thought I would never come out of it. One day I woke up and didn't feel bad anymore, though. I remember the specific day and what I did, and what I wrote. And since then I've been doing everything in my power to better myself and my situation. I smile now when I think of my accomplishments and the things I'm proud of. I know real confidence and happiness now. I'm so glad I got myself out of that hole. :)

07. I cannot wait to go back to college. I want to become a graphic designer. I know I have what it takes, and I teach myself a lot at home. I just need the degree to have the career. It will happen, it'll happen once we make our move and I can finally settle down.

08. Photography is a huge passion of mine, though I've never taken a course. I learned a lot through Rob at Blue Toad Photo, and through Strobist and Joe McNally tutorials. Experimental photography appeals to me way more, but I'm glad that I'm getting some kind of professional training as well. A goal of mine is to have a mini photo gallery, even just for a night to walk around and drink wine with some friends. That's something else that'll happen.. :) Goals are good to have.

09. I love anything spooky! Anything halloween, horror, occult, even gothic. That's the antithesis of what I am, but I'm drawn to it.

10. I used to never polish my nails, but lately I feel so naked without a fresh manicure. (Can you tell I'm getting lazy with these random things?)

11. Sushi is my favorite food!

11 Questions from Michele:

01. What was the first album you owned? Don't forget to include the format (vinyl, cassette, CD, etc.)! Janet Jackson, Rhythm Nation on cassette! I used to dance around with my Walkman playing it over and over as a kid.
02. As a child, what was your favorite Saturday morning cartoon? Beetlejuice! I even bought the VHS tapes a few years ago from eBay. Loved him. The ghost with the most.
03. Do you collect anything? Yeah, I have a few little collections going. Ticket stubs, fortune cookie fortunes, interesting looking rocks and shells found on adventures, and I've started some mini collections of Norman Rockwell prints (though I'm open to originals should I ever find one!), and owl statues.
04. Which person has been most influential in your life? My parents, obviously. But my good friend Amy has maybe influenced me the most in my personal growth and being. She's like a big sister.
05. What is your greatest fear? Okay, this one's weird. It's frogs. Seriously. And no I don't want to talk about it.
06. If you could vacation anywhere in the universe, where would you go? Everywhere. Montreal, New Zealand, Moscow, Yellowstone National Park, Dublin, Barcelona, Dubai, Machu Picchu.. Detroit! Haha, anywhere and everywhere.
07. What is the first part of your body that you wash in the shower? My face.
08. If you could spend the day with any one person, alive or dead, who would it be? Can I say Sylvia Plath without sounding too "Sylvia Plath girl"? Because I would really love to have a few conversations with her.
09. Are you a Mac or PC person? Both. iPhone, iPod, HP laptop. Though it would be a Mac, if I had the money to spend. I really don't have a preference though, I'm just enamored by technology.
10. Do you have any tattoos? Yes, I have seven.
11. What was your childhood nickname? Cori, which I wish I could bring back, though I would spell it differently. I like Corey. It's really hard to aquire a nickname in your twenties, I feel like.

11 Questions For You:
01. What's your desert island album?
02. If you could bring life to any fictional character and spend a day with them, who would you choose?
03. Describe your perfect day off:
04. What is your favorite thing that you've made with your own two hands?
05. Tell me your standard coffee or tea order:
06. Tell me about the toppings on the pizza of your dreams:
07. Which nationalities are you comprised of?
08. What kind of sheets do you have on your bed right now?
09. Favorite band?
10. Do you have any tattoos or piercings?
11. What is your favorite season and your favorite thing about that season?

I'm tagging Tieka, Ainsley, Chloe, Stephanie, Amber, Stephanie, Joanna, Heather Belle, Sierra, Allison, and Katrina! Lemme know if you decide to partake <3.

Music Monday v.10

This week's music monday is also going to serve as a Drive appreciation post. I watched the movie with friends over the weekend and it was phenomenal. If you've seen it, share your love here. Because I'm dying to talk about it. And if you've seen it, please tell me you also had this song stuck in your head for about three days afterward as well. It won't stop playing in my brain! But that's okay, it's a great one.









Source

Ugh, my god. This film was totally well deserving of all the hype it got, and usually I feel it's the other way around. But Bryan Cranston, Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, and Christina Hendricks in one incredible movie alone has done it for me.

Time to watch the Oscars and admire Michelle Williams all night!
LOTS of fun posts to come. Stay tuned <3.

Washed Ashore

If you've been following me for a while (or if you know anything about me at all!), you know that I live on an island. Long Island, to be clear. And the beach and the sea are my favorite of all locations. It's where Andrew and I go most, and sometimes he brings me home little surprises if I can't be with him on beach days. Pizza rock, for instance -



Andrew found pizza rock when I was having a really bad day during the summer of 2010. He brought it over to me at my old basement apartment. It really brightened my entire day (and believe me, that was a really bad day), and now whenever I look at it I'm reminded of how sweet and thoughtful he is.

Also I'm reminded about pizza, which is another perfect thing.

That story was really just a segue into this DIY post. Next to pizza rock, you'll see some beach glass that Andrew brought home for me recently. We both thought it would make a really great necklace, but knew drilling a hole into it was bound to shatter it completely. My mind immediately went to wire, and although I know nothing about jewelry making (before this, it was just beaded or braided bracelets), I am SO proud of the outcome and decided to share!

Here are my supplies:

Tiny pliers, tiny jump rings,
Some wire I found in the jewelry making aisle of Michael's
A chain, magnetic clasps, and of course the beach glass.







I didn't really have a plan for wrapping the wire around the glass. I just went with it, and I'm really pleased with the design that happened by accident.

Another accident was the spiral-y wire that I threaded onto the chain. Andrew was just hanging out at the table as I was creating this, and made those "beads" by wrapping my scrap wire around the tiny pliers. I thought they looked cool and just threw em on there. Because why not?

And here is my necklace in action! -

I think it came out great and can't wait to wear it all the time.
And I've felt so good all night because I made my new pretty thing.

xo, Corinne

Music Monday v.9

This week's Music Monday is brought to you by my friend James, really, who introduced me to this band the other night when we were picking up pizza for everybody and talking about Jawbreaker. This is Jawbox. This is a weird video for a song that is James' favorite and that I have to agree is really really good.

And this would be me and my pal James, just to give you a proper visual. Right before we all played our game of hide and seek last weekend.

The other side of the fence

I won't lie, I've definitely had the laziest weekend of ever. I didn't even get off the couch while Andrew was getting in trouble with the neighbors for riding his bike. The cops came and everything! I just sat there giggling while watching this weeks Parks & Recreation. I knew Andrew wasn't getting into any trouble though. He did nothing wrong, just did some tricks in an abandoned driveway. Last night, however, I did have a blast at my friends apartment. Fourteen "adults" playing hide and seek in the dark, eating birthday cake Oreos, and knocking back a few too many. It was the most fun.

Today I slept in, ate a delicious bagel breakfast, drank coffee and contemplated ordering these for a while. My eyesight is so strained, probably because of my new job. Ten hours in front of an open MS Word document a day can really wreak havoc on your eyes. But I'm going to go try on some readers at the dollar store to figure out what prescription I should be using before I make a $40 investment. They're just so cute and orange.

Eventually I got around to thinking about clothes, and decided I really wanted to get an outfit post in today. My car is being fixed at the moment, so I didn't go much further than the backyard. I tried to switch to the front today, because the sun was close to setting and it looked beautiful, but the neighbors dog got loose and there were six people running around the street trying to catch it. An action packed weekend on Goodwin Lane, I'll tell ya.




I've recently added some cute springy pieces into my wardrobe in preparation for the upcoming season. This weekend's weather was gorgeous. It feels like spring is (hopefully!) upon us.



Due to my lack of a photographer, I can hardly ever get my entire outfit and my face into one shot. So here it is. My face, I have one.

Outfit Details:
Top, shorts and bandeau - Forever 21
Tights - Target
Boots - Deena & Ozzy from Urban Outfitters

Thrift Haul

The women's tops section of a thrift store can be a pretty strange place sometimes. I've been avoiding it for a while now, because I was focusing on shoes and dresses.. but today I felt adventurous. And I'm so glad, because that black silk collared top and the cropped denim number are absolutely incredible, and they cost $3 each.


These shoes are also an immediate favorite, but they're from Target. I cheated, though they are on super duper sale. And now it's really time to stop adding to my possessions (and spending money!). I feel like I've built my wardrobe up to something I can be proud of. I can't wait to play dress up every day once it gets a little warmer. These February mornings still call for jeans and flannel. And there's nothing wrong with that!

7 pm, Valentine's Day

Men of Walgreens, I salute you.

I just had to snap a photo of these guys. This was after I left work, around 7 o'clock. I wish I could be in their heads for that "oh no..." moment today.

Tonight I hand crafted my love a Valentine (I can't wait for him to come home), and also made myself some things while eating pizza, drinking wine, and listening to Rilo Kiley. I would've taken some photos, but my friend Max just invented something really rad and is borrowing my camera to photograph it. Photos can wait, I'll let him become a millionaire. Bros before blogging.

Hope you all had a sweet day <3.

Linked, Valentine's Edition

Happy Valentine's Day, cuties! I've been feeling festive and working on this list of sweet and loveable things (like you!) to get into the spirit.

Vintage illustration will always have my heart. I wish I could find the source for that vintage Valentine above. I know there are more like it somewhere.


Make your breakfast in bed extra sweet by surprising your special someone with these heart shaped chocolate chip banana pancakes.


And another beautiful illustration.
Buy a print here.


Family is endless love. Elsie and Emma's Sister Style posts make me miss my own sister more than ever. Our wardrobes combined would take over the world.

Also, blogging this week made me feel like I'm ahead of the fashion curve.
Heart shaped sunglasses are EVERYWHERE.
I bought these not to long ago because they were very Lolita-esque.


Oh and you know,

While we're talking about me, here are some cute cupcakes that I baked. ;)

But seriously, more from A Beautiful Mess:

DIY Saddle Shoes.
What haven't those amazing ladies thought of?


I've been in love with Brent and Jess' Etsy store for a while now.
Custom made fingerprint jewelry. One side of this heart necklace is your thumb print, the other is your loves. Unfortunately, I don't own one of these pieces. But if I did, it'd be my favorite.


How cute is this manicure?
Not really V-Day related, but I bet your date would agree that they're adorable.

And finally, these Breaking Bad inspired Valentine's are hilarious.


Hope everyone enjoys their heart shaped holiday. If you have plans, let me know what you're doing! If you don't (I don't!), treat yourself to something good. I have a gift certificate for a pedicure that might get spent tomorrow. And a date with some half price Walgreen's candy.

<3

xoxo!
Corinne

Music Monday v.8

Create a playlist at MixPod.com

I've been sick since Thursday, and it's really putting a hurtin' on my productivity.
Sometimes, when I'm not creating things, it makes me feel depressed. Even taking photos helps, as it's one of my favorite things to do creatively. But I'm adjusting to a new work schedule, and now some kind of annoying sinusey thing. I'll whip my butt back into shape this week, though.

I treated myself to a weekend of shopping to cheer myself up. Flowy tops and floral prints and floral printed flowy shorts. I'm yearning for spring, but here's one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands that I find myself playing over and over this time of year.

What's Up, Pup?

Last week, on Instagram..



From my shoots with Ashley. Can't wait to team up again!

Stephanie's jewelry box is one I'd love to raid borrow from.

I love when my boy friends wear lipstick and then kiss me.
Are you guys sick of seeing this dress yet?


Hang over hangs.

Naps with Zoe <3

Never thought I'd buy another graphic tee again in my life, but this one was so hard to pass up. I love Cameron Frye.

Andrew took me on a sweet little Valentine's date, because he flew to Nashville today and will be gone on the 14th. He's apartment hunting for us. Fingers are crossed so hard you don't even know!

xo, Corinne