Pixel Me Pretty

My week in photos 6.11.12 - 6.17.12. See more of my Instagram photos here.

This is one of my new favorite outfits for the summer. It's a super bright romper that looks amazing with gladiator sandals and tribal inspired accessories. I will definitely have to do a Style Post with this outfit soon. :) 

Last week was definitely BestFriends week. On Thursday, I had an amazing dinner with my bestfriend (no spaces) Faustina at OPAH Seafood Grill. I don't remember what she ordered, but I had their lobster mac and cheese - which was very rich and AMAZING. We sat next to this bamboo plant and I attempted to capture how it looked while the sun was setting. I didn't quite succeed. Haha.

The next day, Faustina and I joined some of her former coworkers for a bonfire/BBQ at Huntington Beach. I seriously fail as a Southern Californian. This was the first time I'd been to the beach in two years. (Crazy, I know.) Of course, we just had to pick the cloudiest day of the week to go.

I love walking on wet sand. Every once in a while though, a sand crab would crawl across my feet. It was a bit unsettling, but those little things are pretty cute.

I love this photo I took of the crashing waves. I took a ridiculous number of photos just to be sure I'd have at least one nice shot of the waves. This one was my favorite.

Despite the weather being cool and cloudy, I still walked around for a bit in my swimsuit top. Hmmm...do I dare to do a Style Post of me in my swimsuit? We'll see!

Believe it or not, even after a morning shopping trip and a beach bonfire, we still had enough energy to go clubbing. It was fun, even though the club itself was small and WAY too crowded. We were both exhausted by the end of that night.

This might be my favorite Instagram photo I've ever taken. I love burning candles.

Sea Foam Love

I hope that you're not all sick of my sea foam green posts yet! This serene yet cheerful shade of pale green is a huge trend for Summer 2012, but to me, it'll always simply be my favorite color. Sea foam looks wonderful when combined with neutrals like soft gray and white. For a look that's a little less sweet, try pairing sea foam with darker colors such as navy blue.

This blazer from Zara looks wonderful with the model's gray top and white skirt and shoes. I love how it dresses up what would otherwise be a pretty casual outfit.

See what I mean about pairing sea foam green with darker colors? The contrast is beautiful and not too girly-girl. I also love the idea of matching your nail polish to your handbag, right down to having a different colored accent nail. Image found via Pinterest.

Oh ModCloth, you never cease to amaze me. This skirt is beautiful and right on trend with its high-low hemline and perfect pale sea foam green color. I would wear this skirt with everything from white crochet tops to thin light brown sweaters - long after sea foam ceases to be the season's "it" color.

These lovely shoes from BHLDN are closer to robin's egg or Tiffany blue than sea foam green, but I love them nonetheless. These pretty pumps have a very distinct 1950's look to them and they'd be adorable with tea length dresses or cropped pants. The printed insole is a nice touch too, don't you think?

This shade of nail polish is to die for! The color is wonderful on its own, but I think a sea foam green manicure would be especially stunning if you add some gold glitter or gold leaf. I have a similar color polish (Revlon's "Minted"), but I'm not too thrilled about it. The color is very pretty, but it bubbles! I'm not sure if it's just that particular bottle I have because the other Revlon polishes I have are just fine...but I digress. Image found via Pinterest.

I have very small wrists so watches always look a little weird on me, but I think I'd give this one from Anthropologie a chance. This rubber and metal watch would be a perfect accent piece for many different summer outfits. I like how it looks so much more unique than the white rubber watches that seem to be popular too.

This pretty headband from Etsy seller whippy cake truly makes my heart skip a beat. And why not? It combines two of my favorite things: sea foam and sparkle. This particular headband was a one of a kind creation and is no longer available. Still, be sure to check out this shop. There are still other cute and unique accessories available and 100% of the profits go to Heart for Africa.

See my other sea foam green posts here:

1 // 2 // 3

So what do you all think about this trendy (but in my opinion, soon to be classic) color? Feel free to let me know in your comments!

Pixel Me Pretty

My week in photos 6.4.12 - 6.10.12. See more of my Instagram photos here.

Last Tuesday, Lucas and I went on a short hike somewhere around Santiago Canyon, along with his family. It was a perfect day - not too warm and not too cool. The only imperfect part was that he only told me about the hike after I came over. I was wearing flip flops, which obviously weren't very practical. But can you tell that we both like big sunglasses? Haha.

I'm actually pretty surprised by how many beautiful natural settings we actually have in Orange County. The canyon is amazing. We had to drive down a very narrow dirt road to get to a little pond area. Don't worry! I snapped a couple of photos of the pond too.

Here's another photo of the dirt road. I wonder what else was up ahead on that road. Also note the cloudless sky, which doesn't really make for very interesting sky pictures.

As promised, here's a picture of the pond area where we stopped to explore. It was very peaceful here. And the best part? Not too many bugs or other creepy crawlies. There were just some ants and a few tadpoles in the pond.

Yes, the pond even had a waterfall. It took a lot of careful maneuvering and climbing over rocks for me to take this photo. Even with my clumsiness and the fact that I was wearing flip flops, I still managed to not fall over. Woo hoo!

Before we left, I took this photo of the sunlight streaming through the trees. It was probably around 5:30 or so when we left. The canyon was a lovely place and I would love to go back one of these days...and of course, I'll be sure to wear more practical shoes!

And now for something completely different...This past Saturday, Lucas and I joined our friend Melissa at Dave and Busters. We had dinner and drinks there before enjoying an hour or two of arcade games. During dinner, I took a photo of this lovely stained glass fixture.

FBFF: Blogging Community

[image created by me]

This week, Katy of Modly Chic has us discussing how things have changed in the world of blogging and blogging communities. As she writes in her blog post, "There seems to be less community-minded bloggers and more bloggers interested in personal gain...Is this a sign of a change in the make-up of blogging?"

1) What blogging communities do you belong to? Other than the amazing Fashion Beauty Friend Friday (FBFF) group, I am also a member of Independent Fashion Bloggers (IFB). I will admit that I mostly use IFB for their articles and other great resources for bloggers, rather than to actually participate in discussions. I am also a member of The Lost Letters, although I suppose it's more of a pen pal group than a blogging community.

2) What do you think the role of community is in blogging? To me, community is a huge part of blogging. Without participation in a larger community, you have a journal - not a blog. One of the best parts of blogging is that your readers have more opportunities to interact with you. You wouldn't have all these opportunities for direct discussion in other forms of media, so why not take advantage of all the different blogging communities out there?

3) Blog comments, Twitter interactions and meaningful Facebook threads have decreased in the last several months. What are your thoughts on why that is? It's quite simple really; people just have less free time these days. It takes a great deal of time to think of brilliant topics for blog posts and to actually write those posts. I'll admit that I've been slacking off on participating in blog communities for some time. Often, I find that I have limited time to write posts for my own blog, let alone comment on other bloggers'.

I will say this though: No blogger is an island. (Did any other literature geeks out there catch my John Donne reference? Haha.) You can't really expect to become a successful and/or popular blogger if you only focus on yourself and what will benefit you. Community is an inherent part of blogging, no matter how you put it.

4) How do you cultivate community around your blog? Every once in a while, I'll include a question at the end of my posts. After all, I always want to know what my readers think. :) I think I've also gotten better at responding to all the comments I get, even if it's just a simple thank you. I also believe in "comment for a comment." In fact, I've discovered some pretty amazing blogs that way, including At the Pink of Perfection and Star-Crossed Smile. I also have a Facebook page for my blog, as well as a Twitter account. My use of those two tools could definitely use some improvement though.

5) If you could make one resolution to be a better community member, what would it be? Like I just said, I need to make better use of my Facebook and Twitter accounts. Also, I need to get back into leaving more comments for other blogs. I'm hoping to discover even more amazing blogs that way!

What do you think about the various blogging communities out there? I would love to hear all your thoughts in your comments!

Pixel Me Pretty

My week in photos 5.28.12 - 6.3.12. See more of my Instagram photos here.

I started off the week with an amazing round of retail therapy with my BestFriend Faustina. We spent hours sale hunting at different stores at the Irvine Spectrum (which I think is now our favorite shopping center) and trying on fabulous clothes. (Not pictured are our amazing finds from Forever 21, Windsor, and Cotton On.) Since shopping can be so exhausting, we ended the night with dinner and drinks at Yard House. I completely forgot what her drink was, but mine was called an Eclipse, which is basically a Black and Tan made with Guinness and Blue Moon. For dinner, we had soups and Truffle fries. Ah-may-zing!

I believe that "splurge" was the word of the day. In addition to splurging on new outfits, dinner and drinks, we also decided to split a dessert. This is Yard House's macadamia cheesecake. We asked our waiter (who was pretty good looking, I might add - I think he might have been flirting with Faustina) to have it made with chocolate sauce instead of caramel. Delicious.

One of my fabulous finds from Forever 21 (hello, alliteration!) was this pair of glasses. I had wanted large frames like these for my real prescription glasses, but I couldn't find any that didn't look too old man-ish. Haha. These nonprescription ones make me happy though.

I love being a Disney annual pass holder. Lucas and I went to Disneyland and California Adventure again this past week. Now that it's summer, it was a lot more crowded than usual. We couldn't even go on Space Mountain because of all the kids there for Grad Night. Nevertheless, we had a lot of fun going on rides, people watching, and enjoying treats like watermelon cotton candy. It tasted funny at first, but quickly became addicting.

Speaking of addicting, I honestly think I could eat sushi or some other types of Japanese food every day and never get sick of it. I had a rainbow roll for lunch with my mom and brother last Friday.

And here's a picture from today. I spent the morning and early afternoon volunteering with the German Shepherd Rescue of Orange County.  I love dogs - especially GSDs, obviously - and I would love, love, love to have one someday. Until then, helping these homeless dogs find homes is enough to tide me over. :)

Links Loved

[image source: we♥it]

Want to know what amazing things I've found on the internet this week? Check out these fabulous finds: a notebook that turns your musings and doodles into a one-of-a-kind magazine, subtle ways to ease into the neon trend, cute animal pictures, and more!

♥ Magazine Editorial Notebook
♥ Neon Confetti Nails
♥ a fancy bunny
♥ a drop dead gorgeous picture of Jennifer Lawrence
♥ pink ombre hair that I wish I could pull off
♥ specificallyasian (via tumblr)
♥ Twinkled Scallops Headband
♥ love&lace's DIY Nautical Invitation Template
♥ how to do makeup for brown eyes
♥ listography.com

FBFF: Wearing White

Memorial Day has quickly come and gone - and can you believe it's already June? - meaning that we can now all feel free to wear white. Personally, I don't pay too much attention to that old fashion "rule." I wear ivory camis under cardigans during fall and winter and one of my favorite year round pieces is a cream silk blouse. That being said, with the summer weather heating up, it's the perfect opportunity to wear true, crisp white again.

Here's how I'd want to wear white this summer:

Option 1: dressy and feminine

White and Blush by pemberleyrose featuring platform sandals

For a summer garden party, consider a flowy chiffon white dress, high heeled sandals, and a flower in your hair. This pretty outfit works best with natural makeup. Think soft brown eyeliner, mascara, and a little bit of blush. For an extra classy look, don't forget your pearls!

Option 2: casual and carefree

White (with a pop of color) by pemberleyrose featuring beaded jewelry

Skinny, pastel colored pants are a popular trend right now. Wear them with an oversized white shirt and flat sandals and you've got an effortless, yet perfectly put together outfit for any summer day. Is pastel + white a little too sweet for you? Simply add a fun, bright accessory like this coral colored ring for a fun contrast.