Sun Sun Sun, Here It Comes!

Phew!  This past weekend summer showed up in Tacoma in a major way.  We even broke 90.  Pretty damn hot for us PNWers.  Dan only had one pair of shorts and he wasn't a fan of them so we went thrifting to search for a suitable pair to beat the heat.  I ended up finding a pair too!  I've been looking for some high waisted, casual shorts, and Goodwill came through for me.  

We heard that some friends were heading down to the Ruston waterfront to cool down, so we biked down to hang out.  It was super fun.  There were kids everywhere jumping off the pier, someone had set up a slackline over the water, everyone was soaking up as much summer as they could, including us.  Of course, the Puget Sound is still freezing cold so I opted not to do any pier jumping.  I wore my black polka dot bikini and these shorts, though, so I definitely could've taken a dip.  Afterward we all rode our bikes down the Ruston bike path and back.  So much fun to ride with a group of people all single file.  

top/forever 21 :: shorts/thrifted :: shoes/courtesy of modcloth :: bag/courtesy of swapaholics

Sometimes it seems silly to even call hot weather outfits like this an "outfit."  It's really just putting on the minimum amount of clothes so you don't walk around naked, which would be preferable in such heat (though perhaps asking for a sunburn in sensitive areas).  I do like simple outfits though, perhaps for their novelty.  So much of the time it's cool enough to layer and I enjoy layering, so actually having warm enough weather to just throw on something like a sundress and sandals is pretty nice. 

Blog Design // Turn the Record Over

I just finished up a client's blog design and it's one of my favorites!  Right before this client got in touch with me I had this idea to do a fully illustrated chalk layout.  Of course, I would have to wait until a client came along who actually wanted that.  Lo and behold my NEXT client specifically wanted a fully illustrated chalk design!  It was really fun to do a totally illustrated design.  I've done a few illustrated elements here and there on other blog designs, but never the whole thing.

Here are a couple more of my recent designs for clients.  These two clients haven't actually started up their blogs quite yet, so there's nothing to see at their sites, but they have a fully designed layout for when the decide to start blogging!  If you want to find out more about my blog designs, head over to Freckled Nest!

Turn the Record Over // Much Too Many // Treasure Chest Theory

Anchors + Roller Coasters

The last month has been a rollercoaster.  I'm so thankful for quiet moments where I can just sit and relax.  One of my "safe" places is just sitting at one of my favorite coffee shops and working or editing photos.  Coffee shops really feel like spiritual anchors.  A little melodramatic, perhaps, but I really feel like there are places that function as eyes of our storms where we can go to get a little relief from all the craziness.  Coffee shops seem to be that for me.  I like that you can be totally alone, but simultaneously surrounded by people.  So often I end up sitting in our dark living room trying to work by myself and I start to get a bit of cabin fever if I do that too many days in a row.  I love the energy that other human beings can inject into a space.  It's like there's this energy projecting out of each person and it fills the room.  I think there's a difference between being alone and feeling alone.  I can be alone in a coffee shop, in my own corner doing my own thing, but I don't feel alone.  That's important.

skirt + shoes/courtesy of modcloth ::  top/courtesy of alainn bella

crop top/american eagle :: shades/vintage :: bag/courtesy of handbag heaven

I'm trying to get out of my rut with outfit photo locations, so I went down to Wright Park to give it a shot.  Usually I try to stay away from parks, especially on nice days, since people tend to congregate at parks and I like to be as alone as possible when taking photos.  The sun was setting, though, and I think the cooler temperatures had sent most of the park-goers home so I was left to my own devices with just a few runners and their dogs to contend with.  I had actually never been to Wright Park before.  It's just a little bit out of the way and we don't tend to hang out at parks anyway, we prefer to go on walks through neighborhoods and look at all the cute houses.

Acting Locally

Last night I met Dan at 1022 for a little drink and then we walked up to Peterson Brothers for a beer and a delicious sandwich with a friend who's leaving town for India next week.  Whenever I'm at 1022 I just want to take photos because everything is so beautiful and kind of magical.  My favorite  time of day to be there is around sunset when they light the candles and bring them out and set them all over the bar and tables.  Lately I've fallen in love with candle light and I want candles all over my house.  They just bring this romantic glow that reminds me of eras gone by.  So many centuries of humanity only had the light of a flame to illuminate their spaces during the night.  It seems like such a natural way to illuminate a room.  

Recently I've become really enamored with the idea of returning to more natural ways of doing things.  Buying local produce from the farmer's market, using natural soap instead of fancy chemical shampoos and such, using oils like olive oil to moisturize rather than lotions formulated with all sorts of chemicals.  Since I've started trying to figure out a better way to take care of my naturally curly hair, I've discovered that lots of the chemicals and sulfates that are in almost all shampoos and soaps aren't good for my curls.  Plus, it's just nice to feel like I'm supporting the community I live in by buying from local farmers and artisans at the farmer's market and local co-op.  It's a bit more expensive than shopping at the big grocery stores, but I want to be more intentional about where I choose to shop.  That's why I love places like 1022 and Peterson Brothers.  It's so great to form this relationship with local businesses and support fellow Tacoma small business owners.  

On starting over.

Starting in January Dan & and I began climbing almost every day at the gym.  We sucked at first.  A lot.  But we loved it and climbed all the time.  When we both got new jobs a couple months ago, our climbing dates started thinning out, and then about a month ago we basically stopped going altogether.  At the time we stopped we were both feeling pretty great about our progress and were climbing routes we were proud of.  Once I started working at my new job I felt way more busy all of a sudden, and even though I was just sitting in front of a computer all day, being at the office still took it out of me and I didn't want to go climbing. Plus I had design clients' projects to work on, and blog posts to compose when I got home.  So when I went back to climbing this week after a month of  not doing it, I was so out of shape.  It was awful.  And embarrassing.  I was livid.  It seems  like a silly thing to be livid about, but I was/am.  I was really proud of how hard I'd worked to get to where I had been, and now I was struggling to climb routes that beginner-climber-me used to be proud of completing. Now it just felt like complete failure.

I'm an extremely competitive person.  I have a problem with pride.  I hate letting people see my faults and failures.  I beat myself up when I know I can do better.  Especially when I know I can to better because I have done better.  I'm not very fun to go climbing with at the moment.  I climb a few routes and can feel my stupid weak muscles start to wane.  I try to tell myself that I just have to start over and that it's not that big of a backslide.  That I still know all the techniques I learned, and that it's just a matter of building my strength back.  Inevitably the rage starts to well up, though, and I leave the gym angry.  As easy as it is to say that I just need to adjust my attitude, it's much harder in practice.

I've started trying to build back my strength and felt better on our last trip to the gym.  I'm trying to remember that I'm not really starting over, per se.  I'm much stronger now than I was when I started climbing in January, it's just that I'm not as strong as I was a month ago.  I'm not starting from scratch.