Colorful Shrimp Tacos!

I got a bag of frozen shrimp a couple weeks ago and have been having fun making lots of shrimp recipes lately.  I was looking around the web for a tasty shrimp taco recipe and found the pioneer woman's.  I didn't have all the ingredients she listed, so I improvised.  We'd made a tasty salad the day before and I made some zingy ranch dressing to go on it by mixing some Tapatio into the ranch, so I did something similar with the slaw to go in the tacos, with a pinch of cayenne to give it a little kick.  The slaw was mostly just a bunch of stuff I had laying around: carrots, red cabbage, onion, tomato, and pineapple.  The shrimp I sauteed for a few minutes to cook them and then added in some salsa mixed with a bit of Tapatio and cumin and let it simmer on low for a couple more minutes.  Then I threw everything on top of some warm corn tortillas, and put some avocado slices on top.  I wish I'd had some cilantro and lime because those would've brought these tacos up a notch, but they were mouthwatering as is!  Plus, I loved how festive the slaw was with the orange carrots, purple cabbage, red tomatoes, and then the green avocados on top.  Colorful food is fun.  The slaw is nice because if you make too much, you can just eat it as a salad later.  I added some crumbled goat cheese and avocado and it was de-lish.

Back to the Future

I started craving blazers recently, and found this beauty at ModCloth.  Even though it's still a bit too warm to actually be wearing another layer, I couldn't resist this outfit.  And I had to pair it with these shoes, because obviously.  I like mixing and matching and clashing quite a bit, but sometimes a matchy-matchy moment presents itself and it's just to perfect to ignore.  It's kind of like these shoes were made to go with this blazer.  I felt pretty fancy in this outfit all day, even though I only went to Target for some coffee and underwear... and a sweater that snuck itself into my cart.  I got sucked into the clothing section and decided that I definitely would've been a more stylish high schooler if Anchorage had a Target back then.  We didn't get a Target until I was already gone for college, boo.  Of course, back then I probably didn't even have the confidence to wear the styles I wanted to rock.  It's so fun to know I can wear anything and not feel self-conscious or worry about what others think.  It makes putting on clothes so much more fun!

dress/tj maxx :: blazer/modcloth :: shoes/courtesy of blowfish :: necklace/inpink

I always hate hearing people say stuff like, "I wish I could pull that off."  I sometimes catch myself thinking that and have to stop to mentally slap myself and say, "who says you can't?"  So often the biggest limitations in our lives is our own insecurity or false beliefs about ourselves.  Why couldn't I "pull off" a certain style?  Is it that my body type won't make the style look the same as it does in the photo I'm looking at?  In that case, it's not that I'm not "pulling it off," it's that I wish I looked different.  I think most of the time the ability to pull off an outfit is really only contingent on confidence.  To borrow a phrase from Tom & Lorenzo, work that outfit like it owes you back rent. Snaps up!

A Swiftly Tilting Planet

Summer is for colors!  The other day I saw Tieka wear a cute mint and mustard combo and was inspired to style my own mint and mustard look. Summer's been going strong in Tacoma, but it looks like next week it's going to cool back down.  It's been nice to be able to wear truly summery outfits before the clouds decided to roll in and stay for a while.  I still haven't had an opportunity to wear my polka dot bathing suit to the beach or lake, and I'm dying to take it out for a spin before summer dies out.  Though, maybe I'll have to suck it up and wait for a winter vacation to warmer climes to don it.

dress (worn as top)/courtesy of lulu's :: skirt/courtesy of modcloth :: shades/vintage

shoes/courtesy of blowfish :: bag/courtesy of handbag heaven :: necklace/handmade

Life is constant change.  But it seems like all we try to do is get comfortable, feel safe... and isn't it kind of impossible to feel comfortable and safe while everything around us is constantly changing?  There are just those few anchors that we can hold on to and everything else is just a river sweeping past.  I think maybe lately I've been trying to hold on to the water slipping through my fingers, and it's cause for anxiety.  Instead of panicking about the water rushing by that I'm trying to stop from moving, I need to shift my focus to the anchors.  The anchors are what matter anyway.  The river will always continue running, taking everything once familiar with it.  As I get older, it never ceases to amaze me how much faster time goes by every year.  Seriously, how is it mid August already?  It's like I blinked on New Year's Eve and suddenly appeared in August.  And next think I know, I'll be wrapping Christmas presents... for my grandkids.  Well, that might be a bit exaggerated, but still, at this point it seems like time will just keep accelerating exponentially.  

I remember back at a horse show once, when I rode horses competitively, advice that my trainer was giving to another rider who was about to go do a jumper course.  In jumper events, you're trying to jump through the course as quickly as possible, without knocking any rails off the fences (which incurs a penalty).  She told my friend to slow down time in her mind, to think that it took forever to get from one fence to the next.  It kind of reminds me of those scenes in the Matrix where everything goes slow-mo and people are dodging bullets.  Anyway, I'm trying to live life like how Julie described riding through the jumper course.  Time will always be moving quickly, but we can slow it down by mentally taking the time.  When I think back, I was so frantic running through some jumper courses and I always did so poorly when I didn't take the time in between fences to ride well and remember everything I was taught.  But when I rode like I had all the time in the world, I rode well.  Maybe the metaphor doesn't translate well, but it works for me.  

Reality Check

I was reading Backwoods Mom last night and I wanted to share something from what she posted.  I really wanted to just repost the whole thing but if you want to read it, check out her blog.  She basically took something that's been bumping around in my brain for some time and put it in writing.  I get emails from people, from time to time, asking for advice on this or that, or sharing their story of heartbreak or something similar to what I've shared on this blog in the past.  Almost universally, emails I get start off with an apology or disclaimer.  Most of the time people seem to feel creepy for emailing a stranger, or some similar sentiment.  I can understand how it can feel weird to email someone you've never met, but I always feel like I'm the creep who posts photos of herself on the internet on a daily basis.  Seriously guys, that's kind of creepy if you think about it.  But I digress.  Read:

Last night a young lady with a history much like my children’s wrote me a message and asked for advice. But before she asked, she spent several paragraphs telling me why she wasn’t worthy of my time. “…as if reading your blog somehow makes me worthy of placing myself in your life,” she said. 

As if my time, my attention, my compassion was something of value and she…was not.
I can string words together in a way that is appealing to some, and I can make people laugh or cry… but that does not make me any more important than she. It does not make me special. It doesn’t make me somehow more worthy than anyone else. Nor does it make me any less in need of help, attention, or advice. 

Because this blog is not ‘real’. The internet is not ‘real’. These are just words I put out there, only part of the whole, a fraction of what or who I am. It is, in some aspect a persona created by me…not really ‘me’ at all[...] 

And because deep down we all suffer the same insecurities, when this girl came to me, with her beautifully written words of pain and struggle, telling me she is not worthy of my time…my first thought was,
“But, honey…what makes you think I am worthy of YOURS?”

Bloggers, big and small, are real people.   We're all struggling through this thing called life.  No really, every. single. one.  The bloggers who have 30,000 followers and the ones who just created their first blogger account.  No blogger is less real, or less worthy, than the next.  It pains me to think that anyone would think I have it all together, or that my life was perfect. Life is life, people.  It will always have its ups and downs.  Some days I feel great and on top of the world, like I could conquer anything.  Other days I'm pretty much in tears off and on all day and feel completely worthless (oh hai, yesterday).  But that's real.  There's a lot going on in my life that I don't discuss on the blog.  Some things might just take time to settle before I'm ready to say something about them, some things are personal and will never be shared.  I've got shit I'm going through.  We all do.

But isn't that the beauty of blogs?  Everyone is real.   Blogs aren't magazines with hundreds of writers, photographers, and graphic designers on staff.  It's a little piece of someone's life.  It's someone taking the time to be vulnerable and share part of their self with the world.  But it's just that.  Part of their self. Not the whole.  You don't get the whole Elizabeth story here on the blog.  Honestly, I feel that it would be impossible to boil the whole Elizabeth story down to a blog and I have no desire to.  This blog isn't the whole story.  It's real life, but it's just peering through a keyhole into one room of the house of my life.

I guess what I want you guys to know is that you're worthy.  As the wise Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." I'm just a girl behind a computer, writing a blog, and trying to not screw up this one life I have to live.  Some days I feel more successful at it than others.

The Remix Archives // Dusty Floral

I got this dress from ModCloth about two years ago and it's become one of my absolute favorite dresses. I remember when I got it I really purposefully chose it because it had a different silhouette than I usually wore. The free waist was a look that I'd never really tried before, as I typically go for dresses that have fitted waists and are free at the hip. I liked how this dress seemed casual, yet a bit funky and still feminine. Interestingly, though it's a relatively lightweight fabric, I love wearing it in both summer and winter. When summer eventually cools off into autumn, I love being reminded that dresses that might at first glance seem to be only summer dresses can indeed thrive in a winter wardrobe!

Around the time I got this dress, I noticed it popping up over on Keiko's blog as well! She is such a brilliant remixer, that I couldn't resist including some of her beautiful stylings of this dress. She's so fabulous! I love how many different vibes she can work with one dress.  I'm pretty sure I need to invest in some big scarves for fall to channel her styling.

all images of Keiko via KeikoLynn