the sun will come out

January has been a grey, stormy bleakness.  We're on the other side of winter solstice but with the clouds, it certainly hasn't been getting lighter outside.  Yesterday evening there was a break in the clouds right as the sun was setting and I was finally able to get some outfit shots in.  Luckily I had also gotten dressed yesterday, which hasn't been the norm as I'm on the tail end of a cold and living in sweats.  But, yesterday I felt pretty good, which was nice because I was giving a presentation on blogging at the University of Puget Sound for their professional development conference!  
Being sick, I wasn't feeling very motivated to come up with something creative to wear, but obviously needed to ditch the sweats, so I just wore the same outfit I'd worn to a wedding last Saturday.  I've been wanting more long cardigans because I love how they're more flowy and bohemian than normal-length and cropped cardigans, but still give that warmth which is definitely necessary this time of year.  I've been searching at thrift stores for the past couple weeks and found this perfect, slouchy, crocheted one last week.


 

dress/swapped :: cardigan/thrifted :: necklaces/handmade + courtesy of adorn by sarah lewis turquoise ring (similar)/courtesy of jewelmint :: anchor ring/courtesy of the northern sea other rings/vintage :: boots/vogue footwear
How's January going for y'all so far?  I hate to admit that my lack of motivation could be weather induced, but I'm feeling like such an unmotivated hermit these days and I know the stormy, gross weather certainly isn't helping one bit.  I've been using the Headspace meditation app and one of the things they mention off the bat is how blue skies vs. grey skies make us feel, and trying to realize that even when the sky is grey there's still a blue sky up there somewhere, beyond the clouds.  Still, the ubiquitous grey can certainly demotivate a person, even one not particularly susceptible to SAD.  A lot of people ask me if the short days of Alaskan winters are hard to deal with, and I never felt that way, even on the shortest days when the sun is only up for 5 hours.  At least there's sun!  And the moon reflecting on white snow often makes for brighter nights, too.  But the constant grey does get to me.  The days that never really seem to fully illuminate because the clouds are so thick.  Over the past couple years I've learned that it's the worst here in the upcoming few months (I'm pretty sure March is verifiably the actual worst).  I have some fun indoor activities planned for the next few months so hopefully that will keep me going until the sun comes out again.

girl on fire

Today was the day.  The Christmas tree finally came down.  Only 10 days into January, that's not bad, right?  With the tree gone I started mentally rearranging the room, which then spilled over into rearranging the kitchen which turned into giving our kitchen table to Goodwill.  So for now our kitchen is rather empty, but I've got ideas people, ideas.  I've got the DIY bug about building a rolling island, and creating a breakfast lounge nook, so we'll see how long that takes.  For now I have a ton of room to work out in the kitchen.  Of course it doesn't matter how much room I have because Dusty will lay down on the middle of my yoga mat regardless of how much room is available elsewhere.  I like to think of it as an added challenge.  I do hurdle jumps over her, so she's basically a tiny, much cuter Shaun T.

 
dress/courtesy of mata traders :: jacket/modcloth :: scarf/courtesy of earthquake state tights(similar)/h&m :: shoes/seychelles courtesy of modcloth :: photos by Dan

dumas bay

Yesterday Dan and I decided to do a bit of exploring nearby parks.  He'd discovered Dash Point State Park while looking at Google Maps, so we'd planned on checking that one out, but we found that we needed a Discover Pass to access the park, and ours is expired so we'll have to wait until we get a new Discover pass to check out Dash Point.  We drove through, though, and it looked like a great place to spend an afternoon in nature.  We drove a little further to see if there were any other cool spots and found Dumas Bay Wildlife Reserve, which was a very small little cove, but beautiful and oh so peaceful.  It wasn't super remote, there were houses within 50 feet of the borders of the park, but it was still a fun escape.  Living right on the water would be so wonderful!  We took Dusty with us and she was pretty happy to run around and sniff all the new sniffs.  I think Dusty would like to live next to a beach too.

 

top + boots/thrifted :: hat/the north face via rei :: leggings/courtesy of modcloth photos of me by Dan
Have you guys made any New Year's resolutions?  I have my "mantra" I guess, which I mentioned last post, but I haven't really made any specific resolutions.  I do have my 27 before 28 list (which I haven't shared with y'all yet!) so I usually do that in lieu of a typical resolution.  I know that some people pick a word to define the year, and I've never done that before, but I do feel like I'd like "Genuine" to something that defines my 2014.  When I think about "genuine" I think about peeling back the layers and revealing what is true and honest.  Getting back to the basics.  Eliminating excess and waste.  Simplifying.  Being mindful.  Cultivating creativity and health.  I like how choosing a word, instead of a resolution, sets the tone for the year rather that making a single intimidating goal.   Like choosing "health" instead of making a new years resolution to lose weight.  Picking a word seems like a more holistic and positive way of approaching the new year.  I do have goals though, just too many of them to pick just one as a resolution!

 

in with the new

2014 spoke to me and told me I should go red.  New year, new hair!  It's been a couple years since I was a redhead and I'm excited about the change!  My hair had completely grown out from being dyed, so it was actually easier going red this time than the last couple times I went red having black dye in my hair.  I love my natural dark brown, but red is so much fun it's hard to stay away for too long!  Eleanor at Embellish Multispace salon took me red and she pitched me this "lived-in red" concept that looked super easygoing and natural, which was exactly what I was thinking.  We spent seven hours making the transition and I love the result!  Red just makes me feel so saucy!  


 

dress/courtesy of abby galloway :: tights/thrifted :: boots/target :: jacket/modcloth necklace/francesca's collection

life is short

This past Monday Dan and I went down to White Pass to hang out with his parents and go snowboarding.  I was excited to snowboard, at first, but as we got to the lodge and I went to rent my gear (all my snow gear is still in AK) I started to feel everything inside me start pushing back.  It's been a while since I've felt that revolt.  I like to think of it as a membrane on the outer edge of my comfort zone, pushing back and urging me to stay safely within its confines.  It'd been over three years since the last time I stepped on a snowboard, and even before that I only went once, maybe twice a year.  I'm decent at it, but after being off the slopes for a few years it was definitely a bit scary to scoot off the chair lift, strap in, and point the nose of my board down towards what felt like an abyss of death.  I'm not going to lie, after the first run I spent most of the chair lift back up the hill silently crying in between Dan and his dad.  Thank God for goggles so I could cry without them seeing my momentary break down.  I kept pushing though, pressing through the membrane out of my comfort zone.  By the end of the day I was carving back and forth, still a bit gingerly, but more and more comfortably.  Still, I was glad to return my gear and grab a beer after our last run, thankful I didn't have to feel the anxiety well up inside me as we approached another steep slope.

Despite not fully enjoying snowboarding last weekend, I am glad I had the chance to break through the comfort zone membrane.  Dan and I were driving home today after climbing and were talking about the new year and one of us said something like, "Life is short, do fucking amazing shit" and we decided that that should be 2014's mantra.  It's not a beautiful, poetic mantra, but it gets the job done.  A lot of the time doing amazing shit also requires getting real cozy with that comfort zone membrane.  Pushing myself to work harder, go for dreams that feel a bit crazy, and believe that I have what it takes to do it.

 

dress/courtesy of modcloth :: cardigan/thrifted :: amethyst necklace(similar)/handmade necklace/courtesy of adorn by sarah lewis :: hat/courtesy of lulu's :: photos by Dan