Animal Lover

Asos dress, 3.1 Phillip Lim for Target bag, B Brian Atwood espadrilles, Marc by Marc Jacobs watch, vintage bracelet from Chelsea Market in NYC, Banana Republic headband, Madewell necklace, Chloe sunglasses, Topshop rings

I feel like this dress is a really refreshing way of wearing animal print. I have never been the biggest fan of traditional animal print, but the animals represented on this dress are just adorable. It has some of my favorite animals: elephants, butterflies, penguins, and cheetahs! This dress is so super comfortable (just search "smock dress" on Asos for an abundance of them) that I have already ordered two more in the same exact style in different patterns. I think the shape and cotton material are perfect for summer, and I cannot wait to add to my smock dress collection. 

I hope you are all having a great week!

xo, Sophie

ps. I have prom this week so expect a very exciting post soon;) 

Brick by Boring Brick

Urban Outfitters sweater, Madewell pants, Tory Burch flats, Forever 21 beanie, Michael Kors watch, Tiffany & Co. ring

I have recently re-fallen in love with the song "Brick by Boring Brick" by Paramore.  I have been feeling a lot like the girl in the song lately (i.e. stuck in my own little world) and I have decided that I really need to stop doing that.  The title lyrics basically state that if you build a house "brick by boring brick" (take the safer and more boring route in life), you are less likely to get hurt and be crushed.  Being a senior in high school, it has been hard as of late to stop daydreaming about dream universities, dream jobs, dream apartments, etc.  But I am terrified none of those things are going to work out how I want them to, so I think I am going to stop dreaming up big, impossible fairy tale endings and start making smaller, attainable goals for myself so that I can achieve each little one instead of being crushed when the big one doesn't work out how I thought it would.  Thanks, Hayley Williams.   

My little goal for today has been to get this blog post up before 4 pm.  And it is a surprisingly satisfying feeling to accomplish that, even though it is so small.

On a lighter note, guess who went black friday shopping and bought way to many things?! Yeah, it was me, good guess.  Two of the things I picked up were this sweater, which says je t'aime, meaning I love you in french.  The words are written in black ribbon and it was too soft to resist.  I also got this beanie which is surprisingly well made for Forever 21.  I now have a collection of 8 beanies and I am starting to think I might have a problem…

Anyway, I hope you all had a very happy Thanksgiving (and a lucky black friday/cyber monday), and have a great week!

xo, Sophie  

Alaska Photo Diary (part 1)

Last week I went on a cruise to Alaska, but it didn't exactly go as planned.  On the third day one of the boat's engines stopped working so we had to return to the first port.  We ended up being stuck there for the remainder of the trip and they had to fly us out of the port on charter planes.  While we didn't get to do some of the things we wanted to (whale watching, glacier hikes, etc.), we tried to make the most of our time stuck in the port of Ketchikan, Alaska.  I managed to get some beautfiul photos from the ship and some of our excursions off the boat as well, but this is just part 1.  Next year, I will be going on a cruise back to Alaska to actually go to all four ports, so part 2 will be in august 2014!  Enjoy my (sort of) Alaska photo diary.  

Some shots from the boat as we pulled out of Vancouver:

From the balcony of my parents' room before dinner:

On the balcony before dinner on formal night:

Downtown Ketchikan: 

My dad and I went zip lining on our first day in port, however it was raining a lot, so these two photos are from the website of the zip lining company.  We went down 8 zip lines and 2 suspension bridges, and we saw a massive bear as well.  They gave us a medal at the end for our bravery! 

On the second day, my brother and dad went on a hike up a huge mountain, so my mom and I decided to go on a slightly less strenuous hike.  It was about 2 miles and so beautiful. 

We were quite jealous of this cruise ship as it moved towards the next port:

Before dinner night 3:

We didn't do much on day 3.  We just walked around town and explored.  

On the final night before they ended the cruise early and flew us all out, we ate at a restaurant on the ship called Qsine.  It was super cool and modern, as we ordered the dishes off an ipad.  Everything was served in small portions so we ended up ordering probably over ten dishes total, plus desert!  

How to order desert:

I cannot wait to share part 2 of this trip in a year! 

xo, Sophie