Day 3

3. Guilty pleasure things/secrets. That thing you like that people might make fun of you for.

Certain television shows definitely fit into this category. I loooove investigation/crime shows. Ever since netflix got a whole bunch of stuff from the investigation discovery channel, it's pretty much all I've been watching. I'm watching one right now.

I also love ranch and sriracha. Seriously, if left to my own devices I will put them both on anything. If I go to dennys, I will even mix ranch and hot sauce together to dip fries in.

Hm, what else? I like to bitch about stuff. Not a lot, really, but it feels stress-relieving to get off work and bitch with other co-workers about stupid customers or annoying situations. Mostly because we can sympathize with each other and laugh about it.

I like corny totally hollywood-ized romantic comedies. Like Sydney White, The Holiday, 50 first dates, 27 dresses, you know the deal. They're just so simple and formulaic and feel-good.

Maybe the weirdest thing I like to do is go to cemeteries during the day. I've been doing it since senior year, when me and my best friend megan used to have picnics in cemeteries and then look at the different graves. We lost touch shortly after I moved away for college, but I still go to a couple of the cemeteries in Prescott. One is up on a high hill in the middle of town, kind of tucked away so you wouldn't know it's there unless you paid really close attention. I like to drive up to that one, park my car on the edge, and look out on the city while listening to music and thinking/writing. The other one is much larger, and I like to walk around and think or just sit and enjoy the sunlight/breeze/grass. I know it sounds weird but it's actually quite calming and serene.

And last but not least, I really like taco bell. I know it's disgusting, but some of it (minus the beef and guacamole) is delicious.

<3
Em

Day 2

2. Some of your favorite things. Smells, songs, food, movies etc. Why are they your favorite?

Favorites! That's a fun topic. I have lots of favorites. I'm one of those people that goes to the same restaurant over and over again, always thinking I'm going to try something else for once... but I always get the same thing. Like at mexican restaurants. It depends on which restaurant, but I'm always going to get either a quesadilla (hugos in prescott or taco bell), spinach enchiladas (casa alvarez, macayos), or a chimichanga (any other mexican restaurant i go to ever). I'll try to break this down into actual categories though.

smells: some people have photographic memories, i have a smellographic memory. I will catch a whiff of something walking down the street and it will bring me back to an exact memory. For instance, I might smell the cologne that one of my past boyfriends used to wear and it will give me butterflys in my stomach. That's definitely one of my favorite smells. The cologne of someone I love/used to love. I also love the very stereotypical smells of rain, roses, and a hot cop of coffee in the morning.

songs: I've been in love with first aid kit for a super long time now. I love "I met up with a king", "ghost town", and "heavy storm" the most. I also have always loved modest mouse, it reminds me of high school. I love "missed the boat" the best. hmm... what else? get up and go by broadcast 2000, bon iver's skinny love (linn loved this song), and many many others.

food: i'm such a foodie. I'm really not picky at all. I love me some good cheese (on bread with a side of fresh grapes? mmm.). I also love Indian food, particularly the taj mahal in prescott. Speaking of prescott, Hugo's is always a winner too. Basically I just love food. Spicy is always a plus.

movies: Life as a House, Dakota Skye, Wristcutters: A Love Story, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Love Actually. 

etc: my favorite day of the week is saturday, because it's the only day I don't have work or school. My favorite season is autumn, because it's beautiful and inspiring. My favorite holiday is st. patrick's day, because I love making irish food, drinking irish beer, and wearing green and gold. 

and those are just a few of my many, many favorite things. here's another one:

 <3
Em

30 Day Challenge: Day 1

I'm such a sucker for these things. They remind me of the days of MySpace bulletins, where I'd waste the majority of a weekday evening answering survey after survey full of silly, pointless questions. Ahh, junior high. 


I feel like I've been out of the blogosphere for so long I literally have to go months back to catch up on all my favorite blogs. I was reading my friend Chloe's blog today and found that she made up a 30 day challenge like a week ago. It's a good one too! So I've decided I'm going to follow it. A good way to breathe fresh life into this old blog and hopefully get it rolling again. 


Here are the rules, I encourage you all to visit Chloe's blog and follow along too!
1. Your name, nicknames, changes to your name (if any), favorite usernames and meanings behind them. Insert your favorite picture(s) of yourself.
2. Some of your favorite things. Smells, songs, food, movies etc. Why are they your favorite?
3. Guilty pleasure things/secrets. That thing you like that people might make fun of you for.
4. Tattoos you have, their meanings, and/or tattoos you want to get.
5. Opinions on those things everyone argues about, brief or not so brief, and any one or more topics. (Politics, religions, rights etc) i.e. Things you feel strongly about.
6. Things you want, rational and irrational. Places you want to go, famous people you want to meet and more.
7. Working out: things that work for you; things you should do vs. what you are doing etc. Get motivated!
8. Style your hair in at least four or more ways and take pictures. Do you ever do these styles on regular days or for occasions? 
9. Comfort things; what do you do when you're sick to feel better? What do you eat/watch/do when you're having a bad day?
10. Childhood things; traditions and things that take you back. Did you have a favorite stuffed animal? What kind of books did you read? What were your favorite movies?
11. The best day; describe a good memory or the elements of a good day. 
12. Your best traits and your worst habits. Personal struggles as well as accomplishments. Balance it out. 
13. Things you're addicted to. Foods, sites, shows, whatever. 
14. Your favorite meal of the day and the elements that make it perfect. Obviously, post lots of delicious pictures. 
15. Things that make you jealous, whether it's possessions or people. 
16. Things you can't let go of. 
17. Something (or things) you haven't done in a while that you would really like to. 
18. Your hobbies or hobbies you would like to pick up. 
19. Your significant other. How you got together, your favorite things about them and maybe even things that bother you at times. 
20. Things you don't like that other people do. It's ranting time. Be specific.
21. Things that make you laugh really hard. Include some youtube videos. 
22. Your favorite video games and/or board games/card games/party games. Also include your least favorite.
23. Songs from your childhood/teenage years. Post some 90's/ early 2000's songs that take you back/make you laugh etc. Talk about the memories attached to them. 
24. VLOG DAY: take a video of yourself for this! Pronounce the following words: Aluminium, salmon, talk, caramel, lieutenant, mirror, scone, nearly, bath, grass, near, bacon, beer can, again, been, garage, process, hot, coffee, thought, not, tomato, potato, cheese, cake, Barbie, fond, duck, dog, cat, fish, chips, milk, friend, fried, disenchanted, sleep, dream, state, cinema, last ,lost, Raxocoricopalavitorious, antidisestablishmentarianism, dance, aunt, copper, win, one, on, herbs, rotten. Where were you born?
25. Three completely unselfish wishes for other people, and three selfish just-for-you wishes.
26. Some things you always think about. Where does your brain go when you try to fall asleep? 
27. Things you wish you could do. Skills, traveling etc. Include a video or pictures.
28. If you absolutely had to go back and relive a part of your life (say, a few months), what would it be? Would you change something, knowing it would most certainly have an effect on your future? 
29. If you could see a day of your future somehow, would you take the chance? How far forward would you go? What do you hope you see? What do you dread to see?
30. Admit or confess something. 


 Day One:  Your name, nicknames, changes to your name (if any), favorite usernames and meanings behind them. Insert your favorite picture(s) of yourself.


My first name is Emily, my middle name is Louise. I haven't made any changes to my name and I don't plan to, aside from maybe changing my last name when I get married. 

 I've got dozens of nicknames. Literally dozens. My mom called my "lou", "louie", "lou-lou", "lou-la-belle" and many other things as a kid. She still does, actually. My friends in middle school and high school called my "auntie em". some of them still do. I also got "mama emmy", because I was like the mom of the group at times. I also got just the standard "em" and "emmy" and of course "emi-lou". Stewie called me "emilem" all through our relationship and he sometimes still does. Probably the nickname that stuck the most was given to me by stewart's brother, brian. That would be "msoss" (it's pronounced em-sauce) or often just "soss". Brian calls me "sossy-poo" on occasion, too.

 usernames? hmm. lately I've taken to just using my first two initials (el) and attaching it to my last name. That's what college email addresses do for you anyways, so I just go with it. Sometimes I've used Emilemsoss (like on my twitter and stumbleupon accounts) because It's a combination of my two favorite nicknames. When I was younger I used to come up with all kinds of ridiculous screen names for use on msn messenger. remember msn messenger? does it even exist anymore? all I know is that is was all the rage in 8th grade. How else were you going to talk to your crush over summer? or before text messaging was something everyone had access to? I don't know if I can remember them now, but I can guarantee that many of them were cring-worthy emo song lyrics that I thought mirrored my life exactly. Thank god I graduated that phase. Now I just post them as my facebook statuses ;) jk. kind of.

See you tomorrow for day two!

Love,
Em

Vices Challenge

Around this time of the year, I always get to thinking about my vices. Mostly in terms of consumption. Last year I spent the month of November not drinking, and while it didn't make me feel that different it felt really great not having to worry about hangovers or finding safe ways home or having to afford alcohol. and i'm sure my body thanked me. This year I'm feeling kind of flabby and gross, despite the 14 pounds I lost this summer. I know I weigh less, but I think I've lost a lot of my muscle mass and I blame this mostly on the food I eat. Don't get  me wrong, I eat and cook very healthfully but lately I've been letting myself "splurge" or "binge" more, letting myself give in to my tiredness/laziness/hunger and going out for food or grabbing a quick snack rather than actually cooking. This must end. So, I'm challenging myself to give up some of my vices for short times. Here's how it's going to play out:


Week one: Give up two things I eat regularly that I know aren't that good for me.
Week two: Eat only homemade meals- nothing that has preservatives.
Week three: Don't eat any added sugar (fruit is ok, cupcakes are not)
Week four: Go fat-free

I'm pretty sure I'll let these challenges build on themselves so that by week four I'll be eating fat and sugar free homemade meals. Also the things I'm going to give up are cheese and chocolate because seriously, I think if I didn't have some semblance of weight/health concern I would just live off of those two things forever. Example: I've probably had about 4 servings of cheese today and one chocolate bar, and no actual real meal. yeah, disgusting. anyways...

I'm hoping this will be a good way to cleanse my system and get rid of my addiction/cravings for fat, sugar, preservatives/chemicals (like msg) and most importantly cheese and chocolate. I used to be a vegan and I'd really love to kick cheese again since it's all full of opiates and fat and sodium. it's just so damn delicious :/

If anyone wants to join this challenge with me feel free. I'll be checking in among my regular posts every few days to let you know how things are going/how I'm feeling/etc. Also, I'm starting today (thursday- it works well because it's my last day of school and first day of work most weeks) and ending Wed, the 5th of October. Have a happy, healthy thurs/weekend lovemuffins!!

<3
Em

if i was...

this is something silly and random that has been floating around the blogosphere for a while. I used to LOVE filling out those facebook notes, and before that myspace survey bulletins, and even before that chain email surveys! god does that make me feel old. i even sent a real live paper and pen and stamps and envelopes chain letter once. oh, geez. anyways. it looks like fun, and due to all my previous survey loving experience, i couldn't resist.

• If I was a month, I would be October
• If I was a time of day, I would be twilight
  
• If I was a direction, I would be East
• If I was a planet, I would be Venus
• If I was a piece of furniture, I would be a book shelf
• If I was a poet, I would be Sappho, without the lesbianism ;)
• If I was a gemstone, I would be an amethyst
  
• If I was a tree, I would be a weeping willow
  
• If I was a bird, I would be a dove
• If I was a tool, I would be a screwdriver
• If I was a flower, I would be a lilac
• If I was a kind of season, I would be spring
  
• If I was a musical instrument, I would be a flute
  
• If I was a word, I would be 'ambiguous' (but not in a bad way, necessarily
• If I was a feeling, I would be passionate. passionate love, passionate anger, passionate creativity, everything.
• If I was a fruit, I would be a nectarine
  
• If I was a sound, I would be a quiet wind
  
• If I was a body part, I would be finger tips
• If I was an automobile, I would be a baby blue convertible (like nancy drew!) but a hybrid one.
  
• If I was a place, I would be Loutro, in Crete, Greece. The place i felt most connected to in years.
  
• If i was a jewelry, I would be an anklet
• If i was an age, I would be 26
• If i was a weapon, I would be words
• If i was an animal, I would be my darling clementine 

a little off...

is how i'm feeling today. While I've been bombarding you with wardrobe posts I've actually been on a fun little family camping trip with my parents, my sister, stewart, and my sister's boyfriend. It was really great and refreshing and enjoyable but also very tiring and strenuous in the way camping trips can be. I loooove getting outdoors and tenting it up, but after I'm finally home I always feel exhausted, dirty, and in need of some serious me-time. This trip was no different, although there was the added discomfort of having a million bug bites. literally, a million. We went on this crazy awesome hike that involved scaling the side of a mountain, but every time we stopped we would be attacked by a cloud of no-see-ums or gnats or something. At first we didn't think they were biting us, but oh were we wrong. My dad and my sister looked like they had come down with a serious case of chicken pox and I... well, for some reason the insects decided to only bite me on the face and neck. So I look like I came down with a serious case of puberty. ugh >.< I'm also mildly sunburnt and my upper body muscles are a little sore from the whole scaling the mountain thing... and even though I took a hour long bath followed by a shower, I still feel kind of dirty and blah.

What I really need to do is doll myself up and go out so I can feel refreshed and pretty again... but I think I'm going to confine myself to my house until these bites die down. I'm also going to skip today's wardrobe post although I will tell you what my theme of choice is going to be in a few.

I still have about a million things left on my to-do list between the youth retreat and my ever-approaching trip to greece, and I'm stressing hard. Tomorrow it's going to be all systems go and I'm going to just cook, cook, cook all day long. Maybe I can whip all this stuff out in like three days, and then finish my greece stuff in two days, and then have like 1 week left where I can just relax. That would be splendid.

I'll tell you more about the camping trip (complete with lots of pics) in a later post, but for now I'll just tell you what I've been doing since I got back. Stew and I went out with a couple friends last night to our old stomping grounds- the courthouse square. It was a nice, cool evening and we walked around and eventually ended up getting coffee and chatting. After that we went on a random adventure to the top of a hill called acker park where stewart and one of the other people we were with had burried a case 2 years ago for a game of godfather. Unsurprisingly we were not able to find the case in the dark... but it was fun to do a bit of a night hike. We then went to hang out at our friend's house where I sipped on a bottle of mead I had recieved for my birthday and we chatted until about 1am. Then stew and I came home and passed out to Big Fish.

Today I slept way longer than I wanted to because I didn't want to get up before stew, and then we went to lunch with my sis, her boyfriend, and my dad. We went to Kendalls, an old 50's style burger joint where everything is covered in grease... needless to say I felt awful about 5 minutes after finishing my meal. Stewart left to head back down to tucson, I drove my sister and her boyfriend to the airport, and then I decided to go home and teach myself the guitar until I was afraid that my fingers were going to start bleeding. Now I'm here, writing this blog and about to go for a run to work off that mid-day nastiness. For some reason I just felt like telling you guys everything that's going on. um, yeah.

Anyways, I'm really excited about what I'm going to do for this wardrobe challenge week 2 situation. As I've said before it's a wild card so I get to choose my theme for the week!

have you guys seen those funny things online that are like the evolution of the hipster or the various types of hipster? I find them to be hilarious and also remarkably accurate. I won't mince words... I definitely fit into the category of a hipster, even though I think most people scoff at that term and claim they are way better than hipsters. And everyone and their mother makes fun of hipsters. Honestly though, 'hipster' is such a broad term and it includes a ton of people. So many, in fact, that there are tons of subcategories of hipsters which are all totally different from each other. For the second week of the wardrobe challenge, I'm going to represent a few of these different types of hipsters. It's going to be hella awesome, yo. bahaha.

I didn't take pictures today because like I said before, puberty all over the face. Just not feeling very photo worthy. However, I still styled myself according to my theme.

Today I was a granola hipster. These are the hipsters that were likely raised by aged hippies- they wear tie dye, cutt-offs, and hiking boots and eat artichokes dipped in veganaise. They could very possibly have dreadlocks and enjoy being in the outdoors and making stuff out of hemp.

I wore:
a cut-up tie dye tank top that I made back in highschool
a thrifted flannel shirt
cut-off daisy dukes (ross)
suede knee-high boots (wet seal)
a necklace with a stone pendant I received as a gift
a pink bandana head band
a braided brown belt (wet seal)

I looked cute, but definitely very granola. Not something I would wear every day for sure, but I bet everyone thought I was a vegan democrat.
which is..um.. true.. lol

anyways, tomorrow will be another type of hipster and hopefully these bites die down enough for me to snap some pictures.

sorry for the absurdly long post about nothing in particular. I just roll like that.

<3
Em

Wardrobe Challenge: Week 1, Day 7

Hello Lovelies! Today is the last day of the first week of the 4 week wardrobe challenge, so that means this is the last film inspired outfit.

I had trouble thinking of another fun movie to get inspired by, so I just went classic- The Notebook. I love love love everything about 40s style... the pearls, the curls, the floral prints, the pretty hemlines... so great. Also, Rachel McAdams is one of my favorite actresses. She's so beautiful, genuine, and incredibly talented and versatile!

Here's my 40's inspired outfit:

I'm really excited for next week's outfits... It's "wild card" week, which means I get to pick my own theme^^ don't worry though, I've got quite a few non-fashion related posts coming up too! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend :) love love love

Em

Wardrobe Challenge: Week 1, Day 6

Today I pulled inspiration from Center Stage. No character in particular really, just the whole idea of ballet-casual.

I love this movie so much. It's like the perfect girly movie. Hot ballet boys? yes please.

I probably could have done better with my center stage inspired outfit today, but here's what I came up with in a pinch:

Skirt: Forever 21

Shirt: Target

Overshirt Tie-Thing: Charlotte Russe

Shoes: Goodwill Boutique

Necklace: Michael's Crafts

Wardrobe Challenge: Week 1, Day 5

Another day of the wardrobe challenge!

Today I pulled my inspiration from Sandra in Big Fish. I love that movie. Largely because I love Ewan McGreggor... but also cause Sandra's girly old fashioned style is adorable.

so very pretty :)

my sandra inspired outfit:

ollllld shoes.... haha

Shirt: not sure.... :(

Skirt: Rue 21 I think?

Belt: Goodwill Boutique

Shoes: Goodwill Boutique

Can you guys tell I get half my stuff at goodwill? haha. I love thrift stores so much. 

Wardrobe Challenge: Week 1, Day 4

Yay for day two of this challenge! Getting dressed in the morning was way more fun today than it usually is haha.

My inspiration for today is Valentina from The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. I love love love the whole concept of a traveling circus like the one in the movie. Valentina is so gorgeous in her rags-but-also-riches garb. She has lots of patchwork fabric and drapey shawls but then she also has beautiful showy things like corsets and jewels and yeah basically her costume designer is just amazing.

Circusy showy riches...

adorable boho rags.

love this movie.

anyways, here is my valentina inspired wardrobe for the day:

Dress: from a friend- on my 12th birthday! can you believe it?

scarf: from a bazaar in california

belt: can't remember... oops!

shoes: goodwill boutique

hair pins: forever 21

Love,

Em

Wardrobe Challenge: Week 1, Day 3 (but 1 for me!)

Guys, I'm really excited about this. I decided spur of the moment today after seeing aki!'s adorable outfit to partake in Peachy Keen's 4 Week Wardrobe Challenge. I love stuff like this. It perfectly connects everyday life and style with blogging which is what it's all about, am i right? I'm coming into this thing a bit late but luckily I've only missed a couple days... so I'm going to try really hard to actually pull this off. Although... I will be in greece for the entire last week so we'll see how that goes.

Anyways, I'm getting ahead of myself. The challenge is divided into 4 weeks, and each week has an inspiration theme. This week is Television and Movie characters! I'm way excited to mirror some of my favorite onscreen styles for the next few days.

Let's get started, shall we?

500 Days of Summer wasn't exactly the best movie in the universe, but man does Zooey Deschanel look awesome. Her character's style in this movie is so adorable- like business-feminine-50s-tomboy. if that even makes sense.

I love the little bows she puts in her hair... so schoolgirl-ish and fun!

see what I mean with the whole tomboy-feminine-business thing?

gosh so adorable. I had to try to mimic her style.

excuse my silly fashionista pose haha

those are shirt rolls, not me rolls.. lol

Headband: random scrap of lace

Shirt: JC Penny's

Skirt: Goodwill Outlet Store

Tights: Forever 21

Shoes: Goodwill Boutique

Belt: Goodwill Boutique

Necklace: Blue Willow Restaurant and Gift Shop

I think I did a fairly nice job... Summer doesn't wear much pink but this was the best girly business shirt I had haha. 

Yay for my first style post ever... be back tomorrow with another film-inspired getup!

Love,

Em