coney's cones.

 CONEY ISLAND, NYC

I took advantage of the long weekend on Monday and took the long train ride to Coney Island for the first time. I reunited with a bunch of people I graduated with at Northeastern in GD last year who are now living in the city and we basically ate our way through Coney Island. I had my first Nathan's hot dog and White Castle slider and then the fluffiest soft serve of my life. I also never wore a bathing suit the whole time that I was on the island, which was definitely a first, but the sea breeze was going strong all day.

I struggled with the fact that I was spending all of Memorial Day weekend in the city but this trip made me realize that you don't need to buy a bus ticket to get away to a familiar place. I grew up spending summers on the beach and by the pool and I often get homesick when I realize those things aren't in my backyard anymore. But then again, when you live in New York City, the whole place is your backyard and there are so many gems hidden all around that I am yet to discover. I'm not saying that Coney Island was the best beach I've been to, or that White Castle lived up to its hype, but I did get to have an entirely new experience with some spectacular people, and that makes all the difference.

petaling onwards.

FIG + ARROW AUTUMN FLORAL STEAM

Somewhere along the way to adulthood, I neglected to learn about basic beauty practices and what is necessary care to keeping your skin looking beautiful. I've rested on the fact that nature has a way of healing all blemishes, and opted out of a skincare regimen besides the basic acne scrub once daily. Well folks, i'm beginning to realize the error of my ways and opting from natural skin to natural skin products. The first and most beautiful product i've found for my skin is this floral steam bath which mixes with hot water and a towel to trap the steam and makes your skin feel refreshed at the end of a long day.

RAW IN A JAR NATURAL HAIR POWDER

I like to start every new day with a shower, but there are definitely times when we hit the snooze button a few dozen too many times and wake up just in time to throw on some makeup and coordinate an outfit before rushing out the door in time. My hair is thin and tends to get greasy over night pretty easily. I used to throw in some baby powder to soak up the extra oils for an easy solution, but lately i've been using this guy instead. 

It's made up of clays and eucalyptus extracts, so it's better for the skin and hair while giving off a naturally fresh scent. Clay removes toxins in the hair and leaves it shiny and voluminous. Eucalyptus in general aids in the healing of wounds, relieving fever pain, and is a natural stimulant. It is also known to repel lice as an added bonus. So in other words, it's great thing to find for in a hair beauty product.

post it up.

ANTHROPOLOGIE SALON KNOB

When it comes to my bedroom, I love everything to have some personal touch added to it. Due to lack of space and funds when moving in I went to Ikea for my bed frame. I actually splurged on getting this one with some beautiful detailing in it rather than the typical malm set I used to own, but the posts were just simple round silver globes, and I wanted to dress it up a bit. Since they screw into these posts, I thought that I could get some beautiful knobs and just simply put them in at each corner of my bed. In the future, i'm going to look out for something a little bigger to accompany my frame, but for now I think they make my bed look really adorable and less like the norm. It's a simple and easy solution to making a standard piece of furniture special!

gala. time

You better work. 

The s.p.d. gala just happened to fall on the same night as I walked at graduation last year, which blows my mind. If you asked me what I would be doing a year from that day, I certainly couldn't have predicted that the answer would be doing a photo shoot with my amazing coworkers from a magazine I adore. I have been through so much since wearing that cap in Boston. I closed my eyes and made some of the scariest, make or break decisions. In some ways it paid off and in other ways, life crashed and burned. All in all, it was a learning experience which taught me a lot about myself and others. And after the six month job search from hell, I landed a job which turned out to be the best place for me with some of the best people around. 

The amazing photographer who took these pictures is our regular at More, Ari Michelson, and these are lovely and talented people I get to spend my days around. My team and I spent night and day creating 2500 buttons, printing out name tags and table cards and picking out our outfits for the event. We got out hair done, nails did and our makeup composed by one of our usual artists, before stepping out of the office and into a fabulous night where we took home some major gold. It ended by closing down the after party, taking pictures with palm trees and whispering in my living room with friends. I watched the sun come up outside my window while talking about design and the industry and I couldn't have asked for a better night. 

I've been working the longest hours, and still loving it, and knowing that makes me realize that i'm following my dreams and doing what I love, and that's what makes me happy.

Cheers to life everyone.

FINDERS KEEPERS MIDNIGHT JUMPSUIT

On a style note, the jumper is my ideal way to dress up for a night and be completely comfortable, and that was definitely the vibe we went for since most of the ladies on my team wore jumpers and menswear and absolutely killed it.