Quick Pics

September has been a pretty beautiful month, weatherwise. We had perfect weather for pretty much the whole month. I can't remember the last rainy day we had (knock on wood). I just hope I didn't jinx myself now for October being awful because October>September and I can't wait for some more autumny goodness. I got into the spirit a little early this month by trying the seasonal flavor of Angry Orchard. It's called Cinnful Apple and it's great! This month I also visited a lighthouse (though I couldn't go inside or really get too near it).

My grandpa has his own chili recipe that he was so kind enough to share with me. I have his handwritten instructions, complete with his silly spelling errors and notes. It makes a good amount of chili and it comes out really good. Dipping Cool Ranch Doritos into it was like the icing on the cake. So good!

As you know, I went raspberry picking during the past month. I've also been apple picking, but that'll be a later post. :) I didn't actually really pick apples. I picked a couple and ate them, but sometimes I like to go just to be in the orchard, surrounded by all the fruits and sweet smells. I love the farm markets, country stores, pumpkin patches, apple trees, fresh baked goods, and just everything there is about orchards, especially in the fall. It's really the best time to go to the orchard. I'd like to visit as many as I can this season.

Speaking of fall things, I was able to try some seasonal cupcakes this year from the local bakery in town. I decided to pick the Apple Pie cupcake, which had actual apple filling inside, and the Pumpkin Cheesecake cupcake. They were both delicious. My only problem is that I'm not a huge fan of cream cheese and the frosting on the pumpkin cupcake was a little too much for me. But the cake was phenomenal! I finally finished the Insanity workout this month (wooo!), so I treated myself to these two delicious treats afterwards. I also kind of treated myself to a lot of things ever since I finished the workout...haha. I'm going to start it again, but just not do it as religiously as the first time. Since I finished working out and was all caught up on my schoolwork (Note: I was caught up), I finally got to do some leisurely reading and for that, I chose The Making of Jurassic Park. It's really interesting how much really goes into making a movie...and how much work gets done that actually doesn't even make it into the film!

So this red dress....here's the deal with it. I have been eyeing it for about 2 or 3 years, now on Windsor's website. I always lusted after it, but never really knew what I'd actually wear it for and for $99, I couldn't justify buying it when I wouldn't wear it very often. I thought maybe it could be my Christmas dress, but even that is a little too much to spend for a Christmas dress. But a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that it was on sale...for $9.99! Whaaaaaat? Yeah...I was shocked, but also excited. I still contemplated it for a couple of days. With shipping it came to almost $19, but I decided to just go for it. So now I will finally have it as my Christmas dress. I just have to find some sort of shrug to wear with it so I'm not totally freezing. And speaking of purchases, I also got these cute kitty tights from Forever 21 on a recent mall trip last week. I love them so much!

September has definitely been a nice month, but I'm really looking forward to October. It's the height of autumn, the time for Halloween, and it's also my birthday month. :) What more can you ask for in a month? I don't really have any birthday plans. I'm the kind of person that actually would really want a surprise party, but unfortunately I don't think I have any friends who are the kinds of people that would like to throw a surprise party. Womp womp. Maybe someday it'll happen eventually! haha. I think this year I'll just try to get everyone together and go out for drinks or just have a nice bonfire. I still have some time to decide!

Teenage Angst Has Paid Off Well

I went picking yet again last month, and this time it was to pick my favorite berry (and one of my favorite fruits overall)...raspberries! I love going down the aisles of raspberry bushes and eating them right as I pick them. I keep some in my bucket to buy, of course, but I probably ate just as much. They're so easy to pick and they taste delicious!

This dress is actually a couple of years old, but I don't think I posted an outfit with it until now! It's really comfy and I love the polka dots and little embroidery pattern. It's makes me think of it being like prairie meets Western.

It feels like I should be back in school, carrying my books around and walking from class to class, hating all the homework, but still loving being a student. Sometimes when I'm driving on a sunny weekday afternoon in September, it feels like I could be driving home after just getting out of school, or driving down to get fast food before I had to be back for drama club rehearsals. Seasons, and specifically the smell and feel of the air, usually evoke a lot of memories and nostalgia for me. It mostly happens in autumn and spring, though.

Dress: Forever 21//Shoes: Rialto//Purse: Fossil (thrifted)

A lot of people always say that they hated high school and they'd never want to go back or do it again. I feel like I'm one of the rare ones who actually loved high school and often misses it. It's part of the reason I pondered becoming a teacher at one point, but then decided it wouldn't be what I wanted to do. High school was just such a special time to me. I learned a lot, wrote a lot, discovered all kinds of music, participated in drama club, fell in love for the first time. It was carefree, exciting, angsty, silly, frustrating, and fun....all of the things adolescence should be. Everything seems so important and life-altering when you're a teenager, and some of the things that you go through are, but the smaller stuff that seemed so big then isn't really that big when you look back on it. But anyway...I enjoyed high school. I liked taking the bus and zoning out while I listened to my headphones. And when we could all drive, I enjoyed rides to and from school with my friends. I loved being able to be on stage in drama club. I loved writing English papers. I had a great group of friends and teachers that I could connect with and encouraged me. I just enjoyed figuring out who I was and where I wanted to go. I'm not saying that I'm not still doing that, but that was like the sentimental foundation for who I am today and who I will become in the future. It was a good time, even when I was an angsty mess who "hated" everything during times of it.

When I was a teenager, I was constantly looking for and exploring new music. I would spend hours on iTunes sampling different bands and songs, looking through all of the similar artists of my favorite bands to find new favorites. I feel like there's some magical window where you can take in new music like a sponge and just soak it all in and love it all. I don't know about anyone else, but now I feel like I'm not as open to new music as I once was. Not that I'm opposed to listening to a new band, but I don't actively try to anymore. Other things have taken up my free time. I know there are probably thousands of bands I haven't heard and would love, but I just don't have the time to find them and I wouldn't even know where to start. There are so many ways to discover new music nowadays that it's a little overwhelming! But to me, it just seems like music is the most important to people when they are growing up. I could be wrong, though!

I feel like I was the most creative between the ages of 14 and 18. I was constantly writing short stories, lyrics, music, poems. I performed in plays. I had started getting into photography and fashion. I was molding and changing into who I am currently. I've kept a journal since I was around 9, so I literally have my growth as a person recorded ever since then. Pretty cool, right? One day I'll read them all from start to finish. It'll make for a really interesting read someday.

It's funny how when you're a teenager, you're in this rush to grow up. When you're 10, 17-year-olds seem so awesome and grown up. And when you're 13, you want to be 18. And when you're 18, you want to be 21. And then when you're 25, 30, 35, sometimes you're wishing you were 20 again. I don't think it's about the age so much as the experiences associated with them that we want again. It's not that people want to be 20 again. They want to relive the experiences and life they had during that period. I believe that age is just a number. It doesn't matter how old you are, so long as you're living life the way you want to, having fun, and making the right decisions for yourself to be happy.

Downtown Mystic

Autumn is fast approaching (today was the official first day!) and I've long said goodbye to bare legs. I've been wearing tights and boots and whatnot even though it still reaches into the low 70s because I'm just too excited for fall. Yesterday I wore a flannel and boots...with tights and socks. But anyway...I still have some summery outfits and posts to catch up on, so here is one from a month ago.

Downtown Mystic holds a special place in my heart. My great uncle used to live in Mystic and he would always have this huge family picnic every summer. His house was within walking distance of the downtown area, so my mom and grandparents and other adults would walk all of us kids down to go window shopping. I remember loving it so much as a kid. The downtown area is full of little shops and so much nautical stuff that I can't even handle it. I mean there was a store just for boat stuff and nautical trinkets. It was so cool. There were stores for seashells, stores for gems, candy stores, ice cream shops, toy stores...just everything you can imagine.

There's this little place near the aquarium called Olde Mistick Village that's a separate shopping center. There was a place that specialized in fancy grilled cheeses that I was dying to try since grilled cheese is one of my favorite things to eat. I got the grilled cheese with roasted artichoke hearts, and it was fantastic. The place is called Bleu Squid and they're also a bakery and cheese shop!

The village also had a general store where they sell salsas, jams, produce, syrup, etc. as well as gifts and home decor. They have it all, pretty much! There was this little lighthouse lamp that I really wanted, but I couldn't justify spending the money on it. :\

Top: Forever 21//Shorts: Forever 21//Necklace: gift from Katie//Shoes: Rialto

This outfit was my go-to outfit for summer. It's so comfortable and breezy. I love the crop top and high-waisted shorts combo. I can't wait to transition that into crop tops with high-waisted pants for the fall!

New York, New York

While my younger brother was visiting us from Alabama last month, my dad decided that we should take a day trip into New York City since my brother has never been. He's 15, so it was definitely a must that he needed to see the city. It got me thinking about the first time I went to the city and what I must've thought of it, but I was pretty little so I don't really remember my first impressions of it. It's kind of a bummer because I think it'd be interesting to compare to now. Most of the day was spent just walking around and taking in the sights.

Of course we had to take him to see Times Square, so we headed towards there after getting off at Grand Central. We walked by the Empire State Building and the New York Public Library. We saw the ball and the year still atop where it dropped on New Years Eve. It's neat to see in person still to this day.

Because I'm a such a huge Disney fan, I had to go to the giant store they have in Times Square. It made me miss Disney World and I vowed that it would hold me over until I went again, but I don't think it'll do anymore. We also visited the big Hershey store and M&Ms store because I am apparently a child.

We ate lunch at this burger place called Five Napkins Burgers. I really loved the decor and feel of the place. The food was also really good. I got a bacon cheeseburger and opted for tater tots instead of fries. These tater tots were probably the best I've ever had. They weren't like the normal, standard tater tots you always get. These were full of with what seemed like a cheesy mashed potato-esque filling baked into a crunchy outer tot. I was so amazed. They were so delicious! Right next door was a cookie place that I just couldn't resist because the name is so cute and so is the outside of the shop. It's called Schmackary's. I mean, come on. I ended up getting a Caramel Apple Crisp cookie, and it was really good!

We walked around the theater district a bit and just all over the place. We visited B&H Photo and Video, which is always insane to go to. They have so much camera stuff, among all kinds of other electronics. My mom and I took funny pictures on the iMacs they had and they were cracking me up.

When we looped back around to Times Square, there was a man dressed like a pimp playing a makeshift drumset and asking people to give him money if they wanted a picture or video of him. The problem was that he kept stopping so much to tell people to give him money that he was barely playing. I got a picture and video of him, though until he started yelling at me to give him money...haha. I also got a picture with a Jack Sparrow doppelganger. He wanted money too, but he was nice about it.

The last thing my brother and I did before we headed back to the train station was see this exhibit in the Discovery Museum called The Art of the Brick. It's an exhibition by this artist where all of the stuff was made with Legos. He built everything with Legos! It's really incredible and cool to look at!

He recreated a lot of famous paintings, sculptures, etc., but also built some original pieces too. On the label of each piece, it tells you how many Lego pieces were used in the process. One of the biggest ones was the Moai and the T-Rex. That's right. They had a T-rex.

There were other exhibitions too, but since they're kind of expensive, we just chose one. The Legos one seemed the most interesting and fun. After we were done going through it, we headed back to the train station to go home. New York is alright for a day or two, but after that I start to go a little crazy. It's too loud and too crowded and just too much for me. I need my greenery and quiet, open spaces. Orchards, parks, beaches, wooded areas, etc. I require these things to be happy and the city just doesn't cut it.