February Photo Challenge: Days 22-29 & Announcement!

Here's the last installment for this month's photo challenge!


23. Your shoes. The Melissa Riding Tall by Frye.


24. Inside your bathroom cabinet. This is skin products only. Hair and makeup stuff live in another cabinet.


25. Green. With envy that is. I came home from a long day of school and work to find this butterbean still tucked under the covers. Good life, I tell ya.


26. Night. Can you guess which night this was?

27. Something you ate. Markus and I really love Zyka for our Indian food fix. Don't be fooled by the cafeteria trays and styrofoam plates, the food really is delicious. Here we have the Chili Chicken, samosas, Paneer Makhani, and naan.

And days 28 and 29 got sucked into my latest project, which I've been hinting at all week. Okay, not really a longterm project by any means, but a To-Do, nonetheless.

Friends who know me can only guess the depth of my closet. It knows no bounds. So it's been a while since I've done a thorough cleansing. How else to do it than with some of my favorite gals? Lana, whose closet rivals my own, will be participating as well. Hope to see some of you Atlanta and Decatur ladies there!

February Photo Challenge: Days 15-21

You know when you get sucked into a midterms + multiple jobs vortex? Yeah, me too. Here's a belated Febphotoaday update.

15. Phone.

16. Something new. New exercise gear, new workout regimen. Uhh, in general working out again = new.

17. Time. Sunset time, time to leave the office!

18. Drink. Soda sips from my favorite local pizza place.

19. Something you hate to do: counting pennies. Can former retail girls relate? Yuck. Why are there like four rolls in there?

20. Handwriting. Midterms, as I mentioned.

I ended up accidentally skipping day 21 since I feel asleep early on Wednesday--and didn't wake up until the next morning. So I'll throw in a bonus snapshot.

Markus bought me tickets for the Portlandia tour for Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, I had a work event already scheduled, and couldn't attend. BUT THEN! They added a second show last night, and we got to go giggle with Fred and Carrie firsthand.

Even better? Uhh, special guest Margaret Cho. I was close enough to pass them notes. Eek!

Have a great weekend!

Jason Travis: The Most Fun Engagement Photos, Ever

It's been a busy week! I feel like my Twitter feed was BLOWING UP all week between NYFW and Social Media Week. It's almost too much excitement, enough that Valentine's Day almost got lost in the mix.

I said almost. It seems like love wasn't totally forgotten in Atlanta. In fact, we even made Mashable's top ten list of cities with the most engagements as number 1! And with engagements comes a whole slew of whirlwind activities and planning, starting with a photo session for the big announcement. Being tapped into the creative community in town, I get to see so much amazing work from my friends.

My friend Jason Travis shot this set for Karyn and Keith (of Oryx and Crake fame), and I couldn't help but share. Love and creative minds really do mix. Inspired by Jon von Holleben's Dreams of Flying series.

Whovian themed <3

A clever nod to their musical talents!

How clever are these themes! I keep looking and looking at these, and can't help having a big silly grin on my face.

Find more of Jason's work at http://www.jasontravisphoto.com/.

Learn more, find tour dates, and listen to tracks from our lovely couple's band
Oryx and Crake here: oryxandcrakeband.com

February Photo Challenge: Days 8-14

I've been hanging in there for week 2 of the photo challenge. This week I've been a lot more focused on composition and incorporating features from other apps (DipTic, Tilt-Shift, Camera+). I can already tell that this upcoming week is going to be more about scrambling to Get It Done since my calendar's pretty full! How's everyone else doing?

8. Sun: the last rays of the day. Taken during (my parents') moving day mayhem.

9. Front Door: guaranteed greeting when I get home.

10. Self portrait: shopping for cocktail lemons, a rare dressdown occurrence.

11. Makes you happy: bou-cou jewelry trunk show at Squash Blossom = new bullet necklace.

12. Inside your closet. I promise that I will eventually do a closet tour post. Pinky swear!

13. Blue: lots of blue in my new tucked away study space. This is literally the view from this chair in the library. Wild, right?

14. Heart. Playing around with a mix of different camera apps.

February Photo Challenge: Days 1-7

I've managed to keep up with Fat Mum Slim's February photo a day challenge so far. It's nice to have a low pressure daily reminder to keep being creative. Just the thing to get my blog face back on.

Here's a recap of what I've come up with. Some are so-so, but I feel more inspired than ever to create lots of GREAT.

1. Your view today: the view out of my student office window at school.

2. Words: How people used to exchange words. Through the mail. This mail chute lives on in my building.

3. Hands. Bling it on.

4. A stranger: This little bundle of joy is still a stranger to me! Can't wait to meet her.

5. 10am: Writing the most recent blog post on Sunday morning.

6. Dinner: Hanging out in the Student Center. Sabotaging any notion of a dietary change.

7. Button: The set of buttons I face every day.

P.S. Anyone else participating? I'd love to see your posts!

P.P.S. Did anyone else watch the live streaming IFBCon? Or go? OMG the bits I caught were so good!

Outfits of Yesterdays

dear creatures sweater, levis jeggings, frye savannah sandals

During my fall internship, I finally had daily access to a blogger-on-the-go's favorite tool: the office bathroom mirror. I'm already a bag lady/packrat as it is, so adding my camera bag to the mix of briefcase, schoolbag, and packed lunch (and dinner!) wasn't really so appealing.

j.crew cardigan and buttondown, j brand jeans, frye boots

Every so often, when the mood struck me, and my outfit was snapshot worthy, I would take some quick mirror shots during my lunch break. For those of you ladies that do this on the regs, I applaud you. It is kind of nervous-making. And it's hard to explain to people what you are doing...

joxasa cuff, AG jeans, bass loafers

But why did I end up caching these away instead of posting them? Well, the perfectionist in me couldn't help but wrinkle her nose. I had a hard time convincing myself to post anything I considered sub-par compared to the rest of my blog.

charlotte taylor dress

So going back to the bit about not liking to carry my DSLR all over, my iPhone has become my default camera. And the mobile camera social phenomenon really changed my stance on posting casual snapshot photos.

madewell shirt, anthro jacket, bass loafers

Creating Instagrams is like blowing up little digital balloons and letting them drift away, without too much thought. It's very casual and lots of fun--how blogging used to be before I got too caught up in keeping pace with everyone else.

j. crew jacket and shirt, levis bellbottoms, frye sandals

I thought about it, and what better way to take the pressure off of getting back on the blogwagon than with a cameraphone shots post? A different way to OOTD, if you will.

dear creatures dress and coat, j.crew cardigan, all black shoes

And while we're all in the insta-photo spirit, I will also be participating in the #FEBphotoaday challenge on Instagram (and by default Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook). Play along using the list below!

OOTD, Road Trip Edition

I think Alicia's direction for these was, "Okay, now ham it up!"

Right. No, actually she pretty much said the opposite. I'm like a wiggly puppy when someone else is trying to take my photo. I never sit still long enough for anyone to get a shot in. Despite my animated posing for action shots, she managed.

This was a random rock face by the side of the road right outside of Summerville. (Isn't Summerville the cutest name for a Southern town? We kept seeing the road markers counting down the miles to the town and couldn't help but squeal in glee as we approached!)

I chose the lightest and most Southern fried dress I could rustle up for the trip. I'm usually monstrously uncomfortable on car rides and comfort was key for exploring the unknown. As sweatpants would have likely contributed to heat stroke, a prim little frock was the perfect outfit.

Have a great weekend, y'all!

Outfit details:

• Annie Greenabelle Open Back Bow dress from Topshop
• Saltwater Sandals in Navy
• TOMS Classic 101 sunglasses
• J. Crew Timex Traveler watch
• Nikon D90 with limited edition Homemade Grits strap

(photos courtesy of Alicia)

Photo fun: Diana Mini

Unfortunately, I've been endlessly delayed at the Charlotte airport en route to my grand French adventure. This means, lucky for you--an impromptu post!

So I briefly updated you guys on my photographic endeavors (as in, I took one refresher course). Inspired by the additional knowledge, I finally purchased another lens for my DSLR for the trip.

Because I was feeling extra artsy fartsy, I decided I needed a little film camera to take with me as well. And to be totally honest, I've been itching to add a lomo to my collection of cameras. And as it happens, the local Urban Outfitters is always equipped with a decent selection, usually with a handful on sale.

markus and big kitty being good sports as i continuously
flash my giant paparazzi flash into their faces.

I found a Diana MINI (Alice in Wonderland edition!) among all of the random home markdowns and decided it needed to come home with me. These are all from a test roll I shot last week. I thought I would feel more pretentious, but really the camera itself is so precious that my obnoxious paparazzi shots come off more as cute.

color flash + king of pops lemon ricotta pop

big kitty, always pouting

mmmacchiato

the flash/film/whatever did this weird business where 
in full darkness it turned our hair grey!

alicia, being a good sport @ empire state south

I wasn't particularly adventurous on this roll, but I'm really excited to see the results from the City of Lights!