Etsy and I Have a Problem

I've been spending a lot of my time on Etsy lately. A. Lot. I can't cease being amazed by all the beautiful things people are creating! I want everything, but there are some things that I simply need love.

1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8

These are all at the top of my favorites list. Not only do I love these particular items, but I adore the rest of the things in the respective shops, as well! Don't you just love Amanda Catherine Designs' prints? I think I need them all. And these whimsical pieces by Ninemuse?! Divine. Seriously, I am going to be making some major purchases coming up!

What is your favorite Etsy shop?

The Mountains

This weekend some friends and I took a trip to a cabin in West Virginia. I've never been to the state before, and while we were a little too far in the middle of nowhere for me to be 100% comfortable, it was really nice to get out of the city for a weekend. The scenery was gorgeous (if snowy) and hiking was so much fun! March has been a rough month for me, emotionally, so it was good to have fun and remember things I forgot I love!

 I can't wait to head back in summer when the hiking will be a little easier (melting snow is hard to walk on!) and there will be more people around - winter is kind of dead, apparently. But in the summer, this part of West Virginia is popular with hikers, mountain bikers, and horseback riders! I can't wait to check it out!

SHAYvorites, 3/22/13

I'm off to West Virginia this weekend (checking another state off my list of places I've been)! I think it's going to be cold and snowy, but I'm excited regardless. What are your plans for the weekend?

• I'm always amazed by others' entrepreneurial spirits (I definitely do not have that kind of skill), so I was super excited to read about The B Bar, an awesome-sounding collaboration between Meg and Victoria. I can't wait for it to open!
• I don't know about you, but Google Analytics is super confusing to me. Thankfully, Design*Sponge has a great article on how to use it!
• Never really new the difference between dicing and julienning? Well, now you do.

Photography!

Ever since I was a kid, I've really liked photography. It's one of my favorite art forms, and I was always the one who took the most pictures on trips and vacations (when everyone used 1 disposable camera - ha! - I would use 3-4). I still remember how I excited I was to receive my first digital camera freshman year of college, and I shudder to think how many awful, never should have seen the light of day pictures I took in those 4 years.

It wasn't until I went to Ireland, however, that I found myself becoming more interested in photography as an art form. Follow that up with a couple art history classes on photography, a healthy obsession with Ansel Adams, some awesome photography blogs, and my very first DSLR (thanks for passing it on to me, dad!) and I've become more and more interested in photography!

While I've read a lot about using my DSLR, own 4 lenses (these two are my favorites), I've never actually taken a class in photography. My father has and absolutely loved it, and with summer on the horizon, I am thinking it is time to finally sign up for one. I want to improve my technique, and explore photography both as an artform and in a more documentary sense. However, there are so many options out there.

So far, I'm taking a look at the following:

• Rock Your Camera: Photo 101
• Photo 101 & Photo 102 (and lots of other useful things)
• A photography course at Stanford - all of the course materials are online for free!!
• Improve Photography's classes

There are so many options out there! 

Are you interested in photography? Have you taken any classes?

If you're interested in my work to date (including some of those awful photos from college), check out my Flickr page!

Curly Girl Update!

Whoops. I completely failed at this one. So much for updating every week... But, seeing as it is now almost 2 months since I went no-poo, I figured maybe some of you were interested to see where I stand.  And yes, my hair has been trimmed. No, I did not go to a salon. My mother did it. We were experimenting. It mostly worked...

Pros:

• Hair is noticeably in better condition. Less dry and straw-like. Also noticing that it is less tangled, but I think not wearing knit scarves is also playing a big role in that. 
• Because hair is less dry, it is shinier! But that really depends on the day. 
• My scalp is not itchy or flaky. It's just like when I used shampoo, but I know it's healthier and happier!

Cons:

• I'm not sure if it's the products I'm using or just my hair (it could really be either), but its "niceness" depends on the day/time/when I washed it/what order I put product in it/weather. It is still not consistently uniform or even curly (hence why my ends are all weird and straight above).
• I have so. much. hair. It's becoming almost too much to deal with, particularly since it is getting warmer and before I know it, it will be 125 degrees out. It also uses so much product. Seriously, I go through SO MUCH LEAVE IN CONDITIONER.
• It's still not as soft and un-frizzy as I'd like it to be. I feel like I am still using a lot of product and nothing is weighing it down. Again, this might be a factor of the length/insane thickness. 

Despite the cons, I'm not planning on switching off the no-poo method any time soon. It's just not good for my hair. I am however considering cutting a lot of it off. I've been stalking these lovely ladies as inspiration (I'm leaning towards Megan's style, as I think my hair would be more apt to behave that way). Which do you like better?

Top O' the Mornin'

I hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day! DC was surprisingly empty when I went out for brunch. I'm not sure if everyone was down at the parade or still in bed from Saturday night!

I wore this Friday, which was one of the first days I arrived home while it was still light out (and not all gross from the gym)! It's wonderful. Being a (mostly) fashion blogger is so difficult in the winter. There's hardly any daylight in which to take photos, so you have to take them inside (which is hard!), and when you can get outside, it's freezing. I'm so glad spring is finally arriving.

I'm so excited that the cherry trees will be blooming soon! It's one of my most and least favorite times in DC. On the one hand, the blossoms are gorgeous and it's really nice to run around the Tidal Basin and see them. But, the cherry trees = Cherry Blossom Festival, which is one of the busiest times in DC. Which means there are tourists everywhere hogging the sidewalks and generally clogging the city. And you wouldn't believe how many people come into the Smithsonian each day. It's incredible! It's like DisneyWorld, except I work there and have to wend my way through the crowds to get anywhere!

 Have you ever been to DC for Cherry Blossom Festival?

 {Blazer: High Maintenance via TJ Maxx (similar) | Top: Loft Outlet (similar) | Jeans: True Religion | Shoes: Nine West (similar and on sale!) | Watch: Fossil | Lippie: NARS Heat Wave}

SHAYvorites, 3.15.2013

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I think spring has finally arrived! Hooray!

• Interested in contributing posts to other blogs? Polish up your own, because as Alt says, your blog is your resume!
• Personally, I waver between loving my hair long and wanting it short (there's a lot of it). It's a never-ending debate, and Into the Gloss rounds up arguments from both sides (be warned, if men dictating how women should look based on their personal views annoys you, then don't read some of the articles arguing for long hair!)
• Elsie and Emma round up their favorite hair tutorials over on A Beautiful Mess. It's posts like these that make me wish I were more than a one trick pony when it comes to hair (and that my hair were more manageable!)

Follow MC+M!

As I'm sure most of you have heard already, Google is killing Google Reader. I won't get into my personal outrage here (but believe me, I'm outraged, as it's my favorite of the readers I've tried), but this is a serious blow for those of us who follow blogs and new sources. Google Reader was a quick, simple way of syndicating feeds from a variety of sources and allowed you to organize them however you liked. Whatever their true reasons (a drop in users was cited as one - but would the Internet be so outraged if this were truly the case?), I think this will be a serious blow to Google. But, unless they choose to listen to the people's petitions to keep reader (found here and here), our beloved Reader will be gone as of July 1.

But! Worry not. You can continue to follow MC+M! Find me on Bloglovin', run my RSS feed through another service, or subscribe via email (sign up in the sidebar)!

*for those of you following via GFC, I don't know what will happen to that! Given that Google is really pushing it's Google+ service, I can see them removing that, as well as Reader. Just as a precaution, follow me elsewhere!*

Camouflage

Are other cities, besides DC, plastered with ads for Gap's new line of skimmers? They seem to be on every bus and bus stop here, and I was so excited to finally head to my local store to pick some up. They come in every color of the rainbow, plus a few others, and I picked up 3 pairs and will probably head back at some point to pick up some more! I'm just a little obsessed.

I first saw these camo skimmers on Caitlin and new they had to be one of the pairs I bought. I love them so much! They're surprisingly versatile, as the pattern isn't very bright and I am so excited to pair them what what I already own. 

These have the distinction of being the first pair of patterned pants I own. I am obviously slow to get on this trend, but I was really unsure if I liked it. I figured I'd ease into it, and now I realize that I am totally down with patterned bottoms. Which, obviously, means I have to go back to Gap and get these and these.

Have you jumped on the patterned pants trend yet?

{Top: Ralph Lauren via Macy's | Pants: Gap | Shoes: Nine West | Watch: Fossil | Glasses: Polo Ralph Lauren (similar) | Lippie: NARS Schiap | Nails: Essie Lilacism}

New Hampshire

SHAYvorites, 3.8.2013

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Since last Friday was spent in transit to Massachusetts and New Hampshire, I'm including some of my favorites from last week, too! There are so many wonderful things I see each week that never fail to inspire me.

• Anyone else's skin super dry due to winter? Even though my t-zone is wicked oily, the rest of it has been terrible this winter. I can't wait to try this avocado and honey mask.
• IFB reminds us that to stand out in the blogosphere, you only have to discover your passion.
• As someone with large pores, any way of "shrinking" them is something I'll try!
• Camille Styles shows off 3 great tricks for making your eye-makeup look awesome!
• MC+M is definitely a small blog. And while I'd love to be another Man Repeller, I'm happy with where it is right now (most of the time). Alt shares how to maintain your small blog with pride.

Madewell Obsessed

I think I've mentioned my obsession with Madewell before. (Seriously, I am obsessed. I want to own the entire store. Literally, the entire thing). Normally, I only check out their clothes, but after seeing these booties around the blogosphere (they are now mine and the best Christmas present ever, thanks mom!), I began to also check out their shoes. Oh my god. They're wonderful. I need them all. I've been eagerly waiting to see what they rolled out for spring, and I am not disappointed.

{1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7}

Skimmers in fun colors, another collaboration with Keds, and adorable sandals! Madewell is hitting it out of the park, yet again. I need to get my hands on all the things. Those pink skimmers! And the stripes! Oh god, I can't wait until it's warm enough to wear all of these!

What are your favorite shoes for spring?

*I was not paid or sponsored by Madewell to write any of this. I'm just seriously digging their shoes!*

Insta-Weekend

UNH warmups | pretty flowers in the hotel restaurant | Market Square | downtown Portsmouth | typical New England house | beer!

As I mentioned yesterday, I flew up to New England this weekend. We had family in town from Ohio and we all went to New Hampshire to watch my brother play hockey. We stayed in Portsmouth, NH (if you've never been there, seriously, go! It's adorable), and had a great time! There are so many great restaurants and shops, and it's right on the water. And it's only a few minutes drive from Maine and beaches!

Also, follow me on Instagram!

February Round-Up!

Oops, I'm a little behind on this. And there were no SHAYvorites on Friday. But I was out of town. So forgive me. The week came to a close extremely quickly, and I fell behind on packing, much less blogging! Oops! But, my brother scored a hat trick this weekend, so it's all good!

Anyway, I thought I was doing really well February, until I realized that I only had three outfit posts last month. Gak. Oh well, it was a short month. That's a good excuse. Right? Posts can be found here, here, and here!