It's just a bunch of Hocus Pocus!

When a weekend isn't rejuvenating enough, can we please get a do-over?...

Friday night was for relaxing, but Saturday was filled with a wild goose chase for costume supplies, my aunt's 50th birthday celebration, and a Halloween house party with decorations worth an Academy Award.

Then on Sunday we went to Salem, along with what felt like everyone else in New England. It was crowded af but it was magical in its chaos and a beautiful day to walk around. A section of street was completely shut down and packed to the brim with tents, vendors, mayhem, and people dressed in the BEST costumes I've ever seen.

I swear, L and I impressed ourselves with our Fairly Odd Parents costume from Saturday night, but we were nothing compared to these people. They do Halloween and they do it HARD.

We took in all of the insane stimuli - the ghosts, ghouls, creeps, creatures, and characters - as we walked all the way through the downtown area, popping into authentic witch shops and picking up some magical crystals and loose tea leaves, guaranteeing to aid with anxiety, bring good luck, and increase immunity. Bippity boppity boo.

Once we looped around, we found the Witch Dungeon Museum and watched a re-enactment of Elizabeth Proctor's witch trial. The history of the witch trials is actually fascinating, and something that I can't believe I didn't know more about. I actually used to be obsessed with witches as a young child... no, I'm not sure how much supervision my parents were giving me when I visited the town library...

We were then led into the re-creation of the actual witch dungeon, where as many as 200 people were held during the witch hysteria of 1692. The actual dungeon was found completely preserved in the 50's but DESTROYED.

What were they thinking?!

The Crucible hadn't been written yet (which really brought all the witch fame to the town) and the people living there were more than a little bit embarrassed that their ancestors convicted hundreds of people and hanged twenty in fifteen months of terror and chaos. Fortunately, one of the support beams from the original structure was kept by a demolition worker and donated to the museum. I touched it with my bare hand. Hopefully no spirits followed me home to Connecticut...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN.

And also, happy last day of October. Since my goals for October were a little bit different than my previous months (and I honestly loved it), this is what I learned this month.

I can't drink like I used to. Did you read this embarrassing account of me losing my shit at happy hour? My body is old and sleep deprived and I get drunk 700x faster than I did back in college. Oh, the good old days. I can still have a nice little adult beverage, but let's limit it to two. Our wallets and our livers will be much happier.

Having pink hair doesn't make you more fun, but it definitely doesn't hurt. In October I decided it'd be fun and different to dye my hair this pretty rosy color. It's faded a little bit, but I've been loving it. It's helped me to not take my appearance so seriously and also make me feel a little bit like a unicorn, which is of course my true calling.

Adventures come in all shapes and sizes. L and I went on some fantastic adventures this month, and I couldn't be happier. I think I've succeeded in finally giving him the adventure bug! We've been going to farmer's markets, on scenic road trips, and it was HIM who suggested we go to Salem this weekend! We're in the process of making a list of all the day trips in driving distance we want to try and go to. He even coined the term "Adventure Sunday". I couldn't be more of a proud mama bear. But adventures do come in all shapes and sizes and a relaxing drive through farmland is just as magical as a long weekend trip to Savannah. The small magic of our October adventures reminded me of this.

Being sore all week is a feeling that I missed. For the past two weeks I've been hitting the gym HARD, the way that I used to. My body is tired, aching, and craving my bed when I clock off from my shift but I suck it up like the cry baby that I am, change into my "gym leggings" (not to be confused with my "work leggings") and get my work out in. And my body loves being sore. Now I just have to shit up the Vitamin Shoppe and get some BCAA's so that sore feeling doesn't turn into not being able to walk down stairs for four days straight.

November 1st is tomorrow and while I honestly cannot believe this year is flying by so quickly, I am so excited to begin the holiday season this year. Adios October, you were pretty great.

The Friday Five

This week was just as full as previous weeks, and damn, it flew by.

Guess what, there's six things I want to talk about this Friday because rules are made to be broken! (but friday five just has a certain ring to it, so that's what the title shall remain). We're really living life on the edge over here.

The first snow. Does the first snow always happen in October? I feel like that's just the way Connecticut rolls.

I was eating my lunch in the break room - which is basically a closet with some cubbies in it - when my assistant manager BURST in. SNOW! SNOW! he excitedly pointed out of our giant windows at the front of the gym. I threw my hands up in disbelief. My quinoa salad went flying.

Fat flakes rained down from the sky. I moaned dramatically. So soon! I can't even believe it! But deep down inside, I love the first few snows. It's magical every year. So what if I'm still four years old. Until it's still snowing in May. Then Mother Nature can stop showing off. OVER IT.


Window shopping. As in obsessively searching websites for the perfect fall sweaters, putting them in my cart, then never checking out. Does anyone else do this? Sometimes this is enough to satisfy my shopping cravings and sometimes I lose it and pull that trigger... sometimes I go trigger happy and place a mass order of BABW candles. #NoRegrets. But I AM on the hunt for the perfect, budget-friendly, super soft sweaters and I think I'm going to check out Old Navy sometime this weekend. Wish me luck.


Lovesick by Banks. This is my immediate favorite off of my all-time favorite singers new album.

It's achy, lovey, dark, and gooey. It's everything that I want out of a Banks song. It makes me crave that obsessive, unhealthy lovesick feeling you get at the veryyyy beginning of a relationship. I mean, looking back, that feeling is always kind of icky and addictive. People lose themselves in that feeling. Like I loose myself in this song.


No make-up, no problem.
Alicia Keys is maybe on to something. I've been going PRETTY MUCH make-up free for the past week. It's been sort of liberating forcing people to look at my oily T-zone and acne scarring. Listen, when you wake up at 4am, there are some sacrifices that have to be made. Obviously hitting snooze twice is not a sacrifice I'm willing to make. Looking put together is!

Not only that, but I have no desire to put on make-up when I do have time. It just seems a little bit like a waste of time if all I'm doing is going to work, working out, then teaching dance classes. Why clog my pores to impress a bunch of senior citizens on treadmills and 8 year olds? So my natural skin has actually been looking pretty damn good!


Whitney Simmons. This Youtuber is literally life changing. She is bubbly, quirky, high energy, and yes, slightly annoying in the way a chihuahua is slightly annoying. But she sure knows her shit about fitness.

She does SHORT, to the point workout videos using gym equipment that I actually like. I've had enough of the "27 minutes, you can do it anywhere, body weight workouts" that are all over the place. I do actually enjoy picking things up and putting them down. Girls can lift too!

So far I've done her back and biceps, chest and triceps, and legs and booty videos. I really like this order and workout schedule for myself and today I plan on doing one of her shoulder and ab videos. Abs are made in the winter (I made that up, they're made in the kitchen but I'd honestly rather make brownies in the kitchen).

Being a dance teacher. Being a dance teacher is so many things. It's exhausting. It's exciting. It's frustrating. But sometimes it's so, so sweet.

Yesterday was my last batch of classes for the week. I teach 7 classes total Monday through Thursday. On Thursdays I teach 3 back to back. It ain't easy but someone's gotta do it. I had to toss back a cup of coffee just to drag myself into the dance studio. Before the class started, I was playing music, deciding what to work on in the class, when two of the little girls in my beginner class came into the room. And they absolutely melted my heart.

I watched them, slightly concerned, "making up a dance" by throwing themselves around to the music I was playing - on the ground, around the room, onto each other.

"Try not to tire yourselves out you guys, class hasn't even started!"

I said, looking at the clock and scowling because it was 5:07 and every other damn kid in the class was late.

"I just love to dance so much Miss Danielle, it makes me so happy."

Cue heart melting into a puddle on the floor. This is why I do this, I thought as I gave this little girl a hug and tried to hide my teary eyes. Thank you Kailin, for the sweet reminder. But cartwheels are still not allowed in modern class.

Winter Birthday Probz

Having a birthday in the winter is literally the worst. All my peoples born November through March, raise your hands if you agree.

My birthday inconveniently falls on December 20th, yupp five days before Christmas. At the risk of sounding like a brat, I've been getting gypped for 23 years. Friends have always been busy with family functions around my birthday time, no one is in the mood to spend any money after dropping it all on Christmas presents. Like c'mon you guys, I know Christmas is important, but IT'S MY BIRTHDAY. *stomps feet, pouts, and whines*

In all seriousness...
I haven't done anything actually fun on my birthday in many years. For year 22, some friends and I tried to go to the casino but I was suffering from a broken heart and was, in laymens terms, a fucking disaster. Crying, refusing to have a drink, trying to text my ex, the whole 9 yards. Not fun for anyone.

Last year was lowkey and we went to Margaritas and I got one margarita and a cheese quesadilla and went home and went to sleep. Definitely an improvement over year 22, but... I think I can do better.

I have these two options in my head that I can't get out, so I need a little bit of help from the blog world (if you're out there!) deciding what it is exactly that I want to do, keeping in mind that my friends oh so kindly expressed to me that they weren't born into royalty so they can't go blowing all their money just for my special, only comes once a year, day. So here are the options.

Option #1: Isolated Cozy Overnighter 
Split an Air Bnb up in Vermont with 4-6 of my close friends for a two day getaway. Highly preferably a log cabin. We can drive up by carpooling together in L's dad's minivan, saving money by splitting on gas.

I'm envisioning:
- cozy blankets and a roaring stone fireplace
- hot chocolate spiked with Bailey's
- a DIY wine and cheese platter
- a movie marathon (Harry Potter, because it's my freakin' birthday)
- board games and card games a la Cards Against Humanity
- a snowball fight outside if we're feeling frisky

It's cozy, it's personal, it's quite possibly the definition of hygge. Which brings me to option #2, which is the completely opposite vibe...

Option #2: NYC Winter Wonderland 
Take a train from New Haven to NYC to experience the Great Apple in all of it's
Christmas-ified glory (which I've never done!!!). Possibly a day trip, possibly stay one night depending on if I can find a reasonably priced hotel on Groupon.

I would love to:
- see the giant Christmas tree all lit up
- go ice skating at Rockefeller Center
- walk through Chelsea Market
- see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular (I've never seen it!!!)
- go to a bar one of my coworkers told me about that is 100% decorated in all Christmas everything
- ride a horse drawn carriage through Central Park if I'm feeling like a really over the top birthday bitch

It looks magical, something that would celebrate my birthday AND get me deep into the Christmas spirit. But it could also be crowded, stressful, and freezing cold. Which L and my friends haven't failed to point out to me.

What do you think? What would you do? 

I'm trying to plan this super in advance so that I can actually DO SOMETHING for year 24, be it cozy and warm or slushy yet marvelous. Help a sister out?

Haunted Spooks + Scenic Routes

If you missed where I left off, here's exactly how a happy hour can go wrong in under two hours. Let's all learn from our mistakes - and not snapchat all of our college friends who we haven't really spoken to in over a year while we're drunk in the bathroom at 6:30pm. Great idea!

On Saturday night 12 mutual friends, some of whom had never met each other before, were organized by my crazy friend Shawn (a self-proclaimed "spooky boy" aka someone more than a little bit obsessed with Halloween) to take a white 12-seat passenger van to Agawam, MA for the much anticipated New England Scare Fest. The ride up there felt like a field trip in a school bus, it was hilarious. The actual event was... meh. It was fun to go to a haunted house with such a big group of friends but it was truly just a glorified haunted house.

I think I was expecting a bigger area transformed into a spooky village a la Halloweentown. Give me a real life Halloweentown and I'll be one happy cookie. But this was okay. The actual haunted house took about 15 minutes to go through (thank god because my poor heart couldn't have lasted any longer, especially when L dropped my hand and sprinted away from me as a Texas chainsaw murderer chased us through a fenced maze). After the haunted house part there was an after-party in the parking lot with live music, drinks, and backyard games. We played a little cornhole and had our own dance party, then relocated to Bobby V's Sports Bar for cheese quesadillas, some more adult beverages, and a little bit of warmth since it was cold and drizzly and we were all shivering outside.

Saturday morning started slow. L and I went out for breakfast sandwiches and bagels since some of his extended family had stayed over that night. We had every intention of laying around and doing nothing the rest of the day, until I got that restless itch I sometimes get that turns me into a psycho bitch if I don't do something to satisfy is.

So we took the scenic route.

Literally. We packed road snacks and "road sodas" (spiked seltzers, 'cuz we're oh so bad) and took off on a spontaneous road trip. Best decision we made all weekend. Shawn and his boyfriend were kind of doing the same thing... so what if we stole their idea. We ended up meeting up at a castle and taking adorable pictures together. None of which I have to show right now because we were using a real camera with amazinggggggg quality that requires me to upload to a computer, which of course I don't actually have time to do.

After driving down to the Essex area (somewhere that I've somehow never been), I put a pre-planned route into my GPS via this dope app called Round. It's glitchy as hell but has scenic routes already planned in that direct straight into your GPS. We took the Connecticut Lower River Valley Scenic Route around Essex, East Haddam, and Old Lyme. After starting out our journey, we stopped for some beautiful foliage pictures near a pond that was probably (definitely) on someone's private property. Yolo.

It was probably the most beautiful day we could have picked for this random road trip. The sun was shining but not too brightly, it was brisk but not too chilly. The perfect fall day. We munched on turkey and cheese sandwiches and Goldfish crackers and rode into the sun while blasting Third Eye Blind. 

We stumbled upon the Essex Steam Train, and took Halloween pictures with some impressive decorations in front of a home improvement store. Hey, it doesn't take much to impress me! On our way to Gillette Castle, one of the major highlights in East Haddam, we pulled into a cafe called Two Wrasslin' Cats for a raspberry iced mocha. I wish I could teleport you to this place because it was like nowhere I've ever been. Every single surface, wall, and table was COVERED with cat memorabilia.

Cat pictures, paintings, statues, stuffed animals, books, mobiles, and more cluttered every single surface. It was stuffed to the brim, colorful, bright, in your face, yet somehow relaxing enough for high school students to sit in overstuffed armchairs by the windowsills and work on their homework. It was amazing.

Gillette Castle didn't disappoint either. Shawn and Trevor magically met up with us there - we even managed to snap some candid pictures of them sitting on a castle wall as we approached. Just call us the paparazzi. Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your long hair.

The views from the outlook were exactly what autumn colors are made of. We used the turrets and scenery as a backdrop for a myriad of adorable, yet shamefully basic pictures of lovers and friends. And a more fun time hadn't been had in a long time. Then they lived happily ever after. The end. 

Except not quite the end.

On our way toward finishing off the route, we saw FIFTEEN WILD TURKEYS CROSS THE ROAD. I'm sorry but ya girl is from the dense suburbs so this is not an every day occurrence for me. Along a desolate dirt road we stopped dead in our tracks when we saw two seemingly wild horses romping in a field, encompassed by a low wooden fence. I got out of the car and approached for some pictures, but immediately backtracked when they stopped what they were doing, gave me a dirty look, and started slowly approaching our car.

Nature is beautiful and scary.

We turned back because the sun was starting to set. But this was one of the most magical spontaneous adventures I've had in a long time - and it was all in my backyard. So go on a freakin' adventure. Pack some road snacks and take the scenic route. And don't forget your camera and the road sodas.

It's all right there, just a drive away. 

Happy Hour Gone Wrong

Good morning and happy happy Monday. But I am honestly devastated that this weekend is over because it was some of the most fun I've had in a damn long time. It starts out with me being the most drunk that I've been in... over a freakin' year. Because happy hour hit and it hit hard on Friday night. And when drinks are BUY ONE GET ONE FREE (literally, free. Totally free. I can't believe it either), happy hour can knock you flat on your ass. Also literally.

this shit is dangerous... 

So L and I were just chilling out, planning on having a totally relaxed Friday night, when we spontaneously decided to go to Asian Bistro, this magical happy hour place just minutes up the road. He was only drinking wine, so naturally he had three glasses - meaning that to take advantage of the happy hour special and "get our money's worth", as I kept saying, I had to get three drinks. So naturally I had one and a half personal scorpion bowls and a mai tai. And when I say that I was shitfaced, I mean it wholeheartedly. Because that shit tastes like JUICE and it's impossible to tell how much you're drinking. From what I remember of trying to run away outside the restaurant, refusing to give L my keys to drive us home, rolling in the grass in his side yard, refusing to enter the house, running into the storage room and throwing myself down on an extra mattress on the floor - yes, I was a disaster.

And this was all before 7:00pm.

Needless to say, we did nothing else on Friday night because ya girl was laid out. I woke up at 4am with the worst hangover I've had in over a year. After tossing, turning, moaning, puking, and fighting to stay alive for a few more hours, I had L run to CVS for me to get the only things I know to work to cure my unreal hangovers - yellow Gatorade and original cheddar Goldfish crackers.

I was so insane in college that I've probably been hungover to a point near death over 30 times. I pretty much have my hangover cure down to a science, and no matter what anyone tells me, this is the only thing that I'll believe works for me. 

THESE ARE THE ONLY THINGS THAT CURE MY HANGOVERS: 
- no less than 10 hours of sleep

- throwing up quite a lot 

- yellow Gatorade

- original cheddar Goldfish crackers

- not being touched or spoken to for no less than 10 hours 

- a lukewarm shower when I'm finally a little more human

After coming to around 2pm I was finally able to interact with the living, help L clean our apartment (which I'd partially destroyed) and settle in to binge a little bit of this season's American Horror Story. This show is usually too freaky for me and don't get me wrong, IT IS STILL SO CREEPY. But I'm kind of enjoying the plot line and different set up of this season. We're only on episode 3, so we'll see if this changes. 

The first day and a half of my weekend was eventful enough because of my intolerance to anything besides tequila (what was I thinking), but the rest of the weekend was so amazing that it deserves its own post so this one doesn't get too long. Check back to hear all about a haunted house, too many Coronas, a white van full of 12 adults, and a spontaneous decision to take the scenic route. 

The Friday Five

Hey what's up hello? HAPPY FRIDAY.
This week started off strong, man. Those warm days, that sunshine. I had so much energy... by the middle of Wednesday though, I was dragging. Seriously dragging. I think it's because I didn't have a single sip of coffee on Wednesday - what was I thinking???

Here are five things from this past week that made me happy, made me ponder, made me feel a lil somethin' somethin'.

The weather. Am I a boring old lady for talking about the weather? Maybe. I don't care. Records were broken on Tuesday and Wednesday. It's kind of a big deal. When I got in my car to head home from work both of those days, the thermostat inside my car read 88°F and it was fucking glorious. I spent as much time as physically possible outside - walking the dog, power walking around the neighborhood, on an outdoor patio, walking the track on the riverfront, sitting outside in my backyard as spiders fell from the trees and landed all over me... good times. But seriously, it was good times.

My coffee order. For future reference, a medium hot coffee with almond milk and a flavor shot of toasted almond has been my shit. Thanks to my coworker Neil for converting me to this from my SUGAR LADEN, CALORIE BOMB regular order (medium iced mocha latte light and sweet... again, what was I thinking???) I like coffee so much more now, because it doesn't make me feel sick to my stomach afterwards.

side note/funny story: 

I always thought that "light and sweet" for a coffee order meant like, light in calories yet still somehow sweet... like I thought this was the healthiest option. Why did no one correct me on this until a couple of months ago. Why! 

My wanderlust. I have been stagnant for way too long. I haven't even gone on a day trip since... I can't even remember! I go crazy when I don't go anywhere for too long, even if it's just to Rhode Island or New Haven or Boston. So I need to talk to bae and see where we can realistically day trip, probably the weekend after Halloween since we have plans all the way up until then. We are busy bees.

these feet were made for travelin'... 

The new hair. People are so funny, because they react one of three ways to my cotton candy colored birds nest. 

1. No reaction. They don't notice at all, or at least don't say anything. 

2. I love your hair! 
3. Oh my god, you dyed your hair! 

The last one is the funniest because I don't know what to say besides, "yeah I did! It's pink!" Like hello, they have eyes, obviously they can see that it's pink. But I was worried that I'd be over it within a few days - nope, still love it. It's doing exactly what I wanted, which is make me take myself a little less seriously and feel a little more fun. And spontaneous. Example A, I had about a hundred tasks to complete yesterday but instead organized two of my friends to meet for an outdoor happy hour. YOLO. 

Abundant sunshine. Vitamin D is my best friend. Which is why I kind of side-eye people when they say that moving to Florida is over-rated... is it though? I kind of don't think so. I'll trade humid temperatures with dreary bleary gray and overcast winters any day of my life. The sun has been shining every day this week and my spirits are higher than the ceiling. Higher than a kite. I know this feeling won't last forever, but that's also why I've been taking two vitamin D supplements every day for the past month and a half. Can't start prepping for the dread of winter too early! 

Happy Friday friends, blog, internet people,
future Danielle (who obsessively re-reads all of her posts because she's weird like that). 

Have a great weekend. 

It's 85 degrees + I'm not complaining

This Indian summer is ending today, but it was three days of total bliss and a jolt of energy in my little warm weather craving, sunshine loving body. Warm weather gives me the strangest feelings... a driving productivity, THE WORST WANDERLUST EVER.. and also this weird sadness?

The seasons give me crazy nostalgia. A lot of it revolves around college. I feel like my senses were 100 times more vivid when I was living in my charming (which translates to completely messy and disorganized) apartment in Bristol, RI. Sleepless nights, hungover mornings, hazy days packed with so much activity, faces, and places. Mostly I'm hit with waves of nostalgia for falling in love for the first time. I hate talking about this, and I hate writing about it even more. My first love was the biggest heart break I'll ever experience in my life. I truly believe this. I started falling in love in February. I was completely and totally wrapped up in a love that I believed would last forever by the time May rolled around.

So whenever a weather pattern hits that feels like spring is in the air, I get this mix of happiness (since I'm totally a warm weather person) oddly accompanied by a funny feeling in my stomach.

Earlier this week I surprised myself by doing a full body circuit workout with a trainer, taking Shermany-wormy (my old beagle dog whose name is actually just Sherman) for a walk, going for a 2 mile power walk, teaching a Spin class, and teaching an advanced modern dance class - all in one day. 

There's that crazy productivity! Is there anything more beautiful than wearing a tank top and crop leggings in the middle of October? All while working up a sweat surrounded by the brightest colors of yellow, orange, and red? I really don't think so! 

I did a lot of talking yesterday. I had a session with my therapist, who will always remind me of my grandma. Then I had an impromptu lunch date with Shawn and Melissa. I kept bringing up the same points. Over and over again. 

How much I hate my stagnant, monotonous schedule.

My need to go somewhere, anywhere, asap.
How spending money on stupid shit is the reason I don't have any money to make - what Shawn and I dramatically label - "memories that will last a lifetime". 

Shawn and I took a walk around the track at a riverfront park yesterday after getting lunch on an outdoor patio (he got butternut squash soup and French fries. I got a BBQ pulled work sandwich and a Caesar side salad. Melissa got fried mac & cheese, large meatballs, and BBQ pulled pork sliders. I mention this because I love food so fucking much). So yes, after those meals, we definitely needed to walk it off.

Shawn is one of my best friends. We just get each other most of the time and we can be so sarcastic and quick-witted and poke the most fun at each other. Like, yes, we did totally want to kill each other a little bit when we were in Costa Rica. But once we got started talking about Costa Rica while we walked the track, we couldn't stop. We STILL can't believe that we navigated traveling to a foreign, Spanish-speaking country together. Travel bloggers, you're cool and all, but this was single handedly the coolest thing I've ever done.

We had no travel agent, we had no big fun Groupon. 

It was just us, my friend who was staying there on a work visa, and a hostel with a full size mattress on the floor. 

So now our question that we contemplated as we walked was, where the hell do we want to go next? Costa Rica was in April 2015. So it'll be two years this April and we are seriously thinking we need to have a Grand Canyon Adventure. I've been saying this for literally years, but can never find anyone to help me put the plans into action. Shawn might be that person. I feel like going to the Grand Canyon and all those beautiful national parks is a weird rite of passage for millenials my age.

I'll be honest. It is brutally hard to be enamored with the idea of traveling all over and meanwhile be in a relationship with someone who suffers from pretty serious anxiety. Lucas doesn't have the same priorities I do when it comes to saving money for travel, so I've recently had to explain to him that this might mean he has to accept the idea that I may have to go solo, or with other friends. Baby steps, baby steps. I've gone to Boston and Rhode Island without him, and he was okay with the idea of me going to North Carolina for a few days to visit a friend there. Baby steps. Our relationship may have it's serious ups and downs but it hurts me a lot to see him grappling with anxiety that somethin bad will happen to me. But it's my life first and foremost. So we'll see.

Pretty In Pink

I've been talking about doing something a little more fun with my hair for awhile now. On Friday I went to my go to salon in New Haven, CT and Lucy turned my Pinterest hair dreams into reality.

I decided to go the pink route because in my opinion, girls with pink hair have more fun. Also, breast cancer awareness month is October, so what an appropriate time to go pink. And I thought it'd just suit my skin tone the best out of all the colors I was contemplating.

So first she put some lightener in it because the ends were already blonde, then she detangled it which took about 30 minutes because I hadn't run a brush through it in a few days... oops. Then she applied the color which was called rose Tuscany.

Rose Tuscany. How beautiful does that sound?

Lucas was watching Lucy's baby, (Lucas and Lucy are twins, by the way) so while my color developed we played with him and watched him sleep in his stroller a little bit. He was being so good, he barely made a peep the entire time his mommy was doing my hair!

Pinterest inspiration // the final results 

I love it!!! Pink but not too pink. Fun, but not too crazy. 

And my hair is still brown at the top, so when I wear it in a ponytail it's all "business in the front, party in the back." Hehe! 

The only downside is that my hair feels a little bit like straw. It always feels amazing when I leave the salon and then I'm totally incapable of getting those results on my own. But I have some sulfate free color preserving shampoo, sulfate free wave gel, and did a coconut oil hair mask yesterday. I just may need to use that coconut oil every damn day. 

After the hair transformation, Lucas and I got a slice of pizza at a tiny Italian pizzeria downstairs from the salon. Later that night, we went to a pop-up carnival in his town where he won me a stuffed penguin by playing a squirt gun game against a bunch of 8 year olds. It was hilarious. Then I got me some fried Oreos because you just have to get fried SOMETHING at a pop-up carnival! 

Saturday

We went pumpkin picking and I had some hot apple cider and apple crisp. So overall, it was a terrible eating weekend. *shrug* You gotta do what you gotta do when you have a serious autumn bucket list to accomplish and eating your weight in apple and pumpkin treats is a definite necessity. Despite the fact that you're participating in a weight loss challenge... oops again.

Saturday afternoon I had a little gathering of friends at my house. We decorated with minimal dollar store decorations (spider webs and Zombie Zone! caution tape) and ate veggie pizza and home-made mac & cheese in the backyard. We had a small fire roaring in our fire pit and toasted marshmallows for s'mores. It was our last little hurrah before the cold weather sets in, since we'd had a cookout in my backyard earlier this summer. Then a few of us went out dancing and I cut loose with a couple of tequila and OJ's and a totally expected impromptu dance battle with one of my best friends, Shawn. 

Sunday was spent relaxing, even though I did have to make a trip to the dance studio to work on a dance solo for my little cousin. My aunt, my mom, and Lucas hung out in our backyard while we were gone, gossiping and clipping coupons. On Sunday night we chilled hard, and watched a strange little movie called Five Dances - if you LOVE modern dance, you will be enamored by this movie, but otherwise you may get fed up with the heavy levels of angst, silence, and lack of real dialogue. 

Now, Happy Monday! 

This weeks forecast is literally unreal. It's going to be upper 70's, even 80(!!!!!) a couple of days. So I'm going to take full advantage of that and plan to go for a walk or work out outside every day that I can.

How was your weekend ?

The Friday Five

Do you know that saying, "the days drag but the years fly by?"

Lots of college kids like to say this when they wake up one day and suddenly it's graduation time. I disagree with this statement, because at least in my opinion, THE DAYS FLY BY AND THE YEAR FREAKIN' FLEWWWWW BY. 

Even this week went by in the blink of an eye. Maybe it's because I'm so busy? I cram so much into each day, but sometimes it feels like I don't even get anything done. Like someone who's walking up a down escalator.

This week I decided to bring back the friday five series because I may not always have a ton of cool favorites from each week, but I'll always have random shit to talk about. And I spent several hours yesterday going back through my blog archives, recapping all the cool things I used to do and write about and I thought, you know what, I need to bring that back asap.

thinking about: how a plane crashed into a main road no more than five minutes away from my house this week. Apparently it was an intentional act, you can read about it here. It's crazy that something like this can touch my small and non-descript town. It should make me feel unsafe, but I'm so desensitized to violence and terrorism, that it just kind of weirds me out. How can something like THAT happen HERE? But it can happen anywhere. 

planning: a birthday getaway to a log cabin in Vermont. A random road trip to Canada. A day trip to Rhode Island, I haven't been there in a hot minute and I'm starting to miss that place. A Halloween/Autumn themed cookout this Saturday, complete with "Beware of Zombies!" caution tape in the bushes. A visit to an orchard this weekend for pumpkin picking and apple crisp and cider donuts, oh my! 

excited for: my hair transformation this afternoon! I am almost 100% positive that I'm gonna go for a pinky rosy purpley ombre type thing. It's just time for a big change, so much in my life has felt stagnant for a long, long time. I may not be able to change all of my circumstances, but this is one thing that I do have complete control over. Stay tuned for the before and after pictures, weeee! 

eating: kale, kale, and more kale. I have had a kale salad every day, sometimes twice a day. Farmer's markets are my favorite place to buy the green stuff and I loveeeee me a weekend farmer's market. My favorite way to eat kale is tossed with oil and lemon, with either goat cheese or parmesan, sprinkled with walnuts. YUM. and #healthy. 

feeling like: I just need to figure out how to bring the magic back into my life! I feel like every day is the same, monotonous, droning on and onnn. Then I do get to do some fun stuff on the weekend, but I'm not really living in the moment because I don't appreciate it and then it's over. Just like that. Reading posts from March and April in my blog were eye opening. My days seemed so full and so full of wonder and wandering. I did so much, especially on the weekends! Rest and relaxation is fine, but feeling restless is something I've dealt with on and off for... forever. I need to get my magic back and find something to settle my restless feelings.

p.s. I've been blogging a lot lately and it's been really fun. I love blogging, I love finding my voice. My writing style has changed so much over the past year. Anyways, if you missed anything here are some DIY Halloween costume ideas tried and tested by yours truly, a totally necessary Target haul, my ultimate hair dreams, and my goals (but not really goals) for this month.

Happy Friday! 
What's going on in your world this week? 
Leave me a comment, it means so much to engage with anyone sweet enough to read this lil ol blog. And you can always follow me on Bloglovin!

My Past DIY Halloween Costumes

Halloween is just two short weeks ago and I am DYING to know what everyone is being. I used to have my costumes (because what average twenty something has just one night of costume wearing planned?) planned out months in advance.

I'm talking in August you guys...

But this year, as with everything this year, time just flew on by and suddenly it's October 12th and I have nothing solidly planned. I have some semi-interesting ideas and I'll share those at the end of this post.

This post is for YOU if you have no idea what to wear for Halloween, but you're pressed for time and money and need something DIY that does not require a sewing machine or fancy fabric from Joann's. All of these are tried and tested by yours truly :)

three blind mice

unreal how easy this is, besides the fact that you need two friends to play along. wear your cutest all black (or grey!) outfit, black sunglasses (we got them from the dollar store), construction paper mouse ears hot glued to a headband, and walking sticks made out of either extendable dusters or mop handles, i can't quite remember. so cute, so college. 

7 deadly sins

this was another group costume I did with my hall my sophomore year. because we were young college girls, we essentially just wore corsets and different kinds of props. i held a mirror for vanity, sloth wore fuzzy slippers, etc. but you could get way more creative with this idea! 

sesame street squad

top and bottom to match the colors of your character, construction paper, and a hot glue gun. sooooo easy. some of us made little headbands with tulle, or oscar the grouch made a trash can lid hat out of aluminum foil. 

a native american princess | unicorn

the best part about being a unicorn was literally rubbing glitter alllllll over my body. your horn is a party hat spray painted gold. EASY. 

a dalmation | Katniss Everdeen | the tooth fairy

tooth fairy costume made 100% out of gold spray paint, glitter, and white craft foam from either Walmart or the dollar store. wand is a spray painted pencil. a pro tip for diy costumes: a glue gun is seriously your best friend. 

beetlejuice | kim possible

green hair spray, crazy dark eye makeup and pale face makeup, striped top and pants from forever21 // black long sleeve crop top, cargo pants, black gloves, combat boots, a utility belt from Walmart. 

a lacrosse player - for the truly lazy 

(that's me on the right, directly after a 5 hour dance rehearsal, unshowered, having no time to get ready... yikes) lacrosse jersey, high white socks, sneakers, athletic pants, black eyeliner for black lines on face. 

CHRISTMAS 

if you just can't wait for the holiday spirit, make skirts out of dollar store tree skirts, belt them with festive ribbon, and decide who's santa and who's rudolph! 

So I'm at a total loss what to be this year. 

Last year Lucas and I didn't do a couples costume because we had just started dating. And this year, I wanted to and I had some great ideas! Like: 

- Oreo cookies

- Cards Against Humanity

- Charlie Brown characters

- a witch doctor & a voo doo doll

But Lucas wants to be a freakin' Lego.... and I am not being a Lego.

Let me know if you have any ideas for us because we are at a total loss here. Happy Wednesday everyone! Leave a comment, it means so much for to engage with anyone sweet enough to read my little bloggy. :)

Lost My Shit in Target, Oops

I remain convinced that Target is a black hole for unsuspecting victims like me, whose pay day was this week and who are feeling invincible. It sucks you in, swirls you around in its vortex, then spits you out - limping, frantic, hauling overflowing plastic bags, $100+ poorer.

I'm here to warn you. It happened to me, it could happen to you too. 

I hate Target. But ohhhhhh, I LOVE Target.

Here's what I picked up on my mini shopping spree yesterday! 

1. adorable "trick or treat" Halloween pillows for $5.

2. super duper soft long sleeve Merona shirt for $12.

3. five strands of bats on a string, which my friend Courtney literally ripped me a new one for spending $7 on something I could so easily DIY with black construction paper and tooth floss. oops! 

4. 6 foot strand of LED pumpkin lights for $3.

5. Merona brown combat boots for $37. I have never owned a pair of brown combat boots and these are SO CUTE. 

6. Contigo insulated tumbler with a straw for $12. Very necessary since I'd been using my boyfriend's mothers tumbler cup while she was in Italy and now that she's back, she can't find it because I need to sneak it into the cupboard while she isn't looking...

7. I got one of these wool wide brim hats!!!! It may have been $26, but I cannot wait to wear this at the pumpkin patch this weekend, when I'm too lazy to wash my hair, out to dinner - everywhere. Lucas said it makes me look like a witch... EVEN BETTER. 

8. And then this Kale shirt for $12 really spoke to me since I consume kale literally every single day. 

What's your biggest weakness at Target? 

Mine is clearly... a little bit of everything. But you know what? Yes, these things are material possessions. But sometimes material possessions CAN bring you great joy. When they put you into a blissful state of holiday spirit, when you get a jolt of confidence just putting it on, or when a super stylish hat means you can sleep in 40 minutes because you don't have to wash your hair. ;)

HAPPY FRIDAY!

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A Big Change, A Subtle Shift

October, man. We are in you.

This is one of my favorite months. Halloween has always been a favorite holiday of mine - I was quite a spooky kid. Princess costumes were boring in my book - I was a witch about six years in a row and then dabbled in fake plastic vampire teeth and synthetic costume shop blood.

If I was going to be a princess it had better have the word "zombie" in front! 

I was a huge fan of dress-up too. I had a dress-up bin that was probably the largest storage container my parents could find. Wigs, old dance costumes, capes, fairy princess wands, Cinderella slippers, and body glitter piled on top of each other would topple out onto the carpet whenever a friend came over and it was time to prepare a fashion show for our parents. 

One of my goals (but we aren't calling them goals) for October is to stop taking myself so seriously. A small subset of that goal is to change up my appearance in some way, just for fun, just because I'm young and I can still get away with it. 

I'm 23 years old and I've never pierced anything besides my single pierced ears, never got a tattoo, haven't really had a proper haircut in maybe six years, never dyed my hair a crazy color (unless kool-aid red, BY ACCIDENT, in middle school counts). 

I think I'm boring. And I don't like that at all. 

There's an edgy little firecracker inside me but I'm so scared for some reason of expressing myself outwardly. I'm soooooo sick of it!

I am t w e n t y  t h r e e  y e a r s  o l d.

To be fair, I strongly believe women have the freedom to drastically change up their appearance at any stage of their life. If you're 40 and you suddenly want to get your eyebrow pierced, GO FOR IT. I just feel like I'm the youngest I'm ever going to be, and why not just do something now. If not now, when.

So I have an appointment to get my hair done this Friday, or maybe next Friday, and this is what I'm thinking. 

1. purple on the tips?  2. this darker rose color?

3. i honestly think this is fucking gorgeous 4. so subtle, but so cute.

Which one do you like the best? 

I hope my boyfriend's sister, who does my color, doesn't want to kill me for wanting to do this to my hair. We worked really hard on making a super blended balayage for like, the past four months... whoops! Sorry Lucy, hehe. 

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