improving a little

I don’t blog enough. There. I said it. It’s the sad real truth. I love writing even though I’m not that great at it, but there’s that 10,000 hours rule that says if you do something for over 10,000 hours then there’s a high chance that you’ll become good at it. And I want to become good at writing. So in order to do that, I have to write.

And here we are. Here I am…. writing.

I’m challenging myself to write at least one post everyday for the rest of time. It’s something I really want to do, and I’m pretty good at following through with things if I want to do them enough. Some of these posts might be sappy some sad some weird some boring some short some extremely long. I’m not sure, but I want to write more so I’m going to. 

For today’s post I want to share a little detail of my day. 

I had my photography class this morning and we did the first round of critiques for the first draft of our first project. A lot of firsts if you didn’t pick that up. That being said, I didn’t really know what to expect from the feedback or from other people’s projects. I was pretty confident going into the critique but I left feeling pretty defeated. My project was essentially eaten alive in the most respectful way possible. I’ll share the photos below, but what I got out of this critique today is that it’s important to be beaten up. Maybe not physically (definitely not physically), but it’s important to feel destructible, to feel like you're at the bottom, to feel eaten alive. These feelings should push you to move upwards. It’s also important to know that your bottom, your worst possible situation might not be someone else’s. In fact, your worst case scenario might be someone else’s best efforts yet. You have no where else to go but up and that’s amazing. Sure, I felt defeated after class, but I thought about people’s comments and now I’m inspired to create something better, something people will have nothing but great things to say about. And even if other people don’t like it, because they most likely won’t, I’ll have improved my work just a little. 

That little improvement is what we should all strive for in every aspect of our lives. 

So let’s all improve a little together.

Thanks for reading.
xox
Chloe 

enjoying the moment

Yesterday was my last first day of school ever. *cue the tears*

To be honest, I am feeling all the emotions which is making me not know what to feel at all. Am I sad? A little. Am I excited? A lot. Am I nervous? Yes. There’s a lot going on up in this little ‘ole brain. I think it’s especially hard because this whole school thing is all I’ve known for basically the past 20 years. The whole cycle of it all is just such a consistent thing so I’m scared for it to stop. Sure, I’m excited for what’s to come. I’m excited for my new normal. But I’m also sad that this stage of life is about to be over. I just want to savor every moment. I want to take it all in. I don’t want to miss a beat of this year, because three, four, five years from now I will be hardcore missing this stage. Is there a thing such as advance nostalgia? When you’re stuck in a moment but already have nostalgia for it? If so, I’m there. 

So, I want to make a little promise to myself to enjoy each moment of this senior year. I want to realize the lows will pass and to enjoy the highs. I want to push past my comfort zone, but also not do anything I don’t want to do. I just want to live in the present without fearing the future. I want to look back on the past but not live in it. I want to enjoy. 

Here’s to enjoying the moment.

fall 2018 trendspotting

Let’s talk trend spotting. This whole summer I’ve been working in a retail store surrounded by high end fashion. It’s so inspiring getting to help people find styles and trends that they really love. But, let me tell you a secret, it’s even more fun getting to find these things for myself (selfish? maybe a little. fun? heck yeah). So anyways, two trends that I’ve noticed that are going to be huge this fall are wide leg pants and anything in the color mustard. I was shopping for these two items myself but I decided to share some of my favorite finds with you guys to balance out my selfish comment above.

crochet shirt
back pack
waffle shirt 
shoes 
bra
cami
tote bag (aka dream bag) 

black
navy
denim
mustard
green

And that's all I've got for ya now. But, I'd love to know, what trends are you loving lately? Keep me cool, share your thoughts in the comments. 

thanks for reading!
xox
chloe

live and learn

I’ve been thinking about the future a lot. It’s been driving my friends nuts, but I just can’t seem to stop thinking about where I’ll be in a year from now, three years from now, five years from now, etc. Even though I’ve been talking about it a lot, the future isn’t something I fear, in fact, it’s something that I let motivate and excite me. I’m super thankful that my brain is wired this way, because as my friends and I gear up for our senior year, it seems as though the future is more to be feared than it is something to look forward to for most of my peers. And I was thinking… why is that? 

Why do we fear change? Why do we fear the unknown? Why do we fear anything, really? 

I obviously don’t have the answers to these questions, because if I did I’d have some wildly successful multibillion dollar book deal. But I do have this little ‘ole blog to ramble on and on about what I think the answers are. So here are my thoughts about these questions. 

We are too comfortable. We all probably feared college, at least a little bit, in our own ways. I know, at least, was worried about my roommate, the meals, how hard my classes would be, etc. But you know what? You live and you learn, as cliche as it sounds. If you fear the future, you are too comfortable. Push yourself, you should be excited for what’s to come and what’s to be. There are so many things just waiting on the horizon of your comfort zone, so step outside of it. There is no reason to fear the future, let it excite you and motivate you. 

Live and learn, today, tomorrow, and five years from now. 

Thanks for reading
xox
chloe

zach. chapter 2.

read chapter one first or else none of this is going to make sense. 

don’t say I didn’t warn ya. 

Ok, chapter two, here we go…

“So I do look like my photos, heck ya!” I was thinking, but didn’t say because I was panicked and nervous and sweating and probably super red. To be honest, I can’t remember what I said at all, but it was probably something stupid and mumbly. But we met. It happened. I most likely said hello and introduced myself and he probably did the same. 

So after we talked about who knows what for who knows how long, I realized we were standing right in front of a speaker that Hellen Keller herself could probably hear (sorry if that was an insensitive joke, but I need you to realize how loud this speaker was). Like I said, I don’t remember what we said or talked about during this first few minutes of analyzing whether this boy was a murderer or not, but I do remember screaming “WHAT” and “SORRY, WHAT DID YOU SAY?????” every two words. 

Then, because he’s smart and nice, he offered to buy me a drink. I pounced on this offer for three reasons: one, I was nervous, two, we’d finally actually be able to have a conversation without saying “what” after every two words, and three, I finally decided that this boy was most likely not a murderer. 

“What do you want to drink,” he asked, seemingly not nervous at all. 

“Shoot, shoot, shoot, why can I never think of a mixed drink besides a vodka cran. Those are so basic. What should I get? Hmm, think, think.” I internalized. Then I realized what I should order, “Orange juice and tequila please,” I answered pretending like he didn’t just ask me the hardest question of the century. After picking that drink I wondered how that became my drink of choice. But it did, and I was committed to it. 

After we got our drinks we found a booth hidden away from the crowd so we could actually hear and get to know each other. Again, I can’t remember specifically what we talked about, but I do remember that the conversation was so easy. I felt like I had known him forever, and I’m pretty sure we talked about religion, God, cancer, and politics, all without it being weird at all — a true testament to our compatibility (kidding, but also not really). 

What feels like ten minutes later, I looked down at my phone and realized that there were ten minutes left until the bar closes. We had been sitting and talking for at least two hours and it only felt like ten minutes. How does that happen with a still non-confirmed non-murderer? It usually doesn't, but it did. 

At this point, I was convinced my friends had left me because I hadn't seem them in quite literally two hours so I went on a mission to find them. They obviously didn’t leave me and when I reconnected they had already made a plan to go to Taco Bell, and if you know me, I quite literally never turn down Taco Bell so I asked Zach (oh, by the way, his name is Zach) if he wanted to come with us. He said yes, and off we went. 

And the rest is history. Hah, kidding.

stay tuned for chapter three.