loving lately

I have an addiction to the internet. THERE. I said it. Do you care? Hmm, probably not. Do I care? Obviously. This is my blog after all. See, that’s where I think it’s interesting. I have an addiction to the internet because I love looking at people’s lives. I mentioned it in my last post, but I’m nosy. And, on the internet, people share. And people want you to be nosy because they like the attention. The clout. The importance. So the internet is truly this endless loop of sharing (sometimes oversharing) and being nosy. It was meant for people like me. And, if you’re reading this, it was made for people like you, too.

I’m still developing a fake thesis for why we perpetuate this endless internet loop, but for now, I’m just going to continue to perpetuate it. I encourage you to do the same. Stay a while! Soak it in!

Today I’m sharing a few of my favorite bits and pieces that I’ve found on the internet lately. I have an addiction so I have a lot to share, but I’ll do my best not to overshare. Unless you want me to. In that case, DM me a list of posts you’d like to see and I will surely deliver. Because I’m not a regular blogger, I’m a cool blogger.

Ok enough of that. Here they are:

CHUNKY EARRINGS : I’m obsessed with earrings. I’m not a huge jewelry gal, but earrings get me good. Anthropologie especially. I’ve rounded up a few favorites though so you can fall in love with oversized ear baubles too. The obsession is more fun when you’re sharing it. Like cheese platters.
chunky silver hoops | funky gold ones | funky colorful hoops | the cutest blog chunky hoops | dreamy creamy

by @DavidShrigley

INSTAGRAM ARTISTS: Instagram can and will always be a place where people share their highlight reel. However, it will also be a place where artists share their most raw and real pieces. I’ve been thinking of it as a Modern Museum of Squares lately, and I’ve found some amazing artists. Here are their links if you want to see something other than that random girl’s posts.
David Shrigley | Mari Andrew | The New Yorker Cartoons | CB Hoyo

HAIR CARE: I have a lot of hair issues. It’s something I could dedicate a whole post to, and I probably will soon. I recently was bored so I did some research on great hair products and I came across this Shine Mist Hair Spray from Dry Bar. Let me tell you. It’s amazing. Ah-mazing. It gives your hair that after salon feel that I literally thought was impossible to do myself. And it’s simple, just spray and go. My kinda routine.
Shine Mist Hair Spray

THE OFFICE: I’ve already watched it once, but here I am watching it again. I don’t know what it is about the show that makes me chuckle out loud to myself every three minutes, but it happens. And it continues to happen. If you don’t like the show, we can’t be friends. We need to have the same sense of humor to keep our relationship strong, supportive, and secure. Ok? Get watching. NOW!

That’s all I have for today, but thanks for reading.
Talk soon,
chloe

saturday to saturday 1

I have an emotional attachment to reading people’s “week in review” posts. They get me. I don’t know if it’s because I’m inherently nosy or, well, yeah, I think that’s just it. I’m nosy. I love to know how other people spend their time. In fact, I think most people love to know it. It’s fascinating because we all have 24 hours in a day. We all have 7 days a week. We all have 4 weeks in a month. Ok, you get it. But it’s interesting because, most of us, spend every second of our days doing something different from one another.

I think one of the other main reasons it’s so fascinating is because I feel like people are the most honest when they’re writing these types of posts. So often, when we post on the internet, we filter our filtered selves. We choose that one picture from the thousands we took (ok, I’m being dramatic, but you know what I mean) and then put a filter on the one “perfect” picture. It’s not real. It’s the highlights of the highlights. But sometimes the most juicy and interesting stuff is found deep within the depths of our camera rolls. Have you ever scrolled through someone else’s camera roll before? It’s wild and untamed and not curated and I absolutely love it.

I’ve been inspired by Leandra from Man Repeller to share my camera roll as a week in review. She posts hers on Instagram but I’ve decided that only my readers are to be honored with such power to know the depths of my camera roll. I’m hopeful that no judgment shall be cast from you. But, since I know at least one of you will judge me, as long as you keep those judgements in your heads and out of the comments, you can stick around.

Here we go, friends. These are the pictures from my camera roll from Friday, November 2nd, 2019 to Saturday, November 9th, 2019. I kept Friday in because I make the rules around here, but from now on it’ll just be Saturday to Saturday so don’t get used to that. Enjoy!

I hoped on a plane Friday morning to meet my parents in Miami for my cousin’s wedding. I flew Southwest. Nothing interesting happened in the airport or on my flight. I don’t even know why I took this picture. It’s not very interesting unless you’ve never been on an airplane before. In fact, even if you never have, I’m not so sure it’s interesting.

My mom and I took a bathroom mirror selfie. We were in the bathroom because I had to fix my Spanx. They started to roll down and it was wildly uncomfortable. This is before we started drinking so the smiles are a little forced.

My dad and I woke up early on Saturday morning to take a walk on the beach. It’s something we used to do together when we lived in Florida and I didn’t realize how much I missed those walks. We walk and we talk and we rant and we gossip and I love it.

The water was so crystal clear and the moss was so vibrantly green. Gorge!

After my dad and I did our beach walk, we decided to take a tour of our hotel. This was the most beautiful spot… the rooftop pool. If I ever threw a party in Miami, it would be here! There was a bar up here too, but I didn’t take a picture. Huge regret.

Another view from the rooftop pool.

We found a mirror so we desperately had to take a mirror selfie to commemorate our magical find. Note the hanging orchids in the background. I die!

My mom was hungover in bed so my dad and I ventured out to Joe’s Stone Crab restaurant. My bread was glowing so I captured this picture to appreciate the beauty of my carbo-loaded timing.

The! Crab! Amazing!

We also got key lime pie, because lunch with my dad is always 15 courses. This being course 15, of course.

Saturday night was the actual wedding. It was black tie so my mom and I went "black gown” with it. My dad said something funny while taking pictures so I laughed.

My brother is missing from the family picture, but he’s in Paris studying abroad so it’s fine. I think a hair and makeup lady took this pic and I was thoroughly disappointed with her taking it horizontally. I guess you win some and you lose some.

My grandma, dad, and uncle. This picture was taken by my aunt at the party and I know I’ll treasure it forever. I have very few pictures with my grandma these days so this one’s a keeper for sure.

I’m not sure which day this was taken but I thought the light on the trees was gorgeous. This one was taken in the morning when I was walking my doggo, Izzy.

I’ve been reading this book by Logic. It’s good. Not great, but good. If you like the movie Fight Club you might like this book. Although, I loved the movie and only like the book so don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I came out of the bathroom the other morning to find Izzy snuggled up in my spot on the bed. He looked so cozy and cute I couldn’t help but snap a picture.

So there you have it, friends, a week in review based solely on the contents of my camera roll. Nothing crazy this week because I just decided to start this little series. Starting tomorrow I’ll really try to update the quality and quantity of pictures, but I’m not going to try too hard because I want these posts to be as raw and real as possible.

Thanks for being nosy with me.

xox,
Chloe

sweater weather, finally

In case you didn’t know, I’m currently living in Birmingham, Alabama. The deep south to some, but “just the south” to me. I was born here, but raised mostly in a town three hours south of here. There are a lot of things I love about Alabama, and one of them is that summer lasts a lot longer here than anywhere else. However, as much as I love summer, I was ready for it to be a season of the past. So now that it is cooling off, I’m ready for sweater weather, and it’s finally here for me too. I love love love throwing on a big oversized sweater, a pair of jeans, and some hoop earrings and calling it a day. It’s simple and it’s easy, yet it always looks so effortlessly chic.

Every time I see a new sweater I’ve been saving it to my mental Pinterest dream board so that when I eventually get a job I can know exactly what pieces I want to add to my wardrobe. I’ve linked a few of my favorites below in case you’re in a similar sweater weather boat. Or yacht. I prefer a yacht.

Shop away, friends!

soul mates

One of my cousins got married this past weekend so love is on my mind. Well, the idea of soul mates is on my mind, specifically. Have I been in love before? I think so. Maybe. Possibly. But how am I supposed to know? I don’t know.

I can’t stop thinking about it. About who the love of my life is, where they are, what they’re doing, who they’re with. The idea of love is so interesting to me. This idea that we have someone out there just doing their thing, but one day we can do that thing or this thing together. You know what I mean? It blows my mind. Every time I meet a couple, young or old, I want to know the story of how they met. I want to know how they knew that the other person was their person. It’s fascinating.

I’m in a single phase of life. But I’m ok with it. I need time to “date” myself so to speak. My mom has always said, “it’s when you’re not looking for someone that they’ll find you.” And I love that. I think it’s so important that I’m doing what’s best for me, in every sense, and doing so will guarantee that I’m in the right place at the right time.

So yeah, in general, this post is just about me letting you know that I’m in love with the idea of love. The idea that we all find someone who’s meant to be. The idea that, one day, these two people meet, fall in love, and create a life together. It’s so cute, I love it. I love love.

Post-Grad Schedule

Post grad life is a weird life, let me tell you. I keep seeing these memes about “post life depression,” and while I don’t have it that extreme, I definitely miss college. Real life has set in. This is the first time I’ve worn a sweater and not been in school. Weird, super weird. But it’s fine. I’m currently trying to embrace this post-grad culture. My mom said I should write a post about what I do. She said that a lot of people probably wonder what an unemployed, recently graduated, gal on the go does. 

But, the thing is, I don’t do that much. I’d do weekly reviews of my days, but I do the same thing. Every. Single Day. Do I hate it? No. Do I love it? Love is a strong word. But a day in the life of me consists of waking up (duh), feeding my grandfather’s dog then walking him for four miles, then I do the elliptical for 30 minutes. If I’m feeling fun, I’ll do like six sit-ups, but that rarely happens. I then make my way upstairs and create a beautiful green smoothie and piece of toast. I typically then shower and scroll through my phone. Not at the same time, but one after the other, obviously. 

Then, this is where it gets interesting. Usually, at this point in my day, I’ll get dressed and head to a coffee shop. Why, you ask? So I can have human interaction. I typically spend three to four hours in the coffee shop applying for jobs, reading blogs, scrolling around the internet before I start to get hungry. I then head back to my grandfather’s house, “make” lunch (it’s rally turkey slices and chips + salsa) and then mess around until he gets home from work or errands, depending on the day. We then eat dinner together. 

It’s a wild wild life my friends. So, hopefully, when I one day have a job, I can look back on these days and think about them fondly. In fact, I know I will. As much as it might sound like I dislike it, I truly appreciate it. I needed this break. I needed to hit the pause button and just be. Just be alone, and unsure, and uncomfortable. I think it’s good for me that I don’t know what’s next. I need this. I like this. 

Thanks for reading
chloe

Internal Age

The other day I asked my grandpa what age he thought he was on the inside, and he got a kick out of the question. The thing is though, I didn’t ask as a joke. I genuinely think we all have an age that our soul is. Am I crazy? Probably. But if you think about it, there’s no way you feel your age. I mean I don’t. I don’t feel 23 at all. Some days I feel like I’m 12, some days I feel like I’m 87, and some days I get a little peek at what feeling 23 should feel like.

My grandpa is about to turn 81 but you’d never know it. He’s probably the most tech-savvy, trendy, live on the wild side 80-year old I’ve ever met. I mean he wears HOKAs for crying out loud. He knows how to take a screenshot on his iPhone. I told him what Sake Bombs are and he was so into the idea of doing them with my cousin and me. He’s cool, ok?

I wonder why we all feel different ages than the age we are. I have a theory that it’s based on how we like to live life. Do you want a fast, action-packed, lifestyle? Or do you want the slow and steady love every moment, including the bad one's kind of life?

I’ve always been into calligraphy. I’d rather talk about the books I recently read than those who kissed who at that party the other night. I really in truly like just sitting around the table talking with my friends about life and goals and stories we’ve lived.

So I asked my mom what age she thought I was on the inside, because, obviously, she knows me better than I know myself. At first, she said, “well your dad is definitely 19 on the inside.” Which makes sense, because he’d much rather be drinking a Natty Lite with his college pals at a lax game than discussing the stock market. But when she thought about me she said, “Oh honey, you haven’t reached your internal age yet. And you won’t reach it for a long long time.”

“Because it’s in my 80’s,” I half-jokingly said back.

“Correct,” she responded with a chuckle.