FOMO

One of my bloggy besties, Caroline, from the blog Citrus and Style wrote a post recently that really resonated with me. It was basically talking about FOMO (fear of missing out) and how sometimes we have to make decisions based on what we need to do rather than what we want to do. As a senior in high school, going to a certain party or sporting event can seem uber important in the moment. If I don’t go, I might miss out on something big or exciting, I might not have a chance to flirt with the boy I’m crushing on at the moment or socialize with all my besties. However, sometimes it’s important to take a break from everything and just sit at home and catch up on Netflix and sleep.

My mom and I have been talking a lot about how I can’t do everything. I can’t have a sleepover on Friday night and then stay out until 12 Saturday night. I’m at the point in my life where I have to make decisions on what I want to do and whether or not certain things are as important as they are in my mind. FOMO is real, especially with social media, and it’s hard to make these choices. But I’ve realized, through missing things, that sometimes a night alone at home is better than staying out late at a party. Even though, most of the time, it’s hard to make the choice to stay home, when I do I really love it. In fact, I’m writing this at 9 o’clock on a Saturday night. In bed. With Netflix open. And honestly? I’ve never been more content.

I was supposed to go to a concert that a band from school was playing in, but because I had a sleepover last night, my mom said I couldn’t go. Was I mad that my mom wouldn’t let me go? Absolutely. Am I missing something fun? Yep. Do I have a lot of FOMO right now? Not a lot, just a little. Am I ok staying home? You Betcha. So, moral of the story? Sometimes a night at home is better than a night out. Sometimes it’s ok to miss “the biggest party of the year” or “greatest concert of all times” or “best basketball game of the century.” FOMO is real, but staying home is fun too.

Do you have a problem with FOMO? Thanks for reading! xox, Chloe

Pinterest, Lately

I've been so obsessed with Pinterest lately. When I'm feeling uninspired or bored  I find myself logging into my Pinterest account and pinning like a madman. I seriously think that I could work a 9-5 job purely pinning for companies. Like that would seriously be a dream. Coming up with boards to match a brand and then finding pins that match that board and that brand's aesthetic. Call me nerdy, but I think it's awesome. If you happen to know of any job openings, feel free to help a sister out ;) Anyway, here are a few pins that I've been loving lately...

an inspiring inspiration wall gorgeous beachy waves a girl as cozy as a i dream of being my dream home a little reminder 

Leave us a link to your favorite pin lately, I'd love to see what your source of inspiration is! xox Chloe

Morning Routine

My friends and I were having a conversation about whether we were morning or night people the other day, and it really got me thinking. What is is that makes us favor one or the other? I know that I love to wake up early, get my boring "to-dos" out of the way, and have the rest of the day left to diddle daddle and relax. Some of my friends would rather snooze all morning and then feel a sense of dooming pressure in accomplishing their "to-dos." I just think it's so weird how we're all wired so differently but all so similar at the same time. Anyway, this trail of thinking somehow got me inspired to share my morning routine with you lovely readers. I don't really think I do anything special, but I love seeing what products other people use so I thought, "what the heck."

And here we go..

+The first thing I do is lotion my body. I have extremely dry skin, and living in Colorado isn't doing my skin any favors. I absolutely adore The Body Shop's lotions and the Coconut flavor has such a subtle and clean scent. I would totally try this one out!

+Next, I apply deodorant. This might be TMI and you probably don't care, but I sweat profusely. I joke around and say that my armpits are geysers, but I'm not really kidding. They literally leak. This Dove deodorant works wonders and it smells great too! Plus, Costco sells it in a super size pack if you're into buying in bulk.

+I then move onto making my face look pretty. I usually start with curling my eyelashes, and I use the Shu Uemura curler. I swear it's the best eyelash curler out there. I'm clumsy, as you might know, so putting a metal clamp near my eye is dangerous, but I have yet to pinch my eye lid with this curler (I knocked on wood as I typed this).

+I then apply some eyeliner and mascara. Nothing too fancy happens here. I use Chanel's Noir pencil eyeliner. I change my mascara pretty often, but I love Maybelline's Colossal Mascara. +Next, I add a quick swipe of blush to my cheeks. I actually just recently started wearing blush and I feel like it makes my face look more awake and interesting. Dumb? Maybe, but whatever. I use Mac's Mable. If you have any suggestions for a good blush, let me know!

+The next step I take is spray a little splash of perfume on. I think if I had to only choose one of these steps to complete in the morning it would be this one. I don't know why, and I know it's weird, but I love smelling good. It's an instant confidence booster. Lately, all I've been using is this vanilla perfume from Anthropologie. My cousin and I tried it on randomly while shopping together and we both fell in love with it. Everyone smells something different when it's on, from marshmallows to hot fudge to fresh baked cookies. Everyone loves it though! This Anthro perfume is also a great option!

+Lastly, I brush my teeth because I'm human and I have basic hygiene. So go me, I guess. And that's all! I don't really do anything extraordinary different than the rest of the female population, I don't think, but I thought it might be interesting for you all to know what I do in the morning to make myself feel more presentable.

Do we use any of the same products in our morning routine? If so, let me know! What does your morning routine include? Thanks for reading! xox Chloe

Post Wisdom Teeth Removal | A Rambling

As I write this, it’s 6am on a morning that I don’t have to be up for school. Parent-teacher conferences are a life-line from above, saving teenagers from having to do their homework last minute on a Sunday night after a very short break from school. So why am I up, you ask? Because yesterday I was lucky (jokes) enough to get my wisdom teeth out. I’m post wisdom teeth rambling, blame the drugs. For those of you who have yet to endure this life altering process, have no fear. It took, what felt like, five minutes. I got to the office, they injected me with some “blissful sleep meds” (as quoted by my doctor), and then I woke up and was wheel chaired to my car. I was planning on having my mom film a video of me, but I wasn’t funny, which was a huge bummer because I really wanted to be on the Ellen Show. I guess I can’t count on drugs bringing me to my fame and fortune.

Anyway, it’s 6 am of the morning after, and I was doing my hourly scroll through Instagram and came across a guy’s post (@seanwes and the link to his podcast is in his Insta bio). In it, he mentioned how he has a podcast that talks about all things creative. Because I had absolutely nothing better to do, and I’m interested in the spike of podcast content recently, I decided to take a listen. I started with one called “Topic Ideas So You Never Run Out of Things to Write About.” It honestly couldn’t have come at a better time, because lately, I’ve been feeling like blogging but I’ve also been feeling like I don’t have anything to blog about. Can I blame my Senioritis on this too??

So as I was listening — at the time I’m writing this, I’ve only listened to about 15 minutes worth, but it’s already that inspiring — I decided that I wanted to write a post every day for two weeks. Sometimes the posts might be crappy. Sometimes the posts might reveal how amazing of a creative soul I am (right?). Sometimes the posts might be flat-out dumb, but I think writing one post for fourteen days is totally do-able. I’m not putting a length requirement on. In fact, the only requirement is that I have to make (not find) a visual to go along with the post.

So there you have it, a promise from me to you that I’m going to actually be blogging again. Hopefully I’m not writing this in a drugged state of mind — back to my wisdom teeth — but even if I am I hope to keep this promise. And with that, I guess, I’ll ask if you have any post recommendations. Feel free to leave a recommendation or piece of inspiration (ie prom, awkward stories, DIY). If I end up using your  inspiration, and you want me to, I’ll link to your blog and social media sites so be sure to leave those in the comments! I'm just that kind of a soul.

Thanks for reading! xox, Chloe

Behind The 'Gram

Hello! I hope you've all had a fantastic long weekend, thanks to the fabulous Martin Luther King Jr. Actually, before I write this actual post, I want to talk a little about Mr. King himself. I had an early release day at school the other day so my friends and I decided to go to the movies. We ended up seeing Selma, and it was absolutely amazing. It was a history lesson, but it made me appreciate and admire Martin Luther King on a whole new level. Being from the south, I had seen racism first hand, but Selma allowed me to further understand the issues behind racism. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that a.) Martin Luther King Jr. is a hero and such a cool guy and b.) go see Selma! Ok now onto the real post.. Behind The 'Gram. I was just stalking my blog (please tell me I'm not the only one who does this...) and I stumbled across my first Behind The 'Gram post and it reminded me how fun it is to see the true story behind a pretty picture, because usually the story isn't as pretty. So I've decided to do a second post. Here we go.

What it looks like: Just casually entered a winter wonderland where the air is crisp, the people are joyful, and hot chocolate is waiting for me at home.

What actually happened: My family and I went skiing with another family this Christmas and we decided to all go out together one day. We started on a mountain called "Peak 8" and decided to venture over to "Peak 9." However, to get to Peak 9 we had to go across a very flat, very un-skiable stretch of land. Fortunately, I had enough speed to get me through most of the flat stretch, but most of the rest of the group wasn't so lucky. This picture was taken in the absolutely freezing temperatures while waiting for the whole gang to finally catch up. Not only was everyone exhausted by the time they finished skiing/trudging through the path, they were also extremely grumpy. We ended up having to ski to the bottom of Peak 9 so that we could sit in a little cafe and catch our breath and thaw out our hands and feet.

What it looks like: Sunday morning coffee date. And can we just take a minute to appreciate the RayBan / Coffee art combo? I lead such a fabulous life.

What actually happened: I procrastinated doing my homework all week so I frantically had to get it all done Sunday afternoon. I decided to go to a coffee shop so I wouldn't get distracted by the WiFi and food at my house. However, the coffee shop that I went to was so uber trendy that I didn't really know how to order, and therefore my coffee tasted gross and un-sugary. I then proceeded to make a scene while taking a picture of my coffee because for some reason I just couldn't get the angle or the lighting right. I was probably standing over my table while photographing for a full twenty minutes (that is unfortunately not an exaggeration). It'll be a while until I feel comfortable to show my face at this excessively trendy coffee shop.

What it looks like: Just a casual cone on a hot summer day.

What actually happened: My mom, brother, and I decided that it would be fun to bike to a cool ice cream shop. Turns out this ice cream shop was 6 miles away and it just happened to be one of the hottest days of the summer. I didn't even want to get my ice cream in a cone because I was trying to eat healthy and the cup was much smaller. I decided that I could splurge and eat a whole cone, 'cause #eatitforthegram. This picture took a long time to capture because I couldn't find the right background and the ice cream kept melting down my hand.. hence the lick marks on the ice cream. Also, my mom was disappointed that my nails weren't painted for this picture. Overall, a very stressful and unsatisfying experience.

What it looks like: Oh you know me, out for a casual walk during the gorgeous fall weather.

What actually happened: My mom and I walked over to the mall to check out the sales and on the way home I thought the leaves would make a good picture. I had never taken one of these kind of pictures (the cliche outfit from above shot) before so I was really struggling to capture my whole outfit while still including the pretty leaves. Unfortunately, this struggle occurred in front of other people who were very confused by my awkward "butt out, camera above the head, blind shooting" approach to photography. I almost got run over by two bikers and had countless stares from unlucky witnesses.

All in all, a pictures is worth a thousand words. Clearly, these words are much more interesting when describing the behind the scenes look into it. Now you'll never be able to look at our instagram account without wondering what really went on to capture the picture. Let me know if you'd like me to write a part three, but in the mean time you can follow us on Instagram and try to guess what the story is! xox Chloe

Life Update

Well hello beautiful people of the internet, long time no talk, am I right?I guess I have a little catching up to do so here’s an update on what’s happened in the past few months that I’ve been seemingly AWOL. I’ve been accepted into college (and rejected, but that’s a story for a different day), I’ve decided where I want to go (CU Boulder) and what I want to major in (Strategic Communications), and I found a roommate (she's awesome). Everything is going perfectly, and I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better Senior year. However, now that’s it’s second semester, my Senior-itis has officially hit. It’s not that I don’t care about my school work anymore, ‘cause I do, it’s just that I’m not feeling as motivated to do everything in a timely fashion. In fact, as I type this I should be doing my math homework... but whatever. Here are a few pictures so you can have a visual to go along with this update...

-My years has been filled with coffee dates with myself on weekends trying to frantically catch up with my school work. -My friends and I went on a mini road trip to a huge pumpkin patch this past fall to pick the perfect pumpkins. We then carved them together while watching cheesy Disney halloween movies. -Halloween was super fun this past year too. It was my first time going to a “real” Halloween party and I had an absolute blast. I wasn’t so original with my cat costume, but it was a last minute thing so I wore what I had on hand -For Christmas break my family and another family went on a week long ski trip together. It was an absolute blast and the mountains were just gorgeous. -I received a LifeProof case for my birthday and it has lead to countless swim team underwater photo shoots. -Selfies with friends occur on the daily, and we all know that everything looks better in black in white. -Over Christmas break I had a little photoshoot with my friend and she took some awesome pictures of me (at least I think so haha)

So there you have it, a little update on what has been happening in my life lately. I hope you all enjoyed this post and I’m going to try to keep up with this blog as much as possible! Let me know if you have any post ideas / requests!

xox Chloe