Life's Snapshots #30.

 

Hot summer days mean retro fruit patterned playsuits.

 

I thrifted a new skirt + this book is phenomenaal. It takes me to another world.

 

My family and I made homemade bananna strawberry smoothies!

 

I could watch the clouds pass by forever.

Rememeber this.

 

Don't let life get ya down.

 

$.75. What what what.

Best $2.80 ever spent.

Serious obsession. I need to go to MA: MAC's anonymous.

 

He takes after his mama.

Mother's Day family coffee date.

 

Relax, it's just coffee.

 

First DQ run of the summer and here's to many more to come!

 

Saying goodbye to my dorm.

 

Saying goodbye to friends.

Some photographs of my last few days in Kent + these first few weeks at home for the summer. Life has been very beautiful and I am very appreciative. I find myself noticing small details life I never have before. It's almost like I have a new set of eyes all together. Anyways, if you'd like to keep up with my day to day life you can follow me on instagram with @passingwhimsies!

With much love, Lauren.

Sweet As Icecream.

 
 
   
 



 
Hello everyone!

Here is the second set of photos I took with Lauren and these are my absolute favorite. I love the femininity of them and the softness; I just see so must of my happiness come through in these and it makes me smile in thinking about this lovely day. Because come on, what's better than wearing a pastel dress, eating sweet vanilla ice cream, and laying around in delicate flower petals? Not much by my standards. 

Lauren was able to capture so many delicate, special moments that I simply can't get with a tripod and self timer. The way I laugh when my ice cream is melting all over my hands. The gentleness of the wind as it carries the petals away into the air. A bird's eye view of my face around the softness of the fresh spring leaves. I am so grateful to her for capturing these beautiful moments, seconds, feelings.   

It's these little moments that are special when getting your senior photos taken. I know for me I searched all over the state of Ohio for the perfect photographer when I had my senior portraits done two years ago (I ended up traveling three hours away!). I didn't want your typical studio shots in front of the same forest background 100 other seniors before me had done, but wanted who I was to be captured naturally and what I loved. If Lauren had been in buisness when I was a senior I would have saved a lot of miles on my parents car and would have been just as, if not more satisfied. If you're a senior in Ohio or on the border I would definitely recommend Lauren; check out her website for more details! 

I still have a final post to show you all from my shoot with her; this one in a record shop! x

With much love, Lauren.

P.S. Outfit details: Dress (c/o Dahlia), Shoes + Earrings (thrifted).

Lines.

Maxi Skirt, Butterfly Romper, Wedges: Thrifted.

Lipstick in Lime Crime's My Beautiful Rocket.

When you stare at your face after years and years every morning you memorize it. Intentionally, unintentionally. You see the things other people don't see about your face. Sometimes you highten the imperfections, making them out bigger than they actually are. Other times, you miss the small details that make you beautiful. 

This is what I see in my face.

I have two dull brown eyes. One is bigger than the other when I smile and they're shaped differently. It always makes it hard to make even cat eyes with my eyeliner. I like my eyes when they smile and I don't like them when I don't smile. They have this sparkle when I smile and other people, when they take pictures of me, tell me to do that smile when my eye sparkle. I know exactly what they're talking about because I've seen it, too. It makes it so you can tell when I'm happy, and when I'm just pretending. I have a mole underneath my right eye, it's almost too tiny to see but I love it. It reminds me of my favorite Bratz doll when I was younger, Yasmin; she had an identical one. My mascera always smears underneath my eyes and creates dark smudges I'm embarrassed of; I need to invest in waterproof. Or some tissues. On the left side of my face on my upper lip I still have the hint of an elevated scar where when I was 10 I fell and scratched my face on the latch of the cage for my pet bunny. I put scar fading medicine on it every day for a year and it's still there. My face is obnoxiously round and has no definition and one side of my face looks different than the other. I don't even think the two sides look like the same person. So when I take pictures, I only show my left side because I don't like the right. It doesn't look like me. I didn't used to have a butt chin but I think I'm getting one now. How does that happen? My bottom lip is so full it spills over. It's my favorite. I love to apply ample amounts of red lipstick to it, accentuating its pout. My top lip, it draws to an uneven cupids bow that always is a pain in the butt to put lipstick on. No matter how hard I try it always looks dumb. My teeth are all straight even after not having braces (the only luck I've ever had). They're probably the only thing I'm confident to show; the only feature I have going for me. The hallows of my cheeks have tiny, brown scars on them from old acne and on my forehead there's fresh bumps from my always greasy bangs that clog my pores. I always try and brush my bangs over the blemishes so no one can see, changing my side part depending on what area of my forehead looks bad that day. My eye brows are what surprise me because I never thought I would want defined brows. As a little girl I was so eager to pluck them, get rid of my unibrow (truly). And now I love their definition. They add strength and a timeless look to my face. I take good care of them, always filling them in every day with eye shadow, trying to draw attention to them rather then my eyes. It's not like anyone would be looking at them anyways. Someone once told me that the first thing that makes a boy like a girl is her eyes and then I got disappointed. Because who would ever love mine? I have what people have said is 'the perfect nose' but I think it's just ordinary. A nose is a nose after all.

This is what I see in my face with every fleeting glance in a reflective window, every long gaze after washing my face and seeing it bare with no makeup. Sometimes I recognize myself and other times I wonder who in the world is the girl staring back at me. She can be hideous, ugly, ordinary, imperfect. She can be beautiful, classic, and sparkling

What do you see in your face? What do others see in it?

With much love, Lauren.

I'll Meet You At the Coffee Shop.

 

 

 

 

Here is the first set of photos I took with Lauren of Lauren Grayson Photography! I was so excited to get this 'Allie Hamilton' from The Notebook look alike dress hemmed by one of my friends to wear for the shoot. We went to a retro theater and a coffee shop; the perfect settings for this dress. Lauren has such a beautiful vision and I loved the angles and scenes she picked out for the shoot. Like me, she likes to tell stories with her photos and create characters which is something not a lot of photographers do now a days. They just sit you down, tell you how to pose, and shoot a picture. It was so refreshing to be shot with someone with such a creative mindset!

I loved how these turned out and I'm especially in love with the ones with me and the coffee. You could say it's been a dream of mine to have a photo shoot with coffee since the start of my blog ♥

 I have two more sets of photos to show you! One at an ice cream parlor and the other at a record shop so stay tuned! x You can check out Lauren's facebook page for more of her work here.

With much love, Lauren.

P.S. Outfit details: Dress (thrifted), Shoes (c/o Pink and Pepper), Purse(c/o Aero), Bow (AA)

All Around Me.

Magenta Lace Skirt: Forever21.

White Loafers, Head Scarf, Striped Top, Chain Necklace: Thrifted.

White Vest: c/o Aeropostale.

Lipstick in Lime Crime's Centrifuchsia. 

The birds. It's like they're a symphony when I wake up in the mornings. My blankets are all ripped off of my bed, my bare legs shivering under the rhythmic whips of the ceiling fan. It felt hot at night, but the morning brings a calm coolness with the dew on the grass. When I open my eyes,  as soon as I become concious those birds are the first thing I hear. Their melodies aren't annoying, but peaceful. All of their different voices, the highs the lows, the slows the fasts, blending into one poetic song of nature. I look forward to it every morning.

I can't imagine not being on the earth. Not getting to dip my toes in the ice cold river and look up at the robin egg's blue sky with cotton candy clouds floating by. I try to imagine it, but I can't. What is it like to not exist? How do you do that? How do you not smell and taste and hear and see? Laugh. Smile. Cry. Love. How can I let all of it go, leave with nothing just as I came with nothing.

Sometimes I just can't wrap my head around it.

With much love, Lauren.