Melmac Monday: Pastels

Happy Melmac Monday! 

Today, since it almost the end of spring - at least it feels that way for me since summer vacation starts next week (eep!) - I thought I would share with you some of my favorite plastic pastels! I think my favorite is the blue and floral pattern. 

Enjoy! 

 Numero Uno

Numero Dos

Numero Tres

 

Numero Cuatro

 Numero Cinco

 

Numero Seis

Numero Siete

xoxo, 

Laura 

Friend Fashions: Elena

Hey all! Happy Sunday. 

In case you haven't noticed, that picture is not me. That is my dear friend Elena. I'm presenting to you a new little segment that I like to call "Friend Fashions!" I have so many stylish friends and I would like to show them off to all of you! I told Elena to put on something that just feels "pure Elena" when she wears it. Enjoy this little photo shoot and interview I did with Miss Ostock. She is one of the goofiest, silliest, and kindest people I know (as you can see by the last photos.)  

A few things you need to know before reading this interview: 1.) Some of my friends at college call me Swordface; I got the nickname from fighting another gal named Laura for the "rights to our name," I lost after being tackled and therefore became Swordface. Elena is still one of the people who will call me that. :) 2.) Her sleeve of tattoos, while awesome, are unfortunately not real. They are Ed Hardy temporary tattoos. 

Name: Elena Michelle Ostock 

Major: History and Museum Studies   (with a concentration in Art -History and Studio Art  ---basically, I do what I want) 

Hobbies: I enjoy painting and drawing and I like to dick around in the outdoors, such as hiking, kayaking, swimming, laying outside on a sunny day, etc.) I also like to go for aimless car rides. 

Favorite Movies: I've come to realize that I have bad taste in movies, considering I like pretty much any of them. My movie collection is generally the first thing people comment on when they look around my side of my room. However, my favorite movies are/include: Forrest Gump, Fight Club, Dazed and Confused, When Harry Met Sally, Juno , Little Miss Sunshine, Tangled, Pocahontas, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, etc. (Swordface just yelled at me for my long list; Good thing I didn't try to include TV shows then.)  

 

Favorite quotes: "I'd like to quit thinking of the present, like right now, as some minor insignificant preamble to something else." - Dazed and Confused 

"No good at life, but very funny sometimes with the commentary." - Kurt Vonnegut 

Describe your style: I don't really know hot to define my style. To some extent, I'd say that my goal is to be unique considering many of my compatriots think that sweatpants tucked into Uggs is fashionable, I don't feel too bad about wanting to break from the heard. At any rate, I have a penchant for floral skirts, bulky sweaters, and the T-shirts from touristy locations. I buy more shoes than I wear, and I have these jackets that some days seem more badass than I am. 

Favorite Places to Shop: I like to go to thrift stores a lot. I tend to buy things I will never actually wear, but that's okay. You can get cool pre-broken in T-shirts and some interesting pieces that you have to put a little bit of work into, but then you have a piece that no one else has. Other than that, I gravitate towards Target, Forever 21, and places like that. Gotta remain within the budget, you know. 

Favorite Thrift Store Finds: 1.) Tourist Sweatshirt Collection from the 80's/90's. (I've got Washington D.C., Niagara Falls, Colorado, and the Grand Canyon right now) 2.) Mountain Biking T-shirt - it is the most comfortable thing ever. 3.) Blue and purple floral/paisley skirt 4.) My $2 blazer.

Biggest Fashion Mistake: Red corduroy pants old-lady pants; haven't worn them in public yet. Probably never will. 

Whose style do you admire?: To some extent I feel like the girls whose style I admire the most are the ones who can do flannel shirts and hiking boots everyday. That's the kind of person I want to be. However for the sake of audience recognition and pandering in general, I'm going to go with Emma Watson. She can pull off what ever she damn well pleases; she is such a classy lady. 

 

Plans for the summer: I will be working as a public Education Development intern at the Masachusetts of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA) this summer in North Adams, Massachusetts.

How did you first meet Laura?: I met Swordface freshman year, by a happy accident. I hadn't really made any friends yet, and so at meals I forced myself to be friendly and just sit down with strangers. In the long run, the only friend I made with this strategy was Swordface, but there's nothing wrong with that. 

Dress: Thrifted 

Scarf:  Gift  

Belt: Gift ( from Laura!) 

Jacket :  DEB 

Shoes  :  Toms

Leggings:  5 Below  

Thanks to Elena for being a great sport and doing this photoshoot with me! We had a blast and I'm really got to hang out - especially since she is going to be abroad in France for a whole year, starting in the fall. 

I hope that everyone enjoyed getting to know my awesome and amazing friend, Elena! 

xoxo, 

Laura 

Cherry Blossoms, Mice, and Summer Plans

Shirt - Given to me by my wonderful friend Amanda

Skirt - Thrifted - Vintage - (It was only $1!) 

Sweater - Thrifted  

Shoes - Thrifted - Cole Haan

Bracelets - Gifts 

T - minus twelve days and counting! It is so close to summer I can taste it. I just have 3458769871 things to do before then, it feel likes. 

But soon, it will all be better. 

I don't know if I actually talked about my summer plans at all: 

First, I will be heading the Dominican Republic for two weeks to do volunteer work! I'm really excited. However, there is no Internet, so I  will be MIA for two weeks, but I got some really awesome ladies to do some guest posting for me!

Secondly, I have a really amazing internship this summer. It is with my church; my denomination has an internship program for college students to intern at different churches. I got special permission to stay at my home church, because I will be traveling to India next spring and there are a lot of really neat and new young adult things at my church that are developing, so I wanted to stick around for that! However, they strongly encouraged that I did not live at my parent's house, so I get to live in one of the church owned houses this summer! I'm so excited to some decorating! I'll have a housemate, but I'm fine with that, especially since I already know her and she is so lovely! 

I also get the wonderful chance to do some traveling in the country with my internship, including Indiana, Tennessee, and St. Louis, MO. I'm going to be such a travel bee and I'm definitely okay with that!! I can do tons of thrifting in new places, which I haven't gotten to do in sooooooo long. 

Are you planning to travel anywhere this summer? 

Hope that everyone have a wonderful day/weekend! 

My roommate, some friends, and I are going thrifting tomorrow for a little stress reliever --- I have such awesome friends. :  ) 

xoxo, 

Laura 

Isn't he adorable? 

You Are Absolutely Beautiful

Today I had a special dinner. I was selected as one of the top students who volunteers their time to work with perspective students in our Enrollment Office. We do things such as eat lunch with perspectives, host them as overnights, or just talk to them about what we love about Juniata. 

Anyway, this dinner was with the President of the college, which was a really amazing opportunity and I was extremely honored that they chose me as one of the students. 

However, I had no idea what to wear. I have just been so stressed lately with finals approaching and I feel like my mind just can't keep up. So, I texted my dear friend Amanda and asked her if she could help me pick out something to wear and she immediately came to my aid. As I was trying clothes on, I vaguely noticed that she was drawing something on one of my note pads. 

It wasn't until later that I looked at it and I just wanted to cry. (A good cry, not a bad cry.) Even though Amanda helped me pick out something really cute to wear, that wasn't the reason that I felt beautiful. No, the reason that I felt beautiful is because I know that I am truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and family in my life. 

This is something that has taken me a long time to learn and really understand. Beauty doesn't have anything to do with what you are wearing. No, I'm just as beautiful now, wearing my ratty "it is finals time" sweatpants and my supermegafoxyawesomehot T-shirt. Beauty how you act and the people that your surround yourself with. Beauty is how you life your life. 

Remember that you are absolutely beautiful no matter what. 

xoxo, 

Laura

Melmac Monday: Taste the Rainbow

Hey all! Happy Monday! I am so excited to be sharing a new weekly segment with you that I have called Melmac Mondays!

If you remember from this post, I sort of   definitely have a Melmac problem. For those of you who are not as familiar with Melmac, it was a brand of dishes made from the 1940's until around the 1970's from melamine, which is a type of plastic. Some main reasons why this dishware was used, was because a.) it was cheap b.) it was durable and c.) plastic was seen as the "dishware of the future."

Melmac was the brand name of dishware that American Cyanamid produced, but there were many other makers, that used other names such as Texas Ware, Bootonware, even some Tubbermaind, etc.  However, most of the people just refer to most melamine dishware as melmac, even if the American Cyanamid company did not produce it.

I became obsessed with Melmac, when I was younger, admiring the wonderful melmac mustard style dishware set my grandma had.  I had bought some pink cups before freshman year, because they are very durable, but lately my love for Melmac has just grown much more, as you saw from that post above. I just love the simplicity of them, the different styles, and how great they are for everyday use.

Therefore, I have decided that every Monday I will post some pictures of Melmac that I particularly like from Etsy, or (as I head home for summer) I will share some of my own pieces from my ever-growing collection.

So, to jump start Melmac Monday, I present to you a rainbow of Melmac.



                            

Red

Orange 

Yellow

Green

Blue

Purple

Pink

xoxo, 

Laura 

P.S. Etsy has some great Melmac things, but I would advise looking at thrift stores, estate sales, and even your grandma's cabinets for pieces too, just because shipping can get pretty pricey with dishware.

P.P.S. Here are some great links about the history of Melmac and how to keep your dishes looking pretty!  

Reasons Why People May Think I'm Crazy.

Number One: I was walking to meet some friends over by our football fields. On my way there, I saw my roommate's lovely car, which has been dubbed Sebastian Xavier Daniels. So, as I passed it, I said, "Hello Sebastian!" without even thinking about it. And then, I realize that there was guy watching me this whole time. If I get a call from the school counselor, I wouldn't be too surprised.

Number Two: My roommate and I just watched this  in our school's cafe, while singing and dancing - including the arm flailing and bum shaking - twice.

Number Three: The final picture of this post is totally me creeping on someone out the window.

Don't judge me.

Romper - Thrifted 

Sweater - Thrifted - Target

Headband - Kohl's

Necklace - Gift from my roommate 

Shoes-  Payless (old) 

xoxo, 

Laura 

Parties Rock in the Unity House Tonight!

Hey everyone! I finally found time to edit and post the party pictures! I had such a great time at my party and I was so pleased that a lot of my friends were able to come. My gal pal, Alexa, helped me to make cake pops. It was a new experience for me and we had a blast! I think they turned out really well and I can't wait to make some more this summer! 





Here is the after shot with all my cards! I love birthday cards, so I was really appreciative of them. Also, my parents sent me a care package with some snacks, little note cards, amazing metallic pens, socks, Despicable Me, and a gift card to one of my favorite thrift stores from home - that will definitely come in handy! 

I was really nervous about the party because I had gotten sick Friday morning and was rushing around at the last minute to get stuff together. Which is why I end up painting my nails about 10 minutes before people were set to arrive. The party was at the Unity House at my school, which is where a lot of the religious and diversity leaders offices are. They are really great about letting students have parties there. 

I asked people to wear things that were either sparkly/ sequin-y if they had it and to keep it classy! I found my dress over Easter and I really like it! 




Dress - Thrifted (It was half off for $4) 
Belt - Thrifted 
Tights- Payless 
Shoes - Thrifted 

This lovely gal is

my friend Nikki; she made my birthday cake and she did such a fantastic job. In fact, I was type this, my roommate and I are chowing down on the top tier that she made for my own little personal cake. My mom also bought sparkling grape juice for me, since the theme was sparkle! 

My fellow social work students/friends! :) 

Isn't the cake just so cute!?

I only attempted one jumping picture because of the heels. I felt like enjoying my party instead of heading to the ER. :) 


I had such a good time and so glad that a lot of people could come! I might still show some of the photo booth photos at some point.

Thanks to everyone who left me birthday wishes on my last post! I appreciate it so much! 

xoxo, 

Laura <3