Chautauqua Park

Hi Guys!
     Just stopping by to say hello! My parents are in town for two days, so I am just going to share a few pictures from a little hike I did this summer.  No fancy outfits here! I decided to share these because my parents are actually hiking at this place while I am at work today.  It is a beautiful park called Chautauqua, and the flatirons (the flat-faced mountains in the distance) are the most photographed image of Boulder! There are a bunch of different hikes to choose from, and then you can eat at the little restaurant at the base as well.  A definite must-see if you are ever in this town!

      One more thing I would like to mention is the super exciting launch of a project I have been involved in! It is called Flock Together, and it is a collaborative blog with a few of my favorite style bloggers from all across the United States.  We are all remixing and swapping pieces from our own closets to show how a single piece can be worn a bunch of completely different ways by different stylish ladies!  We will also be doing person style posts, DIY projects, and a whole host of other fun things.  Stop by Flock Together today to say hi, and make sure to add it to your blog roll so you don't miss all of the exciting introductions happening every day this week.  You can click over to the Meet the Bloggers section for a little peak into all of the individuals who are going to be collaborating! Hope to see you there and hope you all had amazing weekends!
xo Hannah

The End of September

     Holy Moley its already the end of September.  I am pretty sure this is the fastest month of the year!  It is always an exciting time even though on paper, not much has changed and my day to day life has pretty much remained the same.  It must be ingrained in us from the time we are small children that September brings new beginnings since that is when you would enter the next grade in school, make new friends, and start learning new things.  Even though I am no longer in school, the slight change in weather always brings with it a refreshing change of mindset for me.  It isn't just about getting to wear tights, the changing leaves, or pumpkin flavored treats that I am all too excited about- there is a deeper buzz in the air that I always know signifies a new and fresh start.

   

   

Outfit Details:

Dress: Vintage- for sale in the shop!

Boots: Vintage/ thrifted

Blouse: Vintage/ thrifted

Sunnies: c/o American Apparel

These pictures were taken on a perfect September day last weekend.  R and I got on our bikes and started riding through his neighborhood with no particular destination in mind.  We take turns leading and turn down whatever street seems the most interesting (or ahem, the most downhill).  This time, our bikes brought us to this peaceful little pond at the base of the mountains.  The aspen leaves were a beautiful golden hue against the caked mud and green grass, and it was really nice to just sit and listen to the peace and quiet for awhile.

     With the new-found motivation that September has bestowed upon me, I have also been much happier with how my shop is going. I have always known that the amount I get out of it is commensurate to amount of effort I am willing to put in, and I really have been making a much larger effort to keep it chock full of pretty vintage goodies.  It has been hard to juggle my full time job, the small hint of a social life, and still find time to buy, alter, photograph, and list new items on a consistent and regular basis, but I finally feel like I am coming to a happy balance between it all.

     What changes have September brought for you? 

xo Hannah

An Adventure at Dusk

 I had such a nice weekend that I almost don't even mind that it is Monday! It involved yummy Thai food, pumpkin ales, a fun BBQ with softball friends, a mountain drive at sunset with R, dinner at a brewery, and a long Sunday bike ride; some of my very favorite things!  I don't have a Makeover Monday for you today because I neglected my sewing machine this weekend in exchange for enjoying the last warm days outdoors. But I do have for you some fun pictures from our sunset drive into the mountains!

  

Outfit Details:

Dress: Vintage- for sale in the shop!

Necklace: Vintage- gift

Shoes: Vintage - thrifted

Jacket - J. Jill - thrifted

Crown: thrifted flowers -DIY

     Sometimes it is so liberating to get into the car with no specific destination in mind. We knew we wanted to head West into the mountains to see if the Aspen leaves had started changing yet, and we were not disappointed- a faint golden glow has start to take over the Rockies.  Finally, right at sunset, we pulled over near an empty Ranch that we had visited in the beginning of the summer (seen here).  We were so excited to see that there were actually a ton of horses eating their dinner, and it pretty much made for the most Colorado-esque backdrop I could ever dream of.  I am usually kind of skeptical of horses, but they are really beautiful.  I tried to think of a horse song to sing to them to lull them into coming over to say hi, but my rendition of "Oh home on the range" didn't do the trick.  R however walks up to the fence and just stands there and immediately a few practically sprint to him. Ahem. I cannot say I wasn't slightly insulted they didn't find my singing voice pleasing.

    Since these photos depict what Colorado is to me, I would love to hear what the quintessentially perfect backdrop would be for the place you live! Would it be a sandy beach, a gathering of city buildings, a quaint downtown, a shady grove of trees?  If you have a post on your blog that you think really shows the heart of where you live, link it to the comments and I would love to take a peak!

Hope you guys are having a good start to you week!

xo Hannah

p.s. Please disregard my bum knee from my bike fall, not the prettiest- eek!

The Great Sand Dunes

  The purpose of our mini roadtrip last weekend was to see the Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado, as it was another natural wonder on my must-see list.  Colorado seriously has an overwhelming amount of beauty to offer.  It was about a five hour drive each way, but didn't seem bad with two people driving and with a stop in the middle for food.  Also, this is definitely not your typical outfit post.  In fact you may as well ignore what I am wearing, as it was for practical hiking purposes, and just enjoy the scenery!

Outfit Details:

Tank: Lucky Brand (old)

Shorts: Fossil (old)

Hat: Burton (old)

Shoes: American Eagle (old)

Backpack: Dakine via Ebay

     The sand dunes are quite a baffling phenomenon.  They are hundreds of square miles of sand piled in the middle of a valley and mountain range with an ocean no where in sight!  These pictures do not do the sheer height and size of the dunes justice, as it is hard to portray scale when everything is the same beige color.  I tried to use people in the pictures so you could see how tiny they were compared to the surroundings.  We hiked up the sand ridges for about an hour, which was super hard work! We did not make it to the official "high dune", but we got high enough where we could still really appreciate the amazing view.  

     The sand can reach temperatures of up to 140 degrees, which is crazy, but we got there early enough in the day that there was still a nice cloud cover.  This allowed me to hike all the way to the top barefoot, which was amazing! On they way down though the sun was shining in full force and I suddenly was doing a crazy hot-potato dance because my feet were burning so bad! You know how when you walk along a beach in mid summer, there comes a moment when you realize your feet are on fire and you need to sprint to the ocean that very second like your life depends on it?  Well, there was no ocean here.  I ended up flinging my body on the ground and balancing on my butt with my legs straight in the air until I located my shoes in my backpack. Whew. It was quite the sight I'm sure!

      I promise to have some more actual outfit posts now, as all of my adventure pictures are almost all used up.  Late summer and the beginning of sweater weather, here I come.  I still want to be able to wear dresses all the time, but also love when it is just cool enough to throw something cozy on top! With all my traveling I have also been completely neglecting my shop, but I promise to have an amazing update for you next week!

And one last thing! I just joined Chictopia yesterday (username braidedbandit), and I still am not too sure how it works!  If you guys have accounts on there or on lookbook, leave me your names and I will come say hi! If you have any tips of the trade, I'd love to hear them!

Happy Thursday

xo Hannah

La Plaza Downtown

Good Morning! I hope everyone is having a great start to their weeks.  I am in good spirits knowing I have a three day weekend coming up.  I am currently deciding if I want to do something like a little cabin in the mountains, or just save that money and do some fun things around here instead.  Leaning towards the latter since I just came back from Mexico two weeks ago, but my wanderlust has no end and I feel restless until I am planning my next little adventure. Sometimes I think I should become a travel agent because I love planning trips, but with so many online booking sites, I feel like that industry is crashing.

Outfit Details:

Dress: c/o American Apparel

Scarf: vintage/ thrifted

Sandals & Purse: gift from mom

      These photos are from the afternoon of our trip where we decided to venture to the downtown area of Cozumel.  It was beautiful, with the shops on one side of the street and the beautiful water on the other.  It was a ghost town though, as there was no cruise ships in the harbor and we went in around 3 so the dinner crowd was not out yet.  That and the fact that it was about 5 million degrees! I am really glad that we saw the town and went into some of the little shops, but honestly it was really hard to be walking around when all you wanted to do was be in air conditioning inside, or at the beach swimming.  I absolutely loved the bursts of primary colors that they use to decorate the store fronts and the plaza with.  After about an hour or two we decided to hunt down some fish tacos and Margaritas and call it a day.

      The funniest part of exploring downtown was witnessing the rivalry between the fisherman and pelican you see in the photos above.  The fisherman would catch his fish and prepare them on the rocky beach each day, and mister pelican would know exactly what time to show up to try and poach his dinner.  The fisherman was throwing scraps to the other gulls you see flying around, but the pelican hovered in the distance for awhile, and then behind the man's back, slowly shuffled closer and closer.   When the man spotted the bird he started screaming Spanish obscenities at the pelican, waving and kicking. Let's just say you could tell they were well acquainted!

Rhythm on the River

     This weekend, R and I headed to a festival a few towns over called Rythm on the River.  We were thinking we could grab some unhealthy fair food, look at some local art, and listen to music.  Unfortunately, the only food tents we saw were from chain restaurants like Old Country Buffet, the artwork was few and far between, and the stalls seemed to be advertising for local insurance agencies and heating and cooling companies.  There was a really good sounding Irish folk band playing but the heat was so blistering it was really uncomfortable standing in one place outside for more than five minutes.  Oh well, at least we made an effort to leave his air conditioned basement and get up off the couch to check it out!

 

  

Outfit Details:

Dress: Vintage - in shop soon!

Shoes: c/o American Apparel 

Sunglasses: c/o American Apparel

Hat: Volcom

     I dressed for the occasion in a newly found vintage chambray dress that I shortened and am loving, a woven hat, and a pair of comfortable oxfords for walking around.  I felt a little bit like a young explorer from the 1960s, perhaps a little Suzy-esque from Moonrise Kingdom, sans knee-highs. I looked more than a little out of place in a see of cut offs and tattered baseball hats, but I decided to embrace it.  Do you ever get somewhere and find yourself thinking, well this sucks, but at least I like what I am wearing?  I guess that sounds superficial but I more meant I believe in trying to take away a small shred of positivity even if its an overall lousy experience!

     I have to admit, I am running on empty and its only day four out of the twelve days I am working in a row!  Oh well, a little catch up on sleep should do the trick.  Do you have any fun weekend plans? Please tell me so I can live vicariously through you!

xo Hannah