Life through the lens of three girls from New York, Florida, and Texas. No matter where you are, life can be an adventure. Funny story, we all met through the 'fan account' phase everyone goes through on twitter. We have always had things in common, related to eachother on a personal level, and have been friends for years now. We decided to create a blog where we can share more personal aspects of our lives as well as more in depth aspects of what we enjoy.
One of the many benefits of living in such a small yet large city is that there are SO many super cool undiscovered places to find and enjoy. Recently, a lot of kids at my school have gotten into photography and I think thats really cool, especially because they have been finding really cool locations and sharing them. Alexa and I have been struggling to find places to take photos for not only our Depop store but for fun, so when we found out about this random alley downtown we were super excited. It took us a while to find it originally, because it’s literally nothing more than a graffiti-filled alley, but when we finally found it, we were shook to say the least. Even though there’s an occasional homeless person watching us take photos or a stranger walks in on us for a smoke break, its so cool to see the wall art thats in this abandoned alley, and it makes for some really cool shots. Here are some photos from our adventure, taken by me on a Polaroid 210.
I just recently got film developed thats been sitting in my camera for over a month, and when I picked it up I was surprised to see these gems from my trip to Tennessee back in July. Typically, I’m not the type of person to enjoy vacations in places that are more rural than my already small town. The cabin that my mom, friend and I stayed in was in the Great Smokey Mountains in mid-Tennessee. On the way there, we stopped at a beautiful national park called Clingman’s Dome, pictured here. It was so relaxing to be somewhere where nature was the main attraction and it was refreshing to have no cell service and focus on the beautiful scenery, something that I should probably do more back home. Seeing these photos reminded me about the great time I had, and I definitely miss this beautiful view from over 5,000 feet up.
Living in a small town, there’s only so many places you can go without getting bored of the same old routine. Though I go to this same park almost once a week, it never seems to get old. Alpine Groves is a local playground and natural park, with in all honesty not much to offer, but still one of my favorite places to take pictures (these were taken on a Polaroid 210). The dock at this park is absolutely incredible, and it overlooks the large river that runs through my city. Watching the sunsets here is always relaxing and its a great spot for photography and local events. Theres also a really cool abandoned building that you can sneak into which is one of my personal favorite features of the park. A lot of my past favorite pictures were taken here, and I’m sure there will be many more to come. I think its really important to appreciate the smaller things, like this local park, which makes Florida evenings so much interesting and unforgettable.
A good 80%, if not more than that, of all the clothes I wear are thrifted. In the photos above, showing some of my favorite outfits, EVERYTHING except for the band merch is thrifted. I love thrifting and thrift shops, they're an amazing way to shop on a low budget, with the potential to buy rare or name brand as well as unique pieces. My mom always took me and my sister to garage sales and thrift stores when we were younger, so it's something I have always done. I never understood why anyone would pay money for basic clothing when they could just get the same thing for a fraction of the price at Goodwill, and over the past 3 years I've branched out from just looking for basics to shopping for my whole wardrobe via thrift stores. Some people may think thrifting is gross or too low for their standards, but they are definitely missing out. As well as being practical, thrifting is so fun! Living in a small suburban town, it is one of my favorite leisure activities.
Everyone always asks me how I find such nice clothes at thrift stores, or look extremely shocked when I answer that what I'm wearing is from a thrift store. In this post I'm going to share with you all some of my top secret thrifting tips!
I know everyone says this, but LOOK THROUGH EVERYTHING! Every section has something to offer, even the children's section. Most of my favorite pants are from the men's section. My favorite silk tops are from the lingerie section. The children's section is great for fabric to transform into chokers! Don't forget to check the accessories either, my favorite pair of cat eye sunglasses were hidden on a rack next to the register.
TRY EVERYTHING YOU GET ON! Even if it is only semi-cute on the hanger, you may love it when you try it on! Or you may hate it, its always best to try things on so you don't waste money... even if thrift stores are cheap. Try to picture what a piece will look like with another article of clothing you already own.
Don't just search for name brand clothing. Even though it feels great when you find a cool vintage Adidas jacket on the racks, don't stop there. I've never been one that understood why people care about wearing name brands, mostly because I've never had any. My favorite pieces are not name brands, and you shouldn't just be in search of name brands because you'll most likely find something better thats not designer.
Before you enter the thrift store, have a goal of a piece you are inspired by, for example I find a lot of inspiration through Instagram. pick an outfit you think is cute, and try to find something similar that you can make into your own! Having a goal of what you would like to purchase makes it a lot easier to be focused in the store and not get lost in the masses of clothes.
Even in summer, ALWAYS CHECK THE OUTERWEAR AND COAT SECTION! You will always find the best outerwear in summer or springtime because people aren't looking for coats in summer. Just speaking from personal experience!
Last tip, TAKE YOUR TIME! This kind of goes with tip 1, to go through everything, but be patient in the store. If you've been in there 10 minutes and cant find anything, don't give up!
Those are my most important tips I can think of, good luck and happy thrifting everyone! If you are still interested, check out my recent thrift haul and my 20$ thrift challenge on my youtube channel.
All my friends can tell you that I’ve said countless times that I’m wasting my break this entire summer. Sure, I didn’t really do anything exciting like go on vacation or go on crazy adventures. However, I realized that all that time I spent sitting at home, or taking a walk by myself, I did a lot of thinking. Most of that was in the past 2 weeks. I’ve realized things about myself and what I really want to achieve, and came to a few conclusions.
#1: I don’t want to live my life constantly bringing myself and other people down. 70% of the thoughts that run through my mind are either self deprecating or judgmental towards someone else, as well as 70% of the things I say out loud. Sure, everyone has bad days. Everyone has said things that were not so positive and nice about themselves, or other people. That can’t be an every day occurrence for me anymore. On the other end of the spectrum, I sometimes find myself thinking that I’m in some way better than or superior to someone. My goal is to find a healthy middle, and just be content with myself, and not have my solution be to bring someone down to bring myself up.
#2: I don’t want to live my life being overly sensitive and holding grudges. When someone says or does something to me that I find offensive in the slightest bit, I find it hard to ignore. I’ve always thought that I’m too easily forgiving. Yet, I still find myself thinking about how someone wronged me months, or even years ago, and feeling hatred towards that person. Some things even still cross my mind every single day, and I think “how could they have done that?” This is just so tiring and it weighs you down to the point that you find yourself not trusting anyone else. It’s better to just let it go, and move on.
#3: I don’t want to live my life thinking I can’t do or achieve anything. I always have dozens of things that I want to learn, or start practicing, such as photography, writing, painting, playing guitar, etc. Some things I’ve been wanting to do for years, but I still brush them off because I think that “I don’t have enough time” or “I don’t think I can ever be good at that” or something along those lines. How many more excuses can I come up with before I actually DO SOMETHING with my life?
#4: I don’t want to live my life to please others. I feel like most of my decisions and actions are influenced by other people. I’m always considering “what will my family think of this? what will my friends think of this? what will so and so think of this?” Very rarely do I consider what’s best for ME, and what’s going to benefit myself and my well being. Even as I write this, I’m thinking about what people will think of it, and how some may perceive me after reading it. But this is not the purpose of this at all. It’s not for other people, it’s for me. Just as my entire life is.
#5: I don’t want to live my life not being grateful for what I have. I always find myself seeking something more than what I have instead of being thankful because I think that having more is what will make me happy and fulfilled. I often take my family and friends for granted, and don’t appreciate them for the amazing people that they are. My most used phrase is probably “I have no friends,” and currently my goal is to eliminate that from my thoughts and from the things I say. I’ve realized that it’s okay to not have 50 friends, and to not be hanging out with someone 24/7, and that sometimes alone time is the best time. That is after all what made me realize this much about myself.
#6: I don’t want to live my life not loving myself. This sort of ties together everything stated above. I don’t think that I ever have truly loved and accepted myself. I’ve always depended on other people’s approval and love to feel good in my own body. But that’s not how it’s supposed to be. I want to be happy with myself, and not have my happiness depend on the people surrounding me. To be honest, I feel like this is going to be the hardest of all to change about myself, but it’s the most important for me.
Now that I’m reading this entire post over again, I realized that the way I phrased my “conclusions” is very self critical and negative. For example, the person that I’m striving to be would say something like “I want to live my life loving myself” instead. But this is part of it. I’m not going to change the wording. This is part of my journey. It’s part of my growth as a person.
I’m not saying that I think that after writing this my life is magically going to transform, and I’m going to become this ideal person that doesn’t make mistakes or doesn’t have any flaws. I obviously can’t change my life in an instant, but every day I’m going to to do something to better myself. Something that my future self will thank me for. It’s going to take some time before I can kill all my bad habits, and become this positive, forgiving, and confident person that I’m striving to be, but I think that it’s going to be an interesting journey to beginning again.
Downtown Houston is not at all what I expected it to be. Sure, there is the whole business scene, and various business buildings, but at every corner we happened to find something new. I had an amazing time walking around my city, catching up with friends at the coffee shops, and discovering our new favorite places. There are a lot of things to do in a busy city like Houston, but exploring new grounds is the best way to approach it. The thing I love most about my city is that there is beauty in everything. We took pictures at the city hall steps, the chase tower, a balcony from a random bar, and so many more areas we didn’t even plan on going. Taking time out of our day to go on random, fun adventures always pays off in the end.. even if you end up getting kicked out of the bar.
There’s just something about sunsets that makes me so happy and inspired, so much so that I’m dedicating an entire blog post to them. A little less than a week ago I got off the bus next to my cousin’s house coming back from class at around 7:30 PM, the optimal time to watch the sunset in late August. I noticed that the sky was turning pink, and I was right next to the beach, so I thought: why not stay out a little more and soak in the beautiful colors surrounding me? So I did. I got so much joy from watching the sky’s colors turn from blue to pink to orange with a dreamy Spotify playlist playing through my headphones to accompany my dreamlike mood. The waves were crashing, shadowy figures were running on the shore and sitting in the sand, seagulls were flying in the distance. I felt like I was watching a scene from a movie with an amazing soundtrack. For some reason, I simply could not stop smiling. Why? It’s just a sunset, right?
Attending my local flea market is always a fun adventure. Even though I have to drive a bit to get there, and its a little run down, its always fun to observe the mini shops in the flea market plaza. There are plant shops, secondhand clothing shops, fruit stands, cheap electronics, smoke shops, everything you could think of, and for super cheap. For some reason I always enjoying buying quirky & cheap items even though I’m well aware they will break the next day... My favorite stop in the plaza is the record shop. They don’t sell new vinyl, but its always fun to look at the old rock album covers and be inspired by the colors and designs. Everything was way cooler in the 80’s! I hope to come back to the flea market soon, especially because some of my favorite thrift stores are in the area.
