Black Friday Haul 2016

Black Friday is my one of my favorite times of the year. The sales are crazy! It has become a yearly tradition for my mom and I to battle the crowds in search of the best deals at our favorite stores. The mall we go too has a separate, smaller mall that houses the higher end stores. This is where my we tend to stay. The lines are long, but the sales are well worth the wait. Most of the time, we stay away from all of the clothing stores, and usually leave with mostly accessories that we have found missing from our collections at home. 

Here are my purchases for this year: 

Michael Kors 

Hamilton Large Saffiaan Leather Tote in Black

I have been dreaming about owning one of these totes ever since MK first came out with this style, and my dreams finally came true! My mom picked one up in burgundy, while I bought one in black. I did not have a large black purse, so when I saw this one on a display, I snatched it up right away. I love to wear black, so I will get a lot of use out of it, and it will match just about everything! When I saw this bag, I automatically noted that it was big enough for notebooks and my laptop to fit very comfortably for school, something that is important for a college student like me. 

Tory Burch

Billy Slipper in Black Suade

When I saw this loafer, I knew I wanted it immediately. The more I look at them, the more I love them! I have been wanting to get a loafer, but had not seen any that jumped out at me. I am excited for these because they are a more casual loafer, made from suade, and have a super comfy layer of fur  inside. These will be perfect for going to the library when I am on campus!

Laura Ballet Flat in Tory Navy/Gold Leather

Ever since about a year ago, when I got my first pair of Tory Birch ballet flats, I have sworn by these! I was excited to pick up a new pair in navy, and these are the most comfortable ones I have come across yet! I tend to have bad luck finding flats that don't end up giving me painful blisters, but I rarely have issues with my Tory flats. I highly recommend everyone to pick up a pair of these! I absolutely love that I found these in navy, one of my favorite neutral colors!

Landon Combo Cross-Body in Soft Gold

I have always been one to wear a lot of gold, so not always having a purse to match was frustrating sometimes. Lucky for me, Tory had this cute little gold cross body bag on sale for black friday. This will match everything, and I am excited to have this to add to my growing collection of handbags! 

Kate Spade

Brynlee Handbag in Black

Like I said before, I wear a good amount of black, so having a solid small purses was something I desperately needed. I saw this one in the Kate Spade store and picked it up right away. It is a bit unique, because while most purses are made of leather, this is made of shiny paten. It dresses it up a big more and makes it perfect for a variety of occasions. 

Leighann Satchel Handbag in Offshore (Navy)

This bag is BEAUTIFUL. It is a great purse in every color it comes in, but if you are a lover of navy, like me, you will really appreciate this bag in this shade of dark, winter navy. It was even the perfect size for my Yorkie to sleep comfortably in the bottom of the middle section! It is the perfect size for any small dog, or school work, whatever your priorities are...

Throwback Thursday: Journal #4

Journal #4: 2009

     "We drove to Saint Augustine today. After checking into the hotel, we took a trolley tour. I had to wear this sticker. The trolley dropped us off down the street from Castillo De San Marco's Fort. So we visited there. It was cool. 

     At night we had a ghost tour. There was three places we visited that is haunted. The old school house, the graveyard, and the Castillo De San Marco's Fort. One of the younger boys got so freaked out. I let him hide behind me. The tour guide told us that we can't see the spirits that we would visit, but we can photograph them. If we were lucky we could see a spirit without looking at a picture. Monica and Lacie got pictures of yellow orbs. I got a picture of yellow streaks (moving spirits). 

     The school house is very active. A lady's spirit is supposed to haunt there. 

     The fort had many spirits. Monica and Lacie got pictures of orbs. Alex saw a figure walking on the top floor of the fort. We saw where the executions were held . 

     The last place was the graveyard. There are a few different spirits that haunt it. My favorite is the three boys. When the boys were alive, they were apparently adorable. They could make every woman in the village smile. They were very young. All three of them got sick and died. There spirits haunt the cemetery. When a girl stops by the cemetery, if they feel a hand tickle their back, its the boys. They like you. Sometimes you even get a big, sloppy kiss on the back of your neck."

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     I have made some progress in spelling and length at this point in my journalling career. However, I seem to have developed an issue with tense that makes me cringe every time I come across a new error. When I write these entries, I make sure to spell things and write them grammatically the same as what is in my journal. This has to do with me wanting to show how my writing has evolved over the years. It takes every ounce of strength not to correct everything that is wrong with the writing in my older journals, and there is definitely a lot of corrections that could be made. 

    Another one of my issues I am noticing is that I have yet to learn how to express my emotions in a more obvious way in my writing. I sound pretty monotone and unamused, in my opinion. It definitely sounds like the ghost tour did not scare me, and I am pretty sure parts of the tour had me scared out of my mind. That was during one of my tomboy stages, and part of that stage was acting like I didn't care about certain things. For this situation I felt that I needed to be the "cool" girl who doesn't get scared of the spirits while everyone else is about to pee their pants. I'm sure I didn't pull this off whatsoever...

xoxo, tay 

Bloggers Who Inspire Me...

As I become more and more immersed into the world of blogging I have found some blogs that I am quite inspired by...

Zoella

I have been following her blog and YouTube channel since I was in high school. I can relate to Zoe is a lot of ways and that really attracts me to her work. I look up to her, she inspires me! I love her videos as well as her photography. The photos are always original, clear, and beautiful to look at. Her blog is a lifestyle blog that I strive toward becoming similar too. I look forward to reading about her life, recipes, fashion & beauty tips, and adventures of being a writer and YouTuber.

Classy Girls Wear Pearls

Sarah Vickers is one of my biggest fashion and blogging icons! All of her photos almost seem to have a vintage look to them, perfect for the New England setting. The photography on her blog beautifully captures the clothes without them always being the only interesting element. You can really tell how each setting is carefully planned with the outfit. The pictures themselves are candid and sometimes even look like they are telling a story. Each fashion post isn't just about the clothes, its also about the scene. I love the way she weaves these two things together so well. What I love most is the way she edits her pictures, they have a bit of a vintage vibe to them that I adore. I can scroll through Sarah's blog all day and never get bored of marveling over the photos...

Aspyn Ovard 

She isn't much older than I am and she has achieved so much! While I do not agree with some of her personal life choices that made me skeptical of following her blog and YouTube channel, I have moved past those and follow to appreciate her excellent photography and videography. I also love everything about her style, which is how I found her in the first place. One of my favorite ways of following her is through the vlogs that Aspyn does with her husband,  Parker. 

Golly Miss Molly

When I think of this blogger I like to consider her a southern belle with an edgy side. Her style varies so widely and I love that she isn't stuck in one mindset when it comes to clothes. It changes and evolves with the seasons and trends. I can relate to her in this kind of way because, while I usually call my style preppy, I do fall toward other trends and styles at times. I like to appreciate the different styles, even if they are not something I would necessarily wear myself, and I think that Molly really shows variety on her blog, and I really like this about her.

Fleur De Force

I have one word to describe Fleur: Chic. She takes high fashion and somehow makes it wearable. She is also another blogger with a YouTube channel, and I would have never guessed from her personality that she would take the fashion risks that she does! From beauty to fashion, she seems to be good at everything and has become widely successful in both blogging and YouTube. Fleur is another that, like Zoe, I have been following since high school, and I won't be stopping anytime soon!

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All of these photos belong to the bloggers mentioned in this post.

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xoxo, tay

Throwback Thursday: Journal #3

Journal #3: 2008-2009

 "Today I enjoyed PE for some reason. I don't usually. But today we did baseball. I guess I enjoyed it because I haven't played in a long time. It was a mystery who won though because Coach mixed up the scores..."

Wow, this passage from my journal totally makes me look like a kid who hated sports and being outside. I swear I wasn't! I think I just wasn't quite as tolerate of the heat at that age, and I was very picky with the outdoor activities I chose to take part in. PE was held in the middle of the day, in the South Florida heat, so naturally a lot of kids did not enjoy being out in an open field at that time. I have tons of fond memories of PE in elementary school. If I remember correctly the sport we had done before this one was soccer, which was not a sport I would have preferred. Switching it up for a day of baseball apparently please me...

xoxo, tay

The Wedding Weekend

Where art thou, Rapunzel?

The newest edition to our family: Stephanie!

My whole family had been waiting on this moment for literally ten years.

One of my favorite cousins, love you Emily!

Sometimes my brother and I can take nice pictures.

This last weekend was spent celebrating a relationship through the union of marriage. My cousin, Johnny, married his long time girlfriend, Stephanie. I would say welcome to the family, but she was already part of it. 

In a way, this wedding became a family reunion. I finally got to see some of the family members, that I grew up very close too, and had not seen in over 2 years. While I looked forward to seeing everyone in my family, I especially looked forward to seeing my cousin, Emily. The last time we had seen each other was the summer before our senior year of high school. We went to Pickwick for the Fourth of July and then to church camp together. We are very close, and sometimes it gets really hard being so far away. 

My family has always been pretty spread out. As a kid, I would sometimes become jealous of all my friends who's families lived in the same city as they did. They got to see their aunts, uncles, and cousins all the time. Maybe one day we won't lived so far away from each other, but I guess for now cellphones and Facebook will just have to do...

I just had to show off my favorite Lauren James dress.

My mom cut out my legs because she thought the fern was pretty... 

If you look closely, you can see the tan lines from my one piece swimsuit I wore all summer at camp.

The wedding was at Bok Tower Gardens, so I decided that my favorite black and white gingham Lauren James dress would be appropriate. I paired the dress with my black Coach pumps and my Brighten pearls. 

For the reception, I changed into a Black & White dress with faux snake skin Nine West heels. 

Yes, the hotel was decorated for Christmas even though Thanksgiving has not passed yet. 

xoxo, tay

Throwback Thursday: Journal #2

2006-2008

"On Wednesday we went to Chimny Rock. It was so cool! The rock was so high up! On the way back to the parking lot we could hike back or take the elevator. I hiked back. It was cool. 

Hannah and I split our money to buy a box of taffy. On the way to the restaurant I had a piece of taffy and it made my tooth come out! It wasn't even loose! It started to bleed a lot, I hate the taste of blood. I got blood on my new pants! Sad me. I hope it comes out. I put my tooth under my pillow but the tooth fairy didn't come when I check this morning nothing was there. So I will just wait."

Every time I read old journal entries, I cringe at the lack of quality writing and the embarrassing content. Then again, I was in elementary school, so what can we really expect? Please note the run-on sentences, referencing myself in 3rd person, me not sparing the gory details of my tooth coming out, and my lack of ability to find a synonym for "cool." If I remember correctly this was the experience that made me low key realize that the tooth fairy was not real. There was also a  following experience where I lost my tooth at girl scout camp that confirmed my suspicions. 

Keep a look out for next weeks Throwback Thursday, because they are finally back!

xoxo, tay