springtime life catchup

is this still a lifestyle blog? it's been a minute since i did a good old fashioned life update post. if you read my post on 'why i scheduled side gig work hours', you can imagine i've done some reorganizing and restructuring in my life recently. these changes have been immensely satisfying for my health and happiness. needless to say, there have been a lot of changes in recent weeks - all good changes. guess the springtime is bringing some spring cleaning to my life, yeah?

i was recently asked if i was still considering moving, and it kind of caught me off guard. i haven't thought about moving in months, which is odd for me. birmingham... what are you doing to me? this wasn't the plan! i dunno y'all. but for now i'm staying put. let's just say that.

so here's what i've been up to lately...

• i finally stopped by local juicery sprout & pour to try out their juices, and i was so impressed! quench is definitely my favorite.
• alabama is currently experiencing the brief few weeks of spring we'll be allotted... so i'm finally wearing some bright colors and enjoying it!
• the other weekend, i got together with beth and rachel to work on a project of ours, and we knocked out a few blog posts in the process too... beth had a beautiful strawberry lemon cake to photograph, and i photographed my pecan crusted goat cheese bacon greens salad. YUM.
• i've gotten a lot more confident in my thoughts on marketing, social media, etc. - and i've found i actually thoroughly enjoy writing about them. my writing skills need flexing, badly, but i think i'm going to be able to maintain a linear thought process and actually write on a few of my marketing tips, tricks and experiences. so far, it's going well, and i've enjoyed the content switchup!
• still listening to being boss like it's my freakin' job. LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST.
• i ran my second color me rad 5k (read my tips from last year here) and had a blast. if you haven't done this 5k, just go do it. it's a great way to start your saturday. 

has your spring started off on a good note?

we found love right where we are

last weekend i took a quick trip to nashville. it was an incredible weekend, and i always have a blast up there. i tried a lot of new restaurants (gabby's burgers, barista parlor, city winery, husk, suzy wong's house of yum...), visited arrington vineyards down near franklin, hit up printer's alley, went to a sunday drag show brunch, y'know, the usual.

sometimes i think nashville is the place i wanna be if/when i move. sometimes, i feel like i wan to push myself to go further. i'm not sure right now. but i do know that nashville is a fantastic place, and i'm so happy it's only a 2.5 hour drive up i-65.

working on: this saturday is our first birmingham bloggers event of 2015 - a resolutions coffee chat at this fabulous new coffee shop on the north side of town. we've been prepping the chat material, packing up the goodie bags (pssst... xoxoheartarrow!) & getting really excited. beth and i have also been to tons of meetings lately... spring 2015 is shaping up to be fabulous for sure!

daydreaming about: all the travel that's about to smack me in the face this year. not kidding. i'm going everywhere. at least it feels that way. i'm heading to new orleans for mardi gras, austin, hopefully charleston this summer, san francisco, and i'm sure i'll end up in atlanta, nashville and the beaches again. it's about to get crazy.

watching: totally binging on portlandia. i watched season one months ago, but now i'm back on it. thank goodness season five just started. i have a huge schoolgirl crush on fred armisen, despite some of the bizarre things you can read about him online if you go lurking (dude's weird, but i have this thing for absurdly talented people, and he's so freakin' talented)

listening: so i just finished the serial podcast - so addicting! i loved but of course, it left me feeling very conflicted. i have my opinion but i won't spoil for anyone who hasn't listened. i've also started listening to a new podcast, being boss. while i'm not exactly what i'd call an entrepreneur, this podcast has some great nuggets for anyone managing their time/money, working on huge projects & navigating into uncharted creative territory. totally reccomend.

the best month of the year

woah woah woah. i miss blogging. a lot. life has been a whirlwind lately and i haven't had nearly enough time to write my own posts! i'll summarize real quick.

on october 13th, i turned 24.
yay. i took the day off work & went hiking down at moss rock preserve in hoover, and then i ate a burrito, so it was probably my most adult/successful birthday ever. and then i got free starbucks and bought myself a birthday bouquet. go self. the next night i went to melt in avondale with my friends, and my bff sofia got me my favorite perfume ever that i ran out of ages ago, because she reads my mind.

beth and i went to meetings on meetings for birmingham bloggers.
our shopping party at kendra scott is the 29th, and we've got a cool collab with insomnia cookies in the works! friday, the 17th, beth and i were invited to a delicious dinner at the brand new babalu tacos & tapas in lakeview (which is uh right by my apartment btw, so i'm ready to eat here way too much) and it was amazing! super fresh, super delicious, guac made tableside, what more can you ask for?

goooooo state! (it's their time, y'all, really, so i'll let them have this season)
the 18th was molly's wedding day in starkville, complete with cowbells! the wedding and reception were gorgeous. did i mention molly had mini grilled cheeses at the reception? yeah case closed here. congratulations molly & stephen!

i got a cat. kind of, but not really.
my part-time cat lucy has been hanging out a lot lately. let me explain. lucy is what i believe to be a stray living in my apartment complex. i've fed her a few times and, well, you know how that goes. now she sits outside my door and meows. she's gotten quite comfortable sleeping on my couch and pretending to love me. i've never had a cat. i'm not sure they feel real emotions or if i'm just a pawn in her plot for apartment complex domination. anyone got cat tips?

my favorite month is drawing to a close, but i'm thrilled about the holidays approaching!

life lately... labor day edition

• i finally finished moving! i'm all settled into my new apartment & i love it so. while i was so grateful and happy to live in a historic home for a year, my furniture fits a lot better in an apartment, let me tell you. less space to clean! yay! plus, i have this adorable new bookcase setup, seen above. everyone in my complex is super nice, offered multiple times to help me move in, etc. -- it's kinda of mayberry-esque. which means that everyone is just genuine and pleasant, or they're all plotting to kill me.
• i whipped up some delicious + low carb chipotle chicken bacon chowder. and i savored every drop, because it's honestly the best and only recipe to properly welcome fall. also pictured are brisket tacos from little donkey, which is the closest thing to heaven.
• i got these awesome taupe booties from express & i can't stop wearing them. also, i bought a skirt. i'm not a skirt/dress gal. i'm trying to become one. wish me luck.
• whitney is the best at cute package design, y'all. i ordered her desk day planner & she wrapped it up oh so nicely. go check out her stuff!
• i drove to fairhope for labor day weekend! the weekend was lovely except for this one part where a tractor trailer tire flew like a firey bat out of hell into my bumper and uh, totally screwed it up. it could have been so much worse. my poor car (i've had him since i was 16, and this is the worst thing that's ever happened to him...) is in the body shop & i'm rocking the rental.
• i'm really, really excited for the next birmingham bloggers meetup because molly, beth & i have some super cool plans that we hope work out. i miss all y'all blogger people.

glorifying busy + life behind the blog

i've been busy lately.

actually, busy is an understatement.

between working 70 hour weeks at my day job, managing birmingham bloggers, social media, preparing to travel the entire month of july and recently learning i'll be moving in the next two months, i haven't really had a second to breathe. or do my laundry. or go to the gym. normally my days are structured, i get to leave work at 5pm, i have time to meal prep, do my yoga, get drinks with friends, and breathe. not lately. but, for someone who thrives on routine, i'm doing surprisingly well having it all thrown out of wack. i'm not sure if i'm just functioning on some bizarre auto-pilot mode or what.

busy, busy, busy. we're all so busy. and we use that excuse for everything. caught up in our own busyness, it often feels impossible that anyone be busier than us or even begin to parallel the madness our life sometimes feels it is.

lately i've tried to remind myself that i'm but a piece of the puzzle. that my busyness is no more or less important than anyone else's, and that we all deserve a breather every now and then. i'm trying not to glorify 'busy'. i'm trying to be grateful and receptive to 'busy', but able to take a step back and take care of myself. busy isn't validation, busy isn't a purpose, busy is a word we use to feel important sometimes.

i still have time for what matters - myself, my relationships and my well-being. and letting busy overtake that isn't cool. (aka i have got to stop ordering takeout to the office)

be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

life catchup: memorial day weekend + last week

just a quick little life update considering the past few weeks have been insane for me - and it's only going to get crazier. june & july are nuts in my calendar (but they're going to be SO much fun). so here's what i've been up to:

• last week, i finally got my kate spade business card holder in the mail, + my new cards! i'm in looooove. also, molly designed our birmingham bloggers cards, and those came in too! 
• molly, beth & i attended an exclusive see jane write workshop on thursday night feautring wade kwon, & learned a lot about taking your blogging career further. we put our business cards to use for the first time! thank you so much for the invite, javacia!
• i had a relaxing memorial day weekend as well. on saturday, i went hiking at ruffner mountain trails with my friend priscilla. saturday night, i got dinner & drinks at paramount, a newer place in town featuring awesome burgers & arcade games (b'ham people, go NOW if you haven't been. their burgers beat out chez fon fon's for me). afterward we did a bit of hopping around from avondale brewery to parkside to post office pies. avondale rocks. spread the love.
• sunday was spent lounging at my friend's aunt's house in greystone. is this place not ridiculous? the view is facing 280 + birmingham and most of hoover. i floated in the pool for what felt like hours. afterwards, we had a mini bbq & enjoyed the evening on the porch.
• on monday i stopped by ulta & picked up a few essentials, nothing fancy, and then my usual day of yoga, meal prepping for the week & watching the bachelorette, duh.

hope everyone had a safe & happy memorial day weekend! did you go to the beach or hang out in town like i did?

instagram diary - springtime journeys

maybe i've had a little too much of a good time for the past 2 weeks (the gym is calling my name, i'll just put it that way). i've been happily exploring some new birmingham spots, revisting my old favorite (hello j. clyde!) and spending time with my family. my parents & grandparents came up on friday, and we trekked over to collins bar (new obsession) & el barrio. saturday, we ventured to pepper place farmer's market, followed by red cat for coffee. next, lunch at slice, followed by an afternoon at avondale brewery for black warrior riverkeeper's earthfest. aaaand finally, dinner at vino in mountain brook. this was my first time at vino and i was thoroughly impressed. see? what a birmingham-tastic weekend. (yeah, my parents did still get me a chocolate bunny for easter. never too old).

birmingham bloggers has seen a great turn out, and i'm hoping to organize a meetup in may. if all goes as planned, i'll have those details sorted by the time the april end-of-the-month newsletter reaches member inboxes. exciting!

photo diary: hello november

i spent a relaxing weekend in birmingham & crossed a few things off my "to visit" list: what's on 2nd, urban standard & the pepper place farmer's market (no photos, boo). since moving here in july, my tally of places to go (& food to sample!) has only grown. birmingham has so much to offer that really isn't seen at the surface; maybe you know the city as a pivotal civil rights landmark, or maybe you have heard of our growing culinary scene. either way, stop by sometime if you live in the south. i fall in love with this city more every day. i feel truly blessed to live here.

i dunno about you... but i'm not 22

i turned 23 on sunday, october 13th. i was fortunate enough to celebrate the day with my closest and most incredible friends at the lovely chez fonfon in birmingham, a little french joint that's been on my "to eat" list for months. birthdays are starting to mean less and less and they're all blurring together... i've finally reached the age where nothing truly monumental comes with birthdays any longer. if anything, i'm just reminded that i am nearing my mid-twenties rather quickly. am i where i wanted to be at this age? yeah, i guess so.

at 22, i graduated college. i lost 30 pounds. i landed my first "real" job. i moved to a new city all by myself. i found out that the upkeep on a house is considerably more so than an apartment. i let go of negativity in my life and stripped away everything that was making me unhappy and holding me back. i began applying hand lotion religously. i formed an intensely personal relationship with my keurig. you get the idea.

i'm looking forward to making more mistakes, being ridiculous and still thinking i'm doing it right a year from now. here's to 23.

photo diary: late september

happy october! woo! my birthday is on the 13th, halloween is my favorite holiday, and if we're lucky enough, alabama gets a little chilly. and i know everyone says october is their favorite, but i feel like i've got some bonafide reasons there.

i spent the 23rd-27th of september in nashville for work & stopped by tory burch at green hills to get myself an early birthday present. if you follow me on instagram, you know what it is! when i got back in town on friday, my parents came up from fairhope to join my brother and i at the alabama vs. ole miss game in tuscaloosa. i love games, but... i think i'm good on alabama football for a little while (try going there for 4 years, ok, it gets exhausting!). on sunday, we ventured to whole foods and railroad park for the second annual trucks by the tracks, which was an awesome food truck event. after a mimosa, my weekend was kind of drawing to a close - i started feeling sick, like baaaad cold sick.

so now i'm battling sickness, grinding away at work and planning some neat things for the next few weeks.

sidenote: are you a woman blogger in alabama? why haven't you joined alabama women bloggers yet?! it's a great way to get involved, and we're hoping to set up an alabama women bloggers conference soon!

photo diary: labor day & early september

summer's end + labor day weekend have come and gone quickly, but i've had a great time the past couple of weeks. its no secret that summer isn't my favorite season - the alabama heat is exhausting, and all my favorite clothes are scarves and jackets.

i got two things last week that pretty much made my week - some beautiful roses delivered to my doorstep courtesy of corey, and my starbucks goldcard finally came in the mail! on august 27th i went to the backstreet boys concert in tuscaloosa & it was everything my childhood dreams hoped it would be, aka uhmazing. labor day weekend was spent in gulf shores with corey and family on the beach and at the wharf. i'm really looking forward to getting a few weeks to tie up some odds & ends and spend time in birmingham. its been go go go for months now. if it were possible to just wrap up in a sweater and hibernate, i might do it. with a pumpkin spice latte.

photo diary: july & august edition

floral frocks is now on facebook! if you're a reader, mind giving it a like? click here!

hey hey hey. life's pretty great around here. while i'm already prepped for scarves and boot weather, i've been trying to enjoy the the remnants of summer, which includes the amazing weekend i just spent in fairhope + pensacola beach with corey & my parents. living in central alabama has reminded me that i took the beach for granted. just looking at this photo makes me want to move to florida.

it truly is that stunning and perfect every day there. we battled through some thunder showers on the way from fairhope into florida, but they passed quickly and left a gorgeous day in their wake. 

i saw beyonce in concert on july 13th. i had a great time in nashville and ate at some fabulous places (i review things on yelp now, ugh, i need a life): watermark in the gulch, and city house near germantown. so good. i'll be thinking about that southern belle cocktail from watermark for a looooong time. and queen b of course.

i actually had some out-of-town business in nashville the week following the concert, so i spent a week in brentwood exploring the area. i stopped by green hills mall, opry mills, the parthenon and bits of downtown. i need to plan an nashville girls trip one of these days - i'd forgotten how fun it is!

i've also spent some time in tuscaloosa & huntsville. bingo night at houndstooth will always be a favorite - where can i hit up bingo/trivia in birmingham?! i miss lots of people but i'm lucky enough that t-town is only 45 minutes away. speaking of which, i've got tickets to see the ole miss game on september 28th - stoked!

moving to birmingham {part 1}

yes, its true! i've moved from tuscaloosa to birmingham - a mere 45 minute drive, but two totally different worlds! while i loved my tuscaloosa apartment, my lease was ending, and i got a job opportunity in birmingham. making the 100 mile round trip daily was beginning to take a toll, so i decided to take the plunge and move. so far, i'm incredibly happy that i did! i've been so busy in the past few weeks, but now my schedule will hopefully even out now that i don't have a 2 hour drive to make daily.

over the course of the past few days, i've purchased furniture, done a lot of packing and unpacking and organizing. all of my things are moved, but i've still got furniture to set up, details to work out and an endless "to buy" list. i'd like to document the evolution of my place, so i'm going to post some photos of how it looks today versus in a week or two.

i don't have a couch yet, but i have the living room all planned out in my mind. the makeshift chairs really bring the room together, right? i scored this wonderful rug from target and the side table is from ikea (tv stand + coffee table are getting put together tonight!). my bedroom is pretty much complete, though i'm thinking of adding a rug. and of course, i had to pick up a few cute plants for the front porch: sweet mint, calladiums and begonias!

stay tuned for more!

photo diary: may & early june edition

♥ i attended hangout fest in gulf shores during may 17-19, and i had a blast! before the festival i stayed with my parents in fairhope for a few days (see henry the pelican at the fairhope pier) and spent time with family. the gulf was gorgeous for the entire weekend! i saw macklemore (surprisingly amazing), passion pit, the shins, kings of leon and countless others. i can't wait to go back next year. and yes, it's better than bonnaroo. beaches > field. click here to read my post about hangout fest from last year.

♥ stocking up some items for my summer wardrobe has been a lot of fun. i'm a huge fan of lightweight collared shirts, and it's kind of becoming a problem with how much i'm wearing them recently. i've scored some great finds at loft and express!

♥ aside from job hunting and working, i've been spending a lot of time enjoying my last months in tuscaloosa. i will probably have to write a whole post about this, y'all. i love this place so, so much and i'm sad to have to leave eventually. the thing is, while i love it so, i'm ready to move on and experience life in a new place. my lease expires at the end of july, and after that i'm moving on to a job or back to fairhope until i can get something worked out. so, needless to say, i've been spending as much time enjoying tuscaloosa's beauty as possible - i spent a wonderful evening on lake tuscaloosa with friends, and i'm eating at all my favorite restaurants. 

♥ i've got a lot of things planned for the blog in the upcoming months! blogging while in college was always difficult for me, but now i truly want to devote more time to it. i'm working on a few different types of posts, and i can't wait to see where it goes!