gabbi.

Gabbi is someone dear to me.
My closest sister in age.
She's  incredibly talented in the area of animals (she is the family's animal girl).
She is the epitome of a country girl.
She is a cowgirl.
She is strong.
She is *my* sister. And no, I won't share her awesomeness.

 She got some new horse showing (how do you put that?) outfits that she had to twist my arm (no, not really) to take pictures of... The fresh snow we got last night made for perfect lighting and backdrop.

I love the editing for this shot...

I will refrain from bursting into the song "Jump", just for you... Well, how would that work over the internet? 

Hmmm...

But I love jumping shots!

you’re like an angel in the snow.

You’re like an angel in the snow

I knew you’d come but soon you’ll go

You have to leave but believe 

You’ll be frozen in my mind and back to life

Come winter time

-Chris August, "Winter"

The snow falls. The snow lingers on the ground for a couple days, reveling in the love it has for the ground. The snow then says good bye and melts. The snow stays away for days, then the uncontrollable urge to come back strikes . The snow falls again, and the whole cycle begins yet again.

That has been the story of snow and winter's romance has been lately. If you ask me, it isn't proper behavior on winter's part.

I normally don’t care about the snow, but it’s almost the middle of January and we have a maximum of 2” on our lawn.  I am now longing for the return of the “snowpocolypse” we had last winter, and tons of beautiful, untouched snow to longing to be captured by my camera and lens.
I am really afraid this slow winter will lead to a cold spring and summer- which would be torturous!

My favorite thing about winter and the cold weather has to be all the layering opportunities, mostly because I love to layer my clothes on, it's juts part of my style! So to have a whole season where it is a must to layer- is perfectly fine by me!

See? Those white straps, they are called suspenders and are one of the best understated fashion accessories ever. Seriously, they are awesome!

Click on the photo(s) above.

No, nothing is wrong with the (darkened) photo, it is just a small way I can help to protest against SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act), these bills, if passed, can and will destroy the internet as we know it. It will destroy businesses, blogs, social networks, search engines, and sites with valuable information. 

On Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 the US Senate will vote whether or not to pass the internet censorship bill, and we need to tell them to vote NO. 

You can sign a petition here, help the fight against SOPA and PIPA.

-Josie

life is sometimes better with geek glasses on.

This past summer I had the awesome-est. (if I do say so myself) pair of sunglasses. They weren’t your normal sunglasses, which is what I loved about them. They were big, but not too big, and they weren’t round- they were more of a square. Beautiful white detailing on the upper rims completed it.

This is one of those candid shots where the subject has a expression that says "do ooh"

And then they died.

It was a sad, sad day indeed. I had spent the whole summer with them over my eyes, making memories and having the time of my life; and now they were broke.

Yes, I am getting sentimental over a pair of sunglasses.

Somehow the frame on one of the lenses cracked and the lens fell out. I didn’t want to just throw the awesome, yet broken sunglasses away, so I saved them for an awhile then I had the idea to punch out the remaining lens. Voila! I had adorkable glasses!

I love them. I love trying them on with an outfit to see if they are the lacking zest of my outfit, or just gaze at the indie/geek appeal in them. Someday I will work up the courage to wear them out in public (I came close once), but until then I will keep them close as a reminder of the amazing summer I had.

The end.

love,

josie

cotton candy & navy

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In Indianapolis, there is an amazing artsy community called Broadripple.

In Broadripple there are cornucopia of cute little shops & inspiration galore! This past Christmas I wanted to go to a vintage consignment store I had seen in Broadripple years before. But the only problem was that I had no clue where *exactly* it was. After walking all around Broadripple, defeated, we got into the car & started to drive back to where we were staying, I found it. I screamed (much to the dismay of the passengers of the car) "THAT'S IT!!!!!!"
& there it was, a store filled with vintage & retro clothes. I was so excited to start looking through everything & finding those perfect vintage pieces. I feel that I was victorious in my quest when I bought a whole pile of goodies.
The sweater I wore here, I got at the store. Another treasure I found there is this skirt.

boots/nine west//tights/target//skirt/thrifted//navy sweater/hand-me down//aqua sweater/thrifted//owl necklace/areopostle

The skirt waistband had to be taken in (alot!), but it's amazing!
You can't really see in the pictures but the fabric has metallic silver thread in the fabric. It basically looks like tiny, tiny silver sequins all over the skirt.
*Sigh* I love.
Any favorite thrifted pieces you've found?
-josie
My outfit was inspired by this post at Koi Story.

christmas 2011.

Yes, yes, I know that it is January & I'm writing about Christmas, but I finally got around to going throught & editing pictures from Christmas..yyyyeahhhhh.

Like every year, my family went down to Indiana to the family farmhouse. I actually have never, ever spent Christmas Eve at my house, neither has any of my siblings, because we've always been down at the Farmhouse. Which I think is awesome, I love the farmhouse so much. The farmhouse has been in the family for over 100 years. My great-grandmother was born there & died there. It's the central place where we see our whole family, make memories, eat delicious food (the back porch where we keep all the food is filled every year with mouth watering leftovers), & just have a great time with each other.
I dread the day were we'll have to say good bye to the farmhouse.

We love to take naps, it's almost always low key in the afternoons (prime nap time!)

                                             Walks are another classic Farmhouse activity.

We walked over to my uncle's Christmas tree farm on Christmas day & everyone found a tree they loved & then stood next to it to have their pictures taken... It was fun, especially when people wrapped their tree up in scarves, hats, & someone put a coat on theirs.

The rows of trees

Tree hugger :)

A Charlie Brown tree- hehe

We opened presents after our walk...

My Aunt Lora & Aunt Carole

My cousin Holly

Uncle Chad...

My dad & Aunt Carole



My Uncle John can be somewhat of a clown at times

Aunt Carole making Christmas dinner

Announcing the casting of the annual Christmas pageant

Then the day after Christmas, we left the Farmhouse & went to my Grandpa's house for Christmas there (yeah, we have 3 Christmases altogether. 1 at our house, 1 at the Farmhouse, & 1 at my grandpa's house)

I gave my Grandpa a framed print of one of my pictures, I was excited for him to open it!

I had an amazing Christmas (even though, it wasn't wight- at all.)& I'm glad I finally shared it with you!
How was your Christmas?

aspiring in 2012

2012 is only about 72 hours old, so that means I can still say "HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!", right?

Well, even if it is, too bad: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I hope you all had a great New Year's Eve, I did...
I went with some friends to visit one of my friend's boyfriend, I had a blast! I haven't laughed that hard in a long while!

When 2011 dawned, I had this relieving feeling that I have been given a whole new year to live & I was excited for all the new beginnings... But as 2012 dawned, I felt different. I'm bracing for what may happen in 2012 while becoming excited for this clean slate of a new year.

Today I pulled out my New Year's Resolutions from last year, & I was surprised how many I actually completed! Here are some of them:

+ Get fit

(I accomplished that this Spring & then fell back after I stopped working out. I actually had plans to run a 5K but the 5K was canceled the day of because of heavy rain the night before.)

+ Become closer to friends

(Yep, did that! I had so many great times with friends, new & old, this year!)

+ Find my personal style

( Uh-huh. I'm daring myself almost everyday to wear something daring & different! The only hard part is actually leaving the house in the daring ensemble!)


skirt/thrifted//sweater/thrifted//leggings/target//boots/target//suspenders/thrifted

+ Be in more than one play

( Oh yeah! I was in the chorus of Damn Yankees this summer & I was the assistant stage manager for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever this past fall.)


In the chorus of Damn Yankees

The stage manager & I (aka stage ninjas!)




(Paul, the stage manager, was George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life last year)

+ SEW MORE!!!!!

(Umm, epic fail. But you can't keep all your resolutions, right?)

+ Take more pictures!

(I sure did! I got my dslr last winter, & have taken ATON of pictures with it!!)

+ Journal creatively everyday

(Mmhhmm)



 

+ Work hard on school

(This one was hard, but I gave school my best shot!) 

Some of my resolutions for 2012 are:

+ Get back into shape

+ Continue acting & involvement with the Owosso Community Players

+ Take a dance class

+Keep up blogging

+ Stand up for my beliefs & convictions

The word I think that sums up 2011 is the word embrace.

There were so, so many changes that surrounded me this year & they were all changes that I had to embrace. For example, my friends are growing up all around me & taking steps into the next stages of their lives, leaving me learning how to stand on my own & school became way harder this year.

The word I hope for in 2012 is aspire.

Even though 2012 is just begun, I already know of many opportunities I hope to take this year, & I want to aspire to get them.

So, as we embark on this brand spankin' (sorry, I couldn't help it!) new year, I'm excited to say "good bye 2011 & hello there 2012."