Pink and Hiding My Face

Today I got dressed up and took a bunch of pictures, mostly covering my face. Which is kind of a shame because I was wearing this pretty pink eyeshadow, but. 

I've been painting and running errands and searching for apartments and applying for jobs. I have two interviews coming up, wish me luck! I've said it before and I'll say it again: growing up is damn scary. All I really want is a part time job that I like, and to make money with my art on the side. And with a $20,000 debt cloud hanging over my head, is that really too much to ask? I'm going to be very sad to leave my beautiful room in the house I grew up in, as well as my family, but I'm excited to start a new life too. Idk guys things are just complicated and confusing for me right now and I'm just trying to... do whatever I'm supposed to do.

We're planning on taking my cat with us to whatever apartment we move into, because he loves me and I love him, and no one else really likes him much here. Plus he and the other cat are constantly fighting and I think it's going to give him an anxiety attack. But he's a very old, nervous kitty and I'm worried about the stress moving would put on him. Are any of you pet experts? What do you think?

The number of bug bites I got today remains to be seen.

Dress: Urban (on clearance)

Shoes: Some asian wholesale site

Necklace and Floral Crown: Handmade by Me

Etsy Shop Update: Also Shop My Closet!

I just added a bunch of beauties to the Floral Prince, and they're modeled by my drop-dead gorgeous sister, Emma. Go check em out! I've also decided to make a coupon for my blog readers only, so use BLOGBUDS at checkout on my etsy for free shipping! (US only, I'm super sorry but it's really expensive to send overseas!) In the next few weeks I'm going to phase the art stuff out of my shop and into a new one. The Floral Prince will be solely for vintage! 

If vintage isn't your game, or rather, if really cheap gently used clothes is your game, check out my Shop My Closet because I put a ton in there, too!

Oversized Floral Dress - M

Black Linen Bow Dress - M

Butterfly Dress - M

Blue Gingham Dress - M

Garden Print Pinafore - L

Floral Party Dress - M

Hot Pants

And now we're back to our regularly scheduled programming.

I've still got a couple Italian things to blog about, namely the plane ride home (which was a spiritual experience) and a video that I'm gonna try to compile. I am really happy to be home, though, where I can speak the language, even if I am hyper-aware of how damn southern everyone sounds. Back with my family, my cat, and my closet. It's all good.

I bought some short shorts from American Apparel after trying them on in-store in Milan. I was not gonna buy them in Italy, though, because they do this stupid thing overseas where if something costs $50, it also costs 50 euros. Which, with the exchange rate, means it costs somewhere around $65. So, like, no thank you. But they look super hot on, so even though they were expensive in American dollars, I went ahead and splurged online!

Summer in SC is all thunderstorms all the time. Well, when it's not hella hot and humid. Don't worry, I'm still glad to be back :)

Shirt: Walmart, DIY cropping

Shorts: American Apparel

Shoes: BAIT

Knive Badge: LeMaddy, She's so cool.

Art Lately: Plus a Call for Submissions

Pink, about routines, preparing to face the world, and a peek into a stranger's life. Inspired by Rituals by Nooran Matties.

Honey, for girls that are sweet and dangerous.

A negative doodle of some inky feelings I had one night, exploring chaos, order, inversions, and change.

Soulmates, about mean teenage love.

I'm going to start this art project where I illustrate love stories and compile them into a book. So I need submissions! Tell me a love story, keep it to a few sentences long. It can be about romance, crushes, heartbreak, rejection, how you first met your significant other, your first kiss, your best friend. Don't be afraid to tell me your regrets, or use it as an opportunity to say something you never got the chance to. The only rules are it has to be TRUE, and it has to be ANONYMOUS. Submit here!

Italy: Asiago

Travis's family drove us up to Asiago (yeah like the cheese) the other day, and I was definitely not prepared for how amazing the drive would be. I'm talking tear-jerkingly beautiful, the hills are alive sort of stuff. I wanted to live there, it was like my perfect biome.

To be honest, we didn't really do much in the actual town other than getting some damn good gelato. But the scenery was amazing both there and back, so I didn't care! It doesn't have any real claim to fame other than being a ski spot in the winter, but if you're ever in Italy, I highly recommend giving Asiago a visit! Here are a bunch of photos that I mostly took from the car on my phone.

I had chocolate and blood orange ice cream! So good.

Italy: Bolzano

I took a day to head north to Bolzano, a small alpine town on the Austrian border of Italy, because I really wanted to see the Alps! So there are plenty of pictures of mountains ahead.

We really only spent like 3 and a half hours in the town, but I ate a yummy pizza, bought a dress, and had a beautiful train ride through the mountains, so I think it was worth it! Bolzano is a really pretty town nestled in the Alps, just after the Dolemites, I think.

We ate outside at a really cute cafe with little plates all over the walls.

PS check my cute socks!

Someday I want to live in the mountains, I seriously love them. They're beautiful and make me feel safe.

Italy: Verona

Travis and I took a day trip to Verona!

Verona is not far from Vicenza, where Travis's family lives. Only 30 minutes or so by train. It's pretty small (which I liked) and famous as the setting of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet! It was a very pretty town, and I enjoyed a pizza topped with curly fries and some (not enough) retail therapy.

I really wanted to do some vintage shopping in Verona, since Milan didn't go so well, but guess what? All the vintage stores here were closed TOO! This time there was no good reason. It was Tuesday, and it wasn't during reposo. In Italy stores close for about three hours in the early afternoon for god knows why... naps/long lunches maybe? Either way, they should have been open because it was after 3:30. But I did end up buying some cool stuff in this store called Tiger and I got some socks at the Italian equivalent of Forever 21, OVS.

In the Romeo-and-Juliet part of the city, there was a wall covered in "Messages to Juliet." I wrote Travis's and my initials on it, in a tiny space that wasn't already covered with writing. You were only supposed to write on the white part of the wall that was designated for that purpose, but the rest of the wall was also all grafittied up. I was about to write way down at the bottom of the wall when some police guy stopped me! I was like, sir, is my writing really going to make a difference here? But whatever.

There was also a gate covered in locks that lovers had attached to it, which I'm standing in front of here. And a few walls covered with gum (?) I must have missed that part of Romeo and Juliet.

Verona is kind of an under-rated city, and definitely worth a visit as a nice break from the crowds of Rome or Florence!