Here's my review of the Cats revival on Broadway and a haul of what I bought. Cats has been my favorite musical since I saw the PBS filmed version back in 1998. Interested in more of my showtube videos? Watch me dressed as a Jellicle cat at BroadwayCon here or watch my Hamilton Review here.
I recently read and reviewed the book Flawed by Cecelia Ahern. I really liked Flawed! It's the typical dystopian YA teenage girl saving the world story that I absolutely love...when done right, and Flawed does it right!
I have not shared these with you yet but these are photos from what I wore during the day on my 30th birthday back in April. The day was lovely, I had crepes for lunch with friends (a birthday tradition since college!) and walked to St. John's College for the annual croquet match against the Naval Acadamy. Outside of a few gorgeous costumes, the event was really a bust for us. Too many young drunk college kids for our liking and not enough actual croquet...go figure.
After that, we visited my favorite places,the appropriately titled Annapolis Bookstore. They sell new and used books and the building itself is old and magical. I'll have to do a full photo tour of that place someday, it's marvelous. We took these photos in the garden out back of the shop.
These collar pins are from my shop and feature an old illustration of the famous duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. Ever since the musical came out my Hamilton inspired pins and magnets have been doing fairly well. I love this very wearable piece perhaps the most. You'll see these pins again soon in other outfit posts and perhaps I'll design some new collar pins in the future. If you have any ideas or requests for me, be sure to leave them in the comments below. Thanks for reading! Photo Credit: Mike Hannum
Let me just start by saying that never have I been to a conference or convention with a more generous swag bag. This was probably due to there only being 400 attendees and the (kinda high) ticket price. The EtsyUp! swag bag itself is beautiful, I mean look at that art! There was also an Etsy banner/flag thing, a stainless steel water bottle, and that's my name tag with one of my buttons on the left.
This cute mug was given to us at the end of the conference, as a surprise last gift. It was made by Small Glow. We also received 3 books in our swag bags:
New Order by Fay Wolf
Dinner the Playbook by Jenny Rosenstrach
Self Made by Nely Galán
Each author spoke at the conference and each was inspiring and uplifting in their own way.
Here is the schedule and map, a notepad with tag ideas (SEO!), an adorable notebook, a luggage tag from Special Event Keys and the other side of the mug.
I visited the pavilion and got a ton of free samples and business cards and flyers. The most valuable part was actually talking to the representatives from Etsy and other companies.
One fun surprise was being one of the few people to win the raffle for swag bag from the San Francisco Etsy Team! Their bags are really great quality and I have been to San Francisco so I don't feel like a fraud toting it around, lol!
So the first thing I pulled out of the bag was another bag! It's a leather backpack by Vincie. It's wonderful quality, limited edition, and I think my laptop will just about fit inside.
Next was a bunch of soap and lip scrubs. (Seriously so much!) The lip scrubs and large soap bar are from Pixie Rocks Crafts and the other soap samples are from Etta + Billie and A Slice of Delight.
In the last group of stuff was a sleep mask from Lights Out Go Bed, a button from Stephanie Hatch, wall hanging/ornament photography on wood by Cuppa Fog, and a wooden necklace from Bottle of Clouds. I am LOVING the cat/night theme here...definitely my aesthetic!
Overall I think I got more free goodies than I ever thought possible. Thank you EtsyUp and the San Fransisco Etsy Team. Now, enjoy my EtsyUp vlog!
I'll be honest with you, I've gotten a bit behind with this blog. The 'real world' and blogging for business has taken somewhat of a precedence. Don't get me wrong, this blog is 'for profit' (more in the sponsored-post-reviewing-products sense than the you-pay-me-to-work-for-you sense) but this place has been more of a scrapbook or a journal for me. And I LOVE that about this blog, that's why, though it's mostly just for fun, I'm gonna try my hardest to not forget this place.
That being said, I've got a few videos to post, a few forgotten outfit photos, and those wedding photos (yes, I know I've had my one-year already, they're coming!) to share with you. Today I'm sharing my Collecting vs. Minimalism Update video below. (If you missed it, check out my How I Make Videos video from the week before!)
It is HOT! Not the dry desert heat I'm used to growing up in Southern California, this heat is humid and sweaty and kind of exhausting...even when you're just taking outfit photos for fifteen minutes. I don't think I could have lasted any longer than that honestly.
So what inspired these photos? Well, I've been needing some new prescription sunglasses. When I moved I got rid of all mine that were not prescription and so I only had the one pair from my eye doctor. So getting a new pair online was on my to-do list. Then, completely by chance, GlassesShop.com reached out to me! I buy eyeglasses online often. The thing is, I hate wearing glasses and since I have to I might as well make it fun by trying out weird styles, right? So in exchange for this review, GlassesShop.com sent me a pair of prescription sunglasses to try. (They have lots of prescription glasses as well.) The ones I picked out are the Lauren Square - Multicolour model, and they have been my go to pair ever since I got them.
The glasses are great, but don't take my word for it...here's a 50% off coupon code: GSHOT50
It works on eyeglasses and sunglasses with free lenses (sale frames excluded). If you do use it, I'd love to see what you end up getting!
Since it's so hot here I've been loving these light linen shorts I got on sale ($2!) from Forever 21. The jelly sandals are from American Apparel, I bought them for our honeymoon in Hawaii last year. They're perfect for kayaking or beach trips...just not long walks...(but with my feet problems, not many sandals are). The top is actually a hand-me-down from my mom. Oooo, vintage! *cue hipster voice* Probably 70s or 80s. I try and keep the sponsored posts on my blog to a minimum and when I do I make sure they are honest and I only try things that I want to. (Prescription sunglasses and eyeglasses are always high on my list since it's something I can't avoid in life.) As a reader, you're incredibly important to me, so if you ever feel my sponsored posts are too frequent/fake/making you roll your eyes, etc. please send me an email or reach out, let me know your thoughts! I don't wanna to come off as one of those bloggers who just wants free stuff. That's not me.
On Monday I became an evil lion...for fun. The Lion King is my favorite Disney animated movie and since I've done Simba makeup already, I decided to become the villain of the film. I added a bit of Jellicle details but mostly stuck to the cartoon. I filmed the application process so anyone can try it out! I think I did okay, what do you think?
Come on, heard it was your birthday! Come on, heard it was your birthday! Come on, heard it was your birthday! Come on, how old are you now?
Jim!!!! You're 30 today!! Can you believe it? We've known each other for...like, 13 years now, and you continue to grow and change and get smarter and even more awesome each day. We've been through so much together and I keep loving you more and more. We've traveled the world, gotten married, and took turns following each other's dreams. I can't wait to find out what more adventures are in store for us. I love you so much!!
Love,
your wife and best friend
Jenny
(I love this fun blog tradition, check out the past birthday posts: 29 | 28 | 27 )
My May and June Reading Wrap Up and some talk about how reading can help inspire your own fiction writing (also audio books, not sure if they're for me)
Three years ago I did a project where I took a photo every hour of the day for one day a month. Last week felt like doing that again so I did! I'm not sure if I'll keep it up or not but I hope you enjoy my day!
7am // The rose bush outside our house is mostly dead (our neighbor doesn't take care of it so we might have to commandeer it...) but I found this little flower flourishing.
You'll see these pins again soon in other outfit posts and perhaps I'll design some new collar pins in the future. If you have any ideas or requests for me, be sure to leave them in the comments below. Thanks for reading! 
Photo Credit: Mike Hannum
On Monday I became an evil lion...for fun. The Lion King is my favorite Disney animated movie and since I've done Simba makeup already, I decided to become the villain of the film. I added a bit of Jellicle details but mostly stuck to the cartoon. I filmed the application process so anyone can try it out! I think I did okay, what do you think?
