Weekend Recap!

Hello Chatham!

Spent a few days on the Cape with my siblings and grandparents!

The g-parents live in a sweet community with a handful of people from Connecticut! 

Meet up with a life long friend, we spent the entire weekend together.

Jam packed with...

-Beaching

-Pooling

-Shopping

-Kayaking

-Bonding

-Seafood-ing?

-Nights in downtown Chatham (bliss)

-The anual band concert :)

All in all, the trip was perfection. 

Everyone enjoy August, it's the bittersweet BEST!

a.

Nom nom nom!

So I've been on this recent health kick. Or more like health-kick-when-Liv-feels-like-making-an-effort. Anyways, so I've been trying to make the stuff that I put into my body as healthful as possible: fresh, homemade (if not homemade, knowing exactly where it comes from!), good for me, and as well as all of that, delicious!

For breakfast, I've been drinking mango lassi's, and having peanut butter on whole grain toast. Mango lassi's are kind of a fruit smoothie made out of fresh, non sweetened, plain yogurt (I get mine from the Greek place down the street), milk, ice, and mango pulp (fresh, or canned. I use unsweetened canned; so much easier, and the consistency rocks). You blend it all up in a blender, and put a dash of cardamom or instead, I put a little bit of mint. Super yummy and super filling.

I made homemade pesto one night as well. I was babysitting in an hour, was hungry, and was sick of the plain pasta we'd had laying around the house. So I got out our Cuisinart and pulsed up some fresh basil, garlic, parmesan cheese, olive oil, and pine nuts until it tasted right to me. So easy, fresh, and all good for you. Poured over pasta it was great, plus some red cherry tomatoes sliced up. Another great option for pesto is putting it over tomatoes, mozzarella and arugula on a sandwich on ciabatta. Yummy AND vegetarian.

As well as eating stuff like that, I've been cutting out caffeine. Not for me, persay, but the future me! When I need caffeine to get stuff done next year I want it to kick in and work really well, so I'm stopping while I'm ahead now, even though I love my 4 pm cappuccino and dessert. I've also been running to train for cross country. Seoul has some great trails to lace up on and just go; it's especially great for interval training, where I run for time, not for distance.

Woo! Go fitness!

L

Seasonally Savvy.

I know. I'm crazy, nuts, INSANE.

But I'm already thinking about Fall & back to school. 

So I was playing around with some pieces and came up with this one. 

Fall OOTD.

J.Crew checkered button down. (Navy)

Navy Brooks Brothers blazer. (Gold buttons)

Dark orange gap corduroys (Cuffed)

White superga sneakers  

Hope you are embracing the summer, unlike me.

For now,

Aaaa. 

Sunday.

Family breakfast on the porch.

A

I'm such a floral.

This is a spring/summer-perfume-what-I'm-wearing post!
Sorry I'm such a poopy blogger! You'd think with all the free time I have, I'd be surfing the web and blogging up a storm, but I'm spending the majority of my time enjoying the super fun city that Seoul is.
Anyways, I'm living off of three perfumes this summer, and as you can see, I'm a sucker for light, fresh, feminine florals. I really hate the deep, heavy scents that are so common in the winter and fall, but in all fairness they have their place too.
So these are what I'm wearing!

Super flirty and feminine. Great for nights out or dances. Once the initial acidity mellows out, it leaves a muskier scent which is just as great as well.

Daisy's super nice and light - I wear it for lunches out and once it mellows out, it leaves a nice lingering scent.

This can be super acidic at first, but it's cuttingly clearly fresh, and the scent it leaves is still distinguished enough after hours of wearing it.

What are your favorite scents?

L

Summer Quick Start

Finally school came to a close and I kicked off the summer with a fun night with some long time friends. We went to The Cheesecake Factory to celebrate my and a good friend Shannon's birthday. 15 woohoo! 

My sister turned 13 on the 15th of June and I turned 15 in the 17th. Our birthdays have always been combined. And not to forget also fathers day. 

A quant family get together at our house.

Birthday breakfast.

The birthday festivities were followed by a few days at the pool. 

All leading up to a overnight in Massachusetts to see Taylor Swift in concert with my friend Margaret!

The concert was outrageously fun!

Funny T-Swift fans that we had to take a pic with.

Travel Magic

So as you may know, or may not, my parents recently moved to Korea. While that involves some super cool cultural, lingual and ahem, shopping, immersion, it also involves the 16 hour cross-the-world flight that's enough to make someone want to ponder cracking open the window and jumping ship. Don't get me wrong - I've been flying for literally ages, and I'm no stranger to airports, trains, buses, cabs, ferries - you name it. But there's something about a 16 hour flight that makes me go just a little nuts. Here are some of my definite travel how-to's that make all those long flights, connections, and in-transit stress just a little better. 

1. Dress  in layers! I go for a pair of cropped pants, a cute tank top, cardigan, and a scarf if the weather calls for it. Dressing in layers insures that if the plane should get hot or cold, I'll be okay. I try to stay away from skirts and dresses that conveniently ride up the more you wiggle around in your seat for those long flights, but for short little 1-3 hour jumps across country, they're more than fine and totally cute. 

2. In my bag:
• my iPad or, like my mom loves, her kindle. There's nothing I love more than immersing myself into a good book for those long flights; they just make the time seem to pass. If I'm bringing a paperback or hardcover book, I don't forget to bring my book light; they turn off all of the overhead lights for long flights, and I  hate having to reach up and turn on my light, which also bothers my seat-mate too!

• my iPod 160G classic. It can hold more music than I could ever download, and the battery stays for a while if my iPad battery should die. I can also watch movies on it, even though the screen's a little tiny.
• My pillow pet. So it's a little dorky, I get it, but on a 16 hour flight, you just lose interest in looking like the super star you know you are. I always make sure I grab window seat, so I can nestle in next to the wall.
• three or four Cliff bars - I love the peanut butter, chocolate brownie, chocolate covered coconut and I love the peppermint chocolate. The lemon's good too. They're great if I'm feeling super hungry and I don't like what they're serving.
• WATER! I have to remember to stay hydrated. Absolutely a necessary. My lips and throat get super dry and cracked if I don't stay hydrated.
• SPEAKING OF HYDRATION: Lip balm! Eye drops! Eye drops are now allowed through security, if I'm correct, and they're lifesavers.
• My knitting. So it's dorky, but it helps me so much to keep my hands moving. I knit when while I watch the multiple in-flight movies, listen to music, and talk to my neighbors. It rocks.
• A pashmina. In a cute pattern, it matches your outfit AND keeps you warm.
3. So you didn't hear me say this... but I need to sleep on that plane. NEED TO. It's the only thing that makes it ultimately bearable. So I take whatever I need to sleep. I just do it. Not enough to knock me out, but enough to help, you know, do it.
4. Set my watch to the time of my destination as soon as I get on the plane. Helps so much. Usually the flight staff gives the meals based on the destination, and so some awareness on that usually helps. It's also good to get myself mentally prepared for the jet lag.
So those are my few tips! Hope they help.
L.