Random Bloggers OOTD Portraits #1

I've been on & off attempting to teach myself basic painting in photoshop the past few months. Here are the fruits of my labor. I've been trying to use different layers and clipped bits of fabric and reference images to make portraits because I honestly have little interest in painting anything other than people.

I'm not as thrilled about these as I would be had I made them with physical paint brushes and watercolors but I feel like I certainly made a lot of head-way in navigating my way around PS. But ultimately I'm pretty proud of myself for trying something new. And something has to be said about the ease in which I can undo my mistakes. Watercolor is not so forgiving.

Taylor (& my best good friend) of A Thunder Heart


Caroline of sparklyvodka


Kate of Scathingly Brilliant


I have three more in the works on my computer so hopefully I'll get around to finishing & posting those. If not, haha rest assured I've given up on painting in photoshop altogether.




-Becca

Records

For Christmas my mom & dad got me a new (portable!) record player since the one I normally use is an antique record cabinet from my late grandparents. It's really big and old so I try to be gentle with it & use it infrequently. I'm really terrified of breaking it. Eventually I want to get it tuned up & replace the speakers since I don't think it's been serviced for a long long time.

But back to my new LP player-- it is SO beautiful. The floral pattern is so bright and happy & definitely brightens any room it's sitting in. The speakers aren't amazing but I'm planning on getting a sound system for our tv anyways so I just need to find a small table for it to rest on nearby so I can plug the record player in as well. You can take the top off easily if you don't have something to lean it against & there's a locking mechanism & handle so you can take your player where-ever you may want. It also comes with a program that enables you to record your favorites LPs & convert them into mp3, which is amazing. I haven't tried that yet but I'm really excited about it!




top to bottom: Disney's 'Cinderella' Soundtrack // 'Purple Rain' by Prince & the Revolution // 'Rank' by The Smiths // 'Milk Eyed Mender' by Joanna Newsom
I bought a few new records in celebration of being able to listen to records regularly again. I was having a really awful day when I bought 'Rank' but after listening to it, I definitely feel like experiencing such a shit day was definitely worth it since I now have such a great live recording of my favorite band in my possession. I feel like I've fallen back in love with listening to music. I was without speakers for my computer for over 6 months & I hate using headphones so I basically only listened to music in my car or on my phone & let me tell you, it was sucking the life out of me.

I'm not only falling back in love with listening to music-- but also shopping for records, talking about music & listening to full albums instead of single songs. I haven't felt this excited about a piece of technology since I got my electronic diary in fourth grade haha.



You can buy this record player here.



-Becca

Birthday Wishlist

one // two // three // four // five


1. "Youth Novels" LP by Lykke Li ($19 USD) - I've wanted this album for awhile & now that I have a new record player that's easier to use & portable I'm trying to beef up my LP collection. I also really want 'Reflektor' by Arcade Fire. I had trouble picking between the two but this one looked best in the image haha.

2. 'Buns & Guns' Sailor Moon baseball tee ($30 USD) - I've been wanting to start working out regularly again & this seems like the perfect tee to get me in the workin' out spirit. Plus it's Sailor Moon!! I'd honestly like the Sailor Jupiter or Neptune one as well but the Sailor Moon one has pink sleeves <3__<3

3. NARS 'Final Cut' Illuminator (Exclusive to Nortdstrom) in 'Adelaide' ($30 USD) - This is just pretty & I want it. Plus, it's limited edition & I love 'Copacabana' so much I figure this illuminator has to be just as amazing, right?

4. Jeffrey Campbell 'Malt Shop Heel' ($185 USD) - Haha these are totally out of my price range & a huge ridiculous wish but geeze, they're beautiful. Then again, this is a "wishlist" so I'm putting whatever I'm wishing for on here. Deal with it!

5. Betsey Johnson Ice Cream Wristlet ($68 USD) - THIS IS SO CUTE. I really hope this just shows up in a TJ Maxx sometime soon because I will scoop it up SO FAST. I don't really have any wristlets & I feel like I really should stop carrying around huge purses at some point in my life. Do I really need all that crap I carry around 24/7? Nope.



Not gonna lie I am not excited about turning 26 at all. Not at all. Wanna bury my head in the sand and pretend it's not happening. Maybe it's time to start lying about my age. I have trouble remembering how old I am on a regular basis so I'm sure I could confuse everyone & eventually no one would question me.

I'm gonna be 25 forever.

-Becca

Review: Victoria by Victoria's Secret

Despite not being much of a perfume person until I turned 20, I now have quite the little gathering of scents I really love that *I* think smell good on me. I'm not snobby about what types of perfume I use-- celebrity perfumes, knock offs, whatever. As long as it smells good/good on me & lasts I'll buy it.

Which brings me to this little gem. I don't know why I'd never tried any Victoria's Secret brand perfumes but I have a sneaking suspicion that it has something to do with not shopping there haha. Nothing there really fits me that well so why would I?

Anyways, I was hanging out with my friend Erika (she used to work at Victoria's Secret) and she let me try a sample size of 'Victoria' because she was planning on buying a full size soon. I fell in love. The bottle was what got me at first (how cute is it???) but the scent is what made me want it even more. The Victoria's Secret website describes it as "a sparkling blend of red berries, Victoria rose and crème brûlée."



It smells amazing! You can definitely smell the rose & brightness of the berries while the crème brûlée makes it a little creamier smelling with a hint of caramelized sugar.

I love it. I think I'm going to get a lot of use out of it all year long but especially in the spring and summer. Definitely give it a sniff next time you go into Victoria's Secret. Victoria retails for $52 - $68 USD. I know they also make a body mist version that's a bit less potent and less expensive ($25 USD) if you're wanting something a little wallet-friendlier.

Let me know if you like it!


-Becca

WIW: Case of the Grumps

culture flock t shirt // ryan's cardigan // skirt // leggings // boots (similar)

I went out on Wednesday to run some errands with Ryan since it's his only day off during the week & I just had a string of bad luck all day. It put me in such a weird & grumpy mood. I am fairly sure I looked exactly like the drawing above while we drove around Denton paying bills and looking for books & returning things. I ended up buying some Cotton-Candy flavored "Mini Melts" (a Dippin Dots imitation) towards the end of the day and felt a lot better. Ice cream is a cure-all so I guess I shouldn't really be that surprised haha!

In other news, I'm back! I completely dropped my blog once winter hit & proceeded to have intense seasonal depression! I'm hoping that I can get back on track for spring & start churning out content again. I'm planning on broadening the spectrum of topics I talk about here (in hopes that it will keep me from hitting a wall & just dropping everything) so I guess we'll see if that comes to fruition.

Anyways, glad to be back!

-Becca