A Day in DC

Living so close to Washington DC, you would think I would visit more often. With the presentment of a three-day weekend, Kendyl (@gowiththekflo) and I decided to hit the city. It ended up being a wonderful day for art, food, and walks. Here's our day!

First stop on the adventure? The Smithsonian American Art Museum, located in NW. This museum has such a large range of works, from portraits of the founding fathers to digital television art, that we were excited to see what was around every corner. Here is "Preamble" by Mike Wilkins, just one of the innovative pieces on exhibit here.

Soooo is this a donut? And can we eat it?

Kendyl and I had a great time at this museum trying to guess the titles of the art before reading the plaques, sometimes we were close, but there were a few we could never have guessed.  It led to lots of laughs.

After touring the museum, our stomachs were rumbling for food, so we turned down 7th street and found HipCityVeg. The cute blue door drew us in, but the food was fantastic. Everything on the menu is plant-based so you can feel good about what you're eating. Even if you're not vegan (I'm not!) the food is amazing regardless. 

Kendyl and I split the Crispy HipCity Ranch Chick'n sandwich, some Lil' Golden Nugs (grain battered chick'n nuggets), sweet potato fries, and an oreo cupcake to top it off. This place has the best sweet potato fries I have ever had, hands down. And dipping them into the black bean and cilantro sauce made them even better. 

If you're ever in the Chinatown area, I highly recommend!!

The weather was so nice (especially for February!!) so we took a walk around the city to work off all those golden nugs ;) How pretty are the lights in Palmer Alley? For my outfit today, I wore a simple black bodysuit and black jeans, paired with my blush utility jacket and circle scarf, some layered necklaces, and black booties. Also threw my hair into some milkmaid braids for fun.

As the sun started setting, the views were even more beautiful at the Washington Monument. A great way to end a great day.

xx

Vividly Yours,

Taylor

Smithsonian American Art Museum: here

HipCityVeg: here

Kendyl's Instagram: here

2016 Yearly Favorites

Here we are! The end of another year, and with this comes my yearly favorites! 2016 has been a year of many ups and downs for me. There were many low days, but I am thankful for those as they helped me realize who I want to become and how to get to the high days. But I also experienced a lot of joy this year in new friendships, new places, and new interests. 2016 was a turning point year for me spiritually, as I really connected more with my faith on a personal level, and 2016 also saw the start to being fully myself. Without further ado, here are my favorites from the year.

Being a junior this year meant going to prom for the first time, which turned out to be one of the greatest nights of my year and high school years in total. I had a really beautiful dress that I got at Lord & Taylor, and the night was spent with really good friends. 

I got involved with my school's Young Life organization this year, which turned out to be one of the most fantastic and fulfilling things in my life. Over the summer we went to camp at Saranac Lake in upstate New York for a week, and it was genuinely the best week of my life. Every minute was filled with fun activities and friends and it was such an escape from daily hectic life. Here I also sparked such a change in my relationship with God and His children. Truly a time I will never forget.

When my family said that we would be going to Montana and Yellowstone as our vacation this summer I was less than enthused, but upon arriving I realized how spectacular this part of the Earth is. Yellowstone blew me away with its rugged magnificence.

This was a great year in music. I feel that I really branched out in the styles I like and there were many albums I had on repeat. These were the ones that really caught my attention this year...

Cleopatra - The Lumineers

The Human Condition - Jon Bellion

This is Acting - Sia

I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it - The 1975

I also fell in love with the composer Ludovico Einaudi, his music speaks to me like no other.

Reading!! Of course, I need to mention my favorite books from the year, and this year I found many gold stars. 

The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger

It's Kind of a Funny Story - Ned Vizzini

The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins

As far as TV and movies go I got to explore a little more this year since I subscribed to Netflix over the summer. New Girl and Stranger Things were my go to binge shows and Amélie blew me away, joining my favorite movies short list.

Beauty wise, I found some really awesome products this year that changed the game for me. As many of you might know I was a die-hard Covergirl Lash Blast Volume fan so when I tried Maybelline's Lash Sensational I felt like a true traitor, but I went to the dark side. This mascara is seriously phenomenal. The Brow Wiz by Anastasia is the best brow product I've tried and I highly recommend it for natural looking perfection. Maybelline's Fit Me Foundations in both the matte and dewy formulations quickly became my favorites. The price tag and performance are both great. Lastly, the biggest game changer is the Wet Brush. I think I was a little late to this party, but as a girl with tangles ALL the time this made brushing my hair not something I dreaded.

Something fun I did this year was journaling! I journaled every day of summer vacation and I am so happy I did, as this summer was one of the best I've had. I can't wait to look back and laugh and cringe in the years to come.

Finishing up the list are the fashion faves. I experimented a lot with my style this year and I think I've started to create my own personal "look" more. Steve Madden takes the cake for my favorite shoes, I wore the basic leather sandals EVERYWHERE and the suede lace up flats were my go-to for any polished look. I discovered the magic of turtlenecks this year :) The little gold hoops I got from Etsy were a much-worn accessory and rounding out the year I got this shearling jacket from Tobi- and I am obsessed with it.

Overall this year I tried to push my comfort zone and fear more than any year before. I still have a lot of work to do on becoming my full self, but I'm happy with the progress I'm making :) I can't wait for an exciting 2017!

xx

Vividly Yours,

Taylor

Cleopatra: here

The Human Condition: here

This is Acting: here

The 1975 album: here

Ludovico Einaudi: here

New Girl Season 6: here

Stranger Things Season 1: here

Amélie: here

The Catcher in the Rye: here

The Girl on the Train: here

It's Kind of a Funny Story: here

Wet Brush: here

Maybelline Fit Me Foundation: here (matte) here (dewy)

Maybelline Lash Sensational: here

Anastasia Brow Wiz: here

Tobi Jacket: here

Steve Madden Lace Up Flats: similar here

Steve Madden Donddi Sandals: here

Turning Over A New Leaf

Autumn often symbolizes maturity and "turning over a new leaf" (get it??), and with this post marking the one year anniversary of Vividly Yours I could not imagine a more perfect backdrop. A lot has changed in me over the past year (for the better!), so returning to the spot of my first post is nostalgic and a reminder that not everything has to change. Let's celebrate VY's first birthday with some fall looks!

Who else loves chilly weather and bundling up? I paired my favorite beanie with an attempt at the denim on denim trend. An easy way to try this out is to pair blue denim with black, as I did with the jacket and jeans. This jacket is super affordable and a staple in my wardrobe.

Booties are always my go to shoe for fall.

I have had this orange leather jacket for so many years and I always pull it out for the season- such a perfect color! To let the jacket stand out, I paired it with a basic charcoal swing dress and booties.

Laughing at my pumpkin craziness.

Ponytails and big scarves are pretty much my uniform in the colder months. This blanket scarf is SO cozy.

Dressed the outfit down with a grey marled sweater, a pair of black jeans, and my much loved white converse.

Thank you all so much for supporting my passions and for sticking with my blog through a crazy year. Can't wait to see what's further down the road for me. 

xoxox

Vividly Yours,

Taylor

Outfit #1

Denim Jacket: here

Striped Top: similar here

Hat: similar here

Jeans: similar here

Booties: here

Outfit #2

Jacket: similar here

Dress: similar here

Booties: here

Outfit #3

Scarf: similar here

Sweater: similar here

Converse: here

Nail Color- OPI Malaga Wine: here

Montana: Big Sky, Bozeman, and Yellowstone

"Montana? What are you going to do there?" That was the response I was getting from all my friends when I told them of my summer plans with my family. My cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and parents (14 of us!) rented out a house in Big Sky, Montana for a week exploring just what there is to do in Montana.

 Fly fishing is HUGE here, so I decided to give it a shot. It was major fishing season on the Gallatin River, so I was able to catch 3 fish my first time ever!! The river and views were so beautiful though, if I had caught 0 fish I would have still been happy. Also, how's my look? New trend??

Another fun way we saw the Gallatin was by white water rafting. Super fun and not too dificult. (only lost one man overboard) :)

 We spent all of Wednesday and Thursday at Yellowstone National Park. If you need one reason to head to Montana or Wyoming, this is it! I have never been more blown away by nature. My favorite wonder was the Grand Prismatic Spring (above), but every stop we made had me in complete awe. Also being in a place so rugged and full of history truly made me feel like I was transported back to the American frontier. 

The wildlife here is everywhere!!

And the views aren't too bad either ;)

We spent our last day exploring Bozeman, a really cool, artistic town, and first stopped at The Garage for lunch. How cool are their menus??

Bozeman was having their annual Sweet Pea Festival for the Arts, so the sidewalks were full of chalk decorations. Some of them were extraordinary.

 Finding vintage dresses in a cute western shop on Main Street.

You guys know me! I couldn't go the trip without finding a bookstore to peek around in. The Country Bookshelf on Main Street was such a special find. I could have stayed in there hours! Finished the day off at the Museum of the Rockies (below)

Turns out there is a lot to do in Montana :)

Vividly Yours,

Taylor

What I'm Reading: Summer

Summer. Beaches, no school, warm, friends, travel- these are just a few things that come to most's minds when thinking of the season. While I think of the same, one aspect of summer I find myself looking forward to and enjoying the most is summer reading. Reading??!? What??! We just got out of school and you want to spend your time off reading? That's how my younger self would have responded if she'd ever saw seventeen year old Taylor with a book in her hand mid-July. This past year something in my brain clicked, and reading became one of my most cherished hobbies. I think what was turning me away from it for so long were the pretty crappy "books" I was reading. There's nothing worse than parents and teachers forcing you to read about girls with double lives as secret agents at age 8, fighting crime, riding unicorns, and still making it home in time for catching an episode of American Idol, while getting straight As and being adorably quirky. Realistic right? I've found that wandering the aisles of Barnes & Noble is a calming and intriguing experience, as I'm free to flip covers and pages searching for the perfect novel. Sometimes you come out with a life-changing read, you just don't know it yet, and sometimes it's a miss, but that's what makes it so fun. It's like dating-you have to get through some bad ones before you find the good ones. Give me time to read, and I won't be able to put the book down. Every free second I have is spent engulfing and imagining the words written. I've started my reading already, and have a stack waiting to be explored. So if you're looking for inspiration in titles or just curious to see which books made my list this summer, here it is!

Me Talk Pretty One Day- David Sedaris

I picked this book up from hearing so many rave reviews on how crazy hilarious it was. I had really high expectations for this novel written in the form of many essays or excerpts from David's life in the United States and his time in Paris. This book had me enthralled from the start. While I didn't necessarily find it 'side-splitting' or anything, there were definitely a few moments I was laughing pretty hard (especially in the The Youth in Asia and Picka Pocketoni chapters). It's a quick, light, and witty read. If you're looking for something real and comedic, give it a go.

The Catcher in the Rye- J.D. Salinger

Okay now I can't truthfully call this summer reading, because I was assigned to read this novel in English class, BUT I can say I absolutely adored this book. Salinger is able to capture such a realistic teenage voice, that I found myself relating to Holden on almost every page. This novel was so unintentionally beautiful that I had to stop and really digest certain lines. It does have a few dark moments and a lot of cursing, so if that's not your thing maybe check out one of the others on the list, but I definitely recommend trying this classic out.

The Girls- Emma Cline

This one's a super new release, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. It's based in Northern California during the 1960s and focuses on the main character Evie's obsession and entrance into an infamous cult in the Californian hills. At times raunchy and raw, Cline really illustrates the lengths young girls go to in order to fit in and feel love. So haunting and eerie, this book was captivating the whole way through. I highly recommend!

I haven't started the rest of the books on the list, but here are the others I've picked up!

Modern Romance- Aziz Ansari

USA Today: 

"With topics like online dating apps to serious social science research, the book is sure to have you laughing if not taking a few notes.”

It's Kind of a Funny Story- Ned Vizzini

"Ned Vizzini, who himself spent time in a psychiatric hospital, has created a remarkably moving tale about the sometimes unexpected road to happiness. For a novel about depression, it's definitely a funny story." 

Tales from the Back Row- Amy Odell

"Odell's insight into what fashion tells us about ourselves is ultimately what makes her book so refreshing. As she observes, 'the fashion industry, in many ways, is a study in how deeply we long to stand out in order to fit in.' A sharply amusing fashion memoir." -Kirkus Reviews

Happy Reading!

Vividly Yours,

Taylor

xx

Me Talk Pretty One Day:here

The Catcher in the Rye: here

The Girls: here

Modern Romance: here

It's Kind of a Funny Story: here

Tales from the Back Row: here

100 Things That Make Me Smile

Hi Everyone! Today's post is a bit different, but I'm super excited for you all to read it. Too often I find myself focusing on the things I don't like about my life, things I can't do, or things I even hate. It can be hard to pull yourself out of these ruts, but I promise focusing on the things you love makes your life 10000x better. With that in mind, I set out to compile a list of 100 things that make me smile. Honestly I thought this was going to be a challenge, but was so surprised how quickly and easily the list grew. You don't have to read the whole thing, but I encourage you all to create lists of your own. You'll realize how awesome life truly can be, even in the smallest things :)

100 Things That Make Me Smile

1. Sleeping in late

2. Waking up early enough to see the sunrise

3. Laughing until my stomach hurts

4. Driving in the rain

5. Napoleon Dynamite

6. Eating lunch on the patio on a sunny day

7. Freshly painted nails

8. Playing music at top volume in the middle of the night

9. Tacos

10. My grandma's sweet tea

11. Handwritten letters

12. Haircuts

13. Ballet class after a long day

14. Bonfires with family and friends

15. Turning on the radio and my favorite song coming on

16. Finding a great piece on the sale rack

17. Racing down the beach

18. Clean sheets

19. Building a perfect snowman

20. Broadway shows

21. Making up weird dance moves

22. Reading on long plane rides

23. Catching up on my recorded shows on days off from school

24. Autumn leaf piles

25. My fingers on the piano keys

26. Ordering Chinese takeout

27. Hotel suites

28. People watching in DC

29. Broken in pointe shoes

30. Glee

31. Funny baby videos

32. The pounding of music in your chest at concerts

33. Fresh sea breeze

34. Driving through Chick-fil-a

35. Zip-lining

36. Picnics

37. Staying up late and creating crazy ideas at midnight

38. Snow that coats all the branches like glitter

39. Chasing fireflies

40. Birthday cake

41. Having a really great conversation

42. Laughing just because

43. Finding an album or song to play on repeat for hours

44. Dance combinations that fit perfectly with the music

45. Silly moments with little kids

46. My blogger friends :)

47. Browsing the aisles of book stores

48. Re-watching old movies from childhood

49. Experimenting with cooking

50. Everything Disney

51. Bare feet on fresh cut grass

52. Cozy fall hayrides

53. New leaves on trees

54. Really bad impersonations

55. Riding bikes through a seaside town

56. Trying something new and loving it

57. Sheets and sheets of stickers

58. Seeing old friends in unexpected places, and picking up like nothing has changed

59. The gtg chicken

60. Being the first one up and having a quiet morning

61. Just putting on music and letting it move through my body

62. A perfect cup of hot tea

63. Calm side streets of big cities

64. The hustle and bustle of big cities

65. Thinking of and saying the same thing at the same time

66. Intense nights of laser tag

67. Fields of flowers

68. Strings sections in songs- especially in "Used" by Strangers You Know :)

69. Parking right on the first try

70. Finding out something is cheaper than you expected

71. Movie theater popcorn

72. Young Life

73. Rose gold anything

74. People walking their cats (watch here)

75. The Marshmallow Fireside candle

76. Paper chains

77. The Sound of Music

78. Polaroids

79. Diving into a swimming pool

80. Rocket popsicles on the Fourth of July

81. Bulletin board memories

82. Laying outside on a summer night with nothing but the stars

83. The view from the top of the ferris wheel

84. California hills

85. Halftime on a Friday night

86. My two cacti: Mo and Jo :)

87. Travel boards on Pinterest

88. Gingerbread houses

89. A good pun

90. Journals

91. Flipping a grilled cheese

92. The excitement you get when you step off the airplane

93. Waking up, checking twitter, and finding out it's a snow day

94. Thoughtfulness

95. Bouquets

96. Nats park on a sunny day

97. Crazy printed wallpaper

98. Carving pumpkins

99. Bumper cars

100. Polka-dots

Vividly Yours,

Taylor :)