Colorful Summer with Dolly and Dotty

It's hard to believe that it's not actually summer. It's hot as hell most days, and it just feels like summer is in the air. Naturally, I'm already dressing like it is too. The folks at Dolly and Dotty were kind enough to send me this dress and one other recently, and I can honestly say that this dress is spectacular. It's one of those pieces that took me forever to figure out how to style just because there were so many ways I could have done so. It's so versatile and fits perfectly that I can already see myself wearing it to death all year. Not only is it very well made, but it also has pockets - obviously that in itself is reason enough to love a dress. It feels perfect for days at the park (like this one) or days walking around downtown. 

Speaking of perfect, yesterday included both of those things and more for me. Jon and I spent the first half of the day taking pictures (yes, he's an experienced Instagram boyfriend) and walking around both the park by our apartment and the downtown area across the street where a little farmer's market happens every Sunday. In the afternoon, we headed over to my parents' house to celebrate Mother's Day. My brothers, sister-in-law, and nieces and nephew were there, but Jon's parents also joined. We're incredibly lucky that not is Jon's immediate family small, but our parents get along really well so we've be able to do some holidays together in the past year or so. It's really the best to have both sets of parents in one place and see our families like each other so much.

Don't forget to enter my 6 year anniversary giveaway!

Rainbow Stripes

Is there anything better than this dress? I posted a picture of it on Instagram that didn't show it in full, and I probably got more comments and messages asking about than I have about any other dress I own. I ended up browsing eShakti last month and somehow found three dresses in my cart. I'm really excited about all of them, but this is by far the best one (you can find it here). I mean, you can't really blame me. I've been doing a lot of closet cleanout (I still have some stuff up on my Poshmark!) and focusing on shopping smarter lately. I've actually been doing a lot of reflection on this in general. There will be a longer post coming soon (I mean it!), but basically, I've been really looking into what clothes make me happy. I think we're all guilty of overthinking things, and I've definitely been worried about liking things just because they're trendy or what I see a lot of people wearing on Instagram. It's impossible not to worry about these things, but I've decided to just not care. Yes, I've been more inspired to dress more colorfully because that's what I see on Instagram all of the time, but it's understandable that that's where I get my inspiration from now. The reason why those people who I follow inspire me is because they look like they're having fun with their style, and that's how I want to feel. Ever since I started looking for more colorful pieces, fun prints, and more vintage-inspired pieces, I've felt so much happier and comfortable in what I've been wearing. And that's what clothing should be about.

My style may be getting louder (and who knows, maybe more pin-up inspired in the future?), but it certainly hasn't changed that much. Case in point, this dress definitely needs no accessories, but I still had to put a Peter Pan collar under it. Some things will never change.

A Belated Women's Day

Happy belated International Women's Day! I originally had this post scheduled for Wednesday, but I decided to participate in the "social media blackout" part of Day Without a Woman. Okay, fine, I definitely still checked social more than I intended, but I successfully refrained from posting. I did go to work, like I think most of the women I know did. I do agree with the sentiment, and I wish I could have taken part, but I'm not surprised that so many women couldn't do so either. I love my job and work for a small company, which means that when someone takes the day off, it makes a big impact. I'm also fortunate to work for a company that empowers me and values me rather than putting me down. So while I didn't take the day off, I did take the day to appreciate the amazing, strong women in my life and only spent money supporting women-run independent businesses. I also wore red in solidarity. If you did strike, or celebrate in some other way, or really just existed as a badass woman, way to go!

In other news, I don't have too much to say about this outfit other than I love this top and these shoes. Like I mentioned in a previous post, I've done a little bit of impulse buying lately, and these items were my recent Modcloth purchase. They work well with the more vintage-inspired direction I've been going in, and they're both quite versatile too. Plus, the skirt is perfect for celebrating International Women's Day, even if it is a day late. Hell yeah.

Yellow Cardigan + Teal Skirt

Have you entered the Feminist Resistance Giveaway that I'm hosting with Lisa yet? I'm having a hard time thinking of anything else to write because I'm so excited about it. I still can't believe how many amazing sponsors we have and how much people have been donating so far. If you haven't yet, please check out the post, drool over the amazing prizes, and donate money to Planned Parenthood or another worthy cause to be entered. Hope you'll help us raise some money!

With regards to this outfit, it's pretty typical every day look to throw on for me. Any day that I'm too lazy to think of a creative outfit, I throw on this striped dress as a top under a skirt and grab a cardigan. I've also been living in this Rocksbox necklace. I swear I went into Rocksbox assuming that I'd try it out for a few months and send back everything, but I think I might have to buy this one. It's everything I've been looking for. P.S. you can use code room334xoxo for your first month of Rocksbox free!

Thrifted Red Striped Tank Top + Polka Dot Skirt

It's that time again. I'm once again bored with everything I own and have caught the shopping bug. It is...not good. I got some extra money from my leftover PTO when I left my job, and I've been awful about using it to justify some purchases. I really haven't spent much, but I keep popping into thrift stores here and there whenever I have a free moment to feed the shopping hunger, but avoid spending too much. I picked up this skirt recently, and I don't regret it one bit. I've bought many a polka dot skirt over the years, but they've never been quite right. They always end up being to small or too short, but this one? Just right. 

I have many on countless things from online stores, but I'm making myself wait. I have some things listed on eBay and Poshmark to sell, and I won't allow myself to click the "checkout" button on any website until they're gone. That said, help a sister out? I have plenty listed on Poshmark that beg to be purchased. If you can live with the fact that you are single-handedly fueling my shopping addiction, then there's really nothing stopping you.

Striped Tank + Pleated Skirt

This is going to be a quick post today as I didn't give myself enough time to write this as usual. Don't get me wrong, I'm not crazy busy or anything. I've just gotten addicted to Chopped and haven't made time for anything else. It's all very healthy, I swear.

This is skirt has become my go-to Sunday skirt. I wear it fairly often, but for some reason, I tend to gravitate toward it on Sundays especially. Something about it feels perfect for going to get breakfast and then relaxing the rest of the day. It's a good brunch skirt, and we all know the value of good brunch skirts. This top is actually a dress that I had intended on wearing as is, but as I was heading out to my dad's restaurant, I realized that I needed to come to terms with how short it is. So in a hurry, rather than find a completely new outfit, I grabbed this skirt and put it over the dress. I'm really the best problem solver.

Striped Dress + Blue Wedges

If these photos are too bright, blame the Oscars. I normally do my best to wait until the sun goes down a little to take photos (schedule permitting), but when these were taken on Sunday, it had to be during the brightest part of the day so that I could drive to my parents' house to watch the awards. The Oscars will always be well, irrelevant and a little dumb in the long run, but I'll always watch them. My mom and I have had a tradition of watching them together every year for as long as I can remember, save for the years I was away at college. We always get more excited than we should, and I live for giving my commentary throughout. I saw all but two of the Best Picture nominees, and while ceremony itself was hit or miss, I was happy with almost all of the awards handed out. Spotlight was one of my favorite movies of the year, and I could not have been happier to see it win. My other favorites of the year included Mad Max, Room, and Ex Machina, so seeing those take home trophies made it worth it. Actually, seeing how Jacob Tremblay was to be there was really what made it worth it. That kid is the cutest.

I got this dress in a swap ages ago, and I wear it almost weekly. Somehow, though, it had yet to make an appearance on the blog. I've been styling it a variety of ways, but this weekend called for minimal effort. Luckily, throwing on this pair of blue wedges means outfits instantly get dressed up.

Striped Tank Top + Pleated Midi Skirt

I should apologize in advance. I'm doing that thing again where the only time I have to write this is late at night, and I'm half asleep. In fact, I just wrote "assleep," but I have enough dignity to correct my typos as I deliriously move along. I'm sure I'll find that to be untrue when I go back and read this in the morning, though. Keeping a full-time job, a freelance job, a blog, and remnants of a social life is tough work. By that I also just mean that I'm an old lady trapped in a 23-year-old's body and just want to be in bed watching Frasier and falling asleep before 9 p.m. Is that too much to ask for?

This is another one of my "casual Sunday" looks that I threw on this past weekend before grabbing breakfast with my friend Nicolette. We ate this cute place in Costa Mesa where you can still feel the ocean breeze. A comfy tank top and midi skirt were perfect for stuffing my face with an omelette and coffee until I could eat no more. Both of these pieces are two of my all-time favorite thift finds. The top is Madewell, which I scored for $2, and the skirt was one of the last things I thrifted while I lived in a small town in Illinois. Ah, memories.

New-ish

I am so excited about sharing this outfit. It's slightly different from what I would normally wear, yet it combines three of my favorite pieces currently in my closet. For starters, there's this gorgeous statement necklace that Happiness Boutique sent me. Happiness Boutique is a jewelry company based out of Germany, and I couldn't help but drool over the selection when they contacted me about reviewing a piece. I had about 20 tabs open of different statement necklaces I couldn't choose between, but I ultimately decided on this turquoise and pink one. I love that it's a unique, attention-grabbing piece, but it's still slightly more subtle than most statement necklaces. I can already tell that I'll be wearing this one on heavy rotation. The company has been so nice to work with, and I definitely recommend the site. Plus, they have a pretty sweet rewards program, which is always a selling point.

I picked up this dress over the weekend after considering trying a tank or T-shirt trapeze dress recently. I tried on a couple at Target, but didn't love any, and I hit the jackpot with this clearance $10 dress at TJ Maxx later. It's a completely different shape for me, and I feel a little naked without my standard fit and flare silhouette, but it's insanely comfortable and a good piece to dress up or down. I already know that it will come in handy as plan attire for when I fly to Portland in two weeks. 

That brings us to these shoes. Ah, these shoes. These were the other Hello Holiday item I purchased, and in all honesty, I went back and forth on them a lot before proceeding with checkout. The're so unlike anything else I usually gravitate forward, but they are just so...cool. I couldn't resist trying them, and I've already worn them multiple times since I got them a week or two ago. As I'm sure you know from reading my blog, I stick to flats almost exclusively, but these shoes are making me think I need more chunky heels. Between the dress and these shoes, it's what I like to call me "new-ish" look: going with slightly different shapes, but the same general aesthetic. 

The Return

So...that was the longest hiatus I've accidentally taken from blogging. Things have been so crazy busy lately that taking outfit photos hasn't really been option. After the first week (of the three I took off), I kind of just stopped worrying about it and decided that a break from the Internet was a good thing. I got my apartment the week after I last posted, and I just moved in last weekend. As you might have guessed, the last couple of weeks have been filled with Ikea and Target trips, packing up boxes, unpacking boxes, leaving unpacked boxes sitting on my floor, building furniture watching my friends build my furniture for me, and stressing out until the move was complete. Now that I'm finally settled in (with the exception of those pesky boxes that just won't unpack themselves for some reason), I'm ridiculously happy. I love having my own space to decorate finally, and I especially love the location I'm in. After driving 45 minutes to work every day, it's nice to have a drive that's about 12 minutes AND closer to where all of my friends live. I can already hear my gas tank and bank account thanking me. It's also nice to know that I actually set a goal for myself and made it happen. My brother and sister-in-law were incredibly nice to take me in, and I had told them when I moved in that I wanted to stay no longer than three months to save money. Somehow I actually stayed true to my word, and I was able to give them their house/office/guest room back after so long of taking advantage of their generosity.

Other than moving, I've been working a lot (I worked two 6 a.m. shifts last week) and writing articles for my freelance job. I've been spending time with my friends and boyfriend, who have all been wonderful in helping me get settled in. My brother Lucas also just moved back to Orange County, and I now live only 10 minutes away from him and his girlfriend, so that's been great as well. Plus, I've been wearing all of the same dresses I always wear, so I can't say that everything has changed. This is what I wore to celebrate Father's Day with my family on Sunday. We had a really nice dinner, and my parents gave me a bunch of stuff for my apartment that they didn't need anymore, so it was a pretty successful holiday if you ask me.

Pinstriped Pure Joy

If I could design a dream dress for myself, it probably wouldn't be too far off from this one from Shop Ruche. I've been trying so hard to save up for an apartment, but I can't lie. Right after I got my job, I might have done some perusing on Ruche with thoughts that I deserved to treat myself with adulthood finally on the horizon. From the moment I laid eyes on this dress, I couldn't get it out of my mind. I put it in my cart, left it there, took it out of my cart, put it back in, and dreamed about it. Then I came back it to it the next day, promotional code for a discount on all dresses in "hand." And, well, somehow I magically found this dress in my room two days later. I told myself that it was really an excuse to support a local business (Ruche is based out of the city I currently live in), but we all know I'm just weak. So, so weak. 

I wanted to save this dress for a time when I knew I'd get good use out of it and a time when I'd be able to take outfit pictures. I waited until I went to Venice over the weekend with my friend Caitlin, and did that embarrassing thing most of us bloggers do of asking someone I don't see often to take photos of my outfit. Fortunately, Caitlin was game, and she took some great photos for me. I remembered this sidewalk and green house from back when I took photos with Kelsey, and it proved to be perfect and secluded once again. Venice is just too damn photogenic in general if you ask me, and it's the perfect place to highlight a perfect dress. 

Happiness Through Striped Dresses

If I've learned one thing recently, it's that a cute outfit is an easy cure for feeling down and dealing with change. While I'm freaking out about my childhood home being sold and moving to a new place while I struggle with starting my career and whatnot, at the very least I can put on a striped dress, a collar, and a cardigan, and I can feel like myself. I suppose that's the beauty of fashion, isn't it? I'm sure everyone is tired of me moping (and trust me, I appreciate the kind comments of encouragement I've gotten), but I can't lie, things have pretty rough for me lately. I think I may write an honest post soon to give you some more insight into what I've been feeling, more for myself than for anyone reading it. The point that I'm trying to make today, though, is that I'm more appreciative now more than ever to put on clothes that make me feel good. It's hard to be in a mad mood in a fun dress and fun colors, and this outfit in particular makes me happier than most. I'm a sucker for a good striped dress, and I just adore how this collared top looks layered under pieces.

Nothing helps more than having a group of fiercely loyal friends, though. As 22-24 year olds, we've all been struggling with adulthood and post-grad life in different ways, and we've all been there to distract each other, support each other, and to make each other laugh. This week has mostly been filled with us all doing our part to be there for each other, whether it be driving to LA on a moment's notice to offer comfort, going shopping for retail therapy, or watching funny TV shows and eating ice cream as a distraction. This outfit makes me really happy, but nothing compares to making an impromptu trip to the grocery store at 9 p.m. to get Ben & Jerry's with three guys. If it's sickening to hear me talk about how in love I am with the people in my life, well, deal with it. 

Flock Together: Hot Wheels

I'm over on Flock Together today, posting about this seriously incredible dress I borrowed from Marisa. If you can't tell, there are bicycles with puppies all over it. I know. This might have been the most difficult one not to steal. You understand. Hope to see you over there!

Dress: Modcloth, borrowed from Marisa

Jacket: H&M

Oxfords: Urban Outfitters

Necklace: Jewelmint

Minimal Effort

Have we all reached the point in summer where trying just sounds exhausting, or is that just me? It's not that I'm unhappy with my outfits or anything (in fact, I quite like this one), but I can't pretend like I've been putting any real sort of creativity into them. It's hot, my room is a scattered with piles of clothes I'm too lazy to hang up, and all I want to do is just throw on something sleeveless and a pair of sandals. So at this point, I'm just grabbing the first dress I can find in hopes that I haven't worn it on the blog in the past week or two, throwing a skirt on over it if I feel like it, and slipping on a pair of sandals or flats. If it works, it works. One of these days I'll finally sell all of the clothes I need to get rid of and I'll buy more things I'm not tired of, but for now, an easy summer ensemble like this gets the job done. This skirt has turned out to be one of my favorite pieces, and I honestly didn't think I'd get as much wear out of it as I have when I thrifted it this past spring. It works perfectly with these peach braided Modcloth sandals, which have become the star of my wardrobe this summer. Understandably, of course.

Things have kind of slowed down that past few days, which I'm happy about. The past couple of days have just included a quick trip to Venice to meet with my boss, working on my internship and various projects, skyping with my friend Aaron, and spending some time with sister-in-law in nephew. I feel pretty strange right now because school is starting up, and I'm seeing posts on social media and getting texts from my friends who have yet to graduate. It's weird not going back to Illinois for the first time in four years, and it's especially weird seeing the newspaper that I worked for go on without me. It's pretty bitter sweet, so I'm trying to look on the bright side and enjoy California life to avoid being sad. I also just remind myself that I never have to do homework or take a test again. See? Bright side. 

Stripes and Pie

I wore this yesterday to hang out with my friend's mom, which is a thing I'm not even embarrassed to say. I'm sure I've mentioned Kyle, one of my best friends who is in the Air Force traveling the world working tech for Tops and Blue, which entertains the troops. Because Kyle is awesome (don't tell him I said that), he sent a box to his parents' house with some gifts from Japan for me and Adam. Even better than the souvenirs, though, was the chance to visit his parents. His mom invited us over for pie, ice cream, and coffee, and we ended up sitting and talking with her for a couple of hours. Basically, she's great. I became friends with Kyle when we were 13, so I practically grew up with his family and seeing them is always a delight. Plus, Kyle sent me a gorgeous fan that he got from a castle in Okinowa. So yeah, I spent the night hanging out and eating pie with my friend's mom. You know, like the cool kids do.

But let's talk about this dress. Tieka of Selective Potential has been one of my favorite bloggers for years, and her blog was one of the first ones that really inspired me. I fell in love with this dress when I first saw it on her, so when Tieka had it listed in her shop for incredibly cheap, I knew it had to be mine. I'm obviously a sucker for stripes, and that low open back and the slits by the shoulders are perfection. It's such a great summer dress, and I love it with this Mata Traders necklace and these peach Modcloth sandals. I can't wait to remix this for the rest of summer and layer it up when fall comes.

Don't forget to enter The Braided Bandit's giveaway that I'm participating in to enter to win $50 vintage shop credit, a flower crown, and a necklace!

Cry Baby

In an attempt to remix more items in my closet rather than shop, I decided that I should play around more with print mixing and unexpected color combinations. When it comes to print mixing, I figure that nothing really works better than stripes, and I was excited at the prospect of making a striped tank work over this floral dress. I could be wrong, but I'm quite pleased with the result, and the addition of my utility vest made for a perfect summer look for babysitting my adorable 4-year-old nephew last week. Also in this outfit is the blog debut of my new sandals from Threadsence. My other black sandals were falling apart (RIP), so I've been on the hunt for a pair to replace them. Luckily, my girl Leeds from At This Volume hooked me up with a 20% off code for Ruche and Threadsence, so I was able to get these for a steal. They're exactly what I was looking for, only slightly more unique that I was imagining (in the best possible way). I will most likely be wearing these suckers with everything from now on. By the way, the discount code is still active, so if you want to get a great discount at Ruche and/or Threadsence, and if you want to help Leeds win a contest at her awesome place of work, just email me or her. 

For anyone who cares about my non-outfit related life, I had a really good weekend. I went to a comic book shop on Friday evening with my friend Adam and his girlfriend partially to support my friend Whitney (who was throwing an event to promote "Transformers" for her Paramount job) and partially to get some suggested for what comics to read next. Adam has been lending me some graphic novels lately, and I've really been enjoying getting into it so far. Other than work on Saturday, I got to see my lovely friend Nataly, who I met through blogging a couple of years ago (she's since gone on blogging hiatus, but I'm hoping she comes back soon), who I hadn't seen since last summer. Nataly, her sister, and I went thrifting for a little while and came out fairly successful, and then got ice cream after. I spent Saturday night with five of my closest guy friends watching a ridiculous movie and trying not to fall asleep while they all yelled at the screen. It's always very exciting in my world, isn't it?

Intern Queen

As I've mentioned before, my sister-in-law, Elyse, is a phenomenal photographer, and I try to snag her for some photos every time I'm home. I'm not sure if she realizes it yet, but now that I'm home indefinitely, I plan on taking advantage of her photography as often as possible. I wore this a couple of days ago to babysit my nephew, Jackson, but I've also just been wearing it a lot in general lately. I got it through the Facebook swap group that I'm in, and I can't stop wearing it. It's just as comfortable as it looks, it's extremely flattering, and the little peekaboo back is such a fun detail. I will most definitely be living in this dress all summer, which I think is completely understandable. 

I actually have some very exciting news to finally share —  I am finally starting an internship! To be honest, for a little while I wasn't too keen on the idea. I do need to fulfill an internship credit to technically get my degree, but I was hoping to get a full-time job that would still allow me to get the credit. Part of it was a money issue, but I have to admit that my desire for a job stemmed from other things as well. Even though it had only been a few weeks since I graduated, it was tough to see other friends get jobs, while I struck out. I felt (and still do) confident in my abilities and qualified for a great job, so it was frustrating to get rejected. However (and it's a big however), I found an internship that not only will allow me to get the credit out of the way, but is an opportunity that I am VERY excited about. I'll be working with FAB Counsel, a great start-up that works with small businesses to grow by consulting with them on PR, social media, branding, pairing them with bloggers, and more. The company also plans online workshops and events. I'll be doing some blogger outreach, writing, PR, helping with events, and more. I cannot imagine finding a company that's more of a perfect fit for me, and I can't believe how lucky I am to get to do all of the things I love for work. As if that wasn't enough, Mary, the founder, is amazing and is working with me to make sure I'm getting real, hands-on experience that will be beneficial to my career. Plus, to top it all off, I get to work from home for the most part. Dream come true. I really could not ask for a better situation. So now, I can happily say that I don't feel bad about interning anymore. I won't be able to talk about everything that I do, but I'm excited to start right away and hopefully share some of the cool things the company is doing, especially when it comes to blogger events. It's kind of crazy how much having this blog has shaped my aspirations and my opportunities over the past two years. That's right, it has officially been two years. But we'll talk more about that on Monday. Trust me, you don't want to miss it.

Mix-Up

Wednesday was a good outfit day — and a good day in general. Sure, spring hasn't been too reliable so far, but the moment I looked outside on Wednesday, I knew I could bare leg it (it's a verb now). I've been feeling the need to bust out the blazer/polka dot skirt combo ever since Nicole from Writes Like a Girl's flawless post, and while I don't look nearly as awesome as she does, it's still a no-fail combination. I decided to actually do some print mixing for once and paired it with stripes. I think I need to start print mixing more often because I always like the results. Classic and slightly playful? I think yes.

If there's one thing that's the most frustrating about moving in a month, it's that my friends and family here in Illinois have gotten particularly good at playing the "You know, you aren't going to get to spend time with us anymore soon" card a little too often. It partially bothers me because it works every time, but it's mostly because I started using that on all of them first, and they've gotten much better at it than me. I'm already getting so emotional about leaving, that it's pretty much possibly to guilt me into doing anything these days. That's how I ended up out to dinner and at a bar for an open mic on a Wednesday night instead of doing homework and having my regularly scheduled Netflix date. I'm not going to get any sleep at all for the next month, am I?

It's a Lie

I'll be honest; looking at these photos, this isn't exactly my favorite outfit. It's not the worst though, and I think it's good to show an outfit here and there that I wore, even if I can't rave about it. I wore this to work yesterday, and I think my biggest problem is that I'd like it much more without the tights. Unfortunately, despite the fact that it looked warm outside, the sunshine was a lie. It was not in fact a nice spring day as I had hoped, but actually pretty chilly. Or maybe I just don't like how this jacket ended up looking with this dress. Either way, hey, here's an okay outfit that I wore yesterday.

I had a decent, if not uneventful weekend, in case you were wondering. I spent Friday afternoon "interviewing" the new editor-in-chief (my friend/our photo editor was the only one who applied, so he got it by default, but he's more than qualified), which was a weird experience. I'm really happy for him and I know he'll do a fantastic job, but I'm still not ready to hand the job over soon. That night, we all went out and celebrated with him at our favorite bar, and it was a great time. I ended up spending most of Saturday with my brother, sister-in-law, and their kids, and decided to stay in and watch "Veronica Mars" at night. Is my life exciting or what? I'm not sure why I feel the need to recount my weekends, but I have nothing better to do, clearly.

Let's Get to Work

The snow lately has not been kind to this blog or blogs like it. Not only has it been impossible to justify standing out in negative temperatures with snow blowing every which way for outfit photos, but it's also been hard to have any sort of inspiration when it comes to getting dressed. No matter what I wear, it'll be covered by a scarf and giant coat for most of the day, and it all still needs to provide some level of warmth and comfort. Plus, it's not like I'll ever know when I'll be taking outfit photos. It seems like the days I have the opportunities to are the days I hate my outfits, and the days I like what I'm wearing are when photos are out of the question.

Basically — and I'm sure many of you are in the same position as I am — winter is bad for bloggers.

With that, I apologize if posts are scarce these days and for my very un-inspired outfits you may see. Please, rest assured, it won't be like this forever. I'm trying to come up with more types of posts I can use, and this indoor shoot at my desk at work was another great idea from Mary. It's not my favorite outfit, nor is it my most creative, but it was functional for the day. Plus, you can get a small peak at what my life at work* is like, cluttered at desk at all. You can also see my wall of inside jokes behind me that I like to call art. Bonus points to anyone who noticed the "House of Turds" print-out behind me in the first picture, which my advisor left on my desk during the government shut-down. My office is the best.