I Still Have No Idea What I'm Doing

Well, it's official: I'm a college graduate! After taking 5 years to finish my undergrad, it still hasn't really hit me yet. Not like it matters much- I'll be going to grad school (somewhere, I haven't figured that out yet), but I'm taking a year off to save some money first. Plus, I'm considering getting my doctorate in Psychology (yeeeeah!), so I'll probably be in school for the rest of my life. But that's beside the point.

One of the things I was most excited to do was decorate my graduation cap. I spent hours scouring pintrest for ideas and narrowed it down to a couple, but this idea was one that popped into my head right at the last second. I was looking at this pin, and decided to add a quote I thought was a biiiiit more accurate.

It was all hand-painted and took me waaaaaay too long, but I love how it ended up!

Seeing the Symptoms | Mental Health Awareness Month

Anxiety can entirely consume a person. It can make you feel helpless, like you can't breathe, like you're stuck inside you're own head and can't get out. And as with any 'invisible illness,' you never know who may be suffering. With the stigma attached to mental illness, you often don't see how badly someone might be suffering, if at all. I know for me personally, I feel embarrassed when I have to admit to someone that I was just vomiting because I was so anxious, or when I have to hide my on-coming tears when I feel a panic attack coming on in public. A lot of people don't understand how that feels, so the stigma of mental illness being an 'exaggeration' or a character flaw still lingers.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, which I've decided is the perfect time to officially debut my photography series on anxiety, which I've titled "Seeing the Symptoms." I've always felt awkward about openly talking about my feelings and intimate details like that, so when I decided I wanted to spread awareness about my symptoms, I figured using photography would be a much better route. Even as I'm writing this, I have this feeling of underlying anxiety that I have no idea how to describe, other than by the feeling portrayed in this picture.

I'm going to try and post a photo from this series at least once a week all throughout the month of May. Let's try to support each other and end the stigma ♥

Young Love: an Art Journal

A few weeks ago, I was cleaning Skylar and I's apartment when I found a box of Skylar's random junk that we hadn't unpacked yet (we moved in last August...yeah). Inside was mostly old clothes and useless junk, but then I discovered this little book. It was a Christmas present I gave to Skylar the first year we started dating. That was almost six years ago- I was a senior in high school, and Skylar was a junior. I bought a little blank journal around the time we started dating, and started writing little notes to him inside of it whenever I missed him. I decided to turn it into an art journal and give it to him for Christmas.

Flipping through it brought on so many emotions. It instantly brought me back to high school, to a much simpler time. When I could just spend hours creating and making art and not caring about whether it looked "good." It brought me back to experiencing my first love (and some really sappy journal entries- I left most of those out of this post). Mostly it just inspired me to create another art journal to look back on.

I decided I wanted to take pictures of my favorite pages. Skylar and I's 6th anniversary is coming up this Saturday (May 7th), and it's kind of crazy to look back on this journal in the context of having dated for six years. I wanted to make sure that if this journal ever got lost again, there would be some way I could look back at at least a peak of what I wrote in here. I can't wait to read it in another six years- who knows where we'll be.

♥

Mother's Day Gift Guide for Moms who Hate Fragrances

I always thought it was weird that my Mom hated anything with a strong fragrance. Anyone else's mom like that? She would always scrunch up her nose whenever I lit a scented candle or wore a lot of perfume. So whenever Mother's day rolls around and I see all of the gift guides with pretty-smelling soaps and lotions, I know that my Mom would never go for any of it. I figured there had to be plenty of other people with Moms like mine out there, so I put together a little gift guide for Moms who hate fragrances.

Home

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I feel like the one thing all Moms can get behind is home decor. Who doesn't want to add more beautiful and useful things to their home? You could easily please a stylish mom with some pretty throw pillows or beautiful art piece, or the more practical mom with some kitchen utensils or organizational furniture. The opportunities are endless!

Plants & (Faux) Flowers

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Flowers for Mother's Day are a no-brainer, but if you want to step outside the box, try a house plant! They'll last longer than a bouquet of flowers and can spruce up any room. Speaking of lasting longer, a nice fake plant can be a good gift too!

Adult Coloring Books

 

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Adult coloring books have been a huge trend over the last year, but for good reason- they are super relaxing and so damn addictive! My favorite coloring books are by Johanna Bradford, her illustrations are adorable. Don't forget to include some markers or colored pencils!

Fashion Accessories

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Accessories are always a good way to go; it's a great gift for a fashion-loving mom without having to know her size. A nice piece of jewelry or a fancy handbag will definitely wow, but practical accessories like sunglasses or hats are great ideas too.


I haven't quite decided what to gift my Mom for Mothers day yet, but I know it will probably be something from this list. Anyone else have a mom like mine? If so, have you gotten her gift yet? I'd love to know-give me some more ideas! :)

My First Tattoo!

(Freshly tattooed, the day after)

I finally did something that I've had on my 'goals' list since I was 19- I got a tattoo! I've had so many ideas on what I might have wanted, and have always been to indecisive to actually follow through on any of them. Fast forward to last Christmas when my mom gave me a gift certificate to my local tattoo shop, and I basically had no excuse to wait any longer!  I've had this idea of getting a polaroid camera for at least a year or two now, and I thought it would be perfect as my first tattoo. It was definitely a little bigger than I would have liked my first tattoo to be (I wanted to start small so I could get a feeling of what the pain would be like), but I like to think that I powered through it like a champ. We did the whole thing in one session that lasted about 5 or 6 hours. The last few hours were pretty brutal in terms of pain, but I didn't even cry- so that's all that matters I think.

(Healed) Although I definitely was a little worried about the pain of getting the tattoo, what I was actually more anxious about was the healing process afterwards. I did some research beforehand about what to expect and aftercare and all that jazz, and most sources basically said that a tattoo is an open sore, and to treat it that way. I was basically just scared that I would do something wrong and ruin it, but I basically did exactly what my tattoo artist told me to do in terms of aftercare (which, to me, is the best source out of all) and everything healed just fine.
And in case you were wondering, what they say is definitely true- I am already itching to get another one! Like I said before, I've had lots of ideas over the last few years and I feel like I am finally ready to get a few of them, now that I know what the process is like. I have this weird plan that I want to get a tattoo of every pet I own, and of course I already have design ideas in my head for my childhood cat (Star), my current cat (Bear), and one with both my guinea pigs, so I definitely have enough ideas to keep me occupied.