Get the Look: Back to School

I haven’t been “to school” in a long time, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a great campus ‘fit. Below, I’ve linked products for the cutest back to school outfits trending on Pinterest right now!

The star of this outfit? Boots. I love the Frye Campus boot. Such a classic. Also at DSW here- Frye Miranda boot.

This gorgeous bag from Kate Spade is a close match. I love that the entire outfit is two-tone, really makes it IMO.

Nothing better than a perfectly oversized denim shirt. This denim button down from AG Jeans is ideal.

Boxer shorts are so college and I love. Tell me what could be comfier?

Last but not least, the eyeglasses. I love this thick bold square shape!

Next up, 90s casual… I’m obsessed with this outfit as a 90s kid myself. So let’s source it!

Starting off strong with a plain oversized khaki hoodie. Those classrooms are frigid, stay warm girlies.

Oversized ripped denim shorts are not going out of style, ever. Pro tip? Find a longer length like these shorts from Levis and cut to your preferred length!

The blue Birkenstock clogs are 10/10, total college vibes, and I absolutely need a pair. I’m also really into these Dansko clogs.

Next, the perfect pair of socks. This slouchy pair from Steve Madden is great. But these DSG ankle socks are great too.

Big big fan of her sunglasses, this pair from Diff has the perfect 90s vibe.

This is a killer look. Let’s recreate it!

This look is really all about the pants, so I’m going to share a couple options. This pair from Dockers is a classic. I like this pair from Collusion too, these are men’s and I love the double pleat. This flat front pair from AG is a gorgeous green.

Next up, a white baby tee. You can find these just about anywhere, even the boy and mens undershirts work great. This one from Asos is super nice for the price.

They don’t make the red and white Adidas Sneakers anymore but this pair is real close!

Her vintage leather belt has a silver tip which gives it a little western flair. This western leather belt is super cute and will age well.

The basket bag is giving Brigitte Bardot and it’s perfect for your laptop, water bottle, and notebook. There are so many great options on Etsy!

The hat too is going to require some personal preference here. I love the neutral color with this outfit along with the vintage vibe. There are a ton of retro trucker hat options on Etsy and I can’t pick just one.

These glasses are 11/10. I think I need a pair just like this.

College is a great time to explore your personal style. Live it up!

Trailer Reno!

When I first bought my trailer, she was pretty bland. Warm grey faux wood everything. That had to change! I mean, just look at this blank slate… We can do better.

The first thing I did was add some colorful peel and stick tile to the bathroom and a cute, color coordinated shower curtain. I also added some baskets to the wall to hold toiletries and things. The baskets made a huge impact. I’m not sure where else my shampoo and conditioner and makeup and toilet paper would live!

Shop the wire baskets and toilet paper holder for my travel trailer bathroom on Amazon. In the pictures they are hanging on hooks, but ended up just screwing them into the wall anyway, and that’s what I’d recommend.

Next up, I needed my bed to be way more comfy cozy. I added this fun botanical leaf wallpaper from Walmart and this bright blanket. Some more baskets near the bed make storing electronics and knickknacks much easier. I added baskets on the kitchen wall too, along with some hooks near the entry. It makes a world of difference to have all these little pieces added in to control the clutter.

I added baskets on the kitchen wall too, along with some hooks near the entry. It makes a world of difference to have all these little pieces added in to control the clutter.

You’ll notice in the photo above, my seating area is different from my before photos. After traveling in my trailer for a month, I realized I needed more floor space and a little bit more storage. I figured I could rotate the benches to face in and gain the floor space I needed. Recruiting my boyfriend to help, we did exactly that! And it was a GAME CHANGER.

Six inches might not seem like much, but I can assure you, it is! In this orientation, I now have I access to the dog food bin on the right without needing to move the cushions. Huge. Later on, we added a movable table piece. I imagined finishing my novel here. I did not.

Recently I decided I wanted to recover the cushions on the bench. I had some fabric from some other unstarted project and it worked well with the color scheme starting to develop. I added additional foam, cut the width of the cushions down as well, and it’s way more comfy than the original vinyl.

In the picture above, you can see the backsplash in the kitchen. It was a faux stone and just not well done. Peel and stick tile to the rescue! I got this adorable leaf pattern in a light aqua blue and went to town. I used 2 boxes for this space, there were a lot of cuts because of the window and the magnetic knife holder. I did remove the valance and blinds to attach the tile. And I caulked in between the sheets and all the seams around the entire backsplash for a more finished look.

For the valance, I wanted to replace the vinyl with something lighter and brighter and picked up this basket weave cream fabric from Hobby Lobby. I also trimmed off the curved part, which I’m not sure I love. My plan is to do the rest of the valances as well.

You can also see the other baskets I have in the kitchen here and the paper towel holder. Super clutch for such a small space.

Some other pieces I also have in my trailer that I love are this macrame laundry bag and some plastic storage containers for the cabinets.

Next on my list: fixing the water damage from what appears to be the world’s smallest leak at the front of the trailer! And then, I think I’m going to put beadboard on the fridge… TBD!

Stay tuned for more updates and things I’ve loved while traveling in my tiny tiny trailer!

Sunday Equestrian: Feeding Thoroughbreds

I just posted on my Sunday Equestrian blog about the trials and errors of feeding the metabolically fiery thoroughbred. This is part two in an ongoing series about keeping weight on my Thoroughbred, Smoky. He wasn’t thriving at his last barn, in fact he was dropping weight like crazy. Since we moved barns in May, his weight has gone up by about 70lbs so far.

Click through to read about the process and get my tips and tricks for keeping weight on a Thoroughbred predisposed to thinness!

Reaching In

Ready to take a new approach to journaling?

From 2017-2019 I was struggling with a severe and seemingly insurmountable depression. One of the things that helped pull me out of it was journaling with intention. This wasn’t just writing Dear Diary, here’s what’s happening. I’d been doing that for a long time and it only served to further the rumination I was struggling with. Through a combination of books, online teachers, and my own personal research, I began to journal in a way that allowed me to start tearing down internal beliefs that were no longer serving me. I found gratitude and a way out of my deepest struggles.

Last year, finally, I put together a collection of the most powerful prompts that helped me start to see a path forward. These prompts will take you about 30 days to complete, and I recommend doing one every single day so that a new way of thinking and processing starts to become a habit. Each day has a topic-specific prompt and a gratitude exercise.

I hope you’ll find this resource helpful at least and transformative at most. You can purchase the journal on Amazon for just $11.11, my angel number. Come back here when you finish and share your thoughts!

August

August eases into September, a slick slip

under warm water

Only by October I realize I’m drowning

In the mirror I watch my eyes droop, a Dalí

of self-abandonment,

unrecognizable form divorced from daily 

baptizing by lake and sun and glass

In the heat of summer the artist sparkled

at my fingertips

Eyes like emeralds and skin a prism of glass

Hopefulness, imagination sprouted

like spring seeds

When I turned, the current swept me away

with a whisper about falling in line

By spring I have wrenched the beast’s 

fingers from my throat, color coming to the surface

But heartbreak is a gust of icy wind in the shade

knocks me sideways–a door opens

Sunlit gold tip grass, my fawn legs totter

forward, what rests in wait

Water drapes over every rock, I’m there

again bare skin slick, can I have it all

August blooms on the horizon, the leap

is coming, fingers unfurl from the rope

What lies below each passing memory, what landing 

awaits my beryl body, my glass heart

The Sky is Marvelous

The sky is marvelous beyond

the striping lines of electrical wires

strung between uprooted, naked trees

like those skies out west 

that I danced naked under, took cold showers under,

let my hair whip in the wind under

The colors blur beyond my tears

I want to ask god for guidance

but I can’t trust a god who’d give me a heart like this

let it get crushed under the guise of love

Can’t trust a god who says he formed me

by hand, and won’t answer a single whispered prayer

This god of my childhood has only ever been

the kind to trick a child until they cry


I cry, no god answers


I’ve touched holy dirt and holy water, brought it to my heart, said

let this transform me, I want to be transformed

But it’s the common and vulgar that feels most sacred

An Italian man pours wine for me, tells me

do whatever the fuck you want

My breath catches like I might come

as I plunge into an ice cold mountain lake

I lock eyes with the golden glare of a 

disdainful coyote, feel seen, feel clean

Don’t think I haven’t sat in a pew long enough

to understand


I cry, no god answers

But the sky is marvelous

A Self Titled Poem

All my dreams are of houses.

Hallways narrow to wakefulness.

Try to make sense of a door that leads to the room I’m in,

the intruder in the window, the devil in the cellar.

They say dreaming of houses indicates

unexplored corners of the mind.

What can this mean to an overthinker?

My creativity feels just out of reach -

a groping in the darkness, a dim knowledge

that the surface of the water is just above me,

a Peter Pan shadow that eludes capture.

Is it the looking to the light that blinds me?

My eternal hopefulness? My light-filled rooms?

I’m drawing the shades on inspiration. 

In darkness my shadow surrounds me.

Does it matter which room I’m in?

I imagine the darkest corner of my house

is the one where Death places the tool in my hand.

But all he becomes is fodder for contemplation.

What else is there? Every repulsive thing I haven’t been

brave enough to say. Desire and revulsion.

Bits of bloody self I cut off years ago.

May I become a collage artist here in the dark.

Something horrible pasted onto the tenderest piece of my heart.

A smear of red, sanguine lust. Ashes of some joy my father tried to burn.

It’s an acerbic, unsettling picture.

Where light shines, shadows fall

Broken Dishes

I am not a violent person.

When I step outside for air,

I find it thick, choking,

if only I could claw it away.

The glass jars glinting in the sun

with their film of forgotten ambitions

freshen my anger.

Like the jagged, sinister edge 

of broken glass, your disdain and delusion

await my frantic efforts to clean up, repair.

I’ll cut myself again and again.

My pieces soon irreconcilable to my shape.

My hand closes slowly around a jar,

lifts it skyward, the trees distorted through

its fuzzy, melded shape.

When it shatters against the stones,

my own shattering acquires a sound,

a sensation.

Later you complain about the mess,

or was it before?

I can’t recall.

Every jar is broken. Every dream is ended. 

The pieces spell out

every undiscovered sin.

The pieces are glittering.

The pieces

are lighting my way.

Blog Posts

Glacial

see how my skin is this impossible

blue-veiled-green

bluer than the shocking sky,

greener than the yawning evergreens

that my fingers stretch out 

beneath cool peaty earth

to water into growth

mountains towering above, pillars

of creation, gifted

their millions of glittering rainbow gems

to adorn my edges, my foundation

where delicate hooves of deer and elk pause,

dip their slender faces 

to my icy, holy bath - without reserve - 

come. come baptize yourself here

where millennia worships with silence, abundance

the violence of my creation was

cacophonous

only a gentle lapping, the slap of a fish’s tail

or the cry of a bird - high - a black speck

remains

a choir you can only hear

at this altar