{Girl Crush} Karla Deras

Karla Deras of Karla's Closet.

Effortlessly Fabulous.

Hanging Out with Scott Schuman of The Sartorialist + Mango Fashion

I had the awesome opportunity to participate in a press conference hosted by Mango Fashion that was live streamed through youtube and Google + Hangout this morning...at 3:30 am (Barcelona is 6 hours ahead of us!) Each of us live streamers, inlcuding representatives from GQ Italy, GQ Germany, and several bloggers were able to ask Scott one question. I asked Scott what his favorite camera and lense was to shoot with (pretty typical photographer question, right? lol). Peep my question and his answer around the 50 min mark, I'm the girl with the fro' on the bottom right.

I was happy to see that he doesn't get too bent up about camera equipment, although he does use the popular Cannon Mark D; that it's the emotion you get out of the image is what really matters. He even stated he would publish a phone camera image if he felt it was good. I feel like am even bigger fan now!

Here's the link to the press conference on youtube and check out my last post about Scott Schuman {here}.

{Peace} A Little Encouragement

To say I was feeling a little blah today is an understatement.  An overwhelming sense of insecurity has been building up inside over the last couple of weeks and totally overcame me today on my way to work.  It was a feeling of great uncertainty and doubt in myself that I couldn't seem to shake off.  And  it's not even that life is throwing me lemons or anything like that. On the contrary, everything is seemingly intact in the grand scheme of things, but a series of events and a peruse through The Alchemist  (<-- a must read!) has led me to question- I am walking in my purpose? Am I the best  me I can be? No, I'm not...and that revelation is weighing me down. 

I can't let that happen. 

After all,  It's well within my power to change, to redirect my life's course if need be. I'm made in His image, my life is in His hands. My peace is not to be sourced by outsider opinions or material validations. The peace is already within me, and so is that power. I was reminded that "Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4), which goes along with a statement made on this blog, that "Peace is the knowledge that there is nothing greater, bigger, stronger or more effective than what is inside you." That something is God's peace. The peace that surpasses all understanding (Phillipians 4:7). 

I decided that I needed to make daily affirmations of this and did so by creating this screen saver,  which will serve as constant reminder. I do this pretty often actually and it's really helpful. Plus it makes my phone look all pretty and stuff :-P. Anywho, I feel a lot better now. 

 How do you stay encouraged? Anybody else create unique screen savers like this? Please share!

Photography and editing by me

Words by Keenan D. Wilson of TRM

Collages by The Glamourai

Collages have always been one of my favorite mediums of art, and photography collages via photoshop is something I've been interested in doing with my projects for a while. Kelly Framel of The Glamourai executed this art form so beautifully in a recent post and I was definitely inspired! For more pics and her inspirations click {here}.

A Lovely Saturday

I am happy to announce that spring has officially arrived in Philadelphia! Bring out the open toed sandals and jean jackets! Theres nothing I love more than spending quality time outdoors with loved ones, and that's exactly how I set out to spend the day. Saturday was pretty eventful in Philly, as the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts was in full swing on Broad street, which was preceded by an amazingly delicious brunch at Sabrina's in the Italian District. The cherry on top was a successful bantu knot out that behaved itself all day, sweet!

I couldn't help but to stop and take pictures of all the trees in full bloom on the way to the train. My boyfriend was getting so annoyed LOL! 

I'm absolutely obsessed with my Carmanita black heels from Shoe Dazzle. These will definitely be in constant rotation during the upcoming months! 

If You Ever Find Yourself in Harrisburg, PA

If you've ever found yourself in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's centrally located capital, you probably took note in how underdeveloped it seems compared to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, the state's more infamous cities (for the longest I assumed Philly was the capital). Harrisburg doesn't seem to offer much in terms of  "city life"but it definitely has its own character. I was temporarily located here for work and decided to explore the happenings downtown during some free time one evening. I made my way to North 3rd Street to take a look at the Capitol Building, one of Harrisburg's landmarks. I was totally blown away by the architecture, among some other things in Midtown during my wanderings. 

I can't help but take pictures of street art when I run into it.

Flats + cargo jacket + t-shit seems to be my uniform as of late. 

Hands down my absolute favorite place in Harrisburg was the Midtown Scholar Bookstore.  Located just a few blocks away from the Capitol building, its filled wall to wall  with new, used and rare books for sale, an art gallery upstairs with rotating exhibitions, and a cafe on the main floor. The vibe was refreshing-young and old studying or reading in one of the many tables and reading nooks, the studious ones enjoying free wifi with iced latte's in hand. It unlike anywhere else I had visited during my short stay in the 'burg, a city that just seemed kind of dead after 5pm (to note, Midtown Scholar leaves its doors open until 9pm on weekdays). They even host a poetry night from 7-9pm on Thursdays. I spent a couple hours in here flipping through the books and just enjoying the atmosphere.

Right across the street from Midtown Scholar (and viewable from it's upstairs gallery) is Broad Street Market, one of the longest running of its kind in the U.S! A total of forty ethnic and local food vendors offer an array of palate pleasing meals. I indulged in some Jamaican rice and peas and a vegetable curry patty while there. Surprisingly there were a lot of vegan options as well, think tofu scrambles and the like!

Afterwards I headed back to the capitol building in time to watch the sun set over the city.

I'm looking forward to coming come back for a day trip, I think this city deserves a little more exploration, and its only about 1.5 hours and a $7 toll away from Philly. My day plan includes: Indulging in a vegan breakfast at Boston Market, picking up some coffee and a few used books at Midtown Scholar, hunting for home decor items at the Shining Light Thrift Shop next door, museum hopping and soaking up some sun on City Island. Any other suggestions?

Prints by Cozamia

A few of my favorite prints by Cozamia. I'm loving the colors! All of these would go so well with my apartment's current aesthetic.

Cozamia also offers free printable goodies for people who suscribe to their maling list. Can't wait to get my first one!