Milton, Demander of Cuddles.

In an effort to make my blog more about my life, as I mentioned in this post, here's a little post about my Milton. I haven't really talked about him that much since he was a puppy, but these days he has such a little personality. I can't even believe it but it's almost his first birthday!

I have never known such a cuddly dog. He always wants to be near someone, to be touched and paid attention to. And if you DON'T pay attention to him, he'll lift his paw up and place it on your leg and stare at you until you notice him. And if you DO pay attention to him he will eventually climb up in your lap. He might do it slowly, as if he thinks he's being sneaky. Or he might just jump up in one quick leap and settle down. He is SO demanding of love and attention. He recently lifted his paw up and closed my laptop because I was ignoring him while on my computer. How funny is that?

He also loves to get underneath the covers on the bed. He will often lift them with his nose and then turn around and look at me. It's his way of asking me to hold them up so he can burrow underneath.

Even though he's getting bigger and older he's still the cutest, most loving little pup I've ever known. And he still has innocent little puppy facial expressions. I just love him.

My New Year's Eve

Last night, something glorious happened. Something I've been waiting on for quite a while. My brand new MacBook Pro arrived!

This photo was taken before I went out and bought a pretty magenta cover to protect it from scratches and such. I'd show you a picture of it with the case but it's easier to just Google the case I bought...

There! Although it looks slightly more pinkish in real life.

Anywhooo. I'm quite excited about that. Also, today is my first day off work since Christmas! Danny and I were going to go see a matinee of Black Swan but decided to take the dogs for a walk instead since it's 50 degrees out today. Weird, since there was a foot of snow less than a week ago. Anyways, we went to a pretty lake nearby.

I asked Danny to snap some outfit-ish photos but they're not very detailed. I wish you could see my lovely Christmas boots! They were a gift from my parents (as was the red cardigan). I am quite smitten with both pieces and will probably be wearing the heck out of them until spring arrives.

Then we headed to Starbucks and sat outside with the pups.

And now I'm going to attempt to clean up this ridiculously messy apartment and then get ready to go see Black Swan this evening.

As for New Year's...I don't have any exciting plans. I actually have to work early in the morning so I might not even stay up to watch the ball drop. (I'm just TOO exciting, right?!) But if I do, rest assured I'll be watching Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper. They are two of my favorite people in the whole world. Seriously. I hope they have a New Year's show for the rest of forever. So funny. Oh, but you know what 2011 means? New planner!

Yes, in a world of endless technology I still rely on/love my paper planner. And 2011's has cute colorful owls on it. Another great Christmas gift from my parents. Hope you all have a fun New Year's!

P.S. Hey, Mac users...any tips/advice regarding my latest purchase? This is my very first Mac so I'm learning lots! Any app recommendations or tips on how to do things that are done differently on a PC would be appreciated. Thanks!

It's official.

I miss blogging.

And I think I want to start again.

But I want it to be different this time. I think I'll try to post...maybe once a week. And it'll be less about outfits and more just about me and documenting my life/thoughts/etc. I've had a fancy camera since summer and I'm giddy over a brand new computer that's making its way through the mail to me...and it seems silly to me to have these things and not use them for blogging. And I really miss the blogging community. And I miss having a blog as a sort of digital scrapbook/journal.

I really don't like or make New Year's resolutions. I think it's kind of silly. You can and should change your life/behavior/whatever whenever you feel like it. But the timing is right, so whatever. I guess getting back to blogging regularly is my resolution.

So, I guess I'll start by catching you up on what I've been up to for the past few months.

In late summer I went to Charleston with my parents...

I visited the ocean...

Smoked my first cigar with my Dad (and no, neither of us are drunk in this photo)...

I stood on some steps...

And ate the best meal ever. Salmon on grits with cheese sauce on top. I've had this meal about four times...it alone is worth the three hour drive to Charleston. Yum.

After that, I went to the fair...

And ate greasy fair food.

I transferred to a different college...

And went exploring for pretty places there.

Meanwhile, the puppies grew...

And grew...

And grew...

And they saw their first snow...

Milton and I visited my parents for Christmas...

My Dad made beignets for breakfast...

And then it snowed...

And it snowed some more...

How were your holidays?

Overdue Thank Yous

Some lovely folks have sent me products for review and it's taken me way too long to mention them and say thanks!

LuShae Jewelry sent me these lovely earrings for review. Their jewelry is definitely very high quality and I've gotten lots of compliments on these!

I also want to say thanks to CSN stores for sending me lots of toys for the puppies. They love them! And I'm glad they have something to chew on that isn't my shoes.

Glamour Feature! (And more photos with my new camera.)

I'm so excited to be featured on Glamour.com again! (Check out my first feature here.) This time they were kind enough to include three of my photos in the slideshow! I love that Glamour features looks from bloggers. Some of my favorite bloggers are featured as well - Keiko Lynn, Sterling Style, Blue Collar Catwalk and Kansas Couture - check it out!

You'd think that with a brand new camera I'd have outfits to post, but actually my new camera is too heavy for my tripod. And I'm super busy right now (as usual) - I'm probably moving this weekend! So, for now here's some more of the photos I've taken with my new camera. Outfits to come post-tripod-buying and post-moving.

Birthday present to myself.

I finally did it! I bought a new camera! Say hi to my brand new Canon Rebel XS. Here are some of my first photos with it...

I can't wait to learn more about how to use this thing...it's so fun! If any of you have the same camera...or a Canon...or just any sort of photography knowledge in general - I'd love to hear from you! Tips, helpful books/websites, techniques, etc. - I'm definitely no photography expert (until yesterday I'd never used anything fancier than my old point and shoot) but I'm eager to learn!

P.S. There are a few more here.

Outtakes

Today - for the third time - I attempted to take outfit photos. And today (again, third time) I got to my computer, looked at them...and frowned. Lately, every time I try to photograph my outfits (or get my boyfriend to, as I did today) I end up with only a few good shots while all the rest are horrible. I have no time for detail shots (or if I do they turn out awful) and I get discouraged and don't post. So today I decided to combine them all so that I could share the few decent photos...even if there aren't enough to devote to one post for each separate outfit.

Dress - BB Dakota via Pascun; Necklace - American Eagle; Shoes - Yellowbox

Necklace - thrifted; Dress - J. Crew Clearance store; Sandals - Kate Preston

Top - J. Crew clearance store; Necklace - thrifted; Shorts - American Eagle; Shoes - Yellowbox

Anyways, here are some of the funny outtake photos. Unfortunately, most of the photos I've taken recently have looked a lot less like those up there and a lot more like these...

Milton and Lola invaded my picture taking...

so I was like "Oh, I'll pick them up! It'll be a cute photo of us all!" Only instead of looking cute I decided to look like a half asleep homeless person. And the puppies decided to look really distressed. So basically, it looks like I'm holding someone's puppies hostage and demanding food or drugs or something.

Here's me thinking "yaaay pretty pictures of my new dress!" You can't tell from this photo, but it actually wasn't pitch black outside, believe it or not.

That face was in response to a creepy man across the street telling me to "smile real pretty."