Summertime...On Repeat

It's summertime. ☀ Officially that is. Of course, it's felt like summer since, well...last summer. This year  I think Florida made a bit of a mess up and accidentally forgot about winter. It's as if our seasons have become a broken record and we are stuck on a summer repeat. But ya know...even though I never really got a chance to miss it this year, I suppose I am still happy to see it's sunshiny face again.  Mostly just because it is the start of a new season and I do love beginnings.So far this year, I have made a surprisingly and shamefully low amount of trips to the beach or pool, but here are a few snippets of the beginnings of my summertime :

✸ - By the way, that little doll baby of a girl is a lovely little one I am lucky enough to call my sister in law. She has the sweetest, happiest heart and I'm pretty convinced she's one of God's finer creations. 

This summer is going to be an extra special good one. I'm headed off on a girl's trip to Key West pretty soon and it will be my first time there.😍 😍 😍   I am caarrraarazzzy excited. Yay for new adventures in a new city.♥ The rest of my summertime I plan to...

Take 17 billion pictures.

Eat just as many strawberry popsicles.

Have fun bright summerefied nails all summer long.

Wear only sundresses.

Read as many books as I can get my hands on.

At least once, wake up early enough to see the sunrise on the beach.

And make my first ever homemade pie.

So...yay for summer! It's gonna be a good one... 

-A

Outfit Schmoutfit

Soooo, I've been out for the last week - sick as a dog. Whatever  that means. I'm not exactly sure if that phrase even makes the slightest of sense, but I most definitely qualified if it indeed, does. So much so that I (believe it or not, this was a real life occurrence) literally sneezed my belt off. Yes, for real. It was like a cartoon. My glasses went flying off of my head and my belt broke in half and popped right off of my body. Of course, this was not in the privacy of my own home. Nooo, that would have been too non-embarrassing and we just can't have that. Only every single person I work with was surrounding me and got to witness my whole lovely little performance. Atleast we all ended the day with deep, giant belly laughs. Ahhhhh. This has been my life for the last week. But, I am finally coming around and feeling mountains better today. Enough that I even ventured out to have lunch and play in the park with the mister and take a couple little outfit shots....

 

                                    

 

Dress: Old Navy

Headscarf: leftover fabric from JoAnn's

Belt : Target

Shoes: Kinos

*The mister was a good enough sport to take some photos for me (even if it was only because he knew he'd be rewarded handsomely with a brand new record of his choice). Bribery at it's finest. ;)

*Also, is that not the CUTEST little library you ever did lay your eyes on?!?! Ohmygoodness. Adorable. I probably need to just live there. It's shelves are only full of little botanical books. Right smack dab in the middle of one gorgeous garden, with no other buildings around. I'm in loooooove.

Hope you all had a most lovely and healthy week. One in which you did not sneeze off any belts.♡

XOXOXO - A

Lately♡

Lately...

✰ I have been indulging. Uh oh. Where did this terrible, terrible sweet tooth come from?? It is evil. And normally my evil temptations are confined more to the salty, fried variety. Dessert are just so dang pretty and alluring. Ahhh! Why am I such a sucker for pretty foods?? These are the delicious temptations that           took me down this week. Picture confessions :

✰-It has been raining. And by raining I do many pouring. Non - stop - for like 2 weeks now. And apparently there are storms in the forecast for every day this week. Goody. I love rain. My absolute favorite thing on planet Earth. I would be much better suited living in Seattle than the sunshine state. This is my favorite time in Florida, when it rains every day. I shall enjoy every lovely drop.

                This is what it has looked like out my window every day as of late. Gorgeous rain.

This is me getting completely and utterly drenched. Shoes totally soaked through.

✰ - Making little road trips. On the road is my favorite place to be. This year, instead of making any big cross country trips, we have been making lots of quick little semi-local trips. Exploring more and more little Florida cities. Most of them, off the beaten path. There are so many amazing things to see here. (One of these days I will have to make a post on the top things to see in Florida - according to this little lifetime Florida resident anyways.) This weekend we made a little 2 hour road trip to see my 15 year old brother in laws soccer tournament in Ponte Vedra. It was cancelled due to rain less than 2 minutes after we got there. I kid you not. Buuuut, we made the most of it. And I visited another city I'd never been to. Aaaand we drove home the whole way on A1A looking at the coast. I t coulda been worse.

                                                    Me on the start of our little road trip.

           Randy being typical silly Randy on the soccer field. Craziest kid you will ever meet. Seriously.

And our pretty drive home.

✰ - Reading the Hobbit. I'm not terribly into it. About a quarter of the way in and I can't say it has really captivated me yet. Maybe it will get better...??? Still trying to figure out this blog... wishing I had even the slightest technical tendencies. I adore having a writing outlet and hopefully someday soon I will enjoy designing this blog to make it a little prettier... Learning little by little. Oh, and doing loads of online shopping. Hello Modcloth!!!!

That's all. That's a bit of me lately. XOXO

Don't tell him I said so, but...

"If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera." - Lewis Hine

Photography. Pictures. Images, I love them. I adore them. They make my mouth smile big and my heart so so happy. So, it's pretty safe to say that pictures will be a large part of this blog. And if you haven't caught on already, the complete and utter focus of this post. I guess this is the part where I should confess that I have no training whatsoever or really any particular idea of what I'm doing. Just love it. I have a lovely little camera that i like to putz around with and with a little bit of practice and a little bit of editing... some turn out pretty dadgum good :) However, photography doesn't just happen to be one of my life long passions, but my husbands as well. And therefore turns our little hobby into quite the source of competition in our household. We tend to take very different kinds of pictures and then like to argue over who is the better photographer :) Oh, just friendly little arguments, of course. But I probably should go ahead and let you guys know the real truth... I'm better ;) So with greeeeaaattt reluctance ( I must be in a particular moment of weakness) I'll have to admit he has taken some pretty spectacular photos as of late. So, don't tell him I said so, buuuut I just had to share a few..... Theses are some of my most favorite instagram photos he has captured over the last month or two....

This is my absolute favorite. It was this past monday in Sebastian inlet. Had to practically lay on the rocks and scraped his arm up pretty good to get it, but boy was it worth it.

This is another one from monday. A rainbow around the sun. I mean, it doesn't get any better than that. Craziness. Crazy awesomeness.

This was from a couple months ago when we went camping at Anastasia state park in St. Augustine. A cicada. They are born under ground and can stay there for up to 5 years. Then the dig themselves out and shed their skin becoming adults. Randy just happen to come across this guy during his molting process. Lucky freaking timing.

This is a perfect example of how different our photography styles are. Broken window in our favorite taco shop. I would have most definitely never have thought to take this picture. But I kinda like it. And I like to see what other people's eyes are drawn to...

Random pretty tree caught at a pretty cool angle :)

 I just love this one. Makes me feel just like I'm the one laying in that hammock and drinking that Corona.

Another example of a picture I would have never have thought to take. Graffiti does't really stop me in my tracks. But maybe it should? I think this is super interesting. 

This is a rainstorm a brewing out our front window. ☁☂ Wow. I can't imagine I have to explain why I love this one. Second fave.

We all see the world differently. We all notice different things and perceive things in our own way. That's my most favorite part of photography. Getting to see through someone else's eyes... and I do love seeing through his♥ 

"A photograph is a secret about a secret...the more it tells you the less you know."

XO -Amanda

June Obsessions

Hellllooooo June. Lovely June... Ready or not here I am, middle of the year June...  Hot as hell in Florida June...  Sweetest name over all other months June. ♥
But really... if I was the namer of months, all months would have sweet little names like June.
"June, a sweetly old fashioned month name, was long locked in a time capsule with June Allyson and June Cleaver, but is now being rediscovered and is a new hipster favorite middle name."
`I love June. I've just decided. In fact, it's my new favorite.

And theses are all the things I'm loving this June...

♡ - One Piece Vintage Swimsuits. Can't get enough. Can't freaking get enough. I just want to buy hundreds of them. And this is my favorite, from one of my favorites... Modcloth. Can't order it soon enough! And all of The Beautiful Mess blog readers probably already saw the lovely Elsie donning it a couple of weeks ago. I can only hope to pull it off as well as she did :)))

♡ - Mustard yellow and mint green. The colors. Ahhh. All consumed with these 2 beauties. Out of the clear blue too.   I think everything I've bought recently has been mint green ... and I'm currently redecorating my bathroom with mustard yellow. I could just bathe in these two colors right nowwww. :))))

♡ - Record player listening. Kinda the best. Every night when we get home lately, my husband and I just sit around, relax, talk , and listen to vinyl. Sooo sweet. We've got that vinyl fever. Guess what I'm doing right now??? Wine in hand and Credence Clearwater in my ears... via vinyl. Perfection.

                  My sweet guy and his dad going through old records and below, our little record setup.

♡ - Girls. As in the new HBO show. Only show I'm watching, in fact. I'm in an anti - T.V. mode, exception Girls. On repeat. Over and over. Love it. Bust my gut, can't stop laughing, I actually had to put it on pause because I was laughing so hard and didn't want to miss anything funny. Quirky, awkward, amazing dialogue and just soooo good. 

♡ - Head Scarves. My favorite of all favorites right now. Want to have one wrapped around my head every waking moment. Makes me feel like I'm living in a different era than everyone else and that's my favorite feeling. Old fashioned. Old soul. 

Hope everyone has a most lovely June♥  What's everyone else loving right now?

XOXO - Amanda