wherever you go, there you are

I wore this last Thursday in Utica, NY. I needed to get a new piece of luggage so we stopped at a Big Lots as we were leaving the city. It just happened to have a really pretty (in my opinion) greyish blue wall that seemed perfect for taking pictures. I'm so used to taking outfit photos in my bedroom that I really get excited about scouting backgrounds when I take them outside! Oh, and the Big Lots ended up having this perfect purple and cream colored luggage that was marked down from its retail price of $288 (!!!) to only $55. Pretty exciting.

Also, in Utica we stopped for lunch at Swifty's Pub and Restaurant and I had the best burger ever. They have a burger on their menu called the Buffalo Burger, which is a breaded, deep fried burger topped with buffalo sauce. I asked if they could substitute the beef burger for a veggie one and they obliged. I also asked if they could switch the sauce to BBQ since I much prefer that, and it was out of this world good! When you're a vegetarian there aren't too many greasy artery-clogging options besides french fries and dessert. And that's definitely a good thing in the big scheme of things, lol. I do love eating healthy and try to make good food choices whenever I can... but this was a really nice treat ;)

dress- modcloth | shoes - c/o bait footwear | bag - c/o wet seal

home sweet home

Well, I am home with my kitties again.

Not for good though, I didn't give up on the road trip! We just need to regroup and plan better before we head back out again. My original plan was that we just drive wherever we want to, sleep in the car some nights, and then find cheap local hotels other nights. But the first attempt at sleeping in the car was a nightmare (I forgot that it's summer and you can't leave the a/c on all night while you're sleeping. SOOOO hot!!) And finding a "cheap hotel" isn't so easy. In Burlington, VT we couldn't even find a vacancy, let alone a cheap one.

Rather than drive around for hours looking for hotels in the rain after midnight on Thursday we realized it would only be about seven hours to drive home... so we did. Once we have everything planned better we'll definitely go back out again. I still want to see all the states and get to use the traveling office that I was so excited about, lol! I'm tempted to drive down to the beach this weekend just so I can work out of my car ;)

You live and learn though, right? We had SO much fun seeing Niagara Falls and getting to meet Sarah... I don't want to just give up on all of the other fun experiences I could have if I continued. But we definitely need to be more organized before we continue. Honestly I wish that "winging it" was a viable option because it seemed so fun and spontaneous! But I'd rather feel safe and know that I definitely have a (reasonably affordable) bed to sleep in each night.

I have some more pictures from the trip to post though! We went to Utica, NY on Thursday and I had one of the best veggie burgers of my entire life. Details later.

worth it.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I got to stay with one of my best friends, Sarah. We've actually known each other for almost five years but didn't get to meet in person until this week! I had SO much fun with her and her family, it definitely made my bout of homesickness worth it. I think getting to meet the three other friends in our little BFF group (Casey, Millie and Nicola) is my incentive for following through on my road trip :) Next year we're all going to meet up together for the TCM Film Festival in California and I can't wait!! :D

Sarah and her family showed me and Kyle around Buffalo and we had a blast! I was so sad when it was time to leave! I wish Buffalo wasn't so far away from where I live or I'd visit like every weekend if they'd have me! Really though, they were so welcoming (and awesome!!) and helped me feel a lot less homesick :)

Today we're back in Syracuse again, and then I think we're going to head for either Vermont or New Hampshire. We're definitely winging it lol

ps. On Tuesday morning we did the Maid of the Mist! Kyle has the photos on his phone still but when I finally get them on my computer I'll post some. I'm going to be very stingy with my use of the word "epic" now that I've been on that boat. Seriously, nothing else comes even close to that amount of epicness.

dress- c/o tulle | shoes - asos | bag - c/o wet seal

niagara falls

Yesterday started out pretty terrible. Just a bunch of things went wrong and it was an awful start to the trip. Things improved immensely though, when we finally ended up in Canada at Niagara Falls and got to see one of the prettiest locations on earth in beautiful weather with rainbows all over the place! It was really breathtaking.

Today we're heading over to Buffalo (shuffling off, if you will) and I get to see one of my best friends so I'm pretty excited about that!! :) After New York we're supposed to go to Vermont but honestly I'm having second thoughts about continuing on the trip. I always want to be really adventurous and do fun spontaneous things, but when it gets down to it I'm really just a terrible homebody and get so homesick SO fast. I hate that this is such an ingrained character trait -- that I make life changing plans and then always end up backing out of them. This trip should be SO awesome. I really, really want to see all 50 states and the idea of working on the road seemed so thrilling to me when I was planning it! But now that I'm living my plans, I just want to be home.

I'll give it another couple of days before I decide if I want to head back to NJ. Who knows, maybe the travel bug will finally hit me and I'll have to be dragged back home kicking and screaming...

dress- forever 21 | shoes - asos | shirt - target | bag - c/o wet seal

road trip, day one!

Right now I'm sitting at a rest stop in Syracuse, NY, on my way to Niagara Falls! So far everything is going smoothly and I'm really enjoying the scenery while we drive. Me and my brother have spent most of the trip building a playlist on my ipod, a difficult task since we have wildly different taste in music. But we seem to find common ground when Frank Sinatra songs come on, so he'll probably be crooning through the speakers through most of our vacation!

Tomorrow will be the first time I try packing orders and doing business on the road, so I really hope it goes over well! I can't wait to show you guys the pictures of the mobile workstation I made in my car trunk. I spent most of Saturday just sitting outside starting at it because I was so proud lol ;D

Also YES I am wearing jeans in this picture. I KNOW. I ordered and returned about five pair online before finding these... I really wanted a pair for the trip that I could wear on days that would mostly be spent in the car. These have proved to be super comfortable so far and they aren't riding down like all the jeans I've owned in the past. I always have a hard time finding denim that fits my small-waist-huge-hips ratio but these are working great! I got them from modcloth, here. The shoes are from Payless and the bag is vintage :)

I'll try to blog as often as the wi-fi gods will allow, but I'll definitely be posting on instagram a lot if you want to follow along with my road trip adventures!

easy peasy folding tray makeover

Since I'm going to be working out of my car trunk during the road trip, I decided to get a folding tray to expand my workspace a little. I figured this would be perfect since it folds up flat and will store easily in the car! I got mine on amazon here. They come in sets of 2, so I gave the second one to my mom to use as a tv tray. (sidenote -- can we talk about the awesome Mod Podge label design?!)



It's not terrible looking to begin with, but definitely not my style at all. So I took it outside and gave the whole thing a couple coats of peach spray paint (I used Valspar brushed rose) and then let it dry. Then I cut a piece of fabric to fit the top (a fat quarter was more than enough) and adhered it with Mod Podge hard coat and a foam brush.

Despite trying really hard to make sure there weren't any air pockets when I attached the fabric, they still started showing up when the first coat of Mod Podge dried. I poked the bubbles with a push pin, and then rubbed on the area to release the air, then did a couple more coats of Mod Podge and you can't even see the bubbles anymore!

I can't wait to take this on the road with me now! :)

peaches and cream

I've been busy this week getting ready for the first leg of my road trip! We're hoping to leave after Father's Day if everything goes according to plan. I'm currently fashioning the trunk of my (new! pictures soon :D) car into a little mobile etsy workstation and checking off a long, long, long list of things to do and buy before we leave. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all of my obsessive planning will pay off and make for a relaxing trip!

Of course the most daunting task of all is going to be deciding what clothes to bring. ahh! I'm trying to pick things that will be easy to mix-and-match but still unique and fun so I don't feel like a frump ;) I'm still planning on taking outfit pictures while I'm on vacation (and blogging daily -- assuming I can find wifi) so you'll be a witness to whether or not I succeed in that department lol..

dress- c/o modcloth | sweater - forever 21 | shoes - c/o bait footwear