All I Can Do is Keep Breathing

Since I'm stuck in the middle of a packing marathon, I thought I would take a quick time out, get some fresh air and some clarity of mind away from the mounds of cardboard boxes and black trash bags.

I've worn this cardigan in a post before, but I love it so much (I love it even more since I bought it on sale) and wanted to pair it with my ballerina dress this time around.

This necklace is from my mom. It was hers when she was my age.

Pink socks :)

The man on the other side of the camera. My husband Al, is wonderful. He is soooooo patient with me and my pickiness when taking pics. He is my number one fan. Thanks babe!

The little guy and other love of my life, Keane.

Outfit Details:

Dress: Urban Outfitters

Cardigan: Anthropologie (on sale)

Hair Scarf: Vintage - from mom

Necklace: Vintage - from mom

Pink Pearl Bracelet: Vintage - gift

Pink Socks: Target

Shoes: Seychelles

The Helio Sequence - Hallelujah

Monday is here again. Why is it the weekends seem to blaze by...on fast forward almost? Because we are in the middle of packing up and moving, I can't promise how many times I'll be able to post this week, but I will give it a try and hopefully have something up tonight.

Ok, so with that being said, I've decided I'm going to start each Monday out with a song for you. I love music...all kinds. I love writing it, I love playing it, and I love sharing it. Today I wanted to kick off the week with a song from the band Helio Sequence that is already a couple years old, but I love it regardless. I saw these two guys last April and they were phenomenal. Enjoy!

I Heart: Lolas Room Photography

One thing I am utterly in love with right now is Lolas Room Photography by Cassia Beck. Where do I begin? Her vintage inspired photos are downright enchanting and whimsical. She photographs everything from vintage typewriters and telephones, to delectable looking cupcakes and sugary confections, to girls dressed in pretty shoes with pastel tights. It was so hard for me to choose what photographs I liked best. For me it was her Self Print with the mint colored tights (of course), but I can't just stop there. I added her to my Etsy favorites right away and will definitely be stopping by for more of her photography in the near future.

Self Print by Cassia Beck

Other Favorites

Sweet Shop by Cassia Beck

Ring Ring by Cassia Beck

Click on anyone of the links below the pics to check out these photos or on the title of this post to check out all of Cassie's Work in her Etsy store Lolas Room. Pictures were used with consent of the creator, Cassia Beck. Thanks Cassia!

I See You, You're Walking Cross the Campus

Happy Friday beautiful people. So the weekend begins... There is not much in store my way, but packing, packing, and more packing. Boring. I am pretty much so dreading this. I've moved five times in the past six years. Seems like a lot since I pretty much so lived in only 2 places my whole life up until college. How many times have you moved?

Now onto my outfit post...

This is somewhat of a different look for me. You have probably figured out by now how much I love frocky (yes I realized that is a made up word), floral dresses. I like to feel like a doll and yes I will admit that the looser things are, the more secure I am since I am still carrying baby weight. But earlier today as I was digging through some old bags of clothes, I found this skirt that I used to love and thought I would give it a try at styling it once again.

Though I was going for a kind of vintage meets collegiate sort of feel, my husband told me I looked like Minnie Mouse goes to college. (He meant that in a good way...lol)

I never wear button down shirts. I wish I could, but I just have no luck with them fitting my figure. My shoulders are small and I am more on the chesty side so I either go up a size and have too much room in the shoulders or I wear my normal size and the buttons pop open over the bust area. Funny story - in high school my friends used to call this "Marisa disease" since it happened to me so frequently. Does this happen to anyone else? Because I don't own any button downs, I borrowed this one from my husband and pinned it as needed. I also found this Monet inspired scarf and added it to the mix.

Last time my mother in law came to visit, she gave me this vintage bracelet. I love it..it has little birds on it.

Not only did I find my yellow skirt, I also found my collection of first addition classic novels and my Breakfast at Tiffany's songwriting book that had been packed away. Below are several of my Hemingways. Getting them out again excited me very much. What do you like to collect?

Outfit Details:

Blazer: Forever 21

Shirt: My husband's

Skirt: Modcloth

Headband: Etsy

Scarf: Modcloth

Bracelet: Vintage

Necklace, Socks, Shoes: Urban Outfitters

Style Inspiration - My Oma

When it comes to style inspiration, my grandmother (or Oma, as I call her) is the first person that comes to mind. This is a women who is full of so much grace and beauty.

Quick bio:

She was born in Germany in 1929 and later met my grandfather during WW2 after being a refugee along with her mother, sisters, and brother. Her father was a prisoner of war and they did not know he was still alive until years later when they were reunited. During the war, my grandfather, who was stationed close to her home, would bring her and her family food and other essentials. Soon after he swept her off her feet, they fell in love (he was 10 years her senior) and began a family...and lived happily ever after:)

My Oma is awesome person, she has the best sense of humor - really, she is quite a hoot and we would always have a good laugh together, she is sweet, feisty, strong, and always had quite a stylish flare...sometimes even a little over the top. She loved big chunky jewelry (her collection is incredible), animal prints, and bright colors. We would always talk fashion - she appreciated my style - the good, the bad, and the ugly. To this day she still tells me how much she loves my printed tights or red boots and so on. She was not afraid to stand out in the crowd and just be herself. It took guts to be a German girl transitioning to the states and learning a new language and new culture but she did it and she did it with style and class. I like to think I inherited many of her great qualities. There really aren't any words good enough to describe her but I love her dearly and am so proud that she is my grandmother.

Susie in Eichstadt - 1946, age 17

Frank & Susie - My Grandparents

Lutzelberg 1955

Easter 1950

State Park

It's half way through the week now and I have not blogged since Saturday. Ugh, I don't like that very much but things here are kinda insane trying to get ready for our move. I'm sure you know how that goes - the house is in disarray, lots of organized chaos, etc. etc. Because of all this, I have not had time to do an outfit shoot. What I do leave you with is several pics of my Sunday night at Gifford Pinchot State Park.

The day was gorgeous, the sun was lovely as it's golden rays hit the water, and how peaceful it was to watch the boats sail by. However at 6 PM it was still a sweltering 90 something degrees and everyone was sweating bullets. I wore boots to avoid getting mud on my toes around the lake area...not such a great idea when it is this hot and humid. One stayed up the other fell down...not so cute.

I do love summer though and this was a beautiful evening. I felt like it could have came out of a scene from Dawson's Creek...haha...remember that show?

Well that's all for now. I will be back again soon I promise.

Love, Marisa

Lilac and Mint

Today I was supposed to start packing up our house to get ready for our upcoming move. No such luck. That's ok. Sometimes you need a day to just stop and be still, to take in the beauty around you, the blessings you have been given, the peace and comfort of your home, and the love of your family. Today was my day to put the pause button on...

With that being said, I have managed to take a few pics.

It's not hard to figure out that I have been obsessed with all things mint lately...mint skirt, mint socks, mint shoes, and now mint tights. Mint, mint, mint...is it me or is anyone else having a hankering for some mint chocolate chip ice cream?

I purchased this dress this past winter and wore it all layered up. It's still perfect even in this hot summer weather when paired with the a little short sleeve cardi. Gotta love a dress that can take you through the all four seasons. Now that's some good mileage.

My mint tights: I snatched up these suckers for $3.99.

Outfit Details:

Dress: Need Supply

Partridge Cardigan: Target

Headband: Modcloth

Tights and Shoes: Urban Outfitters

P.S. Yes, that is a random shopping cart in the background of the last pic. I have no idea where it came from or how it got there.

O Captain My Captain...

... our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won

- Walt Whitman

As I donned another nautical outfit today, I was reminded of this poem which played through the back of my mind. Random perhaps, but for me it brought me back to my childhood and made me smile to myself. You see, for me this poem evokes memories of my dear grandfather. This man is amazing - a little Italian guy from New Jersey who grew up in an orphanage and later went on to serve our country during Pearl Harbor. Anyways, this poem reminds me of him because every year when we would take our family vacation to Orlando, Florida, he would never fail to recite the whole thing during our 16 hour trip in the car. During the course of the grueling drive, he would break out into his strong and mighty (and very expressive) voice and recite it word for word...all 24 lines. It was perfect and he was so proud of that. Silly story i know, but it is special to me and will continue to make me chuckle for years to come.

Outfit Details:

Dress: Forever 21

Shoes: Urban Outfitters

Avi Buffalo - What's In It For?

Happy Friday everyone! Here's another song to kick off your weekend. This video is lovely and dreamlike...I kinda wish every day would look like this.

I Heart: Pink Studio "Hobbs" peep toe wedges

Not that I need anymore shoes at moment...but these Pink Studio wedges from Ruche are simply adorable! The floral pattern on these is me to a tee.

Picture from Shopruche.com

I Hope You Like Dancing in the Rain

Another rainy, overcast day. It's kinda good though because it has cooled things down a bit. When Al and I went to the park to snap some pics, the ground was marshy muck and there was a certain swamp like smell to the air. It made things kind of interesting and I kind of liked it.

My whole goal today was to find something in my closet and remix it. I don't really consider myself good at doing this. I tend to purchases pieces together to comprise a whole look - which is not always a good thing. Nonetheless, I picked out this little chambray like dress which I typically wear with red accessories and paired it with one of my favorite cardigans.

This is the result:

Outfit Details:
Dress: Modcloth
Cardigan: Anthropologie (On sale)
Headband: Etsy
Socks: Topshop
Shoes: Seychelles

A Little Sunshine, Just to Butter My Toast

Happy Tuesday pretty people. Today is going to be a quick post as I sip my morning coffee and head off to work on this rainy, dreary, and grey day.

I took these pics last Friday in the midst of our 100 degree stint here in PA. Gosh, looking at these makes me realize that I am really gonna miss this park that my hubby and I frequent so often. It is such a lovely place to go, but at the end of this month we will be moving and I highly doubt that we will be able to spend as much time here:(

Anyways, this is one of my more work appropriate outfits:

This basic navy blazer is great because I can throw it over many of my sleeveless dresses making them office appropriate. Best thing about it is that it's very soft and comfy and not so structured feeling like most blazers. I hate feeling confined and uncomfortable while trying to work.

Because of the very swingy nature of this dress, for work I cinched the waist with my red scarf (the same one I wear tied in a bow on my head). I thought this worked well bringing out the bright red in the headband.

Outfit Details:

Dress and Blazer: Modcloth

Headband: Etsy

Socks: Urban Outfitters

Shoes: Seychelles

Bracelets: Lucky Brand via Macy's and Vintage

Well that's all for now. Have a lovely day!

Lemon Cake and Pink Champagne

Yesterday my hubby, son, and I headed off to West Chester, PA to attend our cousin's wedding. Though it rained and poured like cats and dogs all day long, it ended up being a beautiful evening. Don't they say rain is good luck on your wedding day anyways?

This is what I wore:

I purchased this dress last year for Easter and have worn it to several weddings already. It's one of those special occasion dresses that does not see the light of day very often, but when it does, it makes me feel so pretty and sweet. (I think I feel a chorus of "I Feel Pretty", coming on...hehe.) I love how the skirt is so pouffy and full.

Each time I do wear it, I try to remix it slightly so I don't feel like I am wearing the exact same outfit. This time I added a blazer with structured shoulders.

My favorite part of this blazer? The adorable polka dot cuffs.

This is one of my favorite necklaces.

Enough about me, this night was all about the lovely bride and groom.

The evening was filled with lots of love and family, the tarantella (a traditional Italian wedding dance), delicious Italian food, pink champagne...

yummy lemon wedding cake and....

no wedding would be complete in my family without tons of delectable Italian cookies.

Outfit Details:

Dress: BB Dakota via Modcloth (Spring 2009)

Blazer: Kimchi Blue

Headband: Modcloth

Necklace: Urban Outfitters (Spring 2009)

Flower Bracelet: Vintage-Gift

Heart Tights: Urban Outfitters

Shoes: Dolce Vita

Double Take - Ecote Scarf Dress, Part Two

As I promised, here is the way I wore my Ecote Scarf Dress. I actually purchased this dress in March of last year, so it was still quite chilly outside. Because of this, I wear it most often with tights underneath, making it a little more appropriate for cooler weather.

I pulled out color a little differently than my sis did focusing in on the grey, deeper green and coral color in the pattern of the dress with my cardi, necklace and tights.

My grandmother gave me this vintage necklace. I love the color of green. She seriously had some of the coolest jewelry and I'm always so thankful and thrilled when she passes something down to me.

How cool is this ring? It actually opens up like a locket does. I just wonder what was intended to go inside of it...hmm.

Outfit Details:

Dress: Ecote

Cardigan: Urban Outfitters

Necklace: Vintage (from my Grandmother)

Ring: Vintage (from my Mom)

Tights: Urban Outfitters

Shoes: Dolce Vita