Shoe Staples

After the end of this school year I discovered that all my favorite shoes had been worn way past expiration and had to be retired. Recently my pair of Sperrys finally died (there is legitimately no more sole in that shoe) and now that means I am without flats, rain boots, or everyday shoes. I now have to rebuild my shoe staples before I head off to Ireland and am back to looking at shoe basics.

Sperry // Bluefish 2-Eye Boat Shoe - Linen Oat // Sperrys are hands down my favorite everyday shoes. I find myself wearing these everywhere I go around Annapolis or on Campus during the school year.

Hunter // Original Tall - Green // As far as rainboots are concerned, Hunter seems to be the boot of choice. Ireland bring on the rain, I'll get the boots.

Delia's // Pepper Boot - Chesnut // Luckily I already have a pair of boots similar to these that I am rather smitten with.

J. Crew // Cece Suede Ballet Flats - Byzantine Blue // If I could get all these flats in every color I'd be in heaven. If I could even get this one beautiful blue I'd live in bliss.

Jack Rogers // Napa Valley Navajo - Cork // Even though I'm focusing mainly on fall shoes, if I were to choose a holy grail of sandals I'd put Jack Rogers on top. It'll just be awhile (a long long while) before I see myself getting these shoes yet.

What are some of your shoe staples?

Shannon 

P.S. For the Sperry's I'm still considering between getting the same as my old ones, the Linen Oat, or getting a new one like the Navy Seersucker Plaid since they are going to be a new pair. What are your thoughts? 

July Happenings

July has been a busy month for me so when I wasn't teaching, waitressing, or ringing up frozen yogurt I made a real adventure of my day off and went off exploring the East Coast. Here's some images of my 

July adventures.

Power Outage // When July arrived, the power went out for miles. I was driving home from work when each of the lights on my street went off one by one as if someone had used a deluminator. Luckily, my family and I left for the beach right around the time that the week long power outage struck.

Beach // I was at the beach for an entire week reading, relaxing and playing cornhole. I took this picture one day when I went out on the beach with my younger cousins Kara and Tara. We were all resting around reading books (and I was sort of in a bad mood) when suddenly our other cousins, Brian and Charlie came out onto the beach playing Mumford & Sons songs and we slowly started to sing with them and I felt better.

4th of July // It was crazy at the beach house. All I can say was that the next day there was lettuce all over the lawn, green food dye mixed into most of the food, a jump related leg injury, and glowsticks scattered in the pool.

Annapolis Irish Festival // We got these tickets from Phoenix and the festival was right up our alley. I rocked out to some great songs by The Rovers while going from tent to tent. I picked up a Guiness Gaelic Footballer Pub Sign for my Dad's bar he's building in the basement that says "Guinness, Beer of Strength" in Irish. And Gerred even got me a beautiful music box that plays an Irish lullaby and I absolutely love it. After heading to that festival I'm certainly ready to head to Ireland.

Firefly Music Festival // There will be more to come on the Firefly Music Festival, but I must talk about this sparkled up, jort + indian headress wearing hula hooper. He was amazing and was just about everywhere dancing to the beat and getting low to some pretty sweet songs.

The Killers // They were at Firefly and they were amazing. There was so much hype, dancing, and the light show was amazing. The only thing that could have made it better was fireworks. Which went off 3 times during the show and there was even a finale fireworks display.

How was your July?

Shannon

Postcrossing Cards 21-26

After sending out my postcards a huge rush of incoming postcards came in the mail this time from Russia, Holland, Belgium, Canada, Belarus, and Austria.

1. Moscow, Russia // The sender says she's studying and working to become a designer of footwear. Pretty cool, I think I'll have to look out for her.

2. Delfr, Holland // Delfr is a small historical town with many canals, narrow streets, small bridges and old houses. I love the outfits (especially the holland shoes) and all the color.

3. Bruges, Belgium // Cats in beer steins. How awesome is that? I just about died when this arrived in the mail. One of the interesting things about the sender though was that she likes to make lace. I wonder how you'd do that.

4. Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada // Tillsonburg is named after the first Mayor, E. D. Tillson in 1872. This aerial view shows where the sender's office is as a legal secretary.

5. Vicebsk, Belarus // Belarus certainly looks nice and the sender even adds that she is "an optimist who likes cats."

6. Vienna, Austira // Austria looks delicious. I could go for just about all of the desserts on here.

Shannon

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

Last Fall I took a class on the Irish Novel and was able to explore Irish history and culture through literature. What interested me the most was the family dynamics in the stories, especially in the novels by Roddy Doyle. I fell in love with The Woman Who Walked Into Doors and as soon as I was ready I read its sequel, Paula Spencer. Roddy Doyle has easily become one of my favorite writers and as I am about to leave for Ireland in a month, I've begun an Irish literature kick for the summer. The first on the list being Doyle's Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.

Doyle captures the carefree life of a ten-year old boy, Paddy Clarke, as he grows up in Ireland during the 60's. The stylized voice gets in the mind of the restless child as he runs around Barrytown with his gang playing, stealing, and causing shenanigans. But even while he is having fun teasing his brother with his friends, Paddy Clarke starts to observe the world around him as he finds his childhood slipping away from him.

I think the conversation that Paddy Clarke and the boys have with the Father captures the loss of adolescence perfectly:

Heaven was supposed to be a great place but nobody knew much about it. There were many mansions.

-One Each?

-Yes.

-Do you have to live by yourself?

Father Maloney didn't answer quick enough.

-Can your ma not live with you?

-She can, of course.

I'd really recommend reading this book if you haven't already, I know I'll soon have to read Roddy Doyle's The Commitments Trilogy soon enough.

Shannon

Cornhole

I'm not sure if this is an Eastern Shore thing, but if you haven't played Cornhole you should because it is quite possibly the best BBQ/Beach game ever. It's fun, it's simple, you just toss the bean bag on the other board, there's points and sometimes the wind makes it difficult. Anyways, the rules of the game aside, last year Dad and I decided to make our own Cornhole Boards. Kirby Cornhole Boards.

Dad first built the boards and then we decorated them together. He first designed the graphic and then we taped it, cut it out, and then spraypainted the whole thing before peeling away the tape and paper to reveal the super design.It's great playing tournaments of Cornhole with the family at the beach especially when we get to show off the boards we made ourselves.

Shannon

July Birchbox

It's Birchbox time again, and this time Birchbox teamed up with glamour to bring all five senses to life with some great trial sized beauty samples and lifestyle extras. So there's a little something to see, smell, feel, taste, and hear.

Birchbox Exclusive | Earbuds // These neon pink and green earphones are a great switch for the regular white ones and come with a pretty cool playlist "Getting Pretty."

Color Club | Blue-Ming // I love the color mint and it seems to be the only color I want on my nails recently. About a month ago I bought Sally Hansen's Mint Sorbet, and while that mint is a lighter and more subdued color, the Color Club Blue-Ming is bright and has a much bluer mint color to it.

Eyeko | Skinny Liquid Eyeliner // I don't think I've ever had such luck with a liquid liner. It goes on quick, is smudge free, and is nice and dark. It's great for making cat eyes, to which I totally had my eyeliner winged out for the IMAX Batman Premiere.

Supergoop! | City Sunscreen Serum // This daily moisturizer has SPF 30+ with a PA+++ rating (top of the line.) This smells and feels more as sunscreen than a moisturizer, but is completely non-greasy. Love it.

Harvey Prince | Eau Flirt // With notes of pumpkin and lavender, this perfume is "not in your face with fragrance and doesn't smell like an old women" according to Gerred. "It's nice and mild."

Tea Forte | minteas // I've always had a battle with mint since it makes me sneeze (I have no idea why.) But these mints don't have that overpowering minty taste of wintergreen or spearmint, but of ginger pear instead. Ginger mints are not only great tasting, but are apparently supposed to help you focus.

On a side note, I opened July's box up with Gerred like we were sports casters. By the end he was interested in the entire concept and wanted to know if there was a Birchbox for Men. Which there is! Birchbox is trying out a new beta test which gives out man essentials (not make-up) like shaving essentials, face wash, cologne, and tech products. So we signed him up right after and he'll be getting his box next week.

So if you're interested in getting Birchbox for only $10 a month sign up for it or gift it to a friend here.

Shannon

Eastern Neck

I never really stop to see nature. It's always there. The trees, the grass, the Bay. But I pass nature by everyday without acknowledging it. After spending a week discussing the The Bay by naturalist Gilbert Klingel with the group of middle schoolers Ms. T and I were teaching I started to understand and appreciate what's around me.

The class took a field trip to the Eastern Neck Wildlife Refuge on the Chester River last week to really get a feel for what Klingel was talking about in The Bay. They went around, slowly with a great attention to detail and discovered each plant and animal with a newfound sight. 

And you know if I wasn't looking at everything I saw as a naturalist, I wouldn't have discovered the bay leaves growing and how they smelled like soup, or the not yet ripe wild rice that was growing underneath the overlook, or which berries were poisonous and which ones I could eat. I believe the fascination with the edible plants was due to the other reading material, The Hunger Games though.

I can't say that I'd like to stay in the "wild" all the time, but now I can walk out and identify the plants I know, learn the ones I don't, and survive off of certain roots. Mostly I can just stop and appreciate what's there instead of walking past it all.

Shannon

June Sent Postcards

I know I show the postcards that I receive from Postcrossing, but I have yet to really go in depth with the postcards I send out to postcrossers. Take a look at the postcards I sent out to Russia and Germany.

The postcards not from D.C. or Annapolis were actually picked up from Gerred when 

he and Gerome headed on a cross country roadtrip to pick up his new Kia Soul. When he was traveling he stopped in just about every state's gas station to find postcards for me to.

Aside from these postcards, I also sent out three letters to Taiwan, France, and Russia. If you'd like to send a few postcards of your own, just go to Postcrossing.

Shannon

Gerred's Graduation

I know this post is a little late, but the graduation photos just came in. So I'm excited to share with you how Gerred graduated with his class of 1099 midshipman from the United States Naval Academy on May 29, 2012.

There was lots of Pomp and Circumstance the whole day and it was certainly a Navy event as Governor O'Malley, the Secretary of the Navy, the Secretary of the Marine Corps, and the Secretary of Defense all happened to be there. We had about 20 of his friends and family members scattered around the stadium cheering for him when he walked across the stage to receive his diploma.

And here's Gerred with his well deserved diploma for his Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology. Also, notice his new shoulder boards and cover? After Theo (Gerred's Plebe mini-me) gave him his frist salute and the silver dollar was exchanged, Gerred's Mom and I put on the shoulder boards ceremoniously as his Dad put gave him his cover. 

Way to go Gerred! We are so proud of all you've done.

Shannon

My Desk

The furniture in my room has either been passed down in the family for a long time (like my mirror and jewelry armoir) or built with things around the house (my DIY headboard.) The most haphazardly built item in my room would be my desk. 

It's made of a broken piece of counter we found when we moved in, half a broken Ikea desk, and a basic shelf from home depot. Basically, it's a big wobbly mess. Well, recently I decided to move it to the other side of the room and attach a mirror above it to make it a vanity of sorts.

The vanity works better for me since I'm not using it for homework anymore. Now it's a great place to have all my make-up organized to the side while the rest of my desk can be used for writing postcards or blogging.

P.S. I realize I haven't been on here in awhile and that's because I had a mad stretch of working all three jobs at once for the past week. But now I've managed my time effectively and am back to a normal schedule. It's nice to breathe again and get back to blogging.

Shannon

Sun Protection

I'm finally back from OBX, North Carolina! The beach was great as it always is with my family. I got to spend my days reading Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha,  searching for fish in the ocean with goggles, cornhole, and a having lots of family mischief. One of the things I'm the most proud of is that this is probably the only time in my life I have walked away from a week of the beach without a sunburn. Here's how I was able to stay safe in the sun:

1. Canopy // We drive up on the beach and there are bunches of people splayed out on beach towels tanning...and then there is my family under the biggest canopy ever. That's a fair amount of shade and is always a party.

2. Billabong Date Me Dress // Cover ups are definitely the way to go especially when they're loose and cover your back properly.

 3. Target Colorblock Floppy Hat // I had some issues with this hat blowing off, but it protected my face and neck so well.

4. Ray Ban Wayfarers // Ok, I just got a pair of polarized sunglasses and I am in love. How was I unaware of their power until now. I don't have to squint all the time! This may have changed my life.

5. Philosophy Here Comes The Sun Face Suncreen // I like to have a face sunscreen that is separate for my face so I'm not spraying it or getting too greasy of a face.

6. Hawaiian Tropic Hydrating Lotion Sunscreen 50 SPF // I prefer sunscreen to be at least 50 and in lotion form because sprays miss a lot and make skin tight.

Have any sun protection tips of your own? Let me know below.

Shannon

Beach

I'll be at the Beach for the next week and will not be around a computer. So until then have a great week as well as a happy forth of July!