the mint green jeans

oh hey. just some vacation photos of me hanging out in my mint green [or really I think they might be teal or aqua or seafoam] pants. nice and senior picture awkward. and then I tried to climb that fence to be cute and then thought I was going to stab myself on the palm tree on the way down.

one thing I miss about my 52 weeks project from last year was constantly having decent photos of myself... maybe I need to just pick a day and go have camera playtime.

on being seen.

I'm going through vacation photos and editing not really editing, mostly just deleting. sometimes I get a little freaky going through photos. especially when [as is the case with these vacation photos] I have not been shooting very often recently. and though part of photography is knowing which pictures not to keep, it can be rough trashing 80% of what you jut loaded. sure, they're only vacation snapshots, but how easy it is to slip back into self-criticism and doubt. delete, delete, delete. that's not very interesting. no one wants to see these. delete, delete, delete. should I even bother to post these to facebook? delete, delete, delete. I wish someone would have told me my hair was messed up. delete, delete, delete.

but then I stumble across the above.

not so much that this is some genius work of art. but Husband, he sees me. the potential that's waiting there under the surface, just waiting for me to figure myself out enough to let it thrive. he sees me, better than I see myself.

and though I might not see what he sees, I know that he sees it. this incredible, extraordinary person that I only catch glimpses of. and when you see someone seeing you like that, it's damn hard not to try and be that person they know you are.

maybe that doesn't make any sense. at the very least you can agree that when you're going through and see a shot that Husband so very obviously took, you'll burst out laughing:

more vacation shots and awkward photos of me in my mint green pants to come.

things to love

just a few things to love about this week...

1. we finally went to see the Hunger Games. I was a little put off when I finished reading the series [I didn't really like the last book] but the movie was great! they did a good job of portraying all the violence without it being too bloody. the parts they cut or changed didn't hurt the storyline. I also enjoyed having an outside perspective, instead of just Katniss' point of view.

2. wearing my mint jeans. I paired them with my chambray shirt + a skinny belt. and it made me feel like I had just stepped out of a JCrew catalog. [minus the effortlessly tousled hair... mine refuses to cooperate and just looks overworked. we can't all be perfect.]

3. new iPhone apps for editing photos. Katie always texts me when she finds something cool, and I've been loving CameraBag ever since I loaded it. they have a ton of filters and that's where all my recent polaroid-esque photos are from. I also discovered Phonto and SketchBook from this blog post. [I've recently been obsessed with this blog, if you can't tell from my pinterest boards.] Phonto is an easy to use app for adding text, and they have a TON of fonts and you can customize your colors. I used it in the first photo of my mint pants. Sketchbook is a little more complicated, but it lets you draw on photos! you have to go into layers and import a photo, then you use your finger to doodle. it takes some practice on the iPhone, but I bet it would be awesome with the iPad.

4. making steps to launching the Taiwan blog. I've been playing around with headers and finally settled on this one. I still haven't officially decided when to start blogging... does 4 months before we actually move sound ridiculous? maybe I'll wait until I'm unemployed. that would be 2.5 months before. part of me says I should stop debating and just start it already. but part of me is scared that people will get bored with me posting about home and whatnot and stop reading before I even get to Taiwan. that's something I've thought about a lot. I know I should focus on just writing. the main point of this blog is to keep people updated and to record what's happening in our lives, but I'm overly ambitious. I shouldn't be concerned with growing a large readership, but I'm vain enough to want one. I think my success with the baking blog spoiled me. since I'm giving up my food blogger niche along with my oven, I've been considering what else is out there. "lifestyle" seems to be the genre I'm falling into [which is basically what I do here, unless "iPhone nail photos, irrelevant rambles, and lengthy lists" is a genre] I suppose one way to look at it is: I'm a complicated person, with varied interests and hobbies. why should my blog be limited to one thing? and that is exactly why I've always felt weird having both this and the baking blog. I'm one person, not two. time to merge!

 5. and finally, I'm only a few hours away from officially being on vacation. Husband and I are heading down to NC to meet up with my parents and sister and brother-in-law. hopefully I'll be getting in lots of relaxing + beach time. after this I'll be swamped through my last month of work, and then packing + moving will take over my life. I also decided I'm going to reactivate facebook. [this decision was met by several cheers] hopefully I can keep the obsession to a minimum, and since I cleaned out a lot of "friends" before I left the annoyance can be [mostly] avoided. so yes, reactivating. after vacation.

mint green [or teal or seafoam or aqua] jeans

ever since I bought my red pants, I've been contemplating another colored pair. [I went so far as to buy some turquoise jeans from Target, but they were definitely a size too small and I talked myself out of keeping them just because I wanted them to fit.] mint green is all the rage right now so when the other day I stumbled across this pair at Forever 21  it seemed like fate that the TWO pairs left happened to be in my size. that never happens. so for a whopping $15.80 they came home with me. [they are sold out online of the mint but have some other great brights.]

I'm not entirely sure what the color qualifies as. the tag says mint but they're a little bold... but not blue enough for an aqua. teal? seafoam? regardless, I love the color and have already started google-ing ways to wear them. here's what I found:

stripes, obviously. navy + white, grey + white, or even multicolored. I also think these are pretty close to the color of my pants [maybe mine are a little lighter]

a neutral cream or white top. black or solid navy would work too, but the lighter colors keep it springy and fresh. also digging on the nude shoes.

a vintage tshirt. I would never wear it with that much midriff showing, but maybe a little off-the-shoulder action? I DO have an Iron Maiden concert to attend later this summer...

and finally, chambray. to me it seems the most logical thing when you're wearing colored jeans is to wear a jean-colored top, yes?

I'm so ready for spring and sunshine. the past week was gorgeous but the weekend brought in a grey and rainy cold front that looks like sticking for the next few days. no reason I can't encourage the weather along by wearing a little spring...