may faves

May was busy but I was also finally able to get back into the swing of blogging. (Not at full strength yet but I will be again soon!) It was a month that was full of exploration and blazing new trails! Here are the links to some of my favorite posts from this month:


Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I know I will! I have a wedding and my baby brother is graduating high school. I'll see y'all on Monday, and I'll have a few little announcements for you... mwah!

xo,
e.m.

things i like: for design


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If you're a designer, blogger, or just enjoy playing around with the Adobe Creative suite, these are some must-have freebies. (As an added bonus, most of them have a link that allow you to donate to the artist if you feel inclined to do so!) These are a few of my favorites that I use time and time again and since I love you all, I couldn't help but share. There's a photoshop action, a font, a brush, a texture, and some beautiful ephemera. If you're just beginning to collect little design elements, these will be a great start to your collection. If you're a pro, these will be an excellent addition. Have fun designing! 

xo,
e.m.

.....

Raspberry vodka lemonade.... where to begin. I'm not a huge fan of lemonade. Something about the gross feeling that it leaves on the teeth makes it unappealing and not worth it to me. I do love raspberries and vodka though, and two things that I like very much have the power to turn something I don't like too much into something that I can enjoy quite a bit. (Follow that? Don't blame you if you didn't.) To put it simply, I love me some raspberry vodka lemonade. This one is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser for summer shindigs. It's pretty, tasty, and, (besides me) who doesn't love an ice cold lemonade on a hot day?

What you'll need: Lemonade, (you can make it yourself or be lazy and just buy it like I did here) raspberry vodka, (you all know that I'm a Stoli girl myself but any brand will do) and raspberries.



Begin by muddling the raspberries. Muddling is just a fancy word for "crushing gently with a blunt object." If you don't have a muddler, no need to fret! A small wooden spoon will do just fine. When I make this drink, I'm generous with my raspberry distribution but you can use as many/few as you'd like. Just make sure that you smoosh (muddle) them into small enough pieces that they won't get stuck in the straw. When your berries are properly muddled (try reading that without laughing) fill the glass 3/4 of the way with ice. For me, and in a glass like this, a 1/2 vodka, 1/2 lemonade mixture works. If that seems a little adventurous for you, pour in one part vodka and two parts lemonade.

My favorite part about this drink is that it looks and tastes like a million times more effort went into it than actually did. За здоровье!

xo,
e.m.

sometimes, may flowers are fake.

Besides the rose bushes outside of my first-story bedroom window, the rest of the flowers around my humble abode lately are fake. I blame it on the rain for killing them all and my allergies for not letting me have fresh flowers in the house even though I often do anyway. June, send some flowers please?

xo,
e.m.

March Against Monsanto Philly

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Yesterday, hundreds of thousands stood in solidarity in over forty cities across the globe to protest the company Monsanto's engineering of GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) and demand the right to know which foods may contain them. 

A thousand peacefully gathered for Philadelphia's March Against Monsanto on Saturday to send a message to the government officials who are working alongside Monsanto and educate others of the cause. Some of the speakers included Pennsylvania State Senator Daylin Leach, Retired Philadelphia Police Officer Captain Ray Lewis, urban farmer Nic Esposito, and author Jon McGoran. Despite State Senator Leach's best effort to polarize the crowd and conjure up a sense of partisanship within the movement through jabs at the GOP and remarks about the Pro 2nd Amendment Rally across the street, a resounding spirit of unity rang out on Independence Mall. Liberty-minded conservatives wandered over from the gun rally and stood side-by-side with occupiers in recognition that the fight against this behemoth company is one that effects everyone. Zofia Hausman of GMO Free PA rallied the crowd with the cry, "we are awake, we are informed!" She shared facts, such as 80% of grocery store foods contain GMO ingredients and that over 150 genetically modified species of crops are "spreading like a plague with no end in sight."

After the speakers, the crowd marched from Independence Mall to Love Park, stopping traffic and gaining the attention of hundreds of onlookers.

- E.M. 

Well... I've always wanted to be a journalist and this is my first attempt. How'd I do? More pictures will be up later this week. For now, have a great Memorial Day! xo.

on growing out my fringe


Since making the drastic decision to grow out my fringe for the first time in over a decade, a lot of you have been approaching me and asking me for pointers on how to do it. Let me start out by saying that it is NOT easy. I've been growing my bangs out for over three months now and they're still in this stage of incomparable awkwardness. Some days though, my bangs (or more appropriately, lack thereof) look fantastic, and in the battle to grow them out, you'll soon see that those are the days that keep you going. (I may be making this sound really overdramatic but let's not kid ourselves: it's an epic fight.)

Let's start at the beginning. When I first started, my fringe was very, very short. When I colored my hair black back in February, I decided that the drastic change in color wasn't enough and I made a pact to stop trimming my bangs. I decided to start with a center part. In retrospect, this was a terrible decision because it looked SO. DANG. AWKWARD. (See photo above.) Even if you want a center part, my advice would be to start out with a side-swept fringe. It'll appear a little more natural until your bangs grow out long enough to blend in with the rest of your hair. It may seem like it's taking a step backwards but in the beginning, you may need to take a pair of scissors and trim your bangs and the layers around them just to blend them in a little bit. (Particularly if you had them cute straight across.) If you're not comfortable with this, see a stylist, it'll be worth the money.

Hair clips will become your best friend for a little while. There's no shame in having a little help while you're growing out your bangs! As soon as I get out of the shower, I clip my bangs back so that they'll dry the way I want them to and not be all over the place. For the first few weeks, I did this even when my hair was dry. It sounds a bit strange but you kind of have to "train" your hair to go where you want it to go. Barrettes and hairpieces are also helpful on days when your hair isn't behaving. Cute and functional all in one.


If you've been reading this blog for a while than this will be no surprise to you. If you just started, you may be mildly disgusted. (You've been warned.) Wash your hair as little as possible. The extra texture from the natural oils in your hair will make it a lot easier to control. It'll be more prone to staying in place and you'll have fewer fly-aways. For days when you need a little extra something, I LOVE Lush's Sea Spray

No matter how difficult it may be, do not give up! If you give in and take a pair of scissors to your fringe, just think about having to start from square one again. It's not fun, am I right? I'm glad that I started growing out my bangs back in February because by the time the summer humidity will be in full-swing, they'll be long enough that the frizziness won't be a huge issue. (That's the worst part about having bangs in my opinion-- the humidity, sweat, etc... It's just not good!) Just like anything else, it's an adventure, and although growing out your bangs is a change that occurs at an almost glacial pace, it's a good change for someone like me who is TERRIFIED to cut my long tresses into a short and trendy haircut. Slowly but surely I'm acquiring my (for now) dream 'do!

xo,
e.m.

channeling the 90's

I can proudly say that yes, I was a 90's child. I listened to Nirvana and yo-yo'd with the best of them. Now that a lot of the styles are coming back, I couldn't be happier. I scored this little number from the thrift store and I'm in love! I just can't wait until I don't have to wear stockings and boots with it... ugh come on Mother Nature! It's MAY!

xo,
e.m.

dress/ thrifted, necklace/ forever 21, boots/ h&m, hat/ u.o.

New York, I love You.

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I love the city. You already know this. With so much color and so much life, it's hard to not find inspiration everywhere.

xo,
e.m.