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Brite Winter 2015

by Kaylah Stroup
I think it’s safe to say that just about everyone in Cleveland is feeling a bit stir crazy this time of the year which is why Brite Winter couldn’t be a more perfect event. Brite Winter is an annual outdoor, winter art and music festival that happens right in the heart of my new neighborhood. The festival, founded in 2010, is a free event that is made possible
through donations, community grants and partnerships. This year’s festival had more then 60 musical acts (including Maps & Atlases) on a total of eight different stages located around the neighborhood, some outside and some indoors. There were games including bowling, giant skee-ball, and an angry birds version of cornhole. Best of all, the streets were lined with food trucks! Mmmm, tacos! The festival is the perfect excuse to get outside, no matter the weather, eat, mingle with your neighbors, and drink – if that’s your thing.

Not too long ago an event with this many people would have been completely overwhelming for me but I seriously had such a blast. Something clicked and all of sudden I’m standing there rooting on strangers while they bowl, and giggling at their “that’s what she said” jokes. By the end of the night my cheeks hurt from smiling. It’s impossible to be in a bad mood when surrounded by so many other happy people. It was amazing to watch my neighborhood come alive. There was no where else in the world I would have rather been.

Photographing this sort of thing isn’t exactly my forte, and taking photos in a crowd is still a little nerve-wracking for me even though I’m well aware it’s not actually a big deal but about halfway through my time there I was like “I haaaave to take pictures!” I’m proud to live in such an awesome place. One of my goals this year was to share more about why I love Cleveland so much on the blog, well here is a prime example. I love this place!
xoxo

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listening, playing, watching

by Kaylah Stroup
On my 2015 blog reader survey at the beginning of the year I asked for specific post ideas that you guys would be interested in seeing. I actually had few people express interest in a series of posts similar to my “what I’ve been reading” posts except with television, movies, and video games. Definitely a fun idea so here we go!

Listening
In my monthly recap posts you probably might have noticed that I get stuck in musical loops. I will listen to a band over and over and over until I can’t stand it anymore. That’s actually pretty common with me and anything – when I discover something I like, I am obsessed. When I realized I liked iced chai, I drank it like my life depended on it. Orange chicken? I’ve been to the mall more in the last few months, just to get chicken, than I’ve been there in the past few years combined. Music is the same way.

Lately I’ve just been listening to LOTS of Aesop Rock, and even more Tim Kasher. It’s kind of funny because I always say I hate sad music, and Tim Kasher’s lyrics are gut-wrenching but it’s all so catchy! I just can’t stop. I’ve always liked Cursive but only recently gotten into his solo stuff. LOVE IT.

Aesop rock is always in my rotation of music. Definitely one of my all time favorites, standing beside Man Man and Why?. The last few weeks though I’ve been obsessed with Labor Days. Something clicked and even though I’ve heard it a hundred times before I was like “THIS IS THE BEST ALBUM EVER” I’m gonna need it on vinyl, asap.

We actually got to see Aesop Rock last week, along side Rob Sonic and DJ Abilities. It was nothing short of amazing. I’d been checking his website on an almost weekly basis for SO long waiting for tour dates to show up and shortly before Christmas a Cleveland date showed up. Looks like he’s on tour for about another month. You should probably try to go…

Homeboy Sandman is also touring with them. This was my first time hearing him and I wasn’t sold. It was almost like every other song was something that might be able to grow on me and the others I didn’t like…at all. When I came home I looked him up on Spotify to give his music another chance.  I basically still feel the same way but I might be obsessed with . According to last.fm I’ve listened to it, uh, 30 times in the last seven days. Haha.

Playing.
Since Christmas I’ve been playing Hyrule Warrior. I wasn’t actually too excited about it. I normally buy new LoZ games as soon as they come out but I was perfectly happy just waiting for Santa to bring this one. It might not have been marketed as the next big Zelda game for WiiU but it’s probably my favorite since Majora’s Mask. This game rules, there’s just so much to do. The fact that I’ve been playing since Christmas should be some indication of that. You can play in a few different modes, as different characters, and you get to collect items and upgrade weapons. Since most of the levels are fairly short (less than twenty minutes) you can sit down, play a level and not ruin your whole day sucked into a game. Seriously, such a blast!

Watching 
Jeff and I just finished watching the fourth season of American Horror Story. I got an apple TV not too long ago and never really did anything with it other than watch Netflix. We just discovered we could log into Jeff’s cable and watch all those channels too so we can finally watch AHS. When we realized we could do this and that it would actually play we paused it and both looked at each other. He said something like “Can we just talk about how exciting this is!?” It was a really cute moment.  Anyway, this season was definitely better than last. It had it’s moments when I was just like “no! what?!” but it was enjoyable.  Now that we’ve finished that I’m not sure what we’ll start. Any TV series recommendations? Curling up in bed with Jeff, and all the animals (Yes, you heard that right! All the animals!) to watch it is always one of my favorite parts of the day.

And that’s what I’ve been listening to, playing and watching! What about you?
 xoxo

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Summer Dreamin’

by Kaylah Stroup
I love Ohio. I don’t know that I’ll stay here forever but it’s a really great state. We get four beautiful seasons and as much as I couldn’t imagine living somewhere that didn’t get snow, this winter is killin’ me! Each winter is a actually little bit worse than the last. I’m starting to see why my mom is so anti-winter, and why people retire to Florida.

// // //

Snow isn’t so bad, it’s the temperatures. It has been absolutely freezing these last few weeks. With windchills reaching -20F, I am aching for spring! It’s been impossible to leave the house without wearing layers upon layers which is kind of a fun novelty at first but it’s getting old. I feel like this. I know as soon as summer hits I’m going to be complaining about how hot it is but I’m more than excited at the thought of wearing just a dress and not two pairs of pants, two pairs of socks, three sweaters, etc. I’m ready for bare legs, sandals, showing off my shoulders, and the shock that happens every year when I see how heavily tattooed I really am. I mean, I see myself naked regularly but seeing myself in “summer clothes” always takes me by surprise. Like “woah, forgot about all these things!” I’m not the only one that does this, right?!

Right now (through Thursday) Modcloth is having a huge sale with tons of beautiful dresses 25% off. Perfect timing to shop for new spring clothes. Gotta celebrate the new season, aye?! I picked out some of my favorites which, of course, are all black and white, or black and gold but there are oodles of colorful little things in the sale section too.

// // // //

Here’s to bare legs and warmer weather, please come sooner rather than later!
xoxo

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One year in Cleveland!

by Kaylah Stroup

Valentines Day marked one whole year since I signed the paperwork and picked up the keys to my new apartment. My very first place alone, and my first time living in the city. On the way back to Geneva my mom and I stopped to get a celebratory pizza. Eating that pizza we talked about how life changing this would be for me but I don’t think either of us had any idea what a big year it would be for me. I was terrified. I was leaving behind a home I helped buy, and everything that was familiar to me. I was moving to a city where I knew a grand total of one person. I had technically been an “adult” for years but hardly felt like one. I had no idea what life would be like a month from then let alone a year from then. I wish I could go back and give that Kaylah a huge hug because she was scared to death.

Without a doubt I can say these last twelve months have been the best of my life. I’ve grown more than I could ever explain. I keep trying to type up the whole story of how I got here, and how amazing things are now but I’m tongue tied. Every time I start to type I just draw a blank. Maybe I’m not ready to share, maybe it’s just not time yet, or maybe I’m just too overwhelmed with how awesome things are now that I can’t put together coherent sentences about it. Someday I’ll share more, I promise. In the mean time please remember that sometimes the best things are absolutely terrifying at first and you just have to dive right in. I’m glad I leaped! 
xoxo

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my year in scraps

by Kaylah Stroup
Last year was a big year for me. I did lots of new things, traveled lots of new places, and grew a ton. Along the way I saved lots of little things to remind me of the journey. At the end over the year I gathered them all up and scanned them. I had planned to make a post about them but I was working on so many other end of the year recap posts adding one more just felt like overkill. It’s February now and I just rediscovered these scans sitting in a draft post titled “scanny manny” I am very professional, you see! Something in me just can’t let them go. They’re a mess, but I know that six months or a year from now I’m going to stumble upon them in my archives and get all excited to be able to see all these little reminders of my awesome year.

That’s one thing I love about blogging, I can digitally store little
treasures like this without having to actually keep them. I may collect a lot of
things but I do have my limits. Keeping some of these things may
make me a bit of a hoarder and would definitely cramp up my apartment especially if collected over a long period of time.

Some of these things aren’t even necessarily visually appealing but they’re nice little reminders of the fun things I did. Concert tickets, a movie stub from a movie I had been wait for for years, photobooth photos, stickers from an abandoned building, pressed plants, brochures from all the places I stopped, pressed pennies and more.

2014 was amazing. I can only hope each year from here on out is even better!
xoxo

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2015 Bulletin Board

by Kaylah Stroup

 At the beginning of each year I take everything off my bulletin board. A change of scenery is nice and I definitely do like to think of each new year as a fresh start. It just so happens that the beginning of this year also brought a new apartment my way. I haven’t gotten too much hung in my office yet, actually my bulletin board is the only thing on that wall so far. I don’t necessarily need a bulletin board, I don’t actually put anything important up there and when I do put a note to myself up there I usually forget about it. I just can’t seem to part with my bulletin board though. I love filling it with things I like. Happy photos, memories of good times, patches that won’t fit on my jacket, etc. Just a bunch of things I enjoy looking at.

I’m absolutely loving the little corner of my office that my desk is in. It’s already shaping up to be an awesome space. I’m dying to get the room finished. On one hand I feel like it might be one of the most complete rooms in my apartment so far but it’s definitely missing a lot. I could fit A LOT more furniture in here but other than lockers which I’ve been stalking craigslist and just about everywhere else for I think I’m going to leave it fairly open in here. Having a big room filled with plants, and just a cozy little corner to work in will be nice. I can’t wait to get it to a point where I can photograph and share it on here. Cross your fingers I can get my paws on some lockers soon!

Take a peek at past year’s bulletin boards here – 2012, 2013 + 2014.
xoxo

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Instax Share Printer Review

by Kaylah Stroup

Recently Michaels contacted me about the Instax Share Printer, wanting to know if I’d like to give it a spin. I hadn’t heard of it yet but a quick google search and I was sold. So, what is it? The instax share printer is a tiny little battery-operated printer that produces 62mm x 46mm photos from an Android or iPhone. You can now print all the photos from your phone right on to instax film.

This appeals to me for so many reasons. The two most obvious reasons being I love instant film and I love having tangible copies of my photos. When I shoot film I get prints of all my photos made, regardless if I love the photo or not but I rarely ever get my digital photos printed. It’s kind of a bummer but it’s a hard habit to get into! This changes that, now printing my photos is not only fun but the prints are adorable.

I own a few instax cameras but there are definitely situations they’re not meant for. Low light, fast moving subjects, and selfies are all kind of difficult. Lets not forget that it’s not the most portable camera. This printer solves all those problems! You can shoot with your phone, if that’s your thing, or if you’re like me, shoot with your camera and then send the photos to your phone and PRINT!

It’s SUPER easy to set up. I didn’t even need to read the directions. You just download the app, connect the printer and your phone by joining the printer’s network, choose your photo and hit print. The app isn’t the prettiest but it is easy to navigate. It also offers filters and templates so you can edit your photos just before printing them if you’d like.

The quality of the photos is just what you’d expect from instant film. I’ve noticed the photos are bit less sharp than they appear on my phone, and it has a tendency to print the photos a tad overexposed. It doesn’t bother me at all but since it is a consistent “issue” it would be super easy to compensate for those things before printing. 

The only real con is the price of film which really has nothing to do with the printer itself. Instax mini film, which is what the printer uses, costs little bit less than a dollar per photo at this time. You need to be a bit choosy with what you print but I guess you really should be with anything you print, right?

Bottom line is that if you’re looking to print more of your photos in a unique way, the instax share printer should definitely be something you consider. I love this thing!
xoxo 

Special thanks to Michaels for providing me with the printer!

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What I’ve been reading…

by Kaylah Stroup
I didn’t make a reading goal this year, I didn’t want to put pressure on myself like that again. I didn’t want it to turn into a number thing, ya know? But I recently plowed through three books… in three days. Hah! I forgot how awesome it feels to get lost in a book!

What I’ve been reading…
Beautiful You by Chuck Palahniuk
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
The Good Nurse by Charles Graeber

Well, let’s get this over with. If you know anything about my reading habits, you know I LOVE Chuck Palahniuk. I’ve been a huge fan since the first book I read of his. I always buy and devour his new books each year. So you’re probably expecting a glowing review… I don’t have one for you. If it didn’t have his name on it I wouldn’t be able to tell at all this was one of his. It. is. awful. That’s the only way to put it. With the release of his last few books fans have been jumping ship saying he just trying to shock readers. I didn’t agree with that until this book. I so desperately want to give you some examples but honestly they’re too raunchy. I would be embarrassed to share them and it takes a lot to make me feel awkward. I don’t mind explicit sexual details in books, in fact I love them, but this book just crosses a line. I 100% would not recommend Beautiful You. It’s nothing short of train wreck. Looking for a good read by Mr. Palahniuk? Try Rant instead.

I’m a little late jumping on the fan train for Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children but I now see what all the fuss is about! I guess “teen fiction” is what kept me away… and that was dumb. This book is AMAZING. Easily in my top ten books. It’s a quick read that is incredibly easy to get lost in. The story is enthralling and if that wasn’t enough it includes real vintage photos that actually inspired the story. If you haven’t read this already, you should probably get on that… right away!!

I think it was Alexandra that originally recommended The Good Nurse to me, and apparently she understands my taste in books! The Good Nurse is the true story of Charlie Cullen who was dubbed by the media as “The Angel of Death”. He was a nurse who killed his patients, except they weren’t mercy kills at all. He just enjoyed killing.  Charlie worked at nine different hospitals, eight of which he was only let go of for making “errors”. That was the hospitals way of saving their own butts, they just turned a blind eye. It’s a super interesting read and a slightly frightening one as well! I highly recommend The Good Nurse.

What have you been reading? I’m always looking for recommendations!
xoxo

You can take a peek at all the other books I’ve blogged about under the “books” tag, and a list of my favorite books can be found here!

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Favorite Outfits from 2014

by Kaylah Stroup
It’s a liiiittle late in the year to be doing a 2014 recap but despite that fact I can’t seem to get this one off my mind so I’m writing it anyway! Each year since I started doing outfit posts I’ve done a little round up at the end of the year with my favorites. Last year was kind of different for outfit posts. I moved at the beginning of the year which means I lost all favorite spots to shoot. I took a couple months off but honestly REALLY missed posting outfits.

It took a lot for me to venture out and find new spots in the city. I’ve glossed over it a lot in the past but I definitely have my fair share of quirks. One of which is that I’m extremely shy. I take that back, I used to be extremely shy (put me in the kinda shy category now) so going out into the city to find spots where I could do the most awkward thing ever – essentially take a ton of selfies – was rough. Slowly but surely I’m gaining confidence, and feeling less and less weird about what I do. It’s funny because in these photos, especially ones from closer to the time I moved I was the most uncomfortable I had ever been but by golly, I look the happiest. Each outfit shoot was a victory for me. They pushed me out of my comfort zone and I was rewarded with photos I loved.

Other than being little reminders of how far I’ve come with anxiety, it’s really neat to watch my style evolve. 2014 was definitely a game changer for my wardrobe. I went from dresses nearly all the time to wearing lots of jeans. I actually bought more jeans last year than probably anything else. My closet had maybe three pairs before that. My outfits now need to be able to handle anything as opposed to in previous years where I didn’t get out of the house much and the extent of what I really did was grocery shopping and light hikes in the woods.

Right now I guess you could say I’m on a short hiatus. It’s freezing here, and outfit photos, although I know I would love the photos, just don’t sound like that much fun. But I’m sure 2015 will be full of them, just give me a few weeks.
xoxo


See past years favorite outfits : 2011, 2012 + 2013

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