Blank Canvas T-Shirt

Yesterday, Jessica (of Bows and Sequins) and I took our first road, well, train trip, really, to upstate New York! We met up at Grand Central in the morning (checking "take a train from Grand Central" off the bucket list now) and took a beautiful 2 hour ride up the Hudson to Poughkeepsie to see the Walkway Over the Hudson after I read about it in Time Out New York's list of musts for Fall! (You can view the entire 101 item list here.) Unfortunately, we were probably a week before the leaves hit their peak but it was still a fun day! I'll be doing a separate post about the trip and the town this week.

Some of my favorite things are making their appearances here, like my white v-necks (I own about 10 of this exact shirt!), Butter London nail polish, and my acrylic Iowa pendant-gotta represent!!

Jacket, Zara (similar) | Purse, H&M | Scarf, Forever 21 (similar)  

T-shirt, Target | Jeans, Joe's Jeans (old, similar)

Rings, various vintage & unique finds | Nail Polish, Butter London in Slapper 

Bracelets, all Sequin NYC

Laser cut acrylic pendant, MuzDesign 

I think Jessica shot this photo after we overhead some of the ladies next to us talking about their office adventures...check out that view!!

My dog is my best friend

When I moved to NYC, the thing I left behind in Des Moines that I miss the most is my dog, Mollie.

Mollie & I at the dog park last year

She's a rescue dog from the Animal Rescue League of Iowa, an Australian Shepherd mix & was my 18th birthday present when I got back from my freshman year of college. It sucks something terrible to be away from her for such long periods of time-but she's at home, with our three other dogs, and a huge, one-acre backyard to run around in!

Checking for squirrels in the backyard

I couldn't resist...that's my sister passed out on the couch at home, with all four dogs-(L to R) Zeus, Zoe (in the blue chair), my sister Ana, Mollie and Tigger (in the kennel to the far right)

Yesterday, while browsing one of my favorite blogs, Apartment 34, I came across a guest post by Chris Olson of Momathon Blog, clicked over to her blog, she'd just posted the sketch below!

Dogs Are My Fave original post

 An idea immediately started brewing in my mind, and I reached out to her to see if she could do a sketch of all four of our dogs for me. We're now discussing details, and I can't wait to share the outcome with everyone! You can check out more of her portfolio here.

Mollie, Zeus and Zoe working on new chewbones

Mollie, Zoe and Tigger

"We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once"

Growing up, I was a pretty active child-I had a HUGE backyard (more on that later) and a HUGE house to run around in, with two siblings, and my parents worked from home. Over the years I participated in softball, dance, swimming, gymnastics, tennis, bike riding...and we have a basketball court in our backyard.

Eventually, I dropped most of those (as competitive sports, at least. I still enjoy biking, tennis & ball!) and wound up swimming and dancing through high school, along with color guard (marching band...concert band the rest of the year) every fall. Yes, fall is making me nostalgic for these things! Anyways, I really grew to love dancing and was finally starting to reach my full potential when I got injured from not warming up properly.

To make a very long story short, I didn't dance again for six years. During that time, I had recurring dreams about recitals and classes, choreography and costuming, every single week. WELL, once I moved to New York City, I knew I had to take advantage of all the adult classes and studios everywhere! I started with a Groupon deal to Ballet Academy East and have been taking class one to four times a week since late March! I adore it (and the recurring dreams haven't happened since). The perseverance and dedication it takes, along with the strength required of every muscle, combined with the opportunity to grow each class, makes it one of my favorite forms of exercise even when it's so much more to me.

Stretching out before a mid-level class on Sunday

Before center work

One of my favorite things about BAE...they've added a modern class! The teacher, Ginger Thatcher, has an amazing and impressive background.

Creeping on a ballet class for teenagers earlier tonight!

If you've ever been interested in ballet or any form of dance, I cannot recommend strongly enough looking into adult classes near you! It's never too late to start, and what it does for your mind, body & soul is inexplicable. (And, if you're in NYC, come take a class at BAE!)

Also, I've gotten to see THREE of the major ballet companies since moving to NYC: American Ballet Theater, City Ballet (George Balanchine's company) and Paris Opera Ballet-who performed my favorite ballet of all time, Giselle, this past summer at Lincoln Center. I could have died happy that day!

Shoe Desires

Lately, I've been thinking about how I need to finally get an appropriate winter wardrobe (yes, I know, this is an odd thing to say for someone who's spent a winter in NYC already and GREW UP in Iowa!)

On that note, I've decided boots & sweaters are going to be my investment pieces...and I already have a boot I'm dying to own.

Studded Cowboy Ankle Boot from Zara

Seriously, how fabulous are these?? I'm drooling over the studs, yet they feel classic enough to pull off on a regular basis-and I'm all about a lower, wider heel that makes it easier to navigate the streets of NYC.

Musings from my racing mind

Well, I wish I could say this is my first blog post ever, but it's actually my second go at a blog.

I used to write and maintain a healthy living blog over on tumblr, but once I moved to New York City (almost a year ago...the time has flown by!) it became harder to manage my time for workouts, and even harder to maintain regular, original content.

I'm still working out the direction this will go, like all bloggers first do, but I want to keep a collection of my thoughts, inspiration, desires and hopefully integrate a bit of my old healthy lifestyle posts, as well. I work in fashion (jewelry!), love design and spaces, know my way around a camera (degree included!) and have so much inspiration in my life from my city, my job, my friends, and the blogs and sites I visit on a regular basis. There's been a lot rolling around my mind lately that I want to keep in one place-no better time to start than now!

SO, I suppose one can expect a general lifestyle blog to evolve here, complete with interior shots, fashion inspiration, wants, and my own style, and all the other lovely bits of my life!

I'm going to leave off with a photo I snapped on my (shiny new!) iPhone on the subway earlier today...