...Said Mary

nyc day one

June 03, 2016

Today was the first day we spent in my marveled New York. It wasn't much as we arrived late afternoon, and had no real plans formulated, but we still managed to try to get a little done today.

The first thing that came up that would be the easiest to do would be visiting Times Square which we did since it was close by. We spent some time shopping and people watching in the flurry that is Times Square until we realized were were one block away from the Richard Rogers Theatre.

The Richard Rogers Theatre!!

For anyone who doesn't know what the Richard Rogers Theatre is currently housing they need to get on that immediately. The Richard Rogers Theatre is currently home to Hamilton the Musical. Needless to say my sister and I were practically shaking from excitement. Hopefully we can see a #Ham4Ham show while we're here? Doubtful, but it would be amazing.

Following the Richard Rogers Theatre we went down to the closest park to close out of day. This happened to be Bryant Park. I loved the vibe of Bryant Park. Unlike parks at home where everyone has come for their own purpose and has practically marked their territory from any strangers, this park was much more fluid. Everyone felt at ease with each other. There was yoga, a bingo game, a scavenger hunt, and people laying about just enjoying the weather all in the same space of the parking lot of some of the parks at home.

I was a little worried going into the trip.

But I ended up feeling fine. I've never faced a challenge I couldn't get over and everything was great in the city. I'm very excited for the future, hopefully it ends up in New York, permanently or semipermanently.

{p.s} I am absolutely in love with a lot of the decor inside the hotel we're staying at, so here's a few pictures that I took.

random

favorite tangible things

June 01, 2016

These items mean something to me. I think all good items should have a good meaning lodged behind them. It's like on those home renovation or fashion makeover shows when the host says "You have to get rid of everything that doesn't have sentimental value." All of a sudden the victim of this show is forced to reevaluate their whole life and find themselves through these items. These are a few of the items I would keep.

{Watches}

This is my budding watch collection. You know that thing that happens every year around your birthday, or other holidays where suddenly you can't think of a single thing you could possibly want? That's pretty much what happened here. My dad asked and I had absolutely no idea, but after a little thought watches popped into my head. My dad has a bunch of watches, as they are a thing he likes to wear, so I thought why not try it myself. I have two so far, one for each birthday since the tradition started. The first is my little black skagen watch, the second is this Daniel Wellington watch from this January.

{Journals}

Journals are an obvious thing that are very dear to my heart. They hold all of my prized possessions, my thoughts, ideas, and hopes, for safe keeping and later reflection. This is one of many journals that I have accumulated and filled over the course of about 5 years. I can't wait to see this small pile grow.

(I removed the book sleeve so that I wouldn't destroy it while reading)

{Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone}

This item is a relatively new item to me, but its depth goes a lot deeper than that. Harry Potter was something I grew up with and like many children of the era I was completely obsessed with it. I started reading them in the second grade and was hooked ever since. I mean even to a 7 year old the premise is amazing. A completely ordinary boy, or even less extraordinary than that, gets to find out he can do magic and live in a whole other world full of wonders, witches, and wizards, and hone these magical capabilities in a castle beyond belief. All the while he has his very own villain that no matter his malevolent plans, Harry can always arise above. The artwork of this edition brings even more life to the book that encompassed my childhood for so many years. I hope to collect the full illustrated set and keep them for my children to marvel over.

(this is one of my favorite pages in the book as the castle ghosts look almost fluorescent on the page)

(look how much detail!!)

(vignette of the same picture pt.1)

(vignette pt.2)

{Roses}

These are the roses of the headboard of my bed. These hold significance because they are really my home base. No matter what happens from the time I leap out of bed, till when I return, or wherever I may travel I always have my beautiful petrified rose garden to return to.

-Mary

photography

weekend recap

April 11, 2016

This weekend was quite the mix of contradictory forces. Honestly these two days couldn’t have been any more different. Saturday was a fireball of anxiety and anticipation, and Sunday was a cool drink of relief and lounging, a great refresher after my past few weeks.

Saturday was an early start, 6 am early to be exact. After two months of a lot of studying it was finally time for the ACT’s and everything was going peachy keen until it was time to step outside.

Into the snow.

In April.

This obviously caused a whole slew of problems resulting in very high anxiety for me mainly centered around whether I would even get to take the test that I had studied two months straight for. But in the end everything worked out and I was merrily (ha) taking my test.

After the test my mom had a little getaway planned for our weekend which I took advantage of the calm atmosphere of the cute little town to get some nice pictures.

Sunday was the opposite in that it was completely relaxed. I got to wear comfy clothes all day and relax on the drive home and knit.

All day!

The project is a little surprise for a friend, but i’m really excited to show the finished product (although I think it will take a while)

-Mary

thoughts

my women motivators

March 31, 2016

I think one of the most important things growing up as a little girl, especially in this day, is to have a steady role model. Being able to see your goals and dreams manifested in someone else, or someone overcoming and becoming successful and making change is empowering. Seeing them lets you know, for sure, that these dreams are real and attainable and you, that little girl, can get to them too. It helps to see a women in these positions in my eyes also. You could be anywhere in the world and see men’s accomplishments and accolades praised left, right and center, but what about women? Why can’t women be presidents, or scientists, engineers doctors.

They can!

Being able to see that role model can serve as a beacon of hope to push through that tough day at school, or that paper that you were positive would break you. Which makes all the difference in staying motivated through the ups and downs in life.

In honor of Women’s History Month coming to its closure these are some of my favorite contemporary female role models. These brilliant women push past barriers to do what they do, and work to educate others in the process and inspire me to be the brilliant woman I want to be one day.

{Karlie Kloss}

Karlie Kloss is an amazing and hardworking model, (and victoria's secret angel too!) but her modeling isn't the main thing I look to her for. She has a bright and airy personality and many other hobbies and pursuits such as a love for coding and baking which add to her depth. Her work and fascination in education of coding to young girls goes toward creating astounding, and intelligent women. AND, she does all of this while attending my dream school, NYU.

{Beyonce}

Ever since her Destiny’s Child days, Beyonce has been one of my biggest role models. I practically grew up with Beyonce as my imaginary fabulous aunt accomplishing greatness. Her professionalism, humbleness, and poise has always been remarkable, not to mention her incredible talent. Her outspoken feminism and support of movements like BlackLivesMatter in the public eye brings to attention important although underspoken and “uncomfortable” topics.

{Emma Watson}

Emma Watson is another person I grew up loving. As an avid Harry potter fan and established bookworm, her character in the Harry Potter series inevitably resonated with me growing up showing it’s okay to be smart as a girl and my talents will come to help. I also admire her love for school and decision to continue on to college when there were so many options thrown her way. Her outspokenness about femisnist issues on a large scale with a large audience with grace and poise of such a young women inspires me to do that myself.

Thank you for reading!! xx Mary

DIY

Golden Roses: DIY

March 23, 2016

The brainchild for this project came from a really sappy night, and a Valentine’s project for my friends. The really sappy night was actually my birthday and I was just thinking about all the love I received that day. If I had ever had any doubts on whether I was loved and that I loved my life they were squished into nonexistence that day. So from that day I was trying to think of ways to show my loved ones that I cared. Generally, I’m pretty good with expressing my feelings with my loved ones, but I really wanted something to express to them how much they meant to me, although it may not be a thing I say everyday. So, that’s where the idea for the roses came from for Valentine’s day. I made little roses for all of my loved ones and explained to them while handing it to them their significance to me and how much I appreciate them on a daily basis.

So back to this project. White roses have always been such a universally gorgeous, elegant and primly timeless figure of beauty to me and the i love the idea of and marrying them with another love of mine, a gold or rose-gold accent. Hanging them on my wall seemed like such a nice way to display them in my room to go along with the white roses of my head board, but they can be displayed in so many different ways to be a simplistic accent to any room.

Materials:

Paper - colors and types can be to your choice

Mod podge spray

Hot glue gun

Scissors

Glitter

To start this DIY any type of paper or color will work and it needs to be cut it into squares. The size of the squares dictate how big your roses will be. For this project I used white printer paper but any type or color would work. For the valentines project I used graphing paper that my sister and I water colored.

For the second step, draw a spiral and this doesn't have to be perfect, but these are the layers of your rose petals.

Now you have to cut along the line of your spiral, making sure you still have a small circle in the center. It’s important that you have this base because this is what the rest of the rose will rest on.

(like so)

From there you will need to take a hold of the loose end and roll it until it's a tight spiral.

Once everything is wound up you can play around with this coil to loosen it up and create how the rose will lay. Once this is figured out you can use hot glue to secure it to the base.