Beauty

[after parasailing in Mauritius]

This picture brings back memories of one of the most relaxing and enjoyable days of my life. Three of my great and most beautiful friends and I all pitched in to spend the day on a catamaran. We snorkeled, parasailed, tanned, ate, drank, saw a gorgeous waterfall and dolphins. It was absolutely unbelievable. If only I could go back in time for this one.

[an ideal morning]

This picture is a little bit of a reflection of my life. Every morning I wake up way too early for work (sometimes 3 hours) and I surf the internet, read my current book, study or just flip through the local newspaper. After two hours and a couple of cups of coffee I am set to start my day. Keeps me grounded and relaxed. How do you stay grounded?

[a Bucknell Memory]

I'm not sure exactly why I chose this picture, but it reminds me of the days I spent at Bucknell in my office sometimes doing the silliest things. This was me making flowers for the bulletin board in our office. Wouldn't that be a nice job? Arts and Crafts?

[two of my absolutely beautiful friends-their smiles brighten my day]

Business Casual ?

 To be completely honest, I have always had a difficult time putting together a business casual look. I usually fall at one extreme: the uptight business woman or the casual-laid back lazy looking young girl. Last weekend at work I met this wonderful lady interested in helping me figure out my future and career etc. We exchanged information and decided to meet to discuss things and she also set me up with one of her counselors at the staffing agency she works at. I spend almost 2 hours trying to figure out what to wear. My dress pant collection is minimal. Luckily, I bought these super skinny trousers at the GAP last week along with this navy blazer. Normally, I would go with a mostly black look, but I decided to stick to the blues. I'm not sure if I looked "professional" enough, what do you think?

How do you put together a chic business casual look? I could use the advice!

 outfit: [Shoes: Carlos] [Trousers: GAP, $10] [Button Down: NY&C, $7] [Blazer: GAP, $20]

Pinterest

[the world is amazing]

I feel like every blogger has written a post about Pinterest. It's super useful for organizing your thoughts, pictures and inspiration. My pinboards are not that extensive, but I am trying to include things that really spark my interest or inspire me. So here, check them out and follow me if you want/leave your pinterest link so I can follow you. Sometimes the best things I find are on others boards and I love to be inspired!

And here are some of my recent favorite pins :)

[lusting after these]

[stripes and lace]

Conquer it

 I must apologize for the couple of days off that I accidentally gave myself. I have been consumed by errands, work and the gym (yes, I am back to working out and it feels great!). At the same time, I managed to put one decent outfit together in the past three days. Once again, I am extremely unsure about the stripes and felt self-conscious without the cardigan. But....I love how stripes look, so I decided to conquer my fear and just go for it.  I think the coral and brown gives the bold blue stripes a little bit of balance. This outfit felt casual, but slightly dressed up at the same time; perfect for a relaxed night out to dinner and filled with writing. I wish I could write more, but I have a meeting for potential jobs this morning AND I am taking the GRE next week, so I should probably be studying! Wish me luck :)

Indecisiveness

This may or may not make you laugh a little bit, but I did not actually go out of the house in eithr of these outfits. I tried about 10 things on that morning (this past Friday) and these two I was sure of until the last minute when I decided I wasn't satisfied. In the end, I chose the jeans and wedges with a plain brown tank and the scarf. The water colored button down was just not hanging right and the crop top was something I just might not be ready for- any suggestions on how to wear it?

Needless to say, but this was definitely one of my most indecisive getting-dressed mornings, although I usually try on at least 3 outfits before choosing. Did you like either of these? I am desperate for advice. Well, maybe not desperate, but definitely looking! How do you deal with not being happy with anything you put on?

Hope

I

I have been thinking a lot about this word lately so I felt like I needed to share with you my thoughts (a la quest to be more genuine on my blog). It first came up in a conversation with a friend at a bar the other night; we spoke about my dear friend who passed away a couple of months ago. He was the epitome of hope; he gave everyone around him hope. But, I began talking about him and about how hope is such the perfect word to describe what is needed in pretty much any situation. I didn't ramble about this in the middle of the bar, but it really did get me thinking.

If we have hope, we have everything. I firmly and wholly believe that. I can reference a number of situations. The first thing that comes to my mind is what my life is at the moment; essentially I have no idea what the future will bring. I am trying to prepare for it as much as I can, but at the same time live in the moment (something I have found extrenely  difficult). What I do have though is hope; hope that the future will turn out the right way for me and that my hard work will pay off. Hope to hold on to.

You, as I, am thinking, well not everything in life is that deep. No, it's definitely not. Hope translates smoothly to everyday situations. Think about it, or even keep track, of how many times you say hope or think "I hope..." throughout the day. i.e. hoping there is no traffic on the way to work, hoping you make enough money that week/month to pay the bills, hoping you walk into the store and find that stunning pair of shoes you have been looking for, hoping that what you do and how you act makes a positive impact on other individuals and on the world. I'd love to hear what you all think about this word, this post etc. What do you hope for? How does it influence your life and your attitude?

[hey seriously, i HOPE one day I can walk out of my house wearing this, like a princess]


And. Last but not least, the friend I was speaking of passed away from brain cancer/tumor. A foundation was started in his honor, Brian's Foundation of Hope. If you would like to contribute in any way e-mail me at akgianino@gmail.com

Genunine Colors

This outfit is from Wednesday night: filled with peace, introspection, good times with old friends and a little hectic-ness. To be honest, I have no idea how I put this outfit together. Normally I lay things out next to each other and see how they look or try on different combinations, but here I took piece by piece and just kept adding on. I would say it turned out pretty well. It's funny how much I have been steering away from patterns lately; I feel like my style is just one big color block.

Anyways, last night as I was out to dinner by myself, I did a lot of thinking and of course, my favorite, people watching. Before even looking at other's faces, I look at what they are wearing. As I was eating, I was also writing about life, about me and how I have been feeling and about what was going on around me. I found myself critiquing people's style; praising the cute outfits in my head and questioning others. Are cut-off denim skirts really still okay to wear? Does it make sense to wear heels if you can't walk in them? White Jeans look so fabulous with everything. All of these thoughts have inspired me to try and be more genuine on here; I am a sensitive, happy, friendly, crazy, stubborn and sometimes critical person and I feel like I have hidden half of these at least. I have never really tried to impress people and have always tried to stay true to myself, so here I am, ready to do it for all of you. Wish me luck.

Seriously though, get rid of the denim mini skirt. Makes me cringe.

 Outfit: Shorts: Banana Republic, Top and Cardigan: H&M, Shoes: Wild Pair, Earrings: Forever21, Bag: Marc by Marc Jacobs

Beauty

[the ideal and most refreshing summer drink, Sangria-to be made ASAP]

[in the middle of a concrete jungle]

[giraffes at the San Diego Zoo, my favorite and the most beautiful animal]

[that welcome sign fits this photo's atmosphere perfectly]

[finally got back in the gym yesterday-gorgeous detail on this sports bra]

Fly Away With Me

Hello world. This past weekend was my graduation party and 5 of my friends and I decided we needed to extend the excessive eating and drinking into the nighttime in NYC. Unfortunately, I was exhausted from the night before so I came home around 2, but the night was chilly and I couldn't resist pulling out this new blazer I got from H&M. As I was browsing H&M on 5th Ave about two weeks ago, this bird patten caught my eye. I must have tried on this blazer about 6 times, putting it back, picking it up and then finally two gay guys come over to me and say, "Girl, you have to buy that...I already did." You can never go wrong when you hear that, so I proceeded to the checkout line and added this beauty to my wardrobe. With this outfit, I decided to stick to a simple white palette and a pop of red so the jacket got the attention it deserved.

As per usual, I will now go on to ramble about how this relates to my life and life in general. For some reason the birds seem such a good representation of what is going on in my life. I feel like I am flying, free and open to whatever comes at me. At the same time, I am open to a change in direction and any obstacles or turbulence that may get it my way (wow, I am so ridiculously corny). Somehow my clothes often represent me and exactly what I am feeling? Am I just weird or does this happen to everyone?

Not so Mellow Yellow

Hello world. Great news. I quit one of my jobs, so I definitely will have a little bit more time to put into this blog and the other aspects of my life I have been neglecting. I am still working 9 shifts this week, but its better than like 15, right? I feel so relieved and actually excited for this summer to continue. So far, it's been absolutely fabulous. Being recently single, I have probably gone out a little too much, but really is too much even possible at 22? No...definitely not.

This outfit is not something I wore on one of this past week's infamous nights out, but something I put on for a really hot day of running errands and eating at my friend Kelsey's family restaurant. I had to find something that went with my new bag from H&M. Yes, I will now ramble on about how much of a steal it was, $13. Cmon though, where do you get a gorgeous bright colored bag for that price? Go get it!

Well before I go on about another random thing, have a fabulous Monday and look forward to being around more this week. Remember...always smile! I do :)

Didn't even realize I was doing this---check out this challenge on Bloggers Do it Better!

Crazy Life

 Finally. I had a half-day off from work and I immediately had to get dressed, put on makeup and take my usual photos. This outfit is super simple; I guess I have to ease my way back into it ;) The one thing I love about this shirt is the button front-I have recently come to realize that the silhouette of button front shirts, especially tanks, is perfect for my body type. It somehow gives me a little bit more than the non-existent waist I normally have. And the best thing? This shirt is from like 25 years ago and it still works.

Anyways, as I have eluded to, my life has been crazy lately: working two jobs day and night, transitioning my brain from one career to a completely different one, dealing with being single again (which I must say has been impressive) and lastly, just trying to make time for me to do things for me such as this blog. I wish I could still be posting everyday, but exhaustion overcomes sometimes unfortunately. So, thank you for sticking with me through all of this, I appreciate it more than you know!