a little embarrassed

Friends.

I'm a little embarrassed by my lack of blogging lately. I'd apologize, but I think sometimes it's necessary to take a step back and kind of recoup from the blogosphere. The month-long absence wasn't entirely intentional, but a friend of mine put this quite well: I've noticed that I tend to feel "burnt out" on blogging especially when life includes a lot of big decisions and/or hard, weighty things...

That's kind of spot on for me. When there are things that I may not want to post about or am distracted by, coming up with my quota of weekly blog posts feels draining instead of inspiring. There has been a lot going on in our lives lately, a lot of stresses and decisions and shifts. It felt unnatural to try and force constant, lighthearted posts when I simply wanted to focus on life, and take lots of naps to recover from the day to day. For the month of June, I am working 10 hour work days Monday-Thursday which has proven to be very tiring. I know it sounds stupid, but sitting on your butt in front of a computer all day is a total energy sap. I have to go lie down just to recover from sitting down.

AND, we finallllyyyyyy closed on our house yesterday!! The house hunting emotions are over, and it's finally finally finally time to turn this house into a home. You know, now that it's 111 degrees all day err day, let the summer projects begin! We are so thrilled. We kind of naively thought that the hard part was getting The Bank to accept our bid, but that was just the beginning of nearly two months of struggling to get to this point. The journey was an exhausting one but now we have a [not-so] brand new home that's all ours [as soon as we replace the carpets, paint every wall, and deep clean the bajeezus out of it].

I've been working on a video tour of the "before" of our house, and I will be posting that here probably this week! I can't wait to show you all how grimy the place is, and hopefully spread our incredible excitement for the potential it has. You just gotta look past all of the scattered gummy bears stuck to the stairs and the moldy refrigerator, and you'll be running up inspiration lane.

See you soon!

the right type society

Sweater (remixed): Francesca's | Denim (remixed): old | Cat Skirt (remixed): Ruche

One of my favorite things about blogging is connecting to other people that I would never have the chance to know otherwise. When I find a blog that resonates with me, that seems to reach me in some intricate, kindred spirit kind of way, it's a joy. I love reading the thoughts of others and am always excited to find ribbons of unique creativity in each person. This blog space is my creative outlet that allows me to write, contemplate, share, inspire, and be inspired. 

Blogging can feel incredibly lonely at times, but it doesn't have to. I think at least a part of anyone's motivation to begin a blog is to find community. There's a desire to be known, to be appreciated, to be found by those who might feel that resonating kinship with your own thoughts and creativities. It's a vulnerable but also empowering quest to develop your skills and connect with others. 

All of these thoughts and more are the inspirations behind creating a brand new Society for bloggers. My fellow blogger and friend, Cassi of Keeping Up With Mrs. Jones, had this brilliant idea to create a safe and encouraging space for bloggers to come together and support one another. We both are relatively new to blogging, and when she invited me to be a part of it I couldn't say "yes!" fast enough.

The Right Type Society is for anyone. Blogs big and small are welcome. It's free and just in its beginning stages. A work in progress. We're so excited to begin! So far there are 8 merry bloggers involved, and we hope to steadily add more. If you're a blogger and want to join, please do! Head over to our Facebook page to request membership and to see all of the details of joining. Also, feel free to check out #TheRightTypeSociety on Instagram and follow our board on Pinterest.

Our main goals for this society are to better our blogs and uplift each other. We aim to lead people to great writing and creative content. Every blog is unique, and we'd love to connect each member to new readers that will be inspired by their work.
It's all very new and very exciting! We'd love to have you. Us Right Typers must stick together.

Cara Box: all about fall

This was my second time participating in Cara Box (see the first month here!), and once again I absolutely loved it.

The theme this time was fall, so obviously I loved every bit of it!

I met Cait over at My Life as a Long (check out my guest post for her!), and I sent her a fall-inspired box last week. I also met Charity of Our Pemberley, who sent me the most adorable box ever. 

I loved chatting with these ladies over the past 6 weeks, talking about pumpkin spice and travel and marriage. Having the opportunity to connect with other women in such an encouraging way is pretty amazing. I call them my pen pals, because it is kind of nostalgic, thinking about writing notes to people you may never meet. It brings back images of gel pens and stickers and handwritten letters.

As I was opening my box, I had my husband take pictures of my authentic reactions to each item. I love opening things. A lot.

Charity is so sweet. When we first got connected, I found out that she is also a law wife! Such a crazy coincidence, but I think it ended up being a perfect match. We were able to talk about some of the blessings and struggles of law school, and I think it was really encouraging for both of us.
She put so much thought into my box. I was so thrilled with everything. I felt like she had known me for years!
The polka dotted plate and mug and the fox necklace were all from Anthropologie, one of my very favorite stores. She said when she saw the fox, she thought of me immediately. So sweet!
She handmade the crochet beanie and flower headband (which I've worn twice this week already, whoops!), which I love.
The dishtowel is adorable, with a recipe for "Easy Streusel Apple Pie" on it. She also included two nail polishes, and a sweet handwritten card.
That's one of the best requirements of this whole exchange -- a handwritten note of encouragement.
As Kaitlyn over at Wifessionals (the creator of Cara Box) says: It's great to get items that put a smile on your face, but kind words will last in your heart forever.

I'm so thankful I was able to meet these two lovely ladies! I still keep in touch with the first two women I met in this exchange, through their blogs and Instagrams. I would absolutely encourage anyone and everyone to participate, because it has been so much fun! And a definite extra blessing of blogging. (You can also participate if you don't blog, though! You'll be assigned with other non-bloggers!).
Do it. :)

my first guest post

Good morning everyone!

I told you all before about Cara Box, and how much I enjoyed it! Well, I decided to sign up again for the fall season.
I have been paired with two lovely bloggers, one of whom is the lovely bloggess of My Life as a Long.
As it happens, we have the same name! Cait and Cait!
It's not very often that us Caitlins come across another Caitlin with the same spelling.
As every Starbucks barista I've ever encountered would testify, it's one of the trickier names to spell correctly. Way too many variations.
Although I'm pretty convinced that the one barista that spelled it "Katz" was just being ornery.

Anyway, I've run down a rabbit hole. The lovely Cait is off galavanting across deep blue waters, cruisin' it up in honor of her and her husband's anniversary! She asked me to come up with a fun guest post so that her blog would remain active while she was away.
I happily obliged, writing up a quick post on some of my favorite fall layering tips. 
I would love for you to go read it!

Cara Box: seasons of life

Happy Saturday, friends!

This past month I decided to participate in something called Cara Box.
For those of you who haven't heard of it before, head on over to this link where you can read all about this fun program started by Kaitlyn over at Wifessionals.
(You can also check out the Cara Box button on the right side of this blog to link to it.)

The purpose is summed up in the tagline, "make friends. receive gifts. share encouragement."

You're paired up with two different bloggers from all over the US (although you can also do it if you live outside the US, and if you don't have a blog! You're just paired with others like you), and are given the opportunity to get to know them by following their blog and exchanging emails. At the end of the assigned time (which is now 3 months), you send them a gift box!
Each month has a different theme, and they've done so many fun ones in the past! Things like nautical, circus, holiday sparkle, etc. This month we were assigned to each other based on our "season of life" (age bracket, kids/no kids, etc.). The goal was to find out everything you could about the other person, and try and compose a box that was perfectly them in every way.
I met two amazing girls, Amanda of Keeping Up with the Jayneses, and Shana of Keep It Simple.

I can honestly say I would be friends with both of them face-to-face. They are both such amazing people, and I loved finding out more about them and getting to know them. We exchanged quirky questions about each other and found out we had a lot in common! From favorite colors to favorite TV shows, to funny childhood collections and similar guilty pleasures.

Shana was the one who sent me my box, and I couldn't wait to open it!

She included a really sweet note, explaining all of the fun things she included in my box.
She totally hit the nail on the head! She included crafting supplies, a Christmas ornament representing the many cows that reside in Indiana (because my husband and I collect Christmas ornament from our travels!), a big notepad for jotting down blogging ideas, and a salad cookbook to balance out our guilty pleasure of eating out all the time! One of the greatest parts? She included a toy for our sweet kittens!

I think the piece I'm most enamored with is the little wreath-carrying cow.
I adore Christmas ornaments and can't wait to include this on this year's tree!

I can't wait to use the new ribbon and the sweet pastel buttons for new Posies by Cait projects!

Thank you so much Shana, for all the thought you put into this box! I love every bit of it and it was so wonderful getting to know you. I look forward to keeping up with you and maintaining our blog friendship!

I would highly recommend participating in the next Cara Box :) sign ups will be up on Wifessionals sometime after Labor Day! It's such a wonderful way of getting to know other bloggers, and to get plugged into a sweet community of encouraging women. It's like a blogger's Christmas!

(Luna and Evangeline sure enjoyed it!)

favorites

I haven't been doing outfit posts for very long, but I was realizing the other day that it has actually been over a year since I first started being interested in fashion blogging.

My first outfit post was on my personal blog, on March 15 of last year.

I hadn't really started out dreaming of a fashion blog. I was just wanting to show off some clothes from Ruche that my husband had surprised me with, and then Frocktober happened, and it all went up from there!
But over the last 15 months, my husband and I have had countless photo shoots, conversations and silly moments in the name of "fashion". Or at least, my personal style/fashion.
So in the spirit of reminiscing, I thought I'd share some of my favorite photos/outfits over the last year!
In no particular order:

My goal is definitely to get to a point where I'm blogging regularly, posting interesting and reliable content. The more I blog, the more I like it. I would love to come to a point where I'm confident (and efficient) taking my own photos, having my tripod handy and being willing to be adventurous with when and where I take pictures.
I might even take a class or two on photography. Right now my camera is simple, but user-friendly, and it takes great pictures without too much fidgeting on my end.

If I was to put together a summer to-do list for Voguish, it would include:

1. Daily photos: even just a few shots after work
2. Improve self-portraits: be confident and able to take my own pictures
3. Set out outfits the night before: being more aware and intentional with my daily routine
4. Blog daily: working on the blog every day, perhaps even preparing posts in advance to publish later on
5. Creative settings: be active and explore the town, changing up locations and scenery

That's a pretty good start, I think.

Cheers to a great year of blogging, an amazing summer, and to constant adventures.