Duluth Coffee Company

I really, really love my hometown. When I'm away at school I feel like I talk about Duluth all the time (usually because people ask me about my Duluth Pack) so I thought while I'm home on break for a few weeks I would highlight a few places that I love about my little city by the lake. First up, the Duluth Coffee Company.

Location: 105 E. Superior Street, Duluth, MN

Since I'm away from home for the majority of the year whenever I come back to Duluth there are always a handful of new places for me to check out when I'm on break. After spending so much time in Portland and growing to really love small, independent coffee shops it didn't take long for me to fall in love with the Duluth Coffee Company. Every time I've been home since it opened my mom and I always make it a point to go downtown and have a little coffee date together and poke around the antique shops nearby.

The Duluth Coffee Company roasts all of their own coffee in house and no matter which way you drink it (black, iced, latte, or otherwise) it's undeniably the best cup of coffee you can get in town. That being said, I'm pretty loyal to their chai lattes. The first sip of one feels like a combination of a long hug from your best friend and something like ascending to heaven. Just typing this makes me want to make the 25 minute drive to go get one. 

The space is industrial, yet inviting, and has beautiful light. Whenever I go in there seems to be a mix of business people stopping in for a drink before work, students working on homework, and those who are just lingering over their last few sips of their drink before returning to the real world (I usually fit in the last category). 

Happy Thursday! 

Good Jeans

What I Wore - Top: Anthropologie (similar), Jeans: Loft, Bag: Madewell, Booties: Sam Edelman (similar)

There is something to be said about finding a good pair of jeans, I honestly can't remember the last time I owned a pair of light wash jeans. I think by the time I entered high school I had sworn them off completely and was wearing only the darkest of washes, and since I wear jeans so seldom I've never been one to collect a lot of different pairs - I like to stick to the basics. The reason I dislike jeans so much is mostly because I find them incredibly uncomfortable and unflattering, something that I think is a fairly common sentiment for a lot of women. And don't even get me started on shopping for jeans, trying to find a pair that fits in all the right places is something I attempt only about two times year because I hate it so much. But recently I feel I've had a bit of a change of heart - when I saw this pair of light wash boyfriend-ish jeans hanging in Loft I felt like if anything was going to make me like light wash jeans it was going to be this pair of pants. So I tried them on and they were so soft and fit really really well and were pretty flattering and now here we are. It's hard for me to not buy something that makes me feel as good as I did when I tried these on. Watch this space for more posts of different ways I style them in the upcoming warmer months!

In-Vested

What I Wore: [Dress: Nordstrom, Vest: old H&M (similar), Necklace: old Aerie (similar), Shoes: Lucky (similar)]

To say I've been busy/stressed/overwhelmed/exhausted lately would be an understatement to say the least. I'm closing in on the end of the semester which means tons of final papers and projects, registering for my classes for senior year (what?), trying to find a place to live for the summer/next year, arranging internships for the summer, putting on dance performances, and running a student film festival. Every day for the past few weeks has felt like a marathon, so in order to make the most of the little time I have and conserve the most energy I've been wearing some really simple and comfortable outfits, like this one. I picked up this t-shirt dress while in Scottsdale on spring break and have already worn it a few times. I had spent the whole day looking for a new dress and couldn't find anything that looked half decent (you know that frustrating feeling of really wanting to buy something when shopping but you can't find anything you like? That was how that day was going) but while I was on my way out of the mall I wandered through Nordstrom and saw this dress hanging on the rack. I didn't even have to zip it up all the way before I knew I needed it! The length is perfect, the fabric is so wonderfully soft, and I love the little tuck at the waist - it's such a nice little detail. I have a feeling this dress is going to be on heavy rotation for the rest of the semester (inclusion of leather vest optional). 

Hearing, Reading, Wearing, Watching: March

Purity Ring "Another Eternity"

I feel like there was a lot of good music released in March, my personal favorite being Purity Ring's most recent album "Another Eternity". I discovered Purity Ring in my senior year of high school, back when they only released one song every few months, and have been a huge fan of everything they've produced since. While I love their first full length album, this most recent release is beyond anything I would have expected - every single track is so good! The sound is definitely more dance-y than their previous stuff, but I really like how their sound has progressed because it all still sounds very much like the Purity Ring that I first fell in love with. I've been listening to this album so much throughout the month, my two favorite songs are "Begin Again" and "Body Ache" (both of while I am guilty of dancing in public to on my walks back from the library late at night). I definitely recommend giving this album a listen if you've never checked out Purity Ring before, because I think it's their best work yet. 

Yes, Please by Amy Poehler

While on spring break I was finally able to get back to doing some pleasure reading (I'm so tired of reading about media theory) and my book of choice was Amy Poehler's Yes, Please. I haven't finished the whole book quite yet, but so far I've really really enjoyed reading it! It's a bit different than say, Tina Fey's Bossypants, because that book seemed like it was more comedically focused whereas Amy's book seems more to be just about telling her story, throwing in some advice here and there, and just letting her natural humor seep through. It's a good balance of being both a nice light read while also being very relevant and relatable so I've been reaching for it when I just need a few minute break from my world to read a few pages, giggle to myself, and then get back to work.

Milani Eye Tech Extreme Liquid Eyeliner

March was the month of rekindling my love for winged eyeliner, mainly because I finally bought a new eyeliner so I wasn't stuck using one that was totally dried up and horrible. I go through phases with eyeliner, (either wearing it or not and what type of eyeliner I like to wear) and at the moment I'm really into these felt tip, pen type, liquid liners. I find them super easy to use, and this one from Milani is particularly good. I'm a bit picky when it comes to purchasing eyeliner, I know what I like and when I find that I usually stick to it for a long time. But at the beginning of the month I finally came to terms with how dried up my old liner was and I went out on a limb and decided to try something new. This Milani liner ticks all my boxes, it's super black, long wearing, doesn't flake, dries quickly, and after a month of heavy use isn't dried up. Plus it was cheap and I can buy it anywhere - a win win situation for everyone! My go-to eye look with this product is the Urban Decay eyeshadow in Naked all over my lid and in the crease with Virgin on the brow bone a bit of Buck smudged along my lower lash line, and then a big ol' wing. I love how it turns out every time. 

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Finally, the show I watched the most this month was Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. I finished Parks & Rec early on in the month and was feeling pretty heart broken about it ending, and while nothing can ever fill the void in my heart that Leslie Knope left behind, Kimmy Schmidt was a joy to watch. If you haven't heard of it it's a Netflix original series produced and written by Tina Fey, so just by hearing that you should know it's going to be good. It's so smartly written, SO culturally relevant (the theme song kills me), and just the perfect half hour break from homework or to watch right before bed. There's only one season out so far but I've heard they've been picked up for another, which is great because I finished watching the first season waaay too quickly. Any recommendations of what I should watch next? 

And on we go to April! 

Desert Flower

What I Wore: [Dress: Asos (similar), Vest: H&M (similar), Shoes: Bass (similar), Necklace: Kate Spade New York]

Hello, from Sedona! My spring break has finally begun and I couldn't be happier to be away from school for a week - granted, I don't foresee much sleeping in happening this break as my parents woke me up at 7 am this morning to go hiking, but I'm not complaining. As you can tell, I have already started working on my awkward sunburn (a look I have perfected over the past 21 years of my life) so this loose fitting dress was the perfect choice to put over my painful skin. I've worn it on the blog before (here) with tights, boots, and a jacket, but I wanted to show how it's such a great year round dress and can be worn in any climate. The dress is beautiful on its own, but it's a bit shapeless, so whenever I wear it I like to break it up with a jacket or vest, and this fringy one seemed like the better choice than my leather one when packing.

The Pacific Northwet

What I Wore: [Shirt: Urban Outfitters (similar), Jeans: Madewell, Jacket: Gap, Shoes: Lucky (similar), Hat: Target (similar), Bag: Longchamp]

I seems as though our bought of sunny days in Portland has come to somewhat of a halt as it's been rainy and miserable all weekend long. When the weather goes from beautiful and sunny to wet and dreary I'm very prone to feeling lethargic and not wanting to do anything other than lay in my bed and read all day, so when I woke up on Saturday and the sun was no where to be seen I made it point to force myself out of bed and into the world. The day included brunch at Tasty & Sons with some friends and then heading to the Living Room Theaters to see Ballet 422 (hence why my bag looks so lumpy, it was full of snacks), which are my perfect alternatives to spending a rainy day curled up in bed.

Spring Break Makeup Bag

As I'm writing this it is currently 16 days until I leave for spring break and I'm finding it very hard to think about anything else. This year I'll be spending my week off in Arizona (splitting my time between Scottsdale and Sedona) with my parents and it seems that every time I sit down in the library in the hopes of getting some work done thoughts of warm weather and margaritas pull all my focus. I haven't officially started packing yet, but being the type A personality I am I've been making plenty of lists, including the makeup I plan on taking - so let's talk lipstick.

My face makeup never really changes (see this post for details) so the only products that I'm going to talk about in this post are ones that a little more occasion specific. For eye make-up I find it easiest to just bring one palette when traveling. For this trip I decided to go with the Lorac Pro 2 because it's got such a nice mix of matte and shimmer shadows in every shade I could need. I decided to leave the black liquid liner at home and opt for a simple brown kohl liner from Smashbox instead, as it's more natural looking, takes less time to put on in the morning, and somehow seemed more "spring break-y" in my mind.

For bronzer I decided to go with my Tarte Park Avenue Princess bronzer, since it's a bit darker than the one Body Shop one I wear most days and it has a hint of shimmer in it, which I think will be nice to wear while I pretend to get some version of a tan. I limited myself to only one blush, which is my travel size Josie Maran Watercolor Cheek Gelee because it's tiny, long lasting, and looks really natural on my skin.

Finally, I'm just packing two options for my lips - a bright one and a more natural one. For the bright option I chose Bobbi Brown's Sheer Lip Color in "Rosy" which was a impulse purchase influenced by my favorite youtuber Esteé. It's a lovely coral-rose color which think will be really nice to pair with all of the bright colors I plan to wear while in Arizona. The other choice was a no brainer, as I wear this Clinique chubby stick in "Curviest Caramel" 3 or 4 days a week. It's just the most perfect "not quite nude" color for everyday.

And that's it! I'm hoping that I can stick to this minimalist makeup bag when I do the actual packing - I have been known to go overboard in the lipstick department before (note: I packed 13 lipstick to bring home during my winter break).

Thanks for stopping by!