School Wardrobe Staples

*Disclaimer: This post does not indicate any excitement for the start of the school year or fall. If I could make it summer forever, I would*

In all seriousness, I'm terrified that school has started. For me this means scrambling to finish the homework I've been given every night, starting my various college applications, and attempting to balance all of this with my extracurriculars and this blog.

Oh also managing to not look like a wreck every day. That has to happen somehow.
Dressing up for school every day is a challenge. It's a lot easier to just give in and throw on leggings and an oversized sweater than to put in a little effort to make it work. The secret to getting dressed in the morning is having an army of versatile staples that you can easily mix and match. Lucky for you, I've compiled a list of what I consider to be the most important garments to survive the competitive catwalk known as high school.

 left / center / right

Tan Booties / Doc Martens / Burgundy Booties / Light Riding Boots / Dark Riding Boots

Pastel New Balance / Burgundy New Balance / Jack Purcell Sneakers / Gold Vans / Commes des Garcons Sneakers / High Tops

Gingham Tunic / Lilac Blouse / Striped Shirt / Short Sleeved Crop Top / Blue Blouse / Grid Print Flannel

Romper / Striped Dress / Midi Dress / Collared Dress / Patch Dress

What are the most important pieces in your wardrobe for the school year?
xoxo
Hannah

DIY Paint Mug

   Even if you don't drink coffee (like me), mugs are still awesome. They're that sense of peace and comfort after waking up way too early from a late night.  When you're half asleep, sipping from a personalized mug is good start to the day. Since school began again today I thought this would be the perfect DIY to share. Mugs are a great way to show off your interests (bands, hobbies, quotes) or to show some school pride. These mugs are super easy (and cheap) to make and are also meaningful gifts so it's a win-win. Here's how to make your own.

You will need: 

1. Sharpie paint pens (make sure they're oil based)

2. A mug- cheaper ones work best because their surface is more malleable

3. A pencil and a fine point Sharpie (optional but recommended)

4. Tape (optional)  

Step One: 

Wash & dry your mug. Pick the design you want on your mug and apply tape if necessary. 

Step Two: 

Trace your design onto your mug if it includes lines, words, or a certain image. Pro-tip: If pencils aren't working for you use a fine point regular Sharpie so it shows up. 

Step Three: 

Grab your paint pens and draw in your designs (remove tape if applicable). Be wary of smudging. You can use toothpicks to get rid of your mistakes and create sharper lines. Add accent colors (if you want). 

Step Four: 

Wait 3-4 hours for paint to set. Place your mug in the oven (before it reaches the temperature). Bake your mug for 45 minutes on 350 degrees and let it cool completely (to avoid cracking). 

Remember to hand wash only. Enjoy your mug!

Good luck to all those starting school!!! Especially to high school seniors (Hannah and I) and college freshmen-hope you've settled in to your cozy dorms. 

xoxo,

Anastasia

In The Spotlight: Spahr Designs

As I mentioned in my last post, my family and I spent the last week in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, soaking in the sunlight (but still wearing SPF 70, of course #palekidprobs), relaxing on the beach, etc...

However, while perusing the adorable shops that characterize the beach town, my uncle introduced me to one of his friends by the name of Scott Spahr who owns his own fashion boutique, but SEWS EVERYTHING HE SELLS. That's incredible!! Not only is he a designer, but he makes it all himself!

Being the crafty gal and aspiring sewer I am, I was obviously instantly impressed and came back a few days later to ask him a few questions:

Have you always wanted to be a designer?

I can’t remember if I always wanted to. I always liked fashion. I don’t think I’ve wanted to since I was a little kid…maybe in high school I started thinking about it?

What was it like to start your own business?

I was pretty naïve about it so the first year, it was pretty easy, you know I kind of throw myself into things so I didn’t really do it by the book. I think it would’ve been scary if I had done it by the book, but my first year was easy because, like I said, I was naïve, but then the second year, I guess it became more of a business and I had to be more savvy. So then it was tough for a little while, but now things have leveled off and I know the ins and outs.

How does owning a store in Rehoboth affect your business?

I think Rehoboth being a vacation spot, with the influx of people in the summer months…I don’t know…Well it’s affected what I deign and make. If I were somewhere else, I probably wouldn’t be doing bright colors, you know? It depends.

Does being located in a beach town make your business more seasonal?

Yea. I mean spring and summer are definitely where I make the money. I don’t really get heavily into fall and winter because the people just aren’t here. I’ll start doing long sleeved cotton shirts for guys, maybe some darker colors for both men and women, but I don’t get heavily into wools and stuff like that. It’s a short season for winter, but definitely my look is spring and summer.

What’s your next step?

This is my fifteenth year and it’s been more on my mind that I would really like to possibly get my stuff into other stores, possibly open up another store, but in order to do that I would definitely need to have help. I would need help with the manufacturing; I could never do it by myself.

What are you inspired by?

I look at other people’s websites and magazines and stuff like that. I don’t really get too inspired by them in that I want to copy them. Sometimes I won’t look at other people’s stuff because I don’t want to be like “Oh my god I should be doing that” or too stressed out about stuff like that. I don’t know…I just kind of watch what people wear on the street and the types of fabrics and stuff when I order it. I do look at other people’s websites, but not to copy.

What advice do you have for any aspiring designers?

Work hard? If it’ something that you really want to do, it’s up and down, it’s really tough, but that’s the way it is for anyone who wants to do their own thing or have their own business so I think you have to be willing to work it. I think that a lot of people when they start the business they think they’ll hire people and stuff but I think you have to be willing to work it.

What advice do you have for any aspiring business owners?

Almost the same thing. I mean, I’ve been here 15 years and I work it all the time. I’ve seen other people open businesses and they just will hire people, and there’s a lot of overhead money, and they don’t really want to work it so it fails. You have to be willing to throw yourself into it.

                

Thanks again to Scott for letting me interview him and take pictures of his store! 

If you're ever in the Rehoboth area, it's worth a visit.

xoxo

Hannah

Rehoboth

Dress: Old Navy, Sneakers: Converse, Headwrap: Ban.do, Backpack: Target, Flair: Vintage or Ban.do

For the past week, my family and I stayed in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The weather was gorgeous, the beach and the ocean were optimal, and there was plenty to do ranging from arcade escapades to outlet shopping to the boardwalk's main attraction: Funland. 

My dad did some research and found out that on Tuesdays, there was a farmers' market held relatively close to our lodgings and, given our love of farmers' markets, we biked over.

I asked my brother to take some super quick outfit shots of me while we were there because I ADORED my outfit! This dress at Old Navy is divine and I enjoyed pairing it with the ban.do headwrap: an unusual but aesthetically appealing combination.

Also a note about this backpack--I'm in love. I wanted a container to store all of my essentials practically and stylishly and this totally fits the bill. It's the perfect size for a 17-year-old and I love the funky color. For anyone looking to invest in a backpack, I 100% recommend it.

Happy Tuesday!!

xoxo

Hannah

Vacation Wrap up

  Hello everyone! Well unfortunately the vacation days left have started to dwindle and soon Hannah and I will be headed back to school, entering our senior year (!!!). But before the homework, college apps, and marching band practices start up, it's a good time to reflect on the last two months. Here are some snippets of my vacation before I was off to band camp (photos of that can be found here). 

Giant cacti to feed my obsession. 

This is me preparing to break into song. I think it was "They see me rollin', they hatin.'"

Featured in an adorable cafe we ate at. 

As see in Old Town.

One  of the entrances to a medieval castle. 

A lovely countryside view. 

Cacti & Records #aesthetic 

This was a beautiful garden around a church we visited.  

Oceanside shopping. 

    Oh summer, why must you end so soon? I hope all of you had some time off, visited family, and made lots of memories before heading back to school or work. But before wasting your time with those back to school shopping guides, checklists, and sales, make the most of your time left. Have a campfire, sell some lemonade, walk around a town or park. Save "getting ready" for school until the night before, you know it'll happen anyway :) 

xoxo,

Anastasia 

The Liebster Award

Today, my post on how I chose Journalism will be featured on Caught Between the Pages! You should definitely check it out!!

In other blogging-community news, Anastasia and I have been nominated for the Liebster Award by Abigail over at Living the Gray Life

It was incredibly sweet of her to nominate us and answering questions about ourselves and our blog is always fun, and our bloggiversary was pretty recent so the timing couldn't be better!

11 Questions

1. Why did you start your blog?
H: This is a super long story that starts back when I was in 8th grade...so 2011 or 2012. My friend group was at a sleepover and decided to start a virtual magazine that we entitled In Parenthesis. There were about 20 contributors and 1 editor. After one issue, it sort of just stopped because our editor understandably couldn't keep up with all that editing and finish her homework on time. Next, the fashion and interior design departments of said magazine branched off and published a few issues before middle school cattiness caused a riff and that magazine also ended. The last magazine I published was entitled Twirl and similar to In Parenthesis, the work of editing the entire thing and writing most of the content was too much for me and so I started a blog at age 13 to continue combining my passion for writing and passion for fashion. After 3 name changes and some personnel changes, Freckles and Olives is our pride and joy.

2. What is your blog about?
H: That's a good question...Anastasia? How would you describe what we write about? 
A: We mostly just write about what we like. Our blog doesn't stick to a specific label because we are multi-dimensional people and that's what illustrate in our posts. Sometimes we have photo and outfit posts, others highlight the music/books/movies we like, and some posts just provide some insight into our daily lives and our philosophies. The only thing that comes close to all of that is lifestyle, so yea, I guess we have a lifestyle blog if you want one word answer. 

3. How often do you post?
H: It depends. We usually try to post 2 or 3 times a week.
A: If we don't post for a bit it's because we are either super busy or completely uninspired. But I think we've been on a steady stream for a couple months now which is really good, getting more readership has really helped me stay on top of posting. School makes having routine posts difficult but we really do try our best. I apologize in advance if we don't post a lot in that fall, between college applications (yuck!), marching band (yay!), and homework (boo!) Hannah and I will be very busy little bees. 

4. What makes you keep blogging?
H: The same thing that drove me to keep starting magazines as each one failed: the creative outlet is important to me!! This blog combines my love for style and my love for informal writing. I can share my opinions, even if not a lot of people really hear them...I truly love it
A: Besides it being a creative outlet, I love blogging because I get to see the results of my work. Some posts take a while to finish but seeing them published and on the home page gives me a lot of satisfaction. Beyond that, the readership we get drives me to post more because people actually read & appreciate the posts that I put together, and I love you all for that. 

5. How long have you been blogging?
H: 3 years as of July 2nd! But I've been doing this fashion thing for 4 years!!
A: This fall marks my third year and boy have I come a loooong way. 

6. What are your hobbies?
H: MARCHING BANDDDDD!!! That, jazz band, Latin club, tech crew, journalism, the creative writing publication at our school, and Irish Dance...I think that's it? I craft, sew, and binge-watch Netflix in my free time. 
A: MARCHING BANDDDDD!!! Also, Greek dancing, history club, volunteering, literary magazine at school, Key Club, and youth group. I think that's it...I feel like I need to consult my resume at this point. Besides that I really love to read books/magazines. and write/doodle, make crafts, and listen to podcast/music. 

7. What is your most favorite blog post that you’ve written?
H: I honestly don't know...I really enjoy writing these really serious ones, but it's pretty labor intensive...I have really good ideas for 
A: My crown jewel is this post from just a little while back. The creativity topic I dealt with was personal so I was very passionate and determined to write something meaningful. I put in a lot of time, thought, and effort into perfecting that post, and actually providing real "creative solutions". And even if it's not my favorite, it's the one I am most proud of. 

8. To where would you love to travel?
A: Oh jeez... basically the entire world. Each place is so unique and I want to experience and absorb it all. But at least for now I would love to go to London, or England in general. Although the weather doesn't sound spectacular the history, location, and vibrant culture make it seems like such  lively city. 
H: I agree...I have thousands of places I'm dying to visit. If I had to choose somewhere new to go, it'd have to be Italy, but I'm Pining to go back to Yellowstone, San Francisco, or Hawaii. Any of the three will do...

9. Are you still in school? If so, what year?
A: Yup, I'm now a rising senior which is exciting but scary. I'm ready to expand my horizons but for adult things (taxes, insurance, booking my own doctor's appointments) I'm like ?????? no thanks. But before all that starts, I want to make some great memories in my last year of high school. 
H: I SERIOUSLY DON'T FEEL LIKE A SENIOR!!! Except I'm going to have to get over that because college apps
*cringes* *sighs heavily* 

10. If you could have any animal as a pet, what would it be?
A: All I really want is a kitten. My house is mostly white and my parents are really clean so the best I can get at this point is my fish Lincoln. 
H: Other than my amazingly adorable 2 labradoodles?  A Buffalo...I love those things. Unfortunately they're super dangerous, huge, dirty, and not super snuggly. Thankfully my labradoodles are!!

11. And most importantly, what’s your favorite food? (don’t worry, you can have multiple)
H: All food. I simply love food.
A: You'd think this would be an existential question because it's so difficult to answer. Well I love lots of Greek food like baklava, but I like also lamb chops, mac n' cheese, guacamole, ice cream, and tacos. 

11 Facts About Us

1. We went to the same elementary school but weren't friends. We hit it off the first day of band camp freshman year. 
2. We both participate in ethnic dance.
3. Anastasia knows Greek and Hannah kinda knows Latin so hooray classical civilizations!!
4. Hannah wishes she could spend every vacation in the mountains while Anastasia only pines for the beach
5. Both gals enjoy fan-girling over Wes Anderson movies and jamming out to some sweet 80's pop music
6. We agree that Pixar movies are superior quality-wise, but those old Disney movies will have a special place in our hearts forever (you can do literally ANYTHING while listening to "I'll Make a Man Out of You")
7. Both of us know the Just Dance 2 routine for "Toxic" by heart and will frequently start doing the moves
8. We consider ourselves button and patch aficionados. We're crafty^2
9. Our athletic abilities are at about the same level: 0
10. We've never had any classes together (other than band)
11. Despite our differences, we're best friends and neither of us would rather blog with anyone else. We're constantly on the same wavelength.

Once again, many thanks to Abigail for nominating us!! 
We nominate...
Anyone who wants to participate! We don't want to make anyone feel pressured into posting content they don't want to, and we don't want to exclude anyone who wants to participate. Our only request is that if you do answer these lovely questions, that you email or comment to let us know.

...and for our nominees, we pose these 11 questions:
1. What's the best opportunity blogging has provided you with?
2. Who has inspired you most in your life? 
3. What's your dream job? 
4. What fictional character do you want to bring to life? 
5. Where is your favorite place in the world?
6. What was the most memorable event in your life thus far?
7. What is your favorite artist/song and why?
8.What era would you have liked to live through/ what historical event would you have liked to witness? 
9. What's a goal you'd like to achieve before the end of the year?
10. What's something you've challenged lately?
11.What's a habit you're trying to break?

Have you ever been nominated for the Liebster award? If so, feel free to share you link in the comments! We'd adore to read about it!

xoxo

Hannah & Anastasia

Update

You may have noticed that for the past week or two, Anastasia and I have been a lot more quiet on the blog and social media, and we thought it was appropriate to tell you why we've been so busy lately:

//1//

BIRTHDAYS

July 2nd marked this blog's third birthday, and August 6th marked my seventeenth birthday.

via

I actually forgot that our blog had turned 3 for a really long time! I feel like I've been blogging for my entire life. I think my parents thought it was going to be a phase and they were waiting for me to fizzle out, but obviously that never happened. This blog is going strong and is getting bigger and better everyday.
Similarly, so am I! 16 was one of the best years of my life so far. I grew immensely as a person and developed a lot of my own views. I matured, I figured out what my passions are, it was a year of growth.
Here's to a fabulous 4th year of Freckles and Olives and here's to hoping my 17th year is even better than my 16th

//2//

WORK
My employee discount at Old Navy will be the bane of my monetary existence. Being out on the floor all the time is like shopping while I work. I convince myself I like something, I try it on, and then I end up buying it during my break. It's a vicious cycle and I end up spending most some of my paycheck there, but when you get 50% off just for working there, how could you not?

Dress / Circle Skirt / Pajama Shorts / Balconette Bikini Top / Ruffle-Trim Bikini Top / Maxi Skirt

For a first job, it's been fun! I loved getting some retail experience and working with fashion. So far the highlight has been dressing a mannequin which tells me that I'd rather be styling than organizing in the dressing room, but this has been a great experience and I'm getting some pocket cash out of it too.

//3//

CRYING OVER SENIOR YEAR

I've been having a lot of existential crises lately about death and time and age and it's all because I'm realizing now that a lot of the things I do this year will be "lasts".

It's not just me either!! All you have to say is "Guys we're seniors" and my entire group of friends will come close to tears.
This year will mark the official end to life as we've known it for the past 12 years and that end, that change, is what affects us so deeply.

Seniors: Our last band camp

(Will post senior portraits when I get them. More senior year pictures to come in general)

//4//

BAND CAMP

Anastasia and I are super mega band nerds. Marching band for us is a lifestyle, not just a club. For the past two weeks, we've spent 8 hours of our day teaching our peers how to march and memorizing nearly half of our show thus far. While it's extremely exhausting and generally results in lots of sweat and sunburn, it's extremely rewarding. 

"Dress up your section leader day"

The field show

All the leaders lined up to be pied in the face after the performance

Having whipped cream all through your shirt and hair and face is disgusting but it's so fun and so worth it

What's been keeping you busy?
xoxo

Hannah