A Formal Introduction

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a fun, relaxing weekend. Sadly, the fun will end because tomorrow is Monday wah, wah, wah. But hey, we not can look forward to Friday!! Wohoo!

Lately, Hannah, Sky, and I have been discussing some long-term goals and plans for Twirl. Soon we hope to have a full about page on all three of us, a custom blog background, and further interaction with you guys, you followers... These are long- term so no sudden changes. But, in preparation for this I've decided to rid myself of a "cover-up" name, Amour, and formally introduce myself as... Anastasia. That's all 9 letters, 4 a's, and no fancy accent- just Anastasia. Along with this, I wanted to share a little bit about myself with you guys. These are quirky little snippets of my life and personality. Feel free to share something about yourself in the comments below:)

 Favorite Ice Cream:

Place I want to Go:

Rome- Italy in general

Favorite Artist(s):

The Black Keys

Florence and the Machine 

...and too many more to list... I listen to a LOT of music...

My Type of Humor:

Gotta love puns..
.

Favorite print: 

I love geometric and colorful designs on any canvas (via this awesome artist)

All Time Favorite Book: 

The Fault in Our Stars by the most talented and brilliant author, John Green. I LOVE ALL his books but this one just hits that one spot in your heart and it just won't ever move. Such feels.

Favorite Movie:

Despicable Me = Perfection

Favorite App:

Wattpad- all the books I could ever ask for

Favorite Article of Clothing

Sundresses:)

Yep so those are a few little things about myself. I'm a very open person so I very try to limit myself to many things but I do have some must- haves. Have a great week :)

xoxo,

Anastasia

Victorian

It's been a while since I did an outfit post, no?

{Sweater-unknown, Jeans-american eagle, Flats-land's end, Jewels-vintage}

This outfit was not only conveniently cozy for a snow day, but reminded me greatly of the Victorian era. High necks, cameo pin and earrings, but i think my wearing jeans is the end to the similarities. The cameos entered my wardrobe a few years ago from a cape cod flea market and never got any use. I love the beautiful intricacy of the elegant faces carved into such a small space giving so much decoration and delicacy in such a small space. This outfit is pulled together not by the matchiness of the sweater and shoes, but the sparse accessories and that's how my style has been lately: less is more
xoxo
Hannah
PS, sorry for no gift guides, i'm awful at giving gifts and most of the gifts that i will be giving will be coming from my sewing machine (don't tell anastasia and marin!)

Splurge, Spend, Save

Hunters/ Joules / Target boots

Can we talk about how expensive hunter boots are? Rubber boots with a label should not be $140 in any world. An absolute splurge in my book. At the same time, I love how cute they look on. They definitely made the cut for this year's Christmas list.
The joules come in at about $70. Still pretty pricey for boots that you can't use every day, but more reasonable than hunters for sure. I also love the prints they have available! The foxes? Too perfect. I've been obsessed with fox prints for a while now so these would be another great addition. They are the first runners up to hunters on my Christmas list.

Lastly, we have the most affordable boots, the coral target boots. I don't know if $40 is worth it, per se, but i definitely like the fact that they are $100 down from the hunter's and the only true differences i can see from this computer screen are the adjusting strap and the label. 

In all honesty, i wouldn't actually want the target boots. I have eyes only for those hunters, but the pricetag gives my parents a heart attack. Why spend $140 on rubber boots for a 15-year-old? 

So while shopping around, i hatched a fabulous plan:

step 1 is to buy plain rainboots

step 2 is to buy a vinyl monogram decal

and step 3 is to apply the decal to the rainboots. 

These etsy boots more or less sum up what i had in mind

Better than hunters? Maybe...they fulfill my addiction to monograms, my love of bows, and my need for rain boots all at once. Sounds like a winner to me!

Wish me luck!
xoxo
Hannah

Working For the Weekend

Warning: This post contains many words and not many pictures. If anyone currently reading has an aversion to this style of post, i suggest turning back now!
Don't say i didn't warn you!

I don't know about the rest of you, but my life has been hectic. With AP world tests and striving to get an A, struggling with balanced equations in chemistry, and starting to read Crime and Punishment in English, my school life never slows down. And to top it all off, marching band is starting up again to practice for our last parade of the year (until we travel in the spring) and Irish dance has become panicked due to our upcoming performance. I feel as if I'm running all week and Friday afternoon is my finish line where i have a minute to catch my breath. 
Just a week ago, i had a super crazy week, stress, tests, etc... and then my parents surprised me on Saturday by going to one of my favorite restaurants, shopping, and then watching a movie at home with our neighbors. It felt like a reward for all everyone's been doing. The song referenced in the title (Working for the Weekend by Loverboy) has become the soundtrack to my life. 
But enough about my school-time woes, it's a time to reflect on what we're thankful for! I'm obviously thankful for this blog: when i first started this blog, i didn't tell my mom (...i know, such a rebel) and she almost made me delete it. I'm really happy she let me keep twirl up because since that fateful July, this blog has blossomed. It's like a kid i'm watching grow up. Anastasia*, Marin**, and I are constantly learning and improving and it's a great experience for all of us. 
I'm thankful to have such wonderful friends that can agree on style and that support this blog alongside myself. Running Twirl the way it's being run now really is a 3-girl effort and i'm glad Anastasia and Marin are the other 2/3 of The Twirl Team as well as my best friends.

so thankful for my amazing friends

I'm also thankful to have such wonderful family and friends. Every year, my parents and my brother and I head out to my aunt's farm for a delicious meal with my mom's family. It's a great tradition and i always enjoy meeting up with my family to enjoy a delicious meal and a super fun time. This year was no different and seeing my family and talking, eating, and laughing with them was a lovely time, as thanksgiving always is...and as a bonus, the Raven's won!: 

Cousins (I'm in the white chair)

The kiddie table

The adults' table

My grandfather carving the turkey

post-dinner food comas with easy the lab

wish lanterns with the cousins

sending one off

my brother and i sending ours off together

the most beautiful fall day 

As humans, we ALWAYS want more and it's hard to stop and just be grateful for everything we already have. Thankfully (see what i did there...???), there's a holiday to appreciate
Happy Thanksgiving!

My Cheesy Thanksgiving Clipart gift to you :)

xoxo
Hannah
Ps, my apologies for the extreme blurriness, my mom took these with her iphone at thanksgiving *smiles sheepishly*


*Amour
**Sky

How-To: Monograms

MONOGRAMS!
Ever since I learned that one can DIY their initials into an elegant label in less than 5 minutes, I've been making them left and right.
I was first inspired when I saw Mady's custom monogram which she was was turning into labels for school. I was instantly intrigued and asked how she did it (see the comments here). She directed me to this site for more detailed instructions and after following the steps, i made an easily manipulable monogram.
This is the process that i used:

After downloading this font, I opened powerpoint and arranged my 3 initials in 3 separate text boxes (Ordered first, last, middle)

I then resized the middle initial to be 175 points while the others were 100 points

This step takes concentration: you have to know if you want your letters to overlap or not. I chose to have them overlapping so I arranged them accordingly using the trusty dusty guidelines provided by powerpoint (those dotted lines). You have to be careful so that the letters overlap JUST right, not too much, not too little.  

If you want a simpler look, change the color of the letters. I thought a soft pink highlighting the center initial would look nice. 

This is the fun part: You can mix and match the colors, fonts, backgrounds, etc... of your monogram to your heart's desire! Get creative with it! I put the letters in an oval and put my monogram in front of a print. Most of these prints are Lilly Pulitzer, but any print will do...i personally love the noisy and bright nature of the lilly prints. 

Hope that helps a bit...this process really doesn't take long and has a great outcome. Here are a few of my favorites that I made:

{tribute to my second favorite state}

My current iPhone background

have a fabulous week!
xoxo
Hannah