put a bird on it!

My brain has been buzzing about lately! So much excitement and planning to be done. Dan and I went to check out an apartment this afternoon! It wasn't really what we were looking for, but it's fun to think about settling in together. We went thrifting yesterday and he was telling me how excited he is to get our new place all set up. It makes me so happy that we're excited about the same things. I feel like guys are always portrayed as rolling their eyes and being annoyed about stuff like weddings and "nesting," so it's really wonderful to feel like we're both in this together and really excited. It's also been amazing to have all our friends surround us with support and encouragement. I've only been in Tacoma for about nine months, but the friends I've made in those short months are just so incredible.

back in the game dress/courtesy of modcloth :: shoes/fred meyer :: necklace/shop in Kihei, HI

I've wanted this dress ever since I saw it in a storefront on 6th ave in Tacoma, but I felt silly getting a pretty dress while I was at camp. It's been out of stock on ModCloth for a while, but it just came back in stock and I snatched it up immediately! I love the little bird print! Whenever I see something with a bird on it now all I can think of is the Put A Bird On It sketch from Portlandia, haha.

INDIE E-Conference!

Hey everyone! I meant to get this post up earlier, but then I got all engaged and caught up in a ton of work for that, so I'm a little late in announcing this but we're doing the INDIE e-conference again this NYFW. Tieka of Selective Potential and I started INDIE last winter when we both couldn't attend NYFW and wanted to create a conference available for bloggers who also couldn't attend. It was so much fun that we decided to do it again this fall! INDIE will be a bit different this year because Tieka will actually be attending NYFW! So you'll not only get seminars on blogging/photography/networking, but you'll also receive behind the scenes views of fashion week as a typical fashion blogger! The focus of this e-conference is on fashion bloggers, but it has great information regardless of what type of blog you run. We talk about everything from branding, to social media, community, networking, advertising, sponsors... you name it. We've also got some great guest posts coming from some awesome people, so you can look forward to that as well!

The e-conference will start on Tuesday, September 6 and end on Monday, September 12. We will have approximately 6-7 posts on each day of the e-conference with a huge variety of topics and events covered. We will also have some fun video posts on blogger events and random tidbits in New York City during fashion week. We also do surprise live chats throughout the conference so you can ask any and all of your questions, plus have a blast connecting with other bloggers! It's really fun to be able to live chat. It makes it feel like you're actually at NYFW chatting with new people!

Plus, just by signing up, you'll automatically be entered to win some amazing giveaways from our sponsors. We'll spill more details soon.

This e-conference is available to all bloggers who are looking to ramp up their blog, learn what other bloggers learn during NYFW and be able to experience it from your own computer and pace at home.

The cost of the conference is $25 USD and you can register through Paypal by clicking the "sign up now!" button below. After we receive payment, you'll be sent your login info via email and once September 6th hits, log on and get ready for some serious fun!

Blackberry

It feels good to be in familiar places. These photos were taken in the alley behind my old apartment. I haven't found new photo spots near my new location, so I visited an old familiar haunt. Interestingly we had tons and tons of blackberry bushes out at camp and when I was taking these photos I realized the bush next to me was an enormous blackberry plant! It's so great to discover natural berry bushes and fruit trees. It's like a free snack as you walk by.

top/courtesy of ruche :: skirt/free people :: shoes/courtesy of darlingtonia

My friends at camp got me into watching Doctor Who and thanks to Netflix, my new obsession is readily available. It's so corny but so good! Dan and I were devouring Battlestar Galactica before I left for camp and we haven't gotten back into it yet. Thankfully Dan is totally on board with my geeky sci-fi side. I may or may not have been to a Star Trek convention in the days of my adolescence...

Brainstorming

I'm doing a lot of brainstorming and list-making these days, and pulling out folders of photos I've saved over the years of wedding ideas, so I thought I'd share some of my favorite inspirations. Some of these photos have been sitting on my computer for years, so my apologies for not knowing the source on some of them (though if you know the source, please let me know!). Photo above source.

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Hey guys! I'm currently accepting sponsors for September and beyond, so if you run a shop or blog that you feel like my readers would enjoy, sponsorship is a great way to gain exposure! Right now I've got ads available in all three sizes (large, small, & mini). If you'd like to test the waters of sponsorship, try a mini ad, which gives you a taste for sponsorship with a minimal financial investment! The next few months should be tons of fun, what with being back in Tacoma, planning my wedding (that's so crazy to say!), and finally getting to wear clothes that don't have to be camp-friendly! Plus, I'll have a couple e-courses coming out in the next couple months as well, so it should be a fun time here at Delightfully Tacky!

If you're interested, go ahead and click over to my sponsorship page for more information. You can also email me at delightfully-tacky@hotmail.com if you have any questions!

Lately...

Lately I've been transitioning back to Tacoma living and starting the wedding-planning process. Some friends of ours are letting me park the Brave at their house for now, so we had to cut down the trees so she'd fit in there. Plus, it was like trying to walk through a spider web gauntlet when the trees were there. No bueno. Hopefully the branch removal will also assist in lessening the spider issue. There are a ton of things I have to do in the upcoming months, so I'm trying not to let it overwhelm me. Thankfully, Dan is incredibly supportive and I can't even express how awesome it is to be able to hang out with him on a daily basis after 2 months out at camp.

it's getting hot in here

It's been in the 80's here in Tacoma and for me and my used-to-Alaskan-temperatures self... that's hot. I know I won't be getting any sympathy from those of you living in places where it's actually hot, but still. 80 degrees is up there for me. Most of my outfits lately have been super simple and relatively boring, including this one. I've also been in transition moving from camp back into town and trying to get all my ducks in a relatively row-like orientation, so putting on clothing has been utilitarian at best. I've discovered that I'm better at dressing for cooler temperatures. Layers + Me = BFF

dress/forever 21 :: shoes/courtesy of strut :: belt/target

I've got an enormous list of DIY projects and other wedding related things I need to do, some of which I'm starting on pretty soon, since we're doing a quick turnaround. I can't believe we'll be married by (hopefully) Thanksgiving! Eep! But I'm glad that we are both on the same page with wanting a short engagement. My parents got married three months after their engagement, and I've always felt like having a short engagement, so it's not a big surprise to me that we'll be doing this in a few short months. We aren't paying a lot of attention to what people might expect of us, or what weddings "should" be like (um, the average cost of a wedding in the US is $28,000??? No thank you). We want a small ceremony and reception with just close family and friends. I'm excited!

We're Engaged!

This past Monday was the best Monday ever. Dan asked me to marry him! Ah!

My last day of camp was Sunday, and the staff spent the whole day working to get the camp all spic n' span before we had our staff party that night. Dan had texted me that afternoon, "Hey! I've got a great idea, but I'm not sure if you'll like it." Obviously perplexed by what it could possibly be, I asked him what this idea was. He replied, "Sunrise photo shoot?" I thought it would totally be fun, so we started planning for him to come out to camp that night so we could get up at the crack of dawn.

He woke up around 5:30 am and came knocking on my Winne door. We gathered up the camera, tripod and a blanket in case it was chilly and headed down to the waterfront to watch the day begin. It was absolutely beautiful. The air was still holding on to it's warmth from the past few sunny days, and we sat on a driftwood log taking some pictures and drinking it all in. After a while Dan asked if I wanted to take another photo of us together, and I said yes, so I set up the tripod, got the self timer all ready to go and then clicked the button. I ran over and stood next to him smiling and waiting for the shutter to start click, click,clicking (I have my camera set to take 6 photos in a row). As soon as the timer finished its 10 seconds of beeping, I see Dan drop to his knee next to me and I realize what's going on, and he was so clever he got it all on camera! I don't really even remember what he said, but I remember what I said... Yes!!

The ring is has an oval sapphire with two little diamonds on either side. I absolutely love it. As I'm writing this it's at the jeweler getting sized and I'm so antsy to get it back so I can look at it being all sparkly on my finger!

We don't have an exact date set yet, but we're tentatively planning on early to mid November, so we've got to start figuring stuff out! To say we're thrilled is an understatement and I can't wait to celebrate the beginning of the adventure of our lives together!

Staff Party!

We made it! On Sunday night the staff all got together after cleaning the entire camp and sat down to celebrate making it through another successful camp summer. It was a nice night just relaxing with the great people I've become friends with over the past two months recollecting all the good, bad and crazy times we had. Kaela and I decorated and got everything ready. We had fun arranging candy kabobs and setting up the kabob buffet bar. It was actually a cool concept that I'd never thought of before, having people make up their own kabob with whatever they wanted on it. Pretty fun! My favorite was shrimp slathered in barbeque sauce, mmmmm.

I'm glad to be back in Tacoma now. Trying to figure out what the next few months are going to look like, but it's great to be back in familiar places with familiar faces. I've got a ton of stuff lined up for the next few months, and I can't wait to share some exciting news with you guys!

Wild Flowers

The bouquet I had previously was leftover from the wedding we had at camp a few weeks ago and it finally started looking a bit sad, so I threw it out and was missing the happiness of fresh flowers on my table. I decided to attempt making my own wildflower bouquet from the flowers I could find around camp. I think it turned out pretty great! Not as stunning as the flowers from the wedding, but I love the simple beauty of these little flowers. I love that it's made out of flowers I just found growing naturally in my area. I really want to try to have more flowers in my life, I love the joy that they inject into everything!

getting real

This week has been probably the hardest so far this summer. I feel like a punching bag that just keeps getting hit left and right. Not only are things at camp draining me till I'm running on fumes, I've been receiving a rash of unkind and really hurtful messages via the internet. It's been ... hard.

Blogging and being a part of this online community has gotten me through some of the hardest times in my life. I was reading some of my journals from when I was going through the worst months of my life and I would repeatedly say that it felt like the only bright spot in my day was getting to come online and blog and interact with all these amazing people. It was the one thing I could count on to uplift me when things in real life were constantly dragging me down. But this week, even my online escape is blindsiding me. These photos don't even feel right to post right now because they are from last week when I was feeling happier.

I don't want you guys to feel like I'm fishing for uplifting comments or "don't listen to those people, so many of us love you!" comments. I just want to be real with you guys. I don't live in some fairy land where my life consists of only making my Winne look cute while wearing flouncy dresses. I hope you don't think that. I can't pretend like I'm happy all the time and I'm so thrilled with everything about everything that is going on. It's just that you guys aren't listening in on the phone calls to my mom where I'm crying, or the late night text messages where I'm venting to Dan. But that's fine. The thing I like about my blog is that, for me at least, it's a place where I choose to be positive. I've chosen to keep this place a sanctuary for me. A place where I can escape from the pain, if necessary, and a place where I can rejoice in the good things in life. I feel like blogging offers that solace for a lot of people, especially because it also offers a community of like-minded people.

dress/courtesy of modcloth :: top + belt/thrifted :: watch/urban outfitters

shoes/courtesy of blowfish :: bracelet/handmade