by the shores of the gitche gumee

I've had a busy July! I've been traveling all over Minnesota and the Twin Cities - up north, out east, into Wisconsin. It's been fun, but I'm back to working now and not before long school will be back in session. (To those wondering - I'm still enrolled in high school, I'm a senior now, but I take all my classes at the university.)

I spent a couple of days in Duluth, MN, one of my favourite places on Earth. Or at least in Minnesota. It takes about 3 - 4 hours to drive up, so I only go a few times a year. There's lots to do - shopping in tiny boutiques, eating sandwiches as big as your head, staying the night in log cabins, making s'mores by bonfires, watching ship lights dance in the water's reflection, cutting your knees up on rocks, hiking with the moose and bears.... I stayed in the cities (Canal Park) for my adventures, but hopefully in the autumn I'll head up again for some serious hiking and cabin cozy-ing.




I blurred the background out for Lookbook, but here is a photo of me smiling. People always tell me I should smile for these photos! So here it is. I look like a chipmunk :3

This is my friend Jojo! He's back in Switzerland now, I miss him dearly. My friends are constantly leaving, but I guess I knew he'd have to go back one day or another. Don't you hate that feeling though? I adored this boy, I could tell him anything.

A seagull. These things are beasts.

Classic Minnesota. I love this state. It has my heart like no other can. I'm sure any other Minnesotan can tell you similar.

Rain is inevitable, especially when up north. I love the rain, but only when I'm fully prepared for its arrival. If I'm mentally prepared, I can go out in my rainboots and raincoat and dance around like a little kid for hours.

My boyfriend Mike. The water in Lake Superior is usually freezing cold (as in, painful to leave your hand in for too long) but this year it's about 20 degrees warmer. I waded out into it and Mike went swimming completely.

At a rest stop, looking out into Duluth.





Beautiful orange sign signaling construction work.

My boyfriend has trouble with focusing the camera lens, so in most of the photos I'm just a big blur. And in the ones where I'm in focus, I'm looking at the ground or making a horrid face.

The American Century passing under the lift bridge!

The Lake Superior lift bridge.



I love Lake Superior for two reasons. 1) It's nicknamed the Gitche Gumee. Awesome. 2) You cannot see where it ends. It seems endless, just like the ocean. But without the sharks and surfers.



One of the many reasons why I love this kid like crazy.

This sandwich was as big as my face. But I ate it all. Which is why I look so contemplative and sad. ):


Whenever I leave Duluth I wish I could've stayed longer. But I also know that I'll always come back and it will always be different but also the same. I have photos of me hiking the same trails when I was three as I hike now, climbing over the same rocks, staring at my reflection in the same water. But at the same time, it's all changing...the people, the clothes, the seasons, the faces....but one thing about Duluth and Lake Superior is this: it's always lovely.

more hair

I'm going through another hair obsession phase right now. I miss my longer hair. A lot. I keep seeing girls with long hair and having extreme hair envy. It's funny because I used to have thick, coarse, wavy hair that went all the way down my back. My sister constantly belittled me, telling me that my hair was gross and I could only be pretty if it was stick straight. So I would spend hours every week pulling a flat iron through every strand of hair till I looked exactly like my sister. In an act to defy society's definition of pretty hair, I cut it all off into a boyish pixie. Now as my hair gets longer I feel more and more beautiful everyday, even when my hair is a mess of wavy bedhead curls.

Right now, as my hair is an awkward length, my biggest inspiration are curly bobs and pincurl waves.

Mae West, the sex bomb of the '20s - '30s, with her tight platinum blonde curls. The way Mae's hair frames her face is just lovely, and when she's wrapped in furs and diamonds, she is the epitome of glamour.

Demi Lovato looks so beautiful with '40s-esque curls. The fringe is perfect, I'm a huge fringe nerd as I find my forehead to be quite awkward and mismatched with the rest of my face.

Marilyn was so perfect. Her hair here, slightly more messy than the usually brushed out pin curls, is so beautiful and sexy. Marilyn can always look glamourous.

And what is a post without Clara Bow? Her crazy red curls sculpted her sex icon image and made her the quintessential flapper. As someone who has no control over the natural texture of her hair, Clara's mess of tangles makes me wish I had more confidence to wear my hair in it's natural texture.

Kristen Dunst as a flapper. The pin curls are so glamourous, especially with the headpiece. She is so lovely.

Little known fact: I have a major girlcrush on Kelly Osbourne. She rocks the short hair and can change the colour and pull it off, even when it's tinted purple! I love the pulled out pin curls, they look so fluffy and frame her face beautifully. It's very Marilyn-esque. Not to mention, I'm totally envious of the Sue Wong dress. This photo has me drooling.

Kelly again, in a photo taken by Vogue. Her hair looks terrific. The volume and crooked part are perfect for this style.