Links // Modcloth Sale, Identity Design & More!

Photos of Maddie the Coonhound.

Great article on discrimination in America by Jill Filipovic. 

DIY dry shampoo for dark hair, thank you Juliette!

Obsessed with this cleanser from Lush.

Identity design from Sergey Parfenov.

Amazing photos with a tutorial on how to get digital double exposures.

Modcloth is having a fantastic sale; these are some dreamy dresses I'm lusting over.

Working here might be my dream job.

Beautiful handmade jewelry that supports a great cause.

Fun sex-positive reviews in comic form by Erika Moen (NSFW).

Currently.

Hello, July and goodbye, June. Here's some things that have been on my mind and going on lately. 

Cupcakes. 
I've been going to an adorable cafe in Providence called the Duck and Bunny with a lot of my friends lately for tea and cupcakes. This is seriously one of the cutest places I've ever been to and so delicious too. I'm obsessed with their honey cupcake with lavender frosting and the vegan dark chocolate, mixed-berry cupcake. I've been there twice in the past month and want to go soon for lunch to try their crepes (and most definitely devour a cupcake). 

Debating renaming.
When I started Living Bittersweetly about a year ago, I really liked the name. It seemed fitting. I liked the idea of bittersweet, two opposing forces that work well together and it describes me pretty well and I still like this idea and the way it sounds but I'm not crazy about the "living" part anymore. I've been thinking about changing the blog name for a while but am not sold on anything yet. Anyone have suggestions?

Seeing.
Rainbows everywhere. Ever since I had to put Penny to sleep I've been seeing a rainbow at least once a week, starting with the day after. I'm not that superstitious or anything but to me it's a sign that she's okay and happy and looking after me.

Studying.
For my driver's permit. I know most people have their licenses the instant they turn 16 but I never took driver's ed in high school because I couldn't afford a car, gas or insurance and it seemed silly to go through all of the things to get a license. Now, I'm getting it so after college I can get to places if I leave Boston and surprisingly a lot of places don't accept state IDs as valid identification..

Freaking out over.
I'm going to be a senior in college in two months time. It's so weird to be that close to finishing school and embarking on real life with a job and an apartment and grownup things.




 

Strawberry Picking

My mom and I have been going strawberry picking almost every summer since I was a little girl. It's a super fun tradition and we always have a great time. And who doesn't love bringing home (literally) pounds of farm-fresh strawberries?! What's something you love doing in the summer?

Fitness Goals

Let me be honest with you: in the years since high school I've gained some weight. I danced for a long time (12 years) and I stopped in my junior year of high school. I also ran cross country for three years during the fall sports season. I'm naturally thin and was exercising hard for about five hours every week, minimum, for most years of my life. I could pretty much eat whatever I wanted without worrying about my weight.

Fast forward to now. I'm still "thin" but not like I used to be. I don't exercise regularly and I still basically eat whatever I want. Do you see the problem? I'm not overweight for my size but I'm fast approaching it and face it, who doesn't want their jeans to fit better? So I'm attempting to eat healthier (and less) and exercise most days a week, running every other day. 

I'm not going to make this blog all about fitness but as I'm trying to make it a part of my life, expect to see exercise updates and healthy recipes. If you're also trying to get healthy or are much further along on your fitness goals, leave me a comment and tell me what you do!

Where to Find Me Sans Google Reader

I'm angry at google. Normally this is a statement that I would never say. I love google and google products (Chrome, Picasa, Blogger) but now Google Reader is going away. I'm so sad. It's so convenient to log on to blogger, read the posts I'm interested in and post to Living Bittersweetly. Now I need to go through a third party to read my favorite blogs. My laziness makes me say, "ughhhh" but moving to Bloglovin' isn't awful. I love the layout and how easy it is to discover new blogs. 

I recommend using Bloglovin' to follow me (and your other favorite blogs) but here's a list of places to find updates on posts:

+ Bloglovin'
+ Twitter
+ Feed

Dark Chocolate and Mixed Berry Smoothie

In my quest to eat healthy, I've been making a healthy smoothie for lunch most days this past week and this delicious blend of berries and dark chocolate has become a fast favorite. Not only does it taste amazing but it is good for you and helps with weight loss (adapted from the Belly Buster Smoothie)!

Ingredients:
1 cup baby spinach
filtered water
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
4-6 strawberries
2 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons vanilla Greek yogurt

Directions:
1. Blend spinach with a splash of water until a drinkable consistency.
2. Add remaining ingredients except yogurt and blend until smooth.
3. Top with yogurt as a garnish and enjoy your delicious and healthy treat!

Tea & Cupcakes

Tonight, I went out with my friend Kayla. Kayla and I have been friends for about four years now and have worked together at the same shoe store for just as long. She's an awesome person to spend time with and just graduated from UConn with a Communication degree so she's pretty much exactly where I'll be in a year. It was great to catch up with her because we haven't talked all summer except for a few conversations during work shifts.

We chatted about all the drama at the store and what's going on in our lives. We talked about all the bad dates we've gone on and how she's doing her best to stay positive after a pretty terrible breakup and how excited we were for me now that my love life is going so well.

We got together with plans to go to the Duck & Bunny, a fantastic place in Providence, RI. We both ordered mixed berry, dark chocolate vegan and red velvet cupcakes and shared an enormous pot of vanilla chai spice tea! Everything was so delicious. This place is adorable and, other than the awful lighting, is so photographable. I instantly whipped out my phone to snap pictures of my cupcakes and then little by little the entire cafe filled up making pictures impossible! I managed to get a few cute ones of our table though. Ever since my confession about food photography, I've been determined to take more pictures! 

There's nothing better than catching up with good friends over dessert. What have you been doing with your pals lately?

Currently

Reading- This past winter, I was attempting to read House of Leaves and never finished I'm trying to finish it this summer and got further than I did at my last attempt and it's so good I can't wait to finish.
Watching- I'm rewatching Parks and Rec on Netflix. It's so funny and one of my favorite shows.
Obsessed with- iPhone apps. I've had my iPhone since November but am just starting to use some helpful apps regularly for things like tracking positive activities (Lift) and calorie counting (My Fitness Pal).
Doing- Working a ton at both of my jobs. I'm lucky enough to make time for friends and Kris still but a lot of my time is spent at work right now.
Blogging about- I'm starting a new series called "Reasons I Suck at Blogging." I think it's pretty funny and it's just pointing out a couple of things I need to get better at that some of my favorite lifestyle bloggers are amazing at. I'm also going to start making some downloadable, useful things for my readers.
Missing- Penny. We had to put my dog down a few weeks ago and it's hard to be home without her. I miss her so much and am trying to not be sad.

 

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Post Inspiration
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A Weekend Away

This weekend, I went away with Kris. We visited Kittery, Maine to go to an awesome Mexican restaurant for burritos. We love burritos, okay? We visited the Kittery Trading Post and saw so many taxidermies, some were even bears! It was sort of sad because they are dead bears but still bears... The drove down to Hampton Beach, New Hampshire and ate fried Oreos and pickles on the beach. We also spent a good amount of time at the arcades in the area and won a handful of plastic spider rings. We spent the rest of the day watching movies and I got to spend some quality time with his dogs while he fixed his dirt bike. It was an amazing weekend and I'm so happy I got to spend it with Kris.

 

Desktop Calendar // June

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