The Classic Brunette

 Hey friends, long time no talk! With Mother's Day and moving, things have been extremely hectic and stressful. I took two weeks off unexpectedly due to just being completely overwhelmed. I was avoiding Mother's Day posts like the plague, and then suddenly my move was upon me. On Wednesday alone my roommate and I had to pack up all our belongings in a uhaul, unpack them and pack them again into pods, and we're currently on the drive up to Seattle! It's been crazy to say the least, but settling in at our new apartment will make it all worth it...hopefully, ha!

On another note, today I'm making my way back into blogging this week to share one of my favorite places to get personalized goods. Y'all know how much I love monogrammed pieces (my necklace barely ever comes off!) and I'm so glad I stumbled upon Things Remembered. This site has so many great items and is my one stop shop for personalization and beautiful gifts for all occasions. They have something for everyone, although I'm not ashamed to say that I spend most of my time shopping for myself, ha! Check out a few of my favorites below and see how to share a little personalized love, because there's never a bad time to give a little something to ones you love!

Just like with graduation, I can't believe it's been a year since I started blogging full time. I want to start off by saying that this definitely wasn't the plan for my year. Full-time blogging sort of fell into my lap due to a number of circumstances. After graduation I had planned to take the summer "off" as a final hurrah to my schooling, one last break before I began working in the real world. Turns out the real world hit harder than expected that summer with the passing of both of my parents. I was postponing getting a job, which turned out to be a good thing considering how much work it takes to understand and get an estate in order (thank you to my sister who is taking on more of a load than I am) and blogging was my way to pay the bills until I could find something more permanent. As it seems, blogging is the more permanent thing. Although I might pick up a second job in Seattle since the cost of living is higher, this year of full-time blogging was eye opening and full of lessons. Here's just a few of them!

Hello folks! As you are probably aware, it's graduation season! I've been getting all sorts of nostalgic lately due to my move and the fact that I graduated almost exactly a year ago. It's crazy thinking how fast this year went by, and even though I never left my college town, I still miss school, or at least the school atmosphere, so much! Whenever I hang out with my friends we always end up scrolling through our photos of our years together and pointing out the ones with our best memories. It's great that we can have all our memories with us at all times, but I personally am a fan of having more of a 'hardcopy' of photos as well.

 Back home, my parents created a closet full of photo albums. We had one for each year of our lives, all our special trips and memories, and it's still something I like to put together for myself or friends now and then. It's no surprise that college is one of those special events that I wanted to document, and I know it's not just me who feels this way! Graduation is the perfect time to start walking down memory lane, and creating some unique memory/photo themed gifts are the best way to set yourself apart from all the other friends and relatives. I'm partnering with Snapfish today to share my favorite ways to preserve your college (or any school) photos and leave your grad feeling happy and sentimental come their special day.

A week ago I was fortunate enough to drive down to the San Diego Safari Park! My weekend was super packed (this little excursion, a 5K and then a spontaneous trip to Disneyland) but I have to say that this was my favorite activity! I had been wanting to visit the Safari Park for a while, especially after finding out that I could feed giraffes, and so it went on the Orange County bucket list. My roommate and I are trying to fit everything in while we're hear this last month, so when she got the day off we decided we were going to go! Here's my mini travel guide for the park, although it's more of a tips and tricks guide to making the most of your visit here.

Happy Thursday everyone, sorry for the delay in posting! My internet has been all sorts of crazy these past few days, so unfortunately that meant things aren't going up on time! But, I think this post is worth the wait, especially for all you fellow bloggers out there! As you know, working as a full time blogger requires a steady stream of work. It's always great to have brands reaching out for sponsored work, however that's definitely not always the case. If I left everything up to the brands side of things, I would probably (read: definitely) be out of a job! I know that working with brands is something many bloggers aspire to do, and if you've already implemented the things that make brands want to work with you then it's time to start collaborating! I'm sharing my best tips on how to pitch yourself, plus my #1 source for learning how to successfully start partnerships.

Hello hello friends! Today I'm here to talk about something that you don't always find on fashion blogs...your own closet and re-wearing your own favorite items. Most style blogs, my own included, regularly share new clothes that are trendy, classic, or just hitting stores to give you some fashion and shopping inspiration. The tough thing about this job is definitely trying to keep up with the joneses and purchase every new trend that crops up. Even tougher is when your bank account does not allow that. This isn't realistic for many bloggers, let alone any of you reading here!