Hold on..anyway.

This past week has reminded me that life brings us a variety of circumstances and events, both big and small, some joyous and some difficult but the most important thing is to hold onto hope anyway.

Originally I was going to write this post about the fact that all of my fall decorations, that I had placed outside of my apartment to bring cheer had been stolen when I returned from the shore last Sunday morning. It really put a damper on my week, because it reminded me of the fact that I am naive in the sense that I always try to believe in the best in people.  It was also a big dose of a reality check when my one neighbor said "you gotta remember where you live." I guess that is true. I do have to remember where I live and to a certain extent not get as upset when things like that happen, but I will choose to hold onto hope anyway.

Along with holding onto hope, I found out some very sad news this evening which I don't feel appropriate in blogging about. It feels quite frivilous to post anything however; I guess sometimes the only way to deal with reality is to remind yourself of the "vanilla heavens" that do make you smile.

1) "hold on" to some of Summer's clothes

The above outfits can be worn in completely different ways that combine and work. The teal dress isn't the exact one that I've worn, mine is an M. Rena surf shop find. The lace shirt is from Charlotte Russe and I realized it would pair differently than it is intended as a shirt but as an actual overlay to the dress. By adding the lace overlay it transforms the summer dress into one of Fall's fads. One day to school I wore this outfit with the Jeffrey Campbell Espadrille's and H&M leopard print belt. This weekend, at my friend Katie's wedding I wore the satin belt that came with the shirt and Mossimo Paisley Platform Pumps.

2) "hold on" by recycling

For Katie's wedding I found something a little rustic and personalized on Etsy that hopefully her and the new hubbie will enjoy. I couldn't quite decide what type of wrapping I wanted but in the past year I have found that brown paper bags used as wrapping paper actually looks the most chic when adorned properly because you have a blank canvas to create on and it always feels good to go green! (I used left-over kunzia from my Autumnal wreath, a pine cone from my parent's yard in Reading, yarn I found in a random drawer, and the floral heart was from a newspaper ad. )


At her wedding, Katie had some of the most creative decorations that I have seen. Everything from her guest book of a tree with fingerprint leaves to an old ladder hanging photos of her and Matt was personalized, well placed, and perfectly thought out. My personal favorite was the adorable table decorations.  By recycling baby white pumpkins she created one of a kind candle holders (shhh I may have 'accidentally' swiped one because I liked it so much) and she also used forks vintage forks in clay as her place holders.

3) "hold on" to child-like innocence.
I attended soon to be three-year-old Kyle's bday party on Sunday and it was so much fun to see his delight at every single present that he opened. Due to his mom and dad's great parenting, he also sweetly replied "thank you so much!" after opening each gift.

Tonight I decided to bring back some of my own childhood innocence and created my own "boo ghost cookies" that I'm going to bring to our cross country pasta party tomorrow night. (It's never too early for Halloween!) The recipe is here, but just to note I used Keebler vienna fingers as well as the NutterButters to accomodate for any peanut allergies.

4) "hold on" to Mother Teresa's words: