Patrick and I have started planning a two week trip to Seattle in the middle of August. When we talk about our future and where we hope to end up the answer is always in Washington, be it a suburb of here or maybe closer to Tacoma, so we really want to take the chance to visit while we have the resources and time. 

I'm really excited to visit such a beautiful state, but I'm also a huge sucker for tourist traps and we plan on making a bunch along the way (Well, okay, maybe just a couple, depending on how many I can talk Patrick into - we'll see). Since we'll be so close we're also going to stop in Portland, Oregon for sure, but Patrick also has family in Idaho and I have family in Utah, so we'll try and work in as many stops as possible along our way. 

Okay, here we have Bear World, at Yellowstone, and get this - you can literally hold a baby bear and feed it. A baby bear. I can't get over how adorable that is. Second is a photo from the Garden of the Gods, in Colorado. This one is maybe a little more unlikely that we'll visit, but I will go one day!  

P.S. How beautiful is this picture? Thatcher Kelley has some really beautiful location photos if you look through his stream on flickr!

In other news I've just about wrapped up the training part of my job. I'm actually working with my mom, sister, and sister-in-law right now at a really great company It's a call center customer service job, but the company has so much life in it, y'know? It's really not a bunch of people that hate their jobs, and beyond my own great family that works there in the month and a half or so of my employment I've met a ton of really cool people. And I've possibly wormed my way into a Dungeons and Dragons group, so you know I've got a good thing going there.

I'm still a ways away from my 90 days of employment, but I start my own schedule next week versus the training one, so I'm getting there slowly but surely. Right now it's still dark out when I leave for work in the morning, so once I switch I'll be able to take more photos!

 Let me start off by saying how much I adored all of the fall line from Dear Creatures. This coat though, man, I have coveted this coat for months before it was available anywhere. Then one day it was added to modcloth's inventory and the inner battle began. When speaking about practicality, it's a pricey coat but, very much unlike most fashionable coats, is very warm and cozy. The buttons are very sturdy and I"m not at all worried about them falling off at any point.

And in terms of how cute the coat is in person and when worn - well, that pretty much goes with out saying. I've received numerous compliments about it whenever I've had it on. The big collar and slightly ruffled sleeves are super adorable. It's a bold color, a deeper red than I was expecting, but in a very good way. It's fit is very slimming as well.

The only con I can possibly name here is that it takes a few minutes longer to button or unbutton it, but really all that ensures is the sturdiness of the buttons and I'm more than okay with having a slight wait if all my buttons are going to stay attached.

This was another dress I purchased with my Black Friday shopping at modcloth. I wasn't anticipating the collar to be a necklace, but it's really pretty and I wear it with other things all the time, so it gets even more use this way.

I really love the way this dress feels when I have it on. It's black, so the color is slimming, but even beyond that somehow it has this magic ability to make me feel really tiny but at the same time fit super comfortably, as if I was wearing a relaxed tshirt. I think it's the most flattering dress I own, to be honest and it's a great winter dress. There might not be sleeves, but it's material is fairly worm and it combined with my Dear Creatures makes for a perfectly cozy winter outfit.

My sister Jamie and I have been watching a show that my parents and older siblings used to watch when we were little, The West Wing, and nostalgia-ing all over the place. It's really strange sometimes, actually, because I remember this show playing in the background while I did other things. Hearing the theme song playing reminds me of being younger, yet here I am now, watching it fully for the first time and moving on to much more grown up things in my life. It's one of those weird circles of life things that I"ve been contemplating over the weekend.

I'm almost done with The Kryptonite Kid and after that I'm definitely reading the rest of the Game of Thrones books to kick off my reading goals. Oh, and it really occurred to me for the first time that I'm nearing the end of my training for my new job! I'll make a more in depth post about it at a later date when I hit the 'graduation' mark, but suffice it to say I'm extraordinarily happier with it.

The New Year

New Years Resolutions: 

01. Read more books

I've always been an avid reader since I was a kid. Always delving into the midst of fantasy worlds and letting myself get carried away in these foreign environments. So different and complex from the world we live in. In recent years, though, that's tapered off quite a bit until the past few months. First I stumbled across John Green's novels, satisfying an emotional need in the past year that had been bothering me. They were the kind of books that I could identify with in such a way that made me feel a little less alone and a little less bothered - and I had read his complete works by the end of two weeks. After that it was The End of Eternity by Issac Asimov, one of the most inspirational Science Fiction authors. Patrick had been telling me to read this one for a very long time, but I put it off for some reason I could never justify in light of experiencing the book first hand. And this was it for me, this was the book that inspired me to start reading again. I can not recommend it enough! 

02. Take more photos

This feels, well, almost silly considering the amount of photos I already take, but I want to get into a better habit of keeping my camera in my purse pretty much always! It'll help me remember to update my blog more as well so it's a win-win-win. 

03. Blog Blog Blog

I really like blogging and I really need to do it more. I used to write all the time and I've long since gotten out of that as other hobbies have introduced themselves to my life, so I'm interested in anything that can bring that back. I've also found that when I'm blogging more I'm putting more effort into my appearance and such which always makes me feel better in other ways throughout the day. More win-wins! 

p.s. I haven't been able to get a chance to take some nice pictures, but Patrick took a couple snap shots of me yesterday in the most beautiful coat. After seeing me coveting it for months he gave it to me for Christmas. The coat is from the Dear Creatures winter line, which is my favorite designer ever so it's a pretty big deal! :3