color crush: midnight blue & pumpkin

happy halloween!

{h&m blazer, sally hansen polish in navy baby, citizens of humanity elson jeans via net-a-porter, frye dorado low boots} {dkny silk georgette blouse via saks fifth avenue, tiffany sparklers citrine earrings, marc jacobs bianca hayley tote via bluefly}

hope your day has some tricks & some treats :)

um, yeah that's close.

starbucks downtown asks for people's name when ordering to make the process more personal. which i must admit is nice [and probably saves the baristas time calling out the long 5+ word coffee orders].

but i've noticed it puts some additional stress on the order-taker to spell the person's name right.

in fact, downtown is notorious for spelling people's name wrong. but usually for me, i just get an occasional two l's.

this week during a team meeting, i ordered a coffee and i got a double "s" too! love it.

the guy even showed it to me and asked if that was right. [seriously, what do you say? be polite and just say yes?]


i went with: "um, yeah that's close" with a smile :)

poor guy. he seemed disappointed. little did he know, it made my day [and my blog!]

[p.s. wow, third post this week about coffee. i wasn't kidding when i said on monday that it was going to be a very caffeinated week!]

simple joy {diners}

breakfast anytime.

endless coffee.

comfy booths.

went to the waffle shop with my friend jenn

to catch up after a few crazy weeks.

it was such a nice break from work.

fall break cannot come soon enough!

[3 1/2 weeks to go]

color crush: black & kelly green

this week is all about coffee. i have a lot of work to get done so that i can travel the next few weekends, so my starbucks cup will be a permanent fixture in my hand in this week!

i love the pop of green against the black...especially that pretty green francesca bag! i don't usually do the bright nail polish, but i thought this green would be fun to tie into the green stripe on the topshop sweater.

{citizens of humanity elson jeans via net-a-porter, frye paige riding boots via piperlime, topshop knitted stripe guernsey jumper, modcloth marrakech-your-eye earrings} {green francesca bag, essie polish in pretty edgy}

hope your week is filled with delicious coffee too :)

black cat

so, i crossed a black cat on my jog this morning.


with halloween approaching, i'm thinking that this is not a good sign.


i'll have to look for some heads-up pennies on the ground or search for a four-leaf clover to cancel it out!




hope your day is filled with better luck!

simple joy {berries}

"nothing better than to rise at dawn and pick dew-wet red berries in a cup"

-wendell berry

can't believe how pretty the strawberries are!

time for some smoothies & chocolate-covered berries :)

color crush: pretty pink & white

i've been sick for the past few days, so this week's color crush is all about relaxing and resting...like curling up under a warm blanket with tea and watching a girlie movie [which was exactly what i did this weekend].

i love that marimekko lumimarji pillow [lumimarji means "snowberry" in finnish]. i actually bought it online...but when it came in the mail it was HOT pink. i'm talking 1980's neon bubblegum pink. so sadly, i returned it. but i thought i'd include the muted online version of the pillow here - i just love it :)

{aspinal of london pink tissue cover, marimekko lumimarja pink pillow via crate&barrel, victoria secret the dreamer pajamas, pink mug cozy via socksandmittens on etsy, crate&barrel lima alpaca throw}

also, don't you love the knitted cozy for the mug? i know it's kind of silly and excessive, but it's just so sweet.

hoping to feel better this week!

we are...

...penn state!

last weekend i tailgated and went to the game with my friend laurie
[who got us tickets with the comfy seats! i felt like royalty :)]

it always amazes me how much energy is in that stadium.
...the school pride, the hope & anticipation, the sheer joy when we score...
it's contagious.

an older woman next to us actually made a blue & white rosary.
she prayed the entire game...amazing dedication.
[she also yelled louder than anyone in our section,
so she was both sweet & a little scary at times!]

it was fun to be back in the stadium, seeing joepa, and cheering on the lions :)

simple joy {sky}

"open my eyes, i see sky"
-joshua radin 

[listen]

pretty pink sky on my walk home.

a simple joy in a hectic week.

color crush: raspberry & indigo

once again, mother nature is being fickle with her weather.
it was sunny and warm all weekend [which was nice for the game]
and later this week it's supposed to get cold & rainy again.

so i decided to do another rainy day post
[also because i just love picking out umbrellas & wellies ;)]

{lk bennett belle cardigan, essie polish in big spender, coach madison shoulder bag, vera bradley umbrella in boysenberry} {burberry rain boots via zappos couture, topshop indigo scarf, citizens of humanity elson jeans via net-a-porter}

the umbrella i'm crushing on right now is vera bradley's boysenberry design.
the pink and navy paisley is just so cheerful for the fall :)
isn't it pretty?

coffee break

just tried the new starbucks salted caramel mocha today.

a-mazing.

definitely made my long day of meetings and lab work much more bearable!

happy friday

a walk in the rain

last weekend i was planning on taking some photos at the fall festival downtown.

but sadly, the rain kept most of the festivities from happening.

so i decided to do a little rainy-day photo walk around campus and downtown instead :)

 ...the leaves are starting to turn...

 ...raindrops on the pretty flowers...

the blue & white corner downtown...with pretty flower boxes in the windows

the pumpkins are ready for carving!

i must say, my walk in the rain was pretty fun

...the cool weather and the vibrant colors...

very refreshing!

color crush: peacock blue & chartreuse

i've always liked the teal color of peacock blue and typically just paired it with simple black.

then i saw this cute tote bag on etsy by goodmarvin and really liked

the combination of peacock blue and yellowish-green chartreuse!

it's a nice fall twist on the traditional blue & green :)

{alexis bittar earrings via nordstrom, victoria beckham jeans via coggles, mossimo cardigan via target, charles david pursuit heels} {merona scarf via target, goodmarvin tote via etsy}

if i didn't have to walk so much every day, i would definitely put those

charles david heels on my shopping list :)  have a great monday!