‘Outfits’ Category

  1. London Living

    February 13, 2013 by Emma

    TurbanOutfit3

    TurbanOutfit4
    TurbanOutfit5

    It’s hard to believe that I’ve been living in London for more than a month already, it’s begun to feel like home so quickly. Tourists have already been asking me for directions, which I muddle my way through the best I can. In all seriousness, I love pretending like I’m a Londoner. It felt far too big at first, especially in comparison to Amsterdam, but getting to know the smaller boroughs has made it accessible. I’m rather in love with both Camden and South Kensington. My friend and I stumbled across the cutest little cafe in Camden the other day, Yumchaa, and we’ve already decided that it’s going to be our study spot. The Camden market is loads of fun, as well. Despite the horrid weather lately, we spent hours wandering the market and getting free samples of mulled wine ;) If anyone has any other recommendations for fun things to check out in, I’d love to hear them!

    This is my first time wearing actual pants in ages! I don’t know what London is doing to me! But seriously, I do think the London cool girl style is rubbing off on me, at least I hope it is. I’ve been rather obsessed with velvet lately, and especially with this turban that I made the other day. Tutorial coming soon!

    TurbanOutfit2

    Camden5
    Camden6

    The Camden Lock Markets

    The Camden Lock Markets


  2. Portabello & Plaid

    January 19, 2013 by Emma

    This is what happens when I go to London– I start dressing about as stereotypically British as possible. I guess I’m trying to blend in? It doesn’t help that my worldview of England is informed almost entirely from BBC period dramas. I’m such a hat person– I got this one when I was in Sweden in December. It’s a vintage “Kitty’s of Stockholm” brand!

    I started classes this past week– so far, so good! I’m taking a Shakespeare class (I figured I had too!), a literature class called ‘literature and place,’ a class on British youth culture from the 60s to today, an art class, and a theatre class that requires us to go see a play each week. For our first play we saw “In the Republic of Happiness” at the Royal Court Theatre. It was definitely an… experience. I enjoyed it immensely, but I feel like it could use a bit more explanation. I just love how accessible the theatre is in London– I’ve managed to narrow down my must-see plays and musicals to four ;)

    I feel like I’m an old hat at this whole study abroad thing, so hopefully I’m not getting ahead of myself when I think that I can balance classes with seeing plays, music, exploring London, and traveling!


    I haven’t done much shopping yet in London, but I can’t wait to check out all the charity shops and markets. My friend and I headed down to Portabello Market yesterday to watch a cooking demonstration and peruse the market, but most of the stalls were snowed out! We still had a great time exploring the area and I can’t wait to go back when it gets a bit less chilly. I thought London was supposed to be warmer than Amsterdam!



     


  3. Stripes and Snow

    December 9, 2012 by Emma

    This is what’s left of the so-called blizzard that blew through Holland yesterday. It’s still at the stage where everything is lovely and glistening, but it’s quickly turning to slush. I do love the concept of snow, but I’m not so fond of it in reality. Sure, I’ll go out and frolic for a bit when it first starts falling, but I much prefer to watch it snow from my room with a cup of tea. And, to make matters worse, I always seem to fall when I attempt to walk in the snow, no matter how deliberately I step. So despite my best efforts at staying warm, I always end up with a soggy bum.

    I feel like I’m hitting up the blogger cliches with this outfit– stripes, mustard, topknot, red lips– but it can’t be helped! I was trying to channel a Swedish vibe, and clearly all bloggers are obsessed with Sweden. The reason for this Scandinavian style? I’m going to Stockholm for the upcoming weekend! You have no idea how excited I am, Sweden has been the place I most wanted to visit and I feel like it’ll be absolutely magical during the Christmas season! I can’t compare to those effortlessly cool Scandinavian ladies, but I can try. It does get hard to look effortless when you wear approximately 4 sweaters and a puffy coat, but hey, I’m from Hawaii. I get cold.

     


  4. Busses and Boats

    November 25, 2012 by Emma

    I’m really loving the fall colors lately and its definitely showing in my outfits. I got this vintage sweater the other day at the Waterlooplein flea market. It’s a bit ridiculous, but sometimes a girl just needs a shirt with a bus on it. It probably used to belong to a 10 year old boy– nothing wrong with that! I do sometimes wish that I could have a more defined sense of style, but I just like to wear too many different things. One day I’ll want to dress in all black with stompy boots and the next I’ll be wearing lace with flowers in my hair.

    I went to Rotterdam with a couple of people from my study abroad program yesterday. It was… an experience. It was a nice enough city, but I do much prefer my cities old and historic. Honestly, I think I’m just a country girl at heart. Rotterdam just felt much too modern to me. We took a walking tour of the city, which was interesting, and I got to visit the cube houses that I had heard so much about. They were fascinating and truly an example of adapting to a difficult living space. I can’t complain about decorating my little dorm room, at least I have vertical walls! I don’t think I could manage in such an awkward space, though– the stairs were ridiculously steep and I did bang my head quite a few times on the sloped walls.

    The famous cube houses

    It was so foggy by the end of the tour that we could barely see anything.
    It made for a great atmosphere down at the harbor, though!

     


  5. Peut-Etre Parisienne

    November 1, 2012 by Emma

    Sometimes I can’t believe that this is my life– I get to live in Amsterdam and I popped on over to Paris for the weekend. How is that real?

    As with any trip, I struggled with packing. But as this was Paris I was going to, I felt I really had to step up my game! I finally ended up on this little outfit for my first day in Paris– comfortable enough to travel in, but still chic (I hope!). It’s true that French look effortlessly gorgeous all the time– I don’t know how they do it, especially as it was absolutely freezing. I suppose it’s just some French gene that foreigners are doomed to be lacking.

    It was lovely to finally get some French speaking in. I’d taken French for years in high school and loved it, but I was sure I’d forget it all when actually confronted by a native speaker. Luckily, most of it came back to me. I feel like I spoke more in those three days than I have in months in Amsterdam!

    Anyways, I’ve got to get going as I’ve got a couple more essays to get done with before this weekend when I jet off to Prague! More Paris recaps and recommendations coming as soon as I go through the hundreds of pictures I shot!

    One cheeky teaser of the Eiffel Tower at night– it really is as beautiful as you would expect!