Where I've Been

Glasses: Zenni's Optical

Blouse: Banana Republic 

Shorts: LOFT 

Sandals: Birkenstocks 

Well, you can say that this post should have been posted a very very long time ago. The last year has been quite stressful and the idea of finishing college in May has me stressed out. Right after my 21st birthday post, I went in for a sleep test and found out that I have a sleep disorder. For the first time in a my life, I now have the answer for why I feel the urge to fall asleep throughout the day. Apparently, narcolepsy has been apparent in my life for a very long time but I didn't think that it was the cause of my inconsistent sleeping urges. I finally have the answer and now I am able to slowly tackle this issue. My mental and physical health has kind of been all over the place and I am also trying to deal with that. Another thing that has made me more hidden in the shadows is the fact that I had a significant amount of weight gain within the last year of my life. I'm focusing on changing my lifestyle habits and I am slowly losing this weight. This is the main reason why I have not posted on Instagram or this blog for a very long time. I am still trying to face my insecurities and I'm trying to get back into taking outfit photos on a regular basis. 

My life has changed and I am noticing that more and more. I no longer have the ability to have a job outside of college and I have been struggling with the idea of finding a job within the next six months. I am not prepared for the career world and this has created a large amount of stress for me. I'm no longer able to ignore the fact that graduation is right around the corner.

These are the main reasons on why I have not shared a large portion of my life within the last few months and I am slowly trying to get back into the blogging spirit. Other than those reasons, I have been doing okay and I am embracing the holidays. I'm ready to spend my nights wrapping presents over winter break  and spending some time with Ethan, my dogs, and my family. (I am also trying to get as many festive photos that I can with Ethan and Bentley) The thing that has been getting me through this semester is the idea that the holidays are around the corner and I love the holiday season. 

I apologize that this is a giant blurb but I thought I should explain the reasons why I have kept my personal life off of Instagram and this blog recently. I'm really hoping that I will be able to post more and share more soon. 

With love,

Carmen xx 

Celebrating 21 Years with 21 Random Facts

Romper: GAP

Heels: Steve Madden 

Hey everyone! Today happens to be my 21st birthday and I decided that I would post 21 random facts about me. I definitely have grown over the last few years and I am more than excited for this upcoming year. I'm not really excited to turn 21 because I can now drink at some of my favorite restaurants. I'm excited to turn 21 because this is the year that I graduate from college and I will be working in a field that I have been longing to do for years. This is the year that signifies large life changes and I am slightly terrified and slightly excited for what is yet to come.


I'll finally get into the main intention of this post below:

1. My name means 'song' in latin and my online latin teacher loved to acknowledge that in every class.

2. One of my main childhood passions involved singing in front of a church congregation but I hardly sing now.

3. Growing up, I often played main villains in all of the musicals I participated in besides my seventh grade year. I was finally able to switch it up and play Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.

4. The first sport I learned how to play was basketball when I was four.

5. Despite playing basketball for eight years, I'm still terrible at it.

6. Tennis is my favorite sport I've ever played. I love being able to do my own thing but be surrounded by my teammates and supporters.

7. Some of my college best friends have come from tennis.

8. I am a HUGE superhero and Harry Potter fanatic!

9. My dad has raised my sister and I alone for the last 16 years and we owe all of our nerd lifestyles to him!

10. I collect Funko Pops and I have a collection of over 200 of them. Sometimes I feel like I have alternate personas because I am a collector and a blogger.

11. My favorite movie series of all time is the Princess Diaries. I love Anne Hathaway so much!

12. My favorite tv show is Reign! I love the entire background of the show and I love the actress that plays Queen Mary (Adelaide Kane) so much! I can watch the entire series on repeat!

13. I've struggled with anxiety since I was 5 but owe the progress that I've made towards overcoming it to my family, best friends, and Ethan.

14. Ethan and I have already made a ton of plans for our future home already even though we won't be able to purchase one until 2021.

15. My childhood dog, Dallas, is the carbon copy of me in dog form!

16. One of my favorite places to travel to on my birthday is the zoo. We plan on going there for my 21st birthday!

17. I will always be a fan of young adult novels because the plots of the books are always wild.

18. My dream job is to work for a Fortune 500 apparel corporation in their marketing or merchandising departments.

19. I secretly want to start a YouTube channel but I feel like no one would enjoy any of the content. I honestly think that no one reads this blog but I just use it as a platform to vent.

20. I love to go shopping but have an increasing fear of shopping malls so I often settle for online shopping in order to have a worry free experience.

21. I spent my nap times in kindergarten teaching myself how to tie my shoes and would often get in trouble for not sleeping.


If you have made it this far, gold stars for you! I know that these are in no particular order and all over the place but I hope that they are remotely interesting.

For anyone that has looked back on the history of this blog, you will realize that my first post was on my 15th birthday in 2013. I've been writing on this goofy blog for about six years which seems like forever ago. Even if this is the first post you've ever came across on my blog, I can't thank you enough for stopping by! This blog is a creative outlet from my daily life and every little view encourages me to keep doing this.

Thank you for stopping by on my random 21st birthday blog post. I hope you all have a good weekend and I will see you back on this blog sometime next week!

With love,

Carmen xx 

Little Victories

Blouse: J Crew 

Shorts: LOFT 

Sandals: Belk 

Hello everyone! I'm writing this post because I have been struggling physically and mentally recently. I find myself hardly acknowledging the little accomplishments I preform in my daily life and constantly worry about "big goals." In my head, my big goals are to lose weight and grow a larger instagram following. Both of these goals are not obtainable over night and I struggle at the end of the day because I was not able to accomplish these goals. My goal for this post is to acknowledge the "little victories" that you perform everyday and help people understand that we accomplish goals every day. These little victories can include getting out of bed in the morning, leaving the house, or just taking time for self-care. I know that some of my little victories include me leaving the house or eating a healthy meal. It is hard for anyone that struggles with mental illness to realize that everything they do in a day can be considered a little victory. I decided that I would show my own little victories to reinforce that simple things can be big accomplishments. Here are my little victories for the week starting on July 12th to July 19th. 

July 12th: Ethan and I enrolled for a gym membership at a local gym facility. This was a huge deal for me because I was trying to overcome the way that public gyms make me feel. 

July 13th: I spent the day reorganizing my entire bedroom and cleared out a ton of clothes to sell or donate. 

July 14th: I collect Funko Pops and have accumulated over 200 of them within the last few years and I was finally able to part with a few of them. I used Ebay to sell my collectibles and reached $450 in sales. 

July 15th: My accomplishment on this day was that Ethan and I finally went out in public to take some blog photos. This is another big deal for me because I have lacked the confidence to take pictures in public. 

July 16th: On this day, Ethan and I went to the gym and I finally gained the confidence to run on a treadmill (for about 30 seconds) but this was still a BIG deal for me. I have lacked the confidence to run in a gym for almost 2 years and this made me feel like I was slowly gaining back my self confidence. 

July 17th: I was able to finally post a photo on Instagram explaining this new blog post and the purpose behind it. It may have been a ton of word vomit but it definitely made me feel better! 

July 18th: Ethan and I went to a collectible release day all morning. When we go on this shopping trip, there are a ton of people waiting to purchase Funko Pops so it is often crowded. I managed to control my anxiety for a few hours and was able to purchase everything I wanted. This meant a lot to me because I get very anxious in public places like the mall or busy events. 

July 19th: On my last day of this journey, Ethan and I tackled cleaning out a large amount of collectibles, old toys, and clothes to sale in a yard sale at my house. I was able to part with the things that brought me so much happiness 15 years ago. I have a hard time parting with old items but I know that everything went to a good home. 

I just wanted to write this post for anyone that is struggling with their mental health or feel as if they are in a rut and feel like they are not accomplishing anything. Often times, we put ourselves down for not being able to accomplish "big goals" and that discourages you even more. I wanted to highlight that we all have "little victories" every single day and no matter how small we seem to think they are, they are still tasks that help us in our daily lives. 

And with that note, I will end this blogpost here. I should be writing a blog post that will be going up on my 21st birthday. It will be 21 random facts about me that most people do not know. So look out for that this Friday! 

I hope this blog post helped at least one individual to acknowledge that they are always successful even if they do not really notice it!

With love, 

Carmen xx 

Life as of Now

Hey everyone! I'm back with a life update. Right now, I have lost all of my summer plans that I initially planned to have. I was supposed to start an internship and have the ability to work in a company this summer without having any health restrictions. The company was no longer able to house an intern this summer. I found the negative news out last week and it has thrown my summer plans all over the place. If anyone knows me, I struggle with living spontaneously and like to plan out every detail of my life. Another thing that I found out last week was that I was going to deal with more health appointments that I had not anticipated. This last week has definitely been frustrating and I am struggling on how to spend my time this summer. As most of my readers now, I have an Etsy store that you can visit here. Some products that I plan on selling are related towards pets. I am trying to some snazzy collars that can appeal to everyone. Another thing that I plan on focusing on, is my Poshmark which you can find here. I have been searching through a ton of my old clothes and listing them on that selling platform. Besides dealing with some difficulties recently, I have donated over 300 pieces of clothing to numerous thrift stores in my area. This is a HUGE accomplishment because I am notorious for holding on to every item in my closet. 

These little things have helped me get through the last few weeks and I am grateful to have a partner that helps me through every situation. He has definitely gotten me through this transition and helped me adapt to these new issues. For that, I am eternally grateful. 

That's a summary of my life at the moment. I have been forced to live spontaneously instead of living by my planner. This summer is going to definitely push me out of my comfort zone but hopefully, I can hold it together. 

I'll be back with another post that will be positive. (hopefully) Thank you for sticking around to the end of this post!

With love, 

Carmen xx 

Benefits of Going on Adventures to the Thrift Store

Fabletics Sports Bra and Workout Leggings Set 

Original Price at the Consignment Store: $18

Price I Paid: $9

Mountain Khakis Blouse

Original Price at Consignment Store: $18

Price I Paid: $3.60

New Directions Blouse

Original Price at the Consignment Store: $9

Price I Paid: $1.80

JCrew Linen Blouse 

Original Price at Consignment Store: $9

Price I Paid: $1.80

Gap Dress

Original Price at the Consignment Store: $15

Price I Paid: $3.00

NEW JCrew Blouse

Original Price at the Consignment Store: $12

Price I Paid: $2.40

Hey everyone! I'm finally back to blogging. I turned in my last final exam of my junior year of college today. While I was procrastinating, I went on a TON of shopping trips but they have all been to local thrift stores and consignment stores. In this post, I'm going to talk about the importance of shopping second hand and the great deals that you can find at thrift stores. 

I shopped fast fashion a ton in high school and I acquired a large amount of clothes during that time period. Unfortunately, I was not aware of the working conditions and the unethical labor happening behind each garment. At the time, the clothing from stores like Forever 21 were extremely cheap and that is what drew me into shopping there. I am highly aware of the unethical practices of these clothing brands and have decided to try to diminish the amount of fast fashion I purchase to over 75%. Within the last couple months, I have been shopping at thrift stores and consignment stores with Ethan almost every week. Here are the benefits that I have found:

1. Purchasing from thrift stores is sustainable and you are not promoting fast fashion!

2. You can find AMAZING deals at thrift and consignment stores! 

3. The hunt for good clothing is exciting and you can create a whole day trip adventure traveling to different thrift stores. 

4. You can find designer gems in the middle of a random rack. (I just found a vintage Kate Spade blouse but that is for another post) 

5. If you like the general look of a piece, you can DIY or change it up to look like a whole new garment. 

6. If you go to a consignment store, you will find color coded deals that can range from Full Price to 80% off. 

The items that I posted today are all items that would initially cost me $87 at the consignment store but I found some awesome color coded deals. I managed to purchase 7 items (if you count the sports bra and leggings separately) for only $24. 

This entire post is just me emphasizing how freaking cool second hand shopping is and how it saves you a ton of money! My next post is going to compare what $25 can get you at the thrift store or the consignment store. Check back in soon if you want to read about how exciting I am to purchase secondhand clothes. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk about clothes.

With love, 

Carmen xx 

Sew What You Love and Do What You Love

Scarves: Hand sewn by me 

Sweater: Thrifted

Jeans: GAP

Hello everyone! I've been trying to find the time to blog but it has been few and far between. I have been starting the process to create my own Etsy store. Within the last month, I am falling back into love with sewing and it has been my favorite pass time. I started sewing when I was 14 with my grandmother's old Singer sewing machine. I made skirts and found ways to enhance thrifted jeans when I was around 15. I really disconnected with sewing within the last few years and I forgot how much I loved it! I've decided to create scarves, pocket tees, and potentially skirts to sell on Etsy. This whole process is going to be lengthy but it helps me make money while doing one of the things I love most. 

If you need me anytime soon, I'll probably be sewing or figuring out how to jump start this business. (Also, I have to thank Ethan for being the biggest supporter of this random business venture) That's all for now folks! I'll be back very soon. 

With love, 

Carmen xx 

Holiday Outfit Inspiration

Top: LOFT

Skirt: LOFT 

Top: LOFT

Skirt: LOFT

Dress: LOFT

Scarf: Handmade by me

Hello all! I'm back with a life update and some last minute outfits for any holiday party. I've been focused on dealing with some medical situations this month. Everything that is currently happening is altering my life for a while. I haven't had the time or chance to take pictures of holiday outfits until yesterday. I'm hoping that I'll be able to post more on this blog within the next few months because I will no longer be working.

Anyways, I've styled all of these looks based on the new items I've purchased from LOFT. Every item that I'm wearing was less than $20 which is beautiful when you're a full-time college student. My personal favorite outfit is the last one. I have been able to sit down to sew recently and I've been focusing on sewing infinity scarves. The fabric I used for this scarf was only five dollars which is less expensive than the scarves you can purchase in your local mall.  

That's all for today! I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! 

With love, 

Carmen xx