Monday, June 24, 2013

Weekly Wishes


I am so excited that I have internet connection because I can take a few moments from my cavorting on Boracay to do a little blogging! Blogging is sort of a release for me and so while my husband is away scuba diving I have a few stolen moments to blog, eat cold watermelon, and just take in that beautiful feeling of alone time.

I am linking up with the beautiful and talented Melyssa from The Nectar Collective for her Weekly Wishes link-up. Melyssa's Weekly Wishes link-up is easy-peasy and lets you take time to focus on ONE goal that you would like to achieve during the week. Whatever goal you choose doesn't have to be huge or radical, because even a small achievement is a step in the right direction to creating a more positive life. If you think about it there are 52 weeks in a year so achieving a small goal every week would give you 52 positive achievements, which I'm sure would add up into a HUGE change for the better. :) I missed it last week since I was in en-route to the beautiful island of Boracay, but now I can participate!

My goal for the week is:


To be completely present in the moment.

So often I find myself thinking PAST the current moment and worrying about what I'll do within a few hours, tomorrow, or next week. I feel like I'm missing out on truly enjoying how great the current moment is and by worrying about the future I'm only limiting myself and my experience of the NOW. As my time in Boracay, and later Korea winds down I know that making a more concerted effort to stay in the present will help me not stress out and allow to really enjoy my last days in Boracay and weeks in South Korea.

If you want to get in the Weekly Wishes link-up action then here Melyssa's rules straight from The Nectar Collective:

1. Share your posts about your goals, challenges, and wishes for the next month, week, or year! Posts completely unrelated to the theme will be deleted.

2. Link back to this site so others can get their goal-setting on, too (You can use the button below)

3. The most important rule of all! You must visit the person's blog who linked up before you and leave them some motivating comment love. This is non-negotiable and is such an important part of this link-up! We are here to encourage each other to accomplish our goals. Let's do this together! Can't wait to visit your blogs and see what you are wishing for this week!


<div align="center"><a href="http://thenectarcollective.com" title="The Nectar Collective" target="_blank"><img src="http://thenectarcollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/weekly-wishes-button-yellow.jpg" alt="The Nectar Collective" style="border:none;" /></a></div>
3. The most important rule of all! You must visit
<div align="center"><a href="http://thenectarcollective.com" title="The Nectar Collective" target="_blank"><img src="http://thenectarcollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/weekly-wishes-button-yellow.jpg" alt="The Nectar Collective" style="border:none;" /></a></div>
3. The most important rule of all! You must visit
- See more at: http://thenectarcollective.com/#sthash.zA7vBaSZ.dpuf


Share your posts about your goals, challenges, and wishes for the week, month, or year! Posts completely unrelated to the theme will be deleted. - See more at: http://thenectarcollective.com/#sthash.zA7vBaSZ.dpuf
Share your posts about your goals, challenges, and wishes for the week, month, or year! Posts completely unrelated to the theme will be deleted. - See more at: http://thenectarcollective.com/#sthash.zA7vBaSZ.dpuf
Share your posts about your goals, challenges, and wishes for the week, month, or year! Posts completely unrelated to the theme will be deleted. - See more at: http://thenectarcollective.com/#sthash.zA7vBaSZ.dpuf

Sunday, June 23, 2013

The Clothing Collective Series: Work Out Fashion

Hello everyone! I am beyond excited for today's blog post so let's get started! I'm a fitness freak so I couldn't wait to write-up today's post/I'M IN BORACAY!!! Today's theme for The Clothing Collective series is:

Work Out Fashion

Please know that the "fashion" part of this title is completely subjective and is very loosely interpreted because I have been known to get my sweat on in nothing more than a ratty gym shirt and whatever breathable shorts are handy. However, just because I am apt to throw on whatever is handy when I am running to the gym doesn't mean that I haven't decided to make a conscious effort to look my best when I decide to work up a sweat. 

Lately I have been dressing in a more fashionable way when I get my workout in because I work out, A LOT, like a lot, a lot, and I decided that if I was going to spend so much time doing it I should look good! Looking your best never fails to give a little confidence boost, which is sometimes all someone needs to make a positive choice for the day, so why shouldn't this mentality holdover to a work-out outfit?
I went with a pair of black leggings so that I was able to be comfortable and covered at the same time because there is nothing worse than going through a yoga flow and having to worry about your shorts riding up your booty. For my top I went with a layered look of my sports bra, a simple white tank, and a fun ikat patterned pink tank top from American Eagle. I opted for au-natural, put my beach hair up in a pony and headband, and went makeup-less because who wants sweaty mascara ruining a perfectly good yoga session? 

No one ever, that's who. 

Since arriving in Boracay, I have made it a point to not forget about my fitness goals just because I'm on vacation. I made sure to check out what kind of activities I could participate in and that's when I came across True Yoga. I have been practicing yoga on-and-off since I was 17 when I thought it would be a cool way to spend an hour or so of my time during my last summer at home. As crazy as it sounds to be that was a whopping 10 years ago!! WHOA! So while I'm not the most experienced practitioner I can confidently say that the yoga classes at True Yoga are AMAZING. Not only am I challenged and stretched beyond what I thought myself capable of before the class, but I feel like I have learned so much from just a few classes with True Yoga. True Yoga's teachers honestly care about teaching and you can feel the care that they put into each session, plus what is NOT to love about yoga ON THE BEACH?!

Here are a few less than candid shots of me showing how functional, but adorable my chosen outfit was for a yoga session. I didn't want to be "that" girl taking the selfies while trying to hit a pose so Rich snapped these right after class.


I know that this post is lite on the fashion, but can you blame me? Check this awesome place out! 
About 20 or so feet from here is the ocean! I was able to see the beautiful waves of Boracay while I practiced my yoga for the day, how wonderful is that?
If you find yourself in Boracay and want to check out True Yoga then never fear because they hold super-affordable classes everyday at 9 am. Classes are True Yoga are 400 pesos and they run a little over an hour. Expect to be challenged and come ready for a wonderful opportunity which will serve to further your yoga knowledge.

True Yoga is located on the second floor of the Indian restaurant True Food, which can be found on the beach in D'MALL. If you go to D'Mall just walk along the main road until you see the Sharkey's sign and then take the road towards the beach. You will walk along for about 5 or so minutes passing through a wet market, a Pancake House and Globe mobile store. Keep going until you see a shop called Lonely Planet, turn left and walk along the beach to True Yoga/True Yoga, which is just a few minutes down the beach.

Look for this sign.


True Yoga's FB page, here.

Blogging is crazy hard when you are surrounded by an amazing tropical paradise, but I wanted to make sure that I stuck to the schedule that Katie and I had set out! Check out Katie's super fantastic work-out outfit, here. 

Make sure to leave The Style Dunce some love in the form of comments/some bloglovin'!

Let us know how you are liking The Clothing Collective series and what outfits you would like to see us do in the future. Next on the schedule is beach fun and you just know I'm going to have some great stuff from my time in Boracay! :)



Saturday, June 22, 2013

Happy Summer!

This was the view I had for a few hours today while having fun on the high-seas as a red pirate.
 Hello everyone! Try as I might I missed bringing this beachy goodness to you on the longest day of the year: The Summer Solstice. Whoops! Although, better late than never, right? ;)

Have fun at Puka beach which is by far our favorite beach in Boracay.
Getting my pirate face on before our paraw boat trip.
Awwww....aren't we adorable?
This was the captain of our paraw boat and Deng-Don and he is pretty much the coolest pirate captain that ever was.
I hope you enjoy a few shots from our amazing beach getaway to Boracay and I can't wait to share the rest of it with y'all!  Have you ever been the Phillippines? This is our very first trip to the Philippines and we are loving it so much so far and I think it is my favorite vacation ever. Are you heading anywhere this summer? I'd love to hear about your favorite vacation spots and why, so please make sure to share. :)



Sunday, June 16, 2013

Summer Fun: The Clothing Collective Series

Today's post for The Clothing Collective is focused on dressing for my favorite time of the year: Summer! I absolutely love the heat which I credit to growing up in South Texas WITHOUT an air conditioner. Man, oh man was it hot, but I grew to love the heat and I absolutely love being in the sun. Summer is always a great time of year for me because I can bust out my shorts, pretty sundresses and I love all the toe showcasing shoe options!

Let's get down to the chosen theme for this week: Summer Fun!


Since moving to Korea, I have slowly moved away from my tank top ways and because of the culture have adapted my summer style to cover my shoulders. For some reason in Korea you can show all the leg in the world, but as soon as we get into the shoulder zone things get scandalous! 

Never one to get down about fashion I love pairing a pair of light shorts with a more substantial top and fun shoe to get that summer look. Even though Seoul is a huge city there are no shortage of pretty green spaces so I headed over to the nearest pretty park to snap a few photos on a gorgeous summer day! I love being able to find a peaceful place so easily in the middle of the bustling city and the care that Koreans take in landscaping is going to be sorely missed when I leave.
For my look I paired a casual tank top and snap button lightweight denim top with my favorite black shorts and fun espadrille wedges. I chose a textured leather belt to add some interest and to allow me the option of tucking in my shirt if I wanted. I added a pretty patterned purse and grabbed my shades for a look that I felt comfy, but still stylish in for a Seoul summer day.
I love this purse so much because not only is it pretty, but it is water resistant and is made from a sort of sail canvas material. I'm a bit clueless on it since I picked it up years ago in Santa Cruz, but it is water resistant and DURABLE! I love that I can just wipe everything off of it and I don't have to worry about anything happening to it while I'm out adventuring. 
I bought these shoes last year from Modcloth during one of their crazy flash sales and scored them for a measly 18 bucks! I know, amazing, right?! I love how comfy they are and they add some sunshine to whatever outfit I pair them with. I never bother with expensive sunglasses because I am forever losing, scratching, and dropping my sunglasses to EVER bother spending more than 10 bucks on them, but I love these pretty pink framed sunnies so much I hope I manage to hang on to them!


Shoes: $18.00 Modcloth. Find similar, here.
Shorts: $39.50 Roxy, here.
Top: $20.00 Random Boutique. Find similar, here.
Bag: $40.00 Random Boutique. Find similar, here.
Sunglasses: $6.00 Random Street Vendor. Find similar, here.
Belt: $29.50 American Eagle, here.
Don't forget to swing the Katie's blog, The Style Dunce, to see how she approached our theme of summer fun. Here's a little preview to her sweet summer style.


Read Katie's blog post, here.

Do you have a favorite outfit for the summer? Let us know what kind of outfits you want to see us do and keep reading because our next post will be on creating a work out outfit fit for any fashion forward woman. 

PS: I'm off to beautiful BORACAY tomorrow morning and I couldn't be more excited!! I'm being ambitious about uploading some half completed posts  so I hopefully won't be completely absent from the blogging world. In reality I will probably be in a mojito daze and sunbath instead. Whoops! I can't wait to work on my tan, sip a mojito and take in the island beauty. 

This is where I'll be staying....I can't WAIT!
I hope everyone has an amazing week because I know I will!! I'll be back in 10 days! Have fun everyone. :)


Saturday, June 15, 2013

Let Me Do The Shopping!


Hi there pretty people! My friend Emily over @ The Object Enthusiast shared a few sweet words about her personal shopping experience with moi at the helm. I had so much shopping for Emily and I am happy that she loved her items. Read her post here and if you didn't know Emily is a talented ceramics artist who you need in your life. I did a post on a ceramic jewelry box that I purchased from her and am in absolute love with! If you are looking for those pieces that you will be able to love and pass down generation-to-generation then Emily is your girl.

 Here is a little sampling of Emily's work:




If you want an international vintage shopping trip, but can't afford the plane ticket then just let me take care of it. All you need to do is send me those measurements and consider me your girl. ;)

Visit my vintage shop for the details, Seoul Sold.

Swing by Emily's shop, here.