December 29, 2011

Playing with fire.








Outfit Details:
cardigan target
woven tank aerie
tank tops victorias secret
skirt h&m
belt forever 21
leggings target
knee high socks forever 21
boots thrift


So big things happened today, Ben juggled his torches for the first time! And if you don't quite understand, he juggled fireAnd he didn't burn himself or catch anything around him on fire. Therefore deeming his first go at it a complete success! I was pretty nervous for him, especially considering todays weather, chilly and very windy, but he juggled them flawlessly and totally nailed it. I am so happy for him :)
I sort of threw this outfit together very last minute, I've acquired this new awesome habit of sleeping through my alarms every morning now it seems, and by awesome I mean totally frustrating. I have no idea why I've randomly picked this habit up considering I am using the same alarm ringer as before, but it's been happening for over a week now! I really hope it doesn't happen to me tomorrow because Ben's brother just got back from being deployed in Japan for the past 5 or 6 months so his family is taking us into Boston to spend the day together tomorrow. So dear alarm gods, if you can hear me, please wake me at 7am tomorrow, please.
Other than that news, I did a teensy bit of shopping today which I am excited to share with you what I got! I know I sound like a broken record saying this, but I swear once the holidays slow down I'll have pretty pictures detailing my Christmas gifts as well as my recent purchases. I promise. But I must call it a night now since I've got an early wake up call ahead of me tomorrow, hopefully I remember to bring my camera so I can share with you how our day in Boston went. :) But for now, good night!



December 28, 2011

Vintage Photographs.



While at my grandmothers house on Christmas Day we pulled out a few boxes containing old memories that had been tucked away for years and years. In them we found my Grandmothers Prom Dress, some pictures of her in her childhood, and a few photos that used to hang around her house that had been put away and forgotten to be put back up.
And with that being said, I share with you my two favorite portraits from within that box. I am unsure of their age here, but thats my Grandmother, Agnes, and my Grandfather, Raymond. I am so in love with these, I recall seeing them hanging in my Grandparents bedroom wall when I was very young and used to sleep over nearly every weekend. I am especially thrilled about having this terribly dusty photo-of-a-photo of my Grandfather. He passed away when I was in 7th grade, the first ever death of a close relative I've ever experienced, so it was especially difficult for me.. Since that time I only have a small collection of photos of he and I from my childhood, but you can barely make out his face (the not so great thing about cheap disposable cameras!) so I am very pleased to have this saved to my hard drive. I am also amazed by the fact that he looks the exact same here in the photo I've shared, as he did in his old age. I hope those gene's carry over to me, oh how I would love to age as beautifully as he did. And I am not even kidding! At 70 he looked precisely as he does in this portrait, maybe with a few wrinkles around his eyes, but he did not change one bit. I swear!

A Typical New England Winter? Hardly.












Outfit Details:
coat h&m
blouse forever 21
pants h&m
belt h&m
navy flats forever 21
handbag tj maxx


I am absolutely shocked by the weather we've been having lately, you know you're a true New Englander when you're actually bumming over the lack of snow on the ground! I can not believe how warm it's been! And still no snow! If this isn't an obvious sign of the effects of global warming, then I don't know what is.. We did have a spontaneous snow storm on October 30th which left us with more than a foot and a half of snow, but as you can tell it's clearly melted away by now. I just hope this annoying rain turns into snow by tonight! I would love to wake to see a pretty blanket of white covering the earth.. Oh how I wish!
This outfit which I wore yesterday sports two new items given to me by Santa Clause! The jacket which is from H&M, was na incredible 50% off which Santa just couldn't refuse, and the blouse is just to pretty to pass up on too! I am actually surprised how this outfit looks in these photos, I look so short! I mean, I am pretty short (5'4 1/2!), but the blouse is slightly cropped, so I thought by pairing them with slightly higher waisted jeans my legs would seem elongated, but that just doesn't seem to be the case! Either way, I pieced this one together because I needed to dress for two occasions yesterday, the first was the wake of a good old friend of Ben and I's who lost his mother tragically a week ago today (so close to the Holidays :( ), and the second event was a gathering of Ben's parents friends to celebrate the holidays, so I needed something dressy, but also some what casual and appropriate for the wake.


I also wanted to ask you guys what you'd like to see more of here on Indie Elise. Do you feel I should just keep on trucking with the usual Outfit of the Day blog entries with a little snippet detailing that particular day? Or perhaps more day in the life photos, or wish lists maybe? I'm open to suggestions! Indie Elise is still fairly new (although technically this blog was started this time last year, so she's 1 year old truthfully!) so I am definitely willing to work with you here to an extent to serve you with blog entries of your preferred taste! Just shoot me a comment listing some of the things your few favorite bloggers do that make them your favorite bloggers! I look forwards to reading what you have to say! But for now, it's 5:15 in the morning and I haven't had a wink of sleep quite yet, so to stop me from wasting my Wednesday and sleeping through the entire day i'm forcing myself off for now. So, Sweet Dreams!...?

December 26, 2011

The Coast.
















Outfit Details:
scarf aldo
button down top f21
white woven tank aerie
jeans h&m
boots urban outfitters
belt h&m


How was Christmas for everyone?! I hope Santa was good to you all! He certainly was to me! Which I will share with you what I got very shortly, so expect a blog entry coming your way sometime this week! But anyways, Christmas Eve my family threw together a very last minute shindig which turned out to be a total hit! Everyone we invited came! (close friends and my dad's side of the family) There was every type of food offered imaginable, and I participated in my first every Yankee Swap! I ended up with 6 scratch tickets (all losers :( ) and a pair of 24k gold earrings. Ben and I ate tons, got very drunk, and mingled with the side of my family I was never very close with growing up, so it was awesome reconnecting and catching up after years of not seeing them. I think it's going to become an annual sort of thing, so expect photos from it this time next year!
But today was another one of those spur of the moment kind of days, which are rare, but I just love them so much. Ben and I had no plans for today, but his dad put aside a flyer for us early this morning which he thought would interest us, which, it very much so did! There is currently this festival sort of thing happening in Portland, ME which has a few days off, so a few of the performers have been performing during the days off in Portsmouth, NH to made a little extra side cash while the festival rests for the holiday. Todays event held a fairly well known juggler (although Ben and I had never heard of him, we figured if he was pretty well known it must mean he was very talented!) a magician and an illusionist so we figured "what the heck!" and made the hour + drive to Portsmouth. The show was wonderful! The juggler was the best I had ever seen (his comedy portion was hilarious!) and the other two acts were just alright, the illusionist being better than the magician though I must say! I am so glad we decided to go, we're even considering making the trip again later on this week since the festival will be off then too. It will be totally different acts but after todays we figure it's well worth it! After the show we went to Dos Amigos, a small chain of sort-of fast food restaurants spread out along the southern coast of NH to eat some very cheap quesadillas. And after that, we decided to just head home since there would be that the-day-after-Christmas-craziness going on. Now Ben and I are just watching re-runs of Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia and munching on left over party food, tomorrow we're taking my cat to the vet for a usual check up, attending a wake to support on old close friend of ours, then spending the remainder of our evening at a Holiday party Ben's family attends each and every year. Now, I must go return to my program, my boy, and my drink.. Have a happy holidays everybody!

December 24, 2011

Happy Christmas Eve!


Just wanted to pop in quickly to wish my readers and fellow bloggers a very Merry Christmas! I hope ol Saint Nicholas treats you well tomorrow morning!

December 23, 2011

Burnt Orange.

















Outfit Details:
cardigan target
denim tank thrift
pants h&m


aaaaaand worst blogger award goes to~ me! I can not believe how quickly these days have flown by me! I truly am sorry, the holidays have been keeping me and Ben ever so busy, so busy in fact that we haven't found a single second to stop and take outfit pictures.. Although truthfully I haven't been wearing the best ensembles.. But this one I felt was worth sharing! I am actually planning on recycling this one at my Christmas Eve party my dad, sister and I are throwing, so hopefully I will have better photos of it then! Hope the holidays are cheery and wonderful for you all!

December 18, 2011

Santa Baby

I was in total shock when I realized Christmas is only but a week away! These last few months have completely flown by me without me realizing how close we're getting to 2011's end. And although 2011 gave me many wonderful memories and terrific moments, it also gave my family and I many stressful months, so I am completely ready to bid farewell to 2011 and welcome 2012 with wide open arms! I am also expecting 2012 has an awesome job waiting for me, I mean, thats the reason why I haven't been able to find one yet, right? 2011 was a rough year and 2012 will be my best one yet? Yeah, thats what i'm thinking!
These are my materialistic wants and needs this Christmas. I'm hoping to find at least one of them waiting for me underneath the tree this year. Most of the items on my list I have been lusting over for several years now so hopefully the streak can end and I'll finally be able to call a few of these my very own! What are you guys asking for?







December 15, 2011

Rosy red.











Outfit Details:
cardigan h&m
crop button up thrift
dress target
boots fergalicious
tights vera wang
charm bracelet juicy couture

These photos don't really show it, but today's weather is pretty dreary. After Ben's gig we bid farewell to northern most New Hampshire and headed south to our second booked hotel. The town we're currently in for the night isn't anything impressive, plus not to mention it's been raining pretty steadily since 4am this morning so we're opting out of exploring our surroundings and just lying in our King size bed getting drunk. Sounds like a good alternative to me!
Fun fact though, our hotel is right next to the location of the first ever widely publicized alien abduction in America. I am slightly petrified though due to the fact that I am a definite believer of extraterrestrial life forms and when I was younger I researched them so much that I gave myself countless reoccurring nightmares.. so fingers crossed I am able to fall asleep tonight!

A day spent exploring.
















Outfit Details:
teal jacket h&m
scarf forever 21
cardigan pacsun
tank forever 21
jeans target
bow waist belt forever 21
boots thrift


Yesterday I made the wise decision to save a dress I had packed and to instead wear a much more comfortable outfit since we planned on spending the entire day off exploring the strange town of Colebrook, NH. And I definitely did not regret my wardrobe decision one bit, i'm sure you've noticed my red nose, cheeks, and iced over fingers in these pictures. It was mighty cold out, and trekking through the snow to find the cool locations we were told to seek out didn't help warm us up either as you might imagine. There were a few times where we had to stop so Ben could wrap his much larger hands around mine and shove them in his pockets for a few minutes to try to return my fingers to their original coloring. It was frigid, just trust me on this one.
But as you can see, acquiring nearly frost bitten finger tips was well worth it, the locations we found were BEAUTIFUL. We were told we MUST visit the Colebrook waterfall above all else by the gentleman who owns the hotel we're staying at. When we were on the hunt for it, I envisioned a rinky dink little stream trickling down a slight hill because when I hear the word WATERFALL, I immediately picture the kinds of waterfalls located on gorgeous tropical islands that decent from mountain tops into clear blue lakes. I had little faith that a waterfall in New Hampshire would even be the slightest bit impressive, but BOY was I wrong about that.. It was massive and completely breath taking (as you can see!) It certainly impressed me! And I solemnly swear that from now on I will have more of an open mind about northern New Hampshire, it's certainly full of surprises and unexpected beauty. I really have grown to love it up here.. I'd even possibly consider living here one day if only these towns weren't four hours away from the closest mall.. That is just too far from civilization.. but an occasional visit every now and again is definitely a must I'd say.
After the waterfall Ben and I sought out a covered bridge we were also told to check out then spent the remainder of our evening walking Colebrook's downtown area, popping into the occasional store to see what a town like this has to offer. One thing I'd like to mention, I truly regret forgetting to pack contact solution, because the cheapest we were able to buy it was a $12 knock off brand medium sized bottle. Damn you my forgetful mind and damn you little town in the middle of no where jacking up your contact solution prices just because you can. Just damn you!
Today we're headed back up north a little ways to a school just a town or two over from the first school that we had visited on Tuesday. Hopefully it will be another in-and-out quickly kinda job, then we're making the drive a few hours south into civilization to check into our last and final hotel of the trip and do some more exploring! I have tons of photos so stay tuned for those!