Journal Day #2 via Sometimes Sweet

We all have songs that really mean something to us. Often just hearing it can take us right back to that place and we are able to re-experience the memory associated with the song. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but either way music has the ability to really draw things out of us and evoke deep emotion. Choose a song that has a particular meaning to you. Tell the story of the memory associated with the song, sharing as much detail as you can. Take us there; let us experience it with you.

This journal entry is kind of an unintentional part two of my Journal Day #1 because it picks up right where that one left off. 

It's September 2011, Joe and I just made our relationship official and are new boyfriend and girlfriend. I remember he texted me one morning telling me that Blink-182, a favorite of both of ours, was going to be in Tempe in a week. With it only being a couple hours away, and me never never had seen them live before, we absolutely had to go. We went online and bought the tickets. We were both so excited. Not only to see Blink, but this would be our first little day trip together!

Joe and I, being our incredibly nerdy selves, went to Hot Topic at our mall the morning of the show and bought matching Blink Bunny tee shirts. We even agreed to both wear our black TOMS to match! We then hit the road on our way to see the show! I was driving, so I remember Joe saying he was going to put on Blink-182 radio on Pandora to get us in the mood! So that's what we listened to the whole way down. We were on the I-17, when all I can remember is laughing so, so hard. Joking around and just having  so much fun together. When ever I think back at these times I always wonder why we laughed so hard at the dumbest things. Like the vinyl Blink Bunny toy we got free with our tee shirts, we decided to name Niles and kept giving him weird voices and making him say weird things. Don't ask haha.

Another strange detail we both remember about that drive is Joe sticking a TOMS flag out the car window (the little ones that come with the shoes) and telling me to roll the window up to hold it in place. And instead of up I accidentally rolled the window down and the blue flag just flew away, and for some reason that was so hilarious to us and we laughed uncontrollably for way too long. And to this day, whenever we pass that part of the freeway, Joe always says, "This is where we lost our TOMS flag." And I love that so much. 

The point of this whole story is the song Always by Blink-182. It was the song playing in the background when this oh-so-hilarous incident happened. And even though I didn't really notice it at the time, that song is what brings that little memory back into my mind, every single time. And now whenever I hear that song, the way I felt that day all comes back; the nervous butterflies when you really really like someone, and the carefree giggles that were non-stop that whole car ride.

We went on this trip to see Blink-182 live, but the real memories were the fun we had together on the drive there, and I love that I have this song as a kind of souvenir from that day.

I love this song so much.



More info on Journal Day.

Blush Worthy

I don't know about you, but I've been paying close attention to upcoming Spring items, so excited for the soon season change, and I'm seeing a whole lot of blush. That pretty, pale pink, ballerina color. And to be completely honest, it's not a color I would generally go for, as I usually go for more bold colors for Spring, but for some reason this color keeps grabbing my attention. I'm starting to warm up to the idea of wearing this incredibly feminine color. I don't have a pink bow in my collection, and I love this one from American Apparel! I'm learning lately that you don't ever have to stick to one style, and it can be really fun to change things up and add some new, different things to your wardrobe! Here are a few things in blush I'm loving.

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6

Tattoo Time!

Yesterday I finally went into my appointment I booked two months ago and got my feet tattooed. This is something I've been wanting to do for a couple years now, especially after getting a pretty horrible little tattoo on my foot I've wanted to cover since I had it done. I kept putting it off though, a little worried that feet tattoos would be harder to cover up if needed, since I always wear shoes that would show them. Plus, I've heard feet tattoos are super painful and a pain to heal. But a couple months ago I decided it was time it needed to be done, so I made the appointment. 

I walked into the shop yesterday feeling so, so nervous. This tattoo was one I knew would show with almost everything, especially with warmer weather coming up. So I made sure they were completely perfect. I had him reline up the stencil three times! And then came the nerves for the pain, which now I understand why so many people say feet are the worst, it was by far the most painful tattoo I've gotten! Especially the outline, I was making weird faces throughout the whole thing! Thankfully, he got through the outlines rather quickly, so I was able to relax and just talk to him and Joe during the shading and coloring. 

For the tattoos, I decided to go with a yellow rose on each foot. Obviously, yellow is my favorite color, and I've always absolutely loved yellow roses. I remember in high school I used to collect them and had tons of them dried all over my room. They just have such a happy, cheerful feeling to them, and it made perfect sense to have a couple of them on my body. Plus, I knew I wanted something somewhat neutral so it didn't take too much away from my shoes, haha! 

So right now I'm sitting in bed with my feel elevated, trying to distract myself from the throbbing pain in my incredibly puffy feet. I know it's going to take a few weeks for them to heal completely, so I want to really take good care of them so they heal nicely. They hurt really bad, like I can barely walk, but I'm so excited to have them done, and can't wait until they're healed and I can show them off!

Dear Creatures Spring 2014

Let's all just take a moment to awe at the gorgeous photos of Dear Creatures Spring 2014 collection. This is one of my favorite clothing lines ever and I always get so excited when they introduce a new collection, plus, they now sell jeans!! I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on a pair of them and a new dress (or two!)

Spring and Daisies and RoseGal

It's that time of year again, when Spring is just around the corner and I am beaming with excitement. There are so many things that come with Spring that I just adore and can't ever get enough of. Trees start blossoming, daisies are popping out everywhere, and the warm weather makes it so easy to just throw on a cute dress and go! Here in Prescott we aren't quite there yet, but definitely getting close! Today it was a lovely 63 degrees and the perfect opportunity to pull out this yellow pleated dress that RoseGal was generous enough to send me!

It's light, flowy, dresses like this one that really make me look forward to warmer days. It's so easy to just throw it on and look good! I am always in the market to add fun, colorful dresses to my collection, and if you're the same, RoseGal is a great place to look! They have so, so many different styles to choose from, all super affordable, and free shipping of everything! So go take a look, and if you find anything good, use coupon code freshspring to get 8% off your order, good until March 8.

Dress: c/o RoseGal, Shirt and Sandals: Target

Family Hike

Today was such a beautiful day here in Prescott, so Joe and I decided to take our furry little children on a little hike. Which they both loved. We drove up to Thumb Butte and walked the easy trail almost all the way up. I tried the harder, steeper trail earlier this week, and a half an hour just about killed me, so this was much better. I enjoyed so much spending time out with my cute little family, getting some exercise and being surrounded by beautiful scenery. Things like this make my workout goals so fun and easy!

I also received my FitBit Force in the mail a couple days ago (yay!) and am starting to get the hang of the thing, it was kind of confusing at first! But I took it out on our hike today and plan on wearing it every day now to track everything since it's not that horrible looking. I'll do a little review on it soon too, in case anyone is interested in knowing more about them!

I hope you all had a wonderful Saturday and like me, were able to spend some time outside and with the people (or animals) you love!

Itty Bitty Us

As you all know, since I talk about it a ton, I'm getting married this June. Four months from now! And the last few months have been non-stop wedding planning and decision making. And anyone who has ever planned a wedding before knows just how many choices there are that are all on you and your partner. It gets pretty overwhelming!

Well, recently Jenna from Jenna Leslye Designs made this whole process one step easier by gifting us a set of her adorable hand-made cake toppers! Seriously, how cute are these things?! I absolutely love that they're personalized, so they're made just for you, and I'm a sucker for anything hand-made.

For our wedding, I really wanted to try to stick to mostly hand-made and DIY, since it gives such a personal touch to a wedding, so these cake toppers are absolutely perfect! She even added a little yellow bow to my hair, so cute! I can't wait to display these on our special day, and know they'll have a place in our hutch forever!

If you or anyone you know is in the process of planning a wedding, be sure to check out Jenna Leslye Designs on Etsy! I'm sure you'll find something you love!

Hand-made wooden cake toppers c/o Jenna Leslye Designs

Journal Day #1 via Sometimes Sweet

One of my favorite blogs Sometimes Sweet just started doing a "Journal Day," where she will post a prompt on her blog, and you are supposed to write an entry based off of it. I jumped at the opportunity to do this because not only is it a great encouragement to start actually writing, but Danielle was my English teacher my sophomore year of high school, and she did that exact same Journal Day! I really loved walking into her classroom and seeing a new prompt written on the white board. I loved having fifteen minutes to just write whatever I was feeling (we didn't have to do her prompt, we didn't even have to write properly! She was the best teacher!) It was nice having a few moments a week in school to be able to forget about grades and writing perfectly and just be able to write for ourselves. Even though I will admit that sometimes I would just write complete nonsense, see above, haha!

So for the very first out of high school Journal Day, this is the prompt:

Everyone has a time in their life they view as a crossroad. Sometimes you can see it as it's happening, and you're able to choose one way or another. Other times you may not realize you're there until you look back, and see what a turning point it really was. This week, write about a time you view as a marker in your life; a distinct place where things changed, for better or worse. 

One of the biggest turning points in my twenty years was when I met Joe. I remember it was during my care-free "don't care what people think" phase. I was eighteen, on my own, and just wanted to be free. I enjoyed going to parties, sleeping until noon, and I'll admit to it now, playing rough with boys' hearts. I was happy and had no plan to change.

Fast forward through about eight months of these days, it's mid June and I'm at a friend's house playing beer pong when I receive a new friend request on Facebook from someone I didn't recognize. I accepted the request and started looking through this guy's photos. I decided to be brave and send this Joe guy a message. We chatted about nothing for the rest of the night and I ended the online conversation with giving him my phone number. Not something I did often until recently, I did it too much. 

I woke up to a text the next morning from a strange Vermont number asking to hang out. We agreed to meet at Starbucks that evening. He was bringing a friend, I'd bring my sister. We walked into Starbucks when I saw Facebook guy sitting there holding an iPhone and laughing with his friend. My very first thought was that he's NOT from around here! Skinny jeans, TOMS, and an army green jacket. We sat down with them and all said things you say when first meeting someone. Joe is from Vermont. He just moved here a few months ago. He is twenty-one. He's obsessed with Apple products. 

As cheesy as it sounds, I knew right away he was special and I wanted to be with him.

But things didn't happen that neatly. I ignored my strong feelings for him and refused to let them be real. I didn't want a relationship, I was having too much fun. I was hurt pretty badly by a guy only a year prior and wasn't ready to trust someone. But unlike any other guy I had a "thing" with at that time, Joe kept reappearing. I kept feeling the desire to talk to him and be with him. Something I hadn't felt for someone in a long time. But my stubbornness kept it from turning into anything real. I just kept insisting to myself that he was just going to be like everyone else, so I just ignored him.

Joe was the most persistent guy I had ever come across. Everyone else had given up on my games, and I didn't blame them! But Joe always insisted on dates and long phone conversations. We even joke about it sometimes, how even when I was rude and acted uninterested, he tells me now he could see right passed it and was willing to put up with it. And to this day that is something that I am so happy he did. 

I finally agreed to be his girlfriend in September. I gained a boyfriend, a best friend, and someone I soon realized I couldn't live without. And although most decisions in your life need to come from only you, this particular one was pushed from someone else. And I couldn't be more thankful that there was someone who came along and made the right choice for me when I wasn't able to myself.

So there's my first Journal Day! I'm glad I decided to do this and cannot wait to see what the next prompt will be! If you want to join in on Journal Day too, click here for more info on it!

Happy Birthday Blog!

It's official! I have been blogging on Sincerely, Cam for one year now! I'm pretty proud of my little blog! Mostly because I was able to find the drive to blog multiple times a week, which I wasn't able to do the first few months, and started to have fun doing it instead of worrying about it not being good enough and never going anywhere. I've learned so much since I first started, made so many blogger friends, and really feel like I'm starting to discover my voice as a blogger. I enjoy coming to this space so much and coming up with new ideas for it. Even if this blog never gets huge, I love having this space of my own to be creative, and love being able to look back to what I was thinking or feeling a certain day. 

Since it's been a year, I made a list of my personal favorite posts so far. And if you would like, I would love to hear what your favorite posts have been, what you don't care for, and what you'd like to see more of. I really would like to start more series and little things of my own, so your feedback helps a lot! 

Here's to a year of blogging, and hopefully lots more!

lets run away to the happiest place // our engagement photos

do you believe in magic // a fair day

all about tattoos // poise and click

dress like a nanny // benefit makeup review

PS. If you see in my archive that I've only been blogging for ten months, it's because I became insecure at one point and deleted my first two months of posts, which I wish I didn't do! I thought about waiting a couple months to celebrate a year, but since I've technically been blogging here for a year now, it makes sense to do it now :)

My Can't-Live-Without Apps

Anyone who knows me knows how obsessed I am with my phone, sad but true! So I thought it would be fitting to share a few of my most favorite apps with you! Keep in mind, I'm a total Apple girl, and these apps are on my iPhone, so I'm not sure which ones are available on different phones!

My number one favorite app on my phone has to be Instagram. It's by far the app I use the most and have used the longest, about three years now, and have stayed consistent on. A ton of social apps have come and gone but Instagram has definitely remained the best, at least in my opinion. I love being able to keep my favorite photos in this place to share with people, as well and see others' photos. I've even met a couple friends through this app! It's almost become an addiction for me as I post a photo or two almost every day, and check my feed probably a hundred times a day! If you don't have an account yet, I highly recommend starting one, but you probably already do as practically everyone in the world does!

AfterLight is definitely one of my go-to photo editing apps on my phone. Not only is it really easy to use, it comes with a lot of different choices to use to edit photos, as well as fun filters. This app is perfect if you want to add a cool, vintage affect to your photo. Or you can just brighten it up or add white borders to it for Instagram. Plus I just love the look of this app, so clean and pretty!

VSCOcam is another great photo editing app I love. Like AfterLight, it covers all your basic editing needs, as well as some cool filters. I like to use this one for a little less noticeable filters and edits. This app honestly took me a little while to get the hang of, it's a little confusing at first, but once I did it became really easy and now I use it all the time. I think there is also a social portion to this app, but I personally only use the editing. 

When the A Beautiful Mess blog announced that they were making an app, I knew I would HAVE to have it! This app is so cute and so much fun to play with! You just upload a photo and you can add filters, borders, little doodles, text, phrases, the possibilities are endless! I love going to this app to decorate photos and have fun messing around with all the different choices. It also works perfectly for making buttons for your blog if you aren't that familiar with Photoshop!

The 8mm app is used for taking videos on your phone and giving them an old, film-like affect. I used this app for this video and this one, and it is SO much fun! It really does give regular videos such a cool look and feel. It's even a ton of fun to use. You feel like you're using a real old video camera. You can choose from tons of different looks like 70s, XPro, even a black and white 1920s. You can even upload videos you've already taken and turn them into a 8mm video! Definitely get this app if you love taking videos and want to have fun changing them up.

If you're in the process of planning a wedding like I am, The Knot app is a must! If you're familiar with the website, you know how thorough and helpful it is, and the app is all of that for your phone! I've been using it since we first starting planning, and it's really come in handy. Is has a checklist, budgeter, and photos you can save for inspiration. It even has a list of vendors in your area along with ratings, which is how we found our venue! Super necessary for easy(er) wedding planning!

Sorry if this one is kind of boring but I just had to include it! This thing makes banking 10000x easier! I use it to check my balance whenever I need to (Is used to call the number on the back of the card which took forever and was annoying) look at my statements, transfer money around in my own accounts or to other people, even deposit checks just by taking a picture of it. And it's super secure too. When you download it you have to confirm it's you through your bank website, automatically logs out after a few minutes of not using it, and you can only log on to it on devises you've confirmed. I've never had any problems with this app and I use it a ton! Also, if you don't use this bank, I'm sure most banks have apps that are similar.

Finally, the Printicular app. This app is perfect if you want hard copies of your Instagram photos, or any photos on your phone for that matter! I have a collection of my favorite IG photos I have displayed in the house, and I've used this app to print all of them! It's only $.39 for a 4x4 photo, and you can choose to have them printed at Walgreens, which usually takes about an hour, or have them shipped to your house! Super inexpensive and convenient. I love having real copies of my IG photos and this app and perfect for being able to do that!

So there you have it, all of (ok, some of) the apps I always use and love. Do you also use any of these? What are some of your favorites? Thanks for reading!

My Valentines Day

Yesterday was such a wonderful day. Valentines Day is always so much fun, though. It's exciting having a day just to dedicate to the one(s) you love. The day started out like any other; Joe and I both went to work. In honor of the holiday I painted little wooden valentines with the kiddos, which was messy but fun. Then when we were both off we went off to our couple's massage. It was so relaxing and felt so nice to be able to have an hour of that. And I know Joe loved it because his back and neck are always hurting, poor guy! Then a couple hours after that we went to dinner at a nice restaurant downtown. Our reservations was at 8 and we weren't seated until 8:45, but despite that and how crowded the place was I still really enjoyed sitting down to a fancy-shmancy dinner with my love. So it ended up being a perfect Valentines Day full of treats, fun, and lots of love!

How was your Valentines Day? Did you do anything special? Either way, I hope it was really, really wonderful!

also- don't forget to go enter to win the Brandy Melville backpack!! Only a couple days left!