folklife festival

a couple weekends ago anthony and i went to the smithsonian folklife festival at the national mall. they had a whole bunch of cool tents set up with music, crafts, and food! it was a hot day, so we just wandered around and tried to find shade to stay cool. the mall was absolutely packed with families, couples, and the usual bike riders. dc is definitely a city that is on the go. i know new york gets the rep for the city that never sleeps, but dc definitely wins the award for most active. 

i wore my crazy printed maxi skirt and felt like i fit right in with all of the awesome colors that were at this place. so many pretty fabrics, bags, and knick knacks, it took all of my self restraint not to just buy everything in sight. i'm such a sucker for a good pattern. whether it's on a piece of clothing, artwork, or a blanket, i just can't stay away. wait til you see my apartment!! there's so many colors and prints and random things throughout it. i'm still working on some last minute finishing touches and then i'm gonna post the full apartment tour. yay!

i couldn't get over this crazy awesome colorful wall! they had the festival broken up by different countries and this was in the china section. all of the details were just so beautiful. i loved that i unintentionally matched in my yellow crop top. this little thrifted shirt is the comfiest thing in my closet. and it's yellow so it matches everything. cause everything goes with yellow right? (oh is that just me?)  and the best part about this wall-- all of the tourists were taking pictures so anthony and i taking outfit photos fit right in :) 

well i'm off to spend my saturday lounging by the pool with anthony and a good book. happy weekend!
xxoo,
n
outfit details
crop top + sandals + necklace: thrifted
skirt: scout
sunnies: target

fourth of july roadtrip

this fourth of july was definitely my favorite one yet. my best best best friend brittany got into town on july first and we hung out around dc for a couple days. she grew up here, but it's been a while since she has visited this city. we spent a lot of time in chinatown, hit up some happy hours, and did a little too much shopping. but it wasn't long before we hit the road to visit anthony's family in pittsburgh! we had our own little roadtrip. the weather was perfect-- blue skies, a great breeze, we couldn't have asked for a better day.

we grabbed some outfit shots before we head out. my summer go-to outfit is a tank and a maxi skirt. you honestly can't get more comfortable than this. this floral skirt is one of my best thrifted finds to date. great length, great print-- you just can't beat it. brittany went for some cute denim cut-offs and a lacy tank. safe to say we were comfy and cool for our 6 hour drive! 

 once we arrived in ellwood city, we immediately went into holiday mode. we picked up plenty of beer, ordered some pizzas, and sat out on the front porch talking all night long. oh and there was a hot tub involved. lots and lots of hot tubbing! it had been way too long since i'd seen anthony's family so we had tons much fun just hanging out and catching up. they are truly my second family and i'm so lucky to have them. 

on fourth of july we all donned our red, white, and blue and went to the ellwood city festival. i wore new skirt i picked up at h&m recently with a giftcard i won through the lovely dylana of color me nana. i am obsessed with high wasited skirts right now! paired with this little crop top and red lips, i felt in the fourth of july spirit! anthony's town takes this holiday very seriously. there's tons of good food, booths with arts and crafts for sale, and live music. we wandered around for a bit and filled up on festival food (aka the greasiest and least healthy food ever and it's awesome). 

fourth of july is such a fun holiday, and this one was even more special because i got to spend it with all of my favorite people. i love having both anthony and brittany by my side. we're the three best friends that anyone could have (hehe). check out last year's fourth of july here. i just love this holiday! i hope you all enjoyed celebrating. 

xxoo,

n

check out this little video i made of our adventure: 

dream in neon turns one!

to me, dream in neon means thinking outside of the box, having fun, being crazy, testing your limits, and going after what you want. when i started this blog one year ago i had been reading style blogs for years, and always imagined having one of my own. it seemed like so much fun! create awesome outfits, take cool photos, and go on adventures. it would be like visually diary of my life. and on top of that, i loved graphic design! i could make my logo and create cute graphics. i had it all planned out. but i was nervous. of what? i'm not exactly sure. it just seemed like something that was easy to think about but would never actually happen.

then one day i just did it. i had just moved in with my boyfriend anthony, was working an internship part-time and was honestly kinda bored. it was summer and i wanted a hobby. anthony had been encouraging me and said he would take my photos. i thought, what the hell? let's just do it!  i put on a new dress and we met up for a date after work one day and he took a bunch of pictures of me and they turned out kinda dark and blurry, but i didn't care. i had outfit photos! i edited them and wrote a post about our night out in dc. i clicked publish. it was scary but i did it. i didn't tell anyone about it at first. i just kept planning outfits and taking photos. i had so much more fun than i ever expected.

now that i was planning posts, it gave anthony and i an excuse to get out and do cool stuff. we went on picnics, hung out at the maryland seafood festival, had our best friend visit, went to an awesome wedding, hit up the county fair in anthony's hometown, visited emerald isle with my family on vacation, went to NYC for the day, and so much more. it's so fun to be able to look back on all my posts in the past year and have a photo recap of all the fun things we did and all the cool places we went to.

i never knew how much i would fall in love with blogging. i got to meet a bunch of lovely ladies from the DMV area when we had a blogger bunch, i've worked with some awesome brands such as chloe + isabel and adore me, and i've created my two favorite kinds of posts-- totally thrifted and nine to five, that showcase my favorite thrifted finds and what i wear to work.

while there is so much about this space that i love, there is also so much that i want to improve upon. my goals aren't to post more or get more followers, my goal is to make this blog a representation of me. all of me. not just a few snaps of an outfit. i want to talk about things that are real and important, i want to focus more on writing out my thoughts and feelings, sharing more photos of family and friends; to put it simply-- i want to write from the heart. i am a writer by nature and want to dig deeper than just the color of a dress or what the weather was like today.

starting this blog has been one of the coolest and most interesting adventures in my life thus far and i'm so excited for the next year! thank you to every single one of you who reads this. whether you're my friend, acquaintance, or a blogger yourself, thank you. thank you. thank you. sharing bits and pieces of your life on the internet might seem strange, but if you're out there with an idea for a blog of your own my only advice is-- just do it!

thanks for reading and cheers to year two!

xxoo,
n

outfit details
skirt + headband: forever 21 (old)
shirt: random store in the mall (similar here)
shoes: buffalo exchange

all dressed up

well hello there! happy summer! i can't believe how fast june is flying by. summer is most definitely the greatest season of all and this summer is no doubt going to be a good one. we are 90% settled into our new apartment. pictures have been hung, furniture has been placed, bookshelves have been painted. i have had so much fun making our little one bedroom apartment feel like home. the next step is to get some pretty plants and flowers to bring some green to our balcony and spice the place up. we are having a "we just moved in so let's drink" party this weekend and i am really looking forward to showing the place off. i will be sharing photos soon!

this dress is officially the most beautifully crafted piece of clothing i own. i was lucky enough to win a giftcard to mata traders from the lovely rebecca of the clothes horse. after browsing their site i realized i was in for a challenge because i was in love with every. single. dress. or almost all of them, anyway. this one was my runner up. and this one was the runner up to the runner up. yes, i was having a huge inner dilemma here people! in the end, the colors and the subtle pattern of this blue beauty won me over. the quality of this dress is unreal. and bonus-- it's a fair trade company that works with organizations that educate, employ, and empower women. i couldn't help but to fall in love with this brand. i will definitely be going back for more purchases. 

it would probably be very un-style-blogger of me to admit how much i wear these sandals. but considering i don't take my title that seriously i will admit it-- pretty much every day. and by pretty much every day i mean i practically sleep in them. they are even ripping a little bit and that still won't stop me for reaching for them every morning! they are comfy, match everything, and are really, really comfy. i am just not a shoe person. yes, i have a decent shoe collection, but i still tend to wear the same pair over and over until they disintegrate. but shoes will never get me like a dress does! (i'm weird i know)

i hope you all are having a lovely tuesday!
xxoo,
n

outfit details
dress: mata traders
sandals: old navy

totally thrifted

i haven't done a totally thrifted post in a while, so i think its about time to give out some lovely secondhand inspiration on this fine monday afternoon. a definite fall staple in my wardrobe is plaid. i love plaid! there's something about it to me that just screams autumn. i love layers and plaid shirts are perfect for tying around your waist or pairing over a dress or even wearing oversized with tights if you're feeling lazy.

i was perusing the racks at a thrift store a few weeks ago when this amazing denim jumper just popped out at me. i always take it as a sign from above when such a cool piece like this is in my size. while thrifting you don't have the ability to find a dress in a small, medium, and large-- you've just gotta take what you can get. this just happened to fit me like a glove and i was already getting out my $2 (!!!) as i tried it on because it was a basically a match made in heaven.

i was feeling suuuuper 90s in this outfit last week. i mean denim dress, plaid shirt around the waist, and converse. it's like i stepped right out of an episode of saved by the bell. i'm all about denim lately. whether it is shirts, jeans, dresses, vests, etc. the only trick is to not look like JT and britney circa 2001. so besides going full-out canadian tuxedo, denim is pretty versatile.

everyday i wake up and pray that converse will never go out of style. so far, so good because i just can't get enough of these bad boys. in any season, you will catch me wearing them. they are just so damn comfy. and this shirt is thrifted from the men's section (obvi) because, come on, guys' button down shirts are just better.

this dress was easy for end of summer weather, but i don't want to retire it just yet. i'm hoping i can layer it up and keep it around this fall/winter season. maybe with tights and a chunky sweater? i will have to do some brainstorming. any ideas/inspiration to help a girl out? i'd love to hear!

this look is pretty simple, and i found some really cool pieces online at target if you wanna check it out! target is the bomb dot com and they have the best deals. i mean this totally sweet acid wash dress is less than $20. target, you can do no wrong.

shirt//dress//shoes//purse

enjoy your monday!

xxoo,

n