summer.come.back.

Today I realized how much I miss summer, and how the summer of 2011 was probably my last summer completely home because I plan on having amazing adventures over the next couple summers.  It's a little sad, but okay.  I was looking through some old albums on Facebook from the summer and I realized that leaving is exactly what I need to do this summer.  I never really fit in with the crowd of people I was hanging out with then, so doing my own thing this summer is exactly what I need to do.  But nonetheless, I still had some amazing adventures in summer '11 and these are just a few of my photographs of some of the places I stumbled upon.  I actually applaud myself for taking some legit photographs!  

enjoy!

summer-- i mean winter

Living in wonderful Southern California means I've never really experienced winter the way winter is supposed to be.  And this winter vacation didn't fail.  Instead of snow, or even rain, it was a nice seventy-five degree average the whole break.  Yep, welcome to California.  So while everyone else in the world was playing in the snow, snuggling by the fire, and drinking bucket loads of cocoa, us lucky Californians were tanning at the beach and cranking up the A/C.

Because my younger sister, Rachel, is the little photographer that she is, we went down to Santa Monica with two of our friends for a little photo shoot.  Waking up before the normal eleven o'clock winter vacay alarm clock, we teased our hair like no other and put on lots of beach clothes and... fur.  Yep, fur.  I love fur.  I must say it was quite the experience, especially in Santa Monica.  Everywhere we went people were giving us weird looks and staring, but I'm kind of used to it always modeling for my sister.  The whole experience was a lot of fun and the pictures came out amazing.  I'm kind of obsessed with them actually.

**like this photography and want to see more? "like" Rachel Artime Photography on Facebook here**

Ventura Blvd

I think one of my places in all of LA would have to be Ventura Blvd and it's not only because its referenced in one of my all time favorite songs.  I love the atmosphere and the mix of thrift shops, high end boutiques and all the hole-in-the-wall restaurants that are basically at every other doorstop.  Because I'm currently on winter vacation, me and my neighbor Monica decided it'd be fun to take a little day trip down there to do some thrifting-- one of my all time favorite activities.  So we turned up the Tom Petty and drove down the 101 and spent our lovely ninety degree winter break days filing through racks and racks of old and new clothes.  We ended up coming home with a sweater with puppies on it to share, a wolf ring, a jacket for Monica's brother, and a knock-off Chanel bag.  Normally, I do more damage, but of course I'm saving money for Europe, so I only spent a total of seventeen dollars.  Not too shabby if you ask me!

**NYE**

Oh New Year's Eve, you never cease to disappoint me.  You'd think that I'm now a senior in high school, I'd actually have a successful New Year's Eve but no.  First of all, I've never had a New Years kiss which is pretty lame if you ask me.  Second of all, this year's New Year's Eve marked my one year anniversary of being single because last year I dumped my boyfriend on New Year's Eve.  (Now I realize how incredibly cruel that was, but hey, it had to happen!)  I mean, this year was a hell lot better than last year, but it still didn't meet the expectations I have for New Year's Eve.  This year I went to a friend's party and it was fun.  I really enjoyed getting to spend time with friends but all we did was play games and socialize.  My dream New Year's would be to dance the night away... That sounds so wonderful.  I'm not complaining about the party, because I did have a good time!  I love my friends and I love hanging out with them and I wouldn't trade them for the world I just really wanted to have a New Year's like the movies.  Oh well!  But on the plus side, I wore the most amazing outfit ever!  I seriously can't get enough of my outfit, and that's probably really weird, but like as you'll get to know... I'm obsessed with clothes.  Like seriously, I can't get enough.  Also, I must say my friends weren't looking to shabby either that night!  We were all looking super fine, too bad that we couldn't have flaunted our hotness more.  But it's okay because I'm posting the pictures here so more people can appreciate the fashion of the evening.

**you can obsess more about fashion with me by reading my best friend and mine's fashion blog here**