Summertime Vibes

Hi! I initially wasn't sure I was going to do another seasonal inspiration post because of how much went into creating Spring Inspiration a few months ago but even though it was a lot of work, it was also one of the most fun posts I've ever done. I eventually decided to take on the challenge for summer as well, but I didn't want it to look the same as the spring post so there are a few new elements in the 'See' and 'Hear' portions of the post. With any of my seasonal inspiration posts, as I've mentioned before, I like to involve all of the senses and make it a more immersive experience so this is going to be pretty long. You'd think I was doing something more important than just seasonal inspiration with descriptions like 'involve all of the senses' and 'more immersive experience,' huh? LOL But anyway, let's get to it. As I believe I mentioned in the Spring post, some of the photos and accompanying websites are not from the same post; some are merely there for inspiration. Enjoy!

*Mandy's Note: I've noticed that the saturation levels in some of the photos have changed quite a bit from the raw images on my phone, so I apologize if any of the photos look overly saturated or low-quality on your phones/PCs.* 

Fashion: rompers, cutoffs, crop tops, bodysuits, gladiator sandals and jeweled strapped shoes, gold dangly jewelry

Beauty: Bronzed skin, colorful liner or shadow, thick and long lashes, big eyes, bright lips

Hair: 90s buns, half ponytails, waves, messy/tousled styles

Headspace: on the road/travelling, wanderlust, festivals

I wanted a lot more visual inspiration this time around, which is why there are so many different collages of photos. For fashion, it's been a bit of a mix in terms of inspiration. Being a '90s kid and not seeing much wrong with the fashion then, it's been fun to get back into it now that it's back in style (but truthfully, I never felt it went 'out.' I do what I want. lol) I also like bohemian inspiration for summer because while it's time to flaunt what you have in the tight, form-flattering stuff, I also like the breezy silhouettes that bohemian fashion create especially when mixed with other styles. Cutoffs are my uniform for summer and crop tops are finally starting to be a staple that I'm comfortable with wearing. I've been slow to come around on the resurgence of the bodysuit but I'm here for 'em now. I don't often bother with jewelry because I'm forgetful but I've been moving towards gold, dangly jewelry lately. Initially I wanted to create my own lookbook, but I found the Fashion....art Tumblr, which is where most of the fashion comes from. The accessories are from Charlotte Russe and Forever 21.  

As for beauty, I don't want to see foundations until November. lol It's been bare faced at very least, BB creams at most, and I love it that way. I'm not usually into 'dewy' looks as they just come off a bit sweaty-looking to me but bronzed, highlighted skin is something different and I've been getting into that lately.

Glittery shadows look great against bronzed/tanned skin, bright lips are both a fun touch and on days that you're wearing light makeup can be the focal point of your face, and bringing color to the eyes via liners or shadows spice up a normal everyday look. I'm diggin' it. 

With hair, I've been trying to keep things simple. It's too hot to bother with fussy styles, so something cute (and preferably off the neck) would be better. My favorite style would be Raye Raye's 90s buns, or in Black vernacular, Afro puffs. (By the by, who remembers that song? I begged my mom to give me Afro puffs for a good 6 months the year that song came out) I've already crossed an item off of my Summer Bucket List (a post for that will be up soon), which was to change my hair color. My extensions and wigs are usually black, but I've had black hair for over a year now with not much change in either the length or style.

Now it's a beautiful red ombre, with dark roots and from the ears down, hints of blonde, rose gold and even a little orange, depending on how it hits the light. It looks a little similar to the style in the bottom left corner, just not as bright. I'm in love with it. It's not as short as I was going for, but I'll probably start cutting it later. While we're on the topic of hair, I've been thinking about maybe doing wig and extension reviews on here; what do you think? 

In terms of my headspace, I find myself really inspired by Tumblr bright colors, new adventuring and travelling. Summer is when I find myself the most inspired and when I seem to have the most cabin fever, and I've spent a few too many days imagining just taking off to places unknown. Wind in my hair, radio blasting, empty road ahead of us (because presumably, I'd be travelling alongside someone lol), time on our side and adventures waiting to be had.

Even if the road trip I initially envision doesn't go down (and it usually doesn't lol), the intrigue of day-long adventures and being a tourist in my hometown pulls at me the most during the summer. A good way that I've found to bring the travel to you if you're unable to leave is to put a bit of travel-inspired decor in your home, which I'm going to explore once we get to Touch. 

--upbeat music, an ambient/electronic hybrid

Summer is probably when I discover the most new music, which is probably because it's when I'm the most inspired. So rather than just a playlist, I thought I'd include a few apps for finding some new music in addition to the playlists. I still don't really listen to the radio so these apps have been a lot of help in finding new artists and music. I featured different apps because each app features different artists, so you can then take those back to your usual music app and find them on there. 

Summer, for me, is the season that deserves its own soundtrack and I try to leave my comfort zone as much as possible to find both new sources for music and new artists on those apps. I thought I'd do a little combination here and stick in a few mini-reviews (which have been lacking in the worst way and I'm sorry) as well as some music. 

1. Indie Shuffle

Indie Shuffle covers a pretty wide range of experimental and traditional genres and exposed me to quite a bit of new artists. You might find some mainstream music on the site, but I came across more remixes of the songs than I did actual tracks. What I love about this site is that there are user reviews for the tracks and similar artists if you'd really like to go down the rabbit hole and find new stuff. So if you're looking to widen the range of your music, check Indie Shuffle. 

2. Audiomack

If you're looking to try new music within the genres you normally listen to, Audiomack focuses primarily on mainstream artists within the hip-hop, reggae and electronic genres. I like that there are options to download tracks or albums directly from the app, and there's a feature called Audiosnap It!, which allows you to snip a clip from the song and add either music or photos to it. Audiomack isn't my favorite of the music apps on the list but it has features that the others don't and exposes you to new/trending music within a couple of genres. I'd recommend this for the person who prefers mainstream to indie music. 

3. Soundcloud

Good ol' Soundcloud. A few years ago, my music tastes shifted dramatically and I didn't really know where to find the music I was interested in other than YouTube but then I remembered Soundcloud. I dropped Spotify like a bad habit for months after getting lost in Soundcloud. Soundcloud is solely for indie/underground music and covers, as mainstream music that users upload usually gets removed not long afterward. If you're a fan of dubstep, chillstep or ambient instrumentals, you'll find an array of artists who fit the criteria at Soundcloud. 

4. uberHype 4 Hype Machine

This app is a secondary app created by the developers of Hype Machine. The regular Hype Machine site has so many different tracks on the first page that it can be a bit difficult to figure out where to get started. This one has tons of categories and genres, which is cool partially because it means there's so many new places to start, but it can also be a bit overwhelming. There are mainstream tracks on here as well but again, I'm mainly on there for the indie tracks. uberHype is a bit more condensed and its easier to find new music. A pretty cool thing about Hype Machine in general is that it can be found on both Spotify and Soundcloud, so you can condense the music you find on this app on either of the other two sites. 

5. Spotify

Even though I switched it up a bit this time around, I couldn't not include the OG of finding new music. I've found tons of music that I loved through the Spotify playlists I listen to, so that's why I recommend a Spotify playlist every time. You can find and follow user playlists without having to follow the user, and you can search for seasonal lists (one of my personal favorites when doing the seasonal posts) and come up with something good every time. The other sites don't have quite as much mainstream music so it's nice to have a resource in the back pocket that keeps you aware of current tunes. The playlists are much longer and more extensive than the other sites, which is another reason why it's still one of my all-time favorite apps to use for music. 

--grilled meats, cold salads and vegetables, roasted side dishes, fruit-based snacks and desserts, ice creams and snow cones

Sources: 

1. Snow Cones, Hoosier Homemade

2. Herbed Grilled Chicken, Fine Cooking

3. Strawberry Lemonade, PBS

4. Homemade Bomb Pops, Misadventures in Baby Raising

5. Green Chile Cheeseburgers, MyRecipes

6. BBQ Spareribs, Food Network Kitchens

7. Coffee Hazelnut Ice Cream, Top With Cinnamon

8. Horchata, Del Blog a la Mesa

9. Grilled Corn Salad, AllRecipes

10. Infused Ice Cubes, Keurig

I like to put my focus on grilled meats, berry fruits and sweet treats for summer. Despite my raging lactose intolerance, I love the idea--because that's as close as I'll get to ice cream most of the time--of a cold bowl of ice cream on a hot summer day. I love grilling during the summer; it's actually my favorite cooking method for this time of year, so I really enjoy tossing different veggies and cuts of meat on the grill. 

I wanted to include one of my favorite snacks on here, elote en vaso (Mexican corn in a cup), which is a really popular Mexican street food where I live, but I couldn't find a recipe that came close to the ones I eat. I had to leave it off but I wanted to include something with corn on here because if you've never had grilled corn, you're missing out on life. LOL That's what my requirements are for having a 'fulfilled life,' eating grilled corn. smh But anyway, I like a variety of foods during the summer, so I tried to include food items that displayed the range of flavors I like for this time of year. 

--coastal-inspired decor, bright colors, travel-inspired wall art

Sources:

1. Inexpensive Firepit, Thrifty Little Mom

2. Hula Hoop Canopy Fort, Brit + Co (original source link no longer works)

3. Summer Bucket List Blackboard, Gray House Studio (display photo is from Life Love Larson)

4. DIY Movie Projector, Bob Vila 

5. Map Coasters, Martha Stewart

6. 'Firefly' Mason Jars, From Panka With Love

7. Personal S'mores Pot, Bella

8. Outdoor Movie Theater, Running with Scissors

9. Octopus Wall Art, Wanelo 

10. Lighthouse Lantern, Between Naps on the Porch

A lot of my summer projects focus on the outdoors because 1-duh and 2-I'll be outside less and less for the remaining two seasons so I'd like to enjoy it while I can. Warm nights, late sunsets and stargazing. Ahh. Minus the damn mosquitoes, a few of these items can help create the perfect summer night. 

I do have a couple of notes for improvisation: 

Firstly, the blackboard in #3 and the tutorial I included aren't for the same site. The image is from Life Love Larson in a post that mentions summer bucket list items, and the tutorial is for the actual blackboard. The reason why I combined the two is because I wanted a blackboard for seasonal bucket lists, so the image here is for the intended usage of the tutorial I included. 

Second, I'd improvise #5 a bit and rather than just random maps, I'd switch those out to some of my favorite vacay spots to continue with the summer/travel theme. 

Finally, I'd combine the octopus wall art and lantern in the same decor scheme if I was going for something beach/coastal-inspired. 

Sorry for the uneven photo sizes; I edited this in Paint on the fly. It shows,
doesn't it? LOL

Extras: 

Wall Art Gallery, Inspiring Home Ideas (This isn't a link to a tut; it's more for inspiration purposes)

Vintage Summer Postcard Wall Art (this goes along with the wall art gallery)

All of the postcard images are from Zazzle, here's where you can get them:

1. Italy

2. Summer Greetings

3. New England

4. Beach police

5. Hawaii

6. Summertime at the beach

7. Japan

8. Palm trees

9. Cuba

Now what I'd do with this is substitute the canvas print for the vintage postcards. I'd probably try to get larger sizes and make it the focal piece on an entry wall. I like the design of vintage postcards, but the seasonal ones would lend a unique touch to your home. 

--fruity-based scents with floral accents, sweet notes and citrus, ocean/water-based notes

Watermelon Lemonade--watermelon, raspberries and lemon
Seaside Gardenia--gardenia, sea air and bamboo
Raspberry Citrus Swirl--raspberry, citrus, passionfruit juice
Black Sands--ocean mist, amber and cedarwood
Summer Boardwalk--caramel-glazed popcorn, taffy apples, salted sweet cream
Sparkling Waves--citrus, bergamot and musk

Pina Colada Smoothie--mango nectar, pineapple and grapefruit
Sunny Coconut--orange, vanilla and coconut
Mango Coconut Cooler--coconut, mango and island spice

For summer, I try to keep it light and stay away from musk/wood based scents. Now when they're used as secondary/accent notes, like in Black Sands or Sparkling Waves, it can make a scent more rounded out, but as the primary notes I just find them a little too strong. I love Bath and Body Works candles, even though they're not the most environmentally brand on the market, but they fit the sort of seasonal vibes that I'm looking for when I do these posts. There are always more than enough scent profiles for me to choose from when I do these, and most of the candles I've tried from there smell like little slices of heaven. I think one of the main reasons why I always feature B&BW candles is because the scent carries, it lasts, and don't burn themselves out as quickly as cheaper brands. 

That's what I've been inspired by for this season. This took me so damn long to finish that I worried summer would be over by the time I was able to publish it. I'm starting Fall's post in August. lol If you'll indulge me in a minor horn toot for a second, I'm really pleased with the results of this post but I feel like I can do better. 

I would like this to become a regular staple on the blog; I don't see too many bloggers taking on the 'inspiration' theme quite like I do and I like that. With everything that's going on in the world today, it was really important for me to try and create something that allowed us to remember and enjoy a few simple pleasures of life, whether it be a roadtrip, rainbow-colored ice cream or an outdoor movie night. 

Okay, horn toot over. Anyway, per usual, I hope that you enjoyed this post and were able to take something useful from it. I'd like to know, what inspires you for summer? 

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May Favorites

Hi! It's Favorites time again already. I really wish this year would slow down a little bit, it feels like yesterday I was putting on a sweater and now I'm staving off daily heat migraines. I'm not here for it and I didn't sign up for any of it either. I tried out a few new things this month but per usual, there are a few oldies but goodies. Let's get started!

Whish Revitalizing Cleansing Oil, Nuxe Multi-Purpose Dry Oil for Face, Body & Hair

These two products will be in an upcoming post so I won't go into too much detail about them here, but this was the month of oils I've never tried before because those were my favorite beauty products this month. The Whish oil is a makeup remover that I've really enjoyed so far. The Nuxe oil is a dry oil and I've never been moved to try one before, but this works well with matte foundations. I haven't worn makeup too many times this month, but I've used both of these on the few occasions that I did wear any. The dry oil works when applying the makeup and the cleansing oil works when it's time to remove it. No complaints on either product. 

Afraid to Fly by S. L. Jennings

Afraid to Fly is a romance novel and I know I don't typically talk about those here but it was probably one of the only books I read this past month and the only one I could clearly remember. lol I actually read it late in April but I'd already finalized that month's favorites so I just pushed it back to May's. This book tells the story of Dominic and Raven, two very troubled souls with more than a few skeletons in their closets. Raven has a mute brother Toby, who's dealing with his own demons but for some reason begins to open up to Dominic. Dom's interest in Raven is piqued by her blatant disinterest in him (because that's just how these things always go), and Raven's reason for her blatant disinterest deals with a shared past that she suspects Dom doesn't even remember. I enjoyed this book because for once, rather than it being the female with obstacles to overcome, it was the male. The switch was intriguing to read and I enjoyed how the plot came together. I might post a full review on this sometime; I'm not sure yet. 

Brickleberry

I haven't been watching too many series this month, on network tv or on Netflix, so I don't have anything new to add here. I mentioned Brickleberry during last month's favorites so I don't feel the need to rehash it but I'm still binge-watching.....then repeating....the show. lol I really wish there were more than 3 seasons. If Netflix picked this up for a couple more seasons, I wouldn't be mad at that at all.

Farm Heroes Saga for Android

I'm not entirely sure why I enjoy this game so much since I already have both Candy Crush and Cookie Jam and those are nearly identical to this game, but I do. The little farm characters are adorable and I like how various farm materials are given purpose within the game, like the bakery materials in Cookie Jam. It's a fun way to waste a little time, and I enjoy it.

Phonto, Instagram

On the occasions that my phone's allowed me to edit my blog photos, I've been taking advantage of it and trying to get the hardest part, the fonts, taken care of first. I've been downloading a lot of new fonts lately and Phonto is the primary font-adding app that I use, so I've been using it a lot. I'm looking to build a post in the future with Android apps similar to Phonto sometime this summer so that I have some options, but for now Phonto's doing most of the work.

I've also been on Instagram a lot but not for the reason most folks are (or the reason I'm supposed to be on there lol). I'm trying to create a bit of a niche with the sort of beauty reviews that I do, so I've been looking for up and coming beauty supply companies and brands so I can eventually review some of their products. You can find drugstore and high-end beauty product reviews on every social media platform, but there are tons of companies that are just starting out and it'd be cool to start reviewing those. I already have a few that I intend to review soon but if you know of any others I should check out, let me know!

Creative Market, Reddit

If you're into graphics of any kind, whether it be vectors, fonts, themes or add-ons for your photo editing needs, check out Creative Market. This isn't a new site to me; I've known about it for awhile but realized I've never featured it on here. With a new season of reviews (hopefully) on the way, I'm looking to change up my graphics to reflect summer so I've been on Creative Market a lot. Many of the items available on the website are paid, but they're affordable and worth the price in terms of quality and value. There are free goods as well, which I usually check out every week, but the difference in value between those and the paid items is no different.

While last month I featured the Reddit app, this month I've been on the website more often. I've realized that Reddit is a treasure trove of information on all kinds of topics, from audiobooks and voice acting to DIY projects and Internet silliness. I'm still fairly new to the website so I'm still exploring the subreddits and it seems like I'll never discover them all. It's been fun nosing around, though.

Father's Day gifts, summer decor

Father's Day is next month and while the day has no personal significance because my sperm donor and I are playing level 99 of Estranged: IRL, my sisters-in-law and I usually get together to do a little something for my brother. We put the babies' hand and footprints in a little puzzle for him to solve then frame last year, but this year I was all thumbs. I struggle to buy regular gifts for people, both monetarily and creatively, and I've always found it was easier to just create a gift. My sisters-in-law like creating gifts for my brother as well, so it makes things much easier and more fun.

With summer rapidly coming over the horizon, I've been looking for material for my Summer Inspiration post, which should be up later this month. I've been in a beachy sort of mood this month, so I've been looking for ways to try and integrate that into the home. I've been looking forward to doing the Summer Inspiration post for awhile, but I've been having a hard time with coming up with DIY projects for the season. Here's hoping I can come up with something by the time the post is scheduled to go live. lol

Polyamory-related gifts (random AF, right? LOL), used vehicles, bug killers, rockabilly everything, couples' photo shoots

As you saw me mention earlier, I come together with my sisters-in-law every year to do a Father's Day gift for my brother. My brother and SIL's are in a bi-polyfidelitous relationship, which means that the three of them are in a committed relationship with each other where one or more of the parties is bisexual. If that's something you have a problem with, I'd like to invite you to either scroll past my post or leave the page entirely. You are not invited, however, to make intolerant and/or ignorant comments so if that's what you've got in mind, save it. Moving on, their anniversary falls on Father's Day this year and they initially planned to scrap celebrating at all, but I stepped in and suggested moving their anniversary celebration to Saturday so I could plan something for them. I fully admit to not really knowing much about polyamory so I've been trying to learn as much as I can so that I can give them something that properly symbolizes the relationship.

I don't think I've mentioned it, but my uncle's car was recently lost in a court case, so we lost our only bit of transportation. With my health conditions being as they are, it's very difficult for me to do too much of anything but I really need to find a used car. For all the troubles my health issues cause, my mom's cause twice as many so it's important that I get some kind of car soon.

I talked about this last year but every spring and summer, the bugs and our family engage in all-out war. This year has been particularly bad, so I'm trying to find that magical nuke potion that bombs the everloving f^$# out of 'em. lol

The theme over on ATV for May was rockabilly and its subcultures, so for a lot of the time that I was online over the past month it was to do research on one of those areas of vintage. If you're into vintage or pinup culture at all, I suggest giving rockabilly a once-over.

While I was looking into rockabilly for one of my Files posts, I kept coming across photo shoots of couples dressed in full rockabilly fashion and I loved them. Since I'm #TeamForeverAlone I can't take these photos with my 12-packs of Dr. Pepper but I'd love to dress my brother's family up and get a bunch of shots with them in the rockabilly style. I love how a photographer and couple can come together and with a few directions, create a series of shots with so much personality and I love how that combines with the rockabilly/vintage style. For myself I don't think I'd ever be a 'couples photo shoot' kind of person because my firm opinion is that I am much more beautiful behind a camera, but I love looking at other couples' results. 

What did I watch this month?

Team Foxcatcher, Requiem for the American Dream, 1971, The Champions

Team Foxcatcher is a documentary that expands on both the 2014 film Foxcatcher and the ESPN Films documentary Prince of Pennsylvania, the latter of which I featured in a Favorites post sometime last year. I've never seen the movie but I enjoyed the ESPN Films take on the story and I really liked this documentary. This is a more in-depth take on the whole Foxcatcher tragedy and John duPont's relationship with his wrestlers before murdering Dave Schultz. A couple of new perspectives join the documentary and information that wasn't included in Prince of Pennsylvania was inserted into the story. Footage recorded during that time was inserted into this documentary and people who knew John, not just his former wrestlers, got their minute to speak.

Requiem for the American Dream is definitely out of my preferred genre of documentary, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. This Noam Chomsky documentary explores the concept of "The American Dream" and how wealth and power is both attained and distributed. I'm not big into economics and will be the first to admit that while I find it a little interesting, I also feel a little too unintelligent to understand it, but this was something I could understand. If you're into economics and how it plays into wealth and power in today's society, give Requiem for an American Dream a look. 

1971 is a documentary that satisfies the conspiracy theorist inside me, as it follows the story of several individuals who broke into the FBI's private files and exposed them to the world. In today's society such a feat is nearly impossible unless the leak is internal, but back in 1971 it wasn't that difficult. The FBI's history of intimidating citizens and hiding valuable information was exposed to the public via the newspapers, and a very public scandal and manhunt followed that. 

The Champions was the tearjerker documentary that I watched this month. The dogfighting scandal that Michael Vick was embroiled in a decade ago nearly ended his career and resulted in more public attention being paid to dogfighting rings. But there wasn't quite as much attention being paid to what happened to the dogs who were removed from the property following the scandal. The Champions takes the viewer on the journey of several dogs and the effort by individuals and organizations to find them a loving forever home. 

So that's what I've been into this past month. This was a very random collection of items, but I'm satisfied that it wasn't full of same ol' same items that I've included month after month. I'm hoping to have more newbies on the list for June's favorites. I hope you check out some of the stuff I mentioned in this post and as always, I hope you enjoyed. See you soon!

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