It was one hundred degrees...

As we sat beneath a willow tree

Whose tears didn't care
They just hung in the air
And refused to fall, to fall.

-Crooked Teeth-Death Cab For Cutie

This is generally my view right now, minus the flip-flops (no reason for shoes if I'm not leaving the house, right?). Porch swing, good independent radio, and a fantastic book. I'm completely loving it. Reading on the porch has been my favorite part of summer since I was little.

However, not all of my summer has been that chill. It's been a bit of a crazy week. The temperature has been in the high 80s to mid 90s all week, which isn't too out of the ordinary. There's a great public pool nearby, and lots of great shops where I can grab a gelato, custard(normal ice cream? psh.), or frozen drink. I've managed to "beat the heat" pretty well.

On Tuesday, I went to a small cookout with a friend. Her dad's ex-wife lives nearby, and her now adult children (my friend's half-siblings) invite us over whenever she's out of town. I know it's terrible, but I really enjoy swimming in a private pool sometimes. Plus, her brother grilled some avocado along with the brats and corn on the cob, which is surprisingly amazing!

Tuesday night was when things got a bit hectic. I got home around 11:00, and the air conditioner was broken. I'm not that much of a diva and wouldn't mind if it happened during the day. However, my family prefers it cold when we sleep, so we ended up setting up air mattresses and other makeshift beds downstairs, where it was a bit cooler. I wound up sleeping on the porch, which was more comfortable than the house, actually. This went fantastically until about 5:30. I'm used to having shades that allow me to sleep past sunrise, but that's a bit of an issue on the porch. I got back to sleep eventually, but it made for a rather sleepy day today.

Today Pride and Prejudice and Zombies finally came in for me at the public library. I've had it on hold since before spring break, and I'm ridiculously excited to read it. However, the heat kind of freaked out the city's power grid for a few hours. I was at Divino Gelato and everything shut down. Not too terrible (hopefully no gelato was lost!), but I still didn't get my book...

Tonight went well. I went to an Organizing For America "Health Care Kickoff" party. Organizing For America is essentially a continuation of the Obama campaign that works toward some of President Obama's initiatives. I was really active in the campaign last year, but I hadn't really done any political work since then, which made tonight that much greater. On top of that, I got to see people I hadn't talked to since November! The hostess was one of the members of my mom's "team" (each team covered a small part of the city), and she and her husband own the most adorable piece of land. She has an antique store in the front, her husband has a cafe in another building, and their house is attached to the cafe. The house is so beautiful and historically accurate; it's like Old World Wisconsin, but cozy. On top of that, they had part of an old stone silo and lots of room to explore. I'm going to have to stop in for lunch sometime.

Anyway, outfit post! I remembered!

Dress-Kohl's. Bracelet and Earrings-Target. Necklace-thrifted. Flip flops-Old Navy. Flip-flops are a habit I need to break. It was hot out, so I feel like I have an excuse. Sort of. Sorry for the bad picture, too. I positioned my head right with the birdhouse and the mobile, and it's not working.

The bracelet is actually a lot more gold than this.
Adorable little nautical necklace! I believe I have another one with a different picture, but I forget what of...
Lovely lacy earring. Also, my beauty marks? flat moles? big freckles? What are they called? I honestly don't know.
Carousel horse mobile from when I was a baby.

Much love, (I need a closing. I'm not sure I liked "Shine on"...hmm.)

Renée

The future hangs over our heads...

...And it moves with each current event

Until it falls all around like a cold steady rain

Just stay in when it's lookin' this way.

-"Landlocked Blues"-Bright Eyes (featuring Emmylou Harris)

I went to a good friend's grad party this weekend. It was a great time; a bit awkward at first, as many parties are, but some intense ping pong started in the basement, more people arrived, and conversations started. We enjoyed some dinner off the grill, fruit, and cake. Though we were going to all head out at 8:00, the weather was terrible and some of us stayed and enjoyed the company of a smaller crowd. After my host's eight-year-old brother beat me in chess (I'm not as good as I used to be, and he takes lessons!), the rest of us headed home. Overall, a fantastic evening.

However, grad parties always get me thinking, and this comes more with each year. I watch all of the seniors discuss where they're going to college: Harvard, Penn, Madison, Lawrence, Carthage, UWM and more. As they discuss where they'll be heading off to in the fall, I realize I'll be filling out applications in the fall, and getting ready to move away for the first time. The concept of packing up and leaving people/possessions behind isn't new to a lot of people. However, I've lived in the same exact place all my life; I've never moved away from Waukesha, I've always lived in the same house, and my bed has been in the same corner of my room for all 16 years of my life. I'm excited for college, but also nervous. What if there's nowhere to hang out in my new city? What if everyone there turns out to be stuck up? What if my classes are impossibly hard? What if the weather's weird there? What if my new friends aren't as great as my current ones? What if I hate my major? I understand I'll have time to check out colleges (and I already have a pretty good idea of where I want to go), but that doesn't make my worries go away. Change is good, but that doesn't mean it isn't a challenge sometimes.

I'm having trouble writing this because I don't want to come off as overly attached to my family and hometown. It's just something I think about. I tend to spend a good chunk of time "people watching" at parties. A lot of times, the way people interact is more fascinating than the actual conversation. (More on observations later. I do a lot of this, and it deserves its own post.)

(Here's where I was going to do outfit pictures (yay vanity!), but I completely forgot to take them. That's probably my first goal: remember to take outfit pictures, then use said pictures to improve style. I was attempting to describe my outfit, but it wasn't going too well and I decided to skip it. It was getting a bit long for a footnote. Anyway...I guess I'm ending this post? Better luck next time, self.)

Shine on,

Renée

Oh, and one more thing...

Moxie and Mayhem is my friend Ellie's music blog, and it features a bunch of contributors, including me. :) I suggest you check it out!

Welcome!

Hi there. I'm Renée, and this is my blog. I'm starting it for a few different reasons:

1. Improve my style. I'm mostly a jeans and a t-shirt girl. I love skirts, but don't own very many because I play cello. This won't be as much of an issue in college, but as a high school student, I have to show up to orchestra every day. I have weekends and summer to wear skirts and dresses, so I'm going to focus on that these next few months.
2. Love life. It's not that I don't, but having an outlet to write about the small things that I enjoy and share photographs of things that make me smile will hopefully make me further appreciate everything I have in life.
3. Be heard. I love politics and I'm a really opinionated person, but my friends can only take so much of me talking about politics. I plan on discussing social issues I find important and sharing ways to become politically active.

That's about it for now, and I'm really looking forward to this. Feel free to share your blog with me, if you do have one!

Shine on,

Renée