A Day of Art and Family

Sweater | J.Crew, leather jacket | consignment shop, corduroy pants | American Eagle, boots | I.N.C., purse | Dooney & Bourke, scarf | Forever 21, sunglasses | Urban Outfitters, watch | Fossil, jewelry | J.Crew & gift from friend

This morning my parents and I got up early and hit the road and traveled to the west side of the state for Art Prize. Of course, a day wouldn't begin right in our family without bagels! We found an Einstein Bros. Bagels at one of the exits and loaded up on delicious carbs and coffee. When we visit our cousins in the South, we go to Einstein's every morning for breakfast and I always get their Vanilla Hazelnut coffee. So delicious!

 Once we made it to Grand Rapids, we met up with my sisters and immediately went downtown to check out the art on display. Instead of me explaining each piece, I'll let my photos do the talking :)

Stick horses running through Grand River

Crow made from car tires

Delicious "egg sammy" from a street vendor

 Painting covered in the words from letters of fallen soldiers that never made it back to their loved ones, written in Hebrew. Image on right is what the script is written on, creating this image of mountains...words helping the artist make sense of the dark

Incredible pencil drawing that spanned 36 feet

It's the weekend!

Beautiful, crisp autumn morning with signs of the change of season in the leaves

Crisp mornings mean coats are acceptable, even if it is going to be 70 degrees later :)

After completing my first week of working full-time, I feel like I can finally use the phrase TGIF and actually mean it. Work was creeping by slowly today and I didn't think I was going to make it all the way through the day...that is, until the wine cart showed up.

5 o'clock now starts at 4 o'clock

The CEO of the company where I work owns a vineyard and sells his wine as a side business. On birthdays and special events he gives his bottles of wine as gifts to employees. Today he decided to make everyone sangria. I'm not exaggerating when I say that there was enough sangria to fill a 60 quart igloo cooler, because that is exactly what they used to store it in as HR wheeled it around and handed it out. If you weren't into red wine sangria, there was another 60 quart cooler of white wine.

I myself am a sangria fan and enjoyed a small cup of it during what should have been my final hour of work. I say should have been because I didn't have any work left at 5 but that sangria was so strong I wasn't comfortable driving home! Luckily I had training tests I had to complete and spent an hour working on those as I let my head get a little less foggy :)

After work I came home to have dinner with my parents and grandma, then I went to Best Buy to look at cameras. I came this close to buying one, but I want to wait another week or two so that I don't completely drain my bank account with this investment. I then returned home where I've been hanging out with my cat staring lovingly into each others eyes (sadly this is true) and watching/listening to the New York Philharmonic on PBS. Be jealous of my Friday nights.

It's love.

Kitty high fives

This weekend my parents and I are heading out to the west side of the state to visit my sisters and check out Art Prize in Grand Rapids. I don't know a great amount about it, but I do know that At Prize is a competition in the city where artists and sculptors display their work throughout the city and the people that come to view the art vote on the pieces they like the most and the winner receives I believe $250,000. The art is all throughout the city including in different buildings, so it's an awesome way to check out what Grand Rapids has to offer and also experience good art and culture! I'll be sure to post pictures of the pieces that I liked the most when I return :)

Outfit of the day: Shirt | Loft, Sweater | Talbots, (Not shown) Jeans | Forever 21, Boots | I.N.C., Earrings | Pearl Paradise (Gift from parents), Necklace | vintage store find

Working 9 to 5..give or take a few hours

Today was a day filled with work, work, and more work. I was very recently hired into a full-time position with the company I had been working for previously part-time. While this is great for my bank account, it makes for quite the boring blog post :)

 I started my day off right with a big bowl of thick rolled oats cooked in vanilla almond milk and topped with strawberries and cookie butter. Cookie butter is my new best friend recent addiction and it's so indulgent but I don't care and it has become my topping of choice for basically anything.

Little pumpkins to add some fall festivity to my desk

 I made it to work by 8:15 after stopping at the coffee shop close to the office to pick up their largest Americano. I had the feeling I was in for a long, hectic day of work and my instincts were definitely on point.

Cute Pluot I had as a snack that resembled a heart-shaped apple

I wound up staying at the office from 8:15 a.m. to 9:15 p.m., only stepping out once to run and grab some dinner to bring back and eat at my desk because I was beginning to get dizzy. Tomorrow is going to be a crazy day as well (possibly crazier), so my day will probably be pretty similar to what it was today. Honestly though, I don't have anything else to do so I might as well work and save up some more money :) I'm saving up for a trip to Europe next summer with my best friend so any extra money I earn will be going into that fund.

(Outfit details: shirt | j.crew, sweater | j.crew, pants | Gap, Wedges | BCBGeneration via TJ Maxx, Jewelry | j.crew, Fossil, gift from friend)

New blazer and trench coat from Banana Republic; wore the trench coat to work

 I'm also saving for a new camera. My digital camera I currently own was my present for my 16th birthday and it is a little worse for the wear and outdated. What I hope to buy is a Canon Rebel T3i so I can take better pictures for the blog (and spare you from all the self-shot iPhone pictures!) and have a quality camera for my European adventure :)

Hi there!

Welcome to my blog! My name is Meagan and I'm a recent college graduate experiencing my first year in the "adult world". I created this blog as a way for my sisters and whoever is interested to keep up with my life and as a pseudo diary that I can look back at in later years and remember the emotions I felt whether good or bad, and the little moments that shined but somehow escaped my memory over time.

The name and title of my blog come from my love for dressing up, drinking coffee, and running which has played a major role in my life in the past ten years. As I continue posting here, you will probably find these three things to be a common theme throughout my writing and daily life....along with pictures of my cat here and there :)

Also, if anyone is interested in reading my sisters' blogs, you can find them at the following sites:

Older sister - http://runeatnurse.blogspot.com
Little sister - http://the-coffeemonster.blogspot.com