Photo Diary: Dublin

Pictures of my adventures in Dublin after the jump. 

A Day In Dublin

I thought of this outfit the instant I got this sweater for Christmas. Bright red and leopard print are both quite bold, but work really well together without being garish. It was too pretty to pass up so I braved the cold to wear it one of the days I was in Dublin, Ireland.

Dressed in: Eileen Fisher turtleneck (similar), TopShop skirt (similar), J. Crew tights, Be&D sneakers 

 Wall + Keogh has to be one of my favorite places I visited in Dublin. They had a great variety of brews to browse and I ended up with some dried mint and their Keemun blend. I had not heard of it before but it smells divine and a little smoky. With a quick Google search I saw that it's a light, Chinese black tea. I tried a mug of their Earl Grey later in the trip at Books Upstairs, and it was incredible. You can really taste the hints of orange.

Lunch was a cute affair as well with a simple tuna sandwich at Nelly’s. It was quite a homey, quiet place to relax - very cute and simple.

Sticking to a pretty jammed packed schedule, after a trip to Kilmainham Gaol my roommate and I explored Dublin Castle a little bit and took outfit pictures. I absolutely love any sort of park or green and this was wonderful to see even with the chill. More Dublin photos to come soon.

Go explore,

x Jasmine

Off Again: Dublin, Ireland

#tbt to about a year ago when I was traveling from Paris to Rome 🙈 still blows my mind that all of study abroad happened

A photo posted by Jasmine (@fishoutofcloset) on Feb 18, 2016 at 11:08am PST

Exactly a year ago I was leaving Paris for Rome. Just that sentence is a mind blowing for me. It'll hit me once in a while; the fact that I've studied abroad and been to so many places. It's like I can't comprehend it as a whole, so occasionally a moment will sneak up on me and leave me in awe. Finishing up that semester was rather sad because I didn't know the next time I'd be able to travel. 

Fortunately, I'm currently taking a flight to Dublin. I can remember my english teacher back in high school speaking about how much she loved Dublin and so many other places she's traveled to. She made me want to travel as much as possible, even more than I already did. Now that I'm getting my chance to go I couldn't be more excited. A new city to explore and be in wonder of. 

This also means more outfit posts to come, in retribution for my impromptu break, and plenty pictures of the city as well. Of course I'll be all over my Instagram if you aren't patient to see photos (I wouldn't be patient enough either.) 

Bon Voyage, 

Jasmine 

Into the Woods

I'm still trying to organize and catch up from my mini hiatus while also trying to get everything ready for my move back to school. So, no outfit post this time around, but I went to a  state park to hang out with my mom and friends a few times this week and took a couple pictures. Sometimes a little nature is nice to break up normal life. 

Enjoy the trees,

xx Jasmine 

Let it be known that my palladium boots are amazing

Ok lets be serious I want another pair of these boots.

Photo Diary: Cancun

It was a short trip, but it was still a nice break and a rather gorgeous place to vacation. 

There were a few animals scurrying around the resort

Hibachi night 

A sunset boat ride

The view for the wedding 

Spread out on a chaise for dinner 

said chaise 

A Wedding on the Beach

I may have forgot to mention it, but the whole reason for the family trip to Cancun was for my Dad's wedding. Picking out something to wear was a little tricky just because it was so hot and it was more of a casual event. I think this dress worked out nicely because it was light in color and structure. The short length also kept it a little more casual than the other midi length dresses I was considering buying.  I love dressing up so much and I can't wait until I get to go to another wedding or event again. Fortunately, I think I have one or two more this summer, so *happy dance* more dressed up outfit posts. 

xx Jasmine 

PS: I absolutely love these earrings and can't wait to get more ear crawlers. They are so cool and have definitely revived my love of earrings. 

Dressed in: Asos dress and earrings, Urban Outfitters heels 

Train Rides (A Video)

         

I never really expected to post a video I put together that wasn’t a school assignment up on my blog. The idea to add all the the train (and bus) videos I took of my travels around Europe and put them into one big special video just came to me while I was brainstorming one day. Making video content is not my favorite thing to do (I am firmly in the writing is the best thing ever corner), but it does really get my creative juices flowing. Plus, it’s nice to have a put together video I can watch to reminisce instead of scrolling through my Instagram page and finding ever short video and watching each of them separately. I guess it’s because I love consuming videos so much that, though it’s frustrating, I enjoy working hard to create the best thing I can. Maybe as time goes on I’ll make more video content on here, and maybe I’ll grow to love creating it. We’ll see. 

xx Jasmine 

PS: As I said this was not intended to be a compilation so sorry for the vertical shots and the shakiness.

Packing for Cancun

Despite the stress and scrambling around this past week (don't order things you need to wear to a wedding a few days before you leave) I kind of love packing. This time around I'm staying in Cancun for a week. I never really thought about visiting Mexico, but so far it's been a pleasant surprise. Before I flood all my posts with outfits from my vaca I thought I'd share what I packed ... well at least some of it. Despite my love I'm a serial over-packer. So here's the edited down, pretty version: 

Swimsuits 

I'm absolutely obsessed with high waisted bikinis, and now I finally have not one but two *happy dance.* I also figured I'd bring along two regular bikinis so my tan lines aren't so strange. 

Target bikini top // Aerie bottoms and set // Zara bikini 

  

Tanks and Shorts 

Finding out that it was going to be super humid the entire time were here had me really digging into my closet to find light, breathable fabrics. This post from by Geneva at A Pair & a Spare really helped me out. Tank tops and shorts are also a nice foundation for anything really. 

Gap tank (similar) // Forever21 tank // Aerie tank (similar) // TopShop off the shoulder top //  

H&M shorts // Forever21 shorts // Urban outfitters cut offs

Dresses

A wedding plus some nights eating out with the family means dresses. They are literally a savior in hot weather too. My long sleeve J. Crew dress was also great on the plane, where I was cold, but since it was 100% cotton, not unbearable once we landed. 

Loft dress, Banana Republic dress, ASOS dress, J. Crew dress 

Makeup and Skincare 

I really tried to pair down my makeup and probably could have made it even smaller if it weren't for the wedding (gotta look good for those pictures.) I stuck with really simple eyes and cheeks and had fun with a ton of lip products. And to help my skin through the shock of a new environment, sunscreen, makeup wipes for the plane and my ultimate fave moisturizer that genuinely keeps my skin from getting oily. 

[top to bottom, left to right] 

Ole Henrikson The Clean Truth brightening cleansing cloth // Sephora teint infustion foundation // Lancome hypnose drama mascara (travel size) // La Roche-Posay Effaclar Mat, The Body Shop body butter in mango // Fresh Sugar lip polish, Benefit creaseless cream shadow in RSVP // Tarte CC under eye corrector, Benefit Dandelion lip gloss // Rimmel Scandaleyes retro glam waterproof mascara //  Ecran Lemonoil face sunscreen // Shiro cosmetics sample eyeshadows in War of Five Armies and Farewell Wherever You Fare // TooFaced primed and poreless pressed powder // L'oreal Colouriche lipcoulour in British Red // Shiro cosmetics tinted lip balm in Who Swallowed a Star // Stila convertible color in Petunia // Milani baked blush in Luminoso, Burt's Bees lip balm // Butter London Lippy in snog

Extras

Vacation calls for an interesting piece you might not wear on a normal basis. For me it's this oversized boater hat. I love the shape and originally wanted a normal sized one, but I figured the larger brim would help protect me from the sun. There's a good chance there'll be a more traditional one in my future as well. 

Urban Outfitters boater hat 

Inked (and Thoughts on Studying Abroad)

So, surprise! I got my first tattoo. I got it about a week ago so it's not fully healed yet, but I couldn't wait to take photos and share. I've wanted to get Harry Potter's scar behind my ear for about two years now and it's about time I finally went through with it. I'm not really going to go in to why I got it, but I figured I'd talk about my time studying abroad since they both kind of coincide. Without further ado, here are some awesome quotes and my thoughts and advice about spending a semester abroad. 

TLDR: Study abroad if you can. Travel has been talked about and recommended a million times and it's all true. Traveling is such a magical (see what I did there) experience that you can't get any other way. Go.

Long version:

1. "She believed she could, so she did" R. S. Grey, Scoring Wild

There are definitely a lot of things that can stand in the way of traveling and most of these reasons are legitimate, but a huge obstacle can be yourself. If you don't make traveling a priority then it's not going to happen. It takes a lot of work that you can't push to the side and do at the last minute. Fear is also a huge part. Fear can also be legitimate, but you could also be making it out to be way worse than it actually is (I did this anticipating the pain of my tattoo and I wanted to hit myself afterwards for being so scared.) Being fearful and nervous can help you realize that this is something important to seriously think about and to warn you of the risks, but it can't completely rule your life. This is true once you get there as well. Letting fear steer you through a new city or country isn't fun. If you don't believe you can get over the fear, you wont.

2. "Have fun, even if it's not the same kind of fun everyone else is having" C. S. Lewis 

This quote can apply to pretty much any stage or situation in life, but I think it's particularly important when it comes to studying abroad. To do something you only think you should or anything you don't like is a huge waste of time and money. Particularly in big cities there's a push to find things that are unique and "unknown" but that doesn't mean you can't find the same joy seeing a tourist attraction for the first time. From the most common to the hipster-est of all hipster hang outs, try anything and everything you want to as long as you are having fun. 

3. 

I figured this picture from the Travelers Pocket Reference, 1932, nicely summarized all that is possible when you travel. A semester is a long time, though it can feel pretty short, and you can learn a lot about yourself and the world around you when you spend one abroad. The thing is it doesn't magically happen because your feet touched soil outside of your home nation. 

4. 

I conveniently saw this tweet when I was scrolling the other day and I'm so glad I get to share it because it takes a huge misconception about traveling/studying abroad and blows it up. Travel is awesome and we as human beings talk about it a lot, but because of that we have a lot of preconceived notions about how people change after we travel.  The catch is you actually have to do something productive for those things to happen. For example if you want to "realize the limitations of your views" you need to go out and genuinely learn and experience different views of life. I think the two extremes exist; returning home less intelligent but self-satisfied because you've always been told simply going to another place makes you a worldly person and returning having learned more about the world and yourself. The thing is you have work towards that change for your travels to actually mean something close to  all the wanderlust quotes that are plastered on so many landscape photos. 

5. "I read; I travel; I become" Derek Walcott 

I am so happy that I got the chance to have a semester abroad. My experience may have been a little different from other students since my school has campuses everywhere we went, but I enjoyed it and I'd love to travel more in the future. I found that when you travel you're really forced into this uncomfortable situation you can't really escape from, especially when you're in a country where you don't speak the language. So to counteract this you seek out things you like and are comfortable with. To me those things revealed what I value, or just simply enjoy, wherever I am in the world. 

And when I got home I got a tattoo. Because I can, and it's a little piece of who I want to become. 

xx Jasmine 

P.S. This one works too:

"I'm just a loser who loves Harry Potter a little too much" buckbeaks on tumblr