all the pretty details.

before i pack my apartment, i want to capture the pretty details that have made it my own little home for the past year. it's the first place that was mine.

{photograph of neuschwanstein, a relic of my grandmother's travels to germany in the 60's. it inspired my child-mind and she promised it to me once i was all grown up with a home of my own. my grandfather kept her word. }

{the birdcage shower curtain that brings whimsy to my mornings.}

{my bedroom. this image reveals so much: the curtains my dad and i had trouble hanging and laughed over for days, the framed poster from the national concert amber and i roadtripped to atlanta for sophomore year, the monogrammed blanket my mom gave me in middle school, the quilt that christy gave me last year, the winter candle on my nightstand that i burned all year long.}

{the red coat rack that greets me when i walk in my front door.}

{the kitchen where emory and i made culinary magic all summer long.}

{the tiny table that my great-great-great-great grandfather made. it was my summer project to spruce it up and it now displays the vintage stamps that i collected in ireland.}

{the framed letter that hangs over my desk. my great-grandmother wrote it to me when i was 15 and told me that, one day, i'd be a writer.}

{one of my two special shelves. the reading girl was a gift from my grandmother the day i graduated with a degree in english literature.}

{a refrigerator full of letters and postcards from my loves all over and magnets, courtesy of colin's travels. he always brings one for whitney and one for me.}

{my coffee nook, where my every days begin.}

three little birds.

for a few hours on sunday morning, i was able to escape the packing and plan-making that accompanies moving and enjoy a quiet brunch with kara at three litte birds. over peanut butter, banana, and honey challah french toast, fresh apple and carrot juice, and a veggie and fontina omelet (all of which we shared), we caught up on her summer studying in spain and my upcoming new york adventure. 

then, to make the morning last just a little bit longer, we headed to barnes and noble, where we lingered in the children's books longer than anywhere else.

my kind of morning, for sure.

{this week i loved}

{the lovely dinner party that greeted me home from new york on sunday. whitney made skewers of chicken, pineapple, onions, and red peppers and ray brought cupcakes}

 {welcoming kara back to charleston with a trip to freshberry on tuesday}

{the beautiful trinkets kara brought me from her summer travels: a journal from paris, a coin purse from spain}

{girls' night at j. paul'z with whit and amanda on wednesday}

{a friday night celebratory dinner at whitney's}

{the pretty cake that ray brought me and amanda}

{bathtime at the hendrickson house, where baby dimples are the cutest thing in the world}

i hope you enjoyed your week, too!

five.

five has been my best number as long as i can remember.

i am exactly five feet, 5.5 inches tall and both my first and last names have five letters. 

many of my big life moments have happened on fives, from my birth on february 5th to all of my college acceptances arriving on november 5th. 

when i was in new york, i decided to check out the building where norton, my dream publishing house, is located.

turns out, it is at 500 fifth avenue.

and five days after that magical sunday morning in central park where i saw myself one day living in nyc, the editorial department at norton offered me a position.

so, here is to my two weeks left in charleston and my next big adventure.

at 500 fifth avenue. 

i am so excited.

autumn in new york.

the sunday morning i spent alone in central park is my favorite new york moment. 

when planning my trip, i secretly wished i could see autumn in new york. but i wasn't going to complain about a late summer in new york, either.

i wasn't able to get on the same flight with the other girls, which turned out completely wonderful. it gave me the chance to spend time alone with the city, to wander it in a way that i couldn't when i had others to consider and to think of myself possibly living there one day.

maybe even one day soon.

and i  saw myself there.

and with the stained leaves swirling all around me every time the wind blew by, it felt a little like autumn in new york.

serendipity + soho.

i'm in love.

first dessert.

judge if you like, but we ate dessert twice on saturday.

i made reservations a week in advance for a late lunch at serendipity, but we couldn't help stopping by dylan's candy bar on our way. i mean, we were in the neighborhood...

and fully aware that we would be sipping frozen hot chocolate in less than an hour, we ordered cupcakes: s'mores, cosmopolitan, boston cream, red velvet, and cookies-n-cream.

i am happy to report that we unanimously agreed: 

dylan's cupcakes are WAY better than the ones we had from magnolia's.

we'll call it first dessert.