My Return + A Little Inspiration

I haven't blogged in exactly a month, and each day since I last blogged I have felt the guilt inside me grow more and more. Now, I don't have a large audience of readers to start with, but I truly am thankful for everyone who reads Cozy Sweaters, and lately I have felt like I've let you all down. I can use excuses to say that I was busy (which is true), or that I couldn't think of any ideas (also true), but there still is no reason that I should have left you all hanging. Now that I have sort of jumped back on my routine, I am making more time to blog and share my ideas with you all! I can already tell this fall is going to be great; I have lots of blog posts planned, and I cannot wait to write more. At the end of the summer I went into a last minute panic/dread phase where all I did was sit in my room and read my summer reading which I could've done earlier but completely procrastinated on. All that reading made me really dead going to school, and when I wasn't reading I was trying to see friends before the school year started. I was literally posting about the most boring subjects, I mean blogging about summer reading.... no thanks. And then sophomore year started, it was definitely a change from freshmen year, but I'm getting into my routine and finally enjoying my free time! There is definitely more going on at school with AP classes, harder subjects, more homework, and even though I don't have many extra curricular activities, I still feel stressed. Blogging has always been my personal stress reliever, and just blogging again makes everything seem okay. It looks like your stuck with me for awhile :)Expect more posts this weekend! But for now, here are some of the quotes that I've been relying on lately.

 

Love,

Natalie

 

 

An End to One Amazing Year

I know what everyone was thinking these past few days, I definitely was...

Yes! It's here! After 180 days, the school years come to a close and we can all sit back and soak up the sun. It's been an amazing year, I've met so many new friends, traveled to a foreign country, started my own blog, started the hobby of photography, and accomplished so many other things. 

On the last few days of school I was surrounded by many good friends that were planning on traveling away for a good portion of the summer, so we spent several days together before we all parted. The last few days included a lot of fun memories and celebration as we tied up another fantastic year, and I was lucky enough to have brought my camera to photograph it all:

It's been so great strengthening friendships this year and making memories with these amazing ladies, these memories are ones I will never forget.

Our dear friend Shayd helped as an assistant with a magic show that took place at our school, so of course a fan sign had to be made to show support. :)

We all were excited to head out of school for the last time...

One last group photo before we said our goodbyes, it's been a great year but we're about to begin an even better summer. 

Love,

Natalie

Sunset on the Shore

After a lovely dinner on Sullivan's island, I headed out to the beach with my camera to check out the sunset. From the street the sky looked fairly normal, but once I stepped out onto the beach- the view became absolutely perfect and I was glad I was able to capture these amazing shots:

The dunes were in bloom with all of these colorful little flowers

The little sister

View of the light house and sunset

She was running around the beach like a wild child, gotta love it

Hopefully there are more summer sunsets like these to come,

Love,

Natalie

Italy Spring Break Trip {Video}

I never shared the little video I made for my Italy trip- here you go!

Love,

Natalie

Reflecting on the Past & Focusing on the Future

I'm back from my hiatus, which occurred because of the massive amounts of school work. Italy was amazing but the makeup work- not so much. After Italy, I felt like something had been missing from me. Suddenly I was drained from my creativity, writer's block hit me, and I just couldn't seem to do anything with me life except hunker down and wasting hours on Buzz Feed {which is great, but not my sort of thing}. I've been spending time with friends and they all seem to have their lives all planned- they know what they want to do, where there going to go, how they're going to get there, but me? I honestly don't know anymore. I was thinking science and medical, but my heart just isn't there. 

This week our geography teacher began another lengthy discussion {the one's I usually ignore}, but he caught my attention with the idea of studying abroad. Where would I go? Italy or maybe France? How would I get there? Who knows. Would I learn a new language? Probably. I have been taking the thought into consideration, maybe skipping junior year and flying off to another country- exploring, learning, doing something new. Or would I wait until college? The thought of going away for a year to live with strangers is scary, but it might be just the thing for me. 

I've also been thinking about how I'd like to change my photography style. I see all these amazing ideas but often wonder why I can't come up with creative things- maybe I'm trying to hard. I know if I get the right person to help me we can accomplish a lot together, I just need to let loose of the stress {finals/school/more school} and let the creativity fly!

But enough of that, I have plenty of memories in the past and a good amount of time for the future. Thinking about Italy made me remember all the good memories in each city, so here are five memories from each place we visited:

Milana/Verona/Padua

{First Day}

1. First glimpse of Italy from the plane as the sun rose over the snow topped Italian Alps.

2. Driving to Verona and seeing the spring flowers and villages nestled in the Alps.

3. Seeing all the locks in Juliet's courtyard

4. Trying our first delicious pizza and creamy gelato

5. Shopping with best friends in Padua {we almost got lost!}

Venice

{Second Day}

1. Taking the boat into Venice and seeing all the bridges connecting the islands

2. Jumping pictures with Jamie, Emily, and Shayd

3. Walking through the residential area and seeing the residents' everyday life

4. Gondola ride {the best}

5. Performing in a church right along the Grand Canal

{p,s,I loved everything about Venice}

Tuscany/Ravena

{Third Day}

1. Watching the hundreds of beautiful Tuscan farms go by from the bus

2. The artwork and mosaics in the Ravena cathedral

3. The bicycling group of Italian boys that stopped to take pictures with us *swoon*

4. Exploring our so-called "haunted" hotel

5. Finding the party street near our hotel + crashing a teen club

Florence

{Fourth Day}

1. Singing in the Florence cathedral

2. Singing on the Ponte Vecchio {we did a lot of singing on this day!}

3. Climbing to the top of the cathedral dome

4. Shopping in the famous leather marker

5. Crashing the hotel's dance floor and creating an on-the-spot dance routine

Rome

{Fifth and Sixth Day}

1. Everything about the collesium...of course

2. Talking with Shayd about our future adventures and where we'll go next

3. Entering St. Mark's Basilica

4. Bittersweet speeches by our favorite seniors on the last night

5. Singing "Let It Go" obnoxiously loud out the window + going out exploring on our last night

Ah, nothing would be better to be back in Italy with that amazing group of 28 people.

But for now I'll be just fine here :)

Love,

Natalie

Travelogging: Venice

 Venice was my favorite place of all, the little alleys, bright colors, and of course the gondolas that weaved through the winding canals. We were lucky enough to spend an entire day here as well as sing in a church that was located right on the main canal! We started the day off by touring the 

 Murano Glass Factory and Saint Mark's Basilica; then we had some free time to take a gondola ride and enjoy lunch from one of the restaurants hidden in the tight alleyways. 

Here are some of my favorite pictures from this beautiful city:

The boat ride into Venice was just the first taste of the colors, architecture, and canals of the city!

There were gondolas everywhere, some even had opera singers that could be heard from far away as their voices echoed through the streets. We took our gondola ride and we went through a moderately quite part of town (which was nice) and then into the Grand Canal where we saw many other boats.

Boats galore!

An attempt at a jump shot... we got the funniest looks!

Our choir!

My favorite part of Venice were the little things, like the clothes hanging from windows or the flower baskets lining the canals. It was surreal to be in a place that is talked about like it's a dream land- after a day in Venice I knew it was my favorite.

Ciao!

Natalie

Travelogging: Padua & Verona

After a week of traveling and touring Italy, I'm home! It was the most amazing trip, and even though my expectations were high the country still blew me away with it's cuisine, history, and culture. So you all won't be spammed at once with a week's worth of pictures and blogging, I decided to take it a few days at a time.

After we landed in Milan, we drove along the Italian Alps to Verona, the home of Romeo and Juliet, before continuing on our journey to our hotel in the Padua area. During the drive we stopped at a cafe where some of us tried real Italian espresso (Not me! I stuck with my hot chocolate instead!) and had  a light breakfast to tide us over until lunch time. Once in Verona we went to Juliet's balcony and the note covered wall that is found in the movie: Letters to Juliet. We also toured around the city and saw a historic arena before heading to lunch.

Jamie made sure to get a picture with the famous wall from her favorite movie!

Next to the wall were thousands of locks hanging with names of lovers written on each lock.

The view from the arena.

It may look like the famous Rome coliseum but actually is a smaller version of the Rome version

For lunch, we found a small restaurant in a side alley that served the most delicious pizza and pasta. It was challenging to speak to the waiter because of the language barrier, but as the days went on we could understand more of what the Italians were saying. After lunch we went to a gelato shop and I had the most delicious Nutella flavored gelato.

Our first day was amazing but there was much more to come in the next week: Stay Tuned for our Day In Venice!

Love,

Natalie

Travelogging: Final Preparations

After almost a year of waiting, countless fundraisers, months of building anticipation, and days of immaculate planning...

TODAY IS THE DAY.

Tonight at 9:00 pm I am hopping on a charter bus to Charlotte where we're sleeping at the airport (beauty sleep, I think not) and then tomorrow morning at 7:30 am we're flying to Atlanta, then New York City, and then Milan! I believe we have a few hours of layover time at JFK so I will try to post on my iPad and give you all an update before I cross the big blue ocean. 

Last night I could barely sleep because I was so excited, and I'm posting this before school and wondering how in the world I am going to focus on anything except for thoughts of Italy in my head. I'll try to keep you all updated!!!

Love,

Natalie

(Ciao amici!)

Travelogging: Travel Accessories

I used to never bring accessories on any sort of trip; I was always the one kid in giant tennis shoes/flip flops, Bermuda shorts, and t shirts (I'm cringing back at these memories) why I didn't realize this was not a good style? Not sure. Elaborating more on this topic, you see I've made many memories traveling to different places, but every time I see a picture from these trips I want to go back and time and tell Past-Natalie to add some style to her outfits! Therefore, in Italy I am trying to add many accessories and shoes to add style to my outfits while still being comfortable at the same time. When I look back on the Italy pictures in a few years I'll be able to say to myself "I remember loving that outfit, I wish I still had it!" instead of saying "WHAT WAS I WEARING?!"

I was wearing tennis shoes with this... why

When I entered high school, I changed how I dressed and put more effort into my appearance. I enjoy creating stylish outfits instead of going with the same shorts and t shirt every. single. day. So here are some of my favorite accessories and shoes for traveling!

Travel Accesories
{Italy Style}

Bubble Necklaces:

I don't actually own all these necklaces, but I frequently borrow my best friends bubble necklaces all the time (I should probably buy some for myself...) They add a pop of color to any traveling outfit while also being relatively cheap and sold at many stores. My friend gets these necklaces at Charlotte Russe for around $10.00, however they often have sales there so you can snag them for much less!

Combat Boots:

These boots are my absolute favorite shoes ever. They might not be very fancy, but they are so comfortable and I can wear them with almost anything: skirts, jeans, dresses, etc. Combat boots are also very durable- mine have gone through lots of wear and tear and they still are in tact! I got mine from Steve Madden for $59.95, but they can be found in many different stores for less (note: if you want your boots to last a long time, I suggest paying the extra and going for the Steve Madden boots over a cheaper pair that will fall apart faster) Especially when you're walking around an airport or touring your destination, you need a durable shoe that is also comfortable and this shoe is perfect for both!

Hair Bows:

I recently made a post on my love for hair bows: overall, if you have the right color, these little guys go with anything. They are perfect for adding style when you have to catch a early morning flight and don't feel like doing your hair :)

Scarves:

In the picture under the hair bows category, I can be seen wearing a white scarf. Which leads me to my next favorite accesory for traveling: scarves! I prefer infinity scarves because you can stretch them out, ball them up, stuff them in your suit case and they still are in one circular piece. My scarf is a lightweight fabric that still provides warmth but can be balled up and thrown into a carry on bag in seconds.

All these accessories are joining me on my trip; I'm getting so excited!

Countdown to Italy: 3 days

Love,

Natalie

Travelogging: My Carry On Bag

Italy is in less than 4 days and I've already started to pack my things! I have a busy weekend this weekend and I leave Monday night, it's come so quickly. Tomorrow I'm heading to the roller coaster park "Carowinds" with my science class and won't be home until late so this afternoon I prioritized and packed my carry on bag. After seeing friend and fellow blogger Sydney do a post like this on her blog, check it out here,  I loved her post so much I decided to do one like it!

What's In My Bag?

{Italy Carry On Bag}

Backpack~ This little backpack was featured on a previous post, and it is the perfect size to carry all of my little items for the plane ride. With three spacious and different sized pockets it helps me organize everything from my electronics to my bobby pins.

Mini iPad/iPhone~ (a must) I'm loading both of these devices with music and movie to help keep me entertained! I've also made sure I have my favorite games (such as the Sudoku or Mahjong games in app form) to keep my brain active and healthy during the multiple plane rides and layovers.

Pen/Notebook~ Like Sydney said in her blog, I carry a small notebook whenever I travel in case I want to play a quick game of hangman or jot down something interesting I find.

Makeup/Toothpaste/Toothbrush~ Nothing's worse than getting of the plane and having that disgusting morning breath, acne, or dark under eye circles. I always keep my concealer, powder, toothbrush, and toothpaste around when traveling so when I arrive at my destination I can start the day off with minty fresh breath as well as a bit of makeup on.

Hairbands/Bobby Pins/Hair Brush~ I tend to put my hair into buns when traveling to eliminate the bed head I get when I'm all curled up in the window seat against the wall for hours on end. I can throw my hair up into a bun with ease and then when I arrive I use my pocket sized hairbrush to brush it out.

Sweatshirt~ It might be a minor hassle to carry around, but my sweatshirt doubles as a pillow/blanket/and warming device on the plane. I can wad it up into a ball to make a pillow or put it on when the cabin gets cold.

Wallet~ This one's pretty self explanatory.

Water Bottle/Dry Snacks~ I keep an empty water bottle around so after I go through security I have something to drink for free! (I'm sure you know the outrageous prices of water bottles in the airport) I also keep some dry snacks to munch on if I'm still hungry after I have the free airplane snack.

Books/Movies~ I'm currently reading 1984 by George Orwell and plan to finish it on the 9 hour flight. I also plan on downloading some movies to watch!

Chargers~ According to Delta, our flight is supposed to have outlets to charge devices so I've brought my chargers along.

Chapstick/Lotion~ Nothing is worse that dry skin on a long time... period.

Countdown: 4 Days Left

Love,

Natalie