Strawberry Skirt, Red Tights, and Childhood Memories

The Strawberry Skirt

When I was little, my grandma had one book that I particularly loved. It was about a little mouse who found a strawberry and tried so hard to hide it from a big hungry bear. I don’t know why I loved that little book, but it stuck with me for years and years. One day, when I tried to find it, I discovered that my grandma had gotten rid of it (likely from too much use!) and I was heartbroken. I couldn’t remember the title or exactly what it was about, but somehow my mom found me a copy after all those years. This strawberry skirt embodies that little part of my childhood. It’s sweet, whimsical, and, of course, covered in berries!

When a friend of mine sent it to me earlier this month, I knew I needed to pair it with this brooch from Noelle at The Classy Junk; the two were meant to be! But I didn’t quite have the perfect top to debut this skirt with, so off it went to wait in my closet for that perfect moment. Then on Sunday, on that aforementioned thrifting trip, I found this top for two dollars and I knew I had my outfit. The sweet scallops, the perfect red, the vintage feel; it was everything I had wanted to pair with the strawberry skirt.

It’s funny how your childhood can subconsciously influence your life so strongly.

I never would have guessed that one little book could stick with me for so long, yet here I am at 28 with a strawberry-themed kitchen and a voracious love for anything vintage and strawberry print. It’s lucky that strawberries are so prevalent in the retro kitchen aesthetic. Kitschy and sweet are two things I really love, and two things that are strongly featured in my decorating style.

And my personal style, too, has a strong bent towards sweet and whimsical. I love novelty prints, especially when they are fruit-adjacent, and tend to go for an aesthetic that is rather feminine and darling than tough and edgy. While fall brings out the dark side in me and keeps things from getting too saccharine, I still aim for pretty and bright.

Lately, I have been working hard to figure out how to grow as a blogger.

I used to think that I wanted to be an author. Between the ages of 16-21 or so, my sole bent was to write. I wrote so much fiction, finished a few novels, started about a million more, participated in NaNoWriMo, and just felt in my heart that authoress was my destiny. But then life got in the way, and I no longer have the urge to write like I used to. I still love the idea of creating stories, but my love has evolved from the written word into pictures and blog posts.

And I think this is where I want to focus my efforts for now. It’s a bit scary and sad to say I’m putting writing by the wayside for the moment, but I think it’s the right decision. Blogging is very much a creative outlet for me, and I love creating outfits, photographing them, writing around them, and creating a narrative that is every bit as much visual as it is written. So, along with improving my photography here, I’ve been researching ways to grow my audience on social media. It’s not something all bloggers talk about, because you never want to seem like you’re crying out for attention. But, it’s an interesting subject to me. How to grow an online presence and turn what you love into something beneficial to you.

I recently started a little push to possibly work with a few brands by emailing them directly to ask about collaboration. It was a scary thing to do, because I know that I will get more rejections than acceptances (or worse, I’ll be ignored entirely), but it’s already proved profitable in one way: I now have a goal to work towards. One such brand kindly responded that they have a minimum threshold of Instagram or Facebook followers for all of their blogger collaborations. It’s a number far above what I have, and it seems so far off and unreachable at the moment, but having something to aim for is so helpful! I don’t ever want to blog just for the money or the things that I can get from it, but at the same time… why not make what I love work for me too?

So, if any of you have advice on running social media accounts, what you’ve done to gain presence and improve yourselves on Instagram or Facebook, or you want to know more yourself, please speak up! Don’t be afraid to ask me what I’m learning, and please let me know what you do to grow.

After all, falling into a rut is one of the worst things you can do for your self and what you love. I want to always be pushing myself to be better at what I do, and that starts now!

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