Most Wanted Mondays - Swimwear

While pinning on pinterest last night I couldn't help but notice some very cute bathing suits for this season. Wanting a new swim suit myself I found myself drooling over multiple styles. Here are some of my top picks.

1. Freepeople - Floral Smocked Bandeau.

2. Anthropologie - Isometric Maillot.

3. Anthropologie - Retro Poppy Bikini.

4. Urban Outfitters - UO Mix & Match Bikini.

5. Pink Bow City - White & Mint Bow Bikini.

6. ShopBop - Dolly Bandeau.

7. ShopBop - Stud One Piece.

8. ShopBop - Blue Bell Bikini.

9. ShopBop - Zunzal Bungee Reversible Bikini.

10. NastyGal - Twisted Cutout Swimsuit.

I am pretty sure the last one from NastyGal is my favorite, however, I don't have that much $$$ to drop on a swimsuit. *sighhh. Oh well. Are you ready for swim season?

Instagram

Hi everyone! Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!! My weekend has been lovely. Friday my mom, sweetpea, and I drove up to Milwaukee to pick up free books for her clients children. We passed up the Jelly Belly factory though due to time constraints. We did, however, stop at the Cheese Castle and picked up some cheese curds :] Later that night my boyfriend's band had a show back in town. Yesterday my room mate and I went to some antique/thrift stores and found some excellent finds - I can't wait to show everything off later this week! Anywho, today I am busy looking for jobs...wooo.

A few weekends back my mom and I took goofy pictures of sweetpea in hopes of getting her on t.v. I also recently downloaded the instagram app for my android. Here are some of the out takes via instagram :]



Tailgate gear



Fact!



Sweetpea's Wardrobe Wednesday look



Haha. I think you get the PICTURE ;) I can only imagine what my future children will have to endure... Do you dress your pets up in ridiculous get up?

Thrifted Thursday - Illustrated

Hi all! I am attempting to get back on my regular blogging schedule. I am currently in the process of moving though so I have to make do with what I have. Last night I began working on my new blog design! I must say I am pretty excited about it. While sitting in my room pondering what I should do for a header I saw my cute cat/dog/creature bank sitting on the shelf...



Remember him from a Thrifted Thursday a few months back?


Well, I decided to illustrate him. While I am not sure he will make the cut when it comes to my header I had fun drawing him anyway :] He still needs to be refined a bit, and I think he could use some glasses. Do any of you like to doodle?

I have been sans my camera the past week. I will be back to a regular schedule next week! Tomorrow my mom and I are driving up to Wisconsin to pick up some books for her work and we mayyyyy stop at the Jell Belly factory :] While I hate jelly beans it is still a fun place to visit. Hope you all are having a great day!!

Japan - Day 9 & 10

Before I get to the (LAST) of the photos from my trip I want to thank you all for your kind words and questions about my blog design and blog design in general. I have written down each question you would like answered and compiled a list. I plan on breaking the tutorials down in to two sections - coding and graphics. I am excited to get started on writing up the tutorials. I hope you are equally excited to read them :]

Alrighty, this is the end. Haha. I am sure you are excited to no longer be photobombed. I needed to make sure I document me trip though - for me. I am awful when it comes to keeping track of my travels. I want to be able to look back and remember what I did. So anywho, here goes nothing...

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Tuesday - Visited Mike's school and stayed in due to high winds

We made okonomiyaki on this night with (almost) his entire house. It was so fun and yummy. Okonomiyaki is a Japanese like pancake/omelet made up of crunchy cabbage, egg, meat (optional), and yummy sauce on top. Why I didn't take a photo of the one's we made is beyond me...whoops! Here is what it looked like though. They were kind enough to make me a version without the bacon because I don't eat meat. I am sure it tastes good that way though.

Here is some photos of the Shiba House crew plus me :]



Ok I messed up a wee bit. Here is one more photo from Monday. We had dinner in Roppongi and there is a pet shop there that sells puppies, kittens, prairie dogs, oh and monkeys! Yikes.



Wednesday morning - Fish market in Tsukiji and Zojoji temples

The fish market was pretty wild. It is where all the fish is auctioned off and sold each morning. You can go walk around if you dare and snack on some fresh sushi. The cutesy signs - although cute, are serious.



My last sushi meal



Wahoo. Made it! My trip to Japan was one of my favorite trips hands down. I love Japan - the people and it's culture. It is such a beautiful place and I highly suggest visiting if you ever get a chance. I hope to get back there some day.

Now ShyScout can get back on track. Have a beautiful day everyone :]

Blog Design

I finished my first blog design for a client - my friend Erica at In the Light of Style.



If you haven't checked her blog out yet - you should! She has an incredible fashion blog and wanted a new layout to match her style. She wanted something clean, fashion-forward, and... bunnies! I had her compile an inspiration folder of colors, text, and images so I could visualize what she was going for and took it from there. The bunnies are her own illustrations! I simply made them vectors to fit the layout.

I really enjoyed working on this project. I learned quite a bit more in terms of html and I am excited to redesign my own blog shortly.

Visit - In the Light of Style
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Need a new layout? I would love to design your blog!
I know I talked about it awhile back, but I would love to help other bloggers out by designing their blogs. I still haven't made a store front, but after working on the In the Light of Style blog I know that it is something I seriously want to do.

If you would like a blog redesign or bits and pieces designed feel free to shoot me an email at ammcgin@gmail.com for a quote.

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Want to learn about blog design?
Please check out my last post. I am looking for questions you would like to see answered in blog design tutorials. I plan on starting them next month :]

A question for you

What would you like to learn
about blog design?

- Having trouble getting text or images to align?
- Want to get rid of that pesky shadow around your images?
- Do you want to learn how to properly save images so they don't upload fuzzy?

I can answer all these questions and more! I am currently in the process of redesigning my blog. This one has too many - what was I thinking? - flaws that I can't get past. While working on a blog design for a friend I realized how much more I could do for ShyScout. I was in too much of a hurry to get this layout up and running originally. Anywho, rambling...

What tutorials design would you like seen on this blog? I want to compile a list of design questions you have and plan to answer them all. Whether it is questions about html, type, photoshop, etc. I am hoping to start a new tutorial feature starting next month. While I can come up with my own tutorials, I thought it may be more useful and fun to answer questions you may have.

ASK AWAY!

Japan - Days 4 - 8

Before I get to Japan overload (I am nearly done - one more post to go) I want to talk about a few exciting things first:

1. ShyScout was given an editor's choice fashion award from Be In Style! An incredible style blog that you should all check out. I am so honored. I would like to thank them again for their kind words and support :]

Fashion Award

2. This weekend I also worked on finishing up a friend of mines blog. I am really excited because this was my first blog design for someone other than myself. I really love how it turned out and can't wait to share it with you as soon as it goes live. It really made me want to redesign ShyScout's layout...so be on the look out for changes next month!

Sorry for the photo explosion - thankfully there isn't much to read. If you scroll down fast it is like watching a movie of the trip, haha.

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Friday - Tokyo station, Hibiya Koen, Ginza, clubbing in Roppongi

Shopping along Ginza
For some reason I am missing my pictures of the Godzilla statue...bummer. I also didn't take my camera out clubbing later that night. Clubbing in Roppongi was wild and I will leave it at that, haha. One of the clubs had holographic wallpaper.

Saturday- stayed in and made home made sushi with the room mates


It wasn't traditional sushi, but it sure was tasty. The last photo is of us preparing the miso soup.

Sunday - Manadrake in Nakano, Yoyogi festivals, hippies, Junie Moon, sushi, Don Qxiote


This fun festival was happening in and outside Yoyogi park by Harajuku.

My friend Mike and I were interviewed by the Japan Times.
Check out the article HERE

Monday - Odaiba & Shibuya


Jk. I was in New York the entire time...

People in Japan spend more on dog outfits than I would on a shirt!


Another plus - they pamper their pooches at pet stores...not like the awful stores here.


Shibuya crossing

One more photo overload post coming soon. Then my blog will really be back on track. This weekend I spent a lot of time coming up with new ideas for ShyScout. I can't wait.

Have a beautiful day!