And I Will Go to Texas

     If you've been following my Instagram or Twitter (both @trippplethread), you might have noticed a certain theme in my last few posts. I am in fact writing this blog post from Texas, but I didn't just decide to drive halfway across the country for the sake of a road trip. My mom, stepdad, and little sister all moved from where I grew up to one of the cutest towns I've ever seen: Rockwall, Texas. It'll be rough to adjust to having them so far away because I'm remaining in school at Maryville; however, the rest of my extended family as well as my dad's family are all still nearby. I've been having a blast exploring over here and no, I'm still not over how flat it is in comparison to East Tennessee. But my parents and my style fit right in here and I can't wait to call this place my western home. 

Every Chorus Was Your Name- The Avett Brothers in Knoxville

     Way back in January, I was casually scrolling through Facebook and was delighted to see that The Avett Brothers, one of my all-time favorite bands, were going to play in Knoxville on May 16th. Fortunately, I was able to purchase tickets a week in advance because I'm on their email list. According to the women at the will call booth where we picked up our tickets, they sold 4,000 tickets for the show. My mom and I decided to buy the tickets as a birthday present for Patrick (who turned 23 on May 11th) despite it being months in advance. While the show wasn't exactly a surprise, we had the whole semester to look forward to the concert, which just so happened to fall on the last day of finals week. 

     As with most shows I've gone to, professional grade cameras weren't allowed. I don't actually own a point and shoot anymore, so I went with a more risky decision than just relying on my iPhone. Patrick and I stopped by Walgreens and I picked up a disposable camera dedicated to capturing our day. While the pictures from the show itself are pretty grainy (800 speed film will do that to ya), I love the snapshots of the great day we had downtown Knoxville. 

     The show itself was unforgettable. I've already seen The Avett Brothers once before, about a year and a half ago in a baseball field with my dad. That concert led to a great list of live music that I've now gotten to see: The Civil Wars, Beach House, Ingrid Michelson, and now I've come full circle to my favorite out of all of them. It was a really special treat to go to a live show with someone who I'm romantically involved with, especially because on the night we met, Patrick and I were in a car singing Avett songs at the top of our lungs with a few of our friends. Considering Patrick has said on numerous occasions how much my music taste intrigued him on that night, Avett Brothers songs will always hold a special place in our relationship. 

    There are many noteworthy moments from the set that they played, but I'd say without a doubt the most powerful for me was "Laundry Room". I went from crying tears of complete joy to jumping around like a madwoman when the tempo picks up. The crowd was pretty rowdy the whole night (in fact, Seth remarked on just how rowdy we were when playing "The Ballad of Love and Hate"), but we went completely crazy during that song (among others, to be sure). I have to admit I missed my favorites "November Blue",which I discovered when they performed it live in Townsend, and "A Father's First Spring", my favorite from their newest album, The Carpenter. 

     I love that their music appeals to such a wide demographic of people. We saw couples who had to be in their sixties alongside hipsters of every variety and good ol' boys in double denim and cowboy boots. I wouldn't have it any other way: the diverse crowd just attests to the staying power of one of the best bands in modern music.

On Film: The Trolley

     As you can see, our last His & Hers post featured these very same outfits. While the outfits are certainly lovely in full color, I've been taking black and white film pictures of all of my adventures lately as well. I try to get a few different shots so the photography doesn't get too repetitive; but honestly, the film pictures are a different work of art all-together. 

    There's the nerves you get when developing the film- will the pictures all turn out? Then, even if everything isn't perfect, there are some beautiful accidents like the last picture in this set. The galactic looking bits that you see on the image are from where some parts of the roll of film were touching when I developed it. Obviously, when printed in the darkroom, these light streaks would still be black and white. But when I got these shots transferred to a disc at Walgreens, the magic blue and green streaks happened and I couldn't be happier. I'm sure I could recreate a similar effect in Photoshop. But having it on the film is pretty priceless.

     The black and white shots take our outfits from being simply vintage inspired to actually looking like we are in a different era. Getting the negatives put on a disc is both a protective and practical measure so that I can share the film pictures I take with you easily. However, I can't wait until I get to work with the images myself in the darkroom!

Day & Night

     This weekend was full of sun filled strolls, making new friends, perfect temperatures, and great conversations. While the price of getting color film developed keeps getting steeper, I thought that getting the snapshots from this weekend processed and printed was well worth it. I took a whole roll featuring my favorite historic house that is across the street from Maryville campus. The shots during the day were taken from the front of the house (outfit details coming soon- I also shot digital). I took the sunset pictures below yesterday evening from the top of our stone stair case on campus. It gave me the perfect view of the beautiful sky as well as the house that I adore so much. 

     I feel reinvigorated in my love for photography and film. I'm hoping to be able to feature film snapshots in some form (color, black and white, instant) every week as my budget allows. I love sharing my digital snapshots and outfit pictures, but realistically I hardly ever print those out. This way I can get prints and share my pictures on the blog. Hope you enjoy!

Birthday Snapshots

Pretty star confetti that I put everywhere, including my nails.

Tissue paper that my sister made into a wonderful creation.

My beautiful new record player and vinyl albums.

Strawberry cream cheese cupcakes that my beautiful suite mate Becca (Dorothy in these pictures) made me.

My cake with nineteen candles and a big one in the middle that says "Princess".

    My nineteenth birthday was a day to be remembered. The days leading up to it were so wonderful that I feel like I had a week long celebration before I woke up and was a year older. I "rang in the day" yesterday by sitting in my kitchen having girl time at midnight. My phone was alight with Facebook notifications for some reason as the clock rolled over and,while it took me a minute to realize what they were for, I literally jumped up and down saying "it's my birthday!" when I had the epiphany. 

    August 28th is my own personal New Year's day. I feel rejuvenated and goal oriented every time the time comes to draw little balloons in my planner. As far as recent memory goes, I really did have the best birthday that I've had in years. Sometimes, I find it hard to put faith in people to have a good time but everyone I asked to come celebrate with me did. We finished off the night by watching The Royal Tenenbaums (still one of my favorites of all time) and discovering new music. 

     This school year is already so perfect. It's low key, low stress, and I have yet to walk around without a smile plastered to my face. I hope it continues to my twentieth birthday next year (eek!) and well beyond.

Photo Diary, Weekend Edition

Goods at the local farmer's market.

Jackets made from vintage linens at a craft festival.

An old rusty bed that would be awesome in a garden.

An illustrator's gorgeous display.

The coolest toy kits/packaging ever.

A patch of lamb's ear, one of my favorite plants.

Finally got my hands on some macarons. 

     This past weekend was a great reminder of why I love living where I do. We have festivals every year to celebrate our origins as well as some seriously great local places in the surrounding cities. Although sometimes it seems backwards that we don't have an H&M or Urban Outfitters (there's only one in the state), I think my style only gets more creative because of this. I spent last weekend truly appreciating the little things that I love about where I live and getting some fun pictures out of my gratefulness. What did you do this weekend?

Photo Diary, Late May/Early June

The lemon bars from our local bakery are almost as good as my mom's. Almost.

A pretty trio of notebooks from Books a Million with Liberty Art fabric prints.

The first time I've ever had a desk in my room at home! It's my little piece of heaven.

Anything that blooms will never be considered a weed in my opinion.

Pretty lights and fans at a local restaurant. 

Strawberry and Nutella crepe from The French Market.

Fox tee shirt from Räla and my American flag tank from ChicWish that I redeemed on Chictopia.