My Weekend in Lancaster

I'm currently sitting in the BWI Airport after a pretty incredible weekend with Daniel in Lancaster, PA. I got to make an impromptu visit after the company he works for gave me the chance to interview (fingers-crossed!!), and while I was here I fell even more in love with my potential future home. 

I always thought I would be more of a city girl, as evidence of my first post here, but after this weekend I think I have found the perfect place for me. Lancaster is a bit of everything and (even better) is near everything. The city of Lancaster itself is beautiful and has a ton of little boutiques, shops and pubs, along with a year round farmers market--it reminded me a lot of River Street in Savannah, GA. The surrounding area of Lancaster has every outlet store you have ever wanted--Loft, PotteryBarn, Ralph Lauren, Fossil, you name it, they have it.

Daniel and I woke up early on Saturday and went to the Farmer's Market to have breakfast. We wound up getting some Mean Cup coffee and some donuts from Shady Maple--they were both amazing!

Also in celebration of getting my interview, we ate at the Shady Maple Smorgasbord which is an Amish Buffet that seats 2,000 people and has a huge gift shop. You can actually see the Google Maps walkthrough of the whole complex here! 

The best part about it is there is parking for the Amish outside.

And on our way back to Daniel's apartment, we saw a lot of Amish riding horse and carriages. Here's an attempt at a drive by photo here:

It was a really great trip, and on top of having a chance at a great job I got to see Daniel and discover Lancaster with him.

New Look, Same Blog

Whoa!

Lots of changes here at Living Snapshots. I decided that because I'm an adult now--and really do enjoy blogging--that I would start really building my online branding of this website and what I want it to be.

This realization came to me, of course, when all great ideas come to me--right when normal people are starting to go to bed. It's not a sudden change for me because I've been uncomfortable with how my blog was looking for a while. So last night I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy a theme from Etsy. Thank goodness I did. Look how beautiful this theme is (albeit the sidebar still being under construction)! It actually inspired my new URL as well.

After seeing the theme, I realized that some people do brand their blogs based solely off their names--
and then I remembered that I have long since used my first and middle name for my photography on flickr and on tumblr. I also realized that my blog winds up being more personal to me than any type of specific blogging, so thus Kelly Danielle at kellydanielle.com was born.

I'm very excited about this change and I hope you are too. I think it will open up new doors for me creatively because I always felt so confined by the-now-formally Living Snapshots.

Any bloggers out there making similar transitions?
Do you feel as liberated as I do now?

Girls' Day Out

This weekend, while my parents were living it up in New York City, my sister and I got to spend some time together getting to know Atlanta a bit more.

Ordering at West Egg!

I had been wanting to spend some time with my sister in the city since I moved into my new apartment, but things got so busy right out of the gate that neither one of us really had the time. This weekend's timing worked out perfectly.

We basically spent the day shopping and visiting some of my favorite places around Atlanta. I took her to the thrift shop mentioned in my previous post, Eclectia (one of my favorite decor shops), Matter Boutique, and Crafted Westside. We also ate lunch at my favorite place in Atlanta--West Egg.

My favorite store out of all of them had to be Crafted Westside--1) because it was their grand opening and I got to have free King of Pops and 2) because it was like walking into Etsy in real life. Basically Crafted Westside is a place where Atlantans can sell their handmade goods instead of relying solely on online spaces like Etsy.

Look at dapper Mr. Deer, here! All hand made bow ties!

I didn't want to leave and was completely overwhelmed by how beautiful everything was (a word my sister said I overused that day). Poor Katie was dying because she was hungry and I couldn't stop looking things over (she had to resort to hovering around the grand opening's refreshment table).

I wound up leaving the shop with upwards of 10 business cards from the various crafters and an awesome card+gift combo for my mother's birthday this weekend (she's turning the big 5-0!). I also bought a cute postcard to send to Daniel and a gorgeous leather tassel keychain for myself.

I have officially updated my keychain from that of college, all the while joining the ranks of janitors everywhere with the amount of keys I need to function.

I can't wait to go back and visit again to check out more inventory brought by these amazing crafters of Atlanta. It was also just an inspirational space--it makes me want to start on all the projects I've been scheming up with my sewing machine for the past few weeks!

Do you have any local stores that you fell in love with at first visit?

Thrifty Living

If you are in the blogging network, you have probably heard of The College Prepster. You've also probably loved her sense of fashion. 

I fell in love with her post from last Wednesday where she featured a beautiful striped beach shirt that she sported over Memorial Day Weekend.

From the College Prepster

I looked at the list price which was $180 and thought that the style would wind up being something I looked at but did not get a chance to wear.

Then I went thrifting at the thrift shop next door to my apartment building. I found the perfect subsitutte striped shirt in the men's section, and wound up leaving with it. It's a Penny Stock, "The Penny Worker" button up. It's made of super soft material and has little gems about it like an embroidered Abe Lincoln. I couldn't leave the store without it. 

I styled it with my favorite Lucky Brand shorts and a ribbed tank from Old Navy (similar). 

This was just my first thrifting experience, I can't wait to have more!