Summer Lovin'

St. Louis is the best city during the summer. Oh, you think your city's better? Ha, nope. You're wrong. St. Louis wins. Hands down.

There's the Shakespeare Festival (This year was Othello) totally free and outside in the beautiful Forest Park on Art Hill, there's countless outdoor concerts year round, the zoo, the Muny, and thousands of other events that make you a better person if you go to them. Culture, people. It's a great thing. 

Kezia was in town for a few days, so we went to the zoo and swimming and to the Chinese Lantern festival at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. (Ha, told you St. Louis wins). It was absolutely incredible. Seriously, guys, go see this stuff. It's SO COOL.

Check it out.

Unfortunately, I only had my phone with me to take pictures, so excuse the crappy quality.

This dragon is made entirely out of porcelain dishes, how awesome is that?

Yup, told you St. Louis is great. I'm not biased or anything, though... ;)

The Midnight Hour is Close At Hand

I've realized that this post may completely ruin my chances of ever having friends in the future. Because...it's incredibly weird. At least Nunsie will have the same problem. So we can live together in our weird solitary world. Or maybe we can start a cult with other weird people who have lost all their friends due to their obsession with floor-length velvet skirts and awkawrdly delicious food. That'd be exciting. We can all listen to Marina & the Diamonds while drinking Japanese soda together, and Nunsie will provide us with Rosemary cupcakes with goat cheese frosting. Yum.

I need to stop writing about this before I convince myself it's a good idea.

Because, in all seriousness, if I could live off of Nunsie's cupcakes and Peace Tea for the rest of my life...I'd be okay with that.

Enough of that. Here's some pictures. Enjoy. Or be freaked out. Preferably enjoy, but I won't blame you if you freak out. K, thanks.

It was dark. And Nunsie had brought over some animal antlers, an animal skull, and a candle. And a mango. Of course. So, yup, you guessed it. Photo shoot.

I have the bust of Shakespeare sitting on the piano in my house. So, we kinda had to take this shot. No judgements. And please pardon that awful glare.

Downton Abbey, anyone? I'm a bit in love with it, myself.

Sybil and Branson are cute. And don't even get me started on Mr. Bates and Anna.

Okay, I'm done. For now.

FIERCE AND LOVE,

Tyra.

Hahaha...totally joking.

Spring is Here in Shoes of Green

I'm sitting here in my sibling's 11th floor apartment looking over Lake Michigan and downtown Chicago. Yes, I'm back :) Told you I love coming here. My dad and I rode the train up here yesterday. Today, we spent the day with my brother's fiancee, Kezia. We went down to Navy Pier and walked around and took a ride on the ferris wheel. Which, if I'm being honest, was absolutely terrifying. I hate heights, haha.

Tonight, my dad and sister are taking my brother out for his 21st birthday while Kez and I go to the original Gino's for some Chicago-style pizza. Yum!

On Sunday night, my friend Jackie and I went on a hike in Castlewood State Park. She had a photography project to work on, and you know I love to take pictures there. Here were some of my shots.

I've always thought grafitti was kinda cool.

Have you had any Spring Break adventures?

If I Get Murdered in the City...

There's been many exciting things happening in my life as of late.

The first of them being this,

My new violin, Albert Johannes von Froenig. He has THE most beautiful sound, and I'm absolutely in love with him. My old violin, Wilhelm von Froenig is a little jealous...but hopefully he understands.

The second was my recent trip to Chicago to see my brother and sister. Let it be known, I WILL be living in this city one day soon. You can't stop me. It's one of my favorite places in the world.

This is the view from my sibling's apartment. *swoon* I'm so jealous.

It's even more incredible at night.

I'm seriously in love with this city. It's just a bit ridiculous. My dad and I are riding the train up on Wednesday for a little Spring Break trip. I'm counting down the minutes, people.  

The third, and perhaps most exciting thing of all is this,

My brother is getting married to this little cutie. Her name is Kezia, and I absolutely adore her. I told my brother that if he didn't marry her, I would. Because I just need her in my family. I'm glad it worked out this way, cause let's be honest...I really didn't want to marry her :P

I'm so happy for them both :)

Anything exciting happening in your life?

The title of this post is a line from The Avett Brothers' 'Murder in the City'

Way Up There, You and I, You and I

Wednesday was my school's annual ski trip, and like last year, I didn't go. (If you didn't sign up for the trip, you were allowed to stay home from school.) Meaning, I got the day off to do whatever I pleased. So, I met Nunsie in a cute part of town for breakfast, then we went to Castlewood State Park to go on a hike and take some pictures. This park is absolutely amazing. My favorite trail goes way up high on a bluff overlooking the Meremac River and some train tracks.

And, if you know Nunsie and me, you know we couldn't pass up a photo shoot with this scenery.

We found this spray-painted on the wooden look-out and we couldn't resist. It was just a coincidence that my loyal pup, Lance, decided to walk in for a cameo in this shot.

These pictures turned out to be quite an ordeal, because as we were leaving the park, a police car started to follow us, after he pulled us over, he started interrogating us about skipping school/doing drugs/ etc. Of course we were so scared we were on the brink of tears. He was a pretty jerky cop. He started laughing at us and once he was convinced we were telling him the truth that we were just up there to take pictures and hike, he continued to talk to us just to freak us out more. Needless to say, it was not a great experience, and we were both shaking the whole way home.

We concluded that he picked us out because the fact that Nunsie was wearing leggings as pants was a crime against fashion.

But hey, we got some great pictures, right? It was a pretty great day, minus the unnecessary run-in with the police.

The title of this post comes from Ingrid Michaelson's 'You and I'.

Why Did the Hipster Burn His Tongue?

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Today, my friend, Nunsie, came over for a hipster fashion-shoot. Yeah, yeah, I know, if you call yourself a hipster, you're not really a hipster. Whatever.

She brought over a bunch of her crazy clothes and we took pictures for a few hours.

Here's a few of my favorites.

Isn't she gorgeous?

And here's a few of me, that are not as cool...let's just say I prefer to be behind the camera.

Yes, I am wearing a vest over a sweater. It's not a big deal.

After the shoot we had the most delicious lunch. A quesadilla made with goat cheese, carmelized onions, red peppers, roasted corn, and homemade guacamole. Yum.

Oh yeah, and answer to the title is:

He drank his fair-trade goat's milk espresso before it was cool ;)