You've been warned: the following post WILL contain a massive amount of food porn (mouth-watering burgers, to be exact). Proceed at your own caution!:)

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I had an incredibly low-key birthday -- invited my closest peers to bowling (at which I am very, very much awful at. LOL) at Star Lanes in Royal Oak, followed by dinner and chit-chat. What was NOT low-key though was the incredibly awesome burgers we had, I can wax poetic about it all day! Really huge burgs, fresh ingredients, a great restaurant ambiance AND all starting around 5 bucks? I'm in. So in. More photos after the jump!

As you may have noticed, I've changed my blog banner logo yet again, probably the 4th (or it may be 5th) time I did so in the six long years I've maintained my blog. My banner has had many iterations in the past, evolving along with my style, and me as a person on the whole. After all these years,  I'm finally leading my blog closer to how I've always personally wanted it to be. It's easy to get strayed and lose some clarity when you're pressured by certain aspects (keeping up, staying competent, keeping your sponsors happy, etc), but since I basically moved away from the chaos of my old blogging lifestyle and into a new, more solitary environment, I thought it was high time to strip this blog down back to basics and write about things with a fresh set of eyes.

You may have noticed I also indicated the primary breakdown of how things will be here, primarily, these three subtopics:

LIFE + STYLE

Combining the best of both worlds, and also because I feel like I can't really classify myself as exclusively a personal style blog nor am I a lifestyle/girl about town these days. Let's just say it's little doses of inspiration as I see and experience it, and it could go anywhere from my personal outfits here and there, new tastes and flavors I experience here in Michigan, choice collaborations, and many more.

FILM

Needs no explanation! I've always wanted my blog to function as a portfolio of sorts for my ongoing work and other projects, so you'll definitely be seeing a lot more of my own micro mini film projects, fashion films and other inspirations in the coming days.

TRAVEL

No, I do not have the time and the luxury to be living the kind of wanderlust life that you kind of see everywhere on social media these days (good for you if you're living that, though!), but since I am new to Michigan and to the United States, basically every new place I go to IS a travel experience in the sense of the word. Ha. Someday I'll do that chic European trip those awesome bloggers are doing (or I could go back to sleep and dream. ha), but for now, expect to see a lot of Michigan and United States eye candy + travel tips. Oh, and Canada! I can't forget Canada. :)

Nothing else signals the start of "going out" season (spring, of course!) like taking the family out to see some adorable animals! A couple of months ago, the fambam took our tiny little babies to check out the Detroit Zoo, which just opened for the spring season -- I've been wanting to check out the zoo since we got to Michigan as I've heard nothing but good things about it. And also, seeing a giraffe alive and in the flesh was such an exciting prospect for me! We did have a ton of fun and we did get to visit a lot of the sections, but unfortunately it ended up being a really chilly day still and we couldn't stay that long (Michigan weather, what can you do?). And no giraffe sighting for me, for now! Totally planning to swing by sometime this summer though to finally meet that giraffe. You best be looking out, adorable long-necked animal!

Pro-tip: the Detroit Zoo is HUGE so you have to wear comfortable shoes and bring something to quench that thirst. Take it from me, I came unprepared, definitely learned the hard way.

Traverse City, now is your time to meet and greet famed luxury leather goods designer Patricia Nash in the flesh! Don't miss this fantastic meet and greet event -- the designer will be raffling off a Patricia Nash handbag during the event, and the first 10 people to spend $100 on a Patricia Nash item will get a $20.00 Macy's gift card to spend. That's pretty awesome, if you ask me! I love designer meet and greets-- not only are most designers super friendly in person, but you'll definitely gain a lot of insight into their creative process. Expect to hear a lot of amazing travel tales and inspirations from Patricia Nash!

Unfortunately, I'm probably not going to be able to make it myself as Traverse City is a bit of a drive for me (around 5 hours, sadly! I still want to visit sometime soon!), but the amazing people over at Patricia Nash and Michele Marie PR sent over this lovely surprise, anyway:




Isn't this backpack simply stunning?! The fashion house was kind enough to let me pick a bag of my choice, and I KNEW I just had to have this baby. It's only been a week since I received this beauty, and it's been nothing but nonstop stares and compliments! I'll do a more in depth review of this amazing bag in a separate post! All I can say is, I'm psyched to be able to find THE summer bag!

You guys have a great one ahead! :)

When you become a newly minted parent with no regular sitter (basically majority of us parents here in the US, hehe), the words "going out on the town" becomes a rarified, almost profound experience. I definitely have a newfound appreciation for something I used to take for granted. Two weeks ago, however, my brothers-in-law Clay and Brandon were in town for their birthdays-- we knew we had to go out sans babies (thank you, grandparents :)) and check out Hopcat, one of the most buzzed-about craft beer pubs in the country!

YASSSSSSS girl, yasss... The granddaddies of electronica (and one of my most favorite acts ever) are coming to Detroit with their famous 3D spectacle. You're not sitting this one out, right?