5 Things You Didn't Know About New York / Urban Arcade

Ever wondered what it would be like to visit the Big Apple? Ever dreamed about what the well-worn pavements of New York hold for foreigners like ourselves?

Well then, boy, do I have a treat for you. As soon as I saw that Camille of Urban Arcade (ex-Melbournian, current Chicago-er, all-round talented gal with a killer blog) was heading to the shining city that is New York, I had to get her to write something up.

So here it is: 5 things you didn't know about New York. (Or maybe you did know, you clever little thing.)

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If New York was to introduce itself it would say something like, “Hey, I’m NYC, real nice to meet you.” And after vigorously shaking your hand it would look dreamily into your eyes then whisper into your ear, “My hygiene isn’t the best, but I make a pretty mean bagel”, before whimsically skipping off into the concrete jungle.

My first thought as soon as I stepped out into the streets was “wow” followed shortly by a “do I look cool enough??” because everyone, and I mean everyone, looks un-humanly chic.

But as NYC skips away I know some things that maybe he doesn’t even know (probably not to be honest because I was only there for three days so I’m no expert, but I’m trying to keep you guys hooked… Anyway)

NUMBER 1:

NYC lied to me. He told me he could make a mean bagel but. He. Can’t. The bagel I had was stale and chewy with too much but too little salt. Being me, I still ate the whole thing, but looking back on it now I am wondering if I actually enjoyed it, or if it was just hunger. Who am I kidding, it’s always hunger.

NUMBER 2:

There are fashion bloggers on every corner. No joke. I even got asked to be in a few pictures. I was in the land of my people and I felt right at home. They all wore the jazziest clothes and I just looked up at all of them with my puppy dog eyes whispering, “can I be you… please?”

NUMBER 3:

The coffee shops are still not as good as Melbourne. We have been very deprived of cool cafes with a decent cup of joe here in Chicago, and were told NYC was where it was at. Sadly, it didn’t live up to my pretentious standards. But don’t get me wrong! It was still great and up there with the best, just not Melbourne best…

NUMBER 4:

The first pizza shop in America opened up in New York (Okay fine… I googled that one.)

NUMBER 5:

I don’t have a five! I feel as if I wasn’t there long enough to actually give justice to all the secrets I’m spilling. But I’ll be back and I will force those secrets out of NYC and his crappy bagels.

New York was flipping incredible. It was fast and grotty, with cool people, good food and shopping shopping shopping. It’s one of my favourite places I’ve ever visited and I know I’ll be back, and wouldn’t be surprised if I ended up living there, too.

All words and images by Camille.

Instagram / @urbanarcade

Blog / urbanarcade.com.au

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Many thanks to the wonderful Camille for taking her fabulous time and effort to write this up.

I shall see you readers next time.

Love, Mags xx

Back 2 The Future

Arguably one of the best trilogies ever, Back To The Future has a dear place in my heart, and now, in my wardrobe too. 

I have decided that any day is a good day when you are sucked back into the 80s (and 1885, 1995 and good ol' 2015 for that matter). Still waiting on the self lacing Nikes and the hover boards though. 

MAGGIE WEARS:
T-shirt / Kmart || Pants / Bardot || Sweater / Sportsgirl ||
Bag / Dangerfield || Shoes / Windsor Smith || Socks / Gorman || Glasses / Bailey Nelson 

Hello - as Adele said - from the other side. 

I am officially on holidays and I am free from high school, hip hip hooray! These past two weeks or so have been chock-a-blocked full with work and catching up with mates. I've even vlogged this week which will be up in a couple of weeks knowing me, but catch it here when it drops. Tomorrow I'm also headed on 'schoolies' which is exciting - and because I'm me, I shall document it some shape or form, so keep an eye out. 

Okay, back on this post! Two days ago, some pals and I headed out to the city for some art gallery and food shenanigans. While Sofia and I were waiting for our other friends to turn up, we decided to have an impromptu photo shoot in the middle of Bourke St aka a very, very busy city street. Channeling my inner Margaret Zhang (hey, we have the same initials), I ignored the many awkward glances and pretended I was some #coolfashblogger.

I kinda like the craziness of this outfit - as did some busker who, when I walked past, sung about my striped pants and red glitter socks. Gotta love Melbourne. Hope you're all well and enjoying life, I sure am because I get to wake up at 10am with an agenda of watching TV shows and doing nothing. Booyah. 

Love always,
Maggie xx

... WITH ENVY

ROM COMS FROM THE 90s. THE SIGHT OF MILK BEING POURED INTO TEA. FRESH BED SHEETS.

To add to the list of things which make me undeniably and uncontrollably happy is this dress. With its deep forest green colour, plunging neckline and countless pleats, it triggers something inside of me to want to fist pump wildly and twirl around forever and ever. 

MAGGIE WEARS:
Allegra Dress / Fame & Partners || (Faux) Leather Jacket / Temt || Shoes / Rubi Shoes || Necklace / Nineties Zephyr

Hey pals,

It's not every day you get to wear a gown as gorgeous as this one. It's also not every day when you get to flash your boob in public. Yep, you read that right. Good ol' Maggie was just taking off her leather jacket when a whole sleeve decided to fall down. Having a construction worker across the road and a main road to the other side of me made it absolutely traumatising to say the least. But y'know... free the nip I guess?

Aside from that slight mishap, how bloody amazing is this dress? I was actually eyeing it for my Year 11 Formal last year and lo and behold - a year and a half later it ends up on my doorstep. Fame and Partners can do no wrong in my eyes; with their hot-to-trot designs and tailored details, they have left me on my knees begging for more. And guys, this is my favourite colour!! 

*See below for usual ramble about school and not blogging enough* 

Now we've got that cleared up, I just wanted to announce that in 15 days I will be finished with exams and with high school forever! Freedom is so, so, so close - I just have my business exam tomorrow and media in two weeks and then I am done with VCE. Crazy stuff. Expect a lot of new content from me people! Keep an eye out for a post especially dedicated to high school as well. Warning: cheesiness levels will be at a high. 

Much love & fairy floss,

Mags xx

Life Right Now #3 // e(motion)al

1. Collage of an old phone background + andrew winn photography + my window when i needed motivation // 2. Gorgeous bling from curated wholesale // 3. Sunset + outfit from #msfw fashion film festival // 4. Tumblr inspiration that is now my background // 5. Pals in a photobooth !! // 6. Beep beep.. more CW* love // 7. Polaroids of Bella for a lil shoot for a magazine I created for school // 8. Cheesiness delivered from tumblr (straight 2 my heart) // 9. Bloggers in motion pt. 1 (Views Of Now) // 10. Fave song atm // 11. Bloggers in motion pt. 2 (Perks Of Her) // 12. Heart eyes all over Realisation Par

Salutations dear readers! (AKA just my mum...)

Today I bring to you installment number 3 in the Life Right Now series. It's a bit of a mess, kinda like my head right now which is whirling around with last minute revision for tomorrow's media SAC. I always find that whenever I'm the busiest and most jam packed with school I end up craaaaving this creative outlet. But sadly, as my final high school exams are next month, you should be seeing less of me on ze Insta and ze blog. 

But here is today's post: a collection of happy memories - blurry and in motion. Life is always moving. It's crazy seeing how fast this year has gone, how fast high school is going. In a blink of an eye, we're going to be adults. Before you know it, one day we're going to wake up and we're going to fondly (or not so fondly) recall our teenage years. And I don't know about you but I want to make the most of them. Okay, this is getting all gross and sentimental but, what I think I'm getting at is that I don't want life to just past by. I want to live and breathe and be in every single moment, you know? 

Maybe just ignore the paragraph above because I'm seriously tired and just a bit of a weirdo anyway. 

Yours in inconstantly timed blog posts,

Mags xx

Creative Heads // Andrew Winn: Adventure Photographer

Okay, picture me: 17 years old, sitting in my trackies and eating Oreos by the handful. Now, picture Andrew Winn: 18 years old, living out of his truck, travelling around America and Canada and probably not eating Oreos by the handful.

To begin this new series on my blog - Creative Heads - I have chosen to interview Andrew for his talented photography skills and his ability to grab life by the horns and follow his dreams. So, without further ado...

1. Tell us about yourself

My name is Andrew Winn. I am an 18-year-old self taught photographer from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

2. What does photography mean to you? Why do you do it? 

Photography for me is a way to express myself creatively. As a child I tried drawing, painting, writing ect and never really found that creative outlet. It wasn’t until fall of 2014 when I got my first camera. Once I started creating consistent content I knew it was more than a hobby for me.

3. So you've just been on an amazing journey called #WhereShallWeWander... How did you find your time on the road? What made you go: yep, I'm actually going to do this?

The #WhereShallWeWander came from my burning desire as an adventure photographer to get out and explore unknown areas while pushing myself as an artist outside of my comfort zone. I’ve been dreaming of living out of my car on the road since early 2015. I saved up, made a list of people I’d like to meet up with and planned spots out. I drove over 12,500 miles, went to 14 states and Canada over 7 weeks.

4. Best and worst thing about living out of your truck?

The best thing about living out of my truck was the convenience of it! I could sleep anywhere I parked and didn’t have to worry about tents ect. I had everything I needed to live on in my vehicle. The worst thing about it was losing a few essential things like running water and easy access to electricity. Overall it was the cheapest way to travel and I plan on doing it more in the future.

5. Favourite place you've been? Dream travel destination? 

Montana was definitely my favorite area I explored in. The terrain was unlike anything I had experienced in my life. Right now, Alaska is the top location I want to travel to right now. I am starting the plan another summer car camping trip up to Fairbanks and back.

5. Tips for aspiring photographers? 

As a photographer fresh in the game, the biggest thing is to not compare. Most people you’ll envy have been doing for years. Take time to learn your gear, shooting good light and experiment a lot. Once you find “your style” work on refining it.

6. Quote you live by?

“The word adventure has gotten overused. For me, when everything goes wrong – that’s when adventure starts.”- Yvon Chouinard

“There’s only one time which you’re gonna be young; and get out there and do things that people wish they would have done once they get too old to do them. Because that’s what life is about; it’s about livin’ it!”- Chongo Chuck

Check out Andrew at: @winnterfresh or andrewwinn.com

All That Glitters

Picture this: a fairy pixie who spends her days adorned in pink sparkles and graces the earth complete with her red glitter socks. She compliments her mum's cooking and likes to hold ladybugs and smile at strangers. 

MAGGIE WEARS:
Sweater / Sportsgirl || Tshirt / Cotton On || Jeans / Levi's || Socks / Gorman 

 Some days you feel like you just gotta wear some glitter. And Monday was one of those days. (Basically every day I have a glitter related thought but...) So out I pulled my very old, very dear, probably very unsafe craft glitter which also doubles as fairy dust. After googling a bit and having multiple websites warn that it's very unsafe to use craft glitter on your face, I proceeded to put the glitter onto my face. Not going to lie, I was honestly worried I would lose an eye, which according to a particular Reddit user, was a very real possibility. Besides the point that it kinda just looked like acne, I was a bit smitten with my sparkly cheeks. My eyes are in tack, by the way. 

Out popped my tripod and as a result, my second ever self-shot blog post! It felt gooood to get the creative juices flowing once again (so much so, I decided to make my very first vlog - check it owwt here - perhaps the start of something new?) I really enjoy the blog post process; from shooting, editing to writing, I can't get enough of it. Which is quite ironic considering my lack of said posts... But yeah! I much prefer styling and photographing rather than actually "modelling" or whatever, so hopefully in the future you will see more of me behind the lens. 

It's 11pm now and I am super happy and content with life (when I'm not panicking about school...) but I'm placing my bets it's because of the sour straps I have just consumed ($1. Kmart. Get on it.) or the fact I've been partially sleep deprived for too long. 

Friendly reminder to: follow your dreams, pat that dog, eat those cookies, wear your favourite shoes, hug your friends, smell those flowers & tell your wonderful self that you are truly magnificent.  

Catch ya later (and hopefully when I'm less cheesy and use less brackets),

Magz xx