Sometimes I forget that I live in such a cool city. I remember being in high school and wanting to go to college somewhere completely different to meet new people and explore different towns. (That didn't work out, I went to DePaul and lived in Lincoln Park for over 10 years, ha!)
However, I've traveled a bit and after visiting quite a few cities I realized I definitely took Chicago for granted. The people especially. I think Chicago is a down to earth town with a NO BS vibe. Nice, but not too nice, laid back, but at the same time super active and busy.
I had a conversation about this with the amazing photographer Sonia who took these fabulous pics. She said it was quite funny how people in Portugal where she's from are completely opposite from here. If you ask them how they're doing they'll say, "ahhh, you know, I'm fiiiiine," with a sad face. Things are always blah and just alright. Where as here in the U.S. everything is always great and happy with a smile from ear to ear.
We agreed that it can be stressful to be "ON" all the time. Being fake and happy all the time can be extremely draining. "I'm doing great, how are you?!" Like seriously just stop, lets get real. You're doing good but take off the fake smile and calm down. HA!
Chicagoans have a way of balancing that energy out. You can just be yourself, and if you aren't being yourself, our city will know. I'm super grateful to be living here, it will always be home. Meeting Sonia was such a pleasure. You'll be seeing more of her work on my blog soon. Follow her instagram here
This dress is a vintage find. I'll be selling it in my lux vintage shop soon (whaaaaat?! Yes, stay tuned, that's a whole other blog post.)
But for now you can still shop similar outfits to this below. More to come!