The Perfect Fall Day

I know it's been quite a while since my last post, but as is customary here in the Midwest at this time of year, the weather has been pretty icky and on top of that, I contracted a lovely cold that kept me from even thinking about being in front of or behind the camera. However, yesterday turned it all around! I have been wanting to go apple picking for the past few fall seasons and yesterday we finally went! My mom, sister, aunt, two cousins and I made our way to Hillcrest Orchards for the most perfect fall day I could've ever imagined. In the few hours that we were there, we took a hayride, picked over thirty pounds of apples (and gobbled up a few), got pretty lost in a corn maze, meandered through the pumpkin patches, and had a whole bunch of family fun!









It was the most wonderful of days to do it. After suffering through the bipolar weather tendencies of Northeast Ohio, we had a gorgeous, sunny, crisp fall day. The land seemed to stretch forever; no wonder we needed to take a hayride to get to the apples! There were a ton of families out, mostly with little kids, all enjoying the great weather and taking advantage of all that this beautiful farm had to offer. While apple picking was our main event, the pumpkin patch is another point of interest at this farm, with a huge selection of great Jack O' Lantern material and fall decorations for days.









We loved Hillcrest! The land was so pretty and spacious. Even though I'm really a city girl, sometimes I love getting out in the country and breathing in all that fresh air. Plus, being a Midwesterner, you have to take some time every now and then to embrace your inner country child. Hillcrest has so many activities and being there was so much fun! They even have a market where they sell their fresh made apple butter, cider, and salsa! It's great for the little ones, too. They had play areas, a smaller hay maze, and pedal karts. They really have something for everyone, and we all had such a blast! We will definitely be bringing Charlie back at some point.







We spent a good hour or two in the orchard, sampling the different delicious apples. They had a large variety, from Red Delicious to other kinds I'd never heard of before, such as Empire. They were each a little different, and we got a great medley! I know that alongside my pumpkin obsession, I'm about to look for creative recipes that call for apples. My mom, sister, and I filled a 20 lb bag to the max, and we ended up with around 50 apples! My aunt and cousins filled a 10 lb bag for them to take home, and between the six of us, we probably ate about a dozen. It's so great that at Hillcrest, they let you eat as many apples as you want while you're out in the orchard. It gave us the opportunity to taste each one so that we knew exactly what we were picking. We got some specifically for baking, some for applesauce, and then of course some to just eat by themselves.





Olivia has already made two pies with a few of them, and I plan on trying my hand at an allergy-friendly pie. That means gluten, dairy, and egg-free crust! I'll let you know how that goes. In the meantime, I'll be enjoying our wonderful fresh apples and the memories that we made getting them. Even though this may be the last year I live at home, I'm hoping I'll be able to come back from time to time and go apple picking with my family :)

Have you ever been apple picking? What was your experience?

Country Bumpkin

Fall is a-comin'! Being in Cleveland, the weather cannot seem to fully make up its mind. This is pretty typical of our city. One day, we get that lovely fall breeze, bringing in the chilliness that makes me want to bundle up in tights and scarves and adorable boots, and then the next day it's back up into summer temperatures and I'm in sandals and sundresses again. I'm not really complaining, though, because as much as I adore fall, we never really got a summer here. So we're all hanging on tightly to our last few warm days. There is abundance of people on the streets who you can just tell are denying the change in seasons. Even with the unexpected warmth, it's almost October, and no longer flip-flop season.





For some reason, fall seems to be synonymous with the ideas of country and farms. I suppose it has a lot to do with the images we see around this time of hay bales and scarecrows and, at least in the Midwest, plenty of fresh autumn produce like corn, apples, and squash. I know the apple season is ending soon, but I'm hoping to go apple-picking before it's totally gone. Enjoying the last of the sun's warmth before it hides away for the winter and running through the orchard is a wonderfully romantic idea to me. I haven't experienced the fun of apple picking since I was a little girl, and even then, I was with a school group so it would be entirely different if I were to go today!





Of course, the best part about fall, apart from the fashion, is the pumpkin!!! I cannot express to you all how much I adore pumpkin. Pumpkin flavor, pumpkin scent, the look of pumpkins on our porch, it's all perfect. I'm sure there will be a couple of posts within the next month or so about all the pumpkin goodness that I come across this season. Pretty soon, we will all be headed to our local farms to pick out our pumpkins for October and Halloween, and before we know it we will be carving jack-o-lanterns! You'll all have to stay tuned for that, too, because my family always seems to come up with the wackiest faces for ours!





Since we're still kind of teetering between the sunny heat of summer and the brisk chill of autumn, I'm taking advantage of these last chances to wear my lighter weight dresses without tights. This is one of my favorite dresses because it is so breezy and light. It was a thrift store find, and I'm pretty sure it's homemade. Every time I wear it, it reminds me of the dresses that Laura used to describe in the "Little House on the Prairie" books. I'm not really sure why, but it does make me feel kind of country bumpkin-ish (in the best way possible, of course). Today, I decided to add my orange gingham top, which just kind of added to that country feel. The boots just topped it off! Sometimes, I think it's ok to stray from high-fashion and be comfortable, especially as we get deeper into the season. Give in to the country callin' y'all!

What's your favorite part about fall? What images come to mind for you?

P.S. I have to wear a slip with this dress and sometimes I think it's fun to let your petticoat slip a little :P

Twisted Vines

I was going through some old photos today and found quite a few sets that I had completely forgotten that I had taken. One of the sets was from last year's holiday visit to the Botanical Gardens in downtown Cleveland. We always go there around Christmas time and last year I seemed to have taken some really interesting pictures! This one in particular caught my eye, though.

These vines are wrapped around the giant tree that is in the middle of one of the greenhouses. It almost looks unreal with the way the roots are knotted into each other. What's even crazier is how much this picture spoke to me. In a weird way, it kind of reminds me of life. That sounds cheesy, but it's true. Sometimes things get twisted and mixed up. Things don't go the way we want and it feels like our lives are tumbling down around us in a tangled mess. Sometimes in such a way that it seems like it's not even real. Then there are other times where everything seems to work out so perfectly that it's twisted and unreal in another way. Things start to go your way and you feel like somehow, you got the luckiest end of the deal and you don't even know why.

Life is so great and rewarding that way, isn't it?

Playing Sally Bowles

One of the biggest perks of being in theatre is that I get to pretend to be someone else on a regular basis, and it's considered completely acceptable! I get to do things that I would never do in real life without being judged. I get to dress up and do ridiculous makeup. Before our first dress rehearsal, when I was getting into costume for the first time, I had a serious moment when I put my wig on. Being in full makeup, it was a transformation. I was no longer Emma Clark. I was Sally Bowles. Believe it or not, it's incredibly freeing.



Playing Sally Bowles in "Cabaret" was no different. She is a totally different person than myself. For one thing, she's English. She sells her body in a night club, drinks constantly, does drugs, and flits through life, not caring how her actions affects her long-term. She lives by the seat of her pants and consciously pays no attention to the world around her. Needless to say, I'm not much like her.

Or so I thought...



What was so amazing about this role was even though we are clearly so different, I was still able to find things we have in common. The fact is that, even though she's an awful person, she's still human. There were still levels on which I understand her and connect to her. Even though she's brash and unrefined on the outside, she's still vulnerable, feminine and emotional. Finding that common ground between us is really what enabled me to dig so deep into her character. Getting that connected is what ultimately gave me the ability to immerse myself deep enough to feel her pain myself. There were a few nights where it would hit me so hard that I would cry on stage. It was a beautiful, fulfilling feeling to be so utterly connected to her, this person that I thought I would never completely understand.



Playing Sally taught me so much. I grew as a performer and learned that I can push my limits and challenge my boundaries. In fact, I have no boundaries! The experience once again confirmed what I have known for so much of my life: I love being an actress. It is my passion, and I would never be as happy doing anything else.

Not to mention, I absolutely loved wearing that wig ;)

CABARET: The Reason I've Been Away

WOW! I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted something on my blog. I sincerely apologize to anybody who visited recently. I hope that I will never leave it vacant for that long ever again.







It has been an insane couple of months, mostly due to the fact that I was playing Sally Bowles in the show "Cabaret" at Cleveland State University. It was the most amazing experience I've ever had in the theatre. I adored playing that role and got to work with the most marvelous people. We had an incredible cast and the most wonderful directors. I danced, I sang, I acted, learning a ton about my field.







I'm extremely sad that it is over. It was by far the most enjoyable show I have ever been a part of. I know that I could've done that show on the long run. I also know, though, that I can walk away from it being completely happy with my work, knowing that I did my absolute best, and having made many new friends.

I am one step closer to my future career! Huzzah!

***Photos courtesy of Steve Wagner***

Free Sparrow

I want to start today's post by letting you all know that Classy Emma is about to undergo some major construction. I'm unhappy with the name of my blog, so I'm changing it. By Saturday, just about everything about this blog will be new. The title is changing to "Free Sparrow" (more on that later), the layout and icons will be different, I'm even changing the URL to finish it up (I'll keep you updated on that as well). That will be happening on Saturday. I wanted to let everyone know that there are no surprises and you know exactly what is coming.





Anyways! It rained most of today, but Olivia and I braved the weather and went to the zoo anyway. We're very lucky in Cleveland to have such an awesome zoo and despite the rain, it still proved to be plenty of fun! Most of the animals were still out and active, and I got to pull out my snazzy dome umbrella, which I take pretty much every opportunity to use.





I'm really excited about this transition of the blog! I've been thinking about it for a while now, but it took me a while to come up with a name that satisfied me. Every time I came up with something I liked, I would find out that it was already taken by a business or blog elsewhere. I turned to list-making and wrote out a whole bunch of words that I like. I tried out combination after combination, even brought in some French. Finally, I came up with "Free Sparrow". I love it because sparrows are light, pretty, and full of spirit. Plus, they're just downright adorable. The phrase "Free Sparrow" is also a sort of spin-off of "free spirit", which describes me very well.

Even though it's August, it's still been pretty chilly here in Cleveland. Today was definitely a jeans and cardigan kind of day. I also don't own a pair of rain boots (I really should invest in a pair), but my combat boots fought against the rain perfectly, and triumphed. By the end of our visit, the rain had let up and we were enjoying the sun :)





This is actually the first time in a while that I've worn jeans. I'm pretty proud of myself for setting aside my insecurities about my body and posting these photos, let alone taking them. It's probably my most comfortable pair of jeans. Then I pulled out one of my older button-down shirts and that awesome hand-me-down cardigan to go with them. I jazzed it up with my super sweet bottle cap belt and umbrella earrings, which were totally appropriate for the weather conditions of the day.





I'm also SUPER excited about this bag! It's actually my brand new camera bag from Ona. I'm nuts about it. I'll do a spotlight post on this awesome bag later, after it survives my European excursions.





It was a great day of zoo shenanigans, animals, and playing around in the Dinosaur Exhibit. Turns out my sister looks a lot like a t-rex...

What are your best zoo memories?

Classy In The City

Today I helped a friend with a film project, which meant I went back to campus for the first time since classes ended for the summer. Even though it looked pretty much the same, it felt really different. Of course, this could have been because it was sunny and there were only a handful of students milling about, but I also think that maybe it is because I am actually really looking forward to the new year ahead. I'm ready to be the fun, confident, positive, and outgoing person that I really am.





Last year, I found that I started to waiver in my confidence, not only in my talent, but really in myself as a person. For some reason, I didn't feel as sure of myself and I definitely didn't feel like I was a good enough actress to be in the company of my peers at school. Little by little, over the course of the year, I managed to build myself back up. This took a lot of work, of course. I had to teach myself how to be positive, how to ignore the self-judgement, and how to quit comparing myself to the others around me. After a year of all of this self-improvement, I find myself in a really good place, and I am ready to conquer the upcoming year!





That was a really abbreviated version of what I went through. I'm not sure I'm quite ready to purge myself on the internet just yet... Anyways, I absolutely love this jumper! It certainly isn't the most versatile piece in my closet, but it is unique and has the best vintage feel to it. Plus it's really soft! I love the buttons down the front and the criss cross straps on the back. The bow in the front just makes it! I paired it this time with a light and flowy white button-down shirt, which has that menswear vibe while still being feminine with the light fabric. To top it all off, I added some antique gold earrings with pearl accents and an antique pearl necklace. Both are heirloom items that have been passed down in my family and I am always proud to wear them. A little red lipstick put the cherry on top and completed the look.





My shoes are brand new from H&M and I have to tell you, I'm obsessed with them! Usually, the flats at H&M don't fit me properly, but these were just perfect! They're comfortable, perfectly shaped, and ridiculously cute. I love the suede feeling to them as well. I love them so much that I not only bought them in black, but also in a plum color. There will probably be a post dedicated solely to them coming up soon!





What techniques do you use to help your self-confidence? What are your favorite pieces from your wardrobe? Anything that you're obsessing over right now?