polka dots and shades.

I couldn't wait any longer to take pictures with Sami, especially once I saw pictures of her amazing new bangs.  Luckily she had a few days off of school and was able to make her way to Wilmington.  With only one day of beautiful weather to showcase her fun style, it was crunch time.

We quickly went through her bag and my closet and next thing you know...

MAGiC...

...in the form of a sheer and patterned button down, red skinny jeans, and some fun brown heels.  Both her top and jeans were from forever 21 and the heels were mine from Julie's Boutique in Wilmington. 

After seeing the outcome of these pictures, my jaw literally dropped.

We realized we met when she was in 5th grade...seriously?! Where has time gone. It's safe to say she's matured flawlessly.

I'm obsessed with my new cat eye sunglasses with the dramatic studded tips. I checked the mail as we were leaving my house and surely enough they were waiting for me! I could barely wait to get the box open and put these babies on. Immediate obsession. I ordered them off of 80's purple.

Polka dot on polka dot. I wanted to pair Sami's fun polka dot skirt with something from my closet. After spotting this polka dot blouse I got at a consignment shop in Wilmington, I found myself saying,

 "Just humor me and try this on."

Taking my attraction to mixed patterns down an even more funky path; I immediately fell in love with mixing two varying patterns of polka dots.

Stunner shades.

Because we're obsessed.

-f&p

Race to the Ballot

It's been a long time coming...but we finally are back on the blogging trail. Courtney and I have once again been swept up by our schoolwork (a first world problem for sure) and have had little time to get in some fresh and precious. Luckily I was able to sneek away from the world before the going got tough and ventured from the coast to the mountains, across our fantastically unique state to the little mountainous town of Asheville, North Carolina. My mission: Race to the Ballot. Fresh and Precious is all about the community and nothing hits closer to home than this awesome organization that I have had the pleasure to watch grow over the past couple of weeks. 

Race to the Ballot in a nutshell is this freaking awesome organization with the goal to raise awareness about the harms Amendment One has to our community as North Carolinians. The extraordinary Jen Jones is running her way across our beautiful state from Asheville to Wilmington and she's got a great team to help her to the coast. To further educate yourself on what Amendment One fully entails, check out Protect NC Family's website asap.

Super talented team. Tucker, Ian, and John on the left are all sporting their not-so-trendy but appropriately "campaign" yellow sweatshirts. Chris down there in the bottom right is ready for business.

Asheville's First Congregational Church opened it's doors and invited us to be a part of their congregation.  This congregation was truly a blessing. They housed us, blessed us, and even threw a pot luck dinner for us. It was so great to see such an accepting community. 

Our home above the chapel. Mattress of choice: pew pads. (Seven of us slept in this space...)

Jen is a very very busy woman. And a wonderful speaker might I add. 

I dont know who this lovely lady is...please someone track her down...but I LOVED these red frames on her. Perfect in every way. Fantastic warm scarf to compliment an awesomely fair complexion and warm at that. Yay for trendy, active young shakers!

First of all how beautiful is this little supporter on the left? Secondly, how beautiful are these two supporters on the right? Jasmine Beach-Ferrara (right) and her wife, Meghann Burke are a power couple of awesome as they founded the Campaign for Southern Equality, a progressive organization promoting advocacy across the South. Check them out for sure!

It wasn't 34 degrees when I left the beach, but luckily I brought my suede military jacket from Zara to keep me warm. The vintage Brooks Brother's oxford is full of warm color combinations foreign to color palettes these days.  

And so the race begins....

Now you can help too! Come out to welcome Jen Jones and her lovely crew to the river front of Wilmington, North Carolina this Friday at 5pm on Water Street in front of the courthouse to celebrate this great journey and spread the word even more about this amendment. 

"We are husbands, mothers, brothers, sisters, friends—and we are all concerned North Carolinians. And while we may come from different backgrounds, we’ve come together for a common purpose: to defeat Amendment One. Our goal is to give voice to the families, individuals, and organizations working to protect ALL North Carolinians." -Race to the Ballot

Because we're obsessed. 

f&p

Wonders aplenty.

Awesome 90s love from The Wonder Shop today! On this fine Monday, I had all kinds of homework and studying to but would never pass up a chance to stop by this phenom store. Since my friend Alex wanted to take a look at all the beauties that owner Kelsey Gibbs has to share with the world, there was no way I could say no. Kelsey is forever adding to her collection, so there is always new life in the Wonder Shop. 

Dogs, photoshoots, colors, vintage, patterns....wonders of all shapes and sizes. If you havent been in this circus of fantastic then we'd advise you to get on that because Kelsey has many tricks up her sleeves as she encompasses talents across the board. Much much more to come about this great local gem. 

Oh and don't forget the free Beanie Baby with purchase...

Because we're obsessed. 

f&p

Martha's house.

It's not every day that one gets to work with a large group of people whom they love immensely inside and outside of the work setting but today was one of those lucky days. On an especially fine morning, I met up with an extra-talented group of artists to get some killer shots for Wilmington's Focus on the Coast magazine. Styled by Jess James and photographed by the lovely Leslie Koehn, I was bestowed with the assignment to work for both of my bosses on this shoot. Extremely nerve-wracking, but even more fun, I had a glorious time on Martha's farm for a full day of shooting. 

As I mentioned earlier, working with both of my bosses was really such a treat. Jess and Leslie have worked together on countless occasions and are great friends and this perfect dynamic enabled a stress-free day of professionals having fun and making something great! Jess is killing it of course in her fur vest and headband, holding an amazing vintage hat from the collection of Leslie's grandmother's! ( By the way...I have the best looking bosses in town.)

The owner of this lovely home, is a well-known stage dresser in Wilmington's film industry. This was not surprise when stepping into this fairy tail cottage. Every detail was ornate with character, life, and stories. Impeccable taste down to every crackle of antique paint. It was truly a treat to see this abode. 

We totally hit the broad-side of the barn on this one. 

Me and the crew. Really....had so much fun with these guys. Peter, Madeline, Caroline, and I have all worked together before and our friendship definitely read in the pictures. 

Special thanks to Michael Vinson and his fantastic men pieces from local men's store, Bloke! Bloke has all kinds of great stuff for men in the are so definitely take a look around. Peter is rocking the Bloke today and I'm a little jello. 

Juliana's awesome blue pants....followed by Madeline's great fall. Bringing a sense of humor to a shoot can really do phenomenal things to the energy which directly translates to the pictures. I'm super excited to see how these turned out. 

Stay tuned to see Jess and Leslie's amazing work come to life in next month's issue of Focus on the Coast!

Because we're obsessed. 

f&p