Annie Heath

May 4, 2015

Blog, Collaboration

Recap: Madewell + Ida Street

Annie Heath

May 4, 2015

Blog, Collaboration

Oh guys, you are so fabulous. Remember a few weeks ago when I was prepping for my Madewell Event? I saw so many of you at Kenwood Mall! Styling & rocking & cheersing galore. Thank you SO much for stopping by to hang. I scored big with you guys :D

& I also scored big on the sale! Just wanted to jump online today to give you guys a few updates. First & foremost: the clothes I came back with after my Madewell/Ida Street event. Note: have been wearing on rotation for the last few weeks:

Sensing a trend? I'm a big fan of the high riser & crop these days... but more on that later.

Next up: I'm heading to Indianapolis Thursday & Friday for work. Then, Saturday, we're driving to Hillsdale to watch my brother graduate! Gosh I still remember moving him in 4 years ago.

Lastly: While I'm away, THREAD is hosting some pretty delightful shenanigans. We've been planning a happy hour launch for you at the brand new Sundry & Vice in OTR. Get the info here. I hope you can make it & I'm really bummed I won't be able to see you there. & that's about it! Hope you have the best week. Xoxo.

Annie Heath

April 29, 2015

Blog, Life

4 years of blogging

Annie Heath

April 29, 2015

Blog, Life

Can you believe it? I am at a complete loss of words. I know that's unusual.
It's April 29th. April 29th. Today is my fourth year of blogging.

What does that mean? For many, nothing. But for me? Wow. I have 4 years of my life here.

It all began in 2011. April 29th. I started Magical Simplicity. If you dig really deep into the search bar (key word: "Magical Simplicity") you can still see my very early posts -- talking about love & college & fairy tales & all the things that seemed of the utmost importance to my 20-year-old self. It makes me smile now.

2014, April 29th. We rebranded the blog. & I came back with a new conviction, a new perspective & a new understanding of what I wanted the blog to be. That makes me smile now, too.

Around the new year Magical Simplicity transitioned into Ida Street. A place for today. A space where I know I don't have all the answers, not even close. But it sure is fun to figure it out. A space where I met a lot of you. That makes me smile to think about.

OMG so sentimental! See! I told you! I am at a loss for words! So I'll stop trying. Here's something fun: I've pulled my first and last posts in Ida Street's major post categories into hyperlinked images below. Take a look if you'd like & we can all laugh about being 20.

But before I leave you to my embarrassing past - thank you so much for stopping by Ida Street. I hope you find your visits are a few happy minutes in your day. That's all I'm aiming for -- to write about something that will make us both smile. xoxo a thousand times.

Header image by Mintwood Photo Co.

Annie Heath

April 10, 2015

Blog

Talk Cropping to Me: cropping photos for instagram

Annie Heath

April 10, 2015

Blog

How do you serve up your insta pics? Bright, light & SQUARE. Amiright? Yes, I'm right.

Today I thought we could talk a little about instagram. Particularly, the pics before the pics. Time to, talk croppy to me. (If you're playing this song in your head right now, that's exactly what I was hoping for.)

BEFORE:
You can probably tell from this before pic that I was planning to have the donut take cake. (Pun intended.) I have it aligned over on the left of the frame. But, after I scurried away from the office kitchen wondering if anyone saw me playing with my food, I decided the focus needed to be even more emphasized.

CROPPED:
Most of my hand. So your eye will immediately focus on this glorious fried dough.

BEFORE:
Not bad, not bad. I was aiming for a detail shot. But one of my hands is super dry & distracting. Also, it's placed weirdly. Who stands like that?! Now you're questioning why I'm standing like that. I tricked ya, because I wanted to point out you are NOT focusing on this awesome skirt print.

CROPPED:
Half the outfit. This way I can get a mega-detail close up shot of the skirt print, crop out my distracting hand & also appear to be standing like a normal person. WIN!

BEFORE:
Awww. This one was a blooper. Anjali (remember my roomie for life?!) has her eyes closed & Dave is squinting in the sun. But I had just learned how to wrap a bouquet & I loved the way these red roses contrast with Anjali's crisp white shirt. & I really, really wanted to show off her brand new ring (they just got engaged!).

CROPPED:
Everything. There's so much going on in this picture. Don't be afraid to zoom in on the details. When I stopped looking at their faces (rude), I realized how perfect Anjali & Dave were standing (sa'cute, right?). I used the "constrain to square" crop feature on iPhoto & was able to square-crop this baby before I even but it up on insta.

BEFORE
I was shooting with the rule of thirds in mind. But what are you focusing on? The tree branch, right?

CROPPED
The wall. Rule of thirds? More like Rule of Thirteenths.

BEFORE
Sometimes I don't want to crop anything out of a photo. That's what happened here. I really loved the way my green sweater added to the frame (expertly rolled sleeves, thank you very much). The color was a nice balance, but the dang thing wasn't square.

CROPPED
My arm. I decided the flowers were more important. I know it's not a huge change, but I just wanted to show you that not all is lost when you have to crop a photo you love to fit it into insta.

Last but not least...

BEFORE
Not too bad, but it looks a little awkward in the frame. You can tell I'm not directly above the bowls because the one on the right has a funky dimension.

CROPPED
The sides & top of the bowl on the right. It gives the illusion of a perfect aerial shot.

Cropping can change the whole feel of a picture. & once you find your style, it'll take less & less cuts to get that perfect frame. One of the awesome blogs I read is Chocolate Covered Katie. Her "behind the scenes" post several weeks ago inspired me to talk cropping with you guys. Do you have other cropping tips or tricks? Let's hear what you know! Drop some knowledge on me.

P.S. Do you recognize some of these pictures? Here are the Ida Street posts they came from:
Styling a dress that's a little too tight
Northern Kentucky's Velocity Bike & Bean
Wrapping your own bouquet
Spicy Veggie Chili

& you can follow me on insta here, if you'd like!

Annie Heath

February 2, 2015

Blog, Fashion

A SPECIAL VALENTINES GIVEAWAY

Annie Heath

February 2, 2015

Blog, Fashion

It's a week of love on Ida Street! I have a really fun feature coming to you later this week called "Lessons from a Dreamer" as well as a Valentine's outfit inspiration in a seriously red sweater.

But first.....

Remember a few weeks ago when I told you about the Queen City style bloggers & a fun project we've been working on? It's all happening this month! Starting with a giveaway :D This Valentines, we've all teamed up to spread some love. We are giving one lucky winner this gorgeous Rebecca Minkoff handbag + the amazing goodies inside (1 L’Oreal Paris Colour Riche Extraordinaire Lipcolor, 1 bottle of Essie Nail Polish in “Marshmellow” & a pretty little Vanilla hand lotion).

In order to win, just enter using the Rafflecopter below. (This will register you to follow our group of 10 bloggers on Bloglovin & Instagram.) Shipping to U.S. residents only (sorry!). The giveaway is good through this Friday (Feb 6). We will announce the winner on Saturday & you should have this fierce red purse on your shoulder by Valentine's day :D

a Rafflecopter giveaway