In honor of my first day at my new job at my favor In honor of my first day at my new job at my favorite local coffee shop (everyone say “YAY!” 🥳)… would you take the characters from your current read for a cup of coffee? ☕️

💎 I feel like it would be so fascinating to take Brynja, Ballast, and Saga from When the Light Returns to go get coffee. I’d have so many questions about their magic!

🐦‍🔥 I would give anything to take the entire group of characters from Ruin and Rising to get coffee. It would be such a dream to talk to the people from my favorite series!

📖 To sit down and have a chat with Diana and Matthew from The Book of Life over coffee would be incredible. They’re both so intelligent and I think I’d just sit there gaping at them the entire time!

♟️Honestly, I’d be thrilled to have coffee with *anyone* from The Inheritance Games universe. They’re BRILLIANT and I want to pick their brains for hours on end. 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Have you read any of the books I’m currently reading? 📚

—

#fantasyreads #fantasybooklover #bookcommunity #cozyreads #bookishvibes escapism, book hangover, fantasy world-building, book recs, reread worthy, books and coffee
Tell me about some of the media you’re obsessed wi Tell me about some of the media you’re obsessed with that’s unrelated to books! 🫢

Last summer, along with the rest of *absolutely everyone*, I watched KPop Demon Hunters... and fell head over heels in love with every single thing about it 🙈 

It was a chain reaction of epic proportions 💥 I watched it about a week after it premiered because I kept seeing it online. I liked it, watched it again a week later, LOVED it, suggested it to friends who suggested it to their friends, started deep-diving into all of the behind-the-scenes info, wound up listening to the soundtrack so much that my entire Spotify Wrapped was just songs from that album, still somehow manage to talk about it nonstop to everyone I encounter, and I can’t WAIT for the sequel. Let’s just say it kinda became my personality 😂

Along with KPDH, I spent the last year and some change obsessing over One Tree Hill (first time watching it, got to meet some of the cast last summer, have turned Wilmington into my second home, you know... normal obsessed fan things 😉) and Marielle Kraft’s music (SO FREAKING GOOD. Saw her in concert and got to meet her as well and she’s the sweetest human) 🤎

Do we have any obsessions in common? 🤝🏼

—

#kpopdemonhunters #bookphotography #bookishvibes #bookaesthetic #booknerd cozy read, weekend read, book photography, cozy aesthetic, bookish
Recommend a book that feels like a fairytale 🧚🏼‍♀️ Recommend a book that feels like a fairytale 🧚🏼‍♀️

Recently, I finished THE SUN AND THE STARMAKER by @timesnewrachel ☀️ While it was quite different from the modern, witchy fantasy books I’ve come to associate with her (otherwise known as some of my favorite books of all time), she has created a signature style of storytelling that made reading *this book* feel like coming home 🥰

I felt it instantly when I sensed her intense love for nature and the earth woven through the story, paired with such atmospheric writing that I regularly forgot I was not *in* the ethereal, whimsical world I was reading about 🌌 I felt it again in the way she writes of longing and love so powerful that there’s no doubt the characters will overcome every obstacle they face together 🤎 I felt it once more when I began to cry over supporting characters that (possibly) weren’t meant to elicit such strong emotions in the first place 🥹

THE SUN AND THE STARMAKER was everything I could possibly hope and dream a fairytale would be. It was beautiful and magical, and left me feeling so filled with joy and hope. It’s an absolute masterpiece 🙌🏼

Have you read this or any of Rachel’s other books? 📚

—

#fantasyreads #fantasybooklover #thesunandthestarmaker #rachelgriffin #fairytalebooks escapism, book hangover, fantasy books, book recs, reread worthy, favorite author
Tell me the last vampire book you read 🧛🏻‍♀️ I go Tell me the last vampire book you read 🧛🏻‍♀️

I gotta be real honest with y’all... I don’t read a ton of vampire books 😅 I was a wolf girly starting in middle school, and that really hasn’t changed much. I do love a good vampire book, but they haven’t always been my favorite supernatural creature 🙈

However, maybe due to the V.E. Schwab magic, I absolutely adored Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil 😍 It was precisely as toxic as she promised it would be, and I ATE IT UP. It was dark, seductive, sometimes bloody, and there was never a dull moment. I genuinely didn’t want it to end.

Have you read this one yet? 📖

—

#buryourbonesinthemidnightsoil #veschwab #vampirebooks #fantasyreads #fantasybooklover supernatural fantasy, book hangover, fantasy world-building, book recs, reread worthy, sapphic, late-night chapters @veschwabfeatures
Do you pay close attention to monthly releases? 📖 Do you pay close attention to monthly releases? 📖

For several years, I would write a blog article every month that included somewhere between 20-40 new releases 🫢 While I was working my previous job, I didn’t have the opportunity to blog, let alone pay attention to new releases, and I feel like I missed SO MANY 🙈 

I’m happy to be back to blogging semi-regularly, and equally thrilled to be back in the habit of knowing which books are coming out each month! 🙌🏼 If you swipe through, you can see 24 March releases and their corresponding release dates 🗓️

Which of these titles are you most looking forward to reading? 🤎

—

#bookcommunity #bookphotography #bookaesthetic #cozyreads #readersofinstagram cozy read, new book releases, fantasy books, book recs, TBR, romance books, late-night chapters
Do you have a library card? 🪪 Ya girl is the self Do you have a library card? 🪪

Ya girl is the self-proclaimed biggest fan of the library to ever walk the earth 🌍 Okay, that could be an exaggeration, but most of the time it doesn’t feel like one. I cried with happiness over my first library card as a kid, and I won’t purchase a book until I’ve borrowed it from the library and loved it enough to own it. I have 5 library cards, swear by Libby and Hoopla for all of my audiobooks and ebooks, and at this point, I feel like an Arthur tattoo might be necessary (IYKYK) 😂

But I digress... February is National Library Lovers’ Month, and I think you should get a library card (or 5) and celebrate not only the perk of FREE BOOKS but also the countless ways public libraries are integral to our lives and communities! 🙌🏼

What was the last library book you checked out? 📖

—

#nationallibraryloversmonth #libraryloversmonth #bookcommunity #bookphotography #readersofinstagram support your public library, library lovers, bookish vibes, cozy aesthetic, book nerd
If you could only recommend one book for the rest If you could only recommend one book for the rest of your life, what would it be? 📖

This one has been an easy answer for me since 2020, when I read THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY. It completely changed my life.

Since then, I have recommended it to countless people, and have felt intense amounts of joy as I’ve seen those people recommend it to others, buy copies for friends, suggest it for their book clubs, and come back to me to tell me how it changed their life just like it changed mine 🥰

Which book would you say changed your life for the better? 🤎

—

#themidnightlibrary #magicalrealism #mentalhealthbooks #bookcommunity #bookishvibes Matt Haig, books with mental health rep, magical realism books, book recs, favorite books, escapism, book hangover, reread worthy, comfort book
Would you want to have the same occupation as the Would you want to have the same occupation as the main character(s) in your last read? 💼

I recently finished Thunderhead, and I absolutely would *NOT* want to be a Scythe! 🙅🏻‍♀️ I also definitely wouldn’t want to be in the shoes of the royalty in my other previous read, A Psalm of Storms and Silence 😬

Is there a book character’s “career” that you know you would love to have? 💭

—

#bookcommunity #bookphotography #bookaesthetic #cozyaesthetic #readersofinstagram current read, currently reading, cozy aesthetic, escapism, late-night chapters, what I’m reading
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Fashion · May 27, 2020

My Totally Honest and Unpaid Review of Lively Bras

Let me introduce myself: I’m Stephanie, founder and CEO of the itty bitty titty committee.

I feel the need to explain that I’m a size 34AA – and with my height (5’6″), and the width of my hips, the size of my chest has been my biggest insecurity for my entire life. Finding bras that fit properly has been one of the worst tasks I’ve had to undertake. Don’t get me wrong, there are a couple of brands I love. Adore Me has beautiful lingerie. I also think Aerie is fantastic when it comes to everyday pieces. However, my biggest search over the last few years has been for a comfortable and functional strapless bra.

Last year, I basically chose to skip summer when it came to my wardrobe. I didn’t buy any strappy dresses, and if you took a peek into my closet right now, you’d only find three sleeveless tops. I just avoided anything that required something other than my everyday bra.

I kept seeing ads and reviews about Lively, and I knew it was time for me to give them a try for myself. I’m pleased to announce I’ve found the perfect strapless bra (and plunging bra) for my fellow small-chested babes!


details
the no-wire strapless bra // the all-day deep v no-wire bra

Why I Recommend Lively Bras for Small Chests:

Let it be known that I refuse to go without a bra. This is something I’ve received ridicule for during my years as a fashion blogger. My shoulders are on the broader size, and forgoing a bra means that I look either completely chestless or I have awkwardly pokey mosquito bites (or tiny traffic cones, if you will) beneath my favorite blouses. No thanks. I also feel more comfortable in a bra, which is my choice to make. That being said, here’s why I love these Lively bras.

normal strapless bras include violent underwire

You might be laughing at my choice of words, but picture this: you get your hands on a beautiful strapless bra (one that is supposedly your size), then you put it on, only to be impaled by where the underwire meets in the center of your ribcage. Talk about uncomfortable!

lively’s no-wire strapless bra doesn’t try to stab you

This bra is soft and flexible. It has padding, but not so much that you’re being suffocated. It has a thick band with four clasps in the back for additional security, and there’s a “no-slip” strip along the top to hold it in place. It’s like your favorite bandeau, with more support.

I ordered a 32A in this bra, so that it would hug me enough and not slide off. It fits the way my Aerie 34AA Real Happy Wireless Push-Up bra does – taut, but not tight.
Most plunging bras pucker on my petite bust

It’s irritating when you want to wear a wrap dress or a button-up blouse, and your bra is showing because it either doesn’t plunge far enough, or because it doesn’t sit flat against your skin. Don’t even get me started on how seatbelts get stuck in my bra when I’m wearing a plunge or contour style.

Lively’s All-day deep v no-wire bra is comfortable and sexy

Yeah, I said it. I may have ordered this in a nude color, but that doesn’t make it any less sexy. This bra contours my chest in just the right way, doesn’t pucker, provides full coverage, and plunges low enough for me to wear it with a plethora of items! I can guarantee that this will be my new favorite “special occasion” bra! It can also be converted into a racerback style, if that’s your cup of tea.

I ordered a 34A in this bra because the reviews mentioned sizing up in the band if you’re between sizes. I’m technically in between a 32 and a 34, so I sized up, and I’m glad. I will say that I could’ve used a AA rather than just an A because it has a little bit of room in the cups, but because it is full coverage, there’s no discomfort or puckering.

I scoured the web before deciding on Lively, and I’m glad this was my final decision. Their prices are fantastic, allowing you to mix and match bras to save money. They also offer packs of your favorite bras, if you want to order in bulk! After I made my order, they texted me with shipping updates, and they arrived four days before they were expected (shocking in the midst of this pandemic). I highly suggest this body-positive, female-empowering company and their fantastic bras!


Related Posts
How To Create a Capsule Wardrobe // Graphic Tee Shopping Tips // Why You Need a Striped Top

Have you purchased Lively bras before? What did you think of them?


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In: Fashion · Tagged: bra review, bras for small chests, everyday bras, Lively, Lively bras, Lively review

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Welcome to The Espresso Edition, a cozy bookish blog (with just a pinch of lifestyle goodness). I'm Stephanie, and I'm overjoyed to welcome you to this safe space designed for book lovers old and new who are seeking everything from book recommendations to reading tips to reviews and so much more.

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In honor of my first day at my new job at my favor In honor of my first day at my new job at my favorite local coffee shop (everyone say “YAY!” 🥳)… would you take the characters from your current read for a cup of coffee? ☕️

💎 I feel like it would be so fascinating to take Brynja, Ballast, and Saga from When the Light Returns to go get coffee. I’d have so many questions about their magic!

🐦‍🔥 I would give anything to take the entire group of characters from Ruin and Rising to get coffee. It would be such a dream to talk to the people from my favorite series!

📖 To sit down and have a chat with Diana and Matthew from The Book of Life over coffee would be incredible. They’re both so intelligent and I think I’d just sit there gaping at them the entire time!

♟️Honestly, I’d be thrilled to have coffee with *anyone* from The Inheritance Games universe. They’re BRILLIANT and I want to pick their brains for hours on end. 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Have you read any of the books I’m currently reading? 📚

—

#fantasyreads #fantasybooklover #bookcommunity #cozyreads #bookishvibes escapism, book hangover, fantasy world-building, book recs, reread worthy, books and coffee
Tell me about some of the media you’re obsessed wi Tell me about some of the media you’re obsessed with that’s unrelated to books! 🫢

Last summer, along with the rest of *absolutely everyone*, I watched KPop Demon Hunters... and fell head over heels in love with every single thing about it 🙈 

It was a chain reaction of epic proportions 💥 I watched it about a week after it premiered because I kept seeing it online. I liked it, watched it again a week later, LOVED it, suggested it to friends who suggested it to their friends, started deep-diving into all of the behind-the-scenes info, wound up listening to the soundtrack so much that my entire Spotify Wrapped was just songs from that album, still somehow manage to talk about it nonstop to everyone I encounter, and I can’t WAIT for the sequel. Let’s just say it kinda became my personality 😂

Along with KPDH, I spent the last year and some change obsessing over One Tree Hill (first time watching it, got to meet some of the cast last summer, have turned Wilmington into my second home, you know... normal obsessed fan things 😉) and Marielle Kraft’s music (SO FREAKING GOOD. Saw her in concert and got to meet her as well and she’s the sweetest human) 🤎

Do we have any obsessions in common? 🤝🏼

—

#kpopdemonhunters #bookphotography #bookishvibes #bookaesthetic #booknerd cozy read, weekend read, book photography, cozy aesthetic, bookish
Recommend a book that feels like a fairytale 🧚🏼‍♀️ Recommend a book that feels like a fairytale 🧚🏼‍♀️

Recently, I finished THE SUN AND THE STARMAKER by @timesnewrachel ☀️ While it was quite different from the modern, witchy fantasy books I’ve come to associate with her (otherwise known as some of my favorite books of all time), she has created a signature style of storytelling that made reading *this book* feel like coming home 🥰

I felt it instantly when I sensed her intense love for nature and the earth woven through the story, paired with such atmospheric writing that I regularly forgot I was not *in* the ethereal, whimsical world I was reading about 🌌 I felt it again in the way she writes of longing and love so powerful that there’s no doubt the characters will overcome every obstacle they face together 🤎 I felt it once more when I began to cry over supporting characters that (possibly) weren’t meant to elicit such strong emotions in the first place 🥹

THE SUN AND THE STARMAKER was everything I could possibly hope and dream a fairytale would be. It was beautiful and magical, and left me feeling so filled with joy and hope. It’s an absolute masterpiece 🙌🏼

Have you read this or any of Rachel’s other books? 📚

—

#fantasyreads #fantasybooklover #thesunandthestarmaker #rachelgriffin #fairytalebooks escapism, book hangover, fantasy books, book recs, reread worthy, favorite author
Tell me the last vampire book you read 🧛🏻‍♀️ I go Tell me the last vampire book you read 🧛🏻‍♀️

I gotta be real honest with y’all... I don’t read a ton of vampire books 😅 I was a wolf girly starting in middle school, and that really hasn’t changed much. I do love a good vampire book, but they haven’t always been my favorite supernatural creature 🙈

However, maybe due to the V.E. Schwab magic, I absolutely adored Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil 😍 It was precisely as toxic as she promised it would be, and I ATE IT UP. It was dark, seductive, sometimes bloody, and there was never a dull moment. I genuinely didn’t want it to end.

Have you read this one yet? 📖

—

#buryourbonesinthemidnightsoil #veschwab #vampirebooks #fantasyreads #fantasybooklover supernatural fantasy, book hangover, fantasy world-building, book recs, reread worthy, sapphic, late-night chapters @veschwabfeatures
Do you pay close attention to monthly releases? 📖 Do you pay close attention to monthly releases? 📖

For several years, I would write a blog article every month that included somewhere between 20-40 new releases 🫢 While I was working my previous job, I didn’t have the opportunity to blog, let alone pay attention to new releases, and I feel like I missed SO MANY 🙈 

I’m happy to be back to blogging semi-regularly, and equally thrilled to be back in the habit of knowing which books are coming out each month! 🙌🏼 If you swipe through, you can see 24 March releases and their corresponding release dates 🗓️

Which of these titles are you most looking forward to reading? 🤎

—

#bookcommunity #bookphotography #bookaesthetic #cozyreads #readersofinstagram cozy read, new book releases, fantasy books, book recs, TBR, romance books, late-night chapters
Do you have a library card? 🪪 Ya girl is the self Do you have a library card? 🪪

Ya girl is the self-proclaimed biggest fan of the library to ever walk the earth 🌍 Okay, that could be an exaggeration, but most of the time it doesn’t feel like one. I cried with happiness over my first library card as a kid, and I won’t purchase a book until I’ve borrowed it from the library and loved it enough to own it. I have 5 library cards, swear by Libby and Hoopla for all of my audiobooks and ebooks, and at this point, I feel like an Arthur tattoo might be necessary (IYKYK) 😂

But I digress... February is National Library Lovers’ Month, and I think you should get a library card (or 5) and celebrate not only the perk of FREE BOOKS but also the countless ways public libraries are integral to our lives and communities! 🙌🏼

What was the last library book you checked out? 📖

—

#nationallibraryloversmonth #libraryloversmonth #bookcommunity #bookphotography #readersofinstagram support your public library, library lovers, bookish vibes, cozy aesthetic, book nerd
If you could only recommend one book for the rest If you could only recommend one book for the rest of your life, what would it be? 📖

This one has been an easy answer for me since 2020, when I read THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY. It completely changed my life.

Since then, I have recommended it to countless people, and have felt intense amounts of joy as I’ve seen those people recommend it to others, buy copies for friends, suggest it for their book clubs, and come back to me to tell me how it changed their life just like it changed mine 🥰

Which book would you say changed your life for the better? 🤎

—

#themidnightlibrary #magicalrealism #mentalhealthbooks #bookcommunity #bookishvibes Matt Haig, books with mental health rep, magical realism books, book recs, favorite books, escapism, book hangover, reread worthy, comfort book
Would you want to have the same occupation as the Would you want to have the same occupation as the main character(s) in your last read? 💼

I recently finished Thunderhead, and I absolutely would *NOT* want to be a Scythe! 🙅🏻‍♀️ I also definitely wouldn’t want to be in the shoes of the royalty in my other previous read, A Psalm of Storms and Silence 😬

Is there a book character’s “career” that you know you would love to have? 💭

—

#bookcommunity #bookphotography #bookaesthetic #cozyaesthetic #readersofinstagram current read, currently reading, cozy aesthetic, escapism, late-night chapters, what I’m reading
Is there an author who consistently writes books t Is there an author who consistently writes books that bring you to tears? 😭

I have cried while reading every single one of Amber’s books... and that’s only a small part of what keeps me coming back for more 🤎

I’m struggling with even knowing how to put in words what her books mean to me, because even thinking about it is making me tear up 🥹 So instead of trying to craft the perfect thing to say, I’m just going to urge you to read everything she’s written. You can thank me later 🙏🏼

What was the last book that made you cry? 📖

—

#theleavingroom #booklover #bookcommunity #cozyreads #bookishvibes poetry, Amber McBride, The Leaving Room, sapphic books, books that will make you cry, book hangover, book recs, reread worthy, late-night chapters
Who are your favorite book pets? 🐈‍⬛ I absolutely Who are your favorite book pets? 🐈‍⬛

I absolutely love when a book has animals in it—whether that’s someone’s pet, familiar, or when the animal is the main character 😻

I’m always absurdly happy when there’s a cat, and if they have a creative name it’s even better. I think the stand-out for me was a cat named The Darkling in Accidentally Amy. I’ll never forget it! 😂

Do you have a furbaby companion? Tell me all about them! 🐾

—

#cozyreads #readingescape #bookishvibes #bookaesthetic #booknerd book animals, cats of Instagram, book cats, fantasy books, romance books, cozy aesthetic

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