Hey everyone! So I ended up having a bit of a rough Easter this year. I’ll tell you more about that in the next blog post. Right now I’d like to introduce you guys (if you haven’t met her already!) to one of my favorite bloggers, Keely from Sarr Trek!

I met Keely through the WordPress Reader. As a blogger, I’m SO thankful that the Reader exists. It allows me to simply search by my interests and connect with people who are interested in the same things as I am. So that’s how I stumbled across Keely’s blog one day and I immediately fell in love with it. Keely has the most amazing style, photography, and life stories. Her writing is so eloquent that every single blog post feels like an ethereal dream and I know that’s a reflection of her truly whimsical personality.

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Hi Keely! Thanks for letting me shine the Pastel Spotlight on you today!
Thank you for inviting me! Life would be so much nicer if I could have a literal pastel spotlight shining on me all the time!

So how long have you been blogging and how did you come up with your blog name?
Embarrassingly enough, I’m pretty sure my blogging career began when my twelve-year-old self started writing overly enthusiastic Geocities posts about Celtic mythology and fairy folklore in 2005…but luckily that’s lost to Internet history forever.

During my college years, I was lucky enough to become an official blogger for Cornell University, and I wrote about the struggles and joys of the art history/English major life for four years. When I graduated, I decided it was time to start a more personal blog–and thus my current, pastel-colored corner of the web was born! Since my Cornell blog featured a pun on my last name, I decided to keep up the trend with “Sarr Trek.” It’s fitting because I also hope I can boldly go where no snail-mail-loving museum educator has gone before (or something).

According to your About section you’ve lived in Hawai’i, upstate New York, Edinburgh, and Western Massachusetts. That’s some crazy awesome places to live! Which was your favorite place to live and why?
Send me back to Hawai’i! PLEASE. At least…that’s what I’ll say until spring comes to the East Coast!

I was born and grew up on Hawai’i’s “Big Island,” surrounded by dense, misty forests; long stretches of shimmering black-sand deserts; and the ever-present glow from my local active volcano, Kilauea. When I was a kid, I took all of Hawai’i’s wonders for granted–because I had never known anything else!–but now that I’ve spent more time on the “Mainland,” as we call it, I can’t wait to go back to the lush Hawaiian landscapes. (To be fair, though, rugged Scotland was also lovely: maybe I just need to stick with islands in general?)

Your passion for snail mail is so inspiring! It really is a lost form of art. Can you tell us how many pen pals you currently have and what’s some of the coolest mail that you’ve received from them?
As a weird introvert living in an unfamiliar town, joining the snail mail community a year ago genuinely changed my life. It’s an amazing way to make friends while transcending the confines of geography. My total pen pal count remains in a constant state of flux–as people sometimes get too busy to write!–but I usually have around 10-15 faraway friends with whom I regularly exchange letters, postcards, and little packages.

Some of the delightful things I’ve received in the mail include…

A vintage British airmail first-day-cover:

A variety of art historical envelopes from my pen pal in Spain:

And this cross-stitch of my favorite Lord of the Rings lyric from my sweet friend in Utah!

I always look forward to your style posts! Your diverse taste in fashion and accessories is definitely a favorite of mine. What are your top three favorite outfits?
My foray into style blogging has been the most unexpected part of my Sarr Trek journey so far! I never thought I’d have the confidence to, you know, post my face and outfits online, but I finally decided to be brave and start showing off my whimsical wardrobe on the regular.

I’m rather fond of…

This whole sharks-and-lace situation:

My most unapologetically pastel ensemble:

And the springtime outfit I insisted on wearing in January, for whatever reason:

I LOVE that you currently work at an art museum. Tell us a little about that. What’s one thing that you like about working there and what’s one thing that you dislike?
Being a museum professional is very surreal, on one level–I mean, I get to say hi to three-thousand-year-old Assyrian reliefs every day when I arrive at “the office,” which is all any ancient history nerd could ever want. I love working as an educator, because there’s no greater privilege than getting to introduce kids to Monet or Warhol or the Inca for the first time. Leading tours is the best part of my job! I wish I could be teaching all the time: but even museum staff have to do the standard “at-your-desk” work, too. As a result, I cherish every moment in the galleries!

And it seems like you’ve visited a lot of museums! I love all of the pictures that you share on your blog. This will probably be a hard question to answer, but do you have an absolute favorite piece of art?
A description of my favorite works of art could probably fill a library all on its own! Maybe sticking to categories will prove easier. I love seascapes, Maya relief carvings, the impossibly radiant gemstones of early Netherlandish painting, van Gogh’s warm fields and sunny skies, and playful contemporary art that makes you laugh and think and imagine.

The most amazing work of art I’ve ever seen in person wasn’t even in a museum! I made a pilgrimage to Utah’s salt flats to see Robert Smithson’s earthworks piece, Spiral Jetty, a few years ago. His blending of art, symbol, and nature thrilled me as I stared out at that flat, alien lake.

(PSST! This picture is a Pastel Carousel exclusive! Thank you Keely! I love it!)

I’m pretty sure that I know what you would choose, but I’m going to ask this anyway! If you could own either a unicorn that bites or a dragon that snores, which one would you pick and why?
My reputation precedes me! As a lifelong dragon fan, I would, of course, leap at the chance to befriend that little snorer, even if he (or she!) became pretty thunderous at night. Little dragons have such a capacity for cuteness–one that’s sadly ignored by popular culture, thanks to a long mythical traditions of European wyrms terrorizing villages and maidens alike!–and I dream of the day when someone designs a pink dragon-print dress with a peter pan collar. In the meantime, I’ll just keep on pioneering the shoulder-dragon accessory trend.

Make sure you guys check out Keely’s blog and her other social links that I posted above! Thanks again Keely for being a part of the Pastel Spotlight!

Let’s keep in touch!
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