Musings of a Silent Mind

Come on Over!

2012-01-09T12:04:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, I have decided to move my blog, and I figured it was time to sort of refresh/ recreate the whole thing. So, working with my favorite quote (above) I came up with the title of Just One Day, and I think I like it so far!

Please, please, PLEASE change your RSS feed/ subscription to my new blog.. it's a lot better, I promise.

Hope everybody had a wonderful holiday season and a happy and healthy new year!

Moving?

2011-12-29T14:33:00.001-08:00

I am becoming increasingly frustrated with blogger to the point where I can't even write a post anymore.

I figured since I'm on break, and it's been about a year from when I started blogging seriously, I might as well take this opportunity to revamp my blog and move it over to a better site. For now, I have chosen wordpress.com, and I've got a preliminary blog up and working at justonedayblog.wordpress.com.

PLEASE go check it out and let me know what you think.

I'm open to suggestions about the new name and banner, and I would absolutely love feedback on how wordpress is working for you. Try out the RSS feed, leave some comments, and generally please just look/ click around.

I posted a picture-heavy post (one thing blogger was not-so-great at IMHO) for comparison.

If this receives a lot of negative feedback or is just generally not a good move, I will look for better options, so LET ME KNOW what you prefer.

There are still a lot of kinks to work out (the move is going about as well as Ross trying to pivot that damn couch) so bear with me through what I'm sure will be endless banner changes, color changes, and even name changes. It's been a month of that already, so believe me when I say that this is the best it's been yet (otherwise I would NOT be letting you see it).

Thanks for being patient and sorry for the lack of posts while I've been attempting to figure it out.

xoxo

Sunday's Stumbles

2011-12-04T08:39:00.000-08:00

Happy clicking!

The Office is still cracking me up.

You've seen Out Of Print Clothing, right?
Working on it.
The making of awesome art.
If/when I get to this point during finals next week, please kill me.
More awesome art.
Just click this link.

What the heck is the point of a walkable roller coaster?
I want this.
Weird. People actually do this? I'm down.

Fashionable, F*ckable, Friday: Wish List.

2011-12-02T13:44:00.000-08:00

Alright, let's get real here for a second. I have a confession to make. I am a grinch.

I sort of hate Christmas.

And Hanukkah. Really all of the major holidays that involve buying presents for other people in return for equally stress-inducing, awkward, or unwanted gifts. My family has never had a lot of money, but has also never had a shortage of love OR guilt, and the holidays take on an extra layer of stress when you see all of your equally-poor relatives attempting to create "the perfect Christmas." Add in my almost eery lack of present-giving skills, little-to-no motivation for shopping, and a hate of crowds resulting in an extreme avoidance of all stores during the month of December, and you (I) get a major migraine.

And a healthy hatred for Christmas.

I'm probably even worse at receiving presents than I am at giving them. I am pretty picky about things, change my mind on a minutely basis, never know what I want until the day AFTER Christmas, and have the worst poker face in the history of the world. Believe me, you know what I think about your gift.

The worst thing to get me is clothes.

My mom especially, but many others as well, always attempt to get me "something cute" for Christmas/ Hanukkah, and usually fail. (The one exception: one year for Hanukkah, my mom and my stepdad managed to get me THE CUTEST pair of jeans. I wore them for a year too long, and referred to them as my "Hanukkah-pants.")

Christmas-clothes are always the wrong size (example: the year before I moved to San Diego, my mom got me 10 (TEN) pairs of $1 flip-flops. From Target. All exactly one size too small), unattractive, something I already have, or just... wrong. While I DO appreciate the effort, honestly, I'd much prefer a gift card, that way I have an excuse to go shopping AND I get to pick something out myself. =)

HOWEVER. This year, there are a few clothing items that I would be more than happy to receive for Christmas. And since I am lacking a camera this fashionable Friday, I thought I would share them with you.

I would LOVE to receive (in the right size, color, and type, haha):

This dress from Urban Outfitters.

This apron from Anthropologie.

This precious necklace from ModCloth.

Pointe Shoes.

These boots from Urban Outfitters.

This necklace I spotted at Target.

A Catch-22 Shirt from Out Of Print Clothing.

What are you hoping to receive this year? Anything you're excited to give?

Happy Friday!

Wordless Wednesday: Cute edition

2011-11-30T10:56:00.000-08:00

Turkey Break (part 2): SF Academy of Science!

2011-11-29T10:36:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday, we went to the SF Academy of Science, one of my favorite places where I used to go when I was a kid!
..Of course, my camera battery was totally dead, because I forgot to charge it.
{But I did take a couple of iphone pictures!}
My favorite part was revisiting places I loved as a kid as an adult-- you see things totally differently!
The boy liked the fish and reptiles-- and learning about sharks!
And then we went to the extra special planetarium show and learned about the Big Bang and life and cells and stars and planets and stuff. It was awesome. We are nerds.

See the alligator?!

These frogs were just the COOLEST color IRL

That's a seahorse!!!

This was presh: all these kids wrote their ideas for improving global climate change.

The things they wrote were awesome! And adorable!

Great quotes.

Chameleons are awesome. Just saying. AWESOME.

100th Post!

2011-11-28T23:04:00.000-08:00

Happy 100th Post!

Thanks for reading musings! I have loved writing the past 100 posts, and here's to (at least) 100 more! :)

Life Lately According to my iphone

2011-11-28T11:15:00.000-08:00

1. Goofing off with the new iphone
2. Delicious + wonderful crepes for breakfast with the boy. I love vacation!
3. Thanksgiving pie
4. Dad
5. Occupy Davis
6. Tents at Occupy Davis
7. Snuggles with the Boy's bear to hold me over until winter break

Fashionable, F*ckable, Friday: SF

2011-11-25T09:30:00.000-08:00

I love being in the city, because of soo many reasons. Here are a few:
a) there're awesome places like this supercool mural to take pictures
b) it's cold enough to wear lots and lots of layers
c) people have really cool and interesting fashion.. it's inspiring!
d) there's so much going on, no one looks twice at me taking outfit pictures in the middle of the sidewalk.
e) it smells like home! and happiness! So glad to be back :)

Outfit Details:

Coat: Hollister Co.

Scarf: Cost Plus World Market

Dress: Forever 21

Belt, Socks, and Boots: thrifted

Tights: Capezio's dancewear

Please excuse the silly picture where my head is cut off. The boy was playing photographer, and he decided to goof off and start doing "crazy hipster angles!!" etc (aka totally not flattering, hehe) and my face was a little... angry. So I chopped it out.

This outfit is what I wore on Tuesday for exploring around the city. We took a romantic walk through the park, and also had to walk a lot from all of our random parking places. Good thing these boots, which I just thrifted over the weekend, are SUPER comfortable! I'll probably be wearing them all week. :)

Turkey Break (part 1)!

2011-11-23T11:19:00.000-08:00

I'm finally back in NorCal for some wonderful R&R. Spent the first few days in SF with the boy, and then tonight we're heading home for thanksgiving (and he's going to meet my parents!).

Yesterday we did a little exploring. It was fun, but apparently the boy has been afflicted with a terrible disease. It's called dumbface. It results in his utter inability to look cute, serious, or smile in a picture. Especially if I look good.

On the ones where we're trying to be silly, he suddenly smiles, thus ruining another cute picture. Sigh. What a little goofball.

Sometimes, I give him a mean teacher look and he behaves. Sometimes.

We have a lot of fun planned for the next few days, so stay tuned.

And, sorry I haven't updated in a while, school/ work has been craaazzyy. Now that I have a couple of days off, posting should get back to normal. Hopefully.

<3 <3 <3

Sunday's Stumbles

2011-11-06T09:19:00.000-08:00

So I've realized that the best way to keep me updating on a regular basis is to have some sort of weekly catchy-nerdy-alliterated theme going on (hence all the Friday and Wednesday posts). So, I now present...

Sunday's Stumbles!!

aka lists of links that I love/ stumbled upon/ read in someone else's blog recently.

All for your viewing/ clicking pleasure.

I know, I know. You're welcome.

GREAT study playlist

What happens when you blow bubbles with Helium? Pure awesome.

Read this article, but instead of "unions" read "unicorns." 'Cus that's how I saw it. Yup.

Another fab playlist. Indie + dubstep = AMAZING.

I like charts.
This is a cute Harry Potter inspired wedding.
AWESOME apartment! A little too girly for my tastes, but what can you do?
Why bra shopping sucks.
Lady Gaga is awesome.
Give hugs always.

Hope you had a good weekend!

Life lately according to my iphone

2011-11-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

Rockstar Diaries does this awesome little thing where she posts iphone pictures of her life, and I thought it was really cute, so here you go!

1. dressed up for rocky horror

2&3. awesome halloween drawing (with ballpoint pen!)

4. deadmau5 pumpkin at our carving contest!

5. my view. nbd.

6. winterwear, summer weather.. oops

7. my apartment's awesome pumpkin

8. bookstore cats are the best kind of cats

9. boy got me flowers! <3

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-26T07:43:00.000-07:00

Hoping my inner nerd will come out for midterms this week!

Fashionable, F*ckable, Friday!

2011-10-21T06:40:00.000-07:00

Limited light, free time, and a place to take pictures this week, so here are just a couple of pictures of my recent outfit... Somehow, whenever I take pictures I end up feeling awkward and just going into dance poses, because hey, they're easy to do, and it gives me somewhere to put my arms and legs without overthinking it. So, yeah..

Outfit Details:

Top: Thrifted (previously seen here)

Shorts: Gap

Tights: Gap

Shoes: hand-me-downs from the bff (previously seen here and here)

I've been over-wearing these boots recently as I look for a new pair.. boots are such a fall staple but I'm super picky about what I like, so I'm having a hard time shopping for them.

Have a good weekend, everybody!

Why I'm an engineer now

2011-10-20T10:20:00.000-07:00

So, I might have broken a lamp the other day.

But it's okay, 'cus I totally fixed it. And now it's better than it was before. It's artsy. Promise.

Oh, you want to know what happened? Well, the base broke. As in, it doesn't stand up anymore. So, obviously, we just taped it the the wall. Engineers, I'm telling you.

This is gonna be a new thing, isn't it?

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-19T10:03:00.000-07:00

Cupcakes!

2011-10-17T07:27:00.000-07:00

Mugdha and I discovered the cutest little cupcake place in Pacific Beach the other day while we were out thrifting! I got a delicious Red Velvet cupcake, and Mugdha got a boring coffee.

My favorite things (other than the actual cupcakes, obviously) about the place were the adorable little details. They had these precious couches, nice little wooden tables, and great bookshelves! To be honest, I felt like I was sitting in my mother's house. Only with yummy fresh-baked cupcakes.

soooo yummy!

I was trying to get a picture of me eating it...

Sort of? OMNOMNOM

Party night!

2011-10-16T14:04:00.000-07:00

We started the night out right with some good old fashioned goofing off at my place. One of my friends/residents had these dorky glasses and I was really enjoying them.

We put on VH1 and rocked out a little while we waited for my roommates to get ready to go to some party.

Then, once everyone left, Mugdha and I got ready to go. We hadn't hung out in such a long time, we couldn't help but take some pictures of our "rave-y" outfits. And when I say "some" pictures, I mean ONE MILLION pictures. Here are a few. Sorry there are still so many..

Then we met up with one of my favorite people in the world and his girlfriend (who is also super awesome) and headed out to this on-campus dance rave thing.

It was crazy. We waited in line for SO LONG only to have them shut the whole thing down because crazy people were breaking down barriers and stuff. We never even got in to where the DJs were.

But it was all okay, because even just waiting in line with my favorite people was super fun, and I got to hang out with Mugdha after so long! I <3 her. :)

Fashionable, F*ckable, Friday: Fashionspiration for FALL!

2011-10-14T16:54:00.000-07:00

There's one fashion trend this fall that is just popping up EVERYWHERE on the ol' blogosphere. I think most (if not all) of my favorite bloggers have featured it in their outfit posts at one point.. and I am 100% on board. Maybe even obsessed, a little. Maybe.

FALL 2011 FASHIONSPIRATION:

A longer, pleated skirt, usually paired with a cute blouse and a braided, tucked belt.

Sigh. I loves it.

For example, THIS absolute amazingness from A Beautiful Mess.

I looked through my closet and blog archives only to discover that I own nothing even remotely close to this skirt. Last fall, it was all about dresses, or shorter skirts paired with tights. The longer skirts that I do own are too professional for class (let's face it, on days where I show up in even the most casual dress, I field questions of "oh! You look nice! Where are you off to today?" from everyone I know.. as if I don't wear dresses all.the.time.), or.. well, just ugly.

So, next on the thrifting list (and hopefully I'm going tomorrow): a longer pleated skirt! It's obvious that this is a must-have item for this fall. Still don't believe me? Well, maybe you'll believe the experts:

From Kendi of Kendi Everyday, paired with a nicer top and some adorable pumps:

From my absolute favorite styler of this skirt, Megan of Feathers and Freckles, who repeatedly knocks this look out of the park. I love how she makes it work with anything-- from boots, to wedges, to a casual t-shirt and flats:

http://feathersfreckles.blogspot.com/2011/10/hugs-not-drugs_07.html

http://feathersfreckles.blogspot.com/2011/10/get-your-craft-on.html

http://feathersfreckles.blogspot.com/2011/10/second-half.html

From Tania of What Would a Nerd Wear (love her blog's name, too!):

Slightly different, but similar, from Elizabeth of Delightfully Tacky:

Adorably '50s, from Keira of A Pretty Penny, whose outfit here first caught my eye and kept me on the lookout for the trend coming from all my other favorite blogs:

And one last one from Elsie of A Beautiful Mess:

So, there you have it, my current obsession/ Fall Fashionspiration! Hopefully coming soon from Musings as well. Which beautiful blogger do YOU think styled the look best?

Recently Stumbled :)

2011-10-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

Every so often, I like to give you guys an idea for things that I have tickled my fancy recently (#whydoesthatsounddirty?). So, without further ado, here are the last 15 things that I gave a thumbs up to on Stumbleupon, along with what I think about them:

This is how I feel about my boy when I finally get to talk to him after a long day <3

AH! Too cute!

This artist is so fantastic!

Great quote about love.

Oprah knows things?!

OMFG I love dance too much. Such great lines! So beautiful! AH!

Another great quote about love.

How I Met Your Mother is awesome.

How to transfer a photograph to a block of wood.

Love the earth.

Yet another great quote about love.

Dance <3

Interesting thoughts on life and the world.

Inspirational.

Great stuff no one told me.

Enjoy! Go Stumble your hearts away..

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-12T10:31:00.000-07:00

Fashionable, F*ckable, Friday!

2011-10-07T09:22:00.000-07:00

Ugh. You ever have one of those days where you feel like you look cute, and you like what you're wearing, but somehow when you look in the mirror or see pictures, you're still just not satisfied?

That's what today was.

I lovelovelove my new boots, but they just don't photograph well.

And then I was having a bad hair day.

And then I couldn't figure out how to take a picture of myself without a tripod.

Sigh.

Enjoy anyway!

LOVE these new boots I got in Berkeley!!

Outfit details:

Top: Urban Outfitters

Jeans: Charlotte Russe

Boots: Thrifted!

Please excuse the utter horribleness of these pictures; I'm finding outfit/ self photos hard to do without out my old roomie (and her tripod) around to help out :(

Plus my bedroom has weird lighting.

I miss you, Mugdha!

Wordless Wednesday!

2011-10-05T09:03:00.000-07:00

**Brought to you this week by my dear friend Tyler. YAY for friends who you've known since elementary school! <3**

"Look! I'm an Asian hipster!" (yes, that is arrested development in the background.)

Urban Love (aka BONUS outfit post)

2011-10-04T10:27:00.000-07:00

I've recently become re- in love with Urban Outfitters.

After (FINALLY) unpacking some boxes this week, I found this old ring I bought a year or so ago.

Loving it!

Brought to you by Urban Outfitters (it's all in the accessories, people), a BONUS outfit post for this week:

Took a sick day, and instead of going to class, I got dressed, did some makeup, did NOT do my hair, and had fun taking pictures.

My new apartment has not-so-great lighting, and new roomies who I'm too embarrassed to ask to take my picture. So I played around with what I could.

I ended up using a windowsill and self-timer.

I think they turned out okay after all, don't you?

Outfit Details:

Top: Express

Shorts: Tilly's

Tights and Ring: Urban Outfitters

Necklace: F21 (?)

Boots: hand-me-downs from the bff

Cookies!

2011-10-03T12:07:00.000-07:00

My friend Tyler came to visit and we decided to make 120 cookies to give to all of my residents..

My house still smells like cookies.

We got cake mix for $1 from Ralphs, woke up early (okay, so 9am isn't that early, but it was a Saturday, sooo), and got to baking.

Tyler still had morning hair, and I was in my pajamas, but we took pictures anyway.

Super Easy Cookie Recipe:
1 box of cake mix (can be any flavor, but funfetti, vanilla, and lemon work best)
1 egg
a little over 1/2 cup of vegetable oil

Mix ingredients together. Form dough into approx 1inch diameter balls; cook at 360 degrees for about 10-12 minutes. Enjoy!

Ugh. I HATE this picture.

Sunset Stroll..

2011-10-02T13:04:00.000-07:00

While Tyler is here, he wanted to go down to the beach, and we happened to catch a beautiful sunset last night!

I took lots of pictures, but I'll try to restrain myself to only posting a small portion here :P

Fashionable, F*ckable, Friday!

2011-09-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

Did ya hear? I went to the bay area last weekend to visit my wonderful sister at college!

I was so excited for some chilly weather that I packed only dresses and tights and boots and sweaters.

It was fantastic!!

Here is what I wore:

Dress: Urban Outfitters

Sweater: thrifted!

Belt: Francesca's Collections

Tights: Target

Boots: hand-me-downs from the bff

Berkeley Date Night!

2011-09-29T15:25:00.000-07:00

Sunday night I took the boy out for Ethiopian food at this little place in Berkeley.

We had a great time!
Unfortunately, timing got messed up (BART took forever, and I went for an ill-planned hike :P), so although I dressed up in my new heels and dress, I didn't actually get any makeup on my face. Luckily, he has seen me looking much MUCH worse, and also isn't a big make-up guy. The night was saved! Haha.

I liked the food well enough, but it wasn't my new favorite or anything.

Afterwards we went out to ice cream sandwiches with my sister. I got so excited/ distracted by cookies PLUS ice cream I forgot to take pictures. Oops.

I cannot WAIT to show you guys my new boots that I got (and wore on this date).

I made up a song about them and sang it as we walked through downtown Berkeley.

It went kinda like this:

"I love my shoes! I loooove my shoes! My shoes are so pretty!" *hop* *hop* "nneeeeeww shoes! you are so pretty! I looooooveeesss you!!" *hop* *skip* *hop*

Boy was embarrassed.

Trip to the Bay: exploring Berkeley!

2011-09-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, my sister and I walked around campus and explored some things. We watched the men's a cappella octet, had lunch, and then went for a pretty cool hike.

Watching the octet made me sad and miss singing a lot.. Octets were always my favorite part of choir, especially when we would cheat a little bit and create one out of all of the (senior) section leaders.. So pretty! :)

The hike was fun, but I realized how out of shape I am after a summer without dancing or soccer! :( I got pretty sweaty, and then didn't have time to take a shower before my big date (post coming soon!).

Totally worth it though.

Since I go to a school with limited spirit, I was amazed at the thoroughness of Cal's pride.

Love this new scarf I got from a thrift store!

Whew. That hike makes me tired just thinking about it/ looking at these pictures again. We basically ran the whole way down so I could make it home in time to get ready.. more on that story later. :/

Anyone else have fun times this weekend?

Anyone else SUPER EXCITED that it's tights weather again!? :P

Trip to the Bay!

2011-09-26T13:59:00.000-07:00

This last weekend I went home(ish) to the bay area to visit my sister at Berkeley. My dad and brother drove over to hang out on Saturday, and I got to visit with my boy randomly throughout the weekend. It was so great!

The next few posts, I'll be sharing pictures and stories about my trip!

First, on Saturday, we went to San Francisco (mainly Fisherman's warf) and got crab, and later crepes. It was fun, but my family was not so much into taking pictures. I managed to snag a few, but for every cute picture, there are about 3 others that someone ruined with a rude face or gesture..

Block Party

2011-09-22T18:41:00.003-07:00

We had a great event today on campus called the "block party" sort of like a mini-carnival where we invited different groups to table, and also had fun things for the students.. like a bouncy obstacle course, and of course free food! It was super fun!

Here are some pictures of the set-up fun and the very beginning.

It was super cold and foggy :(

(Also, I work in transfer housing, so we all wore I <3 Transfers shirts)

Our first customer!!

Where has Loni been?

2011-09-22T15:11:00.000-07:00

BUSY! That's where!

I've finally settled back into college life, but have started my new job as a resident advisor on campus. This means lots of work!

I flew from Panama to Sacramento, where I spent 24 hours at home with my family. Then I packed up my stuff and drove down to San Diego. RA training started the next day. From 9-5 every day for 3 weeks, I was busy learning, bonding, and laughing with my new coworkers. Although it was a pretty fun 3 weeks, if left very little time for blogging, eating, unpacking, etc...

Training ended last Friday, but THEN, all our students moved in on Saturday. For move-in (Saturday and Sunday) I worked 10 hours straight each day- from 9am to 7pm- meeting new residents and checking people in.

Now it's the first official week of school.. we don't have classes yet (well, technically they start today), and all the RAs are responsible for planning, organizing, and running fun activities to get the new students involved in campus and meeting their neighbors. By night, we break up parties and attempt to sleep among the chaos which is 1800 people getting to know each other.. at the top of their lungs.

I complain, but I love it. :)

Oh, and in my "free time" I plan extra fun activities for my residents, and attempt to be creative by making bulletin boards, door decorations, signs, etc to welcome my students and let them know about campus resources.

And I havent even mentioned the work I do for my classes, AMIGOS, unpacking and moving home from Panama, and working at my lab. That's a whole 'nother post. Sigh.

So that's a little bit of what I've been up to! Any tips for schedule-managing and stress-relieving?

I'm Back!!

2011-09-07T17:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm finally back in San Diego! Hooray!

I will be back to updating my blog in no time, but it won't be regular for the next few weeks because I am busy with RA training-- mucho mucho work! :(

But, coming soon, is more musings!

For now, here is a Wordless Wednesday picture (..although I realize that there are words..)

View at sunset from my bed. :)

San Juan Bautista

2011-07-01T07:15:00.000-07:00

Every year one weekend at the end of June in Chitré, where I currently live, the city explodes into a huge festival celebrating San Juan Bautista (one of the Catholic saints). Friday is a drunken sort of horse parade, Saturday hosts nightime activities and fireworks, and Sunday combines the two into a drunken cultural parade with traditional dress and beer.

And I got to experience it all this year (minus the drinking, of course, since I was working)...

It was pretty entertaining.

Wordless Wednesday!

2011-06-29T08:04:00.000-07:00

Sneak peak of life in Panama.. full photo set on Friday!

Boil 'em, Mash 'em, Stick 'em in a Stew!

2011-06-28T08:15:00.000-07:00

Potatoes!

After a month of eating almost entirely rice and beans, with the occasional bowl of chicken soup or piece of fried chicken, I finally got the chance to cook a real meal with one of my coworkers.. yum!!

And what did I make? Curry potatoes, white rice, and some fried plantains. It was heaven!

Everything we cook has to be done on this crappy 2 burner hot plate..

My coworker, Aaron, who is frequently shirtless.

And all of this cost less than $3!!

Happy Monday!

2011-06-27T11:02:00.000-07:00

I'm on phone/hospital duty today (basically like being the on-call staff person for all 60 volunteers in case anything should happen), which means it's the first real free time I've had in about a month (until the phone rings..) In my house. All by myself. With my computer and everything.

It's nice.

I also figured it might be a great opportunity to update the ol' bloggeroo and let you all in on what I've been up to the rest of the time. So, coming this week are a ton of new posts!! Be excited!

First up, an update on community visits. A huge part of my job this summer is preparing everything for the volunteers' arrival: from host families, to evacuation plans, to rotating meal plans, to community contacts and project ideas. Before the supervisors got here, the other Senior Staff members and I visited a few of the communities, just making primary contact and warning them of our supervisors' and volunteers' imminent arrival.

Then, last week, as part of my duties as Senior Project Supervisor I went on a week-long survey, where I arranged more of the logistical details within communities, filled out a "profile" of each community, and stayed a night each one (since I am a member of Senior Staff, I only have 2 communities, but all of the supervisors do the same thing for 4 nights). I also ended up having to go out to one of the other supervisor's communities, due to some trouble we were having, so really I got to go hang out in 3 different, beautiful, and welcoming communities.

If you didn't quite understand all of that, no worries, just know that it was a lot of work but also a lot of fun, and I got a few good pictures!

Because why wouldn't you play cards at a bus stop?

Color version of the photo above.

It was a wild adventure, and I loved every minute :)

Life has been CRAY-ZAY!

2011-06-23T17:14:00.000-07:00

Sincerest apologies for not posting recently!

Wanna see what I've been up to here in Panama?

Here's a quick peek (detailed posts coming soon!):

The rest of our team made it to Panama and moved in..

I went on survey and met 3 of the most awesome, beautiful, communities I've ever been in..

Monopoly in Peña Rodá

Baby horses (there are so many of them!) in La Mesa

Hilarious Kiddos in La Arenita

I goofed off in Chitré being dorks with my coworkers (here're two of them)..

I promise we don't actually dress like this..

I found gummy octopuses (one of my all time favorite candies) in Panama!!

Staff went to Panama city to pick up our volunteers, and got a little crazy on the 4 hour bus ride..

This is my favorite picture of Jarrod ever, haha :)

We made close to 100 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner that night..

Then, we got to spend the night in the beautiful city..

And met our 60 volunteers at the airport!!

Excitement!!

I was so happy to see my kids arrive safe and sound from San Diego (aren't they adorable?)..

They're a BIT tired at this point...

And then the whole group had training for 3 days..

All 70ish of us!!

With their new host siblings!

And I got my route of beautiful volunteers!

<3 these kids so much!

All in all, it was a pretty crazy last couple of weeks, but I'm glad to finally be home in Chitré, cockroaches and all :)

Tonight we're going out for Jarrod's birthday (the girls are all wearing dresses! Expect pictures!) and then maybe we'll finally get to relax for a couple of hours. I'm not counting on it though :P

....On Being a Vegetarian

2011-06-04T16:33:00.000-07:00

"If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay home."

--James Michener

True. Dat.

As most of you know, I have been a full vegetarian for the past 3 months or so (and an almost-vegetarian for about 9 years). Or, should I say I had been vegetarian for the past 3 months or so (and even vegan for a few weeks!) ....until about day 2 in Panama.

Panama is a land of fried food and meat. To not participate in an integral part of the culture of the country where I'm living-- to not eat their meat-- would be... blasphemous.

I don't really believe in God. However, I do believe in knowledge, learning, exploration, and love.

I believe in travel. I believe in people. I believe in discomfort. I believe in that little feeling that you get in your gut when the plane leaves the ground and you realize that you are on your way to experience something new.

Most of all, I believe in truly opening yourself up and sharing culture, life, love, and self-awareness with other people.

To not eat meat in Panama would be to not allow myself to live in the moment. It would say that, although I am traveling in another country, I expect that country to conform to my norms and my way of life. It would mean that, although I'm here to travel, work, and live, I do not fully trust Panamanians and their way of life, nor accept the few things that they offer me as a guest to their country.

So, while I'm here, I eat meat.

There are many people who don't have the choice-- people who have been vegetarians all their lives and for whom meat makes them sick. I understand. There are also people who strongly, in their core, feel that eating meat is wrong and therefore are not comfortable consuming another living creature. I understand that, too.

But, as a traveler, an explorer, life's student, and honestly just a child at heart, I urge you to allow yourself to fully, completely, earnestly, and respectfully become immersed in another culture with an open mind and an open heart. You might be surprised how much the simple act of sharing a meal with a stranger can change your life.

I don't pretend to be deep, wise, or even very well-traveled. However, I am passionate about people, cultures, and learning. There is always more knowledge in the world.. I'm just saying, maybe some of it can be found in a bowl of Sancocho (Panamanian chicken soup).

Or, maybe not.

Fashionable, F*ckable, Friday!

2011-06-03T08:07:00.000-07:00

I know I said that I was temporarily putting a hold on Fashionable Fridays due to the fact that I am no longer fashionable, but here is one more for you!

I show you how to wear the traditional Panamanian dress... the pollera (true Panamanian fashion... of about 100 years ago..):

Step one: (Well, it's not actually a dress, it's in three parts: a white underskirt, the shirt, and the overskirt.) Step one would be to put them on.. duh:

Step two: put on loads of gold jewelry.

Step three: Cover your entire head with large, antler-shaped beaded flowers attached to pointy sticks that you stick into your hair (the more it hurts, the better you look!):

I wasn't joking when I said COVER, folks..

Step four: pose for some supercute (or "super pritti" as they say here) photos (yes, this is an actual step in wearing the dress. Ask any 13 year old Panamanian girl):

Note the photo on the wall of the girl who actually owns the dress doing the exact same thing as me.. :P

Step five: learn a traditional Panamanian dance. You can't wear the dress if you don't know the dance!!

Optional Step six: bump and grind, dance like an "American" and don't forget to GET DOWN. You're wearing a traditional outfit respected by an entire country-- why WOULDN'T you taint the experience by dancing to hip hop and making a thizz face?

As I've said a million times, and I'll say a million times more, I am classy, ladies and gentlemen.

The sights and sounds of Chitré, Panama: Part One: Sights

2011-06-02T07:51:00.000-07:00

"What's life like in Panama, I wonder?" I'm sure was the very first thing you thought to yourself when you woke up this morning, right?

WELL, YOU'RE ABOUT TO FIND OUT.

(hint: it's hot, sweaty, AWESOME, and too.much.fun.)

It's been a crazy week living in Panama so far, and I've finally settled in to my new city, Chitré. Chitré is a city "bien alegre" as they say here (meaning it's very happy and lively) but also "bien seguro" (safe). Every day there is something new that either surprises me, excites me, or literally makes me laugh out loud. Or all three.

For example, our bright pink house (all three):

Some things that surprised me:

The Machetazo, this huuuuge Wal-mart-sized market that has anything and everything, including...

POTATOOOO CHIPS!

I was very surprised (and happy) to see these, especially after living in such rural areas in Latin America.

La comida tipica (typical food).

Some sort of cow tongue stuff..

On the other hand, I was also very surprised by the typical Panamanian food. It's actually pretty delicious! I was sort of scared to eat meat again, but so far it hasn't been a problem. Most things in Panama are deep fried (usually not one of my favorite things) and the food is generally very salty-- not very healthy, but yummy!

Some things I was excited by:

Our AWESOME latin american volunteers this year, like Hissar (who's from Chitré!):

Chevre, Mai (cool, man).

We so essited.

Pollitos! Sooooo cute! :)

Cheep! Cheep! Cheep!!

Oh, and the many funny parts of Chitré...

This guy, who lives in our house:

These funny little creatures they use for floats for the carnavales:

This sign in the hospital cafeteria:

"The one that cleans isn't here, the one that's here doesn't clean, so if you don't
clean, just leave everything clean and in order how it is"

..and the fact that parades pass by our house pretty much every day. For. no. reason. WHATSOEVER.

What can I say, Panama's a pretty cool place to live.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

One week from today and the whole team will be together at last!!! :)

Dream team in Panama!

2011-05-28T08:06:00.000-07:00

The dream team (me and my two bosses/coworkers, Jarrod and Becca) hit the streets yesterday to get shit done!!

First was the U.S. Embassy, where we had some legal stuff to do before we were allowed to get a bank account. We showed up right as the doors opened, and it actually ended up being much easier than expected.

After about an hour or so there, we headed over to our partner agency (accross town about 15min by taxi), MIDES (the ministry of social development), where we met with this super nice lady and got some more logistical stuff taken care of (transportation for our volunteers, etc).

We craaazay!

Once we were done with MIDES, we took another taxi over to the Hospital Nacional, where we met this sweet American guy who was some sort of hospital administrator who's going to help us out this summer if something should happen to one of our babies.

We also had a delicious Panamanian lunch somewhere in there-- I had fried chicken (yum!), rice, and platanos fritos (fried bananas!). SO GOOD. I forgot to take a picture, since I was so busy chowing down, but no worries, because it sounds like that is a very common meal I'll be eating this summer.

After all that, we headed back to our hostel to change out of our business casual and took to the streets in search of adventure.

They bought Panama hats.. I did not.

I like how our team knows how to find that balance between work, fun, and relaxing. Last night we then went down to our hostel's bar, where I got a couple of drinks (I'm not on the clock yet), and enjoyed some DELICIOUS pulled pork sandwiches. Yum!! :)

Fashionable, F*ckable, Friday!

2011-05-27T12:03:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry to announce the temporary disbandment of Fashionable, F*ckable, Friday due to the fact that I'm living IN PANAMA and I look like CRAP most of the time-- even on *gasp* Fridays. Did I mention that it's in the high 90s here every. single. day? Well, it is. Which means that I don't look cute enough to be posting any pictures of me or my current outfits any time soon. Or even fashionspiration, since that will just make me sad that my entire wardrobe consists of polo shirts, khakis, dress pants, soccer shorts, and flip flops. (I also didn't really bring any makeup, making any photos of me even less showable to the world..)

Here are some examples of the supercute fashion choices I'll be rockin' all summer (taken from pictures of past AMIGOS experiences), in case that wasn't convincing enough:

So, excuse the fact that I generally look terrible in this one, but please note that I am wearing jeans with tennis shoes, a summer staple. Also a summer staple? The AMIGOS polo. I might have it in 4 different colors..

Next up: t-shirts with soccer shorts, my go-to outfit for anything and everything in Latin America.

Braids! I know braids are back, but the pippi longstocking look can only take you so far. Also note that I'm wearing yet another AMIGOS shirt.

When all else fails, I will be rotating about 5 v-neck tshirts with my one pair of jeans and some converse or vans. Hip!

You better believe I can make a messy bun look good in Panama! (you can't tell, but this is another AMIGOS t-shirt in this picture)

Last but not least, for those days when I need to do some heavy labor (aka play around with wet cement while watching boys lift things), I will pull out my oh-so-classy wife beater-khaki-rainboots combination that will just knock your socks off.

What can I say? I'm a classy lady.

I might do a couple ironic Fashionable Fridays this summer, since it would be so mean for you all to miss out on those days when I'm looking especially hot, tired, and AMIGOS-y. At least, I'll try my best.

Happy Friday from Panama!

Wordless Wednesday (Special Thursday Bday edition!)

2011-05-26T14:04:00.000-07:00

Yummy yummy birthday cake in Panama City! This girl is all smiles :)

Estoy Aqui!

2011-05-25T19:50:00.000-07:00

I'm here!!

I finally made it to Panama! It was a long journey, especially since I had to drive up from San Diego to Sac, and then I stayed with my parents for a couple of nights, but now I am in beautiful Panama City, so it was well worth it.

I got in last night around sunset, and I'm staying in this cute little hostel, Luna's Castle, which is filled with shirtless european guys, some older hippies, and a whole bunch of young travelers and surfers. For now, I am by myself, but tomorrow evening my bosses are coming up to meet me (and taking me out for a BDAY DINNER!) and they'll stay with me here for a few days before we all head back down to our house in Chitre for the rest of the summer.

Here are some pictures of the hostel where I'm staying:

The reception desk area (sorry it's blurry)

Ping pong table and book exchange

Looking out from the bathroom window over the bar area (where I'll soon be ringing in my 21st!)

One of the few lounge rooms (I spent quite a few hours in that hammock today! :))

LOVING the lanterns and the map

The hostel just has 3 guitars and someone is always quietly playing while everyone reads

The view from the balcony of the cityline

Night view-- The white square light is an electronic billboard that plays ads 24/7! Usually it
says "Panasonic" and it's completely legible from the hostel balcony.

The city from a little bit closer

This morning I went for a walk around town and ran some errands (bought a new sim card and charger for my phone and familiarized myself with the area) and passed through the local fish market! Then I read for a few hours in the hostel (finished the book I brought-- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and went for another walk in the evening around the older, more historic part of town. I can't wait until tomorrow and the next day, when I can explore with my friends/coworkers, since there were a couple of times when I felt a little uncomfortable on my own (in the evening).

Panama City, Panama:

Cute old local fisherman pulling in his boats for the day
(it was noon when I was here-- LATE in fishing terms!)

"Whole octopuses $3.50"

"Large shrimp $6.50"

Those are some big freakin' fish! The guy was telling me all the names of
the different kinds of fish.. but I forgot them all...

Yumm! :P

The nicest McDonald's I've ever been in..

At the very least, I could come home with some LEGIT hipster
outfits by the end of this summer.. heh.

"City Fashion Outlet" ..loving the Spanglish!

Apartment buildings in the city... must be hundreds of people living in this one

Casco Viejo ("the old quarter").. the hostel where I'm staying is on the right side

Super cool old church!

Inside another church which had this awesome gold alter thinger

The streets are so colorful and covered with some cool murals!

Here's another mural with some history.. I didn't really get it, but it looked cool!

Most of the old part of town looks like this-- basically falling apart, but still adorable. :)

All in all today was a good day. Nice and relaxing, even though I walked pretty much all over the city (minus the business-y downtown part). It's kinda fun to be in a more touristy area than I'm used to, since people are always SO IMPRESSED by my Spanish-- they're used to people who come visit without speaking a word, I guess..

Can't wait for tomorrow! My 21st birthday in an awesome city with some awesome people.. Better be fantastic.

I'm leaving!

2011-05-20T21:36:00.000-07:00

My roommate and one of my best friends wrote the nicest, sweetest, bestest, and most amazingist blog post today over at A Vigilant Muse. It was so awesome (and kind of sad)! But it did make me realize (again) that I am leaving tomorrow for home, and then from there to Panamaaaa! Wow! Tonight will be the last night I am sharing a room with her. ever. Crazyyyy!

Mugdha: I love you so much, and I am going to miss you like crazy this summer!!

How cute are we? This photo is a bit overused... :P

So I just wanted to say a quick thanks for the post, and a warning to all my readers that I probably won't be updating so much over the next few days, because I am about to begin my million day long journey to Panama. Wish me luck! Once I get settled, I'm sure I'll have pictures and updates and lots of exclamation points for your enjoyment. :)

Adventures with the Sister

2011-05-20T18:00:00.000-07:00

"If you don't understand how a woman could both love her sister dearly and want to wring her neck at the same time, then you were probably an only child"

--Linda Sunshine

.. there were so many good sister quotes, I couldn't just choose one! I've included some of my favorites between pictures. They really have nothing to do with most of the pictures, but oh well.

My sister is visiting me!!! Some of our favorite things to do together are:

1. go shopping at cool local/natural/organic grocery stores

2. Eat (this week was a lot of Mexican food)

3. Argue with each other

4. Talk about AMIGOS and traveling, and

5. Take pictures!

Unfortunately, we didn't take many pictures of numbers 1-4, but we did do a lot of number 5 at other times, and here are the results:

"Having a sister is like having a best friend you can't get rid of. You know whatever you do, they'll still be there." ~Amy Li

"Sisters never quite forgive each other for what happened when they were five." ~Pam Brown

"A sister can be seen as someone who is both ourselves and very much not ourselves - a special kind of double." ~Toni Morrison

"More than Santa Claus, your sister knows when you've been bad and good." ~Linda Sunshine

"The mildest, drowsiest sister has been known to turn tiger if her sibling is in trouble." ~Clara Ortega

"A sister is a forever friend." ~Author Unknown

"Our siblings push buttons that cast us in roles we felt sure we had let go of long ago - the baby, the peacekeeper, the caretaker, the avoider.... It doesn't seem to matter how much time has elapsed or how far we've traveled." ~Jane Mersky Leder

Don't ask.

"Our siblings. They resemble us just enough to make all their differences confusing, and no matter what we choose to make of this, we are cast in relation to them our whole lives long." ~Susan Scarf Merrell

She's a weird one!

"Siblings are the people we practice on, the people who teach us about fairness and cooperation and kindness and caring - quite often the hard way." ~Pamela Dugdale

"A sister shares childhood memories and grown-up dreams." ~Author Unknown

"Sisters annoy, interfere, criticize. Indulge in monumental sulks, in huffs, in snide remarks. Borrow. Break. Monopolize the bathroom. Are always underfoot. But if catastrophe should strike, sisters are there. Defending you against all comers." ~Pam Brown

"Sisters don't need words. They have perfected a language of snarls and smiles and frowns and winks - expressions of shocked surprise and incredulity and disbelief. Sniffs and snorts and gasps and sighs - that can undermine any tale you're telling." ~Pam Brown

"One of the best things about being an adult is the realization that you can share with your sister and still have plenty for yourself." ~Betsy Cohen

"We know one another's faults, virtues, catastrophes, mortifications, triumphs, rivalries, desires, and how long we can each hang by our hands to a bar. We have been banded together under pack codes and tribal laws." ~Rose Macaulay

She likes to pretend she doesn't love me back.. but she does.

"Of two sisters one is always the watcher, one the dancer." ~Louise Glück

"She is your mirror, shining back at you with a world of possibilities. She is your witness, who sees you at your worst and best, and loves you anyway. She is your partner in crime, your midnight companion, someone who knows when you are smiling, even in the dark. She is your teacher, your defense attorney, your personal press agent, even your shrink. Some days, she's the reason you wish you were an only child." ~Barbara Alpert

FAV!

Well, we had fun together, anyway! Sorry there were SO MANY pictures.. :)

Update!

2011-05-19T10:59:00.000-07:00

"Among creatures born into chaos, a majority will imagine an order, a minority will question the order, and the rest will be pronounced insane."

--Robert Brault

So, currently my house is in a state of utter and absolute CHAOS that I am attempting to organize into neat boxes.... it's working real well. NOT. Moving out of an apartment and then moving away to Panama for 3 months is not a fun task, let me tell you.. especially when I can't move most of my stuff into my NEW apartment because it is either a) IN PANAMA or b) back on campus, where I'm not allowed to put stuff until end of August. :(

This is about as far as I've gotten...

What do you do with books you can't sell?

The worst/best part is that my sister is here ~~distracting~~ ~~helping~~ visiting me, so I get to hang out with her.. instead of actually packing like I should be. Pictures of our adventures coming tomorrow. :)

Also-- just found some boxes that I still haven't UNPACKED from moving in/ Honduras.... that I need to unpack, so I can take some of the stuff to Panama... and then repack so I can bring it to Panama.... FUN TIMES.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-05-17T08:35:00.000-07:00

Sneak Peak-- Refuge Jeans

2011-05-16T12:07:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick pre-processed sneak peak of a photoshoot (for a jeans ad, with my roomie) I did recently... We ran out of light, so we didn't get many pictures, but there were a couple that I liked! :)

Weird unintentional effect due to bad lighting and weird camera setting...

I'll be uploading more soon once I've edited them and chosen my favorites, so stay tuned! :P

Also-- my computer just did something super weird with its resolution, so I might reupload these later if they look weird... Let me know what you think.. are these pics different quality to you, or is it just my computer? :)

Wordless Wednesday

2011-05-12T11:52:00.000-07:00

You may not be able to tell from this photo, but this nail is giving me SO. MUCH. PAIN. :( :(

Working in TJ

2011-05-09T08:44:00.000-07:00

"Children need love, especially when they do not deserve it."

--Harold Hulbert

This weekend I got to go to Tijuana, Mexico to work in an orphanage for a few hours.. It was so much fun! I went with a group of people from my school, and we played with kids allllll day... I got so sunburnt, but it was definitely worth it! Here are some pictures :)

One of the TJ barios on the way to the orphanage

With the youngest kid Josalin (3YO)

My friend Sonia with Josalin

With my new best friend Carla, age 7 :)

Haha, one of my favorite poses..

Most of the group (minus us)

We got to ride horses!!

Ed, the orphanage owner, with some of the kids

The whole group!

We had WAY too much fun on the bus ride home!

Making me a friendship bracelet :)

On the way back to the border, we got fresh churros for $1!!

YUMMMMMMM :)

Only bad part: waking up with this awful sunburn the next day! (also-- note the new thrifted top :))

What did you do this weekend? Anything fun?

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T14:47:00.000-07:00

In honor of Mother's day today, I will be dedicating this post to my lovely mom:

My mom isn't exactly a style icon, and she claims to not care about fashion or "stuff like that," but since I moved away to school a few years ago, I have realized that my mom has actually taught me a lot about personal style and clothing. Here are 5 things my mom has taught me:

1. Always, and I mean ALWAYS, pack a swimsuit:

This one isn't as much a personal style tip as much as it's a life-tip, but since it has to do with clothes, I thought I would include it. I remember this one time, my mom took the family skiing in Tahoe for the day, and on our way home we got stuck in a blizzard and ended up having to spend the night in a hotel on the side of the road-- a hotel with an indoor pool, that is!! Luckily, since my mom had packed us all swimsuits for a day long ski trip in a blizzard, my sister and brother and I had a great time swimming all night, while my mom tried to figure out what the hell she was going to do about the blizzard. I wish I could say this was the only ridiculous situation where I randomly had a swimsuit when literally no one else in the entire world would have packed one, but thanks to dear old mom, it was not.

2. Shop at thrift stores!

Little known fact: thrift stores sell the best everything. My mom used to drag me along with her to get anything from bulletin boards, to old bikes, to clothes, to entire dish sets, to... anything you can think of. (The best part? Entire rooms filled with books.. What mom ISN'T going to by her 11-year-old daughter 67 books at 25 cents apiece? But I digress.) Now that I'm older and wiser, I've used my mom's thrifting talents to maintain a cute wardrobe while working for less than minimum wage.. thanks, mom!

3. Target has some cute clothes!

My mom is one of those hippy-turned-suburban working moms who isn't "materialistic" (her word, not mine) enough to care about fashion or rich enough to buy all of her clothes at Guess and Ralph Lauren, but is just professional (elementary school teacher) enough to need to look presentable on a daily basis. Enter Target. See, when I shop at Target, I mainly only buy socks, or cheap shoes, and never really venture into the "real clothing" section. Yet somehow, when I'm shopping in MC (mom's closet), suddenly all the dresses and blouses I had scoffed at earlier in the store jump out at me and they instantly look cuter. On her, they look even better. Again: even when she's not wearing them my mom makes Target clothes look cute... Whaaaaa?

4. Sometimes, style takes work:
A few years after my mom dragged me shopping all the time, my best friend Kate and I started dragging my mom shopping all the time. Prom dresses, jeans, back-to-school clothes,you name it, we made her come to the mall with us to get it. We would always squeeze the three of us (sometimes more if she had to bring my little sister or brother along.. those were fun days) into one changing room, and try everything on while she critiqued, re-hung clothes, grabbed different sizes, and complained about prices (poor, poor mom). Every so often she would pull one of these little gems of an expression, like "you look poured into those jeans," (meaning they were too tight). Regardless, even after being in the same dressing room for 4+ hours, my mom was a pretty good sport, and helped me understand that, no matter how much I hate shopping, sometimes style takes work (especially when trying on swimsuits, ugh.)

5. Always be yourself:
My mom was so happy that I wore converse to my high school graduation, I swear to god she almost cried. "It's just so YOU!" she kept saying over and over and over...and over again. [Side note: a couple of years later when my mom was helping me move into a new apartment, she was apparently appalled by the number of shoes I had. At one point, I clearly remember her yelling "MY DAUGHTER, the daughter I RAISED, has this many shoes??!" from the bottom of the 4 flights of stairs up which she was trying to lug my shoe collection. When I reminded her that probably 75% of them were sneakers, and only 2 pairs of them were heels, she still didn't seem too convinced of their value (although that may have had something to do with the fact that she was carrying them up stairs).] Even if it consists of mainly t-shirts and jeans, or target dresses and clogs, my mom has maintained her own personal style and always manages to call me on it when I'm wearing something that just isn't me. With the help of my mom, I've realized that my own style isn't as much about "fashion" or wearing whatever expensive designers are "in" right now, but more about wearing what I feel comfortable in, gives me confidence, and complements my best features.

So, Mom, happy Mother's Day, and thank you for teaching me about style!! I know you don't always agree with my fashion choices, and many times I just straight-up ignore your advice, but when it comes down to it, I respect your opinion, and will always keep these five things (and more!) in mind. I also know, that, come time for me to be shopping for a way-too-expensive white dress that I will only be wearing one time (a big no-no under my mom's rules), I will want you there with me in the dressing room for 5+ hours, and that I would never buy a wedding dress that you wouldn't approve of (although, I'm just gonna break the news now-- I will not be walking down the aisle in Target. Sorry). There are also many other, way more important things that you have taught me, but I figured that, if I could write this much about what you've taught be about style, probably no one would ever want to read the amount you have taught me about anything else. Love you, mom!

Mom and me like.. 3 or 4 years ago??

Happy Mother's Day to my mom, and all of the other moms out there!

I hope you all know that no matter how many times we roll our eyes at you, fight with you, ignore your advice, and possibly even make fun of your clogs, your daughters love you, respect you, and unintentionally dress kind of just like you. <3

Fashionable, F*ckable, Friday!

2011-05-06T13:52:00.000-07:00

Hello lovies!

As promised, this week's Fashionable Friday features two of the new items I got thrifting last Saturday!

This adorable floral blouse..

..And this leather purse!

Also note my nails.. details later :)

Outfit Details:
Top: thrifted!
Skirt: Francesca's Collections
Shoes: vans
Purse: thrifted!

Also, no time for editing, so these are SOOC, even though I usually like to do a little color boost or at least crop out my gross looking house. Whatever. Deal. :)

OK, now, also as promised: I decided to do my nails last night following this awesome How To I got from a new blog I have started reading-- A Pretty Penny... They're newsprint!! Especially great for those of us who are bookworms/nerds :)

Warning: I took the pictures while the last coat was still drying, and hadn't cleaned them up yet (don't ask why, I was in the middle of watching something on TV, and decided that THIS was the moment the pictures needed to be taken.. I dunno) so excuse the fact that they're still a bit messy, but other than that, enjoy!

The materials needed :)

Obviously still wet nails! Woo!

They look wayyy better the second day, but no time for more pictures! Must go eat cupcakes! :)

Also-- after doing this How To, I realizes two things 1) I should do more awesome things with my nails, and 2) With the proper instructions, I can actually do cool art projects that I always think seem so impossible!

Soooo, I ask YOU-- what are your favorite How Tos that I might like to do? Any of them for nail designs? Leave me a link in the comments, and I will try them out! :)

Soooo, this is my bike....

2011-05-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

[edit: for some reason, in my head I heard that ^ in that lispy valley girl ditz voice... you know which one I'm talking about?? It sounds like ANY standup comedian pretending to be his girlfriend... ?]

I bought it a couple of years ago at this annual garage sale the retirement community next to my dad's house has. It's an antique, and I absolutely love it. It runs well, feels sturdy, is adorable, aaaaaaannnnd unfortunately is sort of falling apart. Currently it's all rusty, the tires are completely flat, and there are all these spider webs stuck in the spokes and chain (the first things to go were the tires, and the rest is a result of it sitting in my outside patio all year because I was too lazy to pump them up every. single. day.)

SO, my new project is going to be fixing up my bike! Photos and updates to come! I'm thinking I'll start with new tires, and then clean it up and get rid of the rust, maybe add a cute vintage-y bell and/or basket. Anybody have any other ideas?

Also, for good measure, here are some outfit pictures I took with my bike today :P

I threw this dress on over my leotard and tights this morning in a moment of inspired laziness, and decided, since I'm writing about my bike anyway, and had to take a picture of it, I might as well take a couple of shots of my outfit, too. Also, in case you haven't noticed, I really like taking pictures.

And a couple close-ups of my outfit:

Outfit Details:

Dress: MC (mom's closet)

Blazer/top: Thrifted!

Belt: Came with a top from Francesca's Collections

Tights: Capezios' footless knitted dance tights (?)

Shoes: Keds (hand-me-downs from a friend)

I also got a couple of other AWESOME things when I went thrifting on Saturday; I will incorporate them into my next couple of posts so you can all oooh and ahhh with me. Or not. :P

Don't forget to let me know if you have any other ideas for my bike, and feel free to subscribe and/or follow Musings (links in right side bar!)!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-05-04T06:07:00.000-07:00

Attempted to make vegan pudding using soy milk... did not work.

2011-05-03T07:17:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago, I decided it might be fun to walk to school, instead of take the bus. It was a beautiful (but hot!!) spring day, and about an hour long walk. I listened to some chill playlists, and had fun exploring the route I had only ever seen through a window.

Once I got to campus, I had to walk through our medical school in order to get over to where I work. I have spent some time in the med school (took a class there last quarter), and LOOOVVE working in their library (I'm a nerd, but med students are much quieter than obnoxious undergrads), but I had never seen that side of campus before! I felt like I was at an entirely different school.... it was kind of beautiful..

What a nice day!

So, for a lot of people this isn't too different from the norm.. but most
of our campus doesn't look like this.. :)

Spring has sprung!

Not actually the med school, but you gotta love the Sun God.

I wish I explored my school/ town more.. I think I'll walk again a few times this week. It was a great (and relaxing!!) experience. I recommend it to everyone for whom it's possible :)

Here are 5 of my current favorite songs I listened to along the way:

Chicago (acoustic version), by Sufjan Stevens

Oxford Comma, by Vampire Weekend

The Gambler, by fun.

Skinny Love, by Bon Iver

Coney Island, by Good Old War

Old news...

2011-05-02T17:00:00.000-07:00

.....but that doesn't mean it's not still adorable....

What is it about small musical asian children that just makes me... aslkdheliuhraiojsd (aka too cute for real words to explain how badly I want to steal them)?

Weekend fun!

2011-05-02T06:45:00.000-07:00

Had a great time this weekend with my AMIGOS kids! We did a fun little activity where we basically made them pretend that they are in country, and they have to ask all these questions and find out all of this info (in Spanish) about their pretend "community." Fun times. I was feeling reeeeally sick at the beginning, but after some coffee and advil, I was feeling much better.. here are some pictures!

With Beca, one of my beauuuuutiful high school trainers:

Beca and I decided to go distract all my volunteers while they were working...

Working oh, so hard!

So, back story on this one: Beca told me to sneak up on them and take a picture.. I decided to jump in the air (no planning!!) and she managed to snap it at the perfect moment! :)

Note Cam's fabulous face front right.. some funny kids I have :)

After some planning, we managed to replicate our awesomeness..

Candid shot of most of our group getting ready to chat

So this is what I spent my whole weekend planning and running.. what weekend shenanigans did you get into?

Also, you should probably go here and donate to AMIGOS... it's pretty awesome.. ;)

Pregunta..

2011-04-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

..(or, "question," for the more linguistically challenged)

Soooo, excuse me for a moment while I'm annoyingly self-indulgent, and also a tad self-centered, and maybe even a bit arrogant, but really also super self-conscious... saaaaay WHAAAAT?

I have a question. It's super importante (that would be "important," in case you didn't get that one either). It's also annoying, but hey, what are blogs for?

Sooooo, the question is......

...SHOULD I DYE MY HAIR AGAIN?

Haha. sorry for the ~~drama~~ buildup. Here are some pics. Let me know which color you like best!

1. RED:

2. Dark Brown:

I'm on the left, duhhhhface

3. Blonde:

Please excuse the terrible red-eye correction.. I didn't do it, I swear

Super Crazy Mega Blonde

4. Current/ Natural (??)

Not really even sure what color hair I have..
why is it different in all 3 pictures?

So, DISCLAIMER: this pictures are compiled from the last 4 years or so, and some of them are terrrrrible quality (both pictures, as well as dye jobs) so if you could try to look past that and just at which hair color would look best on me.... that'd be awesome. You, know, or not.

I feel like I just repeated the word "me" quite a few times there.. oh well. :)

Fashionable, F*ckable, Friday!

2011-04-29T18:44:00.000-07:00

So I had this whole outfit picked out in my mind for today-- it involved black skinny jeans and pink high-top converse-- but when I was getting dressed, I just wasn't in the mood. So instead, I wore this bright yellow dress with some bright blue shoes! Get ready for spring, everyone..

So, the darn self-timer took this picture just a second too late! I promise I was
up on my foot better like ONE second before this... :P

haha this is actually a candid! My landing out of the passe :P

Outfit details:

Dress: Hand-me-down from the BFF

Shoes: From a small boutique in Chico, CA (don't remember the name..)

Headband: Francesa's Collections

Sash: Vintage scarf given to me by my aunt

Gold Locket: Thrifted/ vintage

Sorry for the photo overload, I had a lot of fun getting out and taking pictures again.. it's been a while!

Hope you had a great (and fashionable!) Friday! <3

Soy, what?

2011-04-28T16:13:00.000-07:00

I bought my first soy coffee today, in an effort to be more vegan! I still eat a lot of non-vegan (vegetarian) food, but my way of slowly becoming more vegan is to NOT BUY any non-vegan food anymore.. and that includes coffee! It was an... experience... it tasted different, but was still pretty delicious! :)

Gleetastic!

2011-04-28T07:58:00.000-07:00

"All television is educational television. The question is: what is it teaching?"

--Nicholas Johnson

Now, I'm not generally one to gush about Glee on my blog (I usually leave that to my roommate :P), but last night's episode was fabulous, so I felt like I had to share :)

Why was it so fabulous? Well, 3 reasons: the plot, the music (duh) and the fashion (!).

First, the plot. I absolutely HATED last week's episode... there was no plot, nothing to keep me interested, and the songs were just sort of random (plus, I kind of hate Gwyneth Paltrow). This week, although it was a little over the top and hokey (hey, it's Glee, it's not like I was expecting a miracle), I really liked the message, and mainly, I just loved the shirts that resulted from it.

Like Mr. Schu's, which, let me just say, I TOTALLY saw coming:

And, of course, Kurt's:

And the rest of the gang's, which I found hilarious (and some a tad sad!):

My favorites? Mike Chang's "Can't Sing," Britney's "I'm with Stoopid," and Santana's (not pictured), which reads "Lebanese" (Britneyspeak for "lesbian"). Overall, this episode presented not only a great message, but also a unique and uplifting way to share more about the characters and even poke fun at itself a little bit. :)

The second thing which made this episode fantastic was the music!! There were some really great, heartfelt songs (as opposed to recent episodes, which featured terrible covers by Gwyneth Paltrow, random songs that were included for no reason, and waaayyy too many pop songs.. not counting a couple of the "Original Song" songs). Although there wasn't a single song I didn't like, my favorite two* were Rachel and Quinn's duet of I Feel Pretty/ Unpretty, and Kurt's version of As If We Never Said Goodbye:

Both great songs, and it was so nice to hear Quinn sing again!!

And the last thing which made this episode great was..... the fashion!! I don't usually turn to Glee for fashionspiration, but some of the outfits just jumped out at me, resulting in about an hour of me taking ridiculous screen shots and re-watching the same scenes about a million times (and also, inspired this post..). And I still didn't grab everything I wanted to. Oh well, así es. Here are a couple of my favorite fashion moments from this week:

Quinn's ADORABLE outfit:

GAAAH SO CUTE!!

This outfit, worn by Santana:

LOVING this skirt!

And, then OF COURSE, there was Mike Chang's outfit, which inspired me to write this entire post!! I just adore the vest over the t-shirt, and then paired with dark-wash skinny jeans and sneakers-- hot! One of the only reasons I wish I had a boyfriend is so that I could shop for him-- somehow a vest like this just doesn't quite work as well over my ladyparts. Someday, I will make this work:

Okay, so I know I already mentioned this shirt, but also I loved Kurt's spiked hair and skinny jeans throughout Born This Way, and his fab diva attitude. Kurt does Gaga almost as Gaga as Gaga does Gaga (say that three times fast!):

Where do I get me one of these shirts?

Alright, now after all this wonderful fashion, I have a question for you all. This outfit, worn by Quinn:

Yay or Nay? I'm not a fan myself, although I recognize what they were trying to do here with the hat, I just think it turned out too frumpy and Glee-y. So, what do you think? Am I too fashion-closed-minded, or was this indeed a fail beyond fails??

***All pictures taken as screen shots from the 18th episode of the 4th season of Glee, and are not owned by me or whatever whatever whatever legal stuff.***

*OK, yes, Born This Way was good, but it was nothing we haven't seen on Glee before.

Fun with fun. Part Deux

2011-04-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

Sooo fun. was fun, I guess.... JK, it was AWESOMEEEE (warning: this post will include a lot of exclamation points and CAPSLOCK).

They played a great set, including all of their old songs plus a couple of new ones that I had never heard before.

Guys, let me tell you, I was sooo worried about hearing any of fun.'s new stuff, because, you know, what if I hated it, and then it ruins fun. forever and then I cry until I die. But THAT TOTALLY DIDN'T HAPPEN and I loved it all and I video taped some of it (TERRIBLE (as in, you can't even hear a lot of it because of the bass) sound quality, because the venue was this crappy little pub and I was literally sitting on a speaker but w/e) so now YOU can love it all too! Hoorays!

Honestly, if you aren't a CRAZY RABID FAN like me, don't bother watching past the first minute or so, when the bass becomes unbearable and the vocals drop out..

[COMING SOON]

Also, here is the first minute-ish of The Gambler, my all-time favorite song, and AMAZING live:

Also, as you may have noticed from my post below, I MET NATE, which was an awesome moment in both of our lives that I'm sure he will cherish forever and ever, and you know, I thought was pretty okay too. **Sidebar-- DON'T WE MAKE AN ADORABLE COUPLE?! (the answer is yes, so don't bother with anything else).

Yes, I realize you have seen this before but LOOK HOW BEAUTIFUL IT IS!!

So I met Nate before the show started because I may have gotten there ridiculously early (I mean, like, 1st person in early) and had some time to chill while he was drinking beer and relaxing. So anyway, I fangirl accosted him and we had an awkward conversation about wristbands while some security dude took our picture, and I got entirely too close for (his) comfort and could smell his leather jacket and beer breath (not a bad moment, even though I hate leather and beer-- it was NATE'S leather and beer), and then I ran away and stood with my friends in the corner and gave them a verbal rundown of everything he was doing while he was doing it ("Oh look, he finished his beer. Hey, now some ugly chick is taking a picture with him, WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS.. Guys, does he look nervous to you? Does he? DOES HE? I think he is nervous. That's probably why he didn't talk to me very much and seemed so awkward. That's it. He's nervous. He's probably shy, too. Maybe he thought I was really hot, and he's one of those guys that's shy and awkward around girls they're attracted to!! THAT'S PROBABLY IT! That's why he kept giving me weird looks, he's shy around girls! He's in love with me!" etc etc).

And then the show started. I was in the front row, leaning against the stage, with the subwoofer vibrating against my knee ("Guys, if knees were vaginas, this would be the BEST CONCERT EVER"), and we sat through some random opening acts that were actually pretty good, and then FUN. WAS ON STAGE. Nate was completely changed from the guy I had met a couple of hours before. He was hilarious, adorable, SUPER high energy, and, again, aaaadorable. The concert was awesome, even though we were so far up that we were behind the speakers (which made for some weird sounding music), and Nate would lean over us to sing to the crowd. At one point, his crotch was literally IN MY FACE, and if I hadn't already met/touched him earlier that night, I probably would have fainted.

Dear Nate: You are adorable. Have my babies, please? Love, me.

Guitarist.. also a fab singer :)

Rockin out!

Doesn't get much more hipster than those shoes w/o socks.. js

Yes, the keyboardist pulled out a trumpet.. nbd

The girl is sooo hot!

Almost everyone in one shot! Loving the duel drums action :)

It was an entirely different energy than the last time I saw them in concert, since it was such a small venue, but it was nice, and everyone was singing their little hearts out. I made awkward eye contact with the bassist like 14 times, that's how intimate of a concert it was.

Best 3 parts:
-meeting Nate (duh)
-liking/hearing the new songs
-getting some great videos and pictures of the band

Worst 3 parts:
-bad sound quality
-no new merch to buy
-awkward setup, so that I was a little tooo close to the stage

Here are some more pictures for your (my) enjoyment:

Again, SO HOT, although I liked her old hair (dark brown) better... :P

Besties!

See how close that front row is? THAT'S WHERE I WAS.

All in all, not a bad night (aka ONE OF THE BEST NIGHTS EVER), and I can't wait to hopefully see them live again soon!

END SCENE!

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Fun with fun.!!!!

2011-04-21T20:14:00.000-07:00

No time to write my whole post yet (it is coming soon, I promise!!) but I just wanted to share this little gem for now:

Yup, that's me with the lead singer of fun., Nate. You may remember me freaking out a teeny tiny bit (aka a lot) about a year ago when I saw them live in Phoenix, and GUESS WHAT BIATCHES, I saw them again, this time for free, and on campus, and I MET THE BAND (and most importantly, NATE). Longer post coming soon. <3