{ten things on friday}

1. I saw the final Twilight/Breaking Dawn film on Wednesday night. By myself.  Total shining moment, I know.  {& is it bad that I kind of liked it?}

The funniest part was during the end credits. When Kristen Stewart's name showed up, this guy in the back of the theater screamed, "How could you cheat on him, KStew?! Why would you hurt him?!  WHY?!" Bahaha. I was dying.

Also...thanks mom.

2. Also worth noting...my very first lottery tickets were not the winners  :(  Or at least not the big winner.  $4 from the Powerball is now alllll mine.

3. I am going through another bout of piano withdrawal. I have it bad.

I recorded this video over Thanksgiving break & since it's Christmas-y & full of mistakes, I thought I'd share. {I'm pretty positive it's also from a book for beginners. One of the first songs I learned, & the only Christmas one I know.}

4. I packed up 98% of my clothes & brought them home last weekend. I seriously have NOTHING to wear. Why I left all of my sweatshirts/sweatpants/workout clothes/pajamas but not actual clothes, I'll never understand. 

5. December Photo-A-Day starts tomorrow. I'm gonna try to do them all. I'm really gonna try.

6. I have two presentations & a 30-page paper due next week. Goodbye weekend!

7. I promise I will get back to Wishful Wednesday & Fashion Friday soon. 

8. My stepdad is better than your stepdad.

9. Who's the type of person who forgets EVERYTHING they want come December/Christmas season?!  

This girl. 

10. My 200th post is coming up, so another giveaway is in the works!  

Readers: come out, come out wherever you are!

Happy weekend!

{currently obsessing over}

1. This song.



Last week's episode of Parenthood ended with two characters running into the ocean at sunset.  It was a beautifully edited scene, & this song was the perfect background track. {watch it here.}

2. I have 15 days until Christmas break.

3. This website. 

Cultivate is an interior design site that focuses solely on the heart of the home: the kitchen!  All of the pictures are so lovely & inspiring & gorgeous & I basically want to cook dinner in them all.

Before looking through the site...take the style quiz!  What is your style?  Mine is transitional. Definitely spot on...since I would move into the kitchen below in point five seconds.

{image from cultivate}

4. Clementines.

When I saw the "Now in Season!" sign above the boxes of clementines in Whole Foods:

I think I've eaten 11 in the past 12 hours. So. Good.

What are you currently obsessing over?

{my week via instagram}

True or False: I left my entire camera bag at home.

TRUE.

& on purpose, if you can believe it.  I'm not really sure how I'm going to make it three whole weeks without it, but it'll be a fun little experiment. I didn't feel like carrying it home on the train & with finals coming up, I didn't want any extra distractions. So...iPhone pics will be taking center stage on the blog for the time being.

My week in Instagram photos....

We went bowling. Twice.

{Dylan & our stylin' shoes}

I won the second round :)  We were laughing because although they {thankfully} have gotten new bowling shoes since I was younger, literally NOTHING else has changed about the bowling alley. The guy at the front desk was the same guy from fifteen years ago. It was like a blast from the past!

On Thanksgiving, my stepdad & I rocked out. From jazz to Coldplay, we jammed hard. I took the piano & he took bass...until the very last song when we swapped.  I cannot play the bass, but I certainly pretended.

My train ride back to Boston was loooong, but the views made up for it.  Below is Philadelphia & somewhere in Connecticut. It looked stormy, but it never rained.

I made these little cards for the Thanksgiving table.  If you'd like the file, so you can print your own, send me an email! 

Even though break was fun, I was very happy to get back to school...

Until I got back to school. 

All of my final projects are winding down & stress is winding up.  My posts may be inconsistent for the next two/three weeks, but please know that I'm not burning out! I'm still totally committed to this blog...just not around finals :)

Happy Monday!

{thanksgiving}

I'm sorry for the lack of posts this week. I have been soaking in as much family time as I can get!

I had such a perfect Thanksgiving. We {meaning: my mom, stepdad, Dylan, step-brother & step-sister} started off the day bright & early in Chestnut Hill for a hike. When we were younger, we spent SO many weekends hiking & biking on these trails. It's been YEARS since we've been back. Besides taking advantage of the gorgeous weather, we were on a mission: in 2001 we carved our initials in a tree & we haven't visited it since 2004.

We needed to find it again.

{Below is Dylan photo-bombing a potentially nice pic of my mom & stepdad.}

It was sort of hilarious. We knew what path it was on, but we all had different ideas as to where the tree actually was located.  We all joked that if we had iPhones back then, we could have "dropped a pin" on a map & saved the exact location for the future.  But since we didn't, we had to rely on our memory.

After about an hour...we found it!  First order of business? Adding '12!

If you can't read the years, it's '01, '02, '04, & now '12.

We took a family picture in front of it & vowed to visit again soon!

Once we got home, we finished cooking, cleaning, & decorating the house. We hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our home for my step-dad's family. I didn't get any pictures of the food or people, but I did get some photos of the tables. We had so many people over, we had to set up a temporary table in the living room, in addition to the dining room. It felt so cozy & beautiful with all the candles.

& lastly...after I downloaded all of the pics off my camera, I realized someone stole it for a few minutes :)

Last night we had a leftovers Thanksgiving with my mom's family. I'm so lucky to have so many families {my dad & stepmom's included} to spend holidays with. They are each uniquely different, but I love them all.

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday! I have two more days of home...I'm going to make every second count!

{guest post: bring joy}

"bring joy" by dylan mullen

July 2011 to July 2012 was the best and worst year of my life.  I learned more about myself than ever before, and more importantly I realized what kind of person I want to be.

I lost a family member during those 12 months that I haven't gotten back.  They didn't die, but they are no longer apart of my life and it has changed the family I've always knew.  Their absence is partly by my choice…. but mostly theirs.

I think the most important thing I learned last year, and that I hope to teach others around me, is that you have a choice in life.

You have the choice to surround yourself with people who lift you higher and bring you joy. Or you can surround yourself with people who bring you down.

You have a choice.

The best part of my life last year was studying abroad.  I met the most incredible people.   Last Friday night I had some friends over my apartment for a get-together and a new friend from class stopped by.  He asked who everyone was, and as I looked around the room I started to smile. "Actually, everyone here I met abroad…. (with the exception of one) I met them all a year ago and now they're my best friends."

I have chosen to keep them in my life because of what they bring me.  They bring laughter, friendship, honesty, compassion…the list goes on and on. 

I have kept them in my life because they bring me joy and lift me higher. 

The hardest choice I have had to make is eliminating from my life those who bring me down.  It is rough.  It is sad.  It is scary.

It has made me stronger.  

It was very difficult for me to accept someone not wanting me in their life.  People don't leave my life very often, so when they do it definitely hurts.  I also felt very self-conscious and obsessed over what I did wrong.  My mom gave it to me straight one day.  It was probably as hard  for her to tell me as it was for me it hear.  She said, "____ for some reason or another doesn't want anything to do with you. I know it hurts and it makes you sad, but you need to do what's best for you.  You can't sit around waiting for them to come back.  Focus on the good."

By no means am I saying unfriend anyone who insults you or makes you angry.  I'm talking people who have chosen to not want you in THEIR life.  This is what happened to me.  The person I lost has made it very clear they do not want me in their life.  And after months of tears, and asking what did I do wrong? What could I have done differently?  I've let go.

Although this person once brought me joy and lifted me higher, they now just bring me down.

The family and friends I have in my life right now are amazing.  Deepening these relationships are my priority…I want to be a deliberate, intentional person.  I want to make sure I am a daughter, sister, friend, niece, granddaughter, etc, that loves immensely.

I want to bring joy and lift people higher.

Over this Thanksgiving holiday, think about this choice.  Who are you thankful for in life?  Surround yourself with these people.

I encourage you to bring joy and lift people higher, but most importantly, recognize you're worth having the same.

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Thanks Dylan!

I love guest posts. If you're interested in writing one, please contact me & we can chat.

{checking in}

Oh man. I let this little blog gather some dust, didn't I?

I've been under the weather for a few days. At first I thought it was a cold, but I think it's just bad allergies. I wake up sounding like a man & feeling like my head is about to explode. Great image, right?

Even though I hung close to home most of the weekend, I did go out to see my best friend's play. Ashley was my freshman year roommate & we quickly became besties.  She's an AMAZING actress, & I've unfortunately missed her most recent plays. I was so excited to be able to see this one. It was four hours long--four!--but it didn't seem like it.  It consisted of seven short plays, & Ash was in all of them. I personally think she stole the show, but I guess I'm a bit biased :)

Here's one picture I snapped. If it looks like a massacre took place on stage...you're right. The show was very bloody, lol.

Yesterday I spent most of the day writing a paper & doing some design work. A friend asked me to design some prints for them & I was happy to do it!  She picked some great quotes, so it was fun deciding what to create around them.  I may share them when I'm finished :)

I was supposed to go to the Patriot's game today, but I have so much to do before I leave for Thanksgiving break that I decided not to go. I'm a bit bummed...I love football games!  But I have to finish a paper, pack up some of my apartment, pack clothes for the week, & study for a quiz.

But first...I'm off to have coffee with my LA roommate. I'm getting more & more excited about next semester by the day!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! I have some Thanksgiving crafts up my sleeve that I'll share soon...

{weekend, part II: seeing the olympians!}

On Sunday, my dad, Sophie, & I went to see the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions!  Gymnastics was one of my favorite events to watch in July, so I was admittedly very excited to see them. Sophie was so excited she could barely see straight.

We had perfect seats...dead center, 8th row. In addition to the Olympians, they had some members of the US team perform with them, a dance crew, & some special guests like Alicia Sacramone & Nastia Liukin. I was particularly excited that Nastia was there :)

I took SO many pictures!  I'm going to stop writing & let the pics speak for themselves...

Totally enthralled. 

Aly Raisman: 

Jordyn Wieber: 

Gabby Douglas:

Jordyn:

Gabby:

Men's Team: 

Nasita Liukin was incredible in this number!

McKayla Maroney is still recovering from an injury, so she only came out to dance & 

perform in the finale. She's on the bottom right:

Afterwards, we got to meet the team & get autographs! They were all so nice.  Sophie was a little shy, but when I said, "Say hi, Soph" all of the girls looked up & said hi to her :)

I've met a few celebrities in my lifetime, but I rarely get photos of them. I felt terrible taking pictures so up close, & apologized for it, but they all brushed it off. McKayla said, "We're used to it!"  I just thought Sophie would like to have proof that she met them :)

Here are some of my favorites in black & white:

Sorry for the picture overload...I just couldn't narrow them down :)

{my weekend, part I}

This weekend was crazy busy.  I took so many pics, so I'm splitting it into two posts.

On Friday I went up to my aunt's house to visit with them & see my Grandad. He'd driven up from my mom's with my car, so I spent the night & drove him to the airport on Saturday morning. It was so great to see my family! I also have a car to drive home next week with. Worked out perfectly.

Afterwards, I drove to my dad's to spend the day with my sibs. It was Clay's birthday, so we made a gluten-free, nut-free cake. I know it doesn't sound too good...but let me tell you. It was delicious.

I can't believe he's 12!  I remember the day he was born so clearly. My dad & stepmom lived in Los Angeles at the time, so we weren't near them.  Dyl & I were in basketball practice when we got the call. For nine months, we'd been hoping for a baby sister, but after hearing he was born, we were simply ecstatic. I do remember being shocked about his name, though, since we never thought it was on their potential name list. We only new one Clayton--the villain from Tarzan ;)  Our Clay is anything but bad. 

After we baked the cake, we headed to his football game. It's the play-offs, so we were hoping for a win!

It was such a nice night.

However, it was also so.freaking.cold. Squig's face sums up how I was feeling:

That's better.

Clay played offense the entire game. He was awesome!

& they won! Woohoo!

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Squig & I also had a little photoshoot.

I adore this picture below, even if it is a little out of focus. Squig is a spirited, sometimes loud, girl {as evidenced above, haha}. But I love when I catch her at her quiet moments. 

 Love this girl.

Part II to come tomorrow. Happy Monday!