four simple goals

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This year I wanted to keep my resolution list simple and took a cue from A Beautiful Mess.  Here are my four simple goals for 2013.  

1)  Be happy.   Enjoy each moment without over thinking it.  Stop worrying and obsessing constantly.  Amy wisely said on her blog, "The only thing I can truly control are my actions, and not the outcome of my actions."  I love this, and need to remember this as I try to find my inner peace.  I want to keep a feelings journal to fully understand the things that make me happy and unhappy.

2)  Be healthy.  Explore nature more.  Do yoga (Ted and I are taking a class at school).  Stop complaining about the excessive stairs back up to my dorm (I live on a hill, guys) and frequent walks back and forth from my room to the theatre building.  Eat only foods that make me feel good (and yes, sometimes a cupcake makes you feel awesome).  I want to intentionally do something active at least twice a week and eat something green every meal.

3)  Be brave.  I'm finally realizing that I'm an introvert, which makes it hard to make friends because I tend to keep to myself in social situations.  I want to also stop feeling bad about not wanting to constantly be with other people.  However, I want to make an effort to go out of my comfort zone at least once a month.  

4)  Be confident.  Be less critical of myself.  Be proud of things I do and make.  Know where I am going figuratively (in the future) and literally (directions are not my strong point--even when I know where I am going, I question myself and get myself lost).  Stop doubting myself and my talents.  I want to share more creative outlets on my blog such as crafts, outfits, and designs.

I'm so excited for 2013! I hope you have a safe and wonderful New Years Eve.  ♥

resolution recap

This year I made a resolution list that had big and small goals.  See it here. 

1)  Learn the harmonica  Still waiting on this one.  I always lack motivation in the musical department unfortunately. 

2)  Go camping  Not quite.  But I did do a little hiking and went on  an outdoors trip through school.  Baby steps.  I'm trying!

3)  Apply for a semester abroad  Yes!!!!  I am in the process of applying for the Spring 2014 London trip.

4)  Learn to knit (and not forget)  I did this!  I've even knitted gifts for multiple people already!

5)  Find a summer internship  I worked for a local costumer this summer, which was a great experience.

6)  Attend a concert  I saw Andrew Bird at the Keller with Ted and The Killers with Ted and Rebecca.  Both were awesome, but seeing The Killers was a dream come true!  They were my first band love, afterall.

7)  Learn how to budget $$  I actually really took this one to heart and am now making a huge effort to stay on top of my finances.  Mint helps with this.

8)  Make a short film  NOPE.

9)  Collaborate with friends on a project  Although this is not exactly what I had in mind when I wrote this resolution, I have to say that Rachel's upcoming wedding falls into this category.  I've had so much fun helping her with invitations, engagement photos, crafting, and planning.  If I could be a wedding planner, I'd be pretty okay with that.

10)  Take a class about something I know nothing about  This applies to almost all of my classes, to be honest.  Even when I go into a class thinking I have some kind of grasp on the content, I quickly realize how much I don't know...

11)  Design and make a dress pattern  I haven't done this, but I did do sewing/designing over the summer and designed for my first production at school this fall.

12) Discover a new passion or obsession  Did I find a new passion or obsession this year?  I'm not quite sure.  

Well, that's how my year panned out with resolutions!  Can't wait to make new ones for 2012--I am such a sucker for new beginnings.  

home for the holidays part II

1.  Second Christmas with my grandparents this morning.  I love all of our family traditions so much.  We opened up gifts, went on an elf-guided scavenger hunt, ate an awesome spread of food for brunch (!!!!), and I even found both the hidden pickle ornament AND baby Jesus (my dad always hides him from the nativity scene)!  It was a great morning, and I got a ton of lovely gifts from my grandparents.  They know me so well!

2.  Christmas with my family.  After opening presents, we ate some quiche (or egg casserole, as my dad would say), watched A Christmas Story, and stayed in our pjs all day.  What more could you possibly ask for?  It was heavenly.

3.  Christmas Eve with my mom's side.  We always go to Christmas Eve mass and then head over to my aunt's house for dinner.  Some homemade egg nog and chicken parmesan were had, the famous rice crispy wreath devoured, funny holiday stories shared, and the gift card white elephant played.  A great night, indeed!  

4.  Decorating the tree.  My family very nicely waited for me to get home to decorate the tree, but then we were so busy we didn't get to it until Saturday morning.  No matter though--it was wonderful to be a part of the tradition!

5.  Christmas fun at San Tan.  We spontaneously found cheap dresses at Forever 21 (4 dresses for $23-cheap--the red polka dress above was one of the two I got), watched a light show, walked around, went on a horse carriage ride, drank hot cocoa, and enjoyed some fake snow (livin' the desert life).  

6.  Sunday lunch at grandma's.  It's good to be back--enough said.

Hope your holidays were just as lovely!  

home for the holidays part I

1)  Annual Christmas brunch with my friends. This year was really special because Erin hosted at her new house.  Everything was delicious!  Phoebe brought her famous scones, Domenico and I were at the stove serving up latkes and crepes, and Erin made a lovely coffee cake.  My favorite part was sitting around the Christmas tree and catching up.  I am so thankful for my friends at home.

2)  Going out to dinner and seeing the Nutcracker with my parents, grandma, and sister. My grandma takes us every year as a tradition, and you know how much I love traditions!  Of course my grandma always manages to find awesome themed gifts for me and my sister.  She's a pro.

3)  Late nights with Izzy as I Christmas craft.  She curled up into a ball at the head of my bed once I started loudly sewing...  She's too cute.  She's sleeping next to me as I type this!

4)  Max, our Elf on the Shelf, welcoming me home on Wednesday night.  He's a hoot.

Looking forward to even more holiday fun!  Hope you're enjoying some quality time with family and friends.

giving me courage for my finals

Cookies I decorated at the costume shop Christmas party yesterday.

Izzy in her Christmas bow.

christmas in my dorm room

Made another festive banner and hung some lights...

Made snowflakes and put up old garland and new bell garland (made by my friend's mom!).

Put up the little pink tree.

Our mummified gourd is now keeping warm for the winter!

 I can't get over how cute he is...

Santa and SanTed.

Stockings (my mom found at our house) on the door with my homemade holly.

♥ ♥ ♥

Happy Holidays, friends!  Back to studying for finals...

merry & bright

Every year my grandparents buy me and my sister Christmas dresses because they are so sweet.  I'm kind of in love with this year's because it's so classy and festive.  The off white also allows me to accessorize with excessive red and green.  Can't wait to wear it to family events and the annual friends Christmas brunch!

dress/francesca's, belt/thrifted, coat/anthropologie, scarf/banana republic, headband/francesca's, tights/kate spade, earrings/kate spade, shoes/nordstrom's rack

Pictures by Ted

holidate #3

Since finals are coming up, Ted and I had our fancy Christmas date last night.  It was a great excuse to dress up in our most festive apparel!  I wore my Christmas dress and Ted wore a green shirt and a red bowtie with red corduroys.  I've trained him well.  Of course we went to the appropriately decked-out Italian restaurant we went to last year (I'm all about traditions).  We had delicious bruschetta, lasagna, and spaghetti with meatballs.  It was really great.  We finished the night off eating our mini cannolis and tarts from Whole Foods while watching the Christmas New Girl episode.  It was a lovely night.

PS The present was a bowtie for Ted that I knitted with the Christmas yarn my sweet aunt sent me.

holidate #2

Putting up Christmas lights in Ted's room was really cute. He has never put them up before, so he was super intense and particular about it.  We also had fun taking silly pictures...

the perfect pair: sushi & cupcakes

Tonight we went downtown to celebrate our friend's birthday with some sushi and afterwards I suggested we get cupcakes!  I was feeling extra fancy and got the jumbo instead of the mini.  I was so excited and of course half way through the frosting fell off onto the rainy asphalt.  I didn't cry because I AM A BIG GIRL.  It was pretty tragic though.  But it's okay, because the Cherry Cordial cupcake was filled with fruit filling and was still delicious sans frosting.

PS I counted 53 Christmas trees while downtown.

Pictures by lovely Ted.

holidate #1

My roommate Claire had the idea that I should document holiday dates--holidates.  I'm not sure how many will happen with finals looming and everything, but I like the idea nonetheless!


Friday night Ted and I decorated a gingerbread house and watched The Holiday.  Ted was a newbie to both, which made it loads of fun.  We have so much fun being goofy.  I love it.


The next morning we drove to NW 23rd to finally try the limited edition thanksgiving PBJ at PBJ's (it was the last day).  It was delicious and festive... and only one of the three PBJs we split.  We're big fans to say the least.  WE ALSO SAW A DOG PASS US WITH A SANTA HAT AND BEARD.  I love 23rd--so many dogs to squeal over!


We ate the PBJs at Tea Chai Te like we usually do, and got some bubble tea.  They were out of our favorite--lavender--but we made do.  Of course I had to get red and green straws for us...

It was a lovely first "holidate" of the season.  More holiday posts to come (especially since I'm super busy for the next two weeks and will need blogging therapy).