the sorting hat

As I predicted, I received my Pottermore email the day school started (Monday).  Of course I did!  The next day, I got SORTED.

Now, where I would be sorted if I went to Hogwarts has always mystified me.  I could make plausible arguments for all of them, even Slytherin (which I suppose should have been a hint to where I would be placed).  But when the sorting hat on Pottermore decided my fate, I knew that I had finally found my House.

What house is that, you ask?

RAVENCLAW!  

I feel relieved to finally know where I belong at Hogwarts.  Turns out, it's always been pretty obvious.  I was even wearing a blue dress when I was being sorted.  FATE.  

If you plan on getting sorted, you might not want to read the following bullets, because I'd hate to ruin the magic if you're sorted into Ravenclaw. Here are a few things I've I've learned about Ravenclaw in my "Welcome message" that makes me certain it's my House:

• "The arched windows set into the walls of our circular common room look down at the school grounds: the lake, the Forbidden Forest, the Quidditch pitch and the Herbology gardens. No other house in the school has such stunning views."
• "Another cool thing about Ravenclaw is that our people are the most individual – some might even call them eccentrics. But geniuses are often out of step with ordinary folk, and unlike some other houses we could mention, we think you’ve got the right to wear what you like, believe what you want, and say what you feel. We aren’t put off by people who march to a different tune; on the contrary, we value them!"
• "Speaking of eccentrics, you’ll like our Head of house, Professor Filius Flitwick. People often underestimate him, because he’s really tiny (we think he’s part elf, but we’ve never been rude enough to ask) and he’s got a squeaky voice, but he’s the best and most knowledgeable Charms master alive in the world today. His office door is always open to any Ravenclaw with a problem, and if you’re in a real state he’ll get out these delicious little cupcakes he keeps in a tin in his desk drawer and make them do a little dance for you. In fact, it’s worth pretending you’re in a real state just to see them jive."
• Famous Ravenclaw Ministers for Magic include Millicent Bagnold, who was in power on the night that Harry Potter survived the Dark Lord’s curse, and defended the wizarding celebrations all over Britain with the words, ‘I assert our inalienable right to party.
• "And once again: well done on becoming a member of the cleverest, quirkiest and most interesting house at Hogwarts."

Here are a few celebratory Etsy finds.

Owl Post necklace

Ravenclaw bowtie

Ravenclaw Crest sticker

Ravenclaw Quill

Character rings

greetings from the land of the hipsters

From first glance, the population of Lewis & Clark College looks like a carefully chosen collection of hipsters.  Seriously, I haven't seen this many Birkenstocks in my whole life.  Almost everyone here looks like they have just walked out of the pages of a Urban Outfitters catalog or from a fruitful day of vintage scavenging.  In many ways, this is fantastic and inspiring, but at first it was a bit disheartening and intimidating.

Many of the freshmen I've spoken to about this has agreed to some extent on this sentiment I bring up:  Everyone here is unique and different...in the same way.  Most of us hail from schools where we were the "original" and "different" kids.  We liked different music, we liked different clothes, and we liked different hairstyles.  Here, it's all up for game.  Let me tell you, there is a rainbow of hair colors, dreadlocks, pixie cuts, and long hippie hair.  I felt pretty cool cutting off ten inches this summer, but now it seems long in comparison.  I would even argue that most of the girls here have shorter hair than the guys.

Here, we are confronted with the harsh reality of being surrounded with people who are just as individualistic as us, if not more.  At first it seemed like a burden, but now I realize that it is the best thing that could ever happen to me and my "individuality", especially since I plan on surrounding myself with a creative environment the rest of my life.  Instead of feeling overwhelmed by trying to be the weirdest looking possible (Have you ever had this kind of peer pressure to stand out?  Because this is a new thing to me.  Everywhere else it would be the other way around.), I have chosen to use this unique experience to my advantage.

For years I have tried (with much, much failure) to evolve my style into something more acceptable for my age.  I've banned myself from bows and/or headbands multiple times, only to come back to them with even more ferocity.  In the end, I am faced with the same problem of always coming out looking equal parts toddler and thirty year old librarian.  And you know what?  I haven't met anyone else who can manage to pull that off, not even here.  Is it something to be proud of?  I didn't think so before.  But now?  Now I'm thinking yes.  It certainly is.

After years of confusion, it's taken me one week at Lewis & Clark to settle into this weird, wonderful realization and I feel like I have grown into myself a little more, if that makes sense.  After fighting it for so long, I have accepted my fate as a preschool librarian.  I even wore my "librarian" pin from Fred Flare for the first time today in celebration.

Here's to 3249409328 more self-discoveries!  College is cool like that.

Dress-Urban Outfitters
Cardigan (my new favorite thing ever)-Anthropologie
Necklace-Great-Grandma's
Librarian pin-Fred Flare
Socks-Kate Spade
Mary Janes-Born (I only have one pair of this shoe brand, but they are so well made and comfortable!  I've had them since I got them for my Europe trip and they feel like my "adventure shoes".)

guess what

My beautiful friend Kate has a beautiful new blog.  You should check it out.  She will probably hurt me for posting this, but her blog is too quality; I feel selfish not spreading the love.  Enjoy!   

educational summer camp, part 3

School starts tomorrow, so I thought I'd try to blog about the rest of my "free days" before I actually have to start doing stuff.

Yesterday night I ventured out to "Narnia" with some people, which is on the graduate campus.  The campus was beautiful, deserted (other than another group of people from the undergrad campus) and also had yummy blackberry bushes.  Later on, a few student bands played on campus.  I have a feeling there will be a ton of shows to go to during the weekends here, because everyone is into that kind of thing.  I'm down!

Today a friend from my dorm and I took one of the buses downtown to explore.  It was wonderful!  We walked towards Powell's, but ended up stopping at a few places that caught our eyes. 

We stopped in Ray's Ragtime (above), which was a dream!  It had vintage clothes and accessories stuffed to the brim, and made me realize that if all goes well, I will one day retire from being a successful costume designer and own an awesome shop like this.  It's funny, because when I googled the place, the link above said that the guy who owns the place (we saw him there intently repairing a necklace) used to work in theatre, performing and costuming, so that makes me very happy!

With Powell's still looming ahead, we stopped at Stumptown, which was a really cool coffee place that I had actually heard of before (because I read way too many magazines/blogs).  We sat by the window, which had a great view of an old homeless man.  That's downtown for you.  We also stopped by this fun boutique (can't remember the name!) with a bunch of local artists and designers selling their (or their friends') work.  That was nice.  

Finally we found Powell's, which tested my shopping restraint quite harshly.  Everything is super cute there; it shouldn't even be allowed.  I am already excited for Christmas shopping!  To make matters worse, we went into Anthro, where we gushed over pretty much everything.  

I already can't wait to go back!  Hopefully I'll be able to this Saturday for Saturday Market.  

School is tomorrow!  Eeeek!

educational summer camp, part 2

Today was great fun.  I purchased a $146 French textbook and was assigned to read a book over the weekend.  But wait, IT GETS BETTER.  (No really, it does.)

At its worst, college (before classes start, at least) is a lot of free time punctuated by moments of "What in the world am I supposed to be doing with myself right now?"  Well, let's just say that I started watching the first season of 30 Rock on Netflix Instant.  Thankfully, this conundrum is easy to fix.  So easy, that I didn't even get finished with the first episode (although I will probably finish it before I go to bed for good measure).  The solution?  Step out of your dorm and be more vulnerable than you've ever had the displeasure to experience.  This sometimes means sitting next to someone you don't know, or as the case was today, sitting alone at lunch to wait to see who is attracted to your awesomeness vibes.  Or you will attract upperclassmen whose job is to make you feel welcome.

This happened today at lunch (Geez Louise, that seems like lifetimes away).  I was waiting to save a spot for someone, but ended up being bombarded with NSO leaders who probably felt bad for me sitting alone eating my bean taco.  Anyway, it was kind of great that this happened, because they gave me a description of my E&D (freshmen intro class) professor and his mannerisms, which undoubtably came up within 30 seconds upon meeting him.  The moment he put his fingers through his "amazing multicolored hair", I had to stifle back laughter.  Yeah, I'm mature.

This also happened tonight at dinner.  The two girls who sat by me were super nice, so we ended up going to do tie dye which was going on outside my dorm.  After that, I headed over to the Co-Op party with a girl from my dorm.  It was the best thing ever!  There was slam poetry, which was actually really awesome and sometimes hilarious.  When that was over, I roamed the campus with a few people before heading back to the Co-Op for the bands to play.  Thankfully I spotted someone from my E&D class, so I settled in with her and her friends.  The bands were really nice, jazzy, folksy, and a little of everything.  There was also face paint!  After it was over, a few of us went upstairs where they were having a "Wild Rumpus" which was basically a "Go dance to music that is the opposite of what you were just listening to".  Regardless, it was a lot of fun, and afterwards (and after losing and finding one of the girls' cell phones) we went to the Bon for midnight breakfast.  In true college fashion, we ended up talking about everything from religion and human rights to Harry Potter and romantic comedies. 

Needless to say, I am having a lot of fun.  This past week Portland has been unusually warm and sunny, so I am quick to rub my heat tolerance in everyone's face.  I probably shouldn't do that, but it's an easy icebreaker (or should I say, icemelter?).  Throughout orientation I have extended my vast knowledge of Arizona culture, specifically Mesa culture.  What is it that Mesa has?  Well, 115 degree weather, Mormons, scorpions, and the author of Twilight.  Yeah!