2014 Recap

The end of 2014 is bittersweet for me.  On the one hand, I have had so many incredible experiences within the past 12 months, and so many of my best memories were made this year.  On the other hand, I am very excited about the year to come and what 2015 will have in store for me.  I will always look back at 2014 fondly, though.

February 
I got my first and, so far, only tattoo.  I had been bugging my parents about it for months and, finally they gave in.

March

I went to Playlist Live (click here to see my post about that) where I met a ridiculous amount of YouTubers that I love. 

April 

I finally went to New York City, a dream that I've had since I was little.  Times Square, seeing The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, Central Park, visiting NYU-- the trip was perfect.

May 

May was a busy, but completely amazing month.  I met Matty freakin' Healy from The 1975, and he put my friend and I on the guest list for the concert since we didn't have tickets.  He was perfect.  The show was perfect.  It was all perfect. 

I also graduated college with my AA degree before graduating from my high school a few weeks later.

College Graduation

High School Graduation

June 

In June, my beautiful niece Violet was born, who I flew to Virginia to see (as well as the rest of my family, of course).

August 

The biggest change to happen to me this year was in August, when I started college.  I moved from my home in Miami (where I've lived my entire life) to my university. 

That just about sums up my year!  Well, besides binge watching Gilmore Girls and Once Upon A Time.  I hope everyone else's year was amazing, and I wish all of you the best as we start 2015!  Happy New Year!!

Halloween Festivities

Last week was Halloween and it was the first time I wouldn't be spending it with my family and friends from back in Miami.  Despite that, I ended up having a lot of fun!  After (literally) hours of contemplating what to dress up as, I decided I would go as a Sim.  It's the perfect combination of creativity and laziness.  The first party I went to was actually like three weeks before Halloween, which made my roommate and I stand out quite a bit as we walked across campus looking like this:

 

(She was a loofah).

I ended up having so much fun that night.  It was actually the first party I went to at college.  Not many people dressed up, though, since the party was so early in October, but everyone there seemed to like our costumes a lot.

On the night before Halloween, I ended up going to my first ever frat party which was... a little crazy, to say the least.  I felt like I was in some teen comedy or something; there was a pole in the middle of the living room, there was a guy dressed as a penis... the whole thing was just a bit crazy.  I really wasn't loving it when I first go there, but after a while I started to have a better time. 

Oh, and I dressed up as a hippie instead of a sim.

We also went to a haunted house in the basement of one of the dorms that was themed as a twisted, zombie mental hospital thing.  Needless to say, I was screaming for basically the whole time.  

Here we have me freaking out before the haunted house, and my friends acting cool and normal.

And finally, on Halloween, I went to a party with some kids I know from a club I'm in.  It was a great night spent with great people.  I dressed as a Sim again even though some of the people already saw me as that.  Whatever, I spent like an hour making that damn green diamond so I for sure was going to wear it on Halloween.

So...

...much...

...fisheye.

There was definitely no lack of celebrating Halloween this year; three parties, a haunted house, AND marathoning halloween movies.  I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas now.  I cannot wait for pumpkin pie, and to see my parents and sister, and be back home.  

Let me know  in the comments what you dressed up as or what you did on Halloween!!

Listicle of Not Feeling Too Great

I just decided to make a list of how I've been feeling and what I've been thinking about recently.

1. My parents drove up to visit me at my college this past weekend, which was awesome.  I have been so homesick for the past few weeks, it was nice to see them after a couple months of being away at school.  I am still super homesick, though.  I miss driving my car.  I miss my bedroom.  I miss my parents's cooking.  I miss my cat.  I miss the lights hanging in my room.  I miss everything.  Getting to see my parents helped for the weekend, but now that they've left, I'm just sad again.  I cannot wait to go home for Christmas.  

2. Since I don't really know that many people at college yet (even though I kind of expected to have a group of friends after being here for over two months) I'm always hanging out with the same three or four people.  Sadly, as I've been seeing so much of them recently, I've become a bit annoyed with them.  I don't know if it's just me with this issue or not, but if I see someone too often they start to bother me.  If I sound like a bad person or a bad friend, I don't mean to.  I stay friendly when I'm with them, but I could really go for a new crowd of people.  The situation kind of sucks.

3. The new people that I'm meeting are really nice, I'm just not very close with them.  All of them seem to have their lives so put together, though.  They know what they want to do, they've had super awesome internships in New York already, they just seem to know how everything works.  I know I will (hopefully) get to that point someday, with experience and all that, but for now I just feel very intimidated.

4. I've recently become very concerned with my weight, which has never really been an issue for me before.  I've always felt that I was slightly overweight, but just this past week I have been feeling horrible.  It was basically all that I could think about, and I had convinced myself that I have gained about 15 pounds, which I hadn't.  I'm feeling better now, but still not exactly happy with the way I look.

5. I have been feeling overwhelmingly bored and lonely recently.  I feel as though I have no close friends, and all my old friends have completely replaced me.  Again, it sucks.  I just want to be in the opposite of where I am.  But, when I think about being anywhere else, I feel like I would be unhappy there, too.  I'm not sure if that makes sense, but basically I just feel like I can't be happy right now.

This post may make it seem like I'm a super sad person, but I don't think I am.  When I'm with people, I usually end up laughing and talking normally.  It's just when I'm alone, I start to feel a little down.

Pinterest Addiction

Hello lovelies!!  Just wanted to make a quick post to talk about my newest, most time consuming obsession: Pinterest!!  I know, everyone and their mother already has a Pinterest, but as per usual I am late to figure out what all the hype is about.  I actually created mine a while ago and after an hour, was bored and left it with the rest of my random online profiles that I never visit.  A few days ago, though, I logged in again and have spent the majority of my free time since then making new boards and pinning the hell out of everything.  It's addicting!!  If you have a Pinterest, I would love it if you followed me and I'm always looking for more people to follow as well!!

// My Pinterest //

 

End the Constant Comparing

Recently, I've been having some difficulties being content with where I am; both geographically and emotionally.  I feel like I'm stuck-- like I'm wasting my time right now when I could be doing something better.  Maybe I'm just having my midlife crisis at 18, who knows?  Either way, I've been kind of bummed out recently and I think a major factor contributing to my bummed-out-ness is that I keep comparing my life to the lives of others, specifically my friends'.

I have friends living in major cities like L.A. and Boston and, as someone who loves and thrives in cities, it is difficult to hear stories of them living it up in big cities when I'm living in a small college town in the middle of nowhere.  They can go to concerts and parties and meet celebrities, as well as get better internships based on their locations, and I have a tendency to dwell on that.  I can't look past what could be if I were somewhere else, instead of taking advantage of the opportunities that I have around me.

This post is going to mainly serve as a reminder for myself.  If we are constantly comparing what we have to what others have, we will never be happy, because someone out there will always have it better than you.  It's all about attitude.  Once you start looking at what you have around you and figure out how your environment can benefit you, everything turns around.  I still have a long way to go until I'm fully happy here, and I know that changing your entire outlook and attitude is easier said than done, but at least I'm trying.

Two Weeks In

I've been driving myself crazy trying to figure out what I should write about here.  Over the summer, I was so focused on making posts that other people would like, and I had enough time to put together nice posts pretty regularly.  Since school has started up, though, I've been too busy to post as often as I would like to, and I've completely run out of ideas.

This blog has become one of my favorite things in the pretty short amount of time since I've started it, and I want to continue posting.  So, I think until I figure out exactly what I want from this blog, I'm going to use it more as a journal.  I'll update about what's been going on in my life and if a random, bright post idea comes to mind, then I'll write about that.  Until then, I don't want to stop writing.

I recently went away to university and have just finished my second week of classes.  I'm already very comfortable in this new city, but I don't know if I would go as far as to say that I'm fully happy here.  I don't know many people, I miss my old friends, and I have this constant feeling in the corners of my mind that I'm being replaced.  Besides all that, though, I have managed to have some good times so far.

Here are some pictures I took while exploring the campus.  Bricks and spanish moss are a lovely combo.  Sadly, it's too hot and rainy out right now to be outside for too long.

I have also been going to this ice cream/coffee shop like twice a week because it is adorable and the food is delicious and it just makes me very happy.  Here is a milkshake and a carrot cake cookie sandwich thing which absolutely amazing that I had a few days ago.

The rest are just some random pictures that I've taken so far.  I was going to add a lot more, but this post is already getting sort of long.  Hopefully I will start to know more people around here soon, because it's kind of lonely at the moment.

New Dorm Room!!!

Hello everyone!!  So after hours of unpacking, and even more hours of stressing, I have officially moved into my dorm!!  I am pretty happy with how everything turned out.  Unfortunately, the chair that I posted a picture of earlier didn't fit so I had to send it back with my parents.  Everything else I brought up worked great, though!  I'm not going to do a super in depth room tour at the moment since I'm still not sure I'm going to keep everything exactly as it is, but I figured I would share how my room looks for now.

So here you can see my bed, desk, and nightstand area.  As I said in an earlier post, the bedding and pillow is from Urban Outfitters, and the throw at the end of the bed is from Pier One.

Above my bed I just hung up some photos of my friends and some of the people I have met in the past.  I got both the string and the clothes pins from Michael's.

This is my nightstand area.  I just have a couple of mugs, some lotions and deodorant, a cat lamp one of my best friends gave me, a (fake) plant from Pier One, and a Britta water filter from Target.

I took this picture while I was still moving in, so there was still a bunch of junk on it.  I hung up a 4-piece bulletin board from Staples, but it's already fallen down twice so I'm not sure if I will keep it or not.  And I also used a shoe shelf from Target as extra space on my desk.

Finally, we have my closet.  I am so happy that all my clothes actually fit inside of it because I was worried I packed too much.  And the two bins on top I'm just using for extra storage, and they were from Target as well.

. . . . .

So that is my side of the dorm.  Obviously I have a roommate but I wasn't going to take pictures of her side because weird.  I'm pretty happy with it so far, and hopefully I can sort through any of the small glitches I have with it.  

Been A Bit Hectic

I am leaving for college in four days, so I have been busy packing and saying bye to friends and making sure everything is in order as far as housing and books and all that.  It's a very weird feeling knowing that in just a few days, I'm moving to a new city and completely starting over.  I find myself already feeling nostalgic for my home and the city where I live, like I've already moved away.  

So yeah I've been a bit busy recently, so I haven't been able to make a post in a while.  Once I move in and get settled, I plan on making a dorm tour-esque post, so hopefully my room will actually look nice.  Until then, I'm afraid this is all you get.  But I will be posting more soon... hopefully. 

Liebster Award!

I was nominated for a Liebster Award! I had actually never even heard of this until I was nominated by Helen, whose blog can be found here. ((Thank you, Helen!)) I think this is a cute little way to give some more info about myself, as well as help discover lovely new blogs.

The rules are as followed: 

• You must answer all 11 questions given to you by the person who nominated you. 
• You must link back to the person that nominated you. 
• After completing these questions you must nominate bloggers (with under 200 followers) and give 11 questions of your choice. 
• You can not nominate the person who nominated you. 
• You must let your nominees know that they have been nominated and provide a link to your post so they can learn more about it.

Questions from Helen:


1. What is your favourite item of clothing?
As of right now, it's a black romper from Forever 21 I just bought. I have been loving it recently.

2. Best memory from school/uni?
Every Thursday my friends and I would leave between classes and get iced coffees from Dunkin Donuts and those times were always the best.

3. What food could you eat forever?
Ice cream, definitely.

4. Which place would you love to visit?
New Zealand! And Australia. And Rome, too.

5. Your miracle makeup product?
Definitely the Nars concealer. It gets rid of the horrid dark circles I have under my eyes when I wake up in the mornings.

6. What 'resolution/goal' would you love to complete by 2015?
Well since I'm starting up at my university this semester, I would say my main goal is just to not panic and stress too much, and to try and remember to actually have fun and not just kill myself over getting good grades.

7. Favourite blogs?
Of course, I love Zoella and SprinkleofGlitter, and I've also been loving FromRoses and The Beauty Department.

8. Worst makeup or fashion mistake?
I once over plucked one of my eyebrows and had one thinner than the other. Does that count?

9. Best advice for your 15 year old self?
Fix your freaking haircut.

10. Who's concert would you love to go to?
Oh man, I love nothing more than going to concerts. McFly, Childish Gambino, Sir Sly, Arctic Monkeys, Pharrell Williams, Lorde, and I would love to see The 1975 again!!

11. Marmite, love it or hate it?
Never tried it!!


I am nominating:

http://www.sophiebordenave.blogspot.com
http://www.edenroses.blogspot.com
http://www.alessandralily.blogspot.com
http://www.shelbyaugust.blogspot.com
http://www.blushingrosexo.blogspot.com


Also, if anyone wants to answer these questions, feel free to do so in the comments!


Okay, my questions are:

1. What/who made you want to start blogging?
2. Do you like summer, spring, fall, or winter fashion best?
3. If you could only use one beauty product, what would it be?
4. Do you want/like tattoos?
5. Favorite place you've ever been?
6. What was/is your favorite class to take in school?
7. Coffee or tea?
8. What album have you been listening to a lot recently?
9. If you could meet one celebrity, who would it be?
10. Last TV show you binge watched?
11. How did you pick the name for your blog?

August Playlist

I am constantly listening to music and trying to find new bands to follow, and recently I have been listening to so many great artists.  Some of them I just found out about, and others I have known about for years, but I have been playing their music nonstop.  I picked only one song from each artist, which was extremely difficult to do because all their songs are flawless, but either way you should check them all out on Spotify or Youtube.

1. Paper Knees // The Careful Ones

I heard this song playing in the background of a Youtube video and immediately looked it up.  This is my favorite song from the album, but all of the tracks are really great.  I've been listening to the album for only a couple weeks now, but it already one of my favorites.









2. We'll Be Fine // Action Item

I literally just heard about these guys two days ago.  I saw them open for MKTO and immediately fell in love.  This was my favorite song they performed.  Their energy on stage was contagious, and I got to meet them after the show and they were such nice people.  Definitely listen to them!!  They only have a few songs on Spotify but I think you can find more on Youtube.







3. Wild Things // San Cisco

My friend told me about San Cisco a few months ago and I have been listening to them all summer.  It was very difficult for me to pick just one song from them, since all of them are so great.  I love Wild Things, and the music video for it!!  You should also listen to Fred Astaire.








4. Gold // Sir Sly

This is another band I got to see live, when they were opening for The 1975 a few months ago.  They were such great performers!!  This song is by far my favorite.










5. Menswear // The 1975

Asking me to choose a favorite song from The 1975 is impossible for me.  I've been listening to this album everyday for a few months now, it's always playing in my car, and I don't think I could ever get bored of it.  As I mentioned before, I got to see them perform live and it was the most amazing concert.  Listen to this album.  That's the best advice I can give you.







6. 3005 // Childish Gambino

I fell in love with Donald Glover when he was on Community, so when I heard about his album Because The Internet, I was very pumped.  I love this song, I love him, and you will too.










7. The Man // Ed Sheeran

So you may have heard of this guy, he's just a bit famous, but Ed Sheeran's new album finally came out.  Everyone is already in love with it, as am I.  The Man is my favorite song right now, but my favorites tend to change a lot with this album.









8. Lost Queen // Pharrell Williams

I am a huge fan of Pharrell's, not just this album, but of all the work he does producing and collaborating with other artists as well.  Lost Queen, Come Get It Bae, and Hunter are my favorite songs from his album.









9. 18 // 5 Seconds of Summer

5 Seconds of Summer have recently become the biggest news in music.  They just released their debut album, and I have been listening nonstop.  I've been a fan of their's for quite a long time now, and seeing them go from youtube covers to playing small venues to where they are now has been incredible.  I love every single song on this album, and couldn't be any prouder of these guys.







10. Band Boys // Tiffany Houghton

So Tiffany Houghton was another artist I got to see open for MKTO a couple of nights ago.  She is such a talented singer, and her band was amazing (and the drummer was gorgeous).  Band Boys is a cute little song about boys in bands (shocker), but there isn't any recorded version, so you can only listen to live performances.







This is just some of the music I have been super into at the moment.  Let me know if you also like any of these artists, and who else you have been listening to lately!!