June

June is here, and with it...summer! Nobody is more excited than I about the boiling heat. Even though I will complain to my heart's content about being sweaty and that my hair won't do anything in the humidity, deep down, I am rejoicing that it is warm and I am happy and most importantly that there is no winter in sight for SO long! Here are some summer things I'm looking forward to!
Outdoor concerts! I'm going to see Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness and a couple other fun alternative bands on the very lawn pictured above in about a week, and I am so excited!! Nothing beats seeing a spectacular sunset to the beats of your all-time favorite songs.

Photo Cred: Tyler Coulson Hiking! Admittedly, I am much more of a mountain hiker than a woodsy hiker, but something about shady trails in the blazing sun is pretty appealing. Also, creeks and waterfalls!
Water parks! It's a bit landlocked where I am, so I'll have to make do with some water parks or lap swimming. I generally tend to find laying out and tanning to be horribly boring and uncomfortable unless I'm deep into a book, so I prefer splashing around in the water!
Last, but certainly not least, refreshing drinks! Homemade lemonade, fruit-infused water,and I just learned a delicious recipe for a jalapeno, cilantro, and mango infused gin cocktail that I will definitely be trying soon.
What are you most excited for about the summer?!

Turn A Cold Shoulder to These Even Colder Skies

I am so. over. winter. I can't say I hate a whole lot of things, but having to wear multiple pairs of pants just to tolerate the weather (not even to be comfortably warm) just topped my list. If it doesn't start getting warm (or at least consistently sunny) pretty soon here, I will probably go insane. My whole winter hasn't been grumpy though. Here are some tidbits I uncovered on my phone, including an outfit post!

Stepped out of the cold and into a favorite bagel shop one day to find these stunning loom art pieces. This is 100% the kind of art that I would like to have hanging in my future-house. Too bad even one of the less-intricate ones of these guys cost upwards of $800.
Been spending a lot of time cuddling with this precious little pumpkin and she's not even mine. There's a good chance that when N's roommate moves in a couple months, I will never see her again so I have been stocking up on phone pictures....and trying not to think about that awful day too hard.

Top: Target;
Sweater: L.L. Bean, thrifted;
Tights: Target;
Skirt: The Limited;
Scarf: Charlotte Russe; A recent work outfit that got thrown together, but turned out to be one of my favorites! I topped it off with one of my favorite bracelets from Etsy, engraved with the quote "Not all those who wander are lost." from The Lord of the Rings, and then proceeded to have an excellent day full of outfit-confidence.
I tried this place a couple weeks ago. It's an unassuming little spot of burrito delight in an otherwise decent-Mexican-style-anything-bare part of the Midwest. Instead of a burrito, I opted for the Zappatista Salad, which was basically a nacho salad with some fresh homemade salsa and let me tell you, I went home extremely happy that cold night.
Some friends had a 50s Hollywood themed Murder Mystery Dinner Party for their birthdays, so naturally I rollered up my hair and gelled N's back, and we got a little fancy. I was playing a judgy, loud-mouth, 62-year-old cougar talk-show host who thought the deceased was in love with her. N was a film director who had worked with the deceased actor and, as it turned out, killed him!! Apparently, N has a career in acting, because we definitely talked about our characters and I didn't have the slightest clue until the big reveal at the end of the party!

And last, but certainly not least, Valentine's Day. As haters of lines and crowds and cliches, our big V-Day plans were "Mimosas and Samosas" and doing a puzzle together! Let it be known that this was N's clever idea, and not mine, but since it involved barely having to venture out into the cold and some of my favorite things, I thought it was absolutely perfect.

What I've Been Up To This Winter

I'm certainly still figuring out what's going to go in this blog's version 2.0, but for now I want to tell you about what I've done this winter. Quite a number of fun activities have kept me busy and sane. Also, bless Arizona for being 70 degrees in December, because as I discovered this morning, snow (even an inch of it) is difficult for the unprepared.

12 Days of Christmas at the Carolina Inn. This display might actually require its own post sometime.

Chihuly in the Desert

Sedona!

Valley of Lights, Prescott

Mint Julep....that kinda kicked my ass.

Fun times with N!

Hiking Camelback Mountain....that also kinda kicked my ass.

Got some snow in NC last night! Woo!

Halloween!

Three guesses who we were!
Halloween was awesome this year! I sewed my entire costume....like from yards of fabric (a first for me), so that was pretty legit (even if the sewing was actually...rather poor). A number of people actually recognized who I was, so that was another plus. And I got to costume/people watch at one of the biggest Halloween festivals in the US. Favorites included Venom from Spiderman, a girl dressed as Gru and a bunch of male Minions, and counterfactuals! Did you see any cool costumes this year?

Fourth Feast

When you're not in America on July 4th, as has often been the case for me, the thing you really miss is food. Though I can't bring myself to tout the "home of the free and the brave" horn today with all the 4th Amendment and rights violations so nonchalantly being passed in our country (most recently, see education bill in PA and sneaky reproductive rights clause in an unrelated bill in NC), my stomach is happy to commend the American diet. Excuse me while I make this post about unhealthy food I miss.





Happy Fourth of July! Feast on!

February in Pictures

It's crazy that it's already February! I swear it was not that long ago that I was ice skating and ringing in the New Year. February and I have a very love/hate relationship, so we'll see how this one goes. I have a lot of things to do this month, so I thought I'd share my TDL in pictures!

Plan my trip to and start the project I'll be doing at SEARCH Gadchiroli,
a rural health-centric NGO in India, this summer.

Celebrate the 7th anniversary of the first time I heard "Dark Blue" by Jack's Mannequin, because it really is the best and honestly, I've never had a favorite song this long. It's basically a relationship at this point.

Ignore Valentine's Day.

Interview for grad school at this pretty place, UNC Chapel Hill!(!!)

Enjoy the extra day we're gonna have this year! (Seriously, why isn't this a holiday?)

P.S. You should all be really really proud of me if I manage to go the whole month without making a "like the month, but a person!" Starship reference.

Happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth of July!

My place is still a mess from moving and there is tape and packing material everywhere, but I'm slowly getting there. Hopefully, you all are having a wonderful day full of maybe a barbeque and some drinks, to be complete with fireworks later! I know I'm excited to see my first ever San Diego Fourth of July fireworks and make some lovely red, white and blue drinks to go with them!

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day!


Maybe this is a cop-out, content-less first post after a hiatus, but I think this is important. I want to wish you all a Happy Memorial Day! Today isn't just about having no class/work, taking advantage of amazing sales, or watching specials all day on TV, it's about soldiers. It's about the ones who've died to protect our freedom, and I think, whether you believe in the justification of war or not, the people who die to ensure that we live safely, they are really heroes and they deserve a moment of our thoughts. So, this memorial day, I urge you to take a minute and think about them, regardless of whether you know anyone who's died in war, think of them and commend their bravery.

Merry Christmas!

Not usually a fan, but this picture is just too cute!

A Break.

Done! I am done with finals! And after a week of horrible-eating, coffee-guzzling, meltdown-ridden stress, I'm so glad to be home. I, with the help of a friend, have allowed myself two days of complete and total relaxation time before I start studying for the next horror show, the MCATs. Which I will be taking in March. Over spring break, to be exact. Awesome.

My family doesn't really celebrate Christmas (aside from putting up decorations and lights every year). The closest thing we have to a tradition is that for several years in a row, we watched Hindi movies back to back all of Christmas day, which, if you know anything about Hindi movies, is about 3 movies. That doesn't mean, however, that I don't still make a wishlist every year. So, with a little help from Polyvore, voilà!


1. I Love Lucy Seasons 2, 3, 5, & 6
2. Caffeine Necklace from Made with Molecules
3. Covered Dish Dress from ModCloth
4. Harry Potter Scene It? Edition 2
5. Soundproof Over-Ear Beats by Dre
6. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Well, now I will be spending my first day off eating Native wings and reading Lord of the Rings (rhyme not intended). Ta!

Brrr! It's Cold In Here!

The temperature outside when I left my apt was 34˚F.
!!!!!!

That picture is kind of what my windshield looked like this morning, but less patterned (read: less cool). For the first time ever in my life, I had to chip frost off of it!! This was so exciting for me! Phoenix gets cold, but I don't think it's humid enough to actually create a very good layer of ice on your windshield. This, on the other hand, took me a good 15 minutes to scrub off (possibly because I'm kind of a n00b at it). Also, I could see my breath all morning which put me in a really good mood. Actually, I hate being cold, but I do enjoy this season.

Winter is Here!

I am a firm believer in seasonal hairstyles. Granted, I don't usually act as I believe (mainly out of...laziness), but some kinds of hair just look better in certain seasons. Curls are what I think of when I think about winter hair. The volume is perfect for keeping warm, and for getting snow caught in, and for wearing cute beanies and berets! So my mission this season is to curl my hair more often (and buy a beret)!


I keep coming up with all these missions and self-improvement projects and things to do because it's the week before finals and I am subconsciously trying to procrastinate studying. Bad. If I preoccupy myself with stuff like this for too long, I am legitimately not going to do well. You guys, I might need an intervention. Especially because the title of this post makes me want to re-watch Bring It On.

***

Happy Fourth of July!

I really enjoy the holiday spirit in this country. My family isn't all that keen on doing holiday spirit sort of things, but I think I am going to do them. I like them.

This Fourth of July,

I watched at least 20 different sets of fireworks

in the LA area

from the top of a parking garage.

It was pretty amazing and I wish I'd been able to take a panoramic picture, but, of course, I only have my camera when I don't need it.

Let the Summer Begin!

I am home!
Sorry to have been M.I.A. for the last week, but as of Friday at 9 pm, I was done with finals and moved out of my apartment into the one I'll be in over the summer and on my way to stay with friends for the weekend. Then today, we left the Golden State to heat back to boiling heat and home! Honestly, I have never been more happy to see a cactus than I was today.

Now that I am home though, I feel sort of...restless. I mean, I have read 3/4 of a book since I got home, and now I kind of want to be done with being home. I want to be out and about with people I like. Things to look forward to:

• Native New Yorker! [This is important, really.]
  
• New Phone! [If you'd been stuck with a Go-Phone for 6 months, you'd be too]
• Camera repair [hopefully cheap]
• and last but definitely best: Universal Orlando's Wizarding World of Harry Potter. [no comment needed!]