time of my life

The commencement celebrations were a weekend-long affair and the first thing I did was...

get my nails in order

Class Day was on Sunday, May 23rd and it is a tradition on this day to wear crazy/silly/funny hats to the event.  Every year, Class Day is organized by the Senior Class Council and it is a day to hang out with friends and less formally recognize the graduating students.  

my roommates

a gaggle of girls

her grandmother made this for her- I mean, how awesome is this hat?!

twins

this is a hat modeled off our bell tower- the most detailed hat I saw!

This year, we were lucky enough to have Tom Hanks as our Class Day speaker.  One of the first things he told us was not to put away our phones, and to instead tweet about his speech or post it on Facebook!  Funny guy! :D

The official commencement ceremony was the next day.  First all of the schools at Yale (undergraduate and graduate) assembled together, then us undergraduates split off into our residential colleges to attend a more intimate graduation there.

my sister and I

my parents. don't worry, my dad is not angry, he just rarely smiles in pictures!

my family- left to right: brother, mom, me, dad, brother, sister, godmother

waiting for my name to be called

diploma in hand, feeling good!

So now it's been a couple of weeks since all this happened, but I have to say...it hasn't really hit me yet.  I said my "see you later's" and my goodbyes to both friends and acquaintances, but I haven't really come to terms with the fact that this chapter of my life has officially ended.  There is still a part of me that thinks I am on a temporary break and will return to school soon.  I (as well as many other graduates, I'm sure) am wondering, "What's next?"  How about I get back to you on that?  ;)

FBFF: Inspiration

My second Fashion Beauty Friend Friday Group post, so exciting!  This week's questions are about inspiration and it's been fun thinking about where my inspiration comes from.

1. Which celebrity (celebrities) do you look to for fashion inspiration?  There are several celebrities whose style I admire- I wouldn't necessarily say that I try to copy them, but I often like what they wear.

Zoe Saldana: Well, first of all, she's absolutely gorgeous and I think her style is effortlessly chic in a way that I really love.

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Blake Lively:  She is one sexy lady and doesn't mind showing off what she's got!

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Rachel Bilson: She's petite (like me!) and looks chic both on and off the red carpet.

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2. When it comes to your own personal style, what inspires you?  When describing my personal style, I find it really difficult to pinpoint the right words.  I would say that I'm inspired by looks that are girly and simple/comfortable, yet still chic.  I'm a pretty mellow, easy-going person and I think that's reflected in my style.  Other times, however, I want to try something different, like tough combat boots or bright colorblocking!  I don't know, help me out with this one guys!  How would you describe my style?

girly girl- pearls and bows

a little edgier

3. How do you hope to inspire your readers? As I often say, I'm inspired by real-girl fashion and I hope to do the same for my readers.  I hope I inspire my readers to try new outfits, learn a new craft, or learn more about a topic that's new to them!  I'm inspired by my fellow bloggers everyday and I just want to share the love and pass on the inspiration. =)

4. Outside the realm of fashion who/what inspires you? This is a little bit of a reiteration of one of my answers from last week, but I think my parents are really inspirational.  They have both overcome a lot of adversity to get to where they are now and they've done it all together- I think that's really amazing.

5. And since Idol is ending… Which songs inspire you? Anything by John Legend (click here and here for my two favorite songs).  Seriously, he's my go-to artist no matter what emotion I'm feeling, and especially when I want to relax or focus.  His voice is just so...soothing and in my opinion, it touches the soul.  I would absolutely love to see him in concert!

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Just had to include this picure because they are so cute together, but boy, am I jealous of this girl! ;)

Tell me: What or Who inspires you?

Fashion Beauty Friend Friday was created by Katy Rose of Modly Chic. Become a member at the Fashion Beauty Friend Friday Google Group to join in the discussion!

FBFF: Gratitude

I joined the Fashion Beauty Friend Friday Group a couple of weeks ago, but this is the first week I've been able to do a post!  How cool that my first post lands on the one-year anniversary of FBFF!  This week, the questions are all about gratitude, a topic that has been on my mind a lot recently as I approach this turning point in my life.

me, mom, sister

1. When it comes to me personally – I owe a lot of who I am to: Well this is the obvious answer, but it is completely true- my parents.  They have worked so hard and sacrificed so much to be able to give my siblings and I a good life.  Also, they have always encouraged me to strive to do my best and they are always there to catch me when I fall, so for that, I am eternally grateful to them.

2. When it comes to me professionally – I owe a lot of who I am to: I'm not sure I can call myself a professional, yet, but at my current level in life, I would have to say my boss Cyndi.  I have been working for her since my freshman year of college and it has been an absolute pleasure.  Cyndi quickly became more than a boss to me- she's more like an aunt =)  She has always been concerned for my well-being and supported me and I know that she'll support me with whatever step I decide to take next in my life.

3. When it comes to the art of blogging, I’m grateful to these people for helping me through some rough spots: For this question, I would answer that I'm grateful to the people who helped me realize that my blogging is worthwhile- it has certainly given me the motivation to keep going.  Just to name a few: Sophi, Ashley, Laura, Courtney, Casee, Alyse

4. One blogging challenge I’m grateful happened because it made me stronger was… Hmmm, I think the greatest blogging challenge has been learning the in's and out's of blogging.  You know, when I started off, I thought, "Okay, I'll write some posts and people will read them!"  As someone once said (I don't remember who, let me know if you do!), my thinking was "If you blog, they will come."  Of course, I soon learned that it is not like this and that you have to work to form that community.  It was a great lesson to learn, though, because I have met so many wonderful people through this blog =)

5. To my readers, I’d like to say…  Thank you from the very bottom of my heart.  Seriously, there are so many times when I just wish I could give each an every one of you a ginormous hug!  Thank you for reading what I write, for your comments, and for your encouragement- I could not do this without you!  Lastly, thank you for sticking by me as this blog has grown and evolved and I hope you will continue to do so =)

Tell me: Your answers to any/all of these questions!

Fashion Beauty Friend Friday was created by Katy Rose of Modly Chic. Become a member at the Fashion Beauty Friend Friday Google Group to join in the discussion!

dream pattern

I don't usually remember my dreams, but when I do, they're almost always bad.  Saturday, I had a really bad dream that left me freaked out and scared.  Part of me thinks it's just because it was Halloween season and another part of me is still a little bit afraid.  Also, I think it's weird that the few dreams I remember are usually bad ones.  How do you guys dream?

In other, lighter and happier news, Halloweek-end was a blast!  Pictures of my costume to follow in the next few days, once I'm able to swipe them off my friend's camera!  Meanwhile, I'll be looking at your costumes :)

getting crafty

Cupcakes Take the Cake

Aren't these the cutest?  For the past few days, I've been really struggling with my Halloween costume.  I couldn't figure out how to translate tightrope walker into a recognizable costume.  Working with the materials I had already purchased, I considered other costumes, like trapeze artist or elephant rider and realized that those were even less translatable than a tightrope walker.  So I went back to being a tightrope walker, but I wasn't happy with it.  I told a bunch of my friends what I was thinking about doing for my costume and they convinced me even more that no one would get my costume.  But then, I had a breakthrough!  I've decided to make several key elements for my costume and I'm going shopping for materials tomorrow.  Now I'm excited again and I hope I can bring my vision to life!  This is just what I wanted anyway, to be something interesting and to get crafty with my costume :)

you snooze, you lose

Snoozer Loser

This picture pretty much sums up what my life has been recently, up until now.  Last week, I was feeling pretty defeated by schoolwork and such.  To make it even worse, I left everything until the last minute which made me crazy for several days (as I knew it would).  Instead of doing work, I did a lot of knitting, which I'm somewhat happy with, considering that I did at least accomplish one thing.  However, I need to get my priorities in line and focus.  The one good thing is that killing myself to get something done (in this case reading a 600-page novel for class in less than 24 hours) actually paid off this time!  The class that vanquished me last week was my friend today.  And to top it all off, my new boots came today and they are just what I wanted!  So I'm feeling pretty good right now, which will hopefully transfer into great productivity tonight :)  Knitting/outfit post tomorrow!

tightrope walker

Two things: (1)  I've finally decided what I'm going to be for Halloween- tightrope walker!  After brainstorming a bunch of really bad ideas with my suitemates,  we finally settled on being a small band of circus performers.  One of my suitemates is going to be a ringmaster and the other is going to be a dark, deranged clown, who recently got fired from our group and is coming back to get her revenge (she created that back story herself, haha!).  So I'm really excited and hope that my finished costume is cute and looks like tightrope walker (I'm a little afraid that I might cross into ballerina territory).  I want to look something like this:

old-fashioned tightrope walker

(2)  I seriously cannot spend any more money for a while.  I checked my bank account and I am walking the thin line over the chasm of bankruptcy.  I know I have a problem, in the sense that if I want something, I buy it.  I have to stop, at least for a couple of weeks, and hopefully writing it down here will help me stick to it.

over my head

So much to do and so little time! I'm back in the U.S. and already the work is piling up! This is just a quick note to show I made it back safely and more to come when I have a second to myself.

soria...

Sorry for the lack of posts, I've been without internet for the past few days. This is just a quick update to let everyone know that I'm alive and my next post will be from London! On to the next one...

españa- my second home

Since this is my last night in Madrid, I figured it was appropriate to dedicate today's post to the good times I've had this summer in Madrid.  It has been great catching up with old friends from last year and making new ones. I started out the summer with an amazing concert (Rock in Rio Madrid 2010, see pictures below), spent a lot of time eating tapas and going to discotecas, was here for the entire World Cup (¡campeones, ooooo eeeee!), learned a lot at an interesting internship, and I'm going to wrap up my time in Spain by visiting my Soria family. I would definitely have to say that this was another amazing summer in Spain. I've already talked to my best friend about this, but I am seriously considering looking for work here after I graduate. I can just really see myself living here on a day-to-day basis. I'm excited to be going to London to see my family, but I'm really going to miss Madrid and I'm already looking forward to my next trip here. In the words of Shakira, te dejo Madrid (but only for a little while)!

packing a summer away

Sorry, today's post is going to to brief again because I have to pack up all my stuff today.  I don´t leave Spain for a few more days, but I am travelling to visit some family friends in the north of Spain and I´m leaving my huge suitcases with a friend in Madrid. So, things to accomplish today- pack up all my things and buy souvenirs for my London family. Then I can write a proper post tomorrow.

good intentions...

I still haven't written that travel post yet, but I'm trying to decide whether or not sell my iPhone on ebay so that I can upgrade. Think it's worth the risk?

the list is still intact

I can already tell this is going to be one of those posts where I just ramble on and on. This weekend, I totally meant to accomplish a ton of things. I wrote a long list on Friday at work and was ready to conquer them all. The problem is, when I'm at work, I can't wait to be at home doing random stuff on my list, but when I'm at home, all I want to do is nothing.

Hence (hehe, I really like that word), nothing was accomplished. For example, I wanted to do another travel post and my first knitting post (it's long overdue) but it didn't happen. I wanted to get a lot further on my current knitting project, but it didn't happen. I meant to call, email, text several people. Didn't happen. Well, tomorrow's another day, right?

One of my closest friends wrote on my fbook wall today saying that he missed me, which actually made me quite sad, because I'm used to seeing him everyday. And then I thought about how it's going to be this year at college, since he recently graduated and moved to NYC, and it just won't be the same.

I've decided that my wardrobe sucks. I think I dress like too much of a little girl, or maybe, tween is more appropriate, and I need to move up to the big leagues. So, when I get back to the States, I plan to make some changes, including giving away a lot of stuff and starting fresh with a new, more mature eye. I'll really think about pieces I buy, and I want them to be interesting and different, not just my usual basic, blah, ho-hum trap that I often fall into. I'm going to mix it up, expand my horizons (this means not just buying stuff from forever 21), and get more creative.

Ahh, I just put pepper in my mouth. That was not smart. Maybe I'll still squeeze in a new travel post...

reality check

It just hit me. In less than two weeks from today, I will be leaving Madrid. I cannot believe that nearly two months have flown by so quickly. When I first got here, I thought I would have all the time in the world to explore the city and do some of the things that I didn´t get a chance to do last year. Now I´m already making arrangements for my family in London to pick me up from the airport. Okay, I´m not exactly heading home just yet, but that in itself is a problem. When I first decided to take this internship, my mom thought it would be a perfect opportunity to plan a trip to London. The plan was that my parents and siblings would fly from California to London at the beginning of August and I would meet them there a few days later. So, I booked my flights so that I went straight from New York to Madrid to London, back to New York. I figured, no point in going home to California if none of my family and most of my friends wouldn´t be there. Then, a couple weeks ago, I found out that neither of my parents would be coming to London. Firstly, I´m upset that they´re deviating from the plan, and that I won´t be able to see them until December. Second, even though they are family, I don´t like the idea of being in London without a parental advocate. I´ve had bad (nothing horrible, just upsetting) experiences with family members where we´ve disagreed about something and I always lost the argument because I didn´t have an "adult" on my side to back me up. Thirdly, as much as I love my siblings, I was hoping to do a little more exploring on my own, since I´m a few years older this time around, and I think this might be difficult to accomplish because they are still at the age where they need supervision.

So, I´m excited and not excited to be going to London. I´m looking forward to spending more time in the city and seeing my cousins, but dreading leaving Madrid and worried about being in charge of my family. Also, another issue is that my funds are rapidly running out. Let me rephrase that- my funds have already expired and I had to ask my parents for money (this is right around the time I went to Paris. What an expensive, but worthile trip!). Now, I think I barely have enough money to survive the two weeks I have left, but I´m going to have to ask my parents for a loan for my time in London. Instead of a grant like they usually give me, I´ll explain to them that I´ll pay them back once I´m back at school working. It will be hard to control my spending when I get to London because I know that I´ll want to experience the city´s shopping scene, not to mention the money I need to save for a new phone and decorating my room when I get back to school.

Money is so tight, that I had to do a little bit of creative gifting. Today, I´m going to visit my host mom, who I have not yet seen during my stay here (completey my fault, I suck at working to maintain relationships with people). She was so kind and generous to me the last time I was in Spain, that I wanted to give her a small gift to show my token of appreciation. The only problem is that I didn´t have any money to buy her a gift (the little bit I have left is dedicated to food, and even then I´m not sure it will last). I searched through all of my things, and found a pair of earrings that I had not yet worn. I plan to give them to her today, and hopefully she´ll like them and the thought will count. I´m really excited to see her and just spend the afternoon chatting and laughing, while sipping coffee coffee, like we used to. Ay Carmencita!

gonna do better..

Wow, I really suck at this whole blogging thing so far! I want to be better and actually give this a shot, so I´m making a promise to myself that I will write an actual travel post tonight (pics included) and send the link to my best friend, who will hopefully be the first reader of this blog!

pom, pom, pom...

That's what I'm feeling in my skull right now. Long story short, major headache, so today's post will be quite brief. Of note though, last night, I had a major leg cramp- so bad that it woke me up. Thank god I have an amazing roommate, who came and massaged my leg, because in my half-asleep state, I didn't know what to do and was just writhing in pain. I really need to get some bananas or something so that doesn't happen again. Also, early tomorrow morning, we're off to Lisbon! I'm super excited because I've heard nothing but good things about the city, plus there's a beach, so that's all I really need!

carrying on...

So, I'm feeling pretty good about that post yesterday. I feel like it helped unleash the cork that was bottling up my creativity. All of a sudden, I want to knit again, and I'm feeling excited about dissecting and reconstructing a pattern to make the garment I want. Also, I'm already thinking ahead to how I'm going to decorate my room and planning a couple of DIY activities (hopefully a canopy for my bed and wire line to string up my postcards). I'm remembering now that I like to write down my thoughts and then reflect back on them. Hopefully this creative streak continues, and I actually follow through with my plans.

Upcoming this weekend: Lisbon. I was already excited to visit this city/a new country, and became ecstatic when I found out it is near the beach. I've been complaining about my lack of beach time this summer, and at last, my wishes will be fulfilled! I still want to tackle posts about the other cities I've already traveled to, but first I need to figure out how to include pictures and all that. Until the next time...

!vamos!

So, I've meant to write this first post for several weeks, but each time I sat down to do it, I chickened out. I made up all these excuses: my blog didn't have a title, I didn't know what I wanted the main topic to be, I didn't know where to start, and I wouldn't keep up with it. Then finally, I said, "What the heck!", I should just start writing! I'll never know how far this thing will go if I don't at least start it. So, like all things in life, I'll take it one step at a time and see how it goes. See, that wasn't too hard, was it?