Tuesday Tunes

Guys, I have a Gatsby problem. (Gatsby, what Gatsby? I'm not obsessed at aaaaall...) Seriously though,  about all I want to do right now is watch the trailers for The Bling Ring and The Great Gatsby and just have fangasms over how cool and exciting everything is. I really like what I'm seeing (and hearing) for these movies. Gatsby fever is probably more intense right now, though... (I know I should be excited for Iron Man III, but considering I was introduced to the whole series by someone who has since decided that our entire friends group isn't even worth the time required to tell us that she doesn't care, I'm kind of feeling a little sour about it right now... I'll recover, but it's definitely not on my priority list right now).

Probably my favorite Gatsby thing out right now (besides those trailers, because damn, those are intense) is the Lana del Rey song. I can't stop listening to it. It's definitely an addiction.

Are you excited for Gatsby too? What are you especially excited to see? (Any tips for dealing with irresolute friendship breakups? Cause I could use those...)

leather skirts and excitement

Well, last week was the last full week of classes, and it saw a great resurgence of energy. I even got started on my papers this weekend, finally! I'm excited for doing things with my friends (in-between studying) and getting done with finals. I managed to be decently fancy this week, so I'm pretty pleased with myself! Now if I can be fancy while I'm doing nothing...

Monday was a somewhat uneventful day, just the standard class, work, Skyrim kind of day that I seem to do.

Shirt/skirt - F21 | Tights - WalMart | Shoes - Target

Tuesday was similarly uneventful, just projects and more of the same as Monday.

Sweater - The Limited | Shorts/bracelets - F21 | Necklace - Claire's | Shoes - Payless

Wednesday was...more of the same.

Headband - ? | Necklace - gift | Shoes - F21

Thursday was more of the same, until about 4AM (okay that's 4AM in what was technically Friday, but I was doing laundry, so), when I hurt my knee trying to kneel to put stuff in the washing machine. Apparently I screwed up one of my tendons somehow, so I've started doing exercises to try to make this stop being a thing, since this is the second time I've had that issue.

Cardigan - Deb | Shirt/necklace/pants/boots - F21

The weekend wasn't particularly fancy or outfit-picture worthy, but it was spectacularly fun - I went to dinner with my friend Ally's parents and a bunch of my friends, since they came up to see us, and then I smashed cars and played a boardgame at a frat (it was an event for smashing cars, they like, picked them up from the junkyard and basically best stress relief EVER). Saturday, I worked at Springfest for my fraternity for a few hours, went to Writer's Club, did homework, and wound up at another frat playing card games. Sunday I went to a concert, and here we are now, Monday, looking at a week where I go to even more events, even though I'm also frantically studying and writing papers. This is the kind of busy I like.

How was your previous week? Does this week look like a good one?

almost there

Next Monday marks the end of classes. I'm kind of sad, kind of relieved. My freshman year of college is almost done, and it's been such a roller coaster of just...everything. I never knew how much I could miss a person, before this year, nor did I anticipate that people could manage to become even more confusing as I got to know them better. I also completely underestimated how easy joints are to injure just doing normal things - here's looking at multiple sprained ankles and my second knee injury of the semester (how do I keep doing this???). Hopefully this means I'll get better at taking care of my body this summer - it's a more low-key environment, I hope? One of the things I want to do this weekend, in between papers and helping my friend update the site we run, is to draw up a list of what I want to do this summer. A list of summer resolutions, I guess, to build off what I've been doing on my New Years' Resolutions. There's always room to grow, change, and transform, and I think my favorite thing in the world would be to able to say that I'm a better person each day than I was the day before.

Speaking of favorites, here are a few of my favorite things from the past week. (Look at that smooth transition... I actually can't tell if it's smooth or not, honestly, I'm writing this at 2AM and occasionally having to deal with tears because I injured my knee just an hour ago so it hurts a lot right now, so I may come back to look at this at like, 3PM to wonder how I thought this ramble was a good idea... We'll see!)

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These come in a roommate-approved color, for the record. My roommate really loves yellow, and so the only fashiony-ish things I show her are yellow. The actual thing I love about these is that they're really cute little sneakers, which I'm really craving right now, for some reason.

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This is pretty much what I had to tell myself constantly when I made the decision to not live with my friends. It was really difficult, but even now, I feel wonderful about having done it. It's definitely something for me to try to always remember - if I'm not wholeheartedly giving myself to something, I shouldn't be doing it.

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Florence Welsh's house. Need I say more? It's amazing.

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This picture of Lily Aldridge is 100% the reason I'm contemplating finding pleather shorts. The article/interview with her is really cool, too, so you should read it!

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Taylor Swift's outfit here is absolutely gorgeous. It's a pretty cool performance outfit, shiny and hopefully comfortable. I definitely love the shoes and shorts!


ps: I did look at this again this afternoon...and I'm okay with that ramble, I think, even though it's super ramble-y.

"What if Money Was No Object?"

Back on Tuesday, I was on facebook before class when one of my classmates and fraternity brothers (professional fraternities are great for confusing people with words, by the way) posted a video on her wall. Its title is something my mother always likes to ask me when we're discussing what I want to do with my life: "What if Money Was No Object?" I, personally, think it's pretty powerful.

I'm a business major because my only tangible goal with college has been to learn something practical so that I can make money. It's not a real interest in the material - though we'll see if that changes when I enter the marketing and management courses. I've never allowed myself to honestly think about what I'd do if money was no object, because money's always been an object - I've always brushed aside the question with a non-answer such as "heck if I know", and very consciously avoided thinking about it. Watching this, in the front row of a lecture hall, I actually slipped and thought about it, and well: I'd do everything. I'd write, I'd design clothes, I'd make art of all kinds, I'd study how the human mind works and why it works, I'd work with animals, I'd do everything I could in order to experience the full range of life that I am capable of living. I didn't want to really think about it because it's not really possible, but I suppose, now that I've thought of it, I kind of want to see if I could do it.

What would you do if money were no object?

I Can't Believe

I love that this linkup is a thing - I like to have reasons to pay attention to the good things happening in my life, because sometimes they get overwhelmed by the crazy things and the negative things.

I can't believe...that I listened to Hips Don't Lie for two hours on repeat while doing homework last night. I'm pretty sure that's not homework music, and yet...

Seriously. It's not homework music, and yet it was the only thing I listened to while doing my Accounting last night.

I can't believe...that this is the last week of classes. (Okay, Monday there are classes still, but who cares, it's literally just Monday next week!)

I can't believe...that I forgot my umbrella this morning despite seeing that it was already raining in the area. Not the smartest thing I've ever done..

I can't believe...that I'm going to get to attend an event where you smash cars with sledgehammers for free. Best pre-finals stress reliever EVER.

I can't believe...that I'm officially a member of Alpha Kappa Psi! I know it happened last week, but it's still pretty exciting!

What can't you believe about this week?

Tuesday Tunes

I think my favorite thing about having just given myself a specific thing to write about for Tuesdays is a wonderful thing - I think, of all days of the week, I'm least inspired on Tuesday, and I'm actually (usually) more tired on Tuesday than I am on Monday. It's a lot easier to just be able to write something and not think about it again, except to remember to stick a link up on twitter and facebook (you should follow me on both, by the way - I've got buttons in the sidebar, y'all).

I know the main question about the music I'm sharing this week is probably "is it Puella Magi again? |: " and the answer is (surprisingly) no. I still haven't stopped listening to it, though - it's very useful for doing homework. It's actually Psy, because I might have a tiny bit of obsession with his music. He recently released another, somewhat odd, music video for one of his songs, and while I don't like it as much as Gangam Style, I'm certainly intrigued. (I really want to know why he likes that style of pants so much...)

Is there any music you're into right now? What do you think of Gentleman (and/or Psy's pants)?

Cleveland Spring

Cleveland Spring, the phenomenon of spring in Cleveland, is probably the most bizarre season I've witnessed. By which I mean...it's not so much a season as it is the Frankenstein's Monster of seasons, with all of them stitched together. We had an 84 degree day last week, followed almost immediately by a snowy day, and we've had everything in between, all just to mess with us as we try to push through the last few days of classes before finals. Needless to say, I've been crazy busy, and I only managed to get one of my outfits from last week. Not that the rest were anything that great, but still.

Last week was, overall, pretty stressful and busy. I don't really remember more than a quarter of it, other than that I accidentally skipped one of my classes because everyone else was unintentionally late. I also went to Relay for Life at some point, and ate a bunch of s'mores, and worked on papers. I think that's an accurate summary of what I remember from last week. Monday, the day I accidentally skipped class, was the only outfit I managed to shoot.

Dress/belt/ring - F21 | Shoes - thrifted

This week is going to be as crazy as last week, but hopefully it'll actually be worth remembering.

How was your week last week?

Helloooo Saturday

I spent most of this week sick, sleeping, sad, and playing Skyrim. At least two of those go together, unfortunately. Still, we're closing in on the end of classes, and the ability to sleep an entire weekend away sounds very lovely. This is a very late post (I might've forgotten to schedule it, got on after leaving Relay for Life tonight, and then realized I didn't post... Oops?)

Some of my favorite things from last week, since I was too distracted to do it on Friday...

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I really want to get a blender this summer, so I can actually ensure that I eat breakfast some of the time...

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I can't have longer hair fast enough. I really wanna be able to do something cool, like this!

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This faux-Malachite painting tutorial is really cool, and I'm going to have to remember it for if I'm ever bored and have the things needed to actually make use of it. Probably never, but you never know...

What were your favorite things last week?

I Can't Believe

I can't believe...that I'm sick again, or that I'm actually considered a capable adult when my response to sickness is to not sleep and play Skyrim. I mean, I'm not gonna have access to it after finals so?

I can't believe...that I didn't think to even warn anyone when I realized I wasn't going to have the energy to post yesterday.

I can't believe...that there's really only one week of classes left!

I can't believe...how confusing apartment and utility stuff is! I'm glad I only had to research it for a project...

I can't believe...how nice it's been here lately! It's nice and not super-cold and it's wonderful (other than all the pollen, but oh well, let's ignore that stuff).

just breathe

Last week was the kind of week you generally try to pretend didn't happen. It was stressful thing after stressful thing after yet another stressful thing. I only looked decent twice, and spent most of my time in my room because I just couldn't function around people for the better part of it. I'm too exhausted to really write much, and this week's going to be a light one, due to my continued existence in a swamp of needing to do too many things.

Monday was probably the easiest day of it all, other than the crippling migraine I developed in the evening. Playing soccer indoors on a tile floor in a very echo-y building is a bad idea and hopefully people will figure that out sooner, rather than later. I didn't really have to deal with too much, beyond a paper and studying for my pledge class final.

Jacket - thrifted | Shirt/ring -??? | Shorts/boots - F21 | Necklace - Claire's | Purse - London Fog (from TJ Maxx)

Tuesday was just "paper awkward conversations paper paper paper paper PANIC". That's pretty much all I actually remember, honestly. Wednesday was panicking some more over the paper, and Honor Court for my fraternity, which added a bit more stress. Thursday was my pledge class final, the day I received another project in Accounting, and the day I scared everyone by falling down the stairs (and then brilliantly decided to go attempt my final anyways, despite being in enough pain I couldn't control my crying... It wasn't a good idea, shall we say...) Friday...I slept most of the day and had Mongolian food for dinner. Saturday I just didn't stop moving until I collapsed to sleep, and Sunday was pure homework.

Blazer - thrifted | Dress (as shirt)/necklace/shoes - F21 | Skirt/tights - Target

My only hope for this week, right now, is that I spend less of it freaking out over things.

How was last week for you? Do you think this week will be better?

cool stuff

This past week was, well, crazy. I think I should stop saying that, because it's pretty redundant - I almost always have an insane week. I guess I'm still getting used to the concept that my life now consists of more than sitting around in my room on the internet trying to be quiet and not bother anyone. It's pretty weird the difference going away from everyone and everything you know can make in your life. If only moving up to Ohio could've changed my inability to function in life without injuring myself... The least expected part of my crazy week was falling down the stairs yesterday. It was obviously one of the finer moments of my life... (This post is actually very late almost entirely because I decided to sleep in - a lot - today. But I do feel a lot better, so I think it was worth it).

I went with some of my floormates to visit a Mongolian place tonight, it was a fun conclusion to the school week (before the "how many events can I pack into one day and still have time to breathe?" weekend I've got ahead (which will be fun, because events, and terrifying because one of them involves my job eek!)). The restaurant was good, though the prices were a little ow for my wallet. Still, it was fun, and definitely one of my favorite things this week, along with the following...

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A gallery of Kristen Stewart smiling and being adorable is pretty much the best thing. While I hate what she's known for (Twilight ahem), I think she's very adorable and very interesting - and definitely possessed of more than one facial expression.

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Skyrim started me on liking malachite, and this kind of did it for me. Too. Pretty.

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Already ranted about this here, but Debenhams, guys.

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Sometimes life just sucks, and the past two weeks have tilted more to the sucky side. I've kind of decided that my room next year is going to have a bunch of things around it to remind me I just have to keep dealing when it gets like this. I know it on a personal level, but it's nice to have something agreeing with you!

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According to a recent study, bras could be bad for you.

...

As my seventh grade self (the age when I finally gave in to the pressure to wear a bra) and my current self can both attest to, I only had ribcage and back pains when I wore bras as a kid, despite my very abrupt B-cup at the age of eight. Maybe it would've been different if they'd immediately been the size they are now, but I know that I never had problems not wearing bras. They sagged a little, but they never hurt. I'm not a scientist or really knowledgeable about how anatomy functions, but I definitely would love to go back to not bothering with a bra and not feeling ribcage/back pains.

What were your favorites for the week, and what do you think of the whole bra situation?

Debenhams

I'd never heard about Debenhams till about 2:00 PM today when I finally managed to get onto my computer and started filtering through my Refinery29 emails. (Sidenote, those are really useful for keeping up with what's up in fashion, especially when your life is primarily covered in homework). Featured in these e-mails was a story about Debenhams' summer lookbook. Lookbooks aren't an unusual story for Refinery29, but they were interested in this one - and for good reason! The lookbook showcases an absolute array of people of different shapes, sizes, ethnicities, and even physical capabilities. And, though it might be shocking for some people to realize it, it does not make the clothes somehow less beautiful or interesting. Personally, I think it makes them even better.

Some of my favorite shots featured with the story...

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I hope you're as happy that this is a thing as I am!

status update

This year has happened too quickly. It's been wonderful and sad and fun and tragic, and I've changed so much just internally since starting college. (Hello to being approximately 39% more responsible than I was last year... I do my papers the day before, not the night before now! (I'm kidding. Mostly...)) I only have less than a month left of my freshman year. I've been looking back at my New Years' Resolutions recently, and figured maybe, along with my week's favorites, I could give an update on those.

I haven't done too badly at them, I think.

• be more open about my thoughts and feelings with the people I trust (ie: I will stop pretending to not experience anger or annoyance and start allowing myself to express them a little bit): Very much accomplished and going well. I actually got into a minor argument with a friend recently,  and we resolved it well.
• leap before I look: I don't care to give details too much on this, but this DEFINITELY has been working for me.
• exercise.: Sort of accomplished. I'm not taking the greenies anymore, and I take the stairs on the way down out of buildings. I've also been missing class fairly frequently lately, though, sooooooo.
• talk to people besides my teeny-tiny close-knit friends group and super insular floor: Doing it, and it's fantastic! Yes, there are still days and weeks where it's mostly my floor, but I've made friends with people on other floors and sometimes I go creep on them. I'm also living with a super-diverse four-suite/two floors group of people next year, none of whom I really know. I'm so excited for it!
• One craft a week, and one short story a week, and posting them: eeeeh yeahhhhh. I kind of need to work on that a little. Granted, none of the things I've written lately have really been short story material, exactly - the last thing I wrote was an extremely personal, somewhat rambling, stream of consciousness. Literally, I just wrote down everything I thought. Cathartic, but not bloggable, really, unless this were a much more personal blog. As for crafts... I have a couple of projects paused midway, and no time to work on them. Maybe I'll get better at keeping this resolution as we head into summer? I can hope so!

Have you been accomplishing your Resolutions this year?

Tuesday Tunes

I feel like any blogger understands that feeling of 'crap, I don't know what to write about!' (and hates it). It's something I know I struggle with frequently - I'm good at coming up with two posts other than my weekly ones, but not so good at coming up with a third. Maybe it's just that I don't generally have enough time to do the creative things I really want to post. Still, my default for 'I don't have time/energy' to post seems to be music, and it eventually occurred to me that I might as well post music for y'all more often - and keep myself from actually experiencing stress over something I do for fun. So I think this'll be a Tuesday post from now on, because I might as well - Tuesdays seem to be crunch days, and this is definitely a post I won't have to worry too much about.

Since my last music post, I'm afraid I still haven't stopped obsessively listening to music from Puella Magi. It's simply too beautiful. Not my favorite for walking to class, though - I need something a lot more active for that! - but it's definitely wonderful homework music.

This is becoming one of my favorite songs from Puella Magi, right now. I love the drama of all the music, but I also love the very simple pieces, of which this is definitely one.

My favorite walking to class songs are very different. I like fast-paced songs where the music, if not the words, are upbeat. Cognitive dissonance is always fun, after all! This pretty much translates to everything I listen to while walking being either a) Florence and the Machine or b) Homestuck songs. I don't think I can come up with anything else that gets as much play as those.

What are some of your current favorite songs?

Cleveland Broke Me

If last week was a bit of madness, this weekend was a bout of concentrated and wasted energy. I sleep when I don't want to do anything, and I slept a lot last Saturday (17 hours...) It was my friend Ally's birthday, and if you've been following for a while, well, Ally died over winter break, and sometimes it gets a little difficult to function. I managed to get things done on Sunday, at least, and I'm looking forward to a week that gets a little less mad after...okay, it never stops being crazy, I'm just trying to be optimistic. I have a research paper, that is currently very half-baked, due tomorrow, have to watch a documentary and do a discussion of it for one of my classes tonight, Wednesday, I have Honor Court for the fraternity I'm pledging, and Thursday we have our final. Friday's a brief moment of sanity, Saturday will feature several important events in a very short timeframe, and Sunday, maybe I'll be lucky enough to sleep. Maybe.

Last week was quite nice - or, if you judge by the fact it was 43 degrees Fahrenheit when I left for class today, and I decided to leave in shorts and was comfortable, Cleveland's simply broken me - and presented some fun events.

Monday was unremarkable, other than an Arabic test. Tuesday was much more interesting - there was an event featuring LGBT professionals discussing their experiences being out in the workplace, which was really interesting. It also featured the lesson to not wear stretch bracelets where you can access the place the elastic has been tied - I start to fidget with the knot, and it just comes undone and beads fly everywhere. Highly embarrassing.

Trench - thrifted | Jacket/Dress/Shoes/Belt - F21

Wednesday happened next, and featured pledge class - our last one! - and planning for our event this Saturday. I'm terrified and excited, since the event is one of the determinants of our acceptance as a pledge class. Fingers crossed for it to be good! Wednesday also featured the arrival of my new sunglasses, which was very excited. My roommate though I looked really cool with my trench unbuttoned and my sunnies on, so, naturally, I had to get a picture of it. (We might have traded my sunglasses back and forth taking pictures for a while, but shhh).

Jacket/pants/boots - F21 | Shirt - DEB | Sunglasses - 80s Purple

Thursday was the day I abruptly realized I really needed to begin working on my research paper for SAGES - I don't think I'd really thought about that "due next Tuesday" deadline much until then. There was also another event, sponsored in-part by the fraternity I'm pledging, which involved networking with alumni. It was pretty fun, although I'm hoping that the more often I attend events like that, the less awkwardly nervous I'll become. At least the first person I spoke with seemed to appreciate my babbling about how Humans vs. Zombies is currently played at Case... I'm afraid HvZ was literally all I could think about the instant I started talking. I suppose it helped that someone in his class had started it at Case! I might have also joined yet another organization that night as well... I may yet achieve my goal of becoming my friend Celena. (I probably won't - she's too unique for that, but I can try). (Also of note, y'all...shirtdresses can be very awkward, invest in ways to make them not be staticky and clingy and you'll be a lot more comfortable in them...)

Dress/shoes - F21 | Belt - swiped from Mother | Cuff bracelet - thrifted

How was your past week? I hope, as always, that this week will be a little less frantic for you than it is for me!

 

papers and madness!

This has been a good week - the crazy hasn't been too bad, other than a few self-imposed instances where I procrastinated/emotion relieved with Skyrim a liiiiiittle too much. (It's a little known fact, but it's very therapeutic to run around stabbing things in a video game when you can't in real life). Some of my favorites from the last two weeks (you know, from the moments when I wasn't playing Skyrim or panicking over homework and tests...)

This like, made my day when I saw it. I absolutely love Jenna Lyons (and okay I might've had a squealing attack when I found out about her relationship with Courtney Crangi - two out women in fashion? Hell yes! I'm glad they're helping a little to dispel the 'all women interested in women are manly/unfashionable' stereotype that's still surviving, besides the fact they're just plain awesome).

I'm always mystified by the Beliebers' fervid defense of Bieber. He's an adult, he can, believe it or not, defend himself if he needs to. Granted, I'm mystified by anyone who becomes so devoted to something that they lose all ability to be rational or sensible, so I suppose they merely fall into line with a very long list of people and fandoms. Olivia Wilde's response - both to Bieber being shirtless, and to that tweet - is amusing and perfect.

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I'm a Scorpio, guys. (Well, Scorpio side of the Scorpio-Sagittarius cusp, actually, but I'm not going to unleash my astrology obsession on y'all). These shoes...were made for a Scorpio. Now I just have to figure out the mechanics of affording these beauties, and I can fulfill yet another Scorpio stereotype (...well, fulfill it again, I already own a Scorpion necklace and ring...) They're gorgeous enough to make that worth it.

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This bracelet is beautiful and I desperately want it.

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What were your favorites for the week?