Wednesday, October 31, 2012

happy halloween.


{last year's molasses festival (what?)}

my stats test finally over, sitting in the library finishing a grant application for my next class, sipping coffee while i watch the weird professors frolic past my window in halloween get-up, wishing i could go back to bed (but high-fiving the caffeine gods for sharing their wealth), counting down the minutes until i get on a plane tomorrow to south hadley, thanking hurricane sandy for quieting down a bit so i can enjoy the northern beauty (but wishing well to those who weathered the storm).

happy halloween :)

"i seldom end up where i intended to go, but i think i have ended up where i intended to be."
- douglas adams 

Monday, October 29, 2012

sounds good to me.


the only thing better than a quote (and we all know i love quotes) is a long, inspiring speech.  in particular, the graduation speech.  i'm most likely more partial to this type of speech because of its relevance to my life today; i'll be hearing one for myself in just 7 months' time.  i also just signed up for undergrad classes FOR THE LAST TIME today. the speech below - which isn't even a real graduation speech, was written for the chicago tribune, and then was attributed to kurt vonnegut even though he didn't write it (win x 3!) - is a winnnnner in my book. p.s. doesn't that picture above look great in this 48 degrees?

Wear Sunscreen

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '98: Wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blind side you at 4 PM on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard.

Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

soooo long, october.


{nashville food day at the farmer's market on wednesday night - the epitome of everything i love about what i do.  also, probably one of the only places you'll ever hear the response "well done" to "my earrings are from nashville - local, too!"}


{halloween shenanigans on homecoming weekend}

i'm a stickler for organization.  i used to say during interviews that my biggest weakness was "definitely my type A personality...." until i learned that employers want to believe that you have the resilience of george clooney in a well-tailored suit.  they want to believe that you are flawless.  also, describing yourself as "type A" doesn't exactly make people want to hang out with you.  never have i ever thought, "god, i LOVE people who wake up on the wrong side of the bed every morning, and have an undying need for order and regularity!"

but lately, my planner looks as if a 2nd grader with astigmatism who has yet to receive glasses got ahold of it during art class. the other day, i scheduled 3 different meetings at the same time.  for the meeting after that, i told 3 different people to meet in 3 different places.  when my parents were here for parent's weekend, my dad suggested that i upgrade to an iphone because i have, and i quote, "fallen behind the times." WHERE IS MY BRAIN.

despite the fact that these upsets may be due to a lack of constant iphone updates that the rest of the human population is used to, i've started to acknowledge the fact that i'm just too dang over-scheduled. whenever i feel at my "busiest," i make sure to revisit this article from the nytimes.  every time i read it, it reminds me that i just need to slow things down.  our perceived "busyness" serves as an "existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness."  although most of us hate being busy, our busyness may make us feel temporarily important and in demand.  and while this may not be true for everyone, this concept definitely rings true for me.

that being said, i'm practicing this new thing called "saying no,"where i'm actively trying to make time for myself, for those i love, and for an overall more peaceful state of mind.  as weird as this sounds, it's kind of an empowering feeling when you become aware of your own limitations.  you don't often see the words "empowering" and "limitations" in the same sentence, but i know we'd all be better off if we started to realize just how much, or how little, we could handle.

"figure out who you are, then do it on purpose."
- dolly parton

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

i don't know about you...



isn't it cool that taylor swift is narrating my life via song? "we're happy free confused and lonely at the same time... it's miserable and magical..." GET OUT OF MY HEAD TAYLOR

other titles of songs that taylor swift could sing that would largely relate to my life:
  1. "i'm almost out of college and i feel more immature than i did in high school, oooh ya"
  2. "i'll only believe in love when scarlett johansson and ryan reynolds get back together"
    1. (this is assuming that we forget ryan reynolds and blake lively just got married.  while we're at it, let's assume that blake lively is a barbie robot. i feel better about myself, don't you?) 
  3. "nashville weather, your low of 55 and high of 89 make it hard to get dressed in the morning"
  4. "peanut butter reeces cups, i can't resist you"
  5. "on wednesdays, we wear combat boots"
HAPPY HUMP DAY!

"after silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music."
- aldous huxley

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

sounds good to me.


{because i'm in a reminiscin' mood: epicuria at bowdoin, fall 2009} 

"for what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be.  there's no time limit, stop whenever you want.  you can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing.  we can make the best or the worst of it.  i hope you make the best of it.  and i hope you see things that startle you.  i hope you feel things you never felt before.  i hope you meet people with a different point of view.  i hope you live a life you're proud of.  if you ever find that you're not, i hope you have the strength to start all over again."
- f. scott fitzgerald

Sunday, October 21, 2012

life lately.

WHAT I DID (this weekend):





{date night wif ma girlfrand}


{an epic color run}

---

WHAT I'M THINKING (about the debates): 



---

WHAT I WATCHED (when New Girl, Modern Family, and The Mindy Show weren't on):



you know those moments when time seems to slow down, you look around, and you realize that you're really living? you're living in the moment and loving every second of it? that happened approximately 3.5 times this weekend (the .5 originates from late friday night - or was it saturday morning? - that i was giggling on the floor and roommates were drawing inappropriate objects on my stomach. i was like that uncool girl everyone made fun of at that cool party, except i liked it).  sometimes i have to remind myself to do that 'living thing' more often.

my "i can't believe i'm here right now" moments:
  1. GO SEE the perks of being a wallflower RIGHT NOW.  the movie made me think, laugh, and cry all at the same time.  it also made me want to cut my hair into a pixie cut a la emma watson, for like, 3 seconds, but then i remembered i would look like an 'alfonso', and not an 'amy'.  after the movie, we rode around in the car and turned the music up, and as we rolled down the windows and passed the nashville skyline, i told myself to soak it all in.
  2. watching ingrid michaelson at the ryman.  it's so refreshing to be reminded that there are full grown chicks out there who don't take themselves too seriously, and are insanely talented yet humble all at the same time. she's inappropriate and beautiful.  listen to this song right now. 
  3. jumping on stage and dancing gangnam style in front of a thousand random nashvillians after the color run today.  i think my lungs (and my skin) are permanently tinted blue. and honey badger don't care. 
---
"it's much easier to not know things sometimes.  things change and friends leave.  and life doesn't stop for anybody.  i wanted to laugh.  or maybe get mad.  or maybe shrug at how strange everybody was, especially me.  i think the idea is that every person has to live for his or her own life and then make the choice to share it with other people.  you can't just sit there and put everybody's lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love.  you just can't.  you have to do things.  i'm going to do what i want to do. i'm going to be who i really am.  and i'm going to figure out what that is.  and we could all sit around and wonder and feel bad about each other and blame a lot of people for what they did or didn't do or what they didn't know.  i don't know.  i guess there could always be someone to blame.  it's just different.  maybe it's good to put things in perspective, but sometimes, i think that the only perspective is to really be there. because it's okay to feel things.  i was really there.  and that was enough to make me feel infinite.  i feel infinite."
- stephen chbosky, the perks of being a wallflower

Thursday, October 18, 2012

who's excited!? i'm excited.


{brunswick, maine. fall 2009}

various things I have to look forward to, in no particular order:
  1. visiting friends in north carolina 
  2. rufus wainwright and ingrid michaelson at the ryman
  3. halloween costumes
  4. the color run
  5. weather changing from cool to cooler
  6. a 5 day jaunt to mount holyoke 
  7. food day at the nashville farmer's market next wednesday! come visit the nashville mobile market (shameless plugging at its finest)
  8. thanksgiving love in da ATL
  9. my most favorite season of all. 
"i've decided to be happy, as it is good for my health."
- voltaire

Monday, October 15, 2012

sounds good to me.


{los angeles, ca. spring break, 2011}

"confidence is the only key. i know a lot of people who aren't 'traditionally' beautiful - not symmetrical or perfect-bodied or perfect-skinned. but none of that matters because all that shines through is their confidence, humor, and comfort with themselves. i can't think of any better representation of beauty than someone who is unafraid to be herself." 
- emma stone

Sunday, October 14, 2012

weekend + 'rents


as stressful as parents can be, the comfort and stability that comes with a visit always overrules.  a quiet fall weekend with a visit to andrew jackson's home and delicious food that went undocumented (do yoself a favor and get yoself to tayste for dinner and marche for brunch. you won't regret it).

"one of the greatest weaknesses in most of us is our lack of faith in ourselves.  one of our most common failings is to depreciate our tremendous worth."
- l. tom perry

Friday, October 12, 2012

funny, the way it is.

  1. the above song is one of my faves right now, but i just found out that the dude won american idol. awkward. also, dear songwriter/singer, did your parents realize that they named you your last name minus the "s"? 
  2. my parents come today for parent's weekend!
    1. cons: great interrogation by said parents about life plans
    2. pros: great food from said parents over talk of life plans
  3. my stats professor said yesterday, and i quote, "mark twain used to say that you should lock your children in a closet until the age of 16, and feed them through a little hole. and then when they get to 16 you plug up the hole." 
    1. note: this had nothing to do with statistics.
  4. the nytimes does a splendid job of freakin' me out.  (cue future plans here). hip hip hoooray!
have a wonderful weekend.

"for every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness."
- ralph waldo emerson

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

those days, those nights.


{this school}


{holland house}


{sky blue café}


{nashville beer festival}


{hillsboro hangin'}

 one for the books. nuff' said. 

"sometimes the most ordinary things could be made extraordinary, simply by doing them with the right people."
- nicholas sparks 

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