The "Simps"

The simps = the simple things.

I like them. And I'm so blessed that I can enjoy them.

I'm watching Midnight in Paris, and the main character = me.
I shoulddd probably be writing my philosophy paper, but hey, it's not due tomorrow sooo my PHILOSOPHY is imma wait?

I love movies, and music, and talking about hair, and drinking hot chocolate, and talking about christmas, and chatting about books, and writing lyrics, and reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and playing my ukulele, and meeting cool people, and learning cool things. Life is wonderful. I'm glad I'm reminded of it every day.

I Love Anthropology

I love my Anthropology class. I've never learned so much or gained so much perspective on the world.
We've entered a new unit that covers Cultural Anthropology, and today's lesson was about Race. Today I learned how race is non-existant. And it was so hard to wrap my mind around it at first.
Here in America we define people's race by their skin color. In China it's based off how much hair you have. Eskimos define race based off the roundness or thinness of someone's body shape. Brazilians define race by looking at the different thinness of noses, size of lips, color of hair, color of eyes, and color of skin. Brazilians have over 40 different "tipos" which translates to types or races in America.
SO. Race isn't something that's set in stone, it's not a biological definition of someone. One's race can change by simply getting on a plane and landing in a new country.
I thought this was so crazy! We went over how biology really has nothing to do with race...which was complicated so I won't be putting it on here. But, seriously!! I love how we run all these studies and come to the conclusion that, "Okay. So this disease is more prevalent in black people than white people," or, "Okay, these white people may be smarter than these black people." NO NO NO NO NO NO! We can't say that. We can't test people on race?! They can put down that they are a certain race on a sheet of medical files, but we can't biologically test it.
Bleh. This is word vomit. But I was just sooooo blown away by this. As I always am in Anthropology. Seriously though. We've have so many racial problems, and we still classify people by skin color. When race is non-existant. And we'll keep running these studies, and conducting this research and come out with results like, "20% of white people, 50% of black people..." etc. Race is not genetic, it's a social classification.
So interesting. I just had to blog about it. Hope it was interesting for others to read too :)

----Side note: Went to go looking for pictures of different races in different coutnries. It's harder than you think! Race is so hard to define! BAH! Okay. Sorry, mind is still blown!

Just Beautiful

Mamihlapinatapai could possibly be my favorite word.
I saw someone explain it in the documentary "A Life in a Day" ...but obviously could not remember what in the world it was.
I came across it again today.
It's from is a word from the Yaghan language of Tierra del Fuego which is now a dead language.
It's a complex word to translate but it basically means: A look or feeling shared by two people, each wishing that the other will offer something that they both desire but are unwilling to do.
So many times I feel like this is the case with people. And I wish the English language had words like this. That could sum up such a complex idea in one word. Ah. Life.

Journal Decorating!

So, this is not a difficult project, but! I thought I'd still post some steps on how I decorated my journal/sketchbooks. I have two that I decorated. (One is the journal, and then the other is the sketchbook on the bottom left.)
Step 1: Get a bunch of magazines to get cut outs from!

Step 2: Get scissors and your book you would like to decorate.
Step 3: Start cutting and placing the pieces of the magazine the way you like it.
Step 4: Buy a spray adhesive, I found Scotch super 77, and it worked great.
After you've found that, make sure you spray about 6-8 inches away from the surface and wait about 10 seconds before sticking the clippings to the journal.
Step 5: Once you've stuck all the pieces on trim the sides. It's hard to get everything lined up perfectly so just sticking them on and then trimming after is easiest and looks cleaner.
Step 6: Decorate with whatever you want! Obviously this journal was decorated with some scrapbook stuff I had, and the one on the bottom left was left with just the clippings.
This was fun and super super easy, and now my journals and sketchbooks like much more interesting than they did before!

Happy-ness

Right now, I'm just constantly inspired and constantly happy. I'm obsessed with music. I'm obsessed with art. I'm obsessed with good friends. I'm obsessed with the way people feel. I'm obsessed with nature. I'm obsessed with the city. I'm just obsessed, and I'm so excited for my break coming up because I'm ready to kind of get some rest from everything. I'm having fun here obviously, but I can't wait to actually get the chance to take a trip to the city, or walk in the park, instead of PRETENDING. See that girl on the left??? I wish that was me!...but it's not....
BUT, it will be soon! And I cannot wait.
Life is so beautiful. There's always something happy to focus on. And if there isn't, you can always make something that you can be happy about. And that's something I'm...obssessed with? Ha. :)

....you may ask why I talk about happiness and then decide "let's put in the most depressing song errr!!!! so they get super confused"...no. I just love piano, and I love her voice, and I miss this kind of music. And I can just listen to it and close my eyes and imagine things. Which I love.


BTW....arranging pictures/videos/text is super annoying on here. I'm always inserting things and they look fine in compose mode and then when I look at my blog they're all jumbled...grr. Oh well! I promise I'm not terrible at laying out things to look nice.

Right now, I'm getting inspired by things that don't match up.
LIKE...hmm...
Indoors vs. outdoors
City buildings vs. farm homes
Fantasy vs. reality
Old mixed with new!
Like even the cover of this pretty lights album below is inspiring to me.

I've found photographs like with people's beds hanging from trees....OR...
Lights that you find inside hanging from bare trees...things like that.
Within this song they have the new techno-y beat feel mixed with an obviously older sounding song.
I'm just obsessed.
So I'll probably be posting a lot of videos/songs with pictures that have been inspiring to me lately.
If you can think of anymore things that are out of the ordinary that may be of inspiration, leave a comment! :)

Sometimes I wish I lived in a far away place. Somewhere I can only imagine. Somewhere different from this reality I see every day. There's nothing wrong with now, or here. But there's something exciting about the unseen.

"I climbed the top. I climbed the tree to see world."

"And when the Gods came around to blow me down, I held on as tightly as you held onto me."
"Held on as tightly as you held on

Rain boot or duck boots?

As I've repeated numerous times before, a lot of people here are EXTREMELY similar.

Everyone wears the same exact things.

I don't want people to get the vibe that I'm like, "LOOK HOW COOL I AM I'M NOT LIKE EVERYONE ELSE."

No. I'm just saying...I get looked like I'm from another planet when I wear something other than sperry's and gym attire.

I wore my new duck boots out today. Granted...it's not snowing but our drainage at Truman State is terrible so there are just MASSIVE puddles everywhere. So I decided I'd throw these bad boys on. Immediately, looks of disgust. C'mon now, I like 'em!! I'm actually quite obsessed with these boots actually.

I'd like to think I'm not a weirdo. Maybe I just am. But here are my boots...that I'm super pumped about....

Btw, check out Etsy shops for some of this stuff. Sometimes the shipping is ridiculous so I don't buy things, but if you can find shops in your area sometimes you find the coolest things at the cheapest prices! Love it! :)

Inspiration! Inspirrrrrration? INSPIRATION! InSpIrAtIoN. inSPIRation.

Basically all I do is look at pictures, and thinking of activities I can do with time I don't have? I'm so realistic it hurts sometimes. But! I'm posting this because this is something I REALLY want to stick too. SO! Being a college student, I have...oh yeah, no money?! Sooo not like this is some super cheap alternative, but with Christmas around the corner I've already started thinking of things I can do to make my presents meaningful, fun, and inexpensive.

I've decided to start fabric painting. I think it's a really awesome idea, and it combines a lot of my interests, and will make my gifts personal. My sister loves her t-shirts, and has her quirky interests, so I think being able to make a t-shirt for her with a band logo, or weird saying will be much easier if made by myself rather than searching every store in the universe to find something that she'd probably wear once in her lifetime.

Once I get to the thrift store to get some plain weird fabrics, and to the paint store to get certain dyes and paints I'll probably post a tutorial!! I'm super excited about this. I'll probably spend my weekend experimenting!

Get Inspired

I currently live in Kirksville, Missouri.
No offense to this place, but it's nothing like a city, which a playground for inspiration.
I think most people can say here, that many of the people dress the same, act the same, listen to the same music, etc. ...but there are the few who don't.
And with these people, we're on a mission to find things that can inspire us in a place that would typically be uninspiring, so here we go.

First inspiration in awhile:
Florence + the Machine's new album -- Ceremonies.

It really makes any type of artist get inspired. It's so different compared to the things I've been hearing.
I either hear those same old indie bands, with the male singer with the quirky (most likely foreign voice) mixing old sounds with some new ones, OR I hear the stuff people listen to here...which is pop...which is also my least favorite music to listen to ever...EVER.
But I think Florence is really giving a new definition to pop. We're progressing? Woa, a band that isn't channeling our generation's obsessionwith retro shtuff. Needless to say I'm inspired. Love it.

Um....

So, my friend sent me a Facebook message telling a few of her friends how she was starting a blog about living as life as Christian (http://mythirstisquenched.blogspot.com/). Then I was like "OMG THIS IS SO COOL."
Then I realized I had a blog....
Then I realized it's about absolutely nothing and it's basically me talking to a wall.
I like music, I like fashion, I like life, I like talking about my Christian faith with my amazing friends like the one I mentioned above :), etc.
I feel like not having a focus will get me nowhere.
Can I talk about college?
Some changes may be happening soon!
I want this to be something people want to read! I just gotta find out how....

Mmm boots.

It's amazing what a pair of heeled boots or heels in general! I bought these for 10 dollars when I was home, which was a deal! I just wanted some boots to wear around during fall that weren't entirely winter-y, with too much fur and such.

Though! When I threw these on, I felt...different. Yes, the heel is small, but there IS  a heel! I felt so much more confident and better with these on. It's magical how they can do that to ya! You really have to be confident when you walk in these, unless you like breaking your ankles.

Heels = empowerment. My favorite new equation.

There's no place like home...

 Guess what I missed??? My pugs! The other little guy isn't picture, but there's Betty, my little girl. I missed home quite a bit. The late nights with music and friends and family, cheering when the Cardinals win, eating my dad's pulled pork, etc etc.

After going home I felt so much...older. I met up with a friend at Starbucks, and we sat outside as he smoked a cigarette, and he told me about moving to California, blah blah blah. Last year we were headbanging to teenage-angst rock bands in my basement. It's only been a year! Ah! But, I've realized time moves on.

Since my trip home, I've been trying to get organized back here, and get my work done as well as get all those to-do list sticky notes off my desk.
Hopefully I'll start to have time to actually do something interesting with this blog soon :) cause right now I'm pretty sure no one wants to hear about me doing pretty much nothing! Yay! Until next time!

First step by step.

This is my first step by step? It's not very interesting but I wanted to give it a go!

I woke up today and showered and dried my hair, so it was clean...then I got bored fast and wanted it to be messy, so here are some simple steps to give it a messy look.

HAIR
1. Here's me starting with straight, clean hair.
2. Spray with a scrunching spray. (I used Aussie's Sprunch - strong hold)
3. Then I started scrunching it.
4. Then I used a curling wand (Conair curling wand) and curled my hair away from my face towards the root.
5. I continue curling down a few inches, but now TOWARDS my face.
6. Then I curled away from my face when I got closer to the ends.
(Steps 4-6 give it a crimped look, and you can do this with any curling iron really)
7. Then I repeated steps 2 and 3!
8. I added a braid to give it a boho feel.

MAKEUP

This is one of my favorite things to do when the rest of my makeup is dull.
9. Take red lipstick and dot it on my lips. (I used Revlon True Red)
10. Spread it with your finger across your lips, I didn't want it to be TOO dramatic.
11. Then take a pinker color (I used Rimmel Coral Shimmer)
12. Spread across the lips.
13. Take your favorite gloss (mine has a lot of gold in it)
14. Spread it across lips. (I used Estee Launder's Ginger -- my favorite!)

Then you're all done!
This look isn't super interesting, but I think it's a fun look. It has the messy and undone hair with the red lips for a cool contrast of looks.
I'll try to start doing more of these that are more interesting.

Today was lovely. It's been sooo beautiful outside, I sat in the quad for a little while working on some studying (which I have quite a bit of.) It's basically the most perfect weather anyone could ask for. I also tried a new little hairstyle out, new hairstyles are may favorite thing ever...so I decided to throw a fishtail braid and a smaller normal braid next to it, just to spice things up on a boring hair day. I wish my life was more interesting, but it's not. I'm going to be studying quite a bit these next few days that's all I know! So I'll leave on that note, and I may not be back on here for a little while just knowing how busy my schedule will be. But I will try!

Discoveries

Today, someone gave me a oragami swan that said "you are special" and it basically made my day! Kids are so cool in college. And thennnn, I decided to draw all over my nails with permanent makrer? It wasn't very interesting, but I may try to actually do something cool with my nails and Sharpies in the future? Who knows. This is such a great visual explanation of how unproductive my day was!
Though, found a new band...Best Coast! Beachy/alternative/cool shtuff.
And Frank Sinatra helps me when I study...so that's a pretty cool discovery.
Yep, that's it!

Homework! Tests! School! Oh my!

College has been great so far. But I realized how much I really had to do for this upcoming week. Two large exams next week and a 40 minute lecture speech. Fun times. Of course, I've started all my studying and speech making...but I'm so nervous... So I've found a little library spot. Which is perfect! I always do so much better with a little spot I can get away from facebook, and distractions, so I guess it's time to get to work!

Forever21

Being a poor college student the last thing on my mind is clothes. But today, I received my belated birthday gift...a package full of Forever21 clothes. I was soooo excited. I sat and stared at everything for about 15 minutes. It was wonderful. I've decided to post some pictures!

There were a few other things, but these were by far my favorite items!

As far as the day/life goes...
Today at my Advertising & Public Relations meeting we were introduced to our first projects! We had 3 options: help the local radio station, help a downtown boutique, or help a theatre troupe. I decided to join the radio station committee and cannot wait to start making posters, and plan events for it! I'm already loving that club, it's definitely gotten me excited about my major!
As far as music goes, I'm obsessing over: Amy Winehouse, Adele, Corinne Bailey Rae, Etta James, and Duffy. I've always listened to all of them, but I put them on a playlist together and it's amazing. They inspire me so much, and give me so much confidence. Gotta love it! :)

LITERALLY nothing happened today.

Well. Besides homework...and going to classes...I didn't really do much. Me, Grace, and our friend Kristen ventured to the gym? Is that exciting? Probably not, but definitely numerous hot men there...we should definitely venture to the weight room more often.

I feel like this isn't a journal. But. Hey. I decided to take a break from my usual studying around 9 to creep on the Men's Club Soccer team, I was maybe going to creep on a certain someone? But hey, whatever. The most random of people seem to intrigue me. So that was fun. I just watched and set the Amy Winehouse station up on Pandora, and smiled. ...I love those moments. Music and soccer. Two things I'll always love. I need to start making them a more routine part of my schedule. That's all for now! :)

Productivity and Laughing

I love this title. Today was so ....good. Work hard and play hard are two things I'm starting to live by. After my classes today, I decided to get some laundry and homework done. After that I decided to go to the recreation center for the first time. I tried the intense bike workout (which was INTENSE), and then ran two miles on the track! I felt great. Went to the dining hall with a friend, and then did even more homework due in a few days. Then after all this work it was time for play. My good friend's birthday was today, and a few of her suitemates made her a cake and then a few of us girls met up to surprise her. It was so much fun! We all sat outside talking about the day, eating cake, joking around.

        Quotes of the evening: (I have to document these things!)

Olivia: Can you hand me another slither?

Molly: ....you mean sliver??

*a few minutes later*

Molly: It's okay, my family says slither.

Everyone: No you guys don't.

My personal fav...:

Me: I'm getting my Forever21 package on Wednesday!

Everyone: *gasps!* *sighs of happines!*

Molly:...omg I just had like an orgasm.

Haha. I love laughing. Laughing is my favorite thing ever, and I've laughed more here than I have in quite some time.

I'm definitely loving it. That's all for now though! :)

Cheers to new friends!

 Another weekend at Truman. I have to say it's been my favorite weekend so far. Hanging out with new friends and meeting new people beats high school any day.

Meeting some international students (the two in the middle photo) was also a blast. Hanging out with Frank and Marten yesterday evening was amazing, it's really cool to see how they like America, what's different, etc, etc. They're awesome people, and I'm glad I got to know them.

This will be tough..

So I do not have a post from "yesterday" even though it is 2:22 AM and I am still awake. But I realized how tough it is to keep up with this on a day to day basis!
Today was pretty bland after a long night last night (stayed up until 6 AM...whoops!), but! I do have a picture from today's football game, hopefully that will suffice for this lame post?

New Obsessions!

These are my two of my obsessions of the day.

1. My new posters arrived in the mail today and I was so excited to put them up! It definitely adds some color to my cold, white dorm wall.

2. Me and my friend Megan walked to the downtown coffee shop, and I'm already in love. Not only did I have a delicious Frappe, but it definitely reminded me of my late night study sessions at the Starbucks/old French restaurant at home. I seem to study best when I'm in a coffee shop, so I'm sure I'll be seeing much more of it. Definitely my favorite spot I've found in Kirksville so far!

New song obsession =

My dad used to play this all the time. I'd keep my window open in the summer, and our backyard was covered in christmas lights, and candles, and tiki torches. Living in a wooded area, I always felt like I lived in a big treehouse. When he'd play his music outside I used to love when he'd put on a little Neil Young, and this is by far my favorite. I was reminded of it while browsing another blog, and instantly fell in love all over again.

Love the lyrics:
"When we were strangers
I watched you from afar
When we were lovers
I loved you with all my heart."

Whilst searching my usual blogs, especially my favorite (A Beautiful Mess), I came across Ruche. After looking through the blog I became instantly obsessed with this fashion boutique. Everything from their gorgeous models, (the one shown is my favorite), to their clothing, to their accessories, and even their website, I've found myself inspired. I can't wait until I can buy a piece from this line, as a poor college student I think I'll have to refrain for a bit :/ But through these next few weeks I'll definitely post my attempts to imitate these looks with the things I have.

A New Day

Truman State University. Initial thoughts? I think they're still initial right now. However, these first few weeks I started to wonder whether or not I'd find anything that resembled the me I found back home in Crystal Lake, Illinois. After a day of classes, meeting up with my new friend Megan on the right, and an art society meeting, I think my nervousness is slowly being eased.

Talking about music, clothes, books, other blogs, or (poster putting up parties -ha megan- ), I'm starting to find the hope that my artsy random friends aren't all sitting in my hometown. I'm getting excited about these next few weeks and have decided to attempt to document every day...probably a little unrealistic, but I can try.
:)