clean up, clean up everybody everywhere

 Living at home has its perks. For one, every two weeks a nice woman named Anna comes and cleans our house. However, when she gets to my room she just rearranges the dozens of nail polish bottles on my dresser and throws my shoes in my closet (see picture four). Not much to clean in a room that has a fine layering of clothing that acts as a floor. She'll stack up the DVDs and magazines and books I have scattered next to my bed (see the last picture) and then gently place all discarded clothing in the pile in front of my desk (see the picture below). 

Now that I have a move-out date in less than two months (!!!!! MY NEW PLACE IS AMAZING !!!!!), I think it's time to stop having "piles" of things and time to start getting rid of things. Maybe the best way of picking out my clothing for work each day would be to look in my closet or drawers; not by kicking through a mound of clothing with varying levels of cleanliness. So, after I wake up from my morning nap, it's mission cleaning. I feel like I'm always devoting myself to this cause. But this time, it's for real. Please enjoy the following "before" pictures, which feature gift bags filled with still unpacked Christmas gifts, old copies of US Weekly, and boxes of yet-unpacked home headbands and jewelry from college (for a point of reference, I moved home in late May 2010). Excellent!

Stay excellent. And cleaner than me! But I don't think that will be hard.

the thursday things: things i am excited about edition

caroline and i in France, November 2010. purple tank and gray messenger bag, Gap; earrings, Claire's.

 normally my "thursday things" posts are dedicated to things that are, at that moment, making me feel happy, warm, tingly, excited, joyful, exuberant, enthusiastic, etc. however, with visits to see some of my best friends in the next few weekends, i realized that the things that make me happy consistently are not things; they're people. here are a few of the people who make me all of those synonyms for happy, and who i am lucky enough to see in the next few weeks, and a bit of what we'll be doing!

 one of my best friends, Julie, who I am visiting in Boston at the end of February! excited to visit the MBMJ and Betsey Johnson stores with her, eat delicious Bah-ston style food, and to go to Salem and my first East Coast Girl Talk concert!

floral top, Julie's; pearl studs, C.

my Kappa Delta pledge family: me, granddaughter/fellow European explorer, Caroline, and pledge daughter, Linda.

I'm going down in a week for our annual Crush Dance. Excited for getting ready and dancing the night away with all of my Kappa Delta sisters... and for Portabella Ciabetta and Lobster Bisque from Kelly's Bakery. Top, Forever 21; jeans and flats, H&M.

Stay excellent.

the thursday things

 

dinner with my pledge mom. sangria and tapas at the restaurant we've been frequenting for 4 years.

 

perhaps I'm late on the Tim Lincecum bandwagon but that GQ cover? he-llo. i'm a freak for the freak.

 

the baha'i temple. always a favorite, and especially at night.

 this sweet print at ikea. i want to frame this print and put it all over my new apartment (when i move in, if ever).

quotes on the women's bathroom wall at Lasalle Power Company. i love them to no end.

negro y blanco

Black and white. Until I get a boyfriend who will act as my faux-tographer for outfit posts, expect to be seeing a lot more shower curtains. This ensemble brought to you in celebration of my friend Katie's 23rd birthday in early January. I've enjoyed the darker colors that winter gives us the liberties to wear (as evidenced here). However, with spring sniffing the air, I can feel my pastel obsession warming up...

Military jacket, H&M in Barcelona; black and white ruffled top, Target; quilted cross-body bag, vintage; black belt, Charlotte Russe; straight jeans, ATL; white watch, Michael Kors; bracelets, TOMS.

Stay excellent.

the thursday things

Texts from my pledge grandbaby Caroline, keeping me up with the latest Kappa Delta gossip.

These are the things I've been loving this week. With the snow in Chicago being as unwelcome as a pair of white pumps in my closet (read: very unwelcome), I've been especially loving things that have been leaving me feeling especially warm and fuzzy and tingly all over.

 A thank you note that one of my clients sent me! She said in it that my company is very lucky to have me. This kept me smiling all day long today.

 Daft Punk; especially the Tron: Legacy soundtrack; especially Castor. Daft Punk isn't exactly warm, fuzzy music, but my brother got me into Daft Punk (starting with "Digital Love"), and this soundtrack reminds me of him. 

 The engraved silver bangle my mom got me for Christmas to match the one that she has had since before I can remember. I wear it everyday.

 This sweet bedding from Ikea. I adore the red buttons on the pillow case!

Taco night.

diada deu en barcelona

First picture: musical musings near Via Laietana. Second picture: Spanish babushka (she brings this cat around the city, and I remember her from when I was abroad in Fall 2008). Third picture: blue mosaic in Parc de la Ciutadella. Fourth picture: sunlit afternoon on the beach. Fifth picture: late afternoon cocktails at Opium Mar. Sixth picture: rented bikes on the beach; best afternoon in Barcelona. Seventh picture: sisters; matching sunglasses compliments of Kappa Delta Bid Day 2010; yellow and grey breton shirt, Gap. Eighth picture: Halloween sand sculpture on the beach.

On Halloween, our second day in Barcelona, we rented bikes and toured all round the old industrial district, Parc de la Ciutadella (Park of the Old City), and the blissful beach. We stopped for drinks on the patio of Opium Mar nightclub and watched the sunset over the Mediterranean (my favorite body of water). It was total bliss. How I wish we were still there, watching pretentious twenty-somethings with fake accents smoke cigars while Caroline and I leaned back and (legally!) toasted to an excellent second day in Spain.

BE, xoxo.

Auld Lang Syne

My mom's decorations from the 2010 Holiday Season. First picture: a wreath from a local florist. Second picture: pines swathed in lights along our front walk. Third picture: our mantel on Christmas morning. Fourth picture: Santa's excellent gift-wrapping. Fifth picture: Our REAL tree (a very happy moment for me every year, following the fake tree crying incident of 2001), complete with the ribbon wrap we use every year and a thumb print reindeer I made in preschool.

Yes, I know Christmas is over, but with the the only thing on my mind being moving out, getting my own apartment, and having my own things, decorating my place for Christmas 2011 has me excited already. My mom always does such a fantastic job decorating for the Holiday Season (very necessary to capitalize this), and it keeps me feeling festive way before and far after New Years. 

I'll admit that it's a bit far in advance, but the post-Christmas sales have let me stock up on decorations, ornaments, and even Christmas cards for 75% off. I hit up Target, Pier 1 Imports, and our local garden and home decor store, Pasquesi, and procured (I knew my $3 English major words would come in handy somewhere) some cheap decorations that I'm eager to put up as soon as the 2011 Holiday Season begins. Now I just have to find that apartment. 

BE, xoxo.