'16 Goals & Aspirations

I guess I’m a little late on this because it’s the fifth day of the new year, and I am just writing down my goals #oops. My goals for 2016, they're mostly focused on creating a lifestyle that I am happy with. I feel like with that, everything else will just fall in place!

1. Less Netflix. Only ONE episode a day, and definitely not before I go to sleep. Sleep>criminal minds, sadly.
2. More music & podcasts. Stop getting ready while watching Netflix, instead listen to the new Serial podcast or some Biebs heh.
3. NO SNOOZE. One of my biggest problems of 2015 was over sleeping (first day of work, my english final) I plan on accomplishing this by prioritizing all my work so I am in bed, prepared to sleep before 1:00AM
4. Wake up an hour earlier than needed. Being home has allowed me to sit in my bed, and edit photos, read, etc. with the rain pouring outside, and my fave candles (Guava Colada Anyone?! Literally to die for.) burning peacefully next to me. I am honestly at peace and this is something that I really want to try to incorporate into my daily morning routine. Also drinking tea/lemon water in the morning.
5. Being home is also really relaxing due to the fact there is basically no clutter in my room, and I have been actually CLEANING my room on the daily and I can feel my happiness levels rising. Not only would my roommate be SUPER happy if I brought this skill back, but I would be too.
6. Be happy. At my job, in class etc. Last semester, I was so sluggish every day, this semester, this will be something that I will try to change. I’m trying to energize my life by incorporating more exercise, taking the stairs & taking a zumba class!!
7. Budget my money strictly. Due to pledging for Alpha Kappa Psi, as well as seeing all my friends during winter break, I’ve definitely been splurging a lot more than normal. When I return to my normal life, I want to budget $35, a week maximum, and whatever I don’t spend can carry over to next week if I want to buy clothes or something. I have everything I NEED, and I really need to start saving up money this semester in order to pay for rent and housing next year.
8. Keep in contact with my friends and family back home. I really do need to skype my brother more.

Now onto my outfit! This is definitely not a fashion blog, but there will be the occasional #ootd when I'm feeling cute hehe. This is what I would LOVE to wear in cold weather, but unfortunately since I get cold ridiculously easily, I usually just end up wearing a ski jacket and leggings. Shhh. Don't tell my brother it's actually his jacket.

Dress- Zara | Tights + Booties - H&M | Bar Necklace - Aldo

Seattle Series: 6 days under $500

This summer I spent almost a month in Seattle, first with my friends, then with my family. I experienced Seattle as a local and as a tourist, and when I went with my friends, we were able to stay in Seattle for 6 days for under $500!! Read on to learn the two BIGGEST tips that will save you hundreds of dollars.

If you ever need advice on how to vacation on a budget, the best person to ask would be a broke about-to-be college student, who has been saving up most of high school to pay for their senior trip (aka me) but still had minimum funds **frantically waves hands up**. We left on a 6AM flight the morning after graduation, our eyes heavy with sleep, our hands clutching suitcases which had been holding diplomas a mere 8 hours ago.

1. The ONLY way that this was possible was because instead of staying in a hotel, we couchsurfed. Hotels and other living arrangements are notoriously expensive, and just one night in a hotel would have cost us over $300. If you aren’t familiar with what couchsurfing is, it’s basically a website (www.couchsurfing.com) setup like a hybrid between facebook and ebay. People open up their houses to people on the website for people who love to travel but maybe don’t have enough funds to stay at a hotel for ZERO fee. Although I am aware of the dangers that come with sleeping on a random person’s sofa, most people on the website are honest, genuine people with the best intentions. In our case, we were extremely lucky to be hosted by *Julie, who let us crash on her living room couch and her floor, as well as cooking us our first meal there. In exchange we bought her roses and macarons. We honestly owe the success of our trip to her, because if she hadn’t stepped up we DEFINATLEY could not have afforded to go. 
2. Prior to going to Seattle, I had never stepped foot on public transportation, but that is honestly the BEST way to get around Seattle. Later in the summer, when I went back to Seattle with my family, we a the car which honestly stressed out my dad SO much, because not only was parking ridiculous (26$ for a day?!), sketchy (the parking lots bear a high resemblance to dumpsters)- the streets are very narrow, very steep, and very full of downtown Seattle business people with somewhere to be. There are bus stops at every couple blocks and you can reuse your pass within a 2 hour time frame (one ticket is $1.50). In our experience Seattle bus riders were polite, kind, and if four newly graduated high school girls in dresses, tourist maps and designer purses could ride the metro at 11PM at night without getting whistled at or jumped, I promise you that you will most likely be okay.

These seem so simple, but when I went back with my family the second time, each day was costing us over $400, because we were renting an Air B&B, renting a car, paying for parking ($30 FOR ALL DAY DOWNTOWN PARKING?!?), and it was just neither time or money efficient. 

Stay tuned for more in the Seattle Series about my favorite places to go visit and eat, and more Seattle information!!

quality family selfies on top of the space needle

highly embarrassing but SELFIE STICK PHOTO in Gasworks Park.

in which a LUSH bath bomb causes me to reevaluate my life

 (space girl bath bomb by LUSH)

After years of watching beauty gurus rave about LUSH cosmetics, I decided to take the splurge while I was on vacation to finally buy a bath bomb. Walking into LUSH, my eye immediately flew to this bath bomb due to its lovely lavender coloring, and very in trend marsala glitter over spray. (okayokay it could be just raspberry, and I'm being totally pretentious but I just wanted to express my love for Pantone's 2015 color of the year. which i totally approve of *squeals and jumps up and down*).

Emerging from the bathtub, I wrapped myself in the robe hanging on the doorknob next to me, sat down to watch Project Runway, and paint my nails. I don't remember ever feeling that calm and peaceful EVER in my life. I've always had somewhere to go, or something to do and this feeling of complete bliss, really caused me question my life. Why wasn't I giving myself time to do things that made me feel good more often? Honestly? Because I've never prioritized it.

There was always homework to do, and tests to study for, the things that made me happiest, like Project Runway, were always watched out of the corner of my eye as I worked on homework.  As you can probably gather by now,  this is less about a LUSH bath bomb, or my devotion to Project Runway, and more about a realization that our happiness is what makes us happy! That sound's redundant but if you never prioritize your happiness, how can you expect to lead a happy life? You would think that would be a fairly obvious statement, but it took a ten minute soak in a bath of lavender glitter water for that thought to finally hit me after 17 years of existence. I encourage you to find what makes you feel completely at peace, and to go and devote your full attention to it.

stay happy, emilie

polaroid picture frame diy

For one of my best friend's birthday, I knew that I wanted to make her something personable that she could take with her to college because uhm WE ARE OFFICIALLY SECOND SEMESTER SENIORS!!! This is a great present to make because it is not that difficult to make (to be honest the hardest part was finding all the material), but the end result was super cute and she really liked it. 

Materials:

Shadow box picture frame

Tiny wooden clothes pins (the ones used for scrapbooking)

Ribbon

Scrapbook paper to line the back ( I actually found a thin sheet of scrapbooking cork that I used instead!)

Hot glue/craft glue/scissors

Pictures cropped to square size

Step 1: Cut your pictures out of the paper into a Polaroid shape. All this means is that you leave a wider white border at the bottom of each picture.

Step 2: Remove the backing of your picture frame and trace it on your scrapbook paper/cork. Cut to size.

Step 3: Measure out ribbon and glue the ends to the other side of your scrapbook/cork lining, then glue the non-ribbon side of the scrapbook/cork to the back of your picture frame.

Step 4: Clip on your pictures onto the ribbon and arrange to your desire

Step 5: Place the whole thing back into the frame and ta-da! Wasn't that simple?

TIP: If you cannot find a shadow box frame, an alternative is to use a regular picture frame and just remove the glass! The point of using a shadow box frame is so you can place three dimensional items inside the frame, like the clothespins.

la flower district + thoughts on being named after a flower

(left: my namesake flower/ right: pretty pastel hydrangeas)

Walking through the midst of a sea of buckets crammed with pastel petals, out of the corner of my eye I see a bucket with just a single bunch of flowers left . The bucket is extremely dirty, the water level is low, and the yellowing sign that names the flower has been stained with water damage. But the single bunch of flowers inside is unashamedly, shockingly bright violet. I bend down, intrigued by this survivor of abandonment, and flip around the sign that has drooped down.   

Although my name is spelled Emilie, and the flower’s name is Emile, I immediately develop a strange emotional attachment to this bundle of violet petals. Although scientifically, I know the flower’s will to live has nothing to do with its actual survival, (because flowers are inanimate objects and don’t have wills), in my fanatical mind, I imagine the flower resolutely being bright violet, surviving despite all odds. You can blame Daisy in the Great Gatsby, because ever since I read the book junior year, I've imagined anyone named after a flower to be very fragile and demure- something pretty to be looked at. Unfortunately, this dreamy misconception of mine is only reinforced by the fact that I do not know anyone named after a flower to prove me wrong. In any case, it makes me happy that my namesake flower is fearlessly violet, unique, and a survivor. If you Google image “Emile Flower,” fewer than three rows of images of my flower pop up, just as when substitutes pronounce my name, they usually stop, blink a few times, and completely butcher it. 

Looking back, I realize that I have just spent three paragraphs rambling on about how I relate to a flower that does not even fully replicate my name, but something about that flower triggered a spark in me that has empowered me. Today, I finally finished formatting and coding this blog after two weeks of non-stop work, and have even started studying for my finals. Thank you, little flower, for giving me this spur of motivation.

-emilie