A Look Inside: College Packing

As the last summer days keep flying by faster than I want them too, I finally have started to realize that I am in my last week of summer. I have said goodbye to most of my friends already. I will clock out for the last time at work. I will actually clean my room because this weekend, I will be packing up once again to head to school.

With all that in mind, this week and the next upcoming week are and will be a bit hectic. I must say, I realize now... as I procrastinate in packing more that I did not realize how much stuff one person can have. I swear to goodness it keeps multiplying on mee!
There it goes again! The stack of clothes grew!!

But anyways, with lots to pack, lots to do, lots of errands and such... for the next few days (and maybe weeks) this blog will be a smidge inactive. I need to finish packing and prepping for school. I beg you can all forgive mee as you probably are doing the same, or have just recently finished doing the same.

Either or, I know I am behind posting some things. I can promise that when I come back I will immediately get back on posting things! In the meantime, you can relax a little. Breathe! I know school is hard. But as a fun reward to you and myself, when I come back, I will have the following posts for you:

- Warped Tour 2013 Concert Review
- Honda Civic 2013 Concert Review
- {Movie}: Girl In Progress
- Physicians Formula Organic Wear 100% Natural Origin Powder Review
- Lollapalooza Video Mash- Up
- August OOTD Round- Up

&& Maybe a new music segment I'm thinking of starting!

Anyways... Keep your eyes, mind, and heart open! Wow, so cheesy...

A Look Inside: Chicago Goodbyes

 

So this week was the last week of summer with the girlies. Everyone starts heading off to college today and tomorrow, while I still have a week left.

But for a fun last hoorah, we headed down to the city. After a confusing round up of everybody, we headed to Ed Debevics for lunch. If you've never eaten there, or heard of it, Ed Debevics is a fun mock 50's style diner. The only twist is, each waiter and waitress has a distincnt personality, most of them being rude. We had the pleasure of having a grown up girl scout as our waitress, and she did not spare us haha. We were made fun of for only drinking water, for sharing fries, and for other random things. She tried to set us up with some of the waiters as dates too. Another fun thing from Ed Debevics is that at the top of every hour, all the workers sing and dance.

 

Afterwards, we said bye to one friend, as she headed to work. (Yes, she's so lucky... she works in the city at a Francesca's!) Being part of the Asian Trio, we headed off to do our own thing. AKA we headed off to Insight Studios, a piercing and tattoo parlor. I love this place, getting four piercings from Bob Jones, the in- house piercer. However, it was not my turn to get pierced, my best friend wanted and then backed out of getting her cartilage pierced. I on the other hand, lost a piercing, since I needed to take out my industrial piercing.

With 2 hours still left on our meter, we decided to walk around the area. & we found our cute new hipster area of Chicago. There was a lomography store, different thrift stores, and cool nooks of artwork.

Once the meter ran out, we headed towards the center of Chicago, Millennium Park. A new thing that just started popping up all over Chicago is Divvy. A new bike company where you can ride and drop off bikes for a small fee throughout the city. It was a fun time! We rode throughout Millennium and Grant Park, then headed through Museum Campus. What made it fun was it was something completely new that we've done in the city, and we got to see the sunset behind our wonderful skyline.

All in all it was a super fun day and I'm going to miss my best friends so much during the school year. That's the hard thing about college, leaving one group of friends for another.

A Look Inside: Bristol Renaissance Faire

So last week my friend and I decided to cross the IL- WI border and head to the Renaissance Faire. The Bristol Renaissance Faire is a themed festival, where workers and attenders can dress like the lords and ladies of the English Medieval Renaissance time. 

The faire is pretty fun because there is tons of food, activities, shopping, and just people. One of the most interesting things is to see all the people dress up and walk around. 

One of the main things that we did was watch the Queen's Jousting Tournament. It was neat because we were all given a knight to cheer, based on where we were sitting. It was kind of funny that a lot of the colors and crests of the knights reminded us of the families from Game of Thrones. But the fun thing about the jousting tournament is that its continuous. Which means that the first joust of the day is a warm up and knighting ceremony, the second tournament is the Queen's tournament for the favor of the queen, and the last tournament is a continuation from the second tournament, since it's scripted that a knight from the challenge cheats, and now it's a blood tournament for pride and vengeance. 

OOTD Round- Up

Hello lovelies!
July is over and with the end of this past month, I'd like to start another type of post. Instead of pestering you with tons of OOTD posts, I decided to pick my favorites from the month and post them collectively.

With that, I'd like to start with my first OOTD Round- Up post!

July is usually our warm and lovely summer month. What makes July lots of fun is the amount of outdoor activities and such. For mee, outdoor activities usually include concerts. With that in mind, most of my outfits this month revolved around whatever type of concert I was going to. So lots of kawaii grunge and street- like festival outfits. Lollapalooza starts this weekend, and I'm so excited!

A Look Inside

This past week has been a whirlwind of... television.

My friend has introduced mee to the show Game of Thrones. Wow, I didn't think it was that addicting but since Monday we have already finished one season! I won't give my opinion on the show too much yet because we haven't finished the other seasons and caught up.

We also started watching Gossip Girl. Gossip Girl was one of my favorite tele shows when it was on, and for my birthday I got the complete collection! So, the deal was Game of Thrones for Gossip Girl.

Gossip Girl Complete Collection

I think that along with movie nights, television series nights are also fun. Series last longer than movies and keep you continuously watching together. At school my friends and I watched Big Bang Theory and Friends once a week to relieve stress and have a relaxing night. 

Instagram

#Summer #onerepublic concert with my #bestfriend !

A Look Inside: Girls Night

So after receiving tons of new nail decor for my birthday (birthday haul), it was time for a girl's night!

My friends and I spent the day together, in a typical movie- like girl's night. We played games, watched movies, ate pizza, gossiped, talked about guys, school and life, and did our nails.

It was really fun, and for awhile it was nice to not have to think about anything. We were able to have fun in our own way, without having to pay for anything or any of that stuff. Remember, broke college kids here... It was fun to catch up with friends, even if for a couple hours. Watching our favorite movies were fun, and we were all able to quote them and insert our own favorite moments.

In the case that you want to have your own girl's night too...

Here's a list of movies we recommend:
- Mean Girls
- John Tucker Must Die
- LOL
- Enchanted
- Fired Up!
- Ever After
- What A Girl Wants
- Killers

Also, here's some pictures of some our nails!

DK's Rilakkuma Nails

RC's Modern Color Block Nails

My Dotted Black and White Nails

A Look Inside: Freegal

Photo: Freegal

This week my friend told mee about Freegal, which I must say is a godsend.

This site is amazing because it offers thousands of song for free to download for its users. The songs range from popular Top 40 hits to random garage bands or electronic music. This last week I downloaded Avril Lavigne's and Sara Bareilles's new singles and New Politics's new CD. The music downloads directly into your iTunes library, or other musical library, so you don't have the hassle of going through tons of clicking and rearranging. The best part about this site is that everything is legal! I am aware that there are sites allowing users to download music from youtube, but tsk tsk now that isn't exactly legal.

However, the site only allows for 3 downloads a week. But I mean, I really can't complain too much, since this is free. The other thing about the site is that you need a library card. But once again, this shouldn't be too hard, considering library cards aren't hard to get and they are also free.

So in summary...
Pros:
- Free music
- Legal music
- Large selection of music and genres

Cons:
- Must have a library card, from a participating library
- Limited downloads per week

If this sounds good to you, check out the site here.

A Look Inside: Taste of Chicago

Taste of Chicago is back! This means more delicious food, sunshine, and fun! This past week my friends and I decided to spend the afternoon eating lots of food and trying new things. We took the train downtown, which was strange because we saw tons of other people that we used to go to high school with. Yeah we're those whiney people who don't want to revisit people in high school. But after getting downtown and successfully completing the 40 minute walk to Grant Park, we finally arrived at the Taste.

While there were less vendors and space this year, the Taste did not fail to show us a good time. For a week day there were a fair amount of people there. It's always cool to see the different types of people that show up at these festivals around the city. Although, one of the best parts is picking out the tourists from the rest of everybody else.

We saw tons of food throughout the Taste. I ate fried ravioli and bulgogi, a Korean grilled beef dish. It was a nice mix of different foods. My friends had berry gelato, nutella crepes, and spiced grilled chicken. The food was all delicious, and the servings were pretty generous. If you have never been to the Taste before it works like this; you buy tickets, and these same tickets are used to get food. There are two sizes, a "normal" size and a taste size. The "normal" size is between a small entree and an appetizer size, while a taste size is a smaller appetizer size.

Crepes and Smiles

Besides all the food, we also had fun visiting the fun things around Grant Park. We stopped by and saw Buckingham Fountain and resisted the urge to jump into it, since it was so warm. We also saw a news broadcast for CBS Channel 5 and attempted to worm our way into the shot. Who knows though if we actually got into it.... My friend Rachel was even briefly reunited with her roommate!

My friends and me at Buckingham Fountain

Channel 5 New Report

After all of the walking, eating, and such, we limped back to the train station. We all acquired some sore feet, but our stomachs were full of delicious food. Although like typical Chicagoans, we had to end the day right... with some of Chicago's best food! Once we got home, we popped in a DVD and order deep dish pizza. The best food to end such a yummy day.

We love the Taste!

A Look Inside: Off to Michigan!

So, at the current moment I am in the car. Yerp... traveling along the freeway at 70 mph.

This holiday weekend I am headed towards Michigan for a giant family reunion at the beach.

Exciting? Maybe.

Long @$$ drive? Oh, you bet.

After all, this drive is supposed to only be about 6 hours. And we are nearing our 7th hour in the car. Granted, I should be nice and give some slack for the ridiculus amount of traffic, the uber long line to buy fireworks, and these never ending amount of large trucks that keep cutting into the left lane.

Either way...

Road trips with your family become more restless than road trips with your friends.
It probably doesn't help that your brother is passed out in the back, your dad keeps trying to talk to you (while you're watching a movie), and it's pitch dark outside.

The only thing keeping mee sane, needless to say is my laptop and phone. Both supplying mee with entertainment. Or whatever is close enough to it. Jeesh, I sound like such a typical teen- angst.

Anyways.
Thanks for dealing with my rant. Or boredom. Who knows. Probably both.

Have a safe and happy Fourth of July everybody!

A Look Inside: Summer Road Trip

Photo: Fairway

Today is the beginning of my summer road trip!
& I am super excited!

4 friends. 400 miles. 2 concerts. 3 states.
We are going to drive from Chicago to my college, to visit some of my school friends and to see Fall Out Boy in concert. Nothing seems more exciting than driving with friends, listening to music, and navigating the country roads together!

But before we, or you, start your road trip there are some important things to remember to do...

1. Directions
It sounds simple, but know where you are going. Make sure you look up how to get to your destination and possibly find an alternative route. Smart phones and GPS's are wonderful tools that also help make this easier.

2. Timing
Not only should you plan how you're getting to your destination, you should have an approximate idea how long your journey is going to take you. Remember to also leave some additional time to make pit stops, food stops, and random stops!

3. Flexible Packing
All your stuff has to fit comfortably in your vehicle, along with all of you. Remember that even though you have the space to pack more than with traveling on an airplane, you still need to be conscious of the shared space. Be aware of what you are planning to do during your trip! You should have outfits for every adventure you want to tackle.

4. Destinations?
While you may have a single ultimate destination, keep in mind all the new and interesting places that you'll pass along the way. Research the locations you will drive through and keep your eyes open on the road for attractions.

5. Entertainment
But most importantly - have stuff to entertain yourself during the drive! The most important and exciting part of a road trip is spending time with your companions! Make fun playlists, eat tons of junk food, take lots of pictures, spend hours talking, and just have fun! Each one of us created a playlist that we plan to sing along too during our drive. We also spent a previous day baking and shopping for food we could take along with us.

With all that in mind, enjoy your own road trip and have fun! I'll let you all know how my trip went, but in the mean time have a good week everybody and stay happy!

P.S.  Some last minute tips for the first time road trippers:
- Take turns driving
- Use the bathroom when you can
- Have a paper map
- Save money where you can
- Choose your friends wisely

A Look Inside: My 19th Birthday

Yesterday was my 19th birthday!! I finally am in the same age ranks as the rest of my friends. The little kid and baby jokes can cease for a few months. Either or, my friends turned a boring day at work into a great night with their small surprise get together.

My friends are amazing people! After working 7 hours, I walked outside to find my car plastered with paint proclaiming to everyone that it was my birthday. And then I was kidnapped by my best friend and driven to our favorite hang out restaurant, TGIF. I was attacked with balloons and random birthday knick knacks. To make everything even better, they all made a homemade red velvet strawberry cake. It was super delicious! Also, I'm going to see the Plain White T's!! Tickets courtesy of some very best friends.

 

A Look Inside: New York Trip

This past week I visited some friends on the East Coast, where I visited Connecticut and New York.

We spent the first few days in New Canaan, Connecticut, which is Jillian's hometown. The town is really cute and there were tons of little stores all around. Her town hall is also the set of the Stepford Wives movie remake.

We spent the next few days going into the city. My favorite place in all of New York City is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We visited the museum, and we got to explore the roof and other neat exhibits. The one exhibit that I was really excited to see was the Punk: Chaos to Couture exhibit, which displayed a variety of punk fashion outfits. The outfits varied by DIY to Prada or Alexander McQueen. The exhibit was really amazing, and I love the styles.

Later, we walked along Central Park and ate at Serendipity3. I had never heard of Serendipity3, but I will never forget the name of it now. They are famous for their frozen hot chocolate, and yes they totally deserve it! The frozen hot chocolate was super super delicious! And we also treated ourselves to a frozen chocolate cake sundae, which was equally as delicious. We left feeling completely full, and we later headed towards Times Square in order to get half price Broadway tickets at TKTS. Later that night, we got to see Once the Musical, which has an adorable story and wonderful songs. I really liked the style of the musical because it had a small cast, where each member was also pit and crew.

 

The other day we spent downtown, we explored all of SoHo and the Village. We ended up finding some really interesting things, like an Indian Culture festival and a vintage flea market.

         

 After doing some browsing and shopping, we ended up at Max Brenner's Chocolate Bar. And wow this place is a death trap for chocolate lovers. There are pipes that distribute chocolate in the main dining hall, there is a chocolate gift shop, and the whole menu is chocolate based. We ended up ordering chocolate syringes and chocolate pizza with peanut butter and marshmallows. However, there was also chocolate cakes, DIY smores, shakes, mochas, brownies, and tons more. I'm super happy I didn't get diabetes from all the chocolate we consumed at this place because when we finished we all gained about 20 pounds!

 Most of the other days we ended up hanging out together. The days were spent mini golfing, lounging around, and hitting the beach. Lots of inside college jokes and new memories were formed. I even got to experience a tropical storm on this vacation.

All in all it was a beautiful trip and I really enjoyed all the new sites I saw and the memories we formed.