Monday, April 27, 2015

Home to You

"Ooh, I keep on coming home to you"
~Home to You, The Mowgli's

Hey!

So since my last post was really long and all about my Texas trip, I didn't get to talk about anything from last week! I mean, not much interesting really happened, so this'll probably be a short post, but here goes anyway!

It was SO NICE OUT TODAY!!
Last week was pretty full of just me catching up on school stuff, so it was quite busy for me. I did make some time to hang out with my friends though! It is really nice to see them, but I can't wait for my other friends who went away to college to come back! School is wrapping up for everyone pretty soon, so I'll get to see all of my friends soon, and that fact is my only motivation to make it through my last few weeks of school. Ahh, it'll be so great to have everyone home!!!!


Also, yesterday I went to C2E2 (Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, for those who don't know), which was pretty cool. I go every year, and I swear this year a hell of a lot more people were dressed up! Way more people than usual were cosplaying, which was really entertaining to see! However, my favorite part of the convention is always seeing all of the artists in the Artist Alley! They are all really talented, and I hope to one day have my skills be as good as theirs!

The bleeding hearts are in bloom now!

I am also excited for tomorrow because I am starting my new job at Bath and Body Works! I mean, I'm only going in for training tomorrow night, but still! It'll be cool to be working at a store that I love so much!

Hot Topic top • thrifted cardigan • thrifted shorts • Discovery sunglasses
Well, that's all for now! I simply can't wait for school to be over and for the summer to start, and I have a lot to look forward to, including Chicago this weekend with Cecilia and some other friends!! MAN, I'm so pumped!!

With love,
Olivia

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Take It Slow

"Cause we're ordinary people, maybe we should take it slow"
~Ordinary People, John Legend

What's up?!

Last Sunday, I just got back home from San Antonio! So I'm gonna devote this post to telling every lovely detail of my trip! Although I am glad to be back home, I miss being in Texas a lot, but I will never forget this incredible experience!
First, let me explain what we were going to San Antonio for. I was recently inducted into my school's chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, which is the international honor society for two-year schools. It's actually a pretty big thing; according to PTK international, there are 3 million members! I was also selected to be a part of our chapter's executive board (as the vice president of public relations!), and as a member of the board, I had the opportunity to attend the PTK international NerdNation convention! It's a three day convention that occurs in April every year in a different place around the country, and this year it was in San Antonio! This is a convention where PTK members can get to know one another and learn more about how to have a good chapter and make the best out of your community college experience. The best part about going was being surrounded by people like me: nerds everywhere!

Obligatory plane wing picture
Wednesday (the 15th) afternoon, two limos came to our school to pick up our group of 13. We split into the two limos to ride in style! Four of the people I rode with ended up being the people I bonded with the most and spent the majority of the trip with! I was with my friend Adrian, and got to know Kayla, Brittany, and Andrew! Of course I got to know the other chapter members too, but I got the closest with those few. We got to the airport and most of us were planning on carrying-on our bags, but our advisors convinced most of us to check our bags, which was a bit of a risk (especially since one of our members, Hayley, had her luggage lost! She had to wait until Thursday night for her bag to be sent to Texas and to our hotel...). We then proceeded through airport security, where I predicted that someone from our chapter would get randomly selected, and sure enough, Adrian was (we're pretty sure it wasn't random...he's Mexican.). Our flight was supposed to be about three hours long, but luckily it was a little under two hours long! This was great because I actually greatly dislike flying...
We got to the Marriott Rivercenter Hotel kind of late, but we did have time to explore the RiverWalk a bit. It was a beautiful night, and everything was so pretty by the river and the convention center! There were stairs, paths, and bridges everywhere around the river for exploring, which was tons of fun. I shared a room with Brittany and Hayley, so I got to hang with them a lot.

Our hotel was really big and fancy!

Brittany, Kayla, Andrew, Adrian, and I exploring the RiverWalk!
The best part of this trip was how much freedom we got. Our school gave each of us $200 to spend on food only, and our advisors let us go anywhere we wanted to eat, and let us go anywhere we wanted to explore as long as we made it to the convention events on time. Thursday morning, the five of us had breakfast at the Denny's that was right across from our hotel (subpar, I know, but we didn't have much time for anything else...), then went to register for the convention. Everyone got a schedule for the weekend and a pair of nerd glasses (tons of people were wearing them and I felt so accepted...cuz, well, I already wear nerd glasses...). The events for Thursday didn't start until the afternoon, so our advisors thought it'd be fun to take our group to the Alamo! It was within walking distance of the RiverWalk, so we got to walk through the beautiful city to get there. We got to walk around and explore then take a tour of the Alamo. It was really interesting and I learned a lot, considering I didn't really know much about it going in. 

Here we are right before the Alamo tour!

After touring the Alamo, our advisors let us free and we had a few hours to wander around and do what we wanted before the first educational forum we had to go to. There were 5 forums throughout the weekend, and each had numerous areas we could choose from, so we'd all split up and go to different hour-long forums and meet up afterwards. First, I went to a forum about the scholarships available to PTK students, which was pretty informational because a huge advantage to being in PTK is some exclusive scholarships! The next forum I went to was about the Honors in Action project, which was okay. After the forum, everyone from our chapter met up and went to a regional meeting, which was were we met up with all of the other chapters from Illinois. We got Illinois Region PTK t-shirts and just talked about some business stuff. After that, everyone was super pumped up because the next thing was a general session, at which John Legend was to speak! The five of us were assigned to save seats for the general session, so we waited in a pretty big crowd outside the large convention room/theater area. When they eventually opened the doors, it was a mad rush to run in and get seats! Everyone was sprinting in, and this room was HUGE. There were so many seats facing the stage, which was also enormous; it reminded me of awards shows like the Oscars! The seats were organized by region, so we found seats in the Illinois region, which was pretty much right in the middle of the room. Then, the PTK International president and 4 vice presidents welcomed everyone to Nerd Nation 2015, they had the all of the flags representing all of the states and countries present shown, and then they introduced John Legend! He gave a fantastic speech about love, and I was blown away by his speaking ability and everything he said! After his speech, he walked right over to the piano on the stage and performed three songs (two I didn't recognize and then All of Me)! Let me just say, John Legend is amazing. His voice is beautiful and he can really sing extremely well! He's such an emotional, authentic performer and he deserves his fame as a musician!

Here he is from our view! These screens were also really nice, and everything was so professional!

Such a beautiful performance!
After John Legend's amazing performance, my friends and I were pretty tired, so we decided to call it a night. Friday was a pretty packed day, and it started early. Our first educational forum was at 8:30 so my friends and I got up pretty early so that we could quickly grab some breakfast from the Starbucks at our hotel (I got a green tea and a strawberry yogurt parfait three mornings in a row...). The forum I went to was with Adrian and was about Improv and how it could be applied to PTK. Personally, I think it was just an excuse to do some improv and have fun! There were several different activities, like this game called machine, and also some conversation activities where we had to practice listening. It was pretty fun because it was interactive! We had a chill lunch at the restaurant built into the hotel next door, and then went to the next general session. At this one, Dr. Michio Kaku spoke, which many people were excited about, but I had no idea who he was! He talked about his predictions for the future, which actually terrified me a lot. Fun fact, I'm kind of scared for the future and HATE robots and the idea of a society with technology and a lack of privacy and all things natural, so I really disliked the speech...

I don't remember where we were when I took this, but here we are in our cute Illinois PTK shirts...represent!

Friday night, our advisors treated us to dinner! They took us down the riverwalk in a way we hadn't explored yet, but it was absolutely amazing! We walked right along the river down by lots of restaurants and shops. It was beautiful because there were different levels, stairs, and bridges and lots of outdoor restaurants. There were also lots of mariachi bands walking around and performing, which was actually really awesome! We went pretty far down to this Mexican restaurant, which was AMAZING. The best Mexican food I've ever had, but that's to be expected because we were in San Antonio! Everything was super delicious! After dinner, we were just given time to hang out and do whatever we wanted, so my friends and I enjoyed walking around the riverwalk some more and got ice cream from the Ben and Jerry's store. We then went back to the hotel and relaxed in Adrian and Andrew's room playing Cards Against Humanity and Never Have I ever. It was great to bond with everyone and was a nice way to end the evening!
Saturday was also a pretty packed day, but was still lots of fun! The first forum I went to was the best one yet; I went to a forum about teambuilding and it was not like any of the others! All of the chairs were lined up against the walls so we could use the whole empty room. We were given instructions to find a partner who had the same shoe size as we did, and we had to get to know that person and converse with them. Next, we had to find a partner born in the same month as we were and get to know them. Lastly, we had to grab the person within a close proximity of us and get to know them (this was pretty funny - I grabbed the shoulders of this girl right next to me and screamed "You're mine!" and kind of scared the crap out of her...she got a good laugh out of it though!). Throughout the forum we had to reunite with these different partners, which was a great way to get to know people! At the end, we had to get into groups of four and find a similarity all four of us had (in our group, each member could play at least two musical instruments!), and lastly, we had to merge with another group to make a group of eight. Our group of eight ended up being really cool and charismatic and I loved getting to know them! I even added a few of them on facebook and got a selfie with them! Such cool people! One of the guys, Jake (all the way on the left in the selfie), remembered me from the Improv forum, and I recognized the girl Jenny (all the way on the right in the selfie) as the Illinois region president!

The best group in the best forum!
We had a few hours for lunch on Saturday, so my friends and I thought it'd be fun to go back to the riverwalk and find a good restaurant there. Everything looked so good, so it was hard to decide, but we eventually chose an Italian restaurant because, let's face it, Italian food is the best.

Everything, including this bruschetta, was so freaking delicious.
After eating, we had some time to wander around before the next forum, so we decided to chill outside by the riverwalk for a bit. It was really nice out, and one of the only times it wasn't too humid, windy, or rainy!

So beautiful, and sporting my lovely new PTK sweatshirt!


We then made our way back to the convention center for our last forum. The one I went to had a panel of a few transfer students to give tips about surviving at a new school. It was really informational and I'm really excited to transfer (I just have to stick it out one more year here and I'm good!)! After the forum, we had some time to get ready for later, where we had to get dressed up! We were told that we had to dress nicely ("at least business casual") for the upcoming banquet and awards gala, so my friends and I wore cute dresses and did our makeup and hair and whatnot. But once we got to the next general session, we felt extremely underdressed. I kid you not, a good majority of the girls there were in prom dresses/evening dresses! Everyone looked so beautiful and dolled up, and as one of my friends put it, it felt like we were at "Nerd Prom" (more on that later.).

Brittany, Adrian, and I felt classy, yet a bit underdressed for the evening...
The general session was pretty boring at the beginning, but then the author Malcolm Gladwell came out and gave a speech. I didn't think I'd like it because I had read his book "The Outliers" in the past and didn't really like it, but his speech was great, made a lot of sense, and kept me engaged and thinking! He talked about talent, hard work, and success. I definitely left inspired. After the general session was the banquet, so we had to rush out to find a table in the next ballroom (a lot of people left during the speech to go get seats... I thought that was extremely rude!). Everyone from our chapter got a table together except for me, Adrian, Andrew, and our advisors, so we had to sit at a table with some people we didn't know. But it was fun to bond over a fancy banquet dinner! The table was set to beautifully and I felt so fancy, yet didn't know which silverware to use!

Lookin hella fine at the banquet!


Next, it got pretty fun. One of the ladies at our table started tying the cloth napkins together to make a necklace, or "lei", to give to her son (who was at our table), and told him to go put it on someone. Our advisors explained to us that it was a PTK tradition for the guys to make a napkin lei then go surprise a random girl he doesn't know by sneaking up on her and putting it around her neck. They would then introduce themselves and take a picture together. The girl would then either pass the lei along to another guy, keep it around her neck, or get rid of it. This was so great to see and an awesome way to interact with people we didn't know (and it was fun to hear people say "you got lei'd" haha!)! The guy at our table was just as confused as we were, but did it anyway, and went over to the table of other people from our chapter and lei'd Hayley! My friends and I were skeptical about this because we didn't see anyone else doing it, but eventually, everyone in the ballroom was up doing it; there were people running around lei-ing other people and tons of girls walking around with leis around their necks. Adrian and Andrew disappeared to go to the bathroom, so Brittany, Kayla, and I wandered around a bit. Then suddenly, while we were walking, some random guy RAN up to me and threw a lei around my neck! It caught me by surprise (the lei was heavier than I thought it'd be...), and we took a pic together. I ended up making the mistake of taking the lei off, because soon enough it happened again! After the second time, I thought it was really fun, so I took it off again, and ANOTHER guy gave his to me! By this time, Brittany and Kayla were complaining because no one was lei-ing them. I felt really bad, but it was an incredible confidence booster! I felt really special! To be fair, Kayla said she didn't want it, and Brittany has a boyfriend so she thought it'd be uncomfortable. Then lastly, some guy had two and lei-d both me and Brittany at the same time. This was so extremely fun and I don't remember the last time I felt so special and flattered!

So I got lei'd four times tonight...holla ;)
After the banquet we had the Hallmark Awards Gala. This was where chapters were awarded for their achievement. This ran kind of long, but it was fun to support the other chapters in our Illinois region! When the awards ceremony was over, there was a "Farewell dance" in the ballroom at our hotel. My friends were pretty against it because they thought it'd be lame, but I insisted that we at least stop by for a bit and feel it out, and if we didn't like it, we could leave. We got in there and it was a bit awkward at first (Adrian and Andrew ended up leaving to go pack....), but then it got really energetic and fun! We ended up staying the whole time! This is where it really felt like "Nerd Prom", except this was way different from my actual prom. To be completely honest, I think it was actually better than my high school prom! There was no grinding, just people dancing around and having fun! We were all nerds, so we all felt accepted and that we could be crazy around each other! The music wasn't that bad, and we ended up having a great time! At one point, a group of Hawaiian students danced by us and one girl put a shell lei around my neck and hugged me, and later, some random guy grabbed my hands and started dancing with me and spun me around. I felt super special and that I could be myself (Kayla and Brittany liked watching all of this happen to me!)! Later, I ended up seeing Jake (from the sessions earlier) from across the room, and we recognized each other and he came up and hugged me and danced with me a bit! I ended up running into him a couple more times during the night, and at one point we found Ryan from earlier too and we were all reunited at the dance (and he even found me after the dance as I was leaving and hugged me and said goodbye; I hope to see him and the others again in the future!)! Things were so fun and there were even people crowd surfing (Jake included!)! This was definitely one night I will never forget!

The dance was so fun!
So yeah! That was pretty much my trip! It was incredible and I apologize for the long post, I just didn't want to forget anything! My friends and I had a couple running jokes throughout the trip, and they were that I had two goals for the trip: 1. to make a friend from another school, and 2. to carry the Illinois signs (at every general session, they had people from each region running around in a train with letters to spell out their region), and I ended up accomplishing both! This trip was truly unforgettable and I hope everyone I met and got to know will keep in touch and I can't wait to participate more in PTK in the future!!

With love, 
Olivia

Pure Bliss :)


So as stated in my last post, I've  been in the midst of a really stressful week. Between getting sufficiently prepared for my finals, packing up my room and having a lot of students come in to the tutoring center this week..things were pretty tough. I even stopped using Facebook until I was able to be productive. Which, for the record, kinda worked! :)

However, I had a super fun evening yesterday that totally eased my mind. It's a tradition amongst the writing center tutors to have an end of the semester gathering at our boss's house. Since this is my first semester working at the WC, I'd never attended one. I was super excited to hang out with my co-workers/buddies cuz we're all kinda friends too and pet my boss's many cats. 
Turns out, the kitties were super sweet but also, the house was one of the prettiest I've ever seen! It was right on Lake Superior so there was a little path that led to a beach. My friends and I ran down there, took our shoes off and drew pictures in the sand. Words can't describe how tranquil and lovely it was. 


It was so nice to just get a break from the mundane life of sitting in my room and studying. It's weird, but I really am going to miss my job! I can't wait to come back in the fall and work more hours/spend more time with these awesome people I've met! I feel so very blessed to have come across this opportunity, all because I randomly signed up for an English/yoga class without realizing it. It turned out that the prof of that class was the writing center director, so I got the idea to apply and here I am! Tutoring is great because I love helping others, and writing too.

I also have been doing a lot of last minute outings with my friends lately because we are all saying goodbye for the summer! I'm really going to miss the awesome people I've met up here in the UP.

With that being said however, I'm also super excited to be home. I will be reunited with Olivia and our other friends in UNDER A WEEK NOW :) I can't wait.

Well, I gotta get goin. Finals and all.
MUCH LOVE,
Cecilia :)

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Stressed.

Since I'm feeling so overwhelmed with final exams coming up, I'm just going to post some photos of some things that make my happy.
Enjoy.

Corgi puppies, out for a run
TBT to a time when it wasn't snowing
The consistently wonderful blue man group


This photo.



I know that this isn't much, and I wish I could do a cute photoshoot like Olivia had for her last post, but there will be a lot more coming up soon! I just have to really focus right now, but I still wanted to post. I also think it's really important to have  some funny photos to look at when you're going through a stressful time. I can't wait to come home, it's only a week or so away now, and this is the final stretch.
Bye for now!
Cecil

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

When I See You Smile

"When I see you smile, I see the sun, and through the sun's rays, I see the moon."
~Wondergirl, Authentic Fiction

Hey!

So I've been pretty happy lately. I have a lot to smile about and be excited about! I sold some clothes to Plato's Closet yesterday and bought this dress on clearance, and I could not be happier about it! It's my favorite color (aquamarine!) and I just love the way it looks. It kind of reminds me of candy or a birthday cake, and I was even told I looked Katy Perry-esque today! I just thought I'd dress cute because, well, why not!?

Lovin the weather lately!


I can't wait for tomorrow! I am leaving to go to San Antonio tomorrow, and I'll be gone till Sunday. I'll be sure to take tons of photos and to post them here so I can share all about it! I could not be more excited. Since I go to a community college, there aren't many fun school-sponsored events or activities that people actually go to and have fun at, so I am thrilled to finally be a part of something that will not only be fun, but will also be an amazing learning experience! I'll finally be surrounded by like-minded students and get away from Illinois for a while!!


thrifted dress • thrifted shoes • Discovery sunglasses • Icing bow

I guess the down side to missing school is I have a ton of homework to do, but I finished most of it today, and I'm getting an extension on a big project (that I actually haven't started yet...whoops). I just can't wait to forget about classes, even if it's just for a few days! Other than that, I don't have much else going on, just stuff to look forward to! Which isn't really that bad :)

With love,
Olivia

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Spring in Marquette: A photo shoot series

Hello!

So I don't have a lot of words for you right now. However, I do have some pretty sweet photos! Yesterday, to celebrate the 50-60 degree weather that is currently upon us in Marquette, I did a photo shoot in a local park with one of my friends.  We took a lot of photos, but these ones were my personal favorites.
Check it out!

Just hangin out :)



Trying to be a little dramatic


Had to get some random dude to take this one



My photographer did a good job catching me right as I jumped




One really cool thing about the area that I go to college is that my grandmother grew up here in Marquette, and spent a good amount of her childhood here. Then when she grew up and had a family of her own, she would bring my mom and her siblings up to visit and they used to play at this very park! I guess I kinda felt like I was contributing to our family lineage by coming back and experiencing what both my mom and my grandma did as children. To me, that's super cool.

Well, that's all for now. Happy Sunday!

~Cece~



Friday, April 10, 2015

I Don't Mind

"Everybody seems to wonder why I go right back to you every time, but I don't mind, I don't mind."
~Amazing Eyes, Good Old War

Hi!

The past few days have been pretty uneventful besides a couple things, so since talking about school is boring, I'm just gonna talk about some small stuff!

Chillin in the rain with my yellow umbrella

It's been raining for most of the day today, but I'm glad it was the pretty, light rain so that I could bring out my yellow umbrella and take pics outside! And yes, I'm a huge How I Met Your Mother fan (Cecilia actually got me into it a long time ago!), so when I found this umbrella, I was elated!



The most exciting thing to happen to me was this past Monday, I got a part time job! I'm going to be working as a sales associate at our town's Bath and Body Works, which is perfect because that is my all-time favorite store! I am beyond excited! I was also very surprised to get the job, because I went in there on Monday to simply just turn in my application, but I then got to talking to one of the managers and she said they wouldn't even need to interview me and offered me a job on the spot! I feel so honored and I actually can't wait to start!


Yesterday was also pretty crazy. It was thunderstorming in the morning, but it cleared up in time for me to go take my sociology test (thanks a lot.), and then 5:30 I went back to the school for a game night with the honor society. It was a lot of fun to hang out with everyone and play the Game of Things, and then suddenly we started hearing about a tornado watch in the area. Some people there thought we should end the game night and they went home. However, it became pitch black outside and there was a tornado warning in effect in our area, so when my friend Adrian and I were literally right about to leave, we thought it'd be best to just stay at the school. The tornado sirens went off and the campus police came on over the intercom telling anyone who was still at the school to take shelter. Our advisors and the rest of the group that was still there hurried over to the women's bathroom nearby to take shelter, and there were already tons of people in there from nearby classrooms. It filled up pretty quick and a lot of people were freaking out because we heard about how bad it was getting (Buzzfeed had an article about the tornadoes in Illinois yesterday). We ended up having to stay cramped in the really hot bathroom until 8:30, and I had to drive Adrian and myself home while it was pouring out and had lightning nonstop in the distance. It was some of the most scary driving I've ever had to do; the fastest setting on my windshield wipers could not keep up with the rain and I could hardly see the road! But thankfully, we made it and our area was spared. It was quite an adventure!

The pic our advisor posted on our group's Facebook page of us chillin in our school's bathroom during the tornado
Also, like Cecilia posted, I am really excited for summer! I can't wait to complete our bucket list, which actually seems pretty plausible! School doesn't get out for me until May 14, but on the bright side, that is only about a month away! Wow, I didn't even realize how close that was until just now... WOO!


thrifted dress • thrifted cardigan • shoes from Ross
Well here's to more adventures in my last month of my first year of college!

With love, 
Olivia

Things I'm Looking Forward To/Summer Bucket List

Hey everyone!

So, this post is pretty much what is going to get me through the horrors of finals week approaching pretty soon. I only have THREE weeks left in the semester, so I can see the finish line! There's just so many different things that I'm looking forward to that I can barely contain myself.

On an aside, I did a cool thing today. I gave a presentation at NMU's Undergraduate Research Celebration about the scientific benefits of reading out loud! I actually studied this because I'm a tutor for our school's writing center, and I always ask my students to read their papers first in our tutorials because they can usually catch their own mistakes when doing so. However, I wanted to know the exact reasons behind it which have to do with intonation and some neuroscience as well. I guess the neat thing about it was that I really do find these topics interesting so presenting about it made me happy. It was a little scary being in front of such intellectual people, but I think I did a pretty good job. Also, what can do wrong when I'm wearing my powerhouse yellow cardigan? :) And I wouldn't dare present in front of people without a cute dress. That's like a sin in Cecilia World.



No idea what this gesture was.





Photo credit to one of my fellow tutors

Anyway, back to things I'm looking forward to! So, I'm gonna do this in list format because that's just the kind of person I am.

1. Detriot
So this one seems kinda weird, but next weekend I'm going home with my friend from school who lives in Detroit and visiting her family and stuff too! I've never been to this area so it'll be a great road trip as well as a new adventure. I always love meeting new people, and we're seeing a musical so there's that.

2. Prom
I may be out of high school, but our drama department has a prom so looks like I'm going for a third time! I really like dressing up so I think that it'll be a great time. Who doesn't love good food and music after all? I'll be sure to post photos in a few weeks! 

3. Book of Mormon
Self explanatory? I think so. I mean, I've only been waiting months to see this so you can say I'm pretty pumped. Plus I'm going with my best friends and my sister so that's pretty sweet too! 

4. Being at home
Don't get me wrong- I love school. However, I do miss being in my own room and seeing my family every day too. Not to mention NOT COLLEGE FOOD. I cannot emphasize this enough. I mean, I'm not talking about spontaneous pizza nights or trips to Applebees for HALF APPS because at least that's fun...but sometimes the cafeteria food is just tooo much. I've really come to appreciate like good spaghetti since being at school. Seems kinda random but it's true.

5. California
This is a really big one! This summer, towards the end of May, I'll be going to visit some friends from school in CA and go to Disneyland since a few of them are working there in the College Program. I'll be traveling to San Diego first and staying with my friend Sheila, then probably going up to Anaheim to see them as well as some relatives and family friends who are out there. I'm super excited because I've never really traveled this far by myself, and I think that it will be a grand adventure. Seriously so pumped.

6. Camp Newaygo
After I return from my CA trip, starting in June, I start working this summer! I'll be camp counseling and teaching Drama amongst other things at this all-girls Resident Camp in lower Michigan and I am genuinly looking forward to it. In terms of other jobs, this will be completely different then what I'm used to, having worked at a department store before and a Writing Center currently. It'll be an interesting adjustment since I won't really be using my phone or social media but I'm really hoping to have fun while making a difference in the lives of my campers. I will however, try to put up a post on here on occasion!

Aside from all of this, a couple of my friends and I made a bucket list for things we want to do while I'm home. Here it is, and I must say, it's pretty awesome.

1. Chicago

2. Some type of Zoo

3. Water balloon/water gun fight

4. Pool party

5. Thrift shop tour

6. Fancy brunch (somewhere BESIDES IHOP)

7. Stay all night @ IHOP

8. Go to Gurnee Mills Mall

9. Dress up super nice and go to Olive Garden

10. Photoshoot in VA

11. Camp outside in my backyard

12. Makeovers!

13. Wisconsin ROAD TRIP

14. Make a fancy meal

15. Cake fight: Part 2

And that's what we have so far! Even though exams are lingering around the corner... I'm so excited for what is ahead.

All for now!

Cecilia

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Love Comes For Free


"Love comes for free, oh love comes for free."
~Love Comes For Free, Act of Congress

Happy Easter!

Today has been a pretty chill day. All I've wanted to do is listen to nice calming music (like this song), and take a bath, which is exactly what I did. Earlier, my family and I went to my grandmother's apartment for a nice Easter lunch, then I got to go home and relax. Although the relaxing will end when I finally get around to doing my homework that's due at midnight...I'm gonna chill out while I can!

I think the warm weather is finally here to stay!
The lovely eggs I dyed :)
The past couple days have been great! I got to hang out with a few of my best friends because they were home for Easter break. I love having them around because we never have to do any big things to have fun - all we do is chill out, eat ice cream, and play board games or video games occasionally (my best friend Rachel has been obsessed with monopoly lately...but I beat her in our game yesterday so maybe her obsession will end soon?). Also, hanging out with them is the best because there's not much else to do here in boring ol Illinois!



Yesterday, if anyone saw, was a blood moon! I didn't even realize it was supposed to be last night, but I ended up catching it right on time! I had to bike ride back to Rachel's house after I ate dinner, and as soon as I got outside, the moon was the first thing that caught my eye. It was enormous, perfectly full, and a beautiful shade of orange! It was really cool to be biking at night under that beautiful moon!


Another thing I've been doing lately is watching a lot of movies. I'm trying to find some good obscure movies, and I've found some good ones on Netflix. I hope to find more soon, and hopefully they'll be as good as some of the ones I watched recently! The best one I found was called In Your Eyes, which is a movie about two strangers who have a strange telepathic connection that eventually screws up their current lives and leads to them falling in love with each other. I highly recommend it!

thrifted Forever 21 dress • thrifted shoes • Charlotte Russe sunglasses • Icing bow
 I hope everyone had a great Easter, and the rest of April is great as well!

With love, 
Olivia