Come Sail Away

TGIF is all I have to say. Recently, I've lacked motivation to do schoolwork. I guess Senioritis has officially hit me and I feel myself being ridiculously happy every time the weekend rolls around. Well, this weekend is a little special anyway seeing as my boyfriend turns 22! Tomorrow I'll be taking him to the Top of the Rock as one of his birthday presents and then we're going to his parents house to celebrate on Sunday and then celebrating V-day on Monday. Talk about back to back to back, never ending things. And somehow, I need to write a paper and study for two exams somewhere in there. I'm not complaining though. I'm excited. :) It's nice every now and then to simply get away and pretend you don't have to do a ridiculous amount of schoolwork right? I'll probably regret saying that on Tuesday when everything hits me at once. Ah well, c'est la vie.

 

 

OUTFIT DETAILS

Shirt - Forever21

Shorts - Forever21

Tights - ASOS

Shoes - Forever21

Bag - H&M

Necklace - Boutique in SoHo

And now I'm off to hopefully cross things off my never ending to-do list. Excuse the wrinkly shorts once again! I should really invest in an iron. I hope you all have a great weekend!

P.S. Did you notice that I tweaked my blog a bit? What do you guys think? :)

P.P.S. Happy early Birthday, B <3 I've celebrated 4 birthdays with you thus far and look forward to spending many, many more with ya.

Ten Things I love

1. Pocketwatch Necklaces

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I recently purchased a pocket watch necklace and I love it. There's something so timeless and classy about a pocketwatch. This beauty above is from Modcloth. It's too bad it's sold out.

2. Vintage Keys

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Okay sooo story time. When I was a baby, one of the first gifts I ever got was a gold key pendant from my godmother. At the time, (I'm not entirely sure if this is some type of Dominican myth or not buttt) the key was said to stop nosebleeds which I used to have quite often as a child. I was later told that it had two purposes. It's first purpose was to stop my nosebleeds but its second purpose was to be given to the love of my life on the day of my wedding. I still have the key (obviously because I'm not married) but I think it gave keys a whole new meaning for me. Ever since, I have been obsessed with keys, especially old vintage ones. I already have like two key necklaces but I love this one pictured above. :)

3. Bohemian Handbags

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They just look so pretty to me. Perfect for summer strolls and if you get a messenger, they can fit just about anything. :) This beauty can be found on Amazon.

4. Bright Red Lipstick

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When it comes to make up, I am a minimalist. I hardly do anything besides eyeliner and because my lips are so small, I like drawing attention to them and bright red lipstick is definitely the way to go if you want to draw attention to your lips. The lipstick I love and use is #127 by Inglot.

5. Love Letters

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Love letters are definitely underrated. With technology advancing as much as it has, people rarely take the time out to write anything anymore as there's texting and emailing so readily available. My boyfriend and I are big on cards and we give each other cards for every occasion. I think that's nicer than looking back on a saved text personally. It isn't exactly a love letter, but at least it's handwritten.

6. Polaroid Hearts

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Now that I have my polaroid camera, I cannot wait until I have enough pictures to make a whole heart. Isn't the idea of having the heart where your headboard is supposed to go adorable? I love it. :)  

7. Pictures taken with Fish Eye Lens

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I think I might need to invest in this for my camera. I love how the pictures come out.

8. Quirky Decor for your Home

Isn't this adorable? I, personally, have an obsession with owls. I have three owl necklaces and even an owl bookend but I don't have an owl to hold my mail. This quirky thing is from Urban Outfitters.

9. Old Pictures of NYC

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It's no secret that I love all things NYC, but I especially love being able to see how it was 20, 50, even 100 years ago. 

10. Jewelry Organizers

If you remember from my accessories post, I have A LOT of jewelery and I'm always looking at ways I can organize and reorganize them. This wooden organizer is perfect because it has so many compartments and even some hooks for some necklaces. It can be found on Etsy.

And there you have it. What are some of the things you guys love? I'd love to know. :)

Superbowl Sunday and Wishing for Summer

As most of you know, yesterday was the Superbowl and we had many people over to watch it. 

It was a day filled with a lot of fun and lots of food.

The first picture is all the food that was at our Superbowl celebration, the second picture is of the boy. :)

In addition to preparing for the Superbowl, I also took advantage of this lazy, sunny Sunday to take some pictures of an outfit that isn't entirely adequate for winter but reflected my mood. I needed a break from my winter clothes and decided to pull out some of my summery clothes and showcase them.

OUTFIT DETAILS
Shirt - Random boutique in NYC

Romper (or the floral shorts shown) - Kohls

Tights - ASOS

Red shoes - Forever21

Necklace - Street vendor in NYC

Excuse how messy my room is and how wrinkly my shorts are. I tend to stuff my clothes into my closet and expect them to look as pristine as they did when they went in. And if you notice by some of the signs of sunshine that are present in some of the photographs, the sun finally came out! I hadn't seen it in so long as this winter has been cold and dreary. It was out for a short while today too but it didn't stay out for long. This busy is a rather busy one for  me as I have 3 papers due, a trip to NYC, and B's birthday which means many hours in the library which I should start now rather than continuing to procrastinate. 

I hope your Sunday was as cheery and sunny as mine was! :)

Snow Da-- uhh Ice Day?

Today is the last day to enter my giveaway! It closes at midnight Eastern time in US. :)

So yesterday, we got an inch of freezing rain which is really ice by the time it hits the ground. Now normally, in past posts, I've complained about the weather. However, yesterday's inch of ice canceled all of my classes so for once, this is a happy post about the weather. Because I live with a fellow blogger, we decided to take this opportunity and do what most bloggers would do in our position .... take a ridiculous amount of pictures of one another. The mini photo shoot started off quite serious but ended up being rather silly and there are many pictures where we both tried hard not to laugh and look absolutely ridiculous.

I'm so happy that it's almost the weekend. I love Thursdays because I'm lucky enough to have a three day weekend so Thursdays are really like Fridays to me. Only drawback is that I have class from 9 am to 9 pm which is unfortunate.

OUTFIT DETAILS

Earrings - Aldo
Button Down Tunic - H&M

White Cardigan - Forever21

Black Knee High Socks - ASOS
Grey Shoes - Forever21

Grey bag - Forever21

I got the glasses from Forever21 and even though I don't normally wear glasses (or need them for that matter), I loved these. Also, excuse the fact that I'm pigeon-toed in most, if not all, of these pictures. 

I promise it's not on purpose. For some reason my feet just go that way.

Also, I want to just say that I've reached over 100 followers! 

Thank you all so sooo much for reading, following, commenting, looking, etc. I love all of you <3

Ten Ways to Beat the Winter Blues

Have you entered my giveaway yet? :) Only 3 more days!

It's disgusting out, as usual. I know you're all probably tired of reading my whiny complaints with regards to the weather but it's so easy to feel the winter blues when everything is gray and gloomy. Because of this, I have decided to dedicate my Ten Things Tuesday to ten ways to get rid of the winter blues; simple, easy ways to make that gray and gloomy winter a little more enjoyable. :)

1. Cook more.

Now I know this one may not apply to people who actually cook all the time but as a college student, I find myself grabbing a quick bite to eat ALL the time. I basically survive off of fast food. It's really difficult to find time to actually make something but my boyfriend and I are starting to make a habit out of cooking a little more often (which for me means once a week). Granted, we recently started this habit but I already like it. We went to the supermarket and bought stuff for meals we can make together and cooked that same night. (On a side note, I apologize for the quality of this picture. It was taken with my Itouch). I LOVED this dinner. It was simple and I just love how my boyfriend thinks he's a chef when we cook together. He cut up all the vegetables and even searched through all my cabinets to find matching bowls for the ingredients as if he were on a cooking show. What a dork.

We bought sirloin beef from the supermarket, orange peppers, red peppers, yellow peppers and baby carrots and prepared the meat with soy sauce, a little bit of salt, and a little bit of pepper. The rice came from a GOYA box where I added the rice to a pot of boiling water and let it simmer for 25-30 mins. Quick, easy, and delicious. I definitely cheated on the rice but hey, I'm a college student. If there's an easier way to cook rice, I'm definitely not taking the harder route.

2. Do winter activities
(Who says summer is the only season for fun? Go skiing, snowboarding, iceskating, have a snowball fight!)

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While I was in DC last winter, we had a HUGE blizzard. They had names for it like Blizzaster, Snowmaggedon, I wish I was lying but it's true. I was stuck in my apartment for an ENTIRE WEEK because everything was shut down. Word spread around that Dupont Circle was having a snowball fight and 5,000 people showed up. Sadly, I was not one of them as I was stuck in Arlington, VA but I could only imagine how fun it must have been. 

3. Enjoy lots and lots of Hot Chocolate

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Winter is the one season where having a ridiculous amount of hot chocolate is perfectly normal. Why not take advantage of it? I found an awesome, easy recipe online.

Ingredients

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 cup white sugar

1 pinch salt

1/3 cup boiling water

3 1/2 cups milk

 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup half-and-half cream

Directions 

o   Combine the cocoa, sugar and pinch of salt in a saucepan. Blend in the boiling water. Bring this mixture to an easy boil while you stir. Simmer and stir for about 2 minutes. Watch that it doesn't scorch. Stir in 3 1/2 cups of milk and heat until very hot, but do not boil! Remove from heat and add vanilla. Divide between 4 mugs. Add the cream to the mugs of cocoa to cool it to drinking temperature. 

Only 310 calories, serves 4 people, and it's ready in 5-7 mins!

4. Catch up on some trashy TV or watch a marathon of your favorite TV shows.

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I love love LOVE Criminal Minds, Law and Order SVU, or any show that deals with detectives so when it's freezing out and I have a free Saturday, I love just being in bed watching these shows for hours on end.

5. Give yourself something to look forward to

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For me it's B's Birthday, Valentine's Day, Spring Break, and Graduation! And I just planned a trip to visit my friend in Pittsburgh at the end of the month. I'm so excited to go. :)

6. Get more color into your wardrobe

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If you're anything like me, the winter blues have me wearing black and gray. I guess I feel like my clothes need to match the weather. I think it's underestimated just how much simply wearing a bright, happy color can impact how you feel.

7. Bond with those around you

(I apologize for how blurry this picture is. It was the only picture from that day where we weren't throwing paint on one another or making silly faces).

My roommates and I make excuses to hang out and see one another because we all have conflicting schedules. Because of this, we have designated days for hanging out and enjoying each others company like Wine Wednesday. With all this time you're going to spend indoors, you might as well catch up with the ones you hold dearest. Better yet, you can bond outside of your house as well. Do something like community service where you’ll feel good helping others and thus get you out of a funk. Sophomore year, my roommates and I participated by painting murals (our mural pictured above) in a school in Newark, NJ and it was so much fun. Granted, we had to wake up ridiculously early on a Saturday but it was well worth the trip.We got the gig through Jersey Cares, an awesome website where they tell you about all the community service projects that are going on. I believe every state has one but I'm not entirely sure. 

8. Enjoy as much light as you can

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Because of my hectic schedule, there will be days sometimes where I only see daylight for 2-3 hours. I now make myself wake up a little earlier and actually enjoy the day. It leads to more productivity as well. 

9. Snuggle/Cuddle

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 Let's face it. Snuggling/cuddling is awesome and apparently, it's good for stress! Win, win.

10. If all else fails, put on a feel-good song and jump around! .... or retreat to your happy place if you're a little shy.

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Hey, Soul Sister by Train has to be my favorite feel-good song. I can't help but dance when I hear the song.

Even compiling this list made my winter blues seem to go away a bit. What do you guys do to beat the winter blues?