Apparently, I'm Versatile

So, I've been putting this off for quite a while, but then I ended up with two and couldn't avoid it any more. Recently, I was awarded The Versatile Blogger award by not one, but two lovely ladies! So, first off, thank you Ally and Aki for thinking of me for this award! You guys are the best!


The Rules:
1. Thank the person who gave you back the award and link back to them in your post.
2. Tell seven things about yourself.
3. Award fifteen recently discovered new bloggers.
4. Contact these bloggers and let them know they've received this award.

So, here goes. Seven things:
1. Admittedly, I was hesitant about accepting this award because it says to tag 15 bloggers, and I was being all prissy about how if everyone tags 15 people, it's not really an "award" as much as an "observation" about someone's work. I'm still reconciling with that, so don't hate me. I'm human. I still love all your blogs.
2. One of my life goals is to visit 10 countries every 10 years of my life. Right now, I'm at 13 (i.e. a little behind) but I think I can reconcile that. Travel is a huge passion of mine.
3. Truth: I ramble. I'm awkward and shy sometimes, but I love when people are good listeners and ask me questions, because once I start talking, I find it hard to stop.
4. I have this alternate life planned out for when I'm super rich. It's pretty detailed and involves a library and a firefly room in my house. Don't judge.
5. I can solve a Rubik's Cube. And I used to be able to do it in under a minute.
6. Grammar and punctuation misuse are incredibly huge pet peeves of mine. I own Eat Shoots and Leaves AND The Elements of Style.
7. Music makes my world go round. Sometimes I can be exceedingly antisocial because my headphones are in my ears.

Tagging:
The Everywhereist
SWEATshirtDRESSshirt
A Diary of Lovely
The Upside of Wonder
Action Potential
Precipitate
Confessions of a Shopaholic Medical Student
Meg's Mind
Respect The Shoes
Musing Experiences
Musings of a Silent Mind
The Shine Project
Smart, Pretty, and Awkward
bow ties are cool.
Psychedelic Anemone

You guys rock!

CGIU!

I am so sorry for being all over the place and totally inconsistent over these last few days about posting! I thought things might simmer down a little after my MCAT, but it seems they've just picked up. Suddenly, I'm so busy I've spent the last three days leaving the house at 7 am and not getting back till around 9 pm! Hopefully in the next few weeks, things will go back to normal, but in the mean time, let me introduce you to my biggest (though, most welcome) time suck for this week:


The Clinton Global Initiative is a project started by Bill Clinton that organizes groups to help build innovative solutions to problems (social, economic, environmental, etc) people face around the world. Every year there is a University conference, which focuses mainly on commitments made by college students to do something either in their community or in another. The group I went to India with this past summer, Project RISHI, submitted a commitment, which got accepted to the conference! It's going to be three days long and there is just so much to think about and prepare for it! But, I get to hear the likes of Bill Clinton and Sean Penn speak, so really, why am I complaining?!

Lust List Monday: A Little Lit

I loveee reading. In fact, I generally find myself unable to walk out of a bookstore without purchasing something. My collection of books has been steadily growing (at a rate totally disproportional to how fast I can read them), but as always, I. Want. More.


City of Fallen Angels - Cassandra Clare

Le Petit Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Shogun - James Clavell

Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky

A Glamorously Unglamorous Life - Julia Albain

Aasfkljf. Need more free time.

Blow The Candles Out

Hello lovelies!! I've missed you guys so much! Other than the absolute minimum, I did basically no blog-reading of any kind, and my reader is overflowing with everything I've missed. I want to thank my awesome guest post-ers! Liz, Meg, Karly, and Siew Jye, you gals rock my socks, and just let me know if you ever need me to return the favor!

Dress: Ross; Cardigan & Shoes: Charlotte Russe; Tights: ?; Scarf: Eddie Bauer

I figure a (really old) outfit post is a good way to ease back into things, right? My test went alright, I think. I'm definitely not one to over-analyze things after tests because I feel like it's not worth stressing out about once it's done. Keep calm and carry on, you know? We'll see how I did. I'm mostly just hoping I don't do badly enough that I feel like I have to take it again, haha. And now to enjoy my last day of break in this beautiful spring/summer Arizona weather! Ta!

Hello world. A little care from me.

Hello, readers of A Vigilant Muse!

Hope you're not surprised I am writing here in Mugdha's blog.

I am Siew Jye, and jye is pronounced as Jay. I haven't got myself a Christian name, well, maybe soon.

I am different here because I am a Malaysian Chinese, born and bred in Malaysia.

My blog: jacksjye.blogspot.com and this is me...

So readers, Have you been to Malaysia? How much do you know about Malaysia?
Speaking of Malaysia, what comes across your mind?
When I was in my primary school, in the age of 9, my Malaysia language teacher told us a story. A true story according to him.
Here how his story goes.

" Years ago, a man in western country was forced to transfer to Malaysia due to his company assignment. He was so upset. In his mind, he pictured the situation in Malaysia. Animals wandering around, tree houses, wooden hut above the trees, people wearing one-piece cloth, and mud all the way. The day had finally come. When the plane landed, he couldn't believe his eyes. He saw KLCC twin towers and there were sky scrappers that totally caught his breathe. And then he was greeted by a local Malaysian man. The Malaysian was responsible to provide accommodation for him. And the American told him :" I am so glad that I don't need to stay on the tree."

Well, my teacher probably made up that story. He was not a good language teacher and he used to smoke in the toilet. His reputation was never good.
____________________________________________________________
I am 23 years old now. I am currently pursuing a degree of Engineering in University of Malaya. We do not call it a college here. We call it university. Things are a little different here. University of Malaya is the first ranking university in my country. Things I like are Sports, outdoor activities, reading books and blogs, shopping and fashion. And I am very active in sports. I watch American series such as Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girls, Fringe, CSI, Nikita, Glee and any great dramas and movies.

My friends and I (the most left) in a dinner held in university

My English is not so perfect. People usually rate it FAIR out of the scale of POOR, FAIR and EXCELLENT.
But I am totally willing to improve!
I love blogging too! As enthusiastic as all of you!
And I love to read about people's life, love to visit people's blog, from all over the world.
I am not sure how I discovered Mugdha's blog.
But I guess Gala Darling linked me to you. Anyway, fate has brought us together.

I have read all of the posts in guest blogging. And i have visited your blogs too =)
It's my first time here, so i might doing it lame...

So, I am so willing to hear from you from your comments=)
Hope you do enjoy my post =)

A big thanks to Mugdha!

I was scheduled to post on 25th March. Ahah! It's 2.02 am on 25th in Malaysia now. Interesting right?

Should I say Good night to you?? Haha... good day to all of you =)

hello from idaho!

 

yes ladies, you read right. idaho. yes, the state known for potatoes.

its so great though, you should visit sometime, and we could party.

anyways! i love love love to blog! life is crazy and its important to make

time for yourself and your creativity to come out every once in a while!

my blog is about my husband wade and i. we are newlyweds as of November!

we are the epitome of the word newlywed. we both work and go to school, we

are learning how to save, learning how to cook, learning to learn! we live in a base

ment apartment and love love love being poor married kids. okay, we don't love it,

but we sorta do, because thats how life is, and sometimes you just have to be poor

at first so you can learn how to appreciate things! and kids, thats really what we are.

i mean, i only graduated high school two years ago. i mean, wade's like ancient, a

07'er. sheesh.

anyways! we both do photography on the side and we are learning new things about

the business everyday! its a crazy and competitive talent thats growing! i've taught myself 

everything from learning about the camera to editing in photoshop. i'm always up for suggestions

and researching new things to enhance my photos! you can visit my blog if you click here and you

can visit my photography blog if you click here! :] i also do fun give-aways every once in a while so stop 

by and leave a comment, i'd love it!

Musings from Loni

Hello everyone!

I'm Loni, from the blog Musings of a Silent Mind, and I am-- gasp-- Mugdha's friend in real life.

This would be me.

It all started when we were randomly placed together as roommates in the freshman dorms.  Our friendship grew over mutual love of Harry Potter, procrastination, and nerdiness, and now, 3 years later, we're still sharing a bunk bed (although I'm on the top this time), aiding each other's procrastination and-- apparently-- doing guest posts on each other's blogs!

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited that we have taken our relationship to this next level..  I mean, it wasn't enough that people only text one of us to contact the two of us, or that we have both adopted the pronoun "we" when talking about Friday night plans or favorite ice cream flavors (OK, that last one was an exaggeration, I'll admit), but now we're sharing BLOG POSTS?! Oh me, oh my.  All my dreams have come true.

How cute are we? :P

Anyway, I guess at this point I should really get on with the actual post part of the blog post, but as you may soon find out, my blog posts generally end up being ramblings about random things and include pretty much anything that pops into my extremely scattered mind.  So bear with me here, while we (and by we, I mean I) try to create some order.

In order for you all to get to know me better (and, through me, probably Mugdha) I thought it would be fun to do a list of things that I am currently REALLY excited about.  You can tell I am excited by my usage of CAPS LOCK.  Helpful, that button.

So, here goes, 5 things that Loni is REALLY excited about:

5.  Travel:
I love going to new places!  I feel like traveling to different parts of the world has really allowed me to both understand the world a little better, and understand my own culture and life a little better.  If you ever get the chance to travel around, I would recommend trying to incorporate some sort of immersion experience-- I found that seeing and interacting in the day to day life of another culture is such a better and more real way of traveling and learning about the world! :)

4. Learning New Things:
As I briefly mentioned above, I am a bit of a nerd.  I try to see myself as a student, not only in school, but simply in life.  Any experience, good or bad, noteworthy or not, has something that can be learned from it.  Our job as humans living on this earth is to understand as much as we can, take as much from our experiences as we can, and apply that to our lives in order to make the world a better place.  That sounds a lot deeper than it actually is in application, but the gist is just that I enjoy learning new things and get a bit more excited than my peers about school and/or science and/or reading.  Oops.

3. Photography:
Recently I have become interested in photography (as I think Mugdha may have mentioned in a couple of blog posts).  It all started with my 365 Project, and has been growing into a genuine love for pictures and the art of taking them.  There's something so cool to me about shaping the world around you into your own creative representation.

2. AMIGOS:
I work with an amazing organization called Amigos de las Americas (or AMIGOS).  AMIGOS works in rural areas of Latin America to build partnerships with young leaders throughout Latin America and the U.S. to promote youth leadership, community development, and multicultural understanding (Wow, I sounded like I swallowed the official guidebook or something).  Seriously though, AMIGOS is a wonderful organization!  I first got involved when I was an itty bitty 15-year-old sophomore in high school, and it honestly changed my life.  It got me interested in traveling (I went to Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, and I will go to Panama in May with AMIGOS), gave me self-confidence, ignited a passion for learning about people and cultures, and pretty much directed my entire life path.  Not to be dramatic or anything.  :)  I recommend that everyone check out the website, find a chapter near you, or simply "like" the facebook page.

1. Life!
Right now, I am excited about life! I think it's important to be happy with what you've got, even if you are looking for more. Having goals doesn't mean you should ignore what's right in front of you. I'm trying my best to live in the present! No regrets :)


Hope you all enjoyed this (rather long) guest post!  Feel free to check out my blog, and of course the AMIGOS website! :)

Guest Post ~ Meg's Mind

Hi! I am Meg of Meg's Mind. I am thrilled to be filling in for Mugdha while she studies like a crazy person. Go Mugdha! My blog is a lifestyle blog of sorts. Some fashion, some funny, lots of talk about music. Feel free to go check it out. Feel free to not go check it out. Whatever works for you!

Today, I would like to talk about Glee. I have no television shows that I watch on a regular basis. My schedule is just too crazy and I can never remember what night the shows I like are on and what channel is what and then I catch a movie on AMC or a marathon of Law & Order on TNT and BOOM! 3 hours later, I have missed all of the network television shows . So I am not a regular watcher of Glee. I always enjoy it when I happen to catch it though.

On Sunday, through the time sucking awesomeness that is Hulu, I was able to watch all sorts of clips and episodes of Glee. Vigilant Muse readers, why can't life be more like Glee? Seriously! How fantastic would it be if, as you went about the normal business of life, you could occasionally break for a musical number that perfectly captured the moment? 


If my life were Glee, here is how Monday would have gone:

6:30 AM: Performance of Michael Jackson's "Beat It" as my message to the dogs and alarms that kept waking me up. LET ME SLEEP!

11:00 AM: Performance of Ella Fitzgerald's "Black Coffee."  Megs needs caffeine. All I can think about is a piping hot mug of coffee. With my hands wrapped around it. Seriously, I want it so bad that it is playing out in my mind like some kind of  dream sequence. Steam rises from the mug. I slowly encircle the mug with my hands. I raise the mug to my lips and just as my mouth almost meets the mug, I wake up......

3:00 PM:  "It's a Hard Knock Life" from Annie.  It's just that kind of day.

7:00 PM: "Put On a Happy Face" from Bye Bye Birdie. Because now I must be around people and the current grumpy mood is not going to cut it. I have a presentation to make.

11:00 PM "Sweet Dreams" by Beyonce. Because you know, it's bedtime.

But enough about me, what songs would work today for you? What song should Mugdha's crush, Darren Criss, sing to her to keep her pumped and focused for the big MCAT day?

Tell us all about it in the comments!

Guest Blogger - Elizabeth Illg

Name: Elizabeth

Blog: www.eillg.blogspot.com

About me:

Words that describe me:

Cheerful

Loving

Passionate

Organized

Fun

Favorite hobbies when not blogging?

When I am not blogging you can find me at the gym, on the computer twittering, on my iphone texting, playing words with friends, watch television (all shows are DVR’ed), working, spending time with B (my boyfriend), Miss Rosie (my chihuahua), and with my family!

B & I

Miss Rosie

My Family

What inspired your blog name?

My inspiration for my blog name was that I was not just focusing on one particular subject so I needed a title the defined everything in my life.

How old is your blog?

I started my blog on 9/10/09, posting my first post on 9/11/09.

I would like to share some opportunities that you have within the blog world:

I want to share with you all about an awesome new blog that has come out that I am apart off. We have six ladies that work together on this blog. There are monthly topics that each women covers weekly. My day is Tuesday. I post every Tuesday @ http://inmytwentiesblog.wordpress.com/ You should tune in and follow us! You will be so happy you did!

I also want to let you know that I am hosting a book club for the year of 2011. The book is "The Happiness Project" http://eillg.blogspot.com/p/happiness-project.html If you would like to be apart of this, please let me know!

The blog word is a blessing to me, please take part in all these fun blogs, events/ideas!

My favorite blogs right now:

Life with Heather http://livinwithheather.blogspot.com/

Silky Bowties http://silkybowties.blogspot.com/

Some days are a complete Waste of Make-up http://www.chroniclesofneely.com/

Happiness is a Journey for Janna http://happinessisajourneyforjanna.blogspot.com/

Fir, Fierce, and Fabulous http://caitmanock.blogspot.com/

Contact information for me:

Email: elizabeth.illg@gmail.com

Twitter: @eillg

Facebook: Elizabeth Illg

A Day At The Beach

Mission Beach, San Diego, CA
I spent a good chunk of my day yesterday here with Amy. It was such a blast! The day was gorgeous and we ate so much delicious food. I am so glad to get a small break after finals before studying away my spring break. I'm got some awesome guest bloggers lined up for you guys, whom I hope you'll like! Hope you all enjoy your weekends!

Some Technical Notices

I have a number of little technical things and changes to tell you guys about, but first, let me just take one small fangirling, crazy moment to say: OH MY GOD, THEY KISSED. Pretty much since "Teenage Dream" and more so since "Baby, It's Cold Outside" I think everyone and their mom was just waiting for Kurt and Blaine on Glee to get together, and they finally did! Oh, and then they were top trends on Twitter. But, overall, considering also the amazing New Directions performances and relentless Sarah Palin/Christine O'Donnell mocking, I think it was one of the best episodes to date! Yay! Now to make it through April...

EVERYTHING IS KLAINE AND NOTHING HURTS.

Alright! Well, just some announcements. So, first, I was really surprised so many of you showed an interest in guest blogging while I walk toward my doom. Thank you, all! I'll be getting back to you all as soon as I can so hopefully you'll have enough time to actually write something, haha. Second, the "currently reading" and "blogroll" have been updated! Check 'em out! Especially the blogs, because seriously, those guys are awesome. Third, I know I talk about her all the time, but I finally have a little Miss Hannah Grage button (!) and it's just the cutest thing ever. And last, but not least: Twitter feed! I put it up, and I would love if you read it, but disclaimer: I swear. A lot. Like a dirty, rotten sailor. Probably a bad habit, and I try to keep it to a minimum on the blog and you know, in life, but just be aware that you will see a lot of potty-mouthing. But really, I'm eloquent and well-spoken and I mind my grammar, I swear. No pun intended.

If I sound silly, it's because I have two cups of coffee and a Go Girl in me. And on that note, I'm going to go continue to play "Loser Like Me" on repeat and study for my last final. Ta!

Waiting (and Planning)

One down, two to go.


I might have only chosen this picture b/c the train looks like the Hogwarts Express.

I have two more finals left (the hard ones) until I am officially on Spring Break! Amy of VeryAimee is coming to visit me on Thursday and we're going to do fun things all weekend (like maybe go to Disneyland!) before we head home to Phoenix.
And then I'm gong to spend the next week not interacting with anyone I know, speaking only what I must to the Starbucks barista and local librarian to get myself through the days until next Saturday: MCAT day.

So, what does this all mean? You guessed it! I might need guest bloggers, you guys! It was one of my resolutions this year to do more collaborations, and I happen to think this is a good way to start! Feel free to shoot me a message at mugdhadidi at hotmail dot com if you'd like to do one, but I think I will also be contacting people and pleading on my knees to my RL blog friends to help me out, haha. And remember: I don't bite. Anything goes. :)

A Different Kind of Monday List

I'm pretty ambitious and more than a little bit of a dreamer, so I have a lot of lofty goals, ideas, and plans that generally don't see the light of day. But because of this ambition to always be better, I also often doubt myself and my capacity as a result of things I haven't done yet. Sometimes, I let the fact that I'm probably not going to achieve my "20 countries by 20 years of age" goal, or that I didn't get an internship in Paris, or that my GPA isn't super-spectacular get in the way of my dreaming and working toward those dreams. I think that was a big part of why I was so unhappy with last year.

Then, today, I stumbled across a "letter" on Letters I'll Never Send, that was written by a 25-year-old guy. I wish I could find the link again, but it seems to have jumped ship on me. Damn StumbleUpon. Anyway, he started out by just listing off all the things he'd done in his life and after reading a good number of them, I was sort of thinking it was just some cocky letter about how privileged he was. Then he ended it with, "I've had cancer, been told I was cured, and relapsed with a time limit. I've written this letter to remind myself that no matter what I haven't done, and won't get to do, there are so many things that I have done. I want to remember each of those things as my greatest successes and triumphs."

I was moved.
I need to think about it a little, but I will soon be posting such a list, and maybe some of you will feel inspired as well, and do the same.

Happy Pi Day!

No Tracks

On Thursday, I got to see a lovely little showcase at my school by various acapella groups. I love singing and dancing, and acapella just has this wonderful charm surrounding it that's really fun and awe-inspiring to watch. Of the four amazing groups that performed, the ones that really stood out were the Tritones. Now, they've got a seriously good reputation, and some legitimate credit (they sang back up for Taylor Swift at the 2010 ACM Awards!*) so seeing them live was a real treat.
That has kind of sent me on an acapella group trip. I might have watched every Yale Whiffenpoofs video ever to exist and it's entirely possible that I would be able to recognize any member of USC's SoCal VoCals, Princeton's TigerTones, and BYU's Vocal Point if I were ever to see them. Creepy, I know, but somehow I just can't get enough of not having back-up tracks! It has made me wonder if with any practice, I might be able to audition for one in the fall. I'm sure it has to do a lot with Glee, but I suddenly have crazy musical ambitions, haha.

Some Recommendations:
Lady Marmalade/Ain't No Other Man - SoCal VoCals
Down By The Salley Gardens - The Whiffenpoofs
Happy Ending - BYU Noteworthy

*You can see them around 4:00 of the video.

Tsunami Tragedy

I was going to do a normal post, but I've been seriously distracted by the news all morning and I felt like this was more important. As I'm sure most of you know, northern Japan was hit with a tsunami after an 8.9 magnitude earthquake.
The earthquake and tsunami have caused immeasurable damage thus far, and Japan continues to be at risk for further damage as a result of aftershocks and a possible follow-up quake. Hawaii got hit, though not as hard, and even California was put on advisory this morning. I thought I had it bad when I was woken up at 5 this morning with calls from my frantic parents, but I have friends with family in these areas, some of who haven't heard from their loved ones yet, and I can't even imagine what that must be like. I truly hope that they do hear positive news soon. Japan is in my thoughts and prayers, and I hope you guys are keeping it in yours as well.

I Could...Work At A Hospital

I would love to say I looked this good at my interview today (because perhaps I have aspirations to be a multi-talented, fabulously sexy male), but really, I was kind of rushed and tired and the whole picture-taking-uploading thing just didn't happen like I wanted, so, enjoy this picture. It's way more awesome than I am. Okay.

That all being said though, my interview went really well! I pulled on my most rockin' pumps, listened to some awesome music on the way there, wore my pink wayfarers and by the time I was waiting in the lobby (10 minutes early, mind you), I felt like nothing less than a sweet-talking, super-charming, interview-acing machine. And then I continued to feel that way throughout the interview. Also, I'm pretty sure it helped that I hit no traffic on the way down and it's been a beautiful and sunny 75˚F out today. I think today's going to be a good day.

If I'm coming off obnoxiously happy, and you need a mood lift, CHECK THIS OUT.

What Really Knocked Me Out

Top: Forever 21; Shrug: (not sure...); Leggings: The Westerner boutique, India; Boots: Charlotte Russe; Shades: NYS Neon Pink Wayfarers

This is the first time I've actually posted something I wore the day I actually wore it (well, the day after even), so yay me! Also, I dabbled into some color boosting cause boy has it been overcast and/or bright these past few days. I especially like the way the wayfarers look in the last one. Well, actually, I just like the shades in general. I don't think I have ever felt so much love for one pair of sunglasses. Everything is just better with a pretty rim of pink around it. Seriously.

With finals in a week and MCATs in two, I feel entitled to walking around in my own little hot-pink-rimmed cocky ball of awesome for at least a little while. The confidence boost helps me not stress, haha. Also, I loved a lot of the input you guys had on my last post (because, admittedly, I was worried nobody was going to read it)! Thank you, all!

Chit-Chat

I've always thought that it was sort of a strange thing that when lacking conversation topics, we turn to the weather. Is it just because it's something everyone experiences, because its effects are immediately assessable, or is there something else? While I'm sure it's a combination of these things, I maintain that often conversations about the weather are short-lived. Totally not a good way to make new friends.
I read an article recently on NPR about how we teach kids with autism spectrum disorders to communicate and have conversations (which reminded me a lot of how Gabby deals with Max on Parenthood, so kudos to the writers for doing their research). The article prompted me to look into the subject some more and what's really interesting about this is that all the research seems to point to one of the main struggles being too much "scripted-ness" in conversation. When a lot of these kids faced conversational territories that fell outside of those they had learned, they became uncomfortable and often responded inappropriately, trying to read for signs of a situation they knew.
It seems that in essence, they are being taught to act in a manner they don't always feel. So, I naturally wandered onto the topic of how improv and drama therapy could be helpful, and it was fascinating to read some of the much more dramatic improvements that had been seen using improv therapy over "scripted" behavior!
The main problem I see with these therapies though, is that they aren't enough to allow for adaptation to new social behaviors by learning. Sure improvisation seems to do this, but essentially, one is assessing a social situation based on learned characteristics and acting accordingly, but only so many characteristics of a situation can be learned. Going back to my previous example, the weather, while once a decidedly normal conversation opener seems to be becoming more of a sign of social awkwardness (as viewed in it's emergence in "ironic" use {which is a whole other story}). These kinds of situations would be increasingly hard to adapt to, but I'm not sure how we would go about solving that. Cognitive neuroscience and neurobio, get to it!
Meanwhile, I think it's important (in light of this interview), to learn how to talk to people. Charisma and confidence go a long way, but ultimately content makes a difference and if we can't figure out how to turn our charms into something meaningful, communication becomes essentially useless.

Note: I realize this is different from my usual stuff, but sometimes I have the urge to express that I actually have an interest in things that are not related to consumerism and scarves. Okay. I might have also read excerpts out of David Sedaris's Me Talk Pretty One Day recently, so...that might have had something to do with this.

Weekend Playlist

Over the weekend, I had music on the mind. Old, new, pop, acoustic, all sorts that I listened to and practiced singing along with. That is something I want to try and do more. I love to sing, and since my somewhat short-lived choir days, I want to do it more again. Also, somehow I have managed to forget how to sight-sing and that kind of ticks me off. Nothing like forgetting something you could once do to make you feel like a loser, right? Anyway, my weekend recommendations (with videos for the top 3):


1. "Fader" - The Temper Trap

2. "Location" - Freelance Whales

3. "Dress and Tie" - Charlene Kaye ft. Darren Criss
4. "White Lies" - My Dear Disco
5. "Gypsy" - Shakira
6. "Home" - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
7. "Stop" - Jimmy Eat World
8. "Baby, It's Cold Outside" - Margaret Whiting and Johnny Mercer

Sort of an odd mix, I realize, but still very much awesome. Maybe one of them will make your Mondays a little bit better! :)

Old-World Charm

First, I want to thanks all of you guys who gave me advice on my interview next week. I'll definitely be taking a lot of that into consideration. ♥
Second, I've been listening to oldies and older Christmas music (don't ask, haha) lately, and watching old videos of things, and it's made me really miss that quaint and clever 1950s charm. Well, it wasn't just the 50s even; it was all the way till the mid-70s and then apparently, it just dropped off the face of the earth!

I miss the way people sang duets to each other, with lots of subtle hinting and playfulness and danced together about 1 foot apart. I miss the prevalence of the deep, booming bass voice and its slow, stylish melodies. Mainly, I envy the lack of screaming in music.

It's sad to see so little general politeness left. No tips of the hat or "how do you dos" anymore, sometimes not even holding open doors (though, I think we've managed to hang on to that one for the most part). I think the botox-y advertisements with everyone smiling even have a certain charm to them. But where has all that gone?!

Sometimes, I think I was born about 60 years too late.

Will Someone Please Call The Surgeon?

Dress: ModCloth; Tights: Walgreens; Scarf: thrifted; Booties: Charlotte Russe

Photo credits: Loni

My roommate and I, who I've mentioned before, took these a while ago at a nearby park later in the day, so a lot of the shadows were weird. She clicked away while I proceeded to make friends with some adorable little kids. She edited it a little bit and now it's up on her 365 Project which you all should totally check out. Plug pluggy-plug plug. Okay.
Yesterday, I had a volunteer orientation for a hospital I want to volunteer at, and it's made me a little nervous. Not only was it truly overwhelming as far as the sheer number of people there and the size of this place, but they also gave us a ton of things I have to memorize by my interview next week. Since when does one have to devote this much prep time to interview to give their time somewhere for free and because they want to?! Also, I'm worried that being pre-med here is going to be a detriment. I hope I can emphasize in my interview how much I actually want to be there and meet patients and learn rather than just log hours that look good on my resume. Cross your fingers. I know a lot of you ladies give your precious time to volunteer. Got any tips?

Next Stop, Aix-En-Provence!

In light of not being accepted to that internship in Paris that I wanted (not that big of a surprise, actually), I've been thinking about traveling again. Summer's closer than ever and there are so many places I want to go! London, yes, but recently, the south of France has been looking nicer and nicer as our weather continues to be cold and blech.
Welcome, friends, to my newest destination dream:
Aix-En-Provence, France

La Rotonde



Cathedrale Saint Sauveur

Les Deux Garcons Cafe
How amazing does it sound to stroll the Cours Mirabeau and stop at a cute cafe and people watch; maybe make a wish in the huge fountain? Then stop by the cathedral and marvel at the beauty that is Gothic architecture and question why we can't make buildings like that anymore. I would love to take a day hike around Mont Saint-Victoire just outside of the city and look over the same landscapes as Cezanne (perfect place for outfit pictures!) and Zola did once upon a time. Not to mention that the city is roughly 15 miles from the beautiful Marseille and it's world-famous beaches! Basically, a south of France vacation is sounding much better than anything else I've got planned for the summer right about now. How 'bout it?

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