La Alhambra

If memory serves me correctly, this snapshot I took while visiting la Alhambra on my trip to Granada is of one of the remaining pieces of work from the original structure. Since the Alhambra has been through hell and back since its construction, it's more of a surprise than there's even this much left!

Liebster Award

I was just nominated by Jenn from Fondue You Love Me? with the Liebster Award! It is for blogs with under 200 followers that you love to spread some attention to smaller blogs out there.

R U L E S:

1. Answer the questions your award-giver has provided.
2. Choose 1 new bloggers to pass the award onto and link them in your post.
3. Create 11 new questions for chosen bloggers.
4. Go back to their page and tell them about the award.
5. Each blogger should post 11 random facts about themselves.
6. No tag backs!

Q U E S T I O N S:

1. How did you pick your college?

That's a long story! I'll make it short though. Basically, I was all set to go to this school in northern New York--early acceptance and everything--but I quickly discovered I couldn't afford to go there at all. And say what you want about loans, but NO college is worth a $100,000 debt upon graduation. Washington College was my default school because I already knew I was in. After a few visits, I realized I loved it, and now here I am three years later! I literally only applied to three schools!

2. Current trend you love?

Mmm...that's tough. I used to be so much more on top of trends and whatnot, and now I've completely fallen off the track! I guess I really love anything that seems like you've just thrown it on. Like an over sized T with leggings and boots and mussy hair. That kind of stuff.

3. Color for the summer you're loving?

Oh, light fluorescent pink for sure! It looks awesome with a tan.

4. One beauty product you cannot live without?

My Clinique face lotion! I use it everyday (save for my forehead). I've used it since I was a little girl.

5. Who is your celebrity crush?

Do you have all day? I supposed my ultimate is Cho Kyuhyun from Super Junior! Basically any guy with a deep singing voice...

6. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Salmon. I love that fish more than anything in the world. Classically cooked, smoked, whatever.

7. Favorite online store?

Ebay! Haha, is that cheating? I love going there for some cool finds.

8. One skill you would like to learn before you die?

How to do a split! 

9. Something interesting you learned recently?

Ooh, this word, "archaeoastronomy." It's about how structures on earth are lined up with certain things in the sky in a nutshell. There's more on it, I just found it fascinating. Imagine doing that for a living.

10. If you had to live in a decade other than the current one, which one would you choose?

Fifties hands down. There were so many different things going on plus the style is by far my favorite.

11. Sailboats or cruise ships?

Neither! I get terrible sea sick no matter what, so I'll stay landlocked, thank you very much.

1 1  R A N D O M  F A C T S  A B O U T  M E:

1. I watch so many sitcoms it's gotten ridiculous. And, yet, they all somehow go on two week hiatuses at the same time...

2. I am indoors kind of girl. I do like flirting with the idea of nature walks, but over all the thought of not having indoor plumbing and air conditioning for those humid days makes me want to shrivel up inside.

3. I write poetry on and off. Maybe one day I'll share it here, who knowssss?

4. I also really love photography though I don't have a DSLR or too much extensive knowledge about it.

5. I'm the oldest of of three siblings, but I feel and look the youngest.

6. I wish I could sing/dance/act/play an instrument. It saddens me to know I can't!

7. I loved the Jane Austen world before that was even a thing.

8. I also love smutty romance novels. Oh my gosh, those days you just need a break from all the literature, a good romance novel is the perfect medicine. But it's got to be good--good writing, NOT predictable, and not cliched.

9. I debate whether I should have bangs or not on a daily basis.

10. I didn't realize it, but I definitely gained the Freshman 15 and the Sophomore 30. Right now I'm 30 pounds over the weight I was when I came to college, and I absolutely hate it.

11. I used to not be artsy in the least bit, but Pinterest revolutionized my life.

M Y  Q U E S T I O N S:

1. When was your first kiss?
2. What would be your ideal meal?
3. What's a book that changed your life?
4. If you could be best friends with a fictional character, who would it be?
5. What's your dream job?
6. What's one language you wish you knew fluently?
7. What was your biggest disappointment in life and how did you overcome it?
8. To which social media device are you the most addicted?
9. Biggest guilty pleasure?
10. Song on replay right now?
11. Favorite season and why?

 I  T A G:

Ah, I'm so terrible with this! I don't know enough blogs personally yet. I tag the first five people who want to do this!

[Sorority Stuff] Family

Okay, so I don't know about all of you, but for ZTA and for all the girls I know in other school's sororities, when you join you get a sorority family. It comprises of you, your big, her big, etc. Sorority families can be extensive with multiple lines or they can be singular with a one-little policy rule. It really doesn't matter, some find the more the merrier better, others find the one-only better. My sorority family technically has one line with the City Family, but we have a branch called the City Love Family. That's another thing, we name our families. We have the ladybug family, the tie-dye family, the bubblicious family, etc. Each one does cute things for each other and whatnot. Some families go fam-crazy, others aren't close at all, and others are in between. My family at least treats each other more as friends than strict big-little relationships.

Anyhow, now that I have gotten a little (actually I got one back in February, oops on that post!), I have discovered some etiquette I would like to bequeath on you. Now, I understand everyone feels differently, and feel free to contradict me because when it comes to Big-Little stuff, everything can get sensitive (that was a little sarcastic, and I'm not even sorry for it!).  But here are some of my rules.

1. Don't refer to your big or little as "Big" or "Little" when talking about them to other people. Saying "Oh, my big did this and that" is acceptable but saying "Big did this and that" is not. I don't refer to your big as Big, I refer to her by her name. When you're talking to me, don't refer to her as such. Say her name or say "my." It's a pet peeve, so it's one of those things that is split down the middle in terms of preference.
2. Don't refer to your family as "the best." It's rude. I love my family, and I think we're pretty awesome, but I'm not going to tell you they're the best. All families are pretty cool in their own ways, and they fit each person perfectly. Mine is perfect for me because my big doesn't try to patronize me, and I do the same for my little.
3. Don't go overboard with your family. Holy moly have I seen this many a times between all my friends in different sororities. The pressure on a poor girl to get a little is awful! It's more important that your littlest little makes a connection with a girl to join your family not just the fact that she gets a little. It leads down dangerous and drama filled paths. 
4. Seriously, though, don't patronize your little. In reality she's at most three years younger than you but more often just one. She's not an infant; she's not a toddler. Spoiling a bit is perfectly okay as is showing affection, but treating them like children is annoying for all people everywhere
5. With that said, take care of your little! Make sure you're putting in effort to hang out with her and getting to know her more. I know for us, the time period between initiation and Big-Little Reveal is short, so truly getting to know a new girl isn't going to happen so quickly. Make sure you're trying to have lunch with her or go out with her or whatever meshes for you both. My little and I just had dinner today and hung out at Relay 4 Life together because we've both been hidden under rocks with our work. My big and I usually make time to see each other once or more a week if not more.
6. Don't be exclusive. Holy crap, don't do that. Talk about annoying. You should be able to invite another sister or two to a "family gathering" without it being uncomfortable. Don't make people feel left out, it's not very nice, and it's so awkward.

Over all, those are my little rules. I've noticed this in a lot of different families between all my friends, so I thought I'd share to future and present sorority girls! Also remember to keep it goofy ;).

A Timeline of Sorts

While I'm still organizing my thoughts on this blog and attempting to make it a little more cohesive as well as consistent, I thought I would share some of my history as a blogger with you all. Since, you know, I started blogging when all the cool kids did and now I'm back to square one and they're all big and famous! (Helloooo, one time, Emily of Cupcakes & Cashmere commented on one of my posts. And this was before that was an OMG moment). Long before Tumblr became a thing, when Twitter was an infant, Facebook didn't have pages, and Pinterest didn't even exist, I was blogging away. Let me bring you back to the beginning, circa 2007 when I was fifteen and wanted to gorge on fashion magazines. (Also, please note, I am excluding the whole Xanga phase in middle school!)

2007

I had been reading the now defunct, "I am Fashion" which had been blogging since 2004. Harrods Girl and Barneys Girl were the coolest chicks ever, and I consumed everything they wrote eagerly and impatiently. I then decided that I was competent enough to start my own blog and opened an account on blogspot. I don't remember the URL of said blog, but I know the title was "In Order to Be Irreplaceable" because Coco Chanel is a genius and at the time that was my favorite quote ever. It was a very sad attempt and lasted two posts before I promptly forgot all about it and moved on with life. Meanwhile I was discovering blogs, via I Am Fashion's blogroll, and stumbling across numerous sites. I definitely remember seeing Fashion Toast's blog at one point. 

2008-2009

Of course I went and found it to screenshot it!

Here is where I started blogging forreal. I started Modern Dreamer with a post entitled "Inspirations" because I "hated introductions." I posted pictures of Brigitte Bardot, Audrey Hepburn, and Rachel Bilson as my inspirations, and I have to say those three are still up there. For the time I had Modern Dreamer, I was obsessed with trying to make my blog big and important. I was insanely secretive about it--after all, who was going to understand a fifteen-year-old blogging? I wanted so badly to model what I thought was high fashion, and I wanted so badly to sound posh and cool in my writing. I experimented a LOT. At the time, since MD was so private, I could occasionally have rants and pose pictures of myself that I wouldn't dare show friends in real life (like me trying to pose... Look at the posts, it's AWFUL). I was commenting on other's blogs like crazy to receive them, and I was heavily into fashion but also going through major growing pains. After all, they kept calling girls like Fashion Toast and a Sea of Shoes "real girls" compared to models, and I was like, "But I'm 5'3" and 140 pounds on a good day. I can't model clothes!" Eventually I started another blog where I could ramble more because I had figured with MD that I had to be concise with my words and generous with my pictures whether they be my crappy little digital camera or borrowed off of We Heart It. Inner & Outer Beauty was actually pretty successful and it's probably my favorite blog. I wish I had kept it updated more. Both blogs got to a point where I got a deal to do a giveaway for Perricone MD. By then I was creatively tired of it and a little rundown from trying to be a comment machine. Cue...

2010-2011

This year found two new attempts at blogging. I still hadn't figured out my voice yet--did I want to be a romantic, descriptive writer, a snarky writer, or a minimal writer and heavy picture-shower? What did I want from blogging? By now blogging was becoming a thing, and I was getting ready to graduate and enter college. I closed down both Modern Dreamer and Inner & Outer Beauty and opened up The Shoe Corner in tribute to my then giant shoe addiction. I bought cheap shoes like a druggie buys pot in the park. I would go to Marshall's or DSW and scan the isles for cool looking shoes. My favorite was when I found an imitation pair of those studded Balmain stilletos in DSW. They hurt like hell and are by now a little outdated (though I'd wear them in a heartbeat anyway), but I loved them dearly. I still have a lot of the shoes I purchased, and though they are now stored away, they once had a corner of my room. I think I deleted, deleted that blog, so it's no longer even able to be seen. Which is good, because it was a pretty asinine blog. It was also my attempt to be a pro-blogger, and let's face it, that was BORING.

Somewhere after entering college, I got bored of The Shoe Corner and started Glitter & Lace. I managed to actually keep that blog for a while before the mishaps with my protest on SOPA. It got counted as spam and was suspended, and I had to go through this process to get it back. With G&L I started trying to combine it with my friends, Allison and Shannon, and it was an attempt to be a real blogger that eventually fizzled with the spam stuff.

2012

So I forget when, but I started "The Spanglish Major," which is also permanently deleted now. I think I was trying to be "The College Prepster" and failing at it. I eventually gave up because I was so bored with it and I didn't really think about why I was blogging anymore. While abroad, I started And There She Goes Again on tumblr. I hated worrying about comments and whatnot, so tumblr was the perfect way of avoiding that path. I also flirted with "The Future Cat Lady Diaries," which I still have a soft spot for. It's a veryyyyy snarky blog, a little much so. And this brings us to:

2013

And this blog!! I like to think that after playing the switching game for years and finally just simply choosing my NAME, I'm settled down for good. I still have my travel blog, but it's very sporadic as my travels are spread out. Hope you all enjoyed that blast from the past. If anything it's letting me walk down the nostalgic path. After all, these blogs are my "diaries" of my high school times!

Boston Explosions

Taking a moment to say a prayer for those affected by the Boston explosions at the Marathon-- especially for those who have passed. 

Trip to Annapolis

Took a trip to Annapolis, Maryland over the weekend. You can read about it on my travel blog! Also I'm a little MICHAEL Michael Kors-out in this picture. The pants, shirt, and shoes are all from the brand. The sunglasses are Ray Bans, I believe. I stole them from my friend.

Easter Festivities

Hi friends! Hope you had a fun Easter weekend, or if you're not Christian, then a fun weekend regardless! Since I'm Catholic, I celebrated Easter the ole fashioned way (not really...). I wound up catching a ride home with one of my friends, and I got to pop back up at home for some much needed R&R after two weeks of hell. I even got work done to the point where, right now, I'm not stressing too much! 

Anyhoo, this is a shot of my siblings and I after church on Sunday and before we got ready to go to my grandma's. I finally got to wear the Shabby Apple "Spanish Steps" dress I won in some blog competition years ago! I'm glad I didn't give it away from lack-of-wearing it because it's seriously a gorgeous dress. It was just definitely too mature for me...until now! And if you're wondering why my siblings and I don't look alike, it's because I was adopted. The worst part? I'm the oldest! And I look the youngest... I'm also the smallest, so I always get shafted with the middle seat...

Oh, and of course, that's my golden retriever pup, Maggie. She's my cuddle buddy when I'm home, and she commandeers my bed when I'm gone!