Featured!

Hi all! I've been featured on my friend, Hilary's blog, Purple Flowers. Yes, she's the one who just did an awesome guest post on SCOTUS. Feel free to read about my take on interning!

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Maryland, Oh, Maryland

So, I've been putting some serious mileage on my car this summer. I grew up in Pennsylvania from the time I was three until I left for college, and I had very little interest in exploring it beyond my suburban boundaries (and Philadelphia, of course). However, coming to college in Maryland and having friends scattered throughout has led me to traveling all over this little state, from the Eastern Shore the the Western Shore. Just yesterday I ventured out to see some sisters in the mysterious Carroll County (pronounced Curroll), a place I didn't think I'd be seeing for a while. So here's a little list of my travels so far, which, mind you, is a check off my summer bucket list!

• Annapolis, MD
• Chestertown, MD
• Queenstown, MD
• Rockville, MD
• Rock Hall, MD
• Ocean City, MD
• Finksburg & Westminster, MD (Carroll County)
• Ellicott City, MD
• Mechanicsville, MD

Live Your Life to the Fullest

I love videos like this. More reasons why Buzzfeed is the best. Also, a little reminder that every once in a while, you need to drop your life and go exploring, whether it be a hike on a weekend, driving a little past your exit on your way home, or hopping the next plane going towards anywhere. This world is too incredible a place to never see at least some of it!

[Style Files] Split Personality

My personal style tends to go in all sorts of directions at any given time or any given whim. I like a lot of looks (I'll always have a penchant for the boho and rocker styles--I own a pair of imitation Balmain studded heels from DSW), but this summer I've been really into these different looks:

Think whimsy, simply, with unapolagetic girly touches. Like heart shaped glasses, polka dots, pink. It's not too crazy with the accessories, letting the clothes themselves stand out. The cuts are sweet, feminine, and perpetually youthful. It appeals to the side of me that loves spring, blowing bubbles, and twirling around in the sun. 

This look is mostly inspired by the side of me that loves hipster things and secretly wishes I could rent a shabby shoebox apartment in some city with a barely functioning laptop and unlimited ramen in my cupboards. I usually own glasses like these (currently lost in Spain!) and the look is all about total comfort and ease. It's the side of me that likes writing for hours on end, reading the classics, and shopping at Whole Foods or outdoor markets.

Michael Kors is one of my favorite brands for a reason. It's all about the jetset look. The simple, chic woman who dresses with ease and looks effortlessly stylish. I throw on a dress, slip into some sandals, and get onto my flight just in time. It's more of a dream style. It's the side of me that wants a fun life full of adventure, travel, and a little bit of glamour.

What are your style personalities?

How Will You Use Your Beauty?

I stumbled across this interesting video about the bikini the other day, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. While I admire Jessica Rey's lecture and her interesting solutions (Rey Swimwear is inspired by Audrey Hepburn. There are bathing suits named "Sabrina" and "Holly"! Brilliant), I don't know that I agree with her assessment on the bikini. She describes a study that essentially says the men view women more as objects than as people when they wear bikinis, and this leads to her ultimate question of "How will you use your beauty?" Do you want to be objectified? Do you want to be seen in a human light? I like her questions.

I'm not, however, crazy about her opinion on bikinis. Mostly because I happen to like wearing them. When you're stuck in racing suits all summer, all day, all year for swimming, a bikini is like that big slice of chocolate cake at the end of a long, only semi-successful juice diet. It lets you breathe. It lets you move. And, oh my gosh, you won't get the dreaded circle tan on your back and the pasty stomach that makes you feel a little bit wider in comparison to your ridiculously tanned arms and legs. You need to go to the bathroom after a swim? No need to wrestle with that tight, clingy spandex thing. Up and down and out of that disgusting place before you can feel too freaked out.

Wearing my bikini circa 2008 after a long summer swim season.

I've grown up loving the little suit, and feeling my most comfortable in my navy and white polka dot bikini. Of course, right now, I have no desire to put on a bikini with the way my weight has skyrocketed in the last year, but I still love it. And I don't love it because I want to appear like a sexual object to the opposite sex. And I also don't wear it because I think it makes me seem sexier/prettier/hotter/etc. I wear it because it makes me feel comfortable. The only time I prefer a one piece to a bikini is when I go off the high dive or swim in a particularly wave-y ocean.

I do think it raises an interesting discussion about the idea of nudity and modesty. Modesty is nice, and I love clothes that are typically described as "modest," but I don't think nudity has to be the polar opposite.

What do you think? Definitely watch the video! If anything it makes you think a little about what you wear!

xoxo,

Samantha Elisabeth

SCOTUS: Why You Should Pay Attention

So, I don't know if you paid any attention to the tweets going on a little while back that where hashtagged #SCOTUS, but you definitely should have. I wanted to write a post on its importance, but I figured, why not let someone who is actually in DC and studying Political Science to do the explaining. My friend and classmate, Hilary from Purple Flowers kindly agreed to write up a post about the event and tell you a little about how she got involved in politics.

This past semester I took Constitutional Law and officially caught the 'law bug.'  I was doing briefs for fun and researching joint JD + MPA programs… It got excessive.  However, after the term papers were handed in and the debates finished, I realized that only a small percentage of practiced law actually dealt with any Constitutional standing, and law school was not going to pay for itself.  So. Back to square one.  BUT regardless of your experience with Law or your knowledge, it doesn't take either to know that the past couple weeks were big for the Supreme Court, or what us nerds like to refer to it as, SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States). One of the best resources to follow is the SCOTUS blog whenever there is a ruling scheduled.  You get answers and explanations straight from the source and you can submit questions which they will answer in a live chat.  

Now back to the juicy stuff - so what mattered these past few weeks?!  I'm going to touch on two hearings that I thought were extremely important socially, for American culture especially. Sometimes, the public likes to refer to the Court as giving the 'bad' news first, then the good news. However, I think that statement depends whole heartedly on what side of the aisle you see yourself on.  

The first real earth shattering piece of news that came out of this session was Shelby County v. Holder, the ruling stating that Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was unconstitutional.  Here is a brief history of the Voting Rights Act from the Department of Justice. When this was passed, specific states of the union were deemed as historically aggressive in deterring minorities from voting through their own state election laws.  In Section 4 of this bill, it required specific states to have their state election law approved by Congress.  Since 1982 to 2006, over 700 election law provisions have been blocked by Congress because they were discriminatory (Amanda Terkel quoting Ginsburg on Twitter).  This was ruled unconstitutional since it was not 'equal' which I get.  It did pinpoint specific states (all generally belonging to the "Old South" culture).  However, enacting laws that discourage minority citizens (sometimes called: people) from voting I don't get.  However, there are two sides to every story and this case definitely has stirred up some great academic chatter among sociologists about how Americans view race.   

United States v. Windsor struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA); this essentially meant that the federal government did not recognize same-sex marriages, regardless of state law.  I think the easiest way to understand this ruling is to remember that in the United States, there is dual citizenship (2 types): you are a federal citizen of the United States of America, and you are a citizen of the state of ____.  DOMA restricted the federal government from providing benefits, social security, filing taxes together, etc. to same-sex married couples regardless if they were recognized by their state as legally married. This was ruled as unconstitutional, and now they will be recognized.  A huge step for the human rights campaign and for people everywhere; love is love.

Hollingsworth v. Perry ruled on Proposition 8, California's same-sex marriage ban, and SCOTUS found they had no standing in court.  My law professor referred to this as 'having no skin in the game.'  Essentially what this meant was that they had no standing presenting the case to the Supreme Court and therefore same-sex marriage was re-legalized in California.  If SCOTUS had chosen to give a ruling on that case, they would have had to determine if same-sex marriage was constitutional, and being a somewhat conservative court, that was definitely something they did not want to do.  Two big wins for love from the Supreme Court.  

There have been jokes saying this year will be the happiest Tax Day ever now that same-sex couples can file their taxes together, and I think that's pretty cute. This ruling definitely made me see this issue as a human rights issue.  When we think about our basic abilities and rights as American citizens, they are truly unlike anywhere else in the world. Also, looking for a good laugh? Daily Show on DOMA.

Last but not least, the running of the interns. Buzzfeed came out with a great article [shocker] on how the rest of the world sees the rulings of the SP: young, unpaid twenty somethings dressed in business clothes racing in tennis shoes. Last summer I was lucky enough to stand on the steps when they announced their ruling on the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).  It was a seriously cool experience and I still feel like I was a part of history that day.  

In addition to the loads of academic material that has already been published about these cases, there was fantastic media coverage of SCOTUS.  If you don't have tweetdeck yet and you're into twitter, it's a must!  I feel so much more up to date will all things current events.  

I'd love to hear your take on the past few weeks of activity in the Supreme Court?  

Thanks for reading along and follow Purple Flowers!  

Hilary xx

Sweet, Sweet Wi-Fi

Just a quick little update, friends. I finally (for the time being at least!) have wi-fi in my apartment! Some interesting posts I've been meaning to put here for a while, but haven't been able to! I've been working during my school's library hours and sleeping at absurdly early hours for someone my age. In the mean time a few notes from today, which is a truly interesting day for the history books:

--Zimmerman was found NOT guilty. I haven't been as connected to social media without wi-fi (I really hate checking and doing things on my phone), so I haven't been following this case closely at all. I want to comb through my own research and decide for myself how I feel about this. I have good friends and people who's educated opinions I respect on both sides of the argument, so as of right now I'm a sponge.

--Cory Monteith has DIED. For as much grief as I give "Glee," I'm still 100% up to date with it. And I've always been a fan of the guy, and I loved the idea that he spent a lot of time working jobs like bus driver, Walmart greeter, etc before he hit it big. I don't know. I know it's unbelievably silly to get so upset over someone I barely knew, but it's still sad. And I'm unreasonably saddened by the news, especially when Lea Michele literally tweeted season 5 cast photos, and he's there smiling widely towering over everyone.

--People are truly interesting individuals. And I mean that in both good and terrible ways. Work a job that has you interacting with all sorts of people daily, and you'll find fodder for all sorts of writing.

More to come! Like a special guest post from my friend, Hilary, over at Purple Flowers...!

#dalyextravaganza

So this past weekend I went straight back to my home in the suburbs of PA from work to attend my youngest cousin's wedding (and my first wedding ever!). It was an absolute blast, and it was fun to see all my family again (cousins, extended, and beyond). I attempted at live instagramming the event, so here's some of the pictures from that!

After we got to the church, there was some mandatory picture taking in the very hot sun area. The first picture is my sister and I (I can't believe she's younger than me!) and the second is of the trolley my cousin used to have the bridal party arrive. 

Here they are! It was a Catholic mass, so there was that typical set-up with the marriage ceremony in between. I did the second reading from a letter to the Romans.

Then it was off to the reception! They're seriously the prettiest couple!

They introduced the bridal party in a fun sort of way. My cousin, Michelle, and her groomsman came dwon with those beer hats, and my brother and his bridesmaid came down with the hilariously adorable flower girl dancing.

My older cousin, Michael, gave the best man speech. He also used more notecards than I ever have for a single test! It was hilarious and also quite clever. (P.S. He's next in September!)

Then there was all the typical reception fun (bouquet tossing--which included Michelle flat out refusing to catch it--, garter tossing, and a lot of pictures). I snapped a quick picture with my cousin and my new cousin-in-law, and of course, I had to get their rings! It's seriously surreal that my formerly frosted tip cousin who used to open fart with too much butter and almost threw up on me when we got stuck sleeping in the tent during a childhood camping trip is now married.

Bonus Shot: My cousin as the bride walked down the aisle!

Weddings are great, and I loved every minute of it (even if the church was a little warm). The dancing at the reception was a blast and the food was awesome. I can't wait to attend more weddings in the future!

[Book Club] Good Movie, Good Book

WARM BODIES

by Isaac Marion

So I saw the movie, Warm Bodies, first. I love, love, love Nicholas Hoult--not just because he's British and bears a striking resemblance to the guy I had a ginormous crush on in my early high school years--, and my friend texted me and asked me to go last minute. I had never seen the trailer and didn't even know what I was going to watch, so I was extremely and pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it. Also, Nora, Julie's best friend, is none other than ANALEIGH TIPTON. Loved her on ANTM, and, like I promised four years ago, I've been keeping tabs on her career. She's been making a calm entrance into the acting world, and I'm so excited to be seeing her in some of the bigger movies (she was also in Crazy, Stupid, Love!) with a substantial role.

Anyhow, back to the book review. I got the book on my Kindle Fire, and I just finished it recently now that I've had time for free reading. It's a really clever book, and it's totally commercial fiction (which, I don't care, I love). There's a lot of Romeo & Juliet allusions (the names for one), and there's a lot of interesting commentary on the way our generation and society as a whole is in danger of becoming. R is an intelligent zombie with a lot of thoughts and opinions. You get a lot of the story fleshed out in the novel that you don't get as much of in the movie. This is going in my book club purely for its really interesting observations on how zombies came to be and how the cure is eventually found. My favorite quote:

"Peel off these dusty wool blankets of apathy and antipathy and cynical desiccation. I want life in all it's stupid sticky rawness."

For A Little Summer Getaway...

I'm picturing myself doing this when I'm especially tired or feeling especially lame (like when I fall asleep at 9:00 on a Friday night...). Prancing around Paris and ending the day floating in the air with pastel colored balloons. The little French affair isn't too shabby either...

Things I Would Do on the Fourth...

So. Here's the deal. I've never had a July 4th off really. Between working retail and lifeguarding, I usually work, this year included. Or, you know, I'm in a country that doesn't even celebrate the US's Independence day. But, if I were to celebrate, I would definitely do the following (think of this post as a prediction of something I'll do in the future):

DIY a pair of flag shorts.

How cute are these? I would wear them with some loose white tank (show off my hopeful summer tan), and I'd probably avoid wear any sort of shoe at all cost.

Paint my nails in a fun red.

I like nail designs on other people, but I'm not big on them myself. I do, however, like a pretty red nail!

Head down to the beach (preferably to my house there)

Probably nothing quite this extravagant. But it'd be fun to have a house near the beach where I can get either my husband, brother, dad, or any friend to grill (let's be real here. I'm not going to be the one grilling). And we can spend all day relaxing on the beach and then come back for...

A red, white, & blue themed BBQ.

Pin is here!

I think this is the cutest thing ever. Pinterest is chock full of ideas, and I love all of them. I would definitely do as much with patriotic fruit (strawberries, watermelon, blueberries) as I conceivably can. I would also definitely do all sorts of fun drinks in the colors too! There would also definitely be crabs, turkey burgers, and corn on the cob!

End the night with fireworks, of course. 

Duh!

I know. I'm not that imaginative. But believe me, I'm never going anywhere near shopping centers or pools for my future Fourth of July's. I've had enough of that already. 

In. Love.

The MICHAEL Michael Kors Selma Zip-Top tote in luggage. She's saffiano leather, and the perfect structure. Next big purchase? I think so.

I need to set strict budgets for myself now that I'm beginning the transition to sort of being a grown-up (I know my life will be close to "Girls" than I'm comfortable admitting--minus the deeply uncomfortable looking relationship problems), so this purchase won't be too soon (hopefully sometime between late July and early August--a little birthday/end of summer present for myself), but for now I claim my unrequited love for this elegant bag.