The Week in Photos/Instagram

I wish I was better at using Instagram. I've had it for a year and I've only posted 30 photos. I have hundreds of pictures on my camera, I just very rarely deem them worthy of the minute it takes to apply a filter, upload them, and share them with the world. I'm trying hard not to be one of those people whose Instagram is 90% pictures of their pet so there's that too. Maybe doing posts like this will help me get better at using it because it looks kind of silly to have normal camera photos next to instagram stylized photos.. or maybe I should just start carrying around my DSLR with me everywhere again :)

I'm also temporarily without Adobe Photoshop which I use to edit my photos so crappy camera pic quality in all its glory it is. Sorry!

I'm sure many of you have seen this on pinterest- lemon slices, salmon, butter, salt, pepper, wrapped in foil and baked. We had this for dinner last week and I added some fresh dill which made it even more amazing! Great simple meal.

I served the salmon with roasted asparagus and smashed rosemary red potatoes.

 Bored working the street fair... I tried to get a pic of all the closed up booths and empty street but it was too dark. Just the pizza heat lamps to light up the night!

I really wish I'd brought my DSLR to Roland and Annalise's wedding. There were so many gorgeous details! Burlap favor bags, the fantastic dinner, flowers everywhere, the gardens at sunset... and of course all the fun happening everywhere. This an a blurry, dark photo of the half empty dance floor are the only pictures I took the whole night. Oh well.

Me and Clemenoodles hanging out on thursday night watching Doctor Who. Such a great show! And I love how Clem cuddles up to me constantly. Such a mama's girl.

Except when she's in one of her crazy playful moods. Sometimes when she gets out of control I pick her up and put her on her back in my lap and tickle her belly. That's her favorite!

I was snapping the picture below and took one of me and Colton first. We went to Mother Hubbards for breakfast this morning and we work this afternoon at 4- Same old Sunday routine!

Here's the deal with this dress. I bought it at Goodwill about a year ago, even though it's a Small and I knew at the time it wouldn't fit me. I didn't even try it on. It was cute and 10 dollars and I was confident that eventually I would be able to wear it. Instead of hanging it up in my closet I hung it on the wall in my bedroom, as a bit of inspiration. A goal I was working towards. I didn't start really trying to lose weight until this past January, but I'm so proud with the progress I've made in the last 10 weeks! I decided to try this dress on last weekend for the wedding and it fit!! I put it on again today and it actually is a little loose around the waist. I'm so happy to be able to have this cute little number off the wall and finally into my clothing rotation!!

Hope you are having a nice holiday weekend! 

<3

Registered.

It's been a fairly busy week!

The retroactive medical withdrawal that I mentioned I had to work on in my hair mask post has finally been completed. It involved me working for five hours on Friday typing a statement, emailing professors and campus health, and filling out paperwork.. and then spending the last three mornings visiting each professors office, going to the health center, filling out MORE paperwork, and putting together a big 'ol stack of stuff... which I turned in to administration this morning. WOO! It's something that has been stressing me out and sitting at the back of my mind for a year and it feels good to have it totally DONE.

On top of that, the spring 4th ave street fair was this past weekend. Street fair is kinda fun because we close the inside of the restaurant off to customers and just serve slices in the front. I work counter so I get to be the one manning the register, serving customers, and dealing with lots and lots of hungry people. It's nice to hang out outside for a whole spring evening, and my work is sufficiently reduced since I don't have to deal with pickups or keeping the dining room clean... but it can get pretty crazy with all those sweaty tourists demanding pizza.

So that was Friday night and Sunday night. Sunday we closed around 7 for our biannual Brooklyn party that happens every street fair. Brooklyn parties are effing insane. I've gone and had fun in the past but I had no desire to drink my face off and watch my coworkers get crazy sloppy this year so I went home after I was done closing and ate dinner and watched battlestar galactica instead.

On Saturday, our friends Roland and Annalise got married at the lovely Tucson Botanical Gardens. I know Annalise from Mama Eddas (She worked there after I had left but I saw her all the time since I was always in there with Linn, Kris, and Nick) and Roland has been one of Colton's friends since high school. It was soooo gorgeous at the garden at dusk and their ceremony was simple, short, and sweet. The reception was immediately after and it was nice because you could explore the gardens while waiting for everything to be set up for dinner. It was a very, very fun night and I am very happy they invited me :)

MOST exciting thing that happened this week though, is that I got totally registered for my LAST classes as an undergraduate EVER.

The way the registration process works, it takes 2-3 weeks to register for each upcoming semester. Once the class catalog is online, you have to plan your schedule. Then you have to fill out a form (at least for my department) with the classes in your major and that has to be turned in by a certain date depending on your standing. Then about a week later you have your "enrollment appointment" when you can register for any other classes that don't require department consent. Hopefully by that point you know whether or not your department was able to register you for the classes you wanted and you can submit new forms if necessary.

This semester, everything went off without a hitch! It was the first time I haven't neglected filling out my form until too late (which results in having to turn it in with students of lower class standing/being lower on the registration totem pole) so that might be why. My classes next semester sound REALLY awesome too.

They are:

An upper division classics class on Greek and Roman influences on 1930s art
Film Styles and Genres, a 400 level film and television class which changes emphasis each semester. Last fall I took it when it was Westerns, next fall it is Crime Drama. 
Screen Artists, another 400 level FTV course with rotating emphasis. This spring I'm taking it on Stars of History and Today, next fall it will be on the Coen Brothers. Goodie!
My FTV Senior Seminar, which will be on Cult Cinema.

I've already had all the professors teaching these courses and they're all awesome so I'm excited.

I'm even more excited for the end of December this year, when I will be walking across the stage in a cap and gown and receiving a diploma! Finishing college. What an accomplishment that will be. I imagine it will feel something like this:

Aaah. That will be nice.

For now though, it's 5 1/2 more weeks of this semester, a crazybusy summer, and then one more round of syllabi, essays, and school-centric life. At least the end is in sight!

<3

DIY Nourishing Hair Mask

No Thursday update this week because I pretty much told you all the highlights of my week as they happened... 'they' being St Paddy's day and working my face off, both at Brooklyn and at school. I had big stuff every day of school this week! a five page paper here, a final paper proposal there, and a big fat midterm to finish it off yesterday. It was overwhelming to have all that facing me immediately after spring break, but now the next few weeks of school should be relatively calm and even-paced.

Today I am working on something that I literally have been avoiding and procrastinating for just about a year- my retroactive medical withdrawal from the spring 2012 semester. Big fat stressed-out sigh. I stopped attending school when it all became "too much", realizing that despite my efforts I had tried to resume my normal life too soon. Due to the conditions of my withdrawal I can blame it on medical reasons but I have to write a whole statement explaining my situation, as well as go around to the 4 professors whose classes I stopped attending and ask them to fill out a form supporting my withdrawal. Like I mentioned in yesterday's post, it is very difficult for me to take my thoughts back to those troubling times, let alone write at length about them and present them to other people to be judged for their worthiness or whatever. Blah. So I didn't do it for months and months. But I only have until the end of this semester so today I'm just going to do it.

On top of that, I'm going in to work today at 4 and it's the spring 4th ave street fair this weekend... which means lots of hungry people that have been walking around in the sun all day demanding slices. I like working the counter but street fair is always pretty high intensity.. so we'll see how that goes.

To take the edge off a bit on my busy and stressful day, I'm going to do at least one of my weekly beauty categories... probably face today. A nice steam and facial should ease the tension, I hope. Yesterday I did my hair and I whipped up this simple little hair mask that I wanted to share with you guys! It's full of protein in the form of Greek yogurt and egg yolk so it is very nourishing and strengthening for your locks. The olive oil is moisturizing, softening, and adds to shine, while the honey is conditioning and also contributes shine and luster to dry, limp hair.

Greek yogurt and honey is one of the most delicious things ever and making and using this mask reminded me of drizzling gobs of golden honey onto cold, super-thick, creamy bowls of yogurt in Greece a couple summers ago. It certainly smelled the same! The honey and yogurt I had wasn't as nice as that stuff but it still made my hair look and feel great and was a nice mid-week boost.

You will need:
Olive oil
Yogurt
Honey
1 egg

Start by separating the egg yolk from the white. The yolk is high in fat and protein which makes it great for your hair while the egg white is super low in calories and great for your waist ;) You can discard the white or use it to make a healthy omelet, meringues, or a number of other yummy goodies.

Put the yolk in a small bowl and use a fork to break the membrane and mix it up real quick. Did you know an egg yolk is one cell? I learned that in like 7th grade science and found it fascinating.

Drizzle in about 1 tbsp olive oil. Since I was doing my full hair treatment yesterday, I had some leftover olive oil from my hot oil scalp rub so I just used that.

Squeeze in some honey next, about 2 tbsp. If you have raw honey, use that! I just had this Kroger stuff on hand. Whisk the oil and honey thoroughly into the egg yolk.

Finally, a healthy dollop of Greek yogurt, about 1/4-1/2 cup. Mix it up real good and you have your mask!

To use, moisten hair with a spray bottle full of HOT water. use your hands, a comb, or a combination of the two to apply the mask to all of your hair but particularly to the length and ends. I like to get mask all over my hands and rub/rake it through my hair, then use a wide tooth comb to distribute it evenly. Twist your hair into a bun on the top of your head, wrap your whole scalp/hair in plastic wrap (you aren't going anywhere, right?) and then wrap it all up in a hot towel. leave on for 10-30 minutes, whatever you have time for, and then rinse it out well and wash normally in the shower. Tada! Revitalized, nourished, shiny hair :)

It's the weekend! YAY!

Happy Birthday, Linn

Today would have been Linn's 27th birthday. I have avoided talking very much about Linn's death or my long period of grief and depression that followed on this blog because a. it's very personal and need not be broadcast to the world wide web, b. it is difficult for me even now- after almost a year and a half of time and a year of therapy later- to return my thoughts to that troubling place, and c. this blog has always been what I would like to think of as an expression of the most positive and beneficial aspects of myself; the things I am proud of, want to share, and that make me feel happy and fulfilled.


So I skipped over the whole thing, pretty much, and when I returned to blogging (briefly and prematurely) I tried to just force myself into the mindset and voice I had before Linn's death. My life was basically still in shambles at that point so that didn't work, and when I finally returned to this blog in a healthy state last month I only wanted to move forward, not look back on the trauma of the past year and a half.

Linn was and is, however, a permanent and extremely important influence on my life. The time that I knew him changed me. The time that we dated changed me. His death obviously changed me, and the grief, destruction, and ultimate healing that followed has changed me. There is rarely if ever a single day that I do not think of him. I am often reminded by the world around me of him, our conversations, our memories, our love story, and I wonder and reflect upon what could have been- especially on days like today. At 27, who would Linn have been? Would we still be together? Would he be in San Diego by now, running a pizza shop with Clint like he had planned and was so excited about? Would I be finishing school this spring instead of next December with plans of joining him after graduation? The questions that can never be answered have not disappeared from my mind, but they no longer agonize and torment me. Now they are a source of simple wonderment, cherished quiet moments of reflection, and reassuring reminders of Linn's presence in my heart.

I have written at length about Linn in my personal journals- everything from when I first met him as he swept the dining room of Mama Eddas where I was filling out an application to years later, after his death, when I wrote him countless letters and stream of consciousness ramblings that I could only hope would somehow be received. Just yesterday I stumbled upon a forgotten journal entry that I wrote after we had been dating for several months and the love-struck, giddy way in which I gushed about him filled my heart with joy and nostalgia. Here's a passage:

"I just got back from my weekend of hometown friends and Linn. It was so wonderful and amazing, I had such a great time and it was so, so good to be with my boy for a while. Every time i think about him or look at him i smile, it makes me giddy. I can't believe how much I've fallen for him. I love him so much. leaving today was heartbreaking, even though I know I'll see him again soon... I wish there was an easy way for us to just be together but there just isn't right now. Someday, I hope. So much. He is the sweetest, kindest, most gentlemanly guy I have ever dated and he's also incredibly attractive and funny. I want to be his."

It makes me happy to remember how wonderful and full of love and happiness he made my life when we were together. There have been many times when Linn's real presence in my life- the years of friendship, the secret crush, the brief romance- have been clouded over by the weight of the despair and tragedy that followed. It is unfair to Linn's memory and to myself to allow it to be that way and I am overjoyed to have the words that I wrote in times of blissful adoration to pull me back to the real memories, the memories that matter.

Today, like every day, I will think about Linn, smile at the thought of his face and his laugh, and ponder what we might have done if he'd been here. I feel blessed to even have these thoughts, and I know that I have had and will have a better of life because he was and is a part of it.

Happy Birthday, Linn. The amount of compassion in your heart and the immense amount of love, kindness, and sincerity you showed is obvious through the number of people that to this day express their gratitude to have known you. Someday we will all see your smile again <3 br="">
And finally, this is the poem I wrote a few days after Linn's death which I read at his funeral.

When I remember you,
I'd like it to feel
The way it did that night-
Shy eyes glinting starlight,
A shiver that has nothing to do
With the cool summer night.
When I remember you,
I'd like to go back to those days-
The long lazy sunlit haze,
Hours and hours of nothing to do
And everything to say
And nothing but happiness
In your sweet face.
When I remember you,
I'd like to think of the words-
Often said, always heard,
A promise not broken,
but simply deferred:
"One day we'll be together.
One day,
We'll fly like the birds."

<3>

Weight Loss Update/Progress Pics

Hello Lovelies! I'm having a pretty relaxing day today... School, a bit of homework, a lot of internets, and later today I'll be rewatching a few 1970s films to study for my midterm tomorrow. Colton is headed off to Phoenix with a bunch of boys as soon as he gets out of work today for our friend Roland's bachelor party which means Clementine and I will be having the apartment to ourselves for the next 24 hours or so.

I wanted to pop in and write a quick blog about my weight loss progress! It might not be very interesting to you but health, nutrition, and fitness have become such a huge part of my life and thoughts over the past few months! This may sound odd but I really LOVE being aware of my calories, working out, and observing my weight as it changes because it all comes down to science... and I love that I can use science to help myself look and feel as good as can be!

I chose today to write because I'm just beginning a new cycle in my self designed workout schedule and so I snapped a couple pictures this morning to document my progress. When losing weight I've found it's so easy to not really notice the changes that are occurring because they happen so slowly. Having pictures to compare side by side really make the differences obvious...and they are a huge motivational boost to keep going!

Unfortunately I did not take any starting pictures in January when I first adjusted my diet, quit drinking, and started working out. All I have are some pictures from last September, when I briefly tried (and then forgot about) getting healthy. I'm actually 10-15 lbs lighter in the September pictures than I was in January, and only about 10 lbs lighter in the "during" pictures I took today than I was in September! So the pics don't really show my overall progress. I can still see a huge difference though, especially in the muscle tone of my belly.

Overall I've lost about 23 pounds in 9 weeks and I'm feeling great! I honestly think I look better now than I sometimes did at lower weights when I wasn't strength training. I definitely feel more confident :)

Sorry about the poor quality phone/underwear pics! Usually I would NEVER post pictures of myself like this because I have always been so self-conscious about the way I look... and scantily clad fat pictures? Um, NO. But now I look at the before pictures and just see the progress I have made, not the chubby bits I wish would disappear. Besides I've worn and definitely seen swimsuits that are more revealing. Although... I still feel pretty ballsy.

Have a healthy happy humpday!

This post is full of Irish

St Patrick's day happens to be my FAVORITE holiday! I have the best memories of spending the whole day (which always comes around during spring break) with my friends, cooking Irish food, listening to Irish music, watching Irish movies, wearing the colors of the Irish flag, and of course drinking Irish drinks.

It was my first st. paddy's day as a 21 year old, but I'm avoiding alcohol (and all its empty calories) at the moment so I was a bit unsure of how I would celebrate this year. I was also scheduled to work from 4-CL, which was a good reason for me to not join the masses at the bar but also left me with very little time to do anything celebratory. And lord knows I can't just let a holiday (let alone my favorite holiday) go un-celebrated.

SO, I did what I could with the time and restrictions that I had... I donned the attire, I ate the food, and I even bought the booze... I just mixed it up with massive quantities of sugar and fat and flour and fed it to my coworkers :) I didn't get drunk, I didn't overeat, I didn't attempt a game on the Devil's Dancefloor, and I spent an insanely long and busy 7 hours asking progressively drunker people the same questions (what can I get for you? any toppings? anything else? what's your name? for here or to go? would you like a copy of your receipt?)... but I still feel like I sufficiently celebrated and enjoyed St Patrick's Day :)

In the morning, I put on my favorite new mint green lace dress. That wasn't quite Irish enough for me so I also tied green and orange ribbon around my wrist and my hair.

Colton and I went out to breakfast, which we do every Sunday. We went to Mother Hubbards, one of our very favorites that specializes in homemade Native American/Mexican influenced breakfast and lunch. So good. Yesterday I had to opt for the St Paddy's Special though... "Irish Rarebit". It was basically a cross between Welsh Rarebit and Eggs Benedict with a whole lot of Irish thrown in there. 4 triangles of 12 grain bread covered with dragoon stout cheddar cheese sauce, chopped corned beef, spinach, and two poached eggs. It was sooooo gooood.

I decided I wanted to do some Irish cooking of my own so we stopped at the store on the way home. I bought ingredients to make homemade Irish cream (to make it a little lighter calorie-wise, not as thick and sweet, and to avoid having multiple open bottles of liquor sitting around the house), Irish car bomb cupcakes, and Irish cream pudding shots.

I used this recipe for the Irish cream, and it turned out amazing. Tasted just like baileys!

I then mixed one cup of homemade Irish cream with one small package of instant vanilla pudding and one cup 1% milk. I poured this into 10 dixie cups to make pudding shots! There's hardly any alcohol in them but they were pretty tasty. I took them to work so everyone could have one after we closed.

The biggest cooking project I tackled was these Irish Car-Bomb Cupcakes! I've wanted to make this recipe for years... I talked about it within the first month that I had this blog 3 years ago when I did my first St Paddy's day countdown. Even though I only had about 3 hours until I had to go to work by the time I was done with errands and at home ready to cook, I decided to attempt to whip these up. I broke out my beloved kitchenaid mixer (which works like a dream but weighs a million tons and is a bitch to store/clean in my teensy little house), used every pot and bowl in the house, and in the end produced 24 pretty little filled and frosted cupcakes. Which tasted AMAZING, by the way.

I used the above linked Smitten Kitchen recipe exactly, except I used greek yogurt in place of sour cream in the batter (I never have sour cream in the house anymore and greek yogurt tastes/works the same but is way healthier) and used quite a bit more whiskey in the ganache filling and Irish cream in the buttercream. I wanted each part of the cupcake to taste distinctly like the Irish Car-Bomb role it was representing and I found that with the measly teaspoons and tablespoons Deb suggested the flavor was lost under the sugar, butter, and chocolate. I just drizzled, tasted, and repeated until I got the intensity I wanted.

Chocolate Guinness cake filled with Jameson chocolate ganache and topped with Irish Cream buttercream. Dusted with green and gold sugar!

I made 24 and brought 12 to work. I broke them out after the aforementioned loooong and busy shift while everyone was closing and I think they (hopefully!) raised everyone's spirits a bit.

After work I promptly went home, got into my pjs, got into bed, and fell asleep. I think the rest of the world partied hard enough without me, based on the debauchery I witnessed on fourth avenue last night.

I hope you all had a nice holiday and spring break! It's back to school at 3 for me today :)

Love,
Em

DIY Lavender Vanilla Body/Face Scrub

Today I'm doing my skin/face portion of my weekly beauty regimen. I whipped up a deliciously fragrant, soothing scrub this morning to use as my skin exfoliant! This scrub is ideal for the whole body and can even be used on your face! It's chock full of great, natural ingredients that are AMAZING for your skin, AND you probably have them in your kitchen right now (and if not, they're definitely at the grocery store or natural foods store). The best part is it will cost you only a few pennies and minutes to make!

The scrub contains:

Sea salt, which is a natural detoxifier, exfoliant, antiseptic, and stress reducer. It is softer and more gentle than normal salt, which can sometimes tear at the skin when used in scrubs.

Sugar, which is another exfoliant that is much softer and gentler on the skin than salt- the mix of both sea salt and sugar in this scrub gives all the benefits of both with an end product that is gentle enough to use on your face. Sugar also contains glycolic acid, which conditions and moistens the skin while protecting it from toxins.

Olive oil, which is well known for its moisturizing and soothing properties. Olive oil also contains vitamin E which has been proven to have anti-aging effects.

Grapeseed oil, which is hydrating like olive oil and also is chock full of antioxidants which work against skin-damaging free radicals in the environment. It also lessens allergic reactions on the skin, protects collagen, and evens skin tone. All of these things result in more anti-aging effects.

Lavender essential oil, which can fight against acne and stimulate new skin cell production (helping to heal scars and burns more quickly). It also has calming and pleasant aromatherapy effects.

Vanilla extract, which along with the lavender makes this scrub smell absolutely amazing! Like a delicious floral cookie. If that makes sense.

Lavender VAnilla Scrub

2/3 cup sea salt
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
5 drops lavender essential oil

Optional aesthetic add-ins: scrapings from one vanilla bean, dried lavender flowers.

Combine salt and sugar in a bowl. Drizzle in grapeseed oil while stirring constantly (to help avoid clumps and unevenly dissolved salt/sugar). Grapeseed oil is a light yellow while olive oil has a distinct golden hue. This will make your finished scrub a definite yellow color. If you want it to be lighter (for instance, if you want to add food coloring later for aesthetic appeal without the oil altering the color) use all grapeseed oil.

just grapeseed oil

Add olive oil, once again stirring constantly. Add vanilla extract and lavender essential oil until you reach your desired scent/combination.

with olive oil added

Spoon the mixture into a mason jar or other airtight container and enjoy your new scrub!

To use, just massage onto moistened skin in circular motions to slough off dead skin. Concentrate on particularly dry/rough areas like knees and elbows. Then rinse off! It's perfect for using in the shower. The oil is a natural moisturizer so you wont even need to use lotion after.

A little goes a long way so this scrub should be good for several uses!

Thursday Update: Spring Break

It has been SO NICE to have a little break from school the past few days. I've still been working a lot, but having nothing I have to do during the day is so relaxing. The weather dipped over the weekend but now it's wonderful and sunny and 85-90 degrees out! Awesome spring break weather.

Here's the week in photos:

continuing with using my new crockpot/searching for yummy, low cal recipes... this is a thai peanut coconut curry that works with chicken or veggies (or both in this case!) It was a success so maybe I'll blog about it later.

 

I gave Clementine a bath finally... it had been longer than I'd like to admit! After she was all clean and out of the tub (and running around going CRAZY like just-bathed dogs do) we noticed that her now soft, smooth hair had separated into a perfect part running down the length of her back. It was hard to get a good picture because she is so rambunctious but it looked absolutely ridiculous/hilarious. 

I attempted to make low-ish calories cookies! I kind of made up a recipe, reducing the flour/sugar/chocolate chips/eggs in the toll house recipe and then using greek yogurt in place of some of the butter...They turned out pretty good. Taste wise they're great but I wish the texture was a little more fudgey/dense and less cakey/airy. I guess I'll just have to do some more experimenting.

I posted this on instagram the other day. It has been so nice out (and our house can seem so small and dark) that lately we've been leaving the front door open while we do things around the house during the day. We have a very small fenced in yard around our house so it allows clem to be able to go outside and run around/frolic in the grass/mess with the dogs on the other side of the fence. A couple days ago I was doing my ab workout while Clem was outside and she decided she was done playing and ran in and hopped right onto my chest. She's such a little mama's girl. 

And this is a picture I took of myself yesterday wearing a skirt I bought at Ross last week... Say what you will, I think the high-low hem trend is super cute. I've been buying more clothes in the past few weeks that I have in the past few years combined... Finally having a job and working a decent amount of hours combined with not eating out and not spending any money on alcohol has been very good for my bank account. 

I also took this picture because as of yesterday I've lost 20.2 pounds and 20.5 total inches (added up from all over my body) since I started trying to lose weight on January 17th! I am very very very happy about this. It's kind of a halfway mark to where I want to be. also, 20 lbs is a huge hurdle. I think I should do/buy something extra special for myself as a reward but I'm not sure what that will be yet... But I'm looking forward to continuing to workout, tone my muscles, eat well, and reduce my body fat over the next few months.

In other news, this week:

My friends Nick and Amanda came to Tucson to visit/search for apartments! I was working most of the time they were here but I got to spend a couple hours with them and I am SOOO excited for them to move down here! They are definitely some of my best friends ever, I've known them since I worked at mama eddas in 2010. Nick actually hired me and was my boss haha.

I still have one serving left of the veggie soup I made and I think I'm going to make more this weekend. It is soooo good. I've been eating it with a salad literally every day for lunch, even though I have a ton of other food in the fridge.

I've been trying to figure out who I'm going to do my star study on for my screen artists class. I want to pick someone obscure enough to be interesting but no so obscure that they aren't really a star... I actually really wanted to talk about James Deen, who is a male porn star turned mainstream actor that recently starred in a Bret Easton Ellis film with Lindsay Lohan. I find him interesting because he has been called "the boy next door" of porn by mainstream journals/publications... in that he "looks like someone you would want to talk to at a coffee shop". He has a HUGE female fanbase though, dubbed "deenagers" (many of his fans are younger women) which is pretty much unheard of... He's kind of an anomaly and I think it would be so interesting to talk about his "star image". I'm worried it might be too taboo of a choice though. Ugh. I dont know. Suggestions on interesting stars?

Coming up:

This week I decide on/register for classes for my last semester of college!! Woohoo!!!

Back to school with a couple midterms and papers just around the corner. blegh. 

Not much else... this is going to be a pretty ho-hum week. No big plans, just school, work, working out, and sewing and blogging if I get the time :)

Hope you all have had/are having a wonderful week! Enjoy the weekend!

Love,
Em

Top Ten Posts

I didn't want yesterday's blogiversary post to be suuuuper long, so I left out the list of the top ten most popular/viewed posts from the last three years. Here they are now! There's a good mix of recipes, a handful of movie mondays, and a few other random posts. Enjoy!

1. Reasons why Autumn is the Best Season- my most popular post by a loooong shot. It has over 500 views more than the second most popular post. I think it got into the stumbleupon world.

2. Movie Mondays: Wristcutters: A Love Story- one of my favorite movies to this day.. according to my stats though a lot of people find this post after google searching "cutting wrists" :/ soo... that's unfortunate/weird. I hope those people are inspired to watch this excellent movie and are thus in a much happier and enlightened place for having done so.

3. Movie Mondays: Life as a House- I think this was one of the first R rated movies I saw when I was a kid. Very sweet film. And Hayden Christensen at 20 playing an angsty lil teenager is a real cutie.

4. 20 Things to do in my 20th Year-I'm glad this post is popular because I think it's one of the better things I decided to do on this blog. I didn't do them all but maybe I'll recycle a few for my upcoming 22 in 22! I am starting to think I may never have the chance to beat Stewart at Chinese Checkers though.

5. Shampoo? Toothpaste? Facewash? Who needs 'em!- This post has a really corny title, but some pretty decent info/ideas for anyone trying to go the all natural/no-poo hygiene route. I still stand by it all! Especially the facewash. PUT OIL ALL OVER YOUR FACE. seriously. you'll thank me.

6. 7 Layer Burritos- The only post I know of that has gotten "pinned", which makes sense because pinterest is obsessed with copycat recipes. Inspired by my 17 year old self's diet of taco bell but so much more delicious.

 7. Sesame Seared Tuna and Papaya Tempura Sushi with Spicy Sesame Sauce and Papaya Chutney- A long time ago I did this thing for a website that doesn't exist anymore called Foodie Fights. It was basically a competition between food bloggers... 5 or 6 people could enter each week, 2 secret ingredients would be revealed, and everyone would create/blog about a dish. The winner from the previous week and a special guest judge would decide the winners. This was my first entry and it won! If you couldn't figure it out the secret ingredients were sesame seeds and papaya.

8. Mint Nail Polish and 30 Day Challenge Day 18- I have no idea why this post is popular but it has a couple weird pictures of me and a couple funny videos. And I'm wearing nail polish and trying to be cute.

9. How to Couch-Hop Successfully- I had no idea, when writing this post in a state of frustration and annoyance at my current house guest situation that it would become so popular. Honestly I sound a bit like a self-righteous bitch in it. Oh well. I stand by my tips! And don't hop onto my couch if you don't like it ;)

10. Movie Mondays: Dakota Skye- Another awesome movie. Low budget indie, filmed in Scottsdale AZ which is cool. Great quality and sweet, interesting storyline about a teenage girl. Very very nice.

There you have it! That, apparently, is what people have been reading on this blog. Lots more recipes/movie mondays/other cool stuff in the archives :)

Love,
Em

3 Year Blogiversary/Me at 18!

Today marks the three year anniversary of the day I sat at my little dorm room desk and decided to start a blog! Crazy. My writing has been somewhat sporadic and I don't have a ton of followers, but I am SO glad I decided to make an effort to document my life. There are so many photos and memories that I would have (and did, until browsing the archives) never taken or completely forgotten about! It is so wonderful to have the posts to look back on now and years down the road to see who I was and read what I wrote (as cringe-worthy as it might be) as I transitioned out of adolescence and into adulthood.

I was thinking the other day about how much I have changed over the years. It's almost like I can look at each year from about 14 years old to now (21) and pinpoint exactly who I was -taste in music, style, beliefs- and each year is almost completely different. I guess that's what growing up is all about. It makes me kind of nostalgic... like thinking of a group of old friends I haven't seen in a long, long time. Do you ever think about who you were at 15? or 19? I know that at both those ages I was pretty sure I had shit figured out and I did not see my tastes or aspirations ever changing. And yet I did not move to NYC and become a Broadway star.

BUT, all that stuff still makes up who I am today... all those different girls with different things they think are important. I've been thinking about maybe doing some throwback posts... looking back on me at 14, 15, 16, etc just for the fun and ridiculousness of it. Kind of like VH1s I love the 70s/80s/90s but just about me because I'm a blogger and thus inherently narcissistic. Hah.

So, in honor of this blog's third birthday, here's a little bit of who I was when this all began... 

Me at 18

When I was 18, I...
- graduated high school

Me and my fellow show choir seniors on the last day of high school!

It was raining! That's why my hair is so weird.

- moved out of my parents' house/AZ and into a little dorm room at Lewis and Clark in Portland, OR

Administration building at my gorgeous first college

 - Dated and then stopped dating and then dated and then stopped dating and then dated Stewart

- Got my first pet fish, a purply-red-aqua Beta named Mikal

- Worked at my first "real" job- Subway!

- Performed for the first and last time in a dance show - LC's Dance Extravanganza

- Spent my fall break riding in a UHaul with a bunch of other college kids to Bend, OR where we stayed in someone's aunt's vacation house.

 

 

- Ate mostly vegan, sometimes just vegetarian.

- Decided I missed AZ and my friends and my boyfriend too much and moved back at the end of the school year, just a couple weeks before my 19th birthday.

My favorite bands/artists were: Modest Mouse, Regina Spektor, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sublime, Tool

My favorite movie was: Wristcutters: A Love Story

I read: All the Harry Potters again, the first two books of His Dark Materials, Siddhartha, Kneller's Happy Campers

My best friend(s) was(were): Stewart, Sharney, Megan

The most important things to me were: Hanging out with my friends, living a vegan lifestyle, dating Stewart because I liked him soooo muuuuchhhh, coming home to arizona so I could continue hanging out with my friends and dating Stewart and cooking vegan food.

18 was a pretty weird year for me. When I look back on it I think I really had no idea who I was and was just trying to figure it out. That's probably pretty common for the first year of college. I have lots of great memories of exploring Portland, flying home to visit my best friends in Prescott, experiencing the whole dorm-meal plan-college in a new place thing, and leaving high school behind. The summer before college was one of the best ever, and luckily I filmed a good deal of it so I have a nice little video reminder of that time. I won't put any of it here, because we were being dumb 18 year olds.. but it's pretty cool to have.

I also still used Myspace when I was 18 and got a lot of these pictures from there. So old school.

Here's to another year of blogging!