Desert Diamond Cup Finals 2015

Well, this past week has been pretty busy! I mentioned in my last post that I was planning on going to a Bad Suns concert on Friday night, however, one of the band members has been unfortunately hospitalized so the show was postponed.

This was ultimately a better thing for me. Specifically, this meant I had the chance to meet up with my alma mater's Interact Club, have dinner with them, and then go bond with some of my pledge brothers.

It was so nice getting to see everyone again - some of them have already grown so much in a few months.

Don't get me wrong, my Friday was great, but today was absolutely AMAZING: two of my brothers and I drove to Tucson to watch the Desert Diamond Cup Finals! We grabbed Dutch Bros and left around one, giving us enough time to watch all three matches.

Now you may be thinking "Oh boy, she's talking about random sports again" but you may be interested in this: there were members of our national team! If you joined in on the excitement last summer when the U.S. team was playing in the World Cup, then you might be familiar with some of the faces below!

This was such an amazing experience, and though I didn't have the chance to try to meet them, I'm really, really happy. This was such a nice way to end my February - how did you end yours?

xx

Catch you next time.

Barrett Ladies Tea 2015

Last Sunday morning, the girls and I gussied up and went to the Third Annual Barrett Ladies' Tea! I've never been to a tea before so this was a really exciting opportunity to not only experience it, but to also mingle with female Barrett alumni of all majors and career paths! It was beyond amazing to talk to so many influential and powerful women who have gone through the same school that I am now in.

There was lots of food, flowers, and fun on this beautiful Sunday morning, I'm so happy that I randomly found the flyer for this event! My friend Katelyn and I (see the fifth picture below) loved the event and signed up to work on next semester's tea! We are so excited to be a part of this wonderful organization (and potentially develop our own, but shhh, I don't want to jinx anything!).

Anyways, as I'm sure 99.99% of you understand, when a group of girls gets up early, doll themselves up, and trek almost a mile in their heels, there is no way on this beautiful planet that you not take pictures! Some of the pictures turned out so well, I couldn't help but share how great everyone looked!

I love Antonio Melani, his dresses are always too cute! I found this blue dress a few months ago at a Dillard's, instantly fell in love with the detail and design, and absolutely knew I had to have it! (I couldn't find my exact dress so I have links to similar ones here, here, and here).

How cute are those tea favors? Inside was Tiffany blue candy, can you say perfect?! I cannot wait to get started on helping with the next tea, hopefully with a lot of dedication and attention, each semester's tea will be bigger and better than the last!

xx

Catch you next time.

Quote of the Week: Life is an Adventure

Well, it's late on a Monday night (or it might just be Tuesday morning by the time this post goes up) and I am doing what I swore to myself I wouldn't be doing - staying up late to study for my Jane Austen midterm tomorrow morning.

Honesty moment: I have studied a bit for this exam, but the fact that it's a new-ish class and I don't know anybody in my section makes me really nervous as to how I'll really do on a test that's apparently going to be worth 20% of my final grade. No pressure, right?

Anyways, I was re-watching lecture videos from the past few weeks and heard something I hadn't remembered hearing - one of my professors made a reference to this quote and for some reason it just really resonated with me so I decided to share it!

{via}

This is definitely one of my favorites - when I had the opportunity to re-read the original text for Senior English in high school, I *somewhat frantically* tried to find any opportunity to slip it into the paper due for that section.

I feel like this quote really embodies the hope and faith that we place in life, that it will be grand and amazing, that we have so many different opportunities ahead of us and all we can do is spend our time exploring.

Already in the short few months I have been down here at school, I have had so many new experiences, met so many new people, and learned so many new things that I feel as if I'm somehow the same person but not.

I still love Netflix, chocolate, and popcorn, but I've found Swing Dancing and my organization skills have somehow kicked it up a few notches (the reactions I received when I pulled out my Lilly planner at the table during one of my committee meetings was almost comical)!

As I seem to say in quite a few of my posts (hmm, I wonder when I'll actually give in to the curiosity and count for myself), "Life can get crazy!" and I'm absolutely grateful for it. This is only my freshman year of college and I know there are so many more events and experiences waiting to happen before I even graduate.

This past weekend was particularly busy from Devilpalooza 2015 to the Barrett Ladies' Tea (post will be up soon!), and this week is just as busy (I just had my end-of-the-year mentoring program banquet tonight, Jane Austen midterm in the morning, interviewing on Wednesday to potentially teach a class next semester, scheduling classes happens early Thursday morning, seeing the Bad Suns perform on Friday and going to watch the Desert Diamond Cup Finals in Tucson on Saturday with my friend Sonia)!

What is one of your favorite quotes from a fairy tale? Do you ever wish you could live in Neverland?

xx

Catch you next time.

Panic! at the Disco Round II

Happy Sunday! How are you doing this lovely afternoon? Today has been pretty rainy over here but here's an update of the beginning of the past weekend!

So for those of you who have following me for a little while now, you might remember that my music taste is a bit on the eclectic side of the spectrum - I absolutely love music. To give you an idea of how broad my taste is, I usually listen to Bach and Beethoven when studying, Taylor Swift when getting ready, and Fall Out Boy when I'm trying to get pumped up for something.

I was really, really lucky to see Panic! at the Disco for the first time last October for free as a part of the Yahoo! Music tour - it was an amazing time and a lot of fun, especially since we weren't that far back and the seats were elevated.

Every year, my university puts on a free concert for its students - a few of their previous acts have been Gavin Degraw, Far East Movement, and Scotty McCreary. This year, they had Panic! at the Disco!! (I'm sure you can imagine my enormous surprise and excitement.) The concert was loads of fun and I was only one person back from the barricade/fence of the stage! I took so many videos and pictures, but here are just a few photos from the night!

Last semester I went to the Panic! concert with Ana of Could've, Would've, Should've and Liz of The 365, and I was really lucky to attend Panic! at Devilpalooza with them this semester as well! For the record, that is not the same shirt nor the same shorts, though the shorts do look exactly the same!

Imagine our surprise when our friend Laura met us in the dining hall and we noticed she and I were twinning!

It was great getting to meet some of Liz's friends visiting from Flagstaff and spending time with them at the carnival and the concert!

How has your weekend been? Did you do anything exciting? Meet any new people?

xx

Catch you next time.

Freshman Five: How to Schedule College Classes

Are you a college student or a soon-to-be Freshman? Have you started thinking about your classes for the next semester? Check the schedule for when your university opens registration - with my school specifically (because orientations for next year's freshmen begin soon), Fall Registration happens a lot sooner than it does for the Spring! 

From personal experience, I know that scheduling classes can be a super stressful process, so hopefully these tips can be helpful for some of you!

Take the Time to Plan Ahead // Knowing dates is super important, I don't know how much I can stress that through a computer screen, but seriously: DATES ARE IMPORTANT. I strongly suggest you find when the Course Catalog (the list of all of the available classes, their times, professors, etc) is released and what day registration opens. The Course Catalog is awesome, make it your best friend! Use it to plan out your ideal schedule, research professors (RateMyProfessor.com has saved my life so many times I have lost count!) and see if there are any new, interesting classes you would like to take.

Have a Chat With Your Advisor // You will not believe how many resources are available to students on campus, and your Academic Advisor is without a doubt one of the most important! I've heard a lot of students complain about going to advising appointments, but really, you should be using your appointment to get to know your advisor a little bit (so they can get to know you and how to help you) and make sure they know what you want/are looking for. Advisors are there to help you, let them!

Talk to Upperclassmen // Last semester, doing this saved my butt! Creating my schedule while I was talking to upperclassmen not only helped me pick the right classes, but also avoid professors who (no offense to them but) made them want to fall sleep in or skip the class altogether. I am such a nerd, I love learning, but if the teacher doesn't seem interested in what they're talking about, it's hard for me to get enthusiastic about it. Also, when you talk to your friends, you guys might try to get classes together!

Always Have a Back-Up // This is another time that the Course Catalog is crucial: always, always have a back-up plan. 90% of your classes should have more than one class time, but the most popular class times are always the ones that fill up quicker. If there is an option between a 9:00 and a 10:30am, most people will probably be going for the 10:30am. At this point, you can decide to try for the 10:30am and keep the 9:00am as a back-up, or just go the 9:00am. This is the strategy that got me into my Honors Financial Accounting class!

Never Give Up // Schedules are in flux from the day of registration to the first week of the new semester. Don't be discouraged if you don't make it into your ideal class or your back-up! Because it's only the beginning of registration, you really don't know when and where extra sections of courses might be added, and this could work to your advantage if somebody ends up dropping a seat in the class you want! Just keep checking your university's portal every few days, and over summer, because you never know when that coveted spot will just magically appear!

Do you have any tips on scheduling classes? Do you prefer busy mornings or busy afternoons? Or maybe a mix of both!

xx
Catch you next time

Valentine's/Galentine's/Brahlentine's Day Recap!

Hello, lovelies! I know these pictures are a teensy bit late, but hey, what's life without a few tiny mishaps to remind you that not everything goes perfectly to plan, as much as we'd like them to!

This year's Valentine's Day was definitely a special one for me - this is the first time that I really had the opportunity to spend time with friends on this special day (I love all of my friends from high school, but all of my friends had boyfriends and were always busy on this day). 

Everything kicked off with Galentine's! Friday night some girls from my building went to a lounge, tried to decorate, and we watched movies, threw popcorn, and ate plenty of sweets. 

Saturday morning Liz from the 365, Ana from Could've, Would've, Should've, and our friend Bree (sadly not pictured) went to Tempe Marketplace! We hung out, did a bit of light shopping, and overall just had really nice girl time. I've never had a real meal from Paradise Bakery before and eating there was the best decision we could've made! The food is absolutely delicious, and I'm in love with their cookies!

After coming back from Tempe Marketplace, I was supposed to go golfing with some brothers from my Fraternity but the plans fell through at the last minute. I decided to relax and Netflix for a few hours before meeting up with my Pledge Mom (left) and one of my best brother friends (right) to see Kingsman: The Secret Service.

I personally loved this movie! The humor is very British and the slight gore of the action scenes were reminiscent of those in Expendables (read: I may have winced a few times, I am not a huge fan of things like that but I usually don't mind it much), but this movie has a great combination of action, humor, and well-dressed men (note: When is seeing men in suits not great? Answer is never!).

Sorry for the grainy picture, the lighting was awful in the parking lot!

Blouse: New York & Co. (Currently 50% off now!) Jeans: Hollister Co. (The Bryden is my favorite!)

Bow Necklace: Charming Charlie (similar) Purse: Coach Shoes: Vince Camuto

How was your Valentine's and President's Day weekend? Did you do anything special on your extra day off? My university didn't give us the day off, but I know most people did! 

xx

Catch you next time.

Sprinkles Cupcakes

Happy Sunday, lovelies! I was going to put up my Valentine's Day recap today, but one of the girls forgot to send me pictures, so instead here's a post on one of my favorite things: cupcakes!

Hope your weekends went well! My day on Friday did not exactly start out amazing, but instead of being upset about how my day was going, I gave myself something to look forward to! Anybody who knows me will tell you I love being organized, and though it often stresses me out (whether it be about needing to organize more or how being organized tells me just how much I have to do), I love giving myself goals to strive for.

That morning when I felt like I just wanted to give up on everything and go hide in a hole that conveniently had Netflix, I told myself: "Chin up! If you do what you need to do with a smile on your face, you can go try out that cupcake shop you've heard so much about!" And I loved it!

Sprinkles Cupcakes are adorable, delicious, and most importantly, THEY HAVE A 24/7 CUPCAKE ATM. Yes, you read that right: A CUPCAKE ATM. *mind blown* It's such a good thing the closest Sprinkles to campus is about fifteen minutes away or else I'd be buying cupcakes every other day or so!

I decided to buy a few extras to give to my old Speech and Debate coach who was coming down with her team for a competition so I decided to surprise her with some mini cupcakes and she loved them! I reluctantly shared the milk chocolate cupcake with my little sister and she made me promise to bring her another one to their next tournament down here.

Here are a few pictures from the store and the beautifully delicious cupcakes I bought!

My favorite cupcake so far has probably been the chocolate cupcake with marshmallow filling! What's yours?

xx

Catch you next time.

This is not a sponsored post of any kind, this is my personal opinion written of my own accord.

Little Discoveries

I am awful - it's been a little while since a Little Discoveries post and this may just be my favorite!

School picked up the pace doubletime this past week, but my first Accounting exam is over (hooray!), I turned in the first of two essays this morning (yay!), and the only homework I need to do this weekend is read some Jane Austen and research a word on the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Doesn't sound too hard, right?

Anyways, the reason this post is up a bit late is because it was scheduled to go live this morning, but I forgot to press "Publish" instead of "Save" - oh, silly me! As I post this, I'm walking back into my dorm room because today I started my internship (SURPRISE: I GOT AN INTERNSHIP!, but more on this at a later time).

Taylor Swift's Got Style

Now I know that we all agree that Taylor rocked it at the Grammy's in her gorgeous dress, but this morning her new music video was released! Style is definitely one of my top three favorites on the 1989 album - it has a great beat, the lyrics are great if you listen to them, and this video is just amazing! It visually shows some of the shifts she has made as a singer, and let's be honest, Dominic Sherwood is pretty great (I have a friend from high school who had two different colored eyes as well, very cool gene mutation!).

Movie Nights are Fun

    

{via}                                                                      {via}

Earlier this week, some of the girls and I decided to go see Jupiter Ascending and The Best of Me. I loved both of these movies in different ways - Jupiter Ascending was a nice "sort-of-realistic" SciFi and I read the book, so I cried a few times throughout The Best of Me.

Star Lord and Captain America Bet on Super Bowl

{via}

Now I know for a lot of people out there, the Super Bowl is not the most exciting thing ever, whether it be because they don't like football or they feel indifferent because they just don't have a stake in it.
Well, this should make you care a bit, or at least make you chuckle! Chris Pratt and Chris Evans made a bet that whoever's team lost in the Super Bowl, the other would have to dress up as their superhero persona and visit the winner's favorite hospital - tell me that isn't overly sweet and adorable?!

Some People in the Business World are Cool

Richard Handler is one of the big wigs on Wall Street, head of the investment firm, Jeffries. Handler qualified for and decided to turn down a $2.2 million bonus that he said he didn't deserve. This article gets into the nitty gritty of it, but bottom line is: Handler's not the first CEO to turn down a large bonus, and hopefully not the last.

Hostess Gift Ideas

I loved Katie's post on Hostess gifts! My mom always told me never to come to a person's house empty-handed. I used to think this meant you had to buy a big present every time you wanted to come over, but of course now I look for the cutest *yet not bank-breaking* gifts for the ladies who are kind enough to open up their homes for events or get-togethers. Being a hostess of any sort of event is certainly not easy, check out Katie's list and show a hostess your appreciation!

Valentine's Link-Ups Everywhere

{via}

One of the things I love so much about the blogging world is that holidays really are holidays! Everyone gets so excited and shares all of their ideas, it's great to see so many different and creative ideas. Link-ups are happening everywhere from Private School Prepster to A Seersucker State of Mind, and many more I'm sure! If you're part of one, make sure you leave your link down in the comments of this post and I'll make sure to check it out!

xx

Catch you next time.

On My Playlist: Silly Love Songs

Well, well, well ladies (and gentlemen if there are any reading this - if so, shoutout to you!) it's that time of year again: Valentine's aka Single's Awareness aka Galentine's aka Spoil Yourself Day!!

I am a hopeless, hopeless romantic. I love LOVE. RomComs are life and Nicholas Sparks knows how to make me ugly cry like a newborn baby. But that's not the type of love I want to focus on for this post.

The idea that you care so much about people that you just want them to be happy, to seem them happy makes you happy? That's awesome.

People will say what they want about Valentine's Day being a capitalist holiday and we should always strive to show our love for others, but the way I see it is that this is a day to really go above and beyond the usual things you do (even if you do surprise people randomly every once in a while, this is another excuse to surprise them again).

February 14th is awesome, but February 15th is pretty cool, too - it's the first of the bi-annual Discount Candy Day! Get it? I know, not really funny, but very true. Anyways, I digress from the point of this post - let's get on to the music!

{via}

Quick Valentine's Music Spiel: Music is amazing, love is awesome, here is a quick playlist that will have you in the mood to dance around, whether it be with your significant other, your gal pals, or just yourself, it really doesn't matter as long as you're dancing and happy!

Disclaimer: There are some throwbacks, but come on, what is a TSP playlist without some oldies-but-goodies? I tried to get a good mix of full on rocking out and happy, hip-swaying - hope you enjoy!

I Wanna Dance With Somebody - Whitney Houston

This One's For the Girls - Martina McBride

Let's Get Together - Hayley Mills

Love Song - Sara Bareilles

Dancing Queen - ABBA

22 - Taylor Swift

Love - Matt White

Everything - Michael Buble

Like You Do - Angel Taylor

Better Together - Jack Johnson

Gonna Get This - Miley Cyrus ft. Iyaz

Just a Dream (cover) - Sam Tsui & Christina Grimmie

Silly Love Songs (Glee cover) - Darren Criss & the Warblers

What are some of your favorite songs for Valentine's?

xx

Catch you next time.