sun-kissed

Wow I know it's been about two weeks since my last post, but I have been so busy I feel like I haven't had a minute to spare to even say hello here. I whipped through my last finals week of college and somehow managed to write thirty-three pages of papers in about a week.

Last Saturday I was fortunate enough to visit one of my dearest friends before he left for an internship in Washington DC. We strolled around UCLA campus and munched on peanut M&Ms and I had such a wonderful time catching up. We hadn't seen each other in over a year! It had been way too long. He is already off traipsing around the East Coast (including NYC!!) and I'm looking forward to hearing about his adventures.

Sunday I was swooped up by MC and her family and we sped off to Vegas. I was spoiled rotten for a couple of days and enjoyed a magical show by David Copperfield and an extraordinary Cirque du Soleil show too. We ate at fancy restaurants and sipped on margaritas the whole time. The week in Vegas was topped off with MC and me somehow getting on the VIP list of the "hottest nightclub in Vegas" called Pure (thanks to MC's mom, who has magical connections).

I bounced up to the central coast to spend the weekend at my parent's house. All my besties are in town for the tail-end of spring break, and we're heading out to the beach in about 20 minutes. My favorite! Tonight there is a bbq out at a friend's house, and I know there will be some beer pong and a bonfire, so I'm looking forward to that.

It's been an amazing couple of weeks, and I'm looking forward to all of spring being pretty spectacular because I am done with school. I'll be more diligent in keeping up with my blog now that I have more time. I've missed it!

with you

So of course I'm in the library again, which somehow means I'm looking up random bands instead of writing papers. Listen to this song called With You by the band Stars of Track and Field. It's so sweet.

simple little beauty

This is my absolute most favorite song to listen to when I've been trapped in the library all day.

Librarian by My Morning Jacket

Image via vi.sualize.us)

windy

I was just going to write something maybe meaningful or though-provoking but I'm all alone in the living room and it's late and the huge gusts of wind outside are giving me the creeps, so I think I'll go curl up in bed instead.

I want someone to cuddle with.

viva las vegas?

So my completely empty week of spring break just went from a level of zero excitement to a level of yayayyaaay wow fun excitement! Here is what I'm up to:

-Saturday: down to the 'Vine to hang with MC (bathing suit shopping?)
-Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: Vegas, Valley of Fire state park, laying out by big pools, shows (Cirque du Soleil, The Lion King, and Penn and Teller?)
-Thursday: back in the 'Vine, 1,000 steps beach (+ beer?)
-Friday: drive up to Atown, reunion with long-lost lovers all weekend

Wowowwww I'm so excited. I'm hoping it's sunny and warm the whole time (come on Cali, you can do it!!) Gonna get my tan and my reading on.

oasis

I'm pretty sure I should be banned from the Internet during dead week and finals week. I have been so unproductive today! I have two papers due on Friday and the most I got done was a little outlining. I did go to the gym and did a bit of reading today, but I've also done a lot of lazing about.

I did however decide that at some point in my life I would love to live in a building with a cool rooftop.Whether it has a fantastic view, like this one in NYC,
(image via wandermelon.com)

or a modern, relaxing feel like this one,
(also in Manhattan, image via inhabitat.com)

or an exotic vibe, like this one in Marrakesh, Morocco.
(That's me!)

I love this picture, it reminds me of such a dreamy experience I had when I was in Morocco. My tiny, adorable hostel had this rooftop oasis that I escaped to on my first day in Marrakesh. I was tired and dusty and culturally shocked, and I simply needed a quiet place to relax. I lazed on that couch all afternoon and wrote in my journal, and the owner of the hostel brought up a tray with fresh, homemade Moroccan mint tea served in the most ornate tea set. She also gave me a little bowl full of semi-sweet crumbly biscuits that tasted like heaven. I watched a beautiful sunset and as a hush fell over the incredibly loud and chaotic city, the eerie, mysterious prayer call in Arabic echoed through a PA system across the entire city. The prayer call must have lasted for about five minutes, and the whole time I was sitting in the near dark with tiny lanterns lit all around me, and goosebumps on my skin. The whole experience was magical and I cherish it as one of the most profound during my entire time abroad.

Ahh I just got kinda sad thinking about that for some reason. It's really windy here, I hate the wind for some reason, and it makes all the windows in this old house rattle like crazy, which puts me on edge. I'm going to go make a tuna melt. Hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing weekend. Back to the daily grind tomorrow.

hold your horses!

I am so restless right now! I was semi-unproductive today: I didn't have work and I only had a couple hours of classes and I skipped the gym. I also don't have any new books at home (not that I should be starting a book right before finals week) which means there has been a lot of exploring the web today. I feel like I'm about a page away from coming to "the end" of the Internet. I've looked at international job listings, opportunities to teach English in foreign countries, watched a thousand viral videos, and clicked through about 300 pictures from the Selby (which makes me romanticize my life in awful ways).

Anyways the best thing I found was this music video by the Franco-American band Hold Your Horses! The band members re-create famous/historical paintings in a rather creative and silly way in the video. I tried to research them more but they're pretty of the wall so I didn't find much. I bet they'll blow up in about 6 months though. Enjoy!

PS here is the myspace page for that band. (Do people still use myspace? It seems so "7th grade" to me...)

the phantom menace

This is what I look like after I go to class when it's bright and sunny (so naturally I don't bring an umbrella) and then I have to ride my bike home in the (torrential) rain. Rogue thunder showers are such a menace. So much for blow drying my hair today.

muzak

Ok so one more post here...

Check out the band/couple called Pomplamoose. In the past couple of days I stumbled across their name twice, so I figured it was high time I checked them out. I did a little research (aka wikipedia'd) them, and found out that they're a couple who are primarily youtube based, and they create "videosongs" which I guess entails that what you see is what you hear, and if you hear it, at some point you see it. (That is straight off wikipedia, sorry.) Basically they perform all their own music, vocals, instruments, etc, (with a little help from friends) and they show you (the viewer) what they're playing/singing, etc in their vids.

Turns out they're pretty cool/cute/quirky. I like the girl's voice, and they do some fun covers of random songs (anything from Simon & Garfunkel to Aerosmith to Beyonce). Plus their name is extremely similar to my favorite French word, "pamplemousse" which I'll give you a dollar if you can guess what it means. Ok not really. It means grapefruit. So random. (More trivia...red grapefruit is my favorite fruit!)

Anyways FINALLY here's their youtube link.

Sunday drive

Even though it rained all day Friday and Saturday, my parents and I lucked out with the weather on Sunday. Does anyone else use the expression "the fog was as thick as pea soup"? It might just be a family thing. Anyways, on Sunday morning the fog was as thick as pea soup in Atascadero, but the trusty Cayucos beach cam informed us that it was sunny on the coast, so we drove out to Cambria and got brunch at the Moonstone Beach Bar and Grill. I got my favorite eggs benedict of course. I love when it's served on a flaky croissant!

After brunch we drove up the road to a little nursery called Grow and wandered around like we always do. My dad bought this sweet succulent (you know, like, something that looks like an aloe plant, often mistaken for a cactus?) that was all silvery in the middle and then the edges of it were pinky-red. (Apparently the genus is an echeveria subrigida and they look like this.) And my mom bought this neat antiquey stoneware pot/vase thingy that I swear we have in every color at home. But the one she bought was a really delicate pastel greeny/blue color.

Here are some pictures from the day.

Grow Nursery: I love the weathered wood that is contrasted with the turquoise and orange window/door frames. Also how great is it that the orange paint matches the blossoms on the plants out front? (PS I'm pretty sure all the buildings in Cambria are made with that same wood; because Cambria gets pretty foggy I think it just gives everything that same semi-distressed look.)

This is the view literally across the street from Grow. And by street I mean tiny lane, there is nothing else out there. The road in the picture is actually Highway 1 that leads up to Hearst Castle and then Big Sur.

As you can see, this is the same picture as my new blogger heading. I figured I should have something up there that is my own! I also just realized that this is a succulent, and it is the same color as that vase my mom bought. Connections....yay! Oh also if you were wondering, that is indeed a tiny water droplet being suspended in the middle of the plant. I'm pretty sure it was just waiting there for a tiny garden fairy to come take a drink out of. It was crystal clear.

Happy March!

So I have about 12 different things I want to write right now so I'm just going to space them out into 3 or 4 different posts. So sorry for the onslaught, but here goes!

I can't believe it's March already! I officially have 8 more school days of my college career (not including finals week! I guess I'm not entirely dismissing grad school either...) So I guess I should say I have 8 more days of undergraduate classes. I know I should savor them, but I can't wait for spring and sunshine and (near) freedom. (I guess I do have to work and apply to internships, but I'm still looking forward to it!)

But enough of that business. On to the main point of this post. I just read this article from National Geographic that says that scientists believe that the 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile on Saturday likely shifted the axis of the Earth by three inches, which in turn leads to a shortening of days (only by 1.26 millionths of a second, but STILL). I just can't believe that! Apparently the huge quake in Sumatra in '04 did the same thing. I just really like hearing about scientific discoveries like that I guess. Not to mention it boggles my mind that scientists can figure stuff like that out, and also that the Earth has so much power and force!