thank youuu

A lovely thank you goes out to Lindsay of Scenic Glory 

for giving me a Stylish Blogger Award!  

If you're not already a follower, please go check out her lovely blog.  

She loves retro and vintage things,

and her blog is super fun to read :)

I did my 7 Stylish things blog a week ago, thanks to Kai!

So if you haven't checked it out yet:

click here!

Thanks again Lindsay :) 

[day three] xoxo, gossip girl

Day Three. Your favorite television program.

My roommates and I chose not to pay for cable 

or for any channels at all, really.

So, my television watching is pretty limited.

When I went to New York City with my high school senior class in 2008,

we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and saw that a 

show was filming there on the steps.

That show was Gossip Girl, and they were filming the famous steps where Little J was exiled from in the first season of the show.  

Ever since then, I've been hooked.

I absolutely love Gossip Girl.

I started watching it with my mom, and since I'm in college now,

Brooke and I always make the drive over to Olivia's house to watch the latest episode on Monday nights.

This season just keeps getting better and better.   

Who else likes Gossip Girl?? 

I'm so excited for tomorrow night just for this reason:

knowing that I'll be watching it gets me through my 3-hour night class on Monday nights.

pilgrims and indians

Probably my favorite quote from this Thanksgiving had to do with the holiday itself.

Me: What's Thanksgiving again? 

I know it's when the pilgrims and indians ate together.

Brooke: It's when the indians said, "yeah, we'll teach you how to fish."

My favorite part about Thanksgiving was the night before.

My dad left Thanksgiving morning for South America with my brother, 

so we had a good-bye dinner at Flavors of India.

I absolutely LOVE indian food...it's right up there next to mexican food.

Check it out:

I wish Thanksgiving was with India Indians so that instead of turkey, we would have rice, aloo mutter, and aloo gobi :)

[day two] tats & needle guns

Day Two. Talk about your piercings or tattoos, if you have any.

I have my ears pierced.  I got them done when I was five.  Then I got lazy, and I've had to get them re-pierced twice since I let the holes close up.

I need to get a better collection of earrings.  

I love them, but I'm pretty limited.

My favorites are just pearl earrings.

So classy.

I've always pondered about getting a tattoo,

but the idea of permanence is very scary.

My dad would be so mad if I ever got one!!

But...Brooke's leaving me for study abroad next Fall, 

which will be the longest we've ever been apart (right now it's a week).

We might get our birthday in roman numerals on our wrists to signify our twinnie-ness.

I'm not sure though!

It would still work with jobs because a watch could easily cover it.

What do you think??

getting ready for sota

Yesterday was an exciting day.  

After work, Nick came over and we started planning our shopping list.  

I'm going to go meet his family in Minnesota right before Christmas!!  

So, it's a little bit colder there than it is in Arizona--

which means shopping time!!  

We went to Buffalo Exchange, and I got a couple jackets, some long sleeve shirts, and sweaters.  

Then we picked up Brooke from school, got Starbucks Christmas drinks, and we all went to Fashion Square for more shopping.  

I found an amazing fuzzy hat to keep my ears warm in the snow.  

I'll probably get made fun of, but I'm really excited to wear it.  

I wore it all night.  

While Brookie did homework, Nick and I went on a search for s'mores, but no one had marshmellows (since we didn't want to drive all the way to the grocery store haha).  

We came back with wine instead, which was totally fine with me :) 

Little exciting tidbit I learned about myself last night: 

I like pinot noir, so now I like certain kinds of red wines even though I'm a white wine girl.  

Then we went outside to the firepit that Nick bought for El Casa Trio & listened to music and roasted veggie dogs!! So delicious.  

Yesterday was the beginning of the holiday season for me.  

It was chilly, I listened to Christmas music, I roasted things by the fireplace, and made my reservations to spend a few days in the snow!

bored in class

Today when I was bored in class, I found some nice images on the lovely weheartit,

and I thought I'd share them with you all :)

dreaming of cali

I really wish Paris for spring break was still happening.
And...love the dress too!

Okay, and I didn't watch the AMA's last night, but I've been looking at pictures of all of the outfits all day.  I absolutely LOVE Taylor Swift's new hair. 

So sleek & chic.

i got my first award!!

Yayyyy!  I got my first blog award, and I'm so so excited.  Kai over at 

All Kinds of Complicated gave me the Stylish Blogger Award!

She is such a sweet and beautiful girl, and if you do not already follow her blog, I highly recommend that you should.  I love how she takes pictures of food (just like me!), shares her fun dates, and mixes her blog posts with stories from her life along with life, style, and design inspiration.  :)

Okay, so the rules for the award are as follows:

1. Thank the person that gave you the award. (Thanks again Kai!! ❤)

2. Name 7 facts about yourself

3. Give the award to 7 stylish bloggers, & comment to let them know.

1. I'm a twin!!  My sister, Brooke and I are best friends.  Yeah, of course we fight, but we always get over it.  We had always been in the same classes (until college), had the same friends, and lived together.  There's not much that we don't know about each other, in fact, sometimes she knows more about me than I know about myself.  She's most likely going to be moving to Milan, Italy for the Fall 2011 Semester, and I already miss her.  It's going to be such a change, but it will be a good one.  If you don't already follow her blog, go check it out: Living Today But Dreaming of Tomorrow

me & Brookie 

2. I'm a vegetarian. No meat, no fish, but I'm definitely not a vegan.  I love ice cream, cheese, & chocolate milk.  My mom raised me and Brooke that way.  Our dad eats meat and our three brothers eat meat, but us girls are veggies.  Yeah, it definitely limits restaurant menus to two or three items, but I think that it makes me unique, and I like it like that.  Oh, and we found this really great restaurant called Green in Scottsdale, and their entire menu is mock-meat.  It's the one place that I can order everything on the menu, but I still always only get the same two things (buffalo wings & a mexi-cali burger).  

3. Chipotle is my favorite restaurant in the whole world. It's not fine dining, and I'm sure it's not the best mexican food out there, but I eat there at least once a week.  Last week, we ate there probably about 3-4 times.  It's kind of ridiculous, but their $6.50 Vegetarian Bowl is to die for.  I get: cilantro lime rice, black beans, pico de gallo, LOTS of hot, sour cream, LOTS of cheese, guacamole, and lettuce.  Sprinkle some Smoked Chipotle Tobasco sauce, and it's even more amazing. I used to get burritos, but they're too hard to eat and with bowls you can get the perfect bite every time. 

when a burrito has a hole that big, it kind of turns you off of eating burritos

4. I'm a sucker for all cheesy, girly, & romantic movies.   I've seen The Notebook a million times, and I cry even harder each time I see it.  The same goes for Titanic.  All of those girly teen movies like John Tucker Must Die are in my movie collection at home.  I love action movies, scary movies, and all different kinds of flicks, but chick flicks are by far going to win in any contest.  This is exactly why Nick won my heart once again when he bought me yellow roses & my very own copy of Sex and the City 2 out of the blue. :)

5. I'm a pet lover.  If I could have a pet, I definitely would.  I love puppies and dogs.  I have a cat that lives back home with my mom and dad, but it's almost 16 years old.  I got him when I was five.  If it wasn't for the cat hair that gets everywhere, I would maybe own a cat in the future.  The first thing I'm going to do when I have a real job is get a puppy.  I love little to mid-sized dogs.  If I could have any dog in the world, it would probably be either a puggle or a shiba inu.  Both are so cute & darling.

6. I love to travel.  I've been so fortunate in my life to be able to see a lot of the world with my family.  My parents love to travel, and thankfully, they love taking me and Brooke with them.  We've gotten to see the beautiful cities of Paris, Madrid, London, Edinburgh, Cape Town, Melbourne, and so many more.  It's been great traveling to all of the different cities, and I think that seeing how other people live makes me appreciate my own life and have goals of how I'd like to live my life.  It's hard to pick my favorite country that I've been to, but I'm pretty sure that I enjoyed Spain a lot.  We went there my senior year of high school over Christmas, and we had a magical time.  

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." 

St. Augustine

mommy & me exploring the streets

7. I used to be a great cook and a fabulous baker. Keywords are "used to be."  When Brooke and I were younger, we wanted to be chefs.  Our mom even got us chef outfits with our names embroidered onto them.  My sister and I would spend all day finding recipes, going to the grocery store, and making new kinds of dishes for our family and friends to enjoy.  We watched The Food Network every night before bed, and we even had Iron Chef challenges and used our friends as judges.  We went to cake decorating classes and made all of the treats for our family gatherings.  Once we got to college, everything changed.  Now, we barely have anything in our fridge, and we eat out (at Chipotle mostly) almost every day.  Nothing's changed in our minds though.  We still love cooking, and we want to be able to eat fantastic meals every day.  So this last fact is more of a goal.  I'm going to start devoting more time & money into cooking and baking again.  We enjoyed it so much a few years ago, so I know it will bring us happiness again.

Alright, so there are my seven facts!

Now I need to pass off the challenge to a seven of my favorite bloggers.

I follow so many blogs & I LOVE them all,

but here are the ones that stand out:

1. Steph at (sweet) symphanie

2. Christine at Bijou and Boheme

3. Christine at bun & borough

4. Alycia and Trevor at Crowley Party

5. Debby at Inspired Design

6. Nicole at Scraps of Color

7. EJC at Stiletto Beats

[day one] first of thirty

My sister Brooke is doing a thirty day challenge right now, so she's probably going to be mad that I copied her.  But...it's a different one!  So, I say that's okay in my book :)

Day One. Your middle name & how you feel about it.

Paige.  I used to not like it as a kid, but now I've grown to like it a lot.  And, it's pretty crazy but my best friend is named Paige!  We're going to be best friends for life.  We met freshman year of college.  She thought Brooke & I were weird, and we thought she was a bitch (excuse my language haha).  It turns out that she's not a bitch, we're all weird, and we've become sisters.  We've been there for each other through everything--boys, deaths, rough nights, & all the good times.  We became friends when we were becoming who we're going to be for the rest of our lives.  That's how I know we'll be friends forever.  Even if we separate after college because of work, families, or anything that could possibly tear us apart, I know that we'll always come together as if nothing had ever changed.  When I write my full name down on job applications, e-mails, or new credit cards and licenses, I will always think of my best friend.

goobers for life

live while we're young

School problems, relationship issues, friend fights.

We need to be grateful for these things.

Yeah, we're college students.  

Yes, we're going to have homework & social dilemmas.  

But having homework and a social life is the first sign 

that lets us know that we're all going through 

the most exciting time of our lives.  

Your 20's are for having fun, doing what you want to do, 

exploring the world, and most of all, 

they're not for dwelling on little things that won't matter the next day, 

the next week, and definitely not a year from now.  

Everything seems like such a big deal the day it happens, 

but in a little while, none of that's going to matter.  

Whatever happens to us each day makes us who we are, 

but it definitely doesn't destroy us.  

I want to live my life with no regrets.

I want to have a fulfilled life throughout my 20s and into my 90s.

images via weheartit

literature & life

"For friends... do but look upon good Books:  

they are true friends, that will neither flatter nor dissemble."  

~Francis Bacon

My dad always said that you should never count the pages that you have 

left in a book because finishing a book is like losing a friend.

It's my new goal to start reading more!

I'm guessing that my taste in books is a lot like my taste in music:

I LIKE EVERYTHING.

So, what are some books that you like or that you're currently reading??

courtesy of weheartit

❤

sandwich wonders

My internship was a lot of fun today!  Arizona State played Stanford, so we were all nervous about what the final score, but we ended up losing by only 4 points, haha.  We're not the best team in the world this year :)


My tasks were more exciting as an intern this game than they usually are.   ISP Sports got Jimmy Johns sandwiches to do a promotion that ended up becoming an eating contest!  It was a contest between three competitive eaters and three Jimmy Johns sandwich makers.  The sandwich makers ended up winning since they made more sandwiches in 5 minutes than the competitive eaters could stuff down their gullets in 5 minutes.  My task before the contest was to meet up with the competitive eaters and the Jimmy Johns PR girl.  Seeing her work definitely made me more interested in PR, and I definitely want to try and get some sort of PR internship this summer in LA.  But, the most fun part was that I got to hang out (a.k.a. make sure they don't run off anywhere) with Joey Chestnut, Eater-X (Tim), and Erik "The Red," all famous competitive eaters!  They were so nice, and I have to admit, I was a little bit star-struck, but I definitely kept my composure.  It was a pleasure "babysitting" them, and it definitely made my long day even better.

The whole ordeal totally reminded me of my Venezia's pizza challenge that I did with my friends over summer :) 

Here's my blog about that <3

Eater X (a.k.a. Tim)

Erik "The Red"

World Champion:
Joey Chestnut

Marc, Tim, Erik, & Me :)

project: sophistication

It's my new goal to be even more sophisticated and classy.  

"A girl should be two things. Classy & Fabulous."

-Coco Chanel

The first step is to find this lovely bag by Chanel for a price less than the going rate of $1000

Oh! And here's a couple of pictures from the Elton John & Leon Russell concert with Olivia :)

Have a lovely night :)

little surprises

Yesterday was fun and full of surprises :)  I slept in til 1pm, which was amazing, but I totally slept through my pool/tanning date with Brookie and Paige.  They got a nice little glow (Brookie's beating me now on our tan-ness), and I got to spend the day with Nick :) 
We watched that movie Seven with Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, and Gwyneth Paltrow.  It was so creepy (and kind of gruesome) but really good and thought-provoking.  Then, when it was time for Nick to go to work, I headed back to El Casa Trio.  Brooke & Paige had a little surprise in store for me...and that was going running at Tempe Town Lake since it's absolutely gorgeous outside right now in Arizona.

We actually did a really good job of running it.  It's a lot easier than running in circles like we do at the SRC fields on Workout Wednesdays.  After that, we all freshened up and Paige went to her bf's place for dinner.  Brooke and I did homework and around 11pm Olivia came over to do homework too!  We made us all pasta since we were starving and Livs had another little surprise for us.  She interns for Fall League baseball, and once she was done working the game last night, they gave her a HUGE greek salad from My Big Fat Greek Restaurant.  It was delicious :)

After a delicious meal, we all fell fast asleep.

Today is my grandma's birthday party at Olive Garden

& tonight is the Elton John concert with Olivia 

that my mom won tickets to!

We can't wait!

workout wednesdays

Who remembers MySpace surveys??

I just know that Freshman year was full of doing these bulletins with Brooke and Paige.

Now that we all deleted our myspaces, we never get to do the fun surveys anymore.  

I love them because you can read them to learn about your friends and 

do them to learn about yourself.

So here goes!  For old time's sake:

What is on your bed right now?

Me, Brookie, our computers, our phones, pillows & blankets :)

What were you doing at 8am this morning?

Sleeping & Dreaming

Have you ever been to another country?

Yess! My sister and I have been very blessed to have done as much traveling as we have.  We've been to a lot of beautiful places, and we can't wait to revisit them and explore new places!

Me & Brooke in South Africa

What was the last thing you had to drink?

Water. I absolutely LOVE water. Especially when it comes with a lemon.

When was the last time you ran?

Last Wednesday.  And now, it's Wednesday again!  Workout Wednesdays on the SRC fields at school with Paige, Brookie, and Olivia.  I'm so excited...hopefully I can run a couple more laps this week!

Are you happy?

I am so happy. Today has been a beautiful day, and I'm so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.  Even when things go wrong, I can always turn to someone to make my day better.  Today has been amazing, though.  Brooke and I had a marketing exam (we think we did pretty well!), so that was our only responsibility of the day.  We just got back from dinner at The Parlor with mom and dad, and now we're about to spend time with our two best friends for Workout Wednesday and Sex & The City 2 :)

When was the last time you cried?

Definitely last week when Brooke and I watched The Notebook for the millionth time.  At the beginning we took bets on if we would cry or not since we've seen it a thousand times.  Of course, by the middle of the movie we were crying our eyes out--like full on crying and not being able to breath.  It is a beautiful movie.

How old will you be turning on your next birthday?

21 and I can't wait!!!! :)  Brooke and I are going to do something fantastic since we'll get to share our birthday together.

The Workout Wednesday Crew :)
Brooke, Olivia, Me, & Paige
I cut out a ton of questions...it's just way too long.  But have a beautiful day!! <3

wise words from bob

"He's not perfect. You aren't either, and the two of you will never be perfect. 

But if he can make you laugh at least once, causes you to think twice, 

and if he admits to being human and making mistakes, 

hold on to him and give him the most you can. 

He isn't going to quote poetry, he's not thinking about you every moment, 

but he will give you a part of him that he knows you could break. 

Don't hurt him, don't change him, 

and don't expect more than he can give. 

Don't analyze. 

Smile when he makes you happy, yell when he makes you mad, 

and miss him when he's not there. 

Love hard when there is love to be had. 

Because perfect guys don't exist, but there's always one guy that is perfect for you."

-Bob Marley

smile more

I found this in my planner for school.  I actually made it my Facebook status today too & posted it here, 

so you can probably tell how much I love the quote.

"There are hundreds of languages in the world, 

but a smile speaks them all."

-Unknown

weheartit