Los Angeles

I was born and raised in LA, so it might come as a bit of a surprise when I say that I really don't like it here.

I remember being little and thinking I was so lucky to have been born in LA where I was close to the beach, the mountains, and Disneyland; I thought it was amazing that I was from a place that some people dream about going, when I could have been born somewhere boring in the middle of nowhere.

By the time I was in high school I was starting to feel differently, so when I was applying for college I set my sights on the Bay area and narrowed the search down from there. As most of you know, I ended up at Mills and fell head over heels in love with Oakland and the Bay, which cemented the thought that had been growing in my mind that LA was not for me.

When I was studying abroad in London, I would have a moment at some point almost everyday where something would make me pause and think "I can't believe this is my life. I live here." Whether I was doing something completely routine like swiping my Oyster card to get in and out of the tube or something life-altering like seeing a play at the Globe, this thought was never far from my mind while I lived in London. I had recaptured the feeling I used to have as a kid. Oakland made me happy but London made me feel lucky.

Currently, while I gear up for my next big adventure, I am living in LA. And I don't want to be here hating it, so in an effort to appreciate my hometown more I'm going to start a new series of posts called Fun in LA. (I'm not sure if I'm really feeling that name, so it may change.) I'll be seeking out cool things in LA and posting about them here.

How do you feel about your hometowns??

<3

I graduated!

Did I forget to mention that I graduated?? 

Well I did. 

My last few weeks at Mills were a blur of finals-induced craziness and moving-induced stress. Though compared to other semesters I had probably the easiest finals I'd ever had, when combined with moving out of an apartment as well as knowing I'd be leaving Mills forever and Oakland for awhile, it ended up being very stressful and I am a little surprised that I made it out in once piece. 

My mom had to force convince me to participate in Commencement but in the end I'm really glad she did. Even though graduations are long and boring and the speeches all sound the same, it's much more exciting when you're the one graduating. When I picked up my walking card I saw that I was graduating with honors, which made me feel great. Also, Lena was able to come up to see the ceremony! So all in all it was a lovely day and I was one happy graduate. 

Then the next morning we all got up at the crack of dawn to drive back to LA. Now I'm readjusting to life in So-Cal, unpacking, and frantically applying for jobs. I promise to (try) to post more regularly now! I have a room tour on the way as soon as I get the last box out of here. 

<3

Mama Bear

I would post a cute picture of me and my mom, but
a) the one I had in mind is a physical copy and it's already been packed, so I can't dig it out and scan it right now
b) my mom does not like having pictures of herself on the internet.

So instead here is a picture of the back of her head, which I have special permission to post.



Happy Mother's Day to my favorite person in the world.
<3

let's take a road trip

April is almost over! As of right now I am one presentation, one music project, one paper and one exam away from graduation, and I am so happy that the craziness of April is coming to an end.


When I saw that Jenn of ClothesEncounters was going to be having a closet sale at the Davis Flea market I thought it would be a nice way to get away for a little while now that things are finally calming down. So Estrella and I took a baby road trip today and ventured out to Davis.

We totally fell in love with it! I've never questioned my decision to go to Mills but walking around town had me questioning why I never checked out UC Davis. When you walk around Berkeley everyone is wearing at least one item of Cal gear, but Davis wasn't like that at all and it was so nice. To be fair, we stuck pretty close to Central Park, but overall it seemed like a really nice place.











Have you been on any day trips lately?
<3

twenty two

Yesterday was my birthday! As you can see from the picture I snapped with my phone, it was a beautiful day. It was actually the first time since I turned 17 that I had to go to school on my birthday. I went to Coachella on my 18th birthday, my 19th and 20th were on a Saturday and Sunday respectively, and last year I turned 21 in Amsterdam. (Which you can read about here)

Wednesdays are my busiest days, it's pretty much non-stop from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm, but I had a lovely day. One of my coworkers surprised me with some candy and a rice krispie treat, JT embroidered me a beautiful quote, and Estrella painted me the amazing watercolor painting that is now my header! After class/work Ali, Estrella and I walked to get Thai food at this place we just discovered three blocks away from campus, which was delicious. It was also my first time in long time that I didn't have a social media site reminding everyone it was my birthday, which made the calls & texts I did get that much more special. All in all I had a great day, and I'm continually thankful for the love I'm surrounded by.


And now the countdown begins! Today is officially one month to graduation!

Spontaneous Order

One of the more exciting things about living on a college campus towards the end of the semester is the flurry of artistic events that happen in the last few weeks of school as everyone is presenting their theses.

Last weekend my friend JT's senior art exhibition 'Spontaneous Order' opened at the Art Museum. It wasn't a solo exhibition, so I knew a few other Studio Art seniors who had work on display, but in my humble (and biased) opinion JT's work really stole the show. All of her pieces were embroidered; she embroidered a take-out box, a cup of noodles, a writing exercise book, and a text piece translating a phrase from Chinese to English with Google Translate. The detail is incredible and I was so proud of JT and so happy for her. Of course, the other work on display is also amazing, and if you're in the Bay Area I highly encourage you to come check it out.

I am often completely blown away by the sheer beauty of the things my friends create, whether I'm looking at JTs art, or listening to Estrella's compositions or hearing Ali sing. I'm so lucky to be surrounded and inspired by such amazing ladies. 

let's talk music

I thought I'd talk a bit about music, since I haven't really done that on this blog yet. I love music, but I have a tendency to stick with what I know. Mostly what happens is that I find various tracks from artists that I like and I play those on repeat for forever, or I buy an album that I fall in love with and play on repeat for forever. You see the pattern here. I also have a tendency to buy/receive cds and then not listen to them for years, and a prime example of that would be Bright Eyes.

In like 2005/2006 when everyone I knew was going crazy over Conor Oberst, my friend gave me a cd with the Bright Eyes discography on it and I NEVER LISTENED TO IT. It wasn't until much later, like 2009 that I actually started listening to some songs when they'd show up on shuffle and I didn't actually sit down and listen to the entire thing until around 2010.

I don't know if this will really make sense, but I don't think I was ready for Bright Eyes when I was fourteen. Songs that I skipped over then are now some of my all-time favorite songs, and I'm able to appreciate the lyrics and the raw emotion so much more now. So even though sometimes I want to punch my past self in the face for missing out on this, I guess it's better late then never right?

If you haven't heard anything by Bright Eyes before, my favorite albums are "LIFTED or the Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ears to the Ground" and "I'm Wide Awake It's Morning". If you happen to check them out, or have heard them already let me know what you think!

And let me know what other music I've been missing out on.