What the Semester Brought

Hey, What's Up, Hello (Imagine me extending the 'O' part)?

It has been an entire semester of college for me. If you are still here reading, then you know that I struggled a bit to post while I was bouncing between college and my house, where I took pictures. After a while, homework began to pile up, and I realized that I was standing at a fork in the road. On one hand, I could go all out and try to post all the time and just plan outfits to wear. But isn't that a bit, I don't know...fake? The reason I was inspired to blog when I was thirteen was because I saw that the bloggers I looked up to actually wore those outfits they captured in photographs. They woke up, and chose those flawless and chic outfits and ran errands. They didn't (hopefully didn't) take pictures and then fall back into sweatpants and lie around. In my imagination, my ideal blogger and style crush would go to someone who wore her pointy toed pumps with an obscene blanket scarf and bag and death grip skinny trousers and walked- YES, walked- to her destination, and sweat in her blazer and got blisters from her shoes but still did it anyway. She would walk to work and take the stairs and print papers and make phone calls and order coffee and maybe spill some, I don't know- the point is, I would hope she had a real life behind her awesome outfit. So her Rag and Bone jeans wouldn't be fresh out of a shipment box and worn once for five minutes for the sake of a picture, they would be those jeans that got sriracha stains on them that she had to secretly scrub for twenty minutes in her bathroom.

End rant.

Oh, and on the other hand I neglected in the analogy earlier, there was the option I chose; I decided to rise to the occasion and act like a mature adult. Let me explain my thought process:

• "My parents are paying for a large chunk of my college career. It goes without saying that they expect the best grades from me as a sign of my undying gratitude."

• "Writing for my blog is great, yeah, its the best, BUT I don't actually get paid or get any college credit/recognition for it. So I can't show up at home with an amateur blog and expect them to give me a standing ovation."

• "Ultimately, I want to be a professional with an office job, and to do that, I should probably get a degree in something..." *chuckles dryly*

• "All jokes aside, I want to go to college and do well, and this blog is kind of in the way of that."

• "Looks like I should postpone this until I have more time..." 

*Accidentally waits two months*

So here I am, saying sorry to you, bloggy friend. I've left you hanging. I'll pick this back up while I'm home, and try to figure out when I'll post at school. Because it really is a shame to refuse your hobby (mine is writing, if I had not made that clear before). After a while, the creativity dies if its not nurtured. And this is embarrassingly narcissistic of me to say, but I had some great outfit ideas that came to me during the past two months and I hate when bad ideas are not shared. Because when I'm on the run some other day, I might be out of outfit ideas because I forgot the cute idea I had before. 

So because of that, I'll use this time to throw some photos at you, because after reading this far, your eyes deserve a break from all this text filled monotony.

Let's catch up, since Texas did not get much colder. 

So on this nice day, I came to the conclusion that jumpsuits were the sugar to my tea. Once you experience choosing an outfit in 0.0004 seconds, you cannot possibly go back willingly. 

I deleted the one where I was smiling. This was a second later, when I was going to talk. Sorry about that strange face. 

In the case that I cannot wear a jumpsuit/romper, I love maxi dresses more than words can describe.

My hair has grown since then, you'll see it soon. *Serene smile* or *indigestion smile*

And then I went to the library with my brother, who I then blackmailed into taking a picture of my outfit. 

Wow, I feel terrible saying that. 

Canvas tote bags for the win. Who needs designer bags when you have a solid and reliable conversation starter? 

I found another more 'artsy' shot by my brother, who seems to be best at candids of me. Especially of me talking or grimacing while the sun blinds me. 

Oh trees. I had nothing else to say about this photo, as crazy as that seems. 

Now that I've given you a crazy amount of text and adequate visual aids, I think I'll sign off for today.
If you somehow found me, or have been here all along,

THANKS. Fifty points for Ravenclaw House for being loyal to their fellow Ravenclaw's blog!

If you don't hate me yet for such a cumbersome post and still want more visual aids and awkward rambling, you can check out my Instagram! 


XOXO- but I'm giving you an intense bear hug for reading, seriously.  Okay. See you soon!

My Sunday Sendoff feat. Ruggles Green

On Sunday, my sister invited my family to eat lunch and walk around a bit and mainly enjoy each other's company. The point was to have family time and send me off with a vegan meal. Obviously I was estatic all of a sudden when they told me I could choose a vegan friendly restaurant, so I almost immediately responded with Ruggles Green in City Centre, even though I was silently hoping someone would ask to go to an Indian restaurant, because I have wanted to go try Indian food for a very long time.

**Disclaimer**

All pictures on my post today were taken with an iPhone six, so don't be alarmed by the drastic change in the quality of the pictures! 

Carry On! :)

I got the veggie wrap and a side quinoa salad, both vegan! And I grabbed some pickles that were prepared in-house. 

I think now would be a good time to also mention that I am a huge fan of food-porn, also known as a pre-food ritual of being grateful for the food -- actually, I just really like taking pictures of food. There's no legitimate way of justifying it, just that I like looking at food. So just expect more food posts in the future!

After somehow destroying the wrap ( I hate being such a messy eater) and being joyful and staring at my vegan feast in awe, we all ended up walking around City Centre and staring at macarons- I need to find a place that makes vegan macarons...does that even exist?- and not getting them because I couldn't find vegan versions. In the end, we packed up and moved our sunday party to Starbucks, and I decided to take pictures because I honestly don't have casual candid pictures of my whole family, and I figured this was a great time to record in pictures.

Aww, look at the kids. Behold the closest people I have to me, genetically speaking. 

My mom is so classy that she refuses to cover her coffee with the plastic covers and prefers to drink her beverages as if they were tea-cups. 

And Dad loves the covers. 

Behold!  My sister MP drinking what appears to be snow. (Vanilla bean frap FYI)

I had a Mango Black tea lemonade...I'm really predictable. 

Behold! My brother/photographer, contemplating the simple things in life, like his mocha frappuccino. 

He requested a selfie. And it looks like my straw is up my nose. 

The family who drinks Starbucks together stays together.

Thanks for reading, and have a happy Tuesday!

Diary of a Vegan: Month One

Today, I complete one month as a vegan.
I wanted to talk about this journey- not to sound preachy or force this idea upon anyone, but also as a way to keep track of the little things I have accomplished for now. I also know many people who don't actually know as much as they think about this lifestyle, and while there are quite a few vegan food bloggers/vloggers I can name off the top of my head right now, the majority of the people I personally know are still a bit in the dark. To give an example, I know a few people who think vegans are radical vegetarians who fight for the rights of animals...which I guess could be plausible, but is still off the mark.

How I define the vegan lifestyle: When a person decides to cut meat and dairy out of their diet, and any food that contains an animal byproduct.

One thing I learned quickly was that food companies tend to sneak animal products into food that normally shouldn't have. This is mostly in canned or boxed goods, so I don't plan on continuing that anytime soon. For example, I was going to eat some falafel that my mom made last night, and then my sister decided to tell me that the box clearly listed gelatin as one of the ingredients. Sigh.

Here is where I would like to amend the title of this blog post. I have been a vegan about 99% of the time, which is why I'm calling this my vegan diary. Because the truth is, this is a process, and a trip to Vegantopia. And I'm still miles away. But, I have taken major steps by completely cutting out dairy and meat.

So far, I have felt healthier, and lighter- compared to when I used to eat meat, and I would feel heavy and drowsy. And as for energy, I feel full of energy all the time. What's nice is that I feel great so far, and that's a great way to start!

Thanks for reading!

For Good.

When I left my blog this time, it wasn't because I didn't care about it, or that I didn't want to write anything, because I did. What freaked me out was that I just didn't have anything to say. I used to be very shy- school projects that involved my vocal participation led me to veer on the edge of trepidation and inner chaos, but writing never scared me, because I could always say what I wanted to say when I felt like it if it was written down and unspoken. And when I realized I could write things down and that that altered how people saw me or the fact that they judged me exponentially less than they did normally, the words would flow like water. So it only made sense for me to stare into the heavens like a forsaken beached whale when I realized that my waterfall of words was gone.

I would like to blame it on the AP exams I took recently. I would love to blame it on lack of sleep and malnourishment (that's a major stretch, though, since I eat when I'm frustrated). It could easily be all those things. Unfortunately though, I think it came to me questioning my motives about this blog. I even made YouTube videos (you already know that, though) that I abandoned because I doubted that I had things to say worth listening to. While I didn't feel very bad or guilty about that endeavor, I was amazed at the effect not writing had on me. And I think that matured me in the sense that I'm not as afraid as I was before to write what I think here and live with the fact that I won't be a famous New York Times Bestselling author or the next Tavi Gevinson or Anna Wintour, or face the realization that I will probably wait a long time before I get to write for a kind and dedicated blog follower.

So, what happens now?

Well, I'm going to be back here writing, and yes- I did change the blog name. No, that doesn't mean that I am any less fascinated by the French language, or any less pretentious about speaking a few words. It stands for me being the second child. It is something that I will let define me on a surface level, and something that I bring up more than you'd think- well, when I'm with my siblings, of course, and in jest. I figured that if I titled this blog something that was closer to my heart and something that represents me much better than a phrase I liked, than I would feel more comfortable writing more often.

“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” 

-Sylvia Plath

Thanks, Sylvia.

Starting today, I will be back to posting, and I'll try to open this page up whenever I get those writing moods, which are happening more now that I've gotten my summer 'flow', haha. And be prepared for posts about everything, be it style, food, travel, or me just ranting about things, or even just talking about my neighbor's new dog that sits in my backyard. 

If I haven't lost you yet, hooray! You get a cookie. And a high five. And this jar that is filled to the brim with air. 

Thanks for reading!!