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Thursday, January 31, 2013

Feeling Reminiscent

Life has been pretty hectic this past week, and today I finally got a break from homework and studying. It felt so great to just go to class in the morning, then come back and not have anything else to worry about! I was looking through my pictures as I sometimes do, and found these few that I felt like sharing. 










It's so cold here I had to post this one to remember what it feels like to have the sun shine on my face






Keep Smiling, 


Sunday, January 27, 2013

Tale As Old As Time...


I mentioned before that I was going shopping yesterday, and this is what happened. Being a massive Disney-aholic, I couldn't resist. Plus, it was on sale. Who can pass up $13 off? Beauty & The Beast is perhaps my favorite Disney movie, and Belle is my favorite princess. If you are a Disney fanatic like myself, you need to run out to Macy's before they're gone! I think there is also a Little Mermaid one, but I didn't see it at the Macy's I was at. Needless to say, I haven't been this excited about a purchase in a while. It's making me feel slightly more perky while burying myself in a large amount of chemistry and biometry homework. 

Happy Sunday everyone! 


Keep Smiling, 

Friday, January 25, 2013

The Bag That's Seen Everything...

Good evening! Tomorrow I am going shopping with my friend, and while I was making sure I had everything in my purse, I remembered that I had wanted to do a "What's in my bag" post a while back. Now, there is nothing extraordinary or of high interest in my bag since I usually try to get by with carrying around as little as possible. This however is more than I usually lug around. 



I got this purse from T.J. Maxx before I went to England. I tried to make a practical yet fashionable choice, and I'm glad to report that it lived up to expectations. It can be worn multiple ways since it is one of those bags where the top half can fold over. The lighting is horrible I know. Sorry for that! Since this was the only bag I had with me for most of my time across the ocean, it has been through practically everything. It's still holding up quite nicely though even if it is looking a little more battered than when I purchased it. This is the first time I've used it since I got back...which is why there is still so much useless junk in it! 



Starting from the top left is my wallet. Yes, I'm aware that it is fake, but that didn't bother me, and there is no way that I'll be able to afford a real one anytime soon. I really like it because it has loads of  slots that can hold my multitude of cards. Things like my license, ID from the English university I attended, my study abroad ID, credit and debit cards, insurance cards, phone card from when I was abroad (that I never used...sorry mom), discount card, oyster card, Barnes & Noble gift card etc. Notice that half of these are from when I was abroad and I most likely won't be using them any time soon. There is also a  money pocket which holds a measly $20.00 haha! 

Next to my wallet is my coin purse that is full of mostly quarters for doing my laundry. I think it was actually supposed to be for children, but it serves it's purposes rather nicely. 

Above the coin purse is a bottle of ibuprofen for those pesky headaches. How thrilling! ;)

The rest is pretty much useless clutter including a sainsbury's receipt, baggage claim ticket, flight itinerary and boarding pass, Target receipt, taxi receipt, and a cash machine receipt.  Then we have a set of airplane headphones that haven't even been opened, two unopened, and two opened packs of gum, more headphones, a pen, and 33 pence (Practically rich!). I didn't photograph my camera, iPod, keys/school ID, or phone, but these things do end up in my purse on occasion. 


Also in my purse is this cosmetic bag. I don't always carry this around with me since I usually tend to use smaller purses.  This bag holds a travel sized perfume (Couture Couture by Juicy Couture), Hand sanitizer (Sweet Pea), an EOS lip balm (Lemon Drop), tissues, lotion, travel size toothbrush and toothpaste, compact mirror, and neosporin. Also at the bottom of the bag are some bobby pins, hair ties, Q-tips, and a band-aid. I did not think these were worthy enough of photographing! 

I know this was maybe a bit too detailed, but I'm quite nosey and like details, and it would have been better in video format, but I'm a blogger not a vlogger. 


I wish all of you a splendid weekend! 


Keep Smiling, 

Thursday, January 24, 2013

At the Moment || A Night In


Listening To: Second Chance by Shinedown. Brings back so many memories from 10th grade. Never gets old though. 
Watching: Downton Abbey
Drinking: Hot Chocolate
Eating: Graham crackers
Dreading: My Chemistry test next week
Looking Forward To: Going shopping this weekend. I'm beginning to think I have a problem...
Wishing: I had a photographic memory. Studying would be so much easier! 
Feeling: Content
Wanting: To go back to Disneyland :D



I hope everyone is enjoying their week! 

Keep Smiling,

Monday, January 21, 2013

It's a Sweater Kind of Sunday

Please try to ignore how one of my eyes looks unnaturally smaller than
the other...Who knows how this happened haha
The winters where I live are extremely cold and windy. This weekend the temperature was supposed to drop considerably, and the wind chill was such a low negative number, it was hard to comprehend. Naturally, I have been dressing for he occasion by breaking out the cozy sweaters! Yesterday was actually the first day I wore this particular one, and it was so warm and comfortable. I just thought I would do a quick post on what I was wearing, but I can't say how often I'll do this type of post. I don't get enough new clothes to keep doing them regularly. The sweater was a Christmas gift, the watch is from T.K. Maxx, the bracelet is from T.J. Maxx, and the shoes are from Macy's. I plan on spending the rest of the day enjoying not having class, lounging around in sweats, and probably jamming to this song too many times. Maybe, just maybe, I'll squeeze in some homework...;)

Keep Smiling, 

Sunday, January 20, 2013

"It Always Seems Impossible Until It's Done"


The title of this post is a quote by Nelson Mandela, a wise man who knew what he was talking about. That quote pretty much sums up my usual homework experiences. I spent a lot of my time at university last year being very stressed out over all of my homework and making sure I got it all done on time. When I was in high school, I hardly spent any time doing homework. As long as I paid attention in class, and took notes, I didn't really have a hard time doing well on my assignments and tests. A lot of times I would finish my homework the day it was due, an hour or so before I had to turn it in. This sounds like a really bad habit, but these were the assignments that were never really challenging to me. Of course I spent more time on the bigger assignments that required more research, preparation, and thinking. I was never really a procrastinator on the big stuff. If I had a big speech or paper due, I made sure I gave myself enough time to get it done, and to do it well while many of my friends and classmates started working on them a night or two before the deadline. And since I went to a pretty small school, I guess I was used to being one of the "smarter" kids. All of that changed when I went to college.



Haha pretty sure he was glaring at me because
I snuck a picture without paying him! 

There were people here that were so much smarter than me and knew so much more, and it was really hard to get used to. I found myself getting upset, and really stressed because I felt like I had to try so much harder than most people to get a good grade. I'm studying a very demanding course that involves a lot of math. Ironically, math is one of my least favorite things in the entire world (I ask myself a lot why I chose this particular course). I'm not very good with numbers at all. It was really annoying for me to have to constantly sit down and concentrate on studying while all of my friends got to do whatever they wanted because they hardly ever had any homework, and if they did, it seemed to be very easy for them. It got to the point where I felt that there wasn't enough time in the day to get everything done, and sometimes I didn't even have time to eat or use the restroom. Also, I always had the pressure of my older sisters' near perfect grades throughout their entire college career looming over me. There were many times when I would talk to my mom who would always tell me that it would be fine as long as I tried my best. (Typical Mom stuff) However, this caused me to over analyze what my "best" actually was. Thoughts that crossed my mind were "Was I really trying hard enough?" "I could always fix this, or spend more time on that. Maybe if I just read it one more time, I'll catch another mistake in this essay." 

Yep, these are my crazy sisters :) 


It took me a while to learn when to call it good, and stop working on something. One of my problems, I realized was not giving myself enough time to do something to the best of my abilities. I got into a really bad habit of saving all of the practice problems for the entire three or so chapters to do the week before the test, along with reading those chapters, and studying the notes I had taken during class. And oftentimes, I would have several tests to prepare for around the same time. This semester, I'm trying to make it my goal to keep up with my school work in a timely manner and pace myself. I'm also trying to sit back, take a deep breath, and relax. I have a tendency to stress and worry over tiny things that I shouldn't even be bothered about. It's always good to take time and appreciate all the little things. That is why I've included these pictures, because they always make me laugh, smile, or bring back some really good memories.



This post is getting quite rambly, and probably more information that you bargained for. I only intended it to be a short list, but I guess I got a little carried away. Basically what I really wanted to say was that I found some quotes that I really like and wanted to post them. Blame Nelson Mandela for the long narrative that came before this ;) I'm not usually the type of person to read inspirational quotes, but my notice board had a lot of empty holes in it between the pictures I pinned up, so I looked up some quotes that I thought would be appropriate. They all have one thing in common: they all reference smiling. That's because "I like smiling, smiling's my favorite!", to quote everybody's favorite elf. It's true, I do love smiling. I mean really, who doesn't??



"You're never fully dressed without a smile." ~ Martin Charrin

"A smile is happiness you'll find right under your nose." ~ Tom Wilson

"Beauty is power, a smile is it's sword." ~ John Ray

"If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it." ~ Andy Rooney

"Wear a smile and have friends, wear a scowl and have wrinkles." ~ George Elliot

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." ~ Dr. Seuss
(My personal fav, since I tend to dwell on the past a lot)

"A smile is a facelift that's in everyone's price range" ~ Tom Wilson

"Nothing you wear is more important than your smile." ~ Connie Stevens


Apparently this is what I look like when I'm
freezing! 



Keep Smiling, 

Friday, January 18, 2013

At The Moment || A Snowy Day


Listening To: It's Time by Imagine Dragons and Bright Lights Bigger City by Cee Lo Green
Feeling: Tired and just kind of Blah
Looking Forward To: Possibly going to Target this weekend... this proves how very unexciting my life is haha
Wishing: My best friend safe and happy travels as she departs on her own adventure abroad in Rome, Italy
Watching: I started watching the show Ugly Betty on Netflix recently. So far, It's been pretty good. However, my current favorite is (and has been) Once Upon A Time. Ever since it started last year, I've been hooked! (Literally, Captain Hook is very attractive ;)
Wanting: A Disney or Barbie jumper. I'm a sucker for anything that brings back childhood memories! I had so many disney clothes when I was younger. (Go Mom!) 
Thinking About: Getting everything prepared for my new job I start on Wednesday
Missing: My friends back in England (the whole experience sort of feels like a dream when I think about it now)
Thankful For: No class on Monday! Whoo! 

I've been absent on the blogging front recently, but hopefully that'll change soon. In the last couple of weeks I moved back to school, and have now gotten back into the routine: Sleep, school, eat, homework, repeat haha.  In truth, I haven't really had anything worth blogging about. I hope every one is having a great day! 

Keep Smiling, 

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

New Year's Resolutions!

Happy New Year! 2012 was a great year. It was the year that I finished my first year of college, finally made it to England after SO many years of dreaming, started my blog, the world didn't end ;), and I met some incredible people. So many memories that I hope to never forget. I usually never really make serious resolutions, and this year will probably turn out to be like most of the rest, but there are still those certain things that I want to work on and accomplish. I hope that at the end of this year I can look back on this post, and feel satisfied that I accomplish most, if not all of these tasks.


  • Continue working on being more outgoing, friendly, and personable - Traveling abroad by myself has helped me a lot in this area. I have mentioned before that I am extremely shy around people I don't really know, and it's to the point where I think I may sometimes come off as quite standoffish. 
  • Not settling for just an ok grade on my school work - I am a fairly devoted student, but I know that I don't always give my best, and I know I can do a lot better on certain things. 
  • Get a Job -  Especially during the summer. I've worked before, but I need to find something else. I'm not sure if I'll have time for one during the school year, but during the summer it will be necessary.  
  • Focus on making it a really great year, and not dwell on the past - Don't think about what could have been
  • Don't stress over the little things - I am definitely a worrier! Sometimes I actually feel sick with worry (if that's even possible) and it's all I can think about. It can't be healthy.
  • Eat More Vegetables - I actually like most vegetables, but for some reason don't eat as much as I should. I doubt I'm the only one with this problem. 
  • Drink more water - There's nothing bad about drinking more water, so why not do it?
  • Remember to take my vitamins every day - I was really good over the summer, but I've been slacking this past semester.
  • Keep in touch with people better, and make an effort - I really don't want to lose touch with all of my friends back in England, or my friends from home that I don't see a lot when I'm at school. 
  • Take time to appreciate things more often - It's so easy to get caught up in everything, and lose track of the things that make you smile. 
  • Smile More - Not that I don't smile, because I definitely do. Someone once told me that smiling releases endorphins or something of the sort that naturally makes you a happier person.



Keep Smiling,
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