three things thursday (thanksgiving edition)!

Well, it's Thursday and it's Thanksgiving and I haven't blogged since September 6... oops. 

so here are just three of many things I'm thankful for this thanksgiving...

the lovely ladies of the retirement home. what would i do if i didn't have you guys to
crochet, color and watch gilmore girls with? well i would probably still crochet, color
and watch gilmore girls but it would be a lot less fun.

daily phone calls from ms. mcconnelL, even if i've already seen her twice that day.

always having something glorious to take pictures of on our beautiful campus.

"give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever." psalm 107:1

happy thanksgiving everyone!

national bookworm day!

Today, September 6, is National Read a Book Day!
I know that there are people out in the world who don't enjoy reading (I have no idea why), but to those people I say, "Suck it up and step away from the TV." It's only one day! But, if this day happens to spur a love (or even like, or even tolerating) of reading, then so be it. I've always been the girl who constantly has a book with her, and I've become somewhat of a library to my friends, so I completely found my kindred spirit in Rory Gilmore. I know this kind of contradicts the "stepping away from the TV", but just take this as a source of inspiration.

You may be asking, what do I read today? Well, here are some quick (and some not so quick, but great) reads for this perfect reading day. Nothing sets the mood for a great book like a grey, rainy, miserable day that makes you want to curl up in a blanket and lose yourself in another world.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman
A little bit depressing (but aren't all the best books), but you won't want to put it down.

Bad Kitty by Michelle Jaffe
Hilarity mixed in with a little romance and mystery, what could be better?

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
It's Gatsby, why wouldn't you want to read it (again and again)?

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins
Yes, all three! I've been surprised by the amount of my friends (who do actually read) who haven't read these yet. And you could totally read all of these today; I don't think I've ever gone through a series so fast (despite the fact that I had to wait a year for the third).

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
This is what I'm reading today, finally! I read The Kite Runner a few years ago, and loved it. I've heard that this is even better, and it's been sitting on my shelf for over a year.

I guess I understand if you're a student and actually have work to do today (oh wait, that's me). If that's the case, make your own read a book day, but make sure you do it! I can guarantee that there is a book out there for everyone, so don't use that as an excuse! Embrace your nerdiness! Read a book (or two or three)!

my (extended) weekend in instagram.

...and by weekend I mean month and a half. 

At the beginning of the summer I said that I had nothing to do and would be completely bored, that was before I realized that I wouldn't be home at all for half of july and most of august. 

gallivant #1:

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter; my parents, my friends anna and super last minute addition Mathilde and I loaded into the van for a whirlwind four day trip to Florida and back. By the end there were 1800 more miles on the van, but it was so worth it! It is the perfect place to express your true Harry Potter nerd, and I loved it. A lot.

gallivant #2:

Denver, Colorado; Mom and I embarked on our last free trip to Denver (home to many colorful houses) for my kidney study, and as always we made the most of it. This time around we hit CO Springs- Garden of the Gods, the Olympic training center, Culver's and strangely enough the nicest Goodwill I've ever seen. 

gallivant #3:

Taylor Swift Speak Now tour; five friends and I watched tswizzle do her super sparkly, hair flipping thing for an amazing two and a half hours and loved every minute of it... until we got the end and realized we had never actually been more thirsty in our lives. Maybe it was because of the altitude, seeing as we were literally in the very last, highest row. But hey, we could stand up whenever we wanted and didn't have to worry about being in anyone's way. 

gallivant #4:

Outerbanks, NC; the second annual Britt/Weaver beach trip took us to Southern Shores to catch some rays, waves, fish and to catch up on our reading. 

gallivant #5

Wicked at the Kennedy Center; I don't think I can put it any more eloquently than it was so freaking awesome. Seriously, you can watch Defying Gravity on youtube, or listen to on your ipod, but nothing compares to seeing it in person. As my friend Tyler said, "best scene in the world of all time."

gallivant #6:
American Idols Live; as a tradition, my mom, my aunt, my cousin and I have been going to the Idol concert tour since season two (not including season nine because it kind of sucked- not you Crystal Bowersox!) I love Scotty McCreery and all, but if I hear, "I Love You This Big" one more time I might hurt someone.

After some calculations I've found that I've spent about six nights in my own bed since July 23. Now, I'm down to a week left at home, which will be consumed with cleaning, packing, making pillows, last minute hanging out, and finally painting and recovering the chair I bought in June. All in all I would say it ended up being a pretty successful summer, even if it did get of to a slow start.

three things thursday!

here are three things that i love on this sea-breezed thursday!

this book! i started it yesterday and stayed up until i finished it last night! i would also recommend before i fall by the same author! (this review from hellogiggles pretty much describes my feelings.)

emma stone! because she's everywhere right now and hilarious and i want to be her best friend. (also go see crazy, stupid love- it's so great!)

speaking of which... this site! a collaboration of on of my favorite people zooey deschanel and her bffs.  it's the perfect site for quirky girls like myself and i've been obsessed with it since it launched at the beginning of the summer!

three things thursday!

here are three things i love on this hot, humid thursday!

my lovely danish friend mathilde being back in america! (and not ever going back to denmark!)

so insanely great.

the return of project runway!

have a great weekend! i'll be spending mine in colorado!

the boy who lived.

"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that is is not real?" -Albus Dumbledore

I think that line completely summarizes my feelings on the world of Harry Potter. I’ve had a really difficult time putting together this post, because I just have so many things I want to say. First of all, J.K Rowling should be made a Dame of some sort, and recognized as an international hero of some sort. When one person can come along and spark the imaginations of millions for over a decade, even though it’s cheesy, I would say that’s nothing short of true magic. Honestly, there aren’t many things in our society today of 15 minutes of fame and come-and-go fads that really have the staying power of the story of Harry Potter. I think because it’s timeless, who doesn’t love a good underdog story? Good triumphing over evil? Love being the most powerful magic of all?

I’ve been an Potterphile since I was eight (thanks Mrs. Shreckhise!), I’m nineteen now and my appreciation for it has done nothing but grow. I, like so many others, have grown up with Harry, Ron and Hermione. I can remember seeing the first movie with my brother and best friends, when we came out of the theater we used our straws as wands and shouted, “Wingardium Leviosa!” over and over. I remember getting all the books as they came out and not sleeping until I had finished reading them. When the final book was released, I remember getting it at midnight at reading it with my two friends in my living room (just so you know this is a bad idea, it’s very hard to concentrate at 3 a.m when other people are there) and gasping and crying and laughing together. As much as we wanted to see the outcome and read it quickly, we wanted to draw it out as long as possible so we wouldn’t have to see the end come. And now, tonight I’ll go to the movie theater and be surrounded by hundreds of other fans, all waiting for what many of us are thinking of as the end of our childhoods. It’s going to be bittersweet I’m sure; finally we’ll see this epic ending to this epic tale, but we’ll also probably linger in the theater a little bit longer, knowing that this kind of event won’t happen again.

I kind of wish that I could say that I didn’t like to read until I read Harry Potter, but I’ve been a nerd my whole life. What Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Snape, Dumbledore, Hagrid, McGonnagal, Ginny, Dobby, Sirius, Luna, and even Malfoy have given me though is something that’s irreplaceable. I’ve gotten a chance to live in their world- to feel a sense of home at Hogwarts, to get the rush of adrenaline from flying a broom, the thrill of adventure from breaking into the Ministry, and to know what it’s like to experience real magic.

All of the posters say, “It all ends.” That isn’t really true though; I know that for years and years to come children and adults alike will still be entranced by the idea of hippogriffs and three-headed dogs, and eleven-year-olds all over the world will still await their Hogwarts letter to be delivered to them by a white, snowy owl. At the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two last week, J.K Rowling said, “The stories we love best do live in us forever, so whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.” I know that I’ll always believe that the Hogwarts Express is waiting just beyond the barrier of Platform 9 3/4, and so what if it’s all in my mind? If that’s good enough for Dumbledore, then that’s good enough for me.  

my weekend in instagram.

free slurpees!

cute dogs!

sitting in starbucks for a few hours just taking lots in instagram pictures!

getting ready for harry potter!

more free slurpees!

and feathers in her hair.

Finally! I finally have feathers in my hair!

My friend Kali and I have been obsessing over the idea for a while thanks to our extremely stylish former teacher (Make It Beautiful). Just before we broke down and bought our own kits Mrs. H found a great site, Fine Featherheads, and ordered her own to sell to us! So tonight she had a feather party, and we basically geeked out about how cool we were going to be with our feathers. And we were so right. Since we got the natural set, they're neutral enough that they don't scream, "Hey, look how cool I think am because I have feathers in my hair!" But they're enough to quietly whisper, "Oh, I have feathers in my hair? Yeah, no big deal." They're kind of addicting too, like tattoos, you just can't stop at one. People keep joking that I'm just going to end up with a head full of feathers, and no more hair. To that I say... well, maybe (just kidding, I like things in moderation.). What made us feel even cooler was driving down a back road with the wind blowing our feathered hair. I love nothing more than bringing out my inner hippie, which isn't that hard to do considering that I often feel like I was born in the completely wrong time period,  and my new feathers definitely help contribute to feeling like I could be driving a VW bus on my way to Woodstock rather than driving my Oldsmobile on my way to the post office... 

we really just can't stop looking at them.

featherheads <3

bewitched.

The release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two is only a week away, and seeing as I am an uber-nerd my anticipation is almost unbearable. Although I never really got excited to see the movies until the last three (simply because in the first five I couldn't separate the books from the movies and would just sit there thinking about everything that was missing), I was always excited for the premieres. This is mostly because I may, or may not, have a mild girl crush on Emma Watson and her developing style over the years. Seriously, the girl has had Karl Lagerfeld and Christopher Bailey (she was the face of Burberry for a while) wrapped around her finger since she was fifteen. Obviously we've all watched her grow up (weird since I was growing up at the same rate) but I really feel like she has managed an extremely graceful transition from adolescence to adulthood. She's come a long way from her frilly, poofy dresses at eleven years old to not being afraid to be edgy or take a risk like chopping all her hair off. And she hasn't just taken an interest in wearing fashion, but has gotten into designing as well. She established a collaboration with People Tree to create a fair trade clothing line, and then was approached by Alberta Ferretti to contribute to another fair trade line. So not only is she making great clothes, but she's helping the world too! Just more reasons to love her!
Anyway, before I go on for too long about how awesome she is, I'll just share with you some of my favorite looks of Emma's over the years. The press tour has just started today, and I can't wait to see what she pulls out for tomorrow night's London premiere.

In Rafael Lopez. One of my favorite looks ever. 2010

In Vintage Ossie Clark. 2009.

Oh you know, just hanging around Glastonbury festival wearing straight off the runway Vuitton. NBD. 2010.

In Proenza Schouler. Emma in my favorite designer... awesome. 2009.

In custom Burberry. Oh just being Christopher Bailey's date at the Met Gala, whatevs. 2010

In Burberry. Love. 2009

In Burberry. 2010

In Chanel. 2007.

In Rafael Lopez again. A promising start to the final press tour. 2011

(ps- thanks to emma-watson.net for the pictures!)