7 Things I Learned in College - The Odyssey Online

7 Things I Learned in College - The Odyssey Online

Miss July Grows Older

How much longer can I get away with being so effing cute?

Not much longer.

A Baby Haul

1. My first House of Harlow necklace! This is the House of Harlow Blue Star Five Station Necklace. It's a perfect necklace for layering over dresses in the summer. 

2. Brand new summer Essie shades! The nail polish addict is back. I just had to try In the Cab-ana (the blue) and Serial Shopper. They are my two go to colors for summer this season, blue and coral.

3. Steve Madden cut out booties! These were super comfortable and so cute that I decided they were a must even if I have to wait until fall to wear them. 

4. Lilly Pulitzer make up bag! I'm obsessed with the bright pink poppies and this bag is the perfect size to store my go to daily makeup. 

A Kind of Nostalgia

Always June...

"I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it's always June..." Montgomery L.M.

Soundtrack of the Summer

As a jobless potato who spends her days driving her younger sister around this city which we shall call Hellhole for safety purposes, I listen to a lot of music in my car while driving around. There are certain songs that really only sound good while blasting through the speakers of my car, speeding down the curvy suburban streets in a star filled summer night. It's a beautiful picture-cruising past the mountains with the air condition whipping back my hair. In those moments all the upsetting issues that cloud my mind during the day such as everyone I know moving on with their lives and my jobless potato state don't seem that bad. It's just me on the road, and sometimes with the right music I feel like it could go on like that forever.

City Lights- Tim McGraw
Rewind- Rascal Flatts
You- The 1975
No More Bad Days- This Wild Life
Landslide- Liam Titcomb
I Can Lift a Car- Walk the Moon
The Cowboy in Me- Tim McGraw
Always Gonna Be You- Kenny Chesney
Sex- Luke Friend (cover)
Waves- Young the Giant
Little Secrets- Passion Pit

Nail Polish Loves

When unsure of what color to put on my nails, I always think the clear choice is a pretty pastel. Not only do they match almost every outfit, but they are very soft and do not show chips as quickly as darker shades do. I like to buy a few staple pastels each spring when the nail polish lines release their new spring and summer collections, and these are my four top favorite for this summer. I get the most compliments on all these colors, and I find they are the easiest to apply and all only require two coats to be completely opaque. While I tend to be a loyal OPI buyer, this year I was far more impressed by Essie’s collections.

The picture is very true to color. Going from left to right, the colors are: Essie- Using my Maiden Name, Essie- Muchi, Muchi, Deborah Lippmann- Groove is in the Heart, Essie- Turquiose and Caicos

Living out my LA Story

Well not exactly... Los Angeles always seemed like a magical fantasy land where the rich and famous eat acai bowls and brunch on expensive looking lettuce with a million dollar view, and that is all extremely true. I discovered though that the magical aura is more a created illusion that only the Valencia filter on Instagram can provide. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing like a fresh California breeze and kale, and the salty sea air is all very alluring, but I missed my queso bowls. I guess it's just the cowgirl in me....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV4Q5dpq8ww

DVF exhibit LACMA

Lemonade

The Bigg Chill

Santa Monica Pier anyone?

LACMA

and more lemonade...

Salted caramel macaroon 

best truffle mac and cheese of my life

Fabulous Acai bowl at Dogtown Coffee

The view from the Getty Musuem

Getty Gardens

Cause I fell in love
the streets got a glow
the city of angels is calling me home

Haute Girls Eat Dallas

Just doing Dallas..

The Normandy- French Toast stuffed with raspberry jam and homemade cream cheese topped with raspberries

Cinnamon Roll French Toast stuffed with Strawberries

I want Sprinkles (of the red velvet variety)

Nutella + Toasted Marshmallows + Pear Pizza

My Week in iPhone Pictures

My soup understands my attitude towards life right now

Delicious dinner out at Seasons 52

Because all my friends have the same names

Calculus is like a really funny joke that's not a joke at all

On Wednesday We Make Wishlists

I never thought I would be the girl who is asking for a baseball cap.The body snatchers haven't taken me though, it's something I like to call "going to college in Texas." Ratchet days happen to all of us and sometimes the best thing to do is throw on the cap and go. My monogram obsession is so real.

 Why has no one given this to me yet?

Seeing as I obviously don't have a Valentine, who wants to go with me and celebrate loneliness with a hot Indian who sings like a god?

College is stressful. Cookie dough loves me when no one else does. 

Typical Tuesday- I'm Like Totally a Sorority Girl Now

As far as I can tell from my six month stint as a Texas resident, the only three things that anyone can be sure about around here is that the weather will change every single day, saying "bless your heart" will never be a sentiment of endearment, and when it comes to college, greek life dominates. The tour guides try to say otherwise, throwing out statistics to try and make people feel like going to school here isn't just about sorority and frat row. I was warned, but I didn't believe what they said. What did someone mean when they said greek life would be all in my face? That seemed like something a bitter GDI would say. Then I spent the entire first semester watching the older girls wear their pins and jerseys, sit together in classes, and go to all the cool events. It seemed like one giant exclusive party, and I could only stand and press my face up to the window and hope some day I would be put on the invite list.

Then recruitment happened, and it was one of the strangest weeks of my life. Why do my Rho Gammas always look constipated? Why do they insist on calling me PNM #33? What does give your heart to Chi O and she'll give it back to you even mean? My experience wasn't anything out of the horror stories you hear through the grape vine, but I'm here to say it happens. There should be a correction to that hackneyed saying: all's fair in love and war- and rush. Somehow I made it through the process in one piece, with only two.. okay, maybe three hysterical meltdowns. Rush is just like that though. It gets in your head and you feel this insatiable urge to be everything you think you deserve to be. Everyone says you end up where you are supposed to, and for better or worse maybe that's true. Even if it doesn't work out how you thought, I like to believe that there was an upper hand guiding you home. The truth is though, if you end up in a house, it's hard to not feel the connection when you're being showered in gifts and told how much everyone loves you. The brainwashing is real. I don't know if that's the best way to phrase it though. To me it feels like stepping across the threshold into that exclusive party, and after you enter you never can go back. Nobody on the outside really can understand, and it's beyond explanation. Sorority life is simply ineffable.

It's never too late

For what it's worth: it's never too late, or in my case too early to be whoever you want to be.

There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. 

You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. 

We can make the best or worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. 

I hope you see things that startle you. 

I hope you feel things you've never felt before. 

I hope you meet people with a different point of view. 

I hope you live a life you are proud of.

If you find that you are not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again. 

-F. Scott Fitzgerald