Last Day of August & Summer's End

On my mind this week: 

1. Adios to my good friend, summer two thousand fourteen. I have mentioned in previous posts that this summer I have traveled a lot. But, I have also been at home. And playing volleyball. And paddle boarding. And visiting colleges. It's been a great summer, a hectic summer. A summer of reflection, at times. I'm currently at the point where my first week of senior year is in the past. I have weeks and months left of the last year of my high school education, but I already know that this year will be over before I know it. I have a vision of myself looking at this post sometime after graduation, my eyes wet with tears, reminiscing over the past.

It has been an exhausting week, but I have really loved getting to hang out with all of my friends, including some who I haven't seen in more than a year (junior year abroad). One thing that I love about my school is all of the senior privileges, one of which is the senior lounge. All of the seniors get to choose their lockers, so you get to be near some of your friends! The lockers surround a lounge filled with second-hand couches and leather chairs. During any free time, it will be packed with people. We blast music. BLAASTTT music. I love the way that the music sets the mood. I am so excited for this year, and college of course. But I will mention that I already have an immense load of homework, which is quite nerve-wracking. One thing that I think is interesting is that I have a teacher that I also had in the sixth grade. I have such vivid memories of that class six years ago. The teacher is surely intrigued by the differences of her students and how we have all changed in the years since taking her class.

2.

3. I recently read some of Blake Lively's Vogue cover story. One part that I found really fascinating:

[Lively] tells me a story about talking to an actor at a party, one who sounds very much like Warren Beatty. “He’s an older gentleman, infamous playboy, very, very, very famous actor. I asked him, ‘Why did you marry your wife? You could have married anyone. Why her, finally?’ And he said, ‘There were plenty of women I could have married, but only one I couldn’t have divorced.’ ” She laughs, then stares off for a moment. “I find that applies to so much in life. Because there are so many choices I could make, but only a few that I can’t not make.”

I love the point she makes. I think the huge thing about senior year is that there is a big decision to make about your future. College is a big deal. It is the first major decision most people make. Where you go to college will define which friends you will end up making, and really set the course for the rest of your life. I hope to make a choice that is very clear to me. I hope not to get my heart broken in the college process, but if I do find disappointment, I hope that I will learn more about myself and what I truly want in the process. 

4.

5. "Don't tell me our youth is running out / It's only just begun" and "There are many among us / And we're changing all the time" are two brilliant and provocative lines from the song Youth by Foxes. Another solid parallel to senior year. I'm just killing it with these analogies, am I right ladies?

 

Sorry for such a random kind of sad and downright wordy post? That's just my mood at the moment, I guess.

Love,

Last First Day

Monday was my last first day at my school. I really cannot believe that I am already a senior and it's really strange. This is the year that I have always looked forward to (as most people do). This year is the year of "lasts" it seems, with every event being the last one we will ever experience as a high school student. The last pep rallies, the last game, the last... everything. I have been thinking about so much of what I want from my future, and I can definitely see myself moving back to my area and teaching the little lower school angels at my school. Today I met a little first grade boy with my friend, and we walked hand-in-hand with him to an all-school opening ceremony. I shared with him my memories of the first days of first grade, and it just made me really aware of how quickly my years of school have passed. There is no doubt in my mind that I will miss the school that I have grown up in for over a decade. College, get ready for me, but I am not quite finished leaving my mark on my school quite yet.

This year I am taking the hardest math class at my entire school (last night I actually cried about it, it's already that overwhelming). This year I am more in control of the yearbook than I have ever been, and I am so excited to build an amazing book with literally some of my favorite people in my school. This year I hope my grade really bonds, because I have always thought that my class has been abnormally cliquey, and I hope we all cherish our last year at our school together as friends. This year I get to eat in the library... yay? This year I get to give my senior speech in front of the whole upper school, and I am so nervous. Public speaking has always been a challenge for me. This year I will plan a major change in my life: where I will go to college. 

Senior year is the end of living at home with my family, driving my younger brother to school, playing sports (or sitting on the bench) beside my friends, and so many other things. I am so grateful to go to a school that I whole-heartedly love, and I am so lucky to have met all the people who have made my time here so special.

XOXOXO,

Notebook Sessions: August 2014

Welcome to my first edition of "Notebook Sessions". My idea for these sessions is that I will make a handcrafted blog post, writing on notebook paper in my own handwriting (versus drafting my thoughts onto blogger). I hope to do these every month. It's a great way of combining my love of collaging and blogging all in one. Click the image to make it more readable, and enjoy! 

Healthy Tuesday: Purple Berry Smoothie

Is it weird that I make a smoothie everyday? I don't think so! They taste amazing, and mine are made 100% fruit, water, and ice. Since I have started consistently making my own smoothies, buying smoothies from Tropical Smoothie (where they use sometimes-not-very-fresh-fruit and added sugar) just do not compare. However, if I am in the mood for an acai bowl, I have to buy one. An acai bowl is a thick acai smoothie normally topped with granola and fruit. I use acai in my smoothies but I just cannot get my acai bowls to taste good! You win some, you lose some.

This morning, I made a Purple Berry Smoothie. My actual goal in making this smoothie was making it purple. (Normally my smoothies are light red, green, or pink!) I gobbled up this smoothie REALLY quickly. One of my favorites! I hope you enjoy, or get creative and try your own smoothie at home.

Purple Berry Smoothie Recipe:

- 1/2 banana

- 1/2 peach

- 1 tablespoon of acai & pomegranate juice

- 1 tablespoon of water

- 4 frozen strawberries

- 2 handfuls of blueberries

- 1 handful of frozen raspberries

- 2 handfuls of ice

Enjoy!

XOXOXO,

Summer Reading

When I have writer's block, I normally check out some of my favorite bloggers, and get inspiration from them. This post was inspired by the Young Southern Prep (who unfortunately no longer posts, but she still has a wealth of ideas and her blog is very fun to browse through). I am a huge reader, and I have always been. I feel like I have read every possible interesting book in my local library branch, so when I got my kindle a few years ago, I was able to read so many more books than I would have ever bought online or in a store. However, I still love reading books (real books) but sometimes, when I do not want to make the trip to the bookstore or the library, I indulge myself in a cheap ($0.99-3.99) book for the day. This summer I have read some terribly boring books, and some books I loved. Here are some of my summer reads.

Hands-down the best book that I have read this summer. After going to the Dominican Republic and having my first overseas service mission, reading about this both reminded me of the connections that I had made in the DR and inspired me. I simply could not put this book down.

I loved this book! I highly recommend. It really transported me to a different world and time.

Kind of a mashup of the Hunger Games and the Bachelor. A girl from a lower faction of society gets chosen to compete for the love of the Prince. As a Bachelor enthusiast and a love of all things royal, this was right up my alley. The book is the first in a trilogy.

This summer I had a Lauren Weisberger addiction. I read three of her books and loved them all. Her style of writing is very captivating and she really takes you into the world of New York City's most elite. (I also watched the DWP movie on the way to Venice, which I loved!) Read anything of hers and you will love it. Not even exaggerating.

I picked up this book in Heathrow on the way home from London, and finished it on the plane home. This book is a tell-all on the fashion journalism industry (and especially on Vogue) as told by the fired  Editor-in-Chief of Australian Vogue. As a person who loves all things fashion journalism, I ate this up.

I'm pretty sure that I talked about this book earlier this summer, but it was such a good read! Mary Kay Andrews is the queen of beach reads. 

I still have to finish two books for school-mandated summer reading, but I feel like when you are assigned a book to read it isn't nearly as fun! 

Good reading,

Ice Bucket

It's official. I have completed the ice bucket challenge, to raise awareness for ALS. This challenge has literally been all over my Facebook newsfeed for about a week now. Some people are doubting what dumbing a mixture of ice and water over your head helps ALS research, but if you research it, the donations are up about 9x the amount they were last year.

Thank you to my friends Katy from "The Belle in Pearls" and aDr for nominating me. My video was terribly awkward, my friend is a terrible pourer (is that a word?), and we had to do a couple takes so I ended up only publishing these pictures.

If you are nominated, please consider making a video to raise awareness, or donate some money to ALS research.

Adios,

Italy, London, & Other Heavens

So I told you that I went to Venice. If you read my post, you would have read that it was breathtaking and the food was delicious. Venice was only the first stop on a crazy family vacation in Europe. Here are some more of my thoughts and pictures from Europe.

The mountains in Switzerland are simply stunning. The amount of green space is huge! My family and our gracious Swiss hosts took a two hour hike throughout the Alps and their mountain town and it was so gorgeous.

In the middle of our stay with our Swiss friends, we made a trip to Florence, Italy and Tuscany. We took a crazy tour that was supposed to be 12 hours, but due to an altercation with the Italian police, ended up being much, much longer. Even though the tour was SO TIRING, it was still amazing to see the Leaning Tower in Pisa, and the many amazing sights in Tuscany and especially looking out over the countryside at the beautiful vineyards on the mountains. The lunch that they provided at an organic vineyard was amazing, and the gelato at a small town in Tuscany was delicious, as well! It was cool going on a tour like that because my family met people from Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and a few Americans, too.

LAKE COMO is actually amazing. We rented a boat with our Swiss friends and cruised around the lake for about two hours, admiring the wealth of the landowners and the natural beauty of the lake. Many Russian billionaires, Middle East royals, and American actors vacation at their homes in this stunning part of Italy. I was so psyched for this because I recently saw the pictures one of my favorite bloggers, "The Londoner", posted. It looks beautiful in the pictures, but this is definitely a place that looks the most beautiful with your own eyes.

 ^^ That's George Clooney's house on the lake! He actually owns about 5 houses that he uses for different things on one big estate. He was actually in his house when we rode by!

The small towns that surrounded the lake were adorable! Here is one of my favorite osterias that I snapped:

After Italy and Switzerland, we took a plane to England. I have always been really intrigued by the English lifestyle. The royals have always held a special place in my heart, as well. I loved London. It was the perfect mix of Paris in New York. I love Paris, but I don't think that I could ever master the language well enough to live there full-time. New York is lovely as well, but what I loved about London was that it wasn't all high rise buildings! They had tons of parks, and one of my favorite memories from London was walking in the park in Kensington one morning with my mom.

In London, we visited the Tower of London, took a boat on the Thames, ate a lot of Pub food (and delicious Indian food as well!), took a sightseeing bus (another one of my favorite experiences) and saw Big Ben and the Eye. The sightseeing double decker bus was dreadfully hot in the afternoon, but after a day of touring we hopped back on the bus a little after seven o'clock. It was a gorgeous temperature, and we were so happy to just sit (with no headphones telling us what we were seeing, unlike in the morning) and take in the city as it was just beginning to start coming alive for the night. I saw so many gorgeous neighborhoods, and I loved seeing everything from that perspective.

Anyways, this year I have gotten to travel more than I ever have before (and more than I will in the near future). I am so grateful for the experiences that I have had, and I am so excited to visit more places in the future. This summer is quickly coming to a close, with volleyball practices just around the corner, and I am so sad to see it pass. I can only hope that I will have amazing trips and happenings in the future.

XOXOXO,

Kelsey

College Like What?

This has been a crazy week for me college-wise. A few days ago, the Common App went live. What does that mean? Oh no big deal... just that I can already apply to college. How crazy is that?! And a week ago I got an email from a college in Maryland to recruit me for their lacrosse team. I am beyond confused. I thought I had my plans all figured out, but this was definitely a curve ball for me. I gave up the dream of playing college athletics two years ago. I had kind of burnt out of my travel team, and figured that no college team would ever be a good fit for me. However, I met the coach that recruited me at a sleep away lacrosse camp at a different college, and she was actually so nice (and knew what she was talking about). SO BASICALLY I have no idea what to do with my life... and I still really need to answer that email. Any advice?

XOXOXO, 

Venice

What a whirlwind. I have finally returned from a crazy tour of Europe with my family. It was amazing, exhausting, and challenging for my family to travel Europe with 8 various bags in hand. We visited friends, visited David and other famous works of art, and visited the storied Leaning Tower of Pisa (and many other famous buildings).

The first stop on our trip was Venice, Italy. I have always wanted to go to Venice. It is a beautiful city, and although it was chalk-full of tourists of every ethnicity and barely any actual Italians, the architecture and cuisine were divine. I think I must have had at least 10 pasta dishes in only a few days. My family arrived extremely jet-lagged, and we took naps constantly.

One of my favorite things that we did in Venice was taking a classic gondola ride. Exploring the beautiful waters of Venice from that perspective was breathtaking. It was emotionally very powerful.

On our last night, we walked around the famous San Marco Square and listened to the live musicians perform. It was magical, I imagined people in centuries past doing the same thing. Walking around with my creme flavored gelato in hand, it was an amazing night. One that I will always remember.

As soon as we left Venice, we headed to Milan and then Switzerland to visit some family friends. Then we were off to Florence and Tuscany, and finally London. More pictures to come!

XOXOXO,

Kels