The Edge of Seventeen, 2016

While in Rome, I had a lot of boy troubles (are you shocked?) and my friend Clarissa told me about the movie The Edge of Seventeen. She told me she absolutely loved it and after I was a little sad about a boy, she told me to watch it. I didn't want to watch it while over there, but I knew my friend Alexandra would love it too. So I waited until I got back to the states and tonight we finally Reboxed it! I LOVED it.

I don't really know how to summarize it in a way that makes sense, but it will definitely make you feel better if you're having any kind of trouble in your life.

I highly recommend! It might be a new favorite of mine - I'm going to buy it next time I get the chance!

Have you seen it?

Currently listening to:

Redbone - Childish Gambino

Humble - Kendrick Lamar (his new album? FIRE)

That's What I Like - Bruno Mars

Despacito - Luis Fonsi (my anthem in Italy - not the JB version!)

Malibu - Miley Cyrus

Sweet Creature - Harry Styles

Swish Swish - Katy Perry

There are so many good songs out right now! I'm OBSESSED. Which one of these is your favorite? What songs have you been listening to lately?

Europe pt. 4: Florence, Italy

I figured I should start this up again! I've looked through my pictures so many times at this point, it almost makes me feel like I didn't take enough! It feels so good to have all of these, though. It makes me both sad and happy, knowing that I've been all these places and have these memories but it's all over!

Alright so, Firenze! We spent 2 weeks here, doing an intensive language course, traveling around, and just getting used to the Italian culture. I loved it so much, but I feel like I couldn't really spend more than a month here. I mean, I can't really say that, because I definitely probably could, but it's a small city!

It was a wonderful start to the semester and it's so weird to look through these because we all didn't really know each other that well and now we're all super close! Here are some photos of the streets, my first gelato (that was a complete rip off and we didn't even know it), the beautiful Ponte Vecchio, Michelangelo's David, the Duomo, the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum, the Gucci Museum, organic pizza and wine, and Piazzale Michelangelo.

Have you ever been to Florence? It's pretty magical but also calm!

Here are my pasts posts if you'd like to have a look: London, Venice, Siena

I'm back!

Hey everyone!! Sorry it's been so long since I've updated - I was enjoying traveling so much, I didn't want to spend to much time on my computer. I got back to the states a week ago and I'm feeling all kinds of emotions! I do have a lot of time though, so I'll spend time writing about my experiences and posting photos.

In the mean time, this picture is of me walking around my favorite city! I miss it so much. I've been crying quite a bit!

I hope you're all doing well!

La La Land: BTS

Did you all see La La Land over the holidays? So good, right?! My friend and I hated the ending though, it made us so mad! I love these behind-the-scenes photos with Damien Chazelle.

 

Photos from here.

Stress + happiness

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Hey! Just wanted to check in. I took this photo 2 weeks ago during Spring Break. I went with my friend Abbie to Berlin, Athens, and Mykonos. It was SO fun! Mykonos was so beautiful, but it was also so cold and the island was pretty dead. We wanted to spend more time on the beach, so it was a bummer it was cold! One day were were kind of bored because of how dead it was, so I got a tattoo! How cool of a story is that?

Right now I'm kind of stressed because of school but also because in a month from tomorrow I'll be heading back to the states. I think I shed a tear while typing that... I'm just going to get done everything I need to do and enjoy every second of being here. Which I already am, but it's s cool because I've never felt such a balance of stress and happiness at the same time. I think to myself, yeah I'm berried in homework, but I'm also living in Rome... so...

Kendall

I saw this outfit pop up that Kendall Jenner wore recently and I'm obsessed! I love how she tucked her shirt into her shorts and I love how the ankles are still attached to the shorts. I'm also really loving how the shirt is ripped on the sleeve! Winner outfit, I'd say.

What do you think? I would ask where you think each piece is from, but there's no chance of me pulling any of this off, so let's not get my hopes up.

Photos from here.

Global view

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"People who don't travel cannot have a global view, all they see is what's infront of them. Those people cannot accept new things because all they know is where they live."

Martin Yan

I've been thinking about this quote a lot lately - this thought has come up in many conversations I've had!

Photo taken by me in Mykonos, Greece with a Nikon D3100.

Capri, Italy

I realize I'm lagging a bit with my travel posts, but I thought I'd put a little something about what I did this weekend! We went to Pompeii, Capri, and Naples. We hiked up Mount Vesuvius, laid on a beach in Capri, took a chair lift to the top of a mountain, and celebrated St. Patrick's Day in the most fun way. Here are some photos from Capri, because I'm still in awe of how beautiful it was!

Hope your weekend was amazing as well! Here's to another Monday ;)

21!

My birthday was on March 11! It was absolutely the best birthday I've ever had. I was hesitant about being in Italy for my 21st, but there's no way I could replicate all that I did last Saturday back in the states. I went on a bike ride through the countryside during the day, then at night we went to a speakeasy that a friend recommended to us, and then da club. I won't go into too much detail... but it was crazy fun.



This photo was taken the night before, because we went to the Trevi Fountain and I threw 2 coins in and made a wish at midnight! These are my best friends here in Rome!

Hope you're all doing well. I am!!!

International Women's Day

Sorry I didn't get a chance to say this yesterday - Happy International Women's Day! I'm so glad I had the chance to spend it in Rome. There were Rallies, mimosa flowers were handed out and sold all around, there was so much love, positivity, and bright colors. It was such a fun day! (A little frustrating because there was a transportation strike, so I couldn't get to work.) I hope you all celebrated yourselves and the other women in your life as well!

You're a strong, smart, confident, funny, beautiful, amazing woman and you should be proud!

Cozy and elegant

It's been quite some time since I've posted a dream room of mine! If you know me, you know that I spend 90% of my time looking on Zillow, NakedApartments, Pinterest, the app Home, and so much more. I LOVE looking for my future apartments and homes. I usually question myself multiple times a day about why I didn't go into interior design.

Here's a beautiful home I found online, located in Tampa, Florida. The owner's name is Shay and she's kind of my spirit animal. You can read an interview about her and her home here! I love all the little details everywhere - the lights above the island, the way the photos are hanging on the walls, the color scheme. Here are some photos of the first floor:

I love how light, chic, and home-y it is. It's hard to get a home to feel like all of that in one!

Photos from The Every Girl - brb while I scroll through this website for the rest of the day.

Link love

How good does this strawberry rhubarb pie look?? I'm so excited to get home and bake again!

12 reasons Joshua decided to read 1 book per week - if I weren't traveling so much for the first half of the year, I think my goal would be the same!

I love the simplicity in these photos.

This Tumblr post makes me really happy.

I've been really obsessing over this jacket lately... need!

Speaking of jackets, this one also really speaks to me.

Anyone else an Office fan? Check out these details I never noticed before!

I can't believe I'm going to be walking around this gorgeous place in a few weeks!

One year apart.

50 things to do in Berlin... can you add any? I'm going in 2 weeks!

A little self-promotion: I post pictures of my European adventures on Instagram!

I hope you're all doing fantastic. Happy Monday!

Routine

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"We all need to be displaced from what's comfortable and routine, and then you get to see things with fresh eyes, with new eyes."

-Amy Tan

Beautiful photo by minato.

PS. Happy March! I'm so excited for Spring weather.

Currently

I thought I'd put together a quick 'currently' post to let you know what I'm up to over here in Italia!

Loving: ITALY. Well, duh. I mean, I knew I would love this experience, but I really didn't realize how much. I'm kind of glad I came into it with my expectations a little low because now I'm overwhelmed at how much fun I'm having and how great my friends are! It's kind of crazy, actually. I'll write a post about it when I get back to the states, but I 100% recommend any college student to study abroad.

Watching: I obviously haven't been watching a lot of Netflix or anything, but occasionally at night I'll watch some to fall asleep with. Actually, I've taken a new approach because instead of watching shows I'll watch movies in increments. So I'll watch about 30 minutes of a movie a night and it's nice because I never really get to watch movies anymore - who has the time! So far I've watched Crazy, Stupid Love and The Blindside. I've seen them both before, but that's good because if I was doing that with movies I've never seen I wouldn't be able to stop after just 30 minutes!

Reading: Every Fifteen Minutes by Lisa Scottoline. My friend, Alexandra, and I were walking around BAM during Winter break and we both saw this book on the shelf, so we read the back and both whispered 'woah' the whole time. We were so intrigued! So she bought it (she owed me) and now I'm reading it while I'm in Italy and this Summer she'll be doing some traveling around Asia, so she'll read it then. I'm only about a quarter of the way through because I haven't had much time to sit and read, but I LOVE it so far. We really wanted a book that's different than the whole boy-meets-girl storyline. I'm not too far in so I can't say much, but so far so good forsure. I'll update when I'm done!

Listening: I finally invested in Spotify Premium a couple weeks ago (actually I had to have my dad log in from the states and do it since they don't have the student option here) and it was the best decision of my life! I love that you can download songs. So you can see some music I've been listening to in this post, but since then I've added Another Love by Tom Odell and Congratulations by Post Malone. Very different songs... I know.

Anticipating: I'm anticipating a lot, but also trying to enjoy every moment. Every time something happens I get so excited to go home and tell my family and friends but I also think to myself "no, stop thinking about that! enjoy now!" I honestly never want this trip to end. They say you go through an 'oh shit' phase, and while I've had some rough days, I'll honestly never get over this country or these people. I've made friends here that I'll literally have forever and I didn't even realize that would happen. So while I'm anticipating all the travel I'll be doing and the excitement of going home, I'm also enjoy each moment of everyday. It's so cool.

Traveling: Thought I'd add this one in just for fun ;) So this weekend I'm not going anywhere, but all of my friends are gone. I think it'll be nice to have some alone time around Rome! But next weekend is my birthday and we're going to have so much fun! It'll absolutely be the best birthday ever. No question. I'm so lucky to be in Rome with all these amazing people. Then the next weekend I'll be in Naples and Pompeii and after that is Spring break! I'm going to Berlin for 5 days and then Greece for 4 days. Then I'll be in Poland, Paris, the Amalfi Coast and a bunch more day trips. The weeks seem to be going faster and faster! It's insane - slow down!!

This post was inspired by Dani over at Sometimes Sweet and the photo is mine taken from the top of the Museo del Vittoriano!

Random thoughts while abroad...

This post is going to be SO random. My friend and roommate while abroad, Abbie, and I talk a lot about our experience while we're here and we make a point that everyone different comes abroad for different reasons, and even if it's for the same reasons, everyone does it differently.

We talk a lot about how our roommates watch a lot of Netflix and I usually do too right before I go to bed. Is that weird? Should I be focusing more on being in the moment and taking every chance I get to walk around Rome? Or should I have a small sense of home and sit and read or watch Netflix every now and then? Part of me feels like I shouldn't be wasting any time while I'm here and another part thinks that it's important to have those moments. After all, I am living here for 4 months.

Do you see what I'm saying? Also, I probably wouldn't be posting so much on the blog if it weren't for my internship. I get SO bored here, but like I said before, it's kind of nice to have this time to scroll through things I've been missing.

Agh, you guys!! I don't want to waste a single second while here, but I also don't want to be go go go all the time. You know??

Anyways... I hope you're all doing really well!

P.S. I my friends here are the BEST. I'm honestly not sure how I'm going to go home and not be able to see them everyday. I got SO lucky you guys!!