Words

You guys. I've written about this in about 3 of my journals and I need to write about it more.

Ok. So. I have a crush on this guy and I feel so good. I'm not sure where it's going, but talking with him and hearing the way he talks to me gives me butterflies like crazy. Every time I see that he messaged me or even when I hear his name, I get goosebumps. I haven't had a crush this big in a long time and I'm feeling a way I haven't felt!

I'm not asking for advice or anything, I just want to keep writing out my feelings. I feel so, so happy, but also so confused. He likes me too, but he also says he doesn't want a girlfriend right now. I'm not going to worry about it too much, but I don't want to get too happy and attached and then get hurt. I feel like I'm in a good place, though.

Y'all! Can I just say that moving to Cambridge was the best decision of my whole life?!

Black, white, grey

How cool are these pictures of rain on the window?! I always try to do this, but it never looks this good. I love the B&W in all of them too.

I think one of these days I need to pull out my SLR and take some shots of Cambridge and Boston...

Photos by Thomas Toft, on Flickr

Currently

It's been almost 2 months since I've done one of these! It's crazy how fast time goes looking back at these posts. I feel like I write them all the time, but it's been so long!

Loving: Cambridge! I think I've said that enough, but I just love it so much more than my other school. It's so great to be able to actually get off campus and walk everywhere. I'm definitely a city person!

Watching: I've been trying to catch up on all the shows I've missed over time. So of course I'm watching The Bachelor and the farewell season of American Idol (sad!), but I've also been watching season 4 of New Girl and I'm going to watch the newest season of Hart of Dixie next. Woo!

Reading: The Art of Happiness by Howard Cutler, written through the teachings of the Dalai Lama. It's great! This is just for fun, but I'm also using it to learn a lot. I highlight sentences that I like while I read (which I usually do anyway in books) and I'm just learning a lot. Can I also say how great I feel that I'm reading a new book every month?! I never used to do that!

  

Anticipating: Hmm.. this is honestly a tough one! Usually what I write here is wanting to go home, or excited for Summer or this and that. I don't really have anything on the horizon I'm anticipating! I also think part of me is just trying to enjoy the 'here and now'. I'm finally at a place I love. The weather is great. I do miss home, but I like it here just as much. So yeah!

Listening: I haven't really gotten any new music lately... I scored an old Britney Spears CD for $5 at target over break so I listened to that in the car a lot. I also came across No Diggity by Chet Faker on my Mumford & Sons Pandora Radio, so that's been on repeat too. Give me some new songs! I'm clearly a little dry on the music front.

 Working on: Finding friends. I feel super comfortable here, but the main thing I need right now is a solid group of friends.  was obviously worried about this one coming into a new school, so I know it'll take time. I'm not going to worry too much about it, but I feel like that is the last piece of the puzzle I need to make my experience here awesome.

Write your own currently post and send me the link - I'd love to read about your life!
Thanks to Dani from Sometimes Sweet for this post idea and the picture above is from my Tumblr.

Have a great day!

Life in Cambridge, MA

I thought I'd give you all a little update on what I'm up to around here! I talk about how much I love it all the time, but I never really give any details further than that. Here are some recent pictures I've taken! They are just from Instagram, but I do hope to take my camera out soon enough to take some actual pictures. Until then...

{Coffee at the Crema Cafe}

{It's a 10 minute walk for me to get to a 4 floor Anthropologie... 4 floors!}

{More coffee at Cafe Algiers... a really cool place, but kind of a disappointing experience. Don't recommend!}

{Simon's Cafe on Mass Ave - getting organized before the first week of classes!}

{Scored some really great books at The Harvard Book Store the other day}

Everything is going well! Have you been to Cambridge/around the area? I'd love to hear your thoughts or even places you been that you loved!

Paris

**

How beautiful is this photo of Paris at dusk? Breathtaking! It doesn't even look real.

(Thomas3667, on Flickr)

Out and about

Here I am! Just as I predicted, I'm currently sitting in a cafe in Cambridge organizing my planner before classes tomorrow and blogging away. I love it here! It's so fun getting off campus all the time. It's only been about 4 days, but each day goes so quickly and I'm so tired before I go to bed at night. I can't wait for all the future adventures here and I'm going to keep blogging to keep you guys with me. I just love where and who I am.

Anyway, how beautiful are these photos by miesirywle, on Flickr?! They have nothing to do with my post, but as I was scrolling through they really caught my attention. They also make me want to travel... but I'm just going to try to enjoy the place I am at this very moment in time :)

Hope you had an awesome day!

New chapter!

Hey all! I've been really wanting to read blogs and post but I've been so busy! Tomorrow I leave for Boston and I'm stoked. A little nervous, but mostly excited. Guys.. I'm finally on the right path! ;)

Anyway, I'll be back to blogging shortly. Next time I post I'll probably be in a really cute cafe or in the Boston Public Library. Who knows :P

Hope you all are doing well! Cheers!

Terrain

There are only 2 Terrains in the US, so I'm guessing some of you haven't visited this cute store yet! It's owned by the same people that own Anthropologie, so you can only imagine how great it is. It's mostly plants and outdoors-y things, but there are some soaps and Anthropologie goods thrown in there too. Check out the website!

I just snapped a phew iPhone photos really quickly when my friend and I visited the one in Glen Mills, PA. If you ever visit, be sure to let me know how you like it!

Self care

I'm going to try to keep this post less wordy, but I want to just focus on one thing here: self care. I think we are so lucky to do this thing called life. Our bodies are our temples  - while we all want money and stuff, we need our health. In order to maintain health, we need to take plenty of time to ourself. Here are some of my tips for self care that people may not think about everyday:

Pamper evening

Take a day to go all out. Run yourself a bath, read a book, put on a face mask, do your nails. This is so great! It feels good to calm down and relax, but it's also good for you, as you can get bath melts to help your skin and face masks to help your face. It's time to yourself and it allows you to take care of all parts of your body.

Journaling

I say this one a lot! I think it's important do sit down, pull out some pens and a pretty journal, and write. Write about your day, scribble some inspiring quotes. Make sure you date every page so you can come back and read it later. Sometimes a journal is the only place we can write out everything on our mind and be completely ourself!

Meditation and Yoga

This is one that seems difficult. It's almost intimidating. We read about it in books and see it in movies, but we don't usually think to actually practice yoga or meditation. I started yoga freshman year of college and I absolutely love it. I'd love to do it outside or find a really beautiful spot to do it. It's so quiet and peaceful. I encourage everyone to go to a small, easy yoga session and experience it. Meditation is so easy too. It can take practice, but just sitting in peace after a long day is so good for you. Look up YouTube videos or read pages about it and you'll find it's very simple. After a little while, you will definitely see a noticeable difference in your mood and attitude. It's definitely a form of self care we overlook.

(Click on the pictures to see where they're from!)

What about you? What are some things you love to do for yourself?

"You have to love yourself because no amount of love from others is sufficient to fill the yearning that your soul requires from you."

-Dodinsky

Colorful streets of...

...ICELAND. But of course ;)

Taken by the talented Filippo Bianchi. Her photos are fantastic!

Matera, Alberobello, Puglia

I love these photos of Italy by Tiberio, on Flickr! This is almost a side of Italy I've never seen before.

Chill

What do you like to do after a long day? Of course there are hot baths, coloring books, and Netflix. Those are a given! Here are some other things I've been doing to relax me:

I've been loving water color. I always have, but just sitting down and painting flowers or quotes really makes me feel awesome. I've also been reading more! I haven't read as much since I've been home, but it makes me feel so good to pick out good books and chill out by the fire with a book.

We Are Your Friends, 2015

This is another random post about something I like (flashback to BB Talk), but have you all seen We Are Your Friends? It's one of those movies I saw and I was like "eh, not the best movie I've seen", but then automatically wanted to watch it again right away. 

It's a pretty simple movie. It's basically a guy (Zac Efron) who creates electronic music and his journey with his friends. It's pretty heavy and does tug your emotions a little! Max Joseph directed and wrote it and I thought that was so cool! That's mostly why I wanted to check it out (that and Mr. Efron).

But anyway, let me know if you've seen it!

Life lately

This might get kind of wordy, but I wanted to write a little something about my goals for the year, things I've been thinking, and how I've been feeling lately. It can feel so good to just write all your thoughts out with no judgement, amiright?

Alright, so this year, as I always say, I want to travel more. I have SO many realistic travel goals for the year and I'm so glad my best friend is finally here with me so we can go places together. We're so adventurous and we already have our Spring breaks and Summer planned out completely. I'm also hoping to be an exchange student in Iceland, but we'll see about that one.

This year, I also want to just be nicer all around. I want to not get hung up on something someone said to me and just want to be myself without conforming to other people. This is going to be hard for me, but I really, really want to accomplish this one.

I've been thinking a lot about my friends lately too. Some friends say they're best friends, but we never talk and they just don't reach out to me at all. I'm constantly some people's last thoughts and it can make me feel pretty shitty. There isn't much I can do about this one, but it gets to be a little much having to constantly tug on a friendship to keep it going. What are your thoughts? I just get a little tired of it and not only is it just hanging more, it's when we hang out I still can feel pretty unhappy about it. I think I'm answering my own question, but I'm still conflicted.

Since I'm transferring schools this year and moving to a city with so many opportunities, I just want to go into the year with a completely open mind. I almost want this year to be a re-birth and for me to try something totally new.

I feel like this is going to be a great year, but I have a lot to work on first!

I hope you all have an awesome 2016. I also encourage you to try new things as well. Cut people out of your life that make you unhappy and buy that plane ticket to California if you've always wanted to go! There isn't enough time in life to sit around and think about if you're doing things right. Just go out and make the change you want to see.

Check out this BuzzFeed article about improving your mental health in 2016. I really loved it: http://www.buzzfeed.com/annaborges/may-your-2016-be-mentally-chill

New favorite thing!

These are becoming so popular and it makes me so happy! Have you picked up your own adult coloring book? If you didn't know, I'm an art therapy major. This is the simplest form of art therapy you can give yourself! My friend, Alexandra, and I have been getting together every other night or so and watching a movie while we color. It's so calming and perfect. (I "personalized" the front. It looks a little silly, so sorry about that haha!)

I got this one at Five Below for $4! I totally recommend you get just one and sit and color after a long day!

How are the first few days of your 2016 going?

2016

This sounds so strange, but I already feel such relief that it's the new year. I feel like this is my time to start over! I have so many memories from 2015 that I'll remember forever, but I also have a lot of moments that I'd like to completely move on from. This year is going to be so great. Looking back a year ago, I would never guess all the things that I would have gone through in the last 364 days. 

Here's to the next 365! What are your goals this year?