In My Element // $205 PayPal Cash Giveaway

morgan | megan | heather | karissa

terin | tawnya | mar | maegen

lauren | katie | kate | vanessa

amy | karli | libby | caroline

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My nails are newly painted merlot.

There's also a bottle of merlot we picked up today to enjoy with a side of the return of all the best TV shows. Captain Hook graced me with his handsome moneymaker yesterday, and that is the top reason why autumn is my favorite season. (Haven't you heard, though? If fall isn't your favorite season, how are you even alive in blogworld?)

At Target, we wandered into the candle section and sniffed the pumpkins, the apple spices, and gasp! The pine needles! I said, "nope, not yet," but I know that's going to last a total of one more Target trip. So, essentially, the candles will be in the cart tomorrow.

I pulled out my snuggliest cardigan and dusted off my best riding boots.

It's time, y'all. Time for me to be in my element, for the leaves to change, time for the nights (and days) to cool down enough for parkas, and especially time to hit up the stores for all the fall clothes you can get your hands on.

Go get the cash, tigers!

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Should you get a wild hair and want to participate in next month's group giveaway, check out your options on Karli's advertise page!

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Being 21 Is Not All Fun And Games (But Maybe A Little)

This post, which I started sometime ridiculous like four days ago, was meant to be about how I'm 100% convinced that I'm not actually 21 years old. I had it all planned out in my mind. How, I actually have the soul of a 70 year old. All I want to do is hit up buffets, go on a cruise, and camp out in front of The Ellen Show, Snuggie on, red wine in day-drinking hand. The last thing I was visibly emotional about, in fact, was when our resident computer consultant managed to get our Apple TV working so that my roommate and I could watch the Beyonce documentary. Actually, I guess that's more of an anyage kind of activity, amirite?
I was going to tell you about how I feel like I'm eight years old. The highlight of my week? The no-alcohol-permitted carnival event that was put on for the freshmen (and which not a single freshman attended). Cotton candy, kettle corn, A HOT AIR BALLOON YES AN ACTUAL HOT AIR BALLOON, a fun slide... I felt like an overeager chaperone at Project Graduation. This was on top of my decision to start following Barbie on Instagram and getting pissed that a plastic doll has a better wardrobe and travel itinerary than I do.
But tonight... Tonight I actually do feel like a 21 year old at the crossroads of Holy SH%* WHAT I AM I DOING and I Guess This Really Is My Time Isn't It. I clicked 'Accept' on my first recruiting event, went about doing my thang for three minutes, and then...
Full on freak out moment.
I'm talking, partial anxiety attack. I called my best friend from home, possibly the only person who can be the voice of reason in my moments of irrational crazy - somehow, she can be of simultaneous blind encouragement and blunt truth. I put my computer aside and reached for my hair straightener, needing to do something repetitive and methodical to calm myself down. 
I don't know. I think it finally finally finally hit me right this minute that as familiar as this year has seemed to every other year I've been here, it's actually the start to a whole 'nother journey. I won't get this routine start next year. I'll be goodness-knows-where in 365 days, away from this sunny paradise of a haven. 
Forgive the panicked rambling, but to all the other college seniors out there - we're all in this together, at least!
Anyone else - students and non-students - having moments of crazy?

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Full Circle

I have had the best week.
I have nary a photo to show for it (okay, let's be real - maybe, like, two), not any particular story, nor any special defining moment. But all week long, I've felt like I've been walking on clouds.
It all started last Sunday, when my sister and her boyfriend drove my stuff back to Stanford for me. Breathing in the sweet campus air, downing a thick juicy Umami burger, ordering my go to ice cream sandwich at CREAM, seeing a dear friend, feeling the sun on my back - here I am, again.
Monday. Moving in for real. The difference between freshman year move in day and senior year move in day was comical. Freshman year was all, 'DAD IT'S 8 AM LET'S GOOOO...'
Now, it was... perhaps after a shower, potentially after I dig my way through my sister's fridge, need to play with the cats for a bit... And then I casually checked the Caltrain schedule, saw that the next train was leaving in 13 minutes, and hightailed it out of the apartment with two bags in hand full of dirty laundry and a hairbrush. Oh how far the mighty have fallen from a rented SUV packed neatly with plastic Target containers.

Tuesday. I came a week early to be trained as an advisor for our study abroad program this year. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were spent in counseling and public speaking sessions. I had the best time meeting new friends (it's still possible as a senior!) and getting to hear stories from Berlin, Beijing, Santiago, Paris, Moscow, Istanbul, Barcelona, Kyoto, Cape Town, Australia, and Madrid, and sharing my own from Oxford. It was the world in one room.
Wednesday - the prodigal roommate's return. We haven't been separated for a minute (literally) since.
Thursday and Friday - more and more people are back on the Farm!
Saturday - a day of reunions. Number of people we spent quality time with: ~50, with a side of steak nachos and wine. (The most popular comment: "wow, it's really impressive that you guys actually left your room!")
Sunday - the official (champagne-fueled) senior welcome. Plus Target. As always, plus Target.

In so many ways, senior year is a whole different ball game. It's started off with a rumble. Not with any particular 'BANG!' but not calm water's sailing either. There's anticipation and excitement, and a bit of fear. There's the desperation for Monday not to come - once it starts, it's really going to end! There's a tangible atmosphere of 'the stress will hit soon' - jobs! GPAs! JOBS! But I've also never felt so free. This campus feels like it's ours completely, and it's also never felt more like home. You know this place like the back of your hand, you love this place with your whole heart. It's ours - it's 15's - right now.
But then, in so many ways, it's just like that first day, that first sweltering day of freshman year, when we lugged boxes up the stairs, faces brave but hearts pounding. Wide-eyed, bewildered, and knowing that the best days were about to begin. Like then, I still don't believe I'm here. I still don't know exactly what I'm doing (but I've learned to fake it better). I'm still in awe of the people around me, still in disbelief that the weather is this perfect all the time, still in love with every inch of this beautiful, palm tree lined campus.
I've come full circle, but oh how I wish I was still at that halfway point.

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China, China, Wo Ai Ni // Shanghai and Nanjing Highlights

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Travel posts are my favorite to write, because they allow me to re-live my adventures all over again. Popular opinion however, I know to be somewhat against vacation recaps. Like, it is Monday, I hate everything, please let everyone be as miserable as I am right now. (Pre-coffee thoughts, I get it.)

So I condensed my week-long trip to China as much as possible. Hope it's relatively pain-free.

Well, also, I hope it helps when I say that this trip was much less of a vacation, and more like putting in the effort to spend some time with our family in China. We make this trip so often now that it's all become a bit of a routine and that landing in Shanghai becomes more like the pressing of a 'play' button to my alternate life.

China, I think, can be described in three words. (Lots of) people, pollution, and phood. And phun. Chow phun. And phamily. Because phamily comes phirst, phorever and ever. Phistbump.

Okay, I'll stop. It's 1 AM, I'm not making sense, and I have a ton of suitcases and boxes to move tomorrow as I begin my senior year. 

(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

PS. One HUGE highlight that didn't make it into the recap was our flight from Shanghai to Tokyo (for our transfer). It was an ANA flight, a Boeing 787 if I'm not mistaken. BUT THE WINDOWS. There is no slide cover thingy. Instead, there's a little button under the window and you press it up or down to tint the windows aqua, teal, or dark dark dark dark blue. Or clear. I took a 27-second video of it to show you guys, but alas the file got corrupted (literally this is my phone rolling its eyes and being like, you are so so stupid). But I just had to put this in here.

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Power Reset

dumpling madness with the parentals
Do you guys ever turn your computers off? Because, confession, I rarely, rarely hit the power off button on my Macbook. Hardly ever. Unless some sneaky software update forces me to, or a program mysteriously won't close no matter what curse words I hurl at it. 
But it's kind of funny. I have my laptop on for weeks at a time, and simply close the monitor when I'm going to bed or leaving the house or something of the like. And, over time, the darn thing gets progressively slower. The Internet. Photoshop. Word. Applications hesitate before opening up, words hiccup a little, Google Chrome takes a second to freak out before it decides to do its job.
On the odd chance I power down my computer, I find that it works ten times faster when I turn it back on. Double-clicking, right-clicking, everything works like a dream. It's back to the honeymoon period for Macky and me for a day.
So why don't I do it more often? Why don't I click the button that says 'Shut Down' at the end of the day? Do the two minutes that it takes for the computer to power back on, really inconvenience me that much? Do I really need something from the Internet right this second? (No, because hello, phone.)
It's kind of the same thing when it comes to me. To say I am exhausted right now is the understatement of the century. I am so tired. 
My sister and I returned stateside yesterday around noon, and my day consisted of a three-hour nap, waking up for a small snack, passing out again for another three hours, eating dinner with my eyes half closed, and then wiping out once more.
This year has been a year of dreams coming true. Oxford. Italy, England, France, Spain, Ireland, Scotland. Another wonderful quarter at Stanford. Los Angeles. New York. San Francisco. Washington DC. Houston. China. Planes and trains and buses and cars. An actual job. School. Getting ready to start the job hunt for real. Preparing for the GMAT. Thinking about future plans. Just. Everything.
So I'm hitting the power off button. Letting myself breathe for the rest of the week before it's 'power on' once again come Monday.
The rest of this week is going to consist of sleeping, with some breaks in between the naps for some major GSD (getting shit done) sessions before school starts. You know, finalizing class selections, turning in some last minute paperwork, finishing all 30 Rock episodes, ordering the foamiest mattress toppers of all mattress toppers, updating the resume, stuff like that. 
Here's to the lofty goals, and the resting period we all need to get ourselves back on the goal-achieving path. Happy Hump Day!

6

My Manhattan, An Overview

I thought living in NYC for a brief period of time would simply be scratching an itch. But stubborn, persistent NYC... it's really more like a mosquito bite. The more you scratch at it, the itchier it gets. Full blown bout of chicken pox for me, at this rate.
A few things I picked up on during my summer in the city –

New Yorkers are opportunistic. They don't wait around for things to happen. They make things happen. Oh, the subway car can't possibly fit another person? Says who? Oh, the pedestrian light is red? Nope, there's still half a second before a car could possibly crash into me - let's go. Do people flock to New York because of all the opportunities, or is New York a place of opportunities because opportunistic people flock here? Forever a chicken-and-egg question.
New Yorkers are unapologetic. My way or the highway, b*tches. And I ain't sorry about it.
New York is expensive. Who knew, right? SO expensive. I had sticker shock simply by buying drugstore shampoo. Let's not even get started on rent.
But it can be cheap too. $1 pizza. Make that HUGE $1 slices of pizza. $1 street vendor hot dogs. Lots of free concerts and festivals and picnicking in parks. Transportation overall is probably a lot cheaper, too, if you factor in gas prices and maintenance and parking. So on and so forth.
This place is so effing convenient. On my block there's a wash-n-fold laundry where you drop off your dirty clothes, and they'll literally wash, dry, fold, and deliver it right back to your doorstep. There's a deli, a grocery store, bars, restaurants, dry cleaners, tailors, what have you. SEAMLESS. Order dinner on your phone and the delivery man will walk up all three flights and hand it to you while you're still in pajamas.

hallelujah
New York is a walking city like no other walking city. I'm a walker at heart. Always have been, always will be. The highlight of my day every day was walking from work (51st and 5th Ave) to home (8th and the equivalent of negative 2 Ave). So many things to see, so many different routes to take. 

my adorable East Village block
Surely, it's a glamorous city. To say that there are no Carrie Bradshaw moments would be a total lie. You will find yourself stumbling upon intricate movie sets, sometimes right at your front doorstep. You'll see girls in six inch heels flagging down yellow taxis, and fancy schmancy restaurants galore. It's glittering skyscrapers and bars that don't close till 4am. It's the latest and greatest, the hustle and the bustle, the nonstop energy, the beautiful people and places.

But it's also really not. Subway rats the size of kittens, the putrid garbage smell that lingers all summer long, the blast of air from the grates that send your skirts a'flying, the homeless who shout colorful obscenities, rush hour in the metro, ugh. After about 1 minute of living here, you too will want to shove the tourists out of the way (no way in hell you go near Times Square never ever ever) (and also, if you visit NYC, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOSSIP GIRL JUST DON'T EVER STOP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SIDEWALK WITH NO WARNING), and avoid eye contact with anything that breathes and walks on two legs, eliminate a great majority of colors in your wardrobe, and buy a pair of dorky but comfortable 'walking shoes' that will be dusty and disgusting in 0 seconds flat. 
But it's all a part of that Big Apple charm, amirite?

10

Virtual Coffee Talk, 0.7 // $150 Nordstrom Back-To-School Giveaway

Hiya!
Three guesses as to where I am right now, and go!
Nope, not New York.
Nope, not Houston.
Nope, not San Francisco.
(Although I've been to all three in the past week and a half, crazy right?)
Actually, I'm in China at the moment! As we speak, I am holed up in a big, fluffy bed on the 49th floor of a fancy hotel in Shanghai, fresh out of the luxurious rain shower and admiring the sparkling views of the city from the window in front of me. Coffee doesn't seem fitting for this occasion, so maybe you'll sip on some tea while we chat? Or maybe a chilled glass of wine?
Tomorrow, we are off to Nanjing, that little big city two hours away from Shanghai by train that I visit almost every summer like clockwork. The sister and I are in town to hang out with our grandparents and extended family, and to fuel up on hotpot and other delicious foods, I'm sure. It's our own little sisterly end-of-summer last hurrah, I guess! Upon going back to the USA next week, I'll have a week chilling in San Francisco and then I'm heading back to Stanford to help out at orientation / to begin the end of my college career. Cue the hyperventilation. 
Over our tea, I'd talk about how 2014 has been so go, go, go. If I were to count up the numbers, I'll find that I've been on a plane, train, or bus more than I've been at home. I've been at home for a total of two weeks this year actually. I'd tell you about how as life-changing and amazing as Europe and even New York were, there's also a special something about visiting China, especially now that it's become an annual thing. Disembarking the plane in Shanghai and being met with the familiar customs line, the commute, even the hotel - it's like waking up in my parallel reality. Europe was about branching out, China is about tending to my roots. And Stanford this upcoming quarter? It'll literally be all about sprawling out on the lawn under the tree with the sun in my face and a book in my hand. (The metaphor's gone out the window by now if you didn't catch on.)
Then, finding that our conversation has gotten a little too deep, we'd liven it up by talking about our Labor Day Weekend (I spent twelve hours on a plane, and you?), and most importantly - what we have on our lists for back-to-school shopping!
To help you out, the magical Jordyn faerie over at The Fairy Princess Diaries is hosting a $150 Nordstrom giveaway to kick off the season. Hop on it, lovelies!

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