The Before Shots






Remember when I said I get to design my room back home
because my sister stole my old room?
Well that time finally came! We have been non-stop
busy getting the room as close to finished as possible.
We are missing a few more pieces to the room and we
need to hang a few more pictures but then I can reveal
the "after" shots.
I'm SO excited!

My sisters room was painted this fairytale/garden theme
when she was in second grade and I felt horrible painting over
it all, but it was time. Mostly because it will be a guest room
when I'm not home. I'm not so sure the guests will all want to be
living in a cloud. (Although I thought it was pretty fun for awhile.)
Every piece of the room was painted. Even the ceiling fan and the
air conditioning vent. Talk about a hard core
painting job!

A Thursday Afternoon

New hurr. (hair) And yes, those are my new Disney pajamas as well.
Oh yeah, and may I introduce you to Baby, my camera.

the cutest little street you ever did see

my go to place for tea and a fruit and cheese platter


I have decided two things.
1) I love my town and this beautiful place called Northern California.
2) I am a Thursday person.
Good things happen on Thursdays. Example: We finished
painting my room and I found a special something or two for
the room. (Pictures of the Before room will be up tomorrow.)
Contain your excitement.
Right now I'm sitting in my new room and listening
to Frankie S. sing me sweet songs on my record player.

Also, what are you doing New Years Eve?

Reflecting on Christmas

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This was the first Christmas without my Papa and feeling his presence around
us was truly magical. His favorite drink was a Manhattan and
so the entire familymade the drink and one was set by his picture.
The rest of the evening was spent
twirling in my Christmas dress, loving being with cousins, getting bumped up
to the adult table (this was HUGE), and admiring the books all the aunts made
for my Grammie to remember Christmas pasts with Papa.

It was a beautiful evening. I hope every one of you had a
wonderful evening as well. :)

Merry CHRISTmas!

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Here are some photos from my Christmas thus far.
From my house to yours...
Have a very merry Christmas and celebrate with the ones
you love. And please help me pray for those who are
not having the Christmas they deserve.

I'm baaaaaack!

I am back from the happiest place on Earth and Newport Beach! It was
a wonderful vacation and I loved spending every minute with my family.
As much as I LOVE Disneyland, I was definitely ready to come home yesterday
and spend Christmas at home.
And now today is Christmas Eve (and also one of my best friends
birthday!!) and this is where I will be for the next two days...
sitting in front of our tree sipping some hot cocoa.

Tonight my family goes to mass and we usually open one
present before tomorrow. Then we'll watch The Family Stone
and go to bed with sugarplum dreams in our head. :)

Merry Christmas Eve!

I am the ultimate loser because I left the connector for my camera
to download pictures onto my computer and so now I have to figure out
a way to get all my pictures from the trip onto a computer for all to see!
Phew! Wish me luck!

Clothing Obsession

I know I have posted on my obsession with
Kate Middleton and Pippa's clothes before,
but they just posted a compilation of her outfits on People
and I honestly wish I had each of her outfits.
They are classy and beautiful.
Her wedding dress takes the cake for most beautiful gown
for the year in my book.

I dream about this dress.
And the flowy-ness of this one.
Red hat and shoes? Genius!

And now Pippa!
I want this coat.
and this coat.

I may or may not have a coat obsession
and I am totally ok with it.

Whose clothes were you crushing on this year?

P.S. I'M GOING HOME TODAY! :)


Ryan Gosling... and Cats?

Yesterday, my friend stumbled upon this tumblr
and let me just say, it is brilliant.
I don't know if you all have seen the Conan interview
where Ryan Gosling let out the Disneyland cat secret,
(if not, check the video below)
but this person took that idea and ran with it.
And it's a beautiful thing.
Enjoy!



Ryan Gosling and Disneyland.
Is there anything better?

A Shift

Dancing black and white
something has shifted.
i can't quite put my finger on it, but something has definitely shifted.
ever since coming back from Thanksgiving break, i have felt more
content here, in Tucson. i think it is probably the fact that i knew
i was going home in a few weeks, but i didn't mind being here one bit.
and you see, i couldn't stand the thought of being here one more day
before thanksgiving.
maybe i'm growing? my heart really does belong in Sacramento,
but maybe i can work on not despising this desert as much.
with the christmas season being here, i suppose
this would be the ideal time to open my heart to new experiences
and new places more willingly.

have you had to open yourself up more to a certain place before?
care to share?

A Quote a Day...

Photo: Here

And lastly from that period I remember riding in a taxi one afternoon between very tall buildings under a mauve and rosy sky; I began to bawl because I had everything I wanted and knew I would never be so happy again.
-F. Scott Fitzgerald

Hello! I hope you had a marvelous weekend.
What did you do?

I have a new obsession

and i blame it all on netflix...

netflix put How I Met Your Mother on
it's instant play and I have been watching episodes
like they are going out of style. i can't help it!
they are all so hilarious! Neil Patrick Harris is perhaps
my favorite but then i also love Ted and then there is
Marshall and Lily who are the cutest and funniest
and finally, Robin! How do i decide?

if you aren't on board yet with how wonderful this
show is, here are two clips from the show. the second one
is a compilation of "best" moments. the first is perhaps
the greatest pick-up line ever used, and the third
is a video of Neil Patrick Harris from 1990 when he received
the People's Choice for Doogie Howser. (ignore the out of order
number groupings. i was too lazy to switch the whole sentences...)
Classic.


Awkward and Awesome Thursday

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Guys, you are all in for an awkward and awesome thursday.
I hope you are as excited as I am about this because I've
got one SUPER awkward story for you. :)
So sit back, grab some kettle corn and read.

awkward:
so my friends and i were meeting up with our other 2 friends for lunch.
me: "hey, where are they seated?"
seth: "i just saw them. just go straight."
me: "ok!"
well, when he told me that, my brain somehow determined that the two
people sitting at the table directly in front of me were my two friends we were meeting.
but the thing was... that i did not know those people at all. but my brain, this weird, confusing brain, literally turned my friends into these random people and i almost sat down at this random persons table without even thinking. then this happened:
me: i found them! "blah blah blah" babbling as usual
seth: "allie...what are you doing?"
me: look to people in front of me as i am about to sit down at their table and my face turns from happiness to pure confusion. i had NO idea who this person in front of me was and he definitely didn't know who i was and was SO confused that i was about to sit down with him.
me:"I am SO sorry!"
friends: "bahahahahahahahahahahahah!"

than to make matters worse, my friend monica did the SAME EXACT THING!
But she even hovered her Chick-Fil-A bag over their table all ready to sit down
right as she realized she didn't know these people either.

moral of the story: my brain changes people's faces to match the ones i'm looking for and
i am a completely awkward and embarrassing person.

(did this even make sense? it was slightly traumatizing)

awesome:
1. my classes are all finished!
2. I got my dad an awesome Toilet Golf game for Christmas. (Exactly how it sounds
is how it is.)
3. My friends and I are celebrating the end of the semester by
dressing up and going to dinner.

Note: all these events happened yesterday but needed to be saved for awkward and awesome Thursday!

Hope your Thursday is awkwardly awesome!

Memorable Pictures from 2011

My friend told me about these pictures that are on Buzzfeed
right now and I just had to share a few. Most of them
are pretty depressing but as photography, I think
they are beautiful. Here are some that I chose to share:

And that's how my heart melts.
This is so disgusting. This was at UC Davis and that is really
close to where I live at home. The fact that the police officers
sprayed people directly in the face with pepper spray
baffles me.
This was a dust storm in Phoenix and I think this is stunning
yet scary!
9/11 memorial on the 10th anniversary
aerial view of the destruction in Japan

What are your thoughts on these and of everything
that happened in 2011 in general? :)

A Quote a Day...

Old Time

"Time decides the where and when.
We decide what we keep."
-Sam at Ashore

I read this the other day and it stopped me in my tracks.
So stunning. I had to share for anyone who didn't
see her post. :)

Photo: Here

To Brighten Your Monday

This week is rough. It's finals week... du du du duuuu.
So to brighten up this gloomy week ahead, I found some
Friends quotes and a Baby Mama quote that I just love.
Enjoy!


I'm hoping that by listening to Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes
that my anxiety level will go down and these finals will
be a piece of cake. ;)
I'll let you know how that goes.

Home: a video about it

So Thanksgiving posts are just never going to end.
Just so you know. ;)
Now that we are on the same page...
here is a video I put together last night about the break.
My friend picked THE BEST song for this video. I loved
this song already but I didn't even consider it for the video.
How silly of me.


Hope you enjoyed it!
Have a nice weekend!

Happy December 1st!

Guys... IT'S DECEMBER!
Wow am I excited! Finals always try to get me down during
this beautiful month but you know what, I'm not letting them
this year! It's almost Christmas time and that means in 2 weeks
I am going to Disneyland to see all the Christmas decorations
there and then going home to celebrate with the family. Life
couldn't be better. So finals, you can just stop trying to frustrate
me. Ok? Thanks.
I made this Christmas countdown for above my desk to look at
when I'm feeling overwhelmed. Each day I take one off and it has
an Elf quote on it. Today's is: "It's just like Santa's workshop! Except it smells
like mushrooms... and everyone looks like they want to hurt me."
Got to love Elf.
Finals time errybody! Bringing out the fake candle that flickers
like a real one (heaven!) and the good ole laptop.

Have a great first day of December!