A little about me...

Since I don't have an outfit post for this weekend (story of my life!), I decided to do a little 'about me' post. These are just some random facts about me that you might not know just from reading my little blog:

1. I'm a social work majors and a criminal justice minor...I started college 2 years ago thinking I wanted to work with the elderly, but now I have NO idea what I'm going to end up doing. I'm leaning toward getting a master's degree in Criminal Justice or a related field and working in an agency involved with missing and exploited children, but I don't know yet.

2. I have always been insanely shy. Since the 1st grade when I was no longer in a classroom with my twin brother, I would freak out at the idea of being in a new, strange place without him or someone else in my family. I've gotten a ton better now that I'm finally becoming more comfortable with myself, thank God.

3. I'm the youngest of 6 children; I have 3 older brothers and 2 older sisters, ranging in age from 38 to 20. Three of them are married and their spouses are like siblings to me. I also have two adorable nephews, one who is 8 and the other who is 17 months, although I do not see them nearly as much as I would like since they live in Minnesota.

4. My oldest brother has autism. He is the most amazing person I know; he is hilarious, witty, and really intelligent. He knows everything there is to know about cars and rock n' roll music, and he can quote almost every movie he's seen word for word. Lately, it's been a lot of lines from My Cousin Vinny and Wayne's World. He has his somewhat annoying quirks too, like flushing the toilet excessively, but it's just a regular occurrence to my family and me.

5. Music is my true passion. I've been playing piano for 16 years and flute for 12. Whenever I need to de-stress, I go up to the music room at my parent's house and play whatever piano music is laying around. My favorite music to play is anything classical as well as Josh Groban pieces.

6. I absolutely love to read. Ever since I was about four years old, I've had my nose in a book. Right now I'm trying to read more 'classics' and got a few for my birthday. Right now I'm reading 'Gone with the Wind' and it's quickly becoming one of my favorites. Some other favorites of mine are: "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner, "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith, "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen, and anything and everything by Jodi Picoult.

7. Nicknames aren't that common in my family, with the exception of the pet names my mom calls us kids. Despite that, I have had two in my life: "Tweety" and "Leewa". Tweety was what my family called me when I was a baby because I was bald and had huge eyes. I still get comments about my 'big eyes' from complete strangers, especially when I'm not wearing any eye makeup. My eyes are definitely my favorite feature. Leewa came about because my twin brother couldn't say my name properly when we were little, so he resorted to calling me Leewa. All of my older siblings call me that to this day and I really do love it.

Those are a few random things about me, and if you have anything else you're curious about, just ask and I'll be sure to answer! :)

Back in Richmond...and hopefully back to regular blogging!

Wow, I've been a terrible blogger lately! I only was back home in NoVa for less than two weeks and now I'm back in Richmond to take a summer class. While I was home, I tried to spend as much time with my family as possible so that meant I wasn't worrying about outfit posts, and some days, I didn't even worry about getting dressed. It was so nice to be home, especially to celebrate my birthday (which was so much fun!). I got a lot of really cool gifts that will hopefully be sprouting up in upcoming outfit posts. I got some really cool jewelry made out of vintage pieces (some made by my own sister, and others that I found on Etsy). I also got a lot of cute clothes, a new pair of leather sandals, and this beautiful diamond bow necklace that my mom and I have been on the lookout for for YEARS. I also got some fun stuff for my apartment next year, like cute glasses with owls on them and bowls with birds, as well as the most adorable mug from Modcloth with dachshunds dancing around it. I also got a tv for my room next year (I've had some issues with one of my roommates this year about sharing the tv in the living room...she literally had never heard of the word 'compromise' haha) so I can watch all the trashy shows I want!

OUTFIT: Blouse: Modcloth. Jeans: Citizen of Humanity. Flats: Modcloth. Necklace: gift/handmade by my sister.

I wore this outfit on Saturday to go out to dinner with my family. It was my last meal out with them, and it was also my sister's last meal with us before she had a surgery that involved getting her jaw wired shut. We went to one of our favorite restaurants, a Japanese steakhouse that has the most delicious food. I love the blouse I'm wearing in these pictures...it's super flattering (at least it is when I'm standing up straight) and I love all the details, like the embroidery on the sleeves and the buttons that go down the front. The necklace was a birthday gift from my sister...my other sister had given me that pendant a few years ago. It's from Italy, where she and her husband lived for several years, and is a champagne colored Swarovski crystal. I love the irregular shape of it, but hadn't gotten around to finding a chain for it, so I decided to give it to my other sister to make into a beautiful necklace. I love that she combined the champagne color with garnets...so pretty! Well I better get to bed, I have to go to class tomorrow...UGH!

I'm 20!!!

Happy Birthday to me!! I don't have an outfit post today, partly because I've been busy celebrating but also because the outfit I was originally gonna wear didn't really work, so I just threw on a dress that I wore a few weeks ago and already featured in a post. Oh well.

So far today, I woke up at 9:01 (the time I was born 20 years ago) and got ready to go out to lunch with my mom and twin brother. We went to Ted's Montana Grill and we all ordered delicious bison burgers. We then went by Coldstone to pick up my cake and came back home to relax. We'll be opening our birthday gifts once my dad gets off work in a few hours and once my sister comes over, we'll be eating our birthday dinner made up of tacos and fruit salad. I can't wait! I hope everyone's having a great week and I'll post more tomorrow! :)

You're my flowerchild and I'm your forget-me-not

I'm officially done with my sophomore year of college! It's so weird to think that I'm halfway done with college...I feel like I just started college like last week. I unfortunately was less than one point away from an A in my abnormal psych class so I didn't get the 4.0 I was hoping for, but I was still able to raise my overall GPA so I'm not too upset about it. I came back to NoVa late Tuesday night and have just been relaxing and running errands since then.

OUTFIT DETAILS: Black tee: Target. Jeans: 7 for All Mankind. Scarf: Vintage, won in contest from Jen Loves Kev. Wedges: BC Footwear via Nordstrom. Bracelet: Tiffany Co. Sunglasses: Chanel. Earrings: Anthropologie. Braided Belt: Abercrombie & Fitch.

I finally got a chance to wear the beautiful scarf that I won in the Kdiko Vintage giveaway on Jen's blog Jen Loves Kev! I had it delivered to my house in NoVa so when it came several weeks ago, I didn't have access to it. I absolutely love this scarf and it was perfect to wear when I just felt like wearing a t-shirt and jeans to run errands. The colors in the print reminds me of Germany, so this morning I sat and looked at all of the pictures I took when I was there a few years ago. I wore this outfit to run to the mall to buy my brother a lock for his unicycle for his birthday so he can finally ride it to class (yes, he rides a unicycle and he's AMAZING at it!). Our birthday is on Wednesday and it's so weird to think we're going to be turning 20! Every year we get to choose what we want for our birthday dinner and what kind of cake we want. Usually, we end up just asking our dad to pull out the grill and make some chicken and shrimp, but this year we randomly decided we want our mom's tacos. Probably because we haven't been home and we just crave random meals that we haven't had in awhile, but our entire family thinks this choice is hilarious. For cakes, I'm asking for a Coldstone ice cream cake and my brother is having a chocolate cream pie. It's going to be delicious!

Just a random sidenote

This is gonna be the shortest post ever, but I'm busy studying for my Abnormal Psych final that's tomorrow and I'm freaking out! This kind of relates to my Mother's Day post yesterday.

On Saturday night, I had plans to meet up with my good friend, Teri, and her boyfriend at our favorite restaurant in Richmond before going to a belated Cinco De Mayo party. I waited for them outside when a homeless man came up to me (which is not rare at all). He asked me how I was doing, and I smiled and said 'Just fine." He then continues to say "I can tell! Happy Mother's Day! You look REALLY good for being a mother!".....

Not gonna lie, I was a little flattered. Hahahaha. I found it hilarious and just wanted to share it here.

Oh and by the way, my dad got my mom a puppy for Mother's Day yesterday!!!! How exciting is that?! She sent in the deposit today to a Shetland Sheepdog breeder and the puppy should be ready to come to our house at the end of June. My sister and her husband are also getting a puppy from that same litter...I'm so excited to play with a tiny puppy again since all of our dogs are old ladies now.

Mama, you taught me to do the right things

Happy Mother's Day!!

One thing that I hate about finals week is that it always manages to fall right around Mother's Day and my dad's birthday, which is also today. I won't be able to go home until Tuesday night, so I have to wait to give my parents their gifts. The rest of my family is taking my mom out to a Japanese steakhouse tonight (so jealous!) and last night, they treated my dad to a lobster dinner. I really wish I was there to celebrate with everyone! My mom is absolutely amazing...I really think she's one of those people that was just born to be a mom. She has 6 children, ranging in age from age 19 (almost 20!) to 38, and has always been there for all of us, no matter what we need or when we need it. She's also a grandmother and I am envious of my nephews (pictured with my mom above) for having such a loving grandma in their lives.

I hope that all you moms out there are having a great and relaxing Mother's Day! You deserve it!

Shake me til you wake me from this bad dream

First thing's first....whyyy must Justin Bieber songs be so catchy??? I've been singing/listening to 'Baby' for the past 3 days straight. I blame my friend who always manages to get it blasted at every party we go to. Although, let's be honest...I do wish I had a guy to sing 'I'll buy you anything, I'll buy you any ring' to me. Oh Biebs, a vintage sweater will do! Biebs would be my pet name for him, clearly.

On a totally different note, finals WILL be the death of me. I had one on Tuesday which I got a 95 on! So awesome! I had another final today and I am crossing my fingers, hoping that I got an A on it. If I do, I'll be one class away from securing a 4.0 for the semester. That would be amazinggg.

Since classes are over and I'm done with finals til Tuesday, I went out to lunch with my friend and we went to Carytown to do some shopping. We have a party to go to tomorrow so we were trying to find cute dresses or something...but of course we got sidetracked and both ended up buying fish jewelry. Yes, that's right. Fish jewelry. I got a little fish necklace from Need Supply and she got earrings. They're ADORABLE, trust me. I'll have to wear the necklace in my next outfit post :) I also went to another cute store and got my mom a pair of earrings for Mother's Day. We ended our shopping trip with a visit to Bygones Vintage Clothing and it was sooo much fun. There were so many pretty things, I was overwhelmed! I did however find a little white angora 1950's sweater that I would love to have and a cute 1950's black and white dress with a little red belt. I'm pressuring my mom to come visit sometime this summer and take me there so maybe she can buy me something. They also had a really cute selection of old gloves...I've been dying to get my hands on a pair of lace ones with little buttons at the wrist. Apparently my grandma has a vintage glove clip waiting for me at her house so that's even more of an excuse for me to get cute gloves!

Well, sorry for not posting any outfit pictures but hopefully I'll get to snap some tomorrow before I go out! Expect regular outfit posts again next week once I'm home. :)

Trying to be everything can make you lose your mind

Hello! So I decided that since it's finals week and my outfits will consist of randomly thrown together combinations of jeans and t-shirts, I would start the week off with a "What's in My Purse" post.

First off, this is my purse. It's a brown leather Burberry hobo bag that I received as a gift this past Christmas. I love the pleats that are on the front and the back, as well as the interior which is the classic Burberry plaid print. Whenever I get a nice, designer bag, I use it to death. I have 3 other Burberry bags and absolutely love them. They're so well made and really durable...I know I'll have each of them forever! I usually don't like fabric bags because they tend to get really dirty and worn in, but my last Burberry bag that I used constantly was a quilted, plaid fabric tote with a leather bottom and handle. I used it for a year and a half as my everyday bag and it shows no dirt at all! I would definitely recommend Burberry bags to anyone who wants a well made, classic bag.

This is what I carry in my bag (from the top left, clockwise): a bottle of Motrin, a pen, Burberry wallet/checkbook holder, Coach wristlet (used as emergency kit), Burberry Nova Check coin purse, Coach leopard print coin purse, and a Vera Bradley notepad.

This is what I carry in my "emergency kit" (from top left): Band Aids (I am constantly getting blisters on my feet), mini Stila mascara, Burt's Bees chapstick, Colgate Wisps, Tide To Go pen, Vera Bradley mints, floss, flash drive, extra tampon. I also need to add an extra pair of contacts in there just in case. My biggest fear is that I'll lose a contact when I'm out and then I'll be totally blind.

I wanna let go and know that I'll be all right

Do you ever have one of those nights where everything that happens is just so...random? Well last night was one of those nights. I went out to dinner at the Village Cafe (one of the best restaurants here in Richmond...and its cheap!) with one of my really good friends. We ended up going to a really small birthday party with some friends and it was a lot of fun...but strange. Last night was probably the first night all semester where I felt pretty. It sounds ridiculous, but that 'friend' who called me ugly (I wrote about it in a previous post) really got to me. I'll feel like I look good when I'm getting ready at my house, but then once I'm out at a party or in some other social situation, I feel like I pale in comparison to every other girl there. But last night, I felt fantastic about myself. I think part of it was that my friend was there...whenever I'm with her, I feel 100% comfortable with myself. I think I just need to surround myself with more people like her. In-between socializing and partying, my friend and I started scouting out the apartment we were in. It was absolutely adorable AND huge. There were at least 5 bedrooms, and 3 bathrooms...and it allows dogs! It's absolutely beautiful...and yes, we were the girls walking around the entire house admiring the doorknobs and sunroom (yes, it has a sunroom!).

OUTFIT DETAILS: Dress: Need Supply Co. Sandals: American Eagle. Owl Necklace: Urban Outfitters. Necklace with blue stone: Lori McLean (NYC).

Sorry for such blurry pictures...I was in a hurry and only had time to take these two. This is my absolute favorite dress...I got it from the Need Supply Co. store here in Richmond. It has little birds and flowers all over it. I love how bright it is and the combination of blues and purples and pinks. Oh, and ignore my messy room. Finals are right around the corner and that means my room becomes a total pit.