happy galentines day!

no, that wasn't a typo. happy late galentines day! if you don't know what galentines day is, go search it on youtube or google from parks and rec (man have i mentioned how much i love parks and rec?). it's basically just a day to celebrate your girlfriends and friendships with them. anyways, i just wanted to acknowledge all of my wonderful girlfriends on here in honor of galentines day. they're all amazing women and i love them dearly. happy galentines day girls! let's eat waffles soon to celebrate ;)

sundays are for sister dates

sundays are for mornings at church, del taco lunches with friends, and sister dates at kean coffee. it's also for car rides listening to taylor swift and keith urban (who am i?!?) and naps with my puppy. oh! and for watching the walking dead tonight. thank goodness it's back on. if daryl dies, we riot! am i right?

happy sunday friends!

salvation mountain

so my friends and i had been planning to go to salvation mountain for months. it was just so hard finding a time to go with everyone's schedules. so over christmas break we managed to fit a day to go. salvation mountain is located in niland, california, and is near the salton sea (which is HUGE by the way. it's the largest lake in california!). it was created by a man named Leonard Knight, who wanted to share the message that "God is love" and that Jesus died for our sins. 

i was so excited and so happy, i didn't even care that we were leaving at 5 6:30 a.m.! we started the drive down there and only managed to get lost twice (which i partially blame becca for. because she doesn't pay attention. haha. but i also blame google maps because the directions to niland we're wrong. dumb!). eventually we made it to the mountain (some 4 hours after we started) and spent a few hours there. it was wonderful! if you ever have an opportunity to go or live in california, do it! it's worth the drive!

hopefully i'll go back one day. it's definitely a sight to see! and it was such a great day with all of my friends. del taco for breakfast. long talks on the road. listening to stupid songs and singing at the top of our lungs. pretzel m&m's. coffee bean. it was great :)

started out the new year right

i wanted to start off the new year (it was january 1st!) doing something active and out of the norm. so what better way to do that then to go on a hike with my sister and our friend, siaira? gotta start prepping now for our trip to washington in june!!

we hiked peter's canyon (which is about a 15 minute drive from my house) and managed to make it out of there just in time before they shut the gate and locked our car away for the night. we also survived "death hill" (as we like to call it) which basically goes straight up for what seems like an eternity. we're pro hikers, what can i say? i can't wait until we go back! 

quick bear trip

at the end of december, i went up to big bear for a night to see my friend liz (who was visiting from dental school in michigan!). i stayed with my friend mark and his family at their cabin. i've known liz and mark since high school, so it was nice getting together with the both of them.

mark and i went on a hike with his two dogs for an hour or so. then we got coffee and donuts in town (yum!) and headed back to the cabin to watch movies. it snowed a few times while i was there. i love when it snows! [i've only been snowed in once when i was younger. it would have been a much fonder memory of mine if i didn't have to race down the mountain the next morning to take a final haha. but it's still a funny memory.]

we hung out with liz that night. it was great. i don't see her often enough so i'm so glad i got to spend time with her over christmas break! the next morning i headed down the mountain alone. thank God i made it down safely! i can't wait until my next trip up to bear!

  

 

souplantation + del taco

i blame siaira for my new love for souplantation. del taco and i, on the other hand, have gone way back. like twenty years back. but siaira is obsessed with these places. which just makes it that much more fun to go with her and my sister and enjoy the food too. it's so bad, but it's so good. like del taco's breakfast menu. and souplantation's endless amounts of breads and muffins. soooo good! i pretty much love any buffet-style restaurant. which is why i miss sizzler so much. oh sizzler. you were so good. RIP.

halloween haunt

remember that time i went to knott's scary farm with charee and natalie since our aunt won us tickets?

and remember how toby chased us in one of the mazes and we cried? good times!

Sometimes, you just have to be silly

Sometimes, you just need to get a little weird and laugh at yourself and have some fun. Like, maybe you just need to find an empty classroom at your school (like I did) and take funny self-portraits that are completely ridiculous but make you laugh. It's good for the soul and I promise it will make you smile.


*it was pointed out to me that even though I couldn't see out through the curtains in the classroom, apparently everyone outside could. Haha!! I'm definitely laughing at myself now.

currently

technically, this isn't a current picture since it was from december 31... but it's so cheesy and i had to include it! i'm wearing my favorite jacket (that was a gift from my parents and sister for christmas) and i'm holding my presents from siaira which included lawless and a toothpick. best christmas presents ever!

reading: i've been reading the bell jar for about a month now. i had started reading it's kind of a funny story but then my sister wanted to read it, so i switched over to the bell jar. it is a lot different from what i normally would choose to read. i'm about half-way done and am starting to get into it a lot more. i can understand how esther views so many things in life as material and vain. but, i'm pretty sure once i'm done reading this book i'm going to want to read some sort of YA fiction. have any suggestions?

anticipating/freaking out about: how i am almost done with my last quarter in school (i only have about six more weeks.... that's so weird!), how i purchased my becker review course and will officially be studying that all day everyday starting in february, and how i'll be starting my job at the end of july. i already went to a work event/seminar. it is so strange to think that i'll be a full-time auditor and in the business world! i know i'm 23 and it isn't too strange that i should be working full-time but honestly i always felt like this day would never come. do you know what i mean? like, i still feel like i'm a kid! haha. but anyways, i'm excited and extremely nervous and hopefully i pass two parts of my CPA exam before i go to work so i can freak out less.

planning: my upcoming trip to washington/vancouver with four of my girlfriends! i am so excited and so happy we are going! my sister, my friend jessica, and i will all be graduating from college this year so we wanted to celebrate by going to a place we all love! we've already purchased our tickets and are now attempting to agree on which hotels we'd like to stay at. we're planning on going on lots of hikes, eating crepes in seattle for as many meals as possible, and going zip-lining in victoria! i cannot wait!

watching: now that season two of ahs is over and i have to wait until fall to see evan again, i've been watching the bachelor (it's so terrible and so addicting! i can't help myself), workaholics (which my mom hates, but natalie and i looooove), parks and rec (LOVE!) and every episode of arrested development on netflix. where has this show been all my life? i pretty much cry every time i watch it because it is so funny. have you seen it? please go watch all the seasons if you have netflix!

loving: this clip from ahs. as my sister pointed out, she thinks that between myself, her, and siaira we've watched it about 3,000 times. and i'm pretty sure she's right. it's such an awesome scene and i am so glad that ryan murphy put it in the show. i wish i could have been an extra that day!

what have you been up to lately? have any book suggestions for me? i'd love to hear them!

january recap

so i was thinking of doing a 365 project and was planning on taking a photo everyday. but once i started, i knew i was going to quickly get overwhelmed. but i finished out the month of january and am so proud i did! it definitely inspired me to try to take photos everyday, but now that i've finished the month i don't feel as pressured to have to post a photo everyday. but here are the photos of what i was doing for the month:

1/1. went on a hike at peter's canyon with natalie and siaira. great way to start out the new year!

1/2. went to salvation mountain with the girls.

1/3. wore my mouse rat t-shirt and loved it.

1/4. went on a hike with natalie and jess down in irvine.

 

1/5. went on a hike with natalie, siaira, and justine on the trail behind our house.

1/6. celebrated heather's 22nd birthday at house of blues anaheim.

1/7. ate a delicoius free burrito bowl from chipotle. i'm so glad i worked there!

1/8. started reading the bell jar.

1/9. picked and purchased our tickets for our washington trip!

1/10. first official day at school. wore my mouse rat t-shirt again.

1/11. first night at regenerate's college retreat.

1/12. grabbed a quick photo with friends i've known my entire life.

1/13. headed back down the mountain after the retreat.

1/14. went to the brea mall. had to take as many sandwich samples as i could grab.

1/15. school day.

1/16. kean coffee with jess. so good!

1/17. finally donated blood so the red cross can leave me alone finally. 

1/18. date night workout from Tone It Up.

1/19. celebrated melissa's 25th birthday in downtown fullerton.

1/20. lunch and church with cathee. had to go back to pieology.

 

1/21. went to downtown orange to watch parks and rec being filmed. best day ever!

1/22. attended my first work event. in my business attire and all. strange.

1/23. took a body pump class with jessica then went to her house and passed out on her floor.

1/24. woke up to rain. i looooove it!

 

1/25. it was still raining. so i wore socks under my TOMS. i'm being smart here you guys.

1/26. casey and i tried to distract natalie while she was doing her homework.

1/27. went to mario's with my aunt and sister after church. i think i eat about 5 lbs of chips + salsa everytime.

1/28. my typical breakfast. two homemade waffles + coffee.

 

1/29. wore my bangs down for one of the first times ever.

1/30. went to kean coffee with tricia. this time, we added a donut to the mix.

1/31. studied for my auditing class in the school's starbucks.

so that was my january. i'm so glad i took a photo a day! maybe i'll do it for another month this year :)