Some Thursday Things

Thing #1

I am once again taking off for the weekend (hello it's Memorial Day!). This time to Las Vegas, NV for a 2nd (annual?) Memorial Day Weekend in Vegas. 

There will be sun & heat, food & drinks, dancing in clubs & hotel rooms...

 AND of course the annual UCLA 8-Clap at the Bellagio fountain! 

Some of the ADPi Seniors 2011 at the fountain

Even though this year I am only going with one other UCLA girlie we will be there to see all the current seniors and our fellow graduates and to scream "U-C-L-A! F*CK SC!" repeatedly until the crowd is ultimately forced by Bellagio security to leave the area.

Thing #2

I recently started watching a new show via Netflix, "Friends With Benefits." 

I had never heard of this show, have no idea what network it aired on when it was on TV (although I'm guessing it didn't do well because it doesn't appear to have a second season), and don't know who most of the actors on the show are... But it's not bad. It's a bit like a HIMYM knock-off in my opinion. In fact there were even specific jokes that were ripped straight from HIMYM, but it was a 30-min sitcom when it aired meaning episodes on Netflix are only a little over 20 minutes so if you're looking for a quick funny series to watch, check it out.

Thing #3

My boy, Phillip Phillips, won American Idol. I predicted him as the winner all the way back here in February.

VIA

I love me some P-squared and I hope we don't have to wait too long for an album to come out. Unfortunately, we know based on past idol's timelines that it will be awhile since they have to first complete the Top 10 Summer Tour.


Thing #4

Sara Bareilles song "Sweet As A Whole" from her new EP Once Upon Another Time CRACKS me up. It's completely inappropriate (if you are bothered by bad language) but totally hilarious. The irony of her sweet voice and harsh words is fabulous.

Thing #5

I apologize in advance for most likely being MIA til sometime next week. Blame Vegas, LA, my friends, and the fact that I just don't feel like scheduling fluff posts in the meantime.

Peace out my loves!

Music Wednesday: New Stuffs

Apparently the past few days were popular ones for releasing new music. John Mayer, Jon McLaughlin, Kris Allen, and Haley Reinhart all released new albums yesterday.

AND Sara Barielles released an EP last Friday. 

AND Jana Kramer, Chris Brown, Jason Derulo, Little Big Town, Motion City Soundtrack, The Ready Set, and Yellowcard released new singles within the last few days. Not to mention Jessica and Phillip (from American Idol) both have their "winning single" songs up on iTunes last night.

I have definitely not had enough time to listen to all of the stuff I mentioned above yet, but I'm super excited to have lots of new music making its way in to my iTunes very soon.

VIA

I did get a chance to listen to John Mayer's new album in its entirety, and I am definitely a fan. 

Yeah, we all know John Mayer has a bit of a reputation (and may have broken my girl TSwifts easily breakable heart) but there is no denying that he is a fantastic musician. My early favorites include "Queen of California", "A Face To Call Home", "Speak For Me", and of course his current single (released awhile back) "Shadow Days".

I certainly recommend giving it a listen. 

Check out all that other fun stuff too, and let me know what you've been loving lately (whether old or new). I am always looking for more music to add to my library. Always.

Kickin Off The Summer

For many people Memorial Day weekend is the first weekend of summer (even though summer doesn't officially start until June 20th...) but this year I kicked off my summer early with an amazing trip to Lake Havasu City, AZ. Myself and six others made the 4+ hour trip from LA across the CA state line to spend an amazing weekend at Lake Havasu on the Colorado River. We spent the majority of the weekend out on the boat maximizing our time in the sun. And word of advice to any of you lake/river go-ers out there... If you wanna make friends real quick, bring a floating beer pong table =)

Here's the photo evidence of our fabulous weekend on the water.

Floating bp =) so much fun

 

Day 2

In-N-Out For Lunch =)

I know I already used this pic but it's definitely one of my favorites.

My only cute pic of Day 3. The rest of the pics from this day are all from tubing.

We've got literally 150+ pictures from this weekend. Most of those pictures are far sillier than these posed pictures I'm sharing with you all (see an example below) but let's just say that it was too much fun and I really hope I get the chance to repeat it before I move to Ohio!

Beer pong. Picking the perfect song. Blowing the whistle. Dancing on the beach.

Friday Already?!

dear lake havasu- thank you for an amazing weekend last week. I promise to visit again at least one more time before I move away from the west coast. dear blog friends- sorry i have been so MIA these days. no promises to get better anytime soon though, unfortunately. i promise i still read all your wonderful posts even when i'm not posting. dear grammar freaks- how much does it bug you that i'm not capitalizing anything in this post... dear columbus, oh- i can't wait to live in you. approximately 84 days and counting. dear layla (my car)- thank you for taking me up and down the state of CA and just generally being my sanctuary. dear las vegas- i'll be seeing you soon! memorial day weekend =)

Happy Friday Friends!

Go check out Ashley to see everyone else's Friday Letters!

Just Messing Around

Hi All! 

I promise to have a new post up soon with lots of pictures from my recent trip to Lake Havasu (see a teaser pic below), but in the mean time I am messing around with some bloggy type stuff- like Bloglovin =)

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

May 15th, 1851

Happy Founder's Day, Alpha Delta Pi!

Via

On May 15, 1851 the Alpha Delta Pi sisterhood was founded.

I am so incredibly grateful to those founding women. 

Without them I would never have become the women that I am today.

One of my all time favorite "diamond" pictures (circa spring 2009)

ADPi Seniors c/o 2011

Because of Alpha Delta Pi, I have an amazing group life long friends.

I had the opportunity to meet and connect with women across the country.

I learned what it means to be a sister, a leader, and a difference maker.

My time as president of my chapter at UCLA will forever be one of my most important learning experiences.

Via

Life Goal

Via

I feel like this on a regular basis. 

If I could, I would just peace out and drive to a new city, stay for a few days, explore, make friends with randoms in bars, and then move on to another new place.

I think that when I am old and retired, I will buy an RV and travel the country.

Therefore I suppose I can add "wants to travel the country in an RV after the age of 65" to my list of qualities for the ideal man. 

=)

Music Wednesday: Someday I Will Be Strong Enough

I believe B.o.B first found his way in to my life through the song "Airplanes" which I remember everyone and their mom making their facebook status (Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars...). He then solidified his place in my heart with one of my favorite workout jams "Magic" back in 2010

B.o.B and TSwift performed together in Dallas during Swift's most recent tour

This last week, B.o.B came back in to my life with his new album Strange Clouds. Of course, the first song I listened to was his collaboration with my girl TSwift (duh). After completely falling in love with "Both Of Us" I quickly downloaded the rest of the album and was not disappointed.

The album features collaborations with all kinds of popular people including T.I., Chris Brown, Nicki Minage, and even some voice-work by Morgan Freeman!

Now, I'm not a huge hip hop fan so it is rare for me to download an entire hip hop album- generally I stick with Top 40 songs that can be heard on any popular radio station a la LA"s Kiis FM. But this album is pretty darn awesome. My favorite tracks are "Both Of Us" (obvi), "Arena", "Just A Sign", and "Chandelier" but if I'm honest I like them all (with the exception of "Out Of My Mind" not a fan of that one...). 

If you have not yet heard any of B.o.B's new album I highly recommend you check it out. And if you are a Taylor Swift fan then I highly recommend you start right here.

Top Five Tuesday: Guilty Pleasures

Today's Top Five Tuesday is Guilty Pleasures.
What a perfect topic for us bloggy girls right?!
Most of my guilty pleasures center around my TV or computer, but I tried to mix it up and think of things from all aspects of life.

Soooo... without further ado, my Top 5 Guilty Pleasures.

1. HBO's new TV show "Girls"- A friend told me this weekend that I needed to watch this show. I then proceeded to watch all four episodes that have been aired to date. The main character on this show is insanely awkward and uncomfortable and seriously makes me cringe with some of the decisions she makes... But none the less it is funny and real, and I quite enjoy it. 

2. Perez Hilton- I don't read it all the time, but I do love the celebrity gossip on Perez' site. And... sometimes I miss the old mean Perez. But I definitely support his anti-bullying stance and think it's awesome that he changed up his site to get rid of the mean-ness.

3. Fifty Shades of Grey- I recently finished this series, and I am honestly shocked by how much attention a book series like this has gotten in mainstream media. I can say with certainty that I never expected to read a book like this, but I'll admit- once I started I just couldn't put it down. The fact that E.L. James originally wrote it as a Twilight fan fiction cracks me up though, the similarities between Bella/Edward and Ana/Christian are extremely apparent throughout the book.

4. Trips to Target- I've blogged about this before (here), but I have a love/hate relationship with Target. I always go in with one goal and end up spending waaayyy more than I should leaving me feeling just a lil guilty when I get home (but always excited about my random purchases). 

5. Laying out by the pool with my kindle in hand- The only reason this is a guilty pleasure is because there are far more productive things I could be doing than laying in the sun, workin on my tan... But it just feels so dang good!

So there you have it, my top five guilty pleasures.

Go link up with Rachel and join the Top Five Tuesday fun!

Stagecoach 2012

A little over a week ago I headed down to SoCal for some camping, country music, and a ton of fun with some of my favorite girls at STAGECOACH!

This was my second year attending the weekend long country music festival out in the desert that is Indio, CA and this year we decided to for-go the hotel and camp on site.

The entire experience was a hot, sweaty, dirty, fantastic mess.

From setting up our tent on Friday evening to driving out of the lot at 11pm Sunday night, we had an amazing time together.

It's super difficult for me to pick a favorite performance- they were all so amazing- but I suppose if I HAD to choose... Brad Paisley would be it. He closed out the event as the headliner on Sunday night. Brad is a great entertainer, stunning guitar player, and seems like an overall awesome person.

But I loved Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton, Sheryl Crow, Martina McBride, and The Band Perry too!

And now here is a bunch of photos of all the debauchery that ensued over the course of the weekend =)

The Ashley/Ryan duo are the hosts of LA's Go Country 105 morning radio show.

Red Solo Cup(s), Pictures with strangers in awesome outfits, and some more ADPi's we met while standing in line

Miranda, Martina, Sheryl, Luke, Jason, and Blake & Miranda together =)

If you ever have the opportunity to go to any type of music festival, I HIGHLY recommend it. I had a blast and hope to continue going for years to come!

Boob Tube Babble: Hart of Dixie

Does anyone else watch this show?

I have to confess I completely love Hart of Dixie.

And I confess, this love might stem from the fact that I have an incredibly strange desire to move to a small town in the south and fall in love with a beautiful southern man (a la George Tucker)...

The show sort of lost me when it took a lil break (as the CW loves to do) but I recently caught up, and let me tell you the last two episodes were fabulous.

My heart soared with joy and broke in to pieces all in the course of just two episodes.

I may or may not be quite similar to Zoe Hart with my own George Tucker that I'm pining away for... meaning these episodes may have hit a little to close to home but I (like Zoe) have hope and I can't wait to see how the season plays out.

And seriously, watch this clip and tell me that you are not in love with this man.

I've watched the entire series of Friday Night Lights, and I had no idea that Jason Street (aka Scott Porter) could sing like that. 

Hot damn.  

Linking up with Neely and Ashley for Boob Tube Babble!

Tough Decisions and Exciting Announcements

As some of you may remember, a couple weeks ago I went on a trip to go check out the three grad schools I was considering attending this fall (Texas A&M, Purdue, and Ohio State).

Well, I've made a decision.

In the end, none of my friends were surprised because I chose the school that I had been talking about since the beginning of all of this grad school business... But it truly was a very difficult decision.

This fall I will be attending The Ohio State University to begin my two year program for my Masters in Human Resource Management (MLHR as the program is currently called but my insider info tells me that the name of the degree is going to be changing).

That means that as of this August I will officially be a Buckeye, residing in Columbus, OH!

I can't wait to share my journey from CA to OH with all of you.

Luckily my move to Ohio will be a lot more time with this girl which is amazing since we never really expected to be living in the same town again.

Not Sure I'm Totally Blown Away...

Hi friends!

I know I've been gone for quite some time.

 My life is sort of lacking any semblance of structure these days which makes regular blogging a little but tough.

But none the less, I'm going to blog when I can/when I feel like it.

ANNNNDDDD today is Wednesday so that means I want to share some music with you guys.

Now, I probably should be sharing my stagecoach stuff, but (1) I've decided to give that a post of its own and (2) Carrie Underwood's new album came out yesterday!!

I am a HUGE Carrie fan. Seriously, that girl can do no wrong. She sounds amazing. She looks hot- like seriously girl, how can I get those legs. She seems like an incredibly sweet and loving person. Oh and did I mention, she has an incredible voice.

Seriously, I want those legs.

Her new album, Blown Away, came out yesterday and I'm not totally disappointed but I'm also not in love. She's definitely had better releases (in my opinion). Generally I only write about stuff I totally love, but I started writing this before I got through the album and I didn't want to start a new post =)

Truly, for me, the album is just okay. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a HUGE Carrie fan. There just aren't any songs that jump out at me as my new obsession. But I suppose my favorite tracks on the album are "Wine After Whiskey", "Do You Think About Me" and the title track "Blown Away".

If you've listened to the album I would love to hear what y'all think about it.

I have a feeling it will continue to grow on me over the next week or so...