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I have been really bad at keeping up with this blog lately.

Yesterday was my sister's sixteenth birthday. Unlike a lot of sixteen year olds, Hannah wanted the opposite of a huge sweet sixteen bash and we had a small family dinner at my Nana's place which was nice. She got a phone and the promise of trying to get her a car, as well as two cakes (one from us and one from her friend Sara)!

Today my Mom, sister and I went house hunting for a new rental house since we're moving out of our current one. It was weird looking at houses and imagining myself in them, and there weren't any that I completely loved. While I don't really need a bedroom at home anymore, a smaller house for my mom, sister and brother means having to put my stuff in storage, which would just be a hassle and I would have nowhere to stay when I come home.

Aside from my trip to LA, I expect the next few weeks will be filled with more house hunting, moving, and doctors appointments up here and Glendale.

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Instagram Diary : 05/17/13 - 05/24/13

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"Why Being Single is Completely Awesome"

My current state of being, from Thought Catalog (as usual).

Being single used to mean that you were an unwanted, pitied spinster. It used to mean that you were just getting by until you found someone to settle down with, but I don’t think that’s  the case anymore. Being single now means that you’re independent and have goals and that you care enough about your life to not just settle for whoever comes along, but to really get out there and experience different kinds of people and make sure you’re spending your life the way you want to. Being single doesn’t necessarily disregard the importance of companionship and love. It didn’t before and it still doesn’t. Single people surround themselves with friends and family and dates and lovers, but they also know that being in a relationship is not the end-all-be-all of your awesomeness. It’s wonderful if its something you have, but it’s not necessary. There are so many other things to be learned and experienced in your life, and that’s only one reason that being single is completely awesome. Here are a few others:

1. There is always the possibility of tomorrow. You are not legally or otherwise bound to someone, and if tomorrow while you’re sitting on the subway someone who completely takes your breath away comes and sits next to you, you don’t have to feel guilty about being enamoured. You can even strike up a conversation with this person. You could even date this person. Your next great love could be right around the corner, and you always have that possibility to look forward to.

2. The only person you are responsible for is you. You don’t have to check in with someone if you want to travel or spend an exorbitant amount of money on a gorgeous new floor-length dress from The Loft. Not that I did that yesterday. You don’t have to miss a holiday with your friends and family because you have to go to your significant other’s home. You don’t have to worry about anybody else’s student loans or life plans or goals. A little selfish? Yes. Ideal if you’re someone who wants to be able to pack up your things and travel at your own discretion? Yes.

3. You are free to pursue things that won’t wake up one day and leave you. The thing is, love and companionship are beautiful and wonderful and what most of us would like to settle into eventually. But it’s delusional to think that flawless love and companionship is attainable. It’s not. There will always be struggles, and you have to realize that being completely invested in another person without anything or anybody else in your life is dangerous because that person could leave you one day– and what will you be left with?

4. You can own your independence. You do not have to be married to be a functioning, happy and successful individual. In fact, you don’t have to be in a relationship either! There was once a time when women depended on their husbands to sustain them, and unfortunately, this may be a reality for many women still. However, if you are able to attend school, work for yourself, etc. you are privileged and extraordinary lucky that you don’t have to rely on anyone. Take advantage of that privilege.

5. You can do what you want on the weekends, not shave your legs/face, pig out on chicken wings and watch Netflix by yourself, spend all your time with your best friend and above all else, not have to be the friend that is always talking about leaving the party to get back to your old ball-and-chain. You can, instead, be the friend who was talking about your latest dates, the fantastic lovers you’ve taken, the goals you’ve set for yourself and the goals you’ve accomplished, all while being proud of understanding the role that you want love to play in your life, and maybe the fact that you will not just settle for someone for the sake of having it.

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Back to Tucson!

I was lucky enough to get an interview for an internship and I had to come home to Tucson for a week and continue to job hunt here. It's been fun being back with Marissa and Chelsea at our apartment and in my nice cool room! As familiar as I am with Glendale, Tucson is definitely my second home, and the people I live with are like my second my family.

The day before I got back I discovered that Panera Bread had come to Tucson so obviously that was the first thing we did when I got back into town. It was just as amazing as I remembered it and it's probably not a good thing that this restaurant is a five minute drive from my apartment (I mean, I could walk there if I had to). 

Today I had my interview (eeek!) which I think went pretty well (or at least I got pretty good vibes) and spent the first half of my day preparing for and actually interviewing, and then Marissa and Chelsea and I decided we should drive to the other side of Tucson and go roller skating! It took me less than 10 seconds before I completely fell on my ass, but that's okay because I didn't fall again the rest of the time. They played really awful music, which is to say the song choices were random and the "classics" didn't make up for countless unrecognizable 80s and 90s hip-hop music.

Although I'm extremely tired right now, I'm pretty happy with how the past few days have been and I'm glad I'm here in Tucson for a little bit longer. 

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One of my favorite quotes of all time.

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Instagram Diaries : 05/11/13 - 05/17/13

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My blog year post for today goes to an important project that I've begun with my roommates, Marissa and Rose, and our old roommate, Morgan. Since Rose has already written out our whole advertisement for the deal, I'll just put that here considering it's better written than what I would've came up with and it coveys everything I would like to as well.

Hello all! This is the start of an indiegogo fundraiser for some travel. Why, exactly? Well, here is the story: Morgan was our roommate during the Fall 2012 semester when she was studying abroad in Arizona at the University of Arizona. Morgan is from Narnia. I mean, Australia. If you don’t know, we called ourselves and our apartment “TheTumblrBunch”. It was an amazing six months spent together. Morgan brought many things to our lives, including random knowledge about Aussie words and slang, deadly animals and Vegemite (which is really gross), and her warm and bold personality that can come only from the dangerous shores of Australia.

Morgan came to the states in the summer and shortly before school began we all moved into a cozy apartment together. Then the semester began and all four of us became very good friends. I really can’t put into words how much of a friend she became, honestly. When you live with someone, you talk about random things at 2 am in the morning. You have deep, political, religious and emotional conversations about your views – and in the next minute you’re making immature jokes about Captain American’s butt. You see all sides of a person and really get to know them.

It’s been around 5 months since Morgan left and we miss her dearly. Even before she left, Morgan kept telling us that one day, we have to go and visit her in Australia. Which is a no brainer in theory – of course we want to go to Australia and visit her again! But, as college students, it’s not that easy to just want to go. We even entered Ellen Gegeneres’ contest to win a trip to Australia, because it seemed perfect, but alas we didn’t win. 

All three of us are saving as much money as we can, but for all of us to go, round trip, is around $8,000. That is, obviously, a lot. More than anything, we want to go visit Morgan for her birthday at the end of December – almost a year since we last saw her. Currently, or goal for this fundraiser is $4,000, due to the fact that it can only last 60 days and that if you don’t make your goal, the website takes 9%. If you make your goal, it’s only 4%. If we don’t meet this first goal, we plan to do another one of these if people are still willing to give.

Now it’s a lot to ask. We’re not expecting anything, really. We just thought we would open this up to everyone here on Tumblr, as well as our own families, because all of us met here on this website for the most part. Morgan messaged us from Australia, for goodness sakes, because she followed Rose here on the site and saw she was going to the same University. The first day we were all in the same room was the day we moved into our apartment together. This is a website that creates strong bonds among its members. It’s amazing to see the help people can do for their friends – or even complete strangers – here. So give a $1. Give $10. Give as much as you are able to, if you so please. We know times are tough, so please, don’t feel obligated if you can’t. Even just reblogging this, if you can’t give anything, means the world to us.

We aren’t some celebrities doing a Kickstarter for a show. We can’t offer you much. But we do have some perks, little things like sending you a postcard from Australia when we get there, souvenirs, and if you are Australian and want to give (really, we don’t expect anyone to give us that much, but the option is there) an invite to Morgan’s birthday party! Even just a $1 will get you a tweet from all of us, thanking you. Because seriously, even a dollar means so much to us. We’re just normal people. We’re friends that just want to see each other again.

It would mean the absolute world to me and my friends if you donated even a dollar to get us to Australia. Thank you so much if you took the time to read all this, and I know a trip to Australia seems arbitrary and silly to some people, but to see Morgan again would be the best gift I could ever receive. 

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20 Little, Beautiful Things

From my favorite, Thought Catalog.

1. Your favorite jeans.

2. Looking back and understanding why certain things happened the way they did.

3. Your favorite food, delivered to you by surprise by your favorite person.

4. Unprecedented peacefulness.

5. A hot shower.

6. A nap when you desperately need one.

7. Newborn animals.

8. When kids say they love you.

9. Running to greet someone you love at the train station.

10. When your parents tell you that you’ve made them proud, or that you inspire them (my dad actually told me that recently…).

11. Feeling attractive just as you are. Not because you’re dressed or made up a certain way.

12. Comfy clothes, a comfy bed and your favorite movie.

13. When you pay attention to your breathing and you’re able to calm yourself.

14. Swings at playgrounds.

15. The feeling of the sun on your back.

16. When your favorite song from childhood comes on the radio.

17. When a situation you were a mess over solves itself.

18. Books that wrap your mind in the story and the feeling you get after work or school when you realize you can go back to reading again.

19. Realizing how young you are.

20. Realizing how far you’ve come in such little time.

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I'm going to admit

that I'm extremely nervous and afraid to go to the dentist tomorrow and get my procedures done.

Every visit I've ever had at the dentist has been painful and uncomfortable, and I'm just really not looking forward to the Novocain, numbness, pain, and potential complications that could occur.

I may be turning 20 in a few months but the dentist is one of the things that will always make me uneasy since I've had so many bad experiences with every dentist I've had. But I'm going to suck it up and put on a brave face because that's what I do, and I'm lucky at least that it's nothing worse (for now).

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Good news and bad news.

Let's start with the bad news.

I hate the dentist. I've always hated the dentist since I was five years old, having my first cavities filled during bring your child to work day and the dentist working on me ran out of laughing gas halfway through the procedure. I've hated them since my teeth were so strong that I wasn't losing any of my molars during my middle elementary years and had to have 8 baby teeth pulled out of my mouth. Orthodontists I'm fine with - but dentists are evil and no matter how well I take care of my teeth, I always end up with at least one cavity at the dentist.

I stopped going to the dentist after yet another bad experience during high school and haven't been back since today. And today I learned that not only to I have five cavities, one of them is so deep that instead of filling it they have to give me a crown. Hurray...

I'm already imagining the procedure and how numb my face is going to be. I told them to just fill everything at once so I can get it over with, but it means that literally my entire face is going to be a tender, tingly piece of clay come Wednesday afternoon. 

But after hearing all that, I got a couple pieces of really good news that will definitely make up for the evil that is the dentist!

Another one of my grades had been uploaded and I received an A in my literary analysis course! Woohoo! It was a borderline grade/one of those grades that you can't really determine by points, so it was nice to see that my hard work paid off this semester.

One of my professors agreed to give me a recommendation for an ambassador program at my school that will hopefully be a pretty cool opportunity (and the program emailed me saying they are "very interested" in meeting me).

I have an interview for an internship!!! I'm so excited and nervous about posting it anywhere as to jinx it, but if all goes well I'll have a great internship with a publishing company right at UA for the fall 2013 semester. 

So even though Wednesday is going to be an absolute bummer, I have a lot to look forward to and celebrate.

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The Great Gatsby : ★ ★ ★ ★ ½

Considering this was the last movie I saw in theatres and one of the most highly anticipated movies of the summer, I felt it was necessary to give my review of Baz Luhrmann's vision of The Great Gatsby.

Having a love and appreciation for the 20s culture as well as having read this book in high school like every other person on the planet, I was excited going into the movie. I have not yet seen the 1974 version, but this one looked spectacular, with a stellar cast and a modern soundtrack featuring amazing artists. It had the recipe for a great film, and I think, for the most part, delivered that vision.

I think the casting - for the most part - was spot on. Mulligan was brilliant as Daisy and Leo was perfect for Gatsby, and their chemistry was one of my favorite parts about the film. They just were Gatsby and Daisy. Tom Buchanan was excellently played as well as Jordan. Tobey MacGuire as Nick was the only one I could argue with, but since Nick is essentially an accessory to Gatsby's story, I didn't really mind.

The costume design should win awards and should the production design and cinematography - everything was so gorgeous and lavish. I read a review by someone who said it was like looking through a kaleidoscope, and I agree. The modern music worked for me, but i know that others found it off-putting. Whether it belonged in the film or not, the songs alone are amazing (especially Lana Del Rey's "Young and Beautiful").

The one major gripe I had with the film was the fabrication of a frame story. The first scene shows Nick Carraway at a sanatorium, which was not in the book and did not need to be in the movie. Sure, it showed the corruption and chaos caused by his lifestyle in relation to Gatsby, but it was completely unnecessary. It was an excuse for him as a narrator to tell the story, but since it's a movie you don't need an excuse (and I don't want one). The only time I felt it worked was near the end, as the film kept in very important lines from the novel that would have been difficult to work in otherwise. 

Overall this film was the most captivating, beautiful, breath-taking movie I've seen in a while. And I would gladly see it again.

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Summer Reading (and Rereading)

Since I finally have a little bit of freedom now that the school year is over, I've decided it's time to get around to the stack of books that have been sitting on my bedside table for the past semester, as well as reread some that I've read before. I'll keep track of what I'm reading on GoodReads if you want to join me!

Ready Player One

The Night Circus

I Am The Messenger

Insurgent

The Great Gatsby

The Fault in Our Stars (yes, again)

If you have any recommendations please send them my way!

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Instagram Diaries : 05/04/13 - 05/10/13

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Memories

During my sophomore year, I kept an empty Folger's jar and filled it with scraps of paper and other things that had good days and/or memories written on them. We did this collectively as an apartment, but I decided to keep my own as well for my own good days and accomplishments. In no particular order, here is what was in my "good memories" jar throughout the past school year:

A yellow rose petal from free flowers given away at Frys

"Christmas dinner with my best friends <3"

"it SNOWED!"

"an A in ENGL 300 - TAKE THAT!!!"

"Finished my sophomore year! :)"

"Seth Meyers was ~hilarious~"

"Disneyland & the rest of our California trip"

"JMOMS!"

"saw Hannah and Dad in Casa Grande"

"Rocky Horror Picture Show!"

An "I'm celebrating!" button from Disneyland

"I got an A on my first literary analysis essay!"

"went to Flagstaff for Austin's birthday!!"

A Mary and Jesus stamp from Liz

"Saw Next to Normal at the ATC with Rose, Marissa and Morgan :) (and met AJ Holmes!)"

"saw Struck by Lightning at the SIFF! Chris was amazing!!"

"seeing Hannah at her marching band competition"

A tiny gingerbread man confetti that looks like Blaine Anderson

"Walk the Moon concert!"

This past year has been filled with the most amazing people and most incredible memories I've ever hoped for. Sophomore year, you were a good one.

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IT'S SUMMER BREAK!

I can stay up as late as I want! And sleep in as late as I want! And watch as many episode of Game of Thrones as I want! Huzzah!

It feels weird to have this much...freedom? Of course it comes with the price of job hunting and fighting away boredom, but I'm so happy and relieved to be done with finals and on break for the summer!

I know these posts haven't been very detailed lately, but I promise with summer upon me I will have more time and energy to dedicate to blog year! I'm so happy that I've done it all throughout the semester, and that many of you are still doing it, too!

If you have AP tests or finals, good luck and don't let stress bring you down! Just remember it will all be worth it soon. 

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Final Exams Update!

Finals Completed: 4 out of 5

Grades Received: 1 out of 6

Current Stress Level: 7 out of 10

Desire To Finish Semester: The Limit Does Not Exist