Don’t think I will be sleeping tonight as I sit with my fellow Washingtonians, tuned to CNN and donning my red, white and blue (more on that in tomorrow’s post). It’s too late for me to encourage you guys to rock the vote (which hopefully you all did) but I can still tell you to stop reading this, turn on your TV and get excited! Every four years we get to exercise our rights as U.S. citizens and incite change. As a first time voter (in my swing state of Nevada!), I am so thrilled to have been a part of this process. Debating a trip to the White House tonight, for now I’ll just dance around my living room to this song:
Hey everybody! Remember that time I said I was getting back into my blogging routine? Well this is me officially eating my words. I forget that when November hits, all of a sudden life seems to become a marathon sprint to the finish line that is Winter Break. Not as if that’s any excuse for leaving SLB out in the cold, but as I sit here drinking a big mug of tea in my pink fleece onesie (with dogs on the feet no less), writing feels like catching up with an old friend. I have so many things I have been saving up to post, including a belated outfit from last week and the rediscovery of a band that I am falling in love with all over again…
It is finally cold in DC. I am talking red nose, seeing your breath in front of you, bundled up kind of cold. Coming from hot climates (Texas and then Vegas, you really can’t get much warmer in the States) I think I get crazy excited for the real cold to kick in. Of course, I needed to outwardly reflect my excitement with an outfit that made me want to go sit in a ski lodge, sip hot cocoa and roast marshmallows by a blazing fire.
You might be thinking to yourself “Well, that shirt looks familiar…” (see my post from a few weeks ago). I hate to choose favorites, but my black and red checked shirt probably ranks in the top 5 of pieces I reach for most often. Backstory: I “borrowed” this shirt from my mom when I was maybe a sophomore in high school. Before I acquired it, she had owned the button up for years and years and years. It feels worn in and perfect and seems to transition through trends and seasons pretty seamlessly. Never getting rid of this shirt (unless one day my future daughter steals it from my closet).
To finish off this post, I want to include a video from the band Foster the People. Now I completely understand that they are not the hot “new” thing anymore (I mean, “Pumped Up Kicks” was everyone’s anthem for months last year). However, today I was listening to a playlist on 8tracks that had an acoustic version of one of their songs and I was blown away. I immediately looked up all of their acoustic stuff on YouTube and spent the rest of the afternoon jamming out to old favorites with a new twist:
Stay warm, stay happy, and more adventures to come… pinky promise this time.
The last two days have made me feel like I was moving in slow motion in the best way. Classes were cancelled today and yesterday thanks to Hurricane Sandy, which meant 10+ hours of sleep per night, catching up on work and enjoying the Hurricane-induced confinement. It’s so rare for my roommates and I to all sit under the same roof together for extended periods of time, what with our various internships, organizations and commitments during the week. Yesterday we baked, indulged in bad TV, watched the crazy wind and rain whip around from our balcony and had some nice, slow moments of simply enjoying each other’s company. This morning post-Sandy was cold, grey and drizzly — perfect weather for a walk to a favorite local restaurant for burgers and hot cocoa from Starbucks. The unforeseen craziness of the past few days have thrown me off a bit — I am looking forward to sinking back into my routine with school and SLB, feeling much more well-rested and on top of my life than before. For those in the mood to make the most of this lazy day, here’s my advice: turn off your electronics for an hour, light a candle that smells like the holidays, put on a pair of warm wooly socks, and listen to this playlist. There’s nothing quite like a staycation to bring you back to balance.
To everyone who was in places hit much harder by the hurricane, my heart and thoughts go out to you. I feel lucky to have been somewhere that experienced minimal damage, but I know other areas weren’t as well off. Stay strong and stay warm.
