Oct 7, 2012

Weekend Recap : Into the Woods

Madeline Beard Other Adventures good time, Maryland, retreat, sisters 2 Comments

I just got home from spending the last 24 hours on a retreat with my sorority sisters in rural Maryland and it was honestly everything I needed at this point in time. The middle of the semester is probably one of the most exhausting points: people start to get sick, all of a sudden it’s time for midterms and it feels as though everything starts to converge with very little time to just chill.

I was anxious at first about taking a whole day to just go off the grid and hang out. This next week will be a mad dash until Wednesday — tomorrow is Capital Food Fight, Tuesday I have a midterm and Wednesday morning I jet off to Mexico. The timing of everything had me a little freaked out. In retrospect, I can’t imagine not having gone. I feel totally rejuvenated, mind, body and soul. This trip helped me realize that sometimes it’s important to just let yourself escape — go off into the woods, roll around in some grass and dirt (you know, if you’re into that kind of thing), laugh with your friends and count all your lucky stars (speaking of stars, I forget how many you can see when you venture outside the city). Sure, tonight I will be cramming and attempting to balance my various assignments, but at least I can do that knowing that my time spent away from textbooks was completely worth it.

During the trip, I rediscovered a song that sums up my current frame of mind pretty perfectly:

Hope everyone else had a great weekend, get ready for an eventful week of posts on SLB! Looking forward to sharing all of my adventures with you guys.

♥

Oct 4, 2012

Unexpected Surprises

Madeline Beard Other Adventures candy corn, care package, fall, maman, mean girls 2 Comments

There is nothing quite like a care package to make a day go from good to great. They take me back to my summers at camp and I still get that same giddy anticipation when I get a package notification, even when it’s just a refill printer cartridge I ordered from Amazon. Lucky for me, today wasn’t the average package kind of day; today I received the most wonderful surprise from none other than my lovely maman:

She filled a box with some of my favorite things: a big book combining the mediums of photography and illustration (great inspiration for my next project in graphic design); a bib necklace passed down from my sweet grandmother Lee — check back tomorrow for the related outfit post; nail polish in some of fall’s best metallic shades; tights on tights on tights; AND CANDY CORN. I. love. candy corn. And now that it’s fall, it feels more appropriate to start consuming it in mass quantities again.

My mom is the greatest. I’ll try not to turn this post into a big cheese fest, but she really is one of my best friends. And she is an avid reader of SLB, so at least I know I’ve got one faithful fan. Thanks ma!

And in honor of yesterday’s holiday, I leave you guys with this:

More adventures to come.

♥

Oct 3, 2012

Friends + Music

Madeline Beard Other Adventures friends, Macklemore, music, recommendations 1 Comment

Today I was lucky to hear from a few faraway friends that I have been missing pretty dearly. Coincidentally, with every new conversation followed a song recommendation. Even when I am separated from these people by miles of road and ocean, music is one of those common threads that can link us back together. I love getting new music recommendations because it encourages me to listen to artists outside my every day indie/alternative favorites. Even if I’m not partial to the particular genre, new music can always draw on old memories — my dear friend Bailey (pursuing a law degree in Las Vegas now) recommended the song “Angel Eyes” by Love and Theft:

It is a country song through and through, and although I don’t usually tune into country, listening to the genre always makes me nostalgic for my Texas roots.

The next recommendation came from the lovely Helen, who graduated last year and just got a marketing job in New York City (congrats Helen!). I had never heard of Morning Parade until she messaged me a link to their song “Headlights”, and now I am tempted to go through and sample all of their other tracks:

The last recommendation came from one of my oldest friends at school, Naomi. Although she is currently studying abroad in Amman, Jordan, Naomi remains a constant part of my life through our weekly conversations via Facebook/WhatsApp/Skype — ah, gotta love technology. Today she introduced me to this Macklemore song and I haven’t stopped listening to it since…

“Love is patient, love is kind.”

All of these songs are so different, but so good in their own ways — there’s something for everyone. To end this post, here’s a song that I have been listening to a lot lately:

Do you guys have any good music recommendations? I’m open to anything, comment or tweet at me!

♥