Hi. Happy Monday Tuesday. I understand that I missed my random blog post yesterday:
hashtag grad school probs
seriously. grad school problems = 5 million assignments, job searching, exhaustion, all the chocolate & coffee & cheese, and losing my mind.
hashtag fun
hashtag someone bring me cake
Anywho. Here's what I was up to a few weekends ago (cause I really don't want to bore you with more grad school probs or fake hashtags).
My friend Abby came to visit! Anytime the two of us are together is a great time. Abby loves to hike. Abby loves to eat. Abby loves to laugh. Abby loves to do ALL THE THINGS I LOVE TO DO! Perfect friendship. We had a blast. I ran after her car when she left (hashtag not).
Because hanging out in bathtubs in the wilderness is not something most people have done.
From where we stood
We went hiking in Garrapata State Park & it was gorgeous - it drizzled a bit but was mostly cloudy (which always brings out the colors!)
This would not be a good place to trip on a rock.
Hiking selfie
This is where we stopped for our picnic - not too shabby
I look at this picture and can't believe I am leaving California soon. It's so dang beautiful.
The trek up to this spot wasn't easy, but it was so worth it.
A reward for hiking was this gigantic slice (this picture does not do it justice - it was huge) of Peanut Butter Cup cake from Rosine's. I'll let you decide if we ate it all in one sitting or not.
We had a mini AmSam reunion with Drew. We of course went to a island themed restaurant and it was delicious in every way. These two really make life fun. So happy we are friends!
We had a picnic on the beach in Carmel, complete with three different cheeses from The Cheese Shop
I'm lucky to spend almost a year of my life here [not the beach, sillies, but you know what I mean...maybe]
Hi. Happy Monday. Here's the random scoop: Quinn'in
It's always weird for me when I see someone else named Quinn, even as a last name. I hold my name really close to me (saying this put that Sting song "don't stand so...don't stand so close to meeee" in my head//not comparable at all but ya know, it's Monday) because it is so unique and seeing someone else with it is always a little bit of a shock. I recently discovered a singer from the UK named 'Quinn Archer.' How bad ass is that name? Pretty dang bad ass. She has a great voice too. Take a listen:
Dreamin'
So I found my dream kitchen. Click here: Avocado Sweets and then choose Stoke Newington Apartment (it's the first box under the word Portfolio). The first two pictures that come up are of the kitchen..the rest of the apartment is a bit too eclectic for me. The colorful lamps, the brick walls, the wooden island and other pieces, I swooooon. Also, the natural light. One thing I've learned about living in California is that natural light is everything to me. I need it, I crave it, I want it.
Samoan Connections
So when I studied in New Zealand, I lived on the international floor in my dorm. I had five or six neighbors who were from Samoa (not American Samoa - there is a difference), and to this day, I still remain friends with all of them. Thank goodness for facebook. There are days I hate it, days I want to delete it, and days that it annoys the heck out of me, but there are also days that I am so grateful to know that I have an instant connection with so many friends around the world. Anywho, one of my friends, Sana, was recently crowned Miss Samoa! Yeah! So proud of her! She's stunningly gorgeous and is now even more famous because she made it into this commercial for BlueSky (a Samoan cell phone service). She is not the girl on the date, but is the one who is talking about BlueSky in Samoan. Watching this will also give you a little preview of the language! BlueSky Samoa
Does anyone else think this looks amazingly delicious? Lately, I've been really into salads. I've never been a salad person - romaine lettuce by itself has always been boring to me and spinach by itself has always tasted a bit odd. I've also never liked the time it takes to chop up all the vegetables. [Yeah, I know. Hard life.] A few weeks before spring break, I met a friend for lunch at a cafe in Monterey and I randomly ordered a Mediterranean salad and holy olives was it good (and I don't normally even like olives!). Ever since then, I've been on an intense salad kick. Mixed greens have become my perfect lettuce bed. Also, why did it take me so long to realize how amazing balsamic vinaigrette is? Chopping up veggies is exciting now because I know it will be worth it. This has become a very long paragraph about salads. Who am I? I don't know. Also, mangoes. MANGOES. Addicted. I can't stop and I won't stop. Also, I'm trying really hard to eat things with more flavor. I really hate most condiments and spices of all kinds and like my food plain and boring. My new goal is to get over that silly way of eating. Bring on the flava. I'm done.
Words:
"That thing that you do, after your day job, in your free time, too early in the morning, too late at night. That thing you read about, write about, think about, in fact fantasize about. That thing you do when you’re all alone and there’s no one to impress, nothing to prove, no money to be made, simply a passion to pursue. That’s it. That’s your thing. That’s your heart, your guide. That’s the thing you must, must do."
I read this* and immediately thought: food/life blogger who posts everyday. Sigh. Someday. ....this is a perfect transition into...
*After reading this again a few days later, I realized that it may seem a bit odd that I would think about food blogging 24 hours a day. NOT ONE BIT, PEEPS. An Addiction:
Because apparently all I think about is food blogs, here's a new one for ya: Sally's Baking Addiction. This blog is all things chocolate, dessert, and sometimes healthy. I made these yesterday and holy delicious:
They are: Sally's Skinny Double Chocolate Muffins and even though I love butter, I couldn't help but try them because they have yogurt, applesauce, and honey instead of butter and oil. And whole wheat flour! If you haven't tried whole wheat flour before, it's a bit of a different taste than all-purpose flour. I like it. Either way, these are the perfect snack (I froze all mine so I wouldn't eat them in 2 days).
What:
This really isn't that funny, but it made me laugh when I saw it at 10:25 last Tuesday night. Must have been overly tired. Beer + Cats
What x2:
So, American Samoa has been hit by a Pink Eye epidemic. I'm talking an island-wide outbreak. Thousands of people have got it and they even shut down all the public schools. Every other thing on facebook is, 'pink eye this,' 'pink eye that.' Oh-my-gross. Samoan's idea of hygiene is a little bit different than mine. They share everything - phones, food, clothes, jewelry, etc., therefore they are touching everything. Student's didn't even have soap in the bathrooms at my high school (um hi. WHY NOT.), which of course meant there was no hand sanitizer either. I don't even want to know how freaked out everyone must be there. Grosssssssss. What I can't get enough of is seeing this image on my facebook dash. I just die. Everydangtime.
Hi. Happy Monday. Sorry for skipping out on the last two Mondays...I was enjoying my spring break at home with my friends, family, Jerrod, and Massey! Instead of my random Monday scoop, here's a quick recap of what I was up to in IL:
Reunited with this guy & Portillo's!
Finally got to enjoy some country walks with the boys
Massey was introduced to his first combine...tire. Anyone notice the irony?
Massey is huge. He once weighed 10 pounds. Now he weighs 50. He still has over a year and a half to grow. Big boy.
I ate my fair share of donuts. This one was definitely my favorite. That would be M&Ms.
Jerrod and I took snowboarding lessons. This is me looking like I know what I'm doing. What I'm not showing you is the countless falls, the bruises, and the very sore tailbone and butt. It was a blast, though!
Jerrod was a snowboarding pro.
Eventually I switched back to skis so we could go on more than just the bunny hill.
I hung out with my mom. We had lots of coffee, drove around a lot (maybe got lost), did some shopping, ya know, mom and daughter things!
Hung out with Connor! Danced. Ate. Had some brews. Laughed.
Reunited with two of my favorite girls!
Spring break was an absolute blast! I didn't touch my homework (meh). I hardly went on the internet. I enjoyed every second. Before I knew it, my time was up and I was headed back to California. Thanks for the fun times, everyone!
Words:
"Decide in your heart of hearts what really excites and challenges you and start moving your life in that direction. Every decision you make, from what you eat to what you do with your time tonight, turns you into who you are tomorrow and the day after that. Look at who you want to be and start sculpting yourself into that person. You may not get exactly where you thought you'd be, but you will be doing things that suit you in a profession you believe in. Don't let life randomly kick you into the adult you don't want to become." - Chris Hadfield ARE YOU KIDDING ME:
So even though I promised my mom that I would try to post some healthier eats. I couldn't not share this with you. But before I do...
Do you like bacon?
Do you like macaroni and cheese?
Do you like tacos?
If you said yes to all of these things, I present to you....THE DOUBLE DECKER MAC & CHEESE STUFFED BACON WEAVE TACO. I repeat THE DOUBLE DE-ok. You had me at Double. THIS.
Yes I was on a website called Dude Foods. Yes I squealed when I saw this. Yes I want to eat 10 of them. For deets behind the crazy taco, go here: Dude Foods
Music:
Any of you Chris Isaak fans? My mom and I used to listen to this song in the car a lot when I was younger.
Someday:
I would like to visit and illegally climb (because apparently there's a security guard) the Haiku Stairs in Hawaii.
Reminiscing:
It occurred to me that just over two years ago, I was experiencing one of the most frightening times of my life - it, of course, happened in American Samoa. My friends and I tried finding some waterfalls only to partially start a rockfall, I almost got pushed off a ledge after getting hit in the back by a large rock, and then I slid down the side of a very steep hill. Fun times that was! (It really was fun. Scary, but fun.) If you're interested in reading the whole story, you can view it here: Quinn's Mountain Slide For some reason, I don't have any pictures on that post, so here are some:
That is what I attempted to climb up and then proceeded to slide/fall down.
I went from clean and sweaty to sweaty, muddy, bloody, and very wet.
(Sorry for the weird picture. I think I took this via my camera timer. Ha. Mountain selfie.)
Countdown:
Jerrod is officially back in Illinois! After today, 3 more full days in California before I'm jetting off to Illinois.
What:
A seagull pooped on me yesterday. A big kersplat of seagull sh*t all over my shirt and backpack. Good thing I was wearing white. Gross but also very funny. I had been walking over a bridge and the gull was standing on top of a ledge. When I turned up at it, it just stared at me. I couldn't tell if it was giving me a "sorry" face or a "you deserved that" face. Thanks, seagull.
Weather:
We were hit with what sounded like hurricane a couple days ago (I kid. It was definitely not a hurricane.) - rain, wind, humidity, the whole springy sh-bang. I understand that some of you are still experiencing polar vortex weather. Please know that soon I will experience it too. Yay!
Read & Watch:
Have you hopped on the Divergent trilogy bandwagon yet? If not, you must! Here is a link to Amazon so you can press 'add to cart': Divergent Trilogy Box Set. The books are quick & easy to read, thrilling, a little dramatic, a little romantic, and based in the future of Chicago. The author is younger than me (and is now set for life because...)
Divergent comes out in theaters on March 21st! I am so stoked. It may or may not have been the initial reason as to why I'm going home for spring break. My mom has also read the books and I'm excited for a date to the movie theaters. Here's the trailer if you haven't watched it yet, but I would HIGHLY recommend that you read the book first. Go, now, hurry - you have 18 days!
Listen:
Remember this is a judge free zone (because I say so!)...aka no hatin' on this cute little baby boy band. I mean, they are cute! I think one of them even dated Taylor Swift! Probably a bad idea because she without a doubt has already tore him apart in a song. Whatever. Just listen. Please?
Story of My Life - One Direction
What:
So I recently discovered the Huff Post Taste website? Umm it's awesome? Like so awesome that I get excited when I forget about it and then remember it again. Anyways, I happened across this article Smell Breakfast All Day Long With an Adorable Scented Necklace and I was instantly intrigued. I love the smell of breakfast! Please read the article. It will be worth it. Kind of.
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