Look of the Day: Graduation

Last Saturday I officially graduated with my Master's degree! All the stress, struggles, and sleepless nights finally paid off. My entire family came from Chicago to DC to be there for the celebration. My biggest concern for my big day was finding the perfect dress.
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It took me three tries to find the perfect dress. I had my heart set on wearing a white, lace dress but they all were too short for my taste or out of my budget. I gave up and bought a navy blue sweetheart dress at work that I decided was too casual for wearing to my own graduation, a second navy lace dress at Shabby Apple that was too long and too big and just not what I was looking for. Finally I pressured my mom to stop into H&M for a few seconds and I found the perfect dress (at just $30!) within 5 minutes. I love the peplum detail and how it makes the dress a little more playful than just a plain shift dress. I think the length is perfect and I felt comfortable wearing it all day. The marshmallow color is a bit warmer than a stark white and makes me look tan! I love how subtle the lace detailing is. It is a sweet and pretty dress. Plus, I think I could easily re-wear it for other special occasions.

I loved the bracelet I found at H&M because of the pastel turquoise and pink. We then headed to Forever 21 to see if they had a necklace that worked with it. This was the first necklace I laid eyes on and I love that it brings out the gold in the bracelet and adds a little roughness to the very sweet dress. I didn't have money or time to buy a new pair of shoes so I wore my trusty brown pumps from H&M they worked well since it again played up the golds in my accessories.

I spent a lot of time on my makeup and tried really hard to perfect the cat eye, which I've never done before. I used eyeshadows from the Kat Von D True Romance Palette. For an all over base I used the peachy Sister and for the lime green cat eye, I used multiple layers of Snake Eyes wet. And on my lips I'm wearing Tarte Lipsurgence in Amused, which I got in my Teen Vogue Birchbox. I was very happy with how my makeup came out, it was subtle, timeless, but had a little edge to it.

 dress: H&M

shoes: H&M

bracelet: H&M

necklace: Forever 21

earrings: Lydell NYC

Now on to the next journey...

Favorite Music Friday: New Radicals

How is already Friday? I still can't believe it is May so maybe I just need to accept that time does not stand still! I am officially home! It is so great to be home, but I don't feel like I can relax until I find out how I did on my finals and if I passed my graduation exam! Hopefully soon since graduation is in less than two weeks. Graduation means dress shopping! Today I came home with my graduation dress! After spending countless hours avoiding schoolwork looking for a dress, it took me 20mins in H&M! I'll just say it is white, lace, and has a peplum skirt. Im in love. 

Graduation may mean that I am moving forward to a new part of my life, but while in the changing rooms of H&M I had a blast from the past. New Radical's 'Mother We Just Can't Get Enough' came on. I heard this song for the first time in A Walk To Remember. Yes, the movie with Shane West and Mandy Moore. I was the BIGGEST fan ever. I waited for 6 hours to meet Mandy Moore (she left when I was maybe 20 feet from her!) and I was voted 'Most Likely To Marry Shane West' in 8th grade, so you see what I mean. The soundtrack was such an amazing blend of artists, including the New Radicals. 

New Radicals was an American band active in the late 90s formed by Greg Alexander. There was no other permanent members other than he; band members would only help out for a few songs and move on. Sadly they have only one album Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too. They broke up in 1999 after Alexander said that the life on the road and promoting music was just not for him. In that one year their first single 'You Get What You Give' became a crazy hit! If you hear it you'll have an ahh now I remember monent. All I can say about their sound is its 90's pop rock, sitting on the beach or road trip kind of music. It is fun and seems to always bring up my spirits. It's too bad that they broke up.

This week's pick is a very cute love song. It has such an upbeat, get up and dance quality to it. I love when singers belt it out. This band is considered a one hit wonder, but I think 'Mother, We Just Can't Get Enough' is a hit all on its own!

I hope you enjoy this oldie! Happy weekend!

Favorite Music Friday: Baz Luhrmann

With only two weeks remaining in my academic career, I am feeling a roller coaster of emotions. I go from stressed to scared to happy to nervous all within a span of an hour. I don't think I'll be able to truly realize my accomplishment until I turn in my last final. I'm getting closer and closer, but I've still got a TON of work to do. Therefore, this week's post will be sweet and short...

This speech was originally written by Mary Schmich as a newspaper column in the Chicago Tribune in 1997. She described the essay as the commencement speech she would give if she was asked to give one. Baz Luhrmann, the director of Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge, and the upcoming The Great Gatsby, used the essay in its entirety for his album Something for Everybody. The spoken word essay, narrated by Lee Perry, is remixed with a song sang by Quindon Tarver from the movie Romeo + Juliet (it's the song during the amazing wedding scene!).

I can't even explain how inspirational this speech is to me. It reminds me of what is important in life, to stop stressing over the silly things, and to take a step back and realize my life is my own. Listen to the entire thing. You will feel your spirit pick up and feel an inner calmness and level headedness come upon you. Trust me.

Take care and happy friday!

school

Friends. Im sorry to say that the next three weeks I will be posting very sparsely. I'm finishing up the last few weeks of my graduate school career. My last weeks of school...ever! They will be quite trying though. Over 66% of ALL of my assignments this semester have not been turned in. I have 10 massive assignments/papers/projects/labs to complete. Im living and breathing science!

I swear once I take my last final on May 9th I will return here with full force. I have so many new products and reviews to share with you!

Until then I'll just be posting my subscription boxes as they come and Favorite Music Friday picks.

Like my facebook page or follow me on Google Friends so that you will be the first to know when new posts are up!

Good luck to all the other students out there! We will make it through! And don't forget to breathe and enjoy the spring weather!

Favorite Music Friday: Alex Clare

This week has been a trying one. Technically as I write this I am only half way through. I am 5 weeks away from graduating from graduate school and have probably 60-70% of my grades for all of my classes incomplete. Meaning these next 5 weeks are going to be the most insane, stressful weeks.

As most of you know, I had planned on running a half marathon at the end of April. What do you mean past tense? Well because of the amount of school work I have, I don't have time to train, nor can fathom spending an entire weekend out of town. Therefore, I will not be running the race I have been looking forward to for months. However upset I am, I know physically and mentally I could have run it and done well. I will find another race to run early this fall (there is no way im running a summer race, I overheat enough as it is). I'll definitely run shorter races in between, but until I finish my last final ever, running is sadly on the back burner. It is my favorite destressor, but I literally have no time. I'm even thinking about only working twice a week since I have so many assignments to complete.

Okay enough anxiety ridden boring crap. I've got a lot of things to look forward to, including spending my summer being a young, single female in the city. I cannot wait until I can go out with my friends and spend the night dancing away or sipping on ice cold beer at happy hour. This week's Favorite Music pick makes my dream of summer feel so much closer....

Every so often I go onto iTunes and browse through the top 100 songs. I don't ever listen to the radio, so unless a friend recommends a band, I'm clueless to new music/bands. I heard Alex Clare's Too Close on the top 100 and freaked out. Lucky for me his debut album launched in the US the same week. I of course got it immediately.

Alex Clare is a 25 year old British singer-songwriter from London. Other than being an adorable ginger (yes I have a thing for red heads), he is extremely talented. Alex grew up listening to his father's jazz band and has been influenced by The Fugees, Stevie Wonder, and Donny Hathaway. He was unhappy with the music his friends and siblings were listening to and found that the jazz, blues, and soul he grew up on were a comfort. He realized his passion for music playing in bands with friends, but felt he needed some security and decided to become a chef. He ended up hating his job and started to play open mic nights often. He landed a very small songwriting deal that allowed him to live on a boat and write songs. A few of those songs got into the hands of Island Records and two weeks later he was signed.

His drum n' bass, soul style got the attention of Diplo & Switch (two of my favorite DJs/producers) who then worked with Alex on his first album. They brought together his crooning, rough, soulful voice with the bass lines of dubstep and catchy chords that make a hit.

The song that I am featuring "Up All Night" is one of the songs that was created during one of Alex's first sessions with Diplo and Switch. The song scream teen spirit. With lines like 'watchin my youth slip away surely is a crime' and 'sun is up while I'm walkin' home but my heads up in the clouds.' The beat and the lyrics just make me want to get up and dance! It reminds me that I am alive. Definitely a song that I can appreciate when my life feels weighed down and so stressful.

You can listen to the entire album for free here on this page with the SoundCloud app. My other favorites are Too Close, Treading Water, Hummingbird, and Tight Rope.


(Note: If you are reading from a feed reader, you'll have to visit the actual post to be able to view the SoundCloud app)

Enjoy and have a great weekend!