20 years
I’ll be back to posting after a weekend (and Mon + Tues) of festivities. I turned 20 today and had a spectacular day with friends and family. There were a few others I wish I could have celebrated with, but they are still at school finishing up exams.
Here is a snapshot of the brownie cake that my siblings made me. The cake was so hot that the candles wouldn’t stay put… which I thought made for a funny picture.
Cheers to my 21st year!
So, I am turning the big 2-0 on Tuesday! To be perfectly frank, I am nervous about entering my 20s. It seems like the decade when you have to “figure it all out.” With 20 comes insecurity about careers, men, and a whole slew of other things. I now have to begin that transition from teenager to adult more definitively than ever.
I do also realize my third decade will be exciting, challenging, and inspiring as a become a real person in this world…for that I cannot wait. Oh, and 20 means I am one year closer to 21! I probably won’t be getting any big gifts from my parents (for whatever reason birthdays are traditionally very low key in my family), but here is what I am dreaming of:
1. A company by the name of Dagne Dover produces the handbag below. The three women who founded the company (all Penn graduates) set out to create a bag for the busy, modern women. Inside, you’ll find enough compartments for storing a laptop, iPad, keys, wallet, metrocard, and cell phone! There is even a spot for securing a waterbottle or an umbrella. The only trouble is picking out which color I want!
2. I am very interested in learning both Photoshop and Illustrator better. I dabbled with both in high school, but I have a very limited skill set at present. It might be more helpful for me to first take a college class in graphic design to get my foot in the door, but my ever-curious self wants a jumpstart on the software. Unfortunately the sticker price remains quite high, even at the student rate. I was hoping my parents might gift it to me.
3. I keep talking about how summer is “just around the corner.” As we all know, summer doesn’t start until June 21st, but I mark the season according to when the pool opens. This year, my pool opens on May 4th for the weekends as well as some weekday lap swimming (its heated). I have been working hard to get myself ready for a two piece and so I am very eager to purchase a new suit like the J. Crew one below. I personally believe that underwire bathing suit tops are very flattering for small-chested women.
“Since my house burned down
I now own a better view
of the rising moon.”
– Masahide
Mizuta Masahide was a Japanese poet and samurai who wrote this simple haiku in 1688 after his house burned down. I heard it years ago and try to remember it from time to time with things go awry. It helps me to remember to take a deep breath and think about life’s obstacles from a new perspective.
CD cover from the band 1997’s debut album “A Better View of the Rising Moon” (based off Masahide’s haiku)
As per Rachel Dunbar‘s suggestion, I have started a bloglovin’ account! I have yet to check out the iPad/iPhone app, but I am so far impressed with the reader platform that the site uses. It is simple and sophisticated, and now I can read blogs I follow from WordPress and Blogger all in one place!
Filed under Personal
So far I have spent close to 30 days trying this WordPress platform and am happy to report that I have more than 30 followers! Before starting Urban Prep, I was already familiar with the features since I had worked with WordPress for a high school project. I did a lot of research regarding which platform to begin my new blog on and ultimately decided to stick with this host since it seemed more professional. However, I have grown dissillusioned with the lack of content.
That isn’t to say that there aren’t thousands of posts each and every day from fellow bloggers, but that they aren’t posts in my realm of interest. I know growth takes time, but I really need to think hard about what platform I want that growth to be on. I don’t want to spend all this time creating new content if my viable audience uses Blogger. And it seems like everyone is using Blogger! So what should I do next?
Filed under Personal
Bento boxed lunch example
As an intern and as a college student, I need to be very conscious of my spending. I am fortunate enough to not have to worry about tuition and housing, but I don’t receive an allowance for my social life, clothing, transportation, food, and school books. I also only work during the summer time, so whatever I save then gets me through the year.
For this reason, and obvious health reasons, I try to pack my lunch each day rather than buying it. I’ve noticed though, that often my lunch consists of several plastic baggies or small sheets of aluminum foil that get thrown away at the end of the day. Super wasteful! I also found that I wasn’t packing enough protein and consequently getting very hungry by the end of the day. But, I found a solution for both problems!
The Japanese term “bento” refers to a single-portion packed lunch that is often neatly divided in sections to keep food seperated; a traditional Japanese Bento might contain rice, fish, and vegetables. Bento boxes have been adapted to American lunches and highly popularized with young children. Mothers spend a considerable amount of time designing (yes I mean designing, check out some of these lunches) nutritious, creative, AND trashless lunches for their kids.
Sure, the cutout sandwiches and the cheese-and-crackers with faces are cute, but I see a huge value in Bento lunches for young adults who wish to save the world, save money, and save calories simultaneously. Here are some items that will be in my Bento lunch in the next couple days, I’ve starred the items with substantial protein:
Depending on what you choose to include, you can craft a set of three lunches at a time or perhaps a whole weeks worth of lunches! And there is no start-up costs if you have a medium-sized square Tupperware container! Tupperware with dividers makes things easy, but you can also use aluminum cupcake tins, smaller plastic containers, and food such as celery or string cheese to seperate your chosen items. I will post some of Bento boxes I have made soon!
More resources:
As a forewarning, do not watch in an office cube or illicitly during a quiet study hall because you will be peeing your pants trying to stifle a laugh. Seriously, you won’t make it past Tyrannosaurous Rex or whale for that matter.
It’s ironic that my second post ever, also known as my {disclaimer} post, I warned reader’s that despite having “Prep” in the title of my blog, there would be no barrage of Lilly Pulitzer pink and green. However, I will unapologetically admit that Lilly creeps in here quite often, perhaps because the clothes (and quite frankly the Lilly culture) was a large part of my childhood. I remember many summer nights romping around in pink and green shift dresses. In fact, my first job at the ripe old age of 14 was folding clothes in a Lilly boutique.
Yesterday, Lilly Pulitzer Rousseau died in Palm Beach at 81 years of age. She brought so much color to my childhood summers that I could not pass up a chance to pay her tribute. I’ve included a gallery of photos in my Lilly Pulitzer wardrobe. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find a picture of me sporting Lilly overalls (both short and long, embarrassingly enough) but I am sure it will surface in the near future. And finally, a quote from Lilly Pulitzer herself, “Make every day a celebration, and every hour a happy hour.” May you rest in peace.
Eternal Lilly Summer
5 boxes stack up for my siblings and I
Every Easter and Christmas for as long as I can remember, I receive a 1 pound box of orange chocolate from my mother, aunt, or grandmother. I finally asked my grandmother why, year after year, we order this amazingly delicious orange chocolate from Wahl’s Candy in Cheektowaga, NY (of all places).
Well here’s the story I was looking for in the words of my grandmother: “When we first moved to Buffalo, I was about 7 [1939]. My mother went looking for some good candy, after all, she had worked in a wonderful candy store previously in PA fixing all the window displays. She was very loved by the owner [of that candy store] and every night he gave her a small white bag with some special treats for my brother and I. So we were very spoiled and used to the best!”
“After searching Buffalo, we found Wahl’s and the tradition started. We rarely purchased their candy except for Easter and Christmas because it was too expensive and right after the war years when money was still very scarce. It was only about 2 miles from our home so you can imagine how we wished to go more often.”
“I do remember one Easter when I was about ten, we went to the store on Holy Thursday and purchased 4 brown paper bags full, which cost almost 30 dollars (a ton of money at the time). My mother would take that candy and make the most beautiful Easter bakets you ever saw! We were the envy of all our friends! When Pop-pop and I married, we moved to the other side of the city, but would take trips to Wahl’s and bring candies to my Mother. After she passed, your Aunt Lynda would go pick up candy with her boys and sit by Mother’s grave, eat the orange chocolate and sponge candy in the grass, and say some prayers.”
“End of story- we are still loving it!”
Happy Easter!
This is a photo of my grandmother (center) and her parents circa late 1940s/early 1950s.
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