January 30, 2015

Friday Finds

Yay friday! Has this week been the longest ever or is it just me? I'm so happy the weekend is here because I am so behind on sleep that I can't wait to curl up in bed and take a nap!

Louis Cole (funforlouis) 


I swear this guy not only has the best life every but also the happiest.   I always turn to youtube when I'm bored and have found myself turning to his vlogs often but it wasn't until recently that I decided to subscribe.  I can't believe I didn't do this sooner.  He literally hops from place to place experiencing INCREDIBLE things all the time and he is just so happy while doing it.  Just a few days ago in one of the vlogs he lost his laptop while hitchhiking in South Africa but still remained positive that he would find it (which he did).  It's impossible to watch his videos and not feel happy.

Budweiser Superbowl Ad 2015



I watched this video only because I have been seeing it everywhere and didn't think very much of it.  BUT IT IS THE CUTEST THING EVER.  I love it.

Texas Weather



From my last few months living in Texas, I've been able to realize that the weather here is so weird, especially in the "winter".  Before I left for winter break, it was steadily in the 40s, which really wasn't too bad.  But ever since I've been back it's been in the upper 50s and 60s and then earlier this week ventured into the 80s!!! What even!!! Late January and I would be ready to jump in a pool! I can't get over how much snow the north east got earlier this week while I was strolling in a sundress an sandals!


Enjoy the weekend!




January 29, 2015

Travel OOTD {Collab}

Today I am so excited to share that I've teamed up with the lovely Abby from Belleoftheball45 to share our favorite travel outfits! I've been on too many planes in the past month between flying home and back to school and for my trip to Florida over winter break.  Then last weekend I took a road trip with my friends to San Antonio.

I've learned the key to traveling outfits is comfort and functionality.  I always try to keep in mind that I'll need to take off my shoes while going through security, so I try to keep my footwear to something simple.  I also try to keep jewelry to a minimum to avoid setting off the metal detectors.









I love this outfit because it looks so much more put together than it really is! Everyone thinks that this sweater is two pieces and are surprised to learn that the "shirt" sticking out underneath is actually attached, and so easy to throw on.  Pixie pants are my go-to ever since sophomore year of high school.  We couldn't wear leggings so pixie pants were the next best thing (basically fancy leggings).  



Be sure to check out Abby's post over on Belleoftheball45!









January 28, 2015

Lately on Instagram

Yesterday was a big moment for me when I stood in the middle of the big lawn at my school and snapped a pic of my new tarte lipstick.  Many people were passing by while hustling to their next class and normally I'd be too self conscious to snap a pic in public, but I decided to do it and I'm happy I did.  Who cares if people think I'm strange for stopping to take a picture of my lipstick?

Today I've decided to share a few shots from my instagram feed lately.  (if you're not following along, I'm @dashofserendipity on the 'gram!)


A photo posted by Emma (@dashofserendipity) on

A photo posted by Emma (@dashofserendipity) on

A photo posted by Emma (@dashofserendipity) on

A photo posted by Emma (@dashofserendipity) on

A photo posted by Emma (@dashofserendipity) on

January 27, 2015

Travel Photo Books

In high school I had two incredible opportunities to study abroad for a week in both Iceland and Paris.  I never would've imagined being able to go visit such amazing places with classmates, friends, and teachers.  I've learned so many incredible things while traveling to both of these places and I want to cherish the memories and photos forever.

I've seen Artifact Uprising while scrolling through the explore page of my instagram for a while now.  (Mainly of people making 2014 books comprised of their instagrams for 2014! so cute!).  I decided that these books would be perfect for my photos from my trips.


Making them is super easy and there's plenty of different choices.  You can either make one using their website of their app if you're uploading pictures from your phone.  They can even take pictures straight from your instagram if that's what you want! There's different page layouts and designs but I kept it simple with the same layout on each page.





I love how they turned out and will definitely use the company to make books of future trips.  I'm so excited to make one after my trip to Italy this summer (I'm studying abroad for 5 weeks!).


January 26, 2015

Desk Inspiration

Ever since I got this hutch for my desk (it was a game changer!) I've been obsessed with making my desk look pretty.  Where else to get some inspo from than pinterest? I'm so jealous of everyone's pretty desks and I feel like someone's desk says a lot about them.  You can really let your personality shine at your desk.

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 I love the garland in between two book shelves!

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A cute way to display favorite photos!

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Pinterest is also home to endless DIYs to spice up your desk! (or just endless DIYS in general!)

*the cutest dry erase frame for quick notes.  

*54 ways to make your cubicle suck less

*diy extension outlet

*cork board makeover



Look out for pictures of my desk coming to the blog soon!




January 23, 2015

Friday Finds

What a nice good morning to see that this post published before I had the chance to finish it! Sorry if you saw it early this morning before I had the chance to add all of my finds for this week!

How Well Do You Really Know Yourself?


I've never been a huge fan of the whole astrology world; reading my horoscope, palm readers, etc.  This video was so interesting to watch and put a new perspective on the whole industry!

Birthdays
Yesterday was my 19th birthday.  I'm always the biggest fan of birthdays and I was really worried about having my birthday away from home.  My mom always cooks my favorite meals, takes me shopping, etc, but without her I thought it might feel different.  While it did feel weird, the flowers my family sent me and other goodies completely made up for it.  My birthday was great.

Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer
I recently purchased this primer after reading amazing reviews about it online! I have only been using it for a few days but I can already tell it's so much better than all my other primers.  Yesterday I did my makeup around 10am and it still looked decent at 4pm! Highly recommend.

January 22, 2015

Birthday {OOTD}

Today is my 19th birthday! Yay!! This is my first birthday celebrating away from home, which is a little sad to me because in my family birthdays are a big deal.  I bummed that I don't get to see my family or have my mom cook me my favorite meal but the package that arrived from them was a great replacement.

I can't believe I'm already 19, which means this is my last year as a teenager.  I kind of always felt like my teenage years would last forever.  As much as I want to get older, I'm getting nostalgic about my childhood slipping away.  I no longer live at home and there's a lot more responsibility placed upon me and I know it'll only grow as I get older and eventually graduate and get a real job.  It's scary to think about what's to come but for right now I'm embracing 19.










not pictured: the confetti I threw up in attempt to be "cute" that flew out of frame leaving me looking awkward 

top / pants / vest / shoes / necklace (bauble bar)


January 21, 2015

Dorm Makeup Storage

It's taken me all of last semester to realize that my old makeup storage arrangement wasn't working at all.  I've never showed pictures of my desk before my trip to the container store this weekend (it changed everything), but imagine those little white plastic drawers from cvs piled up high (and overflowing) with makeup splayed all over my desk.  Basically, it just wasn't working.  

I knew I wanted to head to the container store to get their folding hutch (you can kind of see it in the first picture) because I was in desperate need of some sort of shelving for practicality and so I could display some of my favorite things! While browsing through the store I came across a bunch of lucite drawers and  realized that while stacked they make the greatest storage solution for my makeup and other beauty items! 


January 20, 2015

Favorites for the Phone


1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 


I've always been obsessed with phone cases.  Not only are they practical, but they're also so cute! So many great ones are always floating out there and I haven't had time recently to look a new ones! When I recently decided that my current cracked phone case needed a change, I realized that there's so many out there! 

Where do you find your favorite phone cases?

January 19, 2015

Gold and Pink Wall


If it isn't already obvious, I love the wall next to my bed.  It took me a little while to get it the way it is, but I'm really happy with what it's evolved into.  When I moved in I had square photos arranged into one big rectangle, but this is so much more creative.  I get a lot of questions about where some of the things on my wall come from so I thought it was worth making a post on here! 






gold prints / garland / chevron tape / gold tape / blue tape (anthropologie)

The gold chevron and gold foil tapes are the latest addition after I stumbled upon them in paper source.  I love that the gold foil in the tape matches the foil in the garland.  I've also begun to pin up full sized pictures and "polaroids" that I've printed out using my favorite instax printer!


January 16, 2015

Friday Finds

On Tuesday I left home after a wonderful winter break which was actually kind of sad because I'm not positive when I'll be home next.  I'm not sure of my plans for spring break yet, so I may not be coming home until easter, which seems so far away! I already miss my dog so much! Why can't I just sneak him into my tiny dorm??

Here are this weeks finds!


Recruitment

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I'm not too sure if this really counts as a "find" but it's something that has taken up a lot of my time this week! Today marks the second day of recruitment and I'm really excited! I have just two days left before I (hopefully) get a bid!! I'll definitely share that in Monday's post, but if you want to see that sooner make sure you're following me on Tumblr or Instagram because I'll post which house I'm in there first! Also check over to tumblr to get a sneak peak of my outfits from each day!  I'll have a detailed post about my experience and outfit details hopefully coming in a week or two after the chaos settles down!


Grandparents in College



My grandmother is moving to a new house so my dad has been working endlessly to get her ready.  In packing he found this picture of her and my grandfather from a fraternity party at Lehigh University in the 1940s.  How awesome is this? Pretty cool to see my grandparents and there friends when they were around my age.

Amal Clooney


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I. Am. Obsessed. With. Her.  She's perfect!! I loved this joke from the Golden Globes, because it's so true and hilarious.  I love that she's such a beautiful and empowering woman, which makes her perfect to be married to George Clooney in my opinion.  She's such a classy woman and I cannot wait to see more from her in the future.

January 15, 2015

{DIY} Easy Photo Clothes Pin Line

I was bored one day over break so I decided to take a trip to Michael's, which is where I usually end up if I'm bored and have scrolled through Pinterest a little too long.  While I was in there I noticed some clothes pins and thought I could do a project with them.  After a little longer of strolling with paint and twine in my basket I was ready to start on my photo clothes pin line! I have a blank wall at in room at home and I wanted a way to display my pictures easily without frames.  This DIY is super easy, anyone can do it!

You'll Need: 
* clothes pins
* paint 
* tape
* foam brush
* twine 
* nails
* hammer


Step 1
Start by taping off part off my clothes pin so that you can section off where you want the paint to be and where you don't.  Once doing this mix your paints (I mixed a hot pink and a coral color) until you have the perfect color and begin painting the ends

Step 2
Let the clothes pins dry then remove the tape.  After doing this grab your hammer, nails, and twine and head over to the space you want your line to go.  Tie a knot around one nail and hammer into the wall, then see how long you want your line to be and give it a little slack so it's not a tight line.  Tie a knot around another nail and hammer.  Repeat this for as many rows as you'd like.

Step 3
Now you're ready to start pinning up your photos! How easy!



Do you have any DIYs you've tried lately? Link them down below!

January 14, 2015

January Playlist

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Discovered some old favorites and new obsessions on for my January playlist!

More on this playlist: 
:: give my love // ed sheeran :: 
:: holocene // bon iver :: 
:: let it go // james bay ::
:: down in the valley // the head and the heart ::
:: talk // kodaline :: 
:: mess is mine // vance joy :: 
:: the one that got away // the civil wars :: 
:: where are you now // mumford and sons ::
:: my kind of man // vance joy :: 


January 13, 2015

Zucchini Noodles {Recipe}

I don't know a single person who doesn't love pasta.  Unfortunately, a lot of the foods we love, aren't very good for us.  I try to stay away from pasta but sometimes it's just so hard to resist! When I stumbled across recipes on pinterest for Zucchini noodle substitutes for pasta I was very intrigued.  I'm also a fan of zucchini but I was definitely weary on how this would turn out.

Zucchini noodles are surprisingly easy to make and are very delicious too! I've made them three or four times now and have never been disappointed with the turn out, so today I thought I'd share my recipe! A lot of recipes I found online required some sort of tool to get spaghetti like cuts, which I don't own.  Mine's really simple and uses a tool you probably have in your kitchen now.

Ingredients: (serves 1)
* 2 small zucchinis (I use 2 small zucchinis for each person I'm cooking for)
* 1 teaspoon of olive oil
* 1 teaspoon of truffle oil (optional)
* pinch of salt
* pasta sauce of your choice
* vegetable peeler

Step 1 
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees farenheight.  Take your vegetable peeler and run it down the longer side of the zucchini.  The first few times you run over will be scraps as they have a lot of the peel on them.  Keep doing this and collect each ribbon in a bowl.  Continue until the seeds start to show.  Once they do, flip it over and repeat this step on the other side and again on the remaining zucchini.

Step 2
Line a baking sheet with paper towel.  Spread your zucchini over the baking sheet evenly and sprinkle with salt.  Then place the zucchini in the oven for 25-30 minutes.  During this process the zucchini will "sweat" out a lot of it's water.  Don't worry, the oven is at a low heat so the paper towel won't burn!

Step 3
Take the zucchini out of the oven.  Using more paper towel, wrap some of the zucchini at a time and wring out the remaining water over a sink.


Step 4
Put your olive oil and truffle oil in a saucepan and set to medium heat.  Once the pan is heated add the zucchini and sauté for 6-7 minutes.  Then, add your sauce of choice (I used vodka sauce via Gerard's Sauce) and you're good to go! I decided to sprinkle a little bit of grated parmesan cheese on mine (even though it may not be the healthiest, whoops!)


This recipe is so delicious, even for those who don't necessary love zucchini.  Do you have any great recipes involving zucchini? Link them down in the comments!!

January 12, 2015

Shopping + Tea in NYC

On Friday I made my last trip into the city before heading back to school (sad face).  I was hard core stressing last week because I still didn't have anything to wear for rush, which starts this thursday!! After searching every department store near me I decided that taking a trip into the city wouldn't be a bad idea.  Since I felt like I had sorted through most of the dresses available in stores now (what an understatement, but it felt like it) I decided that I wanted to try out rent the runway.  I love the concept but I really feel like I can't commit to a dress unless I've tried it on.  Luckily, RTR has a store in nyc!

Feeling hopeful about the day I set out into the city on one of the coldest days.  As we walked to the RTR store, a little early for our appointment, I spotted The City Bakery right across the street, a bakery I've been dying to go to after seeing their hot chocolate all over instagram.  Of course I had to stop in.  The bakery itself is really cool and spacious, a rarity in nyc.  I ordered my hot chocolate with the homemade marshmallow of course and a pretzel croissant too, since I didn't have lunch.  I took a few snaps of my choices (of course) and then began to enjoy.  The hot chocolate was super sweet and thick, unlike any hot chocolate I've ever had before, but after three or four sips it became too sweet which was kind of a disappointment.



Speaking of disappointment, the Rent the Runway store was just that.  I described my occasion to my "stylist", but she brought things for me to try on that I would never wear (see: mother of the bride).  I know I said I wanted something conservative, but I am still only 18 years old!!! Feeling defeated after just 20 minutes in the store, we left and decided to check out Club Monaco around the corner.

First off, this Club Monaco is huuuuuuge.  I went in thinking I would just browse and we'd be out in a few minutes, but boy was I wrong.  First thing I saw was this (can't find a link online) pom pom hat and thought "hey let me try this on because it'll look ridiculous on me", but when I tried it on I actually though "hey I kind of like this".  I was surprised in how many things I took to try on.  I was also seriously impressed by the sale selection (two whole rooms!!!).  I think I was in heaven.

Sadly (for my bank account), but happily for me, I liked almost everything I tried on (which was a lot).  I picked up a navy feather vest with the same ideology with the hat, and of course I liked it.  I've been searching high and low for a fur vest, but haven't been able to find the right one.  I also tried it on with my new favorite blouse that I also picked up to try on.  Instantly, upon putting this outfit on, I felt older.  My birthday is a week from Thursday (yay 19!) and I felt like this outfit really suited me for where I am in my life right now.


At some point in my dressing room I threw this outfit together.  My mom made me try on this jacket even though I thought I already had way too much to try on, and I'm really happy she did.  Everything about this outfit fit me really well and it was really comfortable too!! (that's most important, right?)  I realized that this outfit would be perfect for the second to last day of rush when I need to wear a dressy/casual outfit.  I wasn't considering wearing a skit but once I had this outfit on I knew it would be perfect.  It's a little bit over budget but considering my dress for the cocktail attire round is only $75 (score!) I figured I could spend a little more on this one, also I know I'm going to be wearing these pieces again a lot!

Half way through writing this I realize this may be the longest post. So if you want to grab some popcorn, maybe take a stretching break, feel free.  Will have a quick intermission before moving onto my favorite part of the day.... only joking but seriously, I don't think I've ever had so much to say about a post.

After finishing up at Club Monaco, we ran down to Columbus Circle to the Mandarin Oriental hotel where we had our tea reservations at the Lobby Lounge!  The reviews said that the views would be incredible, but they were more incredible than I could ever imagine.  Best of all, our table was sat right next to the window! My mom and I were mesmerized by the cars driving by and the view of central park! We both can't wait to go back in the spring when all the trees are in bloom!









Have you had any days recently where you just felt so happy? Tell me about it in a comment!


January 9, 2015

Friday Finds

Just a little less than a week until I'll be heading back to school.  It's a little bittersweet leaving again because I've gotten used to being at home.  I'm excited to get back to school but I don't know exactly when I'll be back home again.  I'll most likely be back for a quick visit over easter, and possibly over Spring Break if I don't go anywhere. Other than that, the only other time where I'd be coming home would be for Summer vacation! Which is crazy to think about because that feels so far away.

With next week comes the beginning of sorority recruitment! I'm really excited for it, and also a little bit nervous of course.  Because of this, I'm not sure how my posts will work.  I know that I'll be insanely busy Thursday through Sunday, and maybe even Monday.  I probably won't have posts up every single day over those days so I apologize about that! However, I'm going to try and draft some on the plane back to school so that I have some things hopefully ready to go for most of those days! You can also look forward to a post about my whole rush experience coming the week after next!

Now onto my finds for the week...

Living in the Moment

I found this iPhone wallpaper yesterday and immediately made it my phone's background.  It's a great reminder to forget about what's happened in the past, stop planning for the future, and instead live in the present.  It's so easy to get caught up in everything that's happened and going to happen, but it's important to remember that something's happening right now and thats worth paying attention to.

Crewcuts New Arrivals 
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Forever depressed that I am not tiny enough to fit into crewcuts or have a small child that can (jokes I do not want a child, right now).  I just loove j.crew's childrens line to death.  Why can't they make some of these pieces for adults? I would totally wear them, and I know others would too! I mean, this dress and those shorts? and this jacket? Why do the young kids get the good stuff? Don't get me wrong, I obviously love J.Crew, but I love the crewcuts line too!

I stumbled upon these tassel bracelets from LovesAffect on etsy while searching for things to put on my birthday wishlist! (I turn 19 on the 22nd!!).  I absolutely love these bracelets, especially how easy they are to put on.  Just slip them over your wrist as you run out the door and you're good to go! Perfect for when you're running late for class and can't spend time accessorizing.

What are some things you've been lusting after recently? I'd love to hear! Comment down below!


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