active quads

"Your automatic breath is your friend and comforter. Get to know her. Invite her in for tea. Listen to her stories. She may seem boring at first, but I predict that soon she'll seem wise and loving."

- my $36.58 yoga textbook

I love that all I do in class now is dance, stretch, listen to music, or watch movies. But it makes taking my "homework" seriously very hard sometimes.

walking in a winter wonderland

I love how campus looks blanketed in snow, but I hate how the state of North Carolina is completely paralyzed by having not even a foot of white fluff on the ground.

laughter is an ab workout

"Six-year-olds laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day."

- the inside of my diet Snapple bottle cap

I'm pretty sure the only thing getting me through reading period right now is fratmusic.com.

tick tock, on the clock

Halloween: Rockstars. Angels. Ninja Turtles. Royalty.

And an extra hour thanks to Daylight Savings.

forever tailgate

which one of these is not like the other

Photo 7 in the slideshow for "Crimson and Green" (NYTimes) on Harvard's new clothing line.

i need to minimize my life

This weekend, instead of it fully hitting me that I was moving into my dorm room on Thursday, I went to Chicago to celebrate my 21st birthday (again) with the girls. The apartment we were staying at was just a 2 minute walk to the Viagra Triangle and about a 10 minute walk to Michigan Ave. Danielle, Carrie, and Joy had made a necklace/sash of notecards listing the 21 tasks I had to complete Friday night, and on top of that, Danielle had bought a gaudy, Disney princess tiara that they demanded I wear with my red dress. You can use your imagination to fill in the rest of the night.

The downside to the trip, though, was our 8 am bus ride Sunday morning (so brutal), which meant that I basically did nothing Sunday except go see "The Time Traveler's Wife" (kind of on par with "A Walk To Remember" in my opinion). Monday, I finally got my ass semi in-gear and went on a Target run, but today, I spent the afternoon in serious denial of vacation being over and, instead of desperately organizing my life, headed to the mall with Danielle to hit up Sephora and Aveda for "back-to-school" (easily the most dangerous excuse) shopping. Who knew Aveda has complementary neck and shoulder massages?

Fast forward to now (less than 12 hours away from when I have to start my 12 hour drive south), and I'm frantically throwing everything in sight into boxes (that will probably break my back in approximately 24 hours), while simultaneously chugging this strange Vitamin C, raspberry-flavored, energy boost drink that's Mom's latest health obsession and absolutely freaking out inside that I'm forgetting something because I can't remember where the hell I put everything. Even worse, I can't even remember what the hell I have. Or what the hell I'll need.

Where did the summer go?!

devil with the blue dress

Harvard is starting its own fashion line with Wearwolf Group, to be called Harvard Yard, to save itself from financial ruin. The line will target "fans of the university" and draw inspiration from the "Harvard prep lifestyle," according to Fashionista.

...Seriously? It just sounds like a more pretentious J. Crew.

But it did get me thinking: if Duke were to make a fashion line, what would it look like?

Free T-shirts and sweatpants?

Lily Pulitzer and pearls?

Plaid and knock-off Ray-Bans?

Or maybe it'd just be a costume shop.

I can't wait for senior year Tailgate.

three hundred and sixty

I'm back at Duke.

My room is in the center of campus, overlooking the bus stop and Alpine Bagels, it has two closets and a ridiculous amount of floor space, and my roommate (from freshman year) is tenting.

Sorority recruitment is over, we have an entirely new freshman class of baby Phis, and I no longer have to spend 8+ hours clattering about in heels, with a permanent smile plastered on my face, and make conversation with girl after girl despite subsisting on only coffee and Lifesaver mints. Strangely though, I enjoy recruitment in a way because it forces us all to be in one room--and the fact that I leave recruitment loving the girls in my sorority instead of hating them really says something.

Classes are in full swing, there is a new floor in the library called the Link that is essentially the love child of Ikea and Apple, and it could not have come at a better time because my new moleskin planner is being rapidly filled up with readings, papers, and application deadlines.

i hate feeling like all i'm doing is waiting

It's so strange being home right now, during the down time between Vietnam and Prague. I feel like all I'm doing is watching the clock tick until I'm on that plane Bohemia-bound and my life can start again. Granted, I should be packing, but that's a whole other issue to talk about (though really, all I have to say is a big fuck you to check-in luggage weight limits).

In the meantime, it makes me sad getting all the welcome-back emails from Duke administrators (...and sorority exec board members), having to RSVP "Not Attending" to all the random Facebook invites to welcome-back parties at all-too-familiar venues (venues whose names I can actually pronounce!), having to hear about Shooters stories over the phone instead of during the obligatory 3 am McDonald's run or the standard Sunday morning froyo binge, and knowing that everyone starts school again tomorrow. The Sanford Institute seems like a world away, and I can't believe that it'll be January before I return to that maze of a building. I can only hope Roger, the guy who works at the Sanford Deli, will still remember my name and the way I like my French Connection wrap.

In a weird way it's like I'm regressing back to the summer before freshman year, with all the same anxieties over how I'm going to do laundry, or try to cook (let's face it, knowing me, I'll probably just end up eating out every night and/or living off of cereal and granola bars), or who my roommate is going to be (though to some extent, I'm kind of glad we don't find out who our roommates are before we land in Prague because that saves me from awkward introductions over Facebook and phone calls spent trying to talk about sleeping/eating/studying/partying habits -- first impressions just really need to be made in person). At least this time I'll be in one of the greatest cities in the world instead of Durham, North Carolina (which, granted, definitely has its own unique charm, but it still just doesn't even come close).