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Perpetually Caroline Turns 3 // Currently

– Perpetually Caroline has turned three,
so have a slice of cake with me! –

These three years have been the most memorable, the most transformative years of my life. I hate that it sounds so cheesy, but it's so, so true. I've made friends of a lifetime, lost some dearly loved ones, defined what "home" means to me, traveled far and wide, experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows all within these 1000 or so days. (Can't do math, ending Asian stereotypes left and right!)

And this tiny little Internet space has made note of all of that. It's all here for me to peruse at leisure one day when I decide I'm in a cringing kind of mood. For that, I couldn't be more grateful. Thank you all for being here along the way.

More on blog stuff next week, but for now, I'm –

---

Watching :: Buffy the Vampire Slayer with Cassandra. It's become our nightly ritual to watch an episode or five. Any Buffy fans out there?!

Eating :: oh my god the very best food. So, I've been spoiled this year ... our house's chef is SPECTACULAR. Literally, she has not made a single less-than-superb meal yet. We've had lobster and steak and bread bowls and Tuscan and Greek and Chinese and suuuuuuuch amazingness. Tonight we had enchiladas and I went back for thirds, like what.

Shopping :: for blog-related stuffs. I bought a $50 set of actions from A Beautiful Mess today. Wincey wincey on the pricetag, but oh what pretty photos they make!

Planning :: Spring Quarter classes. It's all happening too fast!

Playing :: OneRepublic's "I Lived." Seriously you guys, the most inspirational, get out there and leave your footprint and buy that plane ticket and find your passion, kind of song. Obsessed.

Reading :: Not my textbooks. (But I'm about to start Wild soon!)

Enjoying :: This mild winter. Really, it's been so beautiful.

Waiting :: For the weekend. Has this week been trudging along extra slow for anyone else? TGIF!

Needing :: To get my Canon lens fixed. I've been itching to get out there and snap photos, but that's a wee bit difficult when my favorite lens has gone kaput. (Well and also I kind of lost the charger, can I do anything right.)

Wearing :: Okay, so this doesn't leave this blog, but I definitely only wore non-legging pants ONE TIME this week. ONE. TIME. #collegeperks #aintsorryboutit

Feeling :: Not completely great. I miss my grandpa and my family and that feeling of knowing exactly where you're going to be next. But I'm also extremely grateful for so very much. Good things to come, I can feel it!

Wishing :: To be on the go. This time last year, I was all over Europe. Staying still for the past couple of months has been a challenge, but I know that I need this. In no time, I'll be on the move again, craving for nothing but the comfort of everything familiar.

Toodles! Have the happiest of weekends!

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Californian Winter // Picnicking In Half Moon Bay

Okay, okay. Yes. Juno, yes. East Coast friends - my sincerest apologies. But this post is nothing if not "West Coast Best Coast" propaganda at its purest. It's a testament to 75 degree winters, to sunshine and rainbows and unicorns and cakes baked out of smiles.

A couple of weekends ago, I headed on over to Half Moon Bay on a mini-adventure with some of the friends I studied abroad in Oxford with. I love this batch of people. I think in some way, you're drawn towards creating new adventures with those whom you've already experienced some pretty stellar memories. This day was filled with "remember whens" - but surely, on our next outing, those "remember whens" will be about wandering down Main Street to pick up AMAZING sandwiches from San Benito's, hot cocoas from the corner market, Quinn up and chasing seagulls away from our food, road rage, road karma, naps and walks under the sun, and texting tempting Kinder Bueno photos to our friends who couldn't make it. HA HA LOOK, EUROPEAN CHOCOLATE SUCKAS.

Before heading home, we made a pitstop at Bare Bowls, the new acai bowl place on University Avenue, mason jars and muesli and wheatgrass and casual checkers and all. Borrowing from my friend Chandler Bing, could this post BE any more Californian?!

Okay, I'm outtie. But East Coasters - you have Shake Shack and for that, you win forever and always.
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College Kid Syndrome

In honor of my impending Abnormal Psychology midterm on Tuesday (which I'm naturally not procrastinating studying for) (at all) (not in the least bit), I decided to share with you the self-diagnosis of a relevant disorder that is absolutely, 100% not made up.

–College Kid Syndrome–

Clinical Definition – when a college student is thrown into the real world, and is consequently utterly bewildered, amused, and confused by productivity, order, and "normal people things."
DSM-V Diagnostic Criteria

A. The feeling of being on top of the world because nails are painted, eyebrows are threaded, hair is brushed, clothes are of the non-sweats variety (mostly), and makeup is applied. Individual wonders, is this what feeling put together and presentable is like? I'm... not a mess! Individual swears up and down that never again will an eyebrow hair be astray or a foot unmassaged.

B. Being absolutely flabbergasted in a restaurant when allowed to a) order a drink that's not water, b) order appetizers that don't come free with an entree, c) order anything just for the heck of it, d) entertain the idea of ordering dessert.

C. In fact, being completely in denial (but like, the good kind of denial) when eating anything other than Cup O' Noodles and Easy Mac.

D. Partake in escapism involving avoiding the onslaught of midterm season and decompressing (hiding) at a sister's apartment. A sister's apartment with a bathroom cabinet that has an unlimited amount of Biore nose strips and Crest whitening strips and cleansing oils and yogurt face masks.

E. Having an unhealthy obsession with personal hygiene once out of an "every other day at most" mentality when it comes to showering. This is what I've been missing out on?! This is GREAT!!!

F. Being delusional enough to think that "just one cat photo" won't end up being "all but one photo on the Camera Roll = cats cats cats."

G. Scary level of caffeine in the bloodstream at all times.
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Grandpa.

You have no idea how many times I've hit the backspace button since opening up this post.

Some people are more than words could ever describe, you know? My grandpa's like that. Notice the apostrophe s. I couldn't make myself write the word was in place of is. Not yet.

To the person I admire more than anyone –
{ Comments turned off because hi, I'm Caroline and I don't do sad. }

Questions I Have For Bloggers

Question number one, on this fresh-faced, happy, relaxing, not Monday morning – how do you keep yourself from gulping down your brunch drinks before the waitress finally brings the food? According to Instagram, waffles and mimosas arrive at the table perfectly in sync. Under perfect lighting. French toast lightly dusted with powdered sugar, syrup poured so delicately (sub-question – how do you not drown your food in syrup because obviously you need to be at it for fifteen whole seconds in order to get the proper number of snapshots), phones and keys and straw papers not strewn all over the table. How do you do that?

Because apparently, I couldn't keep my hands off of my frozen mocha for three minutes. "I'll fix it for you," my roommate said, as she stabbed at the whipped cream with a straw. "Unsalvageable," she declared a second later.

Lightbulb moment as I was typing that word vomit of a paragraph above. Is it because you order two rounds of drinks?! Wow, wait, actually though? Trying this next Sunday. 
This guy up here only put up with me for all of two minutes, and they were for my official senior photos. I have to maybe pay him two hundred big buckaroos for a couple of awkward, cheesy smiles frozen in time. Stellar. 

Do all of you have glossy white desks, on which you photograph cool statement necklaces and still-steaming coffee, and artsy, indestructible planners? Where do you find so many cool statement necklaces? 
(I also ate half that croissant breakfast sandwich.) (And half an unpictured cronut.) (And then took a three hour nap. WHY DO I FIND IT OKAY TO ADMIT THESE THINGS ON THE INTERNET.)

When do you find the time to listen to podcasts? Do you really go about your days in Rockstuds and Choo's? But, like, then why are your feet forever perfectly pedicured and un-blistered? Will you teach me your ways? 
How do you get dressed on a Monday because personally I struggle into my (slightly) clean(er) leggings, and a sleep shirt as close to a real person shirt as I can get? On weekends, how do you find the time to do laundry and Netflix and brunch and go to farmers' markets for fresh flowers?

What happens if you're allergic to flowers? Or, like me, if you'd rather spend eight dollars on, say, eight stupid toys in the Dollar Spot aisle of Target? What happens if you're not too fond of the buzzwordy shows on TV like Downton or Scandal and favor truly critically-acclaimed ones like Pretty Little Liars and Hart of Dixie?

Scratch that, don't tell me. Let me go on, blissfully ignorant.
Last question.

How does your blog not completely revolve around food? I think I need an intervention judging by the contents of this post. Anyone wanna recommend a hobby? That's not too physically taxing or mentally draining?

Happy Tuesday, errrr'yone!
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Writing Tips From Cheryl Strayed, Author of Wild

On my flight home to Houston a few weeks ago, I was flipping through Glamour and found a quote from Reese Witherspoon to Cheryl Strayed, the author of Wild, that resonated so much so that I wrote it down. Well, more accurately –tapped it down via iPhone Notes with lots of backspaces and "dumb autocorrect!"s because seriously why is it that texting's so second-nature on a smartphone yet typing anything important like an email or a novel paralyzes my fingerly motor control?

I digress.

The quote was this: "I'm inspired by people who write beautifully, like you, by people who find the emotional center of things and connect the dots. That's big. You can sleepwalk through life, or you can see all the meaning."

After braving a stampede of well-dressed middle-aged folk (the line, I kid you not, wrapped around our entire business school. Twice. There were maybe 1500-2000 people trying to get in.) and waving our student ID's in the air, my friend Leah and I somehow grabbed the last two seats at Cheryl Strayed's talk on Wednesday evening ... which just so happened to be in the front row.

I see exactly what Reese meant. Cheryl's a wonderful writer and an articulate and eloquent speaker. She's super down-to-earth and funny, simply one of those people who you instantly click with, who you want to be friends with. She just gets it. So when she talks, you listen. 
Some of my favorite insights:

+ Believe in the power of storytelling, personally and culturally.

+ Those who write memoirs (and ahem, blogs?!) are far from being narcissistic because they have to "mine themselves" for the very things that aren't about themselves. It's about extracting the meaning, the universality, the relatability of their experiences.

+ Be kind, but also know to respect your own story. When you write – know that feelings can be hurt. Your intentions can be misinterpreted. It's up to you to decide what you need and want to be in your story, and if you're okay with the consequences of that.

+ It's only fair to communicate and express things in relation to you. Your writing is about how you have perceived people and memories and situations.

+ Sometimes, you only realize meaning and turning points and important moments way after-the-fact. Sometimes, the most important parts of the story aren't even a part of your rough draft or outline. You realize only in hindsight how insanely critical something so ordinary can be.
my to-read list!

+ Some helpful writing exercises Cheryl suggested –

1) Go through the works of writers that you admire & count the number of times they are able to describe sensory experiences. Pick a page and observe - can you feel, smell, taste, see, hear what's going on in a scene and to a character? How so?

2) Write about what you don't know. It might be difficult at first, but then you begin to realize that you can write more than you ever thought you could know about what you don't know. Tongue twister!

3) Write about an object that is on you right now. Cheryl Strayed referred to talismans plenty of times. Objects are just objects ... until you transform them into something more than that. Until you can take a physical object and assign to it meaning and story, thereby transforming a simple physical object into a symbol, into a representation. It then ultimately stands as so much more.

Needless to say, I'm off to do some wild bedtime reading!

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10 Things That Happen When You Upgrade To An iPhone 6


... particularly if you've been in possession of the iDinosaurPhone 4 for as long as the mind can remember.

1 // You can't find the power button because yours hasn't worked in months and have been relying on the Accessibility touch-screen thingymajig. If you need to turn your phone off, then you're screwed until the next time you can find a power source. Oh, and a screenshot? That's possible?!

2 // You Google "how to make app folders" and "what can I ask Siri." In fact, you simply Siri "what can I ask Siri." #meta

3 // You're shocked that the battery doesn't die out completely after three minutes... four minutes... five minutes... six minutes, and it's like, modern technology, holy SHI.......

4 // You can't bear to take the protective plastic screen off because it keeps the phone all shiny and new and un-scratched up, like that old piece of crap you've been using till now. The catch is that the plastic is catching all the weird gunk and crumbs and smudges and it's not looking so shiny and new anymore after all.

5 // What is this iOS 7 abracadabra? Or is it 8 now? After using the equivalent of iOS ... 2, you're gazing at these iOS 7 functions and apps like they're the filet mignon to the Hamburger Helper you've been used to (no hate, HH is amazing and I know it). Actually, you're amazed that your phone even let you download all the apps you want to. Storage was out with the last one, and even if storage let you ... everything stopped being compatible with iOS 0.34 in 1999.
1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
Can anyone guess which one I got for my phone? Hint: Mischief managed.

6 // The camera! Megapixel gigabyte retina. Yes. The old one was bringing us back to the cave drawing days, but this new baby can hyperlapse and slo-mo with the best of them.

7 // TOUCH ID. CAN'T EVEN. CAN'T ODD. I have been dreaming of fingerprint scanning for years now.

8 // It doesn't feel like you're taxiing around a brick at all times.

9 // The alarm clock section is void of winning titles like, "CHAI. READ FOR PSYCH 30. RUN." Psych 30, I took sophomore year of college. Run, I just don't. There's also "Watch Kristian in the Olympics!!!!" Seeing a friend win bronze in diving sure was exciting... In 2012, that is!

10 // You no longer need to squint / borrow your grandma's reading glasses to glance briefly at your texts or your notifications or a picture or at the giant crack splitting your phone in two.

All hail a new era!

Anyone else using the new iPhone and loving it like I am?
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If My BFF And I Hosted The Golden Globes...

1 // We would have Skype'd in from our beds because, well, the Golden Globes is kind of in the middle of our scheduled naptime.

2 // We would have taped the winners' envelopes under their seats, and envelopes with hella nice gift cards under everyone else's seats {I'm talkin' Taco Bell and Target} so that we could have pulled an Oprah. YOU are a winner, and YOU are a winner, and YOU are a winner too!

3 // Because then the actual awards show portion would have lasted about ten seconds maximum, and we could have pulled a switch so that confetti and chocolate Golden Globes and champagne and carbs would pour from the ceiling.

4 // Therefore, we would have moved on to the after (pajama) party!! Everyone would have had to line up single-file to Couture Check and trade in their Valentino's and Marchesa's for footsie pajamas and Snuggies. Oh, and an In-N-Out truck would have pulled up and everyone would have gone coo-coo for Double-Double's.

5 // And of course, we would have milked this gig for a lifetime. Everything we do will be preceded by a, "...from Golden Globes co-hosts and world-renowned BFFs..." Eighty years old and at the starting mark of our nursing home's annual wheelchair races: 

"...and here we have our 2015 Golden Globes co-hosts and world-renowned BFFs!"

Just y'all wait.
this is what happens when fancy gear is required. we bring the sweatpants. we always bring the sweatpants.

Disclaimer // I swear up, down, and all over the Christian Louboutin's that I probably will never have but have always dreamed about, that I wrote this before I watched the Golden Globes last night. I didn't even know that Oprah would be attending. In fact, when I heard Tina and Amy talk about looking under seats and Seth Meyers and Katie Holmes talk about gift cards, I was jumping on the couch and screaming, "but my blog poooooooost!!" Popcorn went a'flying, I tell you. Guess I'm just forever on the same page as Teen and Ames, ya feel?

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