It’s hard not to be sentimental when you’re two weeks away from graduating college. The chances of me going back to school are slim-to-none. So a strange reality has started to soak in: I’m not about to get out of school and have that summer fling, job, fun, etc. for 3 months and then get right back to it. No, that was just my life for the past 21 years (except the first few, and who can remember those anyways?)
So here’s a pictorial glimpse of my last 4 years:
Pepperdine and Tri-Delta
Fulfilling L.A. dreams…the Marilyn Monroe obsession continues.
My first Disneyland trip.
Songfest with my big sis, aka my obsession.
Presents.
Pepperdine summer reunions :)
My MaMa.
Before abroad.
Buenos Aires.
Our first hostel: Mendoza, Argentina.
Jujuy, Argentina.
Salta, Argentina.
Uruguay.
Chile.
On the way to the life-changing Beyonce concert.
Patagonia.
The most epic spring break: Brazil.
Juan, my homestay dad.
After abroad: reunions and first meetings.
Kamille’s Wedding.
Texas to California road trip.
Our first apartment :)
Beach and my little :)
Christmas with the family.
Limo Exhaustion.
B.A. reunion mischievousness.
My main man.
Vegas.
My Nordstrom girls.
Recruitment 2011: my baby.
Wonderwoman and Superman.
My loves!
My two best friends.
My last formal.
Shanna’s engaged!
Me, a theater groupie, and my main dudes.
Even though I’ve seen Titanic in classic 2D countless times, there was no way I wasn’t going to see it in 3D…sixteen dollars, sixteen shmollars. AND it was Kevin’s first time to see it.
How anyone in the world hasn’t seen Titanic is beyond me. Also, how I wept even though it was my umpteenth viewing is also beyond me.
Titanic was a truly tragic event, but I can’t help but wonder if the world would still be so fascinated by the Titanic if James Cameron hadn’t made this film in utter perfection like he did. Even though Avatar technically holds the #1 spot for highest-grossing movies of all time and Titanic comes in second (see box office adjustments for inflation here—Gone with the Wind is first and Titanic comes before Avatar), Titanic shaped culture probably a million times more.
First, we’ve got the Celine Dion song. (Which Kate Winslet hates by the way.) The song is only sung once in the whole movie…when the credits roll. It went on to be Celine Dion’s biggest hit, certified gold, and #1 for 10 weeks on Billboard. Remember how they actually played the version on the radio that was interspersed with lines from the movie? Upon reflection, how bazaar was that!
Then, we’ve got Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Not only were they extremely attractive and talented when the movie came out 15 years ago, but they’ve only gotten better with age in both categories. And we all know that that is not usually case with young actors who experience crazy stardom…
Also, after Titanic, we had all the made for TV movies about the Titanic with slightly different plot lines and characters.
And who can forget Britney Spear’s “Oops I Did It Again.” Famous for many reasons alone, she also refers to the diamond necklace in it! (At the time, I thought she was such a baller for that part, but then again I was 10 and also thought the old lady in the movie was actually Rose and the movie was a partial documentary.)
But to conclude, Titanic will forever be considered a classic love story. However, after classic love stories like this, along with Romeo & Juliet, Cleopatra & Marc Antony, Lancelot & Guinevere, etc., etc., I’m patiently awaiting a classic love story where one of the lovers doesn’t die.
“Come into the peace of Wild Things” - Wendell Berry
Came out over a year ago now,
Parents told me get out the house,
Good luck out the closet. Mom blamed
It on the X, the generation or the drugs
I don’t know which. Moved in with
Some friends who didn’t care, started
Dressing in black, stopped
Washing my hair. Grew out my nails
And let the dirt linger there.
My room was night, thin papers
Echoed across the floor, tubes
And contraptions scattered
Along the floorboards. And again
I summoned the blue-orange flame.
I smelled a rotting corpse inside my head.
It was Kurt Cobain, but he told me
He wasn’t dead. His voice droned:
A mosquito, a mulatto, an albino, my libido.
Anarchy and apathy, twins birthed
From vanity, distortion of truth,
And punk rock on a full moon.
The reluctant King of the outcast teens
Said, “Why ask why?” Or was it,
“Why don’t you ask why?”
Never mind—he reeked of deodorant.
Euphoria clutched my abdomen,
But I could still hear him
As a whir, a vibration at my fingertips,
The sun is gone, but I have a light.
-Kendall Alexander
Some days I cork my dreams with turquoise and let them wallow in gold.
Last night, my best friends and I got all dolled up for my sorority formal. After an arduous night of dancing and indulging in Prohibition era-like activities, my best friend Sara and I ditched our little black dresses for a couple of aprons the next morning.
Obviously, a quiche was in order. But when you wake up with your tummy rumbling, it’s best to opt for mini-quiches, a quick, easy, and still delicious alternative to your standard quiche.
First, preheat the oven at 350 degrees. Dice up ham and green onion. Second, mix six eggs, a cup of whole milk, and some salt and pepper.
Then, we used a wine glass to cut out perfect, miniature dough circles to place in a heavily Pammed mini muffin sheet.
Allot ham and green onions to each quiche.
Then we used a small ice cream scoop to dish out the egg mixture proportionately. Finally, top with grated cheese.
Less than twelve minutes later (just keep an eye on them), and voilà! you have a tasty French treat.
While the quiches were baking in the oven, we decided to dice up a few russet potatoes and lightly pan fry them with olive oil as a healthier hash brown alternative. Don’t forget to top them with salt and pepper!
With the leftover dough, we whipped up a free-form pastry. Roll out the dough and slather a heaping helping of butter, cinnamon-sugar, and then fold up the sides of the dough. Melt some butter (you just can’t go wrong with Paula Deen’s favorite) and drizzle it on top and sprinkle with more cinnamon-sugar. Bake on the second shelf of the oven while your quiches bake and keep it in until your finished eating.
Breakfast or brunch, bon appétit!
Marilyn Monroe
[video]
It is a well known fact that the generation you grow up in affects the way you think and act.
But somedays,
I picket women’s rights like in 1917;
I shock society by sipping on moonshine in a short skirt at a Gatsby-esque party;
I fight to survive with the strength of a woman in the 1930s;
I cry for the injustice of the world and the heroes who saved them;
I strive for a perfect meal and immaculate house with the persistence of a woman in the 1950s;
I preach love and peace with the fervor of a counter-cultural, social revolutionary;
I relish the feeling of the wind in my hair and the grass beneath my feet like only a 1970s hippie can;
and some days, I’m a Material Girl wearing neon and big hair.
Other than that, I was born in 1990.