Then and Now: Katie Holmes.

My immune system is pretty much shot - this terrible stomach bug went around campus, and of course, I caught it, and had a rough twelve hours.
Since the beds in our dorm are bunked for extra space, and I'm on the top bunk, I decided to man the couch and watch numerous hours of Dawson's Creek to occupy my time. Dawson's Creek has the ability to take me back to when I was younger - when I wasn't allowed to watch Dawson's Creek because my mom heard terrible things about it (the rule was barely enforced because I had a TV in my room from second grade on). I remember always wanting to talk like they did - they sounded way too adult for sophomores in high school, seriously they had the most intense vocabulary of anyone I have ever encountered. I also thought it was so cool that Dawson had a ladder to his room that Joey could just climb up and hang out with him without ever using a front door.
While I was watching, I could not get over the transformation Katie Holmes has undergone from her days on Creek, to now, with her Broadway career and marriage to Tom Cruise. She was always a gorgeous girl, but her transformation from a girl next door to an unbelievably sophisticated woman just blew my mind.
















I know her face looks pretty much the same, but doesn't it almost look like it could be just a completely different person?!
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone ♥



All images from Google Images.

About Moi.

So, I was tagged on Facebook by a friend to fill out this "25 Random Things" note... I vetoed the idea of doing it on Facebook - (I hate having to tag people in notes!) so I figured on my lazy Wednesday afternoon (since classes were canceled due to the massive amounts of snow!) , I would take advantage to think of 25 random facts about myself.
According to the "Facebook rules" of doing this, I'm supposed to tag 25 people that I want to know more about...honestly, I doubt that 25 different people are even reading my blog, so that would be impossible, AND I want to know more about all of you who do read this :) So it's an open invitation...

25 Random Facts About Moi:

1. I have seen every episode of Sex and the City at least 4 times (because I own all the seasons).




2. My best friend at college is studying abroad in Alicante, Spain and I miss her terribly. It's hard not having someone I can tell absolutely everything to!



3. Death Cab for Cutie's song "Transatlanticism" always makes me feel sad, and usually makes me cry. It also always comes on shuffle on my iPod at the worst times - as in, when I was driving to my cousin's funeral this summer, a fight with a friend, or at the anniversary of when my biological father died (listen to it, it's so sad).




4. The Melting Pot is my favorite restaurant ever. I am such a huge fondue fan, and definitely would recommend it highly (though you need a good 2-3 hours to eat there!).




5. I've been snowboarding since I was 10 years old, and it's my favorite winter activity. As much as I hate the cold weather, I don't know if I would want to leave the East Coast because I can drive an hour and be at the mountain to snowboard!






6. I am a coffee fiend. When I started private school in 7th grade, my dad used to bribe me - if I was on time (which was rare - hence the bribe) he would take me to Starbucks and I could get whatever I wanted. He wishes that he never made that bribe because from 7th grade to mid-11th grade when I got my license, we hit Starbucks almost every single morning (caramel macchiatos are my favorite - especially since you can get them iced and hot!).





7. Even though I am a coffee addict, I am also unbelievably cautious about my teeth, and keeping them healthy and white.



8. I always bring a book or magazine with me to the gym when I work out. It just kind of helps the time to go by and I use it to make goals...like, "I'll read ten chapters in this book, and then move on to another machine."



9. Reality television is the best way for me to relax...I love curling up and watching Top Chef, Project Runway, Survivor or The Bachelor.


10. When I get old, I want to be just like Sophia from Golden Girls. She's a kick.






11. My middle name is my mom's maiden name, and that used to embarrass me, so I would lie and make up a new middle name. During 8th grade graduation, they called "Allison Heather" (which is 100% not my middle name), and my mom cried because she was so sad I was ashamed of her family name.



12. My high school could have rivaled that of Laguna Beach in terms of drama. There was also SOMETHING going on, and since it was a tiny private school, everyone knew about it by lunch.




13. Also in high school, there were no assigned parking lots. So when we were all seniors, the juniors would park in the front row spots, making the rest of us park in the back, which was a drag. So I went online, copied the school's symbol, and forged an entire letter which I left in the lockers of every single junior (which was like 30), "signed" by the principal saying that the two front rows of spots were reserved for seniors only. The next day when we all arrived at school, every front row spot was empty.
The principal found out about it, but he never found it was me who orchestrated it.



14. I eat children's gummy vitamins. They are so delicious.





15. At some point of my day, I eat wheat toast with grape jelly.




16. My 21st birthday is on Tuesday, and I have no idea what to wear! (Any ideas?)



17. I absolutely love to read. Anything by Chuck Palahniuk is just perfection to me. Really, I'm a big nerd at heart.




18. I get extremely angry when I see issues of injustice going on, and I know I can't do a thing to stop it.



19. I have an unbelievable amount of faith in President Obama.




20. Receiving letters in the mail makes me so happy, and it rarely happens, so I treasure the ones I receive from family and friends.


21. I didn't think that coming up with 25 things about myself would be so difficult!



22. I love kids, and can't wait to have some and adopt! (Well, I can wait, but I'm just looking forward to it). I guess that's good since I'm going into teaching...



23. I hate seafood, but I love sushi and seared Ahi tuna. All my friends think that is just the weirdest thing ever.




24. Currently, I'm on my fourth phone of the year (actually now that I think of it, more like from Feb. '08 til now)... one of my phones was left in NYC, my next phone had this weird glitch where it would call random numbers, the next I dropped in a glass of white wine at a family party. I'm terrible with phones (but luckily I have insurance on them, so I don't usually have to pay anything for a new one!).



25. Running is my favorite form of exercise. I love running in the summer, at around 7:30 p.m. when it's still light out and I know I have at least a good hour and a half to just run all my frustrations and stress out of my system. I'm training for the marathon next September!


Well, if you actually read all of those, thank you - I'm hugely impressed :)
And I hope that some of you will do this post too...I love learning new things about people ♥

And, I hope I didn't bore you too much!



Photos on number 5, 22, and 24 are mine. The rest are courtesy of Google Images.

SAG Awards Favorites

So I'm slightly behind on this post, school work has just been getting the best of me!
I tuned in to some of the SAG awards, mainly E's coverage of the red carpet beforehand. I was highly impressed by the looks that I saw the celebs wearing - more so than the Golden Globes, to be completely honest. There were some misses (thanks Mickey Rourke), but honestly, I thought the majority of dresses I viewed were absolutely stunning.

Amy Adams in Giambattista Valli:


Claire Danes in Nina Ricci:


Freida Pinto in Marchesa:


January Jones in Andrew Gn:


Katie Holmes in Jil Sander:


Kyra Sedgwick in Vintage Chanel, Kevin Bacon in Calvin Klein and their daughter Sophie:


Laura Linney in Michael Kors:


Angelina Jolie in Max Azria and Brad Pitt in Tom Ford:


Olivia Wilde in Ralph Lauren (which I like a lot more than her Golden Globes dress!):


Robin Wright Penn in Dolce & Gabbana, Sean Penn in Armani:


Tina Fey in Brian Reyes:


Viola Davis in David Meister:


What did you all think of the SAG awards fashion? Any favorites (or least favorites!).

Oh, and thank you all for your sweet words, and encouragement in my roommate issues - everything has been so much better so far! And I'll definitely work on staying more on top of blogging.

All images courtesy of Style.com

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff.

On Friday, I left my unbelievably tense dorm room for a night with my favorite second family, the O's. Why were things so tense? Honestly, I wish I knew. My roommate and I have been having our ups and downs all year - we're two very different people, with two very different backgrounds, goals, and lifestyles, which obviously has been waring us thin. She's more of a recluse, while I have been enjoying meeting new people this year, and developing new friendships with girls on our hall especially. My roommate has absolutely no desire to branch out and meet new people, and also does not feel that she needs to be polite or nice to anyone she does not feel like pursuing a relationship with. So she's been horribly rude to my other friends - ignoring them when they come to hang out (and justifying it to herself by saying she does not need to speak to people she has no desire to pursue a relationship with), and completely isolating herself from anything we are all doing - then blowing up at me for not spending time with her.

Since my 21st birthday is coming up, I wanted to go out and do something with all my friends and not have to worry about some of them being underage. So I decided what I wanted to do was head to P.F. Chang's with a group of my 16 closest friends, where I could order some fun drinks, and my underage friends could drive after, and still sit and have a fun time. When I told A about this (or actually when she got the Facebook invite), she blew up, snapping that she hates P.F. Chang's because she hates Chinese food (though she's never tried it), so why would I have my birthday there?

So needless to say, the tension has just been escalating. I was so thankful that I had already made plans to spend last night with dear friends who knew (and still loved me) during my most awkward phases, and rebellious phases. They're a wonderful married couple who were my youth leaders from back in Jersey about five or six years ago, who actually moved to PA - only 20 minutes from my college! So I go there quite often to do laundry, hang out, and just unwind from the pressures of school. We always go out to dinner and then J (the wife, who I am unbelievably close to) and I will rent a movie, or go out and shop.

After delicious sushi last night, J and I headed to the movie theater to see Bride Wars at 7:35. Unfortuantely, we had read the times wrong, and Bride Wars started at 7:20, but was sold out anyway. She and I ended up seeing Slumdog Millionaire instead, and I am so, so happy that it ended up that way.




I was gripped by Slumdog Millionaire the minute the movie started, and found myself on edge the entire time. Not only was Anwar from Skins (one of my favorite television shows) the main character, but the story was perfect, the cinematography incredible - the use of color and movement was powerful. I would recommend this movie to absolutely anyone - it's amazing, and my new favorite movie. So if you have some spare time this weekend (or in the upcoming weeks) I would highly suggest watching Slumdog Millionaire. My next task is going to be to read the book, which my mom assures me is just as good as the movie. I firmly believe that this movie deserved to win every award it was given at the Golden Globes, and am excited to see how it will do at the Oscars! :)

Coming out of such a powerful movie, and witnessing some of the things that went on in it, I felt guilty for bitching and moaning about my petty situation with my roommate. It's funny how such trivial things can set us off sometimes, when there are so many worse things going on in the world. I definitely know I need to work on my perspective, and not sweat the small stuff!

I just needed an outlet - this seemed like the easiest way for now, so thank you for indulging me!

Have any of you seen Slumdog Millionaire? Thoughts?

I hope all of you had amazing weekends, with absolutely zero stress :)

Passing Geometry.

Nothing too exciting is going on in my life right now, so I began looking for inspiration on Style.com for something to write about!
I always look at the current trends, to see what I like/dislike and what I think I can actually pull off! While looking today, I became especially fascinated with all the geometric prints that the designers are putting down the runway. The style is striking, bold, and unexpected. Bigger is better!
I absolutely appreciate the hard work and tailoring that had to go into making these pieces. The design is fantastic, and each designer added a little something to call it their own. So love it, hate it, these were some of my favorite designs. This is not fashion for the faint of heart :)

Comme des Garçons:


Dolce & Gabbana:


Giambattista Valli:


Salvatore Ferragamo:


Andy & Debb:


Christian Lacroix:


Marchesa:


Oscar de la Renta:


Stella McCartney:


Alexander McQueen:


Erdem:


So do you love it, or hate it? And, do you have any favorites?

P.S. Can you believe it's already been 1 year since Heath Ledger died? :(


All images from Style.com