Family Affair

It's a rare occasion when many of my family members are all in the same place, but this past weekend a fair amount of them gathered in support of me singing in my home town. I loved spending time with my younger cousins and chatting with my grandmother, aunts and uncles. I'll see them all again soon with my upcoming graduation, but this mini family reunion was a pleasant surprise.

Picture Perfect

Through boring days, like the one I had today, I often like to think about a well known secret of mine: I'm moving! Now this move will not take place for a few more month, and I'm not sure exactly where I'm going yet, but I will be moving at the end of August nonetheless. I'm excited to start a new chapter of my life that does not involve college, or roommates and I'm ecstatic to decorate a space that is all my own. This is why today, I found great excitement in an idea from this blog. I cannot wait to create one of these walls in my own house very soon! Such a wonderful way to utilize a large wall space with many things.

The Little Things

My birthday present lent many fun and exciting adventures this past week as I travelled to Miami for an audition and some sun. Sadly, the audition did not go as I had hoped, but my boyfriend and I managed to find reasons to smile regardless. Although, being in Miami, we didn't have to search hard for those treasures. I'd never been to the city before and was blown away by it's modern beauty and beachy atmosphere. Unfortunately, a missing camera in the middle of our trip left me with little to show of the city, but I managed to find some"little things" along the way. 

(teeny-tiny shells found on Miami's South Beach)

(a birthday rose from my love)

(a miniature dulce de leche cupcake)

Birthday Cake

I've never been a flashy birthday sort of girl. While my sisters always loved parties growing up, I preferred a quiet dinner with family or friends. This year was no exception. In fact, for my 23rd year of being on this earth, I worked, attended a meeting, and ordered Chinese food with my boyfriend while we watched the NCAA tournament at my apartment. And honestly, I couldn't have been happier. My best friend however, thought it fit to make me a birthday cake nonetheless, in celebration of my existence. And in true tradition of my non-tradition, it was an unconventional, yet delicious, homemade vanilla birthday cake with raspberry-lemon filling and a white chocolate butter cream. It was so beautiful and tasty that it truly deserved an entire post. Unfortunately, I could not get her to surrender the recipe, so this is simply a treat for the eyes.

The Little Things

An unusually wet and chilly day in Florida caused many tired and grumpy faces throughout the day. And with the planned forecast for the week the same, it's nice to have reasons to keep my mood up. Plus, my birthday is less than a week away, so I have even more incentive to smile.

(my fantastic spring obsession

(an early birthday card)

(my roommate's watch, left sitting on our table)