color crush: spa blue & chocolate

this week's color crush is inspired by my weekend trip...

i met up with a friend at the hotel hershey spa!

it was a perfect mini vacation...

much needed girl talk.

delicious chocolate.

relaxing massage & pedicure.

{shimera waffle cotton robe via nordstrom, essie polish in sweet talker, philosophy footnotes pedicure treatment}
{philosophy chocolate frosting shower gel, essie polish in mink muffs}

now back to reality...hello monday.

we are...

...penn state!

last weekend i tailgated and went to the game with my friend laurie
[who got us tickets with the comfy seats! i felt like royalty :)]

it always amazes me how much energy is in that stadium.
...the school pride, the hope & anticipation, the sheer joy when we score...
it's contagious.

an older woman next to us actually made a blue & white rosary.
she prayed the entire game...amazing dedication.
[she also yelled louder than anyone in our section,
so she was both sweet & a little scary at times!]

it was fun to be back in the stadium, seeing joepa, and cheering on the lions :)

arts fest

last weekend was arts fest and our town was taken over

by 125,000 artists, visiting alumni, and friends.

all weekend, the skies were bright blue and

filled with fluffy white clouds and colorful flags.

the streets were lined with beautiful, unique art.

people went from shopping to staying cool under the refreshing water buckets.

you could hear the musicians playing all day

while people snacked on delicious creamery ice cream and carnival food.

 

 

 

 

 

my friend jenn and i walked around all day, visiting each booth and admiring

the jewelry, pottery, clothes, photography, and other pretty art.

we did indulge in some yummy french fries and lemonade...which were de.lic.ious.

it was such a fun weekend!

...but part of me is happy that campus has returned back to normal :)

irish film festival

i went downtown today

to check out the movie "ondine"

at the irish film festival.

we were welcomed by some

live traditional irish music.

then right before the movie

there was an audience sing-a-long

to "oh danny boy"...

how perfect is that?

saturday morning

 

i've been spending way too much time on the computer lately [surprise, surprise], so this morning i decided to take a break from technology.  i put on some music, made a cup of peppermint tea, and painted my nails...then i flipped through some wonderfully mindless gossip magazines [a perfect saturday morning, i think].

my mom got me the prettiest red nail polish for my birthday.  and guess what it is called??  ali's big break!!  how perfect is that?

so i'm back on the computer for the rest of the day to work [and to procrastinate on facebook, flickr, and blogs], but at least i took a little break from technology...

...and now i get to rock pretty red nails while i type :)

happy halloween

[see larger photo and poem on flickr]

halloween is always one of my favorite times of year...colorful trees, cool crisp nights, dancing leaves, warm sweaters, hot cider, pumpkins...and of course, lots of candy :)

i didn't get a chance to dress-up this weekend, but i definitely saw a lot of costumes downtown!  there were many jersey-shore characters, tiger woods [complete with mistresses on each arm], and then the tight, short, skin-revealing costumes that the undergrad girls bravely wear while shivering in the 40-degree temperatures.

i had fun listening to some bands on friday night and going to my brother's tailgate on saturday.  then penn state shocked us all with a 41-31 win over michigan!  so it was quite the fun-filled weekend and a much needed break from school work and grading midterms :)

hope you had a great halloween too!

happy homecoming

this weekend was homecoming, and boy was the town crazy busy!  i took a little break from work to hang out with some friends :) definitely had some fun...

• watching the parade [while we waited in line for over an hour to get into cafe 210...crazy lines]
• reuniting with friends from undergrad
• dancing and singing to JR/james and spider kelly [so.much.fun]
• getting my picture with ian rosenberger [sort of a local celebrity...former psu student president and survivor palau contestant...& both of us have these awkward poses, which makes me love this pic even more]

although we had a great time, i can't seem to handle the late nights like i used to!  so i'm looking forward to getting some extra sleep tonight :)

perfect recipe

after a very rough week, there is nothing quite like some quality time with family and friends...sipping cosmos and talking with my mom, snuggling with my puppy, and hearing one of my favorite little people attempt to play the piano.

this is the perfect recipe for a change of heart :)

so bring it on monday...i'm recharged and ready for whatever you've got.

who's greg?

laurie & lindsay came into town last weekend and we headed over to saloon happies to party like it was 2004.  senior year we would always go to saloon happies to see our favorite band, steve & todd [they rocked].  unfortunately, steve left, so we were just expecting to enjoy some todd-only tunes.

then we saw the saloon sign...todd & greg?  who's greg?

we got our miller light pitcher and gave this greg a chance to win us over.  at first i was hopeful...he had some fun banter, like how steve used to be.  then he played a remake of TLC...no scrubs [yes, this song].  no offense to TLC, loved them back in highschool...but at saloon happies, sung slowly by this guy?  not so much.

thank gosh for todd, because as we shouted out our favorite songs from years ago, he played them all.  it was awesome :)  the gambler, hey hey, signs, the joker, ring of fire, 500 miles...amazing.

so maybe we'll give this greg another shot...but he's got to pick some better songs...

sandpiper-ing

[see larger image on flickr]

this week was a lot of running back and forth from campus to home, to meetings, to the lab, to classes, and to downtown.  i've felt like a little sandpiper, flitting around quickly to the ebbs and flows of a student's life...occasionally sticking my head in the sand for sleep and tv [yeay for gossip girl being back].

but it's finally the weekend...which means i can just sit back and enjoy the view [while grading papers and reading of course :)]

rewind/replay

i finally made it my old undergrad hang-out with my dear old undergrad friend, andy.

back in the day [a phrase like that is the first sign that i'm an old grad student], there was nothing quite like drinking miller light out of plastic cups on the outside patio of cafe 210 enjoying the summer night...just talking, laughing, and relaxing.

who says you can't hit rewind and replay those great moments every once in awhile?  ...so that's what andy and i did.  and although we're a tad more jaded and can't quite relate to the undergrads anymore [they are so young!], it was still wonderfully relaxing and just as i remembered it :)

sunday morning

 

oh how i've missed you, daily collegian crossword puzzle...

farmers market

thank gosh for laurie, who texted me late friday afternoon to see if i made it to the farmers market downtown.  i had completely forgotten!  so i quickly ran down to locust lane and got some delicious fresh peaches.

in undergrad, laurie & i used to live right off of locust lane and would stop by the market every friday for flowers and produce.  it still looks the same as it did back then.  same sign.  same stands filled with fresh flowers, herbs, fruit, veggies, and pie.  same street crowded with students excited for the weekend to begin.

it's nice that some things don't change.