30 x 30 Remix: My Picks!

The time has come. From October 1 - October 30, 2011, I (along with some other girls at Trinity) will be participating in my own little version of Kendi's 30 x 30 remix. (Kendi is one of our favorite bloggers - she posts her outfit daily and mixes and matches really well.)

Here's the challenge: you pick out 30 pieces of clothing and only wear those chosen pieces for 30 days, all the while avoiding shopping. It's a cool way to work with what you have. Shoes count. Workout clothes, jewelry, purses, and camis don't count. And since we live in Chicago, I'm not counting jackets/coats that I wear from my car to the classroom building. It's just too stinking cold here to make me suffer without a good jacket. Wanna see my picks? Here they are. I chose:

13 tops

3 cardigans, 1 blazer

2 skirts, 4 pants

6 shoes

1 dress 

If my math adds up correctly (which is not always the case) that all equals 30 items. My choices have told me that 1) I apparently like blue, green, and tan, and 2) I shop at target, forever21, and h&m too often. I'll be posting my weekly progress with pictures so you can see what I come up with. Hopefully I can make this work - follow along, make suggestions, and wish me luck if you'd like.

Here goes nothing! 

My Favorite Guy

Well, one of my favorite guys. There's my dad, Jerry Seinfeld, my brothers, Harrison Ford, Winston Churchill, the list goes on. But of all the guys tied for first, this little guy has got to be the cutest.

Get Up For Seconds

This weekend I revved up my little VW bug to get myself back up to Wisconsin. The normally 3 hour commute took only 2.5! (Don't tell my insurance agent that fact.) 'Twas a special occasion. My dear friend, Clara, was celebrating her wedding a second time! I stood up for her this summer as a bridesmaid for her July 2nd ceremony in Tennessee...

don't mind the apron - they had barbecue for dinner! 

..and she and her husband Dave wanted to include those family friends in Wisconsin who couldn't make the trip this summer to celebrate their new beginning. We had a nice little afternoon of friends, family, pie, more pie, chit chat, and did I mention pie? I'll just say I had pie. I'm not going to tell you how many. Could have just been 1 piece, could have been 22 pieces. You'll never know. I mean, I was there for three whole hours. I think that cerca one piece per hour is a good rule for pie intake. Seeing good friends while getting seconds on wedding fun and apple pie? Not too shabby. 

i love reunions with this one

hometown faves

Grocery Snob

Living with my friends off-campus for my senior year means figuring out my own groceries. I definitely took the cafeteria for granted my first few years. If only I had an omelette guy in my kitchen every morning! (Well, actually, that sounds a little creepy. But still, if he made omelettes, I'd let him in.) 

Now that we are buying groceries, we try to cut corners in any way possible. Trips to Aldi, coupons, preferred member cards, and generic brands are all allowing us to make it work. BUT. Don't tell anyone...I have to admit that there are just some items that I push my cart right past the generic brands for. On some stuff I've gotta have the best:

1. Cereal - Crunch Berries, Cocoa Puffs, and Apple Jacks. Marshmallow Mateys just isn't cutting it.

2. Peanut Butter - Choosey Annas choose Jif. And only Jif. Sorry FoodClub.

3. Toothpaste - I'm a little more flexible on this one. I like most brands, just PLEASE, not Aim.

4. Soda - Mountain Lightning? Seriously with that name? And a note for Mr. Pibb: I'll continue to buy Dr. Pepper until you get your Ph.D, thanks. I like my soft drinks educated.

5. Mac n' Cheese - Kraft is where it's at. I got the blues!

Now before all you thrifty Dutch moms come bash down my door with a battering ram and pitchforks in tow, there is hope for me yet. It's been done - I've been converted on shampoo.

Now, I know I've written about my shampoo before, but this is important. After all, my shampoo is one of the first things I see in the morning. I used to be an unbeliever in generic shampoo. Suave had let me down in the past. From filmy, residue-leaving conditioners to shampoos that were about as thick as water, I had nearly closed the book on Suave in general. BUT. This summer I visited my friend in Grand Rapids and had to use this brand of shampoo as a last resort. Believe me, I wasn't excited about it at first, but Suave rose to the occasion. For some reason, this (pictured) variety of Suave is AWESOME. My hair ends up so silky and shiny that you'd think I was a Pantene Pro-V commercial girl. 

Okay maybe not. But still, this stuff is good. And with ALL THAT MONEY saved on shampoo, I can afford the above mentioned groceries, right? It all balances out. Just call me Even Steven. 

(Shameless link to related old school Disney Channel show here.) 

Amateur

Sometimes writing a blog makes you think you're all hip and trendy like the rest of the young, knowledgeable, professional world. First of all, I'm not a professional (yet), and second, I am not all that knowledgeable, hip, or trendy like I might think sometimes. On the last post alone, it took me eighty years (slight exaggeration) to get the collage of pictures together, spent more time than I'd like to admit on formatting issues that wouldn't seem to work out, and kept uploading the wrong pictures. Plus, my burgeoning inner fashion blogger is not as glamorous as she looks, because my self-timer pics leave a lot to be desired. Just check out the beauties I took last week - I didn't know I took them until I uploaded them from my camera:

...SO. 

I will learn to work at the self-timer pics. Especially since you will see many more outfits documented in October due to a little blogging challenge that my friend and I are taking up for one month. (If you are curious about the challenge, check it out here. More on that later) Until the day I'm a profesh blogger, you're just going to have to cut me some slack, Jack! Maybe when that day comes I'll stop using abbrevs in my writing too. 

Actually, I PROBS won't ever stop using those. Let's be real. 

Come Together

This weekend had some great moments. For my senior year, I am living in a house with five of my best friends. You'd think as roommates that we'd see each other constantly, but with six different class, sports, work, and friend schedules, this past Friday was the first time we could all actually hang out together. And I just love togetherness.


Needless to say, it was fabulous. We hit up Naperville, a presh small city about an hour west of where we go to school. We had Mongolian grill for dinner, got our fix of Starbucks (por supuesto), browsed the cute shops, and and generally walked around aimlessly. It was a nice escape from the realities and to-do lists we had waiting back at home that needed to be checked off before Monday. Heck, even now I'm using this blog post to further prolong the commencement of my physics homework. Wouldn't you?

Things That Happened Today.

Today is September 14. It's kind of a big deal. On this day, George Frideric Handel finished the Messiah, the MLB '94 season was cancelled because of the strike, and Estonia joined the European Union. On this day, Amy Winehouse was born and Grace Kelly died. Here's what else happened today:

- I wore this outfit:

- And this ring: 

- Karley, my wonderful roommate, made this monkey bread for everyone to share:

- My 6 AM soccer practice was cancelled. Hello, extra 2 hours of sleep! 

- I had a day packed with classes and gave a presentation.

- Chipotle ran a Buy One Get One free deal for Trinity Students. I went there along with everyone else I know to cash in for some delectable tacos. DELISH!

- OH. And I got a text this morning from my mom that commemorated something else that happened on this day:

"22 years ago at 2:21 AM you made us very happy and have been doing so ever since. We love you and hope you have a great birthday."

No offense to Estonia, but I think that text was the best thing to ever happen on September 14.

Sixth Grade Stuff

This day is quite the day. It's THE day. It's September 11. And not only is it September 11, it is September 11, 2011. Ten years later. 

I know that today will be buzzing with conversations, stories, tears, and lots of memories. Everyone old enough to remember has a snapshot in their mind of what they were doing when they heard or saw the news. I do. I heard from my friend on the school bus and just assumed it was a big accident that would be sorted out by the afternoon. I figured out later that there was more to it than that. I also really understood the word "terrorism" for the first time and it completely changed the way I thought about the place I lived. 

I was in sixth grade in 2001. I was listening to "With Arms Wide Open" by Creed, "Independent Woman" by Destiny's Child, and "Hanging by a Moment" by Lifehouse. I was a tomboy through and through, complete with my long sleeve blue t-shirt from the boys section in Kohl's, jeans that were too big on my miniscule frame, and black adidas Sambas on my feet. I was all elbows and knees, finally grew out my bangs, put my hair in a ponytail everyday, and thought I was hot stuff for being out of 5th grade and into junior high. It was three days before my twelfth birthday.

Today, beyond reflecting on the horror of those attacks and remembering those affected, I am also just in AWE at the amount of change that happens in ten years. Change that happened to myself, my family, and my world in just a decade. I feel like sixth grade JUST happened. And yet, since then, I've gone through a lot: played lots of sports, written lots of diaries, traveled to new places, left Wisconsin for college, met new lifelong friends, lost a few loved ones, made a million awesome memories, and endured a couple that I wouldn't choose to repeat. I've learned to trust in Jesus as my best friend, and also struggled with times when He feels distant. I kind of want to run back to that sixth grade girl on the school bus and tell her that the next ten years are going to be amazing! And that you WILL grow taller and you WILL actually start to wear cute clothes. And that the world is a giant, exciting place - sometimes scary - but mostly wonderful. Since that day ten years ago, I am a completely different person. 

I guess the only thing that hasn't changed is the fact that those Sambas are still on my feet.

Graceful

Friday, September 9, began in classic Anna fashion. Soccer practice ended around 7:30 this morning, and so I sat down on the field to take off my cleats. Problem: it rained last night. My shorts were soaking wet. I then got into my car to drive to the house for a shower before class...which of course caused my driver's seat to be soaking wet due to the wet soccer shorts. After a half hour, it was time to go to class and I got back into my car to drive to school, fully dressed. And, of course, now the back of my jeans are soaking wet.

No, fellow Physics 101 students, I don't have an incontinence problem, I'm just a litttle out of it. 

Hello, weekend!

JV

Okay, I'm going to let you in on something about Trinity Christian College, a school in the South Suburbs of Chicago. The best part about it is the JV Women's Soccer Team. I'm a list-er. So here is my list of...

Top Ten Reasons Why I Love the JV Soccer Team. 

1. We're Trinity's best kept secret. Most people don't know we exist. Varsity is kind of a big deal around here, but we play in stealth mode, like we're in an elite club. Like fightclub. First rule about JV, you do not talk about JV. Second rule about JV, you DO NOT TALK about JV! Just kidding. But seriously.

2. One of my best friends, THE Susan Blocker, is a co-captain with me. She wakes me up for practice basically erry morning and without her on the team I would not function very well.

3. Road Trips. We pile 20 girls into two big vans to get to our games. It smells pretty gross, but I gotta say we ride in style.

4. 6 AM practices. We wake up at 5 AM. Run around in the dark on a freezing wet field. Spot constellations as we do our warmups - Orion's Belt is a crowd favorite. Don't you want to join?

5. No off-season commitment. How many of you people can say you play a college sport, only have to show up for two months, and then you're off for the next ten? I can.

6. The defense. I mean, no offense to the offense. But the defense has just got it going on. The aforementioned Susan (see #2) is part of this beautiful foursome.

7. The gear. All that adidas paraphernalia has me looking fly!

8. The ball stretch. (Pictured above). You stretch out your calves by propping up a ball between however many girls you can fit around a ball. And believe me, we can get quite a few.

9. The girls. Who knew that such cool people went to Trinity? I've met some really hilarious and ridiculous teammates in my time on the team. One who got the flu at halftime, finished the game, but then proceeded to vomit the whole ride home, once out the van window. One who skipped the final game of our season because she had a hair appointment. One who had me smuggle cereal out of the caf for her breakfast every morning after practice. Of course, I could go on.

10. OH. We also play soccer! Playing soccer is fun too.

Best of Summer. Oh-eleven.

So I was sitting in my Physics lab, pondering how my summer flew past me. It was definitely a crazy transition from Spain back to the States, and then into my house in Palos Heights to live and work. It was yet another movement toward independence. No more jeopardy sessions on the couch while my mom cooks me some (delish) dinner. But it was a good summer nonetheless. And I think I'm going to miss it. So I wrote down my faves. The Best of Summer 2011.

Best Movie: Bridesmaids. HILARIOUS. I must confess that I usually don't find female comedies to be all that funny. But this little number is tops.

Best Drink: A champagne mimosa toast on the morning of my brother and his girlfriend's graduation from Yale Law School. Pretty surreal.

Best Purchase: This one is a tie. The first, my iPhone. I know that material possessions aren't supposed to bring you happiness, but the exception is found in the iPhone. Say what you will, it just gives me joy. The second, plane tickets to LAX to visit my friends in California that I met in Spain. The anticipation is killing me!

Best Dressed: A random old dude walking the streets of Grand Rapids, Michigan that I encountered whilst on a visit to my high school friends. Trucker/Grandpa hat, no shirt, cutoff jorts*, beer belly, high white socks, and white reeboks. Dancing by himself.

Best Road Trip: A 10-hour drive south on I-65 to Tennessee. We (Nicole and I) went for the cherry limeades at Sonic. OH, and to stand up in my friend Clara's wedding. That too. A word of advice to the state of Indiana: get more interesting. Thanks.

Best Ride: My beautiful dark gray Volkswagen Beetle. Her name is Remy, short for Remington Steele. There's a Pierce Brosnan throwback for you.

Best Moments of Personal Growth: I killed a centipede. And then a spider. And then another of each. Our house has these creatures roaming free and I have had to put on my big girl pants and deal with it, sans crying.

Best Summer Job: Nannying for a family about a half hour away from Palos Heights. A 3 year old girl and 6 month old boy. Wait. Hold up. Spit up/vomit all over your clothes every day, changing diapers, and daily Mickey Mouse Clubhouse sessions don't sound like a good time to you? You just had to be there. It was AWESOME.

This list could've been eight times as long with just as many "best of" moments along with it. But I digress. It's time to make like Dashboard Confessional and say: So long, sweet summer.

my pride and joy

*jean shorts. classy.