Yesterday I had the great and glorious pleasure of getting to hang out with my friend, Princess (I am SO loving the code names. Princess and I went to middle school together in Taiwan, and now go to school only about 45 minutes away from each other. My life exists in order to prove that "it's a small world after all."
So yesterday I took Annabelle (my car) and my Google directions and headed off. I did poorly. No, I didn't just do poorly. I did
terribly I ended up lost in south central LA, which is
not the ideal place to be lost in. After much driving around and feeling horribly confused, I finally found Princess' flat.
Apparently she didn't get the memo that college students are supposed to live in run down, possibly dingy apartments. That we have roommates, and have to walk (sometimes down thousands of steps) to do our laundry. That many of us live in dorms (and enjoy it, too!). Her apartment building has a fountain in the entrance. Her flat itself has a washing machine, a dryer, and is beautiful, clean, and spacious. There is not a poster thumbtacked to the walls to be found. Things are colour-coordinated. (Well, of course they are. She doesn't have a roommate to contend with, does she?)
If I didn't adore her so much, I would be jealous. Instead I simply tease her incessantly.
We headed out to the Century City mall, and did some serious exploring. our stops included J. Crew (of course!), various make up kiosks, and Sephora. J. Crew and I are involved in a passionate love affair, which is truly dangerous. All their clothes are so PRETTY! I am in love with every single dress to ever have come off their racks (well, almost every single dress) and am reliably a size six in pretty much everything they make. You see why this is my kind of store?
I got some clothes (I don't think it can be avoided), and then we headed off for lunch. After lunch we found ourselves in Bloomingdales, heading pointedly from one make up counter to the next. Princess knows exactly what to do with make up, which products she likes, and where to get them.
I don't.
I'm a mascara-and-moisturiser kind of girl.
Sometimes I'm just a wash-my-face kind of girl.
I
define the low-maintanence look.
Except, well, all that make up stuff looked pretty fun. And I would like to be good at make up, I'm just not. (I'm quite good at stage make up, actually, but that's not so helpful for the day-to-day look.) So Princess steered me over to the Bobbi Brown counter, and after being reassured by the saleswoman that they don't test on animals, I settled myself in a chair and let her teach me.
I'm no make up artist, but I now actually own make up, which is a big step up. Even more surprising, I know how to apply it to my face. AND it only takes about 10-15 minutes to make me look like I made an effort (which, you know, I did).
Today I wore my new J. Crew
cardigan, jeans, and a white tank top (casual, right?). Then I added make up. My friend thought I was dressed up.
I felt smug.
Sophomore year, my friends Polka Dot (right), Granola (left), and I arranged to live together. It is rather unusual for sophomores to live in a triple, but we made it work quite well. We were almost never all in the room at the same time, but when we were, it was great. One of my favourite study breaks involved a beach ball, Spanish, Italian, and Chinese. The day we parted at the end of the year (I went abroad first semester, Granola and Polka Dot are abroad now), Polka Dot brought us back scones from a place in town, and we had a low-key, wonderful breakfast together. Needless to say, I miss both ladies dearly.
Then, last semester, I lived in London with a flat full of fabulous ladies. The girl on the far left of the photo below (taken in the gardens of Buckingham Palace) was my roommate. (The other girls in the photo lived in my flat too.) Again, we got along well. We bonded immediately over our dietary choices-- she's vegan and I'm vegetarian-- and just kept going from there. The whole flat really was a family, though. My roomate was the oldest daughter, the girl next to her was the twelve-year-old boy, I was the mom, and the girl on the far right was Zee, the baby. (She was the one who didn't know how to cook.) (The Dad of the family didn't come with us to Buckingham Palace.)
But despite my GREAT good fortune with roommates, I must say... my most recent roomies are certainly the quietest...! (The top picture is Piokyno and the bottom is of Bruno.)
