~ the good days ~

During the holidays (which I consider to be from thanksgiving to new year's eve) the days may be short, but I try to make them as fun as possible.  On friday I finished the semester with a very, very easy final exam, following three very, very difficult ones, and decided to celebrate with lunch in town and a visit to the Victorian Christmas in Thomasville...

After seeing this Humans of New York photo, I went back inside and put on a hat:

"I'm the lead designer for Stetson hats. I've never met someone as crazy about hats as me. My goal in life is for everyone to understand that there is a hat out there for them. I'm not even selling hats. I'm selling romance."

Next time you go to the Bread and Roses Kitchen, make sure you get the tofu bahn mi.  SO good.

Downtown Thomasville is even prettier at night.

What a great start to the winter holiday!

xoxo,

Eliza

~ sick day ~

They say you're not a true Floridian until you've had to cancel a day's worth of plans because of horrible allergies.  Actually I'm not sure if anyone has ever said that, but I like to think that a day's worth of canceled plans have a bit of positivity in it.  So for my sake, let's just pretend that someone, somewhere has said that at some point.

{my nurse - and before anyone mentions it, that is my arm.  blame the angle}

Alright, moving on!

Because I'm currently snuggled up in bed with a box of Kleenex and feeling very sorry for myself, I'm going to look back to two days ago when I had just finished my last final exam and was enjoying a great lunch with my mom and sister.....

{Old Navy pants, Gap top, H&M scarf, Gap shoes}

{celebrating the end of finals with a little library downtime}

{veggie burger from Voodoo Dog - if you haven't been already, I'd get on that, ASAP!}

{returning home from a girl's day and being welcomed by the hydrangeas}

I'd post more, but I have a cup of tea that won't fix itself.  And I really can't keep my pity party waiting any longer.

xoxo,

Eliza

~ finals week ~

In the midst of finals week, I vowed to find happiness in small moments.  The past two days have cooperated and given me lots of little things to be happy about!

• My morning was sunny and bright

•  I finished my final project for photography class - a book of 20 photographs with a common theme.  More on that later!

• Starbucks and I color coordinated

• I got a haircut.  Warmer weather calls for shorter hair!

• My favorite color became obvious

• I found some old photos.  Sometimes I miss the simple days...

• And I also found some very good advice.

One more final to go and I am DONE.  Summer will be here before we know it!  Have a wonderful rest of the week.

xoxo,

Eliza

~ weekend happenings ~

This weekend the Florida weather lived up to the whole "April showers" thing.  It drizzled ALL DAY on Saturday, but we grabbed the umbrellas and forged ahead with our plans anyway!

Saturday afternoon we went to the wildlife festival at Wakulla Springs to view the exhibits, listen to good music, and tour the beautiful lodge.

{Gap jeans, Gap shoes, target coat, target bag, RL shirt via Goodwill, vintage silk flower}

My hair inspiration:

After going to the festival, we stopped by a thrift store and I found two AMAZING vintage coats.

{1950s coat heaven}

On Sunday, we went to an art festival downtown.  It wasn't raining but it was pretty cloudy and gloomy.  We still had a great time!

I finished the day with matzo pizza and studying for my Anthropology final.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  And for those of us with finals this week and next, just remember that summer is right around the corner.  We can do it!

xoxo,

Eliza

~ the final frontier ~

Now that the weather has taken a turn towards cooler temperatures and studying has taken over my life, I'm suddenly inspired to wear all of my favorite skirts. Twirling through the aisles at the grocery store makes up for freezing my buns off!

I'll be enormously happy when finals are over and the haze of sleep deprivation has left me!  But until then, here are some small things I've been doing to help combat the studying blues...try them out!

01.  enjoying some vegan egg nog


02.  taking a five minute music break every half hour or so.  I've been alternating between Frank Sinatra and Haim


03.  taking time to stretch out and practice my yoga breathing


04.  remembering that I have frozen cookie dough, eating half of it and then baking the rest


05.  making friends with the floor - 5 minutes naps are currently keeping me sane


06. And finally, taking advice from Mr. Gosling:

So study hard, try your best, and hope the academic gods are smiling upon you!

xoxo,

Eliza