She's a good girl, loves her mama, loves Jesus...

and America too.

I'm home! After more than 24 hours of waiting in airports, standing in long lines, and luxuriating in a 4-star Paris hotel, I survived and made it back to the States!

Regularly scheduled programming on the ol' blog from here on out.

Things I'm looking forward to now that I'm stateside:

fruits and vegetables!

my 21st birthday

Las Vegas

cuddling with Riley

exercise

Cannot wait to share all my memories! I'll be starting a new series next week so that I can share things one at a time.

Lunch on the patio

Today the weather was finally nice enough to be outside!

Paige and I dined on the patio for lunch. We had salad, carrots, and fruit.

Isn't the salad beautiful? We mixed lettuce, cucumbers, olives, banana peppers, and jalapenos, topped with salsa as dressing. SO GOOD, and even better that we were outside in the sun.

Hope everyone is having a lovely Monday!

Kendall's Graduation in Pictures

One of the things that is most endearing to me about my family is that whatever can go wrong will go wrong. Seriously, regardless of how good an Archer's karma might be or how hard you've prayed for everything to be in its right place, something bad always happens.

Kendall's high school graduation was no different.

Despite how fab she looks in all these pictures, Kendall got released from the emergency room a mere 11 hours before her graduation ceremony started (meaning only 7 hours before she had to wake up in the morning.) She woke up with horrendous food poisoning and was sick all day Thursday. She went to the ER to get all hydrated and well again, and rallied for the ceremony and her party the next day.

A true champ that one is. And doesn't she look gorg?

A few weeks ago, my mom officially put me in charge of the little family party, so being the cray-cray that I am, I went to town. I literally spent 13 hours baking the day before, and spent the morning of scrambling around decorating. Totally worth it to make my sister happy :) and I think things turned out pretty good, right? I'm considering a career in party planning at the behest of the party guests :)

Husky cupcake recipe can be found here (super easy, I promise!)

On me: Dress Rachel Roy, Ring F21, Watch Michael Kors, Shoes Target

On Kendall: Dress Single, Shoes F21 (hair and make up done by yours truly)

Scenes from Easter Weekend

This weekend was wonderful (aside from the still-going-strong sugar coma). Sometimes all I need is a little family time to get myself back on track. It was the perfect time to get some rest, refocus, and remember what's important. And it gave me a little time to work on my 15 page research paper with peace and quiet. This weekend, I...

...ate my favorite breakfast every day. Oatmeal with bananas and whole almonds and almond milk, and a cup of coffee with almond milk instead of cream. Perfection, and healthy too.

...played around with Cujo, aka my dog Riley. Doesn't she look insane in this picture?! I promise she's not! This picture is currently the background on my phone, and it makes me laugh literally every time I see it.

...went out to dinner with my cute parents. (Seriously, isn't my mom a knock out?) We went to Kristina's, my favorite Mexican restaurant in Hollister. I had a cheese enchilada, which I've been ordering there since I was probably about 7 years old. Old habits die hard, my friends.

Used Sally Hansen's awesome nail stickers. I cannot stop raving about them. They're so great that they deserve their own post. Watch for that later this week :)

I just got back to Berkeley about a half hour ago, so that means it's about time to get back to work on my paper (though I'm almost done!!!!). I'm glad I just had this time at home to keep me happy and optimistic through the next two weeks of finals madness.

Hope you all had wonderful Easter Sundays (if you celebrate) and were able to soak up some sun this weekend. :)

be well!

Forever the Sickest

Friends, I am sick. I felt a little tickle in my throat on Monday but I was able to keep the sickness at bay for the week. I somehow convinced myself that I could sweat it out (because that's sound logic, right?!), so I went hard at the gym this week. Maybe not my best idea in retrospect.

Woke up this morning barely alive. Every time I swallow it feels like there are knives sliding down my throat. Not pleasant. My nose is running like a faucet (TMI?) and my body feels weak. I'm a hot mess of a person right now. Not a pretty sight.

I always always always always always always without fail get deathly ill right before or right after finals, so I suppose I should have seen this coming. It's just my semesterly sickness. This knowledge does not make me feel any better though.

But, on the bright side (because there always is one), I'm home for the Easter weekend! Which means unlimited access to tea, toast, and cold meds. And the comfort of my own bed. And a Mommy to take care of me :)

Happy Easter! Hope you're all feeling splendid today.

There's no place like home

Things I really really really love about being home:

• Treadmill in the morning--just worked out, which is the perfect way to start my day (albeit a little late)
• A whole fridge stocked with food (most of it healthy!)
• Sleeping in my own queen sized bed
• Green grass and blue skies for miles
• Mexican food (sure, I eat a lot of Mexican food in Berkeley, too, but the Mexican food in Hollister is authentic and better)
• Mommy taking care of me when I'm sick (I swear, I get sick right before any school break. It's like my immune system says, "peace out! I'm going on vacation early")

and of course, my favorite part of being home:

snuggling with this little rascal

Hope you all have wonderful weekends! I've got some fun posts up my sleeve for next week, and I'll be back Sunday with Week 2 of my Lenten challenge.

be well!