all hallow's eve

Happy Halloween!

My favorite day of the year is finally here.

Not that I need Halloween as an excuse to gorge myself on candy and dress up and run around

(I do those things practically professionally anyway)

but I do love that Halloween guarantees that other people will be doing the same!

This weekend my friends and I celebrated

and celebrated

and celebrated

and the festivities continue tonight!

On Friday night, Kate and I dressed as playboy bunnies (complete with our own Hef, naturally) because after all,

"In Girl World, Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it."

Gotta love Mean Girls logic.

Anyway, hope you all have a very safe and very fun Halloween tonight!

my mom is the cutest.

last week my mom came up for lunch.

we had delicious sushi and went shopping

and chatted about life.

my mom gives the best advice ever

and always provides me with rational insight about things going on in my life.

last week i got a card in the mail thanking me for having her for lunch.

even though she's the one who drove 1.5 hours to see me for just 2 hours.

once again, she's the best.

the card was especially poignant for me at this point in my life.

the front reads:

peace.

it does not mean to be in a place

where there is no noise, trouble

or hard work. it means to be in

the midst of those things and still

be calm in your heart.

-unknown

such powerful words.

rarely am i in a place where nothing is going wrong,

but that doesn't mean i can't be happy.

i love my mom.

thank you so much for coming up last week!

i love you.

ps shout out to my very best friend on earth MORGAN who just started her own blog and is now reading mine :)

lucky i'm in love with my best friend.

jasmine's boyfriend is in the air force, stationed in japan

so sadly he wasn't around to help her celebrate her birthday this week.

lucky for me, though,

nick is a very generous boyf

and gave jazzy two tickets to

colbie caillat

in concert.

jazzy brought me along as her date.

we had sushi for dinner

at sushi hana in the tenderloin in san francisco.

if you're not familiar with the city,

the tenderloin is the hood.

i used to work near there, so i knew there were good restaurants.

we stumbled upon sushi hana sort of randomly

and loved.loved.loved. it.

we had chardonnay with our gyozo appetizer

and i had the to heaven roll while jazzy enjoyed the van ness roll.

so bomb. i recommend it if you ever find yourself hoodin' in sf.

the concert was at the regency ballroom

which is an incredible venue.

the opening act was andy grammer.

i didn't think i knew him

until he sang this song

and i fell absolutely in love.

he's tremendously talented and not so bad to look at.

then colbie came on.

oh.em.gee.

that girl.

she's flawlessly and effortlessly beautiful in a way that is so typically californian.

and she is absolutely incredible live!

if ever you are presented with the chance to see her i say

DO IT.

such a good night with one of my very best friends!

happy friday!

it's all worth it

i'm a major proponent of public education.

i've actually decided to devote my life and career to figuring out ways to fix it.

the most effective way i've found thus far to ease the troubles our public education system faces is by working with kids one-on-one. i participate in a mentorship program through my university, and so for the past year i've been mentoring a little girl named monica.

monica attends a school in a very rough area of oakland. the school is surrounded by dilapidated houses and dangerous looking people in the streets. but the school is incredible. the teachers and administrators put so much effort into changing the lives of their students. it inspires me to challenge myself to be better and put forth more of myself to help.

monica is so fun and i absolutely love working with her. she was very shy at first but after a few visits she warmed up to me. in the beginning i would help her with her reading (because english is not her first language) and math, but now she's acing tests and doing incredibly well.

this afternoon, i was swinging on the swingset with monica and she turns to me and says

"jordan, now i wanna go to college!"

that's what it's all about. that's why i devote the hours i do

and that's why i can't stop smiling now.

it only takes a spark.

Happy Birthday Jasmine!

today is my best friend Jasmine's 21st birthday!

this day officially rounds out the fab four--we're all of legal age!

which means fun.fun.fun.

all the time.

jazz is the most fun person i know

and i am so excited to celebrate her day with her!

we hit kips last night

and tonight we bar crawl!

senior year lessons

(once again, i suck at blogging. should i preface every post with this disclaimer? maybe one day i'll commit to doing this thang regularly. probably not though)

it's october 10

which means the first semester of senior year is about halfway over

normally i'm very much a glass-half-full kinda person

but in the case of the end of college rapidly approaching

i'm having a very hard time being positive.

how will i ever say goodbye to the best four years of my life?

so i'm trying to challenge myself to savor every last moment.

i'm compiling a list of lessons i've learned so far this year

so that next year when i'm a real life grown up

i'll be able to appreciate everything college has taught me outside the classroom

here it goes

Jordan's Senior Year Lessons,

Volume 1

1. there is never any reason not to have fun. this year i've even learned to make studying fun. laughter is truly the best medicine, and from now on i'll live life with fun as my #1 priority.

2. count on the people around you. my best friends are honestly and absolutely the best people i know, and i don't know what i'd do without them.

3. the music should always be loud and the drinks should always be strong. 'nuff said.

4. don't go to happy hour and then try to work out. unsuccessful. live and learn though, right?

5. rainy days are for laying in bed, and sunny days are for laying in the sunshine.

that's all i got for now. i love senior year and i really really love my life.

college, i think we're in this for the long haul.

I have the simplest tastes.

I am always satisfied with the best.

-Oscar Wilde