Last Day of Summer

School starts tomorrow.  I'm actually pretty excited about it-- I have a smaller course load (8 classes instead of 9), and only one night class, as opposed to the three I had last semester.  I'm going to try reeeeally hard not to get overly stressed this semester, since my perfectionism tends to be my downfall.  So basically, I'm going to take on the semester feeling like this:

Judith Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant

Met Museum ♥

Yesterday I went to one of my favorite places in the world-- The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  It's so inspiring.  And it seems that every time I go, there's something I haven't seen before.  Well, yesterday I was on an Impressionism kick, particularly the paintings by Monet.  I love his water lilies and gardens, of course, but there were a few others that I was especially taken with.

Île aux Orties near Vernon  1897

Morning on the Seine near Giverny      1897

Ice Floes  1893

Ohhhhh, I just absolutely love them.  I'm determined to make time to go to the Met at least a few times a month this semester.  It is the most creatively refreshing experience in the world.

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Also, I'm looking for a new camera, because the one I have has a plethora of issues.  The F-stop speed is incredibly slow, especially in low lighting, which makes taking pictures a problem where flash is not allowed.  The white balance is also really weird, whether on auto or manual.  I'd love some recommendations, if anyone just looooves their camera.

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Good luck to everyone who is starting or has already started school!  ♥

Alone Time/ Not Alone Time

I'm one of those people who really needs their alone time.  I need time to decompress and go through the silly little routines I like to go through, like reading all of my new magazines while drinking tea, or crocheting and watching Star Trek.  I even like going out to eat alone or going to museums alone.  But sometimes that gets misconstrued as being antisocial or unhappy... It's neither.  I love to be with friends, but I know that I'll get irritable if I don't have time to myself, too.  I ran across this video the other day, and I think it explains alone time in a very lovely way.



This kind of segues into something else I was pondering today... I heard the song 'Everybody' by Ingrid Michaelson today after not hearing it for a while, and it made me think.  If you haven't heard it the chorus is very simple:

"Everybody, everybody wants to love/ Everybody, everybody wants to be loved."

I went through a pretty rough break-up about two months ago, and I've been avoiding love songs like the plague, as one usually does in such circumstances.  But this song seemed more like a forgiveness song than a love song today... We're all just sort of bumbling around, wanting to find beings to love and be loved by-- parents, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, pets, whomever.  Being reminded of that makes it very hard to be angry with anyone.  We're all looking for the same thing, love that makes us feel interdependent (not to be confused with codependent-- very important) and appreciated and want to become the best selves we can be.  If I already know that about every person I meet and that I've already known, how can I be overly upset with any of them?

Huh.  Maybe I won't be a bitter old lady at the age of 20 after all.

Bonjour! ...Nice Backpack.

My best friend (for 10 years this year!  Jeez louise.) and I got back from Disney World today!  We were there for 6 days, and we had so much fun.  I went straight from Disney World to the New Jersey shore, so I don't have my camera cord with me (oops), and I can't post any pictures that I took until I get home.  But in the meantime, here are a few of my favorite things in Disney.

Main Street in Magic Kingdom!  All those pastel buildings...






France in Epcot's Around the World Showcase





The Italy section of Epcot





These photos weren't taken by me, I'll add some that Marissa and I took once I get home.

And-- oh!  I guess I should explain the title of this post.  When Marissa and I were in Hollywood Studios, we were behind a man carrying what looked to be his daughter's backpack, a blue-and-green flowered one.  And one of the Disney cast members, in a beret and sporting an obnoxious little mustache, puttered over in his miniature car and said to the backpack guy, "Bonjour!  ...Nnnnice mmmbackpack!"  Marissa and I were apparently the only two people that heard this, and we enjoyed it immensely.  Thus, we complimented each other, and everyone else in Disney, on our and their respective backpacks, regardless of whether any actual backpacks were around.

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I didn't have time to blog it before leaving for our lovely Disney trip, but I did a pretty big Etsy shop update!  This one includes 14 pairs of button-bobbies.  Here are a few of my favorites-- the photos are links to where the bobby pins can be purchased on Etsy.

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It's almost time for school-supply shopping!!! Notebooks and pens and pencils, oh my.  Every year, I get very excited for those clean new notebooks and stacks of perfect index cards.  Oh, I just love school supplies.  When I get my new ones for the year, I'll be sure to share pictures.  ✏♥