Wild wild west

I love you, pledge class. We're so different but I love the way we can joke about everything and get along really well. I look forward to the weeks and years ahead to get to know each other even better. This semester has been so amazing and I wouldn't trade our class for anything. I love you all for Catherine's motherly-ness, Lindsey's sassiness, Rebecca's sarcasm, Rhianna's non-Asian-ness, and Katrina's talks. I enjoyed our crazy videos, our exploding group texts, and our laughter in the pledge room. I can't wait for....all the things we talk about and everything that the future holds for us together.

Monday night...

Alice in Wonderland and Snow White (see my red ribbon?)

She's our el capitan.

Happy birthday, mother goose!

Pledge mom turned the big 21 today! Happy birthday, Sophia - you've brought so much joy into our lives. Thank you for being so understanding during my sleepless week and setting up pledge dates so we could just bond and vent out our stress. As you've made pledging bearable and fun, I hope that your birthday too is blessed and your next year is filled with incessant laughter, incredible miracles, and unforgettable memories. May you experience more joy in this next year (and last two semesters, woo!). Regardless of expected surprises, I hope you enjoy your birthday and those strawberry cupcakes with lemon frosting!

A weekend getaway with Alpha Delta Chi

The past weekend I got to get away from Berkeley with ADX. After two hours of driving on Friday, we got to Watsonville and spent the weekend in p-mom's relative's house. With a night on the beach, morning beach walks, devo's, lots of bonding and laughter, I would say this was totally worth skipping out on a weekend of studying. I got to know my p-sisters a little bit better and basically, got the rest I needed. On Saturday night, my pledge class were responsible for making dinner (there will be post on this later on), but I had a lot of fun and I'm excited for the rest of the semester. Here is a little post with some of the most memorable pictures from the weekend. thank you, excomm and pledge mom!

{private beach...the sand is so much softer than it is in SoCal}

Mini brownie cakes

Inspired by Oh Happy Day's "Mini Cake DIY," my big Sophia and I decided to make our own version. An obvious complication arose: neither of us bake. But, that's all part of the fun - for the 1-2 hours of getting baking supplies ready, prepping, and the actual baking, we got to talk a lot (moral of the story: bake with a friend). The house was filled with the scent of freshly baked goods, and afterwards, we served our experiment to the girls in the fireplace room. Oh, the joy of a three-day weekend!

We used Betty Crocker's brownie mix and simply followed the directions. A note for advanced bakers (and a note for ourselves), use a thinner tray so the brownie mix is stacked higher. That way, you can create a higher stack and more layers of frosting for later on. See Oh Happy Day's example.

We created our own frosting because in the house, there was only one type: milk chocolate. Brown frosting on brownies wouldn't exactly be aesthetic in terms of presentation. So with powdered sugar, pure vanilla extract, softened butter, and milk, we were able to make our own frosting (which tasted heavenly - especially if you have a sweet tooth).

Life as of late, captured by my iPhone

a few things pictures :: ADX Preference Tea // sunflower from my lover // little girls selling lemonade on College Ave // my first banana rum scoop of Ici // history movie and nail polish fiesta // Valentine's card from the Livingwater brothers @ the banquet // freshmen retreat at prayer mountain

On a side note, freshmen retreat was an incredible blessing. I'm glad I decided to attend - I think this can go down in the books as a "life-changer." I don't think everything will be changed in a split second, but I know that things will get better in time and healing will take place.