A Year in Review: 2015

Wow! It's been such a long time since I've written a blog post (like a whole year!! haha), and I honestly couldn't think of a blog post to write so I thought I could just start off with a year in review! Now that I'm all done with all of my college apps and my first semester of senior year, I have a lot more time now to blog and do cool things that I can blog about and whatnot! Hopefully this sticks and I'll write up another one of these next year (if I don't forget to blog again- jokes, I probably will a whole lot this year!).

ps: a lot of these pictures will be kind of blurry/out of focus and it's because they're probably candids and I think they're a lot more organic and fun than a staged picture! Also, I don't really remember all the little details from last year so this look a lot of Facebook-album surfing!


pps: I would like to add that I'm publishing this on March 20th and I started this post on January 25th (oops!!) 


January 2015

I didn't actually do much this month besides having multiple study dates at Panera and Starbucks because it was my first semester of junior year! Junior year wasn't as stressful and terrible as it was all cracked up to be and I had so much fun! I also ran for Attorney General in Youth and Government (and lost) but I had a blast campaigning and I saw all of my Y&G friends again at Fresno!




this was taken at Fresno!

February 2015

Like January, I was wrapping up my first semester of junior year so I didn't do too much, but one of my biggest highlights of the month (and the year) was the 68th Youth and Government conference in Sacramento. It was my 3rd year and I had so much fun being a Supreme Court justice!




my lil FLIP mentee!!


Supreme Court justicing!!

March 2015

This was one of my favorite months of the entire year! I was super busy the entire month and I loved every single second of it. At the beginning of the month I went to Camp Roberts as an MUN Secretariat and I was so happy to be able to spend another weekend at such an inspiring place! The next weekend I flew to DC to compete in the National High School Moot Court Competition at American University's Washington College of Law. I didn't expect myself to do very well (re: signing up at midnight the week before and not going over the case materials until the plane flight there- everyone around me in the plane was so over my color-coded flashcards) but I made it to the semifinals and had such a great time! I also met Mary Beth Tinker in DC, and if you haven't heard of her, she's the plaintiff in Tinker v. Des Moines School Board, a landmark 1st Amendment case. I began interning for her in March and got to learn a lot more about how the courts rule on cases regarding students' rights in schools. I also spent an entire week staying at George Washington University and Georgetown to tour the schools and explore the area. I ended up going to a couple of classes there and I had the most wonderful hosts (who made a bucket list beforehand so I would be able to go to all the cupcake shops in the area and take a midnight tour of the National Mall)! The college town is so quirky and adorable (plus there's a J. Crew and Kate Spade!).



I got a black eye...chaperoning a middle school dance...


off to DC!!



Secretariat!!

April 2015

Another favorite month of mine! This was the month that I started my blog on a whim when I was in a train that broke down in New Haven. I flew to the East Coast over spring break with my mom to visit colleges and to explore the area and I loved it (the weather? not so much). I highly do not recommend packing nothing but flats and heeled boots and thinking everything would be ok because chances are, it'll probably be raining a lot in the spring and you'll be walking (a lot). Super cold weather aside, I lived out my Blair Waldorf dreams and had more Lauderee macaroons than I can count. Right after, I flew to DC to attend a Levo Group event and let me tell you, the weather was so much better and DC is so pretty in the spring and the cherry blossoms make the entire city pink!! Some major things happened this month and my dad moved the location of the restaurant by our house, so his work is a lot closer now and he's not as much as a stressed out human bean right now and that makes me so happy! 



my friend Amanda and I were at the restaurant all month long!!


taking on subways with my momma!!


May 2015

This month was a lot like January since I spent the majority of my time outside of school at Panera and Starbucks (AP tests-yikes!). I tried every single bowl from Barefoot Bowls (and I would totally recommend the Maui Wow-me or the Peach Party acai bowls) and honestly just tried to survive junior year. Right after AP tests, my friends and I planned a cute Mother's Day brunch for our moms at Mariposa and it was lovely! Honestly, it was really just a keep-my-head-down kind of month so I didn't do too much! 

I was at Barefoot Bowls WAY too much (clearly)

June 2015
Finally wrapped up junior year this month! School didn't end until the 20th, so I spent the rest of the month going on beach trips with my friends and a ton of fun dinner dates to catch up because I felt like I hadn't seen any of my friends for quite a while! My friends and I made lists of places we wanted to eat at and explore, and we managed to complete the list by the end of the month. I also chopped my hair into a lob (re: long bob) because I wanted a change and then realized that short hair isn't for me! Major yikes but so glad I figured that out sooner than later!




my entire month revolved around food (oops!) :)


July 2015

Wow, this was another busy month (I feel like I say that about every month, haha). At the very beginning of this month, I moved across town to a condo because exciting news (!!) my parents are rebuilding our old house and I'm so excited because I get to redo my room (which is also super exciting because it was so, so, pink and now I get to make it more neutral and I'll look forward to it a lot more when I visit from college!). I spent the Fourth of July with my friends at Pelican Hill and we had so many pool parties and bonfires that week! I also went to LACMA for the first time with my friends and braved LA traffic. For the very last week, I was in Chicago for the National Judicial Competition and I had one of the best weeks ever (no joke). I met the most incredible people, broke my vegan diet, and went on a whole bunch of adventures (scary tour of Chicago with the most peculiar tour guide, walking 7 miles to Wildberry AKA the best pancake and crepe place ever, and a baseball game). Of course, we did appellate court and whatnot but the highlight of my trip was meeting and getting to know everyone- I met some pretty incredible people!





Fourth of July weekend!



more Fourth of July!!



NJC!!


fRANDS

August 2015
For the majority of August, I was just going on beach trips and hanging out with my friends in preparation for the last couple months of high school. We went on staycations in Newport, paddle boarded, and biked around the beaches! For the rest of the month, I was busy golfing because it was my last ever season of Varsity Golf, and since I was captain, I had to made sure that I was somewhat decently prepared going into season! I had my first day of senior year in August as well!




hiking in the hills!


I realized I don't have any cute golf pics, just snaps!!

September 2015

One of my absolute favorite months! I thrive on having a full schedule, and this month was no exception! I had golf tournaments every day after school, practice on the weekends, and I also started mock trial again this month. I had activities every single day and it was so much fun! September's also my birthday month, and I went on birthday brunches and dinners with my family and friends.



my friends + mom were super sweet and surprised me on my birthday!


senior pictures!! I can't believe I'm graduating this year!!




"young and sweet only 17"

October 2015

I finished my last ever season of high school golf, and it was so bittersweet! I certainly won't miss waking up at 5am for practice but I definitely will miss going on the course as often as I did and playing with wonderful people. As soon as golf season ended, mock trial began to pick up with daily practices after school and on the weekends, so needless to say, I was busy the entire month. I had a really fun Halloween party to wrap the month up and it was definitely worthy of being a highlight.




football games!!



lots and lots of coffee dates!!




Rana and I at the Halloween party!
November 2015

This month really revolved around mock trial, but I wouldn't have had it any other way! Competition season finally started, so in addition to the daily practices, we had trial twice a week. For a weekend in November, I went to Fresno for Youth and Government's 1st conference of the year, and it was one for the books!





some cute Polaroids of N + me from the conference!


mock trial with my friend Ana!



ok, so not the most aesthetically pleasing picture- but Thanksgiving with my super cute cousin and grandma!!

December 2015
December was a lovely month! I was so relieved to get a break from school since I had college applications piling up and I had absolutely no time to get to them! This month also marked the end of my very last season of high school mock trial, and while I was sad to leave my team, I'm so excited go forward to bigger and better things! I spent the majority of winter break at home with my best friend working on college apps, but we had a plethora of sleepovers, Whole Foods shopping sprees, and cheese platters to make typing up essays fun! If I had to pick my absolute favorite day out of the entire year, it would be Christmas Day- it was such a lovely day!



this is probably super obvs...but Disneyland!


I *attempted* to snowboard over winter break...0/10 recommend