happy friday

Happy Friday bloggers!
I watched this last night & it absolutely brought tear to my eye. Wes Anderson's films (full length or short) are so visually beautiful. Check it out & appreciate the beauty in each frame. If you haven't seen some of Anderson's other works you should absolutely check them out.
Some of my favorites: The Grand Budapest Hotel, Moonrise Kingdom, The Royal Tenenbaums, Darjeeling Limited, & Fantastic Mr. Fox.
You basically can't go wrong.

Have a lovely weekend! See you next week!

Favorite Foods at Trader Joes

If you're not shopping at Trader Joe's, I'm concerned. The prices are cheap, the food is all GMO free, all of the organic options.. I mean what is there not to love?! Except maybe the long lines and stocks of your favorite foods running out. If you haven't realized, this post is an ode to my love for TJ and the foods that it sells.

Quick. Go. Buy. EAT.

• Cookie Butter
• Two Buck Chuck 
• Dried Fruits
• White Cheddar Corn Puffs
• Veggie & Flaxseed Tortilla Chips
• Pineapple Salsa 

I also realized that I apparently only like the junk food at TJs. While for the most part its true, their fruit & veggies are always delicious & so reasonably priced. 

What are your favorite foods at Trader Joes?

humpday confessions

I'm totally not one to do a weekly post like this but I thought - why not?
Humpday confessions Cat style.

source

1// I'm totally ready for summer, which is why I picked a beachy picture for my humpday this week!

2// I haven't vacuumed my apartment in like a week and the hairball tumbleweeds are starting to get on the gross side. Especially since my dog is shedding like crazy. My red rug is actually a shade of white at this point. oops.

3// I really should truly "spring clean" my apartment but I'll probably hire a maid. again… oops.

4// Legitimately I failed a math test yesterday. If I get more than a 2% on it I will actually be surprised.

5// Jhene Aiko has been on repeat since last week.

6// The last two weeks I used a tanning bed to get a base tan before memorial day.
TAN LINES ARE IMPORTANT.

7// I've mentally checked out of classes… good thing I'm taking a full course load this summer too.


What are your confessions this week?

Here's What I'm Listening To:

Marvins Room - Jhene Aiko

&

Smoke, Drink, Break Up - Mila J

shit hit the…. floor?

For those who didn't know - I am horrible at math. Horrible might actually be an understatement. I've had a math tutor basically since I was in the second grade. I mean what are you even learning in the second grade that a math tutor is necessary?

Let's rewind to a few years ago where my parents thought that a summer tutor was also necessary while I was in high school. I assume they wanted me to be "prepared" and "ahead" of the other students, but lets be serious. How focused do you think I was when I had to meet with a four hundred pound whale of a man who came to my beach house once a week and teach me math? If negative amounts of numbers could be applied to my amount of caring, then thats how much I cared. Anyway, so this man, who was probably in his late fifties, was the most obese person I've ever come in contact with. He was not too far off from individuals I've seen on that show "My 600 Pound Life".

One particular day - shit hit the fan.. or the floor really. After my lesson, he excused himself and went upstairs to use our bathroom. No problems there. My mom and I sat in the kitchen and talked about the lesson and what my plans were for the rest of the day. After fifteen minutes went by we were beginning to get a little confused and worried. Finally, he comes downstairs and motions to speak with my mom in the other room. When he turned around I noticed there was a brown mark on his pants. I thought nothing really of it - maybe he sat in a chocolate bar in his van? Would that really be too out of the ordinary for this guy?

He quickly left thereafter and my mom proceeded to tell me that this guy shit himself. Not only did he shit himself but he also managed to get shit all over the floor in the bathroom. And on our white bathmats. And in his pants.

After our entire bathroom was scrubbed clean with bleach and the previously white bathmats were thrown out, we thought we would never hear from him again.
Well weren't we wrong.

He called a few days later calling to confirm next weeks lesson! Are you crazy?! Someone couldn't pay me enough money to show my face twice in the same place after an event like that. This dude wasn't even making that much money! We obviously told him maybe it was best to find other options and he agreed.

I haven't seen him or his shit pants since.

I can't make this stuff up people. I really cant.

o' natural

Living in a time where straight hair always seems to be the preferred norm, having curly hair I always felt as though it was a flaw of mine. I used to spend hours on hours straightening my wild, crazy, "has a mind of its own", curly hair into being completely pin straight… only to have it start frizzing or curling on the ends in a matter of minutes. It was an exhausting process but I had convinced myself that I was physically unattractive with curly hair.

curly hair & sushi! 

I read this interview the other day that couldn't have hit closer to home. Rafaela Avidago discussed "Natural Hair Confidence" with Refinery 29 and when I saw it on my Facebook timeline I was like "woah, hold up. Curly hair lady over here - click." I couldn't have agreed more with her - I grew up with people who were always asking me about my hair, touching it, "boinging" it. Boys and girls alike weren't used to girls with curlier hair. The preferred look throughout my middle school and high school days was the pin straight, long hair. I had completely curly as fuck hair with a mind of its own and although I tried to tame it with a straightener, like I said before, it was a hopeless effort. It would usually end up being somewhat curly in a matter of time and it made my hair so dry. I grew out of trying to impress everyone around me and just became comfortable with myself, my natural self. I stopped straightening my hair, stopped dressing to impress others, and just let my own confidence take hold.

Natural confidence is something every woman needs to embody. It makes me feel so much better about myself knowing that I look just as good with my hair just out of the shower than if I spend two hours styling it. If a significant other doesn't dig my curly hair then they can eff off. If they ain't digging your o'natural beauty too then fuck 'em.

Here's What I'm Listening To:

Over Your Shoulder - Chromeo

review - ipsy may box **

Happy Friday to all of my lovely blog friends out there! Happy graduation for all of you who are graduating college in the next few days too! I'm jealous af obviously - feels like eternity before I'll be wearing my cap & gown.

A few days ago I got my first subscription to ipsy in the mail. Which, for me, it turns out to be basically like a mini-Christmas when I get anything in the mail. The only things I ever really get in the mail are bills and junk so getting the cute pink package was a relief. Upon opening it upstairs I was happy to find the products all came in the cutest, mini make-up bag; it's perfect for keeping small make-up items together on the go. I love the natural, spring look of the design on the bag too.

Within the bag itself were five, sample sized items. My favorite being the Eva NYC Therapy Session Hair Mask. Having long, curly hair, it is constantly dry and having split ends. I'm always making homemade hair masks (eggs & olive oil works so well!) so having an actual hair mask product was exciting. After applying it to my hair it felt so soft and nourished. I would recommend the product, although I wouldn't buy it myself - mostly because my homemade recipes work just as well!

The Hang Ten Classic Sport SPF 50 was another product that I will definitely being using this summer. I am a tanning fiend in the summer and am under the sun with a bathing suit on the minute I can. The product advertises saying its natural, meaning it is "chemical-free". It says free of a lot of chemicals that are in a lot of other suntanning lotions making it perfect for my super-sensitive skin on my face. I would recommend this product as well and probably buy it myself at the store if it was relatively inexpensive.

The Pacificia Mineral Eyeshadow Duo is also great for a more natural looking look in the summer. I love the two shades and will definitely be using them. I never overdo it with makeup and prefer a more natural look so these are perfect.

The final two products I won't use and probably won't recommend. The Too Faced Chocolate Soleil medium/deep bronzer is just something I won't ever use. I don't ever use bronzer in my beauty routine and this specific color is way too dark for my skin tone. The Avène Thermal Spring Water…. literally what the fuck is this shit? Its water. In a mist bottle. I'm sorry but what a complete waste of a product. I can't believe it sells! Who buys something like that?! Literally the ingredients are water and nitrogen. Are you shitting me?

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and aren't spending your money on stupid products like the "thermal spring water" mist shit.

Here's What I'm Listening To:

Bed Peace - Jhene Aiko ft. Childish Gambino

&

Say You'll Be There (Spice Girls Cover) - MØ

"tbt" & moms day

The obligatory mother's day post. What are moms for if not embarrassing Facebook profile pages, posting horrible pictures of you, and stalking your life daily on social media?
Yeah - happy mothers day. Here, I got you some random crap from my school's bookstore because I have no creativity and money. Hope you'll like it. Luckily, I did hand make my mom & nana cards for mothers day, but I do that for all occasions now… because again, I have no money.

This year my mother, father, and nana, celebrated by going out to a fancy restaurant in Philadelphia, Fork. It was delicious and there were many laughs and good memories shared. It turned into a reminiscing session for them, but for me it became: lets see who can embarrass Cat the most.

Hm... who would ever let me forget about the stage in my life where I decided that I was 11 and obsessed with wolves and neopets? Literally, don't get me started. I can't think of a more embarrassing time in my life. Somehow it always gets brought up, which makes me want to slowly saw off my ears with butter knives and eat them instead.

Ooo what about the life gem where I was in middle school and decided that being a "scene" kid was cool? Hello hot topic's #1 customer and Fall Out Boy's biggest fan. You can ask my boyfriend, he dated me when I was that young. I even wore hot pink cheetah pants in his company. I mean who let this happen?! Why was myspace a thing? Or being scene at all?! Ugh.

Who does this to their children? 

Oh yeah.. moms with social media accounts...

The above picture is proof that my mother decided at one time in my life to cut my hair like a bowl cut and it has never recovered. I mean what are those things on my head? I think they're trying to be bangs? Jesus christ. What a mess.

My moms Facebook pictures are basically all pictures of her cat, or her posting embarrassing photos of my brother and I. Proof:

classic embarrassing shot

Am I Benjamin Button?

This was sixth grade..

A sample of her fb pics…

all her cat

My life is/was always a huge joke and filled with hilarity and embarrassing moments like such. Mothers day is celebrating these moments because, shit, without her who would these embarrassing things even happen to in the first place?

do my thang

Yes, the secret's out: I love Miley. Honestly, who is better to listen to in the shower or getting ready to take on the day? Miley is a good singer, but really she is just a performer looking for the next big event she can exploit to get her name out there. But my secret love for Miley is not really the point of this post. 

"Do My Thang" is one of my favorite tracks off of her album mostly because of how it promotes female independence. I've always been super independent and one to not blend in. After all, I won "Most Individualistic" in middle school and I just don't win things. Go me. I grew up believing it was important for me to always express myself, whether it was through my outward appearance or creatively through art and photography. Its so important for women to understand that blending in and just being like everyone else is boring.

I've been called strange or out of place just based off of the way I dress. I wore Free People in high school and dressed very bohemian. People thought it was strange because I wasn't wearing Michael Kors, jeans, leggings, and Sperrys, or whatever the latest trend was. I never cared back then and I still don't care now. Not caring what others thought of me empowered me, set me apart, and made me feel independent. I've never really known the feeling of being insecure about myself or what others feel towards me because not caring liberates me and makes me feel happy. If I cared what others thought I would never be where I am today or be confident enough to pursue my own personal goals. Doing your own thing without caring about others opinions is one of the most important aspects I feel about living a happy life.

Here's What I'm Listening To:

Do My Thang - Miley Cyrus

sushi, the social media princess

If you're anything like me, you're addicted to all forms of social media. I check twitter and instagram like a nervous tick. I'm obsessed with looking at all of the pictures and just generally seeing what people are doing; something to occupy my time.

So why wouldn't I make my dog an instagram?

Yup. It happened. & It's pretty awesome, but also the lamest thing I've ever done.
After I realized 90% of the "people" I follow on my personal instagram are all just dogs, I knew she stood a chance. So what the hell. I try to post every day at least one picture of her. Sushi_the_shiba is the next ~* ig princess *~.

So follow sushi_the_shiba on insta now!

Isn't it Ironic?

Just call me Alanis Morissette right now because her song was the theme song of my Saturday night.
Basically any event that could've gone horrible did. I mean the amount of horrible things that were happening to me was actually becoming hilarious by the end of the night.

It all started when I went out on a date with my boyfriend (that's a long story that will be explained in another post) and it was absolutely beautiful outside. We both got dressed up and walked to a little Italian eatery thats about a 10 minute walk from my house and were seated outside. When the waiter sat us next to the kitchen door I knew the rest of the night was going to go downhill from there.. and it did… fast and hard. As in it started thunderstorming/monsooning right before the waiter took our order.
He tried his hardest to move us under the three inches of awning to keep us dry, but of course my boyfriend was still getting rained on. The waiter moved on to trying to put up an umbrella for us and then the rain was just running off falling on our heads. This whole situation was taking about 20 minutes and the rain was pouring out of the skies so hard I could barely see across the street. After the two of us whom were becoming more and more wet by the minute, we decided to just leave and call a cab… which, of course, never showed up. So we walked home as it started drizzling. Of course it was the only time I have ever worn my three inch wedge heels and walked to dinner. Let me tell you walking in three inch heels, wedges or not, on wet cobblestoned streets is basically a remedy for a twisted ankle.

We didn't walk more than two minutes before he stepped in a puddle deeper than an olympic sized swimming pool. A few more minutes passed & a car drove by & splashed the both of us with basically a gallon of yummy street water, classic Carrie Bradshaw circa Sex & The City theme.

Did I mention that by now it was  9:15pm and we hadn't eaten anything all day? At this point we were the grumpiest cats anyone had ever seen and were basically muttering satanic latin tongues to the gods. We agreed to just eat at the next place we came by, which was another Italian restaurant that I had been wanting to try. The woman sat us quickly and we were ready to order when she explained that they were cash only… & we only had our debit/credit cards. I almost smashed my water glass on the side of the table & slit her throat with the broken class, but I decided calmly walking outside was the more mature option.

By this point I could tell that my boyfriend would have literally eaten out of a dumpster for leftovers so he just got take out pizza from a place around the corner from my apartment.
I mean the evening was so horrible that I was expecting to have lost my keys somehow because it just figured. Thank god I didn't although I'm still surprised. I finished my lovely evening in a bubble bath with white wine so I can't really complain. The events were just so ridiculous that I'm laughing about it while I'm typing. You can't make this stuff up people & I swear to you it only happens to me.

Heres What I'm Listening To:

Ironic - Alanis Morissette

Lately in Philadelphia

Life has been pretty hectic lately. The warm weather is finally inspiring me to leave me couch for once and go outside. Having an opportunity to go and explore Philadelphia has been lovely. Not to mention all of the events that Philadelphia offers in the spring/summer have been starting and they're pretty awesome!

Every month Old City takes place in an event called First Friday. Local artists line up on 2nd St between Arch and Market streets and display their work. The local galleries and shops are open later too. A lot of galleries have openings the night of first friday, which means wine… for free. Obviously the best part - other than looking at art.

I also recently stumbled on an event that took place on Friday too: Movies under the Stars & Stripes. The Betsy Ross House is putting on really lame, cheesy movies from the 50s and 60s every first Friday too. Admission is $5 each and its BYOB. I saw Plan 9 from Outer Space this past Friday and with a half a bottle of wine in me it was pretty decent and more hilarious with the special effects utilized for the time.

Phantogram

Saturday I was lucky enough to catch the last act at the 104.5 Summer Block Party at the Piazza at Schmidts in Northern Liberties. I missed CHVRCHES and Cherub but did catch Phantogram! The concert series takes place once a month and is always free. I'm excited to go and dance to whoever is appearing at the rest of their summer series.

Obviously if you can't tell the only things it takes for me to attend events is free/cheap and alcohol. Philadelphia has been delivering on both of my two requirements and its been awesome. Come hang out in Philly and enjoy all the cool events that have been happening lately!

Here's What I'm Listening To:

The Mother We Share - CHVRCHES

&

Gun - CHVRCHES