i dream of dresses.

for those of you who do not know, i love the jonas brothers.

and by love, i don't mean i-liked-sos-and-nick-but-kevin-is-ugly-and-when-the-biebs-came-along-i-ditched-them-and-became-a-belieber. i mean something more along the lines of omj-i-love-the-jonas-brothers-sooooooo-much-and-haven't-taken-down-my-posters-since-2008-and-i-still-freak-out-when-someone-mentions-the-word-jonas-and-i-want-to-name-one-of-my-kids-jonas-and-i-still-know-every-single-word-to-every-single-song-and-omj-i-just-love-them-soooooo-muchhhhhhhh.

yup. basically.

so i have this room. it's pink. and up until two days ago it looked a little something like this:


in essence, my walls were completely covered with sun-bleached, well-loved posters that i had extracted from tiger beat or bop or pop star magazines back in eighth grade. some of them have lip gloss stains on them from last week back when i kissed them all good night i have no idea how it got there. hmm. odd.

now, however, my walls are naked. NAKED, I TELL YOU.



it makes me sort of sad.

but hey, people change and promises are broken, clouds can move and skies will be wide open.
translation: i got some cute new fashion-y framed posters that will look super awesome and also super grown up and will be on my wall within the week

i couldn't bear to part with my jonas boys completely though, so they are hiding in my closet.



xoxo julia

howdy. so i'm finally home! for good this time. not going anywhere until school starts in a month. but we're not thinking about that right now. {nor are we thinking about how hideous i am in this picture. i just wanted to show you that i am, in fact, still alive.}

what we are thinking about is friday's top five! here goes nothin....

1. caprese salad.


um, yummy. so fresh and delicious and summery. i cut these delicious juicy tomatoes myself, ps. and did not lose any fingers in the process.

2. sea lion kisses.


did i mention that i got kissed by a sea lion in mexico? well. i did. her name was jenny. she smelled like fish. i also felt really really pale in mexico. like, more than usual.

3. letters to juliet.

hello, cutest movie ever. sure, it's completely predictable and stereotypical, but it's just so sweet you can't help but love it! plus it's in gorgeous tuscany. how can you resist a sweet love story in italy with amanda seyfried and that cutie with the britsh acccent and gelato? i love it. it made me cry.

4. efy medley.

i had the opportunity to go to efy two weeks ago, which, for those of you who don't know, is a week-long church camp for lds youth. i went to the byu provo session with my best friend from growing up in virginia. we had such a blast with everyone in our company, and we learned so much and felt the spirit strongly every single day. singing the efy medley, however, is always my favorite part. standing up and singing this with four hundred other young people who all believe the same things i do is such an incredible experience that never leaves me with a dry eye. if you've never heard it, please watch this video. watch it even if you have heard it and sung it! it's just so amazing. :)

5. sweats.

yes. i did just say that.

no, i am not posting a picture.

let's just say, i spent the majority of girls camp loving my brand new way-too-big ycl sweats and wearing them even when it was hot outside. or even when i wore them the day before.

i call them my swagger pants.


xoxo julia

ps, i just realized that i never posted day two of mexico pictures. whoopsies. tomorrow perhaps?

hola hola!

here are some pictures from puerto vallarta, just a week late. xP


this was the view from my window. gorgeous.


mexican chips and salsa are SO much better than the american stuff. just sayin.






and don't even get me started on the sunsets.

more tomorrow. :)

xoxo julia

mexico. was. awesome.

period.

our hotel was gorgeous, the beach was fantastic, the food was delicious, and i didn't even get sunburned! imagine that!
plus i read harry potters 2 and 3 in preparation for hp7.2 and remembered why i adore the wizarding world so much.
speaking of which...

THE MOVIE ROCKED MY SOCKS.

agreed? agreed.

on a blogging note, i'm headed off to efy bright and early monday morning, so i doubt any pictures will end up on the internet until i get back in a week.

adios for now!

xoxo julia

our resident diva had no trouble keeping his pinkies up.




are you drooling yet? i am. and i already ate all of this.


we made placecards for everyone. and covered them in glitter nail polish.



awwah best friend love.

anyhoo.
the fam and i are leaving on a jet plane for puerto vallarta, mexico at 11am tomorrow! i can't wait to lounge on the beach and go to the spa and wander around paradise and eat. fish. tacos. every. stinkin. day. jealous? you should be. and while i'm in paradise, i will not be posting. so you'll have to survive eight days without little old me! how will you manage? i'll bring pictures back, i promise. :)

xoxo julia

...or rather, raspberry lemonade. sarah and i put on a little tea party for our friends yesterday! we hand made nearly everything {or rather, sarah made, i watched. and cleaned.} it turned out perfectly! despite our many mishaps {the cake had to be refrosted three times, the chocolate-dipped oreos stuck to the pan, and the not-present macarons failed twice.}
we borrowed some lovely dishes from the lovely tina which made everything that much more charming! the blue teacups and silver teapot and three-tiered tray were perfection.
more pictures later. :)

xoxo julia

(sidenote: sorry this post is sooo late. i tried to upload all these photos at once and my computer freaked out and cancelled them all. i had to try like three more times before i realized that they upload better when there's not seven of them. hooray.)

in preparation for the harry potter movie (which comes out in nine days. nine days! it will be ready and waiting for me when i get back from mexico. can't. wait.) i've busted out the harry potter freak that has stayed closeted inside me since i introduced myself as such in fourth grade. so here's some doodles of my favorite potter characters.


i started with the basic trio. harry turned out surprisingly well on complete accident. the glasses were killing me so i decided to just leave it. i'm pretty happy with the result.


i love this ron. muchly. with his grown-up version of the bowl cut.


this hermione is a bit generic looking, i think. but she looks cute with my ron, so she's staying. for now.

aaaaand then of course had to draw my favorite girls. :)


 i always pictured bellatrix with a massive amount of hair, for some reason. and wearing medieval dresses.

ginny! :) need i say more?


luna didn't turn out looking as crazy as i had hoped...maybe another version will come later. airplane boredom on saturday, yes?


and of course, tonks. :) she turned out pretty well, if i do say so myself.

i'm hoping to work on fred & george and also trelawney. maybe a few death eaters too. let's see how many faces i can conjure up in a week.

xoxo julia

here's some pictures from my adventures, as promised. last week we took a little jaunt to the shops at riverwoods to explore this darling candy/toy shop called blickenstaff's. it was darling and a bit vintage, with cute giant toys as decorations and even a christmas tree made out of candy!









they had a table full of harry potter stuffs! legos, chocolate frogs, and a quidditch hat. needless to say, i wanted to buy it all. and then i wanted to cry because i can't go to the midnight premiere. i guess i'll survive though, because i'll be in mexico! puerto vallarta, to be exact. be jealous.



xoxo julia