10.31.2010

Bon Hiver

Although school is wonderful, Memphis shopping never fails to leave me deprived and dissatisfied. Thankfully, Thanksgiving break is just around the corner (or so I would like to think) which means at least a small oasis of mall time to sooth my restless shopping spirit. On the must-have list? 
A graphic dress
An intricately crafted watch
A luscious brown tote
A leopard muffler (!)
A sculpted jacket (or perhaps a leather one lined with shearling?)
Here are the pieces that inspired me:
via Jak & Jill
!

10.18.2010

Fall


I had the most amazing fall break.

10.11.2010

9.15.2010

Rhodes Scholars

       These first couple of weeks at Rhodes in East Village 304A have been a blast. My roommates (from the left) Caroline, Jenna, and Lizz have been so great, and I am so excited about the coming school year.
304A! (backwards... we didn't think this through very well.)
It was so great to be reunited with old friends - especially Jenna, who has been one of my closest friends for the past two years. Our apartment has such a great atmosphere and everyone is genuinely getting along really well. I can't wait for our future roomie Sarah - who is studying in Senegal for the semester -  to join us!
 
Jenna and I in Another Friend's Room


Taking on a Fifth Roomie?
Another huge undertaking that has happened recently has been taking on a new pledge class for my sorority, Tri Delta. Rush was hectic, but so worth it! Today we took a picnic out to Mud Island with our new members. Such adorable girls!
Tri Deltas Picnicking at Mud Island!

Junior Deltas at the Picnic
     That's all for now - more updates to come as soon as I actually get out there with my camera! I have been scared to bring it out with me because I treasure it so much, but honestly - at this point it has served its purpose documenting my summer full of amazingly photographable scenes.  

9.03.2010

It's Official

I fully endorse feather details in unexpected places.
via youmightfindyourself.com

8.19.2010

New York

     I was just in New York this past week to visit my sister Lizzie who is going to Pratt this year! How exciting. She showed me all around Brooklyn and the following two days I got to explore Manhattan with my good friend Sarah. We went to the Natural History Museum, which was amazing! The next day I went to Woodbury Commons for some good ole' outlet shopping. Take a wild guess where most of my physics stipend just went.... clothes!
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan from the Brooklyn Promenade
Dinner at a nearby sushi place - so good!
Empire State
The New York Public Library and The Museum of Natural History
Winston, Sarah and I enjoying the Museum of Natural History 
The Chelsea Market was filled with a bunch of cool, unique bakeries. 
This one was selling Sesame Street cupcakes!
The Chelsea Market

That's all for now! Now it's off to Rhodes to start off the new school year. Yikes!
Have a safe trip back, guys!
Becca

8.07.2010

All This Noise...

This week I attended the Noise in Physical Systems Summer School on Harvesting Energy on a Micro and Nano Scale. The school consisted of about five days of lectures paired with a two day workshop in which students and researchers presented their work and asked for feedback.
The facilities at the Summer School were horrendous. I'm not sure how I survived. 

On Friday we took a trip to nearby Orvieto and Todi. In Orvieto we descended into St. Patrick's well...

St. Patrick's Well in Orvieto

The Duomo at Orvieto
Photogenic Four-legged Friends
The View from Todi
Tomorrow I am heading to Rome and then back to the United States on Monday. Tuesday to Thursday is my debriefing in Gainesville, Florida, the paper for which is… still in the works, to put it lightly.

7.30.2010

Very Python

     In several weeks I will be visiting my sister and my friend Sarah in New York. I cannot wait to finally go shopping. Both the exchange rate and the fact that I will be charged if my baggage is overweight have made me very hesitant about spending money on clothes here in Italy. I know I should be working on my project, but instead today I've found myself fantasizing about owning my very own, "very python" bag. 
Any suggestions on where to shop in New York City?

7.29.2010

Just a Woman and Her Dog

Reminds me of someone I know

7.21.2010

Pasta


Things That I Miss About the United States:
1. Ice cubes
2. Speaking English in public
3. Walgreens, and other like-minded convenient stores open 24 hours.
4. Eating food other than pasta


Things I am going to miss about Italy:
1. The fact that people actually say, "Mama Mia!"
2. Meeting people from all over the world every night
3. Good public transportation
4. Eating really good pasta

7.19.2010

Paris

 This post is still in the makes, guys! I just wanted to give you a little taste of our trip. 
This past weekend we traveled to Paris. I will live there some day.
We flew from Rome to Paris on Thursday: in total we did over fourteen hours of traveling. We were lucky enough to fly over the French (?) Alps on the way there! What a beautiful show. By the time we got to our hotel and got settled on Thursday it was past midnight - even the bar at our hotel was closed! My first french baguette was out of the vending machine in the lobby of the hotel... glam.
French (?) Alps                                  Check the robe-age
Breakfast our first day in Paris, however, was delectable. Jam, croissants, sausages, cappuccinos and assorted cheeses... basically we weren't hungry again until dinner that day. After breakfast we decided to do what Kane and I do best... walk around. We first started off by literally walking down the street that our hotel was on and taking random turns. We happened upon a very quaint shopping center... but to be honest I couldn't tell you where it was. We then took the metro uptown and walked from the Eiffel tower down to the military school and over to the Hotel des Invalides. We decided to picnic at the Eiffel Tower to soak in some Parisian atmosphere. After that we once more hopped on the metro over to the Arc de Triumph! Woo walking!
 Keeping with the Amelie spirit on the Parisian metro!
At times in Paris it seemed as if we could see into the future - This creme Mini 
Cooper S series convertible with a black leather interior - it had to be fate. 
Our picnic under the Eiffel Tower        Crepe breakfast Saturday morning
That night we decided to grab some of those pastries (pictured above) and wine before for Regan arrived around 7pm. We ended up getting lost and being late... but thankfully Regan was even later. We spent the night relaxing and finishing off several bottles of wine with our dinner. I was so happy to see my old roomie! For breakfast the next morning we went to Les Crepes A Gogo, a very famous creperie on Rue Soufflot right outside of the Pantheon Monument (below). 
 
Outside the Pantheon Monument
After touring the Pantheon monument we walked over to the Jardin des Luxembourg, which was abbbbsolutely gorgeous. These gardens are enough to make you wish you lived in Paris. It was so cute to see all of the French (and some touristy) children waking their sticks along the side of the fountain while they yelled at their boats in the water of the main fountain. So cute. After the Jardin we walked  over the Iles de la Cite to see Notre Dame and whatever else we could that day.  
Jardin du Luxembourg

Notre Dame
 
The Notre Dame Notre Dame... Regan was really excited about it.
From Notre Dame we walked over to the Bastille and grabbed ourselves a well-deserved caffe frappe - or beer, in Kane's case. We then decided to scope out the line situation at the Louvre, only to discover that there was no line! Naturally, we had to go inside right away. However, we quickly learned that there was no line because the museum was closing within the hour. Regardless, we pledged to come back the next day, which we did!
 
Parisian street acts, Bastille, and the Apple store inside the Louvre!
The Louvre was great! But as far as the Jaconde... this is as close as you can get.
The Louvre
Relaxing at the Jardin du Carrousel... I just noticed the eyes on the back of Kane's chair.

 
See? It's that whole flash-forward thing.... crazy...
Keeping with the Amelie theme... The Sacre Coeur.
Enjoying the wine... and cracking my creme-brulee with a tiny teaspoon
 
Trying escargot (!!) during dinner near the Notre Dame Sunday night

Finishing up our trip with a prance down Champs Elysees and a bottle of Clicquot Rose! 
(If only my parents could have tried this champagne... hm...)
Au revoir, Paris!