Summer To Do

Another random fact about me, I'm sort of forgetful. But it's random things that seem to slip my mind, things like calling my mother when I'm supposed to. 

(When I first got my licence earlier this year I had to call and check in after I got EVERYWHERE, needless to say, I got in trouble a lot for not checking in...)

Any way, I like to do lists a lot, they help me not forget to do anything! Sometimes I keep them for just a day, others, for long term things. As you can probably guess, I made one for summer. It gives me a helpful hint to say, "Hey There Eleanor, get off Netflix and do something!" (Netflix being my addiction... Yes, I love my documentaries that much)

Here is my Summer To-Do:

1. Learn the basics of the guitar. I have an acoustic guitar, given to me by my auction-obsessed uncle. Steve impulse buys at my cousin's prep school silent auctions because he's competitive like that, and my cousins both play on at least two hockey teams so they don't have time to play guitar. It was given to me because "you look natural with it". I've always wanted to learn, no time like summer!

2. Blog once a day (with the exception of my trip to Europe)

3. Work really hard. I got my first job a few weeks ago, and I'm incredibly excited to get started! I'll be working at the local Red Mango Frozen Yogurt! Unfortunately, my Europe trip is smack dab in the middle of summer so The Boss decided she wants me to start AFTER I get back. Ugh, oh well. I really want to like the job, I have no other way to make money at this point besides the odd babysitting job, and I have to pay to fill the gas tank.

4. Shave off a minute on my mile run. This is a Rugby thing. The average Rugby player runs over 3 miles in one game. Better mile time means that I could have better chances at scoring better positions on higher level teams. AKA eventual goal of being a Longhorn, then eventually an Eagle.

5. Do 75 crunches in 2 minutes. Another Rugby thing. I want to be able to be the best player I can be. That involves some serious working out and of course, my dream of having abs would be achieavable if I crunched like crazy.

Rugby Girls!

 The other day was our annual end of the year rugby banquet. I wore my Urban Outfitters dress that I wore on my sweet 16 with my hair cured and down. As the club is primarily composed of boys, they boys speeches and awards dominated the girls. So, naturally, we all went a little crazy. I mean, what's a girl to do facing severe boredom for hours? Luckily I sat next to Double D and Moose and we goofed around like no tomorrow. Silly pictures were taken, glow sticks were cracked, and some were even put in glasses. We had so much fun! I kept putting glow sticks into Double D's glass which ticked her off, but I managed to put a glow stick in Double D's lemon aid glass for 30 minutes plus without her noticing! When I told her how long it had been in there we all just cracked up for awhile. I love my team! I'm so sad that the seniors are leaving, Double D included. But I know that next November we'll get a new batch ready to learn and win even more than we did this year! Thank goodness Moose is my age, we have two more years together! Huzzah for random trips up to her house to let of steam! (she lives over an hour away)

Moose, Double D, and I totally bored

Just for Funzies...

Hey there! I thought for fun I could tell you all 10 random, obscure facts about myself. Remember, this is a no judgement zone...

1. I love tooth paste but hate tooth gel. I have no idea why, it's just a texture thing. The gel is all slimy and gross, but the paste is smooth and it just feels better in my mouth.

2. My iTunes library has over 2000 songs on it, and if played I can name over 90% of them. Just one of the many benefits of being an audio learner. Basically I love music with a passion. My current favorite band is The Script, but that will change in the next week or so. Big Sister is a constant stream of music, unfortunately she doesn't let me touch her laptop so I have to wait for the music to come to me, not discover freely as I would like.

4. I love monograms. I wish everything of mine had one on it. I also have a huge thing for monogram jewelry. Lockets, rings with things inscribed in them, bangles with the initials big. My current love is DKM's cut out monogram bangle but for me at least I would probably want it in my signature silver.


5. I'm a vegetarian. Well, if you want to get technical, I'm a pescatarian, meaning I eat fish. Basically if it walks with legs, I won't eat it. It's just cruel. If animals ruled the world I wouldn't want them to eat me. I just don't agree with it. After almost 5 months the idea of a steak sort of makes me queasy. My dad thinks I'm crazy and keeps trying to get me to stop, making steak jokes, but I'm firm in my resolve. I'm coming up on 6 months (July 26) and I really don't see any end to it.

6. I'm learning to play guitar. Learning being a flexible word, aka, I'm teaching myself from YouTube videos and fingering charts I find online. But I really want to learn! Figuring out the basics is on my "Summer To Do List".


7. This next one might come as a bit of a surprise, but I play girls rugby for the local rugby club. If any of you know the rules of rugby, I currently play loose head lock, number 4. But I'm dying to move back in the scrum to 8 man (or woman). If you don't know anything about rugby, lock is in the middle line of the scrum, 8 man is at the back. It's super aggressive out there! I've been playing for 2 years now and can't wait for November for the season to start. My team is a huge family, and we've won a lot, even capturing the state title 2 years in a row!

Yep, that's me with my pink shoes!

8.  My favorite makeup brand is Urban Decay. That might be sort of obvious looking at some past entries, but I adore everything they make. The majority of the products are cruelty free and vegan, which as a vegetarian I adore. And all their products are great, I love everything I own from them!

9. Call me a geek, but my favorite movie series is Star Wars. I've loved it since I was a kid, my dad and I would watch them all the time. My personal order of favorites is 6, 4, 3, 2, 5, 1. As a child 6 was always my favorite, I referred to it as "The Ewok One" and everyone in my family knew exactly what I meant. 

10. I have plans for 3 tattoos already and I love the tattoo culture. (pintrest tattoo board) My current 3 are the outline of the death star on my right front hip bone area, a Japanese style peony on my right side, extending up onto my rib cage, and the words "If You Jump I Would Jump Too, We Would Fall Together" on my left foot arch. The death star is to remind me of my childhood and that it's ok to be a geek. The peony is to remind me of the inner beauty of everyone and everything. And the words are lyrics to one of my very favorite songs by We The Kings called Skyway Avenue.

Stay Classy,
~E

Happy Summer!

Good Morning all,

And may I wish a happy summer to both you and yours?

GAH! I just love summer so much! No school, a chance to see friends every day, go new places, try new things. It's all so exciting! My summer is incredibly busy, but I'm way excited about it!

My first new thing I tried was going to an outdoor music festival. Let me tell you, what an experience! My older sister/best friend and I headed downtown to Houston Texas' own Free Press Summer Fest, hosting names like Erykah Badu, Willie Nellson, Snoop Dogg, The Flaming Lips, The Avett Brothers, and Primus. Big names tight? As amazing as those names sound, 47 acts were there from huge names to a few just starting out. Big Sis and I saw our fair share of Big and small acts... Allow me to give you our itinerary...

Saturday:
We began with Best Coast, then moved stages to see Morris Day and the Time (cutest old men I've ever seen), and then went back to the other stage to mosh our hearts out for Two Door Cinema Club. A grand time was had by all. Big Sis decided not to put on any sunblock so she could "tan" and ended up with a wicked burn. In between all that there were all sorts of shenanigans, including a virgin mojito Popsicle, and a ride on a moustache. Saturday could not have been better!

Sunday:
Having learned the proper way to do things we started a little later so as to have energy for moshing later. We arrived at the park about 45 minutes later, sunblocked and ready to go. We immediately headed for stage 1 where Robert Ellis would be playing, and upon hearing the opening notes, turned right back around, the verdict being, way to country. We headed for a smaller stage by the entrance to the park and listened to a group from Austin called Schmillion which we enjoyed much more. I even caught a free CD! After Schmillion we headed to see Young The Giant, 45 minutes early. The sun was beating down and the kids in front of us were lighting up joint after joint so that made for a nasty scent. Can I just take a second to say how gross I think pot is? I mean YUCK! Unfortunately The combination of standing for an hour in 102 degree heat, pot and cigarette smoke, and moshing caused me a near black out. So big sis and I retreated to a shady tree and ate a quick snack. And then I felt much better. So all was well. After that we had a Popsicle each, I had one with fresh berries and cheesecake. CHEESECAKE in a Popsicle! LIKE WOAH! It was the best thing ever! After that we found the Newsies and proceeded to chill with them for the rest of the day... I was super fun, The Couple, Boxer Girl, Booker, A-Bro, and Harry. Big Sister and I had a ball with them! We saw Willie Nelson and The Avett Brothers together.

This is Schmillion, The guy playing bass is actually the drummer, they switched places.

The Avett Brothers, so much energy! 

Yes that is me with Booker and Boxer Girl on our shoulders and the female 1/2 of the couple in front. I'm strong.

What a great 2 days! I can't wait for summer to get even better!

Stay Classy!
~E

New loves...

Whoops!

I seem to have forgotten about this lovely blog... A lot has been going on lately. I sort of got mono, not actually sure where/who from. I'm not a dirty girl, I don't go around kissing every kid on the block. I just don't understand where it's from!

A few of my newest favorite things are The Frat Collection, OPI's New York City Ballet collection, and the blog The College Prepster. Not to mention the movie The Town.

The Frat Collection is a great new website that I've recently discovered. It's really lovely. They have a large array of patterns that give you an option to pick a pattern for a frocket. You then get to pick out a t-shirt color to go with your frocket. I'm incredibly excited to try it out! Another of the greatest things that "The Frat Collection" does, besides having a ton of options, is that they allow you to enter a charitable organization of your choice to receive 10% of your order. I really love the "Jesse" on Kentucky Rain, or the "Linley" on Southern Sky or Marlin. Not to mention the "Marcia" on Flamingo or Southern Sky.

New York City Ballet is super classy. All a simple and pale colors. My personal favorite is "You Callin' Me a Lyre". A great pale shade of baby pink that would be perfect for the odd summer garden party or wedding.

The College Prepster is such a wonderful new (to me) blog that is really cute! The writer is an inspiration to me! She's a recent Georgetown graduate and seems to be perpetually classy. From the pictures her life is J. Crew and Lily Pulitzer. Her reader base is huge and something for me to aspire to.

Lastly, The Town. A movie that I didn't even want to watch. It's the story of a career bank robber from the town of Charlestown, Massachusetts. Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck) falls in love with a down to earth bank manager Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall). Predictable shenanigans ensue and love and heart break do as well. The town is well on the way to becoming one of my favorite movies. A must see.

That's all! I promise I'll keep up the writing more often! Tell your friends to read The Classy Tuesdays, follow the blog and live classy.
~E

Shattered Class

Hey all. This week Classy Tuesday fell on a very important day in the year. Every 2 or 3 years local schools participate in a program called Shattered Lives. It centers around drunk driving and the serious problem that it is. And while looking classy is an important thing, I'd like to take today's post as an opportunity to talk about my experiences today.

Shattered Lives begins with student volunteers staging a scene of a severe drunk driving accident complete with professional make up injuries and turned over cars. The student body is called out and then the action really begins. Ambulances, fire trucks, and the police screech into the back parking lot mimicking what actually goes on in a drunk driving emergency. "Injured" students are placed in stretchers and taken away in ambulances. Students killed on scene are put into body bags and taken away in the coroner's van. At my school we are privileged to have a life flight helicopter to take kids away. The "cause(s)" aka the drunk drivers are taken into custody in police cars and taken to jail.

All throughout the day, every 15 minutes to be exact, a heart beat ending in a flat line is played over the PA system, symbolizing the one teenager who dies every 15 minutes as a result of a drunk driving incident. Additionally other volunteers are "taken" during the day by the grim reaper. The reaper knocks heavily on the door to announce their coming and they enter accompanied by paramedics and police. They announce the classmate who has died and then their obituary is read to the class.

The whole experience is made even more horrible by the obituary wall, a wall somewhere public, in our case the back side of the auditorium, where pictures and obituaries of the teenagers killed are. To help ease the pain of the mourning students, a booth with tissues and sticky notes is placed near the wall. Students are allowed to write notes to the "deceased" and stick them onto their pictures. It helps the students mourn in groups. To remember that they are not alone, others are suffering with the loss of their friends too.

Overall it was an extremely emotional day. A good friend of mine "died" in the middle of newspaper and hearing her obituary was the hardest part. Additionally, another of my friends was killed at the scene and the stories I've heard about him are the hardest to hear. Keep in mind that parents are encouraged to come and to "say goodbye" to their children. Garrett's father stroked his face and kissed his forehead, saying goodbye as best as he could. Additionally, this year one of the "drunk drivers" was a twin, her brother also participated as "one of her passengers". Upon booking her for driving drunk the police informed her that she had killed her twin brother, which completely destroyed her. Her parents had "as good as lost two children" that day. To add to all the emotional trauma, three years ago a student was killed in a one car accident when his car collided with a tree late at night, alcohol was suspected. This year, shattered lives fell on the three year anniversary of his death.

Just to sum it all up... The day was graphic and upsetting. I was on an emotional roller coaster. For the entire day, whenever the flat line came on, when a student "died", I was overcome with tears. It was incredibly sad. But the whole point was not to bog you down with troubles. The point of this was to remind my readers, all of you, that drinking and driving is NEVER a good idea. We all hear stories about people who have, people who got into the car with them, the people who were killed by them. You will never expect it to be you. And if it never is then you are incredibly lucky. But as someone who remembers what her neighborhood was like after an accident killed a neighbor and severely injured most of the family, everyone knows someone who has been affected by drunk driving. Please, don't become a statistic. Be sure that you make a good decision when it counts.

Keep it classy and more importantly, safe
~E

I missed you Claire!

Anyone who knows me, knows that one of the most important people in my life is my older sister, Claire who just recently turned 19 (happy birthday big sis!). Claire's spring break was last week and she and I went hog wild shopping with our birthday money. Monday, being the only day we both had free (and conveniently the day before Classy Tuesday) was dubbed shopping day! And shopping day provided me with a fresh take on Classy Tuesday!

Anthropologie (Favorite store!) provided me with a brand new top to pair with my trusty skinny jeans. Then added my new Italian Leather Combat boots (thrifted for $50) and Tiffany key for an edgy yet classy look.

My new top is a great addition to my wardrobe, and I'm so excited about it! It's a boxy t-shirt, made out of that great Anthropologie material. (If you've ever felt it then you know the kind I'm talking about, the soft cotton-y feel that flows so well.) And it's navy blue, which is so great for a red head. But the back is my favorite, it's the same material and color of blue, but they added white polka dots for a semi vintage feel. I LOVE it! I'm also super proud of it. Why you might ask... Because it's the first full priced item I've ever bought from Anthro. YAY ME!

Another perk of birthday was an Ulta shopping spree! And oh did I go CRAZY! I finally got Urban Decay's Naked 2! All I can say is OH! It's so beautiful! Not to mention my new lip stick!!! It's Urban Decay (duh) and it's sheer with lots of glitter and sparkle. I also got not one, not two, but three, THREE new Eco Tools brushes and I adore them so much! New brushes are so soft and my powder looks so great! I've also managed to track down a bottle of nail polish that is getting ready to go out of production, OPI's Mermaid's Tears, part of the Pirates Of The Caribbean collection that is going out. It took 3 weeks to find one bottle, and I'm so happy to have found it!

Last but not least, my lovely mother got me exactly what I wanted for my 16th birthday. Marc Jacobs perfume in Daisy! It smells like flowers and heaven and love all rolled into one. I'm just the happiest girl alive! THANKS MOMMY!

Keep it classy
~E