Vogue 73 Questions: Three Years and 100 Posts Later

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Again, it’s been a minute. The month of January was honestly a serious test, and I’m just happy I’ve made it it to the other side. I sat down to write for the first time in a month, and realized that this will be my 100th post. In that case, it’s only fitting that I redo my first post: the Vogue 73 questions.

A lot has happened in three years from my interests to my experiences and more. So if you want to hear about who I have become since 2020, you’re in luck. Just 73 random (ish) questions about me, for you.

  1. On a scale of 1-10, how excited are you about life right now?
    • Eight
  2. Describe yourself in hashtag?
    • #basic
  3. What’s one thing most people don’t know about you?
    • At one point in my life I was shy. I know, I’m shocked too.
  4. What is your wakeup routine?
    • On a weekday, get up for work, make breakfast and pick up a matcha
  5. What is your go to bed ritual?
    • Skincare routine, brush teeth, scroll on TikTok and meditate myself to sleep (insomnia is real)
  6. Dream country to visit?
    • France; I’ve been before but I cannot wait to go again.
  7. What’s your favorite time during the day?
    • The evening; working a corporate job has taught me how to appreciate the evenings and make time to do things that I want to do
  8. What’s the biggest surprise you’ve had?
    • Not really a fan of surprises, but I like to surprise people. I loved surprising my siblings on a weekend coming home from college.
  9. Heels or flats/sneakers?
    • Sneakers, but I love being tall and want to wear heels more often.
  10. Vintage or new?
    • I hate to say it… new. But I am all about sustainable fashion.
  11. Style icon?
    • Danielle Guizio 100%
  12. What are three things you can’t live without?
    • My phone, matcha, and music
  13. What’s one ingredient you put in everything?
    • Cinnamon 
  14. What three people living or dead would you like to make dinner for?
    • Selena Gomez, Barbara Waters and Virgil Abloh
  15. What’s your biggest fear in life?
    • Not using my full potential
  16. Window of aisle seat?
    • Aisle, I drink too much water to take the window.
  17. What’s your current TV Obsession?
    • Curb Your Enthusiasm, I don’t know why I didn’t watch this all the way through sooner in life haha
  18. Favorite app?
    • Spotify
  19. Secret talent?
    • I am super good at the limbo, it’s a great party trick! But pro tip: don’t belt limbo at the bar.
  20. Most adventurous thing you’ve done in your life?
    • Just learning to live life a little more spontaneously.
  21. How would you define yourself in three words?
    • Determined, Compassionate, Idealistic
  22. Favorite piece of clothing you own?
  23. Must have clothing item everyone should own?
  24. Superpower you want?
    • Teleportation. I would save sooo much money – this was my 2020 answer and the answer still applies
  25. What’s inspiring in your life right now?
    • Honestly my friends. Seeing my friends do great and amazing things for themselves makes me want to push and hold myself accountable too.
  26. Best piece of advice you’ve received?
    • If you’re feeling anxious about different situations, you’re too comfortable with your routine. Put yourself in uncomfortable situations to get over that underlying anxiety.
  27. Best advice you’d give your teenage self?
    • Speak up more. You can still have your own feelings while taking others into consideration.
  28. A book everyone should read?
    • Get Out of Your Head by Jenie Allen. Even if you don’t necessarily struggle mentally, this book will work wonders.
  29. What would you want to be remembered for?
    • Treating everyone with respect and making people feel their best. 
  30. How do you define beauty?
    • Finding beauty from within.
  31. What do you love most about your body?
    • My height (I’m 5’9)
  32. Best way to take a rest/decompress?
    • Going on long walks! I would say pilates, but that gets expensive. Walking is kind of hard to do considering I live in Chicago, but getting out always helps.
  33. If your life were a song, what would the title be?
    • I’ll use a real song; Call it to Fate, Call it Karma by The Strokes. And this is just looking at the title, not the lyrics. Everything that happens in life happens for a reason, good or bad, and that’s how I’ve been trying to navigate my days recently.
  34. If you could master one instrument, what would it be?
    • Guitar
  35. What is your spirit animal?
    • A frenchie
  36. Best gift you’ve ever received?
    • Handwritten letters; they are above any dollar value gift.
  37. What’s your favorite board game?
    • I haven’t played any in a while, but I grew up playing every version of Candy Land imaginable.
  38. What is your favorite color?
    • Green
  39. Least favorite color?
    • Yellow
  40. Diamonds or pearls?
    • Diamonds
  41. Drugstore makeup or designer?
    • Whichever one is made from clean products
  42. Blow-dry or air-dry your hair?
    • Blow dry; I have to have my hair done for work too much and my natural hair just doesn’t cut it/:
  43. Pilates or yoga?
    • Pilates
  44. Coffee or tea?
    • Tea
  45. Dark chocolate or milk chocolate?
    • Dark Chocolate
  46. Summer or winter?
    • Summer… living in the Midwest for six years had made me appreciate the sun.
  47. You are stuck on an island, you can pick one food to eat forever without getting tired of it, what would you eat?
    • Poke bowls
  48. A dessert you don’t like?
    • I am the world’s least pickiest eater, I will eat anything I can! (But nothing with gluten, major stomach issues)
  49. Best thing to happen to you today?
    • I talked to my mom, dad and grandma on the phone (: always makes my day talking people I care about
  50. Worst thing to happen to you today?
    • Woke up feeling pretty anxious, but I worked through it.
  51. Best compliment you’ve ever received?
    • I inspire someone
  52. Favorite smell?
  53. Last piece of content you consumed that made you cry?
    • I cried from a text on Sunday that I got from my mom that it was my family’s dogs first birthday… does that count?
  54. Lipstick or lip gloss?
    • Lip gloss
  55. Sweet of savory?
    • Savory always
  56. How you know you’re in love?
    • I’m not sure… haven’t had that happen enough times to pinpoint what it feels like. 
  57. Song you can listen to on repeat?
    • Pardon my French.. but Fuck Me Pumps by Amy Winehouse . I actually have a whole playlist of songs on Spotify that’s literally called “Songs The Never Get Old”, so really anything on there.
  58. If you could switch lives with someone for the day who would it be?
    • Kit Keenan, I am dying to know what it feels like to be a nepo baby in New York City LOL
  59. What are you most excited about at this time in your life?
    • Opportunity. It’s nervous and exciting. My options are endless on want to live and where I want to shift my career to so I am excited for what is to come.
  60. Your go to for having a good laugh?
    • My sister
  61. Who would you say your role model was growing up?
    • My mom ❤
  62. What would you consider to be your uniform?
    • My everyday jewelry, matching Alo set, hoodie and sneakers. Super puff if it’s cold!
  63. What’s your guilty pleasure?
    • Queso
  64. What is something you really want to try but haven’t yet?
    • Running more; I hate it but I want to learn to love it
  65. What motivates you everyday?
    • My friends and family
  66. What negative experience has made you come out for the better?
    • Going to college far from home really pushed me out of my shell. And I think that was a big jump but has made me a better person. 
  67. What is your current obsession?
    • My juicer. My friends call me an almond mom, and unfortunately sometimes I just have almond mom tendencies. I can’t help it, I’m a sucker for a green juice.
  68. Who makes you laugh the hardest?
    • My sister, you never know what is going to come out of that girls mouth.
  69. What makes you feel the most beautiful?
    • When I feel refreshed and healthy.
  70. Favorite place to visit that is not home?
    • Michigan, that is my second home.
  71. If you could raid one person’s closet, who would it be?
    • This is a hot take but Addison Rae. Whoever is pulling these vintage runway pieces she has been wearing is doing a damn good job!
  72. What will you miss most about college?
    • Honestly school in general. I loved applying myself to something I was super passionate about.
  73. Where do you see yourself in ten years from now?
    • At 33 I want to look back on my 20’s and see the progress I have made on my career and how I have identified myself as a brand. I hope to have worked in my desired field in some aspect, and hopefully be in a relationship or married? Too far in advance for that haha but who knows! No matter what, I hope to be happy and healthy and continuing to find joy in the little things.

We Were On A Break!

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Maybe not for Ross & Rachel, but we all need breaks.

The last time I sat down and took time to write was realistically in February when I did my Trend Forecasting for 2022., which is quite literally forever ago. When I look back at the person I was the last time I wrote, I was in a completely different place than where I am today. Not that ~I’m different~ now, but I am. I needed a break from doing things that I love to remember why I loved them, and that includes writing.

This time last year I was finishing up my second semester of graduate school. Really, grad school and work took up all of my time. Not complaining at all, but I could not make enough time to squeeze in the activities that I loved. I loved school, so at the time, it filled all of my needs. Being a full time employee and a full time student at the same time became my personality (sorry to everyone that I know). Because of this, I really lost my sense of self. I stopped working out, I stopped exploring places that inspired me, and I stopped writing. My time was precious, and I had to apply myself where it was best fit for me to succeed financially and socially. With the little free time that I had on the weekends, I chose to go out and socialize with my friends and meet new people in the city – something I would not change for the world. But now that the engulfing school aspect of my life is complete, I am picking back up those things that I love.

Losing my sense of self through writing is hard to put into words, and hard to explain to y friends or someone that has not been in my shoes. The best way to explain falling out of love with a hobby is comparing it to reading in middle school. When we were young, there was nothing better than going to the public library with your mom to pick out a new book, or being given cash to purchase easy-read chapter books at the elementary school book fair. As we grew up, reading became less about enjoyment and was made a requirement. Since we were required to read beginning in middle school, the desire to read for leisure diminished. This was the same thing with writing. When I first started writing for fun in 2020, I could not get enough. I began writing for myself, and sometimes for others if it applied. Writing about my personal experiences, my passions, etc. was a great creative outlet for me, and 10/10 times I would have rather written than scrolled on social media. When I began grad school in August of 2021, I began writing WAY more… for school. Since I was required to write, the enjoyment aspect was lost. When school wrapped up in August 2022, I was drained. I had just completed my graduate program that was a year long, with no breaks. Wrapping up the program sucked out every creative and motivational bone out of my body, because I truly left it all on the field. Here I am, there months later, finally getting the drive and the creative itch back to get back into doing the things I love. Will I be extraordinarily consistent? Probably not, but that takes time.

Time heals all, and the break is over. Happy to say I’m back in a relationship with WordPress ❤

New Year, Same Me, More Mindful Habits

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“New year, new me!” is one of the most discouraging sentences, and quite honestly disappoints me for the upcoming year. This one single sentence puts so much pressure on a person to change – maybe I am just feeling this pressure because I am in a life stage where shift is inevitable. Sure there are aspects on my life I know I need to work on, but that doesn’t mean a completely new me. I like who I am, and if I notice aspects of my life where I an improve on, I act on them gradually, with minimal pressure.

BUT with that being said, if you are looking to make changes in your life, do so without such a pressure buildup. Work towards things that you want to do for yourself, not what you think you need to do. Instead of doing something daily, try weekly. Instead of jumping the gun with an “I’m going to workout everyday” mindset, try a goal to work towards a week, specifically dropping these numerical standards. If you are doing something a number to times over and over for yourself, it will become more of a chore, as your goal starts to slide out of reach. Be mindful with your goals, as nothing comes overnight.

Going into the new year, I tend to reflect on things I have done in the past year. And 2021 was extremely impactful on my life and my future. I was fresh out of college, and took a gap semester before starting my job and my graduate program. I traveled, lived at home, started my first corporate job, moved to a new city, and began a whole new part of my life that I would have never pictured for myself if you asked me where I would have been a year ago. Through all of the chaos, I really took away one thing – balance. You know how people say water is the key to life? Well, balance is too. When I was in high school, I thought I knew everything there was to know. When I went to college, I realized how naive I was in high school, and thought about what an adult I had become now that I was in college. When I graduated college and started living on my own, I realized I was back in that same spot. Just when you think you know it all – you don’t. You have learn to balance new things every single day. For me now, that balance is juggling a social life, full time school, and a full time job. I learned the hard way on how to do this, and I have to make sacrifices for myself to better all three aspects of my life. Without finding that balance, I would have failed my first time on my own. And that is what I taking with me from 2021, and moving it into 2022.

With all of that being said, there are small things that I need to work on. And while goal setting needs to be done so tediously, and is hard work, it lies as a motivator and reminder that there is opportunity for growth. In 2022 I want to:

  • Make my bed first thing every morning
  • Get movement in every day, whether that’s a walk to get coffee, or yoga in my apartment
  • Lower my screen time, and learn to remove myself from my phone
  • Write more consistently
  • Allow myself to be more vulnerable with others
  • Eat more whole foods and make time for cooking
  • Say “yes”more – I’ve been wanting to read the book The Year Of Yes by Shonda Rhimes, and now is the perfect time to do so

New year, same me, more mindful habits.

WOTW: December 1

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After a month break, I am back. This month is a new beginning and I am taking December to focus on good intentions with myself, and remember how grateful I am for all of the good people in my life. There is nothing like a step back that brings you two steps forward.

Starting of WOTW with a new month, seems fitting to me.