As much as we hate to admit it, we are all constantly on our phones. It's not one of the things our generation is particularly proud of, but it isn't something we can deny either. So I thought I might just share a couple of the apps I have on my phone that aren't really members of the "popular table" like Instagram, snapchat, Facebook, twitter, etc. Of course I uses all those on the daily as well, but here are four lesser known apps I love to use.

She Reads Truth (top left)

As a Christian it is very important to me to be spending time reading the bible or doing some sort of devotional. This app is really perfect because it is conveniently on my phone reminding me to read God's word every day. They have a series of devotional plans to do, a bible in your translation preference, and really cute lock screen reminders you can download. I really like this devotional app because it is so simple and fits my personality style and it has helped me stay more on top of this part of my life.

1. Don't Do Sadness from Spring Awakening Soundtrack
Honestly I've been listening the entire soundtrack for the last two week, but I decided to just put the one that has been stuck in my head the most. I'm working on a production of this show going on at my school so I get to hear all of the songs every night from that. It's really good music that doesn't sound super "musical theater" so it's worth checking out just for the songs. Honorable Mentions: Totally Fucked, My Junk, Whispering

2. Did You Miss Me? by Olly Murs from Never Been Better
Once again, entire album is perfection, but I if I had to pick one this would be it. It's such a fun upbeat song. Me and friends love to play it in the car and just be ridiculous and dance to it. Olly Murs style is so distinct and I am obsessed with it. Also all of the songs in this album describe my mood/life so well which is always a plus. Honorable Mentions: Why Do I Love You, Never Been Better, Seasons, Stick With Me, etc. 

3. Giants in The Sky from Into The Woods
Wow I've been listening to a lot of full albums lately... Anyway, Into The Woods came out on DVD this week so, in honor of that, I had to include the soundtrack because 1. The CD has been in my car since January and 2. I've watched the movie three times since buying it on DVD on Wednesday. Stephen Sondheim is bae and the cast Disney put together for this film is also bae. Just everything about it is bae. Honorable Mentions: Agony, No One Is Alone, It Takes Two

4. Siri Says by Zooly
Happened upon this on tumblr and I really enjoy just how random it is. So if you enjoy strange dance music made up of cell phone noises and really basic beats probably made in garageband you'd like this. It's so stupid, but it made me laugh the first time I heard it so I had to download it.

5. Fun by Troye Sivan from TRXYE
This was one of my summer songs and now it's making its way back into my everyday playlist. Troy Sivan is a talented human who really deserves to be more recognized so I'll always be there to support his music. This song is from his first EP he released back in July and I can't wait to hear more.

6. All You Had To Do Was Stay by Taylor Swift from 1989
Okay, Taylor Swift is great to just sing along to on a bad day. Break ups suck and Taylor has a song for every single emotion that goes on during a break up. So thank you Taylor for your catchy lyrics that I could sing at the top of my lungs driving, you and one direction basically wrote songs about everything I've gone through in the last three months and that's awesome.  Honorable Mentions: Bad Blood, Shake It Off

So yeah, that's what I've been listening too as of late. Not a very big variety, lot more full albums than specific songs and a lot of musicals, but all really great stuff. Will be sharing the new obsessions next weekend so till then check out this stuff.

Julia Carrington

1. Little Shop of Horrors by The Broadway Cast of Little Shop of Horrors
Once again, entire album. Auditions for this show at my school are next week so I've been listening to the soundtrack a lot to decide if I want to try out or not. Really fun musical if you haven't heard of it. I'd say it's worth checking out and watching the movie.

2. Pumped Up Kicks (Grouplove and Captain Cuts Remix) by Foster The People
Me and my brother found this remix a few years back and I just recently happened upon it again. This "dance" remix of the song makes the song actually sound good and it so much fun to jam to in the car.

3. New Slang by The Shins
I have an app on my phone called Songza that I've been using this week every morning. I just turn on the "Indie Morning" playlist after my alarm goes off so that plays to kind of wake me up and I leave it on while I get ready and have my morning tea so the rest of the songs on this list are all a few of my favorites from that.

4. Comfort Me by Feist
Feist was the first artist I bought music from on iTunes way back when it was all new to me. Her voice is so beautiful and will always hold a special place in my heart because of that first purchase of 1, 2, 3, 4

5. 5 Years Time by Noah & The Whale
This song is always my favorite when it comes up on the playlist. It wakes me up and makes me want to sing along.

6. Merry Happy by Kate Nash
Kate Nash is so much fun. Her music is just this bubbly upbeat sound that I can't get enough of. And just the fact that she has an accent when she sings, it's just all so perfect.

Julia Carrington

1. Credit by Meghan Trainor from Title 
It was finals week so I didn't listen to a whole lot of music this week, but my drive home was Meghan Trainor on repeat. I love love love her sound. It reminds me a lot of my other favorite artist Olly Murs. Fun upbeat music and great lyrics that fit any mood, who could ask for more? So yeah I'm falling in love with her and it's great. Honorable Mentions: Bang Dem Sticks, My Selfish Heart, Dear Future Husband.

To be completely honesty that is all I've listened to the last two weeks. Will have a lot more next week for sure because it's time for summer!

Oh the irony that a majority of this book what read while on a train/metro...

When in a large city you use public trasportation.
When using public trasportaion you have a lot of time to quietly sit in your own bubble.
When quietly sitting in your own bubble you get bored and need to find things to busy yourself.

Some opt to stare at their phones or listen to music. I personally have found this to be the perfect time to get some reading in. I have at least an hour and a half worth of commuting time on the metro every day and then sometimes more in addition to that if I choose to bop around the city a little more. Since I'm not the one driving I just get to read and it's so relaxing.

This was an amazing novel to read during my little commutes. I missed out on reading Gone Girl because I had to see the movie for a class before I had a chance to read that book, so I was not prepared to let that happen again with this suspense novel. I loved this book. It was beautifully written and so much fun to read. It was one of those stories that was just hard to walk away from. I feel like I don't read enough suspense or mystery type books because my go-to is more of a romance or coming-of-age type story. I'm not going to talk about the plot at all because it is a suspense and therefore background shouldn't be shared. Yes, I know the movie just came out recently so it's not that secret, but humor me for a bit.

Also just one more book and I can be done with these silly little book reviews. A one year goal turned into a two year goal, but the 12 book total will be finished nonetheless.

Julia Carrington

1. Air Balloon by Lilly Allen
First off I had one artist playing on repeat every day this week. First was Lilly. Lilly Allen is such a babe. She has a cutesy style, but so much sass. I am falling back in love with her right now. Its been a while so it's so much fun coming back to this and new stuff too. Honorable Mentions: Fuck You, Somewhere We Only Know, The Fear, Sheezus, Insincerely Yours, etc.
2. Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High? by Arctic Monkeys
Felt more rocker today I guess. I really love the Arctic Monkeys' sound. They are a lot like the Black Keys with the chill, laid back, indie rock sound. And who can resist a group of talented guys from the UK?  Honorable Mentions: Snap Out of It, Knee Socks
3. Beware the Dog by The Griswold's 
Favorite on this list right now. Gosh I love this band of Aussies. They opened up for Walk The Moon when we saw them a little while ago and I regret not knowing them before because now we have to by tickets to go see them when they are on tour in July. Great music all around. Must listen. Honorable Mentions: 16 Years, Be Impressive, Down and Out, etc. 
4. Chocolate by 1975
Another Indie band of course because I'm a quote unquote hipster. Really Just starting to get into this band, a little behind the trend I know, but I'm really liking it so far. Honorable Mentions: Settle Down, Heart Out, Robbers, Girls
5. Step by Vampire Weekend 
Vampire weekend takes me back. I remember getting the Cousins single free on iTunes and thinking they were the coolest ever. They came up on my Songza the other day and it made me want to look them up again and find new stuff. Honorable Mentions: Oxford Comma, Ya Hey, Obvious Bicycle, Holiday 

Ed Sheeran - Little Bird

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So lately my obsession with Ed Sheeran has rekindled and I have been listening to his angelic voice nonstop. Now who is Ed you may ask? He is a twenty-two year old british ginger that was on the british x-factor and has now began to find his fame here in the US. A few weeks ago, a couple of my friends and I went to see "Ginger Jesus" at the Palladium in Hollywood and it was by far one of the best concerts I have been to. There are two things that Ed does at his concerts that I have not seen any other artist do before. First of all, a majority of his songs are slow so he has the audience become dead silent when he sings some of these songs and even stops singing with the mic for a little while. Believe it or not, the audience actually shuts up for him and you can hear him in the back with no mic on. I found this quite amazing. Another thing that Ed does is make one song last over fifteen minutes. He sings the actual four minute song along with some audience participation, additional popular songs, and lots of repetition to make the energy last longer. It is an exciting new way to keep the audience pumped up at a concert when he has only a few high energy songs. If you have not listened to Ed Sheeran yet please look him up, you will fall in love with that voice.

Julia Carrington

wow... Being abroad feels like a world away now. It's almost as if it was all this crazy dream and I've woken up again. But it was all a real part of my life. I really was in Europe for a long time so it's impossible to come back and pretend that didn't happen. It would be crazy for me to say that I don't miss any of it at all, but at the same time, I couldn't be any happier to be home. There's the little things like how I'm so happy to sleep in my bed every night in a comfortable(bigger) bedroom or having my cat back to just pick up and hug whenever I so please. On the other hand, there's things I miss about Paris like late nights sitting on an empty metro after a really good day or walking being the number one mode of transportation. I'm sure the list goes on and on, and since my blog here has been mostly a collection of lists so far, might as well end it with one last list. What I miss the most about Paris and why I'm crazy happy to be back in the states.

Now a quick disclaimer: I did not become fluent in French by any means. I can read almost anything and understand most – if the French person speaks slowly – but please don't expect me to have a full conversation in French because that isn't happening. That being said, I miss the French language. After living every day with everyone around you speaking another language, it begins to feel more normal than the language you speak. For me personally, I would have to really focus to listen and understand the language, so in moments where I didn't need to have my translator mode on, it was so easy to just tune out the world around me. I could make everything just turn into background noise, as weird as that may sound. The language difference gave me this strange sense of privacy in the most public of places. I felt like nobody could be peering over my shoulder or listening on my conversations(most Parisians speak English so this wasn't true at all, but hey it helped). Another cool thing about being in a French speaking country is that every time I heard someone speaking English, which was much more often that I was expecting, there was an instant connection. This was true especially when it was English in an American accent. I met a lot of really cool people just with the conversation starter "Hey, where are you from?" Meeting someone from your home country while in a different country just feels crazy, so it's a cool opportunity to share stories about why you ended up in Paris. So yes, I miss French, but for some really strange reasons.

I strongly believe that Southern California has the BEST weather the world has to offer. Now that I have experienced another place in the world that gets much more of a "seasons" feel to it, I can only believe this even more. It just makes me feel much luckier to have grown up where I did. I wore a dress without tights on Christmas. I was able to go to the beach twice in December. Speaking of the beach, can we talk about the views? Home has so much more open spaces and beautiful views that I get to see daily. I can walk along the Pacific coast and watch the sunset. I wake up in the morning and look out the window to see these perfect looking mountain ranges. My drive to University is through a gorgeous canyon where every turn is a new view that still leaves me in awe. I could brag about the place I live and things I get to see all day. Yes, Paris had all the fancy old buildings and its own secret views in that sense, but there's nothing like seeing God's work in action on a 70-degree day.

I don't really understand how, but time moved differently when I was abroad. Days were shorter, but they moved slower and I was able to do so much more. The concept of time wasn't really something I felt like I had to think about. A 45-minute metro ride wasn't a big deal at all, I'd just go do things all the time without letting the clock determine if it was a good idea or not. I could walk half the city or go to a few different museums and still be back in time for dinner. I don't know how I did it. I'm a little upset with myself for going back to questioning if the 30-minute drive to Anaheim is worth it. Time moves fast again and days feel wasted if I don't get out of the house early enough. I miss the time warp of Europe and every day feeling like an adventure and a chance to make the most of every minute.

Yes, the metro system was nice and convenient, but I'm from Southern California where we don't have public transportation and my car is my best friend. I missed driving so much despite the traffic and the annoying things that come along with it. There's no feeling like driving down PCH with the music blasting. That's what I was excited to do when I got home. On the metro, I'd listen to music too, with headphones in to pass the time, but you can't sing along on the metro. It feels great to be back in my car singing my favorite songs at the top of my lungs. It's my favorite and something I couldn't ever do in Europe so it feels great to have that back in my life.

Since I've been back home it's been a whirlwind of getting coffee with this person or lunch with that person or dinner with someone else. Don't get me wrong, I love it all. It's so great being able to reconnect with all of these people I love so much and missed when I was gone, but I haven't really had many moments to myself. That's what I miss the most about Paris. In Paris, I had so much time to myself. Time to read. Time to wander. Time to think and write and do the things I love to do. It became my favorite part of the experience and something I wanted to bring home with me, but during these first few weeks I remembered why I didn't have that kind of experience before, because it's so much more difficult here. I live a fast paced life and I need to put in more of an effort to slow down. As I'm sitting and writing this post now, it's honestly the first chance I've had to really sit and think to myself like this and I still have plans to meet up with more people in about three hours. In Paris I would do this every day, just sit in a coffee shop and write. I guess most of my free time in Paris was due to the lack of responsibility like a job or copious amounts of homework so it was easier to prioritize time to myself because there was just so much time. I miss it a lot, so now it's just more of a new years resolution to get that back while I'm here.

I love the people in my life way too much. I don't want to admit to the amount of money I spent on stamps to send letters back to every single person I missed back at home. It only makes sense that the people here at home are the main reason why I'm so happy to be back. First off, my family is the coolest ever. Like I mentioned before, my favorite week in Paris was the week my mom came to visit because she's just too cool for words and the best travel buddy a girl could ask for. After my long long LONG day of travel to get back to the states, I pushed through the jet lag and sleep deprivation to go see my dad and brother who had a gig that night. My dad is also the coolest – thus why my mom married him – and my brother is my best friend whether he knows it or not. Then most of my winter break was spent reconnecting with friends. My old coworkers at Disney treated me like a celebrity when I came to see them all at work. Walking around deck, giving so many hugs, I was too happy to see them all again. I feel so blessed to have amazing people like that in my life. The number of friends that genuinely cared and wanted to know about my experience made me realize a lot about friendship. I have friends that I've had in my life for as long as I can remember that I now feel even closer to because of this experience. Friends that I didn't think I'd miss that much, but made me so much more excited to see them again. I'm even starting to miss some of my abroad friends already, so that's going to help fuel my stationary problem and fill their mailboxes with letters. My abroad experience put a new perspective on the people in my life and gave new meaning to the word friend.

Overall being back is a bitter-sweet, but for me, there's no place like home. Home is the familiar. Home is the people. I have a little list of places that feel like home to me, and yeah, now I think I can tack Paris to that bottom, number four position. I look forward to the day when I can afford to go back and show it all off to someone I love, but for now, I'm happy to be back in home number one.

time to start the next adventure,
Julia Carrington

The summer is coming to an end. I know this is very sad news for most people, but it is the truth. At the beginning of this summer I had come up with my "Summer Bucket List" and now looking back I realize that I put way too many things on there to do. As I was going through to see what things that I haven't done yet that I could accomplish in these last two weeks of summer I saw "start a blog." Sounds simple enough. So that is where we are. My thought process when writing this on the list in the first place was that since I already have an etsy store and a lookbook blog I might as well have a regular blog like every other person on lookbook and etsy. It's going to be so much fun getting to share with who ever ends up taking time out of there busy, hectic lives to read my blog. I will be posting about all of the things I love such as music, fashion, photography, and life. Maybe we will find something in common that we share. I'm super excited to share my passions with all of you[who ever you may be].

So I went through a pretty shit breakup a while ago.

It was a mess. I was extremely heart broken and depressed. I fell into a hole that I thought would be impossible to get out of. I locked myself in my room, stopped eating, and basically became this shell of a human, going through the necessary motions of life, like a zombie.

Good news is if you saw me now, you wouldn't believe that for a second. I am the happiest I have ever been and living my best life. I don't regret any of it, but I am so much better off now.

I recently had a friend who also went through a bad break-up and since she watched me go through mine she came to me for advice on how to come out of that mess on top. This got me thinking about how much I would have loved to have someone there for me to tell be what's going to happen and how to get through it. So I've come up with my "potion" to cure a broken heart.

I am going to preface this by saying everyone is different and works through emotions in their own unique ways, these are just some general bits of advice that got me to be a happy person again.


A song to belt at the top of your lungs ...

So I am not going to tell you what song it is or give some silly little playlist because I have no idea what your story is and what you need to hear. You'll find the perfect ones that are most relevant to what's going on. Mine were Credit by Meghan Trainor and Too Many Fish by Karmin. Maybe you need empowering pump up songs or maybe you need a good crying song. Either way, music has therapeutic powers so sing your heart out.

Time ..

It always takes time to heal, no matter the type of wound. A wise man once told me to think about how long you've been with the person, cut that in half, and that's how long it's going to take to really get over them. It's silly to think that you can invest all that time into a person getting to know them and falling in love with them and they suddenly disappear from your life and everything feels normal. No. Not at all. Your life is turned upside-down. Your routine and habits are gone. You lost your person. It will take time to get used to that. It took me six months to finally say my life was back to normal again, but that makes sense.

A confidence booster ...

Do you what you gotta do to remind yourself that you are worth everything. Breakups can leave you feeling worthless and unloved. You don't have that attention anymore, that promise that someone finds you fun to be around and attractive. Go ahead download Tinder and see all the hot guys that will swipe right on you. Not to get back in the game, don't do that too soon, but get that little rush of knowing someone thinks you're cute. Your ex isn't the only one who will ever think you're beautiful, but sometimes that's hard to remember.

A reminder of the good news ...

This goes a little bit against my last point, but we are all children of God and we don't need to find our worth in anything here on earth because our worth is found in Christ. The God of the universe loves you and will always love you. That's pretty freaking awesome if you asked me. During this time of trouble and sadness, it's so important to take time to pull out a bible or reach out to people within your church for encouragements and prayer. God and your church family will always be there to listen to you.

Retail therapy ...

You gotta take the time to treat yourself like the princess you are. All that money that you used to spend on them(dates, gifts, etc.) is now all for you. My breakup was right before Valentine's day so all the money I had saved up to buy him a nice gift went straight to a mini shopping spree for myself.

Cut that last string of hope ...

There is nothing to be hanging onto because that is what will just elongate the process. It doesn't help you whatsoever so you need to spend your time getting over the person, not considering the what ifs. This was my big mistake, we ended things with a big maybe. That left me waiting and wondering until it was too late. If they wanted to end things in the first place then why would either of you want to get back into the relationship again? If it was bad enough to end for any bit of time it was bad enough to end for good.

Surround yourself with people who love and cherish you no matter what ...

Your ex isn't the only one who loved you even though it might have felt that way. It's easy to fall into the trap of relationships where you spend all your time with the one person and you forget about the countless number of people who still love you no matter what. Spend time with them, you don't need to go through this alone. You need someone you can talk through all these emotions and feelings with so you don't bottle it all upside and let it eat you away. Your friends and family will want to be there to support you.

Use this time to your advantage ...

Welcome to single life where you are now your own priority. Relationships are exhausting! There is this constant need to find time to be with your significant other. Now you have all this time to yourself that you would have spent talking to someone all the time or going on dates when they could. Now you have this time to yourself to figure out what you love to do. Now you get to date yourself for a little. Lucky duck. This is honestly my favorite thing ever. You are the longest relationship you'll ever be in. Relationships can come and go but you'll always have to get to know yourself and have fun.

Just remember it's all good in the end. Don't think about all the positives of the relationship that you'll miss or even all the negatives to convince yourself it was terrible. It was a relationship that you will cherish and remember because it was a big part of your life for some amount of time. Don't turn it into something terrible and at the same time don't put it on a pedestal. There obviously was good and bad and you learned so many things from your experience. It's going to hurt real bad but you'll move on eventually and this experience will make you a stronger person in the end.

I hope my words are able to help someone get through the crap and be happy with who they are.

xoxo
Julia Carrington