we fall

school has been a crazy whirlwind lately. i wish i was further on college apps and doing better as far as grades go but i'm trying to enjoy high school while i can. i'm almost done with one application and i'm working on the supplements for another today, so slowly but surely i'll get them done.

yesterday the afternoon was absolutely gorgeous so i went outside to take a few pictures. breathing in the sunlight was amazing. for the first time in a while i felt invigorated.



my hair looks very brown in this picture...









bp scarf, caslon jacket, j. crew shirt, it! jeans, converse

october skies

frenchi dress, jj. basics sweater, vintage belt, chinese laundry flats

i've been kind of sick the last couple days so i don't have anything cool to report. hopefully new stuff coming up soon especially since fall is here and i can pull out my cute coats :)

Thinking of You by Umbrellas

forever in love with this song.
i haven't taken any good pictures lately...

Today I took the SAT subject tests again. This means I had to wake up at 6 in the morning, get ready, and get to the test center by quarter to 8. I came home, watched tv, and basically have no motivation to do anything anymore. So I'm going to blog.

Yesterday was quite possibly one of the longest days ever. English went by faster than usual, I have to admit, but right after that I had a physics quiz. After turning in my paper, my teacher proceeded to pick it up, stare at it, and laugh quietly to himself. Not sure that's such a good thing...I could barely stay awake in calc. Bio was a good class, and in yoga we made smoothies (don't ask..), but orchestra was less fun than the usual. A new person came in to coach us for chamber music, and I didn't really appreciate her methods of teaching. It's one thing to make suggestions about how to make your sound better and to offer practice techniques; it's another when you give me a lecture on exposition/development and yell at the group to "STOPSTOPSTOPSTOP" every time we are slightly out of tune.

Here's some pictures of my outfit from last Tuesday. I felt like dressing up a little more than usual--it's nice that the school is indoors now and I don't have to worry as much about being cold. I also have this really cool nail polish that changes color in the sun, transitioning between gold and purple (school colors!). Hopefully you can see that in the picture.




nail polish before: it's kind of hard to see, but it's a golden peachy color

after:



eddie bauer shirt, caslon jacket, bcbg maxazria skirt, j.crew sandals, del sol nail polish (urban outfitters oxfords in the last picture)

true colors

every friday at our school we dress up in our school colors (purple and gold). this is what i wore that day. school has been so crazy lately and i'm drowning in schoolwork and college apps, so i'm just taking everything a day at a time. hopefully i'll have time to post my outfit from today tomorrow.




august silk cardi, tory burch top, j. crew belt and sandals, it! jeans

camp

seabeck was amazing.
we left sunday at around 10 in the morning, spent an hour and a half singing songs like don't stop believing, a whole new world, reflection, and hey soul sister on the bus. shannon brought her asian food and we definitely pigged out. we got to seabeck, dropped our stuff off at the room, then ran off to explore and eat lunch. the choir kids sang christmas songs to us, taking us about three months into the future.

our first rehearsal was crazy, with more russian music (blah) and victory at sea, then chamber music rehearsal on the schubert, which i'm pretty much in love with. then it was off to form skits and explore some more.

after dinner we ran across the street to buy ben and jerry's ice cream, then it was our epic star wars rehearsal. my arm was about to fall off from the millions of triplets but it was so amazing, the brass nearly blew the building down. we performed chamber music in a very casual setting afterward, the schubert was so awesomeeee and everyone sounded good. then we did skits, and first place goes to the woodwinds: see erin's blog for the whole thing plus steven's commentary.

we all ran off to the cemetery after skits for no real reason, and hurried back just in time for curfew. the senior girls bonded over shannon's asian snacks, jamie's amazing cookies, and so many random truths. then the counselor told us to go to our respective rooms, and seven of us stayed to whisper about homecoming and "girlish intrigue". we stayed up until 3, my throat was sore, but it was so much fun.

we woke up to elaine's, then shannon's, cell phone alarms, then went back to sleep until it was time for breakfast. i was definitely sick but it didn't matter until later. we rehearsed yet again in the morning, this time beethoven, before packing, playing a last game of volleyball, eating lunch and running off to the charter buses (ours was husky themed. go UW!) we rode to the ferry, then ran around on the boat taking pictures with our hair blowing in our faces. then we were in seattle, then issaquah, then back home again.

it may be so dorky to love orchestra retreats, but i'd been looking forward to this weekend for a long time. it definitely didn't disappoint. here are some pictures that i love from our trip:


shannon took this of me, it basically summarizes what i did


steven and his chinese passport:

jguo!

volleyball epicness


freshmen! i love them so much.


ekim getting intense


favorite pic from skits

asian tommy hilfiger ad campaign


creepin some more, but i really like this




it was hard to narrow them down...may share more someday.
signing off for now!

music

i'm writing this piece for school and i started by writing about music. it was interesting that upon reflection, i found that the experience that i thought was more than i could stand was one of the best parts about being a musician.

dear kl,
thank you for forcing me to be in your orchestra. i might kick myself for saying this but i really enjoyed it. more than evergreen. i hated sitting in hard chairs because i apparently don't have the right butt muscles (long story)...but it was worth it. it's going in a college app essay if it fits.

sincerely, isa


3 days until birthday :)