Just a Smattering of Summer Pinspiration

Can I just say that I am DYING for summer?!? I'm dying to feel the warmth of the summer sun kissing my
cheeks, the excitement that comes from being out of school bumming around, the feel of cool ripe watermelon juice going down my throat as I dig into hundreds of watermelons throughout the season, the energetic buzz I get from the longer days, and most of all I'm dying to get back up to Corner Canyon! Ever since I started running about 3 years ago, I've spent a large chunk of my summers up in this part of the mountain running with my mom.

Isn't it just beautiful? These pictures hardly do it justice!! It's such a relaxing place, and whenever I'm up there I can see so clearly the hand of God in all of splendor around me. It's a tough run on the way up the mountain but its so worth it because the higher you get the prettier the view! Plus, coming back down is such a thrill. Moving down the mountain feels like riding a roller coaster! The downhill carries you so fast you barely feel your feet touch the ground and at times it almost feels as if you're flying! Oh and can I just mention how amazing my mom is real quick? That's her in the last photo, and I mean look at her! You'd never be able to tell that the tiny little bum in that picture belongs to a 46 year old woman! Oh and can I just also mention that this 46 year old woman also happens to kick my trash on EVERY run! That's how she was able to snap the two middle photo's of me, she's in front of me 100% of the time! She's incredible, she's my inspiration!

Now, onto the Pinterest photos seen above! Seeing these fun summer fashion photos on Pinterest is what got me hungering so badly for summer in the first place. Those flats? So gorgeous! And those sunglasses, and hat? Yeah, um, to die for! At the top of my summer fashion shopping list this year are two things. First, a pair of dark wash flared jeans like these because I plan on naming this summer "The Summer of my Inner Hippie". Second, a good pair of slouchy boyfriend jeans like these or these. Unfortunately right now I don't have enough spending money to get either of them, but I figure if I don't have any sort of fun for the next couple of paychecks I'll be able to get 'em. ;) Not that they're even pricey at all, but hey, this working girls gotta pay tuition. You guys should totally go for it, though, and buy them for yourselves! You know what else we should all get ourselves for summer? These sunglasses, so cute and similar enough to the ones in the Pinterest photo. Hats, hats, hats. This one and this one are cute. Maxi skirts!! This patterned one is fab, and this one from target looks so cozy. Floral hair pieces all the way! I've already got quite a few that I'm in love with but if you guys need to stock up, this one and this one should do the trick. Denim jackets/vests, in all different kinds of cuts. I've got three that I simply adore. Here is a basic one, here is one similar to a sleeveless one I own, and here is a vest that is almost identical to one of mine that is my all time favorite! You know what else we need? Dresses! A boho one like this is at the top of my list. Also, just bright fun patterned ones like this one, and this one would be fun! Ok, I know these pants seem a little odd but I really want to try them out! They look super cozy, and they fit in perfectly with my "Summer of my Inner Hippie" theme. Oh, and last of all, I plan on living in fun slouchy band tees, because one of my favorite summer activities? Concerts, CONCERTS, CONCERTS! If I can save up enough cash I want to go to Coachella this summer! The band line up this year looks incredible!

Much love!

The Secret Life of Coconuts

{Top: abercrombie kids similar, skirt: F21, belt: Guatemala similar}

So, do you guys remember how last post I mentioned that one of my best friends had been awesome enough to snap some photos for me? Well, here are a few of them! I think they turned out quite nice! Anyway, I won't bore you guys with too many outfit details since its not too different from my last post. Which, talking about my last post, I realize its been a FULL week since I blogged. There is a reason, though! We've been in the process of changing our Internet plan so for the past week we've been without Internet. Which nowadays feels like living a week without an arm. I know that sounds extreme, but its the sad truth. Thank heavens for unlimited Internet on my phone right?

Anyway, the belt I wore in these photos spawned a whole train of thought complete with railroad and passengers. The thoughts were THAT intense. This belt comes from my home country, Guatemala. For those of you who don't know, Guatemala is in Central America just below Mexico. Whenever my grandparents or aunts/uncles used to visit they would bring us little trinkets like this belt. I had never really worn it before but out of some miracle I spotted it a couple of months back and realized just how beautiful and detailed it was. I've been wearing it pretty much nonstop ever since. After wearing it for this photo-shoot I got to thinking about how lucky I am that I can get these beautifully unique hand crafted things when not everyone else can and how that's due to the fact that I was born in such a beautiful little country.

Thinking about my homeland got me thinking about my identity as a Latina and how in many ways it defines who I am. Would I still be Allexis if I wasn't Hispanic? Maybe. Maybe not. Being raised in a Hispanic home gave me the mannerisms and little ways of viewing life that make me different from the rest of the community I've lived the majority of my life around. The same goes for having lived 16 years out of my 20 years of life in Utah, though. Would I still be Allexis if I had stayed in Guatemala and never come to Utah? Maybe. Maybe not. Living here and assimilating with the United States culture whitened me out a bit, and if I went back to Guatemala I'm pretty sure everyone would think I act like a gringa. In Guatemala I would probably come off as a coconut. What is a coconut you ask? Its the slang term for white washed Latinos. Brown on the outside, white on the inside. It's kind of offensive. I find the term a touch offensive because I in no way think I'm white on the inside(not that there's anything wrong with acting white, the culture here is fun and unique), at least not completely, and to me the term kind of suggests a renouncing of the Hispanic culture. Which I would never do because I'm so incredibly proud of who I am and where I come from. Regardless, that is probably the way I would come across in Guatemala. Which is funny because here I don't quite fit in because of my Hispanic mannerisms but in Guatemala I wouldn't quite fit in anymore either because of the gringo mannerisms I've picked up.

This got me thinking that the mash up of both cultures has left me in a sort of no mans land. There's no true place for me anymore. I can mix in with either culture easy enough, but I don't mix in perfectly. I'm kind of like a vegan boca burger that way. Boca burgers taste enough like meat but they still don't taste quite like the real deal. The only people I feel like get me perfectly and that I feel like I can be my true half and half self around without trying to force myself to be 100% Hispanic or 100% white are my other fellow coconuts. My fellow brown on the outside but BIEGE on the inside peeps.

The life of a coconut is an interesting and at times hard one, but I wouldn't change it for the world. It's a life lived with a mix of two beautiful cultures. A life in which I get to speak Spanglish and say things like, "Mama este caldo turned out calidiuxs,". A life in which I grew up calling lotion cream until someone was kind enough to correct me (Lotion in Spanish is crema). A life in which I also incorrectly called cream cheese, cheese cream. In Spanish, cream cheese is queso crema so if you translate it directly you get cheese first and cream second. Cheese cream. It never occurred to me that the right translation was actually cream cheese. I bet I just ruined cream cheese for you all now by saying it so many times in the last few sentences. Try saying it now without it sounding weird. I just did and it totally sounds weird, and I also just confused myself as to which way is the right way to say it again. Cheese cream...or cream cheese?!? Anyway, back on track, a life in which I got to experience the unique activity that is camping. If I had grown up in Guatemala I'm pretty certain I would've never gone camping because Latinos? Yeah, we don't really do camping because, uh, why would you go sleep in a tent in the woods when you have a house? ;)

Anyway, if you made it through this monster novel of a post I would just like to end by saying that everyone/everything is unique and there is such a great beauty in the uniqueness of each country, culture, and person. Take in the world, and the unique beauty that can be found all around us! Tell me, what interesting contradictions have you come across? What makes you beautifully unique?

Happy Monday!

An Indian summer in the middle of a winter

{Lace top: Abercrombie similar, skirt: F21, sandals: Ross similar, bracelet: borrowed similar}

The past couple of days the weather here in Utah has been steadily warming up. On Friday we even reached 47!! Anyway, it was so warm I got all excited for summer and decided I wanted to finally break in this bright flowy maxi skirt, even though we're still technically in the middle of winter. I bought the skirt at the beginning of January at F21 for $12! It's still in stock in stores and online so if I were you I'd definitely go buy one! It comes in a variety of colors and I for one will buying a couple more when I have some cash. Anyway, I actually styled it a different way and wore it for a photo shoot I had with the best friend yesterday. Can I say I'm just DYING to see how the pictures turned out! She's an incredible photographer! She does it more as a hobby but as far as I'm concerned she might as well be pro.

Anyway, I was having a very reflective morning today. I got to thinking about memories and all of the little things and experiences that make my life the life it is and make me the person that I am. Then a thought that has been coming up for me a lot lately struck me. What would my 13 year old self think of me? Am I living a life my 13 year old self would be proud of? Am I the woman that 13 year old wide eyed girl wanted me to be? In honor of my ruminating I decided to write a quick letter to my 13 year old self.

Dear 13 year old Allexis,
If I could somehow actually deliver this letter to you and have you read it there are a few things I would like to tell you. First, stop stressing so much about your hair. Having big curly hair that is so different from everyone else's isn't the end of the world. I know right now you think that having perfectly straight shiny hair is the epitome of beauty but you're wrong. Beauty is what makes each person unique and for you that's having about 20lbs of curly hair. Right now it may seem unmanageable and wild but soon enough you'll get the hang of it and learn how to appreciate it. In the long run you'll be thankful that Mom and Dad didn't let you straighten it to fit in with the other girls because our hair is so much healthier now because of it. Our curls give us personality and we wouldn't quite be ourselves without them. I'm proud of the choices in friends you've made. Instead of trying to chase the "in crowd" you embraced your quirky orchestra dork self and made valuable lifelong friends. Melissa, Angelica, and Marilyn? They're all still around and some of your very best and closest friends. Good choice. Your hard work in school is definitely paying off! We will be graduating college next spring!! I know you have three very clear career choices in mind right now but I'm not pursuing any of them. Now, before you get too mad there are reasons for this. One, lets be honest, we can't act to save our lives so being a famous movie star was never really gonna happen. Sorry, keep fantasizing, though, it makes you happy! Two, I know right now you think you're going through a growth spurt that will make you so tall you'll be a runway model. Truth is, you were going through a growth spurt but it only took you to the height of 5'3. Again, sorry. Finally, being an author. That one was your only realistic choice and I am actually still writing, and I'm working on some good stories but as far as schooling goes I'm not pursuing that as a major. Mostly, because I don't want to invest a butt load of money to get an English degree since writing is something that has always come naturally to us. Right now I'm working on getting into advertising or graphic design so our creativity WILL be put to use don't fret. I promise you, though, that once I've graduated I will give being an author more serious effort! There have been some small blips on the road to who we are that you wouldn't be proud of but nobody is perfect and I've worked hard to learn from and correct those mistakes. I'm working hard to give you that future you envisioned. That one where you're a unique, graceful, and accomplished woman, wife, and mother who is loved by an eternal family. We're not quite there yet but we're close. For now, keep on dreaming, fantasizing, reading, and just plain and simple goofing off. Appreciate the simplicity that comes with being 13. Keep on practicing and using that imagination that makes us the perpetual dreamer that we are today.

Keep your head in the clouds!

Love,

Your 20 going on 21 year old self

Heart Day

{Tights//top: F21, skirt: Target, sweater: AE , boots: Tilly's, hat: borrowed}

In case you guys didn't know...today is Valentine's day. I hope you all had a lovely day with the ones you love! Like I said before I've always been on the fence about Valentine's day. I neither love nor hate it. Aside from the biology midterm I took today, which I don't think went very well, (I studied all of the chapters but none of the things I studied were on the test. Shoot me.) the day was a pretty nice day. I made some great progress on the painting I'm working on, which is awesome because just a day ago it had me wanting to set the art studio on fire and gleefully cackle from the sidelines as I watch it and my painting burn to smithereens! I know. I have a passionate imagination. Anyway, after my morning workout the fam bam and I enjoyed a breakfast of heart shaped pancakes. I went to class, painted a masterpiece and failed an exam. To wrap up this lovely day of love my beautiful sisters and I went out to the movies to see Beautiful Creatures. It was completely adorable in the teen drama sort of way! All in all a good Valentine's day I'd say! Oh, and on a side note, I watched Perks of Being a Wallflower last night and it was one of the greatest movies I've seen in a while. So good. Watch it if you haven't!

"You see things and you understand. You are a wallflower."

Happy Valentine's Day!

Blast from the past

{Denim jacket//belt: F21, maxi skirt: borrowed, shoes: Steve Madden}

It snowed...again...and again...and again. To keep warm from the snow and simultaneously get creative with this whole shopping diet thing I decided to play search and rescue with this corduroy maxi skirt because what's more frugal than re-using things from the past? It came from the dark ages, otherwise known as my older sister's high school years. Anyway, I remembered it's existence last night and decided to rescue it from the back of the linen closet it was shoved in. I decided I'd rather wear it as a dress so I hiked it up, belted it, and pulled a denim jacket over it. With the snow covering the ground I decided I'd rather not wear heels so I put on my all time favorite flats I got four years ago. I got them for like $10, which is a major steal for Steve Madden's! Four years later they still look totally amazing, plus that bead work is just to die for! Anyway, today I wanted to keep this post short and sweet due to the large amount of homework that awaits me...ugh...homework...I just have to keep reminding myself that I signed up for this and that as nerdy as this sounds I actually love school! How about we do some bullet points of both relevant and random thoughts, kay? Okay.

• Utah weather is crazy. It dangles the hope of warmth and spring in front of our faces for a couple of days and then it snows for two days straight as if to say, "haha, just kidding!"
• The baby brother blessed the sacrament in church today for the first time ever. It was awesome.
• The Walking Dead comes back on tonight. I. Am. Ecstatic.
• In my household The Walking Dead is a family affair. 
• We gather round the TV and pig out on food while humans get devoured by zombies
• What screams appetite more than blood and guts right? 
• Clearly I have a television addiction...but who doesn't these days? Right? Right?? Please tell me I'm normal!
• Don't tell me I'm normal. I'm so not, and I actually kind of like it that way. :)
• The Grammy's are on tonight but since it's on at the same time as The Walking Dead for the first time in a long time I will not be watching. 
• I never thought I'd say this but tonight zombies take precedence over celebrity fashion and music

Happy Sunday!

For the sake of my sanity

{top: F21, jeans: Abercrombie Kids, Shoes: Charlotte Russe, earings: H&M}

For the sake of my sanity I took a day off today. Between school, work, and the insane fitness goals I push myself to meet everyday my body has been feeling bruised, beaten, sore, and just incredibly exhausted. When I went to bed last night I had gone to sleep fully intending to go to the gym in the early hours of the morning, attend the three classes I have today, and run my long run for the week. When my alarm went off at 5:40 this morning I felt like a train had passed through my room at some point in the night and run me over. For the sake of my sanity there was no way the gym would be happening today, so I slept on thinking that, oh well, who cares if I miss one workout, I'll still get my run in later today so it'll be alright. When I finally got up at 8 to get ready for class and send out a few important emails I realized I was still pretty tired and wasn't feeling up to going to school. I couldn't just let myself miss a day, though, because what would be the point of working my butt off at my job to pay for tuition if I didn't even show up for school? I gave myself a little pep talk and told myself I had to go, but IF for the sake of my sanity I had to skip my last class so I could come home early that would be ok. I made it down the stairs and opened my laptop to get started on those urgent emails.

As I started typing I started realizing just how tired I actually was. There was no way I could possibly make it through my second class of the day, biology. I told myself that if it was for the sake of my sanity I could miss biology just this once too. After all, I deserved a bit of a break, but NO MATTER WHAT I had to push myself to make it to my first class of the day, painting. I got a reply to the first email I sent. It wasn't the response I was hoping for. It left me feeling disappointed, hurt, and just a little harassed. As I was typing out a reply to this disappointing email I asked my mom for a little advice on the situation. While her advice was helpful it ended up turning my response to this email into a bigger issue than I was ready to deal with. I ended up getting so frustrated and angry at the person I was emailing that I ended up crying. Do you remember that lovely speech I gave in this post about crying being perfectly alright? Well, cross my heart and hope to die because I'm a bloody liar. Crying sucks. A lot. Especially crying in front of your whole family. It's embarrassing and no matter how many pretty speeches I give I can't shake the feeling that crying makes me a weak pansy.

By the time I rapped up those stupid emails I had all of ten minutes to get my things together to go to painting, by which point I was feeling so emotionally/physically drained that I just decided shuck it. SHUCK IT ALL. For the sake of my sanity, I need a WHOLE day off gosh dang it! Instead of pushing myself to my breaking point like I always like to do, I went back upstairs to my room, got into my bed and cuddled with my puppy for a good long while. I then put together an outfit that would channel my inner peace loving, happy go lucky hippie and took these pictures with my little sister. Last of all, I changed into my running gear and for the sake of my sanity went on my long run, basked in the warmth/sunlight of the day and enjoyed the burning in my legs as I pushed them through their fatigue to run.

Happy Thursday!

P.S. I came across this video on my facebook feed, and it totally made my day so much better. Watch it!

P.P.S I actually think the best part of this video is the older sister eagerly waiting for what she knows is coming and then just cracking up like a little whacko. :)

Does the girl ever wear pants?

{dress//shoes: H&M,sweater: Hollister,pearl hairband-worn as bracelet: F21} 

Hi all! It is now officially February, the month of love! It seems to me that the majority of the world either hates or loves Valentine's day. If you ask me, though, I'd say Valentine's day is neither here nor there. It's not my favorite holiday, that would be Christmas of course, but it's not my least favorite either by any means. It's just a day when everyone remembers to say I love you to the important people in their lives, or feels unnecessary pressure to fall in love on that SPECIFIC day. Why not remember to say I love you everyday, or relax about being single and let love come at its own pace? Although this Valentines day I will be in class for the majority of the day and will actually be taking a midterm exam to boot, (I know, vomit right? -Insert sarcasm- what screams love more than midterm exams?!) I will try to make a conscious effort to let all of the amazing friends and family in my life know just how much I love and appreciate them!

Anyway, in honor of it being the month of love I decided to wear this heart patterned dress I got at H&M. Also in honor of the month of love, I decided to show a little love to my hair and give it a break from the heat of styling it, which is why I resemble Merida from the Disney movie Brave. To help my hair look a little more put together and a little less wild I tied the ribbon from my dress around it as a hairband. It's been warming up around these parts, so much so that last weekend we reached 43 degrees! How awesome is that? It's still not warm enough to just wear this dress on its own, though, so I decided to layer this chunky knit sweater from Hollister on top of it. Oh, and I realized that in all but one of my posts I'm wearing either a skirt or a dress, which begs the question do I ever wear pants? The answer to that is yes, yes, I do. I wear jeans or some form of pants about 5 days a week. It's just that whenever I have a chance to wear something that isn't my work uniform or the fitness clothes I spend a lot of time in since I run to school or at school in between classes, I decide that what I would like to wear the most is a skirt or a dress. Plus, I seriously have bought like one pair of jeans since I was fifteen. I know, I know, kind of shocking right? I just haven't needed to though, I mean it's not like I grew past my saddening height of 5'3 since then. That just means, though, that most of my jeans, while being perfectly broken in and cozy, aren't going to be winning any prizes in the style department.

Happy month of love!

P.S. I just love these little shoes, so comfy cozy!

Happy Belated Birthday & the Best Thai Food EVER

{Way back when I myself was sixteen. Look at my little guy, wasn't he the cutest?!}

My baby brothers birthday was earlier this week. The little man turned sixteen! It's crazy to think he's gotten so big, especially when it feels like I was just sixteen myself! I know, I know, sixteen was YEARS ago for me but...well, no, it wasn't YEARS ago, it was five years to be exact. That's not THAT long ago is it? Is it? I'm so old. Ha, well, in retrospect I know 20 almost 21 isn't old at all but for the girl who would have been happy to stay five years old, in Winnie the Pooh shoes no less and singing about everything that happened to me, 21 might as well be 80. Anyway, back to my little brother. He is just the greatest kid around. He'll always take out my bathroom trash for me, no begging necessary might I add (and if you read this baby boy, my trash can is full, hint, hint), asks for random hugs every now and again, never fails to tell me if my hair looks good in the back, and always gets adorably annoyed when he notices strangers checking me out. We've always had a strong connection with each other since the day he came home from the hospital. I was always eager to take care of him when my mom was in the shower. I remember rubbing his tiny baby belly and singing songs to him till he fell asleep. When he was first learning to talk I was the only one who understood the gibberish he spoke. Even though he's now a grumpy and sometimes aloof teenager he's still the best baby brother a girl could ask for. And hey, I know I was no walk in the park as a teenager either.

Now onto the food part of this weeks Food & Fitness Fridays post! For the little guys birthday we went to a  Thai restaurant called Sawadee that my family has been RAVING about for the longest time. I had never been because I'm the pickiest person alive and thought there would be nothing at a Thai restaurant that would suit my tastes. I was SO wrong. I went, and I am now in love with that place. It's got the cutest decorations ever, and has just THE coolest vibes. Not to mention, the service is incredible! I had a tofu and vegetable dish. I know, I know, I'm always preaching about how awful tofu is for you because its chock full the poison we all call soy, but cookies aren't great for you either and we all have them now and again anyway right? So I caved and indulged in a little poison...and it was delicious...obviously. That which is no good for our systems is usually that which is delicious. Why must you be so cruel world? WHY, WHY? Anyway, whenever you're in downtown Salt Lake go check it out!! You get two dishes, a spring roll, and rice for $8.25! Jeez, you'd think I own the place the way I'm pushing you all to go there but seriously them Thai peeps were just so dang nice, you'd be a fool not to go! Here are some pics of all of our dishes! I'd tell you what they all are but I have no clue what my family ordered.  

This one is my lovely non-meat eater friendly dish!

Our waitress brought out these fried bananas and ice cream, on the house! So delicious!

P.S. Sorry the pictures are all crooked and such, don't really know what happened. Oh, well!