Things I Love Thursday!

      Hello friends, I hope you're all having a fabulous Thursday! Today I would really like to take my hat off to the universe and feel the energy of gratitude for all the things I love, so it's time for a Things I Love Thursday list! Read mine and try making your own, they're fun and they feel good :)

Clean, cheap drinking water + Living in a safe place + Being surrounded by nature + Music that makes me feel good + Spending quality time with myself + Surprise visiting my friends + Dogs of every shape and size! + All of my wonderful and inspiring friends + Art + Making art + Having the capacity to create + Going out to delicious breakfasts + Trying new recipes + Trees + Warm breezes + My Etsy shop, and Etsy in general, it's such an inspiring place to see what other people are doing and creating + The blogs that inspired me to start blogging on my own (I've been blogging for seven years!!) + Finding inspiration + Being overwhelmed by positive feelings + Kids and their unique point of view + Smiling and laughing + Going to the beach + Riding bikes through the park + Doing things that scare me a little bit + Delicious ice cream on a hot day + Also lemonade! + Getting back in touch with people I miss + Getting lots of exercise and getting toned and more in shape + Telling and hearing scary stories + Donuts + Making my own food! I love cooking so much + Going on hiking adventures + Genuine compliments + Interesting people who do cool things + Going swimming + Composting stuff! + Maximizing creative potential + Good books + Exploring new places + Creating anything + Stickers + Wearing cute underwear + Kissing nice people + Hugging nice people! + Gay marriage is legal! + People who care about other people and the earth + Being mature + Clouds and the shapes they make + Going to the library + Learning new things + Rainbows + Markers and other art supplies + Fresh haircuts + Delicious salads + Fruit! It is the best thing ever! + Sunrises and sunsets + Sleeping a healthy amount + Field guides + Art journals + Natural history + Pink stuff + Bright colors + Being healthy and taking care of myself + Embroidery + Meeting cool new people + Loving myself :)

     Doesn't reading all that just make you feel good!? I want to hug someone! Happy Thursday, beauties. Stay grateful and rock on. 

                                                                                   Love, 

                                                                                        Madeleine 

Photos: 1

Summertime Link List!

     Heyo friends, here's a link list to get y'all started off right with some summer daze-inducing web-surfin' goodness. Confession: I've actually been working on this list for months. I don't really surf the web that much! But here is what I've found, so enjoy!

- F Yeah Basset Hounds! is the freakin' cutest tumblr I've ever seen!!

- This Gilmore Girls-inspired reading list is awesome! (Totally watching it on Netflix right now)

- Guys, I'm pretty sure I'm an Anarchist Communist. Alright!

- Read a little folklore/history from Summit, the place I grew up!!

- School's Out Forever by Tova on Rookie is a radical article about the author's story of deciding to leave high school. I love how she talks about self-teaching and learning resources! Makes me wish I'd left high school.

- Gala Darling's article Plug Into Your Weirdness is the most YESSSS thing I have read in a while. Who cares what other people think! Be you!!

- The artist Alejandro Duran creates art pieces from trash that washes up on the shores of Mexico's tropical reserve Sian Ka'an. The results are beautiful and frightening.

- Would you attend the College of Wizardry? Sounds way too fun!

- Isabel Hendrix is a badass self love superhero (among other things) and I love her blog! Check out her self-love tips.

- I love Cait's blog, it's all about minimalism! I can't stop reading her articles. My favorites are her story of letting go of 60% of her stuff and an article about her year-long shopping ban!

- The Best Song Ever is a comic on Rookie that I love reading. So many cute feels :)

- This video of 17 different British accents performed by one woman is mind-boggling. I never knew there were so many!

- Some Pinterest boards I've been enjoying lately include Dulce's, Alannah Grace's, and Gala Darling's. Great blogs = great Pinterests.

- Calliope Bridge's talent is beautiful and awe-inspiring!

- I really enjoy Liz from Delightfully Tacky's Remix Archives series! It's nice to see someone advertising the fact that they wear their clothes more than once. She also does a Remixology series, which is along the same lines.

- This article on Urban Agriculture in the Bay Area is super inspiring. And local :)

- That article also mentions the Institute of Urban Homesteading. I sure would like to pay that place a visit!

- I found some awesome re-fashion blogs! Refashionista, Charity Shop Chic, and sew Amy sew all make me want to refashion my thrift store finds ASAP!

- Have you heard about the one person town in Nebraska?

- Look at these beautiful oil paintings of Disney princesses. Mulan is my fave.

- Speaking of princesses, Rejected Princesses is the coolest site ever, dedicated to historical women too badass to ever be cast in their own disney movie. This entry on Osh-Tisch (which means Finds Them and Kills Them in Crow) is about a Two Spirit shaman war hero from the Crow tribe! Awesome!

- Take Back Halloween is a site made to combat the whole "sexy kitty cat" trend prevalent in women's Halloween costumes. Lots of great ideas! Their about page is awesomely inspiring!

- Fairy Home on Etsy sells some of the zaniest, most interesting home decor I've seen in a while. This gives me some great DIY ideas :)

- An art student named Kate Powell was able to develop a huge social media following in high school. Her work is beautiful!

- The way this girl deals with man spreading is the literal best!!

Photos: 1, 2

Things I Love Thursday!!

      Hi friends! Happy Thursday! Today is a beautiful wonderful day and you are all going to rock it. To celebrate this fine Thursday, I'm starting things off with a gratitude list, Things I Love Thursday. Here is what I'm grateful for today!

    Sunshine + Aloe vera + Nice people + Kisses + Hugs + People who care + Making art + Smiles + Individuality and freedom + High speed internet (I will miss you!) + Google calendar + Being able to receive medical care + All people who crusade for justice (Baltimore riots, what up) + My beautiful parents + Gardening + Delicious, healthy, and home-cooked food + Kitchens! + Comfortable sandals + The beautiful weather in Santa Cruz! + That feel when you find housing + Being healthy! + Aikido + Being brave enough to do things beyond your comfort zone + Good music + Old music! + All my hippy friends :) + Natural history + Less than 5 weeks till summer + Beautiful hair + Being surrounded by beautiful and magical human beings + Hats + Having a personal style + Not wearing a bra (sooo comfy) + Wearing short shorts + Dancing + Being able to teach a class here at UCSC + Facebook and other social media tools, those things are so darn useful + The internet! + Fun activities + Potlucks + Fresh fruit + Farmer's markets + Travel opportunities + Having long, interesting, and wonderful conversations + Pillows + Blankets + Mattress toppers + Visits from friends + Letters + Getting checks in the mail! + Etsy orders + My Etsy shop! + Hearing no sound but the wind + Butterflies + Adventure Time and Gilmore Girls + Little caterpillars + Open and communicative people + Bonfires + An abundance of friends + Opportunities to celebrate + Laughter + Beautiful jewelry + Dogs + Wildlife + Outer space + Nice professors + Being able to attend UCSC + Birds + The Beatles + Donuts

    My love and blessings to all of you! Today has been good to me so far, how about you? What are you grateful for today? Feel free to share or just soak in the gratitude. Good luck to you today. 

                                                                               Love, 

                                                                                  Madeleine

P.S.: You can find both the shirt and the skirt I am wearing in the photo above in my Etsy Shop. Please go check it out!

Photos: 1

Things I Love Thursday: February Edition

     Today I wanted to share what I've been grateful for so far this month. I did Things I Love Thursdays back in November to celebrate Thanksgiving, and I really enjoyed it. I'm thinking of making it into a monthly feature, since I have too much content to post to give it a weekly spot. I really do love making these posts though, because they put me in an attitude of gratitude! 

     Lately I've been really busy. I'm involved in a multicultural club and UCSC's Take Back the Tap campaign, and both have been taking up a lot of my time recently, but I appreciate the opportunities to do stuff. I've been able to hang out with my friends a lot more this quarter, which makes me very happy, and I've also gotten more involved in organizations, extracurriculars, and in our art department. My art class that I'm taking this quarter is really fun and I'm excited to pursue the art major here! 

     I had a really amazing Valentine's Day celebration with my wonderful boyfriend and we exchanged gifts (his were excellent, he liked mine too). We saw the Lego movie and made Mac 'n' Cheese Pizza together and had a great time! I also went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium the weekend before last since they were offering free admission, and my parents let me borrow the car to take two of my roommates down there with me! It was amazing, and I got to see an octopus swimming around! Plus, I saved about $40 on admission fees, and I brought my own lunch, so the only things I had to pay for was $5 for parking! I felt very thrifty. 

I love... Animals of all shapes and sizes, they are amazing + Going to the aquarium for only $5! + All of the amazing things you can find on Pinterest + My amazing, loving, supportive, creative boyfriend + Having access to clean, cheap drinking water on tap + Being able to eat healthily + My parents, whose generosity and love is unfathomable + My best friends + All of my roommates + Living in an on-campus apartment as a first-year + Getting my permission code for my next art class + The scholarship I received + Free milk! + Free food in general! + Snapchat + Having a spare room in my apartment + People making a positive change in the world + Being able to support my friends + The ease of communicating with other people thanks to technology + Doing laundry for free + Looking at and walking through pretty neighborhoods  + My waffle-maker! + Being budget-savvy + My entrepreneurial instincts + My Transformative Action class + Being healthy + Learning new things every day + Watching stuff on Netflix + The fact that you can learn how to do literally anything on YouTube + My sister, who is way cooler than any other fourteen year-old I know + My candle warmer + My Nalgene water bottle + When people recycle things + Hugs and kisses + Mac 'n' Cheese Pizza! + My fuzzy dogs + My Disney VHS collection + Thrift stores + All of my favorite teachers through the years + My amazing and low-maintenance short haircut!

Things I Love...Saturday? Pie and Space Heaters

     Today is the last day of November already, oh my goodness! It is also my last Things I Love Thursday post for the year. Of course I will continue to practice gratitude (as should you!), I will simply no longer be doing so publicly. 

     Hopefully you all had a great Thanksgiving, I know I did! We had a total of five pies at our dessert table, plus lemon bars (which I made from scratch, and oh man were they delicious) and chocolate mousse cake. We had tons of food. I had Thanksgiving with my best friend's family, and since she goes to UCSD it was really awesome to get to see her and hang out with her and her siblings. 

      The other part of my title has to do with the fact that it is freezing in my house since my dad doesn't let us use the furnace until December usually, so I have been saved these last couple days by this little gray space heater that may very well have won a spot in my list of best friends. I also included the above picture because that girl's hair is beautiful! I'm planning on re-bleaching and dying my hair soon, possibly tomorrow, but I'm not totally sure what color yet! 

       Also, Miriam from Miriam versus Monster awarded me the Leibster Award (details coming soon!). Thank you so much Miriam! 

I love... Holidays + Finding awesome art on the internet + Getting enrolled in the class I needed! + Filming a puppet show with my mother, aunt, and sister + Going rollerskating in Santa Cruz for the first time ever! And it was cheap, too + Wearing a giant purple fuzzy sweater + Taking a bath at my house + Burning nice candles that I got as a gift + Getting my makeup done by my sister + Hanging out with my high school friends + The quarter is almost over! + Doing my first-ever Etsy trade! Aww yeah! + The Christmas season is beginning + Realizing how much I've changed since college started + Going on walks + Finding cool gift tutorials on YouTube + Watching movies with my family + Baking things from scratch + Listening to Pandora + Driving my car! + Drinking hot chocolate + Hugs + Playing with my doggies + All my little knick-knacks I keep on my windowsill

This year has been such a great year, and I am so thankful for all the changes and progress I have made towards a positive, productive, creative, and happy life. I feel immensely blessed by all the people I have around me and all the wonderful experiences I've had so far! Thank you, Universe!

Alrighty then, have you joined the gift exchange? No?! Join here!

Things I Love Thursday: Friends and Rainy Days

     That's what the weather has looked like around here, and it's so pretty! I love rain! Today I found out that I got a perfect 100 on my midterm last week, so I'm very excited about that. I've been finding some good new music lately, which is exciting, and I'm currently reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, which is a very interesting and insightful book, I'm really enjoying it. 

      Class was canceled yesterday due to a campus-wide strike protesting unfair wages. Apparently most of the money we pay for UCSC tuition goes to a bunch of regents and our infamous head of the UC system, Janet Napolitano. Needless to say, everyone was on board with the strike. Speaking of the goings-on here on campus, Tuesday night was the unofficial First Rain run. For those of you who don't know, the first time it rains during the school year, students run naked in a group on a path that goes through the entire campus. According to the rules of First Rain, it hadn't rained long enough for that to be the official rain, but there were still quite a lot of naked people. It was very amusing. Also, the other day my roommate and I went to the Porter Caves. We didn't go in (we need to mentally prepare for that), but it was nice to find them and be out in nature for a bit. 

I miss my dog so much. I can't wait to see him!

       I love... Chilli + Getting 100% on my midterm! + Reading for fun + New and old friends + My roommates + Getting good grades + Announcing my gift exchange on Monday!! + Listening to motivating music while writing papers + Going to bed early + Staying up late to have fun + Going to cafes + Watching my friends trying to pose for their Snap Chats haha + Nice smells + Taking warm morning showers + Eternal cuddling + Luxuriously lazy days + Plans with my high school friends + Exploring and finding fun things on campus + Attending a very enlightening lecture on feminism last night + Telling ghost stories with my roommates + Wearing my bunny sweater + Goodwill crawlin' (I need to go so bad) + Candy Cane Green Tea from Trader Joe's + And Cookie Butter. Oh, God. + Taking my sister places and exploring places with her + Christmas shopping! I've already got some gift ideas + When people give you mix CD's even though they could use a USB simply because it's more sentimental + All the people who have signed up for the gift exchange thus far. Gonna be fun! 

I took this picture while exploring a trail near my apartment. Is this beautiful or what? I'm so lucky to live on such a beautiful campus! I've been feeling so charmed lately, between getting good grades and finding fun people to talk to and cool places to explore. I'm also extremely excited for the holiday festivities to begin! December is going to be an awesome month. 

What are you grateful for on this fine Thursday? 

Also, if you have not yet heard about the gift exchange I'm hosting, go here. 

If you know about it but have not yet joined, just email me your address at aplleegrl@yahoo.com!

Why Gratitude Rocks

I am grateful for the existence of this puppy. 

Today, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, we are going to discuss gratitude. Gratitude, according to many experts, is a key to feeling happier, healthier, and generally just better. So, basically, gratitude rocks, we've got that part out of the way. But how can we incorporate it into our daily lives? 

Well, as you might have expected, I have a few ideas.

- Keep a gratitude journal. I keep one on the Notes app in my phone and I try to update it every morning. I do my gratitude in the morning because it makes me more positive about the day ahead of me. However, you can do this any time of day you choose, so long as you remember it. 

- Stop and smell the roses. That expression is tried and true. Don't forget about all the wonderful little things in your life. Look around you and appreciate the trees, flowers, windows, buildings, blankets, pillows, or whatever surrounds you. Take things in and notice all the good stuff.

- Take a walk. Even just a short, ten-minute walk is enough to relax you and help you appreciate your life more and clear your head. Plus, a little bit of exercise!

Now, to borrow from one of my favorite bloggers, Gala Darling, I am writing a Things I Love Thursday List! You can check hers out here. 

Things I Love Thursday: Shorts in November!

I'm grateful for pie. 

The weather here has been amazing during the day, considering the fact that it's November. I've been wearing shorts and skirts for the last couple days! Today I had my first and last midterm this quarter, boy am I glad I got that over with. I'm extremely excited for Thanksgiving, I can't wait to eat all the food and see my high school friends! 

I'm really enjoying life right now, college is great. It's better than high school in every single way. Lately I've been going out to eat a lot and having lots of sleepovers, which are always fun. And life will be exponentially better now that I no longer feel compelled to study every minute of my life. We've decorated our living room with lights and drawings and it looks so nice. I also really love having a kitchen and just living away from my parents in general. Not that my parents aren't great, I was just ready to live without them. 

I will soon be hosting a Holiday Gift Exchange, so keep an eye out for that and please participate!!

++++++

I love... Blankets and pillows + Cuddling + Gift exchanges + Nice weather + Rain + Wind + Storms + Sandwiches + Love + Music + Youngblood by The Naked and Famous + YouTube + Google Drive + My sketchbook + My roommates, Carina and Sam + My housemates, Grace, Rachel, Sapphire, Sammy, and Amanda (it's a big apartment) + Finishing homework ahead of time + Being ahead on projects + Good ideas + Showers + Baths + Lotions + Baking cookies with someone who loves you + Pictures of puppies and bunny rabbits + Tumblr + Mascara + Not wearing makeup + Not wearing a bra + Friends + Hair dye + The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin + Scary stories + Bookstores + Libraries + Meeting new people + Being super productive + Beds (hence the above picture) + Disposable cameras + My Nikon + Cold medicine + Friendly people + Candle warmers + Wearing an awesome outfit + Fuzzy sweaters + Purple and blue clothing + Thrift stores + Redwood trees + Cookie butter from Trader Joe's + Trader Joe's + My Docs + The boardwalk + My upcoming Holiday Gift Exchange!!

++++++

And here is a gratitude prompt for you:

What are you most excited for this month?

I will be doing this ever Thursday for the rest of the month, and I invite you to join me! Send me a link of your Things I Love Thursday and I'll share it here :)

October Links

Here is a links post for October because I found too many cool internet places this month not to share some!

• The above illustration is from Sleepyberry on tumblr and her illustrations are so cute and great. 
• A Beautiful Mess did a home tour with Sherry Bemis and her home is amazingly cute and beautiful. 
• If you're like me and enjoy pretend shopping for cute but impractically expensive underwear, Miss Crofton is the place to be. Does anyone know a place/website where the cute underwear is more affordable? That would be cool. 
• Jefferson Cheng's project Teenage Bedroom as Self Portrait is interesting. 
• Only Lovers Left Alive sounds like an awesome movie. 

• Doesn't that picture look like the best (not to mention the tastiest) date idea ever? I definitely want to do that. 
• Sarah Cwynar's Color Studies series is beautiful and very appealing. 
• This Etsy shop has some really cool band t-shirts. I'm jealous. 
• Watch the entire movie of Monty Python and the Holy Grail here. Yes. 
• I'm listening to this at the moment.
• My friend from high school brought it to my attention that this website challenges you to write 50,000 words in the month of November! No one has to see what you are writing. You don't have to write a novel if you don't want to (though I think a lot of people do), you just have to write 50,000 words, and the website helps you keep track. Apparently Germany always gets the most words. So, if you have nothing to do in November, well, now you do.

Alright, those are the links that I compiled this month. Hope you all have a good rest of October and get in some quality internet surfing time.

August Links

I decided to do a little links post for this month because I have been finding some great pages lately. Enjoy!

• The above photo is from a tutorial on how to make a braided rug out of t-shirts!
• Rookie's latest round of People Reviews had me cracking up in the middle of the public library. 
• Adam Scott's scholarly analysis of "Ice Ice Baby"was similarly hilarious.
• Ever gone geocaching? There's a bunch of videos about it on YouTube.
• I found a site called Trippy Store that sells a bunch of hippy decor. Perfect for a dorm room at UC Santa Cruz!

• Speaking of dorm decor, I haven't been able to get enough of the site Dorm Design. I went up to page 54!
• I've had this tutorial on making envelope pillowcases bookmarked forever. I want to make some!
• That Girl Magazine is a blog about college life that definitely looks worth perusing. 
• Love 2 Sew has been inspiring me to do some restyling/alteration projects of my own. Check 'em out!
• This article on modern homesteading was rather interesting. 
• Eline at Perma Pupa has some of the cutest, most playful and colorful style I have ever seen. I love it!
• This post at Hyperbole and a Half about the writer's moving experience was unbelievably hilarious.

Love List: DIY Edition

Hi there! It's been forever since I did a Love List, so here is my first one in a very long while. Today's love list is composed entirely of DIYs that have been tried and tested by me, so you know they're good. Some of them you may have already seen featured here before, others, maybe not. 

Well, here you go!

The tissue paper flower tutorial I used to build my own poppy tutorial was immensely fun and well-written.

After learning to make hair bows with this tutorial, I have made about 50 (they're so fun!).

In sophomore year I made my own lunch bag, as well as a few for some of my friends using this tutorial.

Having never made a friendship bracelet before, I was extremely excited to find this super easy tutorial. 

I also learned how to the blanket stitch using this set of instructions. 

Learning the blanket stitch then helped me create these super cute mittens!

Last year for my Halloween costume I stitched myself a cape (I was Red Riding Hood). It turned out really cool, thanks to this tutorial. 

I made my very own flower crown using my friend Jennifer's tutorial!

And finally, I made lip balm from Vaseline and Kool-Aid with this tutorial. 

I think I might do a post where I share what my DIYs look like after using these tutorials. 

If you do any of these, feel free to share!

Happy crafting, my friends!

Edit: This is my 50th post on Good Vibrations. Yay! 

Love List

Here are ten things I've been loving lately. Enjoy the love!

1. This tutorial for bedazzled shoes is amazing! 

2. My friend Jennifer did a tutorial for a floral headdress on her blog, I've seen it in person and it's so cute!

3. I liked Rookie's Alice in Wonderland - themed playlist that they put together.

4. A Beautiful Mess shows how to make your own peanut butter! YES!

5. Gala Darling wrote an interesting article about mixing fashion with feminism and self-acceptance. 

6. Super cute popsicle stick necklace DIY! I'd love to make this for spring. 

7. Nutella cheescakes! They look so delicious, I must make these sometime!

8. One of my favorite tumblrs is Fairy Castle. They always post pretty things!

9. I love this photograph by Jane on Society6. So serene!

10. Kaleidoscope Eyes is one of my favorite Etsy shops ever! I love how vibrant the colors of their shorts are, the dyes are all beautiful!

Love List

Here are some blogs, articles, DIYs, and other things I've been loving recently.

Enjoy the love: 

1. Sincerely, Kinsey is one of the most beautiful blogs I have seen, all her photos are amazing!

2. How to Approach the Person You Like Without Throwing Up at Rookie is seriously one of the funniest and most informative posts ever! I was cracking up! But they have good advice too. Perfect for Valentine's Day! 

3. This Disney-themed, psychedelia-vibed post at Style Rookie is really inspiring, lots of neat pictures!

4. This rose barrette tutorial at the Purl Bee is so cute! 

5. Gala Darling's guide to being a bicycle babe is pretty awesome!

6. This recipe for Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies looks so yummy. I must try this!

7. The Floral Boots DIY from A Beautiful Mess looks so cute! 

8. Kris Tate's shop on Society 6 is awesome! Her artwork is all so colorful and inspiring. 

9. Here's another shoe DIY: Space Shoes, on September Girls Do So Much. 

10. Jessica Mullen's article, How a Matriarchal Society is Emerging in 2012 is an interesting read!

Love List

Here are ten things I've loved lately! Soak up the love :)

1. Oh So Lovely Vintage is one of the cutest blogs I have seen yet! I love it!!

2. This beautiful outfit post at Sea of Shoes! Gotta love Jane's style! 

3. 5 Tips on Food Photography at A Beautiful Mess! I always admire the photography on baking blogs, so this is a good read! 

4. In Praise of Calling it Quits by Gala Darling. All of her articles are amazing, but this one in particular. 

5. This recipe for Cinnamon Roll Bundt Cake is absolutely delicious! My sister is obsessed, she always celebrates when I make it!

6. Pictures of high school fashion in 1969! Very interesting to see what's changed, and what hasn't. 

7. gURL Guide to Zine Making! I am looking into zine making right now, because I'd really love to make one or be a part of one.

8. Florence + the Machine's new album Ceremonials is so good! I got it for Christmas and I've been listening to it nonstop. 

9. Creature Comforts has been one of my favorite blogs for a while, and it is so cute and colorful!

10. I found the Color Palette Generator and the Color Scheme Designer through Creature Comforts, and they are really fun to play around with!