rearing my ugly head

testing testing, is this thing still on?

when i started graduate school more than 1.5 years ago, i should have done us all a favor and placed this blog on hiatus. but this oversight speaks more to my complete miscalculation about the realities of graduate school than anything else.

the truth is, i thought graduate school would be a breeze. given my time working in magazines and editorial, i kind of assumed i'd glide into the top of my class with no trouble at all. classes would be more like interesting seminars one would choose to attend at a really cool conference or something. professors would be more like colleagues who provided editorial suggestions while simultaneously leaving it "up to you."

i was wrong. graduate school kicked my butt and mid-program, i found myself barely hanging on. how could i possibly write blog posts when i was failing at turning in assignments??

and that, friends, is my lame excuse for not posting to my blog for nearly one year. will you accept this as an official apology? 

in exchange, i will do my best to blog more often now that i'm done with school (praise god) and back to working! to commence the return of vintagejeannie, i give you my latest favorite things:

Hint water: I kind of hate drinking water because the lack of flavor makes me nauseated. While perusing the drink aisle at my work cafeteria trying to find a flavored drink with little to no sugar, this caught my eye. Water with a hint of fruit essence? Sign me up! But please, if you discover that there is some sort of disease causing agent in this beverage, don't tell me.

Stila Waterproof eyeliner: Not sure if non-asians can relate to this but I often shock myself around 3 p.m. each day when I go to use the loo and discover that half my eyeliner is smudged all over my face. Does this happen to you? Well, might I suggest getting this fantastic liquid eyeliner that goes on and STAYS ON. The brush is also ridiculously easy to use -- truly idiot proof. I say this to you as a fellow idiot.

Burts Bees starry night: Staying on the beauty product theme for a moment, I must also include a quick note about this burts bees lipgloss in the color "starry night." The dark lip trend has appeared again after about 15 years in hiding. Every once in a while, I'll see a pretty young woman in the city with vampire lips and more often than not, she is pulling it off. But for the more color-averse/frightened/insecure lot, I recommend this gloss as the perfect jumping off point. It is just dark enough to be noticeable, as in, people will see you and be like, oh I see what you're doing there, but not so dark that people begin to pray for your soul.

The Goldfinch: I have not actually read this book. So why am I recommending it? Because so many people have raved about it that I feel I need to read it immediately! It is currently flying via Amazon drone to my apartment in Brooklyn and I am hoping one of you will also purchase the book and read it with me. Who's in??

Well, that's about all the creativity I can muster at just past midnight so I'm going to call it a night. If you are still aware of this blog and happened to read this, god bless you! hope to hear from you soon.

oh also, by the way, totally forgot to mention that I got married! maybe i'll do a wedding post someday ...

p.s. shoutout to miss jools who kindly nudged me about not posting to my blog for so long. thanks for the reminder :)