Cheers to 2014!

So 2014 is here, and everyone's making their own resolutions. I make a lot of resolutions every year, but I'll be honest in saying I always have a hard time following them. This year, I've made more realistic goals and better ways of keeping up with them. Some of these are bigger life changes, others are smaller goals that will make my life easier. I'll be checking in at the end of March, July, October and December with my progress on each of these (mainly, the ones that involve losing weight). 

I have spent most of December reflecting on 2013, and through the support of my family and friends and some professionals, I've come to accept the year's gifts as well as its lessons, and I've decided to spend more time thinking of the future than ruminating on the past.

So, without further ado, here are my goals, in no particular order:

- Lose weight. The ultimate amount of weight I want to lose is somewhere in the ballpark of 70 pounds. This is such a daunting number, that I thought it would be better to divide these up into smaller goals: (1) lose 10 pounds by my trip to Argentina in February, (2) lose 30 pounds by the time I visit Dartmouth again in May for Green Key (3) lose 50 pounds by homecoming 2014 (and the KD Housewarming!) (4) lose 70 pounds by the end of the year (when I go back to Miami for the holidays). I have a fitblr that I use to keep closer track of my progress, as well as a MyFitnessPal account, but I don't think I'll feel comfortable sharing that until I've made more considerable progress.

- Take better care of my hair. I compulsively wash my hair every day, which is so so bad for curly/dry hair. I want to start only washing my hair every other day, using the Living Proof Restore Mask at least once a week, blow-drying my hair before I go to sleep, and generally doing my hair rather than just putting it up in a bun.

- Get my sleeping act together. Aside from the fact that I have sleeping issues in general, I don't have a good sleeping schedule at the moment, which makes it impossible to wake up on time for work. My resolution is to be in bed, lights off, under the covers, at 10 PM, and to actually, physically get out of my bed at 6 AM. I also need a sleep study, but I won't know what I need to do with regards to that until it happens.

 - Organize my spending habits. I don't make a ton of money and living in New York is expensive, so I definitely want to budget my money better. For the sake of privacy, my budget is kept in a private Google Doc, but I'll let you know how well I'm following it throughout the year.

- Organize eating and exercise habits. This is definitely along the lines of the first resolution, but aside from reducing amount of calories consumed, I also want to make sure I'm getting the appropriate nutrients. I also have very specific goals from working out. This resolution will require its own blog post later on.

 - Organize my time after I get home from work. Every work day when I get home, do one hour of daily stuff (eating, dishes, teeth, etc), one hour of something needed (cleaning, going to rite aid, gym, etc) and half an hour organizing work stuff for the next day.

- Plan things to do with other people, and reach out to other people.  I'm going to actively invite other people to do things with me, and I' m going to stop turning down invitations to things. I'm going to reach out to those friends that live far away from me and keep up the friendships that matter to me. Additionally, I'm going to stop getting upset over friends that naturally grow apart. It happens. Life goes on.

- Read more books! At least two a month, for a total of 24.

- Travel. I include this one because I already know it'll be completed. I'm traveling to Buenos Aires in February, and hopefully the rest of the year will bring along many more sights.

- Blog more. I have so many things I want to write about.

Here's to hoping for a fabulous 2014! Cheers!

Random Musings, Pt. 1

New York City is a lonely place. It seems odd to say that, because of the sheer density of people that live here, but it is. Maybe it's because I miss my family in Miami. Maybe it's because I miss living an arm's length away from my friends in Hanover. But I have never felt quite as lonely as I have here, surrounded (or suffocated) by 8 Million other human beings.

New York City is also a hard place to live in. The cost of living is exorbitant to a point of senselessness. Things (re: jobs) are far away and hard to get to. Seasons range from the oppressing humidity of the summer, accompanied by heat and a gross smell that sits like fog on the city during its hottest month, to the frigid months of the winter, when your radiator just isn't quite strong enough.

It's easy to become wrapped up in these things - I've slowly felt myself transforming into the unfriendly New Yorker that is so easy to associate with this city. I've come to realize, however, that it's not quite unfriendliness as it is a constant worry for your own affairs - and we all have a lot of affairs to worry about.

New York City is also a beautiful place. Amongst the difficulties that I've had in moving here, I've been lucky to experience moments so nice that it reminded me why I ever questioned living here in the first place.

- The time Smorgasburg moved to Brooklyn Bridge Park, and we ate our food next to the water with full views of Manhattan

- The time a boy who looked no older than 12 years old was selling chocolates on the 4 train, and no one was buying from him, and as soon as I bought one so many people on the train bought some as well.

- The time I took the J back to Brooklyn at sunset and got to watch the sun set over the Manhattan skyline

- The time I went to a random store in Chinatown with two of my best friends, and we got presents for each others spontaneously

- The time I went on a date where we spent all afternoon at the Met

- The time my boss gave me a candle and wine as a present for making it through August, September and October

- The time the leaves turned beautiful colors in the park next door

- The time my roommate and I finally organized our apartment

- The time I went hiking upstate at Bear Mountain with a group of 5th graders and had the most wonderful time, past anything I ever thought possible

And so so so many other moments. Lesson of the day: New York only sucks if you let it. 

Sweater Weather

Oh man I haven't posted in so so long. I've been working like a maniac, and the last post was from right before the craziness of school started. I hope to start posting more soon - starting with this questionnaire I found while browsing YouTube. 

I love these things (they remind me of surveys on MySpace way back when), and this one in particular caught my eye because it's also the title of my most recent song obsession by The Neighbourhood.

So, here it goes!

1. Favorite candle scent?

I don't know why, but anything that's not clean scented makes me kind of sick. My current favorite is clean linen from Bath and Body Works, also the current scent in my Bath and Body Wallflower. 

2. Coffee, tea or hot chocolate?

Coffee, obviously. I'm Colombian. 

3. What's the best fall memory you have? 

Homecoming at Dartmouth College. Both during freshman year and as an alum. 

4. Which makeup trend do you prefer: dark lips or winged liner? 

Neither, actually. I prefer natural eyeshadow and nude lips. 

5. What do you want to be for Halloween? 

Halloween already passed and I didn't dress up - but probably something punny.

6. Favorite Thanksgiving food? 

Mashed potatoes, gravy, turkey, stuffing, and cranberries. All together. 

7. Hats or scarves?

Scarves, but more the spring kind than the heavy sweater kind. 

8. Most worn sweater? 

All of my Gap Eversoft sweaters. Completely obsessed. I've been living in them.

9. Favorite nail polish? 

Devil's Advocate and Fishnet Stockings by Essie. Devil's Advocate is a deep purple that I like even better than Lincoln Park After Dark by OPI. Fishnet Stockings is a gorgeous blood red. It is truly the best red nail polish ever. 

10. Football games or jumping in leaf piles? 

Neither. Womp.

11. Skinny jeans or leggings?

I exclusively wear skinny jeans year-round.

12. Combat boots or uggs? 

I never got into combat boots, and although I'm obsessed with Uggs my friend (who is far more fashionable than I am) recently forbade me from buying another pair at DSW, reminding me that I am now too old to wear them. 

13. What's your #1 favorite thing about fall?

Coats! I am obsessed with coats. So happy it's coat weather again.

Travel Bucket List

I've always loved to travel, anywhere and everywhere. I love exploring new places and meeting new people and seeing new sights. While I definitely want to check out many different places in general, there's a few very specific sights I want to see during my 20s. This list will definitely be expanded (and hopefully things will get crossed off!)

Disclaimer: as much as I wish they were, none of these are my own pictures.

1. Cranberry Bogs
Where: random places in New England
This is perhaps the easiest one to get to, given that there are a few of these in Massachusetts and other states near me. The most difficult part of this is to find someone who wants to go with me.

2. Salt Flats
Where: Uyuni, Bolivia
Partly for the forced-perspective pictures, partly because holy shit.

3. Chengdu Panda Base
Where: Chengdu, China
Pandas are my favorite animal, and you can actually hold one at the Chengdu Panda Base. Life-long dream.

4. Camping de la Baie-de-Perce
Where: Perce, Canada
Stemming from a long-standing love affair with French Canada (did I mention I'm going to Quebec City Winter Carnival - again?), and with a new love affair with French-Canadian National Parks thanks to the incredible Parc National des Hautes-Gorges-de-la-Riviere-Malbaie, this park caught my attention because it's camping on cliffs next to the ocean, things don't get much better than that.

Moving to New York

I officially moved to New York City on Saturday, July 12. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach because I was leaving my family, because I was going to somewhere that wasn't Dartmouth, and because I was nervous about the things that lay ahead - but no matter how nervous I was, I did not expect things to be nearly as difficult and emotional as they were.

Everyone has a horrible "when I first moved to New York story". Here's mine.

I was picked up by my roommate Amanda at LaGuardia and dropped off in Flushing, Queens, where I was staying with an older woman, a friend of my dad's friend from high school (very far removed from my family - this explains what happens later). She wasn't charging me too much money, so I decided to agree. From the beginning, I realized this wasn't a happy living situation. I realized I would be staying on a leather couch with one blanket, and that the walk to the train stop was almost half an hour. On the phone, she said she had wi-fi and air conditioning that she would turn on if the weather got too hot. She avoided all questions regarding the wi-fi, claiming she didn't know the password, forcing me to apartment hunt on my phone and during my lunch break at work. She didn't turn on the air conditioning once, not even during the worst heat wave New York had seen in 10 years. I desperately tried to turn it on once - it wasn't plugged in. I had to sleep on a bare leather couch in 97 degree weather. My commute to work required three trains: the (unairconditioned) 7, the G, and the C. The 7 caught on fire once and stopped running, another time I was delayed for over an hour because a door was broken.

Apartment hunting was no better. Amanda and I knew nothing about Brooklyn and so we started our apartment search blindly, walking into some of the most horrible neighborhoods I have ever been to. The first apartment we saw was on a corner where a prostitute was demanding money from her pimp, and the radiators in the place were broken. We saw broken doors, broken windows, gross toilets, horrible walks from the subway. I was getting home every day at 1:00 AM to attempt to fall asleep on the leather couch. Amanda and I finally broke down on Friday, and we both departed from New York City and spent our weekend getting ourselves back together and not being on the subway. I spent the weekend in Morristown with Damaris, so grateful to be there I nearly cried.

We came back and finally found an apartment, and although it's been a bit of a hassle to get everything set up, I was glad I no longer had to spend my time on Craigslist. Meanwhile, things in Queens got worse, as my landlady started treating me worse and worse until things culminated last Sunday after spending the weekend away with Jing. After a gross bathroom issue, I texted Amanda, who found out her friend Sarah had an extra room where I could stay until her future roommate moved in - a/c, a bed, and wi-fi. I left Sunday night, much to the dismay of my landlady, and things have been looking up ever since.

Amanda and I are moving into our apartment tomorrow, and we're going to Ikea on Saturday to pick out awesome new furniture. In other big news, meet the newest member of the Agredo family, Wall-E:

All in all, the tears and pain were worth it for our new apartment and for all the friends I've made while I've been here. The one thing I haven't mentioned, my job, has been so incredible that I almost feel too lucky to have it. Everything else has been worth it so that I can work with the incredible group of people I'm working with. Uncommon Schools is truly a great organization. This whole thing has taught me that I'm thankful for my friends, the unrelenting support of my parents, and my job. I'm not thankful for the housing market in New York City. 

Tl;dr: Subletting sucks, apartment hunting sucks, my job is awesome, my friends are awesome, my parents are awesome, and I'm adopting a maltese. 

Here's to many new adventures in New York!

xoxoxo

Top Things To Do/Avoid at Dartmouth College

I recently graduated from Dartmouth College, a fact that makes me so sad that I'm compensating for it by talking endlessly about it. I had an amazing time and met the most amazing people and I would not trade the past four years for anything in the world. The following is a question I answered on my Tumblr sometime my senior year to an incoming member of the class of 2017. 

Top Things To Do/Avoid at Dartmouth College by a ‘13

1. Don’t have a plan set in stone from the very beginning

I was a Biomedical Engineering major when I started. I had my D-plan planned out for all four years with my Thayer advisor before the first day of class freshman fall. That morphed into just pre-med (everyone starts out being pre-med), and I spent my first two years at Dartmouth struggling through bio and chem classes until one day everything crumbled and I thought my life was over (I really did. You can ask my roommate.) I found what I was passionate about afterwards, and while junior and senior year were academically very happy, all that suffering would have been avoided if I had just allowed myself to explore at the beginning. You have to take pre-reqs anyway, so take some weird-ass classes freshman year and discover what you love before you choose a path. 

2. Go on an FSP/LSA

Seriously, this is my number one regret from Darmouth. Take a language, take a random religion class, philosophy class, anthropology, whatever it is that interests you and go abroad. Going back to my first point, I didn’t do a study abroad because I was too busy being pre-med. Seriously, work that shit into your D-plan somehow. Find a way. 

3. Don’t think that everyone at Dartmouth has their shit together and that you must be a failure because you don’t

I have seen this affect many great people, and it’s affected me as well. We all come from being applauded as the best of the best in high school, but you’re not always going to be the best at everything here. You’re still an incredible, intelligent human being, and it’s not always easy to remember that. 

We all put on this great act of knowing what we’re doing and being chair of every organization and taking the hardest classes while still managing to smile and sleep 10 hours a night. The truth is, we are all just scrambling to find our place at Dartmouth and in society and many of us, no matter how put-together, really feel the pressure of it sometimes. It can get lonely to think that you’re the only one struggling - but know that everyone is facing their own battles. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. And know that you WILL get rejected from things sometimes.

4. Dartmouth isn’t Hogwarts + Disney World

During orientation, trip leaders and croos are excited and everyone seems happy and Orientation Team is AWESOME (self-calling ‘cause I was on it for two years wazzup) and it’s the end of summer so it’s still semi-sunny outside and you sincerely can’t believe that you’ve arrived at this magical place. Things get really hard really fast, however, and you have to realize that things aren’t always going to be perfect, and you have to learn how to be okay with it. 

5. If you want a single as a freshman, ask for a single

My freshman year, we didn’t have enough people requesting singles so even some people that requested roommates had to get singles. That’s how many singles we have for freshmen. If you want one, request it in your housing application. 

6. Volunteer with other parts of the Upper Valley 

Hanover is a bubble. A rich, gorgeous bubble where houses sell for millions and the building codes are unbearably strict for the sole purpose of keeping the town looking like a postcard. There’s many struggling communities around Hanover, however, and nothing will be quite as effective in bringing you down to earth as realizing that Hanover is an alternate reality and that you can really make a difference in the community at large.

7. Do non-drinking things

It’s very tempting to spend the largest part of your non-academic life at Dartmouth trying to get on table at a frat or standing by the wall of a frat awkwardly sipping Keystone or getting so drunk off of Zenka shots that your floormates have to carry you to your room. While that’s all well and good and part of the college experience, I have to tell you that some of my most memorable experiences from Dartmouth have been outside of a frat basement. Go to hop concerts, go to events like taco fiesta or tie-dye over orientation, go to performances and culture nights and enjoy the time you have with your friends, even if it’s just watching a movie on your laptop. Life at Dartmouth CAN be happy even if you don’t go out every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, I promise. 

8. Not getting into the frat/sorority you always dreamt of your Sophomore year will not ruin your life, getting into it does not guarantee happiness

I’ve seen this with a lot of my friends and people I know since we pledged our sophomore year. People who didn’t get a bid were crushed, but they found their place at Dartmouth somewhere else. Some people who did get a bid ended up not fitting into their house. Regardless, your affiliation does not define who you are. After Sophomore year, no one cares at all what house you’re in, and the only person really affected by the friendships you’ve made and the bridges you’ve burnt is you. Reputations are stupid, go where you feel comfortable. 

9. Dedicate time to things you care about

Extracurricular time at Dartmouth is too limited to spend it doing something that makes you unhappy. Find organizations that you love working with and stick to them, because nothing sucks more than finding yourself slaving away working for something you don’t care about. 

10. Go on Programming Board weekend trips

Quebec City and New York winter term, Montreal spring term. Some of my favorite Dartmouth memories. 

Moral of this rant: time at Dartmouth is too short to be unhappy. I am so jealous you get to start next fall, I would sincerely re-play Dartmouth on a loop for the rest of my life if I could. Embrace it, enjoy it, accept it, meet some awesome people and do as much of it as you can because it’ll be over before you know it. 

Bonus Dartmouth picture from my Instagram during my favorite season (fall), because I miss this school more than I can put into words. 

My Skin Type

Before you take any advice from my beauty posts, you should know the basics about my skin and hair type, as every person and every skin type has different requirements. 

Facts About Me, My Skin, and My Hair

1. I have very dry skin

Ever since I was a baby, I've had trouble with my skin being dry and flaky, and when I was a toddler I was diagnosed with Atopic Dermatitis. Although I know longer suffer from significant redness and itchyness, my skin is still significantly dry and extremely sensitive to products. Because of this, I can guarantee that any products on here will be tried and true by someone with extremely sensitive skin. 

2. I also have very dry hair

My hair is curly, dry, and dark. I've had a life-long battle with frizz and the most humid climate to test products in (see below), and I can tell you with confidence when a product works/doesn't work. 

3. I travel between different climates quite often

I have spent my past four winters in New Hampshire and my past four summers in Florida. This means that I often go from extremes in temperatures, humidity, pollution, and any other environmental factors out there. The products I use keep my skin and hair feeling good in most climates. 

4. I am lazy

I have tried and failed to follow long beauty routines, so any steps that I take I consider necessary to keeping my skin and hair looking alive. 

5. I am cheap

I'm a broke college graduate, so I usually buy drugstore stuff, with a few exceptions.

My opinions are all my own, and based on the facts listed above. Follow at your own risk.

xoxo.