The Best Time Of Year

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

First off, I just want to let you guys know that this is my 100th blog post!!

I hope all of you spend your holiday amidst your family and friends, enjoying laughs and smiles, good food, and warm hearts.

I am so thankful for all of the beautiful people in my life, and they are truly what Christmas is about.

I'm spending my day around the tree with my parents, my brother and of course my little dog :)

So I hope you all enjoy your day being around those who matter most to you

I wish you all a safe, happy, and Merry Christmas

XO Kara

Help!

Hello lovelies!!

How are you all doing today?

Hopefully your day is going well :)

I need some help from my fellow bloggers.

Apparently I have used up all of my storage space for photos for the year. Has that ever happened to any of you?

I started my blog after Christmas last year, so my year will be renewing in a few weeks.

What do you guys do? Do you pay for the extra storage space?

I didn't know this could happen! Haha

If you dolls could let me know what you think, that would help so much.

I have so many posts I want to publish, but I can't without photos!

I'd appreciate any advice :)

Talk to you soon!

XO Kara

Questionnaire

Hi dolls

How is your day going?

It's almost Fridayyyy! Woo!

I thought I would just do a little questionnaire today

I got this from Allison's, or Amarixe on YouTube, blog

Check her out here

1.) Mood:
Productive– I really feel refreshed since being home.

Also happy to be blogging again :)

2.) You call into the radio station to request a holiday song-- which one is it?
I hate to admit it, but I'm obsessed with the Justin Bieber Christmas album.

Actually, I don't even hate admitting it. IT'S PHENOMENAL.

I'd request Pray.

3.) What is your ideal handbag size?
Medium. I like something that I don't feel like I have to cram all my necessities into, but I also don't like hugeee bags.

4.) Current nail polish:
Revlon Creme Brulee

5.) What is the last fragrance you wore?
Chanel Chance

6.) Current outfit:
Black knit jacket, black and white striped tank, grey knit infinity scarf, black jeggings, tall burgundy socks, tall black leather boots, Rebecca Minkoff bag.

7.) Which snow activity do you prefer: building snowmen, making snow angels, or snowball fights?
Building snowmen!!

8.) What is your favorite restaurant cuisine?
Italian is probably my favorite. Mexican is definitely a close second.

9.) Can you whistle with your fingers?
No :(

10.) Weekly goals:
Finish my online journaling class, catch up with friends and catch up on Dexter!

Feel free to do this questionnaire and link me to your post!

Talk to you all soon :)

XO Kara

Home!

Hi loves!

My life has been absolutely crazy the past few weeks.

My time in Spain went so incredibly fast, I blinked my eyes and I was home.

I'm really hoping to get back into my routine of writing a few posts a week and get back into hauling, reviewing and posting tutorials.

Here's a super quick run down of what happened since my last blog post.

After Ireland we headed to Paris for 5 days.

It was incredible. I loved it so much more the second time around.

I went with my three amazing friends– we got a (phenomenal) hostel, toured the city by day, napped, ate crepes, bought dinner at the grocery store, got ready and took on the city all night.

I worked out so well and I was unbelievably happy with our trip.

After that we went to Barcelona for Jen's 21st, Halloween and Dia de Todos los Santos, and to meet up with Jen's dad.

We didn't do as much sightseeing in Barcelona, but just enjoyed the beautiful weather and walked around on our own.

It was definitely a good trip even though it was a bit shorter than our others.

After that we enjoyed our last few weeks in Alicante going to our favorite restaurants, stores, bars and discos.

I literally cannot believe how fast the time went.

In the beginning I was so nervous and uncomfortable I couldn't wait until I got to fly home. Something clicked and Alicante truly became my home. 
I looked forward to telling my host family about my trips and couldn't wait to get back to my host mom's cooking.

I looked forward to seeing the new shoes in the stores on my street I had to walk up every day.

I loved seeing everything in Spanish.

I loved getting to nap after lunch.

Above all else, I loved my friends I got to share this experience with. I honestly couldn't have asked for it to be any better.

Seeing the way other countries lived truly opened my eyes.

Sitting in Madrid, I couldn't believe that I actually didn't want to come home. Once I arrived in Chicago, my feelings changed.

I was overjoyed to be reunited with my family, my friends, my car, my dog... everything.

In order to come home to all of these wonderful things, I had to leave behind my family in Spain, my friends in Spain and everything else that made it home.

Overall, I could not have asked for a better experience.

I feel so fortunate.

Thank you for letting me share it with you all.

I'll talk to you soon :)

XO Kara

Busy Bee

I'M ALIVE

I am so sorry that I haven't posted in ages

I'm going to try to give you a run down of the past few weeks as short as possible

First--

The Camino

It was probably the hardest thing I've done

It's so difficult to explain the camino unless you've done it, but it was an incredible experience

Through all of the blisters, sore feet, legs, hips, knees, shoulders and back, the rain, the mountains and everything in between, I enjoyed my journey

The first day we hiked 37 kilometers, 26 the next, 24 on the third day and finished with 16 on the last day

There is a saying in Spanish, "Con pan y vino, se anda Camino"

Which means with bread and wine, you walk the camino

This held true, the majority of what we ate was bread and pasta, and we had our fair share of wine

Along the way there were so many grapes and figs we could just pick and eat while hiking

They were SO delicious

There truly is no way I could describe the way I felt during the camino

We met so many inspiring people and saw some magnificent sights

It definitely will not be forgotten

Here are some of my favorite photos

 Minor break down

I know it's gross, but I just needed to share this photo with you

I tried to spare you by not making this photo huge hahaha

After being home for a week, my friends and I headed to IRELAND (!!!) this past weekend

You guys

I thought I was in love with London, but I absolutely adored Ireland (they're probably tied)

Everything about the country was perfect

The people were so incredibly nice and genuine, their accents are to die for, the rolling green hills are breath taking, and the beer is great

We went with a tour group which provided hostels, transportation, tours and more

It really helped us maximize our short time there

We took our 3 hour flight from Alicante to Dublin on Thursday night and immediately went out to experience the night life

We kicked off our time with an Irish Car Bomb (which is apparently offensive, whoops) and hung out with the locals

The next day we spent hours walking through Dublin, stopped for a delicious lunch, then made our way to the Guinness factory to tour and enjoy a pint

We spent another night on the town and made our way to the Cliffs of Moher the next day (part of The Half Blood Prince was filmed here, I almost died)

After enjoying the beautiful sights, we continued our journey to Galway, an absolutely beautiful city bursting with life

We ditched our tour to explore for ourselves and I'm really glad we did

We spent our final night enjoying a few pints and some AWESOME live music in a pub where I'm sure we were the youngest people

We were honestly so sad to leave, I completely fell in love with the city

I already told my mom we need to travel there together at some point

Here are a few of my favorite photos from the weekend

Now we're off to Paris on Wednesday!

I hope you guys enjoyed this super long post

Thanks so much for reading

XO Kara

Hasta Luego!

Hi friends!

I'm about to embark on a very exciting journey

I leave today for a week long hiking trip along El Camino de Santiago (or The Way of St. James)

It has existed for thousands of years, and was an extremely important Christian pilgrimage during medieval times

There are numerous routes, but my group won't be doing the entire trip

Instead we will be doing a 100 kilometer journey, ending in Santiago

I am beyond excited! And also quite nervous

I have heard so many good things about this experience, I just can't wait to take it all in

Tonight we take a train to Madrid, and then an overnight train to where we will begin our journey at 5:30 am tomorrow!

It will be our longest day; we'll hike until sunset

Along the way we will be stopping in villages and small towns to eat, and staying in Christian hostiles at night

Here is what I'm bringing for the week long journey

 Overview

 Top row-- Spandex shorts. Sports bras and socks. Under Armour zip up. Light blanket and small towel.

Bottom row-- Two pairs of shorts and running leggings. Longsleeve. 3 t-shirts and a tank. Black PacSun pants.

 Right side: Nike's. Crocs. Diabetes supplies [not shown, but I also have an obscene amount of juice boxes and fruit snacks, I anticipate my blood sugar going low a lot]

 Toothpaste. Motrin. Clinique moisturizer and face wash with wash cloth. Eyelash curler. Maybelline Mega Plush mascara. Baby Lips chapstick. Foot cream [gross, but it's supposed to help with blisters]. Shampoo. Body wash. Sunscreen. [And deodorant, I just forgot to lay it out].

 Fossil watch. Coach sunnies. iPod. Trail mix. Homemade trailmix [pretzels, dried apricots, dried figs, blanched almonds and M&Ms], mini journal

 Do I look like I'm ready to go hiking? Hahaha

Can't wait to be hauling this bad boy around the trails

Wish me luck and I can't wait to share stories with all of you!!

Talk to you in a week :)

XO Kara

Weekend Getaway :: Granada

Hello there!

How have you all been?

I just took my finals yesterday for two of my classes.

I'm not quite sure how well I did, but all I know is I am beyond relieved to be done with these classes.

Yay!

The other weekend, my program took a trip to Granada.

It's about 4 hours away from Alicante.

We packed a lot into our weekend and experienced the beautiful city.

It was refreshing to see a different area of Spain.

It made me realize that the city I live in is very much a "beach town"

Granada has that wonderful historic feel and beautiful traditional style that I was expecting when I thought of Spain.

We did a walking tour of part of the city the first night before attending a flamenco show [the same one Michelle Obama saw a couple years ago, which means I basically met her], we took a tour of La Cartuja de Granada, a monastery built in 1516, we saw where Colombus got the treaty signed by the queen to sail to "India"

We also toured a museum all about Fernando and Isabel, spent a lot of time at the Alhambra, a Muslim palace, and finished out our tour by visiting a small town of homes built in caves.

Here is a peek into what I saw in Granada :)

 View of the city

 Minda, myself, Megan and Jen before the flamenco show

 Where the treaty was signed

 La Cartuja

 All from the Alhambra

Cave homes

I hope you all enjoyed! I took so many photos, it's really ridiculous

Talk to you soon

XO Kara

Outfit Recap

Hello lovelies

I feel like so much is going on and I have so many things to tell so many different people, it's hard to keep everything straight

I just want to give you all a bit of an update, as with every blog post of mine

Again, things are getting more comfortable

I started a film class and also a lit class this week

I really like the film class, and I'm not sure about the lit class quite yet

These classes are taught by my study abroad program director, as opposed to taking them at the university, so it's a bit more lenient, and it's also with other students from my program, so I really like that

I only have a week and a half left of my classes that I don't particularly enjoy, so YAY!

My program went to Granada this past weekend and it was absolutely beautiful!

We did a ton of walking and saw a lot of the city

I'll have a post coming soon :)

Since I've been doing so much traveling, I haven't been blogging about makeup and fashion and I miss it

But to be honest, there is always so much going on, I kind of just stick with makeup looks that I'm comfortable with, and I haven't been too daring with my outfits

It's so hot here, I'm usually just trying to stay cool

It is nice though, because you never really see people in athletic clothes, and you can tell a lot of students put effort into their outfits for class

I love this, because in the states, I kind of feel like a freak if I put a real outfit together for class

Here are just some snapshots of some of my recent outfits :)

Sorry some are just shot on my iPhone

Details-- Top: Marshall's. Pants: PacSun. Flats: Old Navy. Necklace: Forever 21. Watch: Fossil. 

Details-- Top: Christopher and Banks. Pants: J.Crew. 

Details-- [Left] Dress: Forever 21. Wedges: Target.

[Right] Top: Francesca's. Pants: PacSun.

Details-- Top: Marshall's. Pants: Marshall's. Sandals: Steve Madden.

Details-- Top: Marshall's. Maxi: Marshall's. Sandals: Michael Kors.

Details-- Dress: Marshall's. Shirt: Old Navy. Flats: Old Navy.

We have learned a few things from this post

1. I love Marshall's [as if that's news]

2. I buy the same shirt in different colors

I hope you guys liked these outfits, and I'll do more posts like this if you'd like!

I'll have a Granada post coming soon:)

Talk to you soon loves

XO Kara