Even Sailors Like to Spook

Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone is having a great day filled with oodles of candy and cute costumes! I'll be on the water at a regatta all day, but plan to go trick or treating with my friends by the yacht club tonight. I'm dressing up in my dry suit, which is this big gray and red astronaut-style suit that is like a suction cup around your neck and wrists, has a huge sipper that makes you look like your shoulders are about four feet ling, and you wear black boots with it. So, I'm going as an astronaut! It'll certainly be tons of fun! Plus there's candy!

Every year, the seniors in our school dress up in tons of funny costumes and compete for the best costume. Let me tell you, it gets pretty crazy!

Some of my favorites in my past three years have been:

The Barbie Dolls

 This isn't the exact girls, but it was the cheerleaders, so it totally fit in with the stereotype. But they really did all look gorgeous and wore vintage white heals, different Barbie looks, and they looked perfect in their boxes! 

I know this is the actual picture of the mad hatter, but this is legit what the guy looked like! He even had yellow contacts in! Needless to say, he won best costume.

This year, a group did Avatar, which was hysterical! 

One group of about 8 guys did Ghost Busters and they had speakers walking around with them all day playing the song and they had the machines hooked up as vacume cleaners. So funny!

A few other ones were: 

Pocahontas and William Smith

There was this couple my freshman year that the girl was Asian but looked very Native American and her boyfriend was as pale as pale could be with bleach blonde light hair, so they were the perfect couple to do that.

President Obama and the Secret Service

We had this short guy who literally looked like President Obama in our school last year and  his very tall friends walked around all day in suits and the walkie talkie thing that goes to their ears. They kept him protected at all times, too. It was great!
Crayons
This group of kids dressed up in the crayon costumes but they made this huge crayon box and they all walked around in it all day!
Playboy
I know, this sounds so tacky, but they boys dressed up as the playboy bunnies and this tiny girl dressed up as Hough Hefner. The switch made it hysterical!
Tetris
This was the cleverest! Four guys made life size tetris pieces out of big refrigerator boxes and strapped them to themselves and walked the hallways blocking everyone because they had 3 inches on each side of them to fit through the hallway!

My friends and I have been planning our costume for years now!

So far, our ideas are:

Troll Dolls! I know, this picture looks weirdish, but its the only one I could find. But we will do the felted shirt troll dolls but make them into dresses.

Any guesses on this one? We have about 15 people we are trying to do this with. We are so excited! I'm hoping to be Hermione Granger or Dumbledore. Either way, this one could be super intense!

All of the old Nickelodeon cartoons! 

Which one is your favorite? And what are you dressing up as this year?

Happy Halloween!

May the wind be with you,

The Sailor in Pink OoXx 

Home Away from Boat: New England Real Estate

Here's my second post on real estate! This one's coming from Rhode Island! It is a beautiful place to live, where everything is no more than a half hour away. The scenery is beautiful, the experiences are endless, the history is fascinating, and there is always something going on that is on the water. My dad and I, for example, went one weekend to the International Boat Show in Newport and spent the next day riding on a gondola during Waterfire in Providence. It is a very preppy area and just all together amazing. I definitely can picture myself moving back there after college. Here are some of my favorite houses:

This is such a quintessential Rhode Island colonial home. It is in North Kingstown with a beach at the end of the street. North Kingstown is the perfect place to be because you are close to everything, but it is still a residential area. 

An absolute perfect little beach house! Located in Narragansett, a beautiful and popular beach town, this little house has so much potential. I could just picture Beachy Mama turning it into an old, rustic beach house.

How cute is this?! And its right on the water! I would love to just dock my little sailboat up and go sit on the porch and watch the sunset. 

This is just all together gorgeous! I can only imagine how this looks in the snow! 

Such a classic Rhode Island beach house! Plus, its in Newport, which is such a great place to live. It is one of the sailing capitals of the world. There's tons of preppy boutiques. The New England clam chowder there is amazing! There's an ice skating rink right on the water in the winter. Overall, it is great. 

I just love cedar and this architecture is just beautiful. I love how it does a 90 degree wrap around to the garage. This is such a perfect house for a family and its on the water!

Love the porch!

May the wind be with you,

The Sailor in Pink OoXx

Sea-view: Animal Farm

I have an Independent Study in school where I read books for class, write papers, and then take tests. It is truly a class I love and look forward to every day. This week, I read Animal Farm by George Orwell. It was the perfect book for this stressful week because it was a quick read, but also very engrossing.

It is about this farm where an old, dying boar proclaims his longing desire to conquer the human race by means of first taking over their own farm, the Manor Farm. After he dies, two younger pigs take over and lead a rebellion against the owners. They create "Animalism," which states  that all animals are equal. As the story progresses, you begin to notice the power struggle of these two very different leaders, who came up with "Animalism," until one of them is literally chased off of the newly named, "Animal Farm."

Once there is one leader, it becomes very much like a dictatorship and is based upon communism. I found it extremely interesting because I am fascinated with politics and other's perspectives on equality. As the story continues, Napoleon, the leader (the name was certainly not a coincidence), becomes more human-like, which was the forbidden crime at the beginning of Orwell's book. In order to not be perceived as a hypocrite, he does what many in government do: he manipulated the animals.

The ending is extremely interesting and it gives you a totally different perspective on even our own leaders. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone. Not only is it engrossing, it has such a powerful message of equality. It really made me contemplate where there may not be full equality in my own life, just because of the small selfish desires of success.

With a book consisting of so much symbolism, every reader has the ability to interpret it differently. In my case, one lesson I thought was important was to stand by your morals before standing by someone else's. If you can accomplish that, no Napoleon will ever be able to manipulate you.

Definitely go to your local library, Barnes and Noble, or download this to your reader! Its a quick read, perfect for a plane trip, a quiet  night in, or just something to skim through. There are more lessons than even list-able and it makes the perfect book for a Book Club!

May the wind be with you,
The Sailor in Pink OoXx

Neck Knots

I just recently got a pair of drop pearl earrings by Dogeared Jewlery from a boutique by my house. I love them! I have known about Dogeared for a while and love their beautiful necklaces, but I really started to look at them online and here are some of my favorites:

This is the perfect gift for a best friend! Lilly Lover, if you read this, don't be surprised....

I would love to get this for Surfer Sister!

I bet that looks so pretty on and the whole karma thing behind it is just really so great.

That's a really cool thing to get a graduate or someone starting something new. Plus, its beautiful!

I might as well order about 20 of these right now for the next two years!

Love this! What an adorable gift to give to a sailor girl!

This is just perfect!

The advice on these cards are just absolute perfection. Plus, the necklace is the perfect everyday signature piece. 

Which ones do you like?

May the wind be with you,

The Sailor in Pink OoXx

Sailor's School Search: Brown University

Last week I did a post about going to look at Boston University. That same day, I headed to Brown University. It was such an incredible school. Everything about it I absolutely LOVED. It is very liberal, but definitely in the good way. I am very into politics but I am an independent, so it really does not come into the picture when looking at this school. Unfortunately, the coach was down south at a regatta, but I will be visiting again soon anyway. Here's some of my favorites about Brown University:

On the website it says, "The mission of Brown University is to serve the community, the nation, and the world by discovering, communicating, and preserving knowledge and understanding in a spirit of free inquiry, and by educating and preparing students to discharge the offices of life with usefulness and reputation. We do this through a partnership of students and teachers in a unified community known as a university-college." The whole "spirit of free inquiry" is enough to make me just go to college now. I love that it is a school for thinking, not note taking. I think that is so important and shed a whole new light on my college search.

The campus was absolutely exquisite. Really. It is a four season area, so I can only imagine how gorgeous it must look with a blanket of snow covering the now green lawns. The buildings are all very old looking and most of them are from the 1800's.  

Location: it is nestled right on a hill in Providence, Rhode Island. Rhode Island really is a great place to go to school because everything is so close and there is a free bus that can practically take you anywhere in the state. This is a picture of Waterfire, which is this beautiful festival-like event that goes on during many weekends during the year in Providence. There really is so much culture in Rhode Island and New England. The whole having four seasons thing is also right up my alley. I absolutely love snow and leaves changing colors! Plus, Rhode Island is a very sailor-y state!

They have a really great research program which enables you to go somewhere in the world and research a topic of your choice as long as it is legit. I'm planning on studying International Studies, so I would love to work for Operation Smile on missions and research! 

They have a really great sailing team! Right now they are 5th in the country. My coach was on that team and had nothing but wonderful things to say about it! 

A few other things: They have a great advising program where it is very personal, they have a GORGEOUS campus (I may have mentioned this...), you can take up to 4 classes for credit from the Rhode Island School of Design, the student body is very diverse and you can see that just when you walk through the quads, you can design your own concentration, they have a great financial aid program, and you have the ability to take classes that are not in your field just for fun and they count towards your overall credits.

Brown really was absolutely incredible in every way. I absolutely loved the university and could definitely see myself there. This school definitely gets a 6 out of 5. Yeah, I loved it that much. I lived in Rhode Island for a large portion of my life and that may have made me already feel at home, but either way, it was perfect. From the moment I walked on campus, I felt like I was already a Brunonian. Now, if I only get accepted...

Has anyone gone to Brown or been there before? What do you think?

May the wind be with you,

The Sailor in Pink OoxX

Stars on Starboard: Emma Watson

When I went to visit Brown, I grabbed a scone in their little cafe called the Blue Room. When I was sitting down eating, none other than EMMA WATSON comes walking in. Yes, I practically fell over. She is one of very few people in Hollywood presently that I admire. She's intelligent, fashionable, classy, and she puts her education first, which explains her taking off time during her years as a very popular actress to go to Brown.

This is her new haircut! She looks absolutely beautiful! 

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Emma:

May the wind be with you,

The Sailor in Pink OoXx

Boat Blogging

Happy Monday! Well it was certainly a crazy weekend here! I went to Georgetown on Friday and then to a regatta in Norfolk for the rest of the weekend and got back at 10 last night. Georgetown was absolutely incredible! I felt like I truly belong there and really hope I get to go there! I'll be doing a post about my trip to the college in the next few days. :]

In the mean time, there are a few blogs that I read on a regular basis. Besides the fabulous blogs written by my followers and other bloggers, I love the vineyard vines blog and the Lilly Pulitzer blog.

What's fun about the vineyard vines one is definitely that it is usually about preppy people living out vineyard vines' motto "Living the Good Life." I love reading about other people just living "the good life," especially considering that vineyard vines is based off of the on-the-water theme, so there's a lot of sailors. My favorite post is: http://www.vineyardvinesblog.com/connecticut-state-optimist-championship.htm. I love States for my boat class, but we never have gotten vineyard vines stuff! That is so cool! I've been to one regatta where they actually have the vineyard vines buoys (the pink floating triangles).

 This was at an all girls regatta. So cute right?!

May the wind be with you,

The Sailor in Pink OoXx

From the Captain's Closet: Fall Jackets

There is nothing greater than the feeling of fall when the air is crisp and it is just chilly enough where a coat is needed, without feeling like you are going to freeze over. Here are some of my essential jackets:

I have this pea coat in navy and I love it! It is so classic and so warm! I bring this on all of my sailing trips to wear at night when we go downtown as a team.

This is my sailing jacket from Henri Lloyd and I love it! I've had it for three years now and it is embroidered with my team name and my name plus our burgee (team flag). Its so warm, but can also be light, depending on how many layers you wear with it. I swear it stretches when you put sweatshirts on underneath it because it always looks the same size, no matter the amount of layers.

This is very similar to the J.Crew jacket I have. Its pretty light so its definitely just for a cool, fall day. I love the navy because it matches my uniform so I'm able to wear it to school.

What's your favorite jackets?

May the wind be with you,

The Sailor in Pink OoXx

Sailor's School Search: Boston University

College searching is a long process and one I definitely do not want to rush. I've been planning out this stuff forever and am now finally visiting the places. A few weeks ago I visited Boston University. I loved it! I did the whole tour, informational session, etc. Plus, I spoke to the sailing coach!

Here's some things I like about Boston University

It is in the perfect location: Boston, Massachusetts. Right on the Charles River, in the city, and all the possibilities that come with that, it is a place one could never grow bored with. Plus, there's good shopping when all else fails!

They have a great study abroad program, which is vital for me because I am planning on majoring in International Studies, so I want to learn at least two languages. 

Yeah, that's Quidditch. I KNOW! They have a team and right before I went they said they were playing Boston College. How cool is that!

Their dorms are for the most part really nice. These are the dorms you'd stay in your Junior and Senior year, but their freshman dorms really aren't bad. My tour guide said for the most part everyone always lives on campus, which I thought was special because it shows a sense of unity.

For the most part, it seemed like a pretty school. I know that sounds shallow, but I seriously plan on going to a school that is pretty. Its just a prerequisite for me. 

And last but certainly not least, their sailing team: B.U.D.S. (aka: Boston University Dinghy Sailing)

I met with the coach and he was so kind! Since it was so last minute, I did not email him, but he stopped everything he was doing to tell us about the team and the regattas. It seemed like a great experience and something I definitely want to look more into.

All in all, I give Boston U a 3.8 out of 5. Its not a 5 because it was very large (16,000 undergrads!), not everything was absolutely gorgeous (although almost all of it was), it was very expensive for what I believe it was ($55 grand a year), but still, it was a fantastic school. I'm just very critical because I went to Brown University the same day and adored it, but that's for another post!

Has anyone see BU? What did you think?

May the wind be with you,

The Sailor in Pink OoXx