The Common White Girl Tag

I should've done this a while ago. 

1. Favorite Starbucks drink? 

Grande Skinny Vanilla Latte~ I also like the Chestnut Praline Latte

2. How long does it take you to get ready in the morning? 

Like 20 minutes excluding shower time. 

3. How many selfies do you take on a daily basis? 

Like 30. Bahahaha

4. How many IG followers and pics do you have? 

104 and 47~ (guys follow me *cough*)

5. Do you ever say “LOL” or “OMG” out loud? 

Yes and I get judged so hard lol

6. Do you wear the same clothing item more than once? 

I try really hard not to

7. Are you racist? 

We're all racist in some way, let's be real here. 

8. How many tweets do you have? 

1,429

9. Instagram, Twitter, or Tumblr? 

Instagram~ 

10. What do you spend most of your time doing? 

Fangirling over everything, drinking tea

11. Who are your favorite YouTubers? 

SHAWN MENDES, CONNOR FRANTA, Gabb (Velvetgh0st), Zoella, sunbeamsjess and JacksGap. 

12. How often do you do your nails? 

Like once a month

13. Are you a shopaholic? 

Oh ho.... you know it. 

14. How many times have you watched Mean Girls? 

Once and I actually hate the movie. 

15. Do you own a lot of clothes? 

Not a lot anymore. I cleared out my closet recently. 

16. Do you take pictures of your food before you eat it? 

Yes 

17. Do you wear makeup everyday? 

No~

18. What are your average grades in school? 

I'm straight As and honor status

19. How do you usually style your hair? 

Brush, spritz, toss. 

20. Do you always look presentable? 

Hahahaha nah xD 

~*~ 

So this is just a short little post. I hope you all have had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and thank you so much for visiting my blog and reading stuff! Lots of love~

Shawn Mendes Concert Experience

So, I went.

I went.

I went. 

I WENT. 

I can't even express in words what a surprise it was, how amazing it was, and how amazing I feel right now. Honestly, I was going to make this post earlier but I couldn't because I got home really late but I definitely knew I had to so this is it!

Shawn Mendes Concert Experience

Location: Best Buy Theater, Times Square, New York City

Time: 7PM-9PM (Doors open at 6PM)

Number of People: 2100

Morning

I was freaking out in the morning. I still didn't have the confirmation that I would even get my ticket yet and I woke up ridiculously late (around 9) and I got a text from this woman from Craigslist who I had found the previous night at the last moment who was selling 4 tickets for 40 dollars each, which was insane because the price for one ticket if you bought it when it went on sale was $37.50 and everywhere else on the web if you were looking for a ticket it was like $250 or something ridiculous. I had given up on going to the concert but I got a text in the morning saying she was going to pick up her tickets and would make the exchange and I literally flipped out because that was insane. So we arranged to meet up around noon in Times Square and make the exchange and it felt so surreal because I was seriously considering to just purchase the $245 one from StubHub before and now I could actually go for the original price. 

I finally got out of the house around 2 and she called around 2:30 and said she was got the tickets, so I took the taxi to Times Square and waited in the Starbucks for her to arrive. We made the exchange and I got my ticket. The venue was right across the street so I verified the ticket at the box office before getting in line. Let me just say, for a relatively small concert of 2,100 people compared to 17,000 people concerts (like Taylor Swift's or someone super famous), the line was insane. It stretched down the block and around the corner and down the block again. There were girls sitting in lawn chairs and wrapped in blankets sleeping, and I remember seeing a photo on Twitter of the first people who got in line last night and slept in a tent. It was freezing, like thirty degrees last night and I do not know how they managed to not get sick. I met up with my friends Charlotte, Callie and Leila (shoutout if you guys see this lol) who were already in line but towards the back at that point and I got in line with them. It was already freezing and it was at noon, which was basically the warmest few hours of the day. By that point it was around 3:15, so we had about 2 hours and 45 minutes to wait until the doors opened and another hour until the concert actually started, making the total wait about 4 hours. 

Afternoon

it was so cold. I can't even explain how cold it was. 

In the beginning it wasn't that bad actually. We stood for the first twenty minutes, talking and fangirling over Shawn. I had never met Callie before so we got to know each other better throughout the night. We had so much stuff to talk about. Then our legs started to hurt, so we sat down. Let me just say that New York City sidewalk is mad nasty. Like really nasty. It was gross but we didn't really have choice. The other girls that were standing blocked the wind though, but eventually they sat down as well. It was cruel, the weather. 

After an hour, the others decided to get some food. Our legs had grown numb and I'm pretty sure my leg cramped and fell asleep at the same time but I couldn't even feel it because I couldn't feel my legs anymore. They got off line to get food and I held their spots. When they came back, this guy and a group of girls came up to the girls who were standing behind us and he said, "Hi, I work for Best Buy. I was wondering if you girls could just squeeze these girls in with you guys? You're all Shawn fans and they reserved a spot on this line." 

First of all, that is just wrong. My friends were yelling at them to say no don't let them get on and eventually they didn't let the group of girls into the line and the group all gave us dirty looks while they walked to the end. Working with Best Buy doesn't mean you have any association with the theater, you idiot. You think just because we're teenage girls that we are stupid or some shit because we know that the theater is sponsored by Best Buy but it doesn't have even moderate association with connections to employees in the stores. Also, you don't "reserve" a spot in these lines because you can't, and because there have been girls who have been waiting for hours before you came. We were vicious and we know it but we are going to defend our chances of getting as close to Shawn as we can get and you have no right cut lines, period. I know I might have cut the line when I met up with my friends but at that point there were only ten girls behind us so it practically didn't even matter; we'd all be in the same section anyway. 

That honestly really pissed me off. A friend of Callie's came around then and she gave us some Hot Fingers hand warmers because our hands were legitimately numb by then. It was four something and the sun was setting, which meant that the temperature was going to drop even more and we still had two hours to go before the doors even opened. We started taking turns going inside the restaurant because it was warm inside but the restaurants were getting seriously crowded so at one point we couldn't even go inside anymore. There were these girls that passed out neon pink hearts that had lyrics from "Life of the Party" on them and told us to wave them when Shawn performed the song, which we thought was a really cute idea but we didn't end up waving them at the end, we ended up waving our phones lol

Evening

Finally the doors opened at 6. Well actually, the line began moving at 6:15 but we didn't even get inside the venue until 6:40. It was really disorganized and while walking up the line it was really disgusting because people just left all their trash and blankets on the floor and people even abandoned their posters, which I thought was a total waste of time. I remember there was this girl right in front of us who ran back and was crying because she lost her ticket and I can't even imagine how depressing that is if she didn't find it (she probably didn't) because she waited for so long just to not even be able to see him, which is really sad. We got into the venue and went down the escalator. Security was screaming at us to not run otherwise they'd kick us out. It was so insane. By the time we got into the theater it was already packed. 

Best Buy Theater is actually a really small venue. There were a few rows of seats in the back, an elevated area in front of the seats, then stairs leading down to the main floor area which was actually pretty small. I think we got up to sixth or seventh row and we stood right in the middle so that if you drew a line to split the stage and reach the back of the arena, it would've gone straight through me. We managed to stay together although people starting squishing even though the concert hadn't even started yet and there were all these crazy moms yelling at other girls and it was so annoying, especially when people began to chant "WE WANT SHAWN, WE WANT SHAWN" when we all knew that he wasn't going to come out anytime soon. In the crowd, we met these two girls who were on Shawn's bus on Tuesday and one of them had the cutest selfie with Shawn and her phone was signed like <3333 I would do anything for that.

Around 7:00, Jacquie Lee came onstage as the opening act. I had never heard of her before the concert because I wasn't much of a television viewer. However, she was flawless and her set was simply amazing. She is so pretty and her voice just travels and I screamed so much for her because she was literally amazing :) Her cover of "Chandelier" by Sia was incredible live. Watch her recorded cover here~ Either way, it was an amazing opening to the concert although there were a few disrespectful fans who were commenting things like "She should just get off the stage and let Shawn sing" and "We paid money to see Shawn, not her." Look, Jacquie is freaking amazing and y'all better respect that. She has every right to be an opening act and Shawn was an opening act himself and you should respect people who are singing for you and doing an amazing job at that. Honestly, some people are so stupid.

Then Shawn came on

I can't even express how loud the screams were when he came onstage and said "Hi, I'm Shawn Mendes." It was SO INCREDIBLY LOUD I DIED. I was going to film his entrance but I am glad I didn't because it was so loud. The crowd also began shoving and pushing like crazy and I was smack against this girl in front of me and it was so uncomfortable. Basically, it was freezing outside so I had on this jacket and it was pretty big and in order to get a good spot, we had ditched the bag and coat drop-off lines at the entrance into the theater so we all had on our coats. The floor area got so hot and I tied my coat around my waist because I was literally sweating.

He sang "Show You" first, which is amazing and it was soo good and he is so perfect live like argghhh just thinking back about it gives me feels ;;-;; Everyone was singing along and just seeing him smiling while he played guitar just killed me because he is literally so attractive and in his signature Shawn flannel & guitar and I couldn't. He played us so many new, unreleased songs and I got a few of them recorded but there was literally no space on my phone so I had to delete everything off my phone to video xD "Something Big" was amazing and he performed it so well and everyone was singing and he loved it and then he performed songs like "Aftertaste" and "I Don't Even Know Your Name" an "Kid in Love" and I died because he was so perfect. When he sang "The Weight" I literally cried so much but I was stupid and didn't record the performance like the stupid thing I am so I am really for that. He also did "Summertime Sadness" and "Bring it Back," which is honestly such an amazing song and I can't wait for it to come out.

After what felt like forever, it was the End

So, it came down to the last song of the night which was really depressing because I just wish that it lasted forever, and he sang "Life of the Party" because he always sings "Life of the Party" and I have seen fancams of him singing it everywhere but when he sang it live, I was so moved that the tears started to flow yet again. I couldn't even hold back my feels and he was such a perfect human being up on that stage, twenty feet away, strumming his guitar and singing. Then The Vamps appeared and my ears were attacked yet again. It was literally the greatest ending ever. I love him so much and he was such a wonderful performer and his set was amazing and he is literally the nicest guy. After he left the stage, the lights turned on and people began exiting the venue. My friends and I just stood there because we were hoping that he would come back once more but he didn't which was depressing. There were so many girls around us crying and hugging and people were throwing the little paper hearts onstage but the janitor dude came with a trash can and began throwing them away, which I thought was really rude. We eventually went out of the theater to the merchandise place just outside the doors but it was so crowded and literally impossible to buy anything but we smushed ourselves into the crowd anyways. Leila got to the table first and then I did, and I purchased the concert shirt with the sold out shows on the back and his bracelet because why not even though I am essentially a broke teenage girl ;;-;;

And finally, after a long day, we left.

Just being able to see Shawn in concert was amazing. It was his first headlining show and I am so grateful to have been apart of such a milestone in his life and seeing him live makes me realize just how much love this guy deserves. He's more than just an infatuation and a pop singer- he's a guy and he's honest with his music and someone I want so support and to continue helping him achieve and be what he wants to be. It just made me love him all the more and willing to defend him and willing to support his decisions and I consider myself to be a pretty strong-willed fan, and he is someone I want to see shine even brighter because he deserves to.


If you want to see my video recordings of some of his performances including Life of the Party, please check it out HERE~ or check the sidebar for the redirect to my YouTube channel :) 

Check out Shawn's YouTube channel HERE~

A Vignette

Just a small memoir that I wrote.

Touching Constellations

The sun was setting as I returned to the small vacation house my parents had rented in California for the holidays. It was by the beach and the salt hung in the air, the sand swirling with the setting winds. My parents were out to a dinner, leaving my brother and I in the care of our neighbors. The house was quiet and smelled of earth and nature, the abundance of plants and flowers on every surface overwhelming. I changed into more comfortable clothes and sat on the couch, the television lazily flipped on playing some show that I didn’t care to concentrate on.

My mind and my eyes were focused on the window. How the oranges and purples and reds had begun to sink their way into the sky like watered-down tattoos, how the blues willingly disappeared. The day had been a long, silent ride: wandering along the beach, sleeping underneath trees, sitting in the small local diner and listening to the soft tinkle of old music while waiting for the small lunch I had ordered. Getting up from the couch, I pulled myself past the living room and down the hall to the kitchen. It would’ve been quite picturesque if the place wasn’t so lonely and empty. I poured a glass of lemonade, taking it upstairs with me to my room.

It wasn’t spacious, the place just big enough to have some room between the bed and the windows and the small desk. My guitar case was propped up against the pale blue wall, and my guitar was swimming in music sheets on my bed. Placing the glass of lemonade down, I walked towards the window. It was one of those awkward window seats with angles, which I used to think were pretty beautiful but now felt was kind of useless in the sense that they weren’t really comfortable to sit on. Opening the window, I pushed it up and basked in the evening breeze that swept into the room silently. I heard the rustling of the trees, and looked onto the open water, my window just barely above the treetops. 

My parents always told me to be careful around the house, don’t do anything you know might bring hurt onto yourself. They always told me that they believed that I would make the right decisions when time came to make decisions, and that I was mature enough to see the fine line between right and wrong. They told me to be cautious at all times.

And this is how I ignored them.

Pushing myself out of the windowsill torso first, I grabbed onto the top of the window sill as my legs were the last to come out of the room. The wind tangled my dark brown hair and I blew it out of my eyes, the air cold against my bare legs. A tingling sensation started up in my stomach as my whole body was out of the window, out of the room and onto the small roof above the porch.

The roof was rough against my skin as I sat down on it. If my parents ever saw me, they would ground me and scream at me and keep me under watch at all times, but I didn’t care. I laid down on my back and stared up at the sky. It was this blueish-purplish color that I loved, stars barely peeking out. This rich harmony of light and ozone and air, something that people had begun to forget the beauty of, something that people had begun to forget to cherish. I reached my hands up, pushing my palms against the cooling air, my stomach a storm of nervousness and fear and fearlessness as I just wanted to stay there on the roof forever and ever and hear the sound of the waves washing up against the shore and possibly taking me away back out to sea with them.

At that moment, I had never felt so chained down by the promises and the duties and the problems of being alive.

A Quiet Infinity

I know I post a lot of music-related stuff on my blog, so I've decided to make a playlist of my current favorite songs on YouTube and share them with you because if you're looking for good music and have a semi-indie taste like, chances are you might love this playlist! If you guys want me to do one for K-Pop I'll gladly do so, but these are all English songs, so I hope you enjoy my small pick of the songs I've currently got on replay~

They might be a little mainstream, they might be old or new, but these are songs that I can't let go. 

A Quiet Infinity

View and Listen to the Playlist on YouTube here~

List

1. Something Big (Shawn Mendes)
2. Life of the Party (Shawn Mendes)
3. Through the Dark (One Direction)
4. Something Great (One Direction)
5. Story of My Life (One Direction)
6. Time and Fallen Leaves (Akdong Musician)
7. One of Those Nights (Shawn Mendes) 
8. Raining in Paris (The Maine)
9. Show You (Shawn Mendes)
10. Afire Love (Ed Sheeran)
11. Half a Heart (One Direction)
12. Copper Down (The Boy Who Trapped the Sun)
13. I Need You (M83)
14. The Weight (Shawn Mendes)
15. Disconnected (5 Seconds of Summer)
16. Amnesia (5 Seconds of Summer)
17. Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol)
18. City of Angels (Thirty Seconds to Mars)
19. Photograph (Ed Sheeran)
20. Legendary (The Summer Set)
21. Break Me Out (The Rescues)
22. Someday (The Summer Set)
23. Sailboats (Sky Sailing)
24. Everything Has Changed ft. Ed Sheeran (Taylor Swift)
25. A Little Opera Goes a Long Way (Sky Sailing)
26. All About Us ft. Owl City (He is We)
27. Free Fallin' (John Mayer)
28. Don't Forget Where You Belong (One Direction)
29. Asleep (The Smiths)
30. We Are Infinite (The Tunnels) 

Something Big

I don't have an introduction to this other than LISTEN TO THIS AND FEEL THE FEELS FIRST.

Something Big (Audio) by Shawn Mendes (2014)

Lately, I have just been really into Shawn and his music and his story and HIM in general. He's a great personality and he's coming to New York City and having a concert here, which is pretty exciting, even though I might not be able to attend ;;-;;

Anyways, you can buy "Something Big" here~

Anyways, he's IN NEW YORK CITY RIGHT NOW AND I AM SO EXCITED OUT OF MY MIND BECAUSE HIS CONCERT IS ON SATURDAY AND I AM CRYING BECAUSE I MIGHT BE ABLE TO GO LIKE WHATTT~~~

So most of you reading this may be going like "What? Who the hell is Shawn Mendes?" Well, to all you seemingly oblivious readers (I'm only joking), Shawn Mendes is a sixteen year-old Canadian singer-songwriter dude who is growing now and emerging from Vine and YouTube as a singing sensation. He's not super big, but he's well-loved by all his fans and a really nice person. And did I mention that he is super handsome and amazing? Well he is. He's six feet, all muscle, and strong-jawed. His EP, The Shawn Mendes EP, is amazing and you guys should definitely check him out. I will link a YouTube Audio playlist below if you want to go check that out :) 

Music-wise, I just love this song. I wasn't expecting something so upbeat and amazing, I was actually leaning more towards the acoustic-ballad like "Life of the Party" or "The Weight" because I really liked that side of Shawn, so "Something Big" really took me by surprise. I love this song, bought it the minute came out, and haven't stopped listening to it the minute it came out. I was really depressed in the beginning because not a lot of people understood my feels for him and then I met these two girls who totally get my feels which is amazing and now we just run through the halls and slide down the escalators of our school screaming the lyrics (okay, I might be a little extreme but you get the point). I love how this song is super upbeat, and definitely portrays accurately how everything is getting bigger and so many incredible things are happening to him right now. He's just come off the Austin Mahone tour and starting a tour of his own and his first full album will be dropping soon and everything is just so amazing for him right now and the fact that he's so open and shares so much with his fans just makes the experience all that more exciting. 

The instrumentals are brilliant and as usual highlight his voice and I love the whole "African-beat" thing going on and I thought it wouldn't work but it definitely does. The song is amazingly catchy and I played it for my younger brother and even he began singing along after awhile because the song is just so catchy and easy to follow. I can't wait to see him perform it live, it's going to be amazing and definitely a highlight! I can just imagine his smile and everything, it's just going to be amazing. 

So, this post was basically a rant about how brilliant Shawn Mendes is. I hope my fangirling sparked some interest for him within you, so definitely check him out~ I'll post his media links now: 

Shawn's Vine

Shawn's Twitter

Shawn's Instagram

Shawn's Official Website

The Shawn Mendes EP (Full Playlist)

Hopefully you will feel the feels if you don't already~ Make sure to follow him and love him!

Closet Confidential Tag

So recently I have been cleaning out and sorting through my closet and I stumbled upon the Closet Confidential Tag in which I was tagged by a friend to do a long time ago. Thus, I decided to share with you guys what exactly is in my closet, what I like to wear the most, and just to have a little fashion chat with all you girls out there. Sorry, guys.

1. What is the oldest item in your wardrobe/closet?

This graduation t-shirt from fifth grade...I cleaned my closet out not too long ago. 

2. What is the newest item?

This gorgeous denim shirt from Lucky Brand. Can I die peacefully? YESS

3. What is the most expensive item?

This trench coat from Burberry, which is absurd because I don't even wear it in case it gets damaged or dirty. I went through this British phase and spent a lot of money on Burberry and Jack Wills merch, so this kind of makes sense. A lot of the clothes went to my mom though. 

4. What is the most affordable/cheapest item (that you use a lot)?

God, there is this t-shirt. It's just plain white, amazing, fitted, and the greatest plain white t-shirt. I wear it at least once a week and I am definitely looking into getting a few more. 

5. What was the biggest bargain?

I was at Armani and their jeans were half off and I bought a pair for like forty/fifty dollars which is AMAZING because their jeans are usually over a hundred dollars.

6. What was the biggest waste of money?

This striped mint and cream sweater that I honestly really want to wear but I bought it in a size too small and I can't wear it ;-; I am thinking of maybe losing a few pounds to wear it, but it wouldn't make much of a difference. 

7. What are your 3 favorite items right now?

A pair of light-washed skinny ripped jeans from Madewell (honestly they are so comfortable and I re-wear them so many times that I can't even wear them anymore), this white shirt from Brandy Melville (it's so soft I can die), and all my Aritzia graphic tees because they are legitimately so comfortable. 

8. What is the most outrageous/colorful item in your closet (that you absolutely love)?

Um, I wouldn't say I own a lot of bright clothes, but there is this pair of bright blue skinny jeans from American Apparel (yeah) and they are the most comfortable jeans. However, I bring myself to wear them because they're so bright and ;-;

9. What is your favorite piece that you've gotten as a gift?

My favorite piece would be this blouse I got as a gift because it is simply beautiful. No brand name. 

10. What is the most comfortable item?

This flannel shirt from Abercrombie because please. Flannel shirts are life. And basically all of my Brandy shirts because they so soft and I could sleep in them. 

11. What is the most uncomfortable item (but you would take the pain because you love it)?

My most uncomfortable item is this sweater from Forever 21. It's a 100% acrylic, and I hate clothes that aren't made of cotton. I bought it because it was cute and cheap, but honestly it gets me so itchy. However, mustard yellow is the cutest autumn color. 

12. Show us your favorite complete outfit (top, bottom, shoes, jewelry, accessories, and all).

I am so plain, but a plain white tee (long sleeve, short sleeve, muscle tank) with high waisted light wash skinny jeans and my black Docs or jelly shoes, this abstractish necklace from Aritzia, and my black satchel from Cambridge Satchel Company. It is really simple, but really comfortable and easy to wear on weekends. 

13. Pick your favorite black item and your favorite white item.

I own no black clothes almost. But my favorite black item would be my black American Apparel jelly shoes because I was super obsessed with them over the summer and I lovvveeee them. My favorite white item is a plain white drapey tee from Brandy Melville. 

13. Where do you shop the most at?

I don't know, actually xD