polka dots and candy bars

Remember me?? Sorry that I've been away for so long--between work, school and thesis writing, my brain feels like it's been on a creative pause for the last couple of weeks. I mean, this is basically me: Gif courtesy of Now.Here.This You know that feeling when you think things are going REALLY well and then you're like, oh crap... Nothing major, just that sudden feeling of being overwhelmed. THANK YOU THESIS!!! The only thing that has saved me, per usual, is exercising. It's pretty much my go-to. Well, that and wine, but running is probably the better one to talk about, right?  Thesis is all-consuming and overwhelming. When I'm not actually writing thesis, I'm thinking about thesis, so that's left little time for actual creativity. Fun, right? Gif courtesy of Straight from the A Well, the benefit of Capstone (the official name for the class at my university) is that it is filled with characters . Sometimes, I feel like Nene Leakes from

Photo courtesy of ABC Family So... Let's talk (finally!) about shows that we 'hate' watch. Aka those shows that you'll only admit to watching with people that you feel somewhat close to, but never when you're first meeting someone. Not to be confused with the shows that EVERYONE"S watching, even if they're really bad. There's something about the 'hate watch' that feels so deliciously naughty, but is actually pretty mundane. So, below, behold, is my list. Shows: 1. Pretty Little Liars 2. Empire 3. Younger 4. The Vampire Diaries 5. Grey's Anatomy Now, I know that last show is somewhat controversial because a lot of you are probably saying, "Erika! That's a really popular show! How in the heck is that a 'hate watch'?" While others are probably saying, "Wait, Grey's is still on the air? I thought Shonda killed everyone off!" And see, my dear, that's exactly why it is a 'hate watch'.

Helloo all,    As some of you already know, and maybe some others have gathered if you follow me on Instagram (feel free to here ), I spent the week leading up to July 4th in Iceland! Not the most patriotic thing I've ever done, but it was certainly, capital D, different. I traversed a small bit of the island that is Iceland with four, mostly random people (a post for another time), and here are some of my takeaways. First of all, Iceland is ridiculously beautiful. I have said the following phrase to multiple friends of mine since getting back, but it has never rang so true in my life: I'm not an outdoorsy person, but Iceland brought it out in me and I see myself doing more active vacations in the future. I mean, just look at this:  Beautiful, right? What you can't see from this photo is the path leading up to the top of the mountain so that you can actually stand ABOVE the waterfall. Crazy. This was actually the SECOND waterfall we saw that day. The first waterfall

So, I have a really bad habit of coveting certain items from fictional TV character's wardrobes and then purchasing them online (thank you internet!). My most recent coveted piece, that not gonna lie, I spent a decent amount of time scouring the internet for, are Hillary Duff's earrings on the show, "Younger". Yes, I watch that show, but that's a post for another day. I mean, you guys, tell that these earrings aren't amazing: (Sorry for the shitty picture quality) To be fair, whoever styles the show does an AMAZING job keeping the ladies looking fresh, professional, and current. Hillary Duff's character, Kelsey, is a 20-something publishing editor (I'm sure you're gathering why I love this show) in New York City. Her pieces seems to mix high street with designer--JUST THE WAY SOMEONE THAT WORKS IN PUBLISHING WOULD. Sorry, I can't get over these earrings. Let's look at another shot: (Sorry Hilz for cropping out your face) I mean,

Courtesy of TIME magazine online Have you ever gone back, during a fit of endless Netflix bingeing, and watched older shows? In between the wait for Orange Is the New Black and my endless Vampire Diaries binges, I re-discovered both Roseanne (which is always good) and Cheers. Cheers was a show that I sort of watched when I was younger. And, by sort of, I mean, I'd watch a couple of episodes, TRY to like it and fail miserably. I experienced the same thing with Frasier, which I now LOVE (Yes, caps are necessary), so the only logical conclusion is that I didn't have that great a sense of humor when I was younger. Ha! Lies! I had a great sense of humor as a kid, but the whole premise is lost on a 7 year-old, as were many of the jokes. Cheers, for those of you that don't know, centers on comings and goings of 'regulars' at a bar owned by former Major League-r, Sam Malone (played by a very young and handsome Ted Danson). The 'regulars' (meaning the same

Photo courtesy of Greatist I say that because I'm that friend. I have this horrible habit of saving every recipe that looks remotely do-able to my bookmark page (which means that it is almost impossible to actually find the recipe I want when I'm trying to make the recipe). Yesterday, I found this great recipe for the sweet potato sitting in my crisper and the avocado that had finally  ripened to the point of being edible. However, it took me a solid 30-45 mins to actually find it. I went through my bookmarks bar, nada. I Google'd, nada (side note: I love how Google has now become a verb, but I digress). I sync'd my work bookmarks with my home bookmarks, nada. At this point, I was becoming SO annoyed with the whole situation, that I considered using one of the recipes I found online for sweet potato cakes instead of the original recipe. Though, the recipe I just linked you guys to was sitting in the back of my head taunting me. Until FINALLY, I found it. I w

Courtesy of Corbis Images I wish I could say that when I 'hit the wall' during my marathon a couple of months ago, I looked as graceful and model-esque as this image, but really, I looked like someone had run me over with a truck. Normally, I would do a cute play on words here, but it really was not cute.  One of the first things that experienced runners tell you when you mention that you're signing up for a marathon is that, yes, training is important, but so is your diet. Now, originally, I felt (despite being a pretty seasoned runner) that I'd be able to eat pretty much whatever I want and still shed pounds. But, alas, this is untrue. If anything, you have to be STRICTER about your diet and meticulous about recording what you are eating and how that particular item is making you feel during your runs. For example, my normal fail safe meal before a long run used  to be a bagel with peanut butter and a cup of coffee. However, during marathon training, I foun

New Yorker article "Haha vs Hehe" Have you all read this New Yorker article by Sarah Larson?  As soon as I saw it, I fired it off to the people that I chat about random things with the most. FIRED.IT.OFF. Like, 'I'd only read about 2 paragraphs before I was emailing a messy link to them', fired it off. When I first saw the title in my "Today from the New Yorker" email, I thought, "Well, this should be interesting." And yes, it's interesting, but only in the way that Sarah Larson really needs to be my best friend. And by that, I mean, my newest g-chat buddy. The way that she's unpacked the subtle differences between, Haha, hahaaha, ha, heh, hehe, etc., reminds me of a conversation I'd have with some of my close girlfriends. I tend to use the "ha!" as a clever head nod, or when I'm pointing out something that is so deliciously academic/scholarly, that I can't help but tip my hat at myself . So, basically, when

So, as some of you might remember, one of my New Year's Resolutions was to run (and finish) a marathon. You can read about that here . Well, the marathon was this past weekend (on my 30th birthday, no less!) and I can happily say that I finished in 4:59:30. Me, being the slight perfectionist that I am, always has the knee-jerk reaction of saying, "I could have done better. I think I could have run a 4:45, instead of being just under 5:00." While this is a true statement, I was actually running ahead  of the 4:45 pacer for most of the race (Until around mile 20, when I really needed to walk some of the hills), it doesn't negate the fact that, HEY! YOU RAN YOUR FIRST MARATHON GIRL! It wasn't a complete surprise to me that that  was my first reaction to people asking how my marathon went, so I'm working on just saying (and thinking), "It went fine, thanks for asking!" Here are some things I learned, found interesting, or just plain wanted to share w

HAPPY FRIDAY!! Today, it's rainy and dreary in DC. I was kind of hoping for some warm weather and sunshine, but such is life. I'm going to choosing to focus on the days ahead, when it will be ideal 'lay-out-by-the-pool-with-a-cocktail' type of weather. I'm not going to lie, thinking ahead to the marathon AND the criminally nice weather that I'll be going to, has inspired me to think about my 2015 swimwear. And, don't you know it, Victoria's Secret is having a sale. Gee golly, talk about great timing! Ha! I swear this post isn't sponsored, but I will find any way to online shop that I possibly can. A cute swimsuit for $39 dollars? Can't really pass that up. Here's a swimsuit combo that I've come up with AND your usual Friday playlist. ;) Have a great weekend friends!

I would now like to introduce, STATE OF ERIKA. While I'd like to pretend that this is some amazing new series that I've started that will regale you and leave you laughing, it's really just a forum for me to be candid--though, I've been told that bitter/cranky/hangry Erika has her hilarious moments. My long distance friends have been subject to emails of these same type from time to time (normally, after a long night rife with stories), so I thought I'd just write a general state of Erika for everyone to enjoy. Enjoy! Sleepy          I don't know what it is, but every time I've tried going to sleep this week, I've been amp'd up! I can't get to sleep without a lot of coaxing and series of yogic breathing. I wish I could say that it's because I have something SPECTACULAR planned at the end of this week that I'm really incredibly excited for, but I think the only thing that I've been looking forward to is vegging out and eating

Hello!! Did you miss me?? Sorry for my two-week hiatus, but Empire and Scandal aren't going to watch themselves. And, writing about my long distance runs are generally not entertaining for most (#sorrynotsorry). But, I'm baaaaaaacccckkk and going through my quarterly feeling of hair angst. Meaning, I want to chop all of my hair off and start anew. Be one of the cool girls that's able to pull off an edgy cut and still look completely feminine. And, let me tell you, finding hair inspo is HARD out there for a pimp. I am scouring the archives (like, early 2000s people) for short hairstyles, so that I don't say to my Dominican hairdresser with a love of sniping (which, I'm sure is true of most hair stylists, but my trims tend to leave me a couple of inches shorter than I originally planned), that I want something, "Edgy, but also can be cleaned up for work. You know, very Clare Underwood ." Because, I'm almost confident that: a) the word 'edgy'

....while watching the Oscar's drunk. I'm not going to pussy-foot around IT, you guys. I was pretty drunk for the Oscars. Not to mention the fact that I went to not one, but TWO, Oscar parties across town from each other. Somehow, I was still able to catch Best Actor, Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Director. I cheered during Patricia Arquette's speech  (in a completely quiet room, might I add. Now that I know that Meryl and JLo had my back, I feel a lot less self-conscious.), was confused about how lame Kerry Washington's dress was during the red carpet, and loved that Alejandro (I'm not even going to attempt his last name) ignored Sean Penn's comment. But, after logging onto Facebook, I realized that there were some things I missed. Things I missed: 1. Joan Rivers not being included in the "In Memoriam" --I definitely watched that sequence, but I think I was stuffing my face with a brownie (something that Joan would disapprove of, I'm