The Big 2-1 (Four Days and Counting)

It's hard to believe that my twenty-first birthday is this coming Monday. This twentieth year has just flown by! I started my junior year at Bucknell in August, created this blog in November, left for France in January, landed my internship in June, and suddenly another year has gone by and it's time for one chapter to end and another to begin. It has been a big year for me in virtually every regard and I can't wait to see what the future has in store! Humor me with a little reflection on a few of my favorite memories...

{Source Unknown}

Living in Europe for six months was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will cherish forever and ever. My French host family and I were cut from the same cloth and I feel so fortunate to have met and gotten to know them to the extent that I did.

{via Full House}

My semester abroad was a catalyst for what I'd like to think is remarkable personal growth. Do you remember my little personal victory at Villandry? I'll never forget it. I ended the semester feeling significantly more independent and naturally more worldly (and maybe even a teeny tiny bit better with maps? I won't push my luck).

{via From Me To You}

While I miss dearly my Parisian cafés and jardins, I have a truly embarrassing number of photographs to help me savor those memories. I was heartbroken to say au revoir à la fin du semestre but I was so very ready to return home to my loving [American] family and friends. It has been a joy to reunite with my East Coast pals and I can't wait to see everyone else on campus in a few short weeks.

{Vanity Fair}

I feel endlessly fortunate to have met Monsieur Adler so shortly after my return and to have had the opportunity to work in his occasionally glamorous and always hilarious Soho studio for the summer.

{via Pretty Stuff}

I owe my parents for the road trip we took to my beloved Bucknell in central Pennsylvania to decorate my new boudoir. I am so delighted with the progress we've made and so excited for (okay, and a little overwhelmed by) all that's left to be done!

{Craig McDean}

I'm looking forward to lots more lovely inspiration in the months to come and I'll hope you'll stay tuned for some exciting new developments in my neck of the woods. 

{via E Tells Tales}

It would make me one very happy twenty-one-year-old to have you all along for the ride!