LET'S GO 2014

Happy New Year! Hope you all are enjoying the holiday. I spent the evening at Ronin, my favorite sushi restaurant in Royal Oak, and Great Lakes Coffee on Woodward. We (my parents and I) drove around Campus Martius to see "the D Drop" party (my dad votes to change it to "Raise the D," stay tuned for campaign details). I hope no one froze to death out there! We headed home and played gin rummy until midnight while listening to the top 104 party songs and watched the ball drop on TV with sparkling cider. Some might think that a crazy party with all your friends is way better than my quiet evening, but I really enjoy these simple times with my family (minus Haley- wish you could've joined us, sis). 

In other news, here are my resolutions for 2014!

1. Write down more of my ideas/observations/thoughts/opinions. I'm rather forgetful and these tend to come in handy later on.

2. Come closer to finding a job/career that suits me. I have interests in so many areas but I'm having a hard time settling on one thing.

3. Find a hobby so I don't sound extremely boring when I talk to people.

4. Study the Korean language more seriously (Seoul 2018, anyone?).

That's it! I hope your 2014 resolutions are challenging and productive. :)

image edited by me

LITTLE BREAK? LITTLE BREAK.

Sometimes I feel guilty for not blogging for two months straight, but then I realize that the reason I started this site was for my personal expression. What's the point of forcing myself to write a post? I'm not going to share something unless I want to share something...Just thought I'd share my thoughts on that! Here are four more thoughts that've occurred in my mind over my two month hiatus: 

1. I had no motivation to carry out my 10 for 10 goals. "Get a job" was the only thing I could cross off at the end of the month.

2. Campus couples have ruined the idea of hand-holding for me. I get it, but, seriously? Stop touching each other so much. No one wants to see that (at least on campus).

3. A pixie cut is very tempting at the moment... but so is keeping my longish hair.

4. You don't realize how "at home" you can feel until you actually leave home for a while and come back (at least, that was the case for me).

Hopefully I'll be posting a lot more regularly these days! 

Photo taken by me on my way home from Tampa last Friday. I love seeing the crystals form on my window :)

I DID WHAT?

Guys . . . GUYS . . . it happened. 

I got a job...

at J. Crew!

After over a month of phone tag and interviews, I start on Sunday. God is good, and I am pumped!

image source

TA-DA! A FRESH NEW LOOK

As you can see, my URL, name, and look have all changed! Ms. Mistor... just sounds classier, doesn't it? Not that Magician's Assistant wasn't a cool title, but it held no significance for me and I just didn't really connect with it. Here's to a fresh new start!

PERSONAL NOTE: 18

Whatup, I'm an adult! As of September 20, I officially became a member the big one eight club. To celebrate, a few friends and I treated ourselves to some Cheesecake Factory and shopping. The best part: I was given THREE cakes for my birthday. No, I did not ask for the cakes, but I am not complaining! Even though it was my first birthday away from home, I still had an awesome day celebrating with friends and people who care about me. Thanks to everyone who made my day special!

Image by Ifham Khan

10 FOR 10

IT'S OCTOBER! No need to remind me how much I miss fall, people (like seriously, stop with the Instagram pics of cider donuts and apple orchards). But instead of chowing down on my usual autumn staples like candy corn and peanuts, I'm going to challenge myself to meet some goals. Thanks to Reina, one of my unit mates,  most of the girls in our dorm have set some goals in areas like health, academics, sleep schedule, you name it! So here goes: my 10 for 10 aspirations . . .

1. Blog at least twice a week

2. Get to bed by 1 (Most nights... Somedays I don't have class until 10, so I'm letting my night-owl flag fly)

3. Get a job (I've been working on this for a while, but the process is extremely slow where I'm looking)

4. Exercise 3 times a week (bbllleeeeehhh)

5. Come up with some kind of budget

6. Dessert only once or twice a week (today will be one of those days... Reina just got a package with a whole pack of double stuf oreos just for me... #thestruggleisreal) 

7. Plan ahead (schoolwork, shopping, life in general)

8. Read more (My goal is to finish 2 books this month)

9. No eating past 9:30...ish

10. Wake up early enough to do my hair

Do you have any goals for October? They can be in any area you want. There doesn't even have to be 10! I just chose that many because October is the tenth month, and I liked the way it sounded.

COLLEGE LIFE PART III

College never ceases to amaze me, especially the random things it throws at you. It all started when we were leaving Airheads, a pretty sweet trampoline place. "Your parents dropped you off 5 hours ago? LET'S POP HER TIRE! And THEN, let's point out the fact that she's still unfamiliar with anything but Michigan left turns and let her nearly drive herself over a median--WHILE PEOPLE ARE WATCHING!" (<<If college shared its personal agenda, that would be it.) It was a fabulous first night. Even though I was stressed out about the whole ordeal and panicking about my lack of car knowledge and father, it was seriously hilarious. I mean it when I say that that day has by far been the longest day of my life.

One of my new favorite things in this town is Rita's Italian Ice; my eyes were opened on Labor Day after a sun-filled afternoon at Clearwater Beach with friends. It's almost like a slushy or snowcone, but it doesn't melt as quickly and you can get it in mango-pineapple flavor with vanilla custard on top! Is it morally acceptable to run off with a dessert? No? I don't believe you. Another rockstar down here is Yogurt Mountain. Pretty much everyone is familiar with the fill-a-bucket style franchise, but this place has cookies and cream froyo. No complaints over here!

That same weekend a few friends and I had the opportunity to go to a Guinness World Record-breaking food truck rally in Tampa. With 99 trucks the event was incredibly awesome, but unfortunately the immense crowd at the open of the bash wiped out at least half of the trucks by 5 o'clock (A.K.A. the time that we showed up). Lessons we learned: 1. Go early. 2. Just because the dish is called "Taco Cactus" does NOT mean that there is actually cactus in the taco, even after you wait a whole stinkin' hour to eat the semi-exotic plant. 3. If you want to eat from a truck, eat from that truck the first time you walk by it. DO NOT wait until you pass it a second time to realize that everyone else took the opportunity before you did. 4. Water bottles will be sold for $1 at a multitude of stands, don't pay $2 just because Kristin convinces you otherwise.

So BACK to the car issues. I tried to deal with it the next day by hitting up Tire Kingdom not too far down the road. ATTENTION ALL YOUNG FEMALES WHO APPEAR TO KNOW NOTHING ABOUT CARS: They WILL attempt to rip you off. The original quote they gave me for 2 tires was ridiculously outrageous, but thankfully my dad loves me quite a bit and offered to call and talk about it with the establishment before I came back the next day. Their original plan was to sell me cheaper tires with unnecessary add ons, but our final deal was nicer tires, no stupid add-ons, and a lower price than the quote. UGH. People make me so mad. FLORIDIANS, DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR BUSINESS.

Another inanimate object I would run off with: Super Target. It's close; it's massive; it's got everything. Plus this random guy from Hong Kong works there who's super nice and likes pandas. How can you not love someone like that? We were there the other night looking through the cheapy clearance section when I came across a bag of gold--and by gold I mean Einstein Bagels. Think about it: you've been eating food made for the masses that just kinda weirds you out, but you eat it because you need something to fill your stomach. And then you come across TWO GLORIOUS ASIAGO BAGELS (your favorite), JUST WAITING TO BE EATEN. They looked untouched. It was right before closing so no one was coming back for those suckers. WOULD YOU OR WOULD YOU NOT EAT THE BAGELS? 

So despite being advised against the decision, I ate the bagels. 

THEY WERE HARD AS BRICKS.

I felt like a Neanderthal trying to discover fire by chewing on a rock or something. Not the pleasant experience I expected, but hey, no regrets over here. I would've lived the rest of my life wondering about the mystery bagels.

Kristin is much better at putting air in tires than I am.

Asian style pulled pork, asparagus panini with prosciutto, provolone, and horseradish sauce, and corn  salsa from Flying Sliders. That was some good food!

NOTE THE LACK OF CACTUS

Food truckin'

^^My phone was much higher quality than this -_-

Clearwater Beach for Labor Day!

**Hallelujah Chorus** 

WOULD YOU?

COLLEGE LIFE PART II

This post is very cold-hard facts oriented, so it may not sound the most positive. Part III will be much more fun and exciting, I promise!

Friends and People:

Laynie and Kristin are my home team. For the first week or so, it was just us. When you're alone you kind of have to branch out, but with the three of us, the pressure isn't there so much. Even though we were totally open to meeting new people and being friendly, I don't think our little group was very approachable. Having solid core friends is awesome, though. I dig that.

You meet a multitude of personalities, both pleasant and not so pleasant. Have you ever wanted to slap someone really badly? That urge hit Kristin and me in chapel this week when a group of guys wouldn't stop talking throughout the majority of Dr. Klem's message. You pay some heavy cash to attend this fine Christian institution, yet you don't have the respect and decency to shut your trap to listen to God's Word for forty minutes!? I don't know why I expected everyone to be mature, but I've been sorely disappointed by some of the individuals I've encountered. Yes, guys will still blast their music unnecessarily loud from their fancy car and drive around campus an excessive number of times. BUT the vast majority of people I've met so far have been amazingly kind and friendly, so I'm fairly certain a few bad eggs haven't poisoned the entire campus :). I haven't had any bullies, mean girls, or jerks personally offend me, so no need to worry about enemies thus far! I absolutely love my unit, so I feel very fortunate. We seem to be on the same page for many topics that could make living together very awkward, so it's a huge relief to be able to be open and not be afraid that someone is silently judging you in your own residence.

Living  Conditions:

I explained this quiet often when I was back home, but I'll just remind everyone who's curious. The girls' dorms are made up of units. Each unit has four rooms connected to one main living room area. Two girls live in each room. Additionally, a bathroom with two stalls, two (newly renovated) showers, and three sinks is joined to this main room. 

The food... oh, the food. It's not good. If you have no qualms about where your food comes from (even fruit, in my case, just because I'm picky), it's not so bad; however, if you're a grass-fed, cage-free organic type, this place is torture. I would be all over Nature's Food Patch every meal, if budget allowed it (me + strawberry kombucha + gourmet cheese press = happiness for the rest of my life). I will admit that I thoroughly enjoy drinking carbonated water with lemon for every meal, and the coconut ranger cookies are incredible, so it's not all bad.

If I cook for myself, I typically have to trek it up to the lounge. Only hotpots and coffee makers are allowed in the dorm, so if I'm craving anything more than tea or soup, a large haul of supplies is in order. After lugging my griddle, food, utensils, and dishwashing tools to the second floor, I normally make a mini feast to make the trip worth it. The other day I went all out with scrambled eggs, an egg sandwich, and almond butter/cinnamon/honey toast--sooo good. Popcorn is an amazing option, too. Don't be afraid to get thrifty when you're on your own.

^ My dorm room! Shoutout to Niki for letting me borrow the lights. They really do make all the difference in our room!

^ My desk! It hasn't looked this pristine since I took this picture.

^ When in Florida, do as the Floridians do.

^ I do not regret buying these slippers at all. We aren't pigs, but I'd rather have something on my feet than not, knowwhatImean?

COLLEGE LIFE PART I

I've made it almost THREE WHOLE WEEKS! That is all God because, honestly, the first weekend I was about to lose my mind up in here. Privacy? Nope. Sleep? Nope. Easily meeting new people? Nope. Bonus: everything felt like camp! I'm not kidding you. Halfway through the first week I was like, "When are they gonna assign teams? Where's my counselor? People can hold hands!?" (single hand-holding, mind you). 

Thankfully after you give it some time and settle into your regular routine, you come to accept the fact that nothing's the same and you have to get used to it. At the end of the first very stressful week full of not knowing where to sit at lunch or where the heck everyone goes after classes are over, I was talking with my friend Laynie during one of our very regular late-night walks. The conversation went a little like,"Why do we care so much? I don't even know these people! It's been one stinkin' week, who cares if I sit by them or not. I'm tired of stressing about these people. Ya know what, I surrender to college. I SURRENDER. Que sera, sera. It stinks but it's not gonna last forever. Christmas Break, come quickly."

That little vent actually released a ton of stress for us and slowly, bit by bit, college is actually becoming enjoyable. I got around to decorating my half of the dorm room, I've started to make some great friends, and I've learned a loooot about cars (wait, did I put that last part under the enjoyable section? My bad. I didn't mean that).

Anyways, here are some pics from the trip down and the first week. Part II will be much more specific and I'll share some of my best experiences so far... college certainly has not been uneventful!

^ Took this the day before I left. I miss this goofy face so much. There's no one to pick up my dropped popcorn around here.

^ The Creation Museum was super cool, but one of the most exciting things was the multiple llama face opportunities. Jessica Cook herself liked the picture on the right on instagram ;)

^ Sunday we ventured to a lobster shanty near church. Pretty good stuff.

^ Don't worry, be crabby :)

^ We went to Clearwater Beach. We got rained on at Clearwater Beach.

^ You are correct, that IS a flat tire. It was gifted to me on the very day my parents dropped me off. Many unwanted adventures ensued.

^ Does anyone else follow Dogs or Legs on twitter? We went to the Edson's community pool so I had to pay tribute.

^ My first attempt at a sunny-side egg on my griddle. Just because it says non-stick surface DOES NOT mean you shouldn't use non-stick cooking spray. #lessonlearned

^ Cafeteria food stinks. Desserts are hit or miss. You know what's not hit or miss? Marshmallow fluff, cap'n crunch, and frosted flakes. Hope you like sugar.

^ Kristin: "I can't wear red lipstick."

Me: "Yes you can! Here, put this on."

**lipstick is passed around and many pictures are taken**

^ I ordered a poster a week before I left, but it came a little late so my mom had to forward it on down to Florida for me. Seeing her handwriting on the back made me happy :)

Thanks to everyone who has been praying for me or sent any little bit of encouragement! It is very much appreciated. I absolutely love getting mail so the last three weeks have been a lot of fun.

Look for Part II soon!

A MORNING AT EASTERN MARKET

On Saturday morning my parents and I made our way to one of the US's largest farmers markets and local favorite, Eastern Market. If you've never been: GO. Nice and early. It's such a great experience. The market opens at 5am, but we got there around 8. Local produce, food trucks, and fantastic people watching at the tip of your fingers. I will admit, not all of the produce is local, unfortunately (just look behind the stands to see if the sellers are pulling all their veggies out of cardboard boxes or something commercial looking, it should be pretty obvious). We got coffee from Urban Grounds (they sell Great Lakes Coffee), an assortment of cheeses from the Zingerman's stall for an appetizer for a dinner with relatives that evening, beignets (pronounced BEN-YEY) from the beignets2go truck, and an asparagus lángos (hungarian fried pizza) from The Grindhouse. All in all, it was just a lovely morning to soak in the Detroit urban vibes.

STARS AND STRIPES AND HOMEMADE DOCUMENTARIES

I hope you all had a fabulous fourth! For the holiday my family (minus Haley :() went to our cottage up north with a few of our relatives. For the first time in my life, I was the only cousin up there. Typically I at least have my sister, but times change and people move away, and it's just not as easy to get together as it was before. Even though my cottage experience was a different flavor than normal, I still had a blast (what can I say, my aunt and uncles are a hoot ;)! We went out for a day and hung out at some of our favorite spots, took our time soaking up some sun at the pond, and played "name that tune" around the campfire (that last one was hard for me. How am I supposed to know that one song from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation!?). It's funny how I brought a huge stack of books  planning on being bored with time to kill all day, and I didn't even get a hundred pages into my first book! The internet was a little rougher, though. My addiction is stronger than ever and Sprint does not do up north very well (Verizon, however, doesn't have so much of a problem. My Uncle Matt and Aunt Nancy were checkin their phones without an issue :P) Needless to say, I love my family and it was great seeing their faces for a whole weekend in beautiful northern Michigan!

Fourth of July 2013 from Shelby Mistor on Vimeo.

MY PARTY WAS THE BOMB

Of course just showing you some pictures and giving you some details isn't going to do the event justice, but I figured I'd try. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and just imaaagine... wait, no. I take that back; open your eyes, you have to see the pictures! I'll give you a walkthrough. Party recap time!

1PM - My good friend Abbi helped me put up pictures, hang ruffle garland (harder than you'd expect), and plate food (among other things). Check out the shortest video of all time >>

2PM - All the little details are finished!

3PM - 4PM - Stretching and meditation, because I party hard.

JK. It was mostly food prep and talking to relatives and helpers.

4PM - 7:30PM - Welcome! Grab a plate! Salad, mashed potatoes, and chicken? Step outside and say hello to the graduate! Clearwater Christian College, business major (was communication arts major until I found out two days prior that that was only offered as a minor now, but I'm totally content with business). Peruse my pictures, please! Have a seat under the tent, nibble on some sixlets and admire the carnations. What's that you hear? Why yes, that is the Creepy Clyde on keyboard (he's actually really great, don't be thrown by the "creepy" title. I don't know who came up with that). The drinks for the evening are water with cucumber and mint, water with lemon, iced tea, and Liz Elwart's famous lemonade (alas, I didn't get to the famous lemonade *sad face*)! I don't have to tempt you with dessert, one of Shelly Keenan's fabulous vanilla bean cupcakes is already in your hand and Haley's peanut butter dream bars are eyeing you. A second trip is already planned to pick up a key lime cupcake before you head out. 

8:30PM - 10PM - The party don't stop until someone's had a bonfire. In this case it was Alex. Thanks for hosting us, bud.

And just like that, my big day had come and gone. The result of months of planning passed with the sunset. (<< too dramatic?)

THANK YOU. Whether you came, wished you could have and were not able to come, helped, or whatever, thank you. I had an absolute blast at my party and it wouldn't have been fun at all without the help and support of others. I wish I could've talked to each of you longer!

All photos by Haley and Co. J.Crew dress.

IT'S OFFICIAL!

I GRADUATED ON FRIDAY! I was so nervous that it was going to be some sort of emotional overload, but surprisingly enough most of my class made it through the ceremony without crying! For those of you who haven't graduated yet, you should look forward to it. The event is actually a lot of fun! And then you get to go to a bunch of parties for each other! I've really been enjoying it all so far.

Thursday started with an exam and then Emily, Laynie, and I went out and decorated everyone's cars! Then we finished our exams and did the classic obnoxious car horn extravaganza, and a bunch of us girls went and got our nails done. Friday morning was the awards assembly. Even though most of it was like 3 kids winning all the awards, the portions where my class was involved were really cool to see. At 7 the official graduation ceremony began. We'd practiced a number of times so everything went smoothly (Shout out to Laynie, Derek, and Trevor for the awesome testimonies! I'm sure that if I had allowed myself to cry, I would've been bawling.). This was followed by a reception in the gym, where we took pictures, ate cake, and threw our hats (like 3 times in the name of photo-op)! To end the night most of the class went to my house for a bonfire and snacks. The next day I went to 13 OPEN HOUSES. Thankfully, like 7 of those were at one place, so it wasn't too hard to manage. I'm so glad I've been able to spend so much time with these awesome people before it gets more difficult to get together so often. Class of 2013, you're the best!

When I say "finally" I'm talking about the fact that I locked my keys in the car the day before and ruined the fun of car decorating. On the bright side, I learned that no one's going to be able to break into my car by unlocking it with a hanger! It even took the tow truck guy a little while with all of his gear.

Becca and I putting my party poppers to good use!

^^this was probably one of the best things I've ever captured on camera. Kaitlin and Trev, you crack me up.

Laynie, Danielle, and I got pedicures!

Caleb, Me, Nathanael, and Carson

My youth pastor, Kit, and his wife, Heidi. I've been in their class for 4 years and I'm going to miss it terribly when I move up in 2 weeks! 

               ^^Photo by Lauren Roberts

Laynie's open house was at her church that a number of us hadn't been to before. So naturally, we took a tour and chilled in the nursery.

PERSONAL NOTE #2

Sorry for the absence! With senior trip and play practice and getting back into things, I decided to just take a little time off and refresh before I started posting again (and hopefully more frequently!). Things have been a little out of the norm, but out of the norm isn't bad. Anyways, I'm back now! Thanks for sticking around :)

Some weird and not so weird happenings lately...

• I graduate in 25 days! How crazy is that?
• My sister moved out, so it's like I'm an "only child" again, so strange!
• I got my computer! I don't know what I did without this thing before.
• I went to my last banquet ever on Saturday. I had loads of fun.
• The weather is just now getting warm. I'm so ready for some vitamin D!
• My open house planning is well underway and I don't know how I'm going to accomplish my long list of hopeful DIY projects.
• The photo above was taken during one of my senior pic sessions. It's kinda weird, but the lighting's cool and it looks like I'm either a) passed out or b) dreaming with my eyes open. I'll go with the dreaming, haha!

Photo by Haley & Co.

PERSONAL NOTE #1

I put a little bit about myself into each post, but I thought I'd do *gasp* an entire post about what's going on in my life and what's running through my mind! 

My friend (and fellow stat girl) Laynie and me after the district finals game last Friday

School: Well things have been a little sad for the past couple days because our varsity boys' basketball season ended on Wednesday night at regional finals :,( . As a stat girl for the team, it was hard to watch but I think they all handled it fairly well and helped me feel okay about it. If you know me at all, you know I'm not very sympathetic towards sports, but I can't help but feel for all the hard work they put into it. Oh well, what happened happened. On a happier note, I finally found a Jr./Sr. dress last week! Jr./Sr. (for those who don't know) is a school banquet held for the seniors by the juniors in the spring. Because of dress code, nice dresses can be difficult to come by. After scouring Ebay for weeks, I was kinda starting to panic, but thankfully I found this one at JJ's House (Bonus - it's Kate Middleton-inspired! Who doesn't adore the Duchess?) Senior trip begins in a little over a week and you have no idea how psyched I am! No doubt, there's gonna be unforgettable memories and bonding. I will make it happen. (If anyone in my class is reading this, you better be ready to cooperate with my bonding expectations!)

This photo boggles my mind every time I see it! HOW!? via pinterest.

Fashion: Thinking about college and careers and, well, life, I know I'm definitely drawn to doing something with fashion. As a Christian, wrestling through different issues hasn't been fun, but it's definitely important. I know I can't compromise my morals for anything, really, let alone fashion, so trying to find the right niche is difficult. I've definitely been getting some healthy thinking in, though! I don't think I want to design clothes, but I'm definitely pulled towards visual arts. Whether that's a window display, a magazine spread, or an event venue, it appeals to me. I definitely love photography, but more of the artistic aspect than the camera aspect. I think it'd be amazing to intern at a photo studio. It's fun for me to look at an image and think, "What feeling are they trying to evoke? How did they get the lighting that way? Is this on location or in a studio? How long did it take for them to do the model's hair that way? What kind of music did they play in the background? Does the image get their point across?" So, if anyone knows anyone in the industry in need of a young and willing protege, please hook me up!

Soo... yeah! I think that's enough about me for one post :)

MY APOLOGIES + PHOTOSHOOT

So I didn't realize that over a whole week has slipped away without a blog post! Sorry about that! I did work on one, but let's just say I had difficulties (curse you, photoshop!) Yes, I'm blaming photoshop for my problems again. In other news, last Monday I was graced with the rare appearance of a snow day! My school can be stingy at times, but conditions were truly terrible so my sister and I took advantage of the free time and endeavored to finally take some more of my senior pictures- with success! We were able to set up a DIY studio in our living room and I must say, our results for our first time experiment were rather fantastic! I'm a huge fan of studio photography, so this was so much fun for me. I can't wait to try new props and what-not soon :)

all photos by Haley & Co.

CALL ME HOMEBODY

Christmas break is almost over... sigh. While many people are going to miss the parties, gifting, and sledding, one of the things I'll miss the most is having nowhere to go and nothing to do. More specifically, having nowhere to go and nothing to do with sweatpants on. When leaving the house I'm always gung-ho to put on a nice get-up, but when I'm home, the comfier the better. Jeans? Can't stand 'em. A cute new skirt? It can wait. Give me sweatpants, an ipad, and a hot cup of tea and I'm set. While I'm not too ashamed to admit this, I'm really hoping I'm not the only one! Let me know in the comments what you're going to miss most about break!

             

1. Jack Wills sweatpants 2. Ella Moss slippers 3. Anthropologie mugs 4. A nice space to relax 5. Restoration Hardware Italian wool & alpaca ribbed knit throws