Wisdom Wednesday: Patience

Happy Wednesday! With Wednesday comes the inevitable "hump day" blues, sense of disillusionment, exhaustion, and longing for the weekend. Like a good shot of espresso, an inspiring quote can often inspire and perk me up, ready to take on what the rest of the day and week holds. Each Wednesday here on notsosimplestyle features a few bits of wisdom on varying topics, in the hopes you may find humor, inspiration, solace and affirmation.

We live in the era of Now. Not as soon as possible please, or within the next day, or even the next year but Now. Whether waiting for our morning Starbucks or a more significant life event, our fast-paced world has taught us to demand instant results. While Now is sometimes possible, it is often beyond our reach when it comes to other people, decadent dreams, and long-awaited hopes. But just because you can't have something Now, that doesn't mean Never. Patience is the ability to recognize the space between the Now and Never and understand its finite nature. Patience is learning to love the waiting, because it makes the end that much sweeter. Patience is faith in a greater plan, a greater fate; that your niche of the universe, dreamt for you before birth, is far greater than that which you can dream yourself. 

The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what we encounter.

                        ~ Paulo Coelho

A waiting person is a patient person. The word patience means the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us.

                         ~ Henri J. M. Nouwen

The strongest of all warriors are these two - Time and Patience.

                         ~ Leo Tolstoy

It is far better to endure patiently a smart which nobody feels but yourself, than to commit a hasty action whose evil consequences will extend to all connected with you.

                          ~ Charlotte Brontë

I beg you, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.

                           ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

Patience is not passive resignation, not is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can - working, hoping and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well! Impatience, on the other hand, is a symptom of selfishness. It is a trait of the self-absorbed. It arises from the all too-prevalent condition called "center of the universe" syndrome, which leads people to believe that the world revolves around them and that all others are just supporting cast in the grand theater of mortality in which only they have the starring role.

                              ~ Dieter F. Uchtdorf

The best teachers have showed me that things have to be done bit by bit. Nothing that means anything happens quickly--we only think it does. The motion of drawing back a bow and sending an arrow straight into a target takes only a split second, but it is a skill many years in the making. So it is with a life, anyone's life. 

                               ~ Joseph Bruchac

And sure enough, even waiting will end…if you can just wait long enough.

                               ~ William Faulkner

Patience is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like stripping your gears.

                               ~ Barbara Johnson

You can chase a butterfly all over the field and never catch it. But if you sit quietly in the grass, it will come and sit on your shoulder.

                                ~ Anonymous

Wisdom Wednesday: Family

Happy Wednesday! With Wednesday comes the inevitable "hump day" blues, sense of disillusionment, exhaustion, and longing for the weekend. Like a good shot of espresso, an inspiring quote can often inspire and perk me up, ready to take on what the rest of the day and week holds. Each Wednesday here on notsosimplestyle features a few bits of wisdom on varying topics, in the hopes you may find humor, inspiration, solace and affirmation.

With Thanksgiving rapidly approaching, it's that time of year when family and friends come together. We can be thankful for our family by blood, by marriage, by time, by love. No matter how we found them, what we call them, where they are; they are family. 


The love of family and the admiration of friends is much more important than wealth and privilege.
                       ~ Charles Kuralt


In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.
                       ~ Alex Haley


I was born into the most remarkable and eccentric family I could possibly have hoped for.
                       ~ Maureen O'Hara


One of the things that binds us as a family is a shared sense of humor.
                       ~ Ralph Fiennes


My friends and family are my support system. They tell me what I need to hear, not what I want to hear and they are there for me in the good and bad times. Without them I have no idea where I would be and I know that their love for me is what's keeping my head above the water.
                        ~ Kelly Clarkson


Blood relatives often have nothing to do with family, and similarly, family is about who you choose to make your life with.
                        ~ Oliver Hudson


So much of what is best in us is bound up in our love of family, that it remains the measure of our stability because it measures our sense of loyalty. All other pacts of love or fear derive from it and are modeled upon it.
                         ~ Haniel Long


My family is my life, and everything else comes second as far as what's important to me.
                         ~ Michael Imperioli


When we're dealing with the people in our family - no matter how annoying or gross they may be, no matter how self-inflicted their suffering may appear, no matter how afflicted they are with ignorance, prejudice or nose hairs - we give from the deepest parts of ourselves.
                         ~ Anne Lamott


I cannot remember a moment in my life when I have not felt the love of my family. We were a family that would have killed for each other - and we still are.
                         ~ Richard Branson

Wisdom Wednesday: Love

Happy Wednesday! With Wednesday comes the inevitable "hump day" blues, sense of disillusionment, exhaustion, and longing for the weekend. Like a good shot of espresso, an inspiring quote can often inspire and perk me up, ready to take on what the rest of the day and week holds. Each Wednesday here on notsosimplestyle features a few bits of wisdom on varying topics, in the hopes you may find humor, inspiration, solace and affirmation.

Perhaps a cliché topic, love has been mused upon, dissected, and ultimately declared impossible to understand by the wisest of the ages. Yet, love's presence in life is undeniable. Regardless of the mystery involved, people continue to write, sing, act out love. While ten quotes hardly scratches the surface, at least it shines a light on the ever-changing face of love.

I have found the paradox that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.

                       ~ Mother Teresa

Love is a force more formidable than any other. It is invisible - it cannot be seen or measured, yet it is powerful enough to transform you in a moment, and offer you more joy than any material possession could.

                       ~ Barbara de Angelis

If we all discovered that we had only five minutes left to say all that we wanted to say, every telephone booth would be occupied by people calling other people to tell them that they loved them.

                       ~ Christopher Morley

Absence diminishes little passions and increases great ones just as the wind blows out a candle and fans a fire.

                        ~ La Rochefoucauld

Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue, a wonderful living side by side can grow, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see the other whole against the sky.

                        ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.

                         ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Don't brood. Get on with living and loving. You don't have forever.

                         ~ Leo Buscaglia

Love is metaphysical gravity.

                         ~ R. Buckminster Fuller

Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.

                          ~ Henry Van Dyke

unlove's the heavenless hell and homeless home…lovers alone wear sunlight.

                       ~ e. e. cummings

The Eternal City: Part One

Rome is the city of echoes, the city of illusions and the city of yearning.
                   ~ Giotto di Bondone

It seems like just yesterday that I was studying abroad. As winter comes to New York, I think back on the warm days of fall in Rome. Studying abroad was truly a life-changing experience and also where I first started to embrace my love of photography. While I have quite a few photos that I'd like to share, here is the first batch of some favorites.

Wisdom Wednesday: Change

Happy Wednesday! With Wednesday comes the inevitable "hump day" blues, sense of disillusionment, exhaustion, and longing for the weekend. Like a good shot of espresso, an inspiring quote can often inspire and perk me up, ready to take on what the rest of the day and week holds. Each Wednesday here on notsosimplestyle features a few bits of wisdom on varying topics, in the hopes you may find humor, inspiration, solace and affirmation.

As fall marches on towards winter, change is all around us. While the changing of the seasons may seem an obvious metaphor for cycles in life, overcoming struggles, and periods of rebirth; it is nonetheless apropos. I touched upon the beautiful uncertainty of your twenties in a previous Wisdom Wednesday but the notion of change as renewing and exciting as opposed to detrimental is a good idea, regardless your age. Below are some quotes about change, difficult and refreshing, for you and the world, showing us the true sacredness of the small deaths in life.


A permanent state of  transition is man's most noble condition.
                     ~Juan Ramon Jimenez


Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have.
                     ~ Margaret Mead


All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy, for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter into another.
                      ~ Anatole France

They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.

                      ~ Confucius

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I change.

                      ~ Carl Rogers

Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.

                       ~ Sydney J. Harris

We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance.

                       ~ Harrison Ford

Sometimes it's the smallest decisions that can change your life forever.

                       ~ Keri Russell

Change, like sunshine, can be a friend or a foe, a blessing or a curse, a dawn or a dusk.

                       ~ William Arthur Ward

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

                        ~ Reinhold Niebuhr

Photo Diary: Falling Leaves

With family visiting, I have spent a lot of days running around the city in all its fall glory. While the colors are fading to the bleakness of winter, there's still plenty of light to remind us of the beauty of fall. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Wisdom Wednesday: Being a Girl

Happy Wednesday! With Wednesday comes the inevitable "hump day" blues, sense of disillusionment, exhaustion, and longing for the weekend. Like a good shot of espresso, an inspiring quote can often inspire and perk me up, ready to take on what the rest of the day and week holds. Each Wednesday here on notsosimplestyle features a few bits of wisdom on varying topics, in the hopes you may find humor, inspiration, solace and affirmation.

Being a woman, girl, lady, or gal isn't a walk in the park. Sometimes it's great. Sometimes it's fighting against societal expectations, or struggling to fit in, or wanting things to just be different. It's being a tomboy and a girly-girl and something in between. It's being yourself. I could go on and on and probably will at some point but frankly other people have said it better.

A successful woman is one who can build a firm foundation with bricks others have thrown at her.

                     ~ Unknown

Every girl is expected to have caucasian blue eyes, full Spanish lips, a classic button nose, hairless Asian skin with a California tan, a Jamaican dance hall ass, long Swedish legs, small Japanese feet, the abs of a lesbian gym owner, the hips of a nine-year-old boy, the arms of Michelle Obama and doll tits. This is why everyone is struggling.

                      ~ Tina Fey

Growing up, I wish I hadn't tried so hard to fit in. I'd tell myself to just embrace what you were born with because it's beautiful and you were made like that for a reason. It's tough being a girl. I think we need all the support we can get.

                       ~ Shay Mitchell

Feminism to me means fighting. It's a very nuanced, complex thing, but at the very core of it I'm a feminist because I don't think being a girl limits me in any way.

                       ~ Tavi Gevinson


Better to be strong than pretty and useless.
                       ~ Lilith Saintcrow


Girls will get together just to get together. Guys need an activity as an excuse. Otherwise it's too homo for them to handle.
                        ~ Megan McCafferty


One of the biggest mistakes girls can make concerning their romantic life is sitting around waiting for their prince to find them, rather than getting out there and finding him themselves.
                        ~ Meg Cabot


I love the person I've become because I fought to become her.
                        ~ Kaci Diane


We must teach our girls that if they speak their mind, they can create the world they want to see.
                        ~ Robyn Silverman


Show me a girl with her feet planted firmly on the ground and I'll show you a girl who can't put her pants on.
                         ~ Annik Marchand

Oh the places you'll go!

Oh the places you'll go, the people you'll see! But where oh where have I gone?

While the rest of New York was preparing for fall, I took an extended summer. For most of October I have been on St. Catherine's Island, one of the Sea Islands or Golden Isles located just off the coast of Georgia. Being archaeologist is amazing for many reasons, one of which being the opportunity to travel to places closed to others. The island is host to many researchers, lots of wildlife and beautiful scenery. Hope you guys enjoy the photos!

Hearts and Stripes

Outfit Details...

Dress: Loila

Sweater: Brandy Melville

Booties: H&M

Belt: b.p. at Nordstrom

Ring: Forever 21

Necklace: Forever 21

Lips: Revlon Lip butter in Strawberry Shortcake

Wisdom Wednesday: Music

Happy Wednesday! With Wednesday comes the inevitable "hump day" blues, sense of disillusionment, exhaustion, and longing for the weekend. Like a good shot of espresso, an inspiring quote can often inspire and perk me up, ready to take on what the rest of the day and week holds. Each Wednesday here on notsosimplestyle features a few bits of wisdom on varying topics, in the hopes you may find humor, inspiration, solace and affirmation.

Being in the field requires a particular kind of music, the kind that makes you feel happy, relaxed, and surrounded by friends. Some songs stay on repeat while others bite the dust (pun intended). There are some songs that will always remind me of archaeology regardless of where I am. Music becomes memories, emotions, people and places. It consoles, entertains, and sets the tone for whatever may come your way. This week I wanted to explore what some famous people had to say about the magic of music. While I think its pretty powerful, it's nice to see that sentiment reflected by more potentially credible sources.  


Without music, life would be a mistake.
                        ~ Friedrich Nietzsche


I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was necessity for me-like food or water.
                         ~ Ray Charles


Music expresses that which cannot be said and on that which it is impossible to be silent.
                         ~ Victor Hugo

Music is well said to be the speech of angels.

                         ~ Thomas Carlyle

Music is a strange thing. I would almost say it is a miracle. For it stands halfway between thought and phenomenon, between spirit and matter.

                          ~ Heinrich Heine

Music the shorthand of emotion.

                          ~ Leo Tolstoy

Who hears music, feels his solitude peopled at once.

                           ~ Robert Browning

Music is the strongest form of magic.

                           ~ Marilyn Manson

If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music.

                           ~ Gustav Mahler

When people hear good music, it makes them homesick for something they never had, and never will have.

                           ~ Edgar Watson Howe

Dusk: Blue to Black

Outfit Details...

Shirt: Forever 21

Pants: H&M

Shoes: Zigi Soho (DSW)

Bag: H&M

Nails: Essie Off the Shoulder

Lips: OCC Lip Tar Super NSFW

Thanks Mariko for being my photographer!

Wisdom Wednesday: Shit Tumblr says...

Happy Wednesday! With Wednesday comes the inevitable "hump day" blues, sense of disillusionment, exhaustion, and longing for the weekend. Like a good shot of espresso, an inspiring quote can often inspire and perk me up, ready to take on what the rest of the day and week holds. Each Wednesday here on notsosimplestyle features a few bits of wisdom on varying topics, in the hopes you may find humor, inspiration, solace and affirmation.

I will admit my addiction to Tumblr as readily as the next person. While the ferocity of my obsession waxes and wanes, usually inversely in regards to how much I have to do; it does offer delightful digital distraction. After hours, you may find yourself wallowing over sad loves of the past that you never actually had, never-ending gifs of tv-shows with committed fandoms, beautiful overly-filtered pictures, and incomprehensible wolves, triangles, and aztec print. With that said, Tumblr does offer forth some quotes gems, reassurance that you are not alone in feeling a particular way, even if every hipster and their brother has reblogged it.

Some people will only remember you when they need something.
                       ~ thejewelyouare

There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.

                       ~ n-e-w-y-o-r-k-l-o-v-e

There is always that one person who you love who becomes that definition. It usually happens retrospectively, but it happens eventually. This is the person who unknowingly sets the template for what you will always love about other people, even if some of these lovable qualities are self-destructive and unreasonable. The person who defines your understanding of love is not inherently different than anyone else; they're often just the person you happen to meet the first time you really, really want to love someone. But that person still wins. They win, and you lose. Because for the rest of your life, they will control how you feel about everyone else.

                       ~ staypozitive

It's one thing to admit you're in over your head. It's another, to welcome the drowning.

                      ~ kushandwizdom

Sometimes you have to be strong for yourself. You have to know that you are a good person and a good friend. What is meant to be will end up good and what is not won't. Relationships are worth fighting for, but sometimes you can't be the only one fighting. At times, people need to fight for you. If they don't, you must move on and realize what you gave them was more than they were willing to give you. Hopefully, people realize great things when they come around and don't lose something real. Always fight, until you can't anymore, and then be fought for.

                       ~ staypozitive

And I tell myself, a moon will rise from my darkness.

                      ~ nizar-qabbanii

Don't ask for my opinion then get mad when I tell you the truth.

                      ~ truelifequote

You were never created to live depressed, defeated, guilty, condemned, ashamed or unworthy. You were created to be victorious.

                       ~ spiritualinspiration

Remember that person you thought you couldn't live without? Well, look at you living and shit.

                       ~ kushandwizdom

If you can't solve it, it isn't a problem--it's reality. And sometimes reality is the hardest thing to understand and the thing that takes the longest to realize. But once it hits you in the face you'll never forget it. It will always be there in your memories and sometimes that is the best way to look at it.

                        ~ ohlovequotes

Photo Diary: Staycation

As much as I detest the word "staycation", it more than adequately describes my past week. Simply put, I stayed and vacationed. Slept in way too much, went shopping, saw friends, and got ready to go into the field. While the prospect of having virtually nothing to do, aside from pack a suitcase and buy a few last minute things is certainly appealing, I found relaxation much more difficult than I originally supposed. Fast-paced contemporary life, particularly in a craycray city like New York seems to demand constant motion. At times I felt guilty for lazing about all day in my pjs or indulging in hours-long TV/YouTube binges, but you're only young and have staycation once, right?