- - ayiMori - -

Last week I bought Atlas Genius' new album, Inanimate Objects. This is the band's second album, and it is amazing! While some bands don't carry their sound through to their sophomore album, Atlas Genius did an amazing job keeping their music catchy and rich!

Inanimate Objects is definitely a continuation of When It Was Now, the band's first album. While, Atlas Genius lost a few members during their absence, their new powerful sound masks the lack of members, disregarding any concerns for a smaller band. The first single "Molecules," was a bubbly alternative pop electric song, making it extremely catchy and a good hook song right off the bat.


I would definitely recommend this album to anyone who loved the first album, and generally anyone who really enjoys the lighter indie side of alternative music. Atlas Genius has really evolved in their sound, and at this rate if they keep improving like they did for this album, their third album will be the most astounding thing that could ever be produced!

Lately I've started running again, so with that comes lots of sweat and grime. I wanted to find something that would help clean my body and make it feel soft and smooth again. Enter Lush's Ocean Salt. 

The description on the packaging promises to scrub away dirt and dead skin, leaving a bright, fresh face. Ocean Salt has a combination of avocados, coconut, lime, vodka, and sea salt. When I went to Lush, the salesperson there was overly happy and willing to show me the product. After trying it on my hand, I instantly like it. My hand felt really smooth and soft, so I bought the small 4.2 oz size.

After taking it home and using it (on my hands and body), I felt so happy! This was totally worth the price for me! My skin was left feel soft, smooth, and radiant. My skin tingled and felt warm all at the same time. And the ocean salt wasn't rough enough to feel like it was tearing apart my skin, it was soft enough that my skin wasn't being irritated but was still being exfoliated. The smell is also quite amazing! It's so pleasant, sometimes I wish I could eat it... actually I'm sure I could.. but that might not go so well...

My only word of warning to people is remember to stir Ocean Salt before you use it! If you don't, the salt doesn't really get mixed into the scrub and the consistency is a bit off. But even if you forget, it's not the end of the world, the scrub still works beautifully.

Hey there! This is my first update for my 101 in 1001 list. It's now been a little over three months now, so I'm reaching about my first 100 days in the 1001 days to come. I can't believe that in these first couples months I've already been able to check off so many things from my list! And I can't wait to keep going finishing more things!

Here's what I've checked off recently...

6. Read 30 books (2/30)
Traveling a lot gave me time to read, so over the summer I finished reading two books; The Girl on the Train and The Cuckoo's Calling. You can read about my review and thoughts on each one here and here.

10. Get a tattoo
It hurt a little, but I love it! [picture here]

14. Go to a flea market

Mauer Park Flea Market - Berlin, Germany

16. Go to ten new restaurants
Being abroad in Europe this summer provided me with many opportunities to visit new places and try new things. I was able to visit tons of cafes and restaurants, so this one was fairly easy to cross off, despite me thinking that this would take me awhile.

30. Visit three new museums
Same deal as the restaurants. Being abroad - Centre Pompidou, Reina Sophia, Picasso Museum, etc.

31. Brush up on french skills
I've had a lot of opportunity to tackle this one so far! Part of my time abroad was spent in France, so that one was a really easy given. I was able to speak french every day, while interacting with strangers, teachers, and friends. I also have taken the leap and am retaking some french classes this semester at school.

38. Throw a party
This past week was Labor Day, and to celebrate the holiday and all of our friends being back on campus for the new school year, my housemates and I threw a Labor Day BBQ party. It was a lot of fun! We ended up grilling burgers and hot dogs and having a ton of other foods. (And I got to learn to grill! Crossing off 92 too!) One of my housemates is the co- president of DJ Club with me, so we were also able to use our equipment to set up a nice music system for the party too.

43. Buy fresh flowers, just because
So I finally visited my first farmer's market, the Mill City farmer's market! I didn't really need any groceries at the moment, and I wasn't really in the mood to buy any small snacks or pastries, so I decided a nice thing to bring back from my small adventure was flowers. I ended up bringing home a beautiful bouquet of sunflowers and small purple wildflowers.

51. Visit a new country
Once again, study abroad has kind of helped me cross off a lot of things on this list. But I had the experience of visiting Spain for the first time this past summer.


64. Attend a wine tasting

90. Go a week without television

92. Learn to grill

98. Go to 10 concerts (2/10)
I love concerts, so this summer being abroad kinda hindered my ability to see lots of different shows. I did manage to squeeze in two different shows though; Alt- J in Prague and Warped Tour Milwaukee.

Riot Fest is a festival that hits a few big cities, Chicago being one of them. The festival takes place over a span of three days, and this year Chicago got hit by a wonderful line up! The music at Riot Fest is usually a combination of alternative bands, hip- hop, punk, rock, and some metal.

I've never been able to attend Riot Fest because it always falls when I'm away for school. But this year one of my close friends had the lucky pleasure of working for Riot Fest! Which means she got to be up and personal with some of the bands, and I got an awesome play by play of everything that was happening! So this week, I made a list of some songs from a few of the bands that were at Riot Fest this year in Chicago.

You can learn more about Riot Fest here.


1. Just a Girl - No Doubt

2. I Don't Love You Anymore - Real Friends

3. Jersey - Mayday Parade

4. LAX to O'Hare - The Academy Is...

5. Capitol M-E - Taking Back Sunday

6. Outnumbered - The Devil Wears Prada

7. Tonight Your Perfect - New Politics

8. I'm Only Joking - KONGOS

9. Ocean Breathes Salty - Modest Mouse

Once again, I apologize for my lack of blogging these past couple of weeks. School has recently just started and I am entering my last year of school! So in otherwise obnoxious words... SENIOR YEAR! SENIOR YEAR!

Senior year involves a lot of craziness. I've got classes, clubs, projects, and most importantly a senior year capstone presentation, essay, and project. Woo graduation requirements... So with all the educational events going on, I want to make sure I still have time to hang out with friends and to have fun! In order to keep up morale, my friends and I made a Senior Year Bucket List and I'd love to share with you guys and have you participate too!

(Note: Most of these are specific to the Twin Cities area.)

I spend my first hour of after school heading to the music building to practice piano. Piano is a nice break from my academics, so it's not only enjoyably peaceful for me, but also good stress relief.

4:15 p.m.
Pretty much after everything I spend my time doing homework. Lots and lots of homework. But hey isn't that the life of a student? Occasionally I also have meetings and other group projects, when I'll head out and go meet other people. On the very lucky days where I have a small work load, sometimes I'll go hang out with friends or just chill and read on the couch.

7:00 p.m.
For the most part, I eat later. 7:00 is a pretty normal time for me, but sometimes I can eat at 8 or later. School is very unpredictable....

8:00 p.m.
Anyways, night is usually dedicated to my job. I work as a teaching assistant for the general chemistry class, meaning that I help students with their lab work and their written course work. While I'm usually in lab class with them, I also hold office hours at night.


So I usually get to sit in the tutoring office and do homework, but when projects and assignments are due for the students' class, I get a flood of students asking for my help.

10:00 p.m.
After work I tend to either do more homework or relax. Usually I try to have all my work complete before bed, since I don't enjoy doing work in the morning before class. On the nights where I've been really hard-working, sometimes I'll go to the local bar for a night cap with friends.