some kind of wonderful.

glamping \GLAM-pyng\ , noun;

1. glamorous camping.

well, my little turkeys, who else is glamorously camping this thankful holiday? apparently, this is the newest in trailer park lingo. and i do, so happen, to be in a trailer park. in sequoia, CA to be exact. as we all know, it's thanksgiving and we're supposed to be thankful. if you remember my 4th of july post, i hate holidays...but not this one. i mean, how can anyone not be thankful when they're glamping? seriously, thanksgiving is a glorious holiday. i get to bundle up in the cold weather i love, read scary stories by the campfire in weird accents, eat pecan and apple pie, and watch christmas movies (don't you just love the unique mccollum traditions). i just wanted to officially recognize this new favorite holiday of mine and also acknowledge that i am thankful i'm here for it, considering i almost got pillaged the other night.

story time:

on tuesday night, maddy ali & i went on a 10pm ice cream run and i left my phone in my mother's car.

well, i didn't realize this until 4am when i was going to bed (don't ask).

so in a fearless act, i headed out to the car in the dark to get it...

but my phone wasn't there.

and not only was it not there, but the car was ransacked.

at least the inside was.

the glove compartment was emptied out onto the seats, etc.

so i went back into the house thinking it was a messy act of one of the sissies in an attempt to find something.

when i woke up, though, i found out that it turns out the culprit was not a part of my family -

(s)he was la cañada's own bandit, and (s)he stole my phone.

but the key issue in this story is not the fact that my phone was stolen, but rather that i could've been out in the dark, at night, alone, moments after a random man/woman was rifling through the same car as me.

keeping in mind my addiction to scary movies, can you imagine how i assume the worst?

i am very lucky i'm not chopped into bits in a box floating down the la river right now.

but i'm also thankful for a few other things, those being:

the openness of my parents. i could be a serial killer and i know they'd still love me.

the weirdness of my sisters. i don't think there's anyone i'm less worried about judging me.

my pups for putting up with us dressing them in build-a-bear clothes.

sequoia for providing us with such perfect in-between weather.

and for whoever invented apple crumb pie.

so i guess i am thankful.

to [this song].

 [photo credz].

i must admit i can't explain.

first off, a dedication. i really should've done this sooner but now seems just as good as any.

sarah sherman, what would i do without you?

i met this girl many years ago, i'm sure, but neither of us seem to remember our high school encounters.

i think it's because something out there knew we were going to need each other someday a little further along in our lives.

when we both ended up back in la cañada after our first half a year of college, we just kind of hit it off.

it sounds like quite the love story, doesn't it?

well it is.

between eating too much ramen, crying about boys, watching scary movies & wearing each other's dresses (i've changed the placement of the & in this sentence way too many times - i'm trying to stop the add-ons), miss sherman has become such an important part of my life.

i know that words don't mean that much, but i'm hoping these ones can at least slightly reflect how much love and respect i have for this lady.

and then, of course, there's my family.

i would give the low-down on how wonderful each individual is, but i think pops would rather me get to sleep at this point.

but seriously, watching movies and eating too much candy would be nothing without katy, steve, ali cat, and madz.

(along with edgar, bean, and the bud man, of course)

if i could blog about everything you all mean to me, it would never, ever end.

ever.

ever.

ever.

 ...ever.

[photo credz].

popsicle.

need i say more?

remember when you introduced us to [this song], dad?
love you.

a tad late and a pinch early.

happiest of birthdays to my JANUARY family members!

{steve mccollum - the best dad ever}

&

{maddy mccollum - best sister ever...tied with ali}

 

love you both so so much

xoxoxoxo.

ketchup.

sorry i never followed through on my christmas playlist promise.

being totally honest, it mostly consisted of hilary duff and the cheetah girls.

don't judge.

so i'll do a new year playlist instead.
here you go loves:

❄ blackbird - the beatles {why not start with a classic? possibly my favorite beatles}

❄ white winter hymnal - fleet foxes

❄ odessa - caribou
❄ i feel better - hot chip

❄ am/fm sound - matt & kim {i'm in love with the entire album but this was my original favorite}

❄ society - eddie vedder

❄ days like this - van morrison

❄ butterfly - mason jennings

❄ faberge falls for shuggie - of montreal {please be at coachella}

❄ earthquake weather - beck

❄ kiss with a fist - florence + the machine {voice idol}

"music is a world within itself."

-stevie wonder

sorry i'm crazy blogging at the moment. there's just too much to catch up on. in other news, i think this christmas was the best one i've had since i was a kid. it was simply splendid:

  (my new red keds...plus my christmas nightgown up top)

i also got my very own library card today and rented the fall by camus. i also have to finish martin eden, and read into the wild, a brief history of time & the grand design. then reread to kill a mockingbird and a tree grows in brooklyn (mama's favorites). and that's just the beginning. there's quite a bit of reading to do. good thing i have my own library card!

seeing these long lost faces was LOVELY:

 

oh, and i'm now obsessed with jolly ranchers, bracelets & peacocks.

oh, and this:

...yes please.

 [photo credz].

santa claus lane.

time for all the festivities!

the scene is being set for the best christmas ever, i can just tell.

so, in addition to my currently silver&gold nails, my santa silly band, and the christmas cd i made for my car, here's what's been going down christmas-wise:

(sorry basically every post is about christmas...it's a serious obsession this year)

the dorm is as decorated as it could be:

we even have our very own c. brown xmas tree (thanks mom):

i tried my best with the paper snowflakes:

and then i had to make the trip home to help decorate the tree:

reading christmas cards with cute little bebes on them:

my favorite jophes ornament (yes, jophes)

 the finished product:

no one was quite as into taking pictures as i was so i ended up recruiting doc for a photoshoot...he wasn't as happy as i'd hoped he'd be. and thank you rachel for my lovely headband:

in conclusion, i love christmas. enough said.

p.s. i just love my mother. she's the very best.

foux du fafa.

i wrote this post a couple days ago but my internet wasn't working enough to post it. so here you go.

there is so much stuff swirling through my mind right now. i'll just start from the beginning:

     first of all, i highlighted the word stuff only because i know that any english teacher would frown upon it. i literally just went to [synonyms.net] to see if i could find a better word. but it turns out, stuff is the only word that could even attempt to cover everything buzzing up there in my psyche. there are ideas. memories. experiences. fears. dreams. hopes. mistakes. feelings. information - new and old. correct or even incorrect. i wish that i could write everything i wanted to on my blog. but that's not something i'm even capable of doing. so much goes on in our minds that i bet we don't even remember a quarter of it at the end of the day. but at the same time, when something enters our minds is there any way for it to exit? maybe we only consciously remember a fourth of everything that goes on in our minds. i can't even begin to imagine how many thoughts i've thought in my life. and i wonder how many of them are original. but then, what is the definition of original, exactly? from one aspect, maybe nothing we ever think is original, because we begin being shaped by the things around us the moment we emerge from the womb. how can anything come from only inside ourselves when there's so much more going on outside? but at the same time, no one else in the world could've ever thought the same thought as you, at the same time, in the same way, relating it to the same experiences. it's simply impossible. so in that aspect, isn't every single thing in each and every one of our lives original?

who knows.

     my family goes to dockweiler beach every year in our trailer for 2 weeks. first of all, no, we don't live in a trailer. but we do own one instead of a condo in balboa or a house in mammoth. and you know why it's so much better? because if we had a condo in balboa, we couldn't go to montana in it, now could we? that trailer has so many memories inside of it. we were all supposed to leave for our annual vacation on wednesday, july 28th. aka two days ago. and everyone left...except for me. i wasn't quite ready. luckily, it's ony a forty minute drive away, so i have the luxury of being able to stay home an extra day to do my last minute packing and college calls. i guess that i feel like it's really all ending. this vacation's always ended the summer for my family, and this year, summer really is a true ending. side note, i've never introduced you to my lovely family.

first, there's dad. i like to call him padre. but he's known to others as steve(n craig mccollum):

then we have mother. also known as katy or mary kathleen barry mccollum:

 (i kind of look like a zombie with no eyes in this but oh well)

and then there's maddy (14 yrs., left) & ali (12 yrs., right):

so there's the fambam for you. i love them all dearly and i'm very excited to spend two weeks with them before moving out in less than a month...hmm.

     but anyway, i had a point to the dockweiler story besides the fact that i love my family. the point is that i think i'm scared to go. it has nothing to do with the trip itself. it's just what comes after. when i come back, it'll be time to say goodbye to a lot of people i love. and if there's one thing i've learned this summer, it's that i have the best friends anyone could ever ask for. and i seriously mean that. they care about me way too much and i wish that i could live this close to them forever. thank you all for everything you've done for me for as long as i've known you. you are amazing people and i'm so lucky to have you in my life. but anyway, i was supposed to drive myself down this morning, but i ended up getting sick and not feeling up to the drive, so i guess i'm here for 1 more night. i have to admit i'm being a little dramatic about all this because it's not like i'm going to be completely isolated from la cañada, considering i'm going to make everyone come visit me & i'll come back for a couple events, i'm sure. but it's all just really ending and i don't know how to react...

     new thought. there's this thing about being hurt. as much as you want to stay angry, there's this new found sense of sympathy because of what you've experienced. here's a question for you: do you think you could knowingly hurt someone you love? it's something that's been on my mind for quite some time now. i want to say no, of course not. but then i thought back to all the times i've skipped out on my responsibilities, knowing that it would end up hurting my parents, but being too selfish to let myself think it through. i only use this example because my love for my parents can't be questioned. no matter what i do or they do, there's never any [love lost]. so how can i be so hypocritical that i judge someone's love for me based on 1 instance of betrayal? but at the same time...how could i not? there are (at least) two sides to everything. so how am i supposed to choose one? when is it time to forgive? no one can give me an answer to that but myself. which leads me to my next thought...

     during the last 2 days, my phone's condition has worsened so that it won't even charge anymore. in other words, i'm kind of phoneless at the moment. it's made me realize that i've surrounded myself with people all summer long. i've always held this idea that you learn the most by being around other people. because they give you things like ideas & perspectives that you can't get from yourself. i've always felt like i'm wasting time if i don't see anyone else for a while. but today, i was supposed to leave for the beach and i didn't, therefore i have no plans. my initial reaction was to call paige, but she's out of town...and then i realized that i want to spend time with myself. that sounds kinda creepy but whate'er. if anyone wants to judge me, you're welcome to do so. it's just been so nice cleaning my room without somewhere to be immediately after, and being able to go eat dinner wherever i want and getting to sit on my computer reading blogs. speaking of which, i read [johnny's blog] today, and it's actually what inspired me to write this post. so thank you, mr. wu.

   finally, i'm so scared about my shopping addiction. it's never been a good thing but it will most certainly not be a good thing in college AT ALL. so anyway, after feeding my new panera addiction, watching some pineapple express, eating some cup of noods, reading some cosmo & listening to some beck, those are my thoughts for you. i hope you all have a lovely evening. and don't forget to spend time alone sometimes...it's nice.

[DEM JEANS]

 (miss you too, paige)

xo,

 cecilia

p.s. bonne anniversaire shay!! <3
(a little late oopsies:)

happy mama's day.

"a mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie."

{tenneva jordan}

...i know, cheesy. i found it on a website called the quote garden...hehe. however, that quote is exactly my mother. she is perfection and i couldn't ask for anyone better or more selfless. love you, madre.

don't forget to tell your mommy that you love her today.

xo.