red red red

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I once heard someone say, “When in doubt, always wear red.” At that time I didn’t understand the significance of this truth, but now I do. I’ve always been the kind of girl who feels comfortable with sober/cold colors. My sisters would tease me all the time because of my grandma’s closet. Things changed when I came across this Sonnet James dress. The moment I saw it I was sold. This Winnie dress is to die for!! The fabric is so soft and yet it’s heavy enough to prevent the dress clinging to you. The color (I’m wearing the Watermelon) is divine and it favors any skin color.

Yesterday the weather forecast indicated a cloudy day. I immediately thought, ‘Diana, what a perfect opportunity to wear this dress!’ I made the decision to go for it and I couldn’t have been more pleased. The color lighted up my day and it made me feel empowered and confident. Like I said… now I get the importance and magic of and behind the color red 🙂 .

Now, I hope this lesson sticks with you too. Trust me on this one. When in doubt… (say it with me) always wear red! ❤

Stay happy,
Diana

Sunday stripes


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Hello everyone! I’ve been MIA for the last couple of weeks. Sorry! The first week I had my first round of accounting tests and let me tell you… it wasn’t pretty. The tests were so freaking hard! I am so happy they are over. The thing is that since I wasn’t getting enough sleep I ended up catching a cold. This past week I’ve been sick and it’s been the absolute worst. Fortunately, I getting better now. So there you have it, the reason I’ve been gone for two weeks. I promise I’ll be posting more this coming week.

For church I decided to go with this flowy skirt. Today was a windy day so the skirt was exactly what the weather called for . The print is gorgeous and perfect for fall and the fabric is sooo light. Also, how simple and chic are the heels? And they are super comfy too! I could wear them all day long! (I’m not even kidding) They would go great with ankle pants and a loose button-up. Actually, they would go great with anything! 🙂 I promise they are the perfect neutral pair for fall.

Happy Sunday!! I hope it’s been a great day for you too!

xx,
Diana

Pretty in pink

S3S9S1SS4S7Today’s outfit for church was bright and pink… very pink 🙂 I’m usually more inclined towards wearing sober colors, but today I felt like pink was the way to go. The weather didn’t fail me so the outfit ended up being perfect for this sunny day (I’m trying to soak up as much sun as possible before the fall arrives and takes away the warmness of the air).

Anyway, I’m actually obsessed with this pink pumps. I’ve received so many compliments and questions about them. Unfortunately, this pair sold out quickly. Don’t loose hope though; there are many other options out there, you just need to keep your eyes wide open.

This week will be crazy for me, so I will not be posting until Saturday. Guys, tests are the worst. Seriously. I hope you had a great Sunday and I wish you the best for this coming week!

xx,
Diana

Day 20: Let the games begin…

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…and may the curve be ever in your favor! Yes… midterms are here.

Today I spent my day at the library. Twelve hours of reading… so much fun! Tomorrow I’ll be taking my first test so wish me luck! 🙂 I wish I could tell you more about my day but nothing interesting happened, unless you find internal control frameworks interesting. Then, by all means, let me know who you are so we can chat. Perhaps you can take this test for me. Do I hear a ‘I’ll take it for you Diana’? No? 😦

Okay fine… then I’m off to do some more reading.

xx,
Diana

Day 19: Chasing perfect

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Last night was a busy night. We had a relatively hard assignment to turn in, on top of the other assignments/projects/and studying we need to get done. Fortunately for me, I have a great team and we figured things out (sort of 🙂 ). Today was one of those days when all you want to do is go back to bed, crawl under the soft blankets, and watch a good chick flick. I was very tempted to exactly that, but then I looked at my agenda. Suddenly, I didn’t feel the need to sleep or take a break… I mean who needs that?

I want to say that I accidentally found this video when I opened my laptop, but I know it wasn’t an accident. The video had the words I needed to hear. Those who know me know that I’m a perfectionist, that’s just who I am. I always feel the need to do things perfectly. Everything I do needs to be perfect, not just okay. I’ve always thought this is one of my biggest strengths because it has always helped me improve and grow. Lately though, this strive-for-perfection mentality has become an unnecessary and ridiculous pressure I’ve put on myself. Now you can understand the relief I felt after watching this video.

It took me a long time to realize this simple, yet powerful, truth: I’m human. We all are. If you’re feeling the same way, please know that it’s okay not to be perfect. It’s okay to not have your hair done all the time, it’s okay to be in the second place, it’s okay to say no (please say no more often!), it’s okay to make mistakes. In fact, embrace your mistakes, learn from them, make them part of who you are and be proud of the person you’ve become!

Let’s worry less about the future and let’s be more present in the moment!

xx,
Diana

Chasing Perfect from Twenty-One Films on Vimeo.

Day 18: Goal posters

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Today we had a Professional Communications Day with KPMG. We had fun activities and I learned new things. At the end of the day, KMPG gave us doughnuts (all week long I’ve been eating doughnuts!! I think I’m going to need new jeans by the end of the month) and a hoodie. My professor was right, all of these companies are trying to win us over with free clothing apparel and food -and because we are poor college students I think is actually working 🙂 I promise, I’ve never had so many BYU t-shirts/notebooks/pens/cups/gym bags before. I get a new freebie from a different company pretty much every day. I think I can get used to it 😉

Today I also had the opportunity to hear from Amy Rees Anderson. She is such an inspiration! She has this cool theory about posters that she shares with the audience every time she speaks. You can read more about it here. This is the second time that I get to hear from Amy and on both occasions I’ve left the room feeling empowered and inspired. The good thing… she has a blog!! So now I get to feel this way everyday! How amazing is that? Go check it out!

xx,
Diana

Day 17: Celebrations of knowledge

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“Let’s not think of them as tests, but rather as celebrations of knowledge.” When our professor said that I just couldn’t contain my laughter (which actually came out a little bit louder than I’d have wanted… very unusual). Isn’t this the funniest thing you’ve ever heard? I think it is.

Today we played a game to review AIS concepts in preparation for our upcoming tests. The team with the highest score in each round would get candy. The team with the lowest score would receive candy too. Our professor said that he’d throw the candy our way. I just didn’t think he would do exactly that. He literally threw the candy up in the air and we had to either catch it or dodge it. It was ridiculously funny!

I went home with a lot of candy 🙂 sadly, it wasn’t because our team’s high performance in the class. We were the team with the lowest scores for a few rounds. Our scores were not alarmingly low, just a couple of mistakes here and there -we may or may not have forgotten to review the chapters before class (there’s only so many hours in a day, right?). The worst part, we enjoyed the treats. They were really delicious!

Late study-group nights, more doughnuts (my jeans won’t be very happy about this), more meetings, and plenty of things to do, that’s my day in a nutshell. In spite of all the things I have to do, I love my major more and more with every passing day (I’ll reexamine this statement after next week is over).

Xx,
Diana

Day 16: “I brought doughnuts!”

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Doughnuts… that’s just the best way to start your day! (Who’s with me?) Today our Audit professor brought warm and fresh doughnuts to class. I guess that summarizes my day. It. was. great.

Next week we have our first round of official accounting tests (well, the other many tests I’ve taken were also official… this just feels official-er) 😉 Of course the tension is building up and I’m feeling already lost. I’ve been trying to get a head start on my studying, but it’s just so much information. I’m actually glad that over the weekend I got some extra HW done because otherwise I would be so overwhelmed.

Today was a relatively calm day. I was in the library all day because I had so much reading to do (and because I forgot to take my apartment keys with me haha). The weather has been great (so I wear skirts to school) 🙂 Last week it was cloudy and rainy, but not this week. The sun is up and shinning and the leaves on the trees are already changing of color! I just love fall season! and pumpkin cookies.

Hugs,
Diana

P.S. Have you noticed how passionate I am about food? I wonder why I can’t feel the same way about exercise 🙂

P.S.S. Do you want to watch a funny video? Well, it might just be funny for accountants. I don’t know. Just watch it. CPA! CPA!

Day 14: Waren case // Socially-awkward workshop // Faculty dinner

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The Waren case was due today!! After three weeks of working on it, I finally got to turn it in, yay!!! I guess I’ve not been very clear as to what exactly the Waren case is. This is the case of a company that sells sporting supplies. We were given a set of documents (invoices, purchase orders, deposit slips, [fake] checks, and all the documentation that real companies use) and a list of transactions that occurred over the month of December. We had to record, adjust, close, and process all the transactions of the business cycle for this company. From filling in the prenumbered documents to creating the post-balance trial. I know it might not sound like a difficult thing to do, but it is. It really is. Even so, nothing beats the sense of accomplishment you get when your numbers match… I’m telling you, life is beautiful and bright and promising 🙂 Unfortunately, you also get to experience the other side of the coin when your numbers don’t match (and this is the side I’m on most of the time haha).

For our second block we had a ‘Professional development workshop’. Before we left the classroom our professor said “Oh! Is the socially-awkward workshop happening today?” I was intrigued because I didn’t know what she meant by that. Little did I know… The name was actually perfect for the workshop. Let me explain; some recruiters have pointed out that BYU students are socially awkward, bright and smart but awkward. Those of us who didn’t grow up in Utah understand perfectly what the recruiters mean. So in an attempt to teach us to not be awkward (haha I’m 99.99% sure this workshop only happens in Utah), we talked about women in the workplace, minorities, drinking (the elephant in the room), and other situations that happen in the real world (and by real world I mean everywhere but Utah). There were some very interesting (to say it nicely) comments and points of view. I couldn’t help but think of this e-card 🙂 Oh! I don’t want to forget, our professor played this video for us. We only watched segments of it in class, but later I went back and watched the whole thing (it’s a one-hour video but it’s so worth it!) Anyways, I think I agree, sometimes ignorances is bliss.

In the evening our professor invited us, as well as other professors, over to her home for dinner. I mean, she invited her students to her home so we could talk and get to know each other better. I’m sure our professors had so many other things to do but they chose to spend their evenings with us. I just can’t believe how incredibly kind the accounting faculty is! Our professors answered our questions, gave us advice, and told us that we were now “part of the family”. I know it sounds very cheesy but they said it in such a transparent and truthful way that in that very moment I just knew things were going to work out. I remember how just a few months ago I was lying in my bed sleepless and restless, but now, for the first time in many months, I’m hopeful.

xx,
Diana