Pastel Parade

When I think pastels, my mind tends to only think spring. My mind also tends to only think of baby pink or blue. While neither of those things define "Pastels", I can't help pining for the upcoming season when i stumble across them on pinterest, instagram, or tumblr. Unfortunately, there are still 25 days until the first day of spring (but who's counting?) and the plethora of pastel pictures I've pinned during my most recent pinning frenzy have left me wishing time would move a little bit faster. After seeing this pastel parade, I'm sure you will be too!

 {All Photos}
xoxo
Hannah

Rosemary Toner

When I saw this post on Megan's new blog, I knew immediately, due to my current obsession with a beauty routine and skincare products, that I had to try it. I tagged along with my mom to the grocery store and personally made sure that fresh rosemary was on our list. When I got home, I whipped it up right away and it came out perfectly! It's amazing for your skin and only takes 30 minutes maximum.
Disclaimer: This is Megan's craft and recipe, I'm only showing you how I did it and passing the recipe onto you. Enjoy!

Pour the cup of water into the saucepan and sit it on the stove to boil.

While the water is being heated, chop the rosemary off of the stem. Hopefully the water will be boiling by the time you're done

Pour the rosemary into the boiling water and turn the heat down a bit. Let it boil for about 3 minutes.

After 3 minutes is up, remove the pan from the stove, cover it, and let it sit for 20 minutes

Once it has had time to steep, remove the cover and strain the mixture

Finally, funnel the mixture into your plastic bottle and enjoy!

Instructions for use:
wash face and then squirt some of the solution out onto a cotton pad. Air dry and moisturize.

This recipe made 2 bottles of the toner so both my mom are using it. It lasts for about 2 weeks and you must keep it refrigerated.
This was definitely a successful DIY that cost less than a dollar. From using it, my skin is soft and generally blemish free and made our house smell like rosemary as a bonus! I also had leftover rosemary when I had finished so I'm thinking about making it for some friends. Anyone thinking about trying this?
xoxo
Hannah

Happy Days

I don't know if any of you remember your school days or if any of you are still IN school, but I am.
It's a lot.
I'll be taking AP calculus next year and my mom says she didn't even take trig by the time she graduated high school. Apparently, Ap's also didn't exist "back in her day" so obviously, times have changed. In my eyes, they've changed for the worse.
All I worry about (or at least have time to worry about) is schoolwork, homework, my grade, my caliber of class, and band (band geek and proud!). Am I learning? Kind of. Am I retaining information? Not really. Will I need to know that the Grand Canal in China was built from 550-610 CE? Probably never. So what's up with our educational system then? My brain is being filled with information I may never need again in the name of being "well-rounded". I'm not learning, I'm taking the highest level of class and trying to get an A. That's what school all comes down to for me: Grades. It has completely lost its original purpose which was to make sure people learn. That intention is still there, but students tend to care more about their grades.
I personally have NO idea of what the future holds for me in terms of a career path, a major in college, or even all of the classes I'm taking next year. All I know is that we teens have WAY too much to worry about and the stress load that we have is exponentially larger than what our parents had when they were our age (I found a GRAY HAIR the other day...I'm 15 and have a gray hair!). And you know who is running the education system? People that are my parents' age. Do they understand that giving us an extra period in our schedule will increase our homework load which will lead to lower grades (most of the kids with bad grades aren't dumb, just too lazy to do homework) and higher stress. How am I supposed to do marching band for 2 hours a week, 2 days a week if I have an extra class to do homework for?
I know this rant is probably pointless and I probably have AP notes to take, but the point is that the people running the system have no idea what it's like to be in school. They ask the opinions of everyone except the students. They don't listen to teachers either, but seriously; high school students should have some say in the matter. Alright, I'm done ranting...here are some things that never cease to make me smile through my school frustrations and everything else that comes my way.

{Bear from wayyyyy back in the day}

{Puppy version of Buster...even when his paws are injured, he's the sweetest not-so-little guy}

{definitely something my dogs would do}

{Can we just appreciate the truth of this statement for a moment?}

{gotta work on this...}

{This is what I do on weekends. It's a nice break from the chaos of the working week}

{The simplest things, like this window, make me smile these days}

{if only...}

{What I WISH I was doing right now...}

{Not too much longer until summer *insert prayer hands emoji here*}

All Pictures
xoxo
Hannah

Catching some zzz's

As much as I love the snow (and snow days for that matter...), I'm fed up with it. I'm off from school today (and probably tomorrow, for that matter) due to the 16 inch blanket covering the state of maryland. Yea, I have homework, and yea, I should practice my trombone, and yea, maybe I should workout today, but in all reality, you'll most likely find me in my marching band tee shirt and yoga pants blogging, reading, or catching up on sleep (my 3 favorite activites!!).

To be honest, my pajamas are usually a random tee shirt and a random pair of (probably) target-brand flannel pants. Comfy and easy, but doesn't exactly scream luxury. Recently I've been seeing cute menswear pajama sets all over various blogs and pinterest and...I think I'm in love. I mean, what girl WOULDN'T want to go to bed clothed in silk? I love the idea of looking chic as soon as I wake up in the morning which generally doesn't happen in the tee shirt x flannel combo I currently sport. There's just something about wearing matching pajamas to bed that makes one feel pampered and put together (especially after a bubble bath and a cup of chamomile tea.), no? Sitting around all day in my "pajamas" has made me come to realize how much I need to restock my sleepwear supply (the middle school flannels don't even cover my ankles #yikes) and these sets are a few of my faves. Anyone else prefer big-girl pajamas?


Shop the post:

xoxo

Hannah

Ps:

valentine's from here

My Hundred and One

Here my 101 things I want to get done this year!

1. Appreciate what I have
2. Relax a little
3. Get straight As (eep!)
4. Write on the blogl more
5. Only have one grunge day a week
6. Get a good pair of boots
7. Finish Crime and Punishment (sure)
8. Read more
9. Organize stuff on my computer
10. Take more dance classes
11. Run 4x a week
12. update my ipod songs
13. learn to play piano
14. stop carrying so much stuff to and around school
15. Schedule more free time for myself 
16. go back to sleep when I'm waken up
17. visit the place I was named after (Marin county, California)
18. Buy more lotion
19. Do one sport
20. Be in a play
21. Speak a language fluently (ish...)
22. Watch all 3 seasons of sherlock
23. finish my profile on the about page
24. Watch pretty little liars
25. organize my trundle
26. organize my summer/winter/fall/spring clothes
27. wear more jewelry
28. learn how to paint nails better
29. learn how to write with my left hand
30. wear more scarves
31. become a better speller
32. and increase my vocab
33. visit a foreign country
34. eat more chocolate (ohh yeah)
35. learn how to bake things besides pecan sandies
36. draw more
37. take an art class
38. have better pencils
39. skype people 
40. respond to most texts
41. learn how to filter college emails
42. get a good purse
43. find a good perfume
44. drink more tea
45. get cute pajamas
46. organize my closet by colors
47. get a new dress (lbd?)
48. finish the fault in our stars
49. watch the divergent movie/TFIOS movie
50. learn more hebrew
51. look at the stars more
52. watch crash course psychology
53. organize my email
54. keep track of all of my stuff
55. wear socks correctly
56. wear matching socks
57. become n'siah by senior year
58. go to a convention
59. watch a TED talk live
60. watch SNL live
61. meet Seth Meyers and/or Jimmy Fallon
62. Get another charm for my necklace
63. Finish this list
64. stop letting my dog eat everything
65. stop loosing earbuds
66. learn how to call things by the proper name aka ponytails are not hair ties
67. teach my dog how to walk up the steps
68. get a different hair cut
69. where my hair down more often
70. learn how to straighten my hair 
71. post more on instagram
72. read a biography about some famous person
73. listen to more Adele songs
74. get a better ringtone
75. watch more movies
76. sneak in Hannah's movie theater! (kidding :))
77. get a better camera
78. take more pictures
79. get into NHS
80. get a better case for my phone
81. stop dropping things
82. watch a live football game
83. Play in another parade
84. do something that scares me
85. volunteer more
86. find something I'm passionate about
87. Apply to Tufts!
88. be a better sister/daughter
89. be active in more clubs
90. start my own club
91. see NEWSIES on broadway
92. Seize the day (see above:))
93. Do more arts and crafts
94. keep in touch with people
95. learn how to snowboard 
96. Watch a super funny movie with super people
97. see a concert
98. Cry less, laugh more
99. open my window in the spring
100. take pictures of snowflakes up close
101. appreciate beautiful sunny days

Here's to a great year and a great new blog :)

-Marin

En Français

Via

So those of you who actually pay attention to this blog and its activity may have noticed that there's been a few changes.
Ya know...like the whole name has changed?
Call us crazy for changing everything up this late in the game (changing all the usernames and making new accounts was a huge pain in the neck), but we had recently come to the realization that twirl had no meaning to us. Presenting one's "brand" so to speak with a name that has almost nothing to do with oneself is a bit odd so we started brainstorming.
A few arguments, some tension, and an oodles of creativity later, we came up with the idea to translate what the main focus of the blog was into french. Each one of us has taken french at some point (even though Marin and I ditched it for Latin #noregrets) which is meaningful to us and then it literally means 3 little girls.
I know I'm a kid at heart still so it obviously applies to me, but what we were going for was the idea that compared to the millions of  humans blogging out there, we are mere children. We are learning slowly but surely how to present our blogs and our styles and taking it one step at a time. This name change is a perfect example of how we learned how to be better bloggers: We realized a mistake we had made and changed it. That's one step closer to success for us! Yay TPF!
However, the main reason for this post is to warn current readers of one of the last big shifts to becoming TPF: the domain. Right now, it's www.thetwirlteam.blogspot.com
I will be changing it to www.troispetitesfilles.blogspot.com as well as our new email which is troispetitesfilles3@gmail.com
Thanks for cooperation!
xoxo
Hannah, Marin, Anastasia
aka The 3 little girls

Anastasia's 101 goals in 1001 days

Start: January 27, 2014
End: October 24, 2016 (My birthday!)


1. Start this list

2. Become the flute section leader in marching band

3. Get a 1 for solo ensemble (getting evaluated on your instrument playing, 1 is the best grade)

4. Go to Disney world again and take a million pictures

5. Refine my style (same as Hannah, I know)

6.Refine my clothes in general

7. Visit my god mother in Brooklyn 

8. Go to Carlo's Bakery in New Jersey

9. Have a huge birthday party with everyone I care about

10. Learn to ski

11. Re-learn how to play piano

12. Learn how to play guitar

13. Win 1st place (again) at the Greek folk dance festival

14. Get at least a 4 on the AP World exam

15. Learn basic French (Bonjour, je m'appelle Anastasia. I can speak more than this)

16. Learn some Italian

17. Buy a really nice camera

18. Discover new artists and remain loyal to them

19. Read all the Harry Potter books

20. Subscribe to Newsweek or Time magazine

21. Be aware of what is going on in the world

22. Join debate team

23. Get at least a 1900 in the SAT

24. Apply to Georgetown University (my dream school)

25. Get a job and put the money towards my college fund

26. Re-watch all episodes of Sherlock

27. Play a grade 6 perfectly on flute (almost there, grade 6 is very difficult)

28. Get into wind ensemble (our schools best band)

29. Go to a professional music concert

30. Go to the movies and sit down in a random theater and watch the movie

31. Watch one scary movie (I've never seen one and I don't want to but have to!)

32. See Cirque du Soleil again

33. Visit the symphony at least twice

34. Teach one of my friends a Greek dance (Hannah learned a simple dance!)

35. Complete the health care for the homeless project with Hannah

36. Think/ writing down one good thing that happened every day for a year

37. Exercise every day for at least 30 min for a month and keep it up

38. Not eat junk food (Cheez-itz, cookies, Goldfish) for 3 weeks (so tough!!!)

40. Cook a meal for my family of 4 once a month

41. Complete a DIY once a month (with Hannah and Marin maybe) (1/12)

42. Tutor someone who needs help in a certain subject

43. Improve my math skills

44. Go on a date... haha just kidding, keep my priorities straight!

45. Go to a Raven's game

46. Learn to appreciate things more

47. In accordance with #46, do one significantly good thing a day

48. Eventually complete this list

49. Learn how to windsurf

50. Do 15 laps a day in the ocean over summer 

51. Visit at least 5 other U.S. states

52. Post at least 3x a month on this blog

53. Help out at the public or my school's library

54. Go on 3 trips without my parents (1/3 so far)

55. Enjoy the simplicity of life

56. Enjoy the complexity of life and make the most of it

57. Build a really nice snowman

58. Have a fish live for at least a year (His name is Salmon)

59. Compliment someone different everyday

60. Contradictory to #38, have something sweet once a day (candy not junk food)

61. Congratulate myself for making 60 goals

62. Go scuba diving

63. Visit Italy and have real slice of pizza

64. Drink only water, milk, and juice with meals for a month

65. Become an amateur photographer and share my photos with you guys

66. Memorize 5 quotes from different books (The Fault in Our Stars, Jane Eyre, Speak, Little House on the Prairie, and Green Eggs and Ham)

67. Go to an art festival Art festival in old town Alexandria, Washington

68. Go inside the White House

69. Be daring in a risky situation and try not to regret it later

70. Go rock climbing

71. Fly a kite

72. Sleep under the stars

73. Ride a roller coaster that goes upside down (scary!)

74. Participate in the Color Run

75. Become more familiar with classical music

76.Give one hug a day for a month

77. Drink an entire mug of hot tea (I hate it!)

78. Read 30 books in a year 7/30

79. Have an article of mine published in the school newspaper

80. Write a short manifesto

81. Tell my parents I love them every day despite any circumstances

82. In relation to #81, try to be the best daughter I can possibly be

83. Get my brother an awesome graduation gift

84. Participate in our archdiocese's oratorical festival 

85. Get a scholarship

86. Become an officer in my church's youth group

87. Buy a random item off a shelf in the grocery store

88. Run a mile in under 8 minutes

89. Run a mile in under 7 minutes

90. Make a pizza entirely from scratch

91. Get 10 more followers on this blog this year

92. Improve my writing skills

93. Write in cursive at least once a day

94. Develop a real signature

95. Volunteer for more than 3 hours 5 times in 6 months

96. Clean out my closet (lots of junk in there)

97. Refine my music taste 

98. Try 10 new foods 

99. Attempt to play a sport I've never tried

101. Make a list of 101 goals!!! Phew!

xoxo,

      Anastasia