three things i love

David and I during our "prom king and queen dance" in high school. My mom made my dress.

During our junior and senior years, we played on the badminton team together. This was one of many bus rides home.

This was taken during our junior year in our chemistry classroom. It's almost right when we began "dating," and I like to call this photo "chemistry."

Thanks everyone for sharing three things that make you happy! Although I wish I could pick everyone, the "thank you" giveaway winners are Ashley, Kelly Ann, and Callie Marie! Please send an email with your info!

stanford's oldest known living alum

A few weeks ago I was getting things ready for Stanford's Homecoming Reunion when my supervisor told me that Stanford's oldest living alum was from the Class of 1932. I thought that this was pretty amazing, so I got in touch with the Stanford Daily editors and proposed a feature article about Lawrence W. Harris, Jr. '32, born July 23, 1911.

Yesterday, my interview was published. Mr. Harris is a very sweet man and even though his hearing aid gave out a few times while I spoke to him, it was a delight to get to know him. He was so involved while he was in school! I went through his yearbook, and I found all of these photos of clubs he was in. Can you imagine? When the stock market crashed, he was a sophomore in college. He lived through the Great Depression, both World Wars, the Civil Rights Movement... and so much more. He's 99 years old!* I'm still trying to wrap my head around it all.

The last photo is Mr. Harris's senior portrait from 1932. Seventy-eight years later, he's still looking back on his memories at Stanford. The funny thing is that today I have my senior portrait appointment scheduled. I wonder what I'll think of it in 78 years.

Click here if you'd like to read the interview.
*He's also been married to his wife, Jane, since 1939. So sweet.

All photos courtesy of the Stanford Quad.

forgotten film: awkward teenager

Upon taking up the challenge (and I mean, challenge) to clean my room, I recently rediscovered film that I never developed, but that had to be at least 5-6 years old. By now I'd pretty much completely forgotten what was on each roll so getting them developed has been a real surprise. Here to start off the segments of forgotten film is yours truly, circa 2005, aka 15 or 16-year-old me.*

PS- Do you have any awkward teenager pictures to share? If so, please let me know!

*And to be honest, I think I look exactly the same except I now have bangs... which are growing out. Way to progress, Celeste.

dresses

since my lola passed away a few days ago, my mother has taken out a lot of old photos of her that i'd never seen before. it's sort of sad, in a way, because i wish i could have looked at these together with my grandma and heard her stories behind them. at the same time, i'm happy to see them at all. and, one observation that seemed to be a trend throughout these photos is that my grandma and her sister have great taste in clothes. i can't get over how beautiful they are in their dresses.

dear mama hely,

i know that after 36 years without your son and 49 years without your husband,
you must be more than happy to be with them again in heaven.
and while i know that you're finally, finally home,
the home you left down here won't ever be the same without you.

mahal kita,
i love you.

celeste

discoveries

this trip has been an array of everything for me. happy, nostalgic, sad, angry, you name it. i haven't been here for 11 years and everything is so different but just the same. i'm seeing things in a new light, with my grown up eyes. i want to understand the history of my family but it's hard to ask the questions. i didn't know where to start to talk about my trip here. and i'm leaving in 2 days. but, i think this is a good start.

during the search for old family photos of my paternal grandfather, i found these. my great grandfather and my great grandmother. i never imagined that i would get to see photos of them and i understand that they might not mean much to you, i can't get over them.

i didn't bring a scanner with me, so i just took photos of the photos in the albums. i just want to keep everything.