OOTD: Bronco Nation

Kaixo everyone,

I do not believe I have ever talked about this in my blog (I may have though, I am as repetitive as someone can get and I've told this story three times to a friend this weekend. Three times), but I am a huge Denver Broncos fan. Living in the Midwest, this is kind of odd. Being a girl from Europe, this is super odd. However, I did my study abroad in Durango, Colorado, where one of my dearest friends, Elley, instilled her love of the Broncos in me.

In fact, the last week I spent in Colorado, I got to have dinner with one of them! True story. My friend Ali's mom used to work in the hotel were they stayed before games, and she was good friends with one of them, David. She invited him to come over for dinner many times, and finally, he came when I was just visiting Ali! It really was a pleasure to meet such a cool, funny guy and hear what he had to say about being a professional football player.

David, Ali and I in June 2012

The Broncos got to the Super Bowl in 2014, which got me super excited.

2014

If you are a football fan, you may remember was absolutely painful for the Broncos. I cried. I seriously did cry on my way home from watching. The Seahawks crushed them.

So when the Broncos made it to the Super Bowl again this year, I was ecstatic. I was definitely wary, considering how good the Panthers had been during the season. Pretty much everyone here thought the Panthers were gonna win, and only 3 of us at the party where I watched it were rooting for the Broncos. So, SURPRISE SURPRISE, THE BRONCOS WON!!!!! OMAHA, OMAHA!!!

I felt so so happy, and I felt so happy for Elley, Ali, and all my Colorado friends who were so happy about their beloved state team. In 2014 I had the cap that David signed, but this year I had it in Spain, so I got the cutest Denver Broncos tee I could've found in Easy.

Tee, AFApparel

HOW CUTE IS THIS??? A Mexican Día de los Muertos skull with the Broncos' old logo in the forehead. The Bronco is actually a skeleton! I fell in love right at the moment I saw it. But I even fell more in love when I got it on the mail. The royal blue shade was darker than expected, which I loved.

Snapchat filters on point! Follow me: anetxin91

Tank: AFApparel // Cardigan: Forever 21 // Jeans: Uniqlo // Ring: Mango (old, similar here) // Bracelet: Apricot Lane boutique // Sneakers: Converse // Handbag: Lefties (old, similar here) // Necklace: Forever 21

Even Lilly Pulitzer showed a little homage to the Broncos after winning Super Bowl 50! In love with this print!

Tell me about your Super Bowl experience! What team did you root for? Did you wear anything in particular? Let me know!

Love,

- Ane

Winter Uniform

Kaixo lovely readers!

I hope your first (or second? third?) week of classes went well! Mine was a whirlwind with teaching, classes and getting back on track, but I am happy to report that I have felt rejuvenated after Christmas and that I am very excited about the classes that I'm taking and the classes that I'm teaching. I am taking two translation courses (yay certification!) and a course with my advisor on L2 phonology, which is my thang. I'm teaching a course on the sounds of Spanish (23 students, 3 hours a week, scary but exciting! And they seem not to be confused!) and BASQUE! At first I thought I would have 4 students but it turns out I'll have 7! All the effort sending e-mails to promote it paid off!

Today I wanted to make a brief post of something that has happened to me that I had never noticed here before (maybe I wasn't paying attention, but it's strange because it's fashion related). A revelation. It happened today when I walked to the ARC, the kick-ass gym (one of two!) we have at UIUC. I stopped for a minute at the entrance to get my student card out of my wallet, when I looked up, and I saw all the girls in front of me (ALL OF THEM), wearing the same thing. A long black parka, an infinity scarf, winter boots, a head wrap and a Longchamp bag. OK did I miss the memo? At first I thought, is this a sorority girl thing? (Not trying to disrespect sorority women here by generalizing, believe me, if there were sororities in Spain I'd have joined one in a heartbeat and I would've been the president because #power) But when ALL girls are wearing that, that cannot be possible. UIUC has a large Greek population but I don't think it reaches 30%...

Basically, everyone was wearing a winter uniform. THE winter uniform. And I don't blame them, who wouldn't bundle up in this cold (it's bad but not as bad as the 2013-2014 end of the world #neverforget) in those cozy garments?

Clockwise from left: Parka: The North Face // Le Pliage Large Tote: Longchamp // Head wrap: BLOM // Infinity Scarf: J. Crew Factory // Boots: Sorel

I gotta admit I do have an infinity scarf, and an almost identical tote to that Longchamp. But seriously, that view of all the girls in front of me wearing the same things struck me. Oh life.

Now, how about you? Is this your winter uniform? What is your winter uniform, if you have any?

Love,

- Ane