Fall Favorites 2014!

Can you believe it's already winter? If I'm being honest. winter is not my thing. I'm a summer fan through and through, and how I ended up living in New England my entire life I'm not quite sure, but with as many fun things that I have planned for this season I'm sure the cold weather won't be as terrible! Anywho, with the beginning of one season comes a list of my favorite things from the past season. Without further adieu, here are my favorite things from Fall 2014!

Activity | OSIL Question of the Day

At my old desk at BSU, I had a white board that I asked "Questions of the Day" for anyone who would pass by with the aim to start some fun non-work conversations to break up the day a bit. I started these in the spring, but they really took off this semester! We had students who would come to my desk specifically see what the new question was, we had "guest questions" that other OSIL staff members would ask on weeks that I couldn't come up with one myself, and we had a lot of fun conversations throughout the semester! Even with my loss of a white board when the office moved desks around a bit, I have continued this fun activity on large sticky note paper. It's become a really fun OSIL tradition and I hope someone takes it over when I graduate in the spring!

App | Trivia Crack

I literally downloaded this the day before the official start of winter, but I have been pretty addicted. I'm going to blame my BSU students for this one. They could not stop talking about it during finals week, and luckily I had the willpower to refrain from downloading it until I was done for the semester because I'm constantly on it now! If you love trivia, regardless of your skill level, I definitely recommend giving it a try!

Apparel | Bolder Bands

My mom came upon these awesome headbands and bought us a few. I wore them all season long and made me excited to show them off while I was out running! Bolder Bands offers dozens of designs, and you can wear them in a variety of ways. Very helpful for gals like me with a ton of hair! They're a bit pricey ($15 is pretty steep for a headband), but I definitely recommend investing in a couple if you want to add some hair-flair to your work out wardrobe!

Book | The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

This is actually the only book that I've picked up for fun this season. I mentioned in my Dear Santa post a few days ago that reading for pleasure while in grad school has been a struggle for me. I started this book at the end of August and still have yet to complete it. It's definitely not because it's not a good book - I'm actually loving it! But it's hard to find the time and motivation to read when your brain i basically mush by the end of the day. I'm shooting to finish this over winter break!

Food & Drink | Hot Apple Cider

Hot apple cider has been my favorite fall beverage for quite a while, but this year I discovered that Elizabeth's, a local bagel shop, sells hot apple cider in the fall and it is DELICIOUS. For a while it even replaced my morning coffee on my commute into work, and that's saying a lot! I would drink hot apple cider year round if it was readily available to me, but there's just something so perfect about a mug of this deliciousness in the fall.

Home & Office | Yoobi Journal

I discovered this line of products while I was shopping at Target and fell in love with the concept. For every certain amount of products that are purchased, Yoobi will donate school supplies to a classroom in need. Being a sucker for stationary, I had to grab myself a journal to support the cause, and it doesn't hurt that this is a very well-made product in addition to helping kids and teachers in need!

Movie | Ivory Tower


One of my professors showed this documentary in a class this semester and I loved it. It shone a whole new light on the business of higher education, and echoed a lot of my thoughts on how American teenagers have an immense pressure to dig themselves into hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt just to get a Bachelor's degree without fully understanding the meaning behind it (something I did myself). If you're interested in what goes on behind the scenes of some decision making in higher education, I strongly recommend this film!

Song | "Selfless" by New Found Glory


My favorite band, New Found Glory, came out with a new album this fall, so of course one of their songs is my favorite of the season! NFG has been around since 1997 (almost a solid 20 years) and they're still making quality music that reflects where they're at in they're own lives, and I really respect that. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go to their show when they were touring for this album, but I'm hoping they come back to New England soon so I can see them play again - it's been far too long!

TV Show | Lockup Charleston, SC: Extended Stay

Obviously this was my favorite show of the season! Lockup on MSNBC has been airing episodes that feature my sister's place of work every Saturday for the past couple weeks, and it's so interesting to see where she works, because I doubt I'll ever see it in person. The season runs for 6 episodes (2 more to go!) and though I've only gotten one glimpse of the back of her head in the first episode, there's a good chance she'll be featured on the show a lot more before it wraps!

Memory | Midnight Anniversary Gift

Despite the fact that we were at a holiday party surrounded by a dozen people, at midnight on our two year anniversary, Brett sat me down and gave me this beautiful necklace. True to our relationship, people noticed this very personal moment and started making jokes, but that just added to how great this memory is. In our relationship,things have tended to happen with others around, so all we could do was laugh! This was such a sweet and hilarious moment, and one that I'll always smile upon. 

What were your favorite things about this fall?