Getting Festive & Feeling Accepted

Happy December, everyone!

(And most importantly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! The day this post goes live is my mom's birthday. So, you know. The most important day of the year. I hope you have the greatest day ever, Mom! ❤️)

Can you freaking believe that it's December? It honestly feels like we were JUST ringing in 2018 and here we are, nearly 12 months later, ready to say goodbye. WOW. This time of year is super fun, though, and even though the season can cause me to stress (check out my Holiday Self Care post from earlier this week!), it's also a time of year where lots of really great memories can be made. And I just love to be festive! My work desktop is all updated and ready for the season:

Free download of this adorable gingerbread wallpaper over on Sarah Hearts!

Last week ended on a super positive note at work. Not because anything specifically happened (it was actually quite a weird week when it came to the things our staff was dealing with day to day), but because I'm at that point in my new position where I finally feel like I'm clicking with the staff and starting to become friends with my colleagues. The awkwardness has really started to melt away and I feel much more comfortable around my staff and feel like I can be myself around them without feeling judged. It always takes a while for that to happen, and I really felt like we were finally getting to that point, especially at the end of last week. I'm so happy about that! 😊 There was this moment on Friday where 3 of my coworkers and I all gathered around a computer and watched the premier of the "Thank U, Next" music video and I just felt *accepted* at that point. It's a great feeling!

(btw, HOW GOOD IS THE "THANK U, NEXT" VIDEO?!)

{source 1} | {source 2}

The weekend was a bit of a whirlwind. Saturday was filled with snuggling the pups and decorating for Christmas (or attempting to, at least). I wanted to get the whole place decorated, but I really only managed to get the tree set up and decorated before I got too tired and wanted to go to bed. 😂 I did end up live streaming my Christmas tree decorating, so if you'd like to see the whole process from start to finish you can watch that here, but for folks who just want to see the finished product, here's a photo!

Our beautiful tree for 2018!

Lupita was being such a snuggle bug on Saturday! So cute. I also took the girls on a ride when I went to pick up coffee and Lupita *always* needs to sit in the front and you *always* need to be petting her as you drive. She cries if you don't, and will pull your arm toward her until you do! 😂 Poppy is a bit more relaxed in the car than Lupita is! 😜 But I love taking them with me to one of our local coffee joints because they always give the dogs a treat every time we come through the drive through. A treat for me and a treat for them! 😊

Meanwhile, in Florida... The southern Ficketts are hard at work getting their house ready for our Christmas visit later this month. My mom posted this awesome photo of my dad setting up a Christmas tree IN THEIR FREAKING POOL. #what I don't think my parents will ever not do the coolest things ever, even it means being a little ~risky~ to get there. 😂 My dad also shared a shot at night time with the tree all lit up. So awesome! Not gonna lie - even though we *just* had a break for Thanksgiving, I CANNOT WAIT for the Christmas/New Year's break. I need another vacation already! 😂 Only 16 more days! (But who's counting?) (Me. I'm counting.)

Sunday was the Happy Holidays Half MerryThon and I woke up to a beautiful day full of pounding rain and whipping wind. 😫 It really took every possible shred of motivation for me to get my but out of bed. The last thing I wanted to do was wake up, drive two hours, and run 13.1 miles in the freezing rain. But I did it. Why do I do this to myself? 😂 This was a race that I had run back in 2013 and the course was, to my memory, the exact same.

Due to the weather, most people opted to wear *smart* rain running gear, but I still rocked an ugly sweater and Christmas leggings (over copious amounts of other layers to stay warm) because IT'S A HOLIDAY RACE, Y'ALL. Needed to be festive. As you'd imagine, there weren't many people spectating on the course which is never super fun, but the folks that did come out and cheer were so great and I got a lot of compliments on my festive outfit. My clothes were quite absorbant, though, and after about 5 miles of running in the pouring rain, it felt like I was running with weights all over my body. At least it was a better workout? I guess? 😂

I only had two complaints about this race, though I'm that the weather played a huge factor in both of these things:

1. The water stops were really inconsistent. The was one at mile .75 (???), then again at about mile 2.5, then we didn't get another one until mile 6. It was an out-and back course, so we saw the same stops at mile 7.5ish, 10.75ish, and 12.25. It was WEIRD and left me feeling really dehydrated. I don't usually wear my Camelback for races that are going to be colder, so I didn't think that it would be a problem and I don't remember it being a problem the last time I ran this race. If I remember correctly, I think there was an additional water stop between 2.5 and 6 the last time I was at this event, and I'm assuming that due to the weather they were short on volunteers and had to cut out one of the stops. I really felt the impact of the lack of hyration throughout the race, unfortunately, though I understand if they were short staffed!

2. There was ZERO hype at the finish line when I crossed. Like... none. No music, no cheering, the volunteers looked miserable.... >_> It was awkward. Again, I'm sure the weather played a factor in this but... that was a major buzzkill. I'm sure that there were folks that this was their first half marathon and I feel SO BAD for them if that was the welcome they got across the finish line after all the hard work of training. Like... come on. It was actually silent when I crossed the finish. So awkward!

Anywho, it was a good way to get my #SundayRunday long run in. Tackled a nice, hilly course, ran with completely soaked and heavy clothes on my body, AND got a medal out of it. It's always good to put some runs with bad conditions in as you never know what you're going to get come race day, so hopefully that half made me that much better of a runner for my next full in February!

After drying off and picking up some lunch, I headed to Brett's parents' house for his niece Sophia's 6th birthday bash! It was just a small group of us but it was so fun having dinner, watching the Patriot's game, seeing Sophia open her gifts, and having cake & ice cream! We even got to wear fun princess themed party tiaras, as you do when you're at a 6 year old's birthday party. 😂

For those of you that might be familiar with Strengths Finder, you might know how excited I was to have the opportunity to find out at 34 of my Strengths in order yesterday! Ever since I learned about Strengths I've been convinced that my #34 Strength is Woo.

Welp.

Guess what my #34 Strength is.

NO ONE IS SURPRISED.

I litereally LOLed when I saw this. I was not far off at all. 😂 I also found out that I don't have an Influencing Strength until #15 (not influential at all I guess) and HALF of my top 10 are Strategic Thinking Strengths. I need to get out of my own head, apparently. Anyway, so cool to finally see how all 34 of my Strengths line up! I have a Strength Coaching session with our department head next week so I'm excited to see how that meeting goes. 

Other than that it's a real regular week for us this week. Like I said, we're counting down the days until we get on the plane to Florida so that's all I can really be bothered to think about at the moment! 😂 One of my grad school pals Brittany is hosting a holiday party this upcoming weekend at her place so we'll be heading to that on Sunday, but other than that we don't have any weekend plans. We'll probably spend it getting caught up on chores, getting groceries, going to the gym.... you know. Fun adulting things. Hopefully we can squeeze in a Christmas movie as well! And of course, tons of reading. 😉

I'm currently reading American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis and I'm enjoying it thus far. Nothing screams Christmas like a good slasher novel, right? 😂 I'm also hoping to get started on Rich and Pretty by Rumaan Alam for my Lowest vs. Highest rated books project, and I just got a holiday romance from Book of the Month called One Day in December by Josie Silver that is really calling my name right now. I'm only 11 books away from reading 150 books in 2018, which is 50 more than my GR goal for the year, but it would be SO COOL TO HIT THAT NUMBER (I read 148 in 2017 🙃). So, like I said, tons of reading shall be done!🎉🎉🎉

What are you getting up to this weekend? Reading anything you're excited about?

Let me know in the comments!

LINKS I LOVED THIS WEEK

This Gingerbread House Looks Just Like Hogwarts from Buzzfeed

Ariana Grande - Thank U, Next Music Video from YouTube

Girls during Christmas season be like... from Trey Kennedy

The Whole Famn Damily

The past two weekends have essentially been family-palooza for Brett and I! It's always awesome to spend time with the family for both of us because when the school year kicks off we both basically drop off the face of the Earth until the holidays (sad, but true). Though these last two weekend consisted of a butt-load of driving (~3hrs both ways to NH and ~6hrs both ways to ME), the people we were spending time with made it all worth it in the end.

Photo courtesy of Brett's sister Melissa!

Two weekends ago we hiked it up to NH for Brett's Uncle Mike's wedding! The ceremony was so pretty - in the lake on a sand bar, with all of the attendees in boats surrounding them. It was a beautiful event and so perfect for the setting! After the ceremony we hung out on the boat for a little bit then headed back to the campground for a reception - complete with champagne & chocolate fondue fountains and puppies everywhere. That's my kind of wedding!

Photo courtesy of Brett's sister Melissa!

Being silly at the reception!

This past weekend we trekked up to Maine to see my extended family! I only get to see them a couple times a year, and this year it worked out that Brett could join me! This was the first time Brett was going to be meeting the majority of my extended family, so it was an exciting weekend. We left late Friday morning and spent a solid 6 hours in the car, but it was fun to hang out, talk, and listen to music as we watched the Maine scenery go by.

As soon as we hopped out of the car, my cousin Tucker - who is 9 - was ready for us to play. We walked out to the back yard and saw the beautiful image that was our view for the entire weekend:

Not too shabby, right?

We took a walk down the shore while the tide was out and saw tons of tidal wild life all over the place, including snails (I taught Tucker the trick to get snails to come out of their shells - by humming!) and tons and tons of washed up jelly fish. Tucker was immediately BFF's with Brett and they played a little bit of frisbee while we explored.

We returned to the campsite and the rest of the family arrived for the weekend. There were drinks, stories, and so many laughs shared and it was so good to see everyone - and for everyone to finally meet Brett! We enjoyed the weekend full of sunshine, sea kayaking, camp fires, good food, and good company. Oh, and not to mention the world's most breathtaking sunsets.

On our way home on Sunday, we made a few stops. First we stopped at Caterpillar Hill, which was this awesome scenic stop that overlooked a lake and the ocean. We knew we had to grab a selfie and a panoramic before heading home for good! (Panoramics were seriously my favorite setting on my phone this weekend, with time lapses coming in at a close second - check out the vlogs below to see what I mean!

And it really isn't a trip home from Maine if I don't make a stop at Pat's Pizza in Yarmouth. I don't remember when this became a tradition of my family's, but every time we drive home from Maine we have to stop at Pat's and get a personal pizza. Even though I wasn't with my parents, I wanted to continue the tradition and introduce it to Brett as well. (Success - Brett loved his pizza!)

After another 6 hours in the car we were home and the weekend was over once again. It's crazy how fast weekends go by, huh? At least they're fun! :) Of course, I vlogged throughout both of these fun and exciting weekends, so make sure you watch both vlogs below!

Brett and I took this weekend easy. We ordered take out and watched the new Netflix series Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (hilarious) Friday night, saw a show that I was asked to check out for work on Saturday (because my job is awesome and allows requires me to do things like check out shows to bring to campus), and just relaxed with some movies after my #SundayRunday 12 miler yesterday. There's nothing like a month of traveling every single weekend to make you REALLY appreciate the down time!

What did you get up to this weekend?

Beach Weekends

These last two weekends Brett and I have been soaking up summer like it's our job! I was sick with a migraine on the 4th, so I think we felt a sense of obligation to make up for it these last two weeks. Each weekend has been gorgeously sunny and 80+ degrees so we've taken advantage and made sure that we made time to be out on the water and laying in the sun as much as possible. Needless to say, my summer-loving soul has been very happy.

It started last weekend when we ventured north to visit my parents & pups on the lake. I picked up Brett at his house after work, and we enjoyed the Undisclosed podcast (which studies the same case that Serial covers) on our ride north (already addicted). When we finally got into town we came across the Raymond Town Fair in full-swing, so of course we had to stop for fried dough.

Pretty much all of Saturday and Sunday we were at the beach or on the boat. There were some paddle boards on the beach on Saturday so of course we had to try them out! (So fun!) We got a solid stick-throwing session in with Kiwi, and capped off the evening with a fire in my dad's new fire pit, s'mores, and Not Your Father's Root Beer floats. Absolutely perfect!

After my #SundayRunday of 9 miles (and where I accidentally wound up becoming part of a 10k in the town center... hilarious), we went back to the beach for a few hours to bake in the sun and swim around some more. The weather was unbelievably perfect and I'm still so confused as to why summer isn't EVERYONE'S favorite season. After getting home and showering, Brett and I made our usual pilgrimage to La Festa and chowed down before returning to MA.

*drooooooollllll*

This past weekend was our trip to our friend Ashley's Cape house! We really couldn't have asked for a better weekend for it either. We spent most of the day Friday and Sunday just lounging on our floaties in the water, which was actually bearable for being the Atlantic Ocean! Because I'm a huge wimp to being cold, I was thrilled that I was able to float and swim around all weekend. I brought my GoPro to take some fun pictures and videos, so be sure to check those out below! :) Huge shoutout to Ashley for having us to her house for sunshine, good food, fun times, and great company! <3

We only really have two more weekends before Brett reports for football camp, so we're really trying to pack as much summer as we can into the month of July. This upcoming weekend we're headed back north to hang out with his family in Ossipee, and the week after that we're planning (as of now) on taking a trip all the way up to Maine to see my extended family for our annual family camping trip! I have a few more beach days planned with some friends after Brett's life is taken over by football, and I'll likely be taking at least one more trip home to NH before the school year takes over mine, but for now I'm trying to take full advantage of this extremely relaxing summer!

Family Bonding, Famous Sisters, and Fleeing from Tornadoes: My Non-Working June Life

If you've read this blog at all in the past 6 weeks, you know that my entire life has been taken over by my position with Orientation at Bridgewater State University (it's just the nature of the orientation beast!) since mid-May. Yesterday, we concluded out 6th and final session and with the Orientation Leader banquet this afternoon, we are pretty much done with the program! There are a few things that I have to wrap up but soon I will be leaving BSU for good and moving to the next chapter of my SA journey! :) I'll be dedicating my next blog post completely to my experience with Orientation, but for now, here's a bit of what my life outside of work has been like!

Before our first session, way back at the beginning of the month, Brett and I went out with my new friend Kacie (who was another intern for the Orientation program) and her boyfriend, Matt! They're two awesome people and we had fun having a few drinks and chatting with them through the night (even though Kacie and I were basically falling asleep after a long week of prep for the first session)! In the morning, Brett and I stopped by our favorite ice cream spot in the area, Hanson Farm, and visited the new calf named Peach Blossom (she was born the day before my birthday!). It was the perfect way to relax before the craziness of sessions.

The weekend after the first session (June 13-14) was family time to the extreme. Saturday Brett and I spent time with his neice and nephew. We had so much fun playing with them (building blanket forts, playing video games, soccer, and Littlest Pet Shop!) and it was beautiful out so it was perfect! It's crazy to see how much little Sophia has grown up since the last time we saw her!

Sunday we traveled up to NH because my mom was racing in her very first triathlon! This has been something that she has been wanting to do forever and has been training so hard for, so I definitely wanted to go up and support her on one of my days off! The race was at a really cool YMCA camp in Merrimack and it was set up in a way where we could see her in all three legs! I also made her a sign to cheer her on. It was so cool to see her accomplish a goal that she had set for herself and worked so hard for. She's awesome! :)

There was a tepee at the camp, so we obviously had to take a picture.

Finisher!

Brett was awesome (duh) all through this month supporting my exhausted self, and his family was also being so supportive through my busy schedule. When I came home after session 3 (June 15-16), his mom brought home these AMAZING Italian cookies from the store and it was such an amazing treat to have after a long two days. YUM.

I'm sure you've all heard of the terrible shootings down in Charleston, and you've probably seen the image of the shooter below plastered all over the news. The crazy thing about this image is that my sister is the officer on the right (the suspect is being held at the jail she works at). Her face is now all over the news as a part of one of the most used images of this case. It's so weird to see her standing right next to the man that brought so much pain to so many people, but seeing this image is definitely a reminder of one of the biggest reasons she got into the field that she works in - to help prevent things like this from continuing to happen.

Last weekend was on the low-key end, which was something I certainly appreciated. I kicked up my feet and spent some time with Brett & friends on Friday night to unwind. Saturday I made the trip out to my new hometown to sign the lease for my new apartment and opened up a P.O. Box, so I can officially become a resident and start the next chapter of my life! Very exciting. :) When I returned to Brett's house we baked cookies and started reading the first book in the A Song of Ice & Fire series, because apparently we can't live too long without Game of Thrones in our lives in some capacity. 

Sunday was Father's Day and we had originally planned on driving back up to NH for Ribfest and to see my dad run a race, but he actually ended up being sick and since it was pouring out he didn't want to push his immune system any further. Though it was sad we didn't end up getting to see him on Father's Day, it was good to not have to drive anywhere and to spend a rainy morning in bed finally finishing the last episode of MadMen as well as polishing off the newest season of Orange is the New Black. Hooray for lazy Sundays!

On the second day of session 5 (June 23) we were greeted with a Tornado Warning in Massachusetts, which is always terrifying because we do not get tornadoes in this area and if we were to ever actually see a tornado we probably wouldn't know what to do and would likely get sucked up into the sky. Kacie, Katelyn (another girl who works in our office), and I decided to take shelter at our local bar and figured the best way to go out is with a $4 margarita in our hands (I mean, c'mon...). The storm was right on top of Bridgewater and though we were graced with a huge downpour, thunder and lightening, and the satellites getting knocked out, we did not see an actual tornado. It was pretty exciting though!

Wednesday I headed up to Mount Holyoke to meet with HR and finalize some fun paperwork items and spend some more time with my new colleagues! They took me out to a sushi lunch (YUM)  and showed me more of the Hogwarts-like campus that will be my new home away from home. They are such a kind and down to earth crew of people and I am very excited to start working there in a little over a week (so crazy)! Check out how happy I am to have my official MHC ID! :) 

And, as I mentioned, this past Thursday & Friday was our 6th and final session of orientation. I was getting a bit nostalgic as Kacie and I cruised around campus in the golf cart. It's really sad that these are my final days being part of the BSU community, but I'm happy that I've had so many amazing opportunities here. This institution has done amazing things for me and I will always remember BSU as being one of the most important stepping stones in my career. Ugh, just thinking of it now I'm getting all sappy! It's so bittersweet to be leaving, but I'm definitely looking forward to where my career will take me next!