Family, Football, and Fall Festivities

It's been a while since I've sat down and given a bit of a life update here on the blog. I've been posting up my vlogs as I've been posting them on YouTube but I also haven't been doing a ton of daily vlogging lately, save for readathons which don't really focus on my daily life. I thought I'd pop by and give you all a bit of an update on what's been going on lately!

The school year is finally underway, I survived September, and things are finally settling down a bit. If you've been following along with this blog for a while, September and April are always the busiest months of the year at work. I'm really happy with how September went for us this year - we have multiple succesful programs, we're trying out new things, and - the best part - really connecting with the students. Our staff is still fairly new (the majority of us have been at MHC a year and a half or less) but there's definitely a difference in how we're connecting with the students this year which is making our work so much easier.

The Nichols football program is doing much better this year than they have in previous years! It's been great to see the football program Brett dedicates so much time and energy to finally make some visible and tangible improvements. While they're 2-3 half way through the season, Brett is confident that they have the potential to pick up a couple more wins which is amazing. I can't wait to see how the rest of the year goes!

I did lose my grandfather a few weeks ago. I mentioned this last week here on the blog and in my Tackle Your TBR vlog & wrap up but I didn't feel right writing a "life update" and not including this. He was a loving and hard working guy, and always ready to crack jokes and enjoy himself with his family. It's still weird as he's always been in my life and we will miss him dearly. <3

I'm running marathon #4 on tomorrow and I am NERVOUS. Training this summer went really well, but as the school year kicked off and my schedule got busier training got pushed to the wayside quite a bit. I'm trusting my body and my knowledge of fueling and stretching properly to propel me across the finish line, but I'm still pretty apprehensive about taking on 26.2 for the fourth time. (Can you believe it?! Marathon #4. I still remember everything about marathon #1 so vividly!)

Life is still quite busy but I'm happy with how most things are going. I have a huge stack of books I want to get through, I'm drawing, blogging, and YouTubing more consistently, and I would say that I'm overall content! I'm looking forward to the coming weeks that will be packed with family visits, holiday food, and lovely end of the year festivities. I hope all is well with you guys, too! Happy fall :)

#SAPro: Year One in Review

July 7, 2015: Snapchat from my first day!
Thursday was my *official* one year anniversary at Mount Holyoke! I can't believe how quickly a year has gone by and I can't believe how at home I feel on campus after only 12 months. I feel extremely fortunate to have had the experience I had in my first year. I had an excellent staff that had my back and became close friends of mine, I had absolutely incredible students who amazed me at every turn, and I became part of one of the most welcoming communities I've ever been a part of. I have learned so much this past year from my students, colleagues, and surroundings that I feel like a completely different professional and person than I was when I began last July. I'm so happy that I've had the opportunity to laugh, think, be challenged by my colleagues and especially my students, and to grow.


I took a bit of a chance on Mount Holyoke when I accepted the job in May 2015. The position wasn't *exactly* what I was looking for, but the staff and students I interacted with during my interview were (and are) people I knew I wanted to be around. So I took the plunge and accepted the job and it paid off. I have met some of the most incredible people and students and have learned so much from everyone I've encountered on this campus. I take a look at the photo collage above and I can't help but to feel overwhelming happiness for all of the experiences this job has afforded me. I gambled a bit on Mount Holyoke but I feel like I hit the jackpot with my first job as an #SApro. I can't wait to head into my second year at Mount Holyoke and see what will be thrown at me next!

July 7, 2016: Celebrating my one year workiversary with my amazing staff!

A Few of my Favorite Links {#21}

April....PHEW. 

It's been a whirlwind y'all, as it usually is. If you've been following this blog for a while now you can totally tell when things are crazy for me at work because that's when posts get a bit more infrequent (usually September and April every single year). I guess that's just the trend in my life! Anywho, we had our final *major* event of the year - Pangy Day - on Friday and it was super successful! We were gambling hard with the weather. All week called for rain and even thunderstorms but kept going back and forth on when the rain would actually begin. We had outdoor activities planned from 10:30AM to 3PM, and according to all of the weather sites rain wouldn't start coming down until right around the time we would be packing it in for the day, so on Friday morning we made the official call to stay outside and we. hit. the jackpot.

While it was quite humid (we were expecting thunderstorms, after all), the sun was shining for most of the day, everyone was in their summer clothes and summer spirits, and everyone was having a blast. It was truly such a perfect day (I keep joking that Mary Lyon was looking out for us) and the weather held right until we got the last person and last piece of equipment inside after breaking down at 4PM when it immediately started pouring, thundering, and lightning-ing. Perfect timing, to say the least! With a smattering of other weekend events, we closed out our year of student programming Sunday afternoon and I can officially say I made it through my first academic year as a professional! We only have Senior Week and Commencement to worry about before we can officially call it summer time! :)

I have a few really awesome links for you today which (per usual) involve 3 of my 

most favorite things in the world - food, dogs, and Game of Thrones. I hope you enjoy!

Super Filling Sweet Potato Tacos

If you've been following my weekly vlogs or if you were around for this blog post, you'll know that I've been making a bit of an effort to be a bit more conscious when it comes to eating meet and dairy products. I by no means have cut them completely out of my life, but lately I have been pausing to consider possible alternatives, often making the decision to take a vegan or vegetarian option when it's available, and have recently made the choice to completely stop eating pig meat all together (yes, including bacon) which was a pretty easy choice as I never was too crazy about it in the first place. It's a journey and while I don't think I'll ever go completely vegan or vegetarian (then again, who knows?), making these decisions little by little will help in the transition.

Source

Enter, this recipe. I just stumbled upon it yesterday and it is completely vegan! It looks freakin' delicious and honestly not that much different than a regular taco recipe. Just really replacing the meat with sweet potatoes which sounds pretty amazing in my opinion. I definitely want to try these out the next time I'm in the mood for homemade tacos!

Pet Portraits by Incandescent Design

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As I've come to find out, I'm all about customized pet products that create a fun memory of your beloved furry friend. Incandescent Designs offers up these fun pet portraits for a modest (sarcasm) $200. With a finely detailed drawing, a pop of color, and a little twist to show off your pet's personality, I think this would be a fun addition to any room in your home!

Chart of 40 Different Kinds of Pizza

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I'm not sure when I came across this chart but I do know that I came across it when I was borderline hangry and of course fell heart-eyes-emoji in love! There are some items on this list that I wouldn't really want to try, but the vast majority of these pizzas - sign a lady UP. I think the top three pizzas I would need to try at some point in my lifetime are the Scottish Pizza Crunch, the Pizza Cone, and I really want to try Cauliflower Crust Pizza as well! What one would you want to try?

9 Times Actual History Was More F*cked Up Than Game of Thrones

Source

In honor of Game of Thrones finally returning, I obviously had to include a GoT related link of some sort! This one showed up on my Facebook feed, as most BuzzFeed articles do, and I had to click on it because I love when fictional stories are put into historical context. It's crazy just how messed up the world was back in the day and it was just considered to be normal. I mean, could you imagine hearing about a party reminiscent of the Red Wedding happening in real life?! Yikes.

What links have you been loving lately?

Fast & Fun Fall

What a crazy fall it's been! October flew right by with craziness at work and and was jam packed with fun things every weekend. It's true that life seems to go by faster with each passing year, but I personally think it's because as you grow older life gets more and more fun! :) Anywho, here's what I've been up to these last few weeks.

We were all clearly thrilled to be at trivia. Especially Cullen.

Erin, Cullen, and I hit The Quarters after work a two weeks ago for round 2 of Harry Potter Trivia! We went a few months ago for the first round of HP Trivia and didn't do so great. I think we did a bit better the second time around (this time we were named "Gilderoy Pop and Lockharts" XD) but it was packed with people so being competitive was tough for everyone. (There were teams that got literally every question right >_>... putting my HP knowledge to SHAME!) We still had fun, though, which is what matters the most!

1. Reunited with Brittany & Matt at the Pageant!

2. The Homecoming Court in their best duds!

Later in the week I headed to BSU for the Homecoming Pageant! The Pageant is my absolute favorite event that is put on every year, and this year was extra special because I knew pretty much the entire Homecoming Court through working with them during Orientation or through PC. As it does every year, the court made me laugh with their talents and costumes, and made my heart melt with their interview answers. Bridgewater students love their university and every year the seniors in the court reflect on their time at BSU - it gets REAL emotional and I love it. I'm so happy I was able to make it back to campus for this special event.

1 & 2. Jenna toting Erin around in the Student Life wagon after wrapping up FallFest! XD

3 & 4. Staff photo day! We love Dinosaur Office - can you tell?

As I mentioned before, work's been crazy busy. I've found that this part of the year has been even more hectic than September (at least for my position) which is crazytown to think! In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving Break we have multiple events on almost every Friday & Saturdthat ay, meaning the time leading up to the events is spent answering emails, holding meetings, and on Fridays and Saturdays I hang out at work til the wee hours of the morning. I'm so happy that I love the work I do, but I'm even happier that I have amazing colleagues to make the craziness all bearable! (Examples of how we laugh through the stress above!)

Birthday cake surprise at midnight!

Brett had his golden birthday last week - 27 on the 27th! Unfortunately he had to work all day, but I surprised him at midnight with a slice of chocolate cake, brought him some lunch, and we we able to have some Chinese food for dinner (our fave)! Later on in the week we were able to have some fun (Halloween weekend!!!) so having a nice low-key birthday was actually pretty nice. :)

1. I was Katniss at work on the 30th - yes that's a marshmallow bow!

2. New Found Glory at the Palladium! 3. My lovely date to the #NFGYC show!
4. Our costume for *official* Halloween - a Blue Barracuda & a Temple Guard from Legends of the Hidden Temple!

Then, my favorite part of the year, Halloween! This year was particularly fun because the holiday fell on a Saturday which works perfectly for both Brett and my schedules and we were able to plan lots of fun activities for ourselves! On Friday our office hosted a trick-or-treat for students so we all dressed up in costumes. I was dressed at Katniss from The Hunger Games and was complete with a marshmallow bow and arrow (these are the things you'll find in your office when you work in Student Activities). Everyone else had great costumes, so I highly encourage you to check out our Instagram page to check them out!

Friday evening was something that Brett and I had been waiting for since June - the New Found Glory & Yellowcard concert at the Palladium! NFG and Yellowcard both played for about an hour and it. was. awesome. It's so amazing to see such a passionate crowd and performances that had so much energy after nearly 20 years of each band being together. We had a blast belting out nearly every song of both sets and dancing around. Even though each set was an hour I wish they could have been longer! Hopefully, because NFG's 20 year anniversary is in 2017, they'll be touring again very soon!

Finally, on the 31st, we were able to hang out with Erin, Cullen, Tim, and a bunch of their friends for a Halloween party! Brett and I went as a Blue Barracuda and a Temple Guard from Legends of the Hidden Temple, a Nickelodeon game show from we were kids. True 90's kids right here! I loved our costumes this year and we got a lot of compliments on them (though there were quite a few people who didn't understand what we were, haha!). We had a really great time hanging out with everyone and having a fun, relaxing time for a change!

Clearly, things have been crazy, but they've been lots of fun as well!

How have things been for you all?

The Most Picturesque Campus on Planet Earth

Wow - it's been over a month since I've sat down and told you all what's been going on in my world. How's it going, everyone?! Things have (per usual) been busy, busy, busy. I feel like I've been getting into a solid rhythm at work and really getting the hang of my job. There are still plenty of learning moments, of course, but not feeling quite so uncomfortable and that I have no idea what I'm doing on a day-to-day basis is pretty nice!

Since my last update I've been getting back into the swing of a fitness routine, which has been super nice. You know that I ran two major races on back-to-back weekends, but I've also been getting back into a routine at the gym. It's been super helpful that Brett has been writing me work outs so I don't feel so lost in the gym, and it's also been super helpful that a few of my friends from work have been joining me at the gym after work! (I like to call it work out club.) Having people to joke around with between sets makes everything way more fun. :) Now if I can only force myself to start stretching regularly (this has always been my fitness weakness) that would be ideal.

We've had a string of freaking GORGEOUS fall days the last couple of weeks, and I feel like I've really been taking advantage of it. Mount Holyoke has a tradition called Mountain Day where they cancel classes (which is a surprise for students!) and everyone hikes up Skinner Mountain to the Mount Holyoke Summit House, takes in the view, sings the alma mater, and (my favorite part) eats ice cream. Even though it was two days after the Maine Marathon, my director and I hiked all the way up the mountain and it was beautiful.

So beautiful that when my parents visited the campus on the following Saturday, I just had to take them up to the summit as well! (But we drove up because my legs were basically dead at that point and I had to preserve them for the B.A.A. Half the next day. Did I mention I'm a dummy?) I gave my parents a tour of the MHC campus as well (MHC's campus in the fall is basically the most picturesque thing on planet Earth), and after 3 hours of walking we got a delicious lunch at the Yarde House and Quakes (ice coffee + ice cream blended together - YUM) at Barstows before heading to the top. I'm happy that my parents got to see how beautiful MHC and the surrounding areas are!

Brett's still immersed in football, and his grad school will be starting up again very soon (last year - almost there!), but I've still been seeing him practically every weekend which has been so nice! Hanging out with him tends to pull me out of my own world of worksleepworksleepworksleep, so I'm happy we're still making sure we have a little bit of time together each weekend. This weekend we're planning on having some snacks and some drinks at my friends Erin & Cullen's house for the Patriots game. I'm heading into several crazy weeks of intense programming for student orgs so having relaxing days like this planned and on my schedule are super helpful to unwind with!

I have a feeling that these next few weeks are going to fly by. Brett has a birthday coming up (his GOLDEN birthday - 27 on the 27th!), Halloween is right after that, I'll blink and it will be Thanksgiving (and my sister will be visiting!), and before I know it the semester will be over (this is how it always works). Although I'm trying to deny that winter is coming (I guess I'm not a Stark), I do really enjoy the time I get with family and friends during this time of year, so I'm looking forward to the holidays. Especially my favorite day of the year - HALLOWEEN! I can't wait to share my costume with you all! :)

Return from Opening

Hey everyone! I'm alive. :)

Mount Holyoke Convocation 2015

93 degree weather + 5,000% humidity. Everyone basically melted.

The opening of the fall semester is hectic, and with learning a new job and figuring out a schedule for myself on top of that, blogging has been put on the back burner for the last couple of weeks - sorry about that! Things have finally *officially* opened - students are back, programming has slowed down a bit, and things are falling into somewhat of a rhythm - and despite some major tilts in my personal and professional life, things are going pretty well. I'm able to take time to myself, spend time with Brett on a semi-regular basis, and I've been working in exercise into the mix as much as possible. It seems like things are starting to hit their stride a little bit and I'm enjoying it!

 

"Zip up or ZIP OUT"

Bison pulling off a huge win over Anna Maria last Saturday! 51-29!

Cool kids at Nightfest on Saturday

The insanity of Org Fair on Wednesday... and this isn't even close to how packed it got!

Anywho, apologies for the lack of updates. I had quite a few things scheduled to be posted over the last two weeks, but honestly it just wasn't realistic to sit down and write when I had 1,000 other to-dos on my list. Higher Ed is crazy, y'all! BUT that leaves me with a lot of ideas to work off of for new posts! I'm going  to get back into the swing of blogging a couple times a week starting next Tuesday, so I'll see you all then!

...right? ;)

Life as the New Kid: My First Month as an #SApro!

I can't believe I've already been at Mount Holyoke for a month. It still seems like I'm stumbling through the daily functions of my job and the students haven't even arrived yet! I know it's all part of the transition process, though, and soon I'll start to really get the hang of everything. I know I haven't really been writing about my experience at MHC so far, and that's because I really wanted to get settled and acclimated before sharing anything. Now that a month's gone by, I feel like I have a few things to talk about!

You know your institution is legit when it has its own Snapchat filter. :P

For those that may be confused on exactly what my job is, my official title is Student Event and Special Programs Coordinator, meaning I get the awesome task of working with all of our 130ish student organizations on campus and helping them along the event planning process. I'm also responsible for some of our office's signature events such as No Study Zone and Pangy Day, as well as hopping in on various campus-wide programming like New Student Orientation, January Intersession programming, and student leader socials. Basically, I'm going to have a hand in almost every student event on campus that isn't sponsored by athletics or an academic department - pretty crazy!

My very minimally decorated space. I left lots of room for new memories! 

(And yes, I have two computers. #commandcenter)

I had my first official day on July 7th, and was welcomed by my supervisor and colleague, Kris and Erin, with flowers and cider donuts - a staple out here in Western Mass. My first week was a whole 'lotta not knowing what I'm doing, which is always frustrating when you're coming from an institution you felt you knew like the back of your hand. However, my colleagues made me feel very welcome and right at home in my new space. They had even ordered me a great new desk (put together by Erin and her husband - thanks, guys!) and set up a beautiful iMac for me! (I'm usually a PC gal, but if I have to use a Mac, I'd rather use an iMac!) We also got the chance to celebrate Jaime's (another one of my colleagues in Student Programs) birthday that week by going out for sushi & ice cream. Any staff that's a fan of sushi and ice cream I know I'm going to fit just fine into. ;)

The following week, Erin invited me to join her and some of her friends in Harry Potter trivia at this local bar called The Quarters (packed to the brim with old arcade games - so cool!), and of course I had to say yes! We were team Snapes on a Plane (genius) and though we didn't place, we didn't do too shabby for the kind of questions that they were asking! Props to Erin and her husband Cullen, though - they dominate me in the HP knowledge department. It's great to be a part of a staff that also wants to make an effort to do some outside staff bonding, especially when I'm still getting to know everyone!*

Some of the major projects I'm working on right now are bus trips for the fall, a movie musical series, an after-dark festival called NightFest (which I've been booking food trucks for which I think is just about the most exciting thing ever!), and social events for fall orientation. Erin and I have also taken it upon ourselves to revitalize our office's social media (We call ourselves the Brain Trust... #weloveScrubs), so if you'd like to follow us we're on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook! I always love having the opportunity to work with social media in my day-to-day life, so I'm very excited that we've started on this project together.

Things are a bit on the slow side right now (as they usually are throughout the summer) but they are absolutely going to start ramping up soon. Our Orientation Student Staff will start arriving back to campus on the 25th, the new international students arrive on the 31st, all new students will arrive on September 2nd, and all returning students will arrive on September 6th! That's less than a month away... YIKES! I'm very excited for what's in store for me this year, though, and I'm so happy I get to be part of such a wonderful staff throughout my first year as an #SApro! :)

*The one other staff member in Student Programs that I haven't mentioned yet is Tim, and that's because he's been mostly out of the office on vacation since I've started, but we're going to work very closely together in our roles, so I'm sure he'll be popping up in my work stories quite often in the future!

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!