I don't have a ton of links for you this month because - let's be honest - it is HARD to look at the internet lately. I don't know if it's because of national and world events getting shared regularly (which, while tough to read, it is a positive thing that they're being brought to light and discussed), the fact that the U.S. Presidential is REALLY picking up speed, or some other reason, it seems that every time I click onto Twitter or Facebook or anywhere online that I can really find the links I share with you all I either want to cry my heart out or roll my eyes until they get stuck in the back of my head. #yikes Anywho, I sifted through and found a few gems that I really enjoyed and felt was appropriate to share with everyone!
Game of Thrones Beginner's Guide
WARNING: GoT SPOILERS (but I think that's pretty obvious)
Brett shared this on my wall and it is hilarious! This is a quick rundown of the plot of Game of Thrones through Season 5 (there's a tiny bit of Season 6 but not a ton) which is awesome in itself but to make it even better - IT'S NARRATED BY SAMUEL L. JACKSON which we all know makes literally everything 150 times better. If you're a fan (or new to the show and do not care about spoilers) I would highly suggest you check out this video.
I 100% found this as a result of Google Ads totally understanding my click and search habits. :P This is a Virtual Race that combines the sport of running with the Pokémon GO! craze which is absolutely genius on the race company's part! The idea is you go for a run to hatch some of your Pokémon GO! eggs (hence the distance options) and at the end of the race you get a cool new Pokemon AND a shiny new Pokéball medal. What's not to love?
It turns out that my high school alma mater is getting a brand new building (and really, a brand new school all together)! While some people may be upset by the news that their high school is getting replaced, I'm pretty stoked about this. Good ol' Dover High desparately needs a facelift - both in and out - and I'm very excited that future DHS students will get to enjoy this environment!
This link is both awesome and slightly terrifying. Awesome that Ireland is super aware of how terrible of a position our country is potentially in, and terrifying that this could potentially need be an option for some people in our country. You guys.... I'm so nervous about where this Presidential season is going to take us. Fingers crossed for the best.... #YIKES!
Michelle Obama's Speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention
While I'm not the biggest Hillary fan in the world (#feeltheBern), you can't deny how moving Michelle Obama's speech at the DNC was last night. It's a long video, but I highly suggest you give this a watch.
"Today, I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters - and all our sons and daughters - now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States. So, don't let anyone ever tell you that this country isn't great, that somehow we need to make it great again, because this right now is the greatest country on Earth."
Hey y'all! It's been quite an eventful week/weekend thus far. I've officially moved out of my apartment and in with Brett which is super exciting! We spend most of this past weekend packing, moving, and settling into *our* new space. We're adjusting back into sharing space with one another full-time but it is so nice to only be a couple of steps away at any given moment and planning dinner every night. There are still some boxes to be unpacked and furniture to be moved but our place will feel like our home very very soon!
We will be celebrating Fourth of July weekend with a Weezer concert tomorrow (thanks for the tickets, Lindz!) and a trip to New Hampshire to spend the actual holiday on the lake with my whole fam which includes a visit from my South Carolinian sister! It will be good to all be together again. That hasn't happened since Thanksgiving! I hope you all are planning fun, eventful holiday weekends as well!
I'm really happy with this month's selection of favorite links! It's a good combination of things that I love and things that I'm looking forward to this season. I hope that you can find something to enjoy in this handful of internet gems and be sure to share your favorite links of the moment in the comments!
Talk about two of my geekiest obsessions colliding to make something awesome! This is a series of illustrations created by Kaleb Raleigh that reimagines the house sigils of Game of Thrones as Pokémon evolutions! (The series is titled A Song of Blue & Red... awesome.) All of these are pretty awesome and accurate to what I would have imagined them to be. Of course, I had to share with you my favorite house here (#TeamTargaryen fo' lyfe) but I strongly encourage you to click the link and check out the other houses as well!
The Little Prince Official US Release Trailer
The Little Prince is one of my all time favorite stories and I am OVER THE MOON that it is being released as an animated feature on Netflix in July. I guess this film was dropped by its original studio at some point in the process so I am extremely happy that Netflix did the smart thing and picked it back up! If you haven't read The Little Prince, I strongly - STRONGLY - encourage you to do so and be just as excited as me that this is happening!
Simone Biles Floor Routine at the P&G Gymnastics Championship
Raise your hand if you're excited for the Olympics!
ME: *flails arms both arms around in the air like an idiot*
So I've been watching some of the Olympic trials and championships for Olympic sports in preparation for the summer games and getting SO PUMPED for the Olympics! It's just over a month away and I can't wait to sit on the couch all month and be amazed at how talented these athletes are while I shove handfuls of chips and Oreos into my face. This gymnast, Simone Biles, is incredible and a force to be reckoned with. Just look at this floor routine - especially that last pass. WOW. She won this championship and will be going to the Olympic trials for the Women's team, but I don't have a doubt (barring disaster) that she will be representing the USA in Rio. She is amazing!
This recipe looks incredible. It looks complex to make, but sooooo delicious to eat. And a perfect dish for summer, too! The blogger that wrote about this recipe said that it took them a few attempts to make it the way it appears in the image above (I'm pretty sure that making pasta is ALWAYS a pain in the ass) but that the pay off is super worth it. I would love to attempt this recipe some time this summer because it looks so yummy!
This is the 20th installation of my favorite links posts which is crazy! I really have been enjoying throwing these lists together as posts to share with you all. As I look back at my older favorite links posts it gives me an insight of what I was into at that point in time. I hope you all enjoy them as well!
In the last few favorite links posts, I've been giving a bit of a life update at the beginning to let you all know what I've been up to if you don't watch my weekly vlogs, but I've recently posted two entries about my travels to Fort Lauderdale and to Montréal and those are really the big things that have happened in my life recently so I figured instead of repeating myself here, you can go check those entires out instead! As for now, I'm going to hop right into the links I've been loving lately! Everything You Should Know Before Trying to Cut Down on Sugar
I'll be the first to admit that my sugar addiction is out of control. I've had the biggest sweet tooth my entire life, and I know it's a huge problem as an adult. I've been trying to cut down on my sugar intake here and there (though admittedly, stopping by Dunkies every morning does not help!) but it is tough. Sugar intake IS an addiction, and I was delighted to stumble upon this article which provides insight on how to prepare to reduce the sugar you add to your diet. If you're like me and have a sugar addiction, I would highly recommend reading this quick article to better understand on how you can cut back in a safe/sane way.
Mac Miller Unloads on Donald Trump
This is awesome. Mac Miller, a multi-platinum rap artist who is particularly famous for a song he wrote a few years ago called Donald Trump, basically unleashes hell on Donald Trump and it. is. incredible. He uses his privilege as a white man to say what basically all of us are thinking. There's really no words to describe how amazing not only his speech is, but the pure joy that Miller gets from ripping Trump to shreds is written all over his face. I love it and could literally spend all day just replaying this video.
These pieces of art are equal parts beautiful and awesome. I have no idea how you make stained glass, let along manipulate to pattern to make amazing replicas of video game characters and items, so needless to say I'm thoroughly impressed. The best part - all of the ones displayed on this post are Nintendo-themed which, in my humble opinion, is the best gaming company ever. Of course, my favorite ones were the Pokémon stained glass pieces, but I can definitely appreciate all of the other designs as well!
Elephants That Think They're Lap Dogs
I think there's really no reason for me to explain why I love this so much. My friend Cullen put this on my wall with the comment "Is this your dream come true?" ...Uhmmmm OBVIOUSLY. I basically cried tears of joy and jealousy watching this video. So cayuuuttteee. Someone get me to a baby elephant sanctuary pronto so I can live there forever, please and thank you!
I was an Advertising major in college and a recurring assignment I had in my courses was to watch the Super Bowl and evaluate the commercials. (Yeah, my homework was usually pretty awesome.) Ever since, I've liked to share my favorite commercials with my friends and family and find out what they thought about the ads from the game. (I talked about a few of the stand out ads from last year's game in a blog post here.) This year's post is going to be much more cheerful than last years and I noticed a definite theme when picking out my favorites - basically if a company uses a dog in any of their ads, I'm going to pay attention to their ads. What can I say. I love dogs.
"Weiner Stampede" - HEINZ Ketchup
I'm pretty sure the only thing cuter than dogs dressed in costumes is when dauchaunds (aka weiner dogs) dress up in hot dog costumes and run in unison toward ketchup and mustard bottles. Like... why didn't HEINZ think of this sooner? IT'S GENIUS. Also, the dauchaund puppy in the little hot dog costume and the little kid in the ketchup packet costume? I'm pretty sure I'm dead from the cuteness. Well done, HEINZ. Well. Done.
"Subaru Dog Tested: Puppy" - Subaru
This commercial is also adorable. I don't think it does a good job in selling the car itself, but I'm pretty sure that Subaru was just banking on the cute factor to make this commercial work which I'm definitely not opposed to. I mean, who can say no to a golden retriever? And even more - who can say no to a golden retriever puppy? Correct answer: no one.
"#Pokemon20" - Pokémon
Kind of veering off the dog theme comes another favorite of mine that I did not expect to see during the SuperBowl - a Pokémon 20th Anniversary commercial! Pokémon is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and is doing some pretty awesome things to commemorate the milestone including giving out free mythical Pokémon every month and releasing Pokémon GO! this year (rumored to be released at the end of this month!). It's so cool how one of my favorite childhood pastimes is still going strong after such a long time and even making an appearance in the Super Bowl!
"Doritos Dogs" - Doritos
And finally, my absolute favorite commercial of the evening was this Doritos commercial! Not only was this adorable, but it was basically a live-action cartoon and I was laughing through the entire thing. Doritos always kills it in the hilarious commercials department and they did not disappoint this year, and of course whatever company uses humor AND dogs in their ads has my vote. I'm pretty sure this one can speak for itself!
This weekend marks the first day of summer! HOORAYYY! Summer is my favorite season - sunshine, ice cream stands, fireworks, flip flops, and all the BBQ food you could ever dream of. Love. It. Brett and I have a lot of fun things planned for this summer, including moving into my new apartment, taking a trip down the Cape with some friends, and spending as much time together before football takes over his life once again in August. I'm SO EXCITED!
I 100% skipped out on doing my favorites for the winter, but I really wanted to get back on the favorites ~trend~ for the spring! Let's hop right into it. Activity | Playing Pokémon Alpha Saphire
Brett bought me Alpha Sapphire as a graduation gift and of course the day after I graduated I needed to hop right into it! I was super duper into the game for a long while but sessions with Orientation has since interrupted my streak of playing for hours upon hours. I'm 6 badges in right now (All you PokéFans will know what that means) and I can't wait to have a bit more time to finally beat the game. It's so much fun (as Pokémon always is) and I love that I have a reason to spend some time on my 3DS again! :)
App | Dreamdays 365
This app is one of the millions of countdown apps out there, but I love the way this one looks and operates. There is a very minimalist feel to this app, which I love, and I looked at it almost every day as graduation drew nearer and nearer. If you're counting down to something exciting and are looking for a nice looking and functional countdown app, I would recommend this one!
Apparel | Bridgewater State University Alumni Tee
I mean, of course! Not only do I love this shirt because I get to brag about the fact that I actually graduated from grad school, but my organization, PC, gave it to me as a parting gift. I'll always think of them whenever I wear this shirt. Double special! :)
Book | Wild by Cheryl Strayed
This was the only book I read in the spring, but this book was great. Memoirs are my favorite genre of literature, especially if it involves travel and adventure! This book made me want to go hiking so badly every time I picked it up to continue reading. I have always thought long-distance hiking would be such a cool adventure, and this book made me fall even more in love with the idea. This book would be perfect for anyone who feels like they are in a bit of a crossroads in their life, or anyone who is craving a bit of adventure.
Food & Drink | Espresso Bacon @ The Fix in Worcester, MA
Tim and Joanne took me out to this restaurant on my last day of my internship at Clark, and as soon as I saw "Espresso Bacon" on the menu I KNEW I had to order it. Oh my goodness. So delicious. I'm pretty sure I blogged about this in one of my life updates in May. But still. Oh my goodness. *drool* I can't wait to go back there to get some more (with an ADULT milkshake, because they have those there #heaven)!
Home & Office | Filofax A5 Saffiano in Pear
Obviously. I love this thing. I knew I would love the A5 size! I felt so cramped in the Personal size, but now I feel like I can really plan comfortably and utilize my Filofax to its full capability. Right now my schedule has been extremely repetitive (Orientation is basically 3 weeks of déjà vu), but once I move and start my new job I'll be relying on it a bit more. I can't wait to show you all the inside soon! :)
Movie | Pitch Perfect 2
I was a bit nervous about how good this would actually be (I'm not typically a fan of sequels) but I was laughing so hard throughout this whole movie. It's a lot of the same thing as the first movie, and it's a very "cutesy" story line like the first movie, but it is entertaining as hell. (One recommendation: leave your politically correct hat at the door if you really want to enjoy this movie, because most of the jokes are SUPER inappropriate. They really do attack every identity in this film!)
Song | "Lean On" by Major Lazer & DJ Snake
When I first heard this song, I'm pretty sure I plaid it on repeat for 48 straight hours. The beat is so catchy and cool, I absolutely love it. GREAT jam to fall in love with right before summer kicks off!
TV Show | Game of Thrones Season 5
DUH. Holy crap. This season was INSANE. Game of Thrones never fails to impress me. The story line is incredible, the actors are amazing, the cinematography is stunning, and the plot twists KILL YOU ON THE INSIDE. I'm not going to put any spoilers in here, but THAT SEASON FINALE. JEEEEEEEEEEEEZ. The best part about this season is that it ends at the same place the latest book ends, so now NO ONE really knows what's going to happen next except for the creators. Brett and I are really considering starting to read the books together to tide us over until the next season releases, because who knows when that will be? If you haven't started watching this show, YOU NEED TO START WATCHING THIS SHOW. /endtiradeaboutGoT
Memory | Birthday/End of Classes/New Job/Graduation Week
Also another obvious one. This was one of the greatest weeks of my life and I feel so lucky to be fortunate enough to experience it. I turned 25 and ended my grad school classes on the same day, the next day I accepted my position with Mount Holyoke, and the day after that I graduated and spent the entire rest of the week celebrating with the people I love the most. What more can you really ask for as a twenty-something? Who knows if I'll be lucky enough to have a week like that again, but I will always look back on that week of one of the best of my life! :)
What were some of your favorite things this spring?
Aren't these adorable? My mom hand painted them and gave them to me as a gift!
Last weekend Brett had his 25th birthday! Since I was going to be away for Halloween, we thought what better time to throw a combination Halloween/birthday party than the weekend before? So we invited a few friends over to celebrate with us!
Nerd, Misty, and Wolverine!
Wolverine was feeling a little aggressive
One of the X-Men and a Pokemon trainer... the unlikeliest of couples.
We made a cauldron of witch's brew...
...and when the clock struck midnight and it was *officially* Brett's birthday, I brought out a candle-lit peanut butter cup cupcake and we all sang happy birthday to him. We spent the rest of the night playing N64 and chatting. It was a great, relaxed night with a few close friends and we all had a great time together!
The next morning Rob and I went out to grab Brett some birthday breakfast from Elizabeth's Bagels which Brett had been raving about since we've met, yet somehow we hadn't gotten together yet. (It was delicious.) After breakfast I gave Brett his birthday gifts! I was so excited to finally give them to him (they had been sitting in my office closet for about 3 months just waiting to be opened) and I'd say he was pretty excited to receive them!
I got him some new socks (which he's been asking for), a new pair of sandals (his were falling apart), a basketball hoop he's been wanting, and, of course, a bag of Reese's (his fave!). I'm so happy he liked all of his gifts - he's been playing basketball ever since he unwrapped his hoop! :) We finished the day by heading to his hometown to watch Red Zone at his friend's house, and to visit his family for dinner, cake, and ice cream. It was such a nice day and I'm so happy Brett enjoyed it! :)
