I Moved!

Seen above is a panoramic of my essentially empty apartment at Dean. (A few of my furniture items did not make the cut in the move to my new tiny studio.) Over the last few days I've been moving across the state of Massachusetts to my new home! This is my first *big girl* apartment - one that is away from work, that I'm paying for myself, and can really call my own. It's like I'm adult or something. YAY!

Brett and I spent the majority of last Wednesday and Thursday driving back and forth from Franklin to my new teeny-tiny hometown in central MA, which turns out to be about an hour and some change one way. Throw in the Cape Cod traffic leading into the holiday and it made for a grueling couple of days. Our hard work paid off, through, and we only had to make one trip to the new apartment when my parents came down to help with my larger furniture. We made 5 trips to the new place in total (totaling in around 10 or so hours over three days) and I can now officially say my time at Dean is over. It's been an interesting three years (to say the least), but it brought me so many wonderful things like my first two apartments, a path into the field of Higher Ed, amazing connections with students, Brett (*heart eye emoji*), and my friendships with Rob and Cassie. It was very bitter sweet to say goodbye (I mean look at that apartment) but I'm happy my career is progressing in the direction I want it to! :)

I went from living in a gorgeously too-large-for-one-person 5 room apartment at Dean, to a small studio that is actually perfect for one person with the lifestyle I have (aka always working and never home). I had to do a significant amount of downsizing and as I unpack I am still working on figuring out what I do and don't need and throwing things out or donating items that are still usable. My place is on the first floor of a small apartment complex in the mountains of central MA and it is so freaking quiet here that it's basically the opposite of living in a residence hall. It is so perfect. (The views of the mountains don't hurt either!) I can't wait to share photos and videos of  everything once it's unpack and in its place, but for now, here's a vlog from our moving experience last week!

I hope you all have a fantastic week! :)

Don Draper, Quadcopters, and Bonfires

Wow, it's Wednesday again already? This past week flew by!

I'm writing to you live from my temporary apartment at BSU! Because we work a lot of late nights during Orientation, they're putting me and my coworker Kelly up in a student apartment for the duration of the program so we don't have to worry about driving back and forth on little sleep. The rooms are pretty tiny (though to be fair, my room at Dean is HUGE so I'm a bit spoiled), but we're the only ones in our apartment that houses 6 people which is awesome!

Anywho, this past weekend was spent with Brett and my parents up in NH - a much needed escape. The weather was pretty gross the first few days, so we spent the majority of it vegging on the couch and watching Mad Men, as we often do when we're at my parent's house. (We watched the entirety of season 6 and are now all the way caught up to the current season. Now we have time to catch up to the mid-season break and be ready for when the show returns!) We also went out shopping with my mom on Saturday, and since I had some birthday money to spend I decided to splurge. I'll have a whole haul post and video ready for you guys in a few days! :)

When we weren't being so lazy, Brett and I spent some quality time outdoors. I got my dad a quadcopter for his birthday, so we decided to take it out practice our piloting skillz.

We were pretty crap at the beginning (I may or may not have roofed it...) but with some practice we got pretty good at it. Afterwards, I showed Brett the Phantom and how awesome it is and now it's on our mile-long wish list. One day, when we're rich, we'll get one. ;)

Sunday it started to brighten and warm up, so we took the pups out for a walk to the pond so we could throw sticks for Kiwi (her favorite pastime).

Because it rained the majority of the weekend, I was a little nervous that we wouldn't be able to have a MDW bonfire. Luckily, my parents are in the process of completely gutting out our kitchen so we had a surplus of dry wood to burn, and I got my obligatory first s'more of the season! :) (And my obligatory second s'more of the season. :X)

Before headed back to MA, Brett and I made the pilgrimage to La Festa - the world's greatest pizza place. ;) I had my usual cheese slices and cinnamon knots while Brett got a little experimental and tried out 2 new slices in addition to his usual pesto slice. He's much more adventurous than I am when it comes to pizza! 

I also brought him up to another place that my friends and I frequented in high school - Cafe on the Corner. I had told him about Cookie Monster Smoothies, but he had never tried one before and we always stuff ourselves too much at La Festa before we get the chance to grab one, and though that was still the case this time around, I insisted that we at least get one to share. Brett, who was stuffed to the brim with pizza and knots, reluctantly agreed, and we made the trek up the hill to "Cafe".

The smoothie was better than I remembered it, and even though Brett was super full he couldn't resist sharing pretty much half of it with me! Imagine a Oreo chocolate cream pie, but in drinkable form. That's a Cookie Monster Smoothie. They're amazing.

After rolling back down the hill with our food babies, we headed back to MA and chatted all the way home. The weekend was definitely something that I needed - delicious food, quality time with Brett & the fam, and some good ol' NH fresh air. It's nice to know that I have a place to escape to every so often! Please never move, Mom & Dad! ;) 

I hope you all had a fabulous start to your summer like I did!

October Goals

1. Finish the Hartford Marathon - I've been training for this race for months and I would be over the moon to finally reach my goal of finishing this race!

2. Order a new 2014 agenda - It's funny to think we're coming into the end of the year, isn't it? That means it's time to order a new agenda for 2014! I've had my eyes on the Erin Condren life planners for quite some time now, and I can't wait to finally get my hands on one!

3. Organize Home Office - Since we moved in to our new place, there's been a constant pile of things in the corner of my office. I know I want to keep everything, I just need a means of organizing it. Im hoping to get a nice system of bins and shelves going! Time to look for some office inspiration...

4. Finish Student Development Presentation - In one of my courses we have two major assignments - a presentation (one person a week will present) and a paper on a seperate topic. Well, I'm the lucky one who drew the presentation that's on the same day our paper is due. Oy. They're not due until November 25, but I'd love to get the presentation out of the way so I can focus on the paper. #gradschoolproblems

5. Save, save, save - The holidays, and a few loved ones' birthdays are coming up, so I need to start saving for gifts!

6. Give Brett a Great Birthday! - One of those birthdays belongs to Mr. Brett! His birthday (the big 2-5!) is at the end of this month and I want to make sure it's as memorable as the one he gave me. I have so many ideas and I can't wait to share them with you (after his birthday, of course!).

What are your goals for the month?

I'm lucky because...

I have a roof over my head. When the weather starts to get colder, I'm always much more appreciative of having a place to come home to, a couch to lounge on, and a bed to sleep in. It's so easy to forget to appreciate something as basic as your home!

All of my body parts are fully functional. Some people don't have the ability to move freely own their own, and I'm so thankful that I can run and jump and walk around at a moment's notice!

I have a wonderful, loving, and supportive family. They've supported me in every decision I've made throughout my life (even when I wanted to dye my hair pink in 7th grade!) and I've been able to accomplish things beyond my wildest dreams because of it.

Family whale watch adventure circa 2000/2001

I've had the wonderful opportunity to continue my education not once but twice now. I've been able to earn my Bachelor's degree (thanks to the help of my parents and loans) and have been given the opportunity to pursue my Master's for the low, low, price of free - not something a lot of people can say, and I'm very thankful for it.

I've been privileged enough to travel. Even at the young age of 23, I've been able to travel not only to many places throughout the country, but also to the Carribean, Canada, and even across the pond to Europe! There's still so much more I want to see, but even if I never travel again, I know I've been very fortunate to take the trips that I have!

I have people in my life who care. My family. My wonderful boyfriend. A few very good friends. My students and co-workers. I know that I can turn to them as a source of happiness in a time of need and for that I am truly grateful!

*This post was in no way meant to sound braggy, but it may have come off that way.
I'm just really happy and appreciative for all I have in my life! :)

Wi-Fi-less!

One of the disadvantages to living in on-campus housing is that you don't have much control over what happens to your apartment, since you're not the one paying for it. Obviously, the pros outweigh the cons (again, you don't have to pay for it!), but if something stops working, you're basically S.O.L. until it's fixed. For example, the hot water was out over the weekend and couldn't get fixed until the facilities department got back on Monday. 

Now, the college is switching over the Wi-Fi network, and I'm without the Internet for a few days. Hence, no July Goals or Book Club updates. But no worries! I'll get those posts up as soon as I get a connection on my laptop. (I'm currently phone-blogging... #firstworldproblems)

Hope y'all are having a great week, and I'll be sure to update soon! I have lots to write about :)

New Apartment Tour!

As mentioned in my previous post, Brett and I have recently moved into a new apartment! We're absolutely in love with the new place. It's so much bigger than my last apartment and it feels great to have the extra space! We're very lucky to have a place this awesome at our ages, and I really want to share it with you all! :)

Friday Five {#4}

Friday Five

Five things that mattered to me this week!

1. I'm blogging at you live from my OFFICE (I have an office now?) in my brand new apartment!* Brett and I moved into our new place (in the building next to us... >_>) on Tuesday and I finally finished unpacking and cleaning everything this morning/afternoon. The new place had a spare room, and I decided to turn it into a little office! It's nice having a desk again!

2. Noble and Jeff are coming up tonight for a weekend visit from Jersey! It's always a great time seeing them, so I'm pumped!

3. Yesterday I was offered a GA in the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership at Bridgewater! I'm beyond psyched to start this GA. My friend Joanne had the same GA during her time at Bridgewater and loved it, so I'm sure it will be an awesome experience!

4. Tomorrow I'm running the Superhero Scramble! Slightly terrified. If I never update this blog again, you'll know why... x_x

5. Happy National Doughnut Day! *hops in the car and drives to Dunkin' Donuts*

*I'll post an apartment tour entry in the next couple days!

Have an awesome weekend, everyone!