SURPRISE! IT'S A BLOG POST THAT ISN'T READING/BOOK RELATED!
I figured you all were looking for a break. ;)
It's been a bit since I've shared some links with you all so I thought it was time to compile some internet things for you all to click on and check out! This round we've got one more serious and heavy thing but mostly fun, hilarious, and ridiculous things to balance it out. I hope you all find something you're interested in, and make sure you share your favorite links of the moments in the comments!
I Replaced The Word ‘Millennials’ With ‘43-Year-Old White Men’ And Now These Headlines Are *Italian Chef Kissing Fingers Gesture* I always get confused as to why other generations like to abuse the term "millennial" so much, as if the literally millions of people born between the years 1980 and 2000 are all the same and a single-handedly ruining society. So when things like this article come out it is beyond satisfying. Take a look at these hilarious edits and learn just how ridiculous that blaming literally everything terrible on Millennials. Anxiety, Depression, and Being a Downer
Charlieissocoollike has been a favorite YouTuber of mine every since I started visiting the site back in 2007 (I can't believe that is nearly 10 years ago!). It means so much to me when people I admire speak out about mental health. There is so much ridiculous stigma around topics of mental illness when 1 in 4 people in the United States live with iteveryday. We need more voices on this tpic, we need more dialogue regarding this difficult subject, and we need to start treating mental illness as just that - an illness that needs to be treated. It's real, and we need to treat it that way.
This was a cutesy little article just just relays one very important piece of information - New Hampshire, which I consider to be my home state even though I've lived in Massachusetts for pushing 10 years now, is the happiest state in New England! LIVE FREE OR DIE!
I mean... the title of this link is all you need to know. The Lincoln Park Zoo is extremely witty. And I love it. ALEXANDER CAMELTON! WE ARE WAITING IN THE WINGS FOR YOUUUU!
$ave Dat Money - Lil Dicky
Brett showed me this music video and song and I'm obsessed. I've never related to a rap song so much in my life. Seriously, give this a listen and really pay attention to the lyrics. A.) They're hilarious (I mean, that iced coffee verse at the end? PLEASE.) and B.) They're so effing smart and I'm pretty sure anyone in my age and SES group can totally relate.
My friend Solange had posted this on Facebook and as someone who LOVED American Girl growing up I LOLed the whole way through this clickthrough article. If you know anything about American Girl - whether you had a doll, read the books, read the magazine, or visited the store - click through this article and cry-laugh along with me.
Hello everyone! I took a little (unintentional) week's break off from the blog last week. I was feeling very exhausted throughout the week as a lot was weighing on my mind, and when that happens blogging is typically the last thing I'd like to do, but through journaling and creativity and of course the incredible support from B, I've been able to process through it and I'm feeling much better. Sometimes you just need to take a mental health break!
Activities and events are back in full swing at MHC and it feels like I'm finally settling into my routine. My colleagues and I have come up with a solid plan so no single one of us is always caught at work late on Fridays or Saturdays. It seems like things are progressing forward in a very positive way which is always a glorious feeling to have while you're at work. I'm very lucky to be a part of such a cohesive staff! #blessed #sockgameonpoint
I'm creeping up toward a butt load of travel in these last weeks of winter and I'm super excited about them! First off I will taking a vacation down to Fort Lauderdale next week (!!!) with my friend Rob while Brett is recruiting for work. We found some really cheap round trip flights (Under $200 to get there and back! Uhm, yes please.) and I'm staying at this cute little Air BnB that's not far from the house the coaches are renting, and about a 10 minute bike ride from the beach! I'm definitely planning on renting a bike for my time down there so I can travel around in the warm Florida air easily. I'm looking forward to spending time far away from stress. I'm (of course) planning on hitting the beach, but in my down time journaling, drawing, reading, filming videos, and blogging. It's going to be so niccceeeee. Cannot wait.
Shortly after I return I will be travelling to the exact opposite climate - Canada. My friend and colleague Erin and I are going up to Montréal for the ACPA International Convention which will be so much fun! I'm excited to attend some educational sessions, network, and eat lots and lots of poutine. We're planning on doing some touristy things in our down time as well as Erin's never been to Montréal and the last time I went I was about 14 years old and was there for my sister's softball tournament so I don't remember too much of the city. I'm definitely looking forward to it!
Now that we're all caught up on my life, I'm going to hop right into my favorite links as of late. First of which is very exciting... I'm published, y'all!
My two BSU counterparts (my former supervisor, Matt, and former co-advisor, Casey) and I wrote this article that was finally published in the first 2016 issue of Programming magazine - the publication for the field of Campus Activities! We've been working on this initiative to make our Homecoming pageants more inclusive since I arrived as a graduate student in 2013, and thought that sharing our experience - both the challenges and the successes - would be a great thing to contribute to our field. I'm really proud of this article and proud of OSIL for being courageous in the face of changing a beloved campus tradition!
This.... this is ridiculous. I can't decide if I hate this because it's so ridiculous or love it because it's so ridiculous. I mean, the donut is $100 and made of gold, but it sounds pretty disgusting if you ask me. "It's a donut filled with ube mousse, champagne jelly, and covered with a glaze made from Cristal champagne and 24k gold flakes." Probably not something I want to be eating. What do you think? Either way this was too out of control to not share, so it's making this edition Favorite Links.
Cocktail Chemistry - Ice Ball Cocktail
This is one of the coolest things I've seen in a while! While this is definitely not a super simple process to recreate, you can't beat the presentation! I mean, how cool would it be to be served your drink in an ice ball?! I have a feeling if I attempted this I would fail miserably, but the idea of this is so awesome.
I loved this little article! This is the story of a guy who went on a cruise on his own and tried to make as many friends as he could. Being very socially anxious and introverted, stories of people who have the guts to take on a challenge like this is so fascinating and inspiring to me! If you need a little pick me up or a cheerful story, give this article a read!
I basically fell out of my chair when I found out that this was a thing. HOW CUTE ARE THESE?! This company will create custom plush replicas of your pet and I'm IN LOVE. Granted, they are quite pricey, but if you're far away from your pet or want something to remember a furry friend that you might have lost in the past, I think this would be so incredible. Whoever thought of this is a genius.
In girl power news, LEGO has released their new Ghostbusters set featuring the new cast of lady characters! I love when toy companies great "girl toys" that are more than just pink, purple, princessey, and stereotypically "girly". Love. It. I bet I would love to have some female LEGO characters to play with when I was growing up. My sister and I had a huge box of LEGOs that we always played with as kids and I can't really think of ever having a girl LEGO person. This set features exclusively female LEGO people and it's awesome and deserves to be praised.
My brain basically exploded when I found out about this earlier this week. I knew this play was being released but I had no idea that the story was also being released in book form! I'm still not entirely sure if this is a novel or the script to the play, but either way I'm excited AF and am obviously going to pre-order it. How could you not?!
It's been a while since I've done a favorite links post! I kind of forgot that these have been a staple on my blog for quite some time, but now that I've pretty much caught everyone up on all of my life's happenings on this space, I finally have some time to chat about the things that I've been loving online lately! Hope you guys enjoy these as much as I do! :)
How. Freaking. Adorable. WALL-E is one of the most underrated Pixar movies to date and the fact that LEGO, one of my favorite toy companies, decided to create a WALL-E set makes me so, so excited! How cute would this look on a bookshelf? This was instantly put this on my wishlist! 12 Tricks to Appear Smart in Emails
This post (originally found on thecooperreview.com) is a hilarious infographic on how to wow your colleagues on your email game. Email is a huge, cumbersome part of all of our lives, so poking fun at the etiquette of passing notes electronically is always fun. Check out this post to pick up some new tricks to really impress your coworkers the next time you're in the office! ;)
Blues Cover of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Theme
I love when artists take well-known songs and interpret them into different genres, so when I saw this pop up on my Feedly, I knew I was going to be heart-eyes Emoji over this! This is a blues interpretation of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme (coincidentally, one of my favorite TV shows of all time) and it is excellent. I highly encourage you to take a listen, whether you're a fan of the show or a fan of blues music in general!
I read this post while I was in bed one lazy Saturday morning and I was cry-laughing the entire time. It also helped that I was reading these stories out loud who was also cry-laughing, but I never wanted this post to end. It's based on a sub-Reddit (I'm not a Reddit-er so I hope I'm using the lingo correctly) called "Today I F*cked Up" and it pulls some of the best stories that the author could find at the time of posting. If you need a quick pick me up for the rest of your week, take a look at this post, and maybe even click onto Reddit itself and read through a few. Amazing.
(Clearly, I love LEGOs.) This is an incredible wedding cake that depicts mini-figs constructing the cake out of LEGO blocks and rolling out the white icing. Not saying that this will 100% be my future wedding cake, but this might 100% be my future wedding cake...
This article is a quick reminder that yes, running is hard, but it's supposed to be. I sometimes let myself slack on my running when the going gets tough. I compare myself to other people, get discouraged by my bad runs, and probably over-exaggerate when I'm feeling just a little bit uncomfortable during my runs. It's important to remember to embrace the suck and realize that when you hit a rough patch, it only means you're about to improve! (Only runners will get that, hah!)
College is not a commodity. Stop treating it like one.
I read this while I was on duty a few weeks ago and it really resonated with me. There are many people who attend college now because it's the norm in our society, and many of those attendees enter their collegiate career with the attitude of "I'm paying thousands of dollars for this, so I deserve (fill in the blank)". I see this attitude every day I am at work, I remember hearing it come out of my friends' mouths when I was an undergrad myself, and I'm sure I even uttered it a few times myself. Those that are in college need to realize that college isn't there to make you feel comfortable. It's supposed to challenge you and frustrate you, because that's when you're going to grow. The Washington Post does a great job of putting this idea into words, so give it a read!
It's been a while since my last favorite links post! Over winter break, I spent most of my time on the internet re-watching my favorite YouTube videos, binging on my favorite shows on Netflix, and really just rotting my brain in general. I hadn't been paying too much attention to any new links that I found interesting, so I never gathered enough internet goodies to share with you all. Realizing this, I have finally pulled together enough awesomeness over the past two weeks to share with you my first batch of favorite links for 2015! Hope you enjoy. :)
As I was scrolling through my feed of blogs, this Geekologie post stopped me right in my tracks. This beautifully awesome piece was done by a software engineer, and as incredible as this is, it was only the first stained glass piece he had ever made! I showed this to Brett and he agreed... We would both love to have something this nerdy and beautiful in our future home!
This post displays one of the main reasons I love Tumblr - it points out things in popular culture that I had never realized before, and Disney is not immune. This Buzzfeed article pulls some of the most mind-blowing posts deconstructing Disney movies and some of their hidden meanings (with a few posts poking fun of the franchise thrown in there).
Let's be honest - would it really be a Favorite Links post without an article on Elephants? This is a story of a wild male elephant who saw a captive female from outside of a zoo's fence and broke in to mate with her. A pretty adorable yet bizarre story. It mostly makes me wonder: why there is a zoo and an elephant sanctuary so close together? How do they decide which animals are captive and which are wild? SO MANY QUESTIONS.
This. Looks. AWESOME. For a girl who has grown up playing outside in the snow in the middle of the woods, this would have been so fun to tear around on with my dad and sister! As soon as I saw this video, I forwarded it to my dad as an idea for his next big project. ;)
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's 2015 Golden Globes Monologue
Reason 126,835 why the internet is awesome: I didn't get to watch the Golden Globes on Sunday evening, but the internet was sure to upload Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's monologue and have it ready for me to watch Monday morning. Perfect! Tina and Amy are for sure the two women in Hollywood that I idolize the most. Definitely have huge girl crushes on both of them!
I just finished up reading Yes Please this weekend (it took me about a week to read which is FAST for me) and I read Bossypantsin the fall of 2012 (took me about the same amount of time to finish this one) and just learning about how hard these women worked to get to where they are and how great of a friendship they have is so inspiring and empowering. These women are fantastic role models, and as Parks and Rec comes to an end this winter (NOOOOOO), I'm really interested to see what these two will get up to next!
I don't think the title of this post could be more accurate. I recommend grabbing a mug of hot cocoa, wrapping yourself in a blanket, and scrolling through this gallery to cheer you up about how disgustingly cold it is outside!
It's been an exciting first few weeks of the semester! As my event calendar ramps up and my marathon training winds down (just began tapering... yikes!), I've been spending a little less time perusing the internet for fun and more time doing actual research related to school, internship, and work. (#gradlife) I have, however, found quite a few great links over the past few weeks, so I suppose quality has not been sacrificed! :) Here's what I'm loving online as of late: Holly-Woo: Matthew McConaguhey struts onto Clark University Campus
Sooooo Matthew McConaughey was casually on campus at Clark, my internship site, last Friday, filming for his movie Sea of Trees. I didn't have the pleasure of seeing him myself, but I did get to see the set and the filming process which was really, really cool. (I also discovered that I have the worst time spelling "McConaughey".) I can check "spend a day on the set of a movie" off my bucket list! Can't wait to see the movie when it releases! Here are a few of my own photos from the day:
Trailers in the parking lot across from campus.
View from my office window. A few scenes were being filmed in the building in the background.
Movie crew outside of the building I work in. McConaughey was filming in the room above the guy standing on the roof!
They had to create the effect of trees in the window with spare branches (even though there were actual living trees outside...)
This is an amazing idea! I remember making home made ice cream at Girl Scout camp as a kid and though the experience was fun in itself, I remember it being a lot of work as well. This gives you the fun of making ice cream as well as the fun of playing! Such a fun summer activity idea! (Until the ball pops open and the ingredients go flying everywhere. It's inevitable.)
I really enjoyed this post shared by Katie at Scarphelia. She discusses what some bloggers have become, and points out that many blogs revolve solely around click counts, giveaways, and brand deals rather than including authentic writing, which is what blogging is there for in the first place. Many bloggers try to uphold the image of being "perfect" and having "perfect lives" in order to maintain an audience and sacrifice their authenticity in the process. As an avid blog reader as well as a blogger myself, I can't help but agree. When I'm reading posts that are painfully obvious brand promotions, I have to scroll away from them. I like to read what the author has to say, not what the person who is paying them does. What's your take on this issue?
This woman is an inspiration to me. I came across this article when I was feeling pretty down on my training, but reading that not only had she has accomplished 100 marathons within the time span of a few years, but also has experienced the same training mistakes as me, was another reminder that truly anything is possible if you dedicate enough time and energy to it. If you need some fitness motivation (or even life motivation), check out this article!
(Side note, 3 weeks and 2 days 'til the New Hampshire Marathon! AHH!)
"Paradise" by City & Colour
I loved City & Colour in high school & college, but I kinda forgot about his music after I graduated (save for a few iTunes shuffle appearances). I heard this song on a rerun of Catfish (hilarious) I had on as background noise as I was cleaning my apartment one day, and Dallas Green's voice immediately caught my attention. I tracked the song down and have been playing it on repeat ever since!
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I've officially come to terms with the fact that my favorite season is pretty much over and that fall is making more and more of an appearance in New England. (The leaves are still green, but it is getting depressingly cooler outside...) For me, fall is a time for FOOD. I think fall is my favorite season for food (not counting summer BBQ... that will always be the best in my eyes/taste buds) because it has all the best flavors - pumpkin, apple, cinnamon, cider... YUM. Of course, because of this, I've been Pinning fall recipes like CRAZY and I can't wait to try some of them out. Here are three recipes that I'll definitely be testing in the coming months:
If the title doesn't intrigue you enough, just look at that photo! *drool* I swear once the weather gets colder, pretty much every recipe calls for cream cheese of some kind. Not that I'm complaining... Definitely need to make a batch of these and bring some into one (or all) of my offices!
If you know me at all, you know I'm a breakfast gal through and through. My co-workers know I don't eat huge lunches because of it, my boyfriend knows I get cranky if I don't get my breakfast in the morning, and my mom knows that a fresh batch of French toast can cheer me up after a long day. When I found this recipe for pumpkin French toast, I just about fainted. Can NOT wait to try these out on my next lazy Sunday this fall.
One of my favorite fall treats growing up was apple slices and caramel dip. This is a fun grown-up play on that treat! Perfect for a cozy night in after spending the day watching a football game and pumpkin picking! Can't wait to try this out with some friends. :)
Hey y'all! Sorry I've been MIA over the past couple days. I got sick with a lovely cold which is no fun, and also have had my life ruled by reading a 565 page text book before the class I'm reading it for even starts... x_x
The current bane of my existence... #gradschoolproblems
Today I wanted to share with you a couple of awesome internet findings I've stumbled across over the last few days. There's been quite a bit out there about empowering women lately, and I'm loving it!
"Female Freedom Has an Expiration Date" - Being 35 and Single
The first is this self-documentary by a 35 year old film director, talking about her love life and why she isn't married - half by choice and half not. She ponders if she'll ever find true love that will last a lifetime, yet emphasizes that no matter what, loving yourself is the only way to be truly happy. Definitely worth a watch, as well as showing all those annoying relatives that ask you "when are you getting a boyfriend/girlfriend?!" at every family gathering. #ughcity
18 Things Women Shouldn't Have to Justify
This popped up on my news feed this morning and it just made me feel so great! Women (as well as men) spend a lot of time trying to justify the things that they do because they fear if they don't, they will get judged or ridiculed in some way, shape, or form. It happens so often, that it's almost second nature. I don't even realize I'm doing it half the time, but now that I think back on things, I do feel like I have to explain myself a lot. Why should we have to justify living our lives the way we want to live them if we're not hurting anyone else?
I'm a big advocate of embracing your inner nerd and fully believe everyone has one! I, myself, am pretty nerdy by society's standards - I blog and vlog, I love playing video games, I'm over-obsessive about Game of Thrones and Harry Potter, etc. - but there's certain stigmas and stereotypes that come with identifying as a nerdy girl, like anything else! This article helps debunk some of those stereotypes, and helps girls embrace a nerdier lifestyle. It's a good thing - I promise! :)
I'm loving all of these female friendly articles and videos that are coming out!
Keep 'em coming, internet.
What are some of your favorite links of the moment? Share them in the comments!
