Out of Office! | Blogmas Day 23

Merry Christmas Eve Eve, everyone! 

Today is especially exciting because it was my last day of work for the next 2.5 WEEKS! I don't remember the last time I've had this much time off, but my hope is that I can really savor it and use it as a time to focus on getting my mental health back into a good place. I logged off of work today with a clear inbox and manageable, organized to-do lists to return back to, so I really feel like I can just focus on relaxing without worrying about anything piling up during this time away.  Usually when I have free time I'll set myself up with projects I'd like to do or goals I'd like to accomplish, but really I've just been feeling so burned out lately that I just want to take it really easy, catch up on sleep, and focus on making myself feel better mentally. I may read some books, I may do some art, I'll definitely run... but mostly I don't want to put any pressure on myself to do anything. I can give myself a break for two weeks. I think that's doable.

Bandana from Grandma & Grandpa! It says "Up to Snow Good" 😂⛄

Tomorrow we'll be heading to the dog beach at some point to celebrate Christmas Eve. I'm also planning on putting in a larger run to continue to knock down my #RunMA miles, and cooking a bit for the fam. It's been fun being down here with everyone, and Snowy and Murphy are becoming good friends! I'm looking forward to these next three days and making new Christmas memories with everyone. 🎄

Christmas Vacation TBR! 🌴 | Blogmas Day 18

In three short days, Brett and I will be on our merry way down to Florida for the Christmas holiday. I am so excited to get out of this cold, grey, snowy mess for a little while and soak up some much needed sunshine! 🌞 As usual, I love bringing a huge stack of books along with me on our Florida trips to read outside, and this trip is no different. Judging by my reading pace recently I'm not sure how many books I'll be getting through, but it'll be nice to have some options to choose from while I laze by the pool with a cocktail. 🍹 Here's what I'm planning to take along with me:

Fullmetal Alchemist, vol. 22-24 & vol. 25-27 by Hiromu Arakawa - I've mentioned a few times that I've been wanting to finish up this manga series by the end of 2019, and I thought manga would be a great low-key addition to a vacation TBR! Brett is so pumped for me to get this series read and has been patiently waiting for me to finish it for a year and a half now. 😂 He'll be stoked once I'm finally done!

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson - This was probably the most random title to end up on the TBR you all selected for me this month, but I wanted to save this one for when I was down in Florida. It's always nice to read summery books when the weather is warm (which it definitely IS NOT in Massachusetts right now 😭), so hopefully reading this book while being in the sun will help thaw me out from the cold a bit.

The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak - This title also wound up on my TBR that you all picked for December and I'm actually really excited to get to it! I've heard it compared to Ready Player One, but with a more contemporary romance feel. I have a feeling that this will have the lighthearted vibe that I always crave in my books around the holidays.

Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson - I'm actually currently in the middle of this book, so I think I'll be focusing on this novel first. I'm actually really enjoying it thus far and I'm really intrigued by Kevin Wilson's writing style! I'm excited to have time in my schedule to really focus on this story and get lost in this world for a while.

Talking to Strangers by Malcom Gladwell - This is also a book that I'm in the middle of and actually started back in November. I've developed this terrible habit of starting books and putting them down for months at a time, so I'm trying to slowly chip away at my "Currently Reading" shelf on GoodReads. Again, this is a book that I'm actually really enjoying, but for some reason I've put on the back burner. I think it will be good to have a non-fiction title in this stack to change it up a bit!

What are you hoping to read over the holidays?

Staycation Wish List (BEDA Day 2)

It's my first official day of vacation! 

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I was lucky enough to find some time before the start of the new school year to disconnect from work and I currently have *no plans* (besides a race that I'm signed up for tomorrow, but other than that NO PLANS!). I am very excited to have a staycation, and also a little nervous because I tend to spiral mentally when I have nothing on my plate to accomplish. I thought it might be good to make some really loose plans for myself throughout the week so I have a reason to stay occupied.

I considered naming this post "Vacation Goals" or "Vacation To-Dos" but for some reason that felt way too tasky and filled with pressure. I'm generally a goals-oriented person and like to check things off of a list as I complete them, but given my current mental state and my severe need to take the pressure off of myself, I thought giving myself a to-do list might feel too overwhelming for me at the moment. However, framing these as a "Wish List", or things I would like to get done but won't beat myself up about, might make me feel less pressured and more motivated to get them done. So, without further adieu, here is my wish list for my staycation!

1. Get a haircut: It's been - no joke - an entire YEAR since I've cut my hair and it is in desperate need for a snip.
2. Get my new glasses: I ordered them a few weeks ago and I'm hoping they're ready soon!
3. Get an oil change for my car: Something that is, again, long overdue.
4. Finish the hat I'm knitting: It's my first ever knitted hat project and it's been lovely to create something with my hands again!
5. Journal daily in the mornings: I've heard about the benefits of doing morning pages for years and I've always been intrigued. I'd thought I'd try this out for myself during these 10 days I have off.
6. Do a beach day: I haven't done a proper beach day all summer, and I definitely want to try and fit one in this week.
7. Exercise daily: I will have my regular training runs I will need to complete throughout the week for Newport, but on my off days I want to make an honest effort to do yoga, weights, or a minimum 30 minute walk
8. Finish two books: Theoretically I can finish MANY more, but I'm going to set my goal at two. I think that will feel totally manageable this week and keep in my theme of a low-pressure approach to life and give my mind a break.
9. Finally beat Let's Go Pikachu!: I've been halfway through this game on the Switch for MONTHS because I've been putting other hobbies ahead of it. I'd like to prioritize this game a bit and see if I can get a good chunk of the way through it, and potentially beat it! :)

And I think that's where I'm going to stop assigning myself things (though I am REALLY tempted to add more things to the list)! Hopefully this vacation will be a really restorative one and I will come out feeling so much better mentally and emotionally. I feel like I've just been neglecting myself for so long and I really need to stop doing that. I'm hoping that this week will help me relearn to focus on myself and I can bring these good practices into the new academic year.

A Week of Surprises & Festive Fun

Another whirlwind of a week has come and gone! It really feels like the closer we get to the end of the year the fast time flies. There's just so much that needs to get done! This past week was no different.

The first major thing of note happened last Thursday when I came home to a mysterious Amazon package. All of my gifts that I had ordered online were accounted for, but I wasn't sure if I had ordered something and forgot, or that Brett sneakily ordered me something for our anniversary the next day (he swore he didn't -- I was skeptical). I finally opene dup th ebox and it turned out to be What If It's Us by Adam Silvera & Becky Albertalli sent from my good buddy Michael! It was such a surprise and so fun to come home to that after a long day of work!

Brett and I celebrated our 6th anniversary on Friday (!!!) and as we're trying to save up for the next step of our life (hopefully moving closer to Boston within the next year), we still wanted to celebrate, so we went out for a yummy dinner at a local Japanese restaurant for delicious sushi and scorpion bowls (our scorpion bowl was called the Godzilla - amazing). It's so wild that's it's been 6 years since our first date and it was great to have a chance to spend some time just the two of us before hoping right back into the insanity of the holiday season.

Saturday we went out to Brett's family's house for their annual holiday get together for food, drink, family, and a gift exchange! We had such a fun time hanging out with everyone. Everyone really enjoyed the gifts we got them (Sophia LOVED her books! I may or may not be conspiring to turn her into a little book worm... 😇

The biggest surprise of the evening was when Brett brought out a gift for me from EVERYONE, and it turns out that everyone came together and got me a NINTENDO FREAKING SWITCH for Christmas! 😭😭😭 If you read this year's Dear Santa post, you'll know this is one of the items that I would have LOVED to receive for Christmas this year. And welp... I got my Christmas wish! I am so grateful for everyone who came together to give me this extremely generous gift. I've already been playing it a bunch and I can't wait to continue!

This week has been my last week of work before we head down to Florida tomorrow (!!!) and as predicted it has been hectic AF. I tried my hardest on Sunday to get a ton of things done (groceries, editing, pre-filming, packing, etc.) but I was battling feeling kind of dizzy throughout the day and had to take lots of breaks to lay down. UGH. Always so frustrating when you don't feel well but also have a to-do list that's a mile long!

This week was packed with holiday festivities including two holiday parties, a night of making SO MANY COOKIES, a cookie swap (for the aforementioned cookies) and a festive readathon, all while trying to get mentally and physically prepared for taking nearly two weeks away from home over the holidays. WHEW. It's been a lot, but it's also been so fun in the mean time! Usually the busy-ness of the season really stresses me out, but this year I really seem to be enjoying it. (Although, not gonna lie, now that I've had time to breathe this afternoon the anxiety has been knocking on my mental door. 😣)

My TBR pile for the Christmas at Hogwarts readathon that is happening this week.

Blue circle: Lupita being *real* comfortable under the blankets
Red circle: Brett hanging on for dear life to the edge of the bed
Lupita's really pushing her boundaries when she sleeps in bed with us recently 😂

Enjoying one of my reads for Christmas at Hogwarts ♥️

I made chocolate covered Oreos for our staff Christmas party, both white and milk chocolate. The white chocolate are above. They were a huge hit with both my staff and Brett! 😂
You can find the recipe I followed here!

It's always so hard to say goodbye to Lupita and Poppy when we have to leave for a long period of time.
We always miss them so much! This is the cuteness we had to leave behind this morning... 😭

Today was my last day of work before a beautiful 12-day vacation! We're flying out of Boston tomorrow morning, so instead of driving all the way back to our place in central MA tonight just to drive all the way to the airport in the morning, Brett and I thought it would be smartest for us to stay with a friend in the city instead, which means he came to work with me today! I tend to get into work about an hour early as to beat traffic, so we went to one of my favorite breakfast spots in the area called In a Pickle in the time we had before the work day started.

My epic waffle at In a Pickle this morning. Leslie Knope would be proud. 

After breakfast we headed to the office, where I gave him a tour of the building that I work in and he got to meet my staff for the first time which was so much fun! He's been hearing all about my new job and my new staff for months now so I was happy he got the chance to come to campus with me for a day.

And he came on such a fun day as well! Our entire division did a Cookie Swap, which I had never participated in before, but was actually a lot of fun! The idea is that each person brings in a bunch of cookies of their own recipe, then we all set out our cookies and we get to take a variety of cookies from everyone else! We wound up with SO MANY MORE COOKIES than we brought, which was weird because I still have an entire box of cookies from what I made left over. 😂 Either way, it was a fun festive activity that I had never done before, so I was glad I got to participate.

I brought Peanut Butter Fudge No-Bake Cookies, which are some of my all time faves. I forgot to snap a photo for the blog, but you will be able to see them in my Happy Vlogidays Week 3 Vlog (which should go live this weekend) AND you can find the recipe I used here! It's actually super easy and produces the most delicious peanut butter chocolatey goodness you can imagine. YUM.

And that catches us up to right now, as I sit on our friend's couch typing this post and Brett snoozes next to me. I'll be waking him up in a bit so we can order dinner, but not before I get some Christmas at Hogwarts reading done. I may even pop open the champagne my director gifted me and sneak some of the cookies we swapped from this afternoon. The less I have to carry on the plane, the better, right? 😉 

Like I mentioned, we'll be flying down to Florida in the morning to spend Christmas with my parents. I'm SO looking forward to seeing them, Kiwi, and Mikey, and getting some sunshine. It is much needed! It'll be such a great holiday and I'm so happy it's here. 🌞 

What are you doing this weekend? Have any plans for the last few days of the year?

Let me know in the comments!

LINKS I LOVED THIS WEEK

Hogwarts House Uniform Wearable Snuggie-Like Throw Blanket from Geekologie

So Much Christmas Spirit: Video Of A Guy In A Truck Completely Covered In Christmas Lights Doing Donuts At Night from Geekologie

Home Alone Again with the Google Assistant from YouTube

Grasshopper Brownie Cookies from Oh My Veggies!

Vacation TBR! | Holidays in Florida & the Bahamas!

I am leaving for a much needed 2-week long vacation on Friday and I am SO PUMPED! Brett and I are traveling down to Florida to visit my parents for Christmas and to spend a week with them, for New Year's we are headed to Miami to party with our dear friends Erin & Cullen, and then the four of us are going on a cruise to the Bahamas for a few days in the new year! We are thrilled to be taking a break from our crazy lives, and *of course* I needed to think up a stack of books I wanted to take along with me!

I didn't want to take too many big, bulky, physical books with me so I settled on 4 physical books and 3 eBooks to work on while I'm relaxing. By no means do I think I'll get through all of these in the two weeks I'm away because my main goal is to just relax and have fun, but I'm hoping that these books will be a perfect beach/poolside companion over these next two weeks!

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan & Rachel Cohn
It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis

This One is Mine by Maria Semple

The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

"Ouch My Forehead!" Fort Lauderdale Vacation Recap

Sadly, my vacation is over and I am back to work today. I'm so happy I took this trip. I relaxed like I haven't it longer than I can even remember, sat in the sunshine almost every day, and was even able to spend time with friends! I vlogged throughout the trip (subscribe to my channel here!), but I thought I'd do a recap of my experience here as well!

Last Wednesday Rob and I packed up and flew out of Boston around 8:45pm. The flight was a little over 3 hours directly to Fort Lauderdale and we passed the time playing Mario Kart 7 on our 3DSes, coloring (because we're definitely in our mid-20's) and laughing over stupid inside jokes like "Boingo Wifi". We touched down just before midnight and were picked up by Rob's partner Michael who lives in the area! We instantly felt the temperature difference and were basically sweating in our long sleeves while Michael noted how "cold" it was in Florida haha. Michael dropped me off at my Air BnB at around 1AM and I totally crashed as soon as I made it in the door.

Thursday morning I woke up and wandered down to the grocery store to stock up on some fruits, veggies, and other snacks for my little cottage, and found my local Dunks (which were surprisingly common in south Florida and I was pretty excited about it!). Once I returned I sat out on my little patio (that I showed off in my previous Florida post last week) I sat down with a great book and enjoyed feeling the sunshine on my skin for the first time in months!

Rob stopped by my place around noon or so and we decided to take a long walk down to the beach! It was a gorgeous first day in Florida and we were *so close* to the ocean, so how could we not? The walk took about 40 minutes or so, but it was so worth it once we saw the white sand and gorgeous turquoise water! We immediately hopped right into the waves and the ocean was so warm. I don't know if I could ever swim in the ocean in MA again after this trip!

The Snapchat tag said Ft. Lauderdale Beach, but we were actually at Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.

After about an hour or so of enjoying the sunshine, we decided to venture off to find something to eat for a late lunch. We found this little divey place called Ocean's Grille and both ordered fish & chips (which is actually Mahi in FL!) which was super yummy. We then ventured up to Aruba Beach as there were a few more shops up there, grabbed some FroYo and some drinks and enjoyed the sunset. Michael (who was at work all day) picked us up a bit later and we headed home. I went to bed fairly early on Thursday night as I was still pretty tired from travelling (and walking all over Fort Lauderdale with Rob!) but it was a wonderful first day of our trip!

Friday morning Rob sent me a text and invited me to hang out with him and Michael for the day! They picked me up around lunch time and we went to this little Mexican spot for lunch. I ordered a GIANT quesadilla which was super delicious and I was happy I got to chat with Michael and get to know him a bit more (we had only met once before this trip for a very brief period of time!). Afterward Rob and I were craving ice cream so we went to a nearby Baskin Robbins and both got a mint chocolate chip fix, him a cone and me a milkshake. YUM. We were both ready to burst after that!

We stopped by a local park to walk around for a bit. It was the absolute perfect temperature for a stroll and we saw lots of Floridian wildlife as we were walking through, including lizards, birds, and a whole bunch of turtles! As we were entering the town we saw a sign that said "A Horse Community" and sure enough, we walked by a horse stable as well. After the park we stopped by the mall near my Air BnB and walked around for a bit before heading home for the evening, and a snagged some yummy mint tea! :)

Moments before disaster struck (which I won't repeat here but Rob and Michael will know what I'm talking about haha!)

Saturday was probably the most chilled out day of the trip. Unfortunately I woke up with a solid migraine which was zero fun. I took some medicine and hydrated for a bit, and once I felt a bit better I thought it was perfect time to get some Florida dust on my running shoes (runs sometimes help my headaches go away). I took a short 3 miler around the neighborhood and felt slightly better, but still wanted to just lie down after my shower to rest up and recover from the pain.

Note the under-eye bags D:

After a bit of rest, Brett gave me a call and let me know he could come pick me up for lunch! He and his head coach came to scoop me up and we went to a local diner. They told me about how their recruiting trip was going (their Florida trip is their biggest recruiting trip of the year so they were both quite exhausted) and we got some yummy food (I went for a burger and they both sprung for breakfast food)! It was really great to see Brett because I wasn't sure if I would be able to see him at all!

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and catching up on organizing my life, which I was totally fine with because it was a pretty cloudy and windy day and I didn't mind staying inside for most of it. I ended up finishing the book I was reading, playing some Nintendo 3DS, planning out a budget and getting my posting schedule prepped for March. I mean, not all of those things you expect to get done while on vacation, but I was so happy I had some extra time in my schedule to really get some things done I hadn't had time to accomplish in my normal routine! (I mean, look how pumped I am in this selfie! XD)

Sunday I got an early morning text from Rob letting me know the he and Michael were planning to hit the beach and wanted me to come with them! It was a super gorgeous day and we had a beach tour guide in Michael leading the way so I was happy to tag along! We met up at the Starbucks by me and after a quick caffeination break we were off to Hollywood Beach!

As soon as we plopped our towels down we ran into the water to swim because the weather was perfect and the water was so refreshing! As we laid on the beach we were graced with a gorgeous view of sailboats drifting by which made for an incredible backdrop good enough to get a "Stop it!" comment from on of my colleagues when I posted a photo to Instagram! XD

After a few hours our tummies started grumbling and we walked down the strip in search of some lunch. We found a pizzeria and stopped in to find the LARGEST SLICES OF PIZZA EVER. I ordered two cheese slices and basically was served half of a pizza. I knew I had to Snapchat the ridiculousness and give my hand as a reference point. Needless to say I was super stuffed once we were done!

I was pretty flabbergasted that I had been in the Sunshine State for nearly 4 full days at that point and still hadn't gotten a tropical drink, so I was definitely in search of finding a bar to really feel like I was properly on vacation! We were right by the Margaritaville Hotel and across the street from the 5 O'Clock Somewhere bar, so we thought that would be perfect to have a drink at. The bar itself was overlooking the water and we saw several very ~fancy~ yachts float by while sipping on our cocktails. I ordered myself a Port of Call Cooler (which was AMAZING) and sipping on this was exactly what a warm-weather-climate vacation should be about!

We walked back to the car and attempted to cap off the night by going to see Hail, Caesar! at the movie theatre by me, but it ended up being sold out! So instead we found this little gelato shop (called Alice's Ice Cream Emporium - how good of a name is that?!) and I got a nice large order of Snickers and Cookies & Cream gelato. I was basically in heaven.

Monday, unfortunately, was my last day in paradise, and I knew I wanted to spend it on the beach. It was also Michael's last day of his little mini-vacation so he took Rob and I to Fort Lauderdale Beach which was gorgeous! There was a work out area (with pull-up bars and jungle gym type of equipment), basketball courts, a nice wide beach, and views of cruise ships and parasailers floating by. The weather was probably the best it had been the entire trip and I was really appreciative of Florida for bring out the big guns for my last day. ;)

Michael brought along some boogie boards which was so much fun because the ocean was particularly wavy on this day! We had a couple of solid boogie boarding sessions and even came up with reverse boogie boarding where you're facing the waves while floating on the board and just basically letting the ocean waves toss you anywhere you want to go. So much fun! We had an absolute blast on my last day and I'm so happy I was able to spend it in the sunshine with my friends. :)

Monday night was spent packing up and I left for the airport around 9:30am. (My first flight wasn't until 1:30pm but my Air BnB check out was at 10am and I didn't really have anywhere to go in the meantime, so I decided to just go to the airport and hang out there.) I had a layover in Detroit (which, by the way, is an awesome Airport from what I saw) then jetted back to Boston, where more new friends, Rob's colleagues Trish and Von, picked me up to bring me back to my car! They are both so awesome for getting me and both awesome people in general. I had been hearing so much about them from Rob so I was very happy to finally meet them!

While I'm sad my vacation is over, I'm feeling rested and ready to get back into my routine. We're about to enter the busiest time of the year at work (you guys know this by know, but April in Student Affairs = no free time ever) so I'm really happy I was able to take this time to charge up my batteries before things get *really* craycray! I really loved my time in FLL and I hope to visit again in the future! :)

Greetings from Sunny Fort Lauderdale!

Hello everyone! I'm currently writing to you from the patio of my Air BnB and, realizing that I missed my Thursday blog post due to having way too much fun in the sun at the beach (#sorrynotsorry), I thought I'd pop in to say hi! Here's what my current situation looks like:

The chair I'm currently typing to you from.

(Side note: it seems that southern Florida loves its Dunks as much as we do up north,
which is making my New England heart feel right at home!)

Booking this trip was kind of a spur of the moment decision a few weeks ago. I knew I wanted to get out of cold New England at some point in the winter, but I wasn't sure how I was going to accomplish it. Then the idea of south Florida came to mind. The main motivations for me to take this trip were:

1. I wanted to do something fun when I took my vacation time from work.
2. Brett was coming down here for work and I figured it would be perfect timing to take a sunny adventure while he was away and busy all day. Plus there was a small chance we would get to spend a little bit of time together which was a bonus!
3. My friend Rob's partner lives down here so it would be a perfect opportunity for him to join me and take a fun friend vacation!
4. The air fare for travel down here was $70. Can't really beat that.

So yes, Wednesday I packed up, met up with Rob, and we hopped on a red-eye down to FLL! It's been nearly perfect weather this entire trip (mostly sunny and mid-seventies!), the place I am staying is relatively close to the beach, has a beautiful outdoor patio (as you saw above) which I have been reading and writing out on every day, and (best of all) is completely private and to myself. I'm a big fan. I've mainly been focusing on relaxing, reading for pleasure, sleeping a bunch, and giving myself the opportunity to do the things I haven't been making time for back home. Plus, I've been able to spend a ton of time with Rob, made a new friend in his partner Michael, and I even got to go out to lunch with Brett today which was an extra special treat!

I haven't relaxed this hard in who knows how long, and I'm so appreciative that I've had the ability to do so and happy that I took the opportunity when I saw it! This is definitely the ultimate #treatyoself and just might have to become a tradition. :) I'll be giving more of a recap for you all next week, but for now I'm going to get back to my regularly scheduled relaxing! *insert palm tree and tropical drink emojis here*