Anybody Have a Map?

My feet got a running shoe upgrade this weekend! Brooks Launch 4 → Brooks Adrenaline GTS 18

Happy Wednesday, y'all! This last week has been much better than recent weeks past in terms of mental health. It's always good to appreciate the moments when you're feeling okay and I definitely appreciated that these last few days. While I haven't necessarily done anything too exciting, I've kind of (and by kind of, I mean REALLY) needed this down time to charge my batteries because I feel like I haven't had a chance to really rest my brain since I started job searching back in November. That's a long time feeling drained! I'm feeling like I'm seeing some light at the end of the tunnel of these really tough months and I hope it just continues on this path.

Pre-surgery Halloween-themed selfie

Brett had his surgery last Thursday and it went very well. He was taken into the OR around 3:15 and came out around an hour later. He came out of the anesthesia like a champ and had very minimal bruising and swelling. (He was even up for watching the newest episode of Jersey Shore when we got home that evening! #funfetticakenoooooo) The doctor didn't prescribe any pain meds to him which I was pretty surprised by, but he's been recovering so well with minimal discomfort and high spirits. He has a splint on his nose which he'll be getting off on Friday morning and we can finally put this whole debacle behind us!

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Over the weekend was the #ReadYourFaceOff 24 readathon where I was able to finish An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (highly recommend!) and also went on a bit of an impromptu shopping spree. I knew I needed to go buy new running shoes (pictured above!), but I also wanted to grab Brett some new button down shirts for a wedding we have coming up this Friday and wound up also snagging myself a new fall colored dress (which I still haven't tried on yet... oops) and snagged a sweet Gryffindor hoodie which I am so pumped I own. Not gonna lie, being in the most mainstream Hogwarts house has it's perks, like having the most merch to choose from!

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I know I'm like 2 years tardy to this party, but I've been getting really into the Dear Evan Hansen cast recording this week! It's one of those musicals where the music could easily be on the radio if you didn't know it was from a specific musical. I often question why I torture myself by listening to cast recordings because going to actually see the shows themselves will always be far out of my financial reach. D: I guess I'll just have to settle for the music and reading through the show synopses for now! :P


Another musical highlight from this past week is the "Trees" sketch from this week's SNL. I've gotten into the habit over the last couples weeks of watching SNL on Sundays and it's been kind of fun keeping up to date with the show instead of watching clips here and there as they pop up on my other social media feeds. Brett and I watched last week's episode before the Patriots game on Sunday night and this sketch was our favorite, hands down. It's just so dumb which is the kind of humor I can truly appreciate. We've been quoting it all week! XD

I've been doing a reading vlog this week because for whatever reason, I keep hating the vlogs I'm recording for #ReadYourFaceOff for the last couple of months and I wanted to make up for it in a way. I had Twitter help me decide my TBR for the week and folks picked 3 spooky books for me to choose from which y'all know I'm a big fan of. Here's what you can expect to see in the vlog, which should go up on my channel next week and will be cross posted here at the beginning of next month with my reading wrap up!

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero

Misery by Stephen King

This weekend will be a 3 day weekend for me. I have Friday off for our friend's wedding, then nothing on the schedule for the weekend. I am shooting to run 18 miles this weekend (probably for #SundayRunday). My 16 mile long run this past weekend went really well so I'm hoping that 18 will be okay as well. After that it's time to taper before the big race in November! I'm hoping running around on the hills of my town over the last few months will be a big advantage when taking on the nice flat course in Richmond. We shall see!

LINKS I LOVED THIS WEEK

Quirky Husky Loves To Do Flips from The Dodo

Some dogs just want to watch the world burn from Dog Addict

18 Hilarious Posts That'll Make You See "Harry Potter" In A Whole New Light from Buzzfeed

21 Dogs Who Will Sleep Wherever They Damn Well Please from Buzzfeed

Happy Vlogidays 2015!

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is one week away?!

Me either, but yes, the holiday season is officially upon us. I blame my busy weeks at work for making the year fly on by but we are coming right down to the end of 2015 which is crazy!

Last year I vlogged throughout the last few weeks of December and posted weekly videos on my YouTube channel. Vlogging during the Christmas season is often referred to as Vlogmas on YouTube, but because I also included New Year's I called my video series "Happy Vlogidays!" (which, in my opinion, sounds so much more like "happy holidays" than Vlogmas sounds like Christmas... but that's just me). I really loved recording my holiday season because we did so many fun things and now I can look back on them for the rest of my life. As we got closer to the end of the year, I knew I wanted to do it again!

This year I'll be starting a bit earlier than last and will be kicking my Happy Vlogidays off with Thanksgiving. My sister is flying up from South Carolina for Thanksgiving this year and because we won't be able to spend Christmas together as a family we're going to celebrate before Thanksgiving on the 25th of November instead of the 25th of December. We have some fun things planned as a family and Brett and I also have some fun events coming up in early December such as going to a Patriots Game (my first Pats game ever!) and our 3 year anniversary, so I definitely want to record those things and share them with you all as well. 

Because I don't have time in my schedule to upload on a daily basis, I'm going to record throughout the week and will be posting the videos on my YouTube channel on every Wednesday starting on December 2nd until January 6th. Make sure you're subscribed to see them as I upload them! (I will post them all as a playlist here on the blog in January as part of a holiday recap, so no worries if you don't want to head over to YouTube but still want to see them.) I'm looking forward to another fun-filled holiday season and to share it with you all!

50%

Yesterday afternoon I logged onto my student account to check my final grades for the semester and happened upon...

A in Group Counseling
A in Multicultural Counseling
A- in Ethics

This means two things:

1. I maintained my 3.9 GPA but much more importantly...
2. I'M HALFWAY DONE GRAD SCHOOL Y'ALL!

I honestly had no idea how I was doing in my classes throughout the whole semester, which is never a reassuring thing for me, but knowing that I'm *officially* through half of my graduate school requirements makes me so over the moon happy. Only one year to go and I will have my Master's degree. Hell. Yes.

I had originally planned on getting right back into school with the first summer session, but due to an advising mix up, I no longer can take one of the classes I had originally planned to in the fall, so I decided to give myself a little break and move the class that was supposed to take starting May 15th to my fall schedule. (That may have sounded a little confusing in text, but essentially a bad thing turned into a good thing and now I'm out of school until July 28th. YAY!) I'm kind of digging this whole 2-months-off idea (from school, at least) and am already getting back into some of my personal life pleasures, like reading for fun (currently wrapped up with The Book Theif - it's wonderful) and working out regularly - both of which got seriously neglected the past few months.

I'm also hoping to blog and vlog more regularly this summer. (Vlogging will need to wait a little while, though. My camera is currently M.I.A. somewhere in my apartment... pretty sure I left it somewhere absentmindedly and it'll turn up somewhere.) I have a slew of blog and video ideas and I can't wait to share them with you!

Tomorrow I'm starting a new position at BSU (Student Orientation Programming Coordinator) that will last through most of the summer while I'm not *technically* a Grad Assistant (even though I'm *technically* a Grad Assistant through May 30th...). I'm excited to get back into Orientation land after a 4 year absence (I was an Orientation Leader back in the summer of 2010) and experience it from a different perspective. Orientation is what made me first fall in love with working with students and I am so happy I get to get back to it!

I hope you all are having a wonderful May so far. I'm looking forward to catching up with all of you via your blogs, and also looking forward to blogging much, much more! :)

(P.S. One of my students is trying her hand at blogging during her summer internship! Go give her a visit here!) 

Happy Birthday, FivEleveNinety!

Today is FivEleveNinety's first birthday! Yes, today is this ol' blog of mine's bloggeversary. Jeez did that go by fast! In honor of this special day, I decided to make a special video for you all. I hope you all enjoy! :)

 
Thanks to the bloggers who tagged me!
Check them out below! :)   Fiona @ Fiona's Bubble Ellie @ Looking for Love Online  Julie-Anne @ Just Julz Alexia @ Infinitely Indecisive Kiran @ Piece of the Net

25 Before 25: Hit Triple Digits for my YouTube Subscribers (#11)

Saturday, after writing my previous 25 Before 25 post, I logged onto my YouTube channel and saw this:

I officially have over 100 subscribers! Never in a million years would I think that 101 people would want to watch videos about my boring life, but it happened! A lot of people might argue that 101 subscribers is not a lot at all, but seeing that number grow and grow over the last two months while I've been vlogging pretty regularly has been so encouraging and awesome and definitely makes me want to make more videos. If you're a viewer, thank you so much for watching! (And if you'd like to check out my YouTube videos, click here!)

*I'm attempting to reach 25 goals before I reach the age of 25! Want to see the whole list? Check it out here!

13 Personal Questions Tag!

Hey friends! I was a bit busy this Monday with hall check-in at Dean, and I didn't have much to vlog about, so I decided to do the 13 Personal Questions tag on YouTube! I thought it'd be a fun thing to share here as well, so take a look at the video if you'd like to learn a few new things about me! :) (Tag starts at 2:54)



Here are the questions if you'd like to do the tag yourself:
1. What do you order at Starbucks? 2. What's one thing in your closet that you can't live without? 3. What's one thing that most people don't know about you? 4. What's one thing you want to do before you die? 5. What's one food that you can't live without? 6. What's one quote that you live your life by? 7. What do you like/dislike about the YouTube community? (or if you're not a YouTuber, the blogging community?) 8. What's your #1 song on your iPod or iTunes? 9. What kind of style would you describe yourself as having? 10. What's your favorite number? 11. 2 hobbies? 12. 2 pet peeves? 13. What's your guilty pleasure?
If you do the tag, let me know in the comments so I can check it out! :)
Hope you enjoy!

Blogging vs. Vlogging

I've recently gotten back into vlogging. I know I've mentioned in a previous post that I am *much* more comfortable hiding behind a keyboard and documenting my life in that way, but I've always been interested in video blogging and capturing my life through film. On December 30th, I started vlogging again on a whim and have posted a video each day since then. I'm really enjoying it, but I'm still pretty awkward and nervous about it, especially recording around other people, as daily vlogging isn't really a well-known concept. I'm sure I'll become more confident as time goes on, though!

Even though I've really been having a ton of fun vlogging, editing, and posting my videos, I'm still in love with writing a blog (I don't think I'll ever not love blogging!), so today I wanted to break down the pros and cons to both blogging AND vlogging.

Blogging gives you an opportunity to really reflect on experiences you have and think about them critically as you're typing. Vlogging doesn't allow you to do so to the same extent, as you're recording while simultaneously going through different experiences.

Vlogging helps you capture the moments that words and still photographs may not be able to.

Blogging is a bit more mainstream and widely accepted as a hobby, while vlogging can come off as a little strange. "Why are you filming yourself doing that? Why are you talking to a camera? Why would you want to share your life on YouTube?"

Vlogs are easy and fun to look back on - kind of like old home videos. Not saying that blog posts aren't fun to look back on, but I feel like going on a stroll down memory lane is a lot better when you can see the sights and hear the sounds of the moments you're reminiscing!

Blog posts take less time and effort to produce, in the grand scheme of things. If you want to write a post, all you have to do is type your little heart out then hit post. Vlogs have a lot more production time behind them - filming, editing, compressing, uploading, and then writing all of the information that needs to go along with it. Vlogging is hard work!

But, because it is such a challenge, vlogging has the chance of being more rewarding. When you put so much time and effort into a video and actually produce something that you're really proud of, all of that time and effort becomes worth it. (The same can go for blog posts, though!)

For both blogging AND vlogging, the communities are *awesome*. When someone comments on a video or post that I put a lot of time and effort into, I feel really great about myself, and that people out there actually like (or are seeing, at the very least) what I'm taking the time to create. I love watching other people's videos, reading other people's blogs, and just interact with so many people out there who have the same common interest as me - documenting my life and sharing it with the world!

...

Because I've been on such a vlogging kick, I put a section in the sidebar for my latest daily vlog for all of you to easily access. Check back daily for the new video (or subscribe to my channel!).

I hope this post was helpful, and maybe has convinced you that vlogging could be a potential new hobby for you, too! (Especially for my fellow bloggers out there!)

#projectSMASH and Other Resolutions

Ohhh, the end of the year and a new beginning. That means it's time for resolutions that may or may not last until MLK Jr. Day. This past year, I did myself a favor and didn't set any resolutions for myself. To quote myself from my previous blog (whose last post was made on January 1st of this year):

"I'm not making any resolutions this year. I just want to see what the year brings, and grow from it."

The year brought a lot, and I did grow a lot - more than I could have expected! But this year, I want to give myself a little challenge. (Like I need more challenges outside pursuing my Master's... x_x) I want to try and journal every day in 2014. I went to Michael's while Christmas shopping and bought myself a SMASH book, and thought up this little challenge of mine and named it #projectSMASH. I explain it more thoroughly in this video, if you're curious!

I also really want to record more daily vlogs throughout the year! I love looking back at old videos and I would really love to have some everyday memories recorded to look back on. I may or may not have already started on this resolution... #excited. I probably won't post every single vlog here on fiveleveninety (though I may post some), so make sure you subscribe to my channel to get updates!
Those are my two major goals for 2014. I don't want to over-resolve (ha) so I think those two work just fine for me for this year!

What are your goals for the new year?

I hope everyone has a *fabulous* New Year's! 

I'll see you all in 2014! :)

Friday Five {#5}

Friday Five

Five things that mattered to me this week!

{one}

I started my assistantship this week! I've been loving it. After years of working retail, food services, and unpaid internships, I'm finally doing something I enjoy and getting paid for it! I'm only starting a few projects right now, but next week I'll be working with some of the executive members of the Program Committee (PC) and starting to plan Homecoming! (Which my boss wants me to take a lead on supervising - ahhh!) It's all very exciting, and I'm sure you'll all be hearing about it constantly on this little blog of mine.

{two}

And of course, one of my favorite non-working aspects of the new job is I get to dress up! 

Hooray for no more lame uniforms and restrictive dress codes!

I definitely need to go shopping for more work clothes. I only really have 3 or 4 pairs of nice pants that I would wear to my retail job with my uniform, and everything else in my closet is your regular jeans-and-t-shirt situation. Time to update the wardrobe! :D

{three}

This comic had me DYING laughing earlier this week. If you enjoy running and racing, definitely check it out for a good laugh! Here's a little preview:

This is SO me... Oops!

{four}

Speaking of running, it's been a rough week in marathon training land. My left calf muscle has been in a stubborn ball since Monday that is pretty painful to run on, and in my attempt to run a measly 4 miles Wednesday, I was greeted with nausea throughout the entire run. I'm assuming all this is because of my diet (again, for an idea of how I eat, see comic above*) and I'm definitely paying for it. Maybe it's time to change things up?

(P.S. Did I mention I've been vlogging my marathon training? Because I've been vlogging my marathon training.)

{five}

I don't know what it is, but I've been addicted to planner videos on YouTube. Yes, you read that right. There are videos on YouTube about planners. Like the paper ones you keep your calendar in. And there's thousands of these videos too. They're not particularly entertaining, and the majority of people would probably think they're duller than watching the grass grow, but I find them so interesting. The inner organization freak just loves watching how other people organize their lives.

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Yes, this is how I spend my free time. 

Yes, I am fully aware that I need to find a better hobby.

Hope you all have a great weekend! :)

*I'm exaggerating. I do eat pretty healthy (like a regular person healthy, not a health guru healthy!) on a regular basis, but I won't lie and tell you I don't use my running as excuse to gorge myself on junk from time to time!

Vlogger Envy

If you're in any way close to me, you know this all too well. I love YouTube and everything it stands for. I don't only love it for crazy cat videos and skateboard crashes, I love watching vloggers. Just like I could spend hours reading the adventures of others in blog form, I could spend hours taking a peek into the lives of other regular people through YouTube. There are so many different kinds of people out there who are having so many types if experiences and hold so many unique opinions. I really feel that every time I watch a vlog, I learn something new.

I have to admit, I have a bit of vlogger envy. I've vlogged a few times, but I'm definitely more comfortable writing and publishing blog posts than I am holding a camera in front of my face and talking to it. The memories you capture while vlogging, though, are much better preserved than when they're recounted through photos and words. I have a constant desire to get back into vlogging, but I've never built up the confidence for it.

I really want to document my journey to running my first marathon through vlogging, and I really think it'd be something awesome to look back on in the years to come. It's just an idea at this point, but if I decide to go through with it, I'll start in a couple weeks and of course let y'all know! Hopefully it's somewhat entertaining? :P