A Few of my Favorite Links {#19}

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!

Changing Campus Traditions

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!

$100 Donut Iced with Cristal Champagne and 24k Gold

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 Tried to Become the Most Popular Person on a Cruise

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!

Cuddle Clones

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.

New, Female-Powered 'Ghostbusters' LEGO Set Unleashed

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.

THE EIGHTH HARRY POTTER BOOK!

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?!

What links are you loving lately?

If There's Dogs In Your Commercial, I'm Buying Your Product: Favorite Commercials of Super Bowl 50

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!
What were your favorite ads from the Super Bowl?

Time to Shift Focus

I'm working for 18 hours today. 8:30AM to 2:30AM.

I know that my fellow Student Affairs folks can relate to this. Sometimes pulling hours like this just needs to happen. We work in a field that is focused on helping others, and sometimes that means working around the clock to meet our students' needs and to support our colleagues that are in the same boat. It's just a thing that happens in our field, and I'm sure in countless other professions that require time, care, and attention to other people this is also the case. I say all the time how great it is that I work in a field that makes me happy because these long, strange hours come easily. Being around my students and watching them grow and succeed give me more energy than any typical introvert should have. I feel truly lucky that I can say that I'm happy at work and I love my job. After all, it's what I spend the majority of my waking hours doing.

However...

I've been thinking a lot lately of how often I've valued my own professional development and being successful in my career over pursuing my interests outside of my career and investing valuable time in my personal life. Don't get me wrong - I absolutely love working in Student Affairs. I worked so hard to get to where I am today and I couldn't be happier in my career. I really can't imagine myself working in another environment, and my students make every challenge I face as a professional so worth it. But I've seen this so often in the world of Higher Ed - once we leave the office at the end of the day, our brains don't often leave with us, and it severely impacts our ability to be present in our personal lives.

When we're with our families, how many of us are worrying about a challenge from work that's weighing on our shoulders? When we're out with friends, how many of us are stealing glances at our smart phones' email apps to just "check in to make sure we're not missing anything" - maybe sending off a message here and there that we deem urgent enough to interrupt our personal time? How often does our topic of conversation default to what happens at work? Though I take pride in my ability to stay off my work email when I'm out of the office, I'm totally guilty of letting projects or concerns from work permeate my thoughts and conversation when I'm with my loved ones instead of enjoying my time off.

I totally get why it happens. I've been conditioned for these 25 years of my life to always be thinking about my professional future. To always strive to be my absolute best in school, to get the grades to go to college, that would then lead me to graduate school, and ultimately my career. I've been taught to be way too hard on myself for not trying hard enough, not achieving high enough, and not devoting enough time to being professionally successful. After a life of feeling this way, it's so hard to turn this off, and the culture we have on who can be the busiest and who can be the most productive does not help. I feel like I'm constantly in competition with my colleagues (both on my campus and off) of who is most devoted to the field and their jobs (whether the competitiveness spoken about or not) and it's exhausting.

We're never really (like, really) taught the importance of enjoying life - but isn't that the whole point?

I hope to change this attitude that I've created for myself. It's not a crime to want to focus on my personal life and strive to progress on that side of my life for a change. I've spent my whole life stressing out over starting a career and - especially over these last three years - I've achieved some pretty amazing professional goals. While I think it's important to always strive to develop professionally, I also think it's important to always strive to develop in my personal life and to value my personal happiness and growth for a change. I want to focus more on being present with my partner and enjoy our time together instead of always talking about and worrying about work. I want to continue to explore the things that I'm interested in outside of my field. I want to try new things and travel new places and be with my friends and family. And I think it's okay to be okay with that. 

I'm curious to know what your thoughts are on work/life balance. Do you find that you focus more on your career? Do you think work/life balance is a myth? Or do you feel like you have this work/life balance thing down to a science? Let me know in the comments or Tweet me your thoughts. I would love to know!