Doodle People

Happy Friday, everyone! I'm spending my time off by playing around in some fun art apps on my new iPad. I came up with these quick little doodles of Brett & I and I thought they were so cute and fun that I had to share! I'm sure once I get a better hang of drawing on a electronic device that I can start creating some awesome artwork for the blog.

Do you have any tips for iPad artwork?

25 Before 25: The List!

I've seen these lists floating around blogland for quite some time and I've always wanted to try to conquer one of my own! In a little more than 3 months, I'll be turning 24 (what?!) and completing my first full year of graduate school. Before I graduate and turn the big 2-5, I want to challenge myself by going on as many adventures and completing as many personal goals as I can before I shift into the full-time working world. (Not that having 3 part-time jobs and going to grad school full-time is any easier, haha!) So, without further adieu, here are 25 things I'd like to complete before I turn 25!

1. Get my boating license (I've lived on a lake for virtually my entire life, and I somehow still haven't gotten my license.)
2. Conquer a Spartan Race (Louie has been trying to get me to do one with him. I think now is the time!)
3. Visit a new city (I need to travel!) Completed 3/30/2014
4. Play in a lacrosse game again (I miss my sport.) Completed 3/1/2014
5. Take another art class (There are so many out there - it will be great to brush [ha] up on my skills!)
6. Volunteer (I always make the excuse of not having enough time. I need to stop doing that and give back!) Completed 4/6/2014
7. Attend a friend's special event (birthday party, graduation, wedding, etc.) (Same as the above goal. I want to support my friends more and be there for their special moments in life!) Completed 12/21/2014
8. Finish 25 books-for-pleasure (I have a goal to read 10 this year, so that will be helpful!)
9. Go on another road trip somewhere (Even if it's just a trip to the state's only Sonic) Completed 7/20/2014
10. Have coffee or drinks with a previous mentor (This is currently in the works... just need to somehow find a common time!) Completed 3/28/2014
11. Hit triple digits for my YouTube subscribers (This may happen sooner rather than later - I'm currently at 90!) Completed 3/1/2014
12. Purchase myself a GoPro (Possible birthday present to myself?) Completed 12/25/14
13. Accomplish a multi-distance race series (Looking into the Twin Lobster or Triple Threat this year, or the Fool's Duel next spring.) Completed 8/3/2014
14. Climb another mountain (It's been a while since I've been hiking. I miss it.)
15. Purge my closet, donate things to charity, & buy some more "grown up" clothes (I feel like I need a closet re-vamp, and there are some things I just don't wear anymore!)
16. Finish a painting (Not including any paintings I might create during #5.) Completed 11/17/2014
17. Go to King Richard's Faire (This looks like it would be so silly and fun!)
18. Write a letter to myself to be opened in 10 years (Hopefully I don't lose it between the time I write it and the time I intend to open it! I would...)
19. Visit a farmer's market (There's one right down the street from me during the summer. I have no excuse.)
20. Read 3 books from The World Library 100 that I haven't read before (I've read a few for past English & Literature classes. These can count toward my 25 books for #8!)
21. Watch 5 films from AFI's Top 100 that I haven't seen before (Seen a handful of these throughout my life. Want to see more!)
22. Be able to lay my hands flat on the floor when I try to touch my toes (Seriously, I am so inflexible. I need to make regular stretching a thing.)
23. Do three pull-ups without assistance (Upper-body strength is also something that I want to work on.)
24. Go to a shooting range (Seriously always wanted to do this!) Completed 12/24/14
25. Graduate with my Master's degree (This may actually happen a couple days after my 25th birthday, but my coursework should be done by then!)

Of course I would love to complete all of these goals, but if I don't by May 11, 2015, I'm not going to beat myself up about it! I feel like a lot of these projects get abandoned because of the pressure that comes along with them, but I'm hoping that I won't do that to myself with this. It's supposed to be fun! :)

Do you have a list of goals you want to accomplish before a certain time?

Leave the link in the comments!

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!

New Glasses!

I picked up my new glasses today! I've had the same frames since summer of 2011, so I was due for a new nerdy look! I was looking for bigger frames than I've had before - kinda like that hipsterish look that's a bit more trendy these days. I was pretty nervous about going with these frames because they're a little bolder than I'm used to. You can't really tell from the above picture but the frames are actually a deep purpley-maroon color. I found a picture of them on Google that shows it better:

Still isn't the greatest example but TRUST ME IT'S PRETTY! Anyway, I spent the entire 10 days between choosing my frames and getting my glasses back worrying I made the wrong decision, but I LOVE them and am very happy with my choice! :)

A Pre-Semester Post

Well, everybody. Another break has come and gone. I will be waking up at 7AM tomorrow morning (while admittedly hitting the snooze button 3 or 4 times...) and getting ready to welcome back a slew of Dean students and start the new semester. Tuesday I'll be preparing and getting everything in line at my assistantship for the spring. Wednesday I get back into my note taking job. 

Then Thursday I'll be getting back to class myself. x_x

YIKES! Where did this break go? Can I have another one? PLEASE?! *hyperventilates*

No, but really, I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. This semester has a lot of exciting things in store. An interesting intensive course on group therapy (in which I myself will be experiencing the client role of group therapy - what?!), a possible trip to Indianapolis (if I can nail down funding), and helping out with another major BSU event in April that features a comedian that I'm SUPER EXCITED to see in person, but I'm pretty sure that I can't tell you guys about quite yet. (I'll give you a hint - he's an actor on one of my most favorite TV shows!)

I just wanted to take a minute today to let you know that my life is going to be ramping up again so this blog may get a little neglected at times, but I'll try my best to keep you all up-to-date on all of my life happenings!

Hope you all have a *fabulous* week, and GO PATS!!!

A Few of My Favorite Links {#3}

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I hope everyone's week is off to a wonderful start. It's busy here in the HESA world, with students moving back to campus for the spring semester and all of the preparations that go along with it. I'm excited, though - students are what make my job(s) so enjoyable!
I have a few links I'd like to share with y'all today - a feel-good video, a few make-you-think articles, and a couple other gems I found while roaming around the interwebs this weekend. Hope you enjoy!
Sam Berns - My Philosophy for a Happy Life

This young man from Foxboro, MA (a town about 10 minutes from where I live) passed away over the weekend. He's made quite the impact in the Boston community as of late with his documentary Life According to Sam, his love for all things Boston sports, and his super positive outlook on life. Even though he had a harder life than most due to his battle with progeria, his positive attitude and spirit will live on and continue to inspire people to appreciate what they can do over what they can't. Rest easy, Sam! You will be missed.
On Getting #engaged

This is exactly what couples should be considering if they're thinking of getting married. Do they want a elaborate suprise engagement that will go viral on YouTube? Or do they want a marriage? Do they want a perfectly filtered Instagram photo of a diamond ring? Or do they want a marriage? Do they want a flashy wedding worht of 5,000 repins on Pinterest that costs thousands of dollars? Or do they want a marriage?* In the age of social media, it's very easy to get caught up in all of the arbitrary parts of getting engaged, like the ring, the announcements, and the attention, and forget about why you want to get engaged in the first place - the person you fell in love with. It's important to remember that when the honeymoon ends, you're going to go back to how things were before all of the excitement - just you and your significant other, and you should know that you'll still be just as excited about seeing them each day as you were before you decided to marry!
*I'm not saying that you can't have all of these fun things without a happy an loving marriage. (I'm actually a huge sucker for all that cutesy romantic stuff!) I'm saying that the happy and loving marriage should be more important to you than anything!

One Couple's Hilarious Take on Engagement Photo Clichés

Along the same lines, HOW FUNNY IS THIS PHOTO SET? While searching the internet for a photo to go along with the previous link, I stumbled across this gallery of a couple poking fun at all of those typical "LOOK WE'RE ENGAGED!" photos. I'm dying!
14 Movies in 2014 that Aren't Sequels, Prequels, Reboots, or Adaptations

I LOVE THIS LIST. It's nice to see that there are still original films being made for large audiences, and some that look like they'll be pretty entertaining, like Bad Words, Neighbors, and A Million Ways to Die in the West (love me some NPH!).
Those Damn Resolutionists

This is an interesting blog post shared over on Relentless Forward Commotion about a different perspective on "resolutionists", or the people who pack the gyms for the first few weeks of the year trying to stick to their resolutions, only to fall off the wagon by mid-February. Fitness snobs tend to scoff at these people, annoyed by all of the newbies hogging the treadmills, curling in the squat rack, and generally ruining your "hardcore" workout. Yet for the rest of the year, the same people who were annoyed at the resolutionists, preach about how everyone should be living a healthier lifestyle and working out just as much as they do. Huh. Now, I'll admit that I've complained about resolutionists in the past, but this post really made me rethink my attitude. I definitely believe that everyone who is trying to better themselves through exercise should be praised (working out is hard!) and will now welcome the resolutionists to the fitness world with open arms! (While avoiding the gym at peak hours, haha!)
Jason Brown's Free Skate at the US Figure Skating Championship

I LOVE the Olympics and Figure Skating is one of my favorite events at the winter games, so this video got me so excited for February to roll around! This guy makes skating look so easy, and he's only 19 years-old! It's looking like he's going to be a tough one to compete with over in Sochi. GO TEAM USA!

Food, Football, Friends & Family

I had a wonderfully relaxing weekend with Brett, watching the Pats take the division title over Indianapolis, eating awesome food (including my favorite Buffalo Chicken Dip! I'll have to share my recipe with you guys one of these days...), and playing with Brett's adorably awesome niece and nephew. It's amazing being surrounded by great people without the worry or need to be anywhere or do anything except eat good food and enjoy the company!

Little Sophia was loving playing with my camera and got some pretty awesome vlog footage for tomorrow, haha! She's just starting to get the hang of walking and is learning more and more words (well, at least noises that sound like words) each time we see her like "socks" ("caks"), "ball" ("bah"), and "Brett" ("Beh"... pretty similar to ball!). So adorable! She's the first baby I've really been around and seen develop over time (Brett and I started dating about a week after she was born!), so it's been a very cool experience to see her grow!

How was your weekend?

What's in my Bag?

I've always wanted to do a "What's in my Bag" post, but I haven't had a bag that I've loved enough (since launching FivElveNinety) to show off in a post. Needless to say, I was elated when I found this lovely piece of art under the tree Christmas morning!

I must have been a good girl because I was lucky enough to receive a Dagne Dover tote from my mom for Christmas! (THANKS MOM!!!) I am head-over-heels in love with this thing. I mentioned these totes in a post a while ago, but never thought I'd actually have one of my own. It's everything I imagined and more!

The bag is so well made and so sturdy. You can tell a lot of work and care went into making it, and that it will last a long, long time. My tote is the Dagne Blue color, which is really a purplish navy - one of my favorite shades of purple! (Seriously - my room was that dark color all through high school and college!)

When you open it up, there are POCKETS GALORE!

Laptop sleeve, tablet sleeve, a pocket for a notebook, an additional zipped pocket, a cellphone pocket, pen pockets, a sleeve for a water bottle or umbrella, and even a strap that hooks onto your keys so you don't spend 800 hours digging though your sea of stuff in order to unlock your car or apartment - and that's all before the main section of the bag! Sheer perfection.

As you can imagine, I can fit SO MUCH STUFF into it! It's perfect for me, as I spend a lot of time in the car commuting between two campuses, and kind of need to carry my life with me on a regular basis. Here's a little glimpse into what I can fit into this baby.

1. Water bottle - It's so convenient to have somewhere to put my water without worrying about it spilling or leaking all over my belongings!

2. Skull Candy earbuds

3. Sunglasses - I got this particular pair while travelling in France!

4. A little notebook - To jot things down on the fly!

5. 11.6" Acer Aspire V5 - Another *amazing* Christmas gift from my parents! Thanks Mom & Dad! I won't always carry this with me, but it's nice to know it fits in with all of this other stuff!

6. 7" Kindle Fire HD - I have a few of my text books on here, so having a tablet sleeve is handy.

7. Juicy Couture glasses - Because I occasionally can't see. 

7. Erin Condren Life Planner - Don't know how I'd function without this thing!

8. Hair clip - An essential item for any bag.

9. Coach wristlet - My current wallet.

10. Nintendo 3DSXL - To pass the time between when work ends and class begins. Basically a destresser when I can't be home relaxing. Probably will interchange this with a book!

11. iPhone 4 

12. Pencil case(s) - I have pens of every color! (And need them for color coding purposes for my Life Planner)

I'm so obsessed with this bag, and everyone I come across asks me about it. All of the women in my office are very interested in this company and a few of them are considering purchasing a tote of their own! They are a bit on the pricey side, but I believe that it's TOTALLY worth the money that you're paying for it. This company is brand new, and I'm very excited to share this up-and-coming brand with you all. If you are a GOGOGO person like myself, this is a fabulous bag for you and I 150% recommend that you buy one!

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!)

A Few of My Favorite Links {#2: Empowering Women Edition!}

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?

5 Things Every "Nerdy" Girl Should Know

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!

Just Breathe

I've been seeing a lot of posts in blogland of New Year's mantras and words to live by for 2014. I *love* this concept! It's a wonderful perspective of taking on the year in the way you want, and not dictated by numbers and intimidating goals. While I do have a couple of resolutions for the year, I also am adopting a mantra of my own for 2014: just breathe.

Though it's only the first of the year, I know 2014 is going to be super hectic. I'll be taking classes all year (even in the summer) and also be spending my summer interning with BSU's Orientation program, with a possible second internship in the fall. There will be very little downtime for me this year! I am prone to get a bit overwhelmed when things get busy (especially when things are out of my control!), so I want to constantly remind myself that things are going to work themselves out, and to keep smiling and doing the things I love because that's what makes me happy! I just have to breathe and not be afraid to let things go.

What's your mantra for 2014?