What I've been up to these last few weeks! // Weekly Round Up 1.19.20 - 1.25.20

Hey, team! It's been a bit since I've done a weekly round up post, even though I said I'd be bringing them into the new year with me. 😂 WOOPS! Students are back on campus which means my weeks are a bit busier now, but I think I'm back into my usual work week rhythm now which has been nice. As much as I love my time off, having a routine is definitely helpful for the ol' mental health. Anywho, here are some things that I've been up to over the last couple weeks to get ya up to speed.

The Circle on Netflix - If you aren't on this train yet I NEED YOU TO GET ON IT! I'm a big fan of reality TV and I ate this series up like candy. 8 strangers are all in an apartment building and cannot see or hear each other. The only way they can communicate is via a social networking platform called The Circle which is voice activated. The players can play as themselves OR they can play as someone else, and there's no way of knowing if they're really who they say they are. It's a simple concept but I was HOOKED! I need season 2 immediately!!!

runDisney Vlogs - With the Walt Disney World Marathon weekend happening a couple weekends ago, I've been REALLY into watchng runDisney vlogs the past couple of weeks! I love watching different people's experiences of running various runDisney events and I've been picking up a whole ton of tips and tricks that I'll definitely be using to navigate Princess Half Marathon weekend next month. I think my favorite runDisney vloggers I've found so far are TriTwinsMom and The Brookhart Project who both have done the Dopey Challenge multiple times. Dopey is on my race bucket list so these vlogs not only have gotten me amped for Princess but also for my future Dopey Challenge adventure, whenever that might be! Here's a couple vlogs for you all to check out:




Marathon Maniacs Newsletter - My photo from Newport was featured in the Marathon Maniacs quarterly newsletter! I was also featured last quarter, so it's become a bit of a tradition. 😂 I wonder if any pictures of mine will be featured next quarter? I'll be rocking my MM yellow on the NOLA course, so you never know! 💛

#BRProud - This week the BibRave Pros were challenged to take photos in our swag, so Cassie and I decided to do a bit of a photoshoot in our BibRave beanies! We even got Abby involved but I'm not sure she was too excited about it. 😂 Sorry, girl! If you'd like to snag som BibRave swag for yourself (and tbh there's some really cool stuff!), check out the BibRave Gear Shop. (That "Easier Said Than Run" tee tho... 👀) Here's a couple of my favorite snaps from yesterday:

Making a return to YouTube - ICYMI, I have started posting to YouTube again over the last couple of weeks! After giving it quite a bit of thought, I finally have felt ready to return to the platform and start making videos again. I know I'm going to be going on quite a few adventures this year and I love making videos of my travels. I also really missed making readathon vlogs which I hope to do more of in 2020! I've posted two videos so far, and you can check them out below:



This weekend I have to run 10 miles in the morning then work sorority recruitment in the evening (😳), then I'm hanging with Cassie on Sunday! I'm hoping I can finish one of the books I have on the go this weekend since it's been a while since I've finished something, and get some serious resting and stretching in. I can't believe I leave for New Orleans 2 weeks from today, but I am SO excited to kick off spring racing season!

Sick Day Watch List | Blogmas Day 6

I spent the day holed up in my room again today battling this sickness with some serious rest. I've been cycling through quite a few different things on various different streaming platforms, but I thought it would be fun what's been on my watch list today! Maybe the next time you're sick (or maybe just feeling a little lazy) you can spend the time with some of these shows/movies as well.

1. Gilmore Girls - I've been doing a GG rewatch over the last month or so and so I started the day off with finishing up the final season of the original run. It's such a feel-good cozy show to binge watch, especially this time of year!

2. Buzzfeed Unsolved: True Crime - Like a lot of folks, I'm a sucker for putting on my detective's cap and learning about true crime cases! I know a lot of folks enjoy Buzzfeed Unsolved: True Crime so I wanted to give their videos a shot. I do enjoy that they're able to sprinkle in some genuine humor to diffuse how scary the stories their covering truly are. I'm interested in trying more of their videos!

3. Brittany Runs a Marathon - I've been wanting to watch this movie since I knew it was being released, but I don't think it came out in theaters near me (and if it did, I couldn't find it). Since it's now on Amazon Prime Video I finally got the chance to watch it! It was a lot different than I thought it would be, but it was an intriguing story that held my attention! Definitely worth a watch.

4. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel - I didn't realize that the third season of Maisel came out today! I've been part way through the second season for months so as I'm writing this post I have season 2 playing in the background. I love this show a lot (love me a good ASP show!) so I'm excited to get back into it.

What are you watching at the moment? 

End of Semester Stress

Festive view from my bed. I love that my bookshelf looks like a little fireplace waiting for Santa!

LOL @ me for thinking that the semester ending would slow things down for me at work. NOPE. Had the opposite effect, apparently! Classes officially ended on Monday which means a lot of things were due for students in our office, including any financial transactions they wanted to make (which directly impacts my job). Of course students wait til the last possible minute to do what they need to do, leaving us to be a bit frantic about tying up loose ends on our side of things. It's been a little crazy and stressful, but we're getting through it!

That being said, not a ton of things of note have been going on in my life this week outside of work. Just really starting to get things squared away before we leave for Florida next week (!!!) and trying hard not to lose my mind through this busy time of year. Luckily people seem to be in cheerier moods and feeling festive and goofy which makes the stressfulness much more bearable. I definitely appreciate that! 😊

Monday morning brought something called the Basket of Goodness to our kitchen at work! Apparently, one former staff member (who is now retired) brings all of this HOME COOKED food into the Student Affairs suite around the end of the fall semester, including homemade English muffins, cookies, rice krispies, breads, butters, cinnamon rolls... basically any baked good you can imagine, for everyone to share! I was a big fan and this was my main source of breakfast for a couple days early in the week. Absolutely loved it, and continuing to love the family feel of being a part of the Bentley staff!

It's finals week for our students, meaning they are in full blown study mode. Our building is completely taken over by students and their books and laptops as they rush toward the finish line of the semester. I will say that Bentley does a fantastic job of supporting students throughout finals - better than I've seen on any other campus I've worked at. Yesterday morning there was free coffee and bagels for students, and throughout the week we've been pushing a Snack Cart around the building to the big study areas for students to grab some free study fuel and to-go de-stress activities like coloring books and fidget toys. I'm absolutely loving the idea of meeting the students where they're at to provide a but of joy and motivation throughout a stressful week!

I've never related so hard to something in my life 😂 #longcommutelife

Despite being busy this week, I've been able to get quite a bit of reading done! I finished One Day in December by Josie Silver on Tuesday which was the contemporary book I NEEDED to kind of remotivate me to finish my reading year strong. It was a great distraction to the stress of work! I had been reading American Psycho last week and while I'm enjoying it, it's hard to be in the headspace of an angry, psychotic main character when I was feeling so stressed myself. I definitely needed the genre change and I'm glad I was able to breeze through it!

I also finished Dare to Lead by Brene Brown on my commute into work this morning. This was the pick for our Professional Development book club at work and I am so happy that I got the chance to read it! Brene Brown always calls me out on my lack of vulnerability, being "armored up", and my perfectionism, and it is just so refreshing to hear someone speak so frankly about the big elephant in the room - we all need to be better about being honest, about "rumbling" (or having hard conversations to accomplish the goals that we've set out), and about being okay with being vulnerable because we *all* feel that way! Highly recommend you all check out this book if you, like me, suffer from anxiety induced perfectionism. 😜

Me AF 😂 Sorry, y'all - I'm not a hugger.

For some reason I keep stumbling across running mugs on Instagram that I would LOVE to have in my mug collection. I mean, I don't need them (I have approximately 85,000 mugs 😂) but the sayings are just so cute and I feel like they will cheer me up on a Monday morning as I grumble at the end to another weekend. What do you guys think?

So adorable! 😍

Speaking of things that I'm stumbling across on Instagram - THEY ANNOUNCED THE THEME OF THE NEXT SEASON OF THE CHALLENGE AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH MYSELF.

Brett and I are huge fans of The Challenge so I instantly screen shotted this post and sent it his way. Both of our reacations: WHAT DOES WAR OF THE WORLDS MEAN AND WHY ISN'T THIS SEASON ON RIGHT THIS MINUTE?! 😂 Either way, we are very excited for this new season. I love that this has been a show we've been able to bond over throughout the entirety of our relationship and that we continue to get excited about every season!

This weekend is our last weekend at home for a little while. Tomorrow is our 6 year anniversary (!!!) I think we'll be doing a dinner out to celebrate. I can't believe it's already been 6 years! It does not feel like it's been that long at all. I think that's a good thing! 😊 We'll be spending Saturday evening with Brett's family celebrating Christmas with them a bit early, and Sunday will mainly be doing laundry/starting to pack as I will have little to no time to pack for our trip during the week. I can't believe we're leaving for Florida next weekend but at the same time I CANNOT FREAKING WAIT! I'm already so over this cold weather and the daily grind of work every day. I'm so excited to have a break, see my family and friends, and just ~relax~. Only 8 more days!

LINKS I LOVE THIS WEEK

Chocolate Dipped Oreo Cookies from Two Peas & Their Pod

High Fiving Grandma from HUUB Design

Me AF from Viral Videos

Alpha Kappa Alpha joins BSU from Bridgewater State University

One Woman Recreated Rachel Green's Greatest Friends Fashion Moments from Cosmopolitan

Violent Dog Attacks Delivery Man from UNILAD

A real-life Mr. Clean from Nameless Network

The Teacher's Pet Podcast from The Australian

Bot Watches 1,000 Hours of Hallmark Christmas Movies and Writes a Script from Twitter

Rock-A-Bye Puppy from Twitter

TV Shows I NEED To Get To | Blog Ahead #19

Blog Ahead #19

Originally written on October 23, 2018

I am the actual worst about staying on top of new releases when it comes to TV and movies. I definitely prefer TV to movies - there's just something about consuming small bits of a story over time! But I'm still terrible and making time to watch the shows that I'm interested in and they pile up so quickly! I thought I'd share 5 of the shows that I'm most interested in getting to sooner rather than later in the hopes that I'll actually make time to watch them!

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GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling): This is a show that I started watching during a round of ViewAThon, LOVED, and then never watched again. I don't know why I did that because I really enjoyed watching the pilot episode! I definitely want to get back into this, especially now since I've been getting more into watching the ridiculousness that is the WWE!

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Heathers: Over the summer I watched the '80s movie starring Winona Rider and I've since become obsessed with Heathers: the Musical, so now I NEED to watch this new adaptation! I have no idea how to access the Paramount network, but I am pumped to get my eyes on this modern Heathers adaptation ASAP!

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Riverdale: Similar to GLOW, I watched the first episode of the series, loved it, then never watched it again. I know a lot of folks really enjoy this show and there's a lot of twists and turns that are involved in it, so I know I'd probably really enjoy it. I just gotta get around to making time to binge it! I know once I start watching this I won't be able to stop!

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The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: As of writing this post, this show hasn't been released yet, but I'm assuming it's a huge hit! I absolutely loved the Sabrina the Teenage Witch sitcom from the '90s and y'all know I love me some spookiness, so I'm excited to get to this show as soon as possible! I also know the starring actress as Peggy from MadMen, so it will be fun to see her in a more mature role. Fingers crossed that I enjoy the series!

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Stranger Things: Probably the biggest bandwagon I haven't gotten on yet, but I feel like I would love this series as well! I don't know why, but I'm a fairly hype-averse person, so I'm always hesitant to check things out if they're really talked about and Stranger Things blew the fuck up. So, I clearly haven't watched it yet. But hopefully sometime soon I will finally watch it and understand all the references every makes to this show all the time.

What TV shows are you hoping to get to soon?

Books I Wish Would Get Adapted | Blog Ahead #18

Blog Ahead #18
Originally written on October 26, 2018

I'm not usually ~up on the times~ when it comes to TV and Movies. I'm not entirely sure what is out or what is coming out. But I do have a list of books that I would love to see come to life on the screen. I know that there has been rumors and rumblings of a couple of these getting adapted, and I'm not sure what has or hasn't been confirmed, but either way I would be so excited to see these on the screen!

1. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

2. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

3. The Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

4. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

5. The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

6. The Wolf by Wolf Duology by Ryan Graudin

7. The Humans by Matt Haig

8. Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

9. An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

10. The Lumberjanes Series by Noelle Stevenson

What books would you like to see adapted in to TV or Movies?

Losing the Lottery

Hello friends! Happy Wednesday. 

I never know quite how to start out these life update posts, so I figure the best way is saying hello. 

HELLO!

Last Friday Brett and I ventured to Western MA to see our friends Jimmy and Kristen get married! They totally lucked out with the weather. It was honestly the perfect fall day. Super sunny, crisp air, and perfect temperature. Their venue was so cute as well! It was right on a farm with horses and so many trees with the quickly changing leaves. We had such a great time eating, drinking, and celebrating the happy couple.

Over the weekend I started watching The Good Place which I have heard nothing but positive things about and I have to say, I'm REALLY enjoying it! It's super witty, whimsical, and so so so funny. I flew through the first season and I'm a few episodes into the second season. I am so thrilled to find another show that I connect so well with because those are so few and far between for me!

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This week has been riddled with excitement so far, mainly thanks to the fact that the Red Sox are in the World Series and the fact that everyone has been playing the lottery - not something we usually take part in, but when the jackpot is $1.6 billion, how can you resist? No one I know won, but some lucky duck in South Carolina did. Good for them! We still have a ticket for the $620 million Powerball tonight, so fingers crossed! This blog would get a whole lot more interesting. ;) On the flip side, the Red Sox won their first game last night! I'm secretly hoping they sweep the Dodgers so that they would win the series on Brett's birthday which is this Saturday. That would be such a fun birthday present! :P

 My uniform for the week!

Get u a man that understands how to best spend your lottery winnings!

My dad is ready to retire XD

At the last minute I decided to join the WitchAThon over the course of the next 8 days. I've been struggling to finish the books I've picked up during October and I figured that this readathon will give me the extra boost I need to get a couple more books finished before the month comes to a close. I just started reading my first book this morning (The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn) and I'm already flying through it!

New morning routine! <3

Speaking of reading, I've been making the effort this week to leave for work a little bit earlier than normal so I can give myself a little me time before I have to be in the office. There are these rooms that student groups tend to use for meetings in our building that are completely vacant when I arrive to campus at 7:45am, so I've been capitalizing on the quiet space to relax and read before the craziness of the day starts! I'm usually pretty drained mentally at the end of the day, so evening reading is a bit hit or miss. This way, I have reading time in the morning and during my lunch break and I'm able to fit in more pages than usual which I've been super happy with!

This upcoming weekend, like I mentioned, is Brett's 30th birthday! I have lots of surprises in store for his special day (which I shall not disclose at this time :P) and I am so excited to celebrate him all weekend long. I will of course be sharing all that we get up to in next week's life update.

I hope you all enjoy the rest of the week! GOOOOO SOX!

LINKS I LOVED THIS WEEK

Fitness Planner & Routine from FiloAlly

This dog wins Halloween forever from Hero Labradors

Courtney Dauwalter finished second at Big's Backyard Ultra in Tennessee from The Know Outdoors

Family Dog Takes on the Matilda Challenge from NowThis

Me tryna get my life together from Eliab

"The Fight" is the best Parks and Rec Episode and Here's Proof from Buzzfeed

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