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!

What I Got for Christmas 2016!

Hello everyone! 

Today I thought I would share what I got for Christmas with you all. I know it's a bit after Christmas (over two weeks at this point!) but I wanted to be able to share everything that I got as a gift with you and it did take a little bit of time for things to come in the mail (I'm lucky enough to have Santas from all over the country!). I did get particularly spoiled this year from everyone in my life and mostly everything on my Dear Santa list was actually given to me which was very exciting! I am so thankful for everything I received and especially for everyone that gave me a gift! Anyway, without further adieu, here are all the things I received for Christmas!

From Brett:

-Star Wars socks

-Warm boot socks

-Running socks

-Hair ties

-A Chirrut Imwe Funko Pop!

-You in Five Acts by Una La Marche

~plus!~

-A Barnes & Noble gift card which I used to buy: 

-Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer

&

-Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (and Everything in Between) by Lauren Graham

THE HAMILTOME!*

-Hamilton: the Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter

*my sister actually also bought this for me! (The obsession is apparent/real.) Unfortunately the copy that came from Amazon had a damaged cover so I'll need to send it back, but SO thoughtful for not one but TWO people to pick this out for me!

-Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: the Original Screenplay by J.K. Rowling**

-Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling & Illustrated by Jim Kay**

-Brooks Launch 3 running shoes (which he got for me on Black Friday!)

**These actually haven't come in the mail yet! We're hoping they get delivered soon.

From Family Members:

From my Parents:

-Patriots slippers (which are actually now my office slippers)

-Kitty slipper socks (soooo soft)

-Warm winter gloves

Some silly toys!

-A Nerf gun

-Extra Nerf bullets

-Silly putty

-A weekly Boynton tear away calendar for 2017

-An inspirational quote magnet

-An Instax Mini 8 Camera! :D

-A case for the camera

-An inspirational quote pouch which I now use to hold....

ALL OF MY INSTAX ACCESSORIES!

-Mini frames

-Photo skins (which I have no idea how to use)

-Color lenses which I'm pretty interested to use

-A mirror clip for selfies

-A camera skin

-A lens cleaning cloth

-Two photo books

NOT PICTURED: A few film cartridges

An Amazon gift card which I have used to purchase:

-Saga vol. 2 by Brian K. Vaughn & Fiona Staples

-Lumberjanes vol. 3: A Terrible Plan by Noelle Stevenson et. al.

-The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness

-Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple

-Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

From Lindsey:

-A 50ML reflective CamelBak

-A Mr. Coffee mug warmer

*and like I said above, she also sent me The Hamiltome!

From others:

My grandmother and my cousin Shelby both very graciously sent Christmas cards and some Christmas money as well, so thanks a bunch to them!

From Brett's Family: 

From Brett's sister Melissa:

-"Radiate Love" tank top

-Lula Roe peacock leggings

From Brett's Mom & Step Dad:

-Rebok running long-sleeve, jacket, and leggings

-Elephant clutch/purse *heart eyes emoji*

From Friends:

From Shannon:

-Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

-Censorship/Banned Books socks

From Jaime:

-Dinosaur plush (that makes raptor noises when you squeeze it... awesome)

From Grazia & Andreas:

-An adult coloring book with quotes

-A running headband

-Branch colored pencils

From Alicia:

Alicia very kindly got me a gift card to a coffee shop nearby our campus called Thirsty Mind which I will definitely use to warm up with some hot beverages over the cold months to come!

Candy & Treats!

Candy & treats were a very popular gift for me this year and, being someone who LOVES treats, I really appreciated it. :P Shout out to the following people who added to this giant pile of goodness!

-My parents

-Brett's sister Danielle

-My coworker Tim

-Grazia & Andreas

---

If you'd like to see my Holiday Book Haul video you can check it out below. I talk a little bit more about each book and talk about what my thoughts and feeling are! I'm very excited to get to all of my new books!


And that does it for the gifts that I received for Christmas this year! I am so grateful to everyone who thought of me this holiday season and feel so lucky to have gotten so many goodies! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and is having a wonderful start to your 2017! Let me know how you spent your holiday season and the end of 2016 in the comments below - I would love to hear all about it! <3

Stocking Stuffers for Planner Girls

Christmas is this week which mean that for many of us out there, it's crunch time! One of my favorite things about Christmas morning is opening up a stocking. You find such random and sometimes useful things in there and really gets your Christmas off to a fun start! There are stocking stuffer guides out there for every demographic under the sun, but I have yet to see one for Planner Girls! If you have a Planner Girl in your life (or even just someone that loves office & craft supplies), use the list below to come up with ideas that she will love! (And trust me, as a planner girl myself, I guarantee that she will love any of these things!)

1. A Package of Their Favorite Pens - Every single planner girl has a specific favorite pen that is their absolute favorite, so getting a fresh pack of her favorites are sure to put a smile on her face! My favorite are Pilot G2 pens (shown above), but other popular planner pens are Sharpie pens, Papermate Flair pens, and Staedtler Triplus Fineliner pens.
Find it: Any office supply store
Price range: $3 to $12

2. Stickers - Whether or not your planner girl likes to decorate her planner pages, stickers of something that she's interested in is always super thoughtful! Stickers are always a fun thing to find in your stocking as well, and there's stickers for every interest and occasion, so a few sheets would be a great addition!
Find it: Scrapbooking section of a craft store, or Etsy
Price range: $1 to $5 per sheet

3. Washi Tape  - Washi (decorative craft tape) is all the rage in the planner community and used by many to enhance and decorate pages. I would double check with your Planner Girl to see if she's one to decorate her planner, but if she does she would love to find a couple rolls in her stocking! There's thousands of designs available to purchase, so find something that you think would suit her interests or personality!
Find it: Scrapbooking section of a craft store, or Etsy
Price range: $1 to $5 per roll

4. Glue Dot Runners - These are super helpful for creating your own dividers and dashboards for your planner, as well as adding embellishments to planner pages, such as photos, important notes, invitations, etc. If you're shopping for a craftier planner girl, this would definitely be well- received!
Find it: Scrapbooking section of a craft store
Price range: $3 to $6

5. White Out Tape - These things are a lifesaver for whenever you might make a mistake when writing in your planner! These are so much better than liquid white out because you don't have to wait for it to dry! These tend to come in packs of 2 or 4 and last a pretty long time, so it's a gift she can definitely use throughout the year.
Find it: Any office supply store
Price range: ~$5 per pack

6. Hole Punch - These are especially good for planner girls that have binder or ring-bound planners such as a Filofax, Kikki.K, or Franklin Covey. Having a hole punch is very handy for when you want to insert a new page, divider, or dashboard to your planner. It allows you to truly customize your planner!
Find it: Any office supply store, or the scrapbooking section of a craft store
Price range: $5 to $10

7. Sticky Notes - These are always a good gift for any stationary lover, but especially so for Planner Girls! Your planner girl will be able to use these for future planning without having to damage her actual planner pages when she's not ready to put plans in ink. (Sounds crazy, but trust me, it makes sense to us Planner Girls!)
Find it: Any office supply store, Target dollar section
Price range: $1 to $5 per pack

8. Small Notebooks - Planner lovers are always looking for something to write on, and a pack of small notebooks would be a perfect addition to her stocking! Moleskine is a really great brand for notebooks and have multi-packs of them. Target also has a really great selection of multi-packs of smaller notebooks!
Find it: Any office supply store, Target
Price range: $3 to $15

9. Gift Card to Michael's/Hobby Lobby/craft or stationary store of your choosing - I know that gift cards are often seen a impersonal and lazy, but Planner Girls understand that this hype over paper supplies and organization can sometimes be confusing. Giving a Planner Girl some money toward a craft store shopping spree is one of the best gifts that you can give her!
Find it: Any craft or stationary store
Price range: Your choice!

10. Pocket Sized Planner - Lastly, a bit on the pricier end, any planner girl would flip to find a planner in their stocking! A pocket sized/small planner is the perfect size to stick in a stocking as a little surprise. Pocket planners are perfect for on-the-go planning and can also be used as wallets!
Find it: Filofax, Kikki,K
Price range: $30 to $80

I hope that this stocking stuffer guide is helpful and makes your holiday season just a *little* bit easier! Check out the coinciding video below to get a few more thoughts from me on these items!

Dear Santa...

Last year I posted a blog called "Dear Santa..." that included the top 5 things I was hoping to receive on Christmas. I had so much fun with this blogpost that I decided I wanted to do it again this year! Maybe I'm greedier this year or something (:P), but for 2015 I have a top 6 list of items that I'm hoping to find under the tree on Christmas morning.

1. Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 in Yellow

I've been eyeing one of these for a while now. I had a Polaroid in high school that I loved, but over time the instant film became harder and harder to find and I eventually stopped using it. These instant cameras are now trendy again making them more accessible! Having a camera like this is perfect for journaling and crafting which you know I loved, and are just so much fun in general! I love the yellow color of this camera, but I'm also a big fan of the raspberry!

2. Planner 

I mean... are you even surprised? As you all know I am hoping to build up my planner collection over time, and these are the three that I'm lusting over the most lately - the Filofax A5 Original in Flouro Pink, the Filofax Personal Malden in Ochre, and the Filofax Pocket Patent in Lemon! All different sizes, but all planners that I hope to one day own. Check out my Planner Unicorn post to see my thoughts on each of them!

3. FitBit Flex

Earlier this month I won a FitBit Zip through my work's HR department, but it's so small that it wound up falling off my running pants and disappearing forever. So sad! Now that I'm officially on the FitBit wagon, I would really love to replace my Zip with a Flex (one that will be harder to lose!). #basic

4. Books

Books are always, always, always a great gift in my eyes! This year the titles that I would love to see under the tree are Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee, The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling), and Daring Greatly by Brene Brown. I have so many others that are on my wishlist, but these three are the ones that I'm definitely itching to get my hands on the most!

5. Funko Pop Figures

These are so adorable and such cute little gifts! I was given a Dory Funko Pop figure from my parents for Christmas last year (my car's name is Dory so I get a lot of Dory-themed things) and I love it! This year I saw Big Hero 6 for the first time so I would love a Baymax figure, and they just released a line of Bob's Burgers figures which I am all about! I obviously want every single figure, but if I were to choose I would totally want Linda because she's my fave!

6. Canon Powershot G7 X

This is the most expensive gift on my wishlist this year and I don't expect to get it as a gift (this is definitely a save-up-my-own-money-and-buy-it-myself-for-Christmas item) but this is what I'm hoping to upgrade my camera to. I've seen so many photos and videos shot with this camera and the images are so high-quality and beautiful! It would be so great to upgrade to a newer camera (I've had my ELPH 300 HS since 2011) and would make for much better videos and blog posts!

What are you asking Santa for this year?

Dear Santa...

I always think that "Dear Santa" posts are the most adorable things. It's really cool to take a peak into what is on someone's wish lists because it can really say a lot of what type of person they are and where their priorities lie at the time. I thought I'd jump aboard the bandwagon and share what's on my wish list this year!

1. Books

Reading for pleasure is a bit of a rarity in grad school, and when I have free time my brain is usually so fried that opening a book for fun just sounds like work. I love reading, so this is a huge bummer! This winter break, though, I won't have any reading obligations (unlike last year), and would love to stock up on some of the books I've been missing out on! The top three I have on my to-read list are all autobiographies by some of my favorite entertainers: Yes Please by Amy Poehler, Choose Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris, and Grace's Guide: The Art of Pretending to be a Grown Up by Grace Helbig!

2. Boat Shoes

I've had my same pair of boat shoes since about February of 2009. That's coming up on a solid 6 years of the same pair, and I still wear them on the regular. That's pretty solid in my opinion, but they are starting to be in pretty rough shape. I would love to have a new pair of boat shoes to enjoy for the next 6 years! (Shown above: Sperry Authentic Original in Sahara Leather)

3. Happie Scrappie Subscription

I stepped up my planner game for 2015 and invested in my first Filofax. The pages of the Filofax can be pretty plain, so there is a large community out there on Facebook and Instagram revolving around decorating and personalizing your daily planning system, which I tend to drool over. I want to try my hand at making my planner more of my own, and while I use my planner more for function than style, would love to start decorating my pages as well. Happie Scrappie is a company run by a woman from Malaysia/Singapore that puts together monthly planner kits just for this reason, and the things that go in these kits make my face turn into the heart-eyes Emoji. They're so freaking cute! I would love to get a subscription to her personal size planner kit for 2015, priced at about $20 a month, including shipping (which is much less than if I were to go and buy all of the things that she includes on my own)! I'M IN LOVE!

4. GoPro Hero

Getting myself a GoPro is on my 25 Before 25 list, and having one of these in my possession before heading down to the Western Caribbean with my family would be so clutch! We're planning a lot of fun excursions while we are on our cruise, and getting to record them without worrying my camera will be totally demolish would be so awesome! Though there are much fancier GoPros on the market, I think the Hero would work perfectly for what I would need it for.

5. Gift Cards

I don't usually ask for gift cards, but because job searching and interviewing is looking at me in the face at this point, my wardrobe is in dire need of a update! Getting gift cards to some of  the essential shops I visit would be perfect in looking and feeling put together during this nerve wracking time. I definitely need something beyond a basic tee and colored khakis to wear to work everyday! (Shown above: Macy's, Gap, Victoria's Secret, Sephora)

What are you asking Santa for this year?

A Few of my Favorite Links {#9}

(Trigger Warning: metal health/suicide, sexual harassment)

With how crazy my schedule has been this semester, I wasn't sure if I was going to have enough links to share with you all in this post. But as I perused my  recent Facebook and Twitter posts, I've actually been finding quite a lot of things on the internet that are conversation worthy as of late! Take a read/watch/listen to these links, and let me know what your favorites are!

21 Products for Coffee Lovers

SO MANY of these IMMEDIATELY went on my wish list on the first pass through this list. Mugs and coffee accessories are always a good gift idea, in my opinion. I'm currently trying to coax Brett into buying me the iced coffee cup for Christmas (pictured above) that instantly chills your coffee when you're on the go! *mind explodes*

Why We Choose Suicide

I came across this TED Talk while I was doing research at my internship, and it was so powerful that I had to share it. Mark Henick shares his story of living with mental illness and attempting suicide himself, and although it's very uncomfortable to listen to him talk about it, he makes a good point - it's easy to talk about suicide as an issue as long as it's behind closed doors. As long as we don't have to deal with the suicide head on. In order to really make the issue of suicide a real priority, we have to be honest, be uncomfortable, and talk about it. Please watch this video with caution, as his stories are very real and chilling, but watch with an open mind and an understanding that we, as a society, need to be serious about changing our views and actions on mental illness.




Lockup Extended Stay: Charleston

My sister works in Corrections in South Carolina, and over the past year the people of Lockup on MSNBC have been filming at the jail she works at. Tomorrow the episode that features her jail will premeire at 9PM EST and there's a good chance she will be on it! I'm so excited to get an inside look at what she does on a day-to-day basis because it's so different from what I do. (I always laugh at myself when I'm stressing out over running an event for college students when my sister is literally risking her life at work every day!) Make sure you watch the trailer today (linked above) and the episode tomorrow night!

But What Was She Wearing?
You ever see a project and just want to give the creator a hug? I had that feeling when I first discovered "But What Was She Wearing?" last week. This is a blog that allows individuals (both men and women) to share their experiences of street harassment, and to share what they were wearing when they experienced it. Many victims of street harassment get the "but what were you wearing?" response when trying to tell their stories with the assumption that what you wear should indicate how people should treat you. On this blog, you see individuals dressed in all sorts of styles, and experiencing very similar situations. It really does not matter what someone is wearing - harassment can happen at any time. Check out this blog and read some of the submissions to further understand the aim behind this project.
21 Struggles Every Cashier Will Recognize
This post could NOT be more true. I was a cashier for a grocery store for a little over 7 years, and while it was a great first job and the company was very kind to me while I worked through my busy high school and college schedules, being in customer service can definitely wear on you over time. I can't tell you how many times I have experienced everything on this Buzzfeed list, and I'm so happy and thankful that I've been able to live without these annoyances in my life for the last year and a half. Customer service people, I feel for you and will forever treat you with respect because I know all too well how it feels!

Accurate representation of my life when I was a cashier.

What are some links you've been loving lately? Let me know in the comments!

Souvenirs from the Weekend

My parents came to visit me yesterday for Dean's Family Day, and they brought so many goodies with them! I mean, they usually do (because they're awesome like that), but I felt like a few of these items would make for some good back story from my life, so why not put it in a blog post? Kcoolherewego.

Twenty-Three!

Saturday was my 23rd birthday! It was an action-packed day filled with friends, drinks, games, and laughs. Probably my best birthday yet, and I have all of my closest friends to thank for it! :)