Happy Vlogidays 2018! {Vlog Playlist}

Now that the holidays have come to a close and I have posted my final Happy Vlogidays vlog for the year, it's time to share the entire playlis with you! As usual, it was an action packed month full of friends, dogs, family, gifts, FOOD, laughter, travel, and so much love. This holiday season was so much fun and I am so glad I have the memories recorded in vlog form to look back on for years to come! I hope you all enjoy these vlogs and have as much fun watching them as I did making them. 💖

November 2018 Reading Wrap Up

I finally feel like I'm somewhat back to my normal reading self after the reading month that I just had! I managed to finish 15 books in the month of November which is the best reading month I've had since I started my new job in August. I'm developed more of a reading routine - I get to work about 45 minutes - an hour before I need to be in the office and I use that time to read, I'll read during my lunch break every day, and I've become an audiobook junkie during my commutes. It's been working out for me lately and I hope it continues to work moving forward! Anywho, time for some stats!

READING STATS FOR NOVEMBER

Participated in 2 readathons (#ReadYourFaceOff, #BorrowAThon)

Completed 1/10 books from 10 Book TBR #3 (2/10 total)

5,909 pages read

15 books completed

BOOKS COMPLETED

Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol
Physical copy, 5/5

A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
Audiobook, 5/5
Book 3 of 7 of the A Song of Ice and Fire Series

The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami
Library book, 3/5

Sadie by Courtney Summers
Library book, 4/5

Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman
Library book, 3/5

The Assistants by Camille Perri
Library book, 4/5

The Cat King of Havana by Tom Crosshill
Library book, 3/5

Bird Box by Josh Malerman
Library book, 4/5

Slade House by David Mitchell
Audiobook, 4/5

A Heart in a Body in the World by Deb Caletti
Physical copy, 5/5

The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by Josh Berk
Physical copy, 3/5

Nice Try, Jane Sinner by Lianne Oelke
Physical copy, 4/5

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
Physical copy, 5/5
Book 5 of 7 of the Harry Potter Series

Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin
Audiobook, 4/5

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
Physical copy, 3/5

BOOKS IN PROGRESS

Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin
Audiobook, started 11/23/2018

Dare to Lead by Brene Brown
Audiobook, started 11/15/2018

Misery by Stephen King
Physical copy, 10/19/2018

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero
Physical copy, 10/8/2018

Night Film by Marisha Pessl
Kindle eBook, started 9/13/2018

NOVEMBER VLOGS

I actually posted quite a few vlogs this month! I'm finding that I'm preferring to vlog instead of sit down and chat in front of my camera as it's much less work and works much better for my schedule. I'm figuring it out, y'all! :P Anywho, below you'll find my vlogs from my weekend at the Richmond Marathon, #BorrowAThon, #ReadYourFaceOff, and my Book Diary for A Heart in a Body in the World. Enjoy!

October 2018 Reading Wrap Up

October went by in an actual blink. I don't know where it went! I feel like because we were busy most weekends with different commitments during the month, and on the weekends we weren't out and about I needed to catch up on stuff at home (e.g. LAUNDRY FOREVER) I didn't have too many chances to spend time reading. I did get to finish 7 books last month, though, and many of them were books I really enjoyed! Let me know what you read during October in the comments!

READING STATS FOR OCTOBER

Participated in 2 readathons (#ReadYourFaceOff, #WitchAThon)

Completed 1/10 books from 10 Book TBR #2 (10/10 total)

Completed 1/10 books from 10 Book TBR #3 (1/10 total)

2,461 pages read

7 books completed

BOOKS COMPLETED

Church of Marvels by Leslie Parry
Physical copy, 2/5

Beartown by Fredrik Backman
Physical copy, 5/5

Off to Be the Wizard by Scott Meyer
Audiobook, 3/5

The Merciless by Danielle Vega
Physical copy, 3/5

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green
Physical copy, 4/5

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager
Physical copy, 4/5

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
Physical copy, 4/5

OCTOBER VLOGS

Again, only one additional vlog from this month. I've been struggling quite a bit with my mental health as of late, and it was especially tough this last month. Feeling bad mentally doesn't exactly motivate me to pick up my camera, but I did make an effort to put together a week long vlog in the middle of the month which includes lots of scary book readin' and a wedding! Hope you enjoy. :)

September 2018 Reading Wrap Up + September Vlog

Woof. I'm still figuring out my new life, guys, and it's been really frustrating when it comes to finding time for reading. I talk about this in this month's reading vlog, so if you're interested in hearing more about how I'm learning to balance everything, make sure you watch. I'm hoping that things will find their balance sometime soon, but ultimately it's been really tough to find my rhythm lately and I just want things to find some normalcy! I hope it comes together sooner rather than later. Either way, I'm really happy with the amount of reading I was able to fit in during such a busy time, and was able to find some books I REALLY loved this month! Keep reading to find out more. :)

READING STATS FOR SEPTEMBER

Participated in 2 readathons (#ReadYourFaceOff, #ContemporaryAThon)

Started 1 series

3,828 pages read

11 books completed

BOOKS COMPLETED

I've Got My Eyes On You by Mary Higgins Clark
Audiobook, 4/5

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
Physical copy, 5/5
Book 1 of ? in the Nevermoor Series

Final Draft by Riley Redgate
Audiobook, 4/5

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Physical copy, 5/5

Summer House with Swimming Pool by Herman Koch
Kindle eBook, 1/5

Fullmetal Alchemist, vol. 7-9 by Hiromu Arakawa
Physical copy, 4/5

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour
Physical copy, 5/5

The Good Girl by Mary Kubica
Kindle eBook, 3/5

The Smell of Other People's Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
Physical copy, 3/5

Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson
Audiobook, 5/5

The Husband's Secret by Lianne Moriarty
Audiobook, 4/5

Similar to last month, I only filmed one additional vlog and that was for ContemporaryAThon! Even though I only had one other vlog this month, it was a DOOZY. SO much happened that week, including a trip to the emergency room, a wedding, and finishing 4 books. How that happened, I have NO IDEA. But, here we are. :P I hope you enjoy watching!

July 2018 Reading Wrap Up! + July Vlogs

This summer continued to be crazy busy for me throughout the month of July. What did I decide to do? PARTICIPATE IN 5 READATHONS AND READ 19 BOOKS. Okay, Riley. You're aparently really good at relaxing... >_> I don't know how I pulled off 19 books this month, but there you have it. Check out my July Reading vlog below (featuring my #TomeTopple wrap up!) to hear my thought on each of my reads, and check below for my July reading stats!

READING STATS FOR JULY

Participated in 5 readathons (#TomeTopple, #ReadYourFaceOff, #24in48, #7in7, #BookTubeAThon)

Completed 1/10 books from 10 Book TBR #2 (9/10 total)

Started 2 series

Continued 1 series

6,051 pages read

19 books completed

BOOKS COMPLETED

Save the Date by Morgan Matson
Physical copy, 4/5
Buddy read with Michael

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Physical copy, 5/5
Book 4 of 7 of the Harry Potter Series

Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Audiobook, 3/5
Book 1 of  5 of the Red Rising Saga

Fullmetal Alchemist, vol. 4-6 by Hiromu Arakawa
Physical copy, 5/5

Let Me Lie by Clare Mackintosh
Physical copy, 4/5
Buddy read with Andie & Jessica

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
Physical copy, 5/5

Running Man by Charlie Engell
Audiobook, 4/5

This Adventure Ends by Emma Mills
Physical copy, 4/5

The 8 Mistakes of Amy Maxwell by Heather Balog
Kindle eBook, 3/5
Book 1 of 3 of the Amy Maxwell Series

Sweet Tooth, vol. 2: In Captivity by Jeff Lemire
Physical copy, 5/5

Noteworthy by Riley Redgate
Kindle eBook, 4/5


Girls Like Me by Lola St. Vil
Physical copy, 2/5

Other People's Houses by Abbi Waxman
Physical copy, 4/5

Maus, vol. 2: And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman
Physical copy, 5/5

Faith: Hollywood & Vine by Jody Houser
Library copy, 3/5

Huck, Book 1: All-American by Mark Millar
Library copy, 4/5

Saga, vol. 3 by Brian K. Vaughn
Physical copy, 5/5

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Physical copy, 2/5

In Real Life by Cory Doctorow & Jen Wang
Physical copy, 4/5

I've also been noticing that I've had a hard time lately consistently cross posting my vlogs to my blog everytime they get uploaded to my channel. I don't know if it's because I've been crazy busy lately, but I often just can't be bothered to create an additional post for every single vlog I upload because I tend to upload A LOT. So, in order to alleviate that, I thought it might be a good idea to throw all of my vlogs onto a playlist and share them with you in my monthly wrap up posts. That way, if you're curious what I get up to in terms of readathons and other fun adventures throughout the month, you know where to find them! :)


VLOGS FEATURED THIS MONTH: Weekend Reading Vlog (7/7-7/8) July #ReadYourFaceOff 24 Hour Readathon #24in48 Readathon #7in7 Readathon

#BookTubeAThon 2018! Vlogs & Wrap Up

We are just coming off the whirlwind that is BookTubeAThon and omg... I did not think that this week was going to be as stressful as it was, but between traveling to DC for work, announcing a new job, and trying to spend as much time with Brett as possible before the school year starts ALL WHILE ATTEMPTING TO READ ALL THE BOOKS AND DO ALL THE VIDEO AND INSTAGRAM CHALLENGES.... I don't know how I am even awake right now. I unfortunately did not end up reading as much as I wanted to, but I think I did the best I could with the amount of time I actually had. Here's some stats for all of my reading nerds out there...
Pages read: 1,087 Saga, vol. 3 by Brian K. Vaughn - 144 pages We Were Liars by E. Lockhart - 225 pages In Real Life by Cory Doctorow - 175 pages Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell - 140 pages* Holes by Louis Sachar - 233 pages The Stange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton - 170 pages* Books finished: 4 Challenges completed: 3 Coin flip challenge Something you'd like to do Book-to-movie adaptation
While my reading wasn't the best, I DID complete all of the video and Instagram challenges! You can find the video challenges in my vlogs (above), but here's what I did each day for the Instagram challenges:

BOOKTUBEATHON DAY 1 INSTAGRAM CHALLENGE: Take a photo of the book that first got you into reading! • I’ve been an avid reader ever since I had the ability to read, so while the first book that got me into reading is probably some long lost picture book that may have gotten donated over the years, the Harry Potter series is definitely what kept me reading throughout my adolescence. I read the first book at around 9 years old, and the last book came out when I was 17. Every release kept me excited to pick up the next one and I found myself continuing the habit of reading between HP releases and well after I closed the final book. I have a feeling this will be the answer for many, but the Harry Potter series is what really made reading “stick” for me! ⚡️ • #BookTubeAThon2018 #BookTubeAThon #BTAT #btatfirst #bookstagram

A post shared by Riley (@rmfickfack) on Jul 30, 2018 at 8:45am PDT

BOOKTUBEATHON DAY 2 INSTAGRAM CHALLENGE: Take a book stack photo! • I’m currently traveling for work, but here’s my lil stack of #BookTubeAThon TBR books! 🤗 Just imagine my Kindle being dozens of books added to the stack. 😂 • #BookTubeAThon2018 #btat #btatstack #bookstagram

A post shared by Riley (@rmfickfack) on Jul 31, 2018 at 4:42am PDT

BOOKTUBEATHON DAY 3 INSTAGRAM CHALLENGE: Cosplay a book cover character! • Went with Cath from my next #BookTubeAThon read, Fangirl! 💻 If I was home I definitely could have scrounged up a yellow shirt, but what can ya do. 😜 • #BookTubeAThon2018 #btat #btatcover #bookstagram

A post shared by Riley (@rmfickfack) on Aug 1, 2018 at 5:14am PDT

BOOKTUBEATHON DAY 4 INSTAGRAM CHALLENGE: Take a photo with one of your book collections! • I don’t really show off my graphic novel and (tiny) manga collection, which is a shame because I absolutely LOVE reading graphics! 😍 I did not realize how many I had until I piled them all up and the stack was almost as tall as Lupita! 😳🙈😂 • #BookTubeAThon2018 #BookTubeAThon #btat #btatcollection #bookstagram

A post shared by Riley (@rmfickfack) on Aug 2, 2018 at 1:56pm PDT

BOOKTUBEATHON DAY 5 INSTAGRAM CHALLENGE: Take a photo where a book cover and background match! • I just started rereading Holes 🕳 last night for #BookTubeAThon! Haven’t read it since 3rd or 4th grade and it’s so much fun revisiting the story! • #BookTubeAThon2018 #btat #btatmatch #bookstagram #currentlyreading

A post shared by Riley (@rmfickfack) on Aug 3, 2018 at 6:42am PDT

BOOKTUBEATHON DAY 6 INSTAGRAM CHALLENGE: Take a photo of three books - two you have read before and one you haven’t! • For this challenge, I wanted to feature my 3 favorite colors on the spines - Purple, yellow, and turquoise! Can you guess which book I haven’t read? • #BookTubeAThon #btat #btatthree #bookstagram

A post shared by Riley (@rmfickfack) on Aug 4, 2018 at 4:20pm PDT

BOOKTUBEATHON DAY 7 INSTAGRAM CHALLENGE: Take a photo of your favorite book! • While I have many favorites, The Little Prince is definitely toward the top of the list. It reminds us adults that we don’t *truly* know it all, especially when it come to the key to really enjoying life! ✨ • #BookTubeAThon #BookTubeAThon2018 #btat #btatfav

A post shared by Riley (@rmfickfack) on Aug 5, 2018 at 4:10pm PDT

I know that this round of BookTubeAThon wasn't necessarily my best and if I felt like I had more time on my hands I would have done much better, but I had fun nonetheless and I have so much motivation to outdo myself for next year! :D I hope everyone had a fun week of reading and celebrating books! <3

#ReadYourFaceOff Readathon Vlogs {April, May, & June 2018}

As you may know, I've been doing a bit of catch up on my blog after experiencing some technical difficulties with my personal computer. I realized a few weeks ago that I haven't had the chance to share my #ReadYourFaceOff 24 Hour Readathon Vlogs with you all at all over the past three months! So I thought I'd stick them all in one blog post for you all to catch you up to speed.
April 2018
 
Books Read:
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman Fullmetal Alchemist, vol. 1-3 by Hiromu Arakawa The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui
May 2018

 
Books Read:
Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera Pregnant Butch by A.K. Summers
June 2018


Books Read:
Autoboyography by Christina Lauren Sourdough by Robin Sloan
If you weren't aware, the Read Your Face Off Book Club does a 24 hour readathon every month to help boost your reading! The next readathon will be July 14-15, 2018 from 9AM on the 14th to 9AM on the 15th in your time zone. Make sure you join the book club on GoodReads to be aware of all of the upcoming dates for the #ReadYourFaceOff 24 Hour Readathons!

Vlog: Youngstown Maravlog #2 & #3 | March & April 2018 Marathon Training

The Youngstown Marathon is approaching (1 week from today! SLKDGHLKSAJ) and I'm realizing I haven't kept the blog up to date with my Maravlogs! To be honest, the last month or so I've been barely staying afloat with everything else going on in my world that staying up to date with everything online has taken a bit of a hit, but I'm hoping that the slower summer months will allow me to build up some momentum again! Until then I'll be playing a bit of catch up with my posts so you all can get up to speed with everything going on in my life.

For my March Maravlog I decided to show you the brutally honest truth when it comes to how I eat on a regular basis. Mostly it's healthy meals and maybe some not-so-healthy snacks, but I try my best to not just eat junk 24/7 (even though that's what I prefer to do). I also talk a bit about what is motivating me to keep going on my training!

In April, I finally reach the point where I run my training half marathon - the Portsmouth Half Marathon in Portsmouth, NH! I also talk about how winter will not leave New England alone, as well as watch the Boston Marathon, one of the best motivators for a distance runner!
I didn't record anything for my May training, but I definitely plan on vlogging my trip to Youngstown and showing you how the race goes! I'm crossing my fingers for a successful race. Right now the weather is predicting 80 degrees and partly cloudy, so I'm a little nervous about how that will impact my race, but all I can do is my best. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I can get through to that finish line! <3

Happy Vlogidays 2017!

Another December has somehow come and gone which means Happy Vlogidays 2017 is over! I wanted to share the vlog playlist with you all here on the blog so you can have a one-stop shop for all things related to my holiday 2017 experience! (It was great, to say the least. I mean Christmas at the beach? What beats that?) You might want to grab a snack before hitting play because the majority of these videos are about a half hour long. How? Who knows. Probably because I don't know when to stop talking. :P Anyway, I hope you all enjoy and have a wonderful end to your 2017! <3

Holiday 2015 Recap

Hi everyone! I hope your 2016 is off to a great start. It's been a whirlwind, but the holidays are over and I have made my return to reality. I feel like so much happened during the holiday season. I can't think of one weekend when we weren't in the car travelling all over the northeast. We had so much fun though visiting friends and family, celebrating 3 years together, seeing the Patriots and Star Wars, giving each other gifts (seeing the look on Brett's face when he opened his big gift on Christmas morning was so much fun), and just enjoying each other's company throughout the season was so great.

In case you missed it, I vlogged throughout the entire season so check out the Happy Vlogidays playlist I've compiled for you! I vlogged from Thanksgiving (and my family's Christmas) through New Year's so you can see everything we got up to over the holiday season. I hope you enjoy - I got so much footage (this doesn't begin to skim the surface of what I recorded) and had a great time making these videos. I look forward to having these to look back on in the years to come!

Fall Favorites 2015!

Bad news: it's officially winter and soon the snow-pocalypse will be upon us again. Good news: the days are going to start getting longer, so at least there's that! With the end of the season comes time for me to review all of my favorites for you all, and that's exactly what I'm doing in this post! To make things a bit more ~streamlined~ I'm going to try to keep my favorites posts under 10 items from now on (this summer's favorites post was a little out of control), so you're not going to see all of the categories I've used in the past, but I think I definitely summed up my favorite things for this fall with this list! I hope you all enjoy!
Apparel | L.L. Bean Wicked Good Camp Moccasin

These are so comfortable and warm! I wanted a nice durable, comfortable slipper for this winter and these are 100% it. I've worn them around for the entire month of December so far and if I could wear them everywhere without ruining them I totally would. I'm excited to have these to keep my feet warm when the temperatures start falling under zero.

Book | The Help

This was hands down my favorite book that I read this season. I already dedicated an entire blog post to my thoughts and feelings about this book, but seriously if you've never read it you totally need to get on it! It's definitely reached the ranks of some of my favorite books ever.

Fitness | Brooks Launch 2

I got these at the end of September as my Asics were making my feet kill during my training runs leading up to my marathon. I had never tried Brooks before but with my legs hurting me that badly and the Maine Marathon right around the corner, I was willing to try something new if it meant my running would feel better. Turns out it made me feel MUCH better and I PRed in my marathon! SO, of course, these had to be my fitness favorite of the fall.

Home & Office | Hamilton Beach FlexBrew Generation 2 Coffee Maker

My sister bought this amazing contraption for me as a Christmas gift and I'm a huge fan! I live by myself most of the time, and Brett is not a coffee drinker, so brewing a whole pot of coffee never really makes all that much sense. This gem not only brews singular cups of coffee, but also allows you to replace the filter with w K-Cup, so if I'm feeling extra lazy I don't have to do much work do get caffeinated! Double score.

Movie | Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

I mean... obviously, right? I won't talk about this in too much detail because I know there are still plenty of people out there who have yet to see it, but the new Star Wars film was so great. It's got action, it's got emotion, it's got nostalgia, and even a few good laughs. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly, highly recommend that you do before it all gets spoiled for you!

Purchase | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Illustrated Edition

When this was first announced I knew that this was how I was going to build a Harry Potter collection that I would one day share with my children. I was not disappointed when it arrived in the mail. Every page is so gorgeous and it just enhances the story so much. Part of me is glad I grew up without too much guidance in what things looked like, but I also think I might have enjoyed the books that much more with pictures attached. Anyway, I totally think it's worth it to add this to your book collection!

Video Game | Zelda: Majora's Mask 3DS

Brett got this for me as a graduation gift back in May, but I only just got around to playing it this season. I'm not too far into the game but I am having so much fun! I never got the chance to play Zelda as a kid (I also wasn't much for one-player games growing up), but I am so happy that they released a 3DS version of this game  so that I can enjoy it as an adult! I'm looking forward to playing this more during some downtime over winter break.

Memory | Patriot's Game


This was 100% my favorite memory of the fall! My parents very generously gave Brett and I tickets to go see the Patriots play at Gillette Stadium, and this was my first Pats game ever! We tailgated all day and had so much fun at the game, despite the fact that we ended up attending one of their only two losses this season... >_> Regardless, we had a fantastic time and I will always remember that day!

What were your favorite things from this fall?

Lobster. Traffic. Must be the Cape. (25 Before 25 - #9)

Brett and I were invited down to our friend Ashley's Cape house this week! 

We packed up the car and headed down Sunday and got there right around lunch time. Ashley, Andy, Grazia, and Dre were all there just starting their day with some brunch! Grazia made us some delicious coffee drinks and there were snacks everywhere! (I mean, they had a whole candy corner. Talk about dangerous!) It wasn't the best day for weather, but we enjoyed ourselves by watching Rocky I & II on TV, playing Kan Jam in the back yard, eating an awesome BBQ dinner, and indulging in a few board games. 

Monday was another gross weather day, but more friends - Jenny, Gina, and Mike - came to join us! We did more Kan Jamming, more eating, more drinking, and more being merry-ing. There was a dinner of delicious steaks, marinated chicken and roasted vegetables, and amazing trifle dessert. Just thinking of it makes me so hungry!

We finally had a beautiful beach day on Tuesday. I got up before everyone else for a run (and so I can look at all of the gorgeous Cape houses in the area!) and I returned everyone else was just starting to wake up and make breakfast. We were on the road to the beach by 9:45 and parked at our beach base camp at 10:15, just before the crowd started to arrive! The water was so cold, but its was so hot outside so we all sucked it up and went swimming between our beach lounging.

After a solid day at the beach we went back to the house for yet another amazing dinner of Italian sausages, melon and prosciutto, and an incredible summer salad. We played a hilarious game of Cards Against Humanity (I had never played before... I was laughing so hard I was in tears!) and Grazia made us all delicious monkey bread to snack on. If I can say anything about this trip, I'd say we ate like kings!

We had to leave out mini-vacation Wednesday morning as I had to get back to work and reality, but we had a wonderful few days down there and we're looking forward to returning in the future!

Unfortunately, the above photo was the only real picture I took the entire time we were there (#terriblebloggeraward), but I did a bit of vlogging through our trip so be sure to watch the video for a few fun clips!

*This crosses off #9 on my 25 before 25 list - Go on another road trip somewhere. I'm attempting to reach 25 goals before I reach the age of 25! Want to see the whole list? Check it out here!

Birthday Money Shopping Haul! (Marshall's, Payless, GameStop)

My birthday was a few weeks ago and this year I received a few gift cards and birthday checks as gifts. When I was home in (tax free!) NH over Memorial Day Weekend, I decided to splurge a bit and *cough*spendallofitatonce*coughcough*. #lessonsyoushouldntlearnfromRiley It had been a while since I had gone shopping for myself (Spoiler alert, grad students do not have a lot of money) so having money that you're forced to spend (gift cards) for a change was pretty exciting! I got a few different things, so I thought I'd show you all what I got!

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!

Boyfriend/Girlfriend Tag!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! Brett and I are lucky enough to find the time in our hectic schedules to see each other today. (I'm currently doing work at his place waiting for him to return from work in a few hours! #makingitwork) We actually weren't anticipating being able to see each other today, so we decided to make a little Valentine's Day video for my YouTube channel, which we shot a few weeks ago. If you'd like to know a little bit more about us/our relationship, click play!

(Sorry about the bad audio. I'm still learning best practices for filming!)
When I arrived today I got to see Brett for about 5 minutes before he had to run back to work. Before he did, though, he surprised me with a slew of sweet gifts for Valentine's Day! I definitely wasn't expecting that - that was very sweet of him! :) I'm so lucky to have someone that loves to make me smile! 

A cute stuffed monkey, a chocolate rose, and CADBURY EGGS! Thank you, Brett! You're the sweetest! :)

I'm not sure what we're going to get up to once Brett gets out of work, but I'm sure it will be fun (and I'm sure pizza will be involved... #yum)! I hope you guys have a wonderful weekend!

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! :)

I LOVE Planners!

My 2014 Erin Condren Life Planner finally arrived last week and I am OVER THE MOON in love with it! I thought that this called for a video review of the planner itself so I could show you all why I'm so excited about it, so I shot one and put it up on the interwebs just for you guys.

I also wanted to show in this video how I've been using my current planner and share how I've been organizing my life. I know that I've picked up a bunch of tips from watching similar videos, and figured you might get some organizational ideas that you like from my planner! Yay organization!

I know this video is pretty long, so here's a little cheat sheet if you don't feel like watching the whole thing:

1:26 - I show you my current 2013 planner and how I've been using it over the past year.

6:37 - The unboxing of the Erin Condren Life Planner!

9:50 - I take you through the Life Planner itself and you some ways I've been using it so far.

24:08 - A quick wrap-up review of the planner and the whole ordering experience with the Erin Condren company!

Hope you all enjoy the video! :)