Oh, Monday.

We actually did stuff this weekend! Well, kinda.

Friday was for keeping our niece and nephew, and then lots of board games, drunk Cookout, and then sleeping over at their house because you know... too much wine.

Saturday was for used bookstores, Target, and pumpkin spice lattes. Saturday felt like the kind of day I had always pictured us having when we moved in together. We woke up late, made breakfast, and then ran errands. There was no urgency and nothing we HAD to do, so we were able to wander around one of my favorite used bookstores for a while. We picked up stuff we needed at Target and Michaels, and then spent Saturday night eating pasta and binge-watching The Newsroom.

Sunday was for lots of football, the last two Newsroom episodes (still not over it, by the way) and helping Garrett with some stuff for his classroom. Oh, and watching the finale of the Real Housewives of New Jersey, anddddd the interview with Joe and Teresa. Yikes, man.

And just in case you missed my tweet from Saturday, I really do take the magazines on my coffee table very seriously.

Brides, Time, Men's Journal, Women's Health, People, Better Homes and Gardens, Marie Claire, Entrepreneur, and Entertainment Weekly? I think I nailed it.
(If you were wondering what the inside of a math teacher's apartment looks like, this is it. Calculators everywhere. All the time.)
(Still working on what's going to go in that vase.)

How was your weekend?

The Sunday Currently

Watching football now, but we just finished watching season two of The Newsroom. All I gotta say is: zoommmmmggggggggggggggggg. Who else watched it?

Reading through some magazines that we got yesterday

Writing a blog post or two or five.

Looking at lampshades, rugs, pillows, and faux flowers... we have all the big furniture pieces for the apartment now, so it's on to the fun decorative stuff now!! 

Excited that we bought a Magic Mesh today for the patio door so now we can keep the door open all the time! It feels amazeballs in here, for real.

Wearing yoga pants and a hoodie, AKA my fall uniform. 

Drinking ummmmm.... take a guess? Hint: I drink it every Sunday. And no, it's not a mimosa.... although it probably should be.

Thinking about a grocery list for tomorrow.

Anticipating this week, cause it'll be interesting. Also, the pizza Garrett is going to bring home in approximately four minutes. 

How's your Sunday?

How was your week?

We survived another week, you guys! <Cue 'I get by with a little help from my friends> music.

It was nice to know that lots of you agreed with all my blogging pet peeves. Are we going to start a blogging revolution? I think we might. And it was REALLY nice to know that all the feelings I told you about yesterday are totally normal. Related: how did we all end up with bed hogs? Hmmm.

This made me miss Wawa like CRAZY. Since I can't go a week without throwing a millennial article at you, here are 100 pop culture things that you only get if you're a millennial. In case you need help assembling a burrito, here is a helpful guide. 

A few weeks ago, you probably saw the FYI (if you're a teenage girl) post that was floating around. I thought the original article was completely ridiculous and 100% hypocritical. Since then, the author of that blog apologized, and I think it's a really well written apology. I think we all have a time in our blogging lives where we post something that people don't like because it's easy to forget the fact that the majority of the people that read our blogs don't KNOW us, and don't know how we talk. I already talked about how to not be That Guy, and I think she definitely handled it well. While we're on the subject, you should definitely read this FYI (if you're a mother of teenage boys) because it's hilarious.

Also, I'm not sure if you've been keeping up with the whole Pronunciation Book debacle, because it's getting crazier. And more ridiculous. Here's Gaby's blog post about it, her follow-up TLDR interview, and two explanations of what happened. They tell the same story, but I had to read both for it made sense. It's crazy. What would you do if you found out your FRIENDS were lying to you as part of a "game?" Uh, no thanks.

We got to see my parents for the first time in a few weeks. They hadn't seen the apartment with any furniture in it. The only thing on the agenda this weekend is wine, board games and football (both American and European). And catching up on all the things we've DVRed. The weather is supposed to be GORGEOUS. The flowers Garrett brought me LAST Wednesday are still alive. I put a few cards in the mail today for a few special people. HOLIDAY CARDS are starting to be online. (While I feel very strongly about not Christmas-ing until after Thanksgiving is over, I freakin' LOVE CHRISTMAS CARDS.) 

Have a great weekend!!!

42 days in, and we still like each other.

So, Garrett and I have been living together for just over a month now. And while it hasn't been all rainbows and sprinkles, it's been pretty freakin' great.

I mean, if I'm being honest, a lot of it's looked like this:

Super romantic, right? Laying in bed, me watching New Girl and him playing games on the iPad. To be fair, this was before we had cable, so now, we sit on the couch.... while I watch New Girl and he plays on the iPad.

Being almost-married to a teacher is no joke. Obviously, living with one isn't nearly as hard as actually being one, but it ain't easy, man. There are days where he doesn't get home until 6 o'clock... on Tuesday, he didn't get home until almost 7:30. The instructional day ends at 3:30, you remember. When he does get home, he's obviously exhausted. We make dinner, watch an episode of The Newsroom, and go to bed before 11pm. All of you people who have been married/living with your people forever are like "...yeah, so?" but for me, it's taking some getting used to.

Of course, that doesn't mean that I regret us moving in together. This is what we've always been looking forward to, and I couldn't be more thankful. Coming home to him every day (or being at home when he gets home) is the coolest thing in the world.

There are other perks, too:
- I always have someone to put lotion on the places I can't reach, like my back.
- I always have someone to try new recipes on (because I know Garrett will eat anything.
- I have an excuse to actually TRY new recipes.
- If I buy a bag of candy and it all disappears in 24 hours, there's someone to share the blame with.
- There's always someone to watch movies with.
- There's always someone to fix whatever household item I broke.
- Garrett always makes the coffee in the morning.
- Also, he always makes breakfast on the weekends.
- I have someone to proofread blog posts/bounce ideas off of.
- Unlimited back scratches.
- Also unlimited snuggles.

But there are downsides:
- There's someone to judge the things I DVR. "Do you need all these episodes of The Real World?" YES. YES I DO.
- I have to share my candy.
- Laundry accumulates much faster.
- So do dirty dishes.
- Garrett talks in his sleep.
- And he steals my pillows.
- And last night, he hit me. In his sleep. (not hard. and it was an accident, of course.)
-
-
-
- I think that's it.

I think the positives DEFINITELY outweigh the negatives, don't you? Moving in together was pretty much the best thing I ever did. Besides agreeing to go on a date with him. And starting this blog. And getting an apartment with a balcony. And starting New Girl on Netflix. But mostly the moving in thing, for sure.

Six Things I Wish Bloggers Would Stop Doing

Do you have those blogging pet peeves? I do. Well, I guess you could call them pet peeves.

I love blogging, and the people that I meet, but some of the people in this community have some of THE most annoying habits. 

Hiding every post under a 'Read More' or only having one blog post per page.
This probably bothers me more than it should, but I just hate it. It makes me feel like you're only concerned with page views, and not worried at all about generating good content. It also makes me feel like I have to add a Read More to all my posts so I can stay in the game. I don't WANT to do it that way, but can my blog compare with others, when I know everyone else is doing it that way? I know we all want page views, but that just seems like an unfair way to do it.

Vague Blogging
If you have something you want to talk about on your blog, just freakin' talk about it. If it's something you shouldn't put on the internet, don't. Don't post little hints about what's going on under the guise of "I wish I could talk about what's going on" because you and I both know you're just looking to illicit curiosity and/or sympathy. Knock it off.

Consistently bashing others for drinking
We can't go more than a few days without someone saying "I hate bloggers who only post about drinking. It's not classy/grownup/sophisticated/acceptable/whatever." Garrett and I drink... a lot. Especially now that it's football season. Does that make us less "adult?" I don't think so. While I choose not to post pictures of myself drinking all the time, I don't have any beef with people that do. Who cares? We're young. It's what happens. You can sit there with your glass of rosé, judging people for drinking "too much", but at the end of the day, they're probably having more fun than you. So who's really winning here?

Apologizing every time you don't post for three days
I'm guilty of this one too. But it's so unnecessary. No one is going to be mad at you for.... living your life. Okay?

Failing to disclose sponsored posts
I thought this was pretty straight forward, but I still see it allthetime. Reminder: you are legally obligated to disclose any sponsored post at the BEGINNING of the post. Throwing a "This post was sponsored by Target" at the bottom of the post is not enough. It just makes you look untrustworthy and shady. And if your readers can't trust you, why even have a blog?

Posting twenty pictures of the same thing
Sorry, but I think that shirt doesn't look any different with your hands on your hip than it did with your hands behind your back. We get it. Also, SMILE. Geeze.

What about you? What do other bloggers do that annoy you? Do I do any of the things? You can tell me. I won't get mad. I promise.

Monday? 4real?

Ugh.

First of all, let me tell you I definitely could not bring myself to put on real pants today. Leggings all day. Not sorry. I slept horribly last night, so, you know. Give me my coffee and leave me alone.

Anyway. I updated my phone on Friday and I LOVE it. I feel like I have a totally new phone. I didn't think it would make that much of a difference on my lame-o iPhone 4, but it really did. Loooooove.
Also, randomly, I've loved seeing what other people's home screens looked like. You can totally tell a lot about a person by how they organize their iPhone.

We have a coffee table and end tables now!!! No more sterilite totes for us! I mentioned before that we had a coffee table, two end tables and a sofa table that we were getting from my grandparents house. I wanted to stain them because they were a medium-ish brown and I wanted them to be black, and we had been putting it off. We finally did it on Saturday afternoon. Enjoy this blurry iPhone pictures. (Real pictures to come when it's actually decorated, or whatever.)

Getting a couch cover is next, and then we'll be DONE!

We ALSO got to spend time with my favorite puppy, who, for those who asked, is still being held hostage by my parents neighbor. So boo to that. The good news is that he and Garrett are basically best friends now.

And the EMMYS were last night! Only a few of the people I wanted to win actually won (hello Jeff Daniels!) so let's just skip all that and talk about the fashion:

 Loving the jewel tones here.. especially loving Linda Cardellini's dress. And the purple shade of Carrie Underwood's dress is the same color as my bridesmaids dresses, so I love that one too obviously.

And the pale colors too! I thought Ariel Winters looked GORGE, and the soft hair and makeup on Cobie Smulders is just to die for. 

Who were your favorites from last night??

And since I'm super well rounded, HELLO - THE PANTHERS ACTUALLY WON. I didn't watch the game OR wear my Panthers underwear, so I'm not sure what that means for our juju. Maybe I won't watch it next week and then we'll see what happens. 

So that's how our weekend went. How was yours?!

Friday!!

Whew! The blog stayed pretty busy this week, didn't it? I was actually home on Sunday this week, so I was able to watch the Panthers lose a football game in <6 seconds! It's a gift, really. My favorite post this week was my ex boyfriends post. I laughed reading your comments because we've all been there with at least one of those dudes, right? Also, apparently you and I hate all the same people and are excited about all the same TV shows, so that's good news. I also got my 200th follower on Bloglovin! Wooooo!

Kelly MacLean taught us how to navigate Whole Foods. Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon went to summer camp. Here's some mattress wisdom if you're feeling down about yourself. Here's the most uncomfortable AND HILARIOUS text message exchange ever and the 27 best autocorrects from last year.

These reads are all going to be millennial related, I'll tell you that right now. There were lotttts of articles floating around the last few weeks, and I have a lottttt of thoughts about them. First, there was the one about why Generation Y yuppies are unhappy. Then HuffPo posted this one about how we should stop trying define millennials. Helloooooo, thank you. Then Allison Herman wrote about how a few silly doodles don't do anything to explain the vast number of issues our generation is dealing with. And THEN - Adam Weinstein posted an article about how we're not special or entitled, just poor. 

Here's the deal: if you think entitlement is exclusive to MY generation, you are not paying attention. And if you want Generation Y people to start doing "more important" things, maybe you should stop 1) classifying them all as special snowflakes and 2) stop dumping on them. Also, sorry we suck. (No seriously, watch this one.)

We have pretty fun plans for the weekend! Well, kinda. We're staining our coffee + end tables, but we're balancing it out by going to Rock the Block tomorrow in Winston! We got blockout curtains for the bedroom, so we can actually sleep in in the morning! I downloaded some new fonts I'm pretty excited about. It's going to be cool enough for scarves this weekend! We have a brand new box of wine.

Is it time for Happy Hour? I think it is. Grab a drink and get to know one of my favorite bloggers!!

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Alyssa and the Tale of Four Boyfriends

So, I know you heard about the launch of iOS 7 yesterday. You may have even downloaded it. I didn't yet. I figured I'd wait till everyone ELSE did it and Apple worked out the kinks before I gave it a go.

With all the hoopla yesterday, I started thinking about how long I've had Apple devices. I've had them since... well... forever. (forever in terms of technology, anyway.) This is the third new operating system I've seen, and as weird as it sounds, I remember downloading each one. I started thinking about where I was in my life - and who I was dating - when I downloaded each one. Then I realized that you can really learn a lot about a person by how they deal with new technologies.

(there's nothing like a phone to make you super reflective and nostalgic, right?)

Boyfriend #1: The Bad Boy (ed. note: he wasn't actually a bad boy. he just wanted to be. but THAT is another post for another day. or another century.) The Bad Boy was a total tech-hater. He was one of those people that was always "too cool" to care about anything technology, and he's who I was dating when the ORIGINAL iPhone came out in 2007. I love keeping up with technology, so I was all over the announcement. It was SUPER exciting to me. I mean, it was unprecedented! I loved reading about it online... sspecially when they introduced apps a few months later. TOO COOL FOR WORDS. But BB didn't care. BB thought that I was too obsessed with technology, and a "slave to to the man." And he made sure I knew it. All the time.
The Red Flags: The major one? He made fun of the things I was interested in. You don't have to like the same things I like, but don't be a self-righteous d-bag about it. I definitely don't have time for that. Haters to the left.
What I learned: anyone who is obsessed with sticking it to "the man" is going to be way too much of a pain in the butt for you. Just quit while you're ahead.

Boyfriend #2: The Artist. The Artist was into technology, but couldn't afford an iPhone. Because he couldn't afford an iPhone, he made ME feel guilty for wanting an iPhone. Also, when iOS 4 came out, a lot of the functionalities didn't work on my super old iPod - namely, the background. When I expressed my disappointment, he told me it was stupid that I cared about something as trivial as backgrounds on a phone. I mean, it's not THAT big of a deal, but that black background is just lame, right? Give me a break.
The Red Flags: Hellooooo, he was consistently trying to bring me down to his level. Not good.
What I learned: Uh, when someone doesn't want you to have nice things because THEY can't have nice things, that's typically a sign they're not a very good person. Bye.

Boyfriend #3: The Businessman. The Businessman was the opposite of the first two guys. He was SUPER into technology. A lot of the time, it was pretty cool. We had a bazillion channels, a 3D tv, surround sound, the whole nine. Obviously, the businessman also LOVED his iPhone. Like.. loved it. The day iOS 6 came out, he took off work early so he could download it. I'm not kidding. I wanted to download it too, and when he found out I was downloading it too, he got SUPER mad because I was taking up all the internet. Seriously? We were paying for the fanciest internet package, I'm pretty sure we'd be okay. THEN, when his wasn't downloading an an acceptable speed, he unplugged the router and started over - while my phone was in the middle of verifying the download with Apple. My phone froze, and I had to do a restore on my phone. As in, I lost everything. It was a cool night. Fun fact: he also insisted on using HIS iPhone charger. Because he thought it worked with his phone better. Seriously.
The Red Flags: Ohhhh, where to start? The obsession with having the best of everything? The selfishness of shutting off the internet without checking to see if I was in the middle of something, and then the lack of apology when I told him he had ruined my phone? And really - taking off work for a phone update? Seriously? That's a bit much, even for me. I should have broken up with him that night, no question.
Ed. note #2: I'm also bitter because I KNOW he still has my iPhone headphones. He says he doesn't BUT I KNOW HE DOES.
What I learned: if he loves his phone more than he loves you, run. RUN FAR.

Boyfriend #4: The Teacher. Well.. we can just call him Garrett. You guys know him already. He's had an iPhone the whole time we've been together, and FaceTime is totally the reason our long-distance relationship was successful. We also had a conversation about iOS 7 that lasted less than five minutes today. Neither one of us have updated yet.
The Red Flags: Hmmmmm, none from where I'm sitting. A healthy, non-consuming appreciation for technology? Perfect.
What I learned: It's possible to enjoy each other AND enjoy things. How novel! I should marry him or something.

And that is the tale of Alyssa and the Four Boyfriends. They all lived happily ever after, or whatever. Well, I did, anyway. Me, Garrett, and our iPhones. 

The Good, the Bad, and the Frenemies: Celebrity Edition.

So last week, I was watching Watch What Happens Live! the other night when Bethenny was on. Mid-episode, I looked at Garrett and said "I just love her!" 

Garrett responded with "you love EVERYBODY." While that isn't true, I do have a lot of "favorite" celebrities. And some least favorite celebrities. And some celebrities who I USED to hate, but now I'm mostly over it. 

Mostly, what you should get from this blog post is that I stay WAY too invested in the lives of famous people. 

I love love love ALL of these people. 
I love Conan because I think he just has this positivity that is aboslutely infectious. He got absolutely screwed by Jay Leno during the whole Tonight Show debacle, and on his last night hosting he said "All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen." Could you just DIE? He is the best. 
I love Guilana because she seems so real. Maybe I'm romanticizing her too much, but between her beast cancer and her fertility issues, she's remained so kind and wonderful and open about her struggles. Bonus: her husband is fabulous as well.
I love Hugh Jackman because he is far and away known as the nicest celebrity in the whole entire world. Plus, he's always polite and hilarious on red carpets, and since red carpets are my FAVORITE, 
I love Anna Kendrick because girl is HILARIOUS. Do you follow her twitter? You should. This tweet and this tweet sealed the deal for me.
I love Matt Damon because he's so friendly and funny and I love hearing him talk about his daughters. Also his #1 bromance with Ben Affleck. 
I love Jennifer Lawrence because who in the world DOESN'T, am I right? She's so charming and down-to-earth and her family is just the best. 
Note: this list is much, much longer than six people. To save you time, I condensed it down to six people. 

I'll tell you: I used to absolutely despise all of these girls. And then The Internet started hating them too, and it took all the fun out of it. 
I used to want to make a t-shirt that says "I hated Anne Hathaway before it was cool to hate Anne Hathaway." because seriously? I've been anti-Anne for years now. But then when EVERYONE started hating on her in the last year or so, and now it's just boring.
I've never really liked Rihanna because she always seemed kinda snotty, and I think she sounds HORRIBLE live, but all the hate she gets regarding her relationship with Chris Brown makes me sad. 
My relationship with our girl Lindsay has been a roller coaster. I loved her, and then I hated her, but now I just feel sorry for her. It's obvious she's going through some stuff, so I hope she keeps getting the help she needs, and she can return to the funny, gorgeous Linds we had in the Parent Trap and Mean Girls.
And then, there's Miley. Oh, Miley. I've hated her ever since she was on the red carpet at the Oscars five-ish years ago and she said "well, Hannah Montana will be nominated next year, I'm sure!" I mean, seriously? Know your place, girlfriend. This is the Oscars. Not the Teen Choice awards. But with all the hate she gets now, I don't like hating her any more. Mostly because the people that hate her now are TOTALLY missing the entire point. But that's a separate post for a separate day. 

Ugh. Where to even start with this bunch? I loathe them all. Loatheeeeee.
I don't like Matthew Fox because he acts like a huge douchecanoe all the time. He's not nice on red carpets or in interviews, and there's that pesky DUI. And the domestic violence accusations. Soooooo.
I don't like Nicki Minaj mostly because I think she tries too hard. Unique is fine, totally insane is something different. And she rubbed me the wrong way when she said "people don't know who I am, it's really hard and lonely." on her E! special. Um, hello? People don't know who you are because you hide yourself under wigs and lipstick and ridiculous outfits. If you want people to *know* you, stop making yourself hard to know. You know?
I don't like Justin Bieber because the fame has just turned this kind into something ridiculous. I know, it happens, but he's clearly not equipped to deal with the money or the fame. Also, Beliebers are awful and terrifying and crazy.
I don't like Lea Michelle because there are too many rumors of her saying things along the lines of "DONT YOU KNOW WHO I AM?" and I don't like that. Be humble or GTFO. She's also allegedly horrible to wait staff.
I don't like Matt Lauer because of this and this, mostly. He's cocky and pompous and just seems like a jerk and I hate him.
I don't like Connie Britton because (I know this will upset some of you FNL friends) I have a few friends who live in LA and work "in the biz" who have said she's just AWFUL to be around. She's rude to fans, refuses interviews and is overall awful to everyone who she deems is 'below' her. Since she's B-list at best, I think that is just so unacceptable. (It's not okay on any level, but you know what I mean.)

So there you have it. My own personal list of the best and the worst. And see? Way too invested. It's weird. I should get over it.

(I'm not going to get over it.)

A reminder.

File this under: Words to live by.
See also: Definitely need for the apartment.

Be Awesome Print by Fresh Words Market, $30

ITS FALL TV TIME

So, I had a different post planned for today, but I wasn't really feeling the subject matter this morning, so we're going to table that post until later in the week.

I was actually in a pretty blah mood this morning. Not bad I guess, just... blah. But then I realized - FALL TV STARTS TODAY.

Mood lifted. Immediately.

And while I'm still not used to the fact that we officially live in a post-Office society, I'm pretty excited about what's coming up.

Of course, there are the forever favorites:

Thrilled about Parenthood coming back. It seems like it's ALWAYS on the chopping block, so I'm stoked it got renewed - and at a full season this year, instead of that shortened season crap it got last year.

And of course, HIMYM. I'm doing a totally separate post about that, though.

There are the new favorites:

I had watched both of these intermittently, but binge-watched them all this summer and am TOOOOTALLY obsessed, like most of you.

There are the guilty pleasure competition shows:

feel free to definitely judge me for any and all of these. YOLO or whatever.

There are the new shows I'm going to watch and try not to get too attached to because they'll probably be cancelled because television executives are sadists who enjoy watching me cry:

And of course, there's the show that should be back and definitely isn't and I'm still really freakin' bitter about it:

What are you most excited for this season? I'm less than thrilled with the selection of new shows, but hopefully some of them will turn out to be great!