"You're putting WHAT on my bookshelf?" and other update-y things.

First of all, if you'll allow me to humblebrag a little bit, I was featured in the Bloggers We Love section of ShopAtHome.com, which is a fabulous website that provides unlimited access to printable and downloadable coupons, coupon codes and promotions. Since I talk about saving money allthetime, obviously, this website is one of my new faves. Go check me out, and then scoop up some coupons for yourself!

Anyway, there's not a whole lot to recap, since my entire weekend was filled with moving activities, and even though it rained ALL WEEKEND LONG, it went pretty well. My parents met Garrett's parents for the first time (after 1.5 years of dating), so that's something. It was brief, and it went pretty well too.

As I mentioned yesterday, we're still couchless, cableless and tableless, but we're making it. We have our meals planned for the week (I KNOW!), a cable installation date, stain for the coffee table we're getting, and *hopefully* a washer/dryer and maybe a new bed coming to us over the weekend. Keep your fingers crossed for us, okay?

Tomorrow will resume regularly scheduled blogging, where the SUPER adorable Brittany from Wine, Cheese and Workout Capris will be here with some healthy snack ideas! I can't wait to see what she comes up with, because I'm beyond ready to get back into a (mostly healthy) routine.

Happy Monday!!! I hope yours isn't rainy and disgusting like mine is.



Check out one of the sweetest (literally! get it?) bloggers I know, Leslie!

Goals: I have them.

So, if you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that I laid out a bunch of goals for myself and for the blog. And let's be real here: I have SUCKED at keeping up with them.

So I'm here to tell you right now that all that is about to change. It's about to get way awesome and goal-oriented up in here. And instead of just saying "I'm going to focus more on my goals," I decided to choose a few to focus on, and make a plan on how I'm SPECIFICALLY going to meet those goals. Obviously, I'm telling you guys all this for accountability's sake.

So here's the plan, man:

I have lots of plans for things I want to create for the apartment. Unfortunately, I don't have an unlimited budget, so I'll have to spread them out a little bit. Here's the tentative plan:
August - Hooks and decor for apartment entryway. (sort-of inspiration here. I'm actually really excited about this one, and I can't wait to do it and show it to you!)
September - Jewelry Nook (inspiration here)
October - Gallery Wall in dining room (inspiration here and here)
November - Paint furniture and create centerpiece for dining room table (paint inspiration here and centerpiece inspiration here and here)
December - Curtains (inspiration here. I'll probably be using this tutorial.) and MAYBE painting the apartment? We found out we're allowed to paint, but I'm not sure if we will or not.

Now that Garrett and I are going to actually be together, and have a semi-normal schedule, we're really going to get into the intentional meal planning thing.  I'm going to do a more in-depth post on this sometime soon, but what I plan on doing is sitting down with Garrett at the beginning of each month and choosing recipes we'd like to make throughout the month. Then, at the beginning of each week, we'll choose what we're going to make that week. Planning meals for the whole month seems fine in theory, but we're so busy and plans change so frequently that we'd never stick with it. I'd like to avoid mid-week, unplanned, 'lets just make this' trips as much as possible. That's where we typically end up spending the most money, so being intentional is key here. I feel like there are going to be some growing pains with this one, but I'm excited about it nonetheless!
We also really, really need to start eating healthier again. I've gained ten-ish pounds in the last year. The number on the scale doesn't bother me (that much), but the fact is: I've gained weight because I'm being unhealthy. And I need to change that.

Our apartment complex has a nice little gym in it, so there's really no excuse anymore. I used to be able to run a 5k, and now I don't think I can run five minutes. I think I'm going to do the Couch-to-5K treadmill program, but we'll see. What do you guys do to get yourself motivated???

I'd like to read one book a month from now until the end of the year. To a lot of you, that probably doesn't seem like a lot, but it's busy around here, yo. So that's the goal for now. The plan is:
August: Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman
September: The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
October: MWF Seeks BFF by Rachel Bertsche (per Lauren's recommendation!)
November: Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (I'm also going to reread Catching Fire in preparation for the movie, but that'll be easy.)
December: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
I'm also going to try to start using Goodreads again. Who else uses that? Want to add me, or whatever?

So there you have it. I have a plan, with measurable goals and everything. My dad would be so proud. Keep me accountable, okay you guys?!?



Check out one of the sweetest (literally! get it?) bloggers I know, Leslie!

What I Read

The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick

“Life is hard, Pat, and children have to be told how hard life can be.”

“Why?”

“So they will be sympathetic to others. So they will understand that some people have it harder than they do and that a trip through this world can be a wildly different experience, depending on what chemicals are raging through one’s mind.”

Okay, I'm finally getting around to doing this. I finished the book over a month ago, and started writing this and never finished it. And then one of the book clubs used it for their book for May, so I didn't really want to get in the middle of a club I wasn't in. Logical? Not really. But that's my story. So let's get started, shall we?

First of all, I have to point out how much I love that Pat's main trigger is Kenny G music. My dad always played Kenny G in our house growing up (he still does), so every time he mentions "Mr G" and how awful he is, I had to smile to myself. This alone put the book into a special place in my heart.

If I'm going to see a movie based on a book, I usually try to read the book first (as I'm sure most of you do), but I didn't do that with this, because honestly, I hadn't heard of it until the movie started getting attention last year.

I was excited to read it though, because I loved the movie. It got some criticism for not accurately portraying mental illness, but I disagree. I thought it did a great job.

So now I'm going to say what you're probably not supposed to say: I'm not sure if the book was better than the movie. 

Like I said, I really, really loved the movie. And then when I read the book, I really, really loved the book. But I think I loved them for completely different reasons, which is why I'm not sure if I can say that one was better than the other.

A book is always able to get into the real nuances of someone's personality, more than a movie ever could. This is always one of the major benefits of reading a book over watching a movie, but I think it's especially notable when the main characters are dealing with mental illness. What's going on in their brains is entirely the point of the book, so to be able to experience that firsthand really makes a difference.

One thing I really loved is he montage that Matthew Quick paints while they're doing their dance rehearsals... it's so, so beautiful to me. I could totally picture it in my head, and not the dance scenes from the movie. I could hear the music playing, and see the sweat dripping off their bodies, and feel the tension in the room. It's some really good writing, you guys.

Honestly, I loved most of the characters as they were drawn into this book. Pat's dad was kind of a douche, but when you think about the fact that he probably suffers from some of the same issues that Pat does, you tend to be a bit sympathetic, even to him. Matthew Quick is REALLY good at weaving the entire character into the story that you're reading - you can easily see the tenderness of Pat's mother, the awkward hopefulness of his brother Jake, and the guarded, confused vulnerability of Tiffany. (Obviously we have the whole book to get to know her.)

People have criticized the book (and the movie) by saying that true love doesn't make all of your issues go away, but I don't think that's the message this book is trying to convey - I believe the book is saying "hey, you know what? life kinda sucks sometimes. that's not going to change, so you might as well surround yourself with people that you love." And I think that's true. No matter what you're dealing with throughout your life, it always helps to have people by your side that love you, right?

Another thing I've seen is that there's not a good enough "reason" Pat and Tiffany are the way that they are, and I'll be honest, that makes me angry. Please understand this: mental illness doesn't have a reason. It can affect anyone. Anyone. Suggesting that they don't have a good enough "reason" to be crazy is an insult to anyone that suffers from mental illness.

At the end of the day, I think I love this book because at its core, its an optimistic book. All of the characters have been through a lot, and even though the book hits some pretty low points, it always maintains that the sun will come out eventually, and that there is always a shot at a silver lining. And that is a wonderful thing.

More Bloggy Thoughts + June Goals

So, the Blog Every Day challenge is over, and I'm still REALLY FREAKIN' PROUD of myself that I did it. Every single day. Being forced to blog every day is freakin' hard, man. I did not like it. BUT - I'm really glad I did it. I learned a lot about what works for me as a blogger.

First of all, intentionally planning posts is totally clutch. I know, all of you experienced people are all "Duh, Alyssa. We told you that a hundred times already." I know, I know. But I had to figure that out on my own, okay? Being intentional is key. Planning and queuing posts so they're ready to go live in the mornings is definitely the way to go.
I also figured out that I really need to listen to my instincts and not feel absolutely locked in to blogging. I'm glad I committed to this challenge and did it, but there were days where the LAST thing I wanted to do was figure out something to put on the internet. But I did it anyway. (Sometimes I'm too stubborn for my own good.) It's good to keep a consistent presence, but sometimes I just don't have time for this whole internet thing. And that's totally okay.
Conversely, I've also learned that sometimes I just have to sit down and force myself to really focus on writing. I can claim Writers Block any time that I can't think of anything to post. But once I sit down and really start to focus, I can get together some pretty good stuff. So working on being focused but not overthinking every single little thing is really the key.
Like I said, as exhausting as it was at times, I'm really glad I went for this challenge, and I'm so proud of myself that I got it done.


- Find + Install a new layout - I love mine (and Kelsey is great to work with), but now that my blog is starting to take off a bit, I'd like to get away from the premade fam.
- Go for custom domain - I'm still holding out on this because I'm not sure if I want to switch to Wordpress or not. I keep hearing about how much better it is, but, well... I'm a pansy.
- Focus more on the original goals I established when I started this blog. I make an effort to implement these in my life, but I never talk about them. And if I don't talk about them on the internet, do they really happen? Hmmmmmm.
- Finally post my thoughts about Silver Linings Playbook. This one is silly, but I seriously finished that book a month ago and haven't gotten around to talking about it. (Now I'm kinda waiting because apparently one of the Book Clubs used it this month?)
- Get in on giveaways + co-hosting more linkups.
- Create a media kit.
- BE BETTER AT RETURNING EMAILS.

So that'st that. I'm posting these goals here to hold myself accountable, so feel free to harass me about them throughout the month! I'm sure I'll need it.