Happy Friday!

First of all, I want to thank everyone for their super-kind comments on my post yesterday. I want to make sure you know that I don't think pink things in themselves are the problem. If you like them, or are comforted by them, then I think they're great. I just don't want anyone to buy a pink blender from Target "for breast cancer." If you want to do something to help, donate. 

I loved reading about everyone's 21st birthdays... it looks like a lot of people had disappointing birthdays. What does that tells us? 1) we put too much pressure on one day and 2) we need to have a massive blate where we all get 21st birthday do-overs. Together. Who's in?!

Who watched Glee last night? Did you think it was as perfect as I did? Because I thought it was an absolutely perfect, well written, flawless representation of how different people grieve. Well done, Glee people. 

Robin Thicke wants to make sure you know that he doesn't twerk. He's twerked upon. True story. Here's conclusive evidence that Christopher Columbus was a jerk. Jon Stewart thinks that certain members of Congress are getting a little bi-curious... bipartisan curious, that is. If you're still super into the 90s like me, you'll love this Saved by the Bell: Today, according to Zack Morris. Too funny.

Alyssa's post yesterday on happiness is seriously my new favorite post on the whole internet. Seriously, what's so wrong with being happy? Do you enjoy live-tweeting your favorite shows? Read this first. Seriously, let's stop blaming rape on social media, and also anything other than rapists. California has passed the only bill all year that expands abortion access instead of restricting it. Good on you, California.

Tonight is the first Friday night Garrett and I haven't had ANY plans since... we moved into the apartment. I have officially found my favorite pumpkin coffee creamer. I have time this afternoon to catch up on all my ridiculous DVRed shows before Garrett gets home. Garrett bought me a new chevron mug this week because he is awesome. The weather has been GORGEOUS this week, so we've been able to keep the windows open. Window-open weather is awesome because our apartment feels great, and also it saves so much money. Win-win, yes?

Happy Friday!!!

Gotta get down on Friday.....??? Yes? No? No.

So, uh, this whole government shutdown thing is happening. It's REALLY happening. I love reading all of your thoughts about it, even if I disagree. If you need a refresher on how to disagree with someone, feel free to read my post about not being That Guy. (Hint: calling someone ignorant in the comments section is not the way to do it. I saw that at least three times this week and that is NOT OKAY, okay?)

I got to see Kelsey on Tuesday, so that was fun! She brought us our couch cover, and we got lunch and did a little shopping. Last night, we went to get one of my favorite fall beers at a bar in Greensboro and we ran into one of my good friends from college! What a good week for friends.

In case you missed it on the blog this week, we talked about going to bed angry, decorating our house, and I showed you our coffee table. Really riveting stuff, you know.

Also, do you like money and ad space? Go win $100 to celebrate Jenn's birthday today, and be on the lookout for Katie's ad space giveaway that starts on Monday! 

It's from 2011, but I thought this article about how your american girl doll shaped the rest of your life was hilarious(ly accurate.) So is this infographic on what your favorite beer says about you. In case you're planning on quitting your job soon, here's one way you could quit. Amazing. And for your weekly millennial article, Elizabeth Wurtzel got all ranty last week about how awful we are. Liz, I don't think we're the awful ones here. Ya dig?

So, a few weeks ago I talked about how I was willing to let the stupid, stupid things that Miley was doing slide because she's young and dumb and that's kind of how things go. Well, I'm over it. Not even a week ago, she talked about she pulled inspiration from Sinead O'Conner for her wrecking ball video. Well, this week, Sinead O'Conner wrote a letter to Miley, warning her against everything that she's doing right now. Naturally, Miley responded in the most childish, arrogant, unacceptable way ever. Yo, Miley: if you want to be seen as a "bad bitch" instead of just.. a bitch, maybe you should stop. Just stop everything. Because you are the worst.

If you're like me, you probably stopped watching Glee after the second season. I used to LOVE it, and it makes me sad that I don't anymore. I'll definitely be watching next week for Cory Monteith's tribute, though. Watch the preview for next week and read Ryan Murphy's thoughts about it here.

Just in case you need the government shutdown explained to you, there are two very easy to understand (and hilarious) explanations here and here. You're welcome.

I bought Essie Cashmere Bathrobe yesterday and I'm so excited to paint my nails this afternoon! We have game night tonight with Garrett's family and a birthday party tomorrow night with my family. I finally found a pumpkin spice coffee creamer that I love. We found some cute new vases at Marshall's the other night for less than ten bucks. It's Friiiiiiiday!

Have a good weekend!

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!!!

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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Fuh-Riday!

Uh, I actually made it through a week of blogging without, you know, missing a day. So that's exciting! I switched my blog over to a dot com, so I'm super legit now. Thanks to Katie for her help there! I had a super snappy post yesterday that thankfully, most of you agreed with. I was a little nervous to hit publish on that one, I gotta say! I told you a quick story about how my life fell together, and I LOVED reading everyone else's stories, too. What a great prompt. 

I switched between laughing hysterically and nodding enthusiastically the whole time I was reading this article on Thought Catalog about things all women have done. Seriously. Hilarious. Just in case you didn't see the whole Jimmy Kimmel twerking video, I implore you to click here and watch both videos. 

I'm not sure if any of you are into the 50 Shades books (I hate-read them, and probably won't see the movies), but I thought this article about how the movie could improve the books was interesting. If you read this, let me know what you think. Are roommates replacing our spouses? I could totally see it. Apparently, taking your parents to a job interview is a thing? I don't get it either.For those of you that love pumpkin things as much as I do, here are a ton of pumpkin recipes. You're welcome. I love you too. 

It's the WEEKEND. Last weekend was... um... incredibly stressful, so I'm happy to have a weekend to relax. We're going to the UNCG soccer game on Saturday night, so I'm excited about that! I won a new blog design from Adriana! Garrett surprised me one night with pumpkin beer and flowers, because he's the best. 

In case you didn't notice, I added a new sponsorship option called Friday Happy Hour where you get a mini-feature on the end of a Weekly Roundup post. Big ups to Stevie for being my guinea pig!!! Luv u bbygirl. 

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Guess what day it is! Guess. What. Day. It. Is.

Hey, did you hear? I have a new apartment. This week has been full of unpacking and organizing and settling. Did you see Brit's fabulous guest post on healthy snacking, and my post about being a Professional Blogger, and my feature on ShopAtHome? Super exciting stuff!! 

This post on College Humor about being a "new drinker" made me laugh, because we've all been there, right? Right. Here's some footage from other famous people auditioning for The Office. Hint: Seth Rogen is involved. Could you imagine?! Patton Oswold performed arguably the most effective trolling that Twitter has ever seen. Finally, who said grammar is important? Not these people. 

This isn't a Read necessarily, but it's the trailer for season five of Parenthood, and that is important. 

I wish I could show this article about five tips for modern research to every college student I know. If you consider yourself a foodie (or like to pretend you are), you should read this article called 'Of Paste and Pasta." Since you know I love stories about people being awesome, here's a story about a school employee who stopped a gunman at her school using sheer awesomeness. This one is a must-read, I'm telling you. 

This weekend we're getting our couch, our kitchen table, and our coffee/end tables! It's going to look like a real apartment, AND we'll actually have somewhere to sit! Revolutionary stuff, huh? We're going out to dinner tonight and doing our first *real* grocery shopping trip together. I get to spend the afternoon with my two cousins!!! (Be on the lookout for Instagram pictures.) 

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

"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!

Friday!!!

I'm so glad my post about friendship resonated with so many of you. Your comments made me realize that I'm definitely not alone... I'm glad we have each other! 

As soon as I leave here, I'm off to meet Garrett to pick up keys to OUR apartment!! Can you believe it? I can't. If you don't want to miss a second of the action (lol) you can follow me on Instagram!!!

As bloggers, we look through stock photos a lot, right? Here are some... um... strangely naked ones? For the boys that read this blog, here is some SOLID advice from a dudebro who has "learned about women." Really, you can't make this stuff up. Are you Type-A? Do you experience these side effects? 

In things that make you say "well, DUH." some study proves that 50 Shades of Grey (which is apparently still a thing we're talking about) perpetuates abusive relationships. What are your thoughts there? Do you love Hillary Clinton? I do, and apparently so does everyone else. But they didn't always. And since you know I'm a sucker for any article about millennials, here's a very interesting one about millennial Christians. Veeeeeery interesting.

Um, did I mention we're about to pick up keys? To our very own apartment? Does it get any more confetti worthy than that? I don't think so.

Have a great great great weekend!!!!!! 

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!