Blogruary 2013 Wrap Up!

I did it, guys! I successfully blogged every day of February, even with working and a trip home and other things getting in the way. I’m pretty darn proud of myself! Here are links to all of the posts in case you’ve missed anything this month.

Influenster Sweetheart Box 2012–First Impressions

I got another Influenster box! If you STILL aren’t getting Influenster boxes, you need to head over and check out the site. All you’ve got to do is write reviews of products and they send you FREE STUFF to write reviews on. (That means I was sent this stuff for free to review. I didn’t pay for ANY of this, guys.) This box is the Sweetheart Box, and here’s what I got:

I Went HOME!

As you probably know by now, I went home for a bit this past weekend to celebrate my birthday. In lieu of being able to process any actual thoughts about this weekend, I thought I’d share some pictures and rambles

 

Meet (clockwise) my daddy, sister & I, my husband & I, 

my sister & I with our grandparents, and my sister & I.

I also have a vlog post chronicling all of the glorious foods I enjoyed, as well as some of the other things I did, which you can see here!

Thank you so much to all of the friends & family who made my quick trip home, and my 24th birthday so lovely. It was really one of the best birthdays in memory.

[26/28]

Monday Questions- 2.25.13

Happy Monday! I actually have started looking forward to Mondays since I've been doing these. I don't think I've ever looked forward to Mondays before. And this Monday is particularly special because hey! It's my birthday! I'm officially 24 today!

This weekend has just been absolutely lovely, the perfect way to end 23. Thank you so much to the friends and family who made this weekend so lovely. You guys are the absolute best, and made the travelling 700 miles absolutely worth it. 

I gotta be honest- my 23rd birthday sort of sucked. I spent it sort of alone and mopey. Not because I particularly cared about turning 23, but just because all of the people I cared about and wanted to be around were otherwise occupied, and it just was sort of lame. I'm happy to say that this year, even though it was the weekend before the birthday, and with the plan ride I'll be taking this evening, was substantially better. 

Now, onto the questions:

How are you feeling right now? Pretty freaking awesome, if I'm being honest. 

What is your favorite cereal? Always has been, always will be: Lucky Charms. 

Book you are most excited for this year? I am SO stoked for The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson which comes out *TOMORROW*

Favorite board game? I just got Settlers of Catan, and it's awesome. I'm also a big fan of Life. 

How do you wear your hair usually? I almost always have at least one braid in. Otherwise, it's down, but pulled back by a clip. 100% of the time I am rocking a bow. 

Do you sleep with your bedroom door open or closed? I have always been a door closed kinda gal, but since getting Ampersand, we have to keep it open for her. You have to go though our bedroom to get to the bathroom/litterbox. It's worth it when I wake up with a kitty sleeping next to me. 

What is something that made you smile today? What didn't make me smile today! 

Are there any TV shows that you watch regularly? Not really. I like a lot of shows, but I like to let weeks pile up so I can marathon them. Currently though, I'm really into The Lying Game. 

What do you want to accomplish this week? I want to try and sub every day this week, and put some new stuff up on etsy. 

Don’t forget to take a couple minutes to answer the questions, too! Just copy & paste, and post it in the comments.

How are you feeling right now?

What is your favorite cereal?

Book you are most excited for this year?

Favorite board game?

How do you wear your hair usually?

Do you sleep with your bedroom door open or closed?

What is something that made you smile today?

Are there any TV shows that you watch regularly?

What do you want to accomplish this week?

Have a great week, guys!

[25/28]

February 2013 Favorites!

It’s that time of the month again guys! It’s favorites time! It’s also almost the end of Blogruary, unfortunately. This month, I learned I really love blogging!

A Toast to Greek Life

I  never planned to join a sorority. Besides thinking that  the hoodies with the stitched letters looked really cool, nothing else about it ever appealed to me. I haven't ever been a big partier or drinker, and I wasn't really the kind of girl who had a lot of girl friends. Sorority life was the LAST thing I thought I'd ever be a part of.

As it turned out, Greek life had other plans for me.

FALL 2008

Keeping this bit brief, I was unhappy my first year of college. I was homesick and lonely, and was feeling down about not having the love and Golden Ram Spirit I was seeing around me. I went so far as to begin applying to other schools closer to home before one of the few friends I actually had made asked me to just "come meet her friends."

"Now Jess," I began. "You know I'm planning to not come next year." I saw through this trick. She was trying to recruit me.
"I know, no commitment. Just come out and meet them." She was happy and had friends. I was envious of that. I went.

I remember that night as being one of the first times I was really happy in West Chester. These were my people.

FALL 2012

Nowhere in that room were the stereotypical mean girls from movies. I didn't see one single woman that I couldn't connect with in some way. I immediately knew that if these women would have me in their bond, I wouldn't be leaving West Chester. It was, as they say, love at first sight.

I spent the next three years as a proud sister of a chapter that certainly had some failings. We had low numbers, and occasionally some poor attitudes, but despite any other problems we ever came across, sisterhood was never a problem. We always truly loved each other- and I still love my sisters.

I had the honor of serving as the Membership Director- planning recruitment- and also as the Vice President. I was blessed with two amazing littles who have in turn given me a remarkable lineage of little-littles, littles to the third, and even to the fourth. I have memories of formals and date parties, of Greek weeks and homecomings, and so, so much fun with such an amazing group of women.

My two fantastic littles

And now, two years after becoming an alumnae of a group I love so strongly, I am still finding myself so proud of them. When I pledged Phi Mu, my chapter was sitting at about 25 women- a huge jump from the EIGHT only three years prior. During my tenure, we fluctuated between 18-30, never quite managing to reach the number goals set. While we were successful in other ways, this was out downfall.

FALL 2010 Bid Day versus SPRING 2013 Bid Day

As of the most recent bid day this past weekend, my wonderful, yet tiny chapter is now 85 women strong. I am still in a state of awe, after seeing a group shot. More women than I ever thought I would see wearing my letters, at my school.

I will forever bleed rose and white, living by my oath of love, honor& truth, and thanking my founders for what they have given me.

Congratulations, Phi Lambda!

[23/28]

DIY Resin Hair Clips

I’ve got another SUPER easy craft project for you guys for today! I was going to try and make a video on this, but it ended up being SO simple that it was hardly worth filming a video on, honestly. Like, it would have taken longer to set up a tripod than this whole project took. Which is awesome for YOU, because it’s just that easy.

Anyway, here we go!

Top Five Things I Miss About Philadelphia

Just in case you’re new here, or something, I’m from Philadelphia. I am a serious Philly girl, and man, do I miss it a lot. It’s been almost nine months since I moved away, and about six months since my last visit. I’m starting to feel the homesickness pretty badly, so today I’m going to share with you the top five things I miss about my amazing hometown.

[Review] HDU; India Lee

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Release Date: November 30, 2012
Publisher: Self Published
Format: ebook
Summary from Goodreads:
Amanda Nathan just lost everything – her first real boyfriend to her lifelong best friend, her half of their shared apartment in St. Louis and her first post-grad job as a receptionist. Forced back under her parents’ roof in Merit, Missouri, the gossipy town she’d spent her life trying to escape, Amanda has but one saving grace – being an anonymous moderator on HDU, the Internet’s largest celebrity gossip community. Unemployed and alone, Amanda relishes in the one thing she has control over – Hollywood gossip. Now, her idea of fun is getting lost in the glamorous lives of others and posting nasty rumors about her former bestie’s favorite actor, Liam Brody, a playboy notorious for dumping his model girlfriends on a monthly basis.

So who would’ve thought that Liam Brody would be Amanda’s answer to escaping Merit? When the controversial womanizer needs an image boost to land a new role, he turns to none other than HDU for some good press. As it turns out, Liam is as eager to shed his playboy image as Amanda is desperate to move out of Merit. The solution to both problems? Fake a romance in which Hollywood’s biggest playboy falls for an unknown, sweet and shockingly plain Jane.

With the help of Ian, a fellow HDU moderator and self-developed expert on stardom, Amanda packs her bags for her new life in New York, where the overnight fame and glamour of being a celebrity girlfriend awaits. But Amanda soon discovers that their little ploy is a lot more emotionally complicated than she imagined. And while she finds that life works a thousand times better in her Hollywood circle, so does manipulation.

What I thought:
I was a pretty big ONTD-er back in the day. I know that ONTD is still a thing, although I’m not really into I anymore, but I was all about it. I loved the commenting on the celebrity content, I loved seeing the scathing replies to the news, I loved seeing the scathing replies to other commenters. ONTD served as India Lee’s inspiration for fan site HDU in her novel, and it’s pretty clear.

Based on that alone, I knew I was going to really like the book. And I did. I don’t think it’s any secret by now that I usually hate self published books, but this one wasn’t nearly as bad as many of the others. It was still fairly predictable, but Lee did a decent job. I also believed the story a lot- enough to wonder if she’s an ONTD moderator.

Basically Amanda lives the life that every fangirl wants the chance to live: she’s hired to be the fake girlfriend of a celebrity just to improve his image, and then he actually falls in love with her. What’s not to like? Some of the minor characters leave a lot to be desired, but overall, not a bad novel. This is the perfect beach book, or sick day read.

Read this if: you ever were a frequenter of ONTD, Perez Hilton, etc, if you like celebrity gossip, or if you’re looking for a quick, fun read.

Out of 5: 4/5
This is book 13/120 for 2013

[20/28]

In Defense of Taylor Swift

Okay guys, we gotta talk about something.

This absolutely makes me sick. I get that it’s really cool lately to talk about how much you hate Taylor Swift, and talk about all of the guys that she dated. I know that everyone likes to talk about how her music is so terrible, and how she’s an uncontrollable slut-shamer. And this? This is where I get confused. Do two slut shamers make a virginal goddess? I don’t know.

So it’s no secret that Taylor likes to talk about the guys she dates in her music, which makes her an “easy target,” so let’s talk about the guys she’s dated.

2008: Taylor publically dated Joe Jonas.
2009: Taylor dated Lucas Till briefly.  She then dated Taylor Lautner for most of the year. Towards the end of the year, she began dating John Mayer.
2010: Continued dating John Mayer for the beginning of the year. She was then linked to Jake Gyllenhaal for a few months.
2012: Taylor dated Conner Kennedy. She was then linked to Harry Styles, but let’s be real- that was a huge publicity stunt for both of them, and it TOTALLY worked.

Now, Taylor swift is 23 years old.  Over the course of the time that she’s been “in the public sphere,” she’s been linked to 7 guys. She hasn’t had any drug issues, or unwanted pregnancies, or got arrested, or anything like that. She dated seven dudes.

At 23, I’d be really hard pressed to think of a friend who hasn’t had in the range of 7 relationships.

As far as I can tell, as a slightly more than casual fan of her, mostly what Taylor does is bake cookies, watch TV with her cat, and turn her diary into songs. I just don’t get it, people. Taylor doesn’t flaunt her sexuality to her young fans. She doesn’t go back to guys who hit her. She doesn’t steal men from her fellow women.

She’s just a young girl who likes to be a regular girl, and occasionally talk about it.
If you don’t like her music,that’s totally cool. If you don’t think she’s pretty, that’s totally cool. If you change the station when she comes on the radio, that’s totally freaking cool. But guys. If you want to dislike her for a legitimate reason, I’m not here to stop you. But PLEASE, don’t fuel your legitimate hatred for her with stupid, harmful, bullshit reasons.

That’s all I can say about that. If she’s too “slutty” for you, or too “non-feminist” for you, think about the way you talk about her. You need to stop calling each other bitches and whores, because it makes it okay for guys to do it!

Talk to me about this, please! I really want to know why people use Taylor as such a scapegoat, why there is such a strong dislike for her. Let me know what you think.

[19/28]

Monday Questions–2.18.13

Hi! I hope all of you had lovely weeks, and fantastic weekends! I actually worked a ton this week, more than I have recently. I’m trying to get back on the ball of subbing at least 3-4 days a week, which I had really slacked at since the holiday season started, so the four days I spent in Elementary School art this week were both wonderful and terrible. Wonderful, because I thoroughly enjoyed the time spent in the classroom, and terrible because 6am wakeup call.

Other than that, the week was pretty slow. The weekend was pretty good though! I had a pretty great week, and I hope that you all did too!

Let me know how yours was in the comments so we can chat, I'd love to get to know some of you better.

How are you feeling right now? Pretty good! Excited for the start of a new week.
What is your favorite font? I love the font my blog is currently in- Georgia. Of course, I also love the font made from my handwriting, but that isn't practical for every day use.
What nail polish are you currently wearing? Currently one of the China Glaze Hunger Games colors but I forget which one. The green one, Smoke and Ashes?
What was the last thing you ate? Er, probably a Oreo. It's all I eat.
Favorite Disney prince/princess? Princess is probably Jasmine, or Mulan. Prince is DEFINITELY Aladdin, that hottie.
What is your current ringtone? Hurricane, by Panic! at the Disco
What magazines do you subscribe to? Rachel Ray, HGTV, Real Simple & also for some reason I get inStyle which I never actually ASKED for? Oh, and I get Reader's Digest, thanks Grandmom :D
How are those new years resolutions going? UGH. I'm so far behind in all of them. But I'm trying. I'm only like, three books behind in my goal, but I'm waaaay behind in preperation for the 5k. I'm doing pretty well at cutting out those bad words though.
What do you want to accomplish this week? I want to work AT LEAST three days! Also, my house is due for a full cleaning- vacuuming, bathroom cleaning, dusting- all of it. Plus Laundry. Hopefully I can accomplish all of that. Oh, and read 2(+) books.

Don’t forget to take a couple minutes to answer the questions, too! Just copy & paste, and post it in the comments.
How are you feeling right now?
What is your favorite font?
What nail polish are you currently wearing?
What was the last thing you ate?
Favorite Disney prince/princess?
What is your current ringtone?
What magazines do you subscribe to?
How are those new years resolutions going?
What do you want to accomplish this week?

And that's all! Have a great week!

[18/28]

Brownies + Cookies = BOOKIES

Let’s be real guys. All I do is bake.

I first saw this idea in a video by likedejavu, which you can watch right here. By the way, you should totally go watch this video because girl is HILAROUS, and gives a lesson on why women shave their legs while baking. It’s such a good video. But I digress. She made these, and I had to then immediately make them.

Just not… quite as good as she did.

Now don’t get me wrong, these turned out freaking delicious, but they don’t look as pretty as hers. In the video, she made little cookie dough balls, which she put in the muffin tins, and then filled around with brownie. Uh. I just scooped some of each into the tin and called it a day. STILL DELICIOUS.

They ended up looking sort of marbley, which I like. And the best part? When you bite into it, you get a chocolate chip cookie AND a brownie. In one bite. Yep.

What’s the last thing you baked? I’m always looking for something new to try!

[17/28]

[Review] Flawed; Kate Avelynn

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Release Date: January 22, 2013
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Format: ebook

Summary from Goodreads:
Sarah O’Brien is alive because of the pact she and her brother made twelve years ago — James will protect her from their violent father if she promises to never leave him. For years, she’s watched James destroy his life to save hers. If all he asks for in return is her affection, she’ll give it freely.

Until, with a tiny kiss and a broken mind, he asks for more than she can give.

Sam Donavon has been James’ best friend — and the boy Sarah’s had a crush on — for as long as she can remember. As their forbidden relationship deepens, Sarah knows she’s in trouble. Quiet, serious Sam has decided he’s going to save her. Neither of them realizes James is far more unstable than her father ever was, or that he’s not about to let Sarah forget her half of the pact.

What I thought:
Somehow, despite being a book about abuse and incest, I really enjoyed it.
Sarah was really likeable, as was Sam. James, in a way wasn’t, but his appeal was still there. His instability is shown slowly over the course of the book, and at first similarities to his father are the last thing you’d ever think about him. It’s only as the book progresses that you realize how messed up he really is.

The incest part of the story is actually sort of small, despite its significance. It’s also not very detailed, but if that’s at all squicky or triggery for you, DEFINITELY avoid this book. Also, if family abuse is a trigger for you, again, stay away. If can stomach those topics, however, I definitly suggest it. I was pretty invested in the story by the end, which I simultaneously loved and hated.

Let’s just say Sarah got the closest thing possible to a happy ending.

Read this if: want to read something dark, don’t mind heavy triggers, and like strange families.

Out of 5: 4/5
This is book 11/120 for 2013

[16/28]

Personality Quiz! [Or, Jenn Talks About Herself. A Lot.]

Just out of curiosity the other night, I decided to take a personality test. This isn’t the first time I did this test, but it has been a while. Although, now that I’ve done it, and some computer algorithm has decided that I am super introverted and feelsy, and “moderately” intuitive and judgey… What does that mean?

What I Love

I know yesterday that I spent a lot of time ranting about Valentine’s Day, and hating on the day in general, but despite what you may think based on that rant, I do love a lot of things.

I put this together to show off the things I DO love.

Music used in the video is Love Love Love (Love Love) by The Mountain Goats
On the real though, I hope you have a lovely day, regardless of who or what you love, and how you spend the day.

[14/28]