23 January 2014

How To Make a T-Shirt Quilt


Hey guys! Do you have a huge stack of t-shirts that you don’t wear? We all do- shirts we got for free from various places, band tees, fandom tees, shirts you’ve outgrown but are too nostalgic to get rid of- they’re everywhere. Well, here’s something to do with them: turn them into a quilt!

22 January 2014

Most Anticipated Books of 2014

Hey guys! So as you have probably seen, I've been trying to get better at writing reviews on the books I've been reading, and I've been reading a good bit. I'm presently ahead of my reading goal, although barely three weeks into January, that isn't saying much.

While I've been loving the books I've been reading so far, there are a couple of books that I'm so excited to read and can't wait for this year. There are a few trilogies that I've been holding out on that I think are wrapping up this year, so I can finally start on those, but there are a few more I just cant wait for.

In honor of 2014, here are my four most anticipated books, in order of publications:

09 January 2014

Dressing Up Bobby pins

Hello! For those of you who know me or who watch my videos, you already know that I really love wearing bows and things like that in my hair, and I often pin the front of my hair back, and then cover the pins with a bow.

Well, lately, I’ve been finding that I’ve been lazy. I can’t be bothered to dig through my bows to find one that matches, or I honestly just forget. But, I still like wearing my hair pinned back, so I decided maybe I should just fancy up some of the hundreds of bobby pins that inevitably end up filling my dresser and bathroom.
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05 January 2014

2013 Reading Goal Wrap Up & The Best of 2013.

hello friends :) I'm very proud to be able to say that I completed the 2013 book challenge that I set for myself. I had set out to read 120 books in 2013, and I managed to read more than that. I finished off last year with 123 books, an all time record for myself. If you're interested in the books that I read as part of this goal, you can see them either here on my goodreads (let's be friends!) or here as a google doc.

Because I read so many books this year, I decided that I wanted to share my top books of 2013. These aren't all books published in 2013, just ones that I read in 2013. Also, there are two series that, for all intents and purposes, I'm calling singular books. These are in the order which I read them, and all were rated 5/5 stars.

1. The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson
2. A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass
3. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
4. Love & Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo
5. The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson
6. The Birthright Trilogy (All of These Things I've Done) by Gabrielle Zevin
7. Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
8. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
9. The Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth
10. Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
11. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Any of those that are links will take you to the book's individual review, and you can see me chat a bit about those books in a video, here.

As far as next year, I plan to read 100 books! I also hope to review many more of them than I did in 2013. I'd love to review all 100, but I don't know if I can commit to that. I'm going to try though!

I'm also getting stricter with my starring method, so here's how I look at it:
☆ - I did not like this book
☆☆ - This book was not very good.
☆☆☆ - This book was okay/alright/pretty decent
☆☆☆☆ - This book was solidly GOOD.
☆☆☆☆☆ - I LOVED this book.

Let me know what your favorite books of 2013 were!
PS. I hope to do better with book reviews this year. Whoops. 


02 January 2014

positivity & goal achieving diy projects

Happy 2014! I know that whether or not people make new years resolutions is kind of a controversial topic; some people love them, some people hate them. Of course we don't need to wait until the calendar changes to make good and positive changes into our lives, but on the other hand, we all know that thing we do where we're scrolling through tumblr and we're like "okay, at 2:00 I'll start my homework," and then when it's 2:07 we have to wait until 2:30, so it kind of makes sense that we'd also want to start our life changes on a nice round date.

As for me, I don't usually make big resolutions at the new year, but I do tend to set goals for myself to achieve throughout the year. I talked about it in a video here, but these are my goals:

1. Read 100 books
2. Drink more water
3. Take more pictures & learn how to actually use my DSLR
4. Continue to work towards managing my anxiety.

In order to achieve those goals, I have two DIY projects that I did to help direct my motivation & set myself up for positivity.

The first is a Vision Board. Like you can see in the video, my vision board is basically a collage of people I find to be inspirational, quotes and pictures that cheer me up and images of goals I want to achieve. Mine features Demi Lovato, Tina Fey & Amy Pohler, as well as quotes reminding me to chill out, keep calm and to live without regrets. It also has some pictures reminding me I want to read & take pictures so that I don't forget about that. I plan to keep my vision board above my desk, so that I can see it and stay motivated throughout the year.

The second is a Good Things Jar. This is an empty salsa jar that I decorated and plan to fill with slips of paper with "good things" on them as they happen. My goal is that, at the end of the year- or when I have a day where it seems like absolutely nothing is good- I can pull my good things jar out and read through them. I think that this will be a cool tradition to look back on at the end of the year.

Both of these projects will hopefully keep me on the path of positivity this year, which is my biggest goal for 2014. Do you make resolutions or goals at the beginning of the year? What are they?