New Cheer / A New Year's Playlist

I have a ridiculous love affair with Christmas music. I'm that irritating, overly-excited person that starts listening to Christmas music as soon as Halloween is over (I don't even wait for Thanksgiving!). Really, if you took a peek through my iTunes library, I have multiple playlists for Christmas music...because sometimes you want old Bing Crosby stuff and sometimes you want modern She & Him Christmas songs. 

That said, I always felt like other holidays, especially New Year's were a little lacking in the musical festivities. But I looked around last year and this year and put together a playlist of music that is (for the most part) specifically celebrating New Year's! 

Whether you're hosting a big sparkly party or just watching the ball drop on your couch writing out your resolutions, have a listen + have a lovely New Year!

How do you celebrate New Year's??

Curated / 20

This week has been insaaaaanely busy! Like busier than I've had in a long while. I've had a lot going on with my sorority--we're required to be at every single event during our pledge period which (including meetings) is usually like 6+ events a week. It's definitely been a lot for me to handle, so thanks for sticking with me while I figure stuff out!

But even with all the crazy (which I maybe could do without), I really have felt myself growing in a lot of ways over the last month or so. I've especially been comparing how I act and treat other people and myself to the way I did the same time last year. I know I've become much more self-aware and in tune with my emotions and how they affect the way I act. I've become much more confident and hard-working. Of course, there's always more to go, but these last few weeks have really embodied that quote on my sidebar: "We are happy when we are growing."

• Let's stop being embarrassed that we want to be better [Yes and Yes]
• 10 ways to forgive yourself and let go of the past [MindBodyGreen]
• Social networking in real life is absolutely ridiculous
• Choose a fitness regime based on your fave book [Alex Franzen]
• DIY happy tears handkerchief [Oh So Beautiful Paper]
• Writing prompts: lists [Hello Neverland]
• Watch this: love letters to strangers (more on this soon!)
• How to spark your creativity in college [Gina Alyse]

(SOOOOO much 80s....#sorrynotevenateenybitsorry)

• You Shook Me All Night Long / AC/DC
• Working For the Weekend / Loverboy
• Who's Crying Now / Journey
• Fallen Angel / Poison
• Never Say Goodbye / Bon Jovi
• Photograph / Def Leppard
• Satisfaction / Rolling Stones

I'm not a huge poetry person, but there are a few poems that I read throughout high school that have really stuck with me to the point that I know parts by heart. One such section has been playing on repeat through my head over the last few days as I've really been struggling to forgive myself for mistakes that I've made. Here it is, an excerpt from "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver:

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.

Does that resonate with anyone else? I know that hits me right in the heart right now. The rest of the poem is really beautiful too--go read it!


How has your week been? Do you read poetry? Wanna share some 80s music with me? 

September Mixtape

I don't usually post on Saturdays, but since it was a quiet week on the blog front, I decided to join Bailey Jean in the challenge for today over on Brave Love Blog and post my monthly mixtape a little early! Specifically, the challenge today was to make a playlist just by shuffling up all the songs in our iTunes library.

I feel like I need to give a disclaimer first though! I listen to a verrrrry wide variety of music. I've got my workout/kickboxing music, my Christmas music, my worship/hymn music, my sleep/classical music, my 80s rock, my indie pop, my 60s folk and on and on and on. So let's just mentally prepare ourselves for a playlist that is likely not going to be cohesive at all...and then I'll share a real playlist at the end :)

Here we go!

Year of the Cat / Al Stewart

One Less Step of Footsteps / Jim Croce

Downtown / Petula Clark

I Am the Bread of Life / Collin Raye [I thought we were pretty cohesive until this point!]

A Drop in the Ocean / Ron Pope [9th grade throwback]

All Will Be Well / Gabe Dixon Band

Bringing On Back the Good Times / Love Affair

I Got A Name / Jim Croce [doubling up on the Jim Croce!]

Scattered Diamonds / Hungry Kids of Hungary [aaaaand here comes the indie]

Hell on the Heart / Eric Church [a remnant of my very brief country phase]

Well that was fun, but how about a real playlist that you can listen to all the way through without getting dizzy? ;) Here's what I'm listening to these day:

S.O.B. / Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats

Tupelo Honey / Van Morrison

Flora / Peter, Paul and Mary

Pleasant Valley Sunday / The Monkees

Just a Little / The Beau Brummels

Day is Done / Peter, Paul and Mary

Dust in the Wind / Kansas

Early Morning Rain / Peter, Paul and Mary [SORRY for all the PPM]

Words of Love / The Mamas and the Papas

What are you listening to these days? Leave me recommendations! Playlists! Links! Give me allll the music!

August Mixtape

(click to listen)

We're already halfway through August...WHAAAAT. When did that happen?

Anyways, I've got some music for ya today. As you may know, during the summers I work at an ice cream shop in a very small town. We're only open at nights, so I pretty much work from six or seven until midnight or later every night. After we close and everyone finally leaves, we usually have a lot of cleaning left for us to do, because, you know, people are messy.

At that point in the night, my staff and I are dead on our feet and the only way we get through the cleaning is by having awesome music to dance/clean to. So this is our most recent playlist that we clean to...feel free to imagine me dancing with a mop ;)

Girls Girls Girls (Made to Love) / Eddie Hodges

Great Balls of Fire / Jerry Lee Lewis

Friend of the Devil / Grateful Dead

Hold Me Now / Johnny Logan

Centerfold / J. Geils Band

Dust in the Wind / Kansas

Downtown / Petula Clark

Get Together / The Youngbloods

867-5309 (Jenny) / Tommy Tutone

(Don't Fear) The Reaper / Blue Oyster Cult

Make Your Own Kind of Music / The Mamas and The Papas

Karma Chameleon / Culture Club

Take Me Home Tonight/Be My Baby / Eddie Money

Blame It On the Girls / Mika

Again and Again / Mikal Cronin

Going Away Tonite / Mind Spiders

I Like You Better / Frazey Ford

Class Historian / BRONCHO

Spitting Image / Freelance Whales

Closer to Fine / Indigo Girls

Light My Fire / Jose Feliciano

Listen to the playlist.

What music are you listening to lately?

Curated / 19

I'm a day late publishing this post, but I have to say that I'm not even sorry because my sister got engaged last week! It was a big surprise and it's been lots of fun sharing the news with everyone. Other than that, this week I've just been starting to wrap up work, train my replacements and start saying goodbye to everyone before I head back to North Carolina (home) for a few days and then back to school in Florida! The next week and a half is going to be a crazy whirlwind between all of the travel and then sorority recruitment and starting a new school year. But I'm excited!

• This beautiful new design on Brooklyn's blog done by Breezy + Co Design Studio. How beautiful!
• 10 reasons to become an early riser [MindBodyGreen]
• Challenging yourself as a blogger [Gina Alyse]
• 5 favorite journaling supplies [Hello Neverland]--I think I need #3!
• Combining your passions into one thing you love [Kory Woodard]
• How to feel + look awesome when it's ridiculously hot outside [Yes and Yes]
• 15 quick + easy lunch ideas [poverty luxe.]--YES THANK YOU!

This week I've been revisiting some of my favorite past songs from Eurovision, a music competition in Europe that picks out the best song from Europe each year. Here are a few of my favorites! And you just have to watch the videos with them...some of them are quite entertaining ;)

• Fly on the Wings of Love / Olsen Brothers
• Hold Me Now / Johnny Logan
• La Det Swinge / Bobbysocks
• Making Your Mind Up / Bucks Fizz
• Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi / Celine Dion (skip to 1:30)
• Rock Me / Riva (an especially great video)

This cotton candy sky and the caption that goes with it: "You have to be vigilant about keeping your own fire alive." -Tift Merritt

Isn't that a great quote? How's your week been? Tell me one thing that made you smile this week!

Curated / 18

This week was for wrapping up my time with H, taking long walks on the beach and picnics in the forest. It's been unseasonably chilly here on Lake Michigan and that doesn't make for great beach days! So I've been working a lot, trying to get everything at the ice cream shop to run as smoothly as possible and studying economics all the time. I've also been sort of under the weather this week, just tired with a baby cold. I'm hoping for some sun soon so I can relax on the beach! How was your week?

• A nutritionist's tips to making wellness goals stick [Lauren Conrad]
• 7 habits to stop clutter before it starts [poverty luxe.]
• Living with a capsule wardrobe [A Little Too Jolley]
• Watercolor desktop/iPhone wallpapers for July [Gina Alyse]
• Journal prompts: writing about celebrations [Hello Neverland]
• 3 steps to an even better you [Career Girl Daily]
• The ultimate list of font resources [Allyssa Barnes]

Y'all know by now that I have crazy music tastes so I can just jump right into it right? Lately, I've been jamming to....50s music (and early 60s). Yes. Just listen.

• (Girls Girls Girl) Made to Love / Eddie Hodges
• The Three Bells / The Browns
• Bread and Butter / The Newbeats
• Mr. Sandman / The Chordettes
• Great Balls of Fire / Jerry Lee Lewis
• Mack the Knife / Bobby Darin

Okay, so I know I'm the one who took this picture, but I still can't get over the fact that this is a place that not only exists in the world, but that I got to be there. It was a crazy gorgeous scene. Find more on my instagram! (Zugspitze, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, German Alps)

How's your week been? Share your favorite links or music below!

Curated Weekly / 15

Oops! I just realized I missed the curated post last week because I was too busy packing up to come home to NC for spring break. Well I'm here and my spring break is just about over (cue sad face). I've spent the week with my brother, but mostly by myself since he's been in school. I am definitely an introvert but it's been really weird to have this much time to myself! Right now, I'm visiting H at his school. Yay!

ALSO. I chopped off my hair. Check it.

• Bright and bold color combinations [Rekita Nicole]
• 18 ways to strengthen your intuition [MindBodyGreen]
• I love these icons from Creative Market
• 20 make ahead lunches for work [The Sunshine Blog]
• It's okay to be bad at your hobbies [The Dainty Squid]
• Sarah's favorite condensed fonts [A Fine Line]
• How to make your graphics work for you [Kory Woodard]
• 6 steps to a meal plan that will save you money [poverty luxe.]

In case you missed them...

• My favorite blogs and websites
• How to spend more time reading
• Handcrafted gift ideas for ladies you love

I love this super fancy 'ooh la la' print from The And So Collection.

Next week is H's and my anniversary and so I thought I'd get a little mushy and share some songs that make me think of our love. Listen here.

• First Day of My Life / Bright Eyes
• You Belong to Me / Carla Bruni
• World Spins Madly On / The Weepies
• You Remind Me Of Home / Ben Gibbard
• I Won't Give Up / Jason Mraz
• These Arms of Mine / Otis Redding
• Just You and Me / Zee Avi
• Free Bird / Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Wanted / Hunter Hayes
• You Are The Best Thing / Ray LaMontagne
• Anyone Else But You / The Moldy Peaches
• Do You Remember / Jack Johnson
• At Last / Leftover Cuties
• Nothing Was Stolen (Love Me Foolishly) / Phosphorescent

This week, I'm heading back to school, back to work, back to life (ewwwww). I have a big chemistry exam on Tuesday and my big goal is to study hard and ace it. Unfortunately, I'm gonna have to take a little break while I'm with H this weekend to study + then study again Sunday afternoon and pretty much all afternoon Monday. This is seriously my top priority because I'm not the best at chemistry. 

Other than that, in the next few weeks, I want to make a point to have lunch with someone I don't know well/haven't ever hung out with. 

What's going on in your world this weekend?

Curated Weekly / 14

It's been a really nice (though holy cow, it has been busy) week in my world. I'm trying to think of what I did last weekend and the beginning of this week and I can't quite remember! It feels like forever ago. I was in the lab quite a bit this week and have officially started volunteering at the natural history museum. That's fun!

For Valentine's Day, H and I tried to FaceTime and watch Netflix at the same time and we finally figured it out but it took some creativity. Even though it was a lot of effort figuring out headphones and what's on the phone and the computer, it was nice to have a "date" together, or as close as we can get. I'll visit him in North Carolina in two weeks and that's going to be wonderful!

• Ocean conservation + why you should care. [Sea, Field and Tribe]
• 5 pro tips to organize your pantry. [life. by bri.]
• Daily blogging essentials. [The Alisha Nicole]
• 17 ways to make yourself happier right now. [Hannah Gale]
• My journey to a hassle-free fitness routine. [Frugal Beautiful]
• How to sleep better at night. [Kris Carr]
• 8 essentials for a rejuvenating weekend. [All Things E]
• Be more intentional with what you consume. [Jennypurr]
• You're doing better than you think you are. [Thought Catalog]
• 10 tips to stick to your grocery budget. [Little City Adventures]

And in case you missed them...

• Free font: caviar dreams
• Easy photoshop: make a pinterest-style collage
• Handcrafted gifts for ladies you love

Shut Up and Dance / Walk the Moon

Geronimo / Sheppard

Free / Rudimental ft. Emili Sande

Jubel / Klingande

Fire Meet Gasoline / Sia

Ghost / Ella Henderson

I'm ridiculously inspired by all the fun graphic prints on these socks from Woven Pear.

Aren't they just the cutest things in the world?

Last week, my goals were to get lots of sleep and get ahead on things in preparation for my church trip this weekend. I'd say I did pretty well! I went to bed maybe 30 minutes early every night, but even that makes a big difference! It feels so good to wake up before your alarm naturally. I'd didn't get quite as on top of things as I would have liked but I'm feeling pretty fine about things.

This coming week, my goals are really concrete--I need to get all caught up on my chemistry notes/work and review all my genetics notes for the year. I'm trying to be better about reviewing frequently so that I'm not just stuck with all the work right before exams. 

Otherwise, not much! I just need to get life in order before I head home for spring break next week! :)

What do you have on tap this week? Also! If any of you are bloggers/artists/creatives/bizwomen and interested in interviewing with me for an upcoming edition of How They Do It, just let me know!

Curated Weekly / 13

Let's just say this week has been SO needed after the mess of a few weeks that I've been having. For awhile, I was in a mental spot where anytime anything went wrong, big or small, I'd start crying and be totally incapacitated for the rest of the day. 

Thankfully, life has eased up on me a bit and I've stabilized a bit from that weird phase and everything feels so much better! It was so lovely to see H and his mom when they visited me last weekend. We spent the weekend lounging around and eating so much good food and visiting my favorite spots around town. It didn't last nearly long enough but it made me so happy to see some familiar faces.

This week has also been much more low-key than the last few! I haven't had any exams or big papers so it's been pretty routine around here, which is the way I like things. I've been working in the lab a lot and working out a lot, but that's about it other than normal classes. One fun thing this week is that I started going to the Boxing Club practices! You may know that I am training to teach fitness classes at our gym and one of those is kickboxing, but actual kickboxing is ridiculously different from the dancey sort of cardio kickboxing we do in group fitness. It was really fun to do one-on-one combat and work on my form, but I am embarrassingly sore.

How has your week been?

• A simpler way to whiter teeth. [The Sorority Secrets]
• 5 things to try when you hit a blogging slump. [Jennypurr]
• How to keep track of freelance clients. [Zie Darling]
• How creating a daily schedule helps me get more done. [Allyssa Barnes]
• 8 ways to live a healthier and simpler life [MindBodyGreen]
• Declutter your mind, body and space. [Ember & March]
• 4 ways to be a positive influence in a negative environment. [Sweet Catastrophe]

In case you missed it...

• Getting back into life after being sick
• Finding inspiration for your blog posts
• Recent design: Sprout Blog
• A better way to respond to stress

I've been listening to a whole lot of hymns lately, especially just the general hymns station on Pandora. I especially like to listen to hymns at the end of a long day during a long, hot shower. It usually helps me transition right to bed! If you're also a hymn lover, here's my hymn playlist. Other than that, I've been listening to songs like...

Spirit in the Sky / Norman Greenbaum

Mr. Tambourine Man / The Byrds

Sara / Bob Dylan

This happy Valentine's themed image from Real Simple Magazine's Instagram.

1. Get ahead on everything. This weekend, my church's college ministry is going on a volunteer retreat to fix up a summer camp. The weekends are really when I recuperate from the week and get everything in order so I'll need to make sure I get everything in order before I leave.

2. Get plenty of sleep! I'm not sure how, but for some reason this week, I've been going to bed later and waking up sleepy and that's not a good feeling when you have early classes. I'm not sure if the answer is to get to sleep earlier or to start taking more naps, but I'm going to start playing around with it. I refuse to drink coffee so I have to pay attention to my sleep schedule to make sure I'm rested enough for my morning classes.

How was your week? What are your goals this week?

Curated Weekly / 12

The last couple weeks have really knocked me off my feet. I've been getting a lot of headaches. I'm totally insecure in my choice of major and with my living situation for next year. My computer broke earlier this week. I spent the majority of yesterday searching campus for my keys/wallet/ID/license/debit card. Probably because of all of these things, I've literally been in the lowest mood ever all week. Major props to H for loving on me and not drop-kicking me for all my whining. 

On the bright side, I got my computer fixed and keys and all back and H and his mom are coming to Florida to visit me for the weekend! I am so excited to see them. I just saw him a month ago, but it has felt like forever. It's tough to deal with rough weeks like this when all your friends are super far away.

I think that's enough about my week haha! How was your week?

• How to actually achieve your 2015 goals (from Kory Woodard)
• More amazing podcasts (from Thyme is Honey)
• 8 tips to establish a morning mindfulness practice (from MindyBodyGreen)
• 10 stupid simple ways to save money on groceries (from poverty luxe.)
• Little ways to (sort of!) sneak exercise in (from A Cup of Jo)
• True story: My husband cheated and we worked through it (from Yes and Yes)
• 10 podcast episodes you should listen to this weekend (from Jennypurr)
• Homemade brown sugar cinnamon poptarts (from Sally's Baking Addiction)

In case you missed it...

• 5 design resources for bloggers
• Tips for long distance relationships (guest post from my boyfriend H!)
• Easy ways to improve your blog design in 10 minutes or less
• My favorite productivity apps

1. Ocean / Alice Smith
2. Bend in the Road / Donavon Frankenreiter
3. Food Chain / Eric Hutchinson
4. Only Rain / Brett Dennen
5. Old Number Seven / The Devil Makes Three
6. Song for Allie / Danny Carvalho
7. Steal My Girl / One Direction (I'm sorryyyyy but it's so catchy!)

This lovely snap from Kenzie of Hello Neverland is seriously making me miss snowy weather. It was in the 70s today here! Click the image to visit her instagram.

Last weeks' goals were to get ahead of blogging and work on better coping techniques for dealing with bad days. With my crazy week and my weekend without a computer, I didn't do either of these at all. 

I'm definitely keeping that second goal on for this coming week and the next few. Lately, if anything doesn't go to plan, I absolutely fall apart. I've never been like that and I'm not quite sure why it is, but anything from an exam grade to the weather can totally ruin my day. I don't like that. This week, I'm going to work on being aware of my mood and how I can kind of stabilize it. 

That's all for this week! What are your goals this week? Any interesting blog posts to share?!