My Favorite Blogs and Websites

Recently, I read a post from Gina Alyse (two posts actually, Part One and Part Two) about her favorite people, blogs, websites and youtube channels around the internet. You may have noticed that I have a page on my blog with all the blogs I read on a regular basis...but that list hasn't been updated in months. 

So I'm in the process of updating this list + I thought I'd share it with y'all in a little more public way as I do! But this is also a reminder that I always have the blogroll up at the top + I'll try my best to keep it updated! Most of these blogs are related to design, productivity, blogging or positive living but a couple of them are a little random.

And please--I love finding new blogs. Share your favorites with me or if you're a silent reader, leave a comment so I can visit yours!

A Cup of Jo

A Fine Line

A Little Opulent

Alexandra Franzen

Allyssa Barnes

Betty Red Design

Breanna Rose

Breathe and Nourish

by Regina

DesignLoveFest

Earl Grey Blog

Elle & Company

Ember & March

Gina Alyse

Hello Brio Studio

Holly Marie Designs

Humans of New York

Jennypurr

Jessica Says

Kory Woodard

Lifehack Productivity

Love Grows Design Blog

Lucky Number Seven

MindBodyGreen

Pen and Peplum

Positively Present

Poverty Luxe

Pugly Pixel

Sea, Field and Tribe

Smart, Pretty and Awkward

Tanea

The Alisha Nicole

The Blog Market

The Clueless Girl's Guide

The Dainty Squid

The Life of Bon

The Lolly Project

The Pineneedle Collective 

The Private Life of A Girl

Whitney Blake

XO Misse

XO Pixel

XOSarah

Yes and Yes

What are your favorite blogs?! Share em!

6 Books I'd Like to Read in 2015

I got my wisdom teeth out on Friday + because I know none of you want to read my loopy ramblings, I've scheduled this post ahead of time. So if you're wondering why I haven't replied to your email/tweet/comment but I'm still posting...just know that I'm not! I'm on pain medication and in bed. Yay.

This Christmas season, without school taking up all my time, I've decided to read two books. I love to read but I just don't get to much during the school year (which, yes, is a sort of lame excuse). But as I've been looking around for what books to read, I've been updating my to-read list. Here's what I'm thinking for the next few months! Please leave your own suggestions in the comments! :)

1 / Anything That Moves by Dana Goodyear

2 / The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert 

3 / Nowhere But Home by Liza Palmer

4 / We Only Know So Much by Elizabeth Crane

5 / Four Fish by Paul Greenberg

6 / Tigers in Red Weather / Liza Klaussmann

What are you reading these days? What was the best book you've read this year?

Curated Weekly / 6

The best part of this week for me is that I'm HOME! For the first time since August. I have to say, it is quite lovely! I've never appreciated two-ply toilet paper so much. H and I took a little day trip to see some family and Christmas lights and then had a fancy dinner together on Wednesday. It's so good to see him without a deadline so close, you know? The last few times I've seen him, it's only been for the day or for a weekend. But now I've got him for a few weeks!

But unfortunately, today (10:45!!) I have to get my wisdom teeth out and I'm scared out of my pants. I'm not really sure, but I'm guessing I'll be totally out of commission for at least a few days + I'm scared to plan on blogging while on the pain medication. I'd probably just post a selfie of my squirrel cheeks or something and we don't want that. So I'm going to schedule a post for next Tuesday + I doubt I'll really be responding to comments much because I'd probably say something really dumb or be like this girl and be convinced I go to Hogwarts. 

+ Beautiful new designs from Heart and Arrow.

+ 20 time savers for early mornings

+ "I threw my scale in the trash and I've never felt better."

+ Memory keeping + documenting life's adventures.

+ An illustration that teaches you to water your house plants.

+ The June Letters shop has the cutest paper goods around.

+ How to positively reflect on the year.

+ Make a statement wall with paint pens.

+ Just for fun--pinata inspiration.

A few days ago, I found this amazing folksy Christmas playlist and I've been playing it constantly! It's a great mix of old and new songs done in indie folk style. Also, I love this 50s Christmas playlist that I made a few years ago. Makes me want to dance around the kitchen!

Kind of oddly, I'm loving all sorts of winter imagery (maybe that's not odd). Especially living in Florida these days, I just get such enjoyment out of seeing pictures of snow and trees and classic Christmas scenes! I grew up in Minnesota + I still spend my New Year's in the Midwest, so these pictures feel very familiar to me. 

Also, I'll shamelessly add, that if you enjoy things like that, you can follow me on Pinterest straight from the sidebar.

Also also, for obvious reasons (aka I'll be on pain drugs for the next week), I'm not setting any goals this week. We'll pick up next week!

What's going on with you this week?!

3 Apps for Beginner Meditation

I'll be honest, meditation freaks me out a little bit. It sort of makes me think of foreign movies with monks chanting and whatnot. And I'll admit, I am not a huge meditating person. I meditate maybe three times a week, if that. So it would seem like I am not the person to be telling you about meditation, but I've started practicing it and I think it's worth a try, even if it feels totally weird at firest. I just want to show you that meditation is easy + doesn't need to be something that only woo-woo hippies and monks and life coaches do. 

I could do a quick google search and I'm sure find many benefits of meditation on all parts of your life, but I'll just tell you my experience. Meditation helps me chill the heck out. I'm not a huge worrier but I do get anxious sometimes (which is actually very different). Meditation is great for calming down if you are a worrier or if you're like me, just a better way of maintaining your peace.

I like to meditate when I get up in the morning, before bed and in the middle of a busy day. It doesn't have to be a long time--I usually only take 5-10 minutes. I really like apps that offer guided meditation because let's be honest, meditation is a really weird concept and it's always helpful to have someone tell you what to do. Here are my favorites:

Stop, Breathe and Think / I especially love this app because before you start, the app asks you to take a moment and assess your emotions--are you concerned, content, distracted? Then it offers meditation tracks based on what you report. The only con of this app is there aren't many different tracks to choose from (maybe 10-15). But it's totally free, so it's still a great option.

Buddhify 2 / This is the only paid app on this list and at $3, I think it's worth it. The cool thing about buddhify is it aims to have you practicing mindfulness throughout your day. You choose from activities like traveling, walking in the city, in nature, and for when you can't sleep (and a bunch more). There are lots of options in this app + it always helps me connect with my day.

Deep Relax / This is not exactly a meditation app because it doesn't offer any sort of voiceover telling you what to do. Instead, it's just natural sounds and white noise that can be used as a background for your meditation. I have a saved mix of crackling fire, rain, waves, quiet frog croaking and a quiet buzz in the background that I use for meditation. This is also great for yoga and falling asleep! I swear I sleep better with rain noise in the background.

Do you meditate?! Do you have any tools that help you incorporate meditation in your daily life?

Good Deed: Compliment a Stranger

Every once in awhile, I'll be scrolling around on facebook (i.e. procrastinating) and I'll come across some sweet status from a friend about how someone paid for their Chick-fil-A that day or said something really encouraging. And I love that! I love when someone does something little and it impacts someone's entire day. If you knew you could make someone's day in just a few minutes, wouldn't you do that thing?

And so with that idea, I've come up with a new idea for a sort of miniseries in which we'll talk about + share ideas for little things we can do for people in our lives (or strangers!) that will make everyone a little bit happier. These will be short posts because I want to focus on doing good deeds, not just writing about them.

This week, I challenged myself to compliment a stranger. A month or so ago, I was waiting at a bus stop and this girl walking just stopped and told me my glasses were adorable. And you better believe it made my day! So I made that my goal. Since I live on a college campus, I'm around strangers all the time. But surprisingly, this was way hard. Every time I saw someone and wanted to compliment their eyes or their shirt or whatever, they were either walking right past me or had headphones in or something like that.

Finally, I did. There was a girl sitting across from me on the bus who had oxford shoes on that we covered in gold glitter (I know, I want them). After a few minutes of riding in deliberation, I finally just told her, "Your shoes are really cute." She smiled and said thank you but I have no idea if it meant anything to her. Maybe it didn't, but that's okay. It's a start!

Now it's up to you! Compliment a stranger (or at least a non-friend, non-family person) this week. What other little good deeds can we do to make other people's days better?

Curated Weekly / 5

This week has been an infinite improvement on last week even though finals are starting and I'm still kind of sick. I had my plant science final on Tuesday and I'm not sure I did as well as I wanted to keep my A-. Sad. I also finished a big paper on blueberry breeding and commercial production in Florida and I'm happy to have that finished!

At my college, we get Thursday and Friday off for "reading days" so I've pretty much been studying all day. My church and small group both had Christmas parties on Wednesday night and last night, some friends and I had a late-night pancake party. Yay college. 

But I'm so excited to be heading home to NC in a few days. I miss H and my family and my friends! I still keep up with a couple of my high school friends and I haven't seen some of them since June. Also, H and I have lots of fun dates planned to celebrate our 1000 day anniversary, including a fun little day trip. Can you tell we like any excuse to celebrate?!

+ A gift guide for your ultra-cool, but elegant bff. (I would love half of these things!) [Cup of Jo]

+ How to be a happier, healthier, more productive person. [Lifehack]

+ Keeping up with friends when you lead busy lives. [A Little Opulent]

+ 10 ways to forgive yourself and let go of the past. [MindBodyGreen]

+ 4 beautiful brush fonts. [Noor AlQahtani]

+ An app that helps you journal your emotions--with emojis. 

+ Beautiful and festive desktop wallpapers (I love #10, #11 and #15!). [Brit + Co]

+ 36 prompts to help you plan an Awesome 2015. 

Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In / The 5th Dimension

Dream Lover / Bobby Darin

Downtown / Petula Clark

Get Together / The Youngbloods

Wedding Bell Blues / The 5th Dimension

Look of Love / Sergio Mendes

I am sooo close to being done with the semester. I have three more exams and then I'll be home! Unfortunately, I'll be getting my wisdom teeth out on Friday (I'm terrified!) and I'll be pretty out of commission for a good bit of my break. I just hope I'm all up to snuff by Christmas! 

I'm aiming to read at least two books over Christmas break, so my goal this week is to pick out a book to read and start it! Since I know you all have recommendations on what I should read, please leave me some comments! I have hardly been reading since school started so I don't even have much of a list going! 

So! What are you reading (book-wise and blog-wise)? What's going on with you lovely people?

Getting Back into Your Life After Being Sick

The last week and a half (along with all the stress that finals week brings), I've had a nasty bout of flu/cold/sore throat/ridiculously loud and socially inconvenient cough. There's no other way to say it, being sick just sucks. And when you're sick, sometimes the only way to handle it is to baby yourself a bit. Let yourself lounge in bed, watching Netflix. Take up friends on their offers to go get food for you. Let work just wait a little while.

But what about when you're feeling better? I think that how you treat yourself when you're getting back into the swing of things matters just as much as how you treat yourself while you're sick. Here are my little goals as I recover and get back to class + work.

Plan positively / It's easy to feel like I'm so far behind because of the time I took off from being sick but focusing on all that I have left to do isn't productive. When you write down all that you have to do, try to remember to prioritize + really--I know it's hard--but try not to stress yourself out too much.

Be realistic / Your first day back (wherever back is) you won't be able to do anything, most likely. Maybe you need to take a mid-day nap, or opt out of some non-essential plans you had made for the day. Ease yourself back into things.

Treat yourself kindly /  I like this as a rule of thumb for myself all the time but especially after an illness. I've been trying to listen to my body a little more closely since I know I'm not still 100%. My throat's still a bit sore, so I'm not scarfing down raw veggies, I'm still eating oatmeal and soft foods. The first few days after a cold, you're probably tired. Let yourself sleep early instead of going out. Listen to your body and give it what it needs.

How are you handling flu season? Are any of you babies about being sick like I am? (No? Just me?)

Curated Weekly / 4

Hey y'all. It's been a doozy of a week and I'm glad it's over. Of course, Thanksgiving was lovely but coming back to school was not. I had three exams between Monday and Tuesday, both of which were just bad days all around. On Wednesday, I woke up with a gross sore throat, fluey type bug that still has not gone away. So as I watch my to-do list get longer and longer, I've pretty much just been in bed. But enough about my boring week! How has your week been? 

+ 9 easy ways to start living a simpler, more intentional life. [Into Mind]

+ 8 ways a simple notebook can change your life. [The Week]

+ Fitness classes to try at the gym. [A Little Opulent]

+ An end-of-year blogger checklist. [Ember & March]

+ Making the most of a new month. [Tara Victoria]

+ How to deal with disappointment. [Camille Styles] 

+ 25 things to do tonight for a healthier tomorrow. [PopSugar]

+ Do's and don'ts for a good night's sleep. [No. 21]

+ Helpful links for planning your 2015. [Betty Red Design]

(Leila Courey, as best I can tell)

Sloop John B / The Beach Brothers
Downtown / Petula Clark
I Got You Babe / Sonny & Cher
I Saw Her Again / The Mamas & the Papas
Blowin' in the Wind / Peter, Paul and Mary
Ruby Tuesday / The Rolling Stones
No Reply / The Beatles
Where Have All the Flowers Gone / Joan Baez

This week, I have a few more classes and then Thursday and Friday off. Totally boring (I know), but my main goal is to create detailed, time-based study plans for each of my classes + then get started on them.

What do you have going on this week? Any favorite blog posts or articles to share?

A Better Way to Respond to Stress

Wow, what a week. Right after I posted on Tuesday, I came down with a gross flu sort of thing that has had me in bed way more than I'd like for the last few days. Luckily, this is really the only couple day stretch where my schedule isn't jam-packed. After this weekend, I start my finals. So I'm just glad that I should be on the up and up before then!

Since I know a lot of you are students and the next two weeks are probably the most stressful time of the year, I thought I'd share this TEDTalk about stress and a healthy way to manage it. H showed me this a few weeks ago when I was stressed out of my mind and I loved it! 

What do you think of this video? Do you have any other methods for tackling stress?

Checking In

(source unknown)

To say it plainly, this is a short post to let you know that your regular Tuesday post is not happening today.

Last night, I got a piece of bad news. In the grand scheme of things, everything is fine. But the truth is, I'm hurting right now, over something that I don't even want to care about. But that's just the way things are--rejection comes.

So this is just a short note to say that if you are hurting, wherever you are, for whatever reason, I'm thinking of you today. Sending a mental hug, so to speak, if you are the hugging type.

Have a happy Monday, you guys. Take care of yourselves.