Month: May 2018

May wrap-up

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Hi everyone! Can you believe that May is already over? I am so excited for June BECAUSE… It’s Gemini season aka my birthday is in 12 days, I’ll be heading down to Florida in less than 10 days, and summer is officially beginning!! Since I was garbage at posting during the end of April + beginning of May so I’ll be wrapping up my April goals instead, which is fine because most of them I was still working on in May.

  1. 128 oz of water daily- I don’t get it every day but I’m doing really well with this!
  2. Get my body moving every day- Most morning I wake up and walk 3-4 miles and those days (and days I’m not I’m working out) so I’ve been very active this summer
  3. Finish this semester with straight As- 5 solid As and one A-
  4. Figure out my whole switch major/graduate early situation- Still ugh but I’ll update on this later
  5. Go through my laptop files- I did this and soon I’ll be putting all my photos on an external hard drive because I have over 13000 and I need to stop them from slowing down my computer
  6. Finish CHAARG exec transition- I did and I had my first summer team meeting Sunday and I can’t wait for the fall!
  7. Don’t stress about presentations- I didn’t and I got 100% on both!
  8. Figure out my living/working situation for the fall- A few sublease opportunities fell through but I ended up signing a lease by myself so I don’t know my roommates but at least I have somewhere to live!

How did you guys do on your goals for the month?

❤ Alicia ❤

Decluttering my life

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2018 has taught me a lot so far and one of those things is to only keep things (and people) in your life that bring you joy. Since I’ve been home (and even while still at school) I’ve been trying to remove people and items from my life that no longer give me joy. Whether that be by unfollowing people on Instagram, defriending people on Facebook, or throwing a LOT of things away.

I watched Gabbie Hanna’s video about getting her ‘hoarding room’ organized and a lot of things Gabbie and the professional organizer talked about in the video I really related with, which caused me to really evaluate why I keep certain people and objects in my life.

I’m a total hoarder of so many things. From clothes that I wore on special occasions that don’t fit or I don’t like, to empty boxes, and random bags of electronics and keychains.

Over the past week or so (and I’m still not done) I’ve been going through all of my possessions, discarding old items, boxes, and going through clothes to either donate, throw away, or sell.

As I mentioned before, I not only got rid of items that don’t give me joy but people as well. I went through the people I follow on Instagram and realized that I either don’t talk to a lot of people still, have never talked to them, or I only followed them because they followed me first. Recently, I’ve stopped caring about how many followers, likes, and comments my posts so I decided to go through my followers and only keep following people who give me joy. I unfollowed over 400 people on Instagram, 100 or so people on Twitter, and unfriended 50 or so people on Facebook.

It’s so nice having only people I care about on my social media feeds as it A. makes me spend less time on social media (because there are fewer posts to see) and B. I don’t have to see negative people crowding my feed anymore.

I HIGHLY recommend that everyone does a bit of decluttering in their lives (and often) because it has left me feeling refreshed, less stressed, and I’m learning how to let go of people and items.

❤ Alicia ❤

If we were having coffee

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Happy Monday everyone! I haven’t made a nice catch-up post in a while and I figured it was time for one! So, sit back, relax, grab a cup of coffee, tea, or your beverage of choice and let’s chat.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I’m heading to Florida in about 2 weeks. While there, I’ll be visiting Universal Studios in Orlando and my mom’s friend’s parents’ house. Complicated but I’ve known them since I was born and I have yet to visit their house so that will be nice to see them since I haven’t seen them in around a year.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I have no job for this summer… which is upsetting because I didn’t have my life together when I should have been applying for internships and the families I babysat for last summer never responded to me so I’m out of luck. I thought about applying to somewhere close to my house but no one wants someone for just the summer so we will see.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I have been drinking SO MUCH WATER.  This may seem dumb to tell everyone but it’s such a big deal for me. At school (and literally for the rest of my life) I drank either gallons of water a day or none whatsoever. However, since I’ve been home I’ve been drinking tons of water and there hasn’t been a day that I haven’t had at least half f a gallon of water so I’m very proud of myself.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I’ve been cooking nonstop. Over the weekend I posted about some of my favorite recipes recently. I never cooked before college and I’m learning so much and I feel really independent when I cook which makes me feel like I have my life together to some extent.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about the super cute dress I bought last week. My sister and I went shopping for some clothes for our Florida trip and I saw this dress a while back and HAD to have it. I tried it on and even though I can’t wear a bra with it (big boob probs) it’s the cutest thing EVER and I’ll share a photo of me wearing it in Florida.

And if we were having coffee, I’d ask you about your life lately. Tell me something that’s happened in your life recently!

❤ Alicia ❤

My TBR

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Happy Sunday everyone! I hope everyone is having/had a great weekend and that you’re all ready for Monday!! Something I really want to do this summer is read… A LOT! I have sooo many books that I’ve accumulated and I have yet to read. My goal for this summer is to read 10 of them but there are more than 10 books on my TBR (to be read) list.

Here is my current TBR list and while I would love to read all of them this summer, I’m definitely going to read at least 10.

 

  1. Eat, Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert 
  2. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
  3. The Mastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz
  4. Walk like a Buddha by Lodro Rinzler
  5. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
  6. The Harder They Come by T.C. Boyle
  7. Adultolescence by Gannie Hanna
  8. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
  9. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
  10. Needles and Pearls by Gil McNeil
  11. Local Girls by Caroline Zancan
  12. A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry
  13. Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple
  14. The Fifth Agreement by Don Miguel Ruiz
  15. The Secret Language of Sisters by Luanne Rice
  16. The Homecoming by Stacie Ramey
  17. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
  18. Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin

What books will you all be reading this summer?

❤ Alicia ❤

Anyone can cook

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Hi everyone and Happy Saturday! I hope you all are enjoying the start of your 3-day weekend (if you’re in the States that is). Something I love about being home (and will enjoy this fall in my apartment) is a kitchen! I’ve been cooking so much since I’ve been home and trying SO many new recipes and I wanted to share them, with you guys (especially my vegan followers because I know I love learning about new vegan recipes) since I’ve been loving some of these things so much! Here are a few of my current favorite things to make!

Stuffed Mushrooms

I’ve been really loving mushrooms lately but I wanted to learn to cook them myself. I had stuffed mushrooms once in Peru and they were one of the best things I’d ever eaten so, I took to the minimalist baker’s website to find a simple and quick recipe for them. These were sooo good and my non-vegan family members thought they were great too!

Protein Pancakes

I am a pancake fan like no other and since I’ve been trying to track my macros, I’m trying to eat more protein. These pancakes are SO simple and SO tasty (my sister doesn’t think so) and I could literally eat them for breakfast Every. Single. Day.

Mac & Cheese

If you couldn’t tell by now I LOVE THE MINIMALIST BAKER! She has recipes on the foods I really want to make with ingredients I already have in my house. This vegan mac & cheese recipe has made my life! I haven’t had it in so long and this recipe made my heart (and stomach) so happy.

Tofu

Tofu is awesome to cook because it is SO versatile! Whatever flavor combinations you are feeling, you can season it with tofu or add tofu your recipe and the tofu will compliment the dish perfectly!

2 types of ways I like to cook tofu is asian style- with sesame and soy sauces with sesame seeds, stir-fryed with broccoli and placed over rice. I also like to eat it (stir fried again) with garlic, salt, pepper, and various veggies. YUM

What recipes do you all like?

❤ Alicia ❤

My allergic test experience

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Hi everyone and Happy Friday! Recently (the past year), I’ve been having some issues with my stomach. I was certain that it was because I was allergic to something I’d been eating and because of this I wanted to get tested for allergies without getting needles poked into my entire arm and back (I had to get that test done when I was younger just to tell me I was allergic to cats… not fun) so, thanks to groupon, I bought an IdentAllergy test, snipped off some of my hair, sent that in (hopefully not to be cloned as well), and then waited to receive my allergy results.

Upon receiving my allergy test results, I was honestly shocked to see some of what I was (and wasn’t) allergic to.

This test showed me the following

  • My personal results for sensitivities to Food and Environmental factors
  • My heavy metal levels
  • My mineral and vitamin levels
  • My hormone levels
  • My stress levels

I’m not going to discuss my vitamin, mineral, heavy metal, and hormone levels because it was nothing too interesting. At the time I was iron deficient even though I’d given blood just fine the week before. Funny how that fluctuates. I do want to share my Food and Environmental factors and my stress levels because that’s what I was really curious about. Let’s get into it… Shall we?

For my food intolerances, I was told I’m intolerant to:

  • Carambola
  • Millet
  • Millet Seed
  • Pine Nut
  • Pumpkin
  • Rosemary

What’s comical about this is that I was certain I was allergic to coconut (after my total skin conundrum last summer) yet it’s not on here. What’s worse? I don’t eat any of these foods religiously or ever. So, I may have to take another allergy test that doesn’t use hair to see if this one missed something because I have a gut (haha) feeling I’m eating something I shouldn’t be.

For environmental intolerances, I was told I’m intolerant to:

  • Cat Dander
  • Common Wasp
  • False Ragweed
  • Jack Fruit
  • Japanese Millet
  • Mixed Moulds Sections
  • Russian Thistle

I’ve always known I was allergic to cats (how I knew this test had at least some truth to it), and it’s great to know I’m allergic to wasps. I also have pretty bad fall allergies so some of these were pretty obvious as well.

Lastly, my stress levels. I don’t know if it’s because I was in school, trying to figure out my life, or what, but this test told me I’m STRESSED. Once my hair was tested for the rest of these allergies, my hair was washed measured then ground to a fine powder (weird…) and the cortisol levels were measured.My cortisol levels are 50-60 pg (picograms of cortisol) / mg (milligrams of hair) which means Frequent acute repetitive acute stress: AKA high stress… not that this surprises me in the least, it’s still good to know.

All in all, I’m glad I took this test. However, I really want to know what’s wrong with my stomach.

Have any of you tested yourselves for allergies? If so, what test did you do? Let me know!

❤ Alicia ❤

What I LIKE, LOVE, + HATE about social media

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Hi everyone! It’s been a minute since I’ve written about my (and most people’s) relationship with social media. If you’ve been a follower for a while, you may remember that 2 summers ago, I went on a social media hiatus for the summer to recreate my social media usage habits. It was refreshing to take a break from social media and I would love to do it again.

However, all of my student organizations require social media, whether it be posting, replying, or simply keeping in contact with other students, so I really can’t take a break from it. I have been trying to limit my time on social media and especially minimizing my time on social media at night. It’s hard, especially when we are so dependent on it, but I’m doing my best to unplug as much as I can.

Something I wanted to do is share some things that I like, love, and hate about social media because I want to share AND I want to know your feelings about these things as well (and others I don’t mention as well). So, here are some things I like, love, and hate about social media.

Things I Like:

  • Social Media is great for making connections. Whether it be LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram, making connections is easy. Whether you add someone to your connections, or DM a company or person you want to work with, the sky is the limit for who you can connect with.
  • There is a different social media platform for every person. Sharing photos, witty jokes, DIYs, etc. there are TONS of social media sites to pick from which is great because everyone is different so your social media sites should be too.

Things I Love:

  • Staying in contact with people is so easy. When I’m at school I can keep up with friends back home and when I’m back home, I can keep up with my school friends. It’s also a great way for me to keep up with everyone from San Diego since I haven’t been back to San Diego since I left.
  • MEMES. I am a meme girl like no other and I wouldn’t be able to enjoy my memes if it weren’t for social media. I have thousands of pictures on my phone and almost half of them (and almost all of my happiness) are memes and they wouldn’t be possible were it not for social media.

Things I Hate:

  • How likes and followers determine worth. The more likes and followers one has the more idolized they are on social media. People start obsessing on how many likes and comments they have on each post by buying those and followers and it creates this cycle of trying to get a certain number of likes, not reaching those and trying to get more followers and likes and then failing again.
  • People are measured by their looks. Not only are girls criticized for every single they do/say/wear, we are now required to be flawless on social media. Now Instagram celebrities all over are facetuning and photoshopping themselves in photos which are causing their fans to feel far less than adequate because they don’t look like their idols when in reality their idols don’t even look like their idols.

What do you all like, love, and hate about social media?
❤ Alicia ❤

My favorite places in Athens

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Hi again everyone!! After reminiscing about my first year at OU, I really began to miss some of my favorite places in Athens! Because of this, I wanted to share my favorite places in Athens (in case for some reason any of you end up in Athens, Ohio or I have some fellow bobcat readers). So, here are my top 5 favorite places in Athens. Enjoy!

  1. Donkey Coffee- This super cute, eclectic coffee shop has the best vegan muffins, cookies and more +++ the best red tea (I’d never had it until I went there)! It’s super cute and has a great atmosphere and I absolutely love studying there!
  2. Brenen’s Coffee- The best-iced coffee I’ve ever gotten in my life! It’s my go-to spot for coffee and they even offer a meal plan (might have to get that in the fall).
  3. Bagel Street Deli- My favorite place to eat off campus! Bagel Street Deli is a sandwich shop (on bagels of course) that have breakfast and regular sandwich bagels which has tons of vegan options! It is one of the best places to eat no matter the time of day and I love bringing my family here when they visit!
  4. Union Street Diner- There are 2 diners near campus, and while the other diner has that typical diner look and feel, Union Street’s Diner wins in my opinion because of the variety of options (especially vegan ones). It’s open 24 hours and I love going there with friends for some late night snacks!
  5. The Athena Theatre- I’ve never actually seen a movie in this Theatre, however, the history and architecture of the building are so cool. The theatre also features a lecture hall on the second floor (I attended an extra credit seminar there) which was beautiful all in its own. But, what’s great about this theater is that they have new (and old) movies for very very cheap which is great for all college students on budgets!

There are so many other places that I could talk about, but I think these take the cake as some of my absolute favorites!!!

❤ Alicia ❤

Reflecting on my first year at OU

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Hi everyone, I am back home from school and slowly getting back into my home routine. I always forget how weird it is being home… with virtually no responsibilities, being able to sleep in, and not having to worry about school work and studying. It’s nice… but I also feel empty having nothing to do.

Throughout my first year at OU, I’ve done a number of reflections on my time here. I figured that I should now reflect on my whole year at OU, as I am home and 100% done with my first year. While I do want to reflect on my time, I don’t want to get all sappy, so I’m going to share a few highlights from each month was at school!

I won’t lie, August started off pretty rough. I spent the first week of school (and more if I’m being honest) so the only highlight of the month for me was starting class and work and really starting a routine.

While September was still sort of shitty, my routine kept me busy and made me feel like I had a purpose. I joined CHAARG which was and is still one of my best decisions I’ve made this year and through CHAARG I’ve had so many great opportunities, met amazing people, and have really started working on myself.

With midterm season in full swing, October was just a lot of reading, studying and anticipating THanksgiviing Break. The ONLY good thing that happened in October was Halloween. Halloween is a BIG tradition at OU and it was really cool (albeit overwhelming) to be able to experience this tradition for myself with all the people I’d met.

During November is when (in my opinion) I started becoming really good friends with my roommate and started bonding with everyone I’d met at OU. This month, Olivia (my roommate) and I both applied to be on the 4 Paws for ABility executive board and I ended up becoming the Treasurer of the group. This didn’t start until Spring Semester but I accepted the position and started learning about what I had to do I November.

Studying and studying and studying some more. The entire month of December was just filled with studying and reading and making notecards and trying not to die. BUT it all paid off because (even though it wasn’t what I wanted) I ended up with a 3.75 GPA.

Returning to school at San Diego was weird. When I got back for Spring semester I didn’t have many reunions or really get excited to see my friends when I got back to school. However, my favorite part of January was reuniting with all of my friends from last semester. I had lunch and dinner and coffee dates with friends the whole first few weeks back and it was just great to see that I’d made connections and people actually enjoyed my presence.

This next one isn’t much of a highlight; it’s much more of a lowlight. The month of February (and before and after) had a lot of rejection in them. Internships executive positions, jobs, etc. just had a lot of rejection. I was very very disheartened by all of this but I learned one thing about myself it’s that I am great at persevering. I’ve enjoyed where I ended up this semester, rejections and all, and I think it’s taught me a lot about learning to accept more rejection that will inevitably come in my future.

In spite of all the rejection that this year had brought me (even within this organization) the best part of March was being elected to be the CHAARG Executive Board Treasurer. The love I have for this organization is unreal and to be given (to have earned) the opportunity to be on its executive team and to have the chance to improve it and see it grow is such a gift and I can’t wait to see where it takes me this upcoming year.

The one thing that sucks about OU, is that I’m 5-7 hours away from ALL of my friends. The entire month of April I spent appreciating my friends. Getting dinner every night, hanging out even if we were just visiting each other at work, getting coffee, etc. Whatever we could do to see each other would do because not being able to see my buds until August… I’m not a fan but I was grateful for the amount I saw them in April and how much I was able to appreciate them and their presence while I was there.

I came home May 1st, cried a lot, and then sat at my computer anxiously anticipating my grades to be posted. Finally, 8 days later, I finally got to see my grades for Spring Semester. I ended up with 5 As and ONE A-. I ended up with a 3.93 GPA for the semester all because I was .01% away from a solid A in the other class. I’m fine with that grade but come on! .01%.

All in all, I’m forever grateful that I transferred to OU. This past year was beyond anything I could have expected and my year was infinitely better than my time in San Diego (not the weather or the location). I guess location of the school really doesn’t matter, it’s really all about who you surround yourself with and what you make of your time while you’re there.

❤ Alicia ❤