Hi everyone! Today’s Blogmas post is a review of the Netflix original “A Christmas Prince.” So many people have been debating watching it because it’s not an ‘original’ Christmas movie. However, I figured I would watch that 92-minute movie to see how it ranked.
For those of you who haven’t heard of the movie, straight from Netflix comes this brief synopsis: “Christmas comes early for an aspiring young journalist when she’s sent abroad to get the scoop on a dashing prince who’s poised to be king.” I don’t want to give anything else away so you’ll all have to watch the movie for yourselves to see what happens with that journalist and the prince. 😉
Pros:
Ben Lamb (Prince Richard) is a cutie
most of the actors in the movie I’d never heard of so it’s always nice to see new people playing bigger roles
Princess Emily and Amber’s relationship is so cute
ROMANCE!!
A plot twist I actually wasn’t expecting
The cliche
Cons:
Lady Sophia and Simon are so annoying (but what is a cliche movie with no annoying people)
That period of time where shit hits the fan and you have 10 minutes to resolve
The cliche
Overall Review: Overall, I adored this movie. I am a sucker for a cliche but if you aren’t you’ll probably hate it. It sort of reminded me of a Christmas Ella Enchanted just without the violence. I really liked the plot twist in the movie (that I will not share) and it was just overall a very cute and sweet movie. I’d say a 9/10 from me tbh.
Good afternoon everyone. I am currently supposed to be reading a chapter for my Intro to Education class, so naturally, I thought I would sit down and write something.
For the past few weeks, I have been doing a lot of reflecting… and a lot of homework, but let’s not discuss that. Something that always makes me anxious is change. However, all of my best memories came from when I made a big change. Going to San Diego, going vegan, taking a year off of school, going to Peru, transferring to Ohio, joining CHAARG… I could go on. So, then why is it that change makes us so anxious? Why is it that that cancel plans, don’t start new projects, and give up on goals when those are the things we know can/will be in our best interest. Change is so good for us, for our body, for our mind. So good. Why do we fear change?
Today is the start of CHAARG’s fall fit plan and I woke up bright and early at 630 to get to the gym by 730 and get that workout in before my day started. It is also the start of the second half of the semester (seems like just yesterday I was crying in Baker’s 5th-floor bathroom) and I have realized something, I need to stop hating change. Change is hard, change can be messy, and change can be scary, but it can also be incredible, exhilarating, and well worth it.
I am going to try to make a few changes in my life and I will be trying a new change each week of the fitplan (fitplan is 6 weeks so 6 goals).
My goal for this week is to eat at the dining halls… ALONE. Something that has always made me so anxious is being alone. I don’t want to seem like a loner. I feel the need to call someone every time I’m walking alone. If I can’t walk alone… how can I eat alone? In my 7 weeks at OU, I have eaten at a dining hall 5 times… each and every one of those times I was with at least one person.
This afternoon, I walked into the dining hall, alone, and I got food. I got the food to go, mainly because I had homework to attend to but also because I was uncomfortable, but I swiped in aloe nonetheless. I am trying to go to the dining hall daily for lunch (except Tuesdays because I work during the lunch hours) and sit in a little booth, alone. I can work on homework, fiddle on my phone or just simply sit, but I need to be able to be alone, comfortably, in public.
I just said howdy… Ohio is changing me. Just figured I would give a bit of a life update on this fine Monday night. Mainly because I want to do something but my brain is too fried (will get to why in a minute) to do any homework. Thank the grammar gods for Grammarly and spell check because I can that without them… I would not be able to be posting right now.
Anyway, this weekend I was able to go home for the first time since school started! It was Homecoming but that didn’t stop me because I can honestly say that cuddling with my dog for 3 days is much more fun than getting blackout drunk.
I left bright and early Thursday morning at 5:15am and made it to Chicago at around 4:30pm. From there I went home, cried upon seeing my dog, and just recuperated from the long day of travel.
Friday, I had a doctor’s appointment, then I didn’t… but then rescheduled it for the next morning. After my doctor mishap, I was able to drive to my grandparents’ house and surprise them. Seeing the two of them was great and they both cried when they saw me. After talking for a few hours about school and life we went to dinner because I hadn’t had a good meal yet. I missed PASTA. They are both doing good and kept saying how lovely of a surprise it was to have me come home. It’s the little things. 🙂
Saturday morning I finally had my doctor’s appointment with a VERY ATTRACTIVE doctor that I’d never seen before. I went in for some ear pain and a fluid feeling but apparently, there’s no infection (always good) so I got some Flonase and was told to hope for the best.
Post-doctor appointment, I got my dad and I Dunkin Donuts. I MISSED GOOD COFFEE. Starbucks is always good but I missed Dunkin. I then showered, made myself look less ugly and my family and I ventured to the city to go to the Art Institute. We had lunch, saw some art, tried not to kill all of the tourists in the city for the marathon and had a grand ol’ time until I decided I wanted cupcakes. This prompted the 25-minute drive to Swirlz for some vegan gluten-free deliciousness.
The rest of the weekend was a bit of a blur, filled with homework, shopping trips, dinner with my grandparents again, and spending as much time with Poppy as I could before I had to leave again last night. I had a 12-hour journey from Chicago to Indianapolis to Columbus to Athens to my dorm and let me tell you, I am exhausted. I napped on and off on the bus while simultaneously trying to ensure that none of my belongings got stolen.
Nonetheless, I made it back home to my dorm, unpacked, showered, and have been living my life as if that weekend hadn’t even happened.
I’ll be back in 6 weeks Chicago
Alicia
PS I’ve never felt such a sense of calm and fear as I did in a bus station at 430 in the morning
Hi everyone! We are back in action with another Playlist. It’s finally starting to feel like fall (not the weather but there are leaves on the ground and I’m wearing sweaters in the blistering 85 degrees because it is October for Pete’s sake. So, for my fall playlist, here we go
Not too sure why most of these were like love songs… maybe I’m in the lovey mood. COUGH COUGH WINK WINK ANY BOY LOVE ME
Or Hello October 3rd. Even though the month has already started, I still wanted to make my monthly goals. Do you have any goals for October?
Go out at least once- most people are saying “go out less” but I haven’t been out all semester so I think I’ll go out for Halloween weekend, even though I work and have 3 tests the next week. My roommate, her friend, and I are going to be Buzz Lightyear, Woody, and Jessie from Toy Story
Go to at least 3 CHAARG Spotlights- Each Wednesday, CHAARG has a group come to our rec center and they hold a workout session. I have been a bit anxious to go the last 2 times so I will be going to the spotlight on Tuesday and then i will attempt to go to 2 other (there are 5 total)
Go to the gym 5 days a week- This was on my September goals but I’ve been slacking so it’s back for round 2
Start listening to podcasts- I don’t know by who or about what, but I really want to listen to at least 1 podcast a week because yes, music is awesome, but you can learn so much from podcasts
Explore Athens- While Athens is a pretty small city, there is so much to do around campus. I want to go to the farmer’s market at least once and head to a coffee shop or a cute boutique.
And just like that, September is over. I have been shitty about posting but with work, class, homework, and sleep… your girl was busy. However, I still would like to wrap up and reflect on my September goals.
Finish all of my homework the day BEFORE it is due. CHAMPION. I have been on top of all of my classes (knock on wood). Some days I have been doing work the day it’s due but at least I am getting it donw.
Go to the gym 5 (or more) days a week. I am struggling with this. I love my roommate to pieces but she gets out of bed most days at 11 and I feel really bad for getting up. I try to set out my stuff most nights but my bed is comfy. I’m working on it though
Call or Facetime my family at least twice a month. I talk to my dad almost every day, I try to call my sister on friday nights (she usually doesn’t answer) and I’ve talked to my mom twice in the last week so that’s a win right? Also I go home this weekend so I’ll talk to them then
Practice good hygiene.I have been so freaking good about skincare omg my skin looks so good. It’s amazing what a solid routine and minimal stress will do for you
Go to club meetings. I’ve been doing really well with CHAARG but all of the other clubs I want to join are Mondays while I have class. So I obviously can’t go to those.
Hi all, I’ve been completely swamped this week and this weekend and although I am loving it here, the amount of reading that goes into getting an education degree is immense and I physically cannot read anything else for the night, so I decided that I would write.
A few months ago, I made a post about getting a dog. In that post, I also discussed how Poppy had contracted heartworm in the kennel she was at in Alabama.
Yesterday my mom brought Poppy to the vet to get her blood drawn to see if she was heartworm negative and we could slowly start increasing her activity, or if she was heartworm positive and we had another month or so of treatment.
This afternoon, I received the best news possible! Poppy is HEARTWORM NEGATIVE!!! I started crying in my dorm because I had so many emotions. I wish I were home to give her a big hug and a peanut butter bone, but I’m sure my family is taking good care of her.
Soon she will be back at full energy (I am terrified to see what that is) and she will be in extreme training to work on her constant barking and leash pulling. Counting down the days until I get to see her again
Hi everyone. Last year, I posted my 17 goals for 2017, and since we are a little over halfway through the year, I figured I’d update it. Check out the original post here.
Blog consistently: Before Peru I was on top of things, however upon returning… not so much. I’m doing better right now and I have some posts planned out for the next few months so let’s get back in the swing of things
End the year with at least double the amount of posts I have now. I have written 56 posts this year (not including this one) so I have 87 more to go. I will be participating in #NaBloPoMo and Blogmas again so that is at least 55 posts, so as long as I can get 32 posts in by Halloween, I should be good to go.
Connect with more Bloggers: Since I’ve visited wordpress maybe 10 times in the past 3 months, I can say I’ve struggled with this.
Take quality pictures: I haven’t posted many posts involving pictures, but when I do, I will be budgeting my time and taking pictures before hand.
Read: Being a single mother (my dog) I haven’t been reading as much as I would like, but I have been a bit.
Learn something new: I’m taking Italian at school this fall so, I’m hoping to learn Italian.
Move into the basement: This never happened and will not be happening
Volunteer: I DID IT
Create a budget for myself: I never made a set budget but I have been saving money for school and am trying to not spend money unless I have to.
Choose a college: OU OH YEAH baby.
Get a job: I have been nannying this summer, however, I need a real job at school.
Clean: My room has stayed decently clean, except now because I’m in college and puppy world, but I make my bed most days, do my laundry, keep up with the dishes and living room most times.
Get on a solid sleep schedule: I have to wake up every day from 6-7 for either work or my dog, so the latest I’ve gone to bed all summer is midnight.
Exercise: I’ve been working out every day for the past month or so and my dorm is right next to the rec center so I’ll have no excuse not to get a workout in.
Create a skincare routine: I use lush products for my face which is working pretty well (it’s also pretty expensive but I’m dealing)
Be one of ‘those vegans’: This year I’ve learned balance is key. I have my spinach smoothies and beans and lentils, but I also eat Oreos and ice cream. I can be one of ‘those vegans’ and still indulge.
Drink more water: I am still struggling with this. Some days I excel and some days I’ve had 2 glasses by 10 pm. How do you get all of your daily water in??
No.. I’m not pregnant but my family did recently adopt a puppy! A little over two months ago, we adopted Kizzee (now Poppy), a one year old Border Collie Spaniel mix from Second City Kanine Rescue. She is the sweetest little pup who has taken my whole heart.
A little bit about this sweet baby; she is all black with some salt and pepper on her stomach and paws (the Border Collie) and has the fluffiest ears and tail in the world. She looks like a fox and she already has too many nicknames to mention. She’s got a bit of a barking problem but with some training and lots of cookies I’m sure that’ll be fixed in no time.
We adopted her from a rescue here in Illinois but she came up from Alabama, after spending over 6 months locked away in a kennel (wonder how that barking started), where she also contracted heartworm. For now, we have to restrict tiny dog’s activity (heartworm treatment) and we have a dog pharmacy on our counter(also heart worm treatment), but once she is heartworn negative this little dog will be bounding all over dog parks, beaches, and people.
Now, while Poppy and I sit here patiently waiting to get that dang blood test, please enjoy a plethora of pictures of this sweet, cute, and tiny pup.
Well, well, well. I’m alive and well and back in my cozy home, perched on the couch in my living room, writing for the first time in forever.
My initial goal was to blog 10 times while I was in Peru, and only ended up blogging twice. I will discuss Peru in later posts and share photos and all of that jazz, but now I just wanted to write. I wanted to share a bit of a life update (sans Peru) and talk about my summer, my college decision and just how life has been thus far.
Let’s get started with college. After another visit to Ohio University, I finally decided to make myself a part of the Patton College of Education at Ohio University. I am extremely excited to start school and become a teacher. I have orientation in 2 weeks and then I wait until the end of August for move in. I am living in the dorm I wanted and have already found out who my roommate and suitemates are. I haven’t been in contact with them yet but I have stalked the ones I found on Facebook and Instagram, which is basically the same thing. Go Bobcats!
Now onto my summer. Can we talk about babysitting? I am sitting for one family on Tuesdays and Thursdays and then another family on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I am also walking the Tuesday/Thursday family’s dog on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays when I’m done with babysitting. Also, I’m walking everywhere, so my new Fitbit and my body are going to love me at the end of the summer.
That’s it for now, I’ll talk about college, Peru, and my summer antics a bit more in the coming post, but since it is June 1st (and the start if my birthday month AND Marilyn Monroe’s birthday) I figured I would get back in the swing of things since I hadn’t posted once in May.
Hi everyone. 3 days until I leave for Peru!! A few weeks ago, Alana made a vision board out of magazines, newspaper clippings, and other written media. After reading the story behind hers (and seeing the process of making her vision board), I flashbacked to middle school and high school when I would clip pictures of Harry Styles, and quotes saying ‘you’re beautiful’ and would litter them on my closet door. I realized that it had been so long since I’d done that and how fun they were to make, so I decided to make my own.
After scouring my entire house for magazines, and only ending up with a few minor ones and a Target catalogue, I got to work on my vision board. I paged through all of them, ripping out pages with cool and warm colors, long quote, short quotes, photographs, etc and laid them aside to cut up.
All of my pages ready to be cut up
After that, I began cutting all of the quotes and photos out from the pages and aligning them on my bulletin board. I had quotes ranging from “happy” to “bitch it out” and photos of kids running up stairs and greenery on tables. After i complied them all together on the board, I put my push pins in each clipping and hung it on my bedroom wall, so whenever I need a bit of motivation or just to know I’m worth it, I can check that board.
Hi everyone! I made a fall mixtape in September and had planned on making one for winter and never did. However, after making a playlist for my long plane rides in the coming days, I have decided to make another for Spring. Let’s get started.
Machine-Misterwives: You all know my love for this band and this song is no different. Off of their second studio album (released May 19th), machine is an alternative jam that I listen to almost every day. It has such great vibes going along with it and has a bit of a political hidden message in it and when they played it at the concert, I sobbed. Give it a listen.
Where Does the Good Go-Tegan and Sara: This song is over 10 years old but I just discovered it within the last month while watching Grey’s Anatomy. It sort of reminds me of leaving and new beginnings which is what I will be having in a week so I felt it needed to be here.
Paris-Chainsmokers: I know this is a ‘basic’ band or whatever but this song sort of screams wanderlust to me and since basically half of my spring I will be in Peru, I felt it needed to have a place on this playlist.
Midnight Movies-Saint Motel: I was listening to this song when I decided I wanted to make a Spring mixtape. This was never one of my favorite Saint Motel songs but it has a weird tempo, not too fast paced for a summer feel but not slow enough for a fall song. I have learned to appreciate this song more recently and I definitely recommend it.
Girls like Girls- Haley Kiyoko: This song was just released and I love this song. It is quite a catchy tune and I find myself humming it even when it isn’t on.
Ophelia- The Lumineers: This song has a more fall vibey tempo (it could just be the album cover) but it is a beautiful song sung by an amazingly talented person. This is a song I love to listen to with my windows rolled down when it’s late and no one is speaking, just enjoying music and each other’s company.
What a Feeling-One Direction: Harry Styles is releasing his first ever single on April 7th so that song would make this playlist (even if it was just him playing the triangle for 5 minutes), however, it isn’t out, so I thought I would give one of my favorite One Direction songs a place on this playlist.
Work this Body-Walk the Moon: This song always makes me feel very confident in myself and like I can do anything. I am living my dream next month so this song is being put to life for me.
Art Exhibit-Young the Giant: I don’t really know to describe this song. It’s sort of magical and it isn’t a very well-known song by the band. Nevertheless, it is a wonderfully elegant and beautiful song.
Fire Escape-Andrew McMahon: This song is another song like Machine, an alternative jam. It has a weird beat so it’s upbeat but not super upbeat… if that makes any sense. It has become one of my favorite songs as of late and I listen to it all the time. I had never heard of the artist before this song but I have started to listen to more of his music besides this song, and I really like the sound he puts out.
Hello everyone, one of my Blogmas posts was a Winter bucket list and with winter basically over and spring right around the corner, I decided that I would come back and see how well I did on my little list. Most of the snow ones didn’t really happen because there were about 2 weeks in April where it was above 50 and most times the snow didn’t last long, but the rest of the ones I was able to do 🙂 Let’s get started.
Finish Christmas Shopping–
See the Christmas trees at the Museum of Science and Industry: Did this one also. Check out my Blogmas photo set to see some photos from that day!
Visit the Christkindlmarket: Check. It was so beautiful and I was able to find vegan candy there as well!! Check out my post about that day here
Drive around and look at Christmas decorations: This happened on more than one occasion. Friends, family, and I drove around and marveled at many houses and did more than critique others.
See the Macy’s tree and windows:The hype of doing this was real. I had never been to Macy’s to see the tree or windows and I did both of those. It was spectacular and the people involved definitely put in a ton of work to make Macy’s beautiful for the holiday season.
The Cubs window
Go to Wisconsin for the weekend:I have done this a couple times. We were up there for New Year’s weekend and then I think another time but I can’t remember.
Put up the Christmas tree:Put up our Christmas tree and took it down successfully.
Have a Christmas movie night: I definitely watched sooooo many Christmas movies. It happened over a few nights (and one even in February) but I watched so many classics.
Go sledding: It never snowed enough to go sledding
Read some good books with some wintery drinks:I don’t think I ever did these together but I definitely enjoyed some great books and wintery drinks separately.
See all of my friends while they are home on break:I wasn’t able to see all of my friends because of work, vacations, etc. But I was able to see a lot of my friends and I have been seeing them as well when they’re been home for Spring Break as well.
Dress up on Christmas: Since I was given a Shrek Christmas sweater and was forced to wear that on Christmas Day I wouldn’t really consider myself dressed up, but I wore nice pants so I sort of looked nice
Do a winter photo shoot: Did a mini shoot but nothing too extravagant.
Try to take a family photo… key word is try: This literally did not happen at all haha.
Shovel some now: My neighbor with a snow blower beat us all to it each time it snowed
Build a snowman: It literally didn’t snow enough to make one and when it did, the snow wasn’t good packing snow.
Eat a candy cane: I didn’t even eat a mini one 😦
Make Christmas cookies
Build a gingerbread house: 2 of my friends and I each made one and they were super cute to be honest
All in all I would I was pretty successful. I just need a damn candycane.
Hi everyone, tonight March Madness starts! I am a huge sports fan, especially basketball, and every year for the past 4 or so years I have filled out a March Madness bracket. This year, I decided to do the same. This bracket on some ends isn’t super practical. I’m not making a bracket for money so I definitely picked some teams I want to win based on interest rather than record. If any of you have made brackets let me know if we have some similarities and also let me know who you think will win big this year!
I’ll be watching along all of March, and even though I’ll be in Peru for the last 3 games, I’ll definitely make an update post at some point to show how accurate I was!
Hi everyone, and Happy Monday to all of you! This past weekend I was able to see three of my favorite bands in concert… together! Panic! At the Disco invited the bands Misterwives and Saint Motel to join them on the Death of a Bachelor tour. Coincidentally, I love all of these bands with all my heart and so does my sister and one of our best friends. Casey, Jesse (Casey’s sister), my sister Madi, and I have been waiting for this concert since September when my mom and I pre-ordered these tickets. The second I got the notification that the Misterwives Instagram account and posted a photo, one depicting that they were to be joining Panic! And Saint Motel on this tour. I screenshotted this and sent it to our group message where we immediately agreed that we had to attend. And Bam! 6 months later and it was a reality.
Saturday night we set out to have an amazing night. After a quick Dunkin Donuts stop and a bit of traffic we were at the Allstate Arena and absolutely ecstatic for the hours to come. After leaving my phone in the car, running back to the car, waited in the cold until they opened another door, dealt with a crotchety old woman, saw the 4-mile long merch table, decided against the merch line for the time being, and then made it to our seats.
Waiting to get it
Before the doors opened
Look AT THE FILTER
Jesse, me, Madi, and Casey
Us again
Waiting for Saint Motel
Saint Motel was amazing. I saw them in October with Casey and our friend Alec. They didn’t play our two favorite songs so we were pretty bummed, but we’ll live. They are so incredible live and I love AJ (the lead singer) and his cool hat-wearing, piano-paying self.
After Saint Motel was over, and we were thoroughly satisifed, we made a run for the merch table. I needed my damn shirt. Both lines were incredibly long so we decided to head back to our seats to await my all time favorite band Misterwives. I fell in love with this band when I started watching Finding Carter. Their song Vagabond was the theme song for the show and ever since I had heard this song, I have been a huge fan of their band. I have waited 3 years to see them and I finally was able to do it Saturday.
They played some of their best songs, a few new ones, and the lead singer, Mandy, is engaged to the drummer, Etienne, debuted a song that she had written just for him. It was super cute and I want that sort of love one day.
The second the Misterwives set was over we dashed to the merch table and got our shirts. Madi, Casey, and Jesse got Saint Motel shirts and I got a Misterwives shirt. As we were waiting in line, we kept hearing screams. Panic! Wasn’t supposed to come on for at least 15 minutes when we began to hear these screams so we were worried that we were missing the openng or that something else was going on. We later found out that there was a timer to countdown to when Panci! Would come on stage and people would scream after each minute had passed.
When Panic finally started It was almost an out of body surreal experience. There are not many bands that are better live than on the record and I can say that Brendon Urie’s voice is some sort of God-given gift created to better the world. The way he can hit any high or low note you can think of it maddening. Every time he would hit a note that wasn’t how it was on the album, Casey and I would look at each other, jaws dropped and completely in awe of how a person’s vocal cords can create those beautiful vibrations.
so artsy Brendon
Our seats were on the floor, however, they were a bit towards the back of the floor so I was a little dissapointed that we wouldn’t be able to see as well. After a few songs, however, Brendon left the stage and a video of him and Pete Wentz started playing on the screen. I assumed he was going to change and all of a sudden casey and I thought that Pete was going to join Brendon on stage. We began holding hands and freaking out in anticipation when all of a sudden a spotlugt appeared about 10 feet from where we were sitting. Immediatlely everyone in the vicinity ran to crowd around the spotlight when Brendon Urie, sitting at a silver piano ascended from the ground and began playing This is Gospel while rotating and confetti fell from the sky.
Everyone was crying and screaming and recording and it was an amazing few minutes. Everything past that was a blur of hoarse voices, runny makeup, and sweating bodies pressing agsinst each other.
During Girls/Girls/Boys :’)
Sadly, the concert had to come to an end. We made our way to the car with confetti and streamers in our hair, coats, shoes, and purses and smiles on our faces. After being trapped behind a girl giving head to her boyfriend for 10 minutes we finally got out, headed to McDonald’s for a large water and shamrock shakes for everyone else, we stopped at WalMart because we couldn’t bare to have the night end, walked around and bought candy before parting ways for the night.
Last song
tired gals
Sad day when the concert is over
I hope one day you all find something that makes you as happy as these three bands make me. This night will forever have a place in my House of Memories.
Living off Leesh 