Liebster Award!

I was nominated for the Liebster Award by Gwendolyn over at Lavender Mud!

The Award
The Liebster Award is an award given to new bloggers as a way to recognize them and to discover other new bloggers and welcome them to the blogosphere.


The Rules
1. Thank the person who nominated you and post a link to their blog on your blog.
2. Display the award on your blog
3. Answer 11 questions about yourself, which will be provided to you by the person who nominated you.
4. Provide 11 random facts about yourself.
5. Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have a less than 1000 followers.
6. Create a new list of questions for the blogger to answer.
7. List these rules in your post
8. Inform the blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster Award and provide a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!)


The Q&A
1. Describe yourself in 3 words.
Eclectic, energetic, and eccentric (The fact that all 3 start with an 'E' is completely unintentional, I swear!)

2. What is your favorite way to unwind?
I love to take a hot bath a curl up with a good book! (Currently reading I've Got Your Number by Sophia Kinsella!)

3. If you won a million dollars, what would you do with it?
Move to New York and fill my wardrobe with Kate Spade! If there's anything left, maybe I'll save it.

4. If you could have lunch with anyone (alive or dead) who would be be and why?
Idina Menzel: She's my idol. If I could be her, I would, but I'll settle for eating lunch with her!
Audrey Hepburn: She was a talented, beautiful, and wonderful human being. Basically everything she did with her life was inspirational.
Darren Criss: I have been inspired by Darren Criss since I first saw him in AVPM and he continues to amaze me. And of course, if lunch led to a marriage proposal, I wouldn't say no.

5. What's on your summer bucket list?
Find a job! That is literally the only thing on my mind right now!!

6. What is your favorite song of the moment?
This is a really hard one for me, since I go through songs faster than anything. Right now, I guess I'm loving Find My Way from Legally Blonde the Musical because it's reminding me that everything will work out the way it needs to.

7. What is your favorite book and why?
I'm gonna do favorite series, because it's too difficult for me to pick a favorite book! I love the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin (aka Game of Thrones for all of you HBOers) It has action, revenge, love, lust, everything. It's also particularly nerdy, which I love.

8. What one piece in your wardrobe can you not live without?
This is really tough, but I'm going to have to say my "sailor shorts." I mean, they're comfy and adorable, plus they're perfect for basically any summer vacation, especially cruises. They are great for cruises.

Me, my shorts, and Grand Turk! 

Ignore my horrible posture, please.

9. What is your favorite snack?
A bag of Munchos and a Mountain Dew. It's probably going to lead me to an early grave in an over-sized casket, but it's worth it.

10. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose and why.
New York City. Because it's New York City. I love fast-paced life and big cities and Broadway and cute restaurants and basically everything about NYC. Well, everything except for the winter, but we all have to make sacrifices.

11. What is your favorite thing about blogging? The worst?
My favorite thing about blogging is being able to talk about whatever I want and occasionally there is actually someone there who feels the same way!
What I'm not a fan of isn't really blogging; it's me. I have the attention span of a small rodent, so sometimes I forget to post and I get kind of stressed out about it!!


The Facts
1. I just graduated from Winthrop University with my B.S. in Business Administration (Concentration in Marketing and Minor in Visual Design Studies!)
2. I love pepperoni pizza.
3. I want to perform in a Broadway musical.
4. My favorite TV shows are Doctor Who and Game of Thrones.
5. My favorite color is green.
6. I've been to more foreign countries than I have states.
7. I wake up every day at 5 am.
8. I am an alumna of Chi Omega women's fraternity
9. I was born and raised in the South, but I don't have an accent
11. I read at least one book a month


The Nominations
1. Kylie at dress in sparkles
2. Alyssa at from campus with love
3. Deanna at Designing Gal
4. Elyssa at Miss Manhattan
5. Miranda at Mermade Moments
6. Allison at allisonleighann
7. Amy at Champagne and Pearls
8. Brittany at Peanut Butter and Nutella Sandwich
9. Annie at A College Confession
10. Liza at Classy and Curly
11. That University Girl


The Questions
1. What one word best describes you?
2. Why did you start blogging?
3. Who is your blogging inspiration?
4. Cats or dogs?
5. Favorite memory of 2014 so far?
6. What's your dream job?
7. What is your favorite way to spend your leisure time?
8. If you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would it be and why?
9. Who is your celeb crush?
10. What is your favorite thing about yourself?
11. Do you have any special talents?


Make sure you check out Lavender Mud as well as all of the blogs that I've nominated! They're such fabulous blogs, so if you don't you'll seriously be missing out!

Pet Sick

I don't know any other way to title this post. How else can I get across the fact the I miss my puppy!!! So, it's like I'm home sick, only...for my pet!

 

I mean, look at him!! He's adorable. He's my little Snickerdoodle (his name is actually Snickers, but doesn't he look more like Snickerdoodle to you?) and I haven't seen him in soooo looooong and I miss him like crazy.

He' a Yorkie-Poo and a ball of sass and energy (sometimes I call him my little Satan puppy. He can be mean!)

But he's still my puppy! Well, my parents puppy. And he's not exactly a puppy anymore, since he turned 2 this past December. But I will forever call him my puppy.

I love when I get to "pet sit" for my parents and he comes to stay with me! My roommate has a dog, but he isn't my little Snickerdoodle, so it's not quite the same. So when I get the chance to love and snuggle my puppy, I get so excited! He gets even more excited, though. Remember, I said he's a ball of energy. I'm pretty sure he could win a Nascar race sometimes.

Like I said, he's actually my parent's dog, so I don't get to see him as much as I would like. That's why recently, I've been contemplating getting a dog of my own. I wanted to adopt, but I can't find what I'm looking for at the shelters around my apartment. I want a small dog that doesn't shed (like Snickers!) because my roommate already has the position of "large dog that sheds like nobody's business" filled with her dog. I don't think I can handle anymore dog hair around the apartment. And I want something small because I feel bad keeping a larger dog in an apartment, where he doesn't have a yard to run around in =(

Since I can't find anything at the shelters, I actually started looking at Mi-Ki's. 

They are absolutely ADORABLE.

But also absolutely expensive. If I do decide to get one, I'm going to have to wait a while. 

BUT LOOK AT HOW ADORABLE IT IS! They're small, and there's a type that doesn't shed, so they are the perfect dog for me!

If I get one, Snickers might get a little jealous when he comes to visit.

But nothing could ever replace my precious little Snickerdoodle. 

(Snickers before and after getting his summer cut...a little closer than usual)

Bonus picture! Snickers when he was actually a puppy!! How freakin' cute was he?

Weekend Round-Up

This weekend was probably the most eventful one of my entire life, but it was SO EXCITING!

First of all, I graduated college! Eeeek! I've spent the last 4 years of my life working toward this moment, so the fact that it finally happened is so unreal to me.

I mean, I am a college graduate. WHAT? I'm so excited, but also a little nervous. I'm totally not ready for the Big Girl World.

I think I'm just going to miss being able to catch up with my friends whenever I want. Not too mention the option to sleep through a class once or twice. (That definitely won't fly at a job)

Like I said, I'm excited though.

I just can't believe that I'm a COLLEGE GRADUATE!

Diploma Time!

The fam

My Big and one of my best friends!

Some of my sisters! (What is going on with my feet????)

It's official!

This week was also Mother's Day!! So, after my graduation on Saturday, I headed to my parents house on Sunday!! We didn't really do much. My sister and I took my mother to see The Other Woman. It's absolutely hilarious and I definitely recommend it!

I'm a poor (recently graduated) college kid, so I didn't know what I would get my mom for Mother's Day. I actually ended painting her something.

It's the cruise ship we're taking in July for our family/friends vacation! I'm really proud of it, and my mom loved it!

Did anybody else have a fabulous weekend? I hope everyone enjoyed their Mother's Day Weekend!!

Bloglovin'

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I've jumped on the Bloglovin' bandwagon! I mostly did it so I can keep track of all of the blogs that I follow (there are a lot), but I also thought I'd go ahead and "claim" my blog, so if you want to follow me on Bloglovin', you can! How exciting.

If anyone else is on Bloglovin', let me know so I can follow you! I love reading other blogs so pleasepleaseplease let me know!

May the Fourth be With You!

Happy Star Wars Day everybody!

This should honestly be a national holiday (even though today is a Sunday, so it wouldn't matter...)

I'm stuck inside right now, trying to clean up my apartment. With all of my finals (my final finals!) I have let my apartment become a complete mess. Which, if you've read basically any other post here, you'd know that I am most certainly not okay with it.

I hate messes. But I also hate cleaning. Which is why usually I just tidy up as I go along. But I haven't had enough time! Stupid finals!!

So today, instead of wandering around my apartment complex, enjoying the lovely weather and beautiful flowers in bloom, I'm stuck inside cleaning my apartment and watching QVC.

Which is also bad. Because now I really want this laptop...despite having just bought a new one last July!! 

So this is basically a struggle in every single way. 

I mean, look at how beautiful it is outside!!

I need some motivation, I just haven't found any of it yet!!

Does anyone have any suggestions for motivating myself? Or some quick cleaning tips? 

I would really appreciate it!!!

Life is Good

I posted at the beginning of this week about how hard life is.
And yesterday I posted about making your own happiness.

So today I'm going to kind of mix the two!

Yeah, life is hard. But it's also good.

Today I had an interview. A real-life, big-girl job interview.
And I left that interview feeling the best I've felt in a while. I felt happy; I felt confident; I felt good. So good.

I can't remember the last time I left an interview feeling that good. You see, typically when I have to endure stressful situations like that, no matter how well I think they went, I leave feeling jittery, nervous, and unsure.

But today, I only felt good. I knew I did well in that interview. And knowing that I have my second interview on Monday just makes me feel even better.

This is such an exciting opportunity for and I cannot tell you how excited I am!!

Has anyone else had something else in their life recently that just made them feel so fabulous??

The Sun'll Come Out

In my Look Back post about 2 weeks ago, I mentioned our national consultant that visited and directed you to her page (Lauren at The Sunny Girl, if you missed it).

Well, this week has been such a struggle and I've been having a hard time focusing on anything but the negative, which reminded me of something she told us.

We make our own happiness.

It seems so obvious, right? If we make a conscious decision to be happy, we're probably going to be, you guessed it, HAPPY. We all need to stop focusing on the negative aspects of our lives and try to focus on the good. It's hard, especially with disorders like depression and anxiety, but it's possible.

Stop worrying about that exam that you just failed and instead think of the opportunity you now have to improve yourself; instead of moping around and complaining about all of the work you have to do, get it done so you will actually have time to do something you enjoy; instead of constantly telling yourself that you can't, just once tell yourself that you can.

It's not all in the way we look at things, but about 95% of it is.

If you tell yourself that you're going to be happy and put forth the effort to be happy, then I am certain that you will be happy! And if by some unfortunate series of events you aren't happy, you can only go up from there!

Lauren also introduced us to something she calls, "The Sunny Set."

This is basically a bucket list, but instead of focusing on things you want to do before you die, you focus on all of the things you want to do while you live.
Sure, it's basically the same thing, but which one sounds a little bit more optimistic? I'm a big fan of living, you know.

Here are the top items of my Sunny Set:

• work for Kate Spade
• sing on Broadway
• meet (or, y'know, marry) Darren Criss
• meet Idina Menzel
• Move to New York

Sure, some of them don't seem that likely, but if I don't dream it, can it ever really happen?

Honestly, I think everyone should make a Sunny Set. Even if it's only a list of your short-term goals, I think it will help you feel much more accomplished and, in turn, a lot happier in your life. 

Here are a few words from Audrey Hepburn that I think everyone should consider.

And these wise words from my favorite President: