A 2013 Recap and 2014 Resolutions

2013 was probably the hardest year of my life. I lost my Aunt and experienced the first death of a loved one Christmas Day 2012. 2013 was filled with guilt, sobbing fests, and days were I just couldn’t face the world. To be quite honest, I’m ready for 2013 to be over. Christmas this year was the anniversary of her death. I tried to put that out of my mind and spend time with my happy and healthy family. It creped up a lot but I had a wonderful holiday filled with laughter, mimosas and hugs. A lot of good came out of 2013. I turned 21. I was surrounded by love and support of my family and friends. I got accepted to college for the first time! And I met a new part of my family, the only good thing to come out of my Aunt’s passing. 2013 taught me to appreciate my friends and family because they aren’t always going to be there. I learned to think in a different mindset and protect my heart. I want to be happier, healthier, and more giving.

2014 Resolutions

Write more. After my Aunt passed away I started a journal and wrote everyday until about May. I want to start journaling again. It was really therapeutic and really seemed to help. Also write more blog entries. Even if no one reads them.

Maintain a healthier lifestyle. I know I know its clique. I don’t want to lose a certain amount of pounds. I just want to get out of the house more. Eat better and really allow my body to thrive on what it needs. I want to feel good about myself, physically and mentally and emotionally

Get a 4.0 the last semester at community college. I really want to end my journey there on a high.

Read more. At least an hour a day. Making a goal of reading 20 books this year!

Re-read Series of Unfortunate Events. I fell in love with children’s literature from a course I took this semester.

Watch less TV. It’s my happy place and comfort zone and I want to try and not rely on it so much.

There’s my recap of 2013 and some of my 2014 Resolutions! Hope you all had a great 2013 and an even better 2014. Share some of your resolutions below!

October 2013 Favorites!

Foodies:

Pumpkin Cookies – My parents brought home a box of cookies from a local restaurant early this month and I fell in love. They were soft pumpkin spice cookie with a spiced cream cheese like frosting that was warm but not too sweet and absolutely to die for. I consumed close to 4 or 5 of these massive cookies and enjoyed every bite!

Mac and Cheese Pizza – Yeah, pizza covered in cheesy macaroni. My boyfriend and I went to Mickey’s Halloween Party the first weekend of October and had a blast trick or treating and going on Fantasy Land rides. We had dinner at Pizza Port because we were both starving once we got into the park. We each got pasta and then Jason eyed a Mac and cheese pizza so we decided to give it a try. OMG it was amazing. It really just tasted like the best Mac and cheese with a super crunchy breadstick. It was creamy and the dough of the pizza and soft but crunchy and I could have eaten a whole pan.

Music:

Cassadee Pope’s debut Album Frame by Frame – I am a huge fan of The Voice and I was obsessed with Cassadee Pope during Season 4. When I saw she was coming out with a country album I jumped on that the day it released. I loved her solo when she preformed it on The Voice so I bought her album. It’s a really great mix of country and rock and a little pop. My favorite songs are Wasting All These Tears and Good Times. But the more I listen to it the more I fall in love with all the songs. It’s been playing non-stop in my car all month long.

Social Media:

Wonderly – I have heard of Wonderly before but I checked out the website this month and it’s really awesome. For those who don’t know Wonderly is basically a group a female YouTubers who have come together and created this center for female content and to get more attention to these awesome creators. You can learn more about it from the actual website here: http://www.wonderly.com

I am already subscribed to a lot of the girls who partake in this but I found a lot more awesome females and they have a theme video every month and I just really enjoyed browsing the sit this month! Go check it out.

Twitter – More specifically the Twitter App. I had a Twitter account a couple of years ago but recently decided to join again because I wanted to follow Kristina Horner’s Twitter for NaNoWriMo this year! Yep I am doing NaNoWriMo. I’m really excited and I can’t wait to see what I have by the end of the month! Now I got to go work on my 1,667 words for the day!

Hope you all had a great October! 

September 2013 Favorites

Here’s my list of things I loved during the month of September

YouTube:

The first in this category is the Holy Trinity aka Grace Helbig (dailygace), Mamrie Hart (You Deserve a Drink), and Hannah Hart (myharto). I watched my first dailygrace video this month and instantly was hooked and marathoned a ton of her videos. Through them I found Mamrie Hart who has an awesome channel called You Deserve a Drink where she makes drinks for a celebrity and works in all these puns and they are hilarious. I had seen one episode of Hannah Hart’s show called My Drunk Kitchen when John Green was on. But found more through watching Grace and Mamrie. They are all beautiful, strong, hilarious women who are 90 % comedy but every once in a while they will say something that just hits me and makes me feel better about myself and they are just saying it off hand but it really helps me and makes me think about things in a different way. Hannah Hart especially is amazing in her YouTube career. She uses her fame online to bring good to those less fortunate and has a tour going on or had a tour where they met a food shelters and helped pack food. I just have a lady crush on her, really on all three of them, because she’s so happy and positive and confident in herself and I find that sexy and attractive on anyone. Any ways, they are AMAZING go check them all out!

Another kind of YouTube related favorite is John Green’s selfies on the tfios set that he posts on Instagram. I am SO excited for this film because I fell in love with the book, as I do with all of John’s novels. For those who don’t know John Green is a YA author and YouTuber with his brother Hank and he most recent novel The Fault in Our Stars is currently being made into a movie that will come out next year. I just love seeing him on set and his excitement and joy of watching his work come to life. It makes me even more excited to see the movie.

TV Shows:

I have a lot of TV favorites this month because I watch way too much of it and Netflix is my best friend.

Trivia Shows – I gained a strange obsession with trivia shows this month through watching the (awful) Million Second Quiz. It was terribly put together but I just enjoyed answering the questions. I also found the show The Chase that was originally a British Game show and is now in the states. Basically contestants battle against this guy “the beast” to win money. It’s really intriguing and I have watched both versions and actually enjoy the British one because it has a quicker pace but I don’t always understand the references but regardless it’s a great show. Check it out!

Next is Orange is the New Black. I had heard A LOT about this show from my friends and just on tumblr. The cover of the show on Netflix looked super cheesy to me so I never felt intrigued to watch it but one Sunday morning I decided to watch it and oh my gosh it’s a brilliant show! SO well written and just amazing dialogue and characters. I finished the entire series in two days. Cannot wait for next season!

Another show I marathon watched this month was Scandal. Once again a very cheesy cover on Netflix but I had a free weekend from homework and exams so I decided to watch it and it blew my expectations. Just like OITNB, brilliant writing and cast. It is written by Shonda Rhimes who does Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice, two of my faves! But I actually like it more because it doesn’t focus on the sex SO much and it had more depth to it and I find it has so many layers without being muddled and confusing like PLL can get. The first two seasons are no Netflix and the third season just started last week.

Song(s):

The one song I have loved this month is Roar by Katy Perry. This is the one song of hers that I have really gotten into. For those who also watch Grace, Hannah, and Mamrie you know how I become obsessed with this song.

Lastly is my other/miscellaneous category.

This month my pick is Disney Pins. I started collecting/trading when my family took a trip to Walt Disney World when I was in 4^th or 5^th grade. My best friend and I bought a trader pack and just traded and bought away. I didn’t buy anything since until this April when I bought my boyfriend a pin starter pack. I have become obsessed with looking at collections online and walking around the park for new pins and trading them. I might put up my collection sometime. I don’t have anything significant but they are all special and important to me and hope to grow my collection in the future.

Thanks for stopping by and leave me your favorites in the comments! 

July 2013 Favorites!

I am an avid watcher of Beauty Guru’s on YouTube. For those who are not, a common video within the community are monthly favorites in which the Gurus show off their favorite products of the month, pretty self-explanatory. Well I thought it would be fun to post my monthly favorites or current favorites here on my blog! I will have a variety of categories from music, food, site, app, movie or TV show. Here is my list of things I’ve enjoyed all July.

How I Met Your Mother. I was sick at the beginning of the month and turned to my beloved Netflix to keep me company. I have been an avid watcher of the show from the first season. I was pretty disappointed with the last season and the show in general so I decided to watch it from the beginning and fell in love with the show all over again. If you don’t watch it already, catch up on the first 7 seasons on Netflix! It is a brilliant TV show. It is a comedy but they know how to pull at your heartstrings. If the writing doesn’t do it for you, it has a phenomenal cast, including my crush Neil Patrick Harris. I’m so excited for the final season this fall!

Pinterest. This website is my crack. If you don’t have enough social media sites to waste your day on, check this one out! I use the app on my phone and I’m completely addicted. The way it works is you create boards on your page and can pin pages relating to food, crafting, wedding ideas, and fashion, basically everything under the sun. I get the greatest ideas and inspiration. Check out my page here: http://pinterest.com/whenthisgirl/

Castle Story. I love games of all kinds. Castle Story is a free iPhone app where you create your own kingdom and mend to your buildings and animals and slowly expand your area with challenges you complete along the way. Definitely check it out if you’re looking for a new game!

American Eagle. Currently, this is my favorite clothing store. I have made two big online purchases and well as a trip to the store within the last two months. I’m obsessed. They have the cutest clothes and the best quality denim. Their sales are amazing. It is the best time to shop there. 

Yoga. My best friend started taking yoga classes this last semester at her university. While she’s been home for the summer we have been taking classes at a local studio. It is a great way to get in tune with your body and to let go. I struggle with stress and anxiety and I have found yoga incredible in helping me relax and learn how to focus and treat my body. At this particular studio, I don’t know if every studio is like this, but we end every class by laying on our back in the dark while the instructor telling us a story or kind of a life lesson to take away. Every single session has been related to what I was dealing with in my life. I love Yoga and will continue to practice it.

What have you been loving this month? 

Disney Rewatch Review: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

This is the first installment of my Disney Rewatch reviews!  My first review focuses solely on Snow White however, I figured I would lump other reviews together to get make them easy and fun to read through. I will touch on the overall plot of the film and my personal thoughts and adding some fun facts or history here and there. I won’t be doing a review for every single movie, unless I’m asked to review a certain one. I will mostly focus on movies I personally have never seen before, some that have a great effect on me, or movies I feel aren’t talked a lot about. In other words I will probably not focus on the more popular, well known Disney films. I also thought it would be fun to rate each of the movies on a 1-5 star scale.  Take into account I will be grading the movies on storyline/plot, my personal enjoyment, and overall quality of the film. Onto the reviews!

The first on my list was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This adaptation of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale is the first full length cel animated feature film and the first film in the Walt Disney Animated Series. The film follows the young and beautiful Snow White who is living with her stepmother, the wicked queen, since her parent’s death. Once Snow White is deemed the fairest one in the land, the queen seeks to kill Snow White. From there the film follows Snow White’s journey in escaping from her evil step mother and her eventually finding her prince charming.

While the overall story lacks some substance in comparison to some of the other Disney movies, I appreciate Snow White for what it represents and what it did for Walt Disney Animated Studios. Granted, this is not the most exciting, sitting at the edge of my seat movie, it is worth the watch in my opinion. Others may feel different, for example about 15 minutes into the film Jason wanted to pull his hair out resorted to looking up Iron Man facts on his phone. You watch this film to appreciate the animation in 1937. To think this was during the times where these cartoons were hand-drawn and every slight movement involved hundred of drawings done by hand. I realize a lot of the animation has been digitally re-mastered however, I was still in awe over the intricate details of the shadows and the gems the dwarves handle at work. The movie was slightly darker than I imagined as well. Grant it for all of my childhood I couldn’t watch the scene where Snow White runs through the forest. The imagery of the queen’s servant cutting the heart out of young Snow White struck me as particularly dark for the innocence I associate with Disney. Overall this film is worth the watch for what it did for Disney as a whole. The story lacks intrigue and excitement but you have to factor in the time period and what the movie was meant to do.

I give Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs  3 Stars. 

2013 Ultimate Disney Rewatch!

I got the idea to rewatch all the films created by Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Studios from the lovely blogger, Kayley Hyde. She posted this on her blog awhile back and I thought it was a great idea so I decided to join her! Check out her blog here: http://www.kayleyhyde.com

My boyfriend Jason is just as big a Disney lover as I am so we decided to do this challenge together and on top if it thought it would be fun to watch the films in order of release. 

Here's the list we are following, it is the same one Kayley featured on her blog. 

As Kayley stated on her blog this list is complied of films by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios,  and live action films with partial animation! 

Feel free to join us in rewatching all the greats from Disney. 

I will be posting updates and some reviews of the films we watch. I haven't seen all the films on this list and I'm exicted to get started! 

1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1938)

2. Pinocchio (1940)

3. Fantasia (1941)

4. The Reluctant Dragon (1941) 

5. Dumbo (1941)

6. Bambi (1942)

7. Saludos Amigos (1943)

8. Victory Through Air Power (1943)

9. The Three Caballeros (1945)

10. Make Mine Music (1946)

11. Song of the South (1946)

12. Fun and Fancy Free (1947)

13. Melody Time (1948)

14. So Dear to My Heart (1948)

15. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)

16. Cinderella (1950) 

17. Alice in Wonderland (1951)

18. Peter Pan (1953)

19. Lady and the Tramp (1955)

20. Sleeping Beauty (1959)

21. One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)

22. The Sword in the Stone (1963)

23. Mary Poppins (1964)

24. The Jungle Book (1967)

25. The Aristocats (1970)

26. Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)

27. Robin Hood (1973)

28. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)

29. The Rescuers (1977)

30. Pete's Dragon (1977)

31. The Fox and the Hound (1981)

32. The Black Cauldron (1985)

33. The Great Mouse Detective (1986)

34. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

35. Oliver & Company (1988)

36. The Little Mermaid (1989)

37. The Rescuers Down Under (1990)

38. Beauty and the Beast (1991)

39. Aladdin (1992)

40. The Lion King (1994)

41. Pocahontas (1995)

42. Toy Story (1995)

43. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

44. Hercules (1997)

45. Mulan (1998)

46. A Bug's Life (1998)

47. Tarzan (1999)

48. Toy Story 2 (1999)

49. Fantasia 2000 (2000)

50. Dinosaur (2000)

51. The Emperor's New Groove (2000)

52. Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)

53. Monsters, Inc. (2001)

54. Lilo & Stitch (2002)

55. Treasure Planet (2002)

56. Finding Nemo (2003)

57. Brother Bear (2003)

58. Home on the Range (2004)

59. The Incredibles (2004)

60. Chicken Little (2005)

61. Cars (2006)

62. Meet the Robinsons (2007)

63. Enchanted (2007)

64. Ratatouille (2007)

65. WALL-E (2008)

66. Bolt (2008)

67. Up (2009)

68. The Princess and the Frog (2009)

69. Toy Story 3 (2010)

70. Tangled (2010)

71. Winnie the Pooh (2011)

72. Cars 2 (2011)

73. Brave (2012)

74. Wreck it Ralph (2012)

75. Monsters University (2013)

76. Frozen (2013)