Life, Life, Life

Happy December! In the Student Affairs (& Housing and Res Life) world, December means a few things. (1) Finals are coming (2) Lots of paperwork and (3) they (as in the students) will leave soon! I love my students to pieces, but I'm really looking forward to this almost month break. Working as an RD, field hours, and grad school has really smacked me in the face this semester. But, boy have I learned a lot. Anyways, as I plan my journey back to blogging for the month of December I thought I would write a quick little post to keep y'all updated on the happenings in my life. 

Now one of my struggles this past semester has been taking decent pictures. Now that isn't the worst struggle to have and I have definitely taken many memory photographs, but it doesn't leave me with much to share with y'all. So, I'm sorry about the pixely nightmare that you see before you!

big photo on the left... J and I have been able to spend some really nice and quiet weekends together. With both of us having really busy semesters (him in admissions and me in res. life at different institutions) it is nice when we can get together on the weekends even if its only for a day.

This picture was taken as we were exploring a local city trying to find a church to go to! We ended up not finding a church, but opted for an adorable selfie instead. This guy has been my rock through this semester and I couldn't do all of this without his love and support.

medium photo on the top right... my RAs are incredible. We are losing a staff member due to December graduation and although I'm excited to welcome a new staff member to the team, I literally cannot picture having a better staff!

This picture was taken at our last program as a staff on Sunday, titled McHolidays where we talked about inclusive programs and ate LOTS of sweets. These fine friends make me smile so much and are often featured in my grateful journal!

medium photo in the middle on the right... my life has centered around admin work lately! And I secretly love it. I really enjoy working on different projects as I get ready for all of the room changes and closing.

This picture is of one section of my RA Office. You'll see the 'mom fridge' on the left, my check out table in the middle, and a bright yellow bulletin board for office updates.

medium photo on the bottom right... family! Come December 19th I will literally be the happiest human being! I'm really excited to go home to my parents' house and spend a few weeks with them during winter holiday! I miss my family so much.

This current picture is my mom and I holding my cousin's identical twins! Holy heck they are cute little chunks! Also, ignore my wine blush...

That's all for now, folks! Enjoy your Wednesday :)

Intro: 20 Things That I Love

 I realize that there are a quite a number of new peeps hanging around Radiating Sunshine recently (according to my stats anyway). So, I thought I would introduce myself to anyone who is new around here with a twenty things I love post! Please, note that they are not listed in any order of importance. Chocolate milk is listed as number one, however I wouldn't say it is number one in my heart at all times (mostly after the gym and or late night duty calls), but it its still on the top list of things that I love.

1. chocolate milk

2. Elin Hilderbrand books

3. Jesus

4. soft blankets

5. candles. lots of candles. 

6. babies and family

7. my llbean slippers
8. sleeping in on the weekends
9. mint soda water
10. crafts (i.e. painting)
11. the staffs I supervise

12. spending time with my favorite J
13. cheese and wine (red please)
14. binge watching netflix
15. baking donuts

16. when the sun lights up my entire apartment
17. holiday traditions
18. a good card game
19. a good cup of coffee/tea
20. anything navy blue

I'm big into journaling things that I'm grateful for and can't wait to share with you all my happiness journal in a few weeks, so I challenge you all to write posts about the things you love!

Hello Sunshine

Hey beauties...

It's been about two months since we last talked and I've thought about you all the time. When you prioritize your life, things always get put on the back burner and unfortunately that's what happened to this baby blog of mine.

To start, this is my second year of graduate school and it has not been as time forgiving as the first. My program requires me to do over 300 internship credit hours a semester during your field year. And adding an additional 20 hours a week to a 40+ work week and trying to find time to do homework, go to the gym, sleep, and have a personal life... you get the point!

I won't spend time painting you the picture of my chaotic and lovely life, but over the last two months I feel like I've kind of balanced it all out and can go back to this whole blogging thing. Over the next few weeks, I'll be throwing it back to everything I've missed sharing and hopefully I'll be able to catch y'all up on the current happenings behind radiating sunshine.

I'm grateful for you all and I hope your Saturday is as gorgeous as mine :)

xoxo.

Twenty Three Thoughts & Wishes

 I can't believe I'm twenty-three! 22 was definitely a remarkable year... I graduated from college, got into graduate school, got my first job, moved into my first apartment, and supervised my first staff! I know a lot of my accomplishments are centered around work, but they are still major life milestones.

I have learned so much during my 22nd year of life and I'm feeling surprisingly old as a 23 year old! I know 23 is so so young in the grand scheme of things, but for my entire life I have set so many due dates for. I had due dates for when I wanted to be on my own, have my dream job, when I wanted to get married, buy a house, start a family, etc. From a young age, I had this whole life planned out before me and never gave myself the chance to let it unfold naturally. Gradually, as I have gotten older I realized that the most important things in my life are the things I have not planned! For example, I never expected to be a blogger, but here I am dedicating 5+ hours a week to blogging, consulting, researching, and reading other blogs. So, one of my resolutions for this golden year of mine is to stop living by a prescribed plan for life and just live.

Today, I'm going to share with you all 23 thoughts and wishes for my golden year:

1. I hope that I can accomplish remarkable things and leave my impact on the world during this golden year of my life.
2. Go on at least one adventure.
3. Take advantage of this beautiful world I am surrounded by.
4. Learn to say no {I have the Yes-Man Syndrome}
5. Quit complaining.
6. Get up off the couch.
7. Spend a day appreciating every single person in my life.
8. Eat as much sushi as I can.
9. Start wearing lipstick or something sophisticated
10. Call more often than text
11. Try a new series on Netflix that is out of my comfort zone
12. Re-decorate my apartment
13. Genuinely surprise someone
14. Visit my parents once a month
15. Clean up my email and junk mail
16. Write more letters
17. Volunteer at different organizations.
18. Improve my blogging skills and networks
19. Connect with an old friend.
20. Make a complicated dessert
21. Take more bubble baths
22. Read more books & complete a reading challenge
23. Enjoy every day life

Thank you all for the kind words and well wishes! Hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday :)

Happier You: February Review

 

A month dedicated to love... and what a beautiful month it was! I honestly can't believe February is over. I'm partly sad that this month went by so quickly and excited that the RD Selection process is slowly coming to an end. Anyways, here is how I spent a month dedicated to love. 

LOVE... 

my whole self... this month I focused on loving myself. I worked on loving my flaws and being less self-critical. I committed to working out (despite the cold months) and eating healthier (hello salads in a  jar). Overall, I think I would give myself an B+ for the work that I put in to loving myself. 

write more letters... yes! And positive notes! I did a really good job this month with my letter writing. I think I sent two letters to family. Two to Josh. And wrote a bunch of little notes and kind thoughts to my co-workers. I also got to try out my calligraphy and really find my inner-style!

old-fashioned dating... this was kind of a cop out, since J and I celebrated our second anniversary during this month however, February was definitely centered around fun and creative dates! We went out to dinner, we did fun activities like bowling, and we even ate specialized donuts to celebrate us. I still struggle not seeing J every day and being okay with that! But, I'm definitely grateful for this man of mine and dating him is always magical. 

make time for family... this was probably one of the most important goals for me this month. And excitingly, I got to see my mom twice and my entire family got reunited in a spontaneous night home with pizza and funny conversations. I also got to see my Aunt Paula and cousin Brandon. So, I would definitely give myself an A for making the commitment to family. My next goal is to continue to call home and keep in touch with ALL relatives.

appreciate my co-workers... this month I decided to appreciate the heck out of my co-workers (fellow RDs). Honestly, now that more than half of them are job searching I've been thinking a lot about their impact on me. So, I set out to show appreciation. I baked muffins, I gave our tea-riffic valentines, and wrote thank you notes. I handed out Stress Relief, Bath and Body Works Hand Sanitizer and encouraged them all to do amazing things. I love my co-workers and am definitely thankful to share this RD experience with them all.

And I appreciate them for always sharing funny Student Affairs memes and jokes. Check out our main man, Astin who is hoping you all (especially college students) engage in their community and get involved. Cheers to student development theories!

Anyways, so that is what February looked like. All and all I think I did a great job. I'm going to keep implementing appreciating others into my weekly goals and hopefully I'll continue to love myself, my family, and pretty much have the best dating life ever with J.

xoxo,
Alex

Past, Present, & Future

 It's kind of weird looking back at what my blog used to look like. Actually, one of my biggest regrets and something I hope all bloggers start/continue to do is document what your blog looks like before you do design changes. When I first started blogging, Radiating Sunshine was called Curls, Crafts, Cooking & More (I know what a mouthful) and after 6 months or so Radiating Sunshine was born and with that came my need to HTML Code and format the entire blog. I have learned a lot over the past three years with blogging. I have thoroughly enjoyed  my blog journey and all of the bloggers I have met on my way. This blog has seen me through my undergrad college experience, life's ups and downs, different friendships, different places, getting into Graduate School, getting my first job, moving into my first apartment. This blog has given me the opportunity to document it all.  

I have learned a lot on this blogging journey! I have had very successful posts... and some not so successful posts. Like when I tried to do a Product Love Link Up! I think I linked up by myself for a few weeks before I got the picture... this was not a successful link up. However, there are some successes too! I participated in some blog swaps, guest posts, several giveaways, my blog grew tremendously, I learned a lot about HTML coding, and followed new blogs. When I first started blogging, it was very much a blog only world. But, now we have an Insta-blog world too. I'm still learning how to use the appropriate social media outlets and pair them with the blog. It's exciting how all of this technology changes the way the blog world works.

What is even funnier to look back and compare it to now is how much my appearance has changed, but yet also stayed the same. Besides some minor weight gain during the summer of my sophomore year (no doubt due to the delicious Texas food), some long curls and some short curls, some tanned skin and some fair skin... this blog has seen it all! We've been through thick and thin times and I'm so glad I got to document it all!

Another thing that this blog has seen is my entire relationship with this guy! I'm so glad I met this man back when he was a wee-sophmore and I was a Junior! We're slowly approaching the year and a half mark and we couldn't be more excited. We have so many plans for this summer, like going to family reunions, to the beach, and moving me into my new apartment.

So, life has been pretty great over these four years of blogging! I can't wait to see what the next four years holds for Radiating Sunshine and to see where we go.

Feeling 22

So, this is a very delayed post but I'm finally writing about my birthday!! I turned 22 this past Monday and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. 

 It started with Alex knocking on my door at 12AM to sing, give me a Blue Moon cupcake and a cute card! I was already in bed when she came over and I actually debated whether I wanted to get up and answer the door... and I'm so thankful I did! We ended up having girl talk until way after 1am and although I felt sleepy when I woke up, I am so thankful for the time I got to spend with that sweet girl.

 And although I was tired when I woke up in the morning.... my exhaustion faded to excitement because Josh came over and brought me flowers and a bunch of cute and symbolic gifts!!

Throughout the day I was showered in love and hugs. I went to class, work, and had a soccer game. I haven't played soccer since my sophomore year and it was really nice! I get to complete number 54 on my 101 in 1001 list and my team won our game.

 After I showered from the game, Josh drove us to Carrabbas where we met up with my family. For me there is no better way to celebrate a birthday than with people I love and very good Italian food. I've been going to Carrabbas for my birthday for years and I really loved it!

 When I came back from Carrabbas my residents through me a little party and showered me in treats and handmade cards! I love them so much and it was really nice that they remembered my birthday and sang T. Swift's "22" song!!

The only picture I took of the cake... and it was blurry!!

 Wednesday night the celebrations continued because it was college night! My guy friends bought me a cheesecake and attempted to make a monogram out of beer caps on the cake... which, I absolutely loved! Like how sweet is that!! They also picked me flowers that are currently at my desk in a cute little mason jar.

 So, it was basically a wonderful birthday! I'm not huge into birthdays because I don't like all of the attention on me, but I really liked all of the hugs and how so many people sent me so many well wishes! Whether it was a phone call, text, or Facebook message I really enjoyed all the kind words and I am so thankful to everyone who helped me "feel 22."

Also, for all of my Grey's Anatomy fans check out this Buzzfeed article of how much the cast has changed over the years! Check it out here!

Weekend Recap 2/16/15

Happy Belated Valentine's Day friends! I hope you all had wonderful weekends, full of sweet goodies and great company. My Valentine's Day weekend was a blast. Josh and I relaxed all weekend, and we were really productive when it came to homework and planning stuff for this upcoming week. 

Friday night: 

Josh and I had dinner before he had to go to work. While he was at work, I went to a chocolate covered strawberry program. I love decorating strawberries and it was fun decorating them for Valentine's Day. I ended up getting on a decorating kick, and before I knew it I had 20 chocolate covered strawberries and I sure as heck could not eat them all by myself. I figured I would spread some love, so I delivered the strawberries to my friends and RA/DAs. 

I am a huge activist for random acts of kindness. I find so much joy in bringing kindness and smiles to others, so I think this was probably one of the best moments of the weekend. I also really enjoyed Josh swinging by after work with a cute bouquet of roses and music, so we could dance and laugh. I saved him some strawberries too, that way he wouldn't feel left out.

Saturday: 
I went to Josh's and attempted to make us heart shaped pancakes. All of their cookie cutters are currently in storage in the attic, so I had to improvise a little! However, most of the pancakes did resemble hearts.

After we finished brunch, we just hung out! We did the dishes and just sang love songs as we waited to leave for the Mount basketball game and then church.

We had a blast at the Mount Men's Basketball game. Those games always mean something special to us because our first date was at one of those games last year. We even splurged and bought popcorn and drinks so we could really make a fun date out of it. Our boys won the game against Bryant and the game finished 20 minutes earlier then what we expected... So, for the first time in like 5 weeks, we made it to church early.

I'm really excited that Ash Wednesday is coming up, and the Lent Devotionals are out. For Advent we did the Advent daily devotional, which we really enjoyed. It is wonderful to pray together and talk about what we are thankful for each day.

When we got out of church we were greeted by a few friendly snowflakes, which then turned into a quick baby blizzard. We could barely see 10 feet in front of us while we were driving home. It has been so chilly up here and although we're thankful for the beautiful snow and the opportunity to get all cozied up, we both are ready for spring to come.

For dinner on Saturday, we did our usual pizza yumminess. We were out of pepperonis, which made me so sad. I had this big idea of cutting them into hearts, so I was really sad that I didn't have any pinterest-worthy pictures to share with you all. After dinner, we watched The Vow and then Marley and Me! Marley and Me definitely resonated with Josh because their family dog is getting so old, but we decided that from now on we're going to try to be more patient with Mandy (even when she cries about nothing).

Sunday: 
In the morning, I made a few batches of crepes for a Valentine's Day hall program another RA and I are doing tomorrow night. Then, I cleaned the kitchen and got all settled in for a nice evening of homework and reading. Josh had baseball practice in the afternoon, so I got to do my own thing around the house.

Well, Sunday turned into an interesting night. About 5 minutes before Josh got home, one of the upstairs pipes sprung a leak! I was in the living room reading for one of my classes and then all of a sudden I heard a gush of water. My first instinct was the roast that I had in the oven was boiling over... but, then as I approached the perfectly fine roast I realized the water was coming from the foyer. Thankfully, Josh's dad and I sprung into action. While he went to turn the water off, I grabbed a bucket. So, all evening we have been without water... probably until tomorrow! However, we made do! I ended up finishing the roast and dinner, while the boys handled the leak. And then, I made an apple crisp and we all watched SNL's 40th Anniversary and did homework. It was quite the night, but definitely a relaxing way to end break.

Happy Valentine's Day

I have never really celebrated Valentine's Day before. In previous relationships, it just never seemed like the right timing or the guy I was seeing didn't express any interest in it. I think the best Valentine's Day I ever had was my sophomore year of High School when my dad went out and bought lobster and made my mom, sister, and I this really yummy dinner. However, this year I am determined to celebrate the "Hallmark" Holiday. After all, we shouldn't need a holiday to remind us to love others (we should do that every day) but, I'm going to take advantage of this day. A day where Josh and I can just spend some quality time together and do simple acts of love. A day where I can eat as much chocolate as I want and maybe even watch a chick flick!

So, basically I'm really looking forward to this Valentine's Day! I'm not sure what Josh and I will do... we probably won't do anything too elaborate, but still I'm excited to spend the day with someone I love and who I can have fun with. Recently we have been on the go and have been going out to eat a lot so, the most ideal situation for us would be to go to church and then just stay in and watch a movie--- but, who knows what we'll end up doing. Even when we try to plan to do nothing, something always comes up and we end up doing something fun. But, I think we're really due for a movie night, with popcorn and m&ms.

How are you spending Valentine's Day?

2014's Year in Review

It is hard to believe that 2014 has come and gone! This has been an incredible year for me... I turned 21, I traveled the world, I fell in love,  and I did some pretty amazing things. When I look back at 2013's Year in Review, that was one of the best years I can remember... but, this year certainly topped it! As I was scanning through old photos that I took throughout the year, I had such a hard time choosing which ones to use... so, below is my 2014 ( & photo dump ) year in review!

My youngest sister, Brooke got accepted into Auburn University and graduated from High School. Now my baby sis is a 12 hour car drive away, but we still are close and we FaceTime often!

 I completed two of my senior capstone projects and got asked to present one of them at a conference in NYC in 2015! So, excited to see my research take off and hopefully open up some doors in the world of Higher Education. 

 Some of our greatest friends left the Mount to pursue their medical careers, but Alex and I are still close, even though we both are so busy and she is practically saving the world one math computation at a time. She is truly a wonderful friend and inspires me endlessly. 

 I also met a guy, formally known to you all as J... but, now I openly call him Josh on the blog! We started dating in February and I couldn't have found a more loving, kind person, who knows almost everything about the history of football, and always fixes my comma errors (and let's be serious that is a lot of work) 

 My High School friends and I went to the beach like we usually do... except this time we were all 21 so, we went out to bars and we always made it to the beach the next morning!

I went on one of the best trips of my life. Salzburg captivated me in ways I never thought it would. I traveled to Iceland, Vienna, and Bolzano, Italy... But, although all of those places are beautiful, Salzburg is the only one I would definitely go back and visit. 

 While abroad, I drank German beer (Stiegl Grapefruit Radler), I ate a lot of german food (schnitzel), my sweet tooth only got bigger (gelato, gelato, gelato), my memory card on my camera got smaller (3,450 pictures later), I learned how to speak German ("I'm sorry", "excuse me", and "bathroom?"), I became the tourist I swore I never would become (Sound of Music central), and I had the greatest summer to date. I also had a really cute pen pal, who wrote me the nicest emails and gave me something to look forward to while I ate breakfast every morning (Thanks Josh!)

 And because an Austrian study abroad trip was not enough... The day after I got home I flew out to Seattle, Washington with my family for an Alaskan cruise. I held puppy sled dogs, went zip lining, saw a few Alaskan cities. We ate delicious food (beef carpaccio) and dined on the best creme brûlée I have ever had!

 On the crabbing trip in Ketchikan, I helped pull up one of the cages (the only working out I did all summer) and we discovered that there is another type of crab that is equivalent to the Maryland Blue Crab and that is the Alaskan Dungeness Crab! 

And before I got home and finally was reunited with Josh and friends, I made a quick pit stop in Texas, where I worked for Duke TIP again at Rice University. It was a short few weeks, but I loved every second of it like I did the year before. 

 And after two months away, I decided I would stay home for awhile. I promised Josh that for the remainder of 2014 I wouldn't even go near an airplane, haha! Anyways, Josh and I had a busy and exciting Fall semester. We went hot air ballooning and went to baseball games. We ate Chinese food and celebrated Halloween!

 We also went camping with two great friends for a weekend. It rained every night but, we still made the best of it. I taught Josh how to play rummy and now we have a new card game to play. And being out doorsy didn't stop with the camping trip... Josh and I ran a 5k together, went on an endless amount of walks, and hiked up to Indian Lookout. I guess it pays to live on a mountain!

 In 2014, I found someone who loves holiday traditions just as much as I do... I also found someone who can rock a sweater from the 80s! I found someone who I can be silly with. Someone who will take as many photos as needed to get the perfect one. Someone who will try any weird food or wipe the drool off of my chin during my weekly Sunday Football nap time. I found someone who I can pray with every night whether we are together or apart. Josh is smart, funny, and is incredibly hard working and I am beyond thankful for him and everything he does.

So, 2014 was a pretty incredible year. I accomplished all of my New Years Resolutions which, I'll be blogging about tomorrow. 2015 holds a lot of unknowns. I have no idea where I'm going to be as far as jobs or graduate school. Although all of the unknowns are a little nerve wracking, I know that I have the greatest support system and that whatever happens I will strive to live positively and make 2015 a pretty spectacular year.