Weekly Musings #3: volunteering and spotify addiction addition

I know I usually do these on Fridays but this has been a pretty hectic week/weekend so I had to push it off until I had some time to myself. I'm in the two weeks of midterm exams here at uni so things have been more than a little rushed and overwhelming the past few days, so taking a break with some tea and catching up on posts is just a good way to decompress for me.
So, without further ado!

Volunteering: A couple of weeks ago, I sent in my application to volunteer at the Women's Resource Center on campus and I sat an interview and got selected! It's been a whirl-wind of getting familiar with my duties and such but it's essentially a really amazing group of feminist ladies providing a safe space, information & resources and peer support as well as a bunch of other things to the campus.
I really struggled my first year meeting like minded people and it is beyond lovely to be able to hold conversations with like minded women and take part in organizing events that are relevant to the beliefs I hold strongly. It's just been excellent for: my sense of self and mental health.

Spotify addiction: Not quite as intrinsicly meaningful as aforementioned volunteering but still something that's been making me über happy. Living in Canada, Spotify isn't a huge thing here but J got an early invitation and of course, sent me an e-mail invitation so I could peruse the amazing music libraries and playlists. I've always been a fan of music platforms like this (re: 8tracks), and it's definitely way more efficient and streamlined and has been treating me to an abundance of new songs and artists, which, is really what I'm happy about because music is so important to me and how I feel.

honorable mentions:

• Night Vale • baby biceps forming (!) • acai tea • weather finally being cool enough for scarves and boots • lovely messages from people on tumblr • vigorous debate • calls from my dad • baked goods • post run feelings • buying new school supplies • chatting with lovely girls at my bus stop • warm laundry from the dryer • collecting pins for my school bag • awaiting stuff coming in the mail • sleep overs with J • mexican food dates • massages • bright fall days • happy dogs • cross words • holding hands • finally being over my ridiculous head cold • good hair days • smiling at strangers •philosophy class  • helpful, kind customer service workers

link love:• Michelle's TilT for all things fall related - I am so here for this.
• I am so in love with the photo's Amy share of her beautiful King's College dorm.
• The Beauty Department serves it up again with this hella cool upside down cat eye makeup look.
• The Pomodoro Technique for studying is proving super effective for any other students out there!
• This stunning botanical illustration; I wish I had a hundred of these for my room. • This snarky comic totally firing some shots on this pertinent issues.

So darlin's, what made this week wonderful for you? (p.s. all photo are indeed mine)
r.

Reflection on September Goals

photo credits to: tumblr/respective photographer

Hello all! I honestly can't believe October has come around this fast - it always seems to slip my mind how fast the time goes when you're back on a semester-ized schedule. So It's time to reflect on the goals I had set for September!

1. Make time for reading
I failed horribly at this one, not going to lie. The first week I found I had the time but then my workload started getting a little more intensive and on top of trying to balance volunteering and such it slipped as a priority.
And, admittedly I've been conditioning myself to fall asleep to Netflix rather than using that time for reading, I'm ashamed to say. So that will definitely be a goal I carry into October.

2. Get to the gym on the regular 
I was doing pretty darn good with this one (baby biceps are growing folks!) until I got hit down with this absolutely horrendous head/chest cold that I'm only just getting over. I know it's some people's philosophy to push through and go to the gym regardless but I find that just hinders my healing process and I feel like a bag of crap and can't focus on my work or whatnot. But now that I'm on the flip side of better I'm carrying this over into October (ties in neatly with #teamnocheats) and hopefully make some more running and muscle progress.

3. Get organized and stay that way 

Surprisingly I did good on this one. Once I got all my respective syllabuses for all my classes, I transferred over all my relevant dates immediately, invested in a Moleskin and grabbed a daily planner from the student offices on camps and made writing all important dates and "things-to-remember" into those as soon as my professors mentioned it in class. As well I've been excellent at copying over my notes and hole-punching everything and making sure my study space is always clean and I can easily say this has contributed to my peace of mind hugely.

5. Be more aware of my spending 

Yes indeed folks, even after buying textbooks, weekly groceries, study supplies, new shoes, bus passes and such my bank statement still looks good. I posted about my views on alcohol earlier this month and ultimately decided that drinking is something I wanted to give up for a little while and just generally avoiding impulses purchases has kept me (for now) at a good place financially. in my view it's worth it to sacrifice some social events for my peace of mind of finances just in case something happens that requires a big chunk of change.

6. Document more 

I failed miserably at keeping regular diary entries but in terms of photography I've been excellent at capturing my first month back on campus via pictures. As I predicted it's been a good way to make me really look to find beauty in my every day goings on and I really appreciate past Rachel for considering this. Being able to look back at my scenic campus shots, selfies, and shots from my neighborhood makes me grateful for the opportunities and things I do have in my life.

So, that's all folks! I think I did pretty good personally - October Resolutions will be up soon and a weekly reflection! 

Have any goals for your September; how did they go?
r.

Back at the Crunch

Yes, that was really lame attempt a fitness pun since this will be a fitness and health related post. Forgive me.

So! Tomorrow is October first and I've decided to get back to my fitness and health basics by committing the month of October to "clean" eating, being alcohol-free and really bringing it with my workouts.

(Side note: yes, I know, the picture on the left falls under the category of the ever-problematic fitspo, however I really enjoy the quote. Just take images like that with a grain of salt.)

Getting back into the swing of university life has taken more adjustment than I thought, and maybe that's because it's my second year but I've been wanting to get back to putting self-care first and part of that lies in taking care of me physically. Some would argue HIIT workouts and weight training aren't really 'self-care' but for me they are. When I focus on good nutrition, getting enough sleep and solid workouts my body responds well so I want (and need, to a less extent) to get back to that.

Conveniently enough one of my favorite health/fitness
oriented tumblr's

(imgonnamakeachange.tumblr.com) run by the amazing Natasha has started a little challenge amonst her followers under the hashtag #teamnocheats; No Cheats October. So, just like I described above, the month of October is committed to making healthy habits and then on Halloween you can treat yourself to whatever the feck' you like. I should mention that she endorses that if you start feeling restrictive or like you are developing disordered habits, you should stop and notes that it's perfectly fine to slip up, as it were. Just in case any of you were interested but were kind of deterred by the general idea of a challenge. It's all in good fun.

So without further ado let's get to my #teamnocheats goals. I made a little halloween-themed graphic just because I wanted an excuse not to study.  

• 2l of water every day - truthfully this isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things and I always feel better when I'm hydrated. On top of this I'll add my daily green tea/herbal tea intake and unsweetened almond milk. 

• Be consistent - gym 5 days a week - my rule is that I can put those 5 days where I want in the scheme of my school week/weekend, whatever fits my schedule and workload best on a week by week bases. But the goal is here is to get to the gym and do weight training and HIIT cardio. 

•  Cut back on sugar - I never thought of myself to be one for a sweet tooth but that doesn't seem to be the case. Having moved into my new place, one of my roommates grandmother's is always keeping the house in supply of cookies and and cakes and I find my self indulging after supper more than what is good for me. But also watch for sugar content in my meals, it does seem to be a breakout trigger for me after all. 

• Meal prep - I pretty much only have 45 minutes to do my thing in the mornings so getting my lunches done and dusted the night before or even on Sunday evenings needs to be something I implement so I'm not rushing and/or reaching for something that's not all that good for me. 

•  No boredom eating - this is something I unfortunately find I do a lot. In the middle of school work or when I get home, and I'm not even hungry just passing time. It throws off my natural hunger cues and isn't good for me in general if I want to break any weight loss goals.
• Yoga/Long stretching session everyday  - I miss having my muscles not feel tight and tense and making progress with my poses. I haven't been consistently at it since this summer and I know I feel better and sleep more soundly when I'm consistent about it.

So, any of you interested in boarding the #teamnocheats train? Any other particular goals you have set for October?

r.
image credits to: tumblr and picmonkey 

dull roots and summer rain

Hello meine lieben! First of all let me preface this by saying I took forever trying to format this pictures and then said "fuck it" and made them into collages. And also the delay between my last post and this one has been absolutely terrible and I have no excuses except that I've been hard on the studying grindstone. It's insane that the work is already piling up this quickly. I am more than happy to be back at it, despite how stressful it can be. So in honor of the fact that's an overcast day here I wanted to share these photos from another overcast day I had the summer exploring with J.

This is little spot happens to be his hometown, and I use the term 'town' lightly. It's closer to what I would call a neighboring community. Anyhow, it's right on the ocean, as are most smaller out-port communities in Newfoundland. However I had never explored it much so he decided to show me around. Despite what most people close to me may think, I actually adore being outside. I love running and hiking and camping and just taking in what the beautiful landscape of Newfoundland has to offer.
 The day went between being bright yet overcast and stormy and grey. Which, if anyone knows me, is my absolute favorite weather. So I guess it's good fortune I live in Newfoundland where the weather is like this a good chunk of the time.
Going over these photographs again makes me realize I really need to make more/better use out of my camera. Even beyond my want to document my life more I think I could get pretty good at it with practice and I especially liked taking these picture to share with you all because I don't find people (ok, tourists) really focus on photographing Newfoundland beyond it's main attractions and really appreciate how rugged and beautiful and wild it still is here. I think even if and when I do move from this province part of me is still always going to belong to ocean and cliffs.

Surprised that the macro function on my camera works fairly well!

cliffs, J taking a panorma + mushroom

    

 Anyone out of my readership ever been to Newfoundland? Interested in going at all?

Make any recent outings yourself?

r.

Weekly Musings #2: back to the grind and autumn

image credit: tumblr

Hello again lovelies! Though my first week back to classes was only a half week, it was still hectic as crap. So many forms to be hurriedly dropped off at a variety of buildings, wading through a sea of first years to get my bus pass, long days spent shopping restocking the pantry and picking up last minute school supplies.

back to the grind: like I said, it's only been a half week for me but it still felt pretty chaotic adjusting to university life back in the city again. Beyond that I'm a person who thrives with a routine, and I had missed the feeling of having academia related stuff n' things on my plate so all in all I'm ecstatic to be back. All my professors and courses this semester are great and I'm really looking forward to the study grind.

autumn: though the weather in NL has been moodily switching between summer and well, rain, I'm counting the days to cooler weather. I can wear all the layers, and plaid, break out my L.L. bean and chelsea boots, drink tea without feeling like I'm going to melt, wonder at the beautiful Newfoundland fall sunsets and the changing leaves ugh, fall is the best. And at the risk of sounding totally ~white girl~: hello pumpkin spice everything.

new reads: my lovely roommate who shares the lower portion of the house with my is an education major and took a bunch of english courses with some pretty rad novels. For some reason, it's one hundred times better to read somebody else's books instead of your own. So right now I'm chucking through Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratcehtt and Marget Atwood's the Handmaiden's Tale and loving them both! My daily commute to and from campus on the bus finds me nose-deep in them. 

me and my feet on campus; my image

honorable mentions:
• keeping a tidy room •  planning my fall wardrobe •  pretty mornings waiting for the bus •  how beautiful my campus is this time of year •  night time showers and stretching • wearing my favorite cozy striped shirt (see right) to death •  travel mugs •  nude nail polish •  sitting down to supper every day with my roommates • again with the roommates related but laughing with them is the best • new pens •  organizing my calender • comfy mornings in my queen bed • chatting with strangers • rediscovering old music • wandering onto picturesque parts of the campus building that remind me of Dead Poets Society 

link love:
• This poem. 
• Does anyone want to be a doll and buy me these gorgeous page dividers for my filofax? 
• I've been looking at Kara O'Keefe's flickr stream (she's a local NL photographer) all day; her photography style is so dreamy.
•Revisiting this video again as a self reminder; Eartha Kitt speaks the truth.
• Finch & Fawn are my new favorite read! Kiana's style is everything I want. 
• I would like this to be my fall uniform. 

What's been keeping your week wonderful?

r.