the millennial who's good at nothing: life

AUGUST GOALS

August 07, 2015

This is part of the monthly link-up at mysocalledchaos.com

Finally, I feel like the summer is winding down. I have one day left at work, one day left at my internship, no more half marathon training, and tons of beach days ahead with a week down the Cape and a few days at Saco River coming up. My half marathon went great, and so did all my other goals this week. Just like I mentioned in my last goals post, summer is all about balance. You take the good with the bad.

How This works:

Follow your hosts My So-Called Chaos and A Peek at Karen's World to keep up with this link-up.
Write up a post recapping last month's goals and setting goals for next month.
Make sure to include the button in your post by grabbing the code above.
Link up your goals post with the monthly linky which goes live on the first Thursday of the month.
Visit other links in the party to show support and offer advice for other goal setters.
Have fun and make some new friends!

June Goals

Run a 10 mile run Success

Finish the Sarah Dessen book Success

Make your inspiration board Fail

Work with more brands Success

Make a bonus sale at work Success

In case you were wondering, I got a 2:09 for my first half marathon. I was very please with my sub-10 minute pace, my place, and my time. Don't worry, I have a reflection and a how-to post coming up!

August Goals

Keep up training for Running Club
Finish the other Sarah Dessen book
Clear off walls in my room
Facilitate a back-to-school giveaway
Keep working with brands
Dye hair and get nose pierced

Let's hope August is as promising as July was!

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angie

January Goals

February 05, 2015

Most people think of love, valentines candy, and flowers when the think of February. As of recent, I will not have a "valentine" this year. Honestly, I feel so refreshed. I've spent the past two Valentines days with someone and as awesome and wonderful relationships are, and as my friends have told me, this is my prime time to be "single." On the practical end, it saves me a ton of money (besides for the money I'll spend on candy for myself). It also saves a lot of time getting ready and going out (besides the time spent with my GALentines). I've learned the important of friends and family as opposed to loved ones these past few months. Its such a great feeling to embrace my real support system.

February may be a short month, but there's still so much to accomplish in it! As I mentioned in my previews goals post, I said that I wanted to really hunker down and be productive on my blog and internships. I've definitely started making moves towards that, but the four snow days we had in the past two weeks have warranted more fun than work. I figure while I'm young, balance out the work and the play as best as I can, right? Below are my monthly goals!

This is part of the monthly link-up at mysocalledchaos.com

How This works:

Follow your hosts My So-Called Chaos and A Peek at Karen's World to keep up with this link-up.
Write up a post recapping last month's goals and setting goals for next month.
Make sure to include the button in your post by grabbing the code above.
Link up your goals post with the monthly linky which goes live on the first Thursday of the month.
Visit other links in the party to show support and offer advice for other goal setters.
Have fun and make some new friends!

Here were my January Goals. How did I do?

January Goals

Make the deans list - Success
Put up a good fight for the thing I can't discuss on here yet.. :P - Yeah, not going so well. The thing I couldn't discuss was the cutting of the cross country program.
Throw Ashley a fun and successful birthday party - The snow stopped it :(
Finish "Women in Clothes" - haaa....
Hit 2,000 unique hits this month - Almost...
Follow up on internship applications - Success! Got an interview.

February Goals

Hit 1500 Uniques
Make connections at conference
Win the challenge at conference
Stay on top of hybrid courses
Have a successful internship interview
Start going to SurfSet once a week

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boston

Instagram Catch Up!

January 02, 2015

Lately, I've been doing blogging in bouts - as my life has been set up. I'll go off and visit friends in other towns, work, hang out with friends in town, go off with my family - then I'll have days when I have short shifts, and a lot of time left for Netflix, blogging, sleeping, exercising, and of course cuddling with Jackie (all of those in no order). On those days I blog, I get to hang out with you guys. However, I can't help but feel a bit guilty when I'm out enjoying the "real world."

That's why I've decided to do a catch up of my life lately, through the eyes of my instagram. If you really want to know my daily life narrated by references to reddit and tumbles memes, though, add me on snapchat! I really let loose there. It's n_vergak. Without further adue, here's some snapshots of my life of the past few weeks.

I got my tragus pierced! You can still see the blood drying here still, yikes! This picture was taken almost immediately after, so don't freak out. I've wanted this piercing for about a year now! I have my two holes and my cartilage. The friend that I went with has her tragus pierced, but not her cartilage. Now, we complete each other. We both have the same piercings: tragus and cartilage. I went on a whim. I feel like the best decisions, for me at least, are made on a whim!

This picture is from the first week of break for me. The girl on top is my good friend Alex (the one I got my piercing with), and the bottom picture is my friend from school and radio show co-host Dominique. Dominique lives about an hour and a half from the school we go to, and I only live about 45 minutes. She was still at school to take a final, while no one else was at school. I had her come and sleep at my house. We went out to the hookah bar in New Hampshire near my house where these pictures were taken!

This is a still from a video I posted last Saturday. I saw a christmas show of a few of my favorite bands in Worcester, MA. The bands that played were A Loss For Words, State Champs, and Four Year Strong. It had been soooo long song I've been to a good pop punk show and "threw down" in the pit, and I did! I still have the bruise on my leg to prove it. I may love cute and preppy things, but my taste in music is surprising, I know.

Ah, my first sight of home after driving back from school. I saw this tell-all sign that I knew I was back in Lowell right after I got off the highway. The city of Lowell lights up this tree every holiday season. I swear it can be seen in every spot in Lowell.

This is one of my favorite scenes in the woods near my house where I run. After a long, hard cross country season followed by the holiday break, sometimes I forget why I love to run. Then, I see this. #ShitRunnersSee, right? Now, I'm excited for the pre-season training for my next cross country season and training for my half marathon this summer.

I thought I'd end it with my favorite picture from NYE. I spent mine at Nick's friend's place right outside of Boston. I have to say, it was one of my favorite NYE's in a while. I'm so ready to kill it in 2015. I've made great improvements in 2014, but I'm ready to buckle down and get the ball rolling in 2015 - in my life, my blog, my school, my internships and jobs, etc. Time to get productive!

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Collegiate: PACKING MY LIFE AWAY, SOPHOMORE EDITION

August 27, 2014

Summer came and went as fast as a warm summer breeze. It brought sandy beaches, cold ice cream, loud concerts, late nights, and long Netflix marathons. However it's coming to a close, and so is the extended period of time I and other collegiates have at home. Soon it'll be back to sharing a dorm room, bathroom, and dining hall.

However this time I'm excited, because I'm more prepared, naturally. I have a good group of friends, positions in clubs, feel for the college life, and well, feel for what I need.. which is a lot LESS.

My mantra for packing for school this year is "pack light." I probably gained more muscle carrying my bags last year than I did going to the gym. The saddest part if half of the stuff in my room was just sitting there, not being used. A desk receptionist asked me if I was transferring when he saw how many bags I was bringing home for winter break.

So, I vowe NOT to be that girl this year, and I want to share my packing story and tips that I've learned in this post so that no matter what year you are in college, you don't have to be that girl.

First, here are some tips I've learned the hard way...

1. You only need one or two of the same thing
You may have scored 5 for $25 on v-necks at Forever 21 one time, but that doesn't mean bring them all to school with you. Just bring the color that you will wear the most.
2. Rotate your "favorite" pieces if you go home enough
Pretty much what's said before. If you go home every other weekend or so, you can keep one kimono or whatever you favorite staple piece is at home, bring the other one to school, then switch it out when you get bored of one.
3. Pack your winter clothes but don't bring them right away, to save room
You won't feel like packing all of your winter clothes when you go home and it finally starts getting cold, but you definitely don't want to lug another bag on move-in day. So, pack your winter clothes now, but bring them later, maybe the first time you go home. That way you're settled in.
4. Pack lighter
Words to live by.

And now begins my sophomore packing process! It's good to get a head start on this stuff so that you have time to relax and spend with your family before you go away. I have a 9-day gap of when I stop working and when I go back, and I want to be done packing by then. That way, I can just focus on friends, family, relaxing, eyebrows and nails (very important), and maybe some blogging. This first part happened on August 9th. It's my pre-pack.

I wanted to limit myself to two big totes, one small tote, a suitcase, and the miscellaneous boxes and bags for my printer, TV, and bedding.

This is the mess I began with. It's pretty much the emptied out stuff of what I used last year, stored in the spare room.

Sadly, the wheel on my suitcase broke, so I have to use my mom's to pack my clothes.

I put my "essentials" in this big tote. It has my Keurig, fan, towels, and things such as mugs, cups, plates, and bowls. However, I left room for things such as laundry and soap liquid.

This next tote is the vanity tote. I have the bins that I store my makeup in, my shower caddy, and since I coukd fit my school supply organizer there, I did. It just has pens, pencils, scissors and stuff like that in it. However, I'm putting my notebooks and folders in the longer tote that will have my decorations in it.

To add in that tote, I have the bin and the bag filled with toiletries. I figured more bottles would fit in the VS bag, so I emptied all the nail polishes and put them on m shelf, and filled it with face wash, body wash, body spray, lotion, deodorant, etc.

This is my decoration tote I mentioned earlier. It has some posters, artwork, candles and pictures to hang up. I also fit all of my books and notebooks in here.

The essential books I need in order: The AP Stylebook, the Penguin Handook, Gossip Girl, 1984 by George Orwell, the AP Guide to Spelling and Punctuation, and my Lilly planner!

These are two canvases covered with some design paper - I found them both at Michaels. I plan on putting pictures of friends and family on them and hanging them up. I like having two small canvases than one big one.

Most of my winter cardigans, pullovers, jackets and sweaters needed are in here, I'm hoping I can fit all the shoes in my suitcase.

Now for preparations for phase two!

This is the suitcase I'll be packing my clothes in.

While doing this all, I was making three lists: needed for room, needed for food, and still to pack.

PHASE 2!

I bought the rest of the stuff on my list today. Now I'm all set for toiletries and housekeeping stuff.

I pretty much fit the new stuff in wherever it could go. So far, everything is going as planned. Next up... clothes! Yikes.

I can't believe it. I fit all my running clothes/shorts/fall cardigans/jeans/jackets/and tees in one suitcase. It's pretty much everything music the winter jackets and cardigans. Halfway through I started rolling my tanks and tees, but I should have just done that all along.

Annnddd I'm finally done! Phew - it was as laborous to pack and write it as it will be for you to read it. Nevertheless I'm so excited to start things up again and kill sophomore year! I wish you all luck and hope you have an amazing year as well.

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beach

Lifestyle: INSTAGRAM CATCH-UP

August 18, 2014

This summer was a vacation, and a stay-cation. When you live in New England you have access to so many beautiful beaches and mountains. You can also travel to states just for day trips, or even functional trips. In Massachusetts, depending on where you live, you can work in New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, connecticut, or Rhode Island! For example I work in Salem, NH and it's only a 20-minute commute.

That's so not the point of my blog post... my point was an instagram wrap-up/catch up on my life this summer! I've shown you all my vacations to Key West and London, however here's been my local adventures to places such as Rye, Hampton and Portsmouth New Hampshire, Newport, Rhode Island, and Boston and Salem Massachusetts!

First of all can we acknowledge that I clearly didn't get the memo on the arms in this picture. Oops! This is my first hike, besides hiking in Hawaii. This was Mt. Modadnock in Jaffrey, New Hampshire! It took us about an hour and a half. The first trail was easy, then after the first clearing it was scaling rocks for the next hour. We hit one clearing and thought it was only a bit more to the top, until we got to the top of that and realized that we had even more to go! We looked at everyone on the real top with jealousy, but as you can see we made it!

These last two Sunday have been all about Jackie. During the weeks my mom has work ever day, I have work at various times, plans with friends and commitments at school to prepare for the year. So, when we've had free time on Sunday, we've been having girl time. The first picture is at Benson dog park in Hudson, NH. It used to be a zoo, however now it's a gorgeous pet-friendly park with playgrounds and trails!

The second picture is at the beach in Rye, New Hampshire. We finally got her to go in the water! It was too rocky to swim, but for once she didn't mind getting her paws wet. She's the happiest and loveable girl I know.

My friend from school and radio cohost had her birthday on Thursday, so I drove down to Somerset, Massachusetts and we, along with her friends from home and some school friends went out in Newport, Rhode Island. The restaurant had dogs eating there, so it made my day.

These pictures are from my favorite place in the world, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. I'd spend every day here if it wasn't a two-hour drive from my house. We traveled to the tip of the Cape to Provincetown. That's where the first picture was taken, and as you can see there is a lot of gay pride there. I also visited my roommate Amanda, and we went for a run to prepare for cross country. We also took a ferry out to the island Martha's Vineyard. Everyday staples included crabbing, the beach, and grilling!

Thanks for catching up with me! Let me know, how was your summer?

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bliss

LIFESTYLE: 9 MISTAKES YOU'RE NOT EVEN REALIZING YOUR MAKING

June 09, 2014

Life is hectic. If my life had a soundtrack, it would be ding-ding-ding if each ding represented moving on to another activity. It's great to be productive and out and about, but if we don't realize these next nine mistake we're making, our mind and body may not be too happy with us.

1. Not reading more
Reading is time away from the phone calls and commercials and stress. It takes you away from your life and into someone else's. It's like taking a vacation without booking a flight and hotel. Even if the content has some stress or drama, you're worrying about someone else's drama, not your own. On the flip side, if it's someone's love and happiness, it goes right back to us. You may say you have no time, but just take five minutes before you go to bed. I prefer ending the night with Mad Men, but we all have our preferences.

2. Not saying please and thank you more often
How do you feel when you're not compensated or let alone thanked for you work? You probably feel unacknowledged and unimportant. In a rush, if someone grabs something for us or does a simple favor, we can forget the most important part of the transaction: a please or thank you. It's like shopping, the favor is what we're buying, and the please or thank you is our tender. It will make both parties feel better.

3. Not taking a breath
Just like that Ana Nalik song, I think we all need to just breathe. If I'm watching TV, or even typing a blog post, sometimes I just take a few large breaths. There, I just did it. With all of the things pulling us in different directions, sometimes we can find it hard to breathe. Not only do we need to physically breathe, but we need to mentally breathe. We just need to..not. Maybe for a few minutes every day, or every few days. Just not be occupied. This is the biggest challenge to me. I've been trying to watch more MTV as a form of "not"-ing. It's just time not thinking about school, money, work, family, or anything else.

4. Not saying no more often.
This is also my vice. As a young and ambitious millenial, I think I need every opportunity to advance me to get me to where I want to be. But I want it now. Then, I find myself putting half of myself into all of the things I'm affiliated with, when if I had only a true few I could dedicate myself more. Quality over quantity.

5. Not saying yes more often
...aaaand on the flip side of that, theres this. I'm trying not to contradict myself here. Just because a situation may seem fishy, just do some research. See how every opportunity can help you and how you can fit it into your life. As they say, don't judge a book by it's cover. You never know what may come of it. For me, the best decisions I've made are the ones that I barely thought through.

6. Not being more selfish
At the end of the day, we only have ourselves. Yes, we have our boyfriends, girlfriends, cats, dogs, moms, dads, teachers, cousins, etc. However as humans we are innately a tad bit self-centered. We love to help and spread our love, however if you're being spread too thin, it's not good for you. Wouldn't you rather have yourself all in one piece, than a million pieces splattered everywhere?

7. Not appreciating the little things
This can apply to everything... whether it's relationships, family, food, or life in general. The town you live in may not be your favorite, but think of your favorite pond to have picnics at. Think of the little freckle above his chin that is oh so cute. The things that make us the happiest don't have to have a shiny price tag.

8. Not being outside more often
I'm an outdoorsy kinda gal. If you're not, that's fine. But just being in nature, especially on a nice day, can be to therapeutic. Taking yourself or a dog for a walk, even if you have no specific place to go, can really help. No wonder the walkers on the street always smile at you.
9. Not letting ourselves indulge
Yes, I love being healthy and this is a healthy lifestyle blog, but if we don't feed our soul... we may lose ours. To a point of moderation, of course, if we see our favorite type of pizza or cronut or pie, go for it. Stop punishing yourself!

I'm not saying I'm not guilty of these either, I definitely am. We're all on this journey together. Life doesn't have to come with a guidebook. If we all made life a lot less complicated, we'd all be enlightened.

Lastly, I thought I'd start sharing some favorite products at the end of my posts. I love this stuff, and I thought it would go along with the health theme of this post.

If you're looking for a natural way to get rid of stress, try bliss stress remover. It gives you what it's namesake is!

Get it here, and put ohaixnikay@gmail.com as a reference when you make a free account to receive cash back!

cleaning

Lifestyle: What Inspires You?

April 14, 2013

Inspiration boards are a fun way to collect your thought and inspire your life. It's basically taking your thoughts, your future plans, your favorites, even your memories and posting them on your wall. When you think about it - it's pretty intimate. But to me, it's an inspiring thing to look at when I hit a block. Not only it is great for the mind, but it's a great addition to your wall. I lovelovelove collages. Will you be updating your inspiration board when you do spring cleaning?

What's on yours? Mine is filled with fringed bikinis, tye-dye vans, hi-lo dresses, fitspo, lacrosse puns, starbucks, and the wonder years. My spring favorites, basically!

Also, since I'm still rearranging and cleaning my room, I found a cute way to organize all of my books and shoes. This was I can conceptualize my outfit, makeup, and now shoes all without having to leave my room. I am in LOVE with how my shoes are displayed on this beautiful bookshelf I found at a thrift store for only $40.