New Year, New Goals!

Love this free printable from Luloveshandmade!

Happy New Year everyone!!  Sorry I've been pretty MIA for the past couple of weeks.  My life has been pretty busy lately with the holidays and the start of school, so that's one of the reasons I'm writing out my resolutions for the year!  The plan was not to jump on the bandwagon of broken promises, but to kind of come up with some reachable goals for the year to come!  I'm sure we all have them whether we made them New Year's Eve or not!  So here are my goals for 2016!

1. Find Something Every Day To Be Excited About

This is an important one that ties in with number 5.  Being excited all of the time keeps your energy up, helps you to acknowledge your gratitude, and get pumped for things to come!!  Even if it's just something small like getting to sleep in or going out to dinner with your boyfriend, those things are important parts of your life and things that make you happy!  Being grateful for those things keeps you happy and humble!

2.  Post On The Blog Twice A Week

I will admit I am horrible at keeping on track with the blog.  I try to post often, but more than not, I get distracted by life and then realize I haven't posted in two weeks!  So one of my goals, since this blog is very important to me, is to post twice a week.  Whether its a long article like this one or just my favorite pins of the month, I want to make sure I'm posting regularly for myself and for you, my readers!  I don't want to disappoint!

3.  Stay Organized & Stress Free

Ahh yes, organized and stress free.  Sounds like a beautifully unobtainable thing.  However, I know it's possible if I try hard enough.  I've got like 4 planners, notepads everywhere, and constantly check my classes on Moodle to make sure I've done everything I need to do.  Stress has been a battle for me in the past with school, so my goal is to not procrastinate and stay on top of my work in order to avoid that.  I'm not about that late night essay writing!

4.  Read At Least 1 Book A Month

If you didn't already know, I loooveee to read.  I would do it all day every day if I could.  Alas, life does not allow that.  So I've set a goal to read one book a month.  Or at least try.  I tend to get wrapped up in running around all day that by the time I head to bed I flip the TV to reruns of Friends and drift off to la la land.  That is a horrible habit I want to break, so the plan is to read at night, thus getting my monthly fill of the literary escape.

Currently reading! Movie comes out 1/22! Good motivation to finish!

5.  Maintain Balance & Keep Positive Energy Alive

This is a super important one, and one that will blanket all or most of the others. Keeping a balance in life is the key to happiness for me at least.  If I'm all work and no play, I'm miserable.  If I'm all play and no work I have the constant feeling that I'm forgetting something and I also get pretty damn bored.  So I plan on staying super positive, even through the inevitable hardships, and keep my life in balance.  That includes going out for drinks every once in a while, even if I have to get up early the next morning.  Such is life.

6.  Promote Healthy Habits

I'm already off to a great start on this one.  I've been eating really well and working out every other day.  I hope to keep this up, since I already feel a thousand times better than my "holiday self" which indulged in lots of booze and cookies.  I also plan on keeping good company.  That means people who will encourage me, push me even, to stay on this track.  Those people are pretty damn wonderful and I'm so thankful to them for helping me to become a better me!

Part B to this one would be to maintain a healthy diet, not an actual "diet."  Diets don't work. I've tried the lot of them and they're good for a while, but ultimately disappoint.  So I like to eat healthy most of the time, but if I want a slice of pizza, I'm going to eat it.  And not feel bad about it.  Seems like a good habit to have, right?

7.  Land That Summer Internship

This one is more subjective and is dependent on a lot of outside factors.  But I really want to make it in the world of Journalism, so I plan on getting an internship this summer, whether it's somewhere local or an online gig, anything that's going to look good on my resume is good to me.

8.  Open A Savings Account

Money and I have a love/hate relationship.  I hate it because it runs my life.  I love it because I love to shop.  See my issue?  So at this point in my life I feel like I should be making enough money to have some savings.  Currently, I am not.  But I hope to change that within the next year or so.  So instead of spending the money that I would normally use for my student loan, I plan to save it. Well, some of it at least.  We'll see how that one goes.

9.  Learn To Cook A Few Good Meals

I HATE TO COOK. I really, really do.  I wish I didn't because my dad is an amazing chef and I'd love to learn from him.  But unfortunately, I am horrible at it and I hate it.  But if I'm ever going to fend for myself (without the use of EasyMac and Ramen Noodles) then I need to learn at least a little bit.  So my goal is to figure out how to cook at least 3 meals that are healthy and easy.  I'll probably hate every second of it, and I'd rather bake 80 cakes, but I'm gonna do it, gosh darn it.

So those are my goals for the year.  I hope to carry them in to the future as well!  Most of them are just creating a better lifestyle for myself so I really hope to accomplish each and every one of them! What are your goals for 2016?  Do we share any? I want to know and maybe we can even help each other out!

XO, Briana

SGMC Book Party- The Time Travelling Fashionista by Bianca Turetsky

I know it has been a long time since I've done a book review, but it's been quite a while since I've read, like, an actual novel.  Which was totally long over due.  I am what you would call a "serial reader": I read a bunch of books in a row and then stop dead for months at a time, then pick back up again.  I am weird, which has already been established.  Anyway, after the past few months of staring at The Maze Runner idly sitting on my night stand, I decided I needed to pick up something new.  I waltzed to my little book shelf and grabbed this one:

The Time Travelling Fashionista by Bianca Turetsky

Now I've had this one for a while now and had been wanting to read it of course, but it just hadn't called to me yet.  But now I can say I read it in about 5ish hours or so.  It was a quick read and I very much enjoyed it.

Although I feel it was written for a much younger audience than my 24 year old self, I still really connected to the book.  The main character was 12, but the story wasn't so much about her 12 year old life as it was about the fashion and the time travelling.  Which was pretty awesome if you ask me.  Now I am pretty easily amused, but I feel like this series was written for me.  Pretty much this young girl, Louise, is in love with vintage clothing and has a very deep appreciation and respect for the pieces.  To not spoil anything in case you want to read it, she winds up time travelling back to the Titanic as a famous movie star.

Now, when I started reading I hadn't read the summary in a while so I didn't realize she wound up on the Titanic until I got to it in the book.  I might have actually jumped up and down if I had been standing up.  I actually recall letting out an audible YES as I freakin' love the Titanic.  And I love fashion so it was like a two for one deal.  So what I liked so much about the book was that combination of vintage fashion and history (and it was actually pretty accurate).  Also what was really enchanting about this book was the illustrations.  Normally we young adults don't get pretty pictures in our novels, but this one had fashion illustrations showing the outfits described in the book.  So you really get the visual, which I think is really important here. Nonetheless, it made me smile.

As for the writing, it was pretty well done.  The story flowed well and it was very easy to read, but not juvenile, in my opinion. I would really recommend this one to anyone who loves fashion and history.  It was a really fun read and I'm now anxious to read the other two books in the series.  In those she adventures to the times of Cleopatra and of Marie Antoinette; two pretty interesting time periods if you ask me.  So those got immediately added to my Amazon cart after I'd finished haha.

Overall I would give this book 4 stars! The only reason I didn't give it a full 5 stars is because I wish there was just a bit more detail.  I feel like there could have been a lot more meat on its bones, but regardless it was a light, fun read which is right up my alley!

Read the authors summary --> HERE!

Buy the book --> HERE!

Watch the really cute book trailer --> HERE!

Have you read this book? What did you think?  And if you plan on reading it let me know how you like it! :)

XO, Briana

SGMC Book Party!- Panic by Lauren Oliver

Hey everyone! I'm so excited to introduce the first post of my SGMC Book Party!  Whenever I finish reading a new book, I'll post my review right here under the sgmcbookparty label.  You can also find all of my posts by clicking the SGMC Book Party link at the top of the page!  As well as book reviews, I'll also sprinkle in a variety other "book lover" posts.  So without further ado, here is my first official book review! :)

Panic by Lauren Oliver

First off, I received this book from my cousin who had it as an Advanced Reader's Copy from before the book was originally released.  It wasn't up her alley, but when I read the summary I knew I would like it. Boy was I right!  I absolutely loved this book!  As you probably have seen me write before, I have a very short attention span; but this book kept my attention and I finished it less than a week.

In a short spoiler-free summary, the book covers an interesting group of main characters and focuses on a game called Panic.  Every year, the graduating seniors of Carp's high school participate in the risky game of Panic to win a large sum of money.  The challenges all lend themselves to the name of the game, which will have you wide eyed and frantically reading to find out who makes it to the next round.  Following a relatable and complex group, you will make a connection with the characters and find yourself rooting for all of them.

I don't want to say much more about he plot because I don't want to give anything away!  But overall the book was wonderful: a quick read, easy flowing, and made me want more! Panic gives the reader an interesting, clever plot line and some great lessons as well.  I actually want to quote the author's website because it sums up the themes precisely: "...an extraordinary novel of fear, friendship, courage, and hope."

I'm going to give this book 4.5 stars.  I only docked it a half of a point because I wish it had slightly more depth in the characters.  I found myself wanting to know more about certain events and emotions from the mind of a particular character.  But as a whole, it deserves those 4.5 stars 100%!

I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes Young Adult novels, and a little bit of suspense!

Check out the author's summary --> HERE!

Buy it on Amazon --> HERE!

XO, Briana