Book Recommendation Sunday: 'What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding'

Do you like to travel? Do you like to read books? Have you watched shows like Chuck or How I Met Your Mother? Are you a human?

If you answered 'yes' to any of the questions above, chances are you would like Kristin Newman's What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding. While the title is a bit of mouthful (WIWDWYWD?) it doesn't even fully encapsulate the tales told and journeys taken inside it's 300-some pages.

As it turns out, Chuck and How I Met Your Mother are two of my favorite shows of all time. So when HIMYM producer, Kourtney Kang, tweeted her praise for the book a day before it's release, I rushed to check it out. Then I rushed to buy it. And I rushed to read it (I happened to be heading to the beach that week so that was easy.)

As a young woman who knows she wants to write for (or about) television and eventually travel around the world, this book affected me probably more than it would say, my father or my friends who have a more definitive life plan. Kristin's stories, particularly the one about about Israel, reignited the passion about travel in me that has been waning since life got in the way.

My dreams about taking a summer or semester to travel Europe got side-lined by the realities of working hard in classes and internships to ensure I landed a job straight out of college this January (ho-lyy shit). 

The title of the book comes from the fact that she was doing all of this traveling in her 20's and 30's, when her friends were suddenly getting married and having children. Anyone who knows me know that that is just not how I see my life playing out. I'm in no particular rush to settle down. I want to establish a career for myself first, spend time alone in New York City and/or Los Angeles, and then worry about find a partner and all that jazz.

I love the way Kristin traveled. She didn't do the touristy resorts or five-star hotels, but she never struggled to find a place to stay, food to eat or to meet new friends. While there was an emergency booking at the aforementioned fancy hotel on one trip, she spends her vacations renting apartments or hopping around the couches of the fine kiwis who took her in.

I've grown up in the world of Dateline, 20/20 and various missing persons reports on the news, so I have to admit that I'm not brave enough to venture to a country where I didn't know the language at all - like Kristin is more apt to do.

Alas, I do know conversational spanish, and have been teaching myself French and Czech. Hopefully by the 2016 Euro Cup in France I'll be fluent enough that I can travel alone to Paris. I've got it all figured out: one of the semi-final games is on July 4 weekend, so I'll take the day before the break and day after off work (granted I have the ability to, thankfully I don't get sick often) giving me a nice 5-day window to travel to Paris alone - finally.

Bottom line: buy the book, read the book, love the book, live the book. 

New Music (to me) Saturday: The Mowgli's

This may be a misleading title, because technically The Mowgli's, 'Waiting for the Dawn' was released last year, but they're new to me, so maybe the band will be new to you too.

I am seriously digging this band this week. Their music, alternative and easy-listening, just soothes the soul. That's the best way I can put it. This isn't exactly studying music, because you're going to want to get up and just jam to some of these numbers, but they are the perfect music to listen to just about any other time.

"San Francisco" makes me want to dance around like a fool, especially when they hit those harmonies about a minute in, but then you're instantly snappin' your fingers together and singing along. The band is huge - seven members! - but man, does it pay off big time.

I implore you to listen to their album, embedded below. Notice how, even after their most popular song "San Francisco" (4 million+ plays on Spotify), every song is a friggin' knock-out. 'Slowly, Slowly' has this moment at around 2:45 where all the vocals build and they hit that crescendo at 3:10 and you're off to the races with them.

And I could go on, evaluating every song like this but instead I'll leave you with the following recommendations:

• San Francisco
• Slowly, Slowly
• Emily
• Say It, Just Say It 
• Leave It Up To Me - (Try not singing along to the 'woah-oh's on this track. Impossible!) 

Also, I may or may not just kinda walk around town singing "Hi, Hey There, Hello" to myself. Folksy and happy - my kinda song.

Sadly it doesn't look like I'll be getting to see them live anytime soon, their tour doesn't take them through Pennsylvania or Maryland. But seriously guys - when are we gonna get some new music? I've already got 'Waiting for the Dawn' memorized.

Why I think #100HappyDays is an important project

A few weeks ago, my Instagram feed was bombarded by pictures of my friends, gorgeous sunsets, and food. Nothing too out of the ordinary, except they were all hashtagged (hashtag-ed?) #100HappyDays.

After doing some digging (googling), I was directed to 100happydays.com and read up about it. Basically, the premise is that you post a picture of something that makes you happy on a social media site everyday for 100 days.

The premise of #100happydays

You 'sign up' to keep track of your photos, but it's not like you get a big prize if you complete the challenge, nor are you penalized if you don't. Honor system, folks.

Now, life can be hard sometimes. You have really crappy days that require more than the serving size printed on a pint of Ben & Jerry's. It's those times that you need to remember the Happy Days more than ever. That's why I signed up. Because, even if it's something as simple as comfort food or playing my favorite song, that can pass as my day's photo.

It's hard to photograph 'happy.' It's like how you can't see 'success,' but you can see evidence of it: the nice watch, expensive clothes, material objects.

I've been participating for just about four weeks and have posted a myriad of photos on my Instagram. Cups of fro yo I got with friends, the program from The Book of Mormon which I finally saw last week in Baltimore, my NBC pillow, a my haircut, a sunrise from my morning run... like I said, it ranges.

So, can I be happy for 100 days? Sure. 90% of my day might be sad, but I can find something to make me happy, to make me smile. And that's why it's important to participate in this project, to remind ourselves that life isn't always bad.

What music gets you moving?

Everyone has their preference when it comes to exercise music. Some people only listen to Top 40 pop, others prefer hip-hop, rock, or even Broadway (don't knock it till you tired it - listen to a sample of American Idiot's broadway recording to really get your heart beating.)

Me? I prefer something to the match the rhythm of my running steps, but also something that consumes me and takes my mind of the mundane running. At school, and because it's been hardly 10 degrees outside, I hit the treadmill for 20 minutes with my playlist. At home, where it is now a brisk 40 degrees, I can do three miles within my neighborhood, easy - but it takes a particular type of music to get me going.

So, because I'm a little nosey and fairly curious, I'm wondering: what music do you run to? And because this is a two-way street, I'm offering a complete look into my Spotify playlist at the bottom of this post. As you can see, it's kind of a smorgasbord.

This playlist will eventually fall into disuse. I'll get tired of the songs, I'll begin exercising to newer/different music and in a few months, I will make a new workout playlist. The circle of life.

What do you like to work out to? I'm always looking for suggestions!

60 of my 1001 days are done - how'd I do?

Happy March! It's crazy to think that 60 days ago, we were all aglow in the light of the new year.

Welp, January and February have come and gone, dumped a ton of snow on us in the meantime, and then high-tailed it out of here. I'm always happy February is the shortest month.

Anyways - if you may recall, I published my 101 Things in 1001 Days list the first week I started this blog and since time is just flying by, I decided to do a 60-day checkin with it.

Here are the few things I have completed:

2. Inspire someone else to write their own 101 in 1001 list. This actually happened a few days after I posted it originally, but I never got a chance to make a comment about it. So, yay! One down.
20. Figure out what my go-to 'I can make that!' food dish is. I call it 'chicken marsala lite' and I love it. 
26. Run a 7 minute mile. Getting there! Currently at a 9 minute mile.
42. Not stress over the little things as much. This is a big one for me. I'm getting better at dividing stress between what I can control (like, studying for an exam - want to not worry about a big test? Study for it.) and what I can't (my grade once I turn that exam in.) There comes a point you just have to succumb to the possibility you cannot fix everything. 
78. Befriend strangers on the floor of my building. Fire alarms can really bring people together. 
93. Create a header image for this website. I'm in love with the one I have now! It was so easy to make but I went through like, ten different fonts before settling on this one.

Alright, six down, 95 to go! And 1005 days to it. Looking back down, I'm realizing lots of these events will be determined on my location for the summer, where I end up after graduating in December, etc. But I'm excited about the progress - maybe I'll make a post every 3 months or so updated everyone (read: me) on what I've accomplished.

Thinking back too, I've done a lot that isn't on this list, like, kick boxing, or, go to the hospital for the stupidest reason ever (did you know ring cutters are very handy tools to have if you ever get a ring stuck on your finger at 2AM? Me neither. But, luckily hospitals do!)

Once again, thanks to Mackenzie Horan for the inspiration for the 101/1001 list! I can just tell it's going to be a lot of fun to complete.

I tried kick boxing and now I'm sore

Have you ever wanted to try something new but always found yourself making excuses why you can't? It'll mess up your routine, you don't have time, you're scared etc. etc... Well, when you're homework assignment is to go out and attend a club meeting or new type of gym class, you suddenly find a way to get it done.

That's exactly what happened to me in my COMM 420 class, Research Methods in Public Relations and Advertising. As we learn about observation and the different ways we participate in and observe phenomenons, we were tasked with creating our own field experience. Join the Clown Nose club, attend a book reading at the local library, the entire point was to immerse ourselves in a new environment and observe how these people interacted.

Well, I have wanted to try kick boxing for a while now. Maybe I watched too much Chuck over winter break, or maybe there's some unresolved frustration as midterms and internship applications pick up, but I really wanted to let it all out on a punching bag (literally).

Unfortunately, despite offering a wide array of gym classes - spinning included! - PSU Fitness does not have a kick boxing class and I had to turn to the gym right off campus, Momentum Fitness.

I attended the first class for free (nice! It's usually $60/month) last night and as I type this I'm having a hard time lifting my arms above my head.

TJ, the owner, taught me and the two other newbies, the four basic punches - jab jab, hook, hook! - and how to kick correctly. This was more than just learning how to hit the bag, it was also learning a modicum of self-defense. How to hit someone before they can hit you.

I didn't realize it, but by the end of the hour, I was sweating and the adrenaline running through me seemed to negate the soreness I'd feel an hour later.

I could go on for pages about the class (and I will in order to complete my assignment), but it was so much fun and I'm so glad I pushed myself to take the assignment seriously instead of just sitting in on a meeting somewhere convenient for me.

Moral of the story: do something new like your class grade depended on it.

'House of Cards' season 2: Mess with the bull, get the horns. No spoilers!

At the beginning of season 2 episode 3 Frank turns to the camera and states: "There are two types of Vice Presidents: door mats and matadors. Which one do you think I intend to be?"

Well, I think we all knew the answer to that question.

Frank Underwood and his corrupted version of Washington D.C. are back for a heart-thumping second season of House of Cards. After all 13 episodes were uploaded at 3AM EST on February 14, it seemed like everyone tweeted their agonizing wait until they could dive into the season later that day. Some had to wait for their significant other, some had to wait till after work, some had pesky Valentine's Day plans they had to see through before they could settle in for a thrilling ride.

I myself was chomping at the bit to get my binging on, but restrained myself until the afternoon to begin. Then I rushed through three episodes before spending a delightful evening with my friend for a Leslie Knope-approved Galentines day.

I know how this show works. I know each episode is like a chocolate in Forrest Gump's box: you never know what you're going to get. Making it that much more important to savor every blasé side-long glance Frank gives the camera.

Throughout the day I've been slowly but surely moving my way through the season. I'm currently on episode 7 out of 13. I'm cognizant now not to overindulge - if I really wanted to, I could be done already. But, when it comes to the long-game, it's imperative to realize this is all we'll have for another year, at least.

It's a marathon, not a sprint. Yes, I'll finish by tomorrow evening, but I'm determined to stretch it out for as long as I can convince myself to hold out.

As for the show it self, it's decidedly shot with a stronger sense of self-awareness. The cinematography is gorgeous as always, a more film-noir feel than last season, and every aspect - music, lighting, dialogue - definitely ratchets up the political-thriller vibe of it all. Robin Wright was fantastic last season, but that was child's play compared to this season - she's is taking no prisoners.

And if you haven't watched the first season: what are you waiting for!? You now have 26 delectable chapters of television to indulge yourself in. It is Valentine's weekend, after all.