Category: Passion

For my last passion blog, I’d like to do something special. If there’s two things I love, it’s music and parallelism. Full circle moments provide me with an unreasonable amount of satisfaction, and because I wrote my first real passion blog on music, I will write my last one on music too.

More than that, I’ve found in this unusual life situation, music feels like the redeeming medium that I can connect with my old life, friends I miss, and growing relationships. Almost every night, I go into my basement, crank up my music, and just dance. The kind of dance where you don’t know exactly where your limbs are going and you’re pretty sure you might have a heart attack, but for one glorious moment, you feel alive.

Here are my top six “no-skip” albums (in order of discovery):

1. Native – One Republic (2014)

This is right about the era that I began to get really invested in music. In my eyes, this album is a masterpiece in that not only is every song a no skipper, but they are each so unique and uplifting and just put me in the best mood. I am certain there is an element of nostalgia for this album too because it was probably my first discovered no skip album. I just remember sitting in the passenger seat of my mom’s Honda Pilot with the windows down feeling the wind on my face while my mom and I screamed “this is life in color”

2. Divide – Ed Sheeran (2017)

This album will forever hold a special place in my heart. The track list is incredibly diverse, and I can think of individual cherished memory and feeling for every single song. When I listen to it, I think of high school soccer, freedom, and my best friend. When this album first came out, my friend just got her driver’s license, but I had yet to get mine. She drove me to school every day, and we’d sit in her little Kia Soul, two fifteen and freshly sixteen-year-old kids screaming their heads off to Castle on the Hill watching the sun rise and cast the road into a burning orange and yellowy glow.

3. GIRL – Maren Morris (2019)

Despite being from Texas, I am not a huge country music fan. However, there are some albums and songs that I can’t help but like, it’s just in my blood. I don’t know if I would classify this album as “country”, but it has a little twang to it. This album has one of those storyteller qualities where every song is so detailed and intricate and tells a specific tale. Maren Morris’ voice is so distinct and soothing that listening to the whole album through is so relaxing and relatable. My favorite song is probably A Song For Everything, but it changes. It reminds me of going to the rodeo with my friends and makes me homesick for my grandparents, good BBQ, and peach cobbler.

4. try hard – The Band CAMINO (2019)

This band is lesser known, but one of my favorites. They released three singles off this album in the summer of 2019 and those songs were the playlist of my life at that moment. I’d blast them in my car with friends driving to our summer camp counselor jobs, graduation parties, and eventually in my room when I moved to Pittsburgh in August. The album itself came out fully the first Friday of class. I remember laying in my dorm bed with headphones on that morning and listening straight through. From that moment on, I listened to it nonstop. The lyrics, guitar riffs, and vibe is unmatched. When I turn on Honest, I just think of walking around campus past the HUB, or working out in White building, or jamming out in my friend’s dorm room.

5. Ctrl – SZA (2017)

I discovered this album when dancing in my friend’s room before we went out and haven’t looked back. There are key songs that stand out more than others, such as Normal Girl, Broken Clocks, and Anything, but I can put it on and not skip. It’s a little different than what I usually listen to, but I like it because I feel like it introduced me into a world of music I hadn’t stumbled upon yet. I smile when it comes on because it reminds me of my friends trying to sing it soulfully as they decide what outfit they want to wear for the night.

6. Fine Line (2019)

This might be my ultimate no skip album. Except for one song (which we just don’t talk about), every song is so unique, and Harry’s voice is so compelling that listening to it is an emotional journey. My friend and I stayed up till midnight to listen to it when it dropped, and then decided we were too tired to fully appreciate it and spent the entire next day in engineering design class listening to it. I’m pretty sure I, along with a lot of my friends, have an unhealthy obsession with Harry Styles, but his music and overall vibe is just so good. Favorite song is nearly impossible with this one, but top two are Adore You and Falling.

I hope you have been inspired to think about your favorite no skip albums and jam out to them. I was listening to all of mine as I wrote each section and I feel A L I V E.

In this blog I want to do a little something different. I’m a very reflective person who loves reminiscing on good times in the past, and I like to think my preferred currency in life is not money or things, but experiences and memories. I would so much rather go somewhere new and have an interesting experience than buy something.

This time is tricky for me now because I feel those interesting worldly experiences have slowed, and it makes me nostalgic. I feel worried about spending my 19^th year, what feels like the beginning of the prime of my life, stuck in the house.

However, I find it helps to think about and be grateful for all the incredible experiences I’ve had in my life so far, and remember an unimaginable amount are still yet to come. So, here are a few of my favorite moments in life so far.

1. The Rodeo

Growing up in Houston, Texas, the Livestock Show and Rodeo is a huge deal, ingrained into the culture of the city itself. From celebrating Go Texan Day in elementary school to attending my first concert to hanging out at NRG stadium with friends on weekend nights in high school, the rodeo represents a fun part of my state culture and childhood.

Typical Rodeo events include watching bull riding, pig racing, carnival games, and consuming an obscene amount of deep-fried food (deep fried Oreos in particular). I didn’t even realize the Rodeo was unique and somewhat strange thing until I was describing “mutton-busting” to my Penn State friends and heard the words “so the little kids see who can hold on and ride the sheep the longest” come out of my mouth. No matter, the Rodeo still holds a special spot in my heart.

2. Grandpa’s Boat

My grandparents live in Austin, Texas and nearly every summer since I was a little kid, we’ve gone boating and water skiing on Lake Travis with the family on my grandpa’s boat. Some of my favorite extended family memories involve skimming across the lake at break-neck speed on an innertube laughing uncontrollably with my cousins. All the grandkids learned how to water ski before we even in double digits, and since I’m the oldest grandkid, it was so fun to witness the younger kids stand up on skis for the first time.

The best part was standing at the bow of the boat, arms outstretched Titanic style, with the wind whipping your hair and face, looking out at the way the boat cut through the water. If the sun was shining bright and the light hit the water just right, it looked like a million little diamonds sparkling across the entire surface of the lake.

3. Paris Night

When I used to live in Belgium, I played for my international school’s soccer and basketball travel team. Instead of travelling to the next city over like we would do in the States, we’d travel to places like Paris or Amsterdam for a game.

(Fun fact: Amanda Lowe in this class also lived in the Netherlands the exact same time I lived in Belgium and played sports too. We figured we probably played each other overseas at some point when we were both twelve: crazy small world.)

But instead of staying in hotels, we would do “housing” where we would stay at the house of a random person on the opposing team. Kind of strange and would never fly in the U.S. but ultimately a cool experience. One such time I had a game in Paris and that night my houser asked around 10 pm if I’d like to do something fun. I was skeptical but decided to go for it.

We took the metro with her dad and eventually arrived at the Place du Trocadero smack dab in front of the Eiffel Tower. It was breathtaking. The night was pitch dark, not a cloud in the sky, the entire tower was lit up in a sparkling display of white lights, and not a soul besides us was there. We sat a sipped hot chocolate and danced on the checkered plaza and I thought to myself “I can’t believe this is my life.”

4. Rainbow Trails, Colorado

I’ve mentioned before I’m a nature nut, but this experience takes the cake. I went on a four-day, three-night backpacking trip with my church group and dad as a chaperone in the beautiful Colorado wilderness, surrounded by breathtaking mountains everywhere you turned.

While it was one of the best experiences of my life, it was also one of the hardest. We were roughing it: no bathrooms, no toilet paper, drinking water from rivers filtered through gravity bags, and carrying 50-pound packs with everything we all would need to survive for four days on our backs. It was all worth it when we peaked Mount Baldy. After roughly three hours of grueling hiking, some places in the underbrush with no trail, we finally reached the peak of the mountain.

One of the happiest moments of my life was standing up there with my dad, doing a full 360 turn with an uninhibited view of the entire valley, eating a celebratory Snickers bar with my friends. Best Snickers I’ve ever tasted in my life.

5. Penn State White-Out Game

Like many of y’all know, this game was special. From the record crowd, all decked-out in white, to the cacophony of unimaginably loud noise that caused Michigan to call a time-out on the first play of the game because they couldn’t even hear the play, this game was when I realized how special Penn State football and culture really is.

Surrounded by my newfound friends and the amazing relationships I had already built after coming to Penn State not knowing a soul, I felt so happy and proud of the life I had built and the place I could call home. We Are.

Writing this blog and reminiscing on these memories was the highlight of my day and a much-needed morale booster. I strongly encourage you to jot down a list of some of your favorite memories in life and remember that there was an incredible before and there will be an incredible after.

I hope everyone is continuing to find success adapting to this situation and is finding new hobbies or fun activities to pursue in the house. If not, no pressure there either, just taking it one day at a time is my motto. For a while now, I’ve loved collecting quotes and hearing how the wisdom of other people living completely different lives than mine still somehow resonates with me. From fortune cookies to team huddles before soccer matches to books, I gather and acquire quotes that strike a chord with me a write them in my journal. Here are some of my favorites.

1. “I am only one but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do.” – Helen Keller

 

2. “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” – Aesop

 

3. “One of the happiest moments in life is when you find the courage to let go of what you can’t change.” – Unknown

 

4. “We need not to be left alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long has it been since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?” – Ray Bradbury

 

5. “We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the heart run over.” – Ray Bradbury

 

6. “Self-consciousness is the enemy of all creativity.” – Ray Bradbury

 

7. “Life is not the mountain tops, it’s the walking in between.” – Ben Rector

 

8. “I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape.” – Emily Dickinson

 

9. “That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet.” – Emily Dickinson

 

10. “You will learn a lot about yourself if you stretch in the direction of goodness, of bigness, of kindness, of forgiveness, of emotional bravery. Be a warrior for love.” – Cheryl Strayed

 

11. “You don’t have a right to the cards you believe you should have been dealt. You have an obligation to play the hell out of the ones you’re holding.” – Cheryl Strayed

 

12. “Be messy and complicated and afraid and show up anyway.” – Glennon Doyle

 

13. “People who need help sometimes look a lot like people who don’t need help.” – Glennon Doyle

 

14. “Just do the next right thing one thing at a time. That’ll take you all the way home.” – Glennon Doyle

 

I hope some of these quotes hit home for you and inspired you to start keeping an eye out for your own favorites that show up in your life. Writing this list of quotes already made me feel much more relaxed and optimistic, so turning to words when you feel out of sorts can sometimes be the best thing to do.

These are the books/albums I found some of these quotes in:

I hope everyone is doing well and adjusting to this new season of life. In a way, these passion blogs seem to benchmark my adjustment process and mood, and I feel much more accepting of this new reality now compared to last week when the news was just setting in.

Focusing on new hobbies, music, and books is proving to be a great way to make use of this copious amount of new-found time. However, at this point, the struggle surrounds keeping up with my classwork while still blocking off some healthy me-time.

One of the best ways I’m finding balance and peace amidst this time is through practicing mindfulness. As defined by dictionary.com, mindfulness is “a technique in which one focuses one’s full attention only on the present, experiencing thoughts, feelings, and sensations but not judging them.”

I’d like to share a few ways of practicing mindfulness with you now.

1. Practice gratitude

This one is extremely important and enormously applicable to the situation we are all in at the current moment. Even on the worst days it’s important to remember that everything is relative and a lot of people have worse issues to deal with. In this situation, I am grateful none of my family members have the virus and I live in a place near nature where I can go on walks without running into other people.

2. Focus on breathing

This is a good tool when trying to manage anxiety or avoid a panic attack. Focusing on breathing helps you feel grounded and clears your mind of things that might be causing anxious thoughts. I’ve found it helps me to pretend like I’m blowing air out through a little straw and concentrate my air flow. Most of the breathing tricks and methods that I use I learned from when I played the French horn, so if you’d like a place to find more ways to focus on breathing, I would recommend checking out metered breathing.

3. Meditation

This can be hard to start off with right off the bat, especially if you’re like me and can be restless. However, trying to sit still, quiet, and intentionally clear of thoughts a little bit everyday and building up your stamina is a great way to get to a point of meditation. Using videos or listening to relaxing audio on YouTube can help provide direction, and there’s even apps that do guided meditation, such as the Calm app.

4. Exercise

It’s been proven time and time again that exercise is one of the best things you can do to benefit your mind, body, and spirit all in one. I can’t count the number of times I felt so mentally or emotionally drained and then went for a run and felt like the skies opened up. Don’t get me wrong, running can suck. But after, generally everything feels at least a little bit better. The most important thing about mindful exercise is to never be ashamed of how much you exercise or when or what you do. When you get rid of shame and make exercise about finding what works for you and what makes you feel better, it can be one of the fastest ways to shake off bad vibes.

5. Take 10 minutes to do nothing

I have a love/hate relationship with this practice. As a person, I am so focused on max efficiency and productivity and exploration and interaction and I love to go, go, go. Doing nothing for 10 minutes feels like such a waste. I could’ve texted a friend, watched a video, played a song, done some homework, or even ran 1.3 miles in that time. But, when you really stop and do nothing for 10 minutes (no checking phone!), something amazing happens. You can actually hear yourself think for once. You feel relaxed and at peace. You don’t feel the pressure of work or family life or the internet. It’s just you.

I hope these practices were helpful and encourage you to begin your mindfulness journey. Patience is key with all of these and make sure to give yourself plenty of grace if they don’t feel natural or like they’re “working” at first. Feel free to check out other mindfulness techniques such as these ones if you want more options as well.

Hi. Here we are. I just have to take a moment to reflect on and acknowledge the crazy reality that is everyone’s life right now.

My breath caught in my throat when I looked at the tagline of my blog, “An exploration into finding and pursuing the moments that spark a zest for life.” The background picture of mountains behind seemed particularly ironic as I realized I’d have to start doing this from my couch.

I am an extrovert and I love socializing with people. This reality is going to be very, very hard for me. But I have to trust that I can do hard things. Most importantly, I have to put the same energy into finding things that spark a zest for life in my house that I did in the outside world, but also give myself grace if I don’t have the energy on certain days.

So, in the spirit of finding the beauty and fun in ordinary things, this blog will be a list of my favorite documentaries that should be fun, informative, and great to watch with the family.

1. The Dawn Wall (2017)

I absolutely love climbing and anything outdoorsy so I may be a little biased, but this is one of my favorite documentaries of all time. This film follows the journey of Tommy Caldwell as he plots, plans, and executes the scaling of the Dawn Wall on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. The sheer determination and overcoming of adversity demonstrated in this documentary is inspiring and empowering to watch, and is a great champion of teamwork and setting goals. If this sounds too cheesy or you’re not really a climbing fan, fear not, this story line is full of twist and turns that don’t fully involve climbing, from losing a finger to getting taken hostage in Kyrgyzstan.

(Available on Netflix)

2. Expedition Happiness (2017)

Far and wide less known than the above documentary, this little low-budget documentary follows German film director Felix Starck and his girlfriend, Selima Taibi across North America in a refurbished school bus. Everything about this film, from the premise to the travel to the tiny house to the sense of wanderlust and beautiful scenery, makes this such an interesting and fun watch. Seeing all the jaw-dropping places they travel, and their mostly carefree attitude just makes me feel happy and excited for life.

(Available on Netflix)

3. Feminists: What Were They Thinking? (2018)

Compared to the two above, this is a more informative, activist documentary that follows the second wave of feminism in the 1970s and the role, expectations, and realities of women in our culture today. Featuring famous female artists and activists such as Judy Chicago, Jane Fonda, and Gloria Steinham, this film dives into complex topics such as identity, race, abortion, and motherhood.

(Available on Netflix)

4. The True Cost (2015)

Directed by Andrew Morgan, “The True Cost” follows the fashion industry and the mode of production across the globe to evaluate the “true cost” of harmful fast fashion trends and the ethical questions they pose. Perspectives from environmentalists, garment workers, factory owners, and many others are included in this documentary, and the overall emphasis surrounds raising awareness about the dangers of fast fashion and promoting sustainable clothing production. This truly opened my eyes to this issue and altered the brands and corporations I personally give my business to.

(Available on YouTube and Amazon Prime for $3.99)

I hope at least some of these options look interesting to you and if they don’t, I encourage you to reach out and ask friends, family, and the internet for fun suggestions that get you excited.

I genuinely feel that it’s choosing to continue to find little things that spark joy and inspire happiness that will help get us all through this time. It’s a message I really need to hear and take to heart.

Every day is a new clean slate full of promise and opportunity.

I am a big nature nut, and I love all things hiking, biking, skiing, or anything related to outdoor exercise. My whole family is very outdoorsy, and part of why I love nature activities so much is it’s a great way for my family to bond and spend quality time together. Normally when I get the itch to hike, I just go somewhere local and do small hikes in the forest with my family or friends. However, my favorite nature experiences have been on big trips, like the four-day backpacking trip I did in Colorado three summers ago. On the grander scale, these are the four national parks I’d love to explore at some point in my life.

1. Banff in Alberta, Canada

Banff is indisputably at the top of my hiking bucket list and what I envision when I think of paradise. With craggy mountains, crystal blue rivers, and fresh green pine and spruce trees, Banff is the picture of beauty and I’m sure at night the view of the stars is absolutely breathtaking. The plan would be to go in the summer and go water rafting, hiking, fishing, and canoeing.

2. Denali in Alaska

Of all the states in the United States, the one I’d most like to visit currently is Alaska. I’ve heard it’s important to go at specific times of the year when the weather is most favorable, and daylight lasts longer than a couple hours. Knowing that, a trip to Denali National Park in the height of summer would be a dream. Denali also has the awe-inspiring craggy mountain peaks, but the wildlife is the biggest draw for me. Moose, sheep, reindeer, and lots of grizzly bears can all be found in the national park. I’d love to see a bear, but definitely at a safe, respectable distance, on the side farthest away from its baby.

3. Redwood in California

Redwood National Park has a different landscape and appeal than the first two national parks I mentioned. Covered in gigantic redwood trees, the park consists of more than 200 miles of trails that weave through prairies, forests, and beaches. The oldest living redwood trees are around 2,000-2,200 years old which is just incredible to think about. Growing up in Belgium, one of my favorite things to do was hike in the Forêt de Soignes, which is where my love of beautiful forests originated.

4. The Grand Canyon in Arizona

The Grand Canyon has been on my national parks list for a while now and that’s primarily because my parents and their friends like to hike the entire canyon in three days during the summer. They go “rim-to-rim” and hike 22 miles down the first day, rest a day, and then hike 23 miles out the third day. I’d love to train and do it with them one summer and experience the beauty of all the different parts of the canyon that many people don’t get to see.

I hope this list inspired a little wanderlust in you and encouraged you to enjoy the natural beauty in your own environment. The world is full of so many spectacular sights and experiences, and I can’t wait to continue to explore them.

One of my favorite joys in life is traveling. I supposed I contracted the travel bug when I lived overseas in Brussels, Belgium in my preteen years and spent my spare time driving and flying over Europe with my family. It sounds impressive, but just from a practical standpoint, it’s a whole lot easier to visit a new country on the weekend when Belgium is a 50-minute drive straight across versus the eight hours it takes in some cases to get out the state of Texas alone. Because of my previous life circumstances, I’ve had the opportunity to see a good chunk of Western Europe, so this blog will focus on my future travel goals and places I want to see other places around the world.

1. New Zealand

I feel like Australia gets all the attention when it comes to the Southern/Eastern hemisphere, but to me, New Zealand seems like the safer, prettier version of Australia. I should clarify that I have never actually been to either so take it with a grain of salt! However, I’ve done my research, and the world’s ten deadliest animals can all be found in Australia, so I feel compared to that, the breathtaking mountains and rivers sound like the perfect, non-deadly location.

2. Iceland

All thirteen transatlantic flights I took from the U.S. to Belgium over the course of four years all flew over Iceland, and each time I’d watch the blue little dot that represented our plane inch over the landmass on the plane screen and wished we could take a little pitstop (a planned one, not a sudden, unexpected one). I am a huge nature lover and lover of natural beauty, so in my eyes, with its geysers, volcanoes, hot springs, and lava fields, Iceland is a must see before I die destination. Seeing the Northern Lights has been on my bucket list as well.

3. Israel

Some of my best family friends are from Israel, and I have met so many wonderful Israeli people over the course of my life I would be honored to see their home. From a historical and religious standpoint, Jerusalem would be the trip of a lifetime, seeing the influences of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism intermixed in that holy city. My friends are all from Tel Aviv and so exploring that city would be part of my ideal trip too.

4. Brazil

I feel like I’ve been lucky enough in my life to do a lot of traveling but it’s mostly been in the northern hemisphere, and I’ve never really gone down past the equator. I know just seeing one South American country wouldn’t be able to capture the full continent, but I would love to see Brazil and specifically Rio de Janeiro. Experiencing that culture and food would be an incredible opportunity and though I feel it would be easy to fall into certain tourist traps, seeing the Christ the Redeemer statue is a must.

5. Singapore

I have not yet been to any Asian country, and I feel my status as world traveler is severely taking a hit because of it. Singapore is the Eastern hub of design, innovation, and shipping, full of cities of architectural awe and natural beauty as well. The movie “Crazy Rich Asians” was filmed in Singapore and most of the incredible scenes from that movie are easily recognizable landmarks in the city. I included it at the end because if everything goes well, this summer I will be doing a maymester in Singapore with my engineering design class! I’m so excited!

I hope you enjoyed my list of travel destinations I would love to explore in the future. I would encourage you to make your own and try and manifest them into a reality. You never know what the future holds, and maintaining travel dreams can be a great way to keep an open-mind and remain optimistic about the future.

I feel the blogs I have done in the past have slowly but surely shown different aspects of my personality through demonstrating tips about things I like to do or am passionate about. This blog is no different and will specifically introduce and expand upon one of my favorite character traits: humor. My sense of humor has changed and adapted over the years, but at its core, it centers on cleverness, creativity, and satire. I’ve had people tell me I have a very deadpanned, dry sense of intellectual humor but I also am a sucker for a good fart joke occasionally, so honestly, I’m pretty eclectic. I love memes, and one of my favorite sources of internet laughs is Twitter. So, here are my top seven favorite tweets of all time (that I could readily find).

1. This is the peak intellectual, tongue-in-cheek tweet. Simple, elegant, and worthy of an appreciative chuckle, this tweet shows culture, taste, and an ability to combine the modern with the classic.

2. One of my absolute favorite brands of humor is when two unlikely, completely unrelated things are combined to create an overall product that just elicits an involuntary guffaw based on its sheer ridiculousness and creativity. In this instance it’s household objects inserted in place of real, luxury items in a broken car. Not the most intellectual, but gets the job done.

3. This tweet exemplifies what I like to call the “second-hand relatable story-time” tweet. Essentially, it tells a funny story that in of itself is worth a small giggle, but the pièce de résistance is the fact that most of us probably cannot actually relate to this tweet on a personal level, but it is totally something we can see happening, so the story is not only funny but plausible as well.

4. This is a classic example of an intellectual, well-crafted roast that finds its humor in its accuracy. It’s the kind of tweet where after reading it, I just want to find the woman who tweeted it and give her a high-five and ask how her day was. I don’t even feel bad about laughing because I think we all know too many men who speak over women so sorry fellas you were asking for it.

5. I love The Office. That TV show inherently functions as a solid 40% of my humor and has for the past four years or so. The woman who tweeted this gem, Mindy Kaling, played Kelly in The Office, a boy-crazy employee who had a fling with Ryan, who is pictured in this gif. It’s almost a joke inside a joke because the concept of the misfortune of hooking up with someone the day before Valentine’s Day as well as the actress herself providing commentary work together to create a quick snort.

6. This is just another example of the short and sweet, wacky humor tweet that I really enjoy. The faux outrage over something completely ridiculous that is just soaked in irony and fake naivety resonates so much with me. Pro tip: this humor works best with a completely deadpanned delivery and innocent expression.

7. First off, I am from Houston, Texas so I have a completely normal, healthy, gigantic obsession with JJ Watt, Texans Defensive end and overall hometown hero. Watt happens to be engaged to my other favorite Houstonian sports legend, Kealia Ohai, who used to (☹) play for the Houston Dash soccer team. In this tweet, King JJ calls out the blatant sexism from the media outlet that reported on Ohai’s recent trade. Biting and direct, yet still respectful, this tweet demands higher standards and I started clapping when I first read it.

I hope you enjoyed my tweets and got a good laugh out of at least some of them! Humor is incredibly important, and I hope you have a fun dose of it mixed into your daily life to keep things light and interesting.

We all have our YouTube guilty pleasure videos. For some, it’s new celebrity music videos or their vlogger of choice or even people making slime. For me, I really enjoy a series GQ magazine does called “Ten Essentials” where celebrities, usually artists or athletes, present their top ten essentials, or objects they use every day and can’t live without. Now, I consider myself a minimalist or at least am striving to be more that way, so the concept of having the same ten essentials consistently is interesting. I also love watching survival videos and am the kind of person who if asked if they were dropped anywhere in the world and could only have ten essentials would deadpanned say “a jug of water, 10 m of rope, duct tape” etc. But, outside of survival mode, here are my real ten essentials that I use daily.

1. Phone

Ahh it’s so cheesy and I hate that I’m so dependent, but it’s true. Mostly for communication purposes, my phone is used throughout the entire day to coordinate, plan, and stay connected. Occasionally it’s used for meme purposes as well and keeping in touch with old friends. I keep a little stick on wallet on the back of my phone and that is also part of the essential.

2. Headphones and Spotify app

I absolutely love music and end up listening to at least a couple songs every day. Headphones are critical so I can listen while doing homework or in public spaces. The Spotify app is probably my favorite app ever, and the accessibility to such a vast amount of music brightens up my day and increases productivity at times.

3. Hard-copy book

Reading has always been one of my favorite pastimes and I’ve read at least 30 minutes before bed since I first learned how to read. The first semester of college caught me off my reading for pleasure game a little bit, but I’m back on the reading before bed habit. While I do have a kindle, something about looking forward to holding a physical book in my hands and enjoying whatever story I’m reading at the time really brings me joy. I go through books pretty fast, so the toughest part about this essential is probably discovering new great books to read and getting them into my hands. I am currently picking through a compilation of Emily Dickinson’s poems and am really enjoying it.

4. Bullet Journal

I was skeptical about bullet journaling at first, but once I started June 2018, I never really looked back. From making lists, to drawing, to writing quotes, and anything and everything in between, bullet journaling is a great way to reflect and explore a creative outlet. Though I don’t journal every day, I would definitely consider it one of my essentials.

5. Water bottle

Of all the essentials, this one is probably most important. I always try and make sure I carry around a water bottle with me because if I don’t, I know I just won’t drink at all. When I used to live in Texas, I would get dehydrated and I actually fainted a couple times, so the omnipresent water bottle is a must. Also, if it’s decorated with fun stickers, it can act as a great icebreaker with the people around you.

6. Garmin watch

The Garmin watch serves two real purposes; tell the time and track distances and mile splits. My watch helps me keep track of my busy life and makes sure I’m on time for various activities. More interestingly though, its GPS functioning allows me to go on campus runs or hikes and get an accurate reading on the distance I’ve travelled as well as my mile time. This watch is a key component of increasing my will and ability to work out.

7. Deck of cards

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I love playing games, especially cards. I always have a deck of cards on me when I travel and many layovers have been passed by playing spades, hearts, and go fish. Even without a partner or group of people, I enjoy playing solitaire and a deck of cards is a great way to stop boredom without resorting to technology. My friend got me a cool deck of cards from Japan and so that’s the one I am currently playing with.

8. Chapstick, gum, hair-tie

I am not much of a makeup or cosmetics girl, so my getting ready, personal items consist of Chapstick, gum, and a hair-tie. Incorporating Chapstick into my daily routine has been a life saver, especially in this dry, cold Pennsylvania weather, and gum just makes everything feel fresher. Whether I’m playing a 90-minute game of soccer, accessorizing an outfit, or about to sit down and dominate an ordinary and partial differential equation exam, a hair-tie enables me to get to business and unleash my inner boss girl.

9. Glasses/Sunglasses

I got normal glasses about a year ago so I could see the board in the classroom, and they are slowly moving up on my essentials list as I realize I am gradually becoming dependent on them to see far things clearly at all. So, stay tuned, contacts might end up being on my next essentials list! When I’m not wearing my glasses and it’s sunny out, I like to throw on some cool shades that I got for Christmas three years ago that cost a total of like $12. Between my cheap shades and Chapstick/gum/hair-tie strategy I am truly on my way to becoming a full fashion icon.

10. ID/key

This one is kind of boring and adultish but I always try and have some form of ID on me, whether it’s a driver’s license or PSU ID. The key is absolutely critical in that I cannot get into my dorm without it so no key = sleep in study lounge.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my ten essentials list and hope they’re not too boring or mundane. Making a list like this one for yourself can be a great way to reevaluate which objects are important in your life and which ones are more superfluous.

I feel obligated to start off by saying this upcoming blog is a little nerdy. My family and extended family absolutely love playing board games together. Every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter function act as the perfect opportunity to introduce a new, complex game or assert dominance over a previous household favorite. I can actually remember certain family events based solely off which board games were in fashion at that period of time. Christmas 2009? Oh yeah, that was the year of Forbidden Island. Easter 2012? Canasta made a reappearance after years of waiting in the shadows following its height of fame in the mid-2000s. My grandma taught me to play cards at the ripe age of six and I’ve been playing ever since. So, when I tell you my top three picks for best board games ever, trust me, you’re talking to an expert.

1. Settlers of Catan

This game is unequivocally, hands-down my favorite board game of all time. The general idea is that through probability, skill, and dice you acquire resources which you then use to build roads, settlements, and cities, dominating the game board and emerging victorious once you reach a certain point of development relative to the other players. Full of moving pieces and parts, and involving bartering, stealing, and strategizing, this game requires intellect, patience, risk, and cunning. If this game doesn’t tear your family apart first, it is sure to bring you closer. My grandma practically refused to serve my uncle dessert after he stole all her resources, and I’m pretty sure my mom was rethinking her whole “no favorite child” policy after my sister built a settlement on her road. Overall, this game is fun, interesting, and a great brain exercise, one I’m always up to play. Except I get to be the blue pieces. Always.

2. Dominion

To be perfectly transparent, Dominion is equally as nerdy as Settlers. Dominion involves cards, actions, coins, and the premise surrounds acquiring resources in the form of land titles to win the game. Not to be overly dramatic, but between the years of 2009-2013, I have probably logged over 100 hours playing this game with my family. Once we got everybody sat down around the large circular table, the only way to judge time was by the height of the sun shining through the window and the amount of Dr. Pepper and Diet Cokes consumed. So, though I cannot tell you precisely how long it is in minutes, I can assure you with a good deal of confidence that the average game lasts about 2.5 Diet Cokes. The course of the game is also entirely dependent on which cards are chosen to be involved in the game play at a given round, so there are essentially endless variations of the game.

3. Forbidden Island

If you haven’t caught on to the theme yet, I am happy to assure you that Forbidden Island also resides within the vein of board games that can be classified as endlessly complicated and indisputably nerdy. After reading the instructions a grand total of seven times, the goal of the game was deduced to be rescuing trinkets related to the four elements off a sinking island and then helicoptering them out through the use of group collaboration, two full decks of cards, and special actions related to specific players. The game is literally so hard to win that every single player is forced to openly collaborate with one another because it is impossible to win alone. As I name-dropped above, this game is arguably the one that started it all. One of my cousins got it for Christmas around 2009 and that kick started a now decade long tradition of extended family game play. After unwrapping the large, clunky box and setting it up on the dining room table, the other fifteen people in the house slowly gravitated towards it, Grandma coming from the kitchen, Grandpa from tinkering in his garage, the little kids from being glued to the TV, and the adults from reading or working. The age gap ranged around 60+ years and we all had different interests, abilities, and even reading levels at that point, but in that moment, we had found something that we all equally loved doing: playing a freaking hard game and winning.

I hope at least one of these games sounds interesting and you can start your own family or friend traditions by playing them. Next time you’re at an awkward family gathering or everyone seems to be addicted to technology, pull up some chairs and get a good old game of Settlers going.