I Ate a Doughnut in Under a Minute

Hi y'all!

Remember me? I know it's been a full week (apologies). Last week I promised a round-up of sorts, of all the things I've been lovin' over the past month. It's a long list, so let's get right into it!

As I've mentioned previously, YouTube has recently and quickly become my latest obsession. I love that we live in the era of social media where we can blog to our viewers directly and let them see into our lives through the power of video. We can communicate like never before so incredibly directly that it feels like we are a part of that someone's life, even if you've never met that person. YouTube has opened up a whole new era of self-branding and I, for one, love it.

One of my favorite YouTubers right now is JAROD ZSZ, or Jarod Majeika, who is actually a friend of mine from high school! He's Vine famous, with over 165K followers on Vine, and then as of late he has branched out into YouTube videos and has been doing pretty well, all things considered. It's one thing to see all these incredibly famous YouTubers out in the world who also are working red carpet events and traveling the globe all the time, but it's another to see someone from your own hometown reaching out to his or her followers and connecting. I've been absolutely loving his videos, they're hysterical, you should check them out! I've included the link here.

Other things I've taken away from YouTube? Anyone who watched Tyler Oakley knows that once a month he recommends something new on NatureBox. What IS NatureBox, you ask? NatureBox is a snack subscription service that sends you a box of snacks once a month. Each box comes with a variety of snacks that you get to choose and they're all incredibly healthy. You have tons of options, whether you're looking for vegan snacks to gluten-free to low in sodium and high in vitamin C. I'm LOVING the dark cocoa nom noms (yes, they are called nom noms). I'm absolutely addicted. It's a pretty cool service, I recommend checking it out if you're into healthy snacking and also the beauty of shopping through the internet. Here's the link if you're interested.

There's another line of products I've been meaning to talk about for awhile now, and haven't ever brought up. As you can probably tell, I tend to gravitate towards a life of healthy options (at least, I've been trying to!) I've taken up yoga, I've become vegetarian, and I'm now considering going vegan. But something almost no one ever brings up is skincare and hygienic products. We worry so much about what is going into our bodies and how we treat our bodies, that we don't often look at what we are cleaning our bodies with. If you look at a bottle of shampoo nowadays, I bet you $20 you couldn't read the entire list of ingredients out loud (don't try at home; you might hurt yourself). It's kind of sickening to think of the number of chemicals we put onto our skin. But there ARE alternatives: natural products such as homemade soaps and shampoos, which can often be purchased from farmer's markets and online boutiques. My aunt has launched a business into this line of product and as a avid fan of her soaps, I can highly recommend. Shepherd's Harvest is managed from her home and all the products are made right in her kitchen (I've even helped in the past!) My faves? The Onyx Detox and Pumpkin Spice soaps, and the Glossy Lip Balm are amazing (the onyx detox clears up acne like no other). Wanna purchase? Link's here.

Other cool things: ONE DIRECTION'S NEW SONG/ALBUM. (Excuse the fangirling.) They're dropping their new album a couple of days before my birthday and I am SO excited. The new song is fabulous. I'm not even a little ashamed.

Speaking of music... Top 5 songs for the week!

1. Thinking Out Loud // Ed Sheeran
2. I'm Not The Only One // Sam Smith
3. Animals // Maroon 5
4. Flaws // Bastille
5. Out of the Woods // Taylor Swift

More cool things: ya girl is doing a room makeover! Around this time of the semester I get into this slump of being bored with my life (even though my life is far from boring). Room makeovers breathe some new life into my stressed out and overworked mind. Plus, it's just fun to redecorate/rearrange your room. Who knows? I might even do a blog post on it! 

There are a few other things that I really wish I could talk about right now, but I'm going to wait on because they're still in the works and once they're finalized I'll definitely spill the beans. One of them mayyy involve me *actually* launching my YouTube channel... More to come. I promise. 

I also wish I had some photos for you this week, but sadly the ones I'm looking for aren't online yet. Once my friends upload the photos to Facebook I'll post 'em here. I have TONS of photos from HA Field Day, which was this past Sunday and was an incredible day. I ate a doughnut in under a minute and was the top of a human pyramid, need I say more? 

I'm just now realizing that I talked about a ton of random things in this blog post and there was no cohesive structure and it's basically just me rambling... Oh well. Some weeks I'm organized and put together, other weeks I'm all over the place and busy beyond belief (aka this week). I literally almost walked out of my apartment wearing two different shoes this morning. It's just been that kind of week.

I really don't have too much else to talk about right now, but by the end of this week hopefully I can talk a bit more about the projects I have under wraps. 

Until then, love y'all, bye!