Life Lately

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Life lately has become quite fast and furious - if you couldn't tell by my radio silence here. Last week and this week have been busy, busy, busy! We taped our January episode of Pitt Tonight, which will hopefully be released tonight or tomorrow. We have been putting a lot into it on the marketing side, which is why I am out and about all the time and don't get home until 9:30. I am not exactly complaining though. I do enjoy being busy, and I love working with all of these different creative people on a new and exciting project on campus.

I have also been attending to my new Downtown internship. I am a newsletter writer and can I say, I feel very adult hopping on the bus in the morning and joining the throngs of suit clad people heading into work in the morning. There's no way they notice that I'm not one of them. :P

We have furthered our talks about Spring Break. We did have a plan set to go to Orlando; however, as we were preparing to commit to the Groupon, we discovered several (bug related) reviews of the hotel and exchanged some uneasy looks. We are no longer traveling to Florida. We are now exploring the idea of roadtripping to NYC for a few days to explore the Big Apple instead. No complaints here.

We are gearing up for this weekend's winter storm. I'm sitting here thinking about all that needs to be done before Winter Storm Jonas' first flakes fall in Pittsburgh because there is no way I am leaving the apartment during.

<3 Ashley

How have you been? Are you hunkering down for the snow?

Pick Up a Good Book

 

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The first thing that I do when I sit down to eat my breakfast in the morning, is open up my laptop and do some reading. I check out theSkimm that is sitting in my inbox that morning (during the week!) and I check out the features on The Everygirl. This morning, the first thing that I read was a piece about finding more time to read in 2016. One of my resolutions for the year was to read more - so far so good.

As I was reading, I thought about all of the times that I have complained about not being able to find time to read. I always say that school gets in the way with all of the paper writing and academic reading. However, that's not the best excuse. I do have the time to read a little every day; that time just gets filled with Netflix binges or wasted hours taking Buzzfeed quizzes.

I know I am not the only one who is guilty of this - all of my roommates and friends have shared the same sentiment. After a day of classes or work, there is so much allure to turning the brain off and tuning in to the television for entertainment. Over the holiday break I started my efforts to bring casual reading back into my routine. I'm currently reading Flappers and Philosophers, a collection of short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald, so what I do is I will read a section or two of whatever story I am on every morning and before I go to bed. Reading in the morning means that I have also resolved to wake up a bit earlier than I would typically so that I can get a good thirty minutes of reading in before I start the rest of my routine.

So far I have been doing a good job of keeping up with this plan. Hopefully it doesn't start fading out!

<3 Ashley

How to do you find time to keep up with your reading list?

Off to the Races

Welcome to 2016 and the beginning of my last semester of school EVER. Cue the panic over adulthood, which is coming at me faster than a train. I'm back to work today and tomorrow I begin a new internship in downtown Pittsburgh and my spring classes. Up until this point I never really noticed how quickly time seemed to be passing. Now, it's a different story.

Now I am very aware of the time. I have only four more months as a student. While I understand that I do not necessarily know what I want to do with my life yet, I do need to formulate a plan. I know I will remain in Pittsburgh through the summer while we still have the lease on our apartment. But then...who knows? I would love to stay in Pittsburgh. The city really has captured my heart over the past three and a half years. I have friends who will be continuing school here who have invited me to get an apartment with them. Great, except I need a job. The job search just seems so daunting at this point. Networking, applying, and interviewing are all at the top of my Least Favorite Words list.

These next few months - when I have the free time! - will be devoted to getting a head start on that job hunt. One of my new year resolutions is to get my life in order and be successful in making those first scary steps into adulthood. The trick is to actually trying to get things started. So...here's to trying.

<3 Ashley

What steps are you taking this year? What are your big picture goals?