Coming Attractions: December

{the adorable and seasonally-appropriate desktop from Oana Befort decking my computer screen}

Well, thanks for sticking with me through the month of November, because that one sure was a doozie (side note: is it spelled "doozie"? or it is "doozy"? The Internet is telling me two different things!). 

So after living through what turned out to be both the busiest and most rewarding month of my life - Elected to Panhellenic! Got a new GLittle! Aced most of my midterms! Conquered NaNoWriMo! - I'm winding things down now by heading into Finals, and will soon enough be venturing back to Tacoma once more once Winter Break gets here next week. I can't WAIT to get back to tons of reading, cooking, and generally enjoying the wealth of flex room in my schedule that occurs when I no longer have to contend with things like... group papers (*shudder*). 

But the return of Reading Time and all the joy, warmth, and wonderment of the Freezin' Season aren't the only things that are making me happy this season: the end of December is going to bring about the End of an Era. What that means exactly, I'm not ready to tell just yet. Just bear in mind, big changes are a comin'... 

DECEMBER HIGHLIGHTS

{Nothing Sweeter than a Sigma Kay, am I right?, NaNoWriMo Writing Station during Midterms, Photographic evidence of my sushi fixation} 

• My College Fashion posts this month: 
• A Wrinkle in Time
• A Series of Unfortunate Events

• My NaNoWriMo progress reports from the field: 
• My Dad is the Best, My Brain Hurts, and We're Just Getting Started
• Holy Setback, Batman, and I'm On Top of the World
• I've Written Over 50,000 Words, and Probably 30,000 Were Run-On Sentences

these are a few of my favorite links...

1. From Buzzfeed, a pretty extensive list of 33 book recommendations based on popular movie favorites. I haven't read (or watched) a lot of these before, so it's giving me some pretty great ideas for what to do with my Winter Break!
2. I'm feeling some residual NYC wanderlust after watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade, so here's a great list from Refinery 29 about 10 Great NYC Bars and the Books to Get Caught Reading in Them.
3. I'm so sad I'm just finding out about this AMAZING Kickstarter now! But at least I know that the company's doing well... and that I can put plenty of their super-sweet temporary tattoos on my Christmas List! 
4. I was pretty pumped to stumble across this Buzzfeed list - of 20 Debut Writers Under 40 You Should Be Reading - and even more so to see that I had some personal faves on the list as well! 
5. But back to that Christmas List thing: make sure to check out Paddywax's line of Library Candles, with signature scents inspired by the works of various classic authors, including Jane Austen (gardenia, tuberose, and jasmine), Leo Tolstoy (black plum, persimmon, and oak moss), and Mark Twain (tobacco flower and vanilla). 

quote of the month

As 2014 winds down, I've been having a lot of second thoughts about the amount of growing I've done in the past year... but what it comes down to, is the fact that I know I've accomplished a lot. I don't need anyone else's recognition of that.