Insert Cheesy Title About Life Happening While You Make Other Plans

Life is so weird, isn’t it?

I’ve been especially introspective this past week because it’s been one whole year since I graduated from college*. At the time, I thought I’d move back to California, give myself about a week or two to settle in and get some job applications out, and then BOOM—land a great job immediately. That’s it, I’d be set, piece of cake. No stress or rejection, no uncertainties. Boy oh boy, was I wrong.

* Where has my youth gone?!!?!

I don’t really know what gave me such a sense of entitlement. Sure, I have an overactive imagination and sure, I can be too optimistic at times, but I was honestly shocked when I wasn’t hearing back from all of these companies that I had submitted myself to. That shock very quickly turned into anxiety, followed by a dangerous cocktail of anger and defeat. Then I just thought that nobody would ever hire me and I’d be living at home forever with student debt up to my eyeballs. And then I turned a corner and got lazy. (I was honestly such a nightmare to deal with and I think I had my whole family wishing I would go back to Chicago.)

Ambassador For a Day

It’s almost October and hockey is back! Still only preseason, but we’re so close. I’ve been very excited about this season in particular—not only because I desperately need the most recent memories of the Sharks to be washed away forever, but also because I’m back in San Jose and I can actually watch games live and on TV at normal times.

Plenty of Sharks fans, including myself, were welcomed back to SAP Center with open arms Saturday with the first-ever Sharks Fan Fest and an evening game against the Ducks. Though the first preseason game at The Tank was Friday night, this felt like the true kickoff to the season.

I had been looking forward to Fan Fest since the Sharks announced the festivities a few months ago and snagged tickets the day they went live. Then, on Friday night, the Sharks tweeted that they needed somebody to be their “fan ambassador” for the following day, meaning they needed someone to tweet his or her experience throughout the Fan Fest. Being that I love social media and Twitter probably just as much as I love hockey, I jumped at the opportunity and I was selected! So if you follow me on any avenue of social media, you heard a lot from me this weekend.

My New Boyfriend Wears French Braids: A Summation of the Emmys

The Emmys were last night! Some things happened, some people won awards, but most importantly, Cary Joji Fukunaga and I fell in love. I hope. Please? No? Fine. I had no idea who he was before he won Outstanding Director-Drama, but I’ve spent a good amount of time researching him since then and now I’m just sure we’d get on swimmingly. I thought Kit Harrington had stolen the mandoo (a male updo, so says Pinterest) scene for the evening, but then Cary won and we all got to bask in the glory of his French braids–into it.

courtesy of Vulture

I consumed approximately 4 hours and 45 minutes of Emmy programming that didn’t involve mandoos, though, so let’s get to that stuff also. Here are some of my best and worst moments of the night.

courtesy of Huffington Post

No Nip Slips, A Lot of Shade, and Blue: The 2014 MTV VMAs

Fewer things get me more excited than award shows. To think about so much star power in one room coming together to celebrate great accomplishments and party their heads off makes my heart race. So one can imagine that with the VMAs last night and the Emmys tonight, it’s a big 48 hours for my blood pressure and me.

Granted, the VMAs aren’t really on the same level as the Emmys, Golden Globes, Oscars and the like, but something good happens every year. At the very least, the outfits don’t disappoint.

Last night’s show was a little lackluster, though. Bey slayed, duh. Taylor Swift danced like a fool, duh. JLo looked better than all of the 20-something stars, duh. Here’s my recap of the best and worst moments of the night anyway, just for good measure.

#hellyesiatethat

A new Instagram account has been brought to my attention called “You Did Not Eat That,” in which an anonymous person who has worked in fashion and media for 10 years reposts photos from fashion bloggers and women on Instagram that involve food. They could be pictures of the woman “pretending to eat” a cupcake, posing with macaroons, or just pictures of food on a plate, uneaten. This anonymous blogger captions each of them, “#youdidnoteatthat” accompanied by some other snarky remark, usually about the woman’s body. One caption reads, “Nothing says ‘box of cookies’ like a 6 inch thigh gap. Apparently when she’s not taking pictures of her legs @rosielondoner isn’t eating cookies and Starbucks.”

In an interview she recently did with New York Magazine’s The Cut, this blogger claims that she is not thin-shaming. It definitely reads as thin-shaming to me, and I find the whole concept to be childish and rude.  It brings up a much bigger issue for me, something that has bothered me for a long time. I’ve always been afraid to say anything about it because I know it will come with a lot of jeers and criticism, but I don’t care at this point because I’m so riled up.

Me & The Goat

Last week was not a great one for me. It was kind of a series of unfortunate events, I wasn’t feeling like myself at all, I worked a ton; it just wasn’t a good one for me. Whenever I feel myself in the middle of a crappy week like that (thankfully they don’t happen often), I vow to carry out the rest of the bad week in bad form and then leave it behind. Let the past be the past, no need to rehash it or let it linger. Move on.

So that’s what I did on Monday. It was a new day, a new week, a holiday even! Last week, I had sort of stumbled upon a reservation at Girl & the Goat at a normal dinner hour (anything between 6 & 8 PM is usually pretty impossible) for Monday, and I snagged it up without even thinking twice. So I gave myself something to look forward to and it was the perfect way to wash out last week.

*I tried my hardest to make this post sound nothing like a Yelp review because I detest Yelp, buuuut it kind of came out like a Yelp review. Ugh. This is the first food post I’m doing, though, so practice makes perfect(ly not like Yelp reviews).

Bye, Buzz-o

Today the world lost the best dog it has ever seen. The standard “loyal companion” does not even scratch the surface of what Buzz meant to me, my dad, my family, and everyone who loved him. Sure I’m biased, but Buzzy was the best behaved, most intelligent dog I have ever come into contact with in my life, and I was so lucky to call him mine. He had the sweetest disposition. My heart is broken knowing that he’s gone from our lives, but I’m happy he’s moved on to a new puppy adventure.

Sharks Grant a Wish

It’s no secret that I love hockey and the San Jose Sharks. Aside from being my home team and my favorite team, I’ve always felt like the organization is comprised of really great, stand-up people.

My feelings were fully legitimized yesterday, as the Sharks signed 18-year-old Sam Tageson to a one-day contract, granting his lifelong wish to be a member of the team. Sam has been dealing with a serious heart condition that could be life-threatening. It’s always been his dream to play hockey with the Sharks, and yesterday he got that opportunity with the help of the Sharks Foundation and Make-A-Wish.

I Need This

I’m posting this now because I have a real blog post coming soon and I don’t want that to get buried because of this.

But it would be wildly remiss of me to not post this at all, because it is perfect and I need it.

What Connects Us

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been enamored of celebrities and pop culture. To say that I’m obsessed would be a gross understatement.

While many young girls don’t get into the teenybopper magazines until they’re young teens, my walls were plastered with *NSYNC and Britney Spears posters by the time I was seven years old. I read all of the articles, took all of the quizzes about which member of 98 Degrees would be my soulmate (I just cheated so the answer was always Drew Lachey) and tried to copy all of Mandy Moore’s outfits. I was hooked right away. My love and outright fixation with celebrity culture has spanned more than a decade at this point, so it’s safe to say that it won’t fade out any time soon.