Not Drinking in College

This is a video that has been a really long time coming.  I know that this was something I was really nervous about when I was first heading off to college; if you've followed this blog from the beginning, then you know that it was a main topic in many of my early posts.  I am, however, very proud of the fact that I was able to stick to my guns and made it through college without drinking.

Basically, this video covers everything I wish someone had told me back when I was getting ready to go to college.  Hopefully some of you will find this helpful and if you have any other questions, please leave me a comment and I'll see about answering it!

Friday Feature: Simply Emily's Designs

Emily is a fellow YouTuber who I've been watching for almost two years now.  She recently decided to start a little Etsy shop full of adorable bookmarks, and I immediately knew I wanted to feature her video explaining her new business venture. They look like really great quality and like a fun, colorful way to keep track of your reading.

Check out Simply Emily's Designs here.

Visit her YouTube Channel here.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

A Week in Review: SF Adventures

Friday Feature: May Favorites

Happy Valentine's Day!

Friday Feature: January Favorites

Friday Feature: My Body Image

If any of you spend a lot of time haunting different corners of the Internet, you might already know that last week on Tumblr was declared Body Confidence Week.  I personally wish that I had known about this when it was going on, because it is the perfect transition into another new series I will be starting next week.  It will be called College Confidence, and it is inspired by the tradition of self-improvement New Year's resolutions.
Rather than trying to explain this new series, I will just leave you with this well-spoken video from the YouTube vlogger MorganPaigeLoves.  Hopefully this will not only prime you for some of the topics I be writing about, but that you will truly listen to the beautiful things she has to say about being a human being.

Friday Feature: Barton Hollow

I have to admit that I feel a bit bad about this Friday Feature.  I first heard "Barton Hollow" on New Year's Eve when hanging out with a friend and was instantly hooked by the bluesy, sexy sound of The Civil Wars.  I promptly went home, bought the song, and haven't been able to stop listening to it since.  I already know that this will be my favorite song of the month.

However, I feel bad about introducing you guys to this amazing song given that The Civil Wars have all but officially disbanded.  Apparently the two singers are having some internal feud and its doubtful whether or not they'll be "getting back together."

"Barton Hollow" is an amazing song nonetheless, and I hope you guys enjoy.  Happy Friday!

Friday Feature: Matt's Dorm Room

Happy Friday, lovely people!  I've decided to try a bit of a series of features here on the blog, and as it conveniently happens to be Friday, I'm calling it Friday Features.  Yep, I am just that talented.

For the first feature, I would like to introduce you to my lovely friend Matt.  He's a junior here at school and he's a resident advisor (RA) in my old dorm.  He has his own YouTube channel, MattNazario, where he makes videos about college life and traveling and whatever else strikes his fancy.  He's got a super funny, quirky way of putting things, so I'd highly suggest checking him out.

Anyways, for those of you who have followed the blog for a while you know that I attempted a few different decoration ideas during my time in the dorms, which you can find here.  Once I moved in with my grandparents I also decorated that room, and I think it's safe to say that my decorative skills have definitely improved.

But I have nothing on Matt.  He's a three-time dorm room survivor, and his room always looks fantastic!  After weeks of bugging him about it, last week he uploaded a tour of said amazing dorm room, which you can find above.  I'm still in awe.

Do you guys have any tips for decorating a small/dorm room?

October Wrap Up & Favorites

Yes, I will be taking a bit of a break from "Booktube" for the next month or so in order to focus a bit more on school.  Wondering this is suddenly necessary?  Refer to yesterday's post.  However, writing up and creating images for blog posts does not take half the time of planning, filming, and editing a video, so expect plenty of content here!

What have you guys been reading and loving this past month?

September Favorites

Senior Retreat

This past weekend, I was lucky enough to go on retreat with my academic program to the beautiful Applegate in the Sierra Foothills of California.  We stayed at the Jesuit Retreat Center and it was an absolutely magical place.  The buildings were of fairly modern construction, yet simple enough to really feel as though we were getting a "natural" experience (if that makes any sense).

They had a little chapel on site, along with a recreation/cafeteria building, a gathering hall, and a few different dormitories.

We were only there for one full day, so we really tried to cram a lot of activities in.  We began the day with some guided meditation and reflection and then headed out to enjoy the great outdoors.  We started off playing kickball...

A few members of our group had been on retreats there before, and planned on leading the rest of us on a short hike to visit the local river.  We were all packed and excited, when a random thunderstorm decided to descend on us!

We ended up sucking it up and going on a short walk anyways, but our completely soggy shoes forced us to turn back.  We ended the day with a pasta dinner (yes, the food is very good!) and an interesting Japanese film.

Hope you guys enjoy the pictures and video!  Have you taken any weekend trips lately?

August Favorites

A little late, but better than never!

Answering Some Questions!

Back in July I passed 300 subscribers on YouTube!  I know, right?  Currently I am just past 430 subscribers and couldn't possibly feel more amazed and grateful that there are hundreds of people out there who actually enjoy listening to me ramble on about books and life.

Anyways, as a sort of thank-you plus a get-to-know-me, I decided to do a question-and-answer video.  I received quite a few interesting questions and answered them last week in the video above!

In other news, I am heading back to school at the end of the week, which means major packing is getting under way.  I'm thinking about doing a "Tips for Packing for College" post sometime this week, but am leery of promising anything.  You all know what happens when I try and plan ahead for this blog.  And if you don't because you're new here, welcome to the world's most neglected blog.  If this blog was the person I was dating, I would have stood it up hundreds of times now.

With that very strange analogy, I bid you adieu.

June Favorites

I'm going to make this blog worth reading again, I swear!

March Favorites

Finally, here is my March Favorites video!  It actually went up on YouTube a couple of days ago, but it slipped my mind to do a post here.  So, rambling aside, here it is.

I know that I started doing favorites videos so that I could save money/kill the urge to go shopping for everything I find online.  Ironically, I now find myself wanting to spend that money that I've (theoretically) saved on books.  Damn you, Booktube!

Wall Wednesday: Book Collection (Part 3)

Here's the final installment of my book collection tour!  It's official: I have WAY too many books!  I want to say that I should stop buying more, but I also have fallen way behind on young adult reads over the past couple of years, so that's a pretty good excuse to keep buying books, right?

Special announcement for those of you who do not subscribe to me on YouTube.  I am officially a Booktuber!  All this really means is that I will be making videos about books, reading, etc.  I will probably still do a few other kinds of videos to post  here on the blog, but I think my days of free-form blogging/vlogging are over.  I plan on finishing off the two years here at Little Girl, and then stepping away from the blogging world for a while.  Videos are just so much more inspiring for me right now, so I think I'll start going more in that direction instead.

Happy Wall Wednesdays, guys!  Are you reading anything good lately?

Wall Wednesday: My Book Collection (Part 2)

I'm really enjoying being able to use older footage from spring break, because I've been incredibly busy and haven't had time to film (or write) anything new.  Hope you enjoy this quick look at my collection. The final part will be up next week!

Wall Wednesday: My Book Collection (Part 1)

This past weekend, I found out that March is National Reading Month, and decided that I would post a book collection video to commemorate it.  This video caused my first major YouTube struggle: attempting to upload an unnecessarily long video.  So now it's in three parts (and the first barely made it on a Wednesday!)

Over the next two weeks, I'll upload the next two parts (one for each bookshelf).  If you have any suggestions for future reading, or a book collection of your own that you'd like to share, don't hesitate to leave a comment!  I absolutely love reading/watching videos about this sort of thing.

Wall Wednesday: Clement Street Storage Haul

I thought I'd try my hand at an "in person" Wall Wednesday, or at least as close as we can get!  I know I've said this before, but I really cannot believe how many ideas I've been coming up with since starting be a more active YouTuber.  That being said, I have not forgotten that I am a blogger first!  I am planning blog posts such as a book review, pictures from spring break at home, and a long planned and slowly actualized SF Essentials guide!

Get excited, and happy Wall Wednesday!  Any fun decorating or organizing going on in your world?