What's Going On?! Where Have You Been?!

       Last we spoke I was happy with my school life and heading off to New Orleans for the Katy Perry Prismatic Tour! Today, I sit in my office with far too much homework and an overwhelming feeling of dread and panic. My "easy" semester took off suddenly when my 8-week math course began. Around the same time I also started a new job and moved into my first apartment. Needless to say, blogging, reading, and writing have been the lowest priority on my agenda for about a month now.

       This doesn't mean I'm gone for good, but I did want to check in with you all. I have 3 weeks left of this semester and then I can begin focusing on other projects, such a life, christmas present crafting, and blogging. But in saying that, a lot is changing. I want to push through and make blogging a priority in my life, once again. So come January there will be some great new things rolling out and all of that will be on a new hosting site! As soon as all this information is nailed down I will let you all know. Expect something new for the New Year from Positively Rae!

Until then, you can keep up with me here:

Twitter: @Positivelyrae

Instagram: @positively_rae

xoxo Rae

Recently Added v.1

In the last two weeks I've added 41 songs to my iTunes library. On this Wonderful Wednesday, I thought I'd share my new obsessions with you.

1. Maybe by Ingrid Michaelson
2. Manners by We Are The In Crowd
3. You and Me by Holly Conlan
4. Home by Holly Conlan
5. Winter by Holly Conlan
6. Happy Song by Holly Conlan
7. You Are Goodbye Holly Conlan
8. Sparkle by Holly Conlan
9. Beautiful Night by Holly Conlan
10. I am Alone by Holly Conlan
11. Honey Don't by Holly Conlan
12. Come Back Home by Holly Conlan
13. Good Ones by Holly Conlan
14. Gone by Holly Conlan
15. Dust in Out Hands by Holly Conlan
16. Uh Oh by Holly Conlan
17. One Two Three by Holly Conlan
18. Take the Blame by Holly Conlan
19. New Song by Holly Conlan
20. OK by Holly Conlan
21. How Do We Know by Katie Costello
22. Ships in the Night by Katie Costello
23. Cityscapes by Katie Costello
24. Lost and Far from Home by Katie Costello
25. We Are the Way We Are by Katie Costello
26. Gonna Get Over You by Sara Bareilles
27. Shake it Off by Taylor Swift
28. Girls Chase Boys by Ingrid Michaelson
29. Songs of Innocence Album by U2 (Very Not Impressed)
30. Beautiful Day by U2

All the bolded ones are my favorites as of the moment. Another honorable mention is Dollhouse by Melanie Matinez. I didn't add that one in the last two weeks but it's still a current obsession of mine.

What are some of your favorite recent additions to your musical life?

The Magic of Taking it Slow // Student Life

This semester, for the first time in my college career, I'm not taking the max number of credit hours I'm allowed to. I'm really enjoying this chance to slow down and figure out what I really want in life. 

Here's the Magic:

1. Time to plan.
   With my smaller course load, I've been able to dedicate real time to planning a strategy for each class I'm enrolled in and I can spend more time on the assignments.
2. Freedom to enjoy life.
   Not having to be in class all the time or studying for classes when not in them, I have more time to go to the library for leisure, take a walk with my partner, and volunteer.
3. Time to dabble.
   I've always been a dabbler, a kind of jack-of-all-trades. I love to pick up hobbies and crafts to find the ones I want to stick with. Now, for the first (non-summer) time since high school, I can pick up watercolors and fashion curating, just for the hell of it.
4. Time to intern.
   This year begins my first full school year with my internship at the Pet Education Project (PEP!) With my smaller workload, I can now really dedicate the time to sit down and work on my intern projects as well as get in the field with my fellow PEPpy People and my buns to make a difference.
5. Freedom to develop.
   Being in classes has always been restricting to me. More so in my own personal and social development than in any other way. Having more time outside of classes to discover new loves, move out of my parent's home, work, etc. is giving me the opportunity to grow in myself and develop a clear sense of what I really want. To me, college is the time to dabble and figure out what you want in life, but how can you do that if you are nailed to six classes fulfilling just one major and/or core curriculum? 

I'm so glad that I've chosen learning and growth over my formal education. I'd never dropout/not get my degree, but I feel, for myself at least, that graduating then growing is defeating the purpose of college. I could have my French or English degree by now but neither would have made me happy. I don't know what my bachelor's degree will be in, but I feel certain I will love the time I have remaining to get it.

Are/were you that "max-out" student or did you enroll in minimum hours? Would you do it differently now if you could?

Thoughtful: What does Time feel like?

PHOTO CREDIT

For my English class this semester, we're currently reading Ray Bradbury's short story "August 2002: Night Meeting." I love Bradbury's style over all and always have. After a few years of not reading him, this piece feels like coming home. One quote early on in the story caught my attention though;

"What did Time smell like? Like dust and clocks and people. And if you wondered what Time sounded like it sounded like water running in a dark cave and voices crying and dirt dropping down upon hollow box lids, and rain. And going further, what did Time look like? Time looked like snow dropping silently into a black room or it looked like a silent film in an ancient theater, one hundred billion faces falling like those New Year balloons, down and down into nothing."

Do you agree with Bradbury? I do, to an extent, but I feel there are a million other ways to explain Time. The real question, which Bradbury doesn't explain is what does Time feel like? Not the passing of time, but the feeling of Time itself.

I think time feels like a rabbit's fur tickling across your face as the summer heat sets in, like the massaging of the one stubborn tense muscle that hurts too much to continue and feels to good to stop, like the air of the night when you reach up toward the stars and just, for a moment, grasp the light of the moon only to have nothing to show for it.

What do you think Time feels like?

Taking it easy today and enjoying the holiday! Hope it was a great one for you as well!

What's your labor day traditions?

Let's Talk: Reading Slumps

Today is the last day of my first week back at school. Last week, however, was the Bout of Books 11.0, as many of you may already know. I posted my TBR for the week and finished a whopping 24 pages of A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan and an amazing 30 minutes of the Stardust audiobook. Over the entire summer, I read a total of 2 books and started somewhere around 15 books. It's official, I'm in a reading slump.

I think I've been falling into this slump for a while now. And every time I read a really good book I think I've cured my slump. I've read some absolutely astounding books in the few I've read this year. The beautiful narrative of Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore kept me spellbound and the NovelTea Book Club kept me motivated. Enchanted left me eager for the next book and to devour every fairytale within reach. Cress left me longing for Winter and the final two Gallagher Girls books I read back to back! Somehow though, my good intentions to find another book to love have not come to fruition. I suppose we'll see how September deals with this slump.

How do you handle a reading slump?

Bout of Books 11.0 // TBR

I promise I'm just going to just re-post my videos here! This one is actually relevant to a previous post! For those who don't care, check out the other links below the Bout of Books things!

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Books Mentioned:

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

The Buddha in the Attick by Julie Otsuka

Legend by Marie Lu

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Burn this Book edited by Toni Morrison

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

The Indigo Notebook by Laura Resau

~ Links ~

Bout of Books Read-a-thon: http://raegoesaway.blogspot.com/2014/08/bout-of-books-11.html

Jean // BookishThoughts: https://www.youtube.com/user/bookishthoughts

Rosianna: http://youtube.com/rosianna

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• Thanks to Kristin over at My Life as a Teacup I've become a little obsessed with the idea of a capsule wardrobe. 
• Here's some good food for thought as I find myself less and less in the college world and more and more in the "real," "grown-up" world.
• I've loved the YouTube channel Geek & Sundry for a while now, especially Table Top, but the web series Spooked has definitely caught my attention. 

Other than that, the last week has been crazy and this week is looking even crazier!

What are you reading (for Bout of Books or otherwise)? How was the last week in your life?

Let's Do Youtube: Introducing PositivelyRae

Yep, back on the Youtube train. Got derailed but back better than ever. Subscribe if you'd like to see more videos! If not, keep an eye out here for bloggity things :)

Happy Monday all!

Are you on Youtube? What's your channel? And/or who are some of your favorite Youtubers?