into the mystic

This weekend was absolutely gorgeous weather for late November. My parents and I decided to capitalize on the warmth and went boating on the river on Sunday. It was the perfect way to relax and work on my personal statement for grad school applications.

Just a glimpse of the afternoon in instagram photos...

"we were born before the wind. and also younger than the sun...hark, now hear the sailors cry. you smell the sea and you feel the sky. let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic." into the mystic- van morrison

we came to leave behind the world a better way

This past week I was able to see one of my favorite bands in concert on campus with my roommate. I have been anticipating this concert since I heard about it over the summer at Orientation, and we purchased our tickets back in September for this concert.

I first learned about The Avett Brothers my freshman year of college from my friend Logan, who went to UNC at the time. When I was down visiting him at Chapel Hill, we went to see them in concert and I fell IN LOVE. I've been a fan ever since, and I've waited for the opportunity to see them again.

The Avett Brothers at UNC Chapel Hill, 2008

Now, three years later, I had the chance to experience their performance on my own college campus. They were just as fantastic as I remembered. They are such a talented group, both instrumentally and lyrically, and I love discovering new songs from them. Below are some of my favorite lyrics, photos from the concert, and a video of one of my favorite songs that they played Tuesday night.



When nothing is owed or deserved or expected / And your life doesn’t change by the man that’s elected / If you’re loved by someone, you’re never rejected / Decide what to be and go be it
"head full of doubt, road full of promise"

And I would give up everything No this is not just about me And I don't know a plainer way to say it Babe And they may pay us off in fame Though that is not why we came And I know well and good that won't heal our hearts We came for salvation We came for family We came for all that's good that's how we'll walk away We came to break the bad We came to cheer the sad We came to leave behind the world a better way
"salvation song"

Are you feeling, feeling, feeling like I'm, feeling Like I'm floating, floating, up above that big blue ocean Sand beneath our feet, big blue sky above our heads, No need to keep stressing from our everyday life on our minds We have got to leave all that behind
"at the beach"

View from our seats in Burruss Auditorium

Video clip of one of my favorite songs "Will You Return"

so many books, so little time

This year, I've been making a point to set aside time to read things that I want to read. It has been such a relaxing way to unwind at night or wake up on the weekends. This is the current stack of books I'm working through.

I actually finished Thirteen Reasons Why in less than a day when I was back home visiting my family recently. It was a gripping story about a teenage girl choosing to end her life, but in the end, it leaves you with the message that you never know how much the smallest actions affect others. In this book, Jay Asher defines the way we interact with each other. Definitely one of my favorite books, hands down.

I'm reading The Tipping Point as part of an assignment that I created for the Marketing Team I advise. The Marketing Team plans events and performs basic marketing functions for a campus organization here. I inherited the role of supervising the team when I claimed my role as a Junior intern for the organization. Now, as a Senior Intern, I've really tried to take ownership of my role as an adviser/mentor/supervisor/manager. One of the ideas I've implemented is having a common group book that we discuss each week. In the end, the students will write a blog post for the organization's blog about one of their favorite topics that Gladwell covers in the book.

Linchpins is a book that I randomly picked up on one of my hour-and-a-half visits to Barnes and Noble. I love to just browse books, and I keep a running list of books I would like to get (once I tackle the growing stack on my bookshelf). This book jumped out at me, and that's probably because it covers exactly what I need to be focusing on right now: understanding your personal value and becoming truly indispensable. While a lot of the book is focused towards being invaluable in the workplace, most of the concepts apply to just improving your outlook on life in general. I love reading and highlighting everything in this book.

And last there is The Hunger Games. For some reason, I'm really struggling with getting into this book. I've heard so many fantastic things about it, but I'm not hooked yet. Looks like this is going to be a slower read for me.

Next in line I have a self-help book (Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project), a Nicholas Sparks book (which is completely necessary every now and then..), the Steve Jobs biography, a Jonathan Safran Foer novel, and a variety of others. Good thing Thanksgiving and Winter Break are quickly approaching...