The Importance of Reciprocity in Friendships

Back in May I shared a post all about relationships and within a week it jumped to being my most popular post & has remained one of my top posts ever shared.

I began that post by saying this:

Relationships are amazing, beautiful, and important in life. I'm talking about all relationships; friendships, family, professional, the whole shebang. I believe that a key component of networking in today's society is all about who you know and who knows you. Relationships are critical for our well-being. Our whole lives are spent building relationships with one another, it's just in our nature.

In this post, I want to focus on the bolded statement above. Relationships are critical for our well-being. Due to the fact that relationships play such a large role in our lives, how healthy and, on the contrary, how unhealthy they are can impact us in more ways than initially imagined. 

How I Discovered the Importance of Slowing Down & Breathing

It's 11:51pm on a Saturday night and I'm wide awake. I shouldn't be, because I've been awake since 7am and am currently sick and fighting a pretty bad cold so this lack of sleep is definitely not what I need. I had the plans to go to bed early but my anxiety had other plans (so did the fire alarm in my apartment building but that's a story for another day.)

As I sit here in my bed wrapped in my weighted blanket hoping that it helps calm me down, I realized that the topic of stress and anxiety and something that I seldom talk about here, yet as a college student, both of those things have a fairly large presence in my life, so I want to talk about it.

I don't usually share posts like this because they are very personal, but I want to be transparent on here and know that as many of my readers are college students and as we prepare to head into finals season (aka stress city), that maybe sharing my experience with stress and anxiety and how I've learned to cope with it will be beneficial for others. 

I Almost Transferred, But Here's Every Reason Why I Didn't

If I'm being completely honest, I was never planning on telling anyone that I almost transferred from USC. Partially because I didn't want to face the questions about why I thought about it or how long it had been on my mind, but also because looking back on it, thinking about transferring is one the silliest things I've ever done. 

A Brighter & More Confident Smile with Smile Brilliant

News flash: I'm slightly obsessed with coffee.

Before college, I would have coffee every so often, drinking it only because I associated it with productivity.

Now that I'm a junior in college & life is coming at me at 100mph, I drink coffee because I need it to function. But with my constant coffee consumption came a smile that I wasn't so confident with.

I had tried whitening stripes & whitening toothpastes, but nothing gave me the desired results.

Then, I found Smile Brilliant.

Tuesday Thoughts vol. 4

Tuesday Thoughts: a weekly post where I share a quote that had an impact on me. From deep quotes about life to silly quotes about remembering to smile, if it affects me, I'll share it. 

Today's thought: don't let anyone rent space in your head unless they are a good tenant.

via

Tuesday Thoughts vol. 3

Tuesday Thoughts: a weekly post where I share a quote that had an impact on me. From deep quotes about life to silly quotes about remembering to smile, if it affects me, I'll share it. 

Today's thought: what is meant for you won't pass you by.

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Tuesday Thoughts vol. 2

Tuesday Thoughts: a weekly post where I share a quote that had an impact on me. From deep quotes about life to silly quotes about remembering to smile, if it effects me, I'll share it. 

Today's thought: it's very okay not to know yet.

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Tuesday Thoughts vol. 1

I love words and can spend hours scrolling through quotes on Pinterest at night. I'm notorious for pinning quotes that relate to my current life situations and the types of quotes I pin are strongly influenced by my mood, which my friends can attest to. I love words because they have the ability to tell stories, inspire, and impact our lives. 

I'm starting a new series here on Northern Prepster called 'Tuesday Thoughts' where I'll share a quote that has impacted me recently and share some hopefully wise words related to it.

via Mantra Wellness Magazine

Home is More than a Four-Letter Word

Home & Ohio both have four letters? Coincidence? I don't think so. 

Choosing to support Clothe Ohio when they reached out to me was an easy decision because not only does it give me the chance to represent my home state, but for every item sold, Clothe Ohio donates an item to an Ohioan in need. Not only do you get a new shirt or hat, but someone else does, too.

Rosie the Flower Truck

Meet Rosie. 

Rosie is the adorable organic flower truck that I had the pleasure of meeting last Sunday morning. I was sitting at brunch with my mom when I looked out the window and saw this adorable little truck pulling up right outside the building we were in. I was enjoying the yummiest brunch at the time and didn't think I could be happier, but it turns out I was wrong. 

Apartment Bedroom Inspiration

I've always been extremely interested in interior design and grew up looking forward to the first time I'll get to decorate my first apartment. Luckily, this upcoming school year, I will be moving into an apartment of my own! I am a rising junior in college and am SO excited to finally have my own room and bathroom to get to decorate however I please.

Brunch at the Brekkie Shack

It's no secret around here that I adore brunch. No matter if it's Sunday brunch or an impromptu Wednesday brunch, I will never turn down a chance to grab a bite to eat. I'm not a big breakfast gal and I'm equally not a huge lunch fan but if you combine them together, I'm in. So what I'm saying is, if you ain't talking brunch, I don't wanna talk at all ;)

How my Life went from a Hot Mess to an Organized Success (in my opinion) + how you can, too!

As much as I wish I could sit here and tell you all that my life is a breeze and I have all of my ducks in a row all the time, I don't. Instead, I'm over here serving as the conductor of the hot mess express on my way to chaos-town 95% of the time. And I'm ok with that because that's life and I'm still trying to figure it all out.

BUT, that does leave 5% of the time when my life is organized and I have my ducks in a row, and today I'm sharing my tips on how you can work towards organizing your life, too.

Social Media - Numbers Don't Define You

Yesterday morning I sat down in church and eagerly awaited for the service to begin, excited to hear the message that the guest pastor would be delivering. The topic of yesterday's service: addictions.

I'm sure most of you, like myself, immediately thought of addictions such as alcohol or drugs, and Pastor Kyle also acknowledged this. He also explained that addictions may not be visible to us at first and we may be oblivious to one that most people are affected by: social media.

As a social media influencer and blogger, a lot of my work (correction: most of my work) for Northern Prepster involves social media platforms. In the world of blogging and influencers, we base a lot of what we do off of our social media analytics, we gauge what our audience likes to see by the number of likes and comments we receive.

While sitting in church yesterday morning I found myself wondering how many times I check to see how many new followers or likes I've gained each day. I'm glad I don't know this number because odds are, I would probably be disgusted by it.

Summer Skin Care Routine

Confession: one of my favorite parts of the day is when I take off my makeup and get to wash my face. There's something about a fresh face that puts me in the best mood. 

I've always had acne-prone skin and my skin reacts to most products so when I find products that work for me, I use them and I rarely differ from them . I'm religious about my skincare routine, especially during the warmer months because warmer weather means more sweat (gross, but true) which leads to clogged pores. 

For the first time in a long, long time, I'm happy with the way my skin looks. I've found a minimal amount of products that I use to maintain my clear skin, they're a little different than the products in my previous skin care post but they're still all relatively affordable (#collegebudgetfriendly).

Instagram in 2019 is Confusing, Here's my Best Tips & Tricks

The other morning I sat down and began going through my blog archives, mostly out of curiosity about what I had written several years ago, but also to see if there were any posts I could revamp and relaunch here in 2019. I was shocked when I found out that one of my most popular posts here on Northern Prepster was a post I shared back in 2017 where I shared my tips & tricks for growing your Instagram (click HERE to read the post!)

It's no secret that Instagram has changed a lot over the two years since that post was written and the same things we did to increase engagement and grow our social media presence back then doesn't really work today. For example, Instagram stories are HUGE nowadays and with the Instagram algorithm constantly changing, consistency is more important than ever.

Relationships: I'm not in One & I'm Totally ok with it

I want to preface this post by saying that this type of content isn't what you'll usually read here on Northern Prepster. While I do share most of my life on this blog, there are certain bits I often choose to omit from sharing but this post is something I've been thinking about writing for a while and finally found the motivation to sit down and write it all out. So here we go.

Relationships are amazing, beautiful and important in life. I'm talking about all relationships; friendships, family, professional, the whole shebang. I believe that a key component to networking in today's society is all about who you know and who knows you. Relationships are critical for our wellbeing. Our whole lives are spent building relationships with one another, it's just in our nature.

To: High School Seniors Nearing Graduation From: A Rising College Junior

This post is from my 2017 archives, however, as a rising upperclassman in college, I want to revisit this topic and update it as I have even more to speak on. If you're interested in reading the original post, click HERE. 

Dear High School Seniors Nearing Graduation, 

Do you believe people now when they told you not to blink because high school would fly by? I was in the same boat as you just two years ago. I was ready to get out and be done and was convinced I would never think "gosh, I miss high school" but as a rising college junior, I can tell you that there have been dozens of times when I've sat and reminisced about my time in high school. 

Going to College 8 Hours from Home was the Hardest Thing I've Ever Done, but also the Best Thing I've Ever Done

528 miles.
There are a handful of numbers that have some sort of significance in my life and that I have memorized. My home phone number, my families birthdates, my street address, my old membership number from the golf course, and the distance from my college town to my hometown.

Sophomore Year: ✓

Somebody play Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer because oh man, I'm halfway there.

I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that I'm 50% of the way done with college and that I will never be considered an underclassman ever again.

Sophomore year was one for the books, not only did I find "my people" (which you can read all about HERE) but I also had an amazing year academically, so all in all, it was a good year. From living in my sorority house, to weekend roadtrips to so many fun places (Charleston, Greenville, Atlanta, Edisto Island, & Oriental, NC) and everything in between, USC sure did treat me well.

I could go on and on about how much fun I had this year but instead of writing a novel in this one post, I opted to share some of my favorite photos from the year. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

Sophomore year, thank you for everything, I loved every minute of you and will cherish the memories made forever. Junior year, hey there, I'm ready for you, let's see if you can live up to my sophomore year.

xoxo,

Ri

Easter Weekend in North Carolina

I got the chance to head home to Eastern North Carolina with one of my best friends, Jess, last weekend for Easter and had the best time getting to explore new towns and see the place where she grew up. 

Although our time in North Carolina was limited, we still managed to fit so many fun things into the weekend and I'm excited to be recapping it today and sharing some of my favorite photos from the weekend!

F R I D A Y

Jess, myself, and two of our other friends, Lynn and Alex, piled into Jess' car Friday after all of our classes and made the drive up to North Carolina. When we arrived on Friday evening, we had the best-homecooked meal, indulged in yummy lemon pies and watched a movie (that I admittedly fell asleep during, oops).

S A T U R D A Y

We slept in a bit before waking up and eating breakfast and getting ready for the day. We took the ferry over to Atlantic Beach where we had lunch at Four Corners Diner and then Jess showed us around a few of her favorite places.

We then headed over to Beaufort which was the cutest little town. We did a bit of shopping before snapping some pictures in front of the water and boats. After this, we drove back to catch the 4:30pm ferry back to Jess'.

Once we made it back to Jess' house, we just hung out before having dinner and heading to bed super early because we all were exhausted.  

S U N D A Y

Sunday morning we woke up and got ready for church. The cross pictured below was absolutely beautiful and I loved the fact that we all got to place a flower on it as we entered.

After church, we grabbed a quick lunch before changing into comfier clothes and heading back to South Carolina.

Even though it was a quick trip, it was very much needed and left me so ready for summer!

xoxo,

Ri