Guest Posts

Tori’s Average Wanderlusting

Mary2 Comments

First of all Tori did an excellent job with this title, A+ job. Anyway, besides that, Tori is a great blogger and very similar to myself, which is probably why I love reading her blog so much. So while I go out super late in Spain with Molly, enjoy Tori’s post! Also to answer her question I want to venture to the other side of the world next, maybe Australia or New Zealand. However, I need to go back and spend some time exploring my own country before I leave anymore. 

Hi there!

I’m Tori! From torisstories.com and I am so excited to be a guest blogger today! I am a lover of coffee, books, dogs and adventures of any kind! (much like Mary)

I thought I would talk to you guys about something that has been heavily on my mind recently. Wanderlust. Well, honestly it is always on my mind, but this time it is way more intense than normal.

Yellowknife.

 I want to go there so badly I am getting excited just writing about it right now. I bet by the end of this post you will, too.

Since middle school, I have been obsessed with wanting to see the Northern Lights. They are so beautiful and I have this urge to want to experience them in real life. I am determined to make it a reality. It may not be anytime soon, but it will happen.

Yellowknife is located in the Northwestern Territories and it quite a remote location, perfect to see the Northern Light! From where I live (Upstate New York), it is roughly a two and a half day drive. The last part of the drive is a four hour stretch with nothing but you, the road and the tundra. It sounds terrifying but I am more than willing to make this trip in life! That’s why they call it adventures, right?

There is a place outside of Yellowknife, called the Aurora Village and it is where you stay to see the lights. In Teepees! Thinking about it right now makes me so excited. I would love nothing more than to stay in Aurora Village and viewing the Northern Lights from a Teepee. How awesome is that?! I’d be able to take some breathtaking photos that day too!

There are also just so many other amazing things to possible do there. Something I would be interested in is dog sledding. You get to play with the puppies and even go for a dog sled ride and go MUSH MUSH! (I don’t think that’s actually how it works, haha ..maybe?)

Have you ever thought about “snow mobile skiing” on a completely frozen lake? That is also a really awesome thing you can do there! It’s not really jet skiing, but you hold a rope and you are in skis and it pulls you all over the snow and ice. Sounds thrilling and so different than anything else, too!

There are so many other thing to do in this city, but if I went on and on, we would be here all day, so I’ll stop here! I feel like it is such a unique place to go that not many people ever talk about and for some reason I am so excited about wanting to go. I don’t know what it is, but thinking about this makes me giddy, like a child. Such a nerd. I really enjoyed writing this a lot, hope you did too!

I normally end my posts with a question, so here’s yours:

What’s the number one place you want to go to?

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Katie’s Guest Post: Throne of Glass Series Review (Books 1-4)

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Today my good blogger friend Katie, wrote us a little book review. I wish I would have had enough time to at least try and find one of the books before heading off on my adventure. If you don’t follow her already, make sure you check out her blog! She is the menstrual cup guru (at least out of the bloggers I follow) but in addition to that she also writes book reviews, which I love. 

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Right before classes started, I began reading this YA fantasy series I discovered on tumblr: Throne of Glass. Boy, oh boy. Here’s the Goodreads description for the first novel:

In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king’s champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien.

The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass–and it’s there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena’s fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16034235-throne-of-glass)

Celeana is amazing. I love me a strong, fierce, and complex female character. Her back story and character development throughout the series (as published so far) is so enjoyable to read, though at times it can be hard, especially when a character is gravely injured.

This series also has a fair amount of intrigue and mystery. Why is the magic gone? How did the king get so powerful? How did Celeana become such a skilled assassin at such a young age? How did she get caught? Unfolding these plot points and many more that I can’t share without giving spoilers keeps me turning the pages faster than I could get the books. (I had to wait weeks before I could get my hands on the fourth book thanks to a library wait list that I eventually decided to bypass by buying the book.)

I also really appreciate the female friendships in this series. Often female-female friendships are ignored in the media, but there are several same gendered relationships. And guess what? They don’t revolve around a man!

Another aspect of the books that some people may not enjoy but is honestly a big factor for me when I read YA books is ships. Never in my reading history have I switched ships so many times in a series (though I think the one I ended with is a keeper). I went from Dorian to Chaol to no one to Rowan. Ahh Rowan. (You don’t meet him until the third book.)

Anyways, I feel that this series has a lot to offer and to a wide range of readers as well. There’s definitely action (I mean, how can you have a series about an assassin without action?), fantasy, character development, and romance (though don’t worry, I wouldn’t say these are primarily romance novels). It was a nice break from my school books and critical essays.

 

B.G’s Guest Post: Online Friends

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Currently I am galavanting (kind of) through Europe. Currently in the UK and probably enjoying the Lush on Oxford St far too much. Today B from Getting Through Anxiety, a good internet friend of mine, wrote a guest post for me! Enjoy her post on online friends and share it with your online friends!

Hey guys! This is B.G. from gettingthroughanxiety.wordpress.com. Since Mary won’t be able to  post from November 7th-15th, she asked if I would write a post for her, and I was more than happy to do so.  So, I’ve decided to write about (drumroll please…) online friends!

When I first started blogging, I honestly didn’t expect much of a turnout. Don’t get me wrong, I think I thought I would learn from the experience, but I didn’t really expect many people to read it, let alone “follow” it. For one thing I didn’t think that many people would be interested in reading about anxiety and for another, I just didn’t know how many people would discover my blog in the first place.

However, I slowly saw people commenting on my blog and to the say the least, I was both surprised and excited. Still, I didn’t think I would get many more readers, let alone meet some of the amazing people that I have.

I’ve always been (and still am), very cautious about how much information I share on the internet and who I share it with. I think while the internet is a great tool for communication, it tends to be misused and people tend to forget about the importance of privacy. With that aside, however, I’ve also come to discover that there are so many amazing people in the world and without the internet, I would have never met them.

Take Mary, for instance. She was one of the first people to stop by my blog and comment. It’s been over a year now and I still talk to her and here I am, guest blogging for her! Now, I’m still cautious about how much information I give away, but I’ve learned that it is possible to make great friends with people online, even if there’s the chance you’ll never meet them in person.

Through blogging, I’ve learned that there are so many people who experience similar issues that I do. Also, not only have I found a place where I can talk about my anxiety, but I’ve also found individuals that I can talk to about simple, fun things with like TV shows that I like and thought I never would or a mutual love for poetry and animals.

Something that I’ve learned is that if you do it right, friendships that you make online can be just as wonderful as the ones you forge in real life. Don’t get me wrong, it would be nice to be able to meet some of my blogger friends, but due to safety reasons, I don’t feel that’s always the best option. I have, however, met some wonderful people online and hold them very close to my heart.

The point is, that whether you forge a friendship through means of technology or through a one on one encounter with the individual, these friendships are still important and should be held in the highest regard. I’m so happy to have met so many of the people I have through writing my blog and that we’re able to share our experiences with one another.

So…I hope you’ve all enjoyed this post and stay tuned for Mary’s return! :)