25 Things To Do Before Summer Ends

Happy Monday HoneyBeaners! This post is all about getting the most out of your 2019 summer.

I thought today I would provide you with 25 things you can do before summer ends – as we’re heading into August. I tried to keep majority of these things FREE or inexpensive – because hellllooooo.. that’s half the fun?

So without further ado, here are 25 things ya’ll can do before summer ends:

1. Start listening to podcasts (or begin a new one)! I suggest Serial!
2. Have a game night, invite people over and play board games
3. Go kayaking, canoeing, tubing or boating – we all know at least one person who has this stuff
4. Go hiking or biking on trails nearby
5. Rent a Citi-Bike and explore parts of your city that you’ve never been to
6. Go to a Drive-In movie and bring your own snacks
7. Volunteer at a local animal shelter, non-profit or senior center
8. Create your own secret recipe to something – but you have to share it w me!
9. Practice yoga in or outdoors with a friend
10. Learn a new skill; cooking, baking, ukulele, knitting, embroidery, skateboarding, etc.
11. Visit a free zoo or museum
12. Go to a free workout class (maybe a trial week)
13. Plan an upcoming trip; fall/spring break, thanksgiving, winter vacation, etc.
14. Do some cleaning and have a garage/yard sale
15. Sell your clothes/accessories on Depop, Poshmark, Mercari, etc. & make $$$
16. Go to state fairs, town festivals, outdoor concerts etc.
17. Cook or bake something from the fun Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram videos you’ve been saving
18. Create a personal budget for this upcoming year or semester
19. Write a letter to someone, even if you see them a lot
20. Start or join a book club, clothing swap or potluck dinner
21. Binge-watch the show you keep saying you’ll start
22. Learn a foreign language or the basics of a few
23. Take a photography, editing, art, or programming class at Apple for FREE
24. Play golf outside while it’s cheap
25. Read HoneyBean!!! Well that and maybe start your own blog

That’s all I’ve got for you for now, but I’m hoping you were able to find at least one fun thing to do before summer ends! This week when deciding which topic to focus on I posted to my Instagram story asking you guys what you’d like to read. I’ll be doing that more frequently so if you don’t already – follow me on Instagram @sydneyattis to join in on that! Thanks for reading and see ya next week.

A First Apartment

It’s been a year… already!

Welcome back to the blog! Today I decided to share all the decor, details and drama within my first-ever apartment. Oh, and P.S…. there’s pictures!

I began this school year by moving into my very first apartment. A one-bedroom, fully furnished Downtown Phoenix apartment that to be honest was a lot less exciting than I’d chalked it up to be.

Our apartment (I lived here with my boyfriend), lacked personality and decor for quite sometime. This can be attributed to the fact that – idk if you know this but – decorating and supplying a brand new apartment is HELLA expensive. I never truly factored in the small and tedious things we would need to purchase like;

• plates, bowls, cups, glasses, utensils
• pots, pans, cooking utensils, trays
• lamps/lighting, towels, laundry detergent
• cooking essentials like salt, pepper, etc.
• sheets, pillows, blankets

and more of course! I guess my 18 year old self was pretty focused on the tapestries and photos we’d be hanging rather than the items we would need to function?

So this came as a big surprise to me, and it took a decent amount of time for us to actually start decorating and adding some “life” to the place. Eventually our apartment looked semi-decent… but it wasn’t really until summer began and I started working that I could finally afford to decorate as I’d planned. Are you interested to see what I’m workin’ with?

     

Did ya like the tour? Now before you leave I want to get into the meatiest part of this post and that is what I learned during my stay in my first apartment. I’ve narrowed the list to a quick 10:

1. The essentials are expensive – BUT they’re called essentials for a reason! The worst is when you’re in need of something you’re used to having at your parent’s house and you don’t have it.
2. Be practical! Don’t over-buy, make reasonable and financially smart decisions about decor and appliances.
3. It is EMBARRASSING inviting your parents to a messy apartment. Be mature, and clean-up after yourself.
4. *Depending on the complex* A/C + Heat is freaking expensive. Luckily our rent included utilities and electric – however, we had overages! Turn things off or unplug whenever possible.
5. The dishes and laundry unfortunately don’t do themselves.
6. Take advantage of the amenities your place has to offer! It took me a while to start going to the pool regularly and I’ll admit I didn’t hit the gym once until summer hit. These things are included in your rent – use them!!!
7. Thoroughly CHECK your apartment space when you move in. If there are issues, marks, dents, scratches, etc. you need to report or document them so you aren’t charged later on.
8. DO use your own parking spot, DON’T park in the visitor lot. Even if it’s closer. I have a $200 tow ticket to thank for this little lesson 🙂
9. Make the space your own in anyway possible! Even if you’re only living there a short while, this place is your home! You should feel at home here.
10. Cherish the opportunity, the space and the memories you make here. I am so grateful to have lived here for my first apartment. I can’t wait for this year and a new apartment but I will never ever forget my FIRST! ❤

That’s all for today folks. I hope you enjoyed my little apartment tour and hopefully you can relate to these things or learn from them for your first/next living situation!

Thank you so much for visiting the blog today! Go explore the rest of the site if you haven’t already and let me know what you think!

Changing My Major

I’M BACK Y’ALL!

For good this time, I swear.

For my big return to HB I’ve decided to get you up to speed on some of the changes I’ve navigated over this past year or so, the focus being *changing my major*!

So to begin, I am now a rising junior at Arizona State University – a change in which I am very excited for. But…this past school year didn’t necessarily go as I had hoped or planned and quite frankly I felt like I was sort of “rolling with the punches” for the majority of it. In the Fall I was having a bit of a lack in motivation – toward academics but also within my personal life. My sophomore year didn’t exactly start off the way I had anticipated it to and that realization was a harsh one for me. I found myself extremely un-interested in my school work – particularly my major’s curriculum. It seemed like everything I was once inspired by was now something I despised doing! I knew something was off but I couldn’t quite figure out how to handle the whole thing.

Fast forward to the very beginning of the Spring semester. I had just gotten home from one of my videography classes; a class in which I filmed, edited and presented my journalistic works. I dreaded going to this class every Monday and Wednesday because I knew it was something I didn’t enjoy and wasn’t very good at. On this particular day we had just presented our reels and I returned home feeling absolutely defeated. I called my mom, practically in tears and asked her for advice. We talked and talked and I finally realized how much my interests had changed, and how pointless it was to continue learning (and paying for!!) a major that was clearly no longer suited for me.

The following day I visited my advisor and we discussed alternative majors that were still available within my school (Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Comm.). After lots of thought and guidance I decided that I was no longer interested in becoming a broadcast journalist, but now determined to make a name for myself in public relations! My advisor and I crafted a schedule that better suited that degree path and I began taking my first PR class a few weeks later – only to LOVE it!

In the Fall semester I finished out with a GPA lower than I had ever had before – with both my parents and myself quite disappointed. In the Spring, after switching to a path that fit me, and my talents and interests – I finished with my highest GPA yet. And made it on the Dean’s List!

In summary, the point of this post isn’t to have current or prospective collegians questioning themselves, or even to talk about how easy it is to change majors. The point here is to expose how sometimes, things just need to change up. You don’t always know what you think you do – in terms of what’s best for you – and that’s ok! From my junior year in high school I believed broadcast journalism was my ticket to career-happiness, and it may have been for those few years! But I’ve changed, society has changed and my interests have changed. And yeah, it was scary, changing my career path just-like-that. But I’m better for it and honestly more content knowing that my education here will be focused on what I enjoy and what I’m good at.

SO be bold and change it up! Give yourself options, and allow yourself to find what really is best for you. And if that changes down the road?! cool freakin beans.

Thank you so much for reading along today, I hope you’re just as excited as I am for the upcoming content I’ve got planned! If you have any suggestions or things you’d like me to write about please head over to the contact page and let a girl know! 🙂 ❤