PostGrad

Completed Summer Bucket List

I always say summer is my favorite season, then fall rolls around and I’m like YESSSSS GIVE ME ALL THE SPOOKY STUFF!!!!  Anyway, it’s also my busiest season at work so my next bucket list won’t be too extensive. Check out what I got done this summer! Are you excited for fall?

  1. Read 5 books
  2. Have a picnic
  3. Visit Longwood Gardens
  4. Travel out of state 5 times
  5. Go to a concert
  6. Go to the beach at least once a month
  7. Reach 1,200 Twitter followers
  8. Reach 6,800 Instagram followers
  9. Reach 2,900 WordPress followers
  10. Reach 650 Facebook likes
  11. Finish my photo album
    This is definitely a better item for fall or winter!
  12. Meet up with friends at least twice a month
  13. Host a game night
  14. Eat vegan once a week
  15. Go to the gym at least twice a week
  16. Plan a trip for 2 year anniversary
    New Hampshire in September 🙂
  17. Change my hair
  18. Put more money into savings
  19. Make a wreath
  20. Make better choices when it comes to accepting sponsored posts
  21. See fireworks
  22. Watch 10 sunsets
  23. Take a walk with my boyfriend once a week

Relationships

I Don’t Believe In Soulmates

My high school boyfriend and I once laid in the grass on a baseball field at night looking up at the stars and he told me I was his soulmate…..gag.

I don’t believe in there being only one person out there for you. That there is one person that your soul is destined for and you better find them or you’re just screwed.

I am very happy in the relationship I’m in, but if for some reason we broke up, I’d be able to move on. I could get someone to date me – but they might not necessarily be right for me.

Because what are the chances that my soulmate was waiting for me right here in New Jersey where I’ve been here all along? That out of allllll the people in the world, your soulmate was just right in front of you at your gym, your college, your high school. There are so many people in the world, so many people that could be a good potential match for you.

But if you find someone you like, who you have common interests with, who treats you right and is in the right place at the right time – you can make them your soulmate. The gods didn’t put you together, there is no invisible string in the universe that attaches you. We make it work with the people that work. Timing, effort, and compatibility are extremely important when it comes to the person you’re going to spend your life with. It’s not fate, you just met someone who you enjoy spending time with and you fought to stay with them.

I don’t believe in soulmates, but I believe in love. I believe that if it’s meant to be, it will be and if it doesn’t work out, there’s probably a good reason for it. Do you believe in soulmates?

back view countryside couple cropland
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The Hookup On...

Social Media Pages

I am REALLY close to reaching my summer social media goals. I’d looooove for anyone who enjoys my blog to also follow me on social media.

Feel free to drop your handles below!

Reached my goal 🙂 Instagram: @rosieculture
20 likes away! Facebook: facebook.com/rosieculture
57 follows away! Twitter: @rosieculture

And 45 follows away from my goal on WordPress! Please share if you feel inclined, I’d love to hit at least one more of my goals. And drop your links below too to share with my audience! 🙂

The Hookup On...

The Hookup On: Sexual Health Awareness Month

This is a sponsored post. All opinions are mine.

If you’ve been following my blog long enough, you’ll know that my blog name used to be Hookup Culture. I primarily wrote about relationships and the single life and I still incorporate those topics into my writing today. September is Sexual Health Awareness Month and while I’ve talked a lot about dating and doing your own thing, I haven’t talked a lot about safety.

I have no judgement when it comes to how you choose to live your romantic life, but I will judge you a little bit if you decide not to take care of your health. The fact is, getting checked for STD’s should be as normal and common as getting a physical or going to the dentist. It’s just another part of your health that you need to take care of.

There is a stigma around it, though. As if getting tested means admitting that you’re dirty or you sleep around too much. But whether it’s 1 or 100 partners, you should get tested and you should mind your health. Ignore that very dumb and very outdated stigma because there is nothing wrong with making sure your body is 100%.

But I know that it can be awkward in the doctor’s office to go through this process. There are other options like STDCheck.com. At STD Check, you only need to visit a lab for a blood and urine sample and then you’re emailed your results in 1-2 days.

STD’s don’t just happen to young people or old people, they don’t just happen to people who have slept around, and they aren’t something that you want to ignore. This September, please keep your health a priority and get checked.

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PostGrad

Living By The Judgement Of Others

I did a few things this summer that made me stop in my tracks and think “wow that was really fun!” I went to the beach and swam in the ocean, I jumped in the pool, and I went on a few rides at a carnival.

These are all very normal things that probably everyone has done at least once in their life, right? Well I have too. I used to spend my summers in the ocean and I’d jump at a chance to go in a pool. I loved stomach-drop rides and carnival food. But I hadn’t done any of those things in years.

College made me VERY aware of how often people judge each other. And because of that, I began to live by that judgment. I’ve never liked wearing a bathing suit and I like it even less now so I just stopped swimming. And I almost just stopped having juvenile fun that is normal for people to enjoy because I cut myself off from so many things in fear of judgement.

I went in the ocean and didn’t care if my stomach jiggled a little bit. And I went in the pool without minding the fact that people will see me without make up. And I screamed my head off on a tower of terror ride and then laughed about how insane it was with my friends. It made me kind of sad to realize I’ve been missing out on this child-like fun because of the pressure to be cool.

Seriously, even when you’re 25 there is a pressure to be a “cool kid.”

I can’t tell people to turn their lives around and stop living by the judgment of others -because it’s hard. By nature, we just want to fit in. But I hope everyone has one of those moments where they realize they’ve given up too much for the sake of being cool, because I’m a lot happier now that I jumped in the pool.

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Photo by Tim Gouw on Pexels.com
Relationships

What It Really Means To Love Someone

I will first start out by saying, everyone loves differently. So I can’t speak for everyone, but I can try to speak generically.

Loving someone doesn’t mean saying “I love you” every morning, evening, and night. It doesn’t mean spending all your free time together and thinking about them every minute of the day. It doesn’t mean falling asleep in each other’s arms or getting them the most extravagant gift for your anniversary.

If some of those things apply to you, that’s all nice and good.

But loving someone means not being that grossed out by all their gross habits. It means thanking them for going the extra mile for you when you’re tired after a long day at work. It means thinking of them a few times a day and being able to go a few days without them, but being so happy when they finally come home. It’s about sacrificing time in your day to pick up the groceries so they don’t have to or walking the dog in the morning so they can sleep a little longer.

Loving someone is about constant care, work, effort, and appreciation. It’s not about getting the perfect photo for Instagram and explaining to everyone why you both love each other SO much. While everyone loves each other differently, loving someone rarely means the things you can see from the outside. It’s everything inside that goes unnoticed by everyone except you two.

man in black long sleeved shirt and woman in black dress
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travel

Weekend in New Hampshire

On my mission to visit all 50 states, we often use long weekends to visit a new state nearby! This time we rented a cute cabin and headed up to New Hampshire.

This was our first time bringing our doggo on a trip and it went SO well. When we went to Vancouver we had a conversation every day about how fun it would be to bring Kaya along, so we made it happen!

This trip was a little less planned and packed as a result because there’s only so much you can do with a dog in tow.

We stayed at Tarry-Ho campground and our cabin came with only a bed, toilet, and shower. But it was perfect for our easy going weekend! There was also a yummy food truck across the street called 302 Grill and a little deli called Yaya’s – they were our go-to stops for food!

We hiked Franconia Notch National Park. What started as an easy 3 mile hike to see the Basin ended as a very difficult 9 mile uphill hike through empty and full river beds. My boyfriend and I run into trouble every time we hike, we are terrible at mapping out trails. As a person who hates to work out, I was less than thrilled about this long hike. It resulted in a bit of a tiff between us that resolved itself when we got to Lonesome Lake. It was too beautiful to fight or think about how much my knees hurt.

We checked out Sunday morning and stopped in Littleton, New Hampshire to check out a covered bridge. While here, I fell in love with the quirky and upbeat town. I swear I’ll live there one day.

As we got on the road back to New Jersey, we stopped at the Old Man in the Mountain which used to be a profile of an old man in the mountain, but crumbled so they set up a way for you to see what it used to look like.

Then halfway through the trip home we stopped in Hartford, CT for food and a peak at the Capitol building and Mark Twain House. Hartford just wasn’t what I thought it would be so it was an interesting learning experience for me.

I loved the trip and hope to make it back to New Hampshire soon! Have you ever been?