September Recommendations

Hello hello friends! You know the drill. Skimmers, recommendations are in bold (and typically clickable). My brother Sean is joining me this month. He turned 21 on the 19th and made some time for his old ass sister's blog posts. Thanks Swan!

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Among the realm of topics I could’ve explored, I chose TV shows because I feel they consume a large portion of a college student’s spare time. This is also a debate that you could have with almost anyone out there without reaching a compromise. It seems like no individual has the same “Mount Rushmore” of television shows as another. (Yes, I know I am discussing top five television shows while Mount Rushmore contains only four figures)  Nevertheless, here are five television shows that I could watch on a loop for as long as I can.  Keep in mind there are great shows that I have never watched or am frankly just forgetting. 

1. Entourage – I think it is fair to say that only males will agree with me on this. The idea of gaining superstardom and living with your best friends is pretty damn cool to me. I have seen every episode an embarrassing amount of times and I’ve never once been tired of it. 

2. Seinfeld – It goes without saying that this is one of the all-time most popular television shows. I also know that it is a true hit-or-miss show; if you like it, you probably love it and if you don’t, you probably think George Costanza is the most annoying person on the planet. I can place full blame on my brother for getting me into this show, seeing that he’s seen every episode seemingly a hundred times over. 

3. SNL – Say what you want about how this show has evolved over the years, but I always loved it through its peaks and valleys. In its heyday, it was piss-your-pants worthy with figures like John Belushi, Dan Akroyd, Steve Martin, Will Ferrell, Bill Murray, and Chris Farley among others.  It may have lost some consistency, but Lorne Michaels will always find a way to make me laugh. 

4. Lost – Lost was probably the most captivating show that I have ever watched.  Although it takes forever and a day to get through every episode, I’d do it willingly. 

5. Newsroom – I will preface this by saying this show is NOT in my top 5 all-time. I feel that I just found a loophole because it is a show I am currently watching and I could not decide where to go with my fifth choice. I really enjoy the perspective this show offers. It offers accounts of a fictional news team breaking some of the most important events of the last four or five years from the BP oil spill to the Boston Marathon bombings. The intertwining of personal relationships and professional obstacles surrounding these events make it very addictive.

Honorable Mention: The Office, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, True Detective, Dexter

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1. Try the local foods when traveling. I don't think you get the full experience otherwise. If I'm going to have a beer, I try one from a local brewery if it's offered. Out west I had the bison burger and tenderloin, the elk chili, the huckleberry everything. If it's local and in-season, even better. 

2. E-bags packing cubes. You can get them on Amazon but they often run sales on the E-bags site. You can purchase cubes of the same size or cubes of varying sizes. I took a large suitcase and used three large cubes, one medium, and four small. I took my suitcase into a hotel room once on our trip, and that was to re-pack it the night before we left. These e-bags made my life awesome on our road trip and were well worth the money to me. 

3. Jackery external batteries. I have two of these in orange and they freaking rock if you're on the road. They re-charge your phone multiple times and the color makes them hard to lose. 

4. Short USB cables to go with the above. They don't crap up my purse. 

5. Columbia Women's Arcadia II Rain Jacket - For a sweet $60 you, too, can be kept dry. I needed a rain coat for our National Parks trip because rain will not break me. This one was cheap and fits well. I only used it one day, but it was good as a windbreaker too. 

What are you recommending this month my friends?