My little sister just left for her freshman year of college. Barf. Only six years ago, she was a little twelve-year-old, helping to move me in. And now, she's OFF. 

I just closed out my Facebook after scrolling through some pictures from college. Freshman year is, without a doubt, one of the most fun years in so many people's lives and I'd give anything to go back. Thinking of all the memories she will make this year, I'm pretty jealous.

You will sit at the campus cafeteria for five hours on a Sunday afternoon with a dozen friends, staying for lunch AND dinner. You will fling food across the table off a spoon and catch it in a cup. You'll grab the soft serve on the way out and play basketball with the rotten apples on the way to the dorms.

You will make a little 12 x 15 foot room your home with your new roommate, who would quickly become your best friend. 

You will sneak back from the sweaty frat party into your dorm room and hope not to wake the RA. You will order a pizza at 2am and eat it on the floor, listening to country music. 

You will create a ridiculously large (and ridiculously bad) Mickey Mouse when it snows for that long weekend and will invite over ten friends to watch one of those stupid scary movies. You will all cram on the two twin extra long mattresses that were lofted eight feet off the ground.

You will make friends with some upperclassman and hope his house is "conveniently available" when you want to have a party. 

You will plan a beach day with all of your new friends and then get insanely sunburnt because Mommy didn't tell you to wear sunscreen. 

You will think it's a really great idea to dress up as a mustard bottle for Halloween. In fact, you'll think a lot of the ideas you have in college are good...in that moment.

You will take the cheesiest Christmas pictures with your girlfriends and save the Christmas card for years. 

You might even meet the love of your life, whether you know it then or not. 

You'll make the best of memories with the best of people. So, enjoy each and every second of it. It flies.

I never thought I would admit it, but I'm kind of losing my mind. Summer is nearing an end, and I think I'm hitting the point where I am ready to go back to school. [GASP - teachers aren't supposed to admit that, are they?!]

Yesterday, I think I watched six thousand episodes of The Walking Dead. Today, I was productive for about 35 minutes. I haven't showered yet (Sorry, Mom) and I'm slowly sinking into my couch, listening to TLC's Four Weddings as background noise. I have wildly exciting plans of making a trip to Target (for the 3rd time this week) and cooking Ryan dinner when he comes back from his very adult-y business trip. SOMEONE, HELP ME PLEASE. 

I've always been the type of person who needs to be busy. In fact, one of my hobbies is filling up my daily planner, making checklists, and checking things off. Nerdy, I know. So, August started off relaxing and felt like a vacation. Now, I'm getting a cramp in my neck from laying on one side too long. The battery on my phone is dying too quickly these days because I'm exhaustingly scrolling through Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and my new favorite (which I'm still trying to figure out), Periscope. I think I need a hobby. Or children. (Just kidding)

I'm sure that, come mid November, I'll be wishing I was back in this nail-painting, sleeping-in, yoga-pant-wearing phase, but for now, I'm ready to go back. Please, someone, tell me I'm not alone. 

Ryan and I recently moved into our first apartment earlier in August. For months and months, I had been shopping and getting ready to move in and decorate my first big girl place. (Sorry, Mom and Dad, for taking over our basement with my piles of picture frames, plates, and pillows.) 

We moved in quickly, to say the least. On a Thursday, we loaded up our cars and unloaded it all into our new place. On Friday, the moving trucks came with the bed, couch, and all the big stuff. Only a few hours later, we had to shower and head to Upstate New York for Ryan's family event. So, when we returned late Sunday night, it didn't quite feel like "home" yet. I worked like a maniac on Monday to clean, decorate, hang, install, and fluff pillows to make it look cozy. And now, I'm obsessed!

Here's a quick little tour of our place!

First and foremost, here's our front door! We live in the upstairs of a house. 

Our cozy living room!

(Above the couch)

Bedroom!

Ryan's office area.

The kitchen is our favorite part.

Kitchen table and bar area. 

And finally, the bathroom!

Well, there you have it! Stop by one day for an ACTUAL tour :)

I think I liked Facebook more when I first got it as a sophomore in high school. 

From what I remember of it, I scrolled through funny status updates and pictures of my friends. Now, every time I log in to Facebook, it's BAM - someone is engaged... BAM - someone is having a baby....BAM - someone got married. BAM - someone got an awesome new job. BAM, BAM, BAM. Frankly, it's exhausting.

I think that scrolling through all of these "BAM-moments" makes us question where we all are in our lives. My grandma jokes about something she calls "Facebook envy", which she explains as the feeling you get when comparing yourself to the awesome lives portrayed on social media. It's hard not to, although "comparison is the thief of joy." It's hard to wonder why we're not getting the crazy job or having babies or getting married or winning the amazing trip, etc, etc, etc. 

What people don't see on Facebook, though, is real life. People, including me, post the good things (duh). Who wants to see the misery I felt during that awful hike or the blueberries I splatted all over the floor while making my Instagram-worthy smoothie. Instead, I post the beautiful view from atop the mountain and the perfectly filtered photo of my healthy smoothie with hashtags like #cleaneating and #beachbod. Facebook (and Instagram and Twitter, etc), for that matter, are glorified versions of all of our lives. I'm not downplaying the excitement of the BAM-moments; instead, I'm reminding us that the BAM-moments are all we see these days because they're the most glamorous. 

So, tread lightly, social media world, and keep reminding yourself that your life is pretty awesome.