Happy Hub: The Martian, Emotion, Zoya Cassedy + Haven, & More!

Now that we're back to school, I'm having a harder time keeping track of my favorites -- or even having favorites for that matter. Despite the exams, homework, and general exhaustion, I've managed to squeeze in some favorites. Hopefully these are the things that will stand out in my memory when I look back on this blur of a month.

Tunes

If you weren't my friend last year, you probably missed the IM5 craze. I still love them just as much but two of the members have gone their separate ways and it's one of their former members, David Scarzone, that put out my first favorite earlier this year. Ex-Men is chock-full of references to my all-time favorite comic book characters. I don't know how I missed it when it was first released but it was fun to have to listen to as I was getting into comic books and graphic novels in my reading life. It's clever, catchy, and geeky. All the things I like to see in a song inspired by the X-Men.

October was dominated by a single album. I was okay with I Really Like You and I liked the sound of All That but I was not prepared for what Emotion had in store for me. Some of the songs speak to me more than others but my top handful are Favourite Colour, Run Away With Me, Making the Most of the Night, Emotion, Gimmie Love, Your Type, Let's Get Lost... Shoot, I'm listing the whole album. Those are in no particular order except Favourite Colour because that song is the one that will define my October 2015 for years to come.

The fact that we have new music from Adele is enough to get it on my Happy Hub. As much as I love Hello, I feel like I've heard it before and the first teaser I heard ended sounding like the rest of the song. That being said, it's so powerful and it makes me feel terrible for wronging a lover I never had. Her new album cannot come out soon enough.

Ellie Goulding is one of those favorites of mine that kind of gets a little forgotten behind the constant activity and my own overwhelming passion for boybands. That being said, I'm always a fan of her music whenever she releases it. When I heard her new album was going to drop soon, I was left waiting patiently for her singles to drop. While I love On My Mind, Lost and Found is definitely more my style.

Films

The Martian (x)

The Martian (2015) is a movie that I'd been anticipating even before I'd read The Martian by Andy Weir. Naturally, my excitement only grew when I actually read the book. The problem was that all my movie buddies were off pursuing their academic careers so it didn't look like I was going to have the chance to see it in theaters. Thankfully, my dad heard my cries for help and took me and my brother to see it. Sooo worth it. For the most part, the adaptation was true to the book. There were some minor changes and some obstacles were cut out (thank goodness because those were the obstacles that stressed me out the most) but there were lines that were pulled directly from the novel. I really don't want to be that person to be wailing, "The book was better than the movie!!1!!!" (and I'm not usually I don't think) but it's true for this adaptation even if it's by the slimmest of margins. If you're a reader, please don't pass up The Martian and if you're not, you'd better go catch this movie in theaters before it's too late.

Miscellaneous

Zoya Cassedy

Zoya Cassedy (x)

When I go on vacation, I try to avoid painting my nails, which may seem backwards, but nobody needs ugly chipped nails in their vacation photos (which are bound to happen even if nail polish loves your nails). It's one of my only chances in the year for my poor nail beds to get some sun. After a summer of going au naturel, I couldn't resist painting my nails for the first day(s) of school. Zoya Cassedy has been in my collection since January of last year and there was no better time to wear it. It's one of those colors that's silver and gray and green and blue all at once. A shape-shifter. I mean, that's very quality that makes China Glaze Elephant Walk my favorite nail polish of all time so things are looking good for Zoya Cassedy.

Zoya Haven (x)

Zoya Haven

When I painted my nails with Zoya Cassedy, I asked my roommates to pick out my next color for me. They decided to go with Zoya Haven and it's proven to be quite a hit. I think purple is such a fun color to wear for October since it's not a traditional Halloween color but still very festive and in tune with the season. Zoya Haven is a red-toned purple, making it (kinda) stand out from the rest of my collection. It's dark like the rest of my polishes so it can only stand out so much.

Blogosphere

I'm really pumped that #hairoftheweek is back and hit the ground running. It's been great being able to stretch my hair styling muscles after a long summer of inactivity. This season has been extra satisfying so far because all the hairstyles featured on #hairoftheweek are ones that I came up on my own. Having this new shorter hair (even though it's more medium-long than anything) pushes my creativity. With the days of side braids behind me (for now), I've given myself more room to experiment. Make sure to follow my Instagram if you want to keep up to date with #hairoftheweek!

What would a blog post be without a Steph mention? Now that she's gotten settled in Japan, Steph has been updating It's Raining Cats and Mochi more regularly. (Mondays and Thursdays, to be exact. Be sure to check her blog the day after my posts go up!) Recently she's been blogging about the field trips she goes on and they're always to really cute or gorgeous destinations. Do your best to refrain from packing a suitcase and hopping on a plane across the Pacific because I've definitely felt that urge at least twice reading about Steph's adventures. I mean, the scenery alone is enough to get me to the nearest airport. Heart-eyes emoji, much?

It's been a little bit of a struggle getting back into the swing of things with balancing school and blogging and reading but it's all worth it becuase finishing a blog post is so rewarding. I do my best to work ahead but sometimes it just doesn't work out. Looking on the bright side, I get to go through all the things that made me happy this month in one day as I'm sitting here typing up this post. I feel like this Happy Hub is shorter than previous Happy Hubs so tell me what I'm missing! What's been lifting your spirits this month? Let me know in the comments!


Talk to you soon!

xo, Yvette