throwback thursday + journal 7

Happy Thursday, friends! My weekend starts here and I couldn't be more thrilled. Here's a little reminder for today: help someone out if you get the chance. This morning I helped a girl with the pay machine in our parking lot because it's temperamental and loves to try to charge you $27 instead of the early bird $6. Silly thing. But she was so grateful for the help and I think it was a very good start to the day indeed.

It's been a few weeks since I did a throwback. Here's what I've been up to!

My friend's baby shower was on Saturday, and it was a wonderful time of reuniting with college friends and catching up on life. Not to mention celebrating the sweet baby that is arriving so soon! We don't know the gender, so it was a neutral rain cloud/raindrop theme. Too cute. (PS - that punch is both cute and delicious. Pineapple juice, 7-up, white grape juice, and food coloring. Rubber duckies mandatory.)

That's my best friend who is having a little boy or girl in May! :) And that's me holding her sister's kid. Too cute for words. Also, the daffodils have finally poked out of the cold, dead ground... fingers crossed that snow will stay away for good! I'm so happy to have invested in a record player (finally). Every day I've been coming home from work and listening to vinyl. It's relaxing and I can't wait to build up my collection!

And now for Journal Day 7! I think I skipped 6 by accident...

Do you use social media in your daily life? Do you think it adds to your relationships with others, or takes away from them? And furthermore, do you think social media adds more positive or negative to your life? Write about your relationship with social media, and talk a bit about how you got started, and what role it plays in your world.

Oh, social media. Such a useful and awful resource all at once. I do use it in my daily life, just Facebook and Instagram (@sarahfisch). I don't use Twitter or Vine or anything else that is basically Facebook and Instagram. :)

For me personally, social media is a very helpful tool. I started using Facebook in college, and Instagram when I got my first iPhone. It helps me keep up with my friends who live far away now (I love seeing my friend Emily's pictures since she moved to San Francisco). I recently had a conversation via FB message about something serious with a friend who is going through a tough time. And don't get me started on the FB messages/groups that I've been a part of for weddings! Overall, it's a positive forum for me. But I think that is because I choose not to participate in the many negative aspects of social media. I do not post twelve times a day about everything I'm doing (I think it's safe to say most people find that annoying). I rarely post daily; I don't even post unless it's important or I have something worth noting to say. I don't participate in criticism of others. I don't (often) join debate threads of controversial topics. I don't request that you "follow me if I follow you! Like my picture if I like yours!" And most importantly, I do not vent on the internet. That, to me, is the worst thing you could use FB for. I treat FB and Insta as a place to keep up with my friends and create memories of what's going on in our lives. I love going way back in my Insta account and seeing what I was doing a year or two ago. It's just plain fun!

Have a great day & I'll see you guys back here tomorrow!