I've been trying to become more financially literate recently, and I even picked up a couple personal finance books. One of them in particular⁠—I Will Teach You to be Rich by Ramit Sethi⁠—made me pause and reflect on the culture of saving money. Contrary to what you might expect from the title, I Will Teach You to be Rich isn't about saving to become traditionally "rich." It's about learning to use your money to live a rich life, in a figurative sense. 

Basically, the idea is that you set up your finances so you cover fixed expenses, save towards your goals, and invest for the future⁠—but then you spend extravagantly on the things you love. For some people, that could mean traveling as much as they want, or running marathons all over the world. For others, it could mean spending $5,000 a year on designer shoes.

The point is to set up a system so that you can spend freely on the things that bring you joy. It's not about just being cheap and flat-out rejecting any non-necessity, which is often what we're taught to do. Of course, this doesn't mean that you should just go buy whatever you want, whenever you want; you still need to be smart with your money. But, "being smart with your money" can actually mean shelling out thousands on a passion (if that's what you value), if you're still setting aside your earnings for saving and investing.

While I still have a lot to learn when it comes to personal finance, I realized that I kind of already follow a similar philosophy. Running and travel are my big passions, and I spend pretty freely on them (I promise I'm still saving money, mom and dad). I've just decided that running and travel are what I value, and I cut costs elsewhere.

I began to wonder, however, how much exactly I spend. I haven't been very good at documenting my expenses, and I figured that auditing my running costs would be a good start. I decided to turn this topic in a post since I thought it'd also be an interesting, honest look into how much running actually costs (at least for a pretty obsessed marathoner in her twenties).

While I was planning my trip, I resolved to do at least one hike with around 2,000ft elevation gain. The mountains in the area looked absolutely stunning, with the snow-capped peaks and alpine lakes. The Northeast has some decent hiking, but it’s mostly wooded, and the views pale in comparison to those out West. 

Unfortunately, most of the beautiful hikes with decent elevation gain are at least an hour away from Seattle. I wouldn’t have access to a car, and I also didn’t want to hike alone in in the winter. So, I went looking for friends in one of the many local hiking Facebook groups. I luckily found someone who wanted to do the same alpine lake hike, so we made plans to tackle it together. Our hike ended up being the highlight of my trip—and I made a new friend along the way!

If you’re also hoping to hike during your visit to Seattle, but won’t have a car, here are 4 different things you can do to get out on the trails. 

Last year, I was an English lectrice at l’Université de Bourgogne in Dijon, France (yes, where the mustard is from haha). If you’re not familiar with the term, a lecteur/lectrice d’anglais (male/female) is basically a university lecturer. It’s common for French universities to hire native anglophones to teach English classes, and it’s a great way for anglophones to get a job in France. Most lecteurs teach conversation classes, but they might also teach translation, grammar, and other topics in English.

In a post I wrote last year on what it's like to be an English lectrice, I briefly discussed how I got my lectrice d’anglais position, but the post was mostly dedicated to what the job itself is like. This time, I thought it might be helpful to focus on the application process. 

In this post, I’ll be sharing some of the different ways you can land the English lecteur role. Since I applied through a university partnership, I’m not well-versed in the process for independent candidates. So, I invited a friend (actually made through blogging!) to share some of her insights at the end of this post.

A big thank you to Hallie (who’s a lectrice in Corsica this year) for answering my questions on applying independently, and for the stunning photos of Corsica!

This post is sponsored by PlayBetter.com—thank you to their team for letting me test the Forerunner 245 Music and Vivoactive 4S for this review! Of course, all opinions on the watches are my own. I also want to note that this post contains affiliate links, so I may receive commission on any purchases you make. Don't worry, this doesn't cost you any extra :)

This spring, I wrote a comparison post on the Garmin Forerunner 235 vs. Vivoactive 3 (Music), which ended up being my most-read post ever. Since then, however, never versions of both watches have come out: the Garmin Forerunner 245 and Vivoactive 4. It only seemed fitting to write an updated review.

As a quick background, I’m mainly a distance runner (road and trail) who does a lot of cross-training (swimming, biking, yoga). I like to wear my GPS watches almost 24/7, and also look at the fitness tracking data (a girl’s gotta know if she’s hit her 10,000 steps!). So, I’ll be looking at these watches from not only a running perspective, but also a multisport and everyday fitness wearable perspective. I got to try these watches for a month, and here's what I thought.