So, I have gone a couple of months without updating readers about my daily goings-on; I took this summer to focus on myself, take care of my health and spend time with my family. It has been a long while since anyone has asked me to report on how I have spent my summer vacation, but considering the fact the only grade will be given by yours truly, I accept the challenge (though there is some pressure, I am highly self-critical).

As a former certified couch potato and a soon to be college graduate who gained more than the allotted fifteen my first year, on top of which I piled a semester of Spanish Sangria and fried tapas, I felt the Couch to 5K running program may have in fact been designed with me in mind. I had once avoided the treadmill (not to mention all that pavement out there) in my running shoes like Ron Weasley avoids spiders. Which, if you’re a fan of the Harry Potter series, you know is something he isn’t very adept at doing– those things creep up everywhere to scare the bejeezus out of him, which gave Rupert the chance to exclaim more than a few adorable “Bloody hell“s.

ANYway, I too was very afraid of what a commitment to running would entail, but every so often the proof of its power would creep up on me like those eight-legged pests; I could see how running really changed people’s bodies, not to mention the undeniable economical benefits of nixing a gym membership and only needing to invest in a supportive and stylish pair of running sneakers, so I knew I had to eventually bite the bullet. (Better than biting a brownie, no?)

I paired that with joining my mother for Zumba 3-4 days a week, where more often than not I was the only booty-shaker under 40 but hey, I was killing two of my summer goals with one stone. I even tried my hand (or really my core) at pilates. WHO AM I?

But the biggest change came from starting to follow Weight Watcher’s Points Plus. Once I saw Jennifer Hudson’s ‘Feeling Good’ commercial enough, I knew I needed to taste the Kool-Aid she was drinking (which to be accurate was probably not Kool-Aid at all, since the sugar package is totally not worth the points plus values, or PPVs, so maybe she stuck to those Crystal Light packets– right Hungry Girl?). The thing about WW, I have recently decided, is that it is not a diet. For us super-size-me Americanos, it is an education. The syllabus involves instruction in portion-control, research in the value of an empty calorie versus the benefits of the protein and fiber counts, understanding of the fact that everyone has days where they slip-up on their regimen, but it’s when they don’t start over the next day that they truly fall off the bandwagon, and reflection upon what it is that makes us eat beyond our needs. It is a program that I have accepted in my life for the rest of it, because it is not a school you graduate from. On other programs, you enter an alternate-universe for a while and eventually enter back into the real world of eating. WW trains you succeed in the real world of eating. For this kind of enlightenment, it was crucial that I be in the supportive environment (and let’s be honest, the sweet rent-free + food/utilities included set-up) of my healthy-eating family in New York.

For the first time, I took advantage of my close proximity to the city, which was absolutely necessary when someone was paying for a monthly train ticket. I saw three shows (Avenue Q, Rock of Ages, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying– Daniel Radcliffe whatta mensch!) tried a bunch of different restaurants like B. Smith’s, the Frying Pan, Meson Sevilla and Eataly, shopped in SoHo (where I never once spotted a celeb, JustJared HOW do you do it?), walked the High Line, and ate from the many gourmet food trucks. Oh, and I also interned.

Three days a week, I went all Plain-White-Tees in taking planes and trains and cars, walking to the StyledOn.com office in SoHo. The office is on Broadway, surrounded by the United Colors of Benneton version of touristy-shoppers rummaging through Forever 21, Zara, Urban Outfitters, and TopShop to name few. But it was the boys-next-door who always caught my eye, literally. Hollister was our neighbor, and they were kind enough to station their six-packed, board shorts and nose-zinc bearing models outside its doors, ready for photo-ops and hours of standing in the SoHo sun. Location, Location Location.

Each day I took the ten-minute elevator ride up to the tenth floor (no exaggeration), silently cursing the lazy-bones who crowd the 1/2 powder-room sized shaft just to get off on the second or third floors. THE THIRD FLOOR IS A GYM. Rant over.

Oh wait, what is StyledOn? Once crowned “the Facebook for fashion” by the New York Times T magazine, it is a hybrid site connecting brands with consumers, bloggers with shoppers, editors and their readers over fun fashion features, chic brand show rooms, and an online community which allows users to upload personal photos and tag their outfits. The formerly ubiquitous “OHMIGOD where’d you get that?” can now be replaced with, “I totally just shopped your outfit, thanks to StyledOn.” (This situation has been slightly exaggerated).

As an intern I maintained the site by updating and editing the brand and product pages, essentially creating virtual showrooms for the designers, and uploaded daily community posts to get users talking. Being an entertainment junkie and avid internet troller (which I could now use as an excuse for inspirational research purposes), I created a meme of uploading celebrity sartorial choices and other fashion-related news, including purchase tag links and often colored with snarky commentary (and when earned, ardent admiration). I liked to think of them as embellished, or photo-accompanied tweets, bringing the hard-hitting and important daily news to the StyledOn community in a punchy manner, since the caption field also had a character limit. I researched images for our polls like Cover Wars and Red Carpet Wars and scoured the Web for fashion and beauty bloggers to feature.

But what left a lasting impression on my journalistic future was my bosses’ penchant for tweeting. I was never much of a tweeter before (yes the verb is to tweet, not to twitter, to twit, or any other variation) but now I can say that I am hooked. It turns out I still have a long way to go in properly practicing Twitter etiquette, #firstworldproblems, keeping my tweet-count to a minimum, following less pages than who follow me (I am extremely off-balanced in this category, but do you know how many celebrities have Twitter? Not to mention all the news outlets. I’ve gotta just gain more followers STAT. @hilaryweissman. Subtlety is my thing).

I even got published this summer besides my own self-published blog! I wrote a piece for StyledOn’s Dissecting ‘It’ column, a series dedicated to designating sartorial “it” items among fashion bloggers and fashionebrities alike, and deciding whether the trend is tried and true or destined to be tossed. I was intrigued by the Duchess and future Princess formerly known as Kate Middleton’s undeniable mark on the fashion world, and her admirable mixture of designer duds with lower label deals (who doesn’t love a royal who shops at Zara?) Though it was hard to pick just one of her chic choices to dissect, I felt it was best to start with the look that landed her, and the Issa design she donned, on the map.

I also got to try my hand at modeling (read: I served as a hand model for a DIY manicure feature.) I was the beacon of hope for all the girls with nails that wouldn’t grow. Shortly after the tutorial went live, my nails never broke again. They are long. I am such a hypocrite.

I also wrote a blog post for Moment magazine, where I interned last summer, about my jewish exploration through Spain. I was very proud of the 8-page Spanish-language research paper I wrote on the matter, so I translated and cut it down to a more manageable read– the last thing I wanted you to hear while reading it was “yada yada yada.”

I am so excited for my senior year of college. Though allowing it to start will ultimately give way to seeing it end, there are too many things to look forward to. I’ll be rejoining CollegeFashionista’s Style Guru team with a weekly blog post on a stylish siren seen on campus, I’ll be interning part-time at Capitol File magazine of Niche Media in D.C., and I’ll be taking classes like feature writing, photojournalism, human sexuality (with the Dr. Sawyer), and my last honors seminar– it’s an exploration of D.C. theater, which means I will be in attendance to many a show. Cue cinematic montage where the young 20-something takes charge of her life. Ginnifer Goodwin would be playing me, if you must know.