5 Pro-Tips for Your First Year of College

In honor of everyone moving in today, I thought I'd share a bunch of tips I learned in my first year of school.

1. You do NOT need everything you see at the store/ packed for your dorm.
Girls. Seriously... that bag-thing that attaches to your bed will prove useless if your bed is less than five feet off the floor. Just bring your bedding, basic wardrobe, a few dishes, and your basic beauty products. You won't have time to apply both liquid and powder foundation everyday, and you really won't wear that peplum dress OR your stillettos. Ever. Unless your are rushing a sorority or seriously like getting up at 5 a.m. to primp, leave it at home.
And guys, you don't need your five piece stereo set and surround-sound TV. Your roomate and RA (who fields complaints from the people upstairs) will thank you.

2. Yogurt and fiber bars
At least until your stomach adjusts to the cafeteria food, you will need something to regulate your system. I survived on Activia and Fiber One alone for a week my first run-in with the food on campus.

3. Look into the student discounts in your area
Its college. You are on your own for the first time. Be fiscally responsible. My campus hands out coupon books at textbook rental (which you should look into too, btw). Walmart gives a discount to students for everything except groceries (go figure). Apple and Dell do discounts and/or gift cards. A lot of movie theaters (AMC and Regal) give out student discounts. A lot of restaurants give out discounts too!

4. The College Triangle... it is real.
 I'm not even kidding. My best advice is to find the best possible ratio between these three and stick to it. For example, my friends hang out on Thursdays after the school week has mostly ended (because let's face it... Friday morning classes are kind of a joke). During the week, we pretty much only see each other during dinner. Homework is impossible otherwise.

5. Notice the times of day when the campus shuttle is most active...
 ... and avoid it at the most popular times. Most of the people on my campus start their morning classes at 9:30 a.m., so I avoid the bus between 8:45 and 10:00. The bus gets lazy at 2 p.m., so I walk after that time because otherwise it takes 45 minutes to get anywhere. Walking is sometimes faster than being lazy.

Once again, if you are a seasoned veteran of college, or if you find some of your own pro-tips, please comment down below because I'd love to hear from someone! Thanks for reading! Bye!

My Hair Growing Journey

In January 2011, I decided to chop off all my hair into a pixie cut. For the first two days, I have to admit that I was freaking out. The hair by my ears stuck out in a very unattractive, less than artful fashion and I bobby pinned it down for the first week I had it. After that, I learned how to style my hair and blow dry it in a way so that it didn't stick out at odd angles (Hint: blow dry the hair in the back down, and the top and sides forward. When you part it and brush it back, there will be volume and you will need to do minimal flat ironing) and I began to really love the new cut. It was freeing, having no hair all around my face. I was faced with the issue of becoming myself full on. I couldn't hide behind my bangs anymore because they only hid half of my forehead. I became braver with myself and with makeup and jewelry because I could. I wore lots of hats and scarves because the winters were COLD. But I began to miss my longer hair.

In September of last year, I had decided that I would grow it out again. My hair had developed a very strange sulfur scent (from too much heat and product), and I wanted to see if growing it out, and stopping the heat and product would help with the issue. I began taking Biotin supplements everyday and stopped using any product that wasn't the most basic of shampoos (VO5), and soon found out that that was probably the worse decision that I could have made. My hair became dry and lifeless and STILL smelled bad. By the holidays, I had returned to my original routine minus the gel and other styling products. My boyfriend's father (who does my hair) knew of the problem and was nice enough to give me THIS shampoo and it's matching conditioner for Christmas. The transformation was almost overnight! My hair stopped smelling and healed itself in just days. Using heat and product was still a no-no because it made the problem return, but I was able to find other ways to style my hair heat-less.

By April of this year, my hair had grown past the horrible awkward George Harrison/ Justin Bieber style and had moved on to greater lengths. Trims kept the shape looking good, but still allowed for healthy growth. I started experimenting with up-dos and began really enjoying the length. June brought the discovery of leave-in conditioner and knowledge that the more I hydrate myself and my hair, the more it will shine and like me. I began doing pin curls in my hair overnight and my hair began looking really healthy when I released them in the morning. 

Last month I began occasionally straightening my hair just to change things up a bit, and it doesn't smell anymore! I ran out of the magical Bed Head shampoo and began using this Biotin-infused shampoo and its conditioner instead alongside the leave-in stuff. I have seen no change thus far. When I run out of the NYM's stuff, I am going to try another brand and see what happens.

If you have any questions or would like to share your experience, please comment down below, I'd love to hear from you! 

Inaugural Post: Welcome to My Creative World!

It has been on my mind lately to begin a blog.

I needed a place to express myself creatively. A place where I can clearly and concisely word the thoughts in my brain for all to see. Where I control what I talk about and for how long.Where others can read more if they like what they see, or move on if they don't.

With that though in mind, I went to researching what platform I would use. I have an aunt that blogs, and she was nice enough to be the forerunner of my own adventures in the world of blogging. She even did a comparison of three different blog sites. I did, for a short time consider video blogging on Youtube, but then decided that it would take less time to just write. It also occurred to me that vlogging involved a lot of editing and probably more effort in the primping department than I had time for. Anyway, after reading all her opinions, compiling some of my own research, and remembering the amount of viruses my computer got THE ONE TIME one of my sisters got on my computer to use Tumblr, I settled here. Hopefully to stay.


See My Aunt's Page