My roommate and I have been moved into our apartment for about three months now and there have been so many benefits to having an apartment. We don't have to pay for laundry anymore. We're free to eat whatever food we want to and we're not stuck eating only food from the dining halls. We have a lot more personal space than we did when we were living in the dorm rooms. It's been pretty awesome thus far. However, seeing as how this was our first apartment, there were a lot of things that went into preparing for getting an apartment that we weren't necessarily ready for.
               In today's video, I've compiled a list of the top ten things I wished I'd known before moving into an apartment (Click HERE to see the video on YouTube). Getting your first apartment is a huge milestone in life and it's fun and exciting, but it can also be a little scary,especially if you're not prepared. With that being said, I hope this video can help somebody else out there!


             

               Be sure to leave a comment down below (or in the "Comments" section of YouTube if you're watching the video on that platform) with any other tips or advice that you have that I may not have mentioned in the video. Please feel free to follow any of my social media links with any questions, concerns, comments, praise and accolades (just kidding...ish), etc. Thanks for stopping by!

With love,

               Well, hello there, beautiful people! I know, I know. I've been gone for a few months and I've been taking a hiatus from blogging for a while. But now I'm back! I'm just going to be completely honest with you guys and admit that the main reason why I haven't been blogging is because I just haven't felt motivated. The semester started off pretty badly and it took me nearly halfway through the semester so far to get myself back on the right track. But nonetheless, here I am.
               There have been a few other personal struggles that I've been experiencing that's kept me from blogging, but I might save that as more of an update in another blog post. But I'm very glad to be back doing what I love and communicating with you guys because I've really needed that. I've had quite a few ideas and I'm glad that I am now in a much better head space in order to execute them. It's been over a year since I started this blog. My first post was published on September 29th of last year, I believe. And I really haven't been blogging as much as I said I would. But I want that to change. I need that to change. So that's what I'm going to start doing.

               I've (not so) recently started another semester of school and I wanted to share with you guys an updated look on what I keep in my backpack. But this time, I'm not just going to describe what's in my bag. I want to show you! With that being said, I'd like to announce that I've officially launched a new YouTube channel. There's only a couple of videos on it, including this one, but it's finally here! I've been wanting to start a channel for years, but never did for a number of reasons (excuses). And now I have. You can watch the video down below or visit my channel to go check it out.
             

               I'm not quite sure yet how often I will be uploading videos. I will keep blogging weekly and maybe add a video every other week or keep it weekly just like the blogs. But we'll see what happens.
               I really hope that you enjoy the video! Comment down below and let me know what you think!

With love from your girl,

             
               Today I wanted to talk about something that's been on my mind for a while, but I never addressed. I actually thought that it would be kind of awkward to address this now because the term "basic" isn't new anymore, but let's be real; I'm super lame and I feel like I always try to keep phrases around that people are kind of over. I'm still not ready for "Yaasss" to be over because that one word pronounced that way is basically a way of life for me.
               But today I wanted to discuss being "basic" and what it really means... literally I'm asking you because I have no idea and I think the term is actually quite pointless. It's seen as negative, but I think the term altogether is just misleading. Let's break down what it means to be "basic". I mean, there's the obvious characteristics: Starbucks, leggings and Uggs in the fall and winter months, iPhones, mainstream music, etc. I've never seriously sat down and thought about whether or not I was "basic", but am I supposed to be? Because I actually love all those things (minus the Ugg boots; I can't afford Uggs, but I'll rock some Payless knock offs!). But seriously, does liking popular things mean that your only goal is to be like everybody else, that you have no personality, or that all of your purchases and likes/dislikes are put in place by the fact that everyone around you likes it too? Can you not just like Beyonce because you actually like Beyonce? Because I freaking LOVE Beyonce and I don't think that's just because she's popular right now (and has been for a while actually); I genuinely like her. But even if I did only listen to music on the Billboard Top 100 chart and I only shopped at certain stores and I spent way too much money on Starbucks every day, would that mean every other quality about me is forgotten because of where and how I choose to spend my money or my free time? Because I think that's bullsh*t.
               I chose to talk about this after a conversation that I had with a friend who told me not to look into buying an iPhone because everyone else has one. His argument was that Android phones (preferably Samsung's flagship phones) allow users to have a completely customized and unique experience and that I wouldn't be conforming (yes, he used the word "conforming") to other people's standards of what a good phone is supposed to be... yeah... However, that's an argument for an entirely different post.  Despite the fact that it's a freaking phone, he genuinely thought that I wanted an iPhone because I know a lot of people that have them and I wanted to feel like everybody else. But I'm not in 7th grade and those things don't matter to me. At the end of the day, it's just a phone. And that was just one of many conversations that we've had like this.
               I understand being different and I completely advocate that. But more importantly, I advocate just being yourself. And if that's different (depending on whatever your definition of different is) then that's great. If you're into alternative music, fashion, ways of living your life, then do you if that's just who you are. Similarly, if you like to stay up to date on the latest trends and you know the lyrics to every new song that comes on the radio right when it comes out, then that's great too. And if you're like me and you don't fit on one exact side of the spectrum, then that's great too. I just don't think it's worth it to go out of your way to like or dislike something because you want people to see you a certain way when it comes to trivial things like what you eat or what music you listen to or what clothes you wear. If you like it, you like it. And if you don't, you don't. Just do what makes you happy and don't worry about labels or putting yourself in a box. And as cliche as it sounds, normal is overrated anyway because even if you can't see it on the outside, everyone is unique, everyone has a story, and everyone is important and shouldn't just be dismissed because they choose to or choose not to drink Starbucks every day.
               Thinking about this, it's kind of weird that I'm writing this entire post because someone told me not to buy an iPhone, but I think that's kind of where this way of thinking stems from... trivial things. And believe it or not, some people take this stuff seriously (and get really freaking hard core defensive about their phones). And obviously, I'm not referring to everyone because I know that not everyone thinks this way. I just see the word "basic" used to degrade other people so often that it gets really irritating to witness. So what if I want an iPhone? And who cares if I love Starbucks?  Does that make me boring? (Yes, I am boring but not because of that). Am I unsophisticated, uncreative, lacking uniqueness, stuck up, or self absorbed? Hell no. We all like/dislike our own things and all of our feelings about things are rightfully valid to us. We're all people.
#NoJudgementZone (Can we tweet that?)  :-D

               That's all I have for today. As I mentioned in my previous post, I'll be posting some of my favorite links to blog posts on Friday. Don't forget to leave any comments/questions/concerns in the comments section below or hit me up on my social media links (found in the sidebar). You stay awesome.
With love from your girl,

               Okay so I'm completely aware that I have been so behind on publishing contest for this site and for that I apologize. I know I've been really MIA lately, but life has been crazy. Actually, it hasn't been that bad; I've just been having a hard time trying to figure out how to fit a blogging schedule into my new summer schedule. Let me explain what's been going on this summer.

Work
This summer I started working my very first job... like ever. My job is pretty mundane, but it isn't too difficult. But when I come home after a full day, I'm exhausted. It's not just blogging that I've been falling behind on. Working this job has me falling behind on life basically. I've been so tired and worn out, I got to the point where I would just pile on mascara for my entire makeup routine and call it a day. I even stopped caring about my hair and rocked a beanie for almost an entire month. It was scary. So there's that...

Bret Michaels
Sweet Jesus. My aunt randomly invited me to see Bret Michaels. Apparently she won some tickets to his concert at work and it was amazing! I'm pretty sure everyone's mom was there, but I had the time of my life. And you can't go wrong with discount daiquiris!



John Mulaney
John Mulaney, for those of you who may not know, is a comedic genius who has shaped the entire friendship of my closest friends and I. We're obsessed with him, like to the point where we quote him subconsciously. It's actually a little creepy sometimes. He's one of my favorite comedians EVER and we got to go to the live recording of his upcoming Comedy Central Special. If you happen to catch it, you can probably hear me screaming from the balcony seats when he mentions HGTV. Just saying... (I really freaking love HGTV by the way).



Six Flags
Every year, my family and I go to Six Flags as a sort of small family vacation. We usually go to the Six Flags in Gurnie Illinois, but this year we're going to the one in St. Louis. Planning for that has been crazy and taking up a lot more time than I would've hoped it would.

SRtrends
Even though content has been very scarce on this site, I've still been working on other sites. I'm currently a Campus Coordinator at a website called SRtrends.com., which is a great  site full of  amazing articles created for college students by college students. So far, I have two articles published there and you can check them out here and go ahead and explore the rest of the site as well!

               So that's all that's been going on for now. I've also decided to start posting more content every week. I'll still keep posting my usual content on Monday, but I'm thinking that I can also publish posts on Fridays. The reason for this is to share content from other blogs and websites (yes, including SRtrends) that I think is helpful or entertaining. I love reading other blogs and I'd love to share links to other interesting articles with you guys. Also, if any of you guys have a blog or know of a blog and/or blog content that you'd like to suggest to me, go ahead and leave a comment down below or you can share it with me on any of my social media platforms. I'd love to talk to you guys!
With love from your girl,

               So I had a completely different topic picked out for today, but I decided that this was something more important that I really wanted to put out there. A few days ago, I was on Tumblr (of course) as I always am and I came across this post:

               Well, hello there, beautiful people! As you all may have been able to guess by the content on this site, I get super weird and geek out over all things organization! I love learning about new, affordable, and convenient ways to organize things (thank God for Pinterest). Needless to say, when it comes to my daily planning, I'm usually on top of things (for the most part). However, I do understand that it can be difficult to stay organized sometimes, especially if you don't have a proper planning system. I've definitely struggled with this. I used to think that I could remember everything. I kept telling myself that I would leave a "mental note" to remember to do something later and, of course, I never got anything done. Over time, I began to understand the importance of proper planning and organization. Of course, there's the age old debate about digital planning versus paper planning and which one is better and honestly, that all depends on the individual. I have friends who have desks that are covered in planners, notebooks, and post-it notes, and I also have friends who are glued to their phones. I've tried to do both, so I've compiled a list of pros and cons to both digital and paper planners.

DIGITAL PLANNERS

Pros

• Fast (depending on phone)
• Planning apps are most likely able to sync to all of your devices
• Less likely to get lost 
• Convenient, less to carry around
• Apps are able to remind you of important dates and appointments 

               Well, hello there, beautiful people! The end of the semester is FINALLY around the corner and I am super excited about that (I think I have about 3 weeks of school left). However, seeing as how the school year is coming to a close and I'm most likely going to be moving from a dorm room into an apartment next year (fingers crossed!), I figured I'd do a college dorm room tour. I love watching videos or reading blog posts of dorm room tours or apartment tours, so I thought it'd be a good idea to post one of my own while I'm still in the dorms.
               The type of dorm room that I'm living in is a little weird. Instead of living with a ton of people on one floor, I'm only living with a few people in what's known as a cluster. The cluster in my dorm consists of 12 people. All 12 of us have to share the living room area, the washer/dryer, the study area, and the kitchenette area. There are 6 mini-suites within the cluster, so each mini-suite houses two people, which is awesome, because you only have to share a bathroom with your suitemate. Each mini-suite comes with two sinks/vanities, two individual bedrooms, and one shared bathroom (as well as a mini-fridge and a pantry cabinet). I really like living here because it's pretty private and it has an apartment feel to it, even though it's a residence hall. With that being said, let's get started with the room tour!


                    This is what you see when you first walk into the mini-suite. My suitemate bought that zebra print rug last year when we were roommates in a different dorm. The door to my bedroom is on the left, and my suitemate's is on the right. I didn't tell her I was doing this post, so I'll be sure to respect her privacy and not include any of her personal belongings in this post. We share a cabinet and a mini-fridge... both are pretty empty... The only thing we actually use is the Keurig.


               This is my sink/vanity area. This is where I keep almost all of my hygiene products, such as: paper towels, toothpaste, my toothbrush, mouth wash, soap, and hand lotion. The little green mason jar on the left is actually filled with homemade laundry detergent! My suite-mate's mom made it for me and it's awesome. My very small, but still growing makeup collection is towards the right (I have makeup brushes on top of my makeup shelves, but they got cropped out of the picture). On the right side of my sink, I keep two mason jars that I use to hold cotton balls and Q-tips.





               This is the bathroom that my suitemate and I share. It's pretty basic, but I love the shower curtain we chose. Our shower mat is memory foam, so it feels amazing!

               If you're into DIY projects, then I'm pretty sure you've seen this one before. I originally found this idea on Pinterest, but I've seen many YouTubers do it. Almost all of these photos are from a Tumblr blog called Lavished In Lush (Caught In Your Hipster). The rest I just got off of Google Images.


               This is, by far, my favorite part of my room because it's where I get to do my favorite thing, which is sleep. The big brown... thing above my bed (I'm sorry; I honestly don't know what that thing is called) is from my aunt's house. It's seriously older than I am; it's been in her house since before I was born. But I really liked it and she didn't want it anymore, so I brought it to college with me. My bed set is entirely from Walmart (online). I also keep a couple of old throw blankets on my bed, as well as my stuffed animals from The Lion King: Nala, Timon, and Pumbaa. I'm aware I'm a bit old to have stuffed animals, but they're awesome decorations.


               This dresser came with the room, as most bedroom furniture on a college campus does. In my first drawer, I keep mostly underwear and T-shirts. The second drawer, I use for my jeans, sweatpants, leggings, and shorts. The bottom drawer, I use for random dishes (mostly mason jars). I bought the ottoman from Walmart (online) and I think it was around $20. I have two 5 pound dumbbells inside of it.


               On my windowsill next to my bed, I keep a random glass dish that I stole from home and on  that dish, I keep my perfumes and bracelets. The heart-shaped dish next to that is where I keep my earrings. I keep my cosmetic mirror on top of a mini 3-drawer-shelf that holds my nail polish/supplies. I always, ALWAYS keep a bottle of water next to my bed and next to that, I keep my tablet, headphones, glasses, and whatever book I'm reading. I'm currently reading Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? 



               Though my bed is my favorite part of my room, my desk is the most productive part of my room. I've got my TV, DVD player (with the only two movies I own, The Hangover and The Hangover Part II), my printer, my clock, my desk lamp, and a few other random things for decoration. The blue mason jar in front of the printer is where I put little notes of all of my highlights of my day. I got the idea from a YouTube channel called AprilJustinTV. At the end of all of their videos, they reflect on their "highlights" of the day, and I think that's such a cool thing to do, so I started writing down my "highlights" of the day and putting them in my mason jar. I also keep office supplies, my laptop, a few magazines, my planner, and my blog book on my desk. I also have a couple library books and a random mug on my desk in this picture, but I promise you, they're not always there.


               Under my desk, I have a drawer where I keep all of my mail and other important documents. I also keep my textbooks in the space under my dresser.


             
               My closet is made up of two full-length mirrors, which I really appreciate about this room. I used a dry-erase marker to write quotes on my mirrors (Don't worry; they'll come off) that say, "Smile darling" and "Do you. Be you. Stay true. Be shameless." The latter quote is from one of my favorite YouTubers, Shameless Maya. I used Command hooks to hang my necklaces on the right side of my closet.


               My closet isn't the prettiest, but it's what I'm working with in a dorm room. I keep boots on the top shelf of my closet. In the two black bins that are also sitting on that top shelf, I keep extra towels and extra iron (in the left one) as well as extra printer ink, extra headphones and chargers, etc. (in the right one). I have a shoe organizer hanging in my closet, which in my opinion, isn't the prettiest way to organize shoes, but it gets the job done. I also have a hanger for my scarves. The 3-drawer shelf, I got from Walmart and I use that to organize all of my hair products and hair tools, as well as hygiene products. On top of that 3-drawer shelf is a bag where I keep my yoga mat and zaffu. I also keep a random ironing board and umbrella in the back of my closet as well.


               Finally, we come to the other half of my closet. The two bins at the top of my shelf are from Big Lots and I use them to organize my bags/purses and my hats, belts, gloves, etc. As you can see, I didn't bring too many clothes to school with me (also a lot of my clothes are folded up in drawers). I keep my laundry basket on this side of my closet as well. Also, I know it's kind of hard to see in this picture, but if you look hard enough, you'll see another pair of boots on the right side of my laundry basket.

               So that is basically everything that I brought to college with me. I really hope you guys appreciated this post; I had a lot of fun making it. Comment down below and let me know 1) if you guys like these type of posts because I'll definitely make more of them and 2) how you guys organize your dorm rooms and what you brought to college!

With love from your girl, 

               Well, hello there, beautiful people! It's no secret that I've seriously been slacking on posting content consistently on this blog, and for that, I apologize. If I'm going to be completely honest, I've been having a really hard time staying motivated with everything that's been going on with school lately and I just needed some time to take a small break from blogging. I've come to the realization that, when it comes to blogging, QUALITY is much more important than quantity. I realized that I would start writing a blog post, knowing that I just needed to publish something by a certain date, but my post would pretty much be complete BS, and I don't want to post any content that I wouldn't want to read myself.
               I've been really tired of being in a motivational plateau, so I decided to do something about it. After realizing that I've been so busy that I haven't really had the time to relax and do the things that I normally like to do, I decided to spend the better part of this weekend doing just that. With that being said, I'd like to share with you guys everything I'm doing to stay inspired.


Inspiring Quotes, Daily Mantras, etc. 
On my desk, I have a 2x4 wooden frame, and the picture inside of the frame is a quote that says, "Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear." I've seen that quote all over Pinterest, and I believe the quote is from George Addair. I'm a very visual person, so seeing that quote in front of me everyday is a great reminder that I can never give up on my dreams or aspirations.

Blogs
I definitely consider myself to be an amateur blogger, so when it comes to finding advice on how to blog, I turn to the bloggers that inspire me. I'm starting to understand that blogging can be such a great community to be a part of, and talking to other bloggers really inspires me to be the best blogger I can be.

YouTube & Pinterest
I'm absolutely addicted to these two websites, and anyone that knows me can attest to that. It's where all of my motivation comes from, specifically Pinterest when it comes to photography and fashion. I turn more to YouTube to get motivation for pretty much everything else in life. Seriously, everything I know how to do in my adult life, concerning makeup, hair, health/fitness, etc., I learned on YouTube.

Music
Whenever I'm blogging or studying or I'm just really in my "Get Sh*t Done" zone, I like to listen to a playlist on Spotify called Deep Focus. It's got these really cool atmospheric rock vibes that really bring me to a productive state of mind, and it's awesome.

Friends
You can be the most productive, organized, well put together person in the world, but if you don't have any type of support system, then it's easy to feel like whatever you're doing in life is a waste of time. I am so thankful for my friends for being there for me. When you're away at college, your friends really become your family and their love and support can be just what you need to get you through,well, anything.

             
               Those are just a few of the things I've been doing to keep myself inspired, but when you think about it, inspiration can come from anything, if you let it. These are the things that I let really affect me, and from that affection comes inspiration for me. Comment down below and let me know how you guys stay inspired.

With love from your girl,

               Well, hello there, beautiful people! Again, sorry for not posting any content last week. I honestly can't believe that it's only been a week since I came back from Spring Break. This past school week seemed to drag on forever! School has been crazy: I've got auditions for next semester's shows coming up soon, dealing with trying to find off-campus housing has been crazy, and that's just the beginning.
               Needless to say, I'm in the "screw everything" part of the semester. If you're in college, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. It's that time of the semester where you're just kind of over putting in too much effort in your classes. To be honest, I just want the summer to be here. I'm sure many of your are in the same boat I'm in. The weather is warming up and despite me being a couch potato who likes to lock herself in her room with Netflix, I actually want to enjoy it. However, I'm well aware that I can't just give up on school altogether, so here's what I'm doing to stay motivated to finish off this semester the same way I started it: hella motivated!

Prioritize
Yeah, I know. School sucks right now and at this point, your only objective is to not fail. But the reality is that there's still at least a month of school left for most of us. There's no need to not be excited about summer, but getting your priorities straight will help put things into perspective. School first. Then summer fun!

Stay Organized
Seriously, the only thing keeping me sane at this point in the semester is staying on top of things. If I let myself start procrastinating right now, there's no way I'm going to get anything done. With that being said, I'd recommend getting organized like it's your day job. A great way to do that is to get yourself a good planner, if you haven't already picked one up by now. But if writing things down isn't your thing and you like to electronically stay organized, there's an app called My Study Life that I just found out about this past weekend and I believe it's available for both iPhone and Android. It's actually a really cool app; it allows you to organize your classes, assignments, exams, etc. I just downloaded it and have only had a little bit of time to mess with it, but so far, I'm really loving it! It doesn't really matter what your methods of staying organized are, but just make sure you're doing it. You can't afford to start slipping up now!

By All Means, Do Enjoy The Outdoors When You Can
Of course, take advantage of this awesome weather! Go study outside (Yes, people actually do that, apparently) or go on a walk or invite your friends to play volleyball or something. These are all things that I see people doing all the time around my campus.

When School's Out, Celebrate!
After working your butt off for nine months out of the year, you deserve to celebrate your accomplishments. I don't live in a large city, but there are a few local festivals that I'm looking forward to going to. And since I'm finally 21 years old, I can finally have some real (responsible) fun. I'm also very excited about finally being able to dress nicely. During the school year, I always wear workout clothes because my classes are usually very physical classes, but now, I can wear whatever I want and I'm excited for that!

Speaking of summer and fashion, I'd like to share with you guys this awesome post I read from SRTrends.com about putting together the perfect outfit to wear to music festivals (for those of us that are lucky enough to go. Unfortunately, I'm not). I love the outfits pictured in this post and it makes me so excited and ready for the summer time!

               Comment down below and let me know how you're getting through the rest of the semester and what your summer plans are!

With love from your girl,

               Well, hello there, beautiful people! Notice anything different about the blog? I may have made some subtle changes to the design of this website, and I like it so much more than my old one. I just felt like I wanted a change to my blog, so I spent the past couple of days putting in a little bit of work on the site. Hope you guys like it!
                I mentioned in last week's post that one of the most important ways that I stay organized throughout the semester is to have a morning and a nighttime routine. That way, I stay on top of things and I don't have to worry about not having enough time to get ready in the morning. This week, I thought that I'd elaborate on what my routines are, starting with what I do every night.

• Evernote - Any avid list-maker will tell you how amazing Evernote is. I save all of my personal lists as well as specific articles in Evernote. It's also great because the app syncs up with all of my devices so I have my lists with me everywhere. 
• Google Calendar - Any event I need to attend or appointment I need to go to is saved in this app and it works way better than the stock Calendar app that comes on my phone. 
• Blackboard - If you're in college, then you probably know what Blackboard is. It's the system that a lot of college professors use to post content online for their students. It's where you'll usually find the syllabus, class readings, announcements, and your grades for each class, among other things. The beauty of having the app on my phone is that I can access all of this information wherever I am, 
• Google Drive - Unless I'm printing out something very specific, I often forget to put things on my USB drive, so I back everything up on Google Drive. It's a life saver! There have been so many times where I needed to print out a paper before class and forget to save it to my USB drive. Being able to access my documents from virtually anywhere is something I definitely take advantage of.