Shatece Haynes

1:30 AM

My Morning & Nighttime Routines

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.

NIGHT TIME ROUTINE

Remove Makeup

I'm usually wearing makeup for most of the day, so when I start my routine for the night, this is the first thing I do.

Shower/Wash Face

Showering at night is kind of new to me, but I love it so much more than showering in the morning. Also, my roommate showers in the morning, so it's easier for me to shower at night, so that I'm not in her way. I also wash my face in the shower just to make sure that I get all of my makeup off my face.

Nighttime Hair Routine

Normally, when I get out of the shower, I'll do what's known as a "twist out" on my hair. To do this, I part my hair into four main sections, and I'll take strands of hair from within each section, and twist them together. This way, when I wake up in the morning, all I have to do is undo the twists and my hair is curly for the day. In my opinion, this is one of the most efficient hairstyles for people with natural hair and it's the hairstyle that I have in my current photo in the sidebar. However, my hair is currently in a protective style known as "havana twists", so all I have to do is spray my hair with a moisturizer, seal it with coconut oil, and wrap my hair in a silk scarf for the night.

Outfit

I used to do this a lot when I was a kid because my mom made me and now that I'm an adult, I see why. It's so much easier to pick out your clothes at night instead of running late to school or to work because you can't find anything to wear. This is also a huge time saver if you plan on wearing something that needs to be ironed or steamed.

Pack Backpack

Again, this is another way that I save tons of time in the morning. More often that not, if I'm rushing to get to class in the morning and I don't pack my backpack the night before, I'm going to forget something important. To relieve myself from this unnecessary stress, I make sure I have everything I need for class packed and ready to go the night before.

Tea Time

This is probably my favorite part of my nighttime routine because it's so relaxing. I drink a cup of tea every single night and I also take this time to check my emails, read some blogs, and catch up on social media.

Brush Teeth

I love going to bed with fresh breath (even though I somehow still wake up with gross morning breath). Also, because I'm currently wearing Invisalign braces, I take this time to clean my retainer trays.

MORNING ROUTINE

Stretch & Make Bed

As an acting major, most of my classes tend to be very physical, so I like to stretch in the morning to get ready for those classes. I like to make my bed as well so that after a long day of classes, I can come back to a clean room.

Makeup, Hair & Outfit

I do all three of these things in that order (usually). My makeup usually takes the most amount of time to do every morning, so I do that first. And because I pick out my clothes the night before, it takes no time at all to get dressed.

Breakfast

Because I still live on campus, I can't really cook my own breakfast like I want to, so I usually keep cereal, oatmeal, and fresh fruit in my dorm room so that I won't be hungry until lunch.

Coffee

I do the exact same things I do during Tea Time (checking emails, reading blogs, etc.), except in the mornings, I drink coffee.

Brush Teeth

Gotta get rid of that coffee taste and that morning breath, right?

Double Check Backpack

Even though I pack my backpack the night before, I still make sure that I have all of my last minute items, like my keys and my cell phone. Once I'm sure that I have everything, I'm ready to go!

I stick to these routines pretty religiously and I'm glad that I do, because not rushing to get to class in the morning is a great feeling. Comment down below and let me know what daily routines you guys have.

Also, I've got awesome news: the Facebook Page for this blog is finally up and ready to go, so go on over there and give it some love if you like what you see on this blog!

With love from your girl,

1:30 AM

How I'm Staying Organized This Semester

Well, hello there, beautiful people! By now, I hope that you guys have all gotten into the swing of things for the remainder of the school year. I hope the new semester has been treating you all well. So far, I've been enjoying my Spring semester and I think I owe that to some of the changes I've made recently. Last semester was great, but I'm determined to make this one even better by being more productive and staying on top of things. With that being said, here is how I'm staying organized this semester:

Having a Morning/Nighttime Routine

Last year (and every year before that, actually), I wasn't too concerned about how much sleep I got at night, or what time I woke up in the morning. I would set my alarm to go off at a certain time, hit "snooze" for nearly an hour, and then make sure I was out of bed in just enough time to get ready and leave for class. I'm proud to say that that's no longer the case. So far this semester, I have successfully been waking up two hours before it's time for me to leave for class. This gives me enough time to wash my face, do my hair and makeup, eat breakfast, drink some coffee, watch the news, check my emails, read some blogs, etc. It's also great having that extra time in the morning to double check my backpack to make sure I have everything. I can't tell you how many times I rushed out of my room to go to class only to get there and realize that I forgot my keys or my textbook or my phone. Waking up earlier was kind of a struggle at first because I was so used to hitting "snooze", but now I love the extra time I have in the mornings.

Similarly, I've created a nighttime routine, which allows me to do all the things at night that I would normally be rushing to do in the morning. For example, showering, picking out my outfit, and packing my backpack are all things that I used to do in the morning that I now do every night before bed. It saves me a ton of time (and stress) in the morning!

Having a Clean Work Space

It's so true that having a clean and organized work area helps you keep a clean and organized mind, at least that's true for me. If it's been a really long day, it's nice to come home and have a clutter-free place to get work done. This is my current work area; it's the desk that my dorm room came with. Keeping my work space neat and tidy gives me enough space to be as productive as I need to be, despite having my TV and my bulky printer on my desk.

Keeping a Blogging Schedule

I realized very quickly that blogging while in college can be a little stressful at times, especially if you're not organized. While I was at home for Winter Break, it was easy to write up multiple blog posts throughout the week because I didn't have much to do while I was at home. Being at school, however, is an entirely different story. With classes, a social life, and other commitments, sometimes, blogging will be the the last thing on my mind, so I try to keep a schedule to organize my blog posts. I know that I put out one post every week, so I try to make sure that I always have at least two weeks of blog posts already typed up and ready to publish ahead of time. I also try to make sure that I schedule my posts to share on social media ahead of time, and I use Hootsuite to get that done.

Minimizing the Amount of Materials I Bring to Class

When I first started college, I would always forget to bring something to class. Then, I started bringing too much stuff to class that I didn't need. For example, I used to have two planners, one for my school work and the other for clubs and organizations that I planned on joining. I have no idea why I thought this was a good idea because I could never consistently use both of them. I'd also have one individual notebook and folder for every class and sometimes, I'd bring the wrong notebook or forget a folder. It was a mess. Now, I have one planner for everything. I organize it by keeping it color coded and by using sticky notes for my "To-Do" lists. I also started buying 5-subject notebooks so that I wouldn't have to worry about carrying so much stuff to class.

Using Productivity Apps

Productivity apps have been a life saver for me and I'm starting to get obsessed with them. Sometimes, when I'm bored, I'll open the Google Play Store on my phone and browse the Productivity Apps to see if there's anything new or something that I haven't tried yet. Some of the apps I use include:

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.

Keeping a White Board

I update my white board every night, so that I have a clear view of what my schedule looks like for the next day. This is my schedule for today, which is pretty heavy, class-wise. I have two classes in the morning that get out at 12 PM (11:50), and then I have a three hour Acting class later on in the afternoon. I also keep a reminder of things I need to do that day, which in this case, is to schedule a doctor's appointment. I keep this on the outside of my door, so that my suite mate or anyone else who comes into our suite can generally know where I am if I'm not in my dorm.

Keeping Up with the Class Syllabus

I'm one of those students who thoroughly reads and then prints out the syllabus before classes start. I like to stay on top of assignments so that I can get some of them done and out of the way. It's a great feeling to have an online quiz or a paper due by a certain date and knowing that you've already done it and no longer need to stress about it.

Those are just a few things that I do to stay organized throughout the semester, and these things have all been working great for me. I hope that you guys can take some of these tips and use them as well. Comment down below and let me know what all you guys are doing to stay organized and productive this semester!

With love from your girl,
Shatece

1:04 AM

The Top 5 Blogs That I Follow (And You Should Too!)

Hello there lovelies! I have a confession to make. As much as I love to stay busy and productive, I have to admit that this weekend, I've been doing a lot of procrastinating. Of course, I haven't been completely bumming it and I'm not letting myself get behind in any of my classes, but let's just say that I may or may not still have a load of laundry that I need to do. I also may or may not have an English paper that I could get started on early, but we won't talk about that. Spring semester started less than a month ago and thankfully, I haven't been buried in tons of school work...yet, so I'm enjoying my free(ish) time. I spent most of the weekend on Bloglovin' catching up on all of the blogs that I follow, so I'd like to think that I've been procrastinating in a rather productive matter. At least, that's what I've been telling myself to justify my procrastination. Either way, I thought I'd share with you all the top five blogs that I've been reading a ton of lately. These are in no particular order:

Her Campus
I think Her Campus was one of the first blogs I ever subscribed to. The articles on this site are amazing and a lot of them have hilarious GIFs in them. Her Campus covers everything from beauty and style to LGBTQ and feminist issues. Needless to say, I love it!

The College Life Stylist
This blog is just beautiful and has tons of helpful tips for any collegiate. The College Life Stylist is created by Alexandria Eisenhardt and her Instagram is on point!

Love Desiree
I was browsing natural hair videos on YouTube one day and I came across a channel called Love Desiree. I later found out that she had a lifestyle blog and now I'm obsessed! Her blog is so inspirational and wonderfully fashionable and I would highly recommend subscribing to her blog and her YouTube channel.

College Info Geek
I mentioned in a recent post that Thomas Frank of College Info Geek published an eBook titled 10 Steps to Earning Awesome Grades (While Studying Less) and so far, I'm loving it! I've been reading articles from this blog since my freshman year of college a couple of years ago and during that less that perfect time in my life, this blog helped me overcome some of my fears and internal struggles. He also has a YouTube channel and a podcast and both of them are pretty freaking amazing.

The Budget Diva
I recently started following this blog and I have definitely NOT been let down by the content on this site. The most recent Outfit of the Day post on this blog was perfection! This woman truly is The Budget Diva.

Of course, I've been reading a ton of other blogs. These are just the blogs that I've been getting super jazzed about lately. Comment down below and let me know what your favorite blogs are. Or if you have a blog of your own, link it down below so I can check it out!

With love from your girl,
Shatece

My Morning & Nighttime Routines

How I'm Staying Organized This Semester

The Top 5 Blogs That I Follow (And You Should Too!)

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