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,