Springtime Nails!

OKAY I hear you. It isn't spring yet. However, I am in a very spring-y mood with temperatures in Orlando still hovering between 75-80 degrees EVERY DAY. It is wayyy too hot for it to still be January!

Anyway, these are my favorite spring-y nail polishes! They go from easiest to wear (right now) to things you should wait (if you aren't adventurous) until spring has officially sprung to wear.

Essie's Happily Ever After

Essie's Topless & Barefoot

OPI's Mermaid's Tears

Sinful Colors' Unicorn

OPI's Elephantastic Pink

You can buy the Essie colors and Elephantastic Pink (OPI) at Ulta. If you really like Mermaid's Tears (OPI), I'd look for it on Amazon--it was a LE release with the Pirates collection. Sinful Colors is sold at drug stores.

Almost to 100 posts... time to recap

Now that I'm nearing post #100 (consecutive days, I might add), I thought it would be a good time to recap what I've been posting, what's been popular, what I enjoyed writing, and what I am good at writing.

I've got a few ideas for new blog series that deal with school (getting organized, how to study, retaining what you read...), and I've got some posts sketched out for those topics.  However, I don't know if anyone would actually be interested in reading it.  Whenever I post about books I get fewer page views, and my nerdy stuff has the least page views of any topic I have posted on!

My most popular posts (which are Miss Piggy's Closet and Things I Don't Like That My Peers Tell Me I Should) aren't really the type of thing I post the most.  I actually really enjoyed writing those two posts (which make up about 10% of my total views), they just take a long time to write.  So let me know, are you guys more interested in seeing the more popular funny posts from me, would you rather see more beauty posts, OR do you like the nerdy stuff? Let me know and I'll post more of that as we turn the corner to 100 posts (in about a week!!)

My apologies

I've spent 10 hours this weekend at a freezing cold hockey rink.

I am a little sleepy and totally forgot I had a blog. Whoops.

Rediscovered Favorites

Some things that I have been loving recently that I loved LOTS before and totally forgot about .  Whoops!

Yankee Candles.  I have been so happy with all of my Slatkin candles (which are cheaper than Yankees most of the time) that I abandoned all of the Yankee Candles that I have loved for so long.  I'm pretty displeased with Slatkin & Co's spring collection for B&BW though, so I have rummaged around my room trying to find yummy smelling candles and BOY I am so glad I still have these! I have some leftover Slatkin candles form Christmas but once those are out I will be buying a few more Yankee Candles!

I took a break from painting my nails for about a month (OMG! I know, right????) My nails were breaking and that kept causing my nail polish to chip really quickly so I just wore a gel coat while trying to get my nails back up to par. They are finally starting to look and feel like REAL NAILS again, so I restarted painting my nails! The color pictured is Sparrow Me the Drama by OPI, which I got last May. It isn't my favorite from the Pirates collection, but I still love it! It's the perfect dusty rose.

I watched Arrested Development a few years ago (my freshman year in college... I feel like all that I think of when I look back on that year is the plethora of TV I watched. That really explains my grades fro back then.) and I haven't rewatched any of it until recently.  I'm not rewatching episodes, but I have been  watching several YouTube clips of funny moments from the show or "Best Of" reels.  It was a really funny show. I miss it.

January Non-Beauty Favorites

Mid-week next week I'll have a January beauty favorites video up on my YouTube channel, but I also (obviously) have liked non-beauty things during the month of January! 

I am seriously obsessed with QVC. Whenever I am bored or need a quick study break, I just turn QVC on from their website (you can watch them on your computer if you don't get the channel!) and spend 10-15 minutes with the host learning all about some product that I don't need. After you watch the pitch you feel like you really need whatever it is they are talking about!

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Similarly, I'm still loving The Pioneer Woman. Her website is perfect for a quick distraction (one article) or a REALLY lazy afternoon (an entire category of articles). I watch her show with my mom and made one of her recipes (Citrus Butter Cookies) around Christmas. They were delicious. I recommend them highly.

I've started using a Keurig I got when I was in high school again.  Pressing a single button is a lot easier than using a hot water kettle to boil water, pouring it over a tea bag, then pouring out the extra water you had to add to get to the minimum. I'm not really a coffee drinker, but I do like the DD French Vanilla K-Cups. The Bigelow Green Tea are my favorite though!

I've been doing a lot of research on innovation for one of my classes (Entrepreneurship in Sport and Entertainment), and this guy keeps popping up everywhere. I think I've said before how much I love Apple (MacBook pro, iPhone, iPod shuffle, regular iPod...), and the more I learn about this guy the more fascinated I am by him. I'm currently reading his biography (loooooooong book), and even though he was a jerk to a lot of people, I still like him. He was an innovator, and if you want to be successful in the world today that's what you need to be.

Things I Love Thursday: Offices

Secret obsession confession time... I seriously LOVE looking at others' offices.  I'll look at anyone's office, I'm not picky, but my favorites to look at are those of famous people!

Einstein's office. This makes me feel better about the piles of paper that tend to accumulate on my desk!

Martha Stewart's work office. Obviously super clean and streamlined.

Will Self is a British author who I have never heard of, but apparently he is famous. He organizes his stories in post it notes, which looks crazy cool.

The office of another British author I've never heard of (but is apparently famous)  Ciaran Carson.   I especially like the tea and the bookcases!

I can't wait until I have my own house/apartment and can decorate the office area how I want. When my study space is pretty, neat, and organized, I enjoy sitting down to do work!

TOMS Valentines Collection

There are new TOMS. Obviously I am going to show you pictures.

PURPLE GLITTER. How cute! I love my pink glitters, and I think I would love these just as much!

Mint Metallic Linen Classics. My first pair of TOMS was a pair of light blue linen classics, and I loved them! I think they were my favorite pair ever... just so comfortable! These aren't really metallic, they just have a subtle sheen that makes them appear a little shiny.

Valentine Women's Classics. These hearts are too presh. I love pink so I think these would be great... casual but still totally adorable!

There are two floral patterns, but the Corbel Women's Vegan Classics are much brighter and more fun than the Pink Primrose. Honestly, I'm not sure how/when/where I would wear these, but I definitely wouldn't complain if they ended up in my closet.

Do you wear TOMS? Which of the new patterns is your favorite? 

Grocery Shopping!

I don't keep a full pantry at school. I basically live two places (home and school apartment), so it's not necessary for me to keep a full stock of every single thing I like to eat at school.

I keep most of my food on top of the refrigerator in my room, but I keep things like pasta in the pantry so they will be closer to the stove. I can get kinda lazy sometimes! This is what a typical shopping list looks like for me. I grocery shop for Diet Coke and usually 1 or 2 other items every week, but most of the list I shop for every other week/every 3 weeks.

Diet Coke (24 pack, two 12 packs, or three 2 liters and a pack of bottles)

Rice Krispy Treats

Clif Mojo bars in Peanut Butter Pretzel

Birds Eye Voila in Garlic Chicken

White Chicken Lean Pockets

Pasta Roni in Angel Hair with Herbs

Sabra Hummus

Stacy's Parmesan Garlic and Herb Pita Chips

Goldfish Colors

Materne Apple-Cinnamon Applesauce

White rice

Cheese

Prepackaged lettuce for salads

I don't do so well cooking ahead of time because my kitchen at school is always messy. One of my roommates has been known to leave dirty dishes with food on them in the sink for over a week, so I honestly use the kitchen as little as possible.

I really wish I had more time in my schedule to plan out meals and make things. I love baking, but my kitchen stinks (figuratively AND literally... because of the dishes) so it's hard for me to get anything done in there without getting frustrated. Did you have troubles with your kitchen in college? I feel like all I do is eat junk food. I really wish there were healthier choices that filled me up and were easy to fix.

Talk Nerdy to Me...

Y'all, I'm a nerd.

I'm not saying this because I'm smarter than everyone else I know (because I'm not) or because I work harder than everyone else I know (even though I do), but because I am genuinely a nerdy person. I like nerdy things. I always have and I probably always will.

For instance, I am obsessed with productivity. I am always trying to find the best way to be/stay organized and keep my life/papers/thoughts/computer organized too. 

Cal Newport's Study Hacks blog is my favorite. Just... period. It has given me a lot of great ideas that I've implemented in my academic life, including giving up Facebook, going on "autopilot", and how to avoid "deep procrastination".  His tips won't work for everyone, and some of them don't work for me, but they are all definitely worth reading about. He also does case studies about successful people and discusses ways to implement their habits into your life.

There's also my obsession with NPR. And my 50 book challenge. And (my favorite) The Washington Post Social Reader app on Facebook. It's okay to get on Facebook if it's to read the news, right?

Weekend in Review

So over this weekend I...

1. Took the GRE

2. Ate at Chilis AND Chick Fil A (my favorite restaurants)

3. Spent 10 hours working at my hockey job.

But numbers 1 and 3 are totally cancelled out because tonight I am going to Disney to see my friend who is visiting from Georgia!

Technically tomorrow is still my weekend, but I've got some project meetings and homework I'll be doing, so that totally doesn't count.

Hope all of you had a great weekend!

What I'm Reading: 1/21/12

This is all I read this week. I've been so busy with the GRE that I've been neglecting my readings (for class and pleasure, sorry mom!). Okay so I've done most of my class reading, but this is the only book I finished this week. I loved it. It was beautiful. If you haven't read anything by John Green before I'm not sure I'd start with this (just because it's so intense), but I recommend it very highly. I do cry when I read books on occasion, but I bawled through the end of this. Like, crazy crying on par with when I read The Notebook. 

If I was asked which of John Green's books to read first, I'd definitely respond with this one. Alaska is the kind of book (like TFiOS) that transcends its genre of Young Adult Fiction. Just because it's about teenagers doesn't mean it only applies to them. I read this while I was in high school but I will probably go back to it this year and reread it.

2012 Book Total: 2/50

GRE DAY.

Well everyone, today is the big day!

At 12:30 PM today I will sit down for what is quite possibly the most important test I will ever take.  The quite possibly is there in case I ever take the LSAT which is much more important.  Yes ladies and gentlemen, today I am taking the GRE so that I can go to graduate school and be a self-sufficient adult and stuff.

I'm a lot more mature than the people I go to school with but I still feel way too young to be almost done with college! WAYY too young to be going on and getting my Master's degree!  Can't I just live at Disney World until I'm like... 30? 30 is a grown up age. 20 isn't.

Yeah so this post is basically just me pouting about being smart and graduating early and doing things that normal adults do. I get it. I have to do it. But that doesn't mean I have to want to, right? Am I crazy? I seriously think I'm the only college student who feels this way.

Fire Alarms

As I sat down to write my blogpost at about 11:30 last night, the fire alarm in my building went off. 

Now this isn't the first time the fire alarm has gone off this year. Last semester my friend's roommate caught something on fire in their kitchen and we were stuck outside of the building for over an hour. I was miserable and swore that the next time one went off I'd take my laptop with me.

Guess what I forgot last night? My laptop.

Once I got outside (sans laptop), I decided to go across the street to the computer lab. I figured (and was correct in my figuring) that it would be pretty empty at almost midnight on a Wednesday night at the beginning of the semester. 

I had to print a syllabus out for one of my classes, but after that I started getting bored. They have some really cool group work stations that weren't in use, so I grabbed a keyboard and mouse so that I could try one of them out. It was so nice! I really want to use a TV as my computer monitor now!

At about 12:30 I got back into my apartment. No fire, just some stupid person pulling the alarm. With all the technology we have there should be a better way to determine whether or not to make everyone leave their rooms to go be unproductive out in the cold!

Rain rain go away...

It's so hard to get out of bed on a rainy day... whenever I have a hard time waking up I know it's going to be a rainy outside! It takes a while to pick out an outfit when it's rainy because your clothes will get wet and you have to sit through class in whatever you wear!

I always make sure I carry a tote bag on days when it rains. I usually carry a backpack so that I don't mess up my shoulders more than I did in high school, but in the rain it is hard to make sure that a whole backpack stays dry. You could even hold the tote in front of your body if your side is getting wet!

I like rain coats because they'll keep anything you wear underneath dry! I see too many people walking around in the rain without a raincoat OR umbrella! I usually have both, but if I forget my umbrella in the car I can manage easily just with a raincoat.  Duck boots are good because they aren't as bulky as normal rain boots... makes it easier to sit in class with those shoes on!

Home Decorating

There is nothing I find more relaxing than looking at someone else's house and seeing how it's decorated. I think that's why I love House Hunters so much! 

I dream about having my own house (or condo. or apartment) and getting to decorate it how I want! You know, put paint onto the walls and nails into them...

Organizing a cute little mudroom...

Having a HUGE porch (preferably with rocking chairs, but I'm not picky)...

Putting all of my books into a cute library...

Planting vegetables and herbs in the backyard...

And (obviously) having the most beautiful kitchen ever. You know, the simple things.

(All photos from Pinterest. Click the photo for its source.)

Things that make studying for the GRE bearable

Just some things that are making my crazy study time a little more enjoyable.

I needed to practice the math section with a 4-function calculator, so my mom let me borrow her Vera Bradley calculator! I wish it had a +/- button, but other than that it is really awesome!

Self-explanatory.

Also self-explanatory.

For a nice distraction from the gross GRE math section, I like watching HIMYM.

And finally, my dog Ozzie! He is the best. Animals are so stress-relieving! (Except when they're peeing on your stuff, but even when they do that they're still cute.)

Instant Watch: Saturday Night Live

Right now, I'm watching the new episode of Daniel Radcliffe on Saturday Night Live. He is such a good actor, I really like him. But something I like more...? SNL.

Not only can you watch SNL on Netflix Instant, but you can also catch clips from old shows AND the 5 most recent episodes for free on Hulu.

Amy Poehler's Kaitlin is one of my favorite characters EVER on Saturday Night Live. I also like most of Kristen Wiig's characters (not just because we have the same name) and think Jason Sudeikis' devil is hilarious! 

Weekend Update is my favorite part of SNL every week! I love Seth Meyers and he does a great job, but Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were my favorite anchors!

What I'm Reading: 1/14/12

I've got one book done, but I've picked up a few new books to start reading soon too.

I finished Prince Caspian earlier this week! It was my favorite of the Narnia books I've read so far.

TFiOS came out this week! I think I've mentioned before how much I like John Green, but if I haven't... I really like John Green. I have been waiting for this book for so long that I am rationing it so that I don't read the whole thing in one sitting. I want it to last forever!

My roommate borrowed my copy of Coraline before winter break, so I've been waiting to read this book for a long time!

And finally (also obviously) I'm reading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Three left!

Anyway, I'm trying my hardest to get all of my books read this year, doing schoolwork, and possibly starting a second internship! I'm keeping time for blogging, though I might switch to 5 days a week instead of 7. We'll see how I do!

Joyful Noise

"Joyful Noise" is out y'all! I am so excited!

Dolly Parton is one of my favorite entertainers, so I know this movie is going to be awesome! She wouldn't be in it if it was going to be a bad movie!

I also think Queen Latifah is a great actress and singer. She killed it in Hairspray and Chicago.

Have you seen the previews for this movie? I have been excited to see it since I first heard Dolly was going to be in it. Yesterday morning when Dolly and Queen Latifah were on the Today Show performing it made me want to see the movie even more! I am going with one of my friends next week, so no spoilers!

Things I Love Thursday: Puppies!

Well I'm back at school and I am missing my dog like crazy! I live close enough to home that I can go back on the weekends and see him but during the week I miss him so much!

Since I haven't seen him since SUNDAY MORNING (I know, so long) I am looking at pictures of puppies all the time! Well, at least when I'm not working on school stuff.

At the risk of sounding like a crazy dog lady (which I am, so... whatever), here are some of my favorite dogs!

Okay, I'm not sure what type of dog this is but he is so cute! I saw it on tumblr and seriously "Aww"-ed out loud!

This beagle is so precious!

I have wanted a dalmatian since I was a little girl! It's definitely because of the 101 Dalmatians movie! 

I also really like Huskies! When I read Call of the Wild in middle school and researched the Iditarod I fell in love. They are just so beautiful! I really want to go dog sledding--it's on my bucket list!

Pinterest Favorites!

I love Pinterest! Here are some things I love that I've seen this week.


A spice rack turned nail polish holder!


What a pretty iPhone case!


How cute are these Save The Dates??? I want one of my friends to use cookies like this so I can eat them haha!


I love this! I need to do this with some of my keys! I wonder if you put it in a bowl of nail polish remover if it would come off?