Spring Break In Review

Stepping off the plane in Baltimore was near torture. After spending a week in sunny SoCal, I was so not ready for near-freezing temperatures. I mean, it's Spring - why is it this cold? Haha, that's enough complaining for now. It was great to spend a week in Cali. I went to a concert, went shopping, hung out with my friends, and did some baking. It wasn't a very productive break and it wasn't your typical college spring break, but at least it was fun and relaxing. 

To start off the break, I went to a Bleachers concert with Holly (and my parents). It was so much fun; we are definitely #Bleachercreatures. The Night Terrors of 1927 and Joywave were the opening acts. Night Terrors was alright, but you should stop reading this for a quick second and go listen to Joywave. We are definitely Joywave converts. Though, I do think that they might be better live than they are on their recordings. I mean, the lead singer is a total geek and they were wearing matching shoes - it was great. And obviously, the Bleachers were great. It was my third time seeing them, and I finally got to touch Jack Antanoff!

The lead singer of Joywave!!

Let's see. On Tuesday, Holly and I went to Old Towne Orange (cute, hipster-y neighborhood) to grab lunch. We had pretty good burgers and then followed that up with cupcakes from the Perfect Circle Cupcakery. Gotta love cupcakes :)

The Princess Vanilla cupcake :)

On Wednesday and Thursday, I mainly just relaxed. I babysat for a family I've known for awhile and baked some slutty brownies. They were so good - you should look up the recipe. On Friday, Holly and I grabbed lunch at Bruxie's in Old Towne Orange. I mean, who doesn't love waffles? After that my mom and I went shopping and got some great deals at Kohls - so many sales! (I forgot to mention, we also went to the mall on Monday for some spring shopping.) And then, on Saturday, I did a photo shoot with Holly and my friends Melynda and Michelle. Unfortunately it was then time to hop on a plane back to Baltimore.

The things I miss most about home (besides the people) are Rubio's, bratwurst, my bed, and my car so hopefully my week long fix of those things will carry me through finals. Only 6 more weeks of freshman year!

Your Cheat Sheet for Success in College

I'm running short on ideas in the 'blog post topic' department and I don't have a good enough camera to share OOTDs, so I'll stick with what I know and share some of my organization and study tips for college. I don't know about you guys, but some weeks I'm really on top of things and other weeks I'm an unorganized mess; however, recently I've been trying to get in the habit of keeping things organized. So, without further ado, here's my hodge-podge of tips:

1. Keep a planner. You're going to get a lot of syllabi thrown at you the first week of classes. They will become your bibles. This isn't high school; the professor is not going to remind you of test or essay dates. That's something that you need to keep track of yourself, and the best way to do that is input all of your important dates into a planner or calendar. Personally, I love Google Calendar.
2. Make to-do lists. I live my life according to lists. I make lists for the week, for the day, for the summer. There's just something so satisfying about crossing things off a list. It also allows you to visualize how much work you actually have to do which helps with time management.
3. Study in the library. It may be a long walk from your dorm, but the trek is worth it. I know this is a novel concept, but the library is actually a great place to study ;). I can't do silence so I go to the group study level and just plug in my headphones. It's a lot easier to be productive in that environment than in your dorm room filled with distractions.
4. Make study guides. I actually just started doing this for my midterms this week, and they were my saviors. I don't know why I had never made a study guide for myself before, but it is the best way to reinforce what you previously learned in an organized, compact manner. Make sure to color-code!
5. Use folders (or binders - whatever floats your boat) for each class. You might end up with a lot of folders but it will be a lot easier to keep track of everything. Also, then you don't have to take all of your class work with you when you only have one class on Thursday.
6. Keep all your supplies in a pencil case. This is a hard habit to get into, but I was tired of always losing my pens. It's just easier to keep everything together in a pencil case (bonus points if it's cute). I would recommend having a few pens and pencils, a few highlighters, sticky notes, binder clips, and white-out. 
7. Pack your backpack the night before class. You won't forget things as you are hurrying out the door and you'll be able to get a few extra minutes of sleep in the morning. Enough said.

Carry-On Essentials for a Comfortable Flight

It's almost time for Spring Break, and I'm super excited because I'm heading home for the week! Goodbye dreary weather and winter coats and hello sunny weather and shorts! I'm not the biggest fan of warm weather, but a sampling of it will be a nice break from the below freezing weather here in Baltimore.

I've traveled a lot throughout my life as most of my family lives in Wisconsin or on the East Coast. Every single flight that I've been on, I've over-packed my carry-on. To be honest, I rarely do anything other than sleep on a plane and it's silly to have a bag full of games and work that I know I'm not going to use. I mean, who wants to be lugging a heavy bag around the airport when they don't have to? So, now that I've mastered flying (haha!), I've come up with a list of the carry-on essentials that I will definitely be packing for my trip next week.

1. Headphones: This is my holy grail item. It's the perfect thing to help tune out the crying baby or the snoring man next to you.
2. Snacks: My flights tend to be about 5 hours, so I'll pack some candy as well as some almonds. Also, if you know you're going to be flying during a meal, packing some fruit or a sandwich can save you some money at the airport.
3. Gum: Not only does this freshen your breath, but it will also help when the plane changes altitudes. I hate it when my ears pop.
4. Dramamine: Why take a chance with motion sickness?
5. Headache medicine: You never know what the flight will bring you.
6. Portable charger: While you should charge your phone prior to the flight, you'll want to make sure you can keep your music and entertainment going the whole flight.
7. Lotion: This is a huge must. Airplane air is very drying and you'll regret not bringing some lotion along.
8. Lip balm: See #7.
9. Book: This will help pass the time before and during your flight (and if you're not a book person, magazines work just as well). I'm going to be bringing Mindy Kaling's new book with me (it's hilarious so far!).
10. Rollerball perfume: You'll want to smell nice and fresh after a long flight.
11. Makeup: It's always good to touch up when you land, but this also depends on your flight time. Like I'm landing around midnight so it wouldn't make sense for me to pack make-up.
12. Sweater: Planes can be really cold and a sweater is always nice to cuddle up with.
13. Pillow: For me, this is a tiny pillow pet because it's portable and cute, but really, any pillow will work.

Comment down below with anything that's a must-have for your carry-on :)

Bon voyage and safe travels!!