What's Going On?! Where Have You Been?!

       Last we spoke I was happy with my school life and heading off to New Orleans for the Katy Perry Prismatic Tour! Today, I sit in my office with far too much homework and an overwhelming feeling of dread and panic. My "easy" semester took off suddenly when my 8-week math course began. Around the same time I also started a new job and moved into my first apartment. Needless to say, blogging, reading, and writing have been the lowest priority on my agenda for about a month now.

       This doesn't mean I'm gone for good, but I did want to check in with you all. I have 3 weeks left of this semester and then I can begin focusing on other projects, such a life, christmas present crafting, and blogging. But in saying that, a lot is changing. I want to push through and make blogging a priority in my life, once again. So come January there will be some great new things rolling out and all of that will be on a new hosting site! As soon as all this information is nailed down I will let you all know. Expect something new for the New Year from Positively Rae!

Until then, you can keep up with me here:

Twitter: @Positivelyrae

Instagram: @positively_rae

xoxo Rae

Recently Added v.1

In the last two weeks I've added 41 songs to my iTunes library. On this Wonderful Wednesday, I thought I'd share my new obsessions with you.

1. Maybe by Ingrid Michaelson
2. Manners by We Are The In Crowd
3. You and Me by Holly Conlan
4. Home by Holly Conlan
5. Winter by Holly Conlan
6. Happy Song by Holly Conlan
7. You Are Goodbye Holly Conlan
8. Sparkle by Holly Conlan
9. Beautiful Night by Holly Conlan
10. I am Alone by Holly Conlan
11. Honey Don't by Holly Conlan
12. Come Back Home by Holly Conlan
13. Good Ones by Holly Conlan
14. Gone by Holly Conlan
15. Dust in Out Hands by Holly Conlan
16. Uh Oh by Holly Conlan
17. One Two Three by Holly Conlan
18. Take the Blame by Holly Conlan
19. New Song by Holly Conlan
20. OK by Holly Conlan
21. How Do We Know by Katie Costello
22. Ships in the Night by Katie Costello
23. Cityscapes by Katie Costello
24. Lost and Far from Home by Katie Costello
25. We Are the Way We Are by Katie Costello
26. Gonna Get Over You by Sara Bareilles
27. Shake it Off by Taylor Swift
28. Girls Chase Boys by Ingrid Michaelson
29. Songs of Innocence Album by U2 (Very Not Impressed)
30. Beautiful Day by U2

All the bolded ones are my favorites as of the moment. Another honorable mention is Dollhouse by Melanie Matinez. I didn't add that one in the last two weeks but it's still a current obsession of mine.

What are some of your favorite recent additions to your musical life?

The Magic of Taking it Slow // Student Life

This semester, for the first time in my college career, I'm not taking the max number of credit hours I'm allowed to. I'm really enjoying this chance to slow down and figure out what I really want in life. 

Here's the Magic:

1. Time to plan.
   With my smaller course load, I've been able to dedicate real time to planning a strategy for each class I'm enrolled in and I can spend more time on the assignments.
2. Freedom to enjoy life.
   Not having to be in class all the time or studying for classes when not in them, I have more time to go to the library for leisure, take a walk with my partner, and volunteer.
3. Time to dabble.
   I've always been a dabbler, a kind of jack-of-all-trades. I love to pick up hobbies and crafts to find the ones I want to stick with. Now, for the first (non-summer) time since high school, I can pick up watercolors and fashion curating, just for the hell of it.
4. Time to intern.
   This year begins my first full school year with my internship at the Pet Education Project (PEP!) With my smaller workload, I can now really dedicate the time to sit down and work on my intern projects as well as get in the field with my fellow PEPpy People and my buns to make a difference.
5. Freedom to develop.
   Being in classes has always been restricting to me. More so in my own personal and social development than in any other way. Having more time outside of classes to discover new loves, move out of my parent's home, work, etc. is giving me the opportunity to grow in myself and develop a clear sense of what I really want. To me, college is the time to dabble and figure out what you want in life, but how can you do that if you are nailed to six classes fulfilling just one major and/or core curriculum? 

I'm so glad that I've chosen learning and growth over my formal education. I'd never dropout/not get my degree, but I feel, for myself at least, that graduating then growing is defeating the purpose of college. I could have my French or English degree by now but neither would have made me happy. I don't know what my bachelor's degree will be in, but I feel certain I will love the time I have remaining to get it.

Are/were you that "max-out" student or did you enroll in minimum hours? Would you do it differently now if you could?

Let's Talk: Reading Slumps

Today is the last day of my first week back at school. Last week, however, was the Bout of Books 11.0, as many of you may already know. I posted my TBR for the week and finished a whopping 24 pages of A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan and an amazing 30 minutes of the Stardust audiobook. Over the entire summer, I read a total of 2 books and started somewhere around 15 books. It's official, I'm in a reading slump.

I think I've been falling into this slump for a while now. And every time I read a really good book I think I've cured my slump. I've read some absolutely astounding books in the few I've read this year. The beautiful narrative of Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore kept me spellbound and the NovelTea Book Club kept me motivated. Enchanted left me eager for the next book and to devour every fairytale within reach. Cress left me longing for Winter and the final two Gallagher Girls books I read back to back! Somehow though, my good intentions to find another book to love have not come to fruition. I suppose we'll see how September deals with this slump.

How do you handle a reading slump?

Bout of Books 11.0 // TBR

I promise I'm just going to just re-post my videos here! This one is actually relevant to a previous post! For those who don't care, check out the other links below the Bout of Books things!

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Books Mentioned:

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

The Buddha in the Attick by Julie Otsuka

Legend by Marie Lu

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Burn this Book edited by Toni Morrison

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

The Indigo Notebook by Laura Resau

~ Links ~

Bout of Books Read-a-thon: http://raegoesaway.blogspot.com/2014/08/bout-of-books-11.html

Jean // BookishThoughts: https://www.youtube.com/user/bookishthoughts

Rosianna: http://youtube.com/rosianna

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• Thanks to Kristin over at My Life as a Teacup I've become a little obsessed with the idea of a capsule wardrobe. 
• Here's some good food for thought as I find myself less and less in the college world and more and more in the "real," "grown-up" world.
• I've loved the YouTube channel Geek & Sundry for a while now, especially Table Top, but the web series Spooked has definitely caught my attention. 

Other than that, the last week has been crazy and this week is looking even crazier!

What are you reading (for Bout of Books or otherwise)? How was the last week in your life?

VegHead in Shreveport

HAPPY WEDNESDAY! Look at me, posting on time/on the schedule again!

About 1 week and two days ago I decided to go officially and properly vegetarian. I've always known it would be better for my health and for the environment, but living with my venison loving mother has always made it a little difficult. That's not to mention that I had never done much grocery shopping for myself until Keith came to live with us. But now I've truly dedicated myself to making a tiny impact in myself and in the world with my diet. (This sudden motivation may or may not have come from Kalel Cullen's blog post, video, and suggestion of Paul McCartney's "If Slaughterhouses Had Glass Walls.)

Yes, that's a smoothie bowl. Yes, it was delicious. Yes it's the only picture I've taken of food for the last week. 

So far I've found the diet to be a bit difficult. There are very few places in Shreveport that I've found that have vegetarian friendly meals. I'm finding it very frustrating that everywhere I go I get french fries, mashed potatoes, fried onions, etc. I eat a lot of bean burritos and eggs (I am not vegan, vegetarian who eats only free-range eggs and is lactose intolerant). Mostly I find going out very frustrating now when I once loved it. Italian has so far been the exception as I only ever ate Alfredo before anyway. 

Aside from the frustrations of going out, I really enjoy my new "friendly" foods, as I've begun to call them, at home. I've found so many different ways to make/mix/cook the veggies I've always loved and some I'd never tried. So far, these AMAZING zucchini fries from Yummy Healthy Easy have been my favorite go to.

I haven't made the ranch dip, but with Hidden Valley they're pretty great. Last night I also made this Fruit Salsa from The Thread Affect and it was pretty good. Pasta has also become my best friend again. I can eat pasta with butter or Alfredo or marinara and be perfectly content. 

These fruit quesadillas (by A Cedar Spoon) were also a huge hit with myself and Keith, so they're definitely here to stay. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a homemade desert so much!

As I discover more delicious ideas and undoubtably learn some things about being Vegetarian in Shreveport I will let you all know!

Have you ever been/are you vegetarian? What did/do you find most challenging? If not, what is your favorite veggie?

Friday Apology

Hey guys. This week has been pretty insane, so I don't have an original post so... here's things from recently!

This video is by Emily Diana Ruth (Emilyofnewgloom) on Youtube. It was her film school thesis and it is absolutely beautiful

Guys, guys, guys. These Dark Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nuts are the best little office sweet treat in the world! I found them at World Market for $4. This may be my 3rd back in two weeks. SO DELICIOUS! 

Lastly, I've taken up origami, sort of. Very simply little things, but I really wanted something interesting to do with my hands when I'm out and about. So far I'm only working on Cranes and Rabbits, but I'm proud of them.

How has your week been? What are some things that you'd like to share about your week?

Mantra Monday: You got this.

Mantra(n.) : a sound, word, or phrase that is repeated by someone who is praying or meditating : a word or phrase that is repeated often or that expresses someone's basic beliefs

On this little Mantra Monday, I've decided to motivate myself with a simple, "You got this!" I'm working on quite a few different projects right now that I'm finding it hard to get the motivation. More than just the Mantra, here's a list to myself.

Things you totes got:

• Getting up better/earlier.
• Camp NaNoWriMo. Even when you're behind, you're going to win!
• Book Club.
• Journaling often.
• Work.
• Other work.
• Saving money for a house.
• Being positive.

What's your Mantra for the week? What things do you "totes got"?

Bonus Friday #1

I hope your week has been well! Mine's been fairly slow work wise and fairly insane otherwise! On this lovely Friday, I'm straying away from my normal posting schedule (Mondays and Wednesdays) to share a little something extra with you.

This Month, I've decided to take on a few different tasks/challenges/activities outside of my normal. One of these is Camp NaNoWriMo! For those who don't know, way back in November 2012 I participated in the National Novel Writing Month (see my write up here). I'm still very proud to say that my first ever NaNoWriMo was a success! But that was almost two years ago now and I've not been able to pen another novel since! So, here we go with another NaNoWriMo Challenge, Camp NaNoWriMo!

Camp NaNoWriMo is quite a bit different than November's challenge. Most noticeable is the ability to set your own word-count goals! Because I managed 50,000 words in a month last time, this time I'm aiming for 52,000 words for my second novel in the series! 2,200 words down, 49,800 left to go!

Secondly, I'm participating in the first month of the NovelTea Book Club, hosted over at My Life as a Teacup. ook for the month of July is Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore. So far so good. I really am loving the facebook group where we have the discussions about the books. There are so many wonderful people participating with so many interesting ideas and things to say that I love getting on the page 100% of the time!

What big things are you wanting to accomplish this month? Are you participating in the NovelTea Book Club or Camp NaNoWriMo?

Mantra Monday: Be Present

Mantra(n.) : a sound, word, or phrase that is repeated by someone who is praying or meditating : a word or phrase that is repeated often or that expresses someone's basic beliefs

Last week I decided to stop being "sorry." That went well, but I think it is something I will always have to work on. For this week, my mantra is "Be Present." These last two weeks have been crazy hectic and busy, so this week as things slow down I am going to focus on being present, in the moment, and happy with myself and where I am at this moment.

How did you last week go? What is your Mantra this week? 

This Semester in English

As an English major, I read a lot of books for classes each semester. Since I'll be taking two traditional English classes this semester and I'm attending my first in a few hours, I thought I'd share what I'll be reading.

For Intro. to Literature:

1. The Stories of Richard Bausch

   

   I have no opinion on this one. 

   
   
   
2. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
   

   

   This one's been on the my reading list for a while,
   so I'm happy to have incentive to read it.

3. Lyric poems by Keats

   

   Keats and I aren't friends, nor are poetry and I,
   so I am actually dreading this one.

   
   
4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

   

   I love studying recently published books in classes,
   so this one should be fun!

   
   
5. The Goblin Market by Christina Rosetti

   

   I know nothing about this, but the titles is legit.

   
   
6. The Tempest by Shakespeare

   

   I love love love Shakespeare, and my professor
   is a scholar, so I cannot wait!

   
   
7. The Importance of being Ernest by Oscar Wilde

   

   Loved the movie, so lets do this!

   
   

For Literary Theory and Criticism:

1. The Stories of Richard Bausch

   

   Still no opinion. 

2. The Awakening by Kate Chopin

   

   I'm kind of excited for this one. I saw this list awhile
   ago and planned to start it on my 20th birthday,
   but I don't mind starting early.

3. Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism

   

   This looks like a text book. Meh.

4. Cane by Jean Toomer

   

   American Southern lit, not my fave,
   but I have decently high hopes.

What are you most excited to read in class this semester? What classes are you taking? What do your next 5 months look like?

Coming Home

As finals week wound down last week, I started moving my things home. I only live thirty minutes from campus, so it wasn't much of a move. Sometime before Friday (Tuesday I think, but maybe not), My mother and I discussed and I finally decided that this move home would be my last for a while. I'll be living at home with my mother and the bunnies this coming semester. I'm almost sad to leave the dorms, but I'm glad to be saving money now.

Moving home also means moving back into my old room. Thankfully, my "old" room isn't actually that old, so there's no Barney or butterflies to paint over on the walls. The big problem is that this room is much smaller than my dorm room and, obviously, a lot smaller than the two rooms I used to live in, so everything is so cluttered and I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment.

What, over the summer, was my desk is now cluttered with odds and ends and things I'm not really sure what yo do with. My shoes are piled, horribly, in a box. Clothes on hangers lay all over, mostly draped over boxes and such as I try to sort out what to keep and what to put in storage to donate. I'm really a clothes hoarder. I'm the worst with tee shirts. I really should make a tee shirt blanket, but I can't bear to cut the shirts anymore than I can get rid of them! Maybe I'll take a walk down memory lane and show you all some of my favorite "memory tees."

I did want to show this though. No, not my mismatched bedding, though the actual sheets are too cute and I'm really happy with them. Even the random comforter I found isn't as bad. My dorm bedding matched the purple pillow there. It looked horrible with my princess-style day bed and pretty pink everything else. Anyway, I'm currently reading Mockingjay and I'm so happy to be home for this part, specifically. Anytime I'm home, I seem to find or make time to read a lot more than I do in Arkansas with family/friends or at the dorms. I'm much less prone to lay, well, prone (ah good old Rifle Team terms leaking into my life again). I don't spend as much time laying around dreading doing anything. Instead I find I read a lot more, write a lot more, and blog a lot more.

I think this move will be good for my grades and mental health. It also puts me spending more time with my mom, which i a big deal to me if I'm hoping to study abroad soon. ;)

How did your finals go? Any big changes set for your December? What are you reading?

A Little Life Planning

At the end of last week, I decided to take a stroll down memory lane and glance through my archives here at Life Ducks. What I found was a lost of book reviews and one little post called The Question. Way back before the name Life Ducks had found me, particularly in May of 2011, I was nervous and excited to graduate high school. When I wrote this post I had just finished watching Eat. Pray. Love., a lovely movie (one of my favorites) about a woman who explores the world for a year. In the terror and confusion that was leaving the only world I'd ever known, pre-college school days, I started to think about what I wanted from life versus what I was actually working to achieve. Surprise, surprise, they didn't match up! I tell you all this as a way of explaining this post. Today I thought I'd share a little with you all about what I want and plan to do with my life, in a much less poetic way than the original post.

photocredit/photocredit
I still think this photo sums up my life dreams.

So what do I want to do? I'm currently in an undergraduate program working towards my English major with a focus on Creative Writing. What does that have to do with anything? Well, as you know I'm working on a novel at this very moment. Yes, I hope to be an accomplished author, but there's so much more to it than that.

Another thing I want for my life is to travel, a lot. That began with my first major trip the summer of 2010 when I went to Europe for the first time. This is going to continue with a study abroad program. I'm so excited that I can't even handle it. I'm not sure where I'm going yet, but I will be studying abroad. My first choice is Ireland, my second is Hong Kong. The program with which I'd go to Ireland is very prestigious  so, while I think I'll be accepted, I really need my back up plan. Either place I go, I hope to study culture and languages (especially Irish Gaelic).

After my undergraduate degree is earned, I plan to enlist in the Peace Corps. With the Peace Corps I will get formal training in a language and placed somewhere that I can truly help and make a difference in peoples' lives. My dream would be to be placed somewhere in the south Pacific or near the Indian Subcontinent. The languages there fascinate me and I hope to spend my life there.

But what can I do in the south pacific? Well, after my 27 month in the Peace Corps, I plan to attend graduate school in either London or Hawai'i. Hawai'i is actually my first choice. There I hope to study Linguistics, focusing specifically on documentation and conservation of endangered languages. And that's what I want to do as my career, study, document, and conserve endangered and dying languages around the globe, specifically in the South Pacific. 

To sum it up, my life plan is as follows:

1. Study abroad
2. Publish a novel
3. Finish my BA in English
4. Peace Corps
5. Graduate School
6. Research and conserve languages for the rest of ever.

Do you know what you want to do with your life? What are your wildest dreams?

Dorm Yum: A Must Haves List

This week seems to be the week of lists! Monday I posted the list of weekly shows I'm watching this fall and today I thought I'd post about the food I like to keep in constant supply in my dorm room. These are, by far, not the only foods I keep in my room and certainly cannot make up an entire diet (most private universities I know have a cafeteria for that), but these certainly make my life easier and my blood glucose level happier.

1. Bread & Butter : This is an absolute must for me. I love to keep "French" bread or at least wheat rolls in my room at all times with a tub of Land-o-Lakes in the fridge. I'll eat a piece of buttered bread before a morning class, or after, or before bed, or as a midnight snack, or as a study break snack, or as all of the above. They say "[one] can not live on bread alone," and indeed you shouldn't, but I challenge that and say I could live on bread and butter for at least a few months.
2. Decaf Coffee : My kidneys may damper my caffeine intake, but they will not take coffee from me! I love to get up every morning, turn on the coffee pot, and wake up fully with the smell of brewing coffee. Not to mention it tastes good (I also like to keep herbal teas for late, cold nights)!
3. Water : I'm not one to drink tap water, and I've noticed a large number of my friends who forget to or simply don't keep water in their rooms. This leads to either: 1) they buy expensive purified water from the bookstore or b) drink the sodas from the cafe and nothing else. This isn't very healthy, so I like to keep a case of 24 bottles of spring water in my room at all times.
4. Crackers/Nuts : Right now I have several kinds of crackers in my food drawer and a can of cashews. I love the option of having crackers or nuts to just munch on when I'm studying or louging back reading. Wheat Thins are a great option and come in several flavors, as are the Ritz brand toasted chips.
5. Chocolate : I am a firm believer that a controlled amount of chocolate is good for your mental (and possibly physical) health. When I can find them, I love to have the After Eight chocolate mints or when I can't I usually go for the dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips from the baking section. Chocolate chips are great because you can eat a handful without eating all of them.

As I said this isn't all I keep in my dorm, but these are really my must-haves.

What are your dorm/kitchen must haves?

Letters and Solitude

I do now, and always have, adored written communication. In school we wrote notes and now notes have turned to letters. Sadly, my old penpals and I have lost touch, so I look for new penpals! That's what I've been doing recently, searching and messaging new potential penpals! I am so excited to get back into letter writing with lovely people from around the globe!
I've always thought there was something wonderful about handwritten letters. I love knowing that someone spent the time and energy to find a pen and paper, sit down, and write out their thoughts specifically to send to me, and that I've done the same in return.
I really hope I find some amazing penpals again and that we can keep in touch for several years to come!

Interested in writing me? email me at lifeducks (at) gmail (dot) com and maybe we can work out something out!

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On an entirely separate note, I'm moving into my own room! Yes, I'm still living in the dorms, but soon I'll be moving into a single room, meaning I will have two beds and so much more room! I'm extremely excited! I think having a room to myself and more room to spread out will help me study and do better in my classes. 

Above is the outside of the beautiful dormitory in which I live. The rooms in this dorm are huge for dorm rooms! I certainly hope everything will be better when I don't have a roommate. Not that I don't love my roommate, I just can't handle the stress of my heavier course schedule and sharing space anymore. I still love my roommate, she's one of my good friends and one of my sorority sisters, but I need my own space. 

You all should certainly be looking forward to a tour of my room when I get settled in!

Have you ever lived in a dorm? Did you like it? What are some of your best study tips for hard course work? 

September in Review

September was a pretty crazy month for me in my life! I made only 8 posts, one of which was August in Review. Things in life I've yet to blog about include my new sorority family (I got twins!), applying for study abroad, and changes in my living arrangements.

But this month I did have the honour of participating in four blog tours! I'm so grateful to have the opportunity! 

Cover Reveal: Under the Desert Moon by Emma Meade

Blog Tour: Forsaken Teaser +Giveaway

Blog Tour: The Mosswoods Teaser

Blog Tour: First Frost Teaser!

I also posted an introduction of my Instagram account (lifeducks), the second installment of my Pinning Sweetly series, which showcases finds on my other obsession, Pinterest, and A Catch Up Post in which I explain where I've been.

That has been my slow slow month! Mostly, I get up, go to class, eat lunch, read for classes, study french, go to sorority events, sleep, and repeat. I don't get to spend much time online anymore, but you can always keep up with me on Instagram or Tumblr. I send most of my Instagrams to Tumblr, but Tumblr also has things I reblog from other blogs, so whichever fits your style more. 

Did you have a great or productive September?

My Newest Obsession: Instagram

I finally got an Instagram, and I'm officially obsessed. I used to use Dailybooth, but I stopped that when I realized it's apparently frowned upon to post anything that isn't your face or a body part. I like that Instagram is easy to use, has filters, and I can post pictures of me, my computer, my coffee, or anything! I also really like the sharing features so I can post on my Tumblr or Twitter from my Instagram!
If you want to check out all of my photos (not all will be pictured below) my name is, of course, Lifeducks.
Do you have an Instagram? Do you love it?

August In Review

With school and craziness, I never actually did my August in review post! So only about 15 days late... lets go!

In August I...

• Did 3 books reviews!
  Cinder : A positive review of a book about cyborgs
  French Lessons : A very positive review of a book about life and Paris.
  Coexist : An average review of a book about elves, were-things, and a war.
• I did an Author Interview with Jody Gehrman, the author of Audrey's Guide to Witchcraft. She was lovely to work with and her answers in the interview were amazing!
• I featured August releases and accepted the Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge.
• I talked about my lovely sorority sisters in a post titled, For the Love of Sisters, showed of my pretty Maxi Dress, and gave advice about Dorm Style.

Off-line I...

• Started my sophomore year of university.
• Rushed some amazing girls, some of which joined my fabulous sorority!
• Welcomed some amazing new sisters into my life.
• Got back into studying French.
• Moved into the dorms again.
• Reconnected with amazing friends.

August was a pretty great month for me, despite the steep decline in posting and the sudden stop in my Youtube channel. I'm glad to be back at school and to have amazing friends and sisters. I'm also blessed to have this blog and a place to share my thoughts and opinions.

How was your month of August? 

A Catch-Up Post

Goodness it's been so long! School started and everything went crazy! I haven't been here in weeks and I haven't been on Twitter for about as long! It's crazy! Here on campus I don't have a computer in my room and I certainly don't have a private computer, so it makes anything I can't do from my phone rather difficult. Here we go now, I'm going to try to catch y'all up on this thing that is my life.

1. Classes are.... classes. There is a lot of reading in my classes this year. We just finished one novel in my English class, The American by Henry James, and we've started another, The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. I probably won't review the first, I was unimpressed. I adore Henry James and I felt that novel was such a let down from the short stories I love.
   My french class is insanely difficult. We have a student who is fluent and from Togo, a French speaking country, and he gets as many things wrong as the American students do!
   History is not what I hoped it would be. I really need to read the course descriptions better! I hoped to study the great Kings and Queens of England (ie. Henry VIII, Elizabeth, William & Mary, etc.), but instead we're studying more about the uniting of the United Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland and the British Empire! Such a let down!
   Script writing is amazing! It's a seminar style and I really love that. Each week about 4 people have 4-5 pages of a script they wrote read. Mine is being read today! I'm so excited! I've also got almost 20 pages of my script written. Perhaps I'll turn it into a short-ish film some day!
2. Joined the fencing team. This is actually a really new thing. I joined last Tuesday and had private training that day, then went to bouts on Thursday, and have private training again tomorrow! I really love fencing so I'm excite to learn more and compete for the first time in December!
3. Roommate is awesome! She's one of my sorority sisters and our room is amazing! We took away the whole dividing-the-room-between-rommies thing and made it one big room of sharedness. It's also covered in my photography and her art!
4. My sorority is great! We just got a new pledge class of really lovely, awesome girls! I'm extremely happy to see my sisterhood grow and I can't wait to get to know my new sisters more!
5. Grad school is in the works. I've picked out my top two Grad Schools (SOAS, University of London, or University of Hawaii, Manoa).
6. Doctor Who is.... GAH! I adore this show so much! I'm currently on the two part special that is the last with the Tenth Doctor and it's so sad! I don't want to see Ten go, but I'm interested to meet this Amy Pond that everyone is obsesed with!

I think that about sums up my life since we last spoke: Dorm, Class, Sorority, Fencing, Doctor Who. Yep, that's my life. I hope to be able to get back to posting regularly, but please excuse any college kid slacking I do.

How have you all been?

Dorm Style

I'm going to be really original for a moment and do a kind of "Back to school," university edition. I'm starting my second year at university, living on-campus, so I thought I'd share some of the things I think are needed in a dorm setting, plus some things I think would just be awesome.

Must Haves:

At very least, a calender is important. I think the bigger the better. They come in all kinds of designs so make a big calender a decoration in your room and keep up with all your school assignments and social events!
I like this one from Pottery Barn Teen

If you're allowed a mini-fridge, coordinate with your roommate and try to get one. I have the one pictured above and I really love it. It's so handy for left overs and the separate freezer means ice cream is easy to keep. I got this one at Target last year and it's still in stock online.

Life in a dorm is a life of little space. I got a storage thing similar  to this and ended up dedicating most of the drawers to food items that needed to be in the fridge. These can be found at most any super store. The above is from Target.

A desk lamp is absolutely essential. Some dorms may come with them, mine did not. I got one to clip to the side of my bed or desk and I hate it. I'm getting one similar to the picture this year. These lovely things are the easiest way to make life comfortable for both roommates. This one's from Target.

I've purposely left out the things no one forgets (ie: pillows, blankets, laptop/computer, etc.) These are the things I pick up after moving in and realizing I needed them.


Killer Personalization:

Most dorm rooms come with a bed, a desk, mirror, desk chair, and dresser. That doesn't leave much room for guests, so a fold-up lounger would be perfect for friends and easy to store. I really want to get this one from Pottery Barn Teen.

I only have posters in my room that I put up with command strips, but I think these wall decals would make an amazing touch to a dorm room. The above is from Target and they have them in all shapes and sizes and for all genders!

I really really want one of these in my room. Not only does it leave another surface to be customized, but it also has the inside to hold books, and as we know, I love books. This is one from Target

These loungers are absolutely priceless! It's so easy to lean back on one of these in bed to watch a movie or read a book for a class. I'm sure you can get these at most stores with bedding departments, but the one pictured above is from Target.

Area rugs are great and functional. They are easy quick personalization to make your room look more cozy while they also protect your feet from the cold tile of the dorm floor! I don't have one for my room, but I plan to get one. This one is from Pottery Barn Teen.

And that's all the tips I've got for you. If you're going into your first, or any other, university year, I hope it goes great and good luck!

What are/were your dorm must-haves?