Creating a Sanctuary

Whether you're just surviving midterms or about to come back from Spring Break, you're no stranger to the concept of stress. I'm still dealing with stress on a daily basis and I'm not currently in school. Stress is known to have all sorts of negative impacts on the body, from chronic illness to anxiety and more!

But it's not as easy as saying "Don't be stressed out". Uh, thanks. I'll work on that between all the other stuff I have going on.  

Lately I've been working really hard on wellness as a whole concept. Medicine is not enough to cure my Crohn's, and I'm turning to alternative medicine, diet, meditation, and more. One thing that has been particularly effective for me lately is having a safe space in my home that relaxes me. I like to think of my room as my sanctuary.

Making your living space comfortable, safe, and relaxing is so important. Knowing you have a place that is a go-to for relaxation can help you relax when you're sick, stressed, or just need sleep! Here are my ideas to transform your room from stressful to sanctuary.

• Make sure spaces are functional: If you have a lot of bookshelf space being used for books you haven't read anymore, clear them out and donate, then buy boxes to store things you'll actually use and enjoy. The less there is on your floor and cluttered on shelves, the more comfortable you'll feel! 
• Cultivate collections of things you enjoy: For example, if you love nail polish like I do, bring that into your room and make that a focal point in the room. Put it on display instead of hiding it in bins.

My nail polish collection is a point of pride for me, so having it on display is a great reminder of something I really love! 

• Bring in things that help you relax: For me, it's scented candles. I have a whole table of scented candles I light while I'm in bed and not feeling so great. If that's not a possibility for you, try music, or whatever works best for you!
• Keep it clean: I know it's a pain, but a clean space is comforting AND relaxing.
• Hang things that inspire you: I made these canvases for my dorm this spring and I really love having them in my view every day. 

• Surround yourself with positivity: That means pictures, good memories, cards whatever helps. 
• Bring in material that is both stimulating and entertaining: I've really enjoyed my Kindle lately, and keeping that by my bedside has been great. On the other hand, it's just as important to me to read my favorite fun, lighthearted blogs. Just being in touch with others is important! 

What do you do to make your space a sanctuary? Do you have any other tips?

Hope you're all happy and healthy!

Love,

Hannah

Saturday Instagram Roundup 2

Hosted by Sara at Pearls & Curls

I'm just going to go ahead and jump in to this week! It was a good week- I moved back to college!

Sayin goodbye to my puppies was so hard!

New year, new dorm! Happy to be back! 

I obviously had to do my nails for my first day of classes!
This is OPI If You Moust You Moust, my favorite pink! 

My Lilly sale order came in! 

A pretty day on campus is always nice.

I came home Friday to take care of my puppy, but it was just Juno and I when I got home. 

Wild Gracie finally resting after her surgery.

A little craft project I did for my dorm! I'll have instructions on the blog this week! 

Hope you had a great week!
Stay beautiful,
Hannah

Taking Notes and Staying Organized for the Lazy Girl

I love organization, but tend to struggle with keeping organized. I start with good intentions and desperately want to be neat and organized, but tend to  struggle carrying out my plans. The systems forced on me in middle and high school never worked because they didn't fit my personality or study style. At one point I even hired a friend to help me in the middle of the semester because I felt so disorganized and out of control. Obviously, I needed to take more time to really think about what would work for me. 
When I started college, I came up with a system that used my organizational shortcomings to my advantage. Ever since I started using this system, I've been able to keep track of all of my notes, study more efficiently, and even carry less in my tote for class!  I understand that this system won't work for everyone, but I thought I'd share in case it might help you!

The Supplies: 

• Legal Pad (with holes, in case a teacher/professor wants to put work in a binder)
• Folders for each class
• Highlighters and pens that suit you. I prefer a large variety of colorful pens because I'm very visual, but if you're a black and blue only girl, that works too! 

The KEY to my Lazy Girl note system!
Hole punch legal pads which should be available at most office supply stores

Seriously, that's it!  I'm telling you, this is easy peasy.

5 Step Plan: 

1. Carry one legal pad in your bag at all times. Instead of having a bunch of notebooks or loose leaf paper, carry just one legal pad. This way, you can take all of your notes for all of your classes in one place. It seems like it would get hectic, but it actually works really well.
2. In your workspace, keep folders for each class.  When you prepare for the day, put the appropriate folders in your tote or bookbag. These folders will hold handouts, tests and quizzes, and later- your notes. 
3. Review at any point, leaving your notes on the legal pad.  Try to keep notes on the legal pad for big chunks of time so that the folders aren't cluttered. You can still add to your notes or go back and review them, but you're keeping everything for school in one small place.
4. When it comes tame to study for a bigger test or exam,  go through the notepad and pull out all the notes for that class related to your exam.  Now you've got a set of notes ready for studying, and you can go back through and highlight your notes and make study guides from your notes. This way there's no time wasted searching for notes all over the place. 
5. After your exam, paperclip that group of notes together and put it in the folder with a sticky note to label the section. This keeps your notes organized in your folder! If you feel like your folder is getting too cluttered because the class is heavy on handouts and/or notes, you can make a current folder and an archive folder for that class. Obviously, use the archive folder for past notes and the current folder for current hand-outs, quizzes, or other paper before that section's exam.

A little peek into my note taking system! It's early in the semester so my folders are a little empty right now but they fill up quickly! 

Let me know if you have any questions about my note taking system! I'd love to hear what you use too! I'm always looking for new ways to stay organized, especially because I want to give my future students some options.

Hope you're all enjoying your new semesters!
Stay beautiful,
Hannah

Monogram Mail

I have become totally hooked on Etsy! I have always loved browsing Etsy, but I often got overwhelmed by choices and just decided not to order things. I finally ended up ordering a few really exciting things in the past few weeks, so I thought I'd share and give some love to the amazing Etsy shops I ordered from.
Oh, and you'll notice a theme. I have a monogram problem, y'all. Also a pink and navy problem.  I'm going to justify it and call it a signature, that sounds better.

I'm beginning to assemble a little collection. 

School Bag:
I have been looking for a great school tote for a while. I wanted something useful, unique, and monogrammed. I fell in love with this Monogrammed Super Feature Tote from Bow Peep on Etsy. I love that it has outer pockets for quick access to my water bottle, glasses, and iPhone (or whatever I decide!) It's also a great deal at around $25.

This is my bag!  It comes in a variety of colors and with several ribbons and monogram styles,  so if navy and pink is not your signature there are plenty of other options :) 

Vinyl Decals:
I have looked at tons of monogrammed decals for my car and computer. Tons. I wanted one for my computer and one for my car, and I wanted to get a good deal. Etsy has a zillion fantastic options, but I was super pleased with my Vinyl Chatter order.  I ended up deciding on a circle decal for my car (so that it will be a little sturdier) and a vine monogram for my laptop. I am in love with the results!

When they first arrived! 

The vine monogram was huge and looks amazing on my laptop. I love that it's navy, it was a surprisingly hard color to find!

I still need to go put my circle decal on my car! Hopefully I will before I move back to Queens.
I'm ordering some sorority letter decals from the same shop sometime soon for my car. I'll post those when I get them!

Key Fob: 
I got totally overwhelmed by the ribbon choices in The Preppy Patch, in the best possible way. They have so many adorable, wonderful options.  I knew I wanted something navy and pink to match my bag, and I ended up going with this key fob with the added wristlet length. I also messaged the super sweet shop owner and asked about Greek lettering, and she did it on the back in my sorority's colors (not pictured because I'm a recruitment counselor, sorry!) for free! How nice is that?

The little ribbons on the end were also a little extra. This shop had great options and amazing service. I'm in love with the final product! 

I highly recommend ALL THREE of these shops and all of these products. Let them know Hannah sent you, and definitely leave me any of your favorite Etsy shops in the comments.

Stay beautiful,
Hannah
(or should I say hBr)

Getting Ready For RUSH.

Rush is less than 2 weeks away!
I'm SO EXCITED. Tons of my friends (in real life and via tumblr) have gone Greek and I've loved hearing about your experiences.
If you don't mind helping me out, I'd love it if you could comment and tell me what your RUSH WEEK experience was like, and if you have one or two key tips for rush. Keep in mind I go to a small school, so some things won't apply!

My college has the following sororities in no order:

So please include if you're a member of any of those lovely organizations!

Our Rush Shirts! So cute. I'm a little anxious about the color (mint is not great on my skin, so I'm hoping it's darker in person) but I'm going to rock it no matter what!

Before I go, here are a few things to help anyone else prepare, since I know a lot of my readers are probably getting ready to rush too! 

Elle Fowler's School Glitz: Sorority Rush and Advice!

This is great if you're someone even thinking about rushing in a year or two, or if you're in my boat, about to rush in a week or two. I walked away from this video more confident and ready for Rush week.

Also, we did a little post on Beauty Forum about Sweat Proof Rush Week Makeup! 

Make sure to check it out!!!

Please comment with any and all advice, everyone! 

Dorm Reveal!

I've been moved in for a whole week and I've finally got the room set up! I decided to make use of the extra bed (yes, I have two beds in my single dorm room. I know... I'm spoiled rotten) and turn it into a couch/sitting area with some fun pillows. My college kind of gave me two of everything, so you'll notice that I have a makeup desk, a studying desk, and two wardrobes and dressers. In my defense, one dresser is empty.
I love my dorm room, and I hope you do too!

My two beds. The pink one is where I sleep, the plaid/patchwork one is my couch.

My two desks. The left one is makeup (also food storage) and the right one is for studying. The file cabinet is where I store my makeup!

Close up on my makeup area. It's not the most glamorous, but I love it. It's hard to tell, but it's super functional. I'll film a video sometime showing it in action.

My reading area. I like to curl up with my American Lit textbook here.

Terrible picture. This is the hallway to my door, where my two wardrobes are located. All my hanging clothes are in one, and my shoes and sweaters are in the other. 

Another wonky photo, sorry. I turned my AC unit into my personal photo board.

A shot of the room from my bed. I'm just trying to give you an idea of the size. It's pretty huge. 

 

 

 

This is the only shot I'll give you of my bathroom because it's really not very exciting. I didn't end up needing a shower curtain (glass door on my shower) and it's just a bathroom. Sorry my dish station is on the floor. I meant to take that out of the photo!

So this is my room!

I've absolutely settled in and I adore Queens. I could not be happier here, and that's not just because my dorm room is perfect for me. I love this campus and these people. This is the best place for me and I belong here.

Fresh Start

It's August! I know, I'm highly original, starting this blog post off that way.
I've been dreaming of this month since December when I decided to take a semester off of school.
For those of you who are new to my blog, and thus my life, here's the backstory. I started college in August of 2010 at The University of North Carolina at Asheville and became very ill. I have Crohn's disease and ultimately had so many complications with my health that in December,   I chose not to go back to school for my second semester. I had a miserable first semester at school and decided that I would use the time to research transferring.
I knew it would be Queens. I loved it from the minute I set foot on campus. I had written it off my senior year of high school because it was too close to home (a mere 15 minutes!) but after my semester away that was no longer a problem in my mind.
I simply fell in love. 
The only heartbreaking thing about it was that I had to wait until now. It's finally August. Only a few more weeks. It's here, it's real and it's actually happening.

A few things to get me in the school spirit: 

My mom has a sweater similar to this from her time at Michigan State that I LOVE. I'm not in love with the logo options, so I'm thinking of buying my own navy sweater and getting it embroidered the way I want it done!

Zoya Goldie Polish- Perfect for Basketball games!