Real, Not Ideal

April has been a month of accomplishments. I have officially finished half of my undergrad, I stayed sane during exam time, I got over mono, and I sent in my full application for Leeds! Most of the month has been based around exams thought. All of them were spread out, but I officially finished on Tuesday. I was thankful to have a spread out schedule, but boy, was I glad to be done! A spread out schedule is similar to a slow death. Agonizing. But here are my monthly favourites! 1. Favourite School Tool Binder clips. I have been using these to organize my notes for a few years now. Another good  school tip:  save your notes. You never know when they could become useful in the future. I got this colourful clips from the dollar store, and I have used them over and over. They are just so handy. 2. Favourite DVD Collection Apparently, I also loved this last April ...

So here I am a few hours after my final exam, and man, I am happy. The sense of relief I felt at the end was amazing because I have been studying like crazy, but I can honestly say this has been the best year of my life. I have learned so much about myself. And so, similarly to my summer edition of lessons learned, I have reflected on my year and come up with the things I have learned this year. 1.        Drama will persist throughout your life. I find it hard to know where to start in describing this. For an awful three months, I lost a friend. This is someone that I had grown very close to in a few short months. This was someone I could see becoming a best friend. And due to a miscommunication, we lost each other. I’ve realized that one is never above drama. I thought I was beyond arguments over menial things after high school, and I was wrong. But let me tell you, it’s not the end of the world. The good thing about adult fights is everyone is ...

Whoops, I chopped my hair off. I will explain a little more about it on the 30th in my monthly favourites, but it has been the best decision I've made in a long time! At this point, I am 4 exams down, 1 to go. I've spent lots of time studying, and so far I think I've been doing well. Other than that, I've had an amazing week with friends. It's odd that I'm meeting so many new people now when it's the end of the year and people are going home and I'm leaving in September. Wednesday- This outfit was from an Etsy ad . I liked the addition of the statement necklace. It was good for writing an exam because the t-shirt underneath was comfortable. Last year, I was on the hunt for a real denim vest like the one in the inspiration picture, but I ended up find this sleeveless shirt instead. It has come in hand many times. T-shirt- Target Sleeveless Shirt- Smart Set Jeans- Old Navy Necklace- Old Navy Thursday- This was a major s...

The fact that I wrote my last book review a month ago and I managed to get this one written at this time is considered an accomplishment. I’m in the middle of reading a new book, and I’ve come up with a new system for book reviews that I’m feeling confident about which is good because it will help me give you a few more facts on the novels. Anyway, this book was really not my favourite. My mom and I had a discussion about it after, and we were left unsatisfied with a lot of the details in the book. I typically like a different narration, but the third party character narration was unnecessary. There was too much flipping back and forth, and with less flipping, it could have been more mysterious. Here are the quotes I liked though: 1.        She was afraid during her childhood and tried nothing, and now she wants to discover she is not really a coward (16).   A lot of this novel is about personal growth and young adult exploration. I mean, th...

This has been a week of long study hours. However, it's been great to get out of the house to get my stuff done. I find that living by a schedule that gets me out of the house keeps me motivated. Two exams down, three to go! Tuesday- I think I need to add a denim dress to my wardrobe. I tried to do the denim shirt, but it just doesn't do the same thing as Stephi LaReine 's outfit does it? It was raining when I came home, so I couldn't wear my shoes upstairs, but I wore my favourite Oxfords with it. They make me happy. Necklace- Aldo Button up- Old Navy Leggings- Old Navy  Tuesday- I had a day in the library, and I wanted to be comfy and look good. So thanks to inspiration from Polyvore, I was able to do that. These pants are honestly amazing and more comfortable than they look. But here's the thing: turns out all the carbon copy people are wearing denim jackets these days. I need to rethink one of my favourite jackets for a while.   Jacket-...

I had a face mask in my January favourites, and I have been loving them ever since. I have a bunch of DIY face masks on a Pinterest board, and I decided to try one for this month's Pinterest Challenge. I used a recipe from Indian Beauty Spot. The pin said it was acne clearing, but the website was not very clear, and I did some additional research. Honey has moisturizing and antibacterial qualities, so it should clear up scars and make my skin oh so smooth. Nutmeg also clears scars and brighten skin. Cinnamon is anti-inflammatory and antioxidant. Ingredients: - 3 tbsp. honey - 1/4 tsp. nutmeg - 1/4 tsp. cinnamon 1. My mom's really into "designer honey" as my dad calls it, so the honey is organic (don't know if that makes a difference). 2. Add 3 tablespoons of honey. 3. Add 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. 4. Add 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. 5. Stir the ingredients together. Real talk: this mixture is sticky and burns when it goes in your nose (example: picture...

I had another outfit for this week, but things have just not been going my way in the past half hour. I broke a jar, spilled a vase of flowers (pause to take my wet socks off), and the additional outfit mysteriously disappeared off my phone. I was already in my sweatpants at that point, so I gave up. Let's just say I owe you one. I finished off my classes this week, and as my friend pointed out to me, it was my last class at that school for a year. Weird thought, but I'm still in the high anticipation mode for England. In other news, the outfit posts will become shorter this month, but I intend to carry them out until next month when I will not be going out as much. On another note, the thought of the week is that my hair is getting rather long, but it does not matter because my hair is too thin for length to be substantial. I just wanted to put that out there. Tuesday- Okay. Here's the thing. This is from someone's Tumblr, but it turns out they switched sites. NOW, ...

It’s April. That means school is wrapping up, and exams are starting. It’s the final stretch. I need to keep my head in the game more than ever if I want to end this year successful. On page 30 of Glamour’s November 2014 issue, there is an article about women in technology. The women interviewed shared their tips on how to be successful, and some of the quotes stood out to me, so I want to integrate their ideas into what I believe are the tools one needs to get to top. Being successful could mean anything to you. There’s a general sense of accomplishment in a successful life, getting the promotion at your job, or getting that A on your final paper. Whatever it means to you, I hope you find these tips useful. 1.        Be yourself.   I mentioned this way back in my tips for school post , but I need to reiterate it. As Ishani Mukherjee says in the Glamour article, “there’s nothing like kicking ass and doing yourself proud.” When you look back on y...

I have been so on the ball with taking pictures of these outfits this week. I'm sadly back to the not so great quality of my phone, but we'll roll with it. I have only three outfits this week because Friday was a holiday for the Easter weekend. It was a good week though. I'm back to routine and I'm taking lots of naps (medically rationalized of course), so things have been wonderful! I got to go out for lunch with my friends on Wednesday and I feel so fulfilled from it! It's sad that everything's winding down, and I won't see them as much this summer. And of course, I won't be here next year. This is why I'm taking every opportunity to hang out with them right now! There's a lesson in there. Tuesday- So I check the weather the night before and it's supposed to be a few degrees. I wake up in the morning and it's a winter wonderland. By the time I leave school, it's more than a few degrees and I'm in my winter coat. I mean......th...