Friday Favorites

Well, it's the end of reading week at my university, and exams are right around the corner. I thought I'd make this week's Friday Favorites finals-week themed, since I know lots of college students all over are prepping for final exams, papers and projects. Good luck everyone!

My favorite writing and productivity tools--they'll make you stay focused one way or another!

• writing with a cute incentive 
• not into kittens? try puppies instead
• you better finish that essay...or else
• absolutely no excuses
• flashcards are always helpful :)

If only studying and essay-writing were this easy...

• note to self: take an art history course 
• for those times you just bang on the keyboard in frustration

Study break time!

• I love the banana-berry bliss. really want to try the applecado smoothie. 
• take a run (I'm kind of in love with these at the moment)
• go on a virtual vacation. pick the place, look up pictures of the most luxurious hotel, good image the sites, think about what you'd see, hear, smell and taste! this should help get you started. 

Happy Friday everyone! xx

Denim and Tulips

Study period is in full swing but it's kind of hard to concentrate (is this a surprise to anyone?).

Lately I can't get enough of two things: denim and tulips.

My denim jacket has always been faithful. It's lasted since middle school and is slightly too big in the shoulders but it's mine. I've always been unsure of how to style it, but since I've arrived at college I've been much more liberal with my fashion choices.

I've always hated the idea of wearing my denim jacket over jeans. I'd always wear it with skirts or dresses, but now I'm kind of warming up to the idea. As long as the jacket and jeans are a different wash and weight, I'm good to go.

Some inspiration...

http://www.stylelist.com/

Now what I'd really like to get in my wardrobe is a white denim jacket...perfect for the spring and summer. I'm particularly liking this one by American Eagle.

Love the colors in this Free People jacket and the lace detail in this one from Urban outfitters. 

A very classic one from Zara.

Not exactly denim...but love the look. 

So you can definitely imagine that when I decided to train home with just an hour's notice, the first thing I packed was my denim jacket. 

My favorite thing about coming home for the weekend? Seeing everything in bloom, like the tree in our front yard to our neighbor's tulip gardens. It seemed like every house had tulips...I'm pretty sure the past years haven't been like this. It seems like every year there's a new flower everyone plants...

http://www.sodahead.com

http://www.chicagotraveler.com

Happy Wednesday!

xx Marisol

oh, wow

So I haven't posted in days, but that's probably because I just survived that horrible thing called last-week-of-classes-let's-have-all-the-papers-due-then sort of thing.

I can't believe it. I just finished my last classes of the semester! Of my freshman year. Just 20 more days, 3 more finals and spring fling to get through.

It just feels so weird that I'm already done with a fourth of my college years. A lot has happened since September.

Earlier today I was doing a bit of organizing and preliminary packing, and I came across a notebook I used to carry around with me constantly the first two months of school. With all us freshmen getting to know each other and barging through each others dorms at all hours of the night, we thought it would be a good idea to keep a journal of all the funny things we'd say...a sort of collection of inside jokes that at the time I thought we'd never forget. I was the official scribe, and a million times a day my suitemates would just turn to me and say, "put that in the book!"

Two months passed, studying started to control us and the book got hidden under a pile of Lorca anthologies...until it resurfaced now.

And to tell you the truth I can't for the life of me remember half of these quotes. But they sure are funny.

I only wish I had documented more!

Anyway, I am currently on a train. Home. I literally made the decision to come home like two hours ago...guess my family and I couldn't wait another 20 days!

Have a lovely weekend! I look forward to seeing my family, giving my big ol' dog a hug and eating something other than chicken tenders for lunch!

Springtime

The flowers are popping up, and it is starting to drizzle.

I'm also having lots of fun with Instagram, as you can see! 

Have a lovely day, MD

When Pigs Fly

This past weekend was a rare one--not so much reading or work or papers or exams to prepare for. My family drove over for the day. It was really nice to get off campus and spend some time with them. We ended up getting brunch and driving over to Mystic, where we just walked around and looked at the shops. It was such a nice break.

We stumbled upon an Easter egg hunt, the Easter bunny and lots of dressed-up dogs...

...and llamas? Those two were quite the crowd-pleaser. 

We found the kite shop quite fun. Where else can you find a dinosaur on a bicycle, a flying pig and a moose (he's my favorite)?

 It was beautiful and sunny, but the wind was just a bit much...

Isn't this cool?

Into the flow

Is it just me, or do we as teenagers just shy away from self-help? From all the mushy stuff, the seemingly empty advice imparted to us by older people with knowing eyes and a painfully slow voice?

One thing that I have learned is that professionals really do know what they are talking about; I at least don't always take it too seriously, or I never take the extra initiative to make a conscious change in my life. 

But now that's going to change

I recently went to a talk about flow, and learned some pretty cool stuff. Flow is the intersection of passion and strength. When you are in a state of flow, you are doing what you love and you don't mind doing it. You are in the zone, you are focused and you absolutely love it. What's important now is that we stay in a state of flow for as much of our days as possible. Instead of focusing on the tedious things in life, or our personal weaknesses, let's focus on things we can control and orient ourselves to--developing our strengths and following our passions. 

And a part of that is analyzing what isn't working in your life, and making a promise to yourself. Personally, I made a vow to be more productive and efficient with my time. I love the feeling of going to bed at night having accomplished a boat-load of work. I love not feeling behind in my work. I love staying on schedule. And I want to feel like this more often. 

I guess however my past week did not really help with that. Bed times were well into the morning and quite frankly my sleep schedule is not particularly conducive to the more high-powered lifestyle I'd like to take on. I'm also very horrible and procrastinate. Like, a lot.

So my friend and I devised Operation: Sleepy Panda, to be put in motion one night each weekend for the rest of our college years.

The rules? Beginning each night of Operation: Sleepy Panda...

1. No going out. 
2. No partying. 
3. Low-key activities. 
4. Bed by ten. 
5. Awake by eight. 
6. Work out, drink water, and work. 

There you have it. A full ten hours of sleep, a mental break, a healthy lifestyle. A way for us to reset after the week and focus. 

This, I hope, will put me on a more direct path to flow. 

Talk to you soon! xx