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8 Ways I Plan On Spending My Winter Break

First off, Merry Christmas to those who celebrate!

I didn’t forget about today’s blog entry, I’ve simply been super busy all day. Better late than never, right?

I figured I’d do a quick post outlining the things I plan on doing during my month off from school. I don’t go back until January 19th, so I have a lot of time to de-stress and at first I had no idea to do with all of this space! Although, while making this list I felt much more confident that my off time would not be wasted. 

So, without further ado:

1. Netflix

I’ve been obsessing over Grey’s Anatomy since the summer, but since I’ve been in school it has been so hard for me to watch regularly. I’ve been stuck on season 5 for about a month, but over the break I hope to finish all of the netflix episodes and perhaps start a new show worth being obsessed with.

2. Read

Whether it being Charles Bukowski, or a fiction novel, I’d like to read a ton over this break. Before bed every night, even at school, I love to settle down my mind and get lost in a book. I can’t just stop that because of my break from school, I need to stay intellectually in tact.

3. Blog

I’d love to keep blogging on SoyDariana, become more active on my main tumblr (beautyrushhhh), and update the theme on both of these blogs. Over the semester, I haven’t been as active as I’d like to, and I hope to fix this habit over my time off.

4. Eat

My. School. Food. Sucks. I think every college student can definitely relate. While I’m home I plan on eating as much home cooked (& Panera) food as I possibly can. Maybe, just maybe, it will hold me over until the end of the spring semester.

5. Family

I have missed my family so much that I truly believe it made me sick a few times. Homesickness is real. I am going to spend as much time with them as I can, and even during the spring semester I plan on calling and writing personal letters more.

6. Prepare & Plan

I think a main reason why I did so well in my first semester was the fact that I thoroughly prepared for my courses beforehand. I skimmed through my textbooks, got my folders/notebooks ready, filled in important dates in my planner, etc. I’d even like to do some web research on the topics my courses should cover so I’m ready to participate in classes, something I didn’t do so well in the fall.

7. Friends

My friends are definitely my life, and without them at school I die a little everyday. I hope to spend plenty of time with them over break, even just hanging at each others houses or going on Dunkin runs. I need to fill up on my time with them now, so I can make it without seeing them for three months.

8. Travel

Living right between NYC and Philadelphia, I hope to be making numerous trips to both cities. I love spending a day walking around, looking in record shops and eating in small cafes. City book stores are also one of my favorite things, with outdoor $1 book sales one can surely find a good read. The city is my happy place and I desire to visit each at least once. 

That’s all I have for today. I hope I gave you some good ideas of ways to spend your time off!

Again, Merry Christmas!

[soy-dariana-blog]

My Storage Cubes

Good morning everyone :)

I haven’t been posting nearly as much as I had wanted, but the semester is over now and I’m ready to get back on my Monday/Thursday blog schedule. I promise, no more hiatuses. 

Since my “My Dorm!!” post, I switched rooms and in the process changed things a bit. I ended up moving my dresser under my bed and downsizing to only four cubes, although they are still my favorite part of the room. I figured today I’d give you a little tour inside my cubes and show you all how I like to organize them. 

This is simply from the outside. The cubes are positioned under my bed between my desk and the dresser. The fit is perfect, as I have lofted my bed as high as it will go. There is a little space on top where I put my backpack when I’m not using it. I purchased the “Reversible Cube Grid in Black/White” from Bed Bath & Beyond, the yellow cubes from Target (not available online), and the grey ones from Five Below. The “Cube Grid” is very easy to put together and take apart, as the box includes 16 square panels and 18 connectors (ideal for 4 cubes). Altogether, I paid about $35 for this unique storage option. 

So, now let’s take a look inside...

The top left yellow cube is filled with a few “kitchen” things that do not fit on my food cart. This includes: 2 ice cube trays, a couple random food products, a multitude of small storage containers I have no idea why I purchased, and 4 tumblers I have no use for. So, basically it’s the things I don’t use/need that if I get rid of I know I will find use for. This is definitely the least filled cube.

On the top right, I have all of my toiletries/medicines. These would be: cough drops, an extra toothbrush, Triple Antibiotic cream, cosmetic wedges, shaving cream, alcohol pads, baby wipes, cotton rounds, DayQuil, Q-tips, cotton balls, oil absorbing sheets, razors, tanning oil, unopened Blistex, band-aids, and Neosporin to go (still in the package, of course). This is the bin I make the most use of. Also, being right next to my desk is super convenient, so when I’m doing my makeup the cotton products I use are right there and don’t tidy up my desk or drawers. 

My bottom left cube has all of my hair products in it. It has my hair dryer, brush, straightener, curling iron, a plethora of combs, a few headbands/bandanas, and my to-go pouch of hair ties, clips, and sock buns. Nothing interesting, but a spot to keep all of these related objects in one place. 

The bottom right cube has the most objects that I do not use often. There’s an extension cord, Tide Pods, birthday candles, a power surge protector, dryer sheets, small trash bags, light bulbs, cosmetic bags, soooo many batteries, storage bags, lint rollers, a flash light, molding putty, command strips, and shower hooks. This cube is the most overfilled and very heavy, that’s why it’s on the bottom. It’s also very hard to keep organized, as everything doesn’t fit neatly. But, the storage is definitely great to keep these items, that would usually cause clutter, out of the way. 

That’s all I keep in my storage cubes! I hope you all like my post and continue reading! Follow if you’d like, and message/reply to let me know anything else you’d like to see. 

See you Thursday!

[soy-dariana-blog]

The Top 5 Things I’ve Learned in College So Far...

Hi loves! Hope you all are having a wonderful Thursday.

First off, I need to apologize for not being active at all for the past few weeks. COLLEGE IS SO REAL. I have no time, ever. But I pinky promise I will be posting along my normal schedule from now on, on Mondays and Thursdays. No more skips!

Anyway, on to the good part. Today’s post is going to be going through a few things I’ve learned/realized in college so far, to help any upcoming freshman or just anyone who’s interested.

1. You WILL Be Busy

I had no idea how busy I was going to be. Honestly, my day is a constant struggle of deciding whether I should eat, shower, do laundry, go to the gym, socialize, or do homework. ALL day. And it’s impossible to go to bed early. There’s always soooo much to do and you really learn how to manage your time, which is a great skill. It’s getting better, but I still have, like, zero free time to binge watch Netflix or call my family. It’s so much harder than I thought it would be. Everything is up to you now, but it’s possible!

2. Getting Involved Is Actually SO Important

In most cases, you will come to college knowing little to no people. That’s why it is so important to get involved. You don’t necessarily need to join every club your school offers, but joining some close to your major could be very beneficial. For example, my major is music so I joined music club and the school radio. Those people in the club could be professionals one day and you already have that connection you need with them.The meetings aren’t even that long (usually like 30 mins-an hour), you meet people with the same interests, and there’s usually free food :D

3. There ARE Parties At Every School If You WANT To Find Parties

This is kind of crazy, but it’s true. I didn’t pick a school based on parties, because I know it’s more than that. Education is number one. But, I’m kind of a party person, so when I found out my school has NO parties I was really freaking out. But, to my surprise, when I got here there was actual frat parties! They’re really hard to find if you don’t “know” the right people, but once you do, you’re in. You just have to look in the right places, and don’t be a fool about it.

4. The Work IS Harder than High School

The workload and the work itself in college is a lot harder than previous years. I didn’t think it would be that much harder, but oh it is. The professors just expect you to do everything on your own. They give you notes, but the reading and papers are all on your own with little to no help. Projects, on your own. Group work, no class time. You really have to do everything independently and no one is there to hold your hand. In high school we would have to read books a few chapters assigned each night, but it college, they just give you the book and a due date. It’s rough.

5. You WILL Be Treated Like A Responsible Adult Regarding Your Mistakes

The policies and overall “rules” in college are no joke. They take them so seriously and really enforce them. Don’t tweet dumb things, they monitor every social media. Don’t be loud after quiet hours, they will give you a warning and another one is a fine. Drinking underage is no joke, either. You don’t have your parents to back you up anymore. You’re the adult and you have to deal with every mistake you make. No one is going to feel bad for you. Like I said, you’re on your own.

That’s all I have to say on this topic, but let me know what you guys want to see on here! Like if this was interesting!

[soy-dariana-blog]

My Dorm!!

Hello!

I’m so excited to post this today!! I moved into my dorm yesterday and *drum roll* I’m going to show you everything!!

It’s so cute and perfect and I absolutely love everything.

First off is my closet. This is just my side, my roommate has the other side (and that’s her dresser in there). It’s a small walk-in with a full mirror on the middle wall. I have my shoes on the bottom (my sandals didn’t fit and are in a bag), my tops and dresses hanging up, and a laundry basket with towels on the top shelf. I also have a lot of perfumes, lotions, and other things like that on the shelf too.

Next is my dresser, pretty boring right now. It has tissues, my jewelry stand, sand from wildwood beach, my contacts/solution, makeup remover wipes, and my Brita filtering water bottle. The drawers have all of my pants/jeans/shorts/pajamas. 

Annnnnd my hamper.

This is my food cart with all of my food and things I’ll need to store/cook food in the microwave and fridge. The black thing is my fridge and on top is the microwave (they came with my dorm!). As you can see I have soooo much food.

Here’s my desk, which is pretty boring as well. I only have a few pictures of my friends, my makeup on the top shelf, my laptop, planner, budget book, laptop, and desk items. I hope to add a little color to it in the near future. 

My unmade bed and (so far) plain wall. Let me know any ideas you have for decorations!!

These are my absolute favorite part of my dorm! They’re fabric storage cubes in little racks. I have 8 total and they’re a super cute way to add more storage to your room and stay organized as well! I store everything from food to underwear in here. They’re just so great.

So that’s my dorm! Hopefully I can do more dorm posts soon with some DIY’s for decorations. Let me know what you want to see and follow if you like! 

[soy-dariana-blog]

Getting Ready For College!

Good evening! 

It’s that time of the year: college move in time. Everyones either super excited or super bummed out, but for me I’m more towards the excited side :D It’s my first year living away from home, studying, and just being independent and I couldn’t be happier. 

So, I thought I’d show you all how I’m packing to go away and how I’m staying organized so far. 

This is all my stuff together, minus a box of shoes and another box of clothes. The bins have all new stuff I bought ( I’ll go through them a little later), a hamper full of hangers, a bag of shoes, my food shelves, bed in a bag, some lose sheets, and 4 bags of clothes (call me crazy).

Over here I have my bed in a bag, bed bug protection sheets, a trash bag with new pillows, and my mirror for my walk-in closet (so excited!!!).

Okay, so, as you saw I have 4 large bins of stuff. Bin #1 has all of my “personal things” which includes: curling iron, makeup mirror, hair ties, combs, makeup, makeup organizer, clean and clear 3 step, neosporin, bandaids, cough drops, tylonal, makeup wipes, makeup wedges, cotton balls, qtips, razors, shaving cream, circle cotton pads, power strip, headphones, command tape, over the door hooks, under the bed cubes, under the bed fabric cubes, ziploc bags, jewelry organizer, jewelry, batteries, flashlight, hairbrush, hair dryer, and straightener, plus a few other small things. It’s basically all the stuff that didn’t fit into the other bin categories.

Bin #2 has all of my desk supplies, plus a few kitchen things that didn’t fit into the kitchen bin: paper towels, paper plates, and paper bowls. I also put my makeup box in here because it’s the only spot it’d fit in. So, the desk things in here are: desk lamp, lightbulbs, desk organizer, pens, pencils, sharpies, highlighters, paper clips, post its, staples, desk pencil cup, pencil sharpener, dry erase board and marker, 3 subject notebook, one subject notebooks, scissors, index cards, filler paper, plastic folders, backpack, planner, glue, rubber bands, ruler, stapler, staple remover, tape, tape dispenser, hold punch, white out, tissues, stationary, markers, binder clip, colored pencils, and crayons. Basically everything that’s going on my desk/school supplies. 

This bin has all of my bathroom items, everything going into the bathroom. There’s windex wipes, clorox wipes, swiffer, swiffer refills, hand soaps, febreeze, shower mat, shower curtain, shower liners, shower hooks, shower shelf, shower towel hooks, shampoo, conditioner, deoderant, body wash, tooth brushes, tooth brush cover, tooth paste, mesh sponges, and the bathroom rug. There’s also some small stuff in here that I didn’t have on my list. 

My final bin has all my kitchen items in it. These are: plastic utensils, aluminum foil, dish soap, microwave containers, microwave plate cover, mac and cheese cooker, ice cube trays, brita water bottle, can opener, tumblers, coffee mugs, disposable cups, travel coffee mug, and chip clips. I also have a lot of food in here that I’m going to keep in my room.

Here’s my hamper with my desk trash can and a whole bunch of hangers in it!

That’s my post for today! Follow/reblog/like if you like this post! I’ll be back Monday :)

[soy-dariana-blog]

How I Organize My Phone!

Hello loves :) I hope everyone’s week started out better than mine did! I’ve been super busy/stressed/tired getting ready to move into college this weekend, but of course I made time for my Monday blog post!

Today I’m going to be showing you all how I organize my phone, as most of you know organization is a big thing for me. An anon requested this, so here we are!

This is my lockscreen wallpaper, the ever so lovely Chuck & Blair. How adorable, right?! I forget where I found this, but I fell in love and have been using it for the past week or so. I usually change my wallpapers every other week or whenever I get tired of the old one, but this one I’ll probably keep on for a while because I just love it so much!

My current home screen is pretty boring. I like the background, though, sunsets always seem to amaze me :-) I always have my phone and messages on the dock because they’re the two I use the most. I just recently switched my folder names from emojis to star and heart outlines and I really like how it looks so far. 

The first folder is all of my money apps. I have Verizon to see how much data I use, OnGo is a survey app that pays me money to complete product/shopping surveys, Beneficial and TD are my mobile banking apps, FeaturePoints (which I barely use anymore) is the app I would use to download apps to earn coins to turn into gift cards, Mint tracks all my spending, and TipSee I used to use to track my tips when I was a waitress. These are all kind of boring apps that I don’t use that much, mainly just the mobile banking ones I’ll use everyday.

Next would be my music folder. In here I have the Apple Music App, Pandora (which I love//use everyday), iHeartRadio which is a mobile radio app I can use to listen to the radio where ever I am, iTunes Store to buy music (although I never use it), Podcasts (not really sure what that’s for), Netflix which doesn’t really fit into this category but is here anyway, and 8tracks, a playlist app with great playlists for whatever mood you’re in.

This is the folder I have all the stock apps in that I don’t really use much, except Safari of course.

Here I have all of my photo apps, which I use pretty often. Cropic, VSCO, Picstitch, and Looksee I use to edit, Photos and Flickr are for storage, and Facetime, Camera, and Videos are pretty self-explanitory. 

These are all of my social apps. I definitely use Tumblr, Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram every 5 minutes, and the rest at least once a day. This would probably be my most used and go-to folder.

Next is all my games that I don’t even play that much. The only I really use anymore are Covet and Colorfy, the rest are just there for when I’m super bored.

Here I have all my shopping apps, for coupons and to search prices, or buy apps and such.

Finally, this is my food apps! I use these for coupons, to look at menus, and to track my food rewards! The Dunkin app is my fave, they always have great coupons.

That’s all for today!! I hope you like :)

Let me know what you want to see, follow if you enjoyed this post, and I’ll see ya Thursday! 

[soy-dariana-blog]

Favorite Makeup Products

It’s Thursday again! I’m really looking forward to Mondays and Thursdays now because of this blog :)

Today’s post is going to be a few of my very favorite makeup products. These are just a few - if I had to list them all it’d take forever.

This is what my makeup setup currently looks like. It’s in my top drawer of my dresser so it’s hidden and I always keep it neat and organized. From top left: lip products, wipes, face products, eye products...bottom left: brushes and then palettes. I don’t have a lot, but I have everything I need for any look I really need to do. 

These are my favorite lip products right now. From left to right: Ulta Lip Crayon in Oh!, Naked Sesso (from the Naked on the Run palette), and Ulta Cappuccino. The crayon is good to wear with summer dresses, the lip gloss is great for casual looks like rompers and shorts, and the lipstick goes great with nice jeans and a tee. I always tend to favor gloss over lipstick, but recently I’ve been trying new lip products and really like the texture of Ulta’s sticks.

Here’s a couple of my favorite face products. From left to right: Smashbox Photo Finish Hydrating Primer, Tarte Smooth Operator Clay Finishing Powder, and Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream. I use the Smashbox primer everyday under my foundation and it work great to close my pores and help my foundation go on smoother. It also keeps dryness away which is a big problem for my skin in particular. I use the Tarte powder (which is translucent by the way) over the primer but under the foundation, because when I put it over my foundation it makes my skin look super cakey and dry. When it’s under it really helps to set my foundation without making it look weird. This BB cream is so great. It’s not too thick but it still covers a lot of redness and helps even out my skin tone. I’m pretty sure they discontinued it and came out with a new formula, but I absolutely love this stuff.

These are my favorite foundations everrrr. I only use these two. They are the absolute best. Estee Lauder Double Wear in 2N1 Desert Beige and Clinique Beyond Perfecting Foundation/Concealer in 2 Alabaster. The Estee Lauder one is heavier so I use it in the winter, and the Clinique one is lighter but they both have the same coverage - very full. They cover all my acne and make my skin look perfect. The Estee Lauder one tends to dry my skin a little but it may be because I only wear it in the winter. Overall these two are my favorite products ever. 100% recommend. 

I always use mascara and my favorite right now is the Perversion by Urban Decay which came in my Naked on the Run Palette (it can also be bought separately). It’s great for volume and length and I just love it so much. I also love the Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil and Wet n Wild’s Megalast eyeliner. They are both really easy to use and go one evenly. I haven’t been using liquid liner but just one of these to line the outside corner of my eye to make them appear rounder. 

I LOVE the Naked on the Run Palette. Everything in it is on my faves list, and the eyeshadows, bronzer, blush, and hilighter are just as awesome. It’s only about $50 and such a great deal. The bronzer is a perfect color for my skin tone, the blush is the best color for a blush that I have, and the hilighter is just great. The shadows are easy to blend and the colors work well together. I just love everything about it. 

That’s all for my favorite products! I hope you enjoyed and don’t forget to like, reblog, and/or follow if you liked it! Let me know what you want to see Monday! :)

[soy-dariana-blog]

What’s In My Purse?

Hello everyone! I hope your Monday is going well! Today I’m going to be doing a “What’s In My Purse” post and I hope you like it!

So here’s my purse. I bought it a couple months ago at the Dynamite store in my mall. I saw it and absolutely fell in love, because it looks like a Celine bag but for only $40, and who doesn’t love a steal!? It’s super roomy and black goes with everything, so I had to get it.

This is what the inside looks like when it’s full. I’m so obsessed with keeping everything organized so it always looks like this. 

First in my bag is my Kate Spade 2016 planner, which I made a post about on Thursday, here. I use it to, obviously, track life, keep notes, and other little things.

Next is my Kate Spade notebook which I use as my budget book. I’m going to make a post about it in the near future, but for now I’ll tell you that I use it to track my cash, all my card accounts, and see what I need to spend less money on. I just recently started it but I’m excited to see how it helps me out. 

This is my receipt/coupon holder. I got it at the dollar store so it doesn’t really match anything, but it’s still super cute. It’s kind of messy right now, but I basically just use it to keep all my receipts in case I need to take something back, and coupons because I’m a coupon queen (for real, ask all my friends).

Of course I have my phone charger always in my bag.

I always have my wallet with me, because of course it has my license, my money, and all of my cards in it. I just got this wallet from target on clearance and I absolutely love it because it has plenty of room and I don’t have to fold my money up.

This little card holder matches my wallet, also from target on clearance. It has four extra slots, which I use for my food cards, like Panera and PinkBerry.

Also in my bag is my beats, because I never know where I’ll be and when I’ll need them.

This is my little change purse, because I had a bad habit of throwing change in my purse and it started to really get on my nerves. So I got this at the shore to keep them all in one place.

Next is my little first aid kit, which I leave in the zipper of my bag. It has band-aids, Neosporin to go, alcohol pads, and oil absorbing wipes.

Here are my pens, which I use everyday. The colored ones are my fave, I always need some extra color in my life :)

Finally I have my phone, which I take absolutely everywhere with me. I’d be so lost without it.

So there’s my post for today guys! Let me know what you want to see! Please follow, reblog, and like if you like it!

Happy Monday, and see you all on Thursday! ❤️

[soy-dariana-blog]

My Planner//First Post!

Hey guys! I finally got a better laptop, so I’m able to start my very long awaited lifestyle blog! This is my first post EVER and I’m so excited to share it with you all! Here we gooooo..

So I was at the shore this past week and I picked up my new planner! This is the Kate Spade 2016 17-month large agenda. I got this beauty at People People in Stone Harbor, NJ. Featuring the famous gold dot design, this planner is just what I was looking for- something simple and adorable at the same time. Last year I had the Lilly Pulitzer 17-month planner, but I decided that the design was too busy for my taste now. It’s a great planner, just not my style anymore.

The inside cover starts off with a lost-and-found type feel, which is handy if you’re constantly leaving things in class or dropping everything - like me. It has a spot for your name and phone number, as well as lots of space around it to draw a design and spice it up or write little notes of inspiration to yourself. I haven’t quite decided what I want to do here yet. The box is a very pale blue/green and the background is pale pink.

The first “page” of the planner features a pocket in the same pale pink color, with a plastic-type feel. I don’t know what the pocket is specifically for, but I guess you could put stickers, receipts, notes, or anything your heart desires in here. I still don’t know what to do here either! It definitely adds an organized feel, though.

Next is the full 24 month outlook calendar. It’s a great way to look up days of the week or cross out which days have passed. I think I’m going to put dots under the dates that I have things to do, so I can easily see which days are “off” days for me.

2016 celebrations are on the next page. It lists each month and seven lines under each month to write in birthdays, holidays, vacations, or anything you can think of. So far I’ve only written in birthdays, but I’m sure I will use this section more as 2016 comes closer.

The planner also has a full list of holidays and their dates in 2016, which should come in handy for planning and things like that.

The notes section starts next to the 2016 holidays. I have only written in my blog post ideas so far, and with my Lilly planner I don’t think I ever used the notes section at all. There are fifteen whole pages for notes.

This is what the note pages look like - very simple and roomy.

Two pages of black dots come before each month’s calendar.

Now we’ve come to the fun part! The part I actually use!! This is how each month is laid out. Notes on the left, each date has a square, and the before and after month overviews in the bottom right. I like to color code my events. Purple for personal things such as eyebrow or doctors appointments, pink for social events like going out with friends or school clubs, green for work shifts and meetings, and blue for school stuff like assignments or homework. It really helps me to see what is taking up most of my time and what I need to allocate more time to. I really like the simplistic black and white of these pages.

Every month also has the day-to-day view. I use this more during the school months, to write down homework and due dates once I get my syllabus. There are eight lines for each date.

(I took this to show how months also feature holidays already written in)

Here’s a better view of the month tabs, a simple month and year digits.

The gold spiral is my favorite!

And, finally, the back cover. It features the gold dot design once again and the Kate Spade logo.

All in all, I absolutely love this planner. It’s simple, cute, and still has everything I could need. I’m kind of a neat freak so I don’t really like having stickers or washy tape in my planners, so this really works well for me. The cost is $36, but I think it’s totally worth it for someone like me. I use my planner all year, so I think it’s good to get one that I’ll love and want to take everywhere.

Thanks for reading my first blog post! I’m going to post every Thursday. Please leave comments, suggestions for posts, and like if you like it! I’m thinking of doing a giveaway soon! What would you like to see?

Let me know if you have any ideas on how to use my planner as well :) I’m always open to new ideas!