When all else fails...go to Target

So my fashion sense is a lot about the simple and easy stuff. I wear flip flops almost every day, otherwise I have my Nikes and for special occasions I have black heels. I always wear yoga pants or jeans. Typically my shirt is covered by a Juicy jacket and then hair is either straight or in a bun. Nothing frilly. Nothing out of the box. Just simple and easy. BUT lately colored pants are in and I love them. I don't want the yellow or the red or even the dark blue..I wanted something different. MINT GREEN. 

Mint green pants are all over Pinterest but no where in stores. It took me forever of looking but I found a pair online for $175. Not happening. If it was pants that I wear every day, then yes, but a fashion trend pair of pants that won't be in style next season...not happening. Then I found a pair for $75 but they didn't fit right and just...no. So I kept looking...and looking...and..looking. Finally, I kind of gave up. So the other day, I went to Target for cat litter. Now the number one rule of Target: if you're there, you just have to look around at everything else. So I did. Found a candle. Some nail polish...and MINT GREEN PANTS! For $22 I might add! I was stoked. Not only that, but they were designed for "curvier legs and butts" clearly, we were a match made in heaven. I LOVE them.

I would post a picture of them but I have already worn them so much that they are in the wash, getting ready for our next day together.

Passport to Communication

So, like I said in my last post..Comm Week is upon us. I had my presentation (that I brought cheater treats for). That day everyone walked to the other writing consultants and I with a paper passport to get stamps. It was our way of encouraging them to participate. Well, I have to say that these passports were pretty cool...guess who made them? Me! Well, Monica printed them but with the help of Pinterest, I designed them. See, I have seen people pin "Passport Invitation's" for weddings so I searched for them in Pinterest and found this template.

It was perfect. I downloaded it, changed the picture to our Communications Studies logo and then took out all the marriage stuff.

Unfortunately, I never got a picture of the actual passport once it was done and printed.

But...I'll tell you all about it. It was designed so that you fold the paper in half twice and then everything should be laid out perfectly. So the front page says "PASSPORT"  has the SJSU COMM logo and then under it in a scripted writing it says "SJSU COMM WEEK WRITING CONSULTANTS" because they were all coming to see us.

On the inside it looks very similar to a passport or even a license with a spot for a picture on the left (we used that for their stamps) then above it in lettering similar to the block letters on our paper money it says "UNITED STATES OF COMMUNICATION." Under that it has spaces for students to put their name, year in school, major, and Professor. It also is filled out for them where it says School: San Jose State University, Date: May 2012 and Event: Comm Week

Overall, I loved it. It was nice to see one of my Pinterest projects in action with people that aren't just me!

Cheating, but effective

Ok, so my entire life, if there was a bake sale or anything that required baked goods, my mom would always bake home made chocolate chip cookies. I always thought this was standard and then I started to realize that some parents take the easy way out with buying things or...rice cereal treats. Maybe it is because I really am not a big fan of cereal treats but I always thought that they were getting credit for a baked good when all they did was mix marshmallows with cereal. Well, someone pinned this the other day. It looks amazing huh?

They are cereal treats made with Trix fruity swirl cereal. Now...I am not big on fruity cereal or cereal treats but they just look yummy.

Well this week is COMM Week. I am a Communications Studies major and my class is giving a presentation during it (mine is on this blog!) so I decided that I would make something from Pinterest for the presentation...with my crazy schedule..good idea, huh? Well, that is what cheating is for. Taking the easy way out. That is what I did. I went to the store, bought cereal and marshmallows, used butter from my mom and my dads baking sheet...

Then melted the marshmallows and butter...mixed with cereal...TA-DA

Now, mine isn't nearly as nice as the ones that were pinned but they are effective!

So going back to my original theory. Cereal treats are cheating..yes..because they are wayyyyy too easy BUT they are effective.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Ok, now, honestly, who doesn't love Harry Potter? I remember being in the 4th grade when I first heard of it. This is when the books started to be banned from schools because parents didn't approve of the magic in it. Stupid. Anyways, for that reason, I wanted to read it. I became obsessed. I went to midnight book releases and read them all in a matter of days when it took my friends weeks. Well..then the movies started to come out. I remember rushing home from school and to the theater on opening day thinking, oh lets be like..20 minutes early. Yeah..that put us at like 60th in line. Now days, it would have put you at like 200th in line depending on the theater. Anyways, movies were as good as the books.

Harry Potter Series = Obsession at its finest.

Now there are no more books and no more movies. I literately had been obsessing over this for a little over a decade..that is almost half my life. Soooo...now what?

Well this is where Pinterest comes in. Now I have the idea of not only watching the movies but making a point out of them. Harry Potter movie time is now workout time. Don't think I watch these all the time, I am not that obsessed. But they are on ABC Family like once a month and they are kind of my go to movies when there is nothing else to watch.

Anyways here is the Harry Potter workout. One of my friends created this and then pinned it. I thought it was absolutely brilliant. I have seen drinking games made from movie watching but never have I seen workout games. So my friend Jenna (who is equally obsessed) came over and we decided to do the Harry Potter workout to the first movie.

It was NOT easy.

You don't really realize when watching it how many times some of these things occur..like casting spells or or someone is awarded house points...or even when a ghost talks...it happens a lot.
Needless to say, I got a good workout out of it!

Clothes

Let me start by saying that as I write this my situation is something like this:

Now, my cat is MUCH larger and while he is adorable...he is not nearly this cute, therefore it's more obnoxious than it is cute. 

If for some reason there is a few extra letters anywhere..I blame the cat.

Moving on. Today, I woke up and decided to not wear my typical yoga pants. The weather is warm and I can get by without a jacket or sweatshirt. Soooo...why not wear a pinned outfit!?! Here is my outfit goal:

Now, I chose this because it was simple, cute and easy. I made a few substitutes but who cares. Instead of capri jeans, I wore my full length jeans with a brown belt. Then I found my white t-shirt and my leopard scarf. I LOVE this scarf but my boyfriend tends to call it a "grandma scarf" when I asked why he replied "because it fringes at the end..and its brown like a grandma's color." Clearly, this has not deterred me from wearing this amazing scarf. Moving on, I am not a big bracelet person so I nixed that. My navy Dooney & Bourke purse is my obsession so I didn't change it. My shoes? That's easy, I wear flipflops every day anyways. The hair was last. I am well known for always wearing a messy bun just like the one in the picture. So I pulled it up and done!

Please ignore my sour face. I was concentrating on getting as much of the outfit in the picture.

Simple but perfect

Ok, so let's flash back a decade or so. My parents have been divorced for forever basically and my dad is well...messy. He owns his own car dealership/shop so he is always covered in grease, working long hours, and his home isn't exactly his priority. Because of all this I have never been as comfortable at my dads as I am at my moms, which is decorated nicely, ALWAYS clean and is just generally nicer. Now don't get me wrong, I love my dad and I love spending time with him, his place was just never as nice.

Fast forward to Summer 2009. My dad had a stroke. A big one. Sad, but he came out ok. Actually, the doctors said he made a miraculous recovery; the only downfall is that he lost too much eyesight to be comfortable driving. So we moved him to a extremely nice apartment near his business so he can walk there and I do all of his shopping (grocery, Costco, etc) since his vision makes crowded places overwhelming. Recently, we moved him from a one bedroom to a two bedroom apartment so that I have a place to stay. This new apartment has been my new project. I have been cleaning it, decorating it, cleaning it, organizing it and making it nice. Have I mentioned cleaning it?

Anyways, this is where the Pin that I used comes in. Finally, huh?
I needed a way to keep all of the receipts that I bring back organized. He normally pays me ahead of time and then I put the change and receipt in a bowl that he left on the counter. In the revamp of his apartment, I have tried to get around this stupid bowl. I rather there be fruit or something in it so it looks pretty but how could I make receipts look pretty? This is how!

 

Simple but perfect, huh!? I like to think so.

So I went to Target and spent something like...$7 or so on a jar. Filled it with all of the receipts. And TA-DA!

Now in this picture there are clearly not enough receipts but it's a start!

Like this post is titled this pin was "Simple but perfect"

Braids..Kid approved.

Braids. Such a classic idea, right? But they are so popular right now and are taking up a whole new trend. Side braids, waterfall braids, Dutch braids, but I am not a terrific braid-er, so all these trends are kind of hard for me. I like them but I have SO MUCH hair. It is long and thick which makes it ridiculously hard to work with. 

Normally, I would see maybe one person wear a cute braid, think about it and then never try it. Now days, there is Pinterest. Like I've said before, I love Pinterest but it really does tend to make you feel inadequate about yourself. How do all these people do all these things!? It isn't fair. Every time I update my page, there are new braids that are even harder than before.

I have tried all of these trends but I will get halfway through my braid and my arms are so tired that they feel like they are going to fall off. Then I found this pin. It was easyyyyy and I love easy! It had a step-by-step guide that I could follow and BAM! Success!

Instead of teasing my hair and leaving it down, I put my hair up in a ponytail and went to work. Instantly, my gymnasts were impressed. You might be thinking, “Ok, so a bunch of little girls think it’s cool, who cares?” well, you don’t know how judgmental these girls can be. I have been told many things that if adults said, they would be offensive but the closest thing I got to a negative comment was, “Coach Bianca, you are only braiding your hair because of The Hunger Games. No one cared about braids until that movie came out.” Now, this girl, was in middle school so she was old enough to know how to push my buttons. Let me state here and now, if I wanted a “Katnis braid” I would have done one, this is a braided headband. Overall, the girls liked it, so it was approved and I felt good. Braid = Accomplished.