How to Stop Procrastinating!

1.  Buy a planner.  Whether you use a daily, weekly, or monthly planner, this will be one of your biggest assets to stop procrasting.   In it, you could write all your appointments, classroom numbers, HW assignments... pretty much anything!  You could also color-code them by using different pens or highlighting important things.

2.  Keep your binders and notebooks organized.   It's amazing how by just having dividers in your binders and separate notebooks for classes can help sooo much!  Though sometimes it's easier to only carry one notebook for all your classes than twenty, doing so will help you when you need to refer back to notes for a particular class.  If you like to take notes on your computer Microsoft Office's OneNote is a Notebook on your computer.  Practically saved my life last semester.  Get it!  

3.  Visit the library.  At the beginning of the semester, most students will not have all their textbooks, cause they were ordered online... Well visit the library then.  You can usually find the textbook on reserve and the library is a nice quiet place to study.  If you're having difficulty staying awake, just walk down the book aisles. 

4.  Read Your Syllabus.  Though many times long and boring, this important document usually has all your assignments written out.  Some professors don't mention that you have homework.  So check your syllabus before you have a surprise hw assignment or test pop up on the day of class.

5.  Carry Highlighters and Colored Pens.  These little tools will help whether writing in your planner/calendar or just taking notes.  They will help important parts stand out and can help you identify what you are refering to. 

6.  Invest in a Hole-Punch.  You won't believe how many time a teacher will pass out papers--not hole punched.  If you don't have a hole-punch back in your room.  You'll forget to put holes in it and you will most likely eventually lose the paper, many of which can be important.   So invest in one you can keep in your dorm room or binder.  That way you organize your new papers right into your binder.

Though these may seem like obvious give-aways or like a waste of time and resources or just a simple distraction, implementing these tips into your lifestyle this new semester will help keep you more focused and hopefully on track. 

New Haircut

Last Monday, I finally got the courage and took a brave step to a new look.  I donated all my long curly locks in hope of growing my hair out naturally (straight).  No Perm.  This also gave me an excuse to try out a new hair style.  Short.  I absolutely love it!   One thing I must say though, no matter what length, having nice hair will always take work.   Just depends what you'd rather spend time on.  Styling it or washing and conditioning it?

One thing I've definately become known for is my drastic changes in my look.  Rather than slowly ease myself to short hair, I went all the way! Which I honestly find more fun.  Before cutting my hair, I had it down to my waist, no bangs, and super curly.  Very pretty, very time consuming.    Though it sometimes is hard to listen to people's comments such as "You look like a boy."  I think it's very important to be who you are and what you like.  People will always judge no matter what.

Have the confidence to be yourself!

 "Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear: Forget your people and your father's house. The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your Lord." Psalms 45:10-11

Simple Tips for Keeping Your Room Organized

For most of us one of the hardest and most time consuming tasks is keeping our room organized.  However there are a few tips I would recommend to help you with this.

1.  Use Prescription Bottles for Storage.  I know we all have somewhere hidden in our room some sort of empty prescription bottle.  I collect mine and use them to store safety pins, quarters for laundry, bobby pins, and other small little items.

2.  Label Your Closet Drawers.   For me, I've found this to be one of the most useful tips ever.  Before this I always had my clothes being moved around put in wrong drawers and such, especially when I was at home, and  someone else was trying to put my clothes away.  But now whenever I need to find something I know exactly where it is!   The best way to organize like this is probably by type (eg. t-shirt, jeans, shorts, tank-top)

3. Have a Set of Hooks For Hanging Items.  For all my purses, backpacks, and my umbrella, I have a pair of hooks on the side of bookcase.  This creates a convenient location where I can hang all my bags, whether full or empty.

4.  Fold Your Bed.   This may seem like a no-brainer.  But for some people [including me] this could be our downfall.  Though this chore doesn't take long to complete, day after day it can become quite repetitive and we might not do it.  However no matter how organized a room is, it will not look like that, unless the bed is folded.

5.  Get Rid of Clutter!  I love to keep random things such as paper bags, boxes, and other random goodies that may eventually be of some use.  However this is probably one of the biggest problems ever.    Before you know it, your entire room will be full of great resources with nowhere to put them away.  

6. Do Not Use Paper Bags for Storage.  Though paper and plastic bags may work great for carrying stuff.  These items should never remain in them.  They quickly get worn out and look trashy just lying around in a room.  I would suggest to use a box or better yet a storage container for these items.   But be careful not to have a whole bunch of boxes.

My DIY Projects

During my time at home I started a few projects, some of which I have not completed. [redecorating my room]  but there were a few that I did.

Distressing My Old Jewelry Box

 

 
So I haven't finished this one completely yet... I still need to paint the knobs so I can put it back together.  But I took this very kiddy looking jewelry box and sanded the designs off and a bit more, to get a slightly distressed look.  I plan to paint the knobs black and put the jewelry box together again, but I think it looks nice so far.

Making a Cute Shirt and Scarf Out of a Dress

So I took this old dress I've had for years, but never had worn and switched it up!  I cut the bottom section off to turn into a baby doll top, and used the left over scraps to make a really cool scarf.  :)

With the help of a sowing machine, some sissors, and time.  This was a quite simple project. 

Super Awesome Cape? I say, YES!

I made this cape!  It's kind of like shawl....

So I took a really long dress I had and cut off the bottom to make it into a summer dress.  Adorable!  But I had all these left over scraps.... another scarf??? Nah!  I decided to be brave and try making a winter cape. 

So now I have a dress and a cape to go with it!   There are a few minor adjustments that can still be made... such as a bit more hemming and stuff.  But with the nice lacey bottom it gave it a complete.  Since I didn't start off with a circle like most material asks for, I used some ribbon as a draw string to make the collar.   Whoot, whoot! And I'm a beginner, you can do it too!

BEFORE - the left over material

Day 27 - This was my favorite shirt

So it's always a bummer, when something that used to be your favorite doesn't look the same anymore.  Unfortunately I came across this when I wore one of my favorite shirts, it just doesn't look the same without my long curly locks.  Oh well, gotta learn how to wear everything.   It's still a cute outfit

Outfit #27:

Day 26 - Colored Denim

Since short hair is a little harder to look girly with than long hair, one of my recommendations is to wear bows, headbands, hats, or just more girly outfits, which is what I did today.  I started off my outfit with this adorable headband with a flower.  Then I continued by wearing pink denim pants (one of the fashion challenges) and a cream colored shirt.  To add a bit more color I added a scarf my camp counselor gave me last summer, and then added some airwalkers to complete the outfit!  It may have made me look a bit younger, but you could definately tell I was a girl :)

Outfit #27:

Day 25 - New Style

Only 5 more days to my fashion challenge!   And I've decided to switch it up.  I totally changed my style, but I getting a new hairstyle.  I'll probably post pictures next week.  It looks really cute, but very different.  To go with this new style I most definatly rocked the skinny jeans, with some sandals, a t-shirt, and some nice big earings!  whoot whoot, simple but stylin.  ;)

Outfit #25:

Day 24 - Totally Crazy

Since my hair looked flat today, I decided to wear a scarf as a bandana and actually ended up coming up with this really exotic outfit!   Plus it knocked out several of the fashion challenges from my favorite fashion website.  1) Slouchy Pants,  2) Contrasting styles in one outfit, and 3) Wear black and brown together.  :)  Awesome!

Outfit #24:  Scarf (worn as headband),  Brown short-sleeve turtleneck, Camel-colored slouchy pants [they're actually part of my costume from when I was in Lion King], Sandals - $.50 (Clothing Exchange), Purse - Gift (Mexico), and Leather Jacket 

Day 23 - Cropped Top

Most people don't like cropped tops, because they show too much skin or look too 80's.  Of course, I love the look so I decided to wear a pretty pink cropped top that used to be my mom's.   I was able to easily fix it up by adding a white camisole underneath. 

Outfit #23:  Cropped Top,  White camisole, Jeans, Airwalkers 

Day 22 - Revisiting My Old School

Today, I got to spend this nice cool day at my old highschool.  Well, it's actually a co-op for homeschoolers, but I took classes there my freshman year.  It was quite nice, most of my friends have moved on, but there were a few left.  :)   Of course, I have to finish this Fashion Challenge nicely so I finally got to wear a skirt again!  with leggings of course.... and boots, and a warm sweater and a fuzzy bright blue scarf to add color.

Outfit #22 -

Day 21 - Break is Almost Over

So I've been trying to establish some of my goals and habits for this year and organize my room, spend time with my family, finish reading a few books, and before you know, break is pretty close to over.  In just another week pretty much, I'll be back to living on campus.    So any things I wanted to get done at home, have to get done pretty soon.  This is slightly disappointing. With all the holidays and visiting family and vacation, I've hardly gotten to get anything done at home.  But at least I've been improving my style skills!  not really... but I've been trying.    Yeah, today I went a little more casual with some jeans and a polo shirt. Yep, simple.  I'm starting to think I should've chosen a shorter time period, bleh.  oh well.

Outfit #21:

Good Girls Don't Get Fat

So while we were in the downtown today we stopped by the library and while checking out the books, I found this one with a really intriguing title, Good Girls Don't Get Fat.   Seemed worth taking off the shelf and checking out.  However the more and more I read it, I could see that this book was not about staying thin but about how we develop this mentality and how to prevent it.    I haven't read it all yet, but what I have read so far has been really inspiring and helpful.

Day 20 - Leg Warmers!

Yay! Only 10 more days to go on my fashion challenge.  So I stayed with the jeans, but added some leg warmers to give an extra "kick" to the outfit.   Doing so helped so much when walking through the downtown today, kept me warm  :)  

Outfit #20:

Day 19 - Scarves and Layering

So once again I'm back to my jeans.  Of course, I used a long sleeved dress shirt today with a long sleeved shirt underneath, an my boots again.  But this time I added a scarf!  A really pretty green one :)  It's my favorite one.  Yeah... other than that not much going on.  Just trying to organize my room.... not sure how well that's going either. 

Outfit #19:

Day 18 - Wearing A Summer Dress In the Wintertime

So I'm about half-way through this challenge, and I think this is the first time that I finally got around to wearing a dress, which was the main reason why I started this.  Which proves the point that wearing a dress while looking casual is difficult, and also that it isn't too difficult to dress up wearing jeans :)  To pull off this style though, especially in the winter time. I went with leggings to keep my legs warm and a dress shirt to keep my shoulders and upper body warm-though a jacket was needed for when I went outside.  Though I was wearing a dress, since I did not wear heels, but rather boots and leggings, I did not look too dressy.  Of course summer dresses aren't quite as formal anyhow, but perhaps that is the key.  We shall see.

Outfit #18:  Summer Dress,  Boots,  Leggings,  Dark Grey Dress Shirt.

Day 17 - Back Home Again

So I didn't get too good a start to my new year.  Yeah it was fun staying up till 1am, but that meant, that for Jan. 1st I spent it sleeping in till like 1pm.  Lame.  But I quickly made it up today.  Even though my day started off as a bad hair day, I fixed it all with a handy-dandy headband!   Of course to make it work, this meant wearing skinny jeans to church. However this as shown before can be dressed up nicely, with a sweater and long sleeved shirt.  Some big hoop earings and a little mascara ;)

Outfit #17:

Day 15 & 16 - A New Year

So both these days we're special days: New Year's eve and New Years.  This made it easier to dress up.  On new years, I wore one of my favorite dresses with some black legging, boots, and a nice jacket.  While to start off the new year, I went with a simple black skirt, skin colored tights, boots, a simple shirt, and a warm sweater.

Outfit #15: 

Outfit #16:

New Year, New Start!

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

So last year's theme for me was "New Year, New Look."  This was because on January 3rd, I got my hair permed curly and looked totally different   But this time I'm going with that slogan you may have heard already on plenty of commercials, "New Year, New Start!" 

Why?  Well, most people try starting every year with several New Year's resolutions, but I decided this year to instead start with some Goals for 2011.  Who would want to start the next year with the same mindset as this year?  Even with many choices we may regret having made during 2010, through these, life-changing lessons have been learned.  Therefore I want to start by saying some of my goals!

- Raise my Grades
- Apply Better Time-Managment Skills
- Read & Study God's Word More
- Improve My Sleeping Patterns
- Apply My Organization Skills More Often
- Attain A Healthier Lifestyle
- Stay Fit!
- Minimize my time online and on my computer
- Get Rid of Clutter
- Share God's Love More Fully

So I call it New Year, New Start, cause it does not really matter what you have done before.  Everyday we have the opportunity to restart, we don't have to wait for a new year.  I like to start at the beginning of the year, cause it's easier to see how long we have kept up with our hopefully newly developed habits, but don't wait, if you already failed your "New Year's Resolution"  just retry it.   And Remember "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!"

God Bless!