If you are lucky enough to balance a part-time job with your class sched during the school year, you’ve got it made in the summer: you can pick up extra shifts and make bank, yet request days (or weeks) off to go on vacation without looking for a slacker.  Unfortunately for many of us, when finals week rolls around, we’re stressing about how to land a job and start saving for next fall’s text books (and bar tabs).  It sucks when you’re desperate, because you’re bound to accept any offer that comes your way.

Here are the ten worst summer jobs… which might just make bankruptcy look like the better option.

1.  Amusement Park Attendant
You make minimum wage to stand in the blazing heat all summer, get lobster-red sunburns, and keep little kids in check as they anxiously await their turn on the water slide you’d sell your soul to go down.  You deal with cranky parents demanding that you speed up the line (which you can’t, for everyone’s safety), and clean up puke when the little brats get sick off of the giant ice cream cone they inhaled right before getting in your line.  Oh, and you have to wear a doofy polo with the theme park’s logo.  PASS.

2.  Landscaping and Construction.
These jobs are grueling no matter what time of year.  But when it’s 90 degrees and there’s no shade in sight, you can really do some damage to your body.  Sure, it pays well, but you’re going to constantly battle UV rays, dehydration, and straight up muscle exhaustion.  If you’ve been relatively inactive sitting at your desk and studying all summer, taking on such a physically exhausting job will be brutal.

3.  Flyering.
I wouldn’t include this if I hadn’t done it before, since most of you probably have no clue what “flyering” is.  One summer, I took a one-day job hanging 1,000 door hangers advertising a new ice cream shop on residential doorknobs.  It paid $250 for the day, so I thought it would be cool.  However, that day was spent walking around on concrete for 9 hours (even in sneakers this gets painful), and being paranoid that residents would come out with a shotgun after I left shit on their doorknobs.  Oh, I tried to wear sunscreen, but missed two strips of skin and wore a racer-back tank top.  My sunburns left scars, which look like wings on my back.  No lie. Read More »

[Every week, CC and John bring you some of the weirdest, funniest, saddest things he hears on his college campus. Join the Overheard revolution!Leave your own overheard convos in the comments or send ‘em over!]

(Girl and guy, across dining hall.)

Girl: You’re beautiful! What’s your name?

Guy: Oh, thanks. You’re not very pretty at all.

(Guy, in the dining hall.)

Guy: I love space monkeys. But, you know, not in a t-shirt way.

(Girls leaving a class building.)

Girl 1: Oh, my God, that was complete bullsh*t.

Girl 2: Double bullsh*t.

Girl 3: Yeah. Fart fart fart. Read More »

A while back, the editor of this very site put out a query: “Give me a Top 10 list of your favorite High School Movies.” I told her I wanted in – after all, who doesn’t love to indulge in a little HS drama? So I sat down and started listing. Only I discovered that including just 10 was more impossible than winning 8 medals in one Olympic games. And I am no Michael Phelps.

So, I listed 10. The first list of what would soon become many. After posting, many of you seemed quite angry with my decisions. Your comments were full of ALL CAPS and lots of exclamation points!!!! You were upset that I had left some classics off the list. Perhaps you didn’t notice the “Part 1″ in the title, or perhaps you just needed everyone to know of your love of The Breakfast Club.

Not that it mattered; I was clearly coming back for round 2. So here it is – another 10 gloriously angsty high school flicks. Get that Smart Pop ready, ladies; these high school dramas are gonna rock your lockers! Read More »

[One of the greatest aspects of college life is the morning-after recap with friends. You stumble out of bed, grab your liquid of choice, and gather around the living room to replay (and remind yourself of) the events of last night. You laugh, you cringe and you share the highest of highs...and the rock-bottom lowest of lows. We thought we'd bring the fun of the recap to CollegeCandy, so grab that coffee and take part in the deliciously awkward moments your CC friends have to share.]

I will admit it, I’m an awkward girl.  I’ll say goodbye to someone and then walk in the same direction as them with a stupid grin on my face.  I’ve messed up high fives more times than should be legally allowed.  I’ve called my roommates good friend (whom I’ve known for months) “Tyler,” when his name is “Lucas”…HOW DO YOU MESS THAT UP?  I’m able to take a perfectly normal moment and transform it into a typical scene in any Wes Anderson film (it’s a gift). The trouble is, I don’t realize how incredibly dorky I must look until looking back, and slapping my forehead accordingly.

So by the rules of physics (which I am unsurprisingly sucky at) it would only make sense that I would take this persona I’ve been cursed blessed with and apply to almost every sexual encounter I’ve experienced.  Well, of course, the beginnings are more of learning experiences rather than “fun timez.”   Now let’s time travel back 7 years when it all began…

Cue the hazy flashbacks and dream-like sound effects. Read More »

My mom does a lot of really annoying things.

She calls me really early in the morning, or really late at night. To talk about reality TV shows.
Whenever I’m on the phone with her, she hangs up abruptly to get another call…without saying goodbye.
She pees with the door open in the powder room on the main floor of our house.
She backed into my car when it was parked on her driveway…

But no matter how much I want to shake her and scream, “MOM IT’S 8AM ON A SUNDAY AND I DO NOT CARE WHAT YOU THINK OF RAMONA!” the woman has given me so much and I can’t forget that.

My mom is one of the most generous people I know, always giving her time and services to other people. She will do anything for me, including moving me and all my stuff from dorm to sorority house to house to apartment to apartment. She’s always in the mood for a trip to the mall and sometimes even throws her credit card down at the register. She’s an awesome cook, she’s pretty good at Scrabble and she did apologize when she backed into my car…

But the thing I’m most grateful for when it comes to my mom is the confidence and self esteem she has instilled in me.

I was a fat kid growing up. And not just baby fat. Fat fat. I was tall and big and had a perm – needless to say, I stuck out. But I never knew it. In fact, I didn’t realize quite how big I was until I looked at pictures from my childhood long after those years were over. At the time, thanks to my mom, I thought I was just like everyone else. You see, she was a plus sized woman, but I never realized there was anything wrong with that. I don’t remember my mom ever talking about her weight. I don’t remember her ever hiding herself or her body out of shame. Read More »

[Post courtesy of out friends at StyleBakery.com. For more awesome fashion, style and beauty news, check them out!]

A strategically wrapped scarf is this season’s must-have accessory. Available in virtually every price point, a lightweight scarf adds a glam touch to something as simple as a tank top and jeans or a layer of texture to a spring jacket or dress. Perfect for the transitional days of early spring and indispensable for chilly air conditioned offices and restaurants in the summer, here are 8 ways to wear a lightweight scarf:

Here are some of our favorite scarves of the season for every budget:

I’ve been dating this boy for about two months. He’s great, and so far things have been going really well. We spend a lot of time together without getting sick of each other, but haven’t meshed into a creepy and mushy single being like some couples are prone to. He makes me laugh, although it’s usually more at him than with him. He’s GREAT in bed. But best of all, I just feel comfortable with him. I’m not constantly paranoid about checking my makeup or trying to force witty conversation. I can be completely me, and he likes me more for it.

It’s perfect, right?
Not quite.

He has an ex-girlfriend. Not just any ex-girlfriend, THE ex-girlfriend. His first love, the only serious relationship he’s ever had, the girl he was with for his entire college life, the girl his parents thought he would marry. The girl who broke his heart and destroyed his life, but with all the best intentions. The girl who was such a big part of his life that they still talk almost every day. The girl whose mother still tells him he’s the son she never had. The girl he calls when he has a fight with me and needs to sort stuff out.

Of all the ex-girlfriends out there, this one is definitely the most intimidating. How do I compete with this girl who was so perfect? Is he over her? Why aren’t they still together? What if she doesn’t like me, or tries to sabotage this? Read More »

They say April showers bring May flowers – so while we’re waiting for those flowers to bloom and for summer to mosey its long lazy days our way, why not have some rainy springtime fun? I know it sucks when it rains and you have to trek across campus with fingers crossed that your hair won’t frizz, but with these latest styles, at least you can put a little spring in your step. Read More »

I stumbled across some old photos last week from childhood. And while the last thing I want to remember are my awkward looks (Read: a perm [yes - PERM], horrid bangs, and purple braces), the pictures reminded me of all the must-have fads that I had to be a part of.

Like that photo of me with my shirt bunched on the side by one of those large plastic things. Or the ones of me when Christina Aguilera made bandanas and hoop earrings the size of my arm so cool that I thought it was the perfect look to rock with silver eyeshadow/fairy dust for… Hebrew School.

So here is a look back at some of our most favorite fads that will always hold a special place in our hearts:

1) Butterfly Clips. Let us not forget the years we spent sectioning our hair into mini “corn-rows” – and by corn rows I mean mini braids, or twisted hair pinned down by mini plastic butterfly clips that came in a plethora of colors, including my favorite, glitter.

True Story: I thought it was a good idea to enter a contest to be in a Got Milk ad. I put on a my best fake milk mustache, a cute (I use this term loosely) butterfly skirt, those clunky Steve Madden sandals that clippity clopped like a freakin’ horse everywhere you walked and, of course, what goes best with a butterfly skirt than a head full of… butterfly clips. I then made my poor mother take numerous pictures of me posing thinking “Teen People Here I Come!!” I don’t know how she didn’t laugh in my face. Or give me up for adoption.

I never did win that contest.
Read More »

Hopefully you are enjoying the sun in your part of the world (my part of Canada, however, is still not sunny) and getting outside! There is nothing I love more in the summer than curling up on a comfy lawn chair or towel and just reading away the afternoon. What I don’t love, though, is strange book-shaped tan line I often end up with on my belly.

For everyone else who enjoys a good book on a hot summer afternoon, I’ve definitely got a doozy for you.

“White Oleander” by Janet Fitch is an older novel and made into a movie in 2002 starring Michelle Pfieffer. But PLEASE, for your own good, read the book first! My boyfriend’s sister lent me her tattered and well-read copy (thanks Danielle!) and assured me that it was her absolute favorite book. And I have to say, Danielle didn’t let me down. “White Oleander” has quickly shot up my list of favorite books as well.

The story centers around Astrid Magnussen. Without giving away too much plot, Astrid’s mother ends up in jail when Astrid is 15 and she is bounced around from foster home to foster home. The book chronicles her experiences at each home, but also, her experiences becoming a women. Without an solid role model, Astrid drifts along and discovers herself.

The book is dramatic and enthralling, but also so emotional and real – a perfect combination. It’s not exactly a light-chick-lit kind of read, but it is a book that you can easily lose yourself in and before you know it, an hour has passed, you’re halfway through, and you have a very unfortunate tan line!