We college students are pretty accurately stereotyped.  We party hard, sleep late, and cram for finals until the wee hours of the morning.  Luckily for us and the environment, a lot of these common habits can be easily “tweaked” in order to save energy and resources.  And as a college student myself, I give you my solemn oath that these steps will not affect your party or study life in any way.

Here are some of the most well-known college kid characteristics and how you can change them to better our earth:

We are constantly glued to our laptops. And no matter whether you’re Facebooking or researching the native crops of Haiti, you’re still using lots of energy.  Now I’m not stupid – I wouldn’t dare suggest that you cut down your Skype time just to save the Earth.  Really all you have to do is cut down your energy usage when you’re not actually on the computer (i.e. sleeping or boozing).  How do you do this?  Unplug your electronics!  Computers practically use as much energy when they’re in standby mode as they do when they’re actually in use.  So if you’re leaving the room for a good amount of time, turn off your computer and unplug all of the plugs in your outlet if possible.

We are messy and we have our clothes to prove it. I don’t know about you, but I can’t seem to eat or drink anything without staining whatever I’m wearing.  This is especially tragic when you happen to be wearing one of those “dry clean only” numbers, which of course, are always the cutest.  But don’t run off and spend last night’s tips on pricey dry cleaning before you try some other easier, cheaper, and more eco-friendly tactics.  Believe it or not, some “dry clean only” garments (such as silk and wool) can actually be hand washed with cold water.   Of course, give it a test run before you wash and potentially ruin your favorite silk dress.  If that doesn’t work, seek out “wet cleaning” or “green dry cleaning” locations by searching at GreenEarth Cleaning’s website. Read More »

My aversion to pants puts a strain on my wardrobe when the autumn weather rolls into town. But this season’s addiction to brightly colored tights has come to my rescue. Taking my fashion cue from Blair Waldorf and the rest of the Gossip Girl cast, bright, opaque tights are the remedy for the end-of-summer blues.

I plan on having candy-colored legs every day of the week this fall. And for my one-stop tights-shopping extravaganza, I’ll be buying out the entire stock at WeLoveColors.com.

Bright tights are a great way to set yourself apart in a crowd and pulling off these adventurous ensembles is easier than you think. Whether it’s bright pink tights underneath your Little Black Dress or patterned tights with a pair of your favorite boots (many of the tights come without the annoying feet, so you don’t have to be yanking at the tights all day!), WeLoveColors has what you’re looking for. The only thing left for me to do is figure out how best to incorporate zebra print tights into my daily life.

Who doesn’t love a little color to spice up an outfit? Now you can be warm, trendy and show a little leg while you’re at it as you rock bright tights this fall. If you’re not ready to push all your favorite dresses to the back of your closet, I would check out WeLoveColors.com for outfit inspiration.

As college students, we are constantly inundated with new knowledge. It can be useful, thought-provoking, or crammed into our head on a Starbucks-fueled binge several hours before an exam. However, very rarely do we question the validity of all this new knowledge (unless you take philosophy classes, then you’ll question away).

That’s where College Candy comes in. We’re not going to debate whether or not the Theory of Relativity actually exists (a disappointment, I know, but I’m a communications major and stopped taking science classes after Baby Bio fresh year). However, we are here to thoroughly investigate the most widespread college knowledge (no, not rhyming): the myth.

Ah, the Freshman 15. This popular legend has spawned books on prevention, magazine articles in every Back-to-School issue of any teen magazine, and whispered reminders to your BFF as she’s eyeing that 3^rd helping of French toast in the dining hall.

But does this phenomenon really exist? We’ve all gone home for Thanksgiving Break and seen that one friend who unfortunately succumbed to the Freshman 15; but what about your ex who still looks exactly the same (dammit!)? And the girl who got seriously in- shape? (I know paying for my own food was the best diet I ever went on). The Freshman 15 can’t be this metabolic death sentence we’re all doomed to once we start our higher education, right?

Right. A recent study demonstrated that over a period of 7 months, a group of 125 freshmen gained an average of 2.7 lbs.—not 15. Even more good news? Only half the students surveyed gained weight at all; 1/3^rd maintained their starting weight and 15% lost weight. Read More »

"We're fine! We've got diplomas!"

Yesterday, President Obama urged students to stay in school.  He said that you can’t drop out of school and expect to drop into a good job. Well, apparently, you can’t drop into a good marriage either.

According to National Affairs, there is a higher divorce rate in non-college-educated couples vs. those who earned a degree. I wonder why that is? My personal opinion is that after four years of whoring around school and testing the waters, college grads were finally able to pick their favorite brand of life-partner.

Alternatively, maybe they honed their patience skills after spending four years battling academia. Years of exams, presentations and thesis papers have made marriage look like a piece of cake, comparatively.

Yet maybe college grads have a lower divorce rate because after sharpening their minds and taking a logical look at the institution of marriage, they opt not to marry at all. Saving themselves from expensive weddings, shared checking accounts and intrusive in-laws all together.

Most likely, though? Those divorced non-college grads probably never made it to college ‘cuz they got married at 18 before they knew any better and realized too late an X-box-playing husband isn’t so adorbs after all.

Whatever the reason, stay in school, people. You may not be able to get a job right now, but at least you’ll nab yourself a husband. For life.

Fashion Week is here.
Fashion Week is here!!

I’ll admit it: I may be one of the only people who looks forward to fashion week more than Welcome Week (yeah I said it). But you know that when you come out of your week long drunken haze and find yourself bored in class (after all, one can only stare at her econ professor for so long wondering how this man who can barely speak a word of English is allowed to teach economics at a major university), you will need to preoccupy that boring classtime with other thoughts.

And what better thoughts than that of Spring 2010? After all, it’s never too early to think about Spring Break – especially when an adorbs Marc Jacobs sundress mini is involved, right? Of course, right. Now that’s a language we can all understand. Read More »

Wanna see Kate Gosselin naked?

John Mayer and Kristin Cavillari are dating?!

Cute boots. Cheap price. Yay Target!

Who’s excited for SATC 2?

Emma Watson starts at Brown. Stalkers abound.

Who needs 911 when you have Facebook?

None of the artists with new releases are new to me this week. I’ve loved them all in the past and now I’m coming back for more. Actually, they’re coming back to give me more and I’m taking it all with wide open arms. And I’m pretty psyched to hear some new stuff from some of my old favorites. It makes me feel at home and right where I belong. I’m so happy to have my old friends back again! Read More »

Haven’t we heard this before?

DUI = Bad. Naked DUI = really bad.

Michael Jackson’s glove doesn’t come cheap.

Utah totally hearts New Moon.

What happens at a cougar convention??

So that explains Lady Gaga…

It’s about that time for me.

I am going to have a sit down with my Facebook friends list and carefully consider who belongs there, who does not, and which family members need to be moved to the “Limited Profile” list. Yes, de-friending is a vicious process, but it has to be done in order to make way for new and more important friendships. Read: the people with the most exciting photos to stalk.

Anyway, as I sit here cutting out some of my 423 friends, these are a few of the people whom I’ve made dust in my virtual wind.

The Friend Who Desperately Wants You To Join YoVille
Facebook applications can be great. Who doesn’t enjoy a game of Scrabulous? But being bombarded with requests to join your farm or garden or pirate ship isn’t helping out your chances of remaining friends with me come clean-up time. Bye-bye application-addict. We’re ignoring you once and for all.

The Constant Status-Updater
I do not care what your plans for the day are.  Or what emo song lyics are accurately emoting your feelings at the moment. Or what color your poop is… no matter how odd it may be. If you are cluttering up my newsfeed with mindless chatter, you will surely be de-friended. But before we part ways, I want you to seriously consider getting a Twitter. There, and only there, will you be appreciated. Read More »

Now that I’m back in school and broke thanks to a few trips to the bookstore, saving money is more essential than ever. But so is a brand new fall wardrobe!

Luckily, American Eagle is a great stop for super comfy weekend/gym/off-to-class clothes on the cheap. There are always awesome deals to be had, and here are just a few of my favorite things. Read More »