So, Express isn’t cheap. That is pretty obvious when you walk in and the hot shirt your eying for your birthday party is marked at $49. But every few months, they have a major sale. And I mean major. The kind that makes you giddy and happy and willing to sift through giant over-stuffed racks because the deals are just. that. good.

You see, Express marks their stuff down to really low prices and then gives you an additional 20% off of that! That is some serious saving on a lot of really cute stuff. It’s a frugal fashionista’s dream. And that dream is coming true right now.

I sifted through the (digital) racks for you and pulled 8 of my favorite pieces. They’re all under $20, so you can stock your closet without that annoying guilt getting in the way. Read More »

I went to college hoping to graduate with my M.R.S. degree. Little did I know that instead of perusing the collegiate hallways for my future husband, I should have just shacked up with my parent’s handy man.

According to an academic report published in the European Journal of Operational Research, women looking for a long-lasting, loving marriage should settle down with a man five or more years older, who has received less education than they have. Scientists tracked 1,000 couples who were either married or in serious relationships over five years. Their research suggested that if neither partner had been previously divorced and their age and education fell within the guidelines, marital bliss was sure to ensue.

Older and dumber = happily married? So what you’re telling me is, I’ll have better success in my marriage if I settle down with a man in his mid-30s still working on receiving his high school degree rather than the Ivy League graduate or the hottie sitting next to me in Chem?

I don’t know how my parents will feel about this.
Sigh.
I don’t know how I feel about this.

I always envisioned myself with a handsome man, probably younger than me due to my cougar-ish nature, who is a gentleman and a scholar. He would challenge me intellectually and look damn good in a pair of jeans. Now it seems the criteria for my future mate has changed.

He must not be able to read.
Extra points if he’s going bald. Read More »

Are you an artist? No? But wait–don’t you spend at least 50% of your Intro to Philosophy class time doodling curly-cues in your notebook? Yeah, I thought so. Good enough.

You don’t have to be a Monet to do nail art, because it’s basically as simple as paint-by-number. If you can copy that complicated stats diagram into your notes, then trust me, you can put a gorgeous sprig of florals on your nail. Plus, your friends will be totes jealous when they all drop twenties on French manicures and your nails look a zillion times better for only the cost of the polish you grabbed at the drugstore.

Speaking of polish, here’s what you need to do this:

- Nail polish (duh)
- Cotton balls or Kleenex
- Toothpicks
- Topcoat (optional)
- Nail-polish remover

It helps to plan out your designs before you do them, especially if your drawing skills, like mine, are limited to scrawling malformed stick figures. Note that you don’t have to do something fancy on each nail – it works just as well to do a nice design on the thumbs (or big toes) and leave the rest of the nails as solid colors. Also, depending on how intricate your design is, you need to plot out an hour or two in your day to do the whole thing, since you have to let each color of the art dry before you can start the next color. The good news is that you can split this time up if necessary, and your nails will look really cool and avant-garde if they aren’t quite done yet. Read More »

Working in the real world is harder than I ever thought. I remember older friends telling me that they would come home exhausted and barely have the energy to pull together a dinner sandwich. But I blew them off and just assumed that for some reason their jobs involved intensive physical labor that made them so tired. And since I was never on the construction job track I figured that I would end my days full of energy and zest.

Turns out I was wrong. I’m so dead by the end of the day that I can barely keep my eyes open when I crawl into bed at sunset. Truth be told, I cannot figure out why. I possibly have the least physically demanding job in the entire world. As a freelance blogger I spend half my days in bed on the computer and half my days on a couch on the computer. Sure my fingers are getting a work-out (ever seen a thumb with biceps?) but the rest of me might as well be sold off for spare parts. If anyone knows how much legs (partially shaved) are going for these days, please leave me a message below.

And it’s not only the exhaustion that’s taking a toll on me. It’s also being responsible for the work that I do everyday. In the past I’ve had part time jobs doing things like working at an ice cream store. But if I didn’t bring my A-game to work it wasn’t that big of a deal. All it meant was that some kid had an allergic reaction because I wasn’t paying attention when his mother asked if nuttybutter-walnut ice cream had nuts in it. Same with internships. I could make a million mistakes and then shrug my shoulders and be like “sorry, I’m just an intern, I didn’t know that pressing backspace would delete a year’s worth of work.” Read More »

Question? Answer: TuffyLuv@collegecandy.com. Dig?!

Dear Tuffy Luv,

I cheated on my boyfriend but now I want him back. I realized that the other guy that I was cheating with wasn’t that great so I really want to get back with my guy. He said okay we can get back together but the problem is that while we weren’t together (he broke up with me when he found out I cheated) he was constantly telling me how much he loved me and everything and that he wouldn’t see anyone else because he wanted to get back together.

Well the thing is, Tuffy, I just found out that he was talking to another girl while we weren’t together. He said he wouldn’t do that so now I feel like I can’t trust him. He told me about it because he said he feels bad about it but he says nothing happened, they just went out to dinner. But I’m so mad at him. He keeps apologizing but I feel like I need something bigger. Should I just get back with him like my heart wants or should I make him show he’s sorry first?

Please post this Tuffy; this is the third time I’m emailing you.

Gina

Dear Gina,

The reason I didn’t respond to your question the first two times was to spare you from what I was going to say. But, hey, if you insist:

This is totally effed. Sorry Gina, but you’re completely in the wrong here. I mean, you have got to be kidding me. You cheat on him, but he’s the one who’s supposed to beg your forgiveness?! That’s just messed upp.

So what do I think you should do? Read More »

I always said I had the best job on campus as an employee of the gym. Not only because I got to watch buff dudes lift weights all day, but also because I had a never-ending supply of free condoms available to me. The gym always kept a fully stocked jar of condoms for the average gym-goer to reward themselves with after a good workout. I’d always leave work with a handful of condoms that would supply my roommate and myself (and sometimes the random stranger desperately roaming the halls for a Trojan) for the weekend.

Although I didn’t choose the University of Richmond for it’s easy access to contraceptives, it is a much-appreciated perk. So, for the curious, Trojan has come out with their Sexual Health Report Card. The ranking, which measures access and availability of sexual health information and resources across 141 colleges and universities, named the University of South Carolina No. 1.

With a mascot like the Gamecocks, is anyone really surprised?

If you’re open about your sexuality and would appreciate a campus that supports you in your sexual exploits, here are the top five schools that are best equipped for you and all the sex you’re having (or desire to have): University of South Carolina, Stanford University, University of Connecticut, Columbia University and Florida Atlantic University. Read More »

Hey! We can hear you!

You just spent 7 hours hunched over a laptop churning out a 12-page midterm paper. Your eyes are dry, your butt is aching from those wooden slabs they call chairs at your school, and the only thing you have on your schedule for this Thursday evening is catching up on some How I Met Your Mother on your DVR and a large bowl of Pad Thai. You slip into some sweats and curl up under a fleece blanket on the couch with a roommate and let the night of nothingness begin.

Two hours and a package of Soft N’ Chewy cookies later, your other roommate stumbles home with her boyfriend. They plop down on the couch next to you and start telling you about their night. Somewhere between their first beer and the tale of how her pizza fell on the ground, they start getting a little handsy. Soon, he’s running his hands through her hair and nibbling on her ear.

You roll your eyes at the other roommate and pray they’ll head back to her room soon so you can get back to Barney’s antics.

Finally, once Mr. Boyfriend’s hands start moving up your roommate’s skirt, she stands up and drags him to her room. When the door slams behind them, you breathe a sigh of relief that they are finally going to pass out, fire up the DVR and resume your regularly scheduled evening.

All is going well until you start fast-forwarding through some commercials. In the silence you hear laughter coming from the bedroom. It stops for a moment and then the Kings of Leon start flooding out from under the door. You brace yourself for what is sure to come next and turn the show back on, hoping it will drown out the sounds. But it only gets worse.

First it’s a moan.
Then some thumping.
More moaning. Read More »

Let the Amy Winehouse downward spiral continue!

Need answers to your tricky love questions?

Chris Brown gets sentimental.

This takes the vampire obsession a bit too far.

Who will host the Golden Globes?

Bradley Cooper is single once again!

Remember when Jenny Humphrey was just a cool, normal chick from Brooklyn? You know, before she dropped out of school to become a punk rock fashion designer and well before she became the biggest bitch on the UES?

She’s come a long way since those days. And even though she’s sporting over-sized t-shirts and men’s ties instead of bedazzled headbands, Jenny Humphrey is quickly surpassing Blair Waldorf as the meanest Queen in school. Yeah, we all thought she could live in both worlds – sweet Jenny at home and big, scary Jenny on the steps – but she proved us all wrong. First she demands almonds without the skin and then she dumps a perfectly good yogurt on her brother?

WTF, Jenny? There are starving children in Africa! You get twelve shopping bags from Bergdorf’s and suddenly you have no respect for the people who care about you most?  Seriously, girl, get a clue. And a hairbrush. Those extensions are lookin’ a little, well, nappy. Read More »

I never thought I would say this, but I am completely over and tired of super hot guys.

Yeah, that’s right, I said it. I am over them.

Okay, so I’ll always have a weakness for super hot abs (I’m looking at you, RPatz), but I would much rather spend my time with the new class of men out there. I call them the Hunky Beefy Boys and they are redefining what it means for men to be sexy. And I like it.

Thanks to the new comedians out there in Hollywood, charming is in and hot is out. Comedians like Jason Segel, Vince Vaughn, Seth Rogen, and Will Ferrell are now considered Hollywood’s sexiest. Whereas women wouldn’t give guys like them a fighting chance before, these guys are now making the girls swoon.

So maybe they don’t have washboard stomachs or chiseled cheek bones but they have charm, wit, and a sense of humor that make them completely irresistible. And they are all perfectly hunky beefy: tall with a little more cushion for the pushin’, but still fit and mouth-watering.

Traditional hotties of the past like George Clooney, Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt are still sexy, obvs, but they are starting to fall by the wayside for these new guys who have something more than an Abercrombie smile.

So what is it exactly that has us melting like a pat of butter into their husky hands? Read More »