The Know: This Sh*t is Bananas

By Jill

Got something awesome everyone needs to know about? Email your “The Know” ideas to Jill@collegecandy.com and I’ll pass them along to everyone right here, every week. Sure it may not be a resume builder, but it will earn bragging rights that lil ‘ol you turned thousands of readers on to your latest obsession and, really, who doesn’t want that?

Bananagrams
Now that winter break is here, we all have some much needed time on our hands. And if watching this week’s episode of Jersey Shore for the bazillionth time isn’t really doing it for you, Bananagrams can be your go-to for continuing to be a waste of space without feeling guilty about it. Hey, you’re building words after all! Even if your game vernacular consists of spelling out only the most complex words like vodka and fart.

I was introduced to this game on a freezing night with a few too many glasses of wine in me and was quickly hooked. It’s like Scrabble meets Go Fish meets crack. Seriously. Before I knew it the group of five players had dwindled down to two, it was 5:30 am and I was suddenly way more worried that platitudinous was spelled correctly than if my fellow Bananagrams player would finally make a move on me instead of on the game…and show me his own banana. Ha! I kid (er, sort of).

Trust me when I say its a must-have for your apartment. You can play it with your roomies and even make a drinking game out of it. Or take it on vacation and show your parents just how much you are learning in school (“look mom, I can spell Gonorrhea!”). Hell, you can even be totally cool and play it by yourself. But take it from me, if you’re trying to have any game (as in the late-night booty kind) don’t play it drunk on a Friday night with a cute boy. Unless you plan to spell out (Let’s) “Makeout.” Better yet, “fornicate” uses a whopping nine tiles, which would be a major win/win.

Banana (Bread and) Republic
All this talk of bananas makes me think of what else I love that involves this delightfully yellow wonder fruit. And aside from the obvious, chocolate chip banana bread (click here for an all natural recipe that involves peanut butter), I’m a big fan of Banana Republic, especially their jewelry. Like these earrings.

They are a statement without being overpowering and their hint of turquoise makes me feel like I should be sporting a sun dress and a pina colada instead of freezing my ass off in a winter coat with my space heater. Not to mention they take your jeans-and-solid-color-t-shirt uniform to a whole other level. Yeah it’s that serious.

Aren’t you glad you know?