When we finally finish up finals and return home for the holidays, of course we must run to the mall and soak up the holiday cheer: hum along to the cheesy department store music, watch some kiddies take a picture with Santa and sip on a to-die-for Starbucks Peppermint Mocha (seriously if you haven’t tried it, go get one immediately). And then, after an hour of battling the crowds, we realize we can’t afford anything and walk back to our cars with nothing but a caffeine buzz and an empty red Starbucks cup.

And that, my friends, is when you should head to Target. Not only can you get a gift for everyone on your entire list there, but you can also pick up stuff for yourself without feeling guilty. Seriously, they’ve got a ton (and I mean a TON) of really great stuff under $20 lining those racks. I just want it all. And at these prices, I may just get it all. Read More »

Let's all take a moment of silence for Snookie's skin tone.

As you may or may not know, there’s a lot going down in Washington right now in regards to our health and bodies. Not only is there major debate about Obama’s health care plan, but Capitol Hill has been buzzin’ about Botox. Namely, the idea to put a tax (nicknamed “Bo-tax”) on it and other cosmetic surgeries.

That has since been vetoed (probably after all 4 casts of The Real Housewives/Joan Rivers threatened a sit-in at the White House) in favor of a new idea: adding a 10% tax to indoor tanning.

The main idea behind the new plan is for the government to make it more difficult for you to feed your potentially cancerous addictions (much like cigarettes) by doing what the government does best: taxing.

Needless to say, orange people nationwide are up in (leathery) arms! Read More »

It’s gift giving time and that means one thing: you’re finally gonna get that iPhone you’ve got a lot of wrapping to do. And if you’re anything like me, you’re way too cheap to spend money on holiday wrapping paper. Plus, is it really fair to our lovely planet to waste a tree on something that just gets thrown away? I don’t think so.

I realize some of you probably fold up your wrapping paper and reuse it, and more power to you. But for the rest of us, mostly those of us who tear through our presents without mercy, here’s a way to make your own unique, personal and beautiful wrapping paper without harming the planet or breaking the bank. (It also happens to be really, really pretty!)

What You Need:
- Newspaper sheets, brown paper bags (from the last time you went to the grocery store), or a roll of brown paper
- Catalogs, magazines or Sunday supplements
- Scissors, glitter, paint, fun shaped sponges, glue and ribbon (all optional) Read More »

Turns out, just because I’m 6 months out of college doesn’t mean I’ve stopped making stupid life-threatening decisions. Take this past Saturday, for example.

Despite reports that there was a massive blizzard outside, I sat inside and got ready to go out for the night. All the news reports recommended staying in. But, like usual, I thought I knew better than the news. I assumed that checking weather.com daily qualified me to be a meteorologist. At the very least, it qualified me to change my last name to Roker on my Facebook profile. So in the face of the oncoming “blizzard,” my friends and I got dressed, did our hair and headed out to a party.

It was freezing cold and snowflakes were blowing into parts of my body even my gynecologist hadn’t explored. So we hailed a cab and hopped inside. The car swerved, it swooped, and it stalled. At one point I’m pretty sure we were just gliding on ice. The cab driver even hung up with whoever was on the other end of that Bluetooth.  And at that moment I realized how serious things were.

I haven’t felt that unsafe since I stood up on Space Mountain. Read More »

Okay, so, like, email your questions to TuffyLuv@collegecandy.com and, like, maybe get them answered or whatever. And, like. You know.

Dear Tuffy Luv,

Okay Tuffy here’s the sitch – I have this really close group of friends back home and it’s made up of girls and guys. My best friend and this guy in the group used to date like 2 years ago. He broke it off with her and they were never boyfriend and girlfriend. We’re all really good friends now but I know for a fact that she’s harbored some under-the-surface feelings of him for over a year. The bigger problem is I seem to have developed feelings for him as well. I know for a fact he isn’t interested in my friend (and I’d be willing to bet a lot that he’s not interested in me either).

I can’t talk about this with any of my friends because they know the guy and the girl and I really don’t need this coming out. I want to be able to persue something with this guy without hurting my friend who means more to me than anyone else in the world, but I also know she has no claim over a guy she dated two years ago for less than a month. Oh and the guy and the girl? Yeah they also live together since they go to the same school. Advice?

Love,
Doomed Read More »

There are a few unspoken rules that make it acceptable for you see your best friend’s (or guy friend’s) bare ass in certain situations: a dare, a (drunken) hookup, a music festival, or on amateur night at a strip bar.

But in the shower? That might be going a little too far, and one Green Mountain College student agrees. Jennifer Weiler, a Green Mountain freshman, is suing her school for a lack of girls-only bathrooms. And homegirl’s making a pretty good case. I mean, I can count on about three fingers the amount of people I know who would feel comfortable stripping down and jumping in the shower with strangers and hall-mates of the male persuasion. Especially if nothing sexual was being followed.

Some say, “Don’t knock it till you try it,” but I’m pretty sure I don’t need to try showering with my R.A. to know it’s not going to go down well. Read More »

"Are they up yet??"

Your stomach has been churning since you walked out of your last exam. You know the grades are curved, but you also know that leaving the last essay blank is not going to bode well on your overall score. You talked to your friends in the class and compared answers. You’ve flipped through your notes again and again. You’ve attempted to calculate your score in your head.

And now you just have to wait.

You pack your bags to head home. Then you check your grades online. Nothing.
You take a cab to the airport. Then you check your grades from your phone. Still nothing.
You check them again as soon as you land.
And again after you kiss your mom hello and drop your laundry in the laundry room.

Still nothing.

You know that there is no way the professor is going to get the tests graded in the next few days so you attempt to forget about it. You don’t want to think about grades anymore, anyway. You’re on break, the test is over and there’s nothing you can do about it now, dammit.

And then you sit down to dinner with your parents and before you can say “Pass the ketchup,” your dad turns to you and asks, “How did finals go?”

“I don’t want to talk about it right now, OK? My stupid professor isn’t going to post the grades for 2 weeks anyway and I did my best and there’s no changing it and that last question was so absurd. No one got it. I swear he never went over that thing once. And now I probably got a C in the class and my entire GPA is ruined. Why do you always have to nag??”

Your family goes silent.
Then someone changes the topic and you move on. Read More »

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Focus on the wrapping and she'll forget to ask about those exams...

The most contact you’ve had with your family over the last four months is the weekly phone call where you tell them your grades are fine, you’re eating well, you need some money and you miss them too.

So now that you’re home for about three weeks, it can be a little hard to get back into the swing of waking up to a “good morning honey!” every day. Especially when that comes before 9 a.m.

All of us have that inner freakout moment when our parents tell us to do the dishes or take out the trash, or when we let a profanity slip the scolding makes us want to rip our hair out. “I live on my own over half the year! How can I be grounded?!”

But no matter how much of an adjustment it is, we’re all happy to be back home, eating mom’s cooking, sleeping in our own beds and, yes, spending a little quality time with the family.

Everyone’s family is different; some of us are super close, others not so much. Either way, we can all avoid awkward conversations about our drunken Facebook photos by getting the whole family involved in some holiday activities. With this being my fourth (and final…yes, I’m freaking out) winter break at home, I’ve developed a handful of traditions that are perfect for reconnecting and spending quality time with your family, without the awkward, “Have you gotten your grades yet?” conversation. Read More »

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