I barely have time to breathe, let alone spend QT with the BF.

I’m currently only on my second week back in school. However, in those few days, I’ve managed to become a producer at our student TV station, write a paper on The Godfather script, drop a class because it had too much homework, and signed up to become a licensed real estate agent. I’ve canceled or just flat out forgotten about my friends, and worst of all, I’ve barely seen my boyfriend… even though I live with him.

Recently, CollegeCandy ran a post asking if our generation can really “have it all.” What we got back were some accounts of people trying to stuff as much as they could into their lives and hoping they could carry the weight for as long possible.  Sound unhealthy? Yes, and we all know it, even if we’re doing it too (and who isn’t?).

Take a breath.  I’m gonna let you into a little secret: you don’t have to. Not only do you not have to, you really can’t!  Helen Fielding, the creator of one of our favorite literary characters, Bridget Jones, says that we can’t.  During a recent speech at the Oxford Union,  Fielding cited the idea of “having it all” as a modern disease making women feel the need to live up to the images and expectations of an idealistic society that are thrown at us from all sides.  A modern disease?  Awesome.  Now we have to worry about this AND swine flu.

However, Bridget Jones certainly couldn’t do it, so why should we feel the need to overstuff our lives?  Think of all the things you love about Bridget – she’s human, she makes mistakes (awesomely hilarious mistakes!), she knows how to have a good time, she’s dedicated when it counts, etc, etc.  We love her because she is all of us!  What she definitely isn’t is a trembling, stressed-out activity freak that might collapse at any moment just because she wanted to fit just one more thing into her life… and then feel like a failure when she can’t. Read More »

Senior year in high school I was on a champion volleyball team, had a cute boyfriend, surrounded myself with fabulous friends, but did absolutely zero homework (Senioritis proved to be a seriously dangerous disease).

Freshman year in college I had decent grades, tons of extra-currics, loads of buddies, but didn’t go on a single date.

This year I worked for the newspaper, had a few flings, but also had a GPA that took a bit of a plunge.

All of this got me thinking: can you really “have it all”? Our generation has been taught over and over again that we can do anything and everything we want as long as we try, but is that really true? Is it possible to balance stellar grades, awesome friends, your fave hobbies, a significant other, and a healthy bod with only 24 hours in a day? (By the way, this is just my idea of “it all.” Yours may vary greatly.) Read More »

I am all about laziness—I mean, industriousness—and because of that, I love making dinners that I can use as leftovers later. Some things (salads) don’t keep quite as well as others (fruitcake), but it’s usually possible to find recipes that occupy a happy medium and can bail you out in a time crunch.

If you find yourself without the time to cook 3 meals a day, 7 days a week, these dishes are perfect for you. Get in the kitchen once and eat for days.

Door Number 1: Soup

Soup is a classic for good reason. It’s quick to make, it stays well in the fridge or the freezer, and it’s extremely simple to cook up a giant batch and use it for meal after meal. Soup is also incredibly versatile—in almost any soup recipe, you can add or subtract basically whatever you want (don’t like celery? Try some zucchini!) and it will still turn out tasting great. Plus, you don’t even know how much better it is than soup in the can until you’ve made it yourself and experienced the difference. A good starting point is this potato soup, which is All Recipes’s highest-rated soup recipe.

Door Number 2: Rice

My personal favorite thing to do with rice is to cook a huge pan of fried rice with tons of vegetables and bits of chicken or tofu, and then keep the leftovers for my lunches all week. Following this recipe will give you great Chinese fried rice. If you prefer a more Indian flava, leave out the soy sauce, sub the sesame oil with another type of oil (canola or mustard is good), and add turmeric, cumin, chili powder, and pepper. Read More »

Are you Wonder Woman? Do you balance more activities, projects, and tasks than there are hours in a day? Do you think sleep is a myth? If you constantly find yourself having to schedule in five minute appointments with yourself just to down a bagel and keep going, you may have what some people refer to as “a hectic schedule.”

Sure, it seems overwhelming; sure, sometimes you want to break down and cry; but at the end of the day, you love what you do, and you’re proud of the fact that you can accomplish an exponential amount more than most mortals. And you know that everything you do will benefit you in the long run.

I love to feel useful, so it’s always been hard for me to say “no” to picking up an extra shift, or doing an extra project. When I was in high school, I worked part time, was active in drama club, cheerleading, amnesty international, gay/straight alliance, dance classes, and, senior year, I edited the yearbook. And I did it all while making honor roll each semester. In college, I wasn’t so active in extra-curriculars, but I held down two restaurant jobs, took a full course load, and partied my face off, while making Dean’s List. You can call me a nerd; I just think I have a severe case of ADHD that’s never been officially diagnosed.

That said, Wonder Woman, I know the meaning of stress, and I know the importance of staying organized. Here are some of my own personal life-saving tips. Read More »

Yes, I’m a workaholic.

“Do you ever just chill out?” A friend recently asked me, as I checked my email on my phone during a lunch date. “I mean, we’re at a diner.”

“I need to make sure the email I sent in to my professor made it. And if my internship got back to me about possibly skipping Monday…” I could have kept talking about what I needed to do, but the waiter was setting down a delicious plate of hummus and stuffed grape leaves. I cannot deny a good stuffed grape leaf.

My diner friend isn’t the first person to point out how much I work, how busy I keep my schedule. Moving forward in my career has always been a giant part of my life.

But these days, it’s an even bigger part. Why? Because the moment I calm down is the moment I realize work is just about the only thing I’ve got. Read More »