I’ve been seeing previews like crazy for Julia Roberts’ new movie, “Eat Pray Love” and it looks pretty cute. And since I have a standing rule that I must read the book before I watch the movie, I was forced into this week’s read. However, I’m so glad that I did!

“Eat Pray Love” is a non-fiction book written by Elizabeth Gilbert. Gilbert has found herself with the perfect American life: a gorgeous house, a good husband and a successful career. But, she is consistently unhappy and one day realizes that she just doesn’t want to be married anymore. This “perfect life” is just not for her. So she leaves her husband and after being inspired by three different countries and their cultures, she decides to spend a year traveling to Italy, India and Indonesia. She chooses Italy because she has always wanted to learn Italian, India because she has recently gotten into the yoga lifestyle and Indonesia because she traveled there once and was told by a medicine man that she would return. She uses the advance from this promised book to fund her whirlwind adventure and sets off.

This book was somewhat of a sensation. For a year, it felt like someone I knew was always reading this. So, of course, I resisted, as any good book snob does. I’m really happy that I picked it up though! Gilbert is a charming and hilarious narrator. She’s so open with her experiences and feelings, it seems like I’m reading a letter from an old friend. I constantly found myself smiling while reading this one, that is, when I wasn’t laughing at her quick wit. But, besides being entertaining, I also found this one quite inspiring. Read More »

What’s going on this week? Apparently not much besides Eat Pray Love. At least that’s all I’m hearing about these days in Hollywood. I swear, if I see Julia Roberts sitting innocently on that bench suggestively eating her cup of fro yo one more time, I’m going to scream. Eat it like a woman, Roberts. Stop looking at the birds, OK? At first I really did want to grab my girls and sneak a tube of cookie dough into the theater for a little Eat Pray Love action. But now? I’d rather eat, eat, sleep.

Anyway, besides the cutesy movie about a women traveling the world to find herself (I personally don’t need to leave America and In & Out Burgers to find myself), what else is going on in Hollywood, you ask?  Well, Rachel Bilson recently went on a Costco shopping spree. (Welcome to singlehood, homegirl!) Aaaaand that’s about it. Read More »

Julia Roberts, where you been girl?! For a while, you were the hottest mama in Hollywood. Your megawatt smile, great acting chops and beachy waves won us over (and also made us intensely jealous), then out of nowhere, you disappeared. Poof! You had to go get married and have babies…twins and all. We had to salvage what we can and pretend we were happy for you. But thank god you’re back. We’ve really missed you.

In honor of your return to the silver screen as Elizabeth Gilbert in the movie adaptation of the book, “Eat Pray Love” (which is, BTW, honestly the best soul-searching summer read ever), we here at CollegeCandy like to pay homage to your top 5 roles. No matter who or what you played, from a classy (relatively speaking, of course) hooker to a mastermind thief’s wife, we can’t help but love you. Read More »

I’ve been in California for nearly two months now, but everyone I run into asks the same question: “Are you going to move here permanently?” Those back in Georgia frequently ask me “Do you see yourself moving back home?” And of course, with the LSAT on my mind 24/7, the inevitable question of “Where do you want to go to law school?” comes up. Apparently all things post-grad rely on geography!

Where you go to law school matters a lot – especially for where you want to live. If you go to a school that isn’t nationally recognized, job perspectives outside of that region shrink. Am I spending all of my time thinking about law school in the context of location? No – there are more initial factors, but picking a future residence does have a major importance. But how daunting is that? Although it may be a little drastic to say, it really feels like I have to answer “Where do you want to live for the rest of your life?” right now at this very second.

So, the plan was to move out here – get my post-grad life together, and then figure out where to go after I worked hard enough to make my plans happen. Since I’ve been here, a lot of people assume this is where I plan to reside forever. Do I want to end up in Orange County or Southern California forever? Honestly, I don’t know if it’s for me. While California is gorgeous, I still don’t feel like I can call this place home. I haven’t had my “ah-ha” moment of residential happiness. Read More »

What a week! I don’t know about ya’ll, but I’ve been busting my butt at the gym, trying to look cute before classes start again. There’s a lot of stress to look banging when the school year starts again, what with the new slew of potential Freshmen boys roaming through campus. But before I can begin my 5k regimen (or chug a protein shake on the couch), let’s the review the week that was.

- Lindsay’s finally gone to jail. Thank god it’s only 12 days; I don’t know if I wold have made it through 90.

- He dumped you but still texting you? Three words: what. a. douche. Walk away, girlfriend.

- Feeling stressed? A little too much on that plate of yours? Stop. Breathe. Relax. And find out why stress does a body bad.

- We may not all have the money or time to travel the world when trying to get over a break up like in Eat, Pray, Love, but there are a few things that help. First step: load up on the chocolate. Yes please.

- The Jersey Shore “celebrities” went on strike. But before we could send in the replacements, MTV gave in to their demands. Apparently being orange warrants $30K per episode.

- We’re intelligent. We’re sexy. We’re worthy of love. Yet somehow, there are still so many dating myths that even, we, the smartest women believe. Read More »

Okay, so how excited are you for Eat, Pray, Love to finally come out?  Because I know I’m absolutely dying to see Julia Roberts and James Franco and Javier Bardem all together in one glorious movie.

If you haven’t read the book (which I highly recommend you do), here’s a quick rundown:  Julia Roberts’ character has a “perfect” husband, gorgeous home, and dream career.  Turns out the girl who has it all, actually doesn’t- she’s completely unhappy.  Throwing caution to the wind, she divorces her husband, takes leave from her job, and sets out for a yearlong adventure where she plans four months each in Italy, India, and Bali.  Her goals are simply to enjoy life and get back in touch with herself.

Well, I think we can all relate to the confusion and pain of ending a relationship, but unfortunately most of us don’t have the time or resources to do it Julia-style.  Luckily, it doesn’t take a million frequent flier miles to mend a broken heart.  Here are some real life ways to Eat, Pray, and Love your way back to fabulous: Read More »

Got something awesome everyone needs to know about? A really rad singer? A wicked new book? A fro yo pie that will delight your belly without making it bigger?? Email your “The Know” ideas to Jill@collegecandy.com or tweet me and I’ll pass them along to everyone right here, every week. Make your kindergarten teacher proud and share!

With summer here (or officially four days away) we’ve got lots and lots of free time on our hands. And by that I mean we’re cooped up in our parents house and – god help us – we love our parents, we really, REALLY do, but after about 48 hours back from school we are already counting down until Welcome Week.

There are only so many times one can surf through Perez or watch this week’s episode of the Bachelorette commenting on Ali’s awful spray tan, so what can you do to pass the time? READ. And by read, I mean the books you’ve always wanted to, not the ones required for class that you beg your suitemate for her notes on so you don’t actually have to read them.

The fun books, the good books, the books you can’t put down – so much so you take them with you to pee. The books that are thoughtless and funny and on and on.

So here’s a list of ten of my favorite books, some new, some old, some serious some fun. Go sit on your lawn, make yourself an Arnold Palmer and enjoy. Read More »

A few  years ago, if someone mentioned a self-help book around me I would have cringed… and laughed in their face. I didn’t understand how people could pay money for books that any idiot with a computer could write and try to pawn off as good, sound advice. However, in light of some recent events, my attitude about self-help books and the like has done a complete 180.

Not to say I’m a total self-help junkie now, but I am pretty shameless about the fact that I read – and believe in – the healing power of self-help books. (Okay, that sounded unnecessarily cheesy, but you catch my drift.)

So, even if you’ve never snuck a peak at the Self Help section in Barnes & Nobles (or are just too embarrassed to admit it),  here’s some of my faves & some others whose street cred is pretty great, as far as self-help books goes:

1. You Can Heal Your Life – Louise L. Hay. I just recently started reading this one myself and I’m in love. It’s intense and has caused quite a few life-changing epiphanies, and Hay will seriously stop at nothing to help you create your perfect life.

2. The Secret – Rhonda Byrne. The now uber-famous Law of Attraction is explained in this simple, visually appealing, tiny book. And when you don’t exactly have time to sit down & waft through an intense self-help workshop like you’d get from something like You Can Heal Your Life, The Secret will totally suffice. You can easily soak up a chapter between classes or use it as a study distraction. It’s more exciting than King Lear, I promise. Read More »

When the writers out in Hollywood began their strike a month ago, it really didn’t affect me.

Sure, I support their cause – everyone should be compensated fairly for the work that they do – but I didn’t really care if they were striking because my Thursday night line-up was still intact.

Now, one month later, I am beginning to feel the pinch.

Whereas I used to stress out about the sheer number of shows backed up on my DVR (“Ahh! There is never enough time to watch them all!”), the lack of new episodes of my favorite shows this past week has left my poor DVR out of a job. And left me with nothing to do after a long day at my job.

I have been forced to get a little more creative with my free time and have discovered some wonderful new activities to enjoy beyond my couch and remote. If you too are experiencing a little non-reality-TV-withdrawal, fill your newfound free time with some of these:

Reading For Pleasure: I didn’t realize just how little I have read in the past year until I sat down and began reading some new books this week. My God, there are so many good books out there right now! My new favorites (that everyone absolutely must read) are: A Thousand Splendid Suns and Eat, Pray, Love. I finished both in under a week!

Discovering New Music: Everyone knows iTunes is the bomb for finding just about anything, but my favorite feature is when they recommend new artists based on the music you like. I started playing around with it and three hours later I had found some awesome new stuff (like Dave Barnes). Read More »