Remember the summer before college when you were so fed up with your hometown? You were sick of the same room, friends and hangout spots – you needed a drastic change! Well welcome home to the land of same ol’, same ol’. If your ‘hood is like mine, nothing much has changed in the past few years. Swallow the thought of being at home for another few months and think about ways to stir things up at home.

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Whether you are still feeling bloated from everything you ate on the Fourth of July or you’ve been hitting the Dublin Mudslide a little hard to beat the heat, you may feel totally disgusted with your bikini body summer eating habits right about now. No worries! Redeeming yourself is a lot easier than you think.

Drink Water
You know that feeling you get when you want to eat something but you don’t know what you want? That means you’re not really hungry. It could mean you bored, agitated, or excited. In the middle of this sweltering summer, though, it most likely means you’re thirsty. If you’re actually hungry, you’ll know exactly what you want. Then you should eat! If your stomach seems confused, it’s trying to tell you it wants water. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! Those cheese fries won’t make a thirsty body feel better, and you’ll be racking up a lot of unnecessary calories in the meantime.

Don’t Throw a Good Day Away
So you were off to a pretty good start. Maybe a veggie omelet for breakfast, a salad and a sandwich for lunch but then a half-dozen cream puffs or a bag of Reese’s Pieces found their way into your mouth. If you’ve got an all-or-nothing personality like me, you’ll feel miserable at “ruining” your good eats and drown your sorrows in a double cheese pizza, believing all hope is lost anyway. But it’s not! Everyone needs a guilt-free treat, at least once in a while. If you fall off your balanced eating plan, get right back up. Keep your later meals for the day a bit lighter to compensate.

Pack Your Own Lunch
You’re stuck at work or your internship for the whole glorious, sun-filled day. How do you feel better? The gals get together and order lunch, of course! A steady diet of lunch-time take out is draining your wallet while racking up calories. Brown bag something you feel good about eating and stick it in the fridge. It’s always more satisfying to eat a lunch you make yourself. Plus, there are no hidden calories and no hidden costs. Read More »

Spring semester is winding down, and when we’re stuck in the library for 24 hours at a time with our eyes glued to a textbook and an energy drink surgically attached to our hands, it’s easy to count down to seconds until summer vacation. But as we all know, life back at home can be a drag an adjustment.

We’ve got it pretty easy on campus – sleeping till noon, going to class if and when we feel like it, and bar-hopping every night… while occasionally squeezing in some work. Pretending to be a real, responsible person when you get home to mom and pops can be a tough change. So while it’ll be all good in the hood to ditch those books in favor of mom and dad’s luxurious leather couch, there are a few things you might want to prepare yourself for before you head home for the summer. Read More »

It’s that time of year again: back to (freaking) school!

Ok, so not quite yet; technically, you can’t move into your place for another week or two, but you’re so excited to get back to campus that you’ve started to prepare a bit early.

With only a few more days (and by “days” I mean “meal opportunities on the parentals”), you start mapping out your schedule until you head back. You know you have to eat mom’s famous meatloaf at least 3 times, not to mention her Challah French toast (which, now that you think about it, would make terrific drunk food. Perhaps she can freeze one and send it with you….). You also need to fit in your favorite sushi spot, Chinese restaurant, and hit up the local diner/greasy spoon as much as possible.

Also on the schedule? A major trip the mall with mom, duh. You know good and well that this week in August is the last time you’ll have one-on-one time with her (read: her credit limit) until Thanksgiving and you plan on taking full advantage. Plus, it’s major bonding time for you and mama and she’s going to need that seeing as you’re outta there in 6 days, 23 hours and 42 minutes.

But who’s counting? Read More »

The car has been packed, your roommates have been hugged and you’re only a short car ride away from a summer at home. Your parents try and talk strike up conversation on the way (“So, honey, how did that last exam go?”), but you just want to sit in the backseat and flip through your pictures from the last week in silence.

Too bad looking at the camera makes you want to barf. So you shut your eyes and lay your head on the clothes piled up next to you and go to sleep.

Soon you are back in your childhood bedroom. It’s weird climbing back into that twin (non extra long) bed and staring at pictures of your high school friends you haven’t talked to in months adorning the walls. It’s weird not having to use a key to unlock the bathroom down the hall. Hell, it’s weird to pee alone. Being home is just weird.

All you want to do it lay down and relax – the last week of studying and partying has taken its toll on you – but the moment you do, you hear an all-too-familiar call. Read More »