Question?! Answer: Ask Tuffy Luv.

Dear Tuffy Luv,

I met my friend freshman year when she was still dating her boyfriend from high school. We became friends and I watched their relationship fall apart dramatically over the course of the year he became overprotective and jealous and she flouted his concerns. She dated one of our guy friends (which also didn’t end well) and I think she hooked up with her ex again last summer. Fall of sophomore year came around and she lost her best girl friend over a fight about a guy. She ended up hooking up with that guy regularly until that ended as well. They’re still friends and the girl at least speaks to her now. I was her support through all of these guy problems and more, including one bad experience where a TA sent her a rude e-mail that made her extremely stressed and upset about an important professor’s opinion of her. (That becomes important.)

Let’s face it: Sometimes we need to sound more intelligent than we actually are.  Whether it’s for an interview with a potential employer or the need to have the last word in an argument, a great vocabulary is vital for sounding smart… er, I mean, perspicacious. Implement these 20 words and phrases (complete with contemporary examples) in your everyday speech and your diction will become more sophisticated, cultured, and most importantly… smart!

Avant-Garde: [uh-vahnt-gahrd]  –noun

The advance group in any field, especially in the visual, literary, or musical arts, whose works are characterized chiefly by unorthodox and experimental methods

Example: Lady Gaga’s avant-garde sense of fashion continues to awe many of her fans.

Bravado: [bruh-vah-doh]  –noun

A pretentious, false display of courage

Example: The cheerleader was full of bravado at practice, but became extremely nervous when she stepped on the field.

Caustic: [kaw-stik] –adjective

Severely critical or sarcastic

Example: The frat boy made a caustic remark when he told the pledge to take a day off.

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As you may have gathered from my previous articles, I am a shopaholic.  Even if I have no money, I can’t help but scour the internet for deals at the online sample sales (seriously, check out Ideeli, it’s amazing).  And even though I can’t always buy sustainable products, I still try to buy in sustainable ways.

Here are my favorite shopping tips to don’t just save the environment, but they can also save you money.

Read on, my fellow “Frugalista” (thank you, Target.)

Shop in stores.  Preferably ones you can walk or carpool to.  Retailers get their shipments in bulk, which decreases the amount of packaging material used to deliver the products.  When you shop online, shipping costs (and all that wasted paper and cardboard) can add up quickly, so spare yourself and hit the local mall (with your reusable tote!). Be sure to try on before you buy so you can avoid the extra gas needed to return something to the store.

Look for local labels.  Try to buy from companies that are based in the your state to cut down on energy needed for transportation.  If that’s not possible, look for brands that produce their products within the United States.  American Apparel, C&C Cailfornia, Splendid, J.Crew, Lucky Jeans, Joe’s Jeans, True Religion, Juicy Couture, 7 For All Mankind, Citizens of Humanity, and Rock and Republic (just to name a few) all manufacture their clothing in the U.S. Read More »

When I was in high school we passed our time driving around and prank calling boys. High School kids today are pretty much the same, except replace “driving around” with “choking themselves to  get high” and change “prank calling boys” to “sending naked pictures to boys.” Was high school really that long ago or am I just a hell of a lot smarter than today’s teens?

I’m pretty sure high school was only about four years ago, so I’m left wondering what the hell is going on with teenagers? I don’t mean to sound judgmental or high-and-mighty, because we’ve all been there. We all lived in that place where everything was the end of the world, where drama ran high and there was never, ever enough glitter. But come on, things have gotten a little out of control lately.

Whether high school was the best time of your life or a time you’d rather forget, it’s still a time that we can vividly remember. That being said, I do not remember “the choking game”  being a fun after school activity. I also don’t remember blowing anyone on the back of the bus nor witnessing anyone else performing oral sex on the back of the bus. It just wasn’t happening when I was a teenager.

Teenagers are not my favorite group of people, so I have no problem calling them idiots. Seriously, what are they thinking? Not only are they becoming a group of mini faux-celebretards, but they aren’t doing anything even remotely smart or safe. Read More »

Ever notice how you always see a hot chick/ugly dude couple, but never see a smokin’ dude with a non-so-smokin’ lady?

There’s a reason, ladies, and it has to do with science.

Researchers at the University of California recently studied the preferences of single women and found that women prefer brains over biceps, something I have been telling people for years. However, this finding doesn’t only apply to long term relationships; when lookin’ for a little late night action (read: one night stand), women also tend to go for the more intelligent men.

When considering evolution, it makes sense that women would want to settle down with a smart man: so they could potentially produce smarter children. But researchers were shocked about the one night stand situation. I am not.

We all know there is that awkward time – usually around 30-60 minutes – between taking the man home for a little fun and actually having said fun. A time that is filled with awkward conversation about your classes, the pictures on your wall and…I don’t know….politics?

And who wants to have conversation with an idiot?

Also, a smarter man is probably more likely to know how to please a woman, as opposed to a moron who can’t tell a va-jay from an elbow.

I’m not sure this study was really necessary (I mean, duh), but it does help me prove to men that women aren’t as concerned with looks as they are. Oh, and it gives hope to those computer engineers out there that they too can get a little late night booty.

My name is K, and I was in a sorority.

That is, I’m an alum. I still wear my butt-shorts to sleep at night and my Greek Week t-shirts to the gym. I have sorority jewelry, and my best friends are people I pledged with. I may or may not have my affiliation listed on my resume. And I am not ashamed.

What does irk the hell out of me, though, are the characters who, post-college, find it appropriate to judge me and still make the same assumptions that were made in college. Just a heads up, kids, but just like no one cares if you were cool in high school, no one could care any less whether you were cool in college. And by hating on me for being Greek, you’re definitely no cooler than the next a**hole.

Sure, I partied, but so did a large percentage of the independents (oh that’s right, there’s a label for them, too). Shocker, sorority girls aren’t always the drunk mess you expect them to be.

So let’s clarify a few things, shall we?

#1. No, I did not buy my friends. Surprise! I actually have other friends who aren’t Greek. Who cares where or how you meet people if they’re quality? I lucked out; my house was full of girls I clicked with, many of whom will probably be in my wedding. I could just as easily say you bought all your college friends because you paid tuition to attend a university with thousands of other people, right? You’re electing to join an institution where you will happen into people…. kind of makes you a hypocrite to call me out. I’m not picking people to hang out with based on whether or not they were in a frat or sorority in college, and if you are, you’re living a sad, sad life. Read More »

I was sick of dating “bad boys” and dudes from the not-so-smart category. I wanted to date an intellectual, a nice guy.

Instead, I got Mr. Deceptive.

Mr. Deceptive was definitely smart, but he wasn’t as nice as he made himself out to be. He was a Nice Guy Poser.

I think the first time I realized this was when I saw him interacting with a florist he used pretty regularly. (Yes, he sent flowers to people often enough to be a regular at a florist! And no, that doesn’t make him the dream boyfriend you’d think it would.)

During this particular visit, Mr. Deceptive wanted to arrange to send flowers to a colleague’s wife’s funeral.

“How much do you want to spend? ” the florist asked as he started to show Mr. Deceptive the flowers he recommended.

“Oh, about $50 or $60,” Mr. Deceptive answered.

Even I, who admittedly knows nothing about funeral flower arrangements, thought that seemed a bit low. Turned out I was right. The florist hesitated and looked at Mr. Deceptive quite hard. “May I suggest you send a live plant to the person’s house, instead?” he asked carefully. Read More »

When my newest roommate moved into the house, it didn’t take me long to notice that she is a remarkably bright lady. She’s not that nerd who’s only book smart, either. She is well versed in just about…everything…and incredibly articulate. However, I never thought that her smarts had anything to do with the fact that she’s Finnish until recently.

According to new studies, Finnish teenagers are some of the smartest teenagers in the world, and yet, these kids aren’t nerds who do nothing but study. They seem to waste about the same amount of time surfing the web and obsessing over music as we in America do. They don’t seem to take anything any more seriously than anyone else. Yet somehow, they are far ahead in subjects like math, science, and reading by the time they’re fifteen years old. Read More »