Moving Home for Summer

As a college student, summer means moving back home to the space that I called my own all through my childhood. I love my room at home, but each time I come home, I realize that there is so much stuff here that I haven't touched in a year or more. It is becoming an immense pile of clutter, and I can't ever seem to get rid of it.

This week I am getting rid of it all. Bring on the trash bags, its gotta go. I have already started to a point, and I need one more good day of cleaning to get it all out. I label the bags as I go, trash, clothing donations, recyclable paper, and books to be donated.

I feel like if the stuff wasn't needed over the entire past year at school, I don't really need it to be sitting around collecting dust anymore.

I'm going for the minimalist, organized feel. I can't get anything done if I'm not organized, and this summer I am doing research primarily from home, so I will need a comfortable, organized, clean space to really get everything done.

Here is some inspiration:

The Art of A Note

Everyone these days just emails, facebooks, tweets, or texts when they want to correspond with someone. Although all of these options are great, and instant, they lack the charm of a hand written note. A simple thank you note, or a note to a friend studying abroad, these are some great excuses to find some adorable stationery and pen a quick note to a friend. Some of my favorite places to find notecards are the dollar section at the front of any Target store, and in TJ Maxx. They have adorable choices at really low prices. When there is no financial reason to stay away from writing a note, what are you waiting for?

Jewelry on a College Budget

I love jewelry. That being said, I know that I cannot afford my expensive tastes on a college girl's budget. I have been following Kerry of Monograms & Martinis for a long time now, and she has started a business selling expensive looking jewelry at really affordable prices! I just bought a bracelet from her, and I can't wait to get it in the mail!

You can check out all the great pieces that she has here!

Getting Back to Blogging

I have been a bad blogger, I let this fall by the wayside during the spring semester because I felt simply overwhelmed with school, research, work and other commitments. A lot has happened since I last updated this blog. I presented my research findings in Boston and Las Veags, and my coauthor and I won third prize at the undergraduate research competition in Las Vegas! We met lots of interesting people at both conferences, and I am going to be keeping in touch with these economists in the future as I look towards grad school. This week I found out that the paper we wrote on our research is being published in an academic journal. This is huge news, and really validates everything that I did last summer and over this past school year. I can't wait to see my hard work in print! Now that it is summer, I have more time to blog about both my research, school search, and everyday life, so expect more posts soon!

Panic Attack

So this post is somewhat off topic from the main theme of this blog, however, I just had to share. This week was hectic as usual, between classes, 3 jobs, and preparing for my conference presentations (which are sneaking up on me much faster than I realized) I crashed my computer hard drive. Yes. It happened, and I lost 12 days worth of work.

So for the past few days I have been re-writing the papers that I lost, and figuring out just what is gone and what I can salvage from email and my iPad.

Always remember to back up your hard drive, you never know when something may happen and what destruction can be left in its wake.

My Research

I am currently working on a research project with one of my professors, and I have been working on this particular project for just over a year now. The next phase of the project is to present my working paper at an academic conference in Boston.

Today I met with two of my professors to discuss how I should go about doing this presentation, and they casually mentioned that the room would be filled with upwards of 100 people. 100 PEOPLE!?

Has anyone out there done anything like this before? Any advice you can give me?

Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone

Just about a month ago, I decided to submit a proposal to write an article for USA Today's College site, and I was selected!

I am by no means a journalist, and I haven't taken a formal writing course in 3 years. This is something that I am really proud of, and I want to now try to do this more often. People seem to like what I wrote, and the responses were encouraging!

See what you think by clicking here!