8 Terrible Fall Trends (with pictures!)

I am currently at a loss for what to blog about. I'll start by catching you up on the most recent happenings in my life. The weekend of Halloween I was living the RA life and being on duty. It was a most eventful weekend, and I am sworn to the utmost of secrecy about most of the things that happened. Let's just say, there were several incident reports filed! Yay!

The following week, I rode the struggle bus everywhere I went. Mostly this is because it was the week of my birthday and I had 500 things to do that I actually did not want to do. But, it was all worth it on Friday, November 7th; the glorious day of my birth. I turned 21 this year, and I must say that it was one of the best birthdays I've had in my life thus far. I'll leave it at that. As today is Monday, I don't have much to say about this week so far, other than I have noticed some very horrible, horrendous trends this fall. I have consulted some of my colleagues about their thoughts on this topic and these are some of the collectively worse things we have all seen within the past 2 months.

1.) EXTRA EXTRA long t-shirts. As in, when a girl wears a t-shirt down to her knees and it kind of looks like a night gown.

2.) I read this second "worst fashion trend" from allure.com. **DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT AGREE WITH THIS "WORST TREND"** Sockbuns. According to allure, "They're big, they're bulbous, and no one really knows what's inside them: They're the UFOs of hairstyling!" Maybe it's because I'm wearing a sockbun as I write this, but I really think they're the best thing to ever happen to womankind. I mean, come on, what is better than not having to wash your hair or try hard to make it look nice, and it still looking nice in the end anyways? Sockbuns rule. allure.com is wrong. Bye.

<3 love <3

3.) The return of 90s grunge. Not cute, 90s style. I'm talking about 90s grunge, grunge, grunge. Just think about the word grunge, in itself. I mean, it's gross, and so is the excessive use of grunge style this fall. Just stop it plz.

yikes.

4.) Black lipstick. Black lipstick makes me think of dogs. As in, when I was like 5 years old and obssessed with animals (Animal Planet was my jam), I would pretend to be a little puppy dog. Once when I did this, my cousin Stacy told me that I couldn't be a dog because dogs have black lips and I didn't have black lips because I was a little human girl. Is it weird that I remember this? Probably, but every time I see a girl wearing black lipstick I think of a dog.

5.) White tube socks and Nike free runs as every day attire. I would only wear this if I was going directly to the gym to play a game of pick-up basketball or something like that. Even when I was 8 years old I didn't want to wear socks that came above my ankles because I thought that was nerdy. However, on an 8 year old little girl, socks above the ankle with some sparkly lil tennies is really stinking cute. On a 19 year old? Not so much. I don't get it, but maybe I'm just behind on the times.

8-year-old me: *folds down lace to below heels*

6.) Ew. This terrible trend comes from elle.com Wearing a dress over pants. This is something I wanted to do when I was 11 years old. This is not something I would do 10 years later, or ever for that matter. If you need to wear something under your dress, wear leggings or cute little tights or nude hose. Those are classic fixes for cold legs in the winter time! Not pants. Just no.

*cringes*

I know it can be difficult, but if you wear hose, you too can be a princess! But just look at Mia Thermopolis, she ended up rocking those hose! 

7.) Speaking of leggings, wearing leggings as pants but not wearing a shirt that keeps all of your everything from being revealed is another Terrible Trend. I'm not saying that I would never wear leggings as pants. I've done it before and I'll do it again. Also, this might seem to contradict Terrible Trend #1 (too-long t-shirts). The point is to cover things that should be covered (i.e., booty) and to find that perfect balance between covering up and wearing a nightgown and longjohns.

8.) Here I present to you the worst of them all: wearing tights underneath shorts. This is so weird. Like, I know you want to "be like the cool kids," but really. This is weird. Why don't you just wear...hmm...pants?!?!?! Why, someone please enlighten me, would you even desire to wear tights when you don't have to? (This may also seem to contradict the argument against Terrible Trend #6; to be clear, tights/hose/leggings should be worn with dresses or skirts. Tights are very uncomfortable no matter how old you get, so you should only wear them when necessary. As in, only wear them when you're wearing a dress and you absolutely must.)

brb, crying.

In conclusion, there are probably lots of other terrible things that people wear but to be honest, I just can't think of any more right now and the ones I've got are pretty bad. I would love to hear about some of the worst things you've seen this fall, partially because some of it is hilarious and some of it is just plain fascinating.

P.S. - My sincerest apologies if I have offended your unique, personal style. I probably couldn't pull it off anyways.

Thanks for reading!

9 Tips to Stay Organized When You're Unbearably Busy

I have spent the past month and a half planning a brand new event for my executive position on UNA's National  Panhellenic Council. I'm the Vice President of Philanthropy and Scholarship, which means that I'm in charge of any charity events that we might have, as well as academic recognition. The event was called Pumpkin Palooza. I'm not going to lie to you, it was super successful and I'm really proud of it. We had about 150 or more people in attendance, including UNA students, UNA faculty/staff and their kids, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Shoals. Everything about the event was free. There were 200 pumpkins to be carved for a carving competition, free t-shirts, face-painting, a DJ, an inflatable obstacle course, a Halloween costume contest, a pumpkin pie eating race and all the candy corn and apple cider a person could possibly want. The event was different from the other organizations' fall events because it had a little bit of everything, and it was fun for everyone! I really hope that this is an event that will continue in years to come at UNA; I am so proud of being able to be a part of something that could be come a tradition.

                        

All of that being said, I did get a little overwhelmed throughout the planning and execution of the event, especially while doing my best to fulfill my obligations as a good student, RA and friend. With that, I would like to leave you with some tips on how to stay organized (and in turn, less stressed) during your busiest times.

1.) Write everything down. Whether you're a list person or not, it helps to write things down. I know that in the midst of balancing all of my obligations, it seemed like I had 5000 things to remember, and all of those things had their own list. Seriously. I made lists for class, lists for RA stuff, grocery lists, and sometimes I even had lists that outlined every hour of my day. When you write things down, you remember them better. Plus, you have physical evidence of what you need to do!
2.) Keep a planner up to date throughout the week. Usually, I take the tasks on my to-do list(s) and transfer them to specific dates in my planner. This way, you don't have to worry about when to do what on your list.
3.) Set aside time to do all of the above. The beginning of the week (or month, if you want to stay on top) is the perfect time to do this.
4.) Make sure that your living and work spaces are neat and tidy. I am most productive when I have  clean room, made-up bed, and neat desk area.
5.) Do not procrastinate! I made the mistake of procrastinating on ONE thing during one of the busiest days I had, and it truly put my whole day one step behind.
6.) Say no to extras. Extra projects (unless it's for class, then you have to do it. Sorry.), extra responsibilities...basically anything you would be happy to do on a less busy week. This one seems obvious, but people often have a hard time saying "no." I promise that it is usually okay to say no, and that you'll feel better in the long run.
7.) Color-code your planner. This was my saving grace over the past 5 days. Yesterday I got so swamped that when I read sentences, I would seriously only see the first letter of some words and I would have to go back and re-read what I had just attempted to read.  If your to-do's are color-coded, at least you'll know what that item pertains to even if your brain is too tired to read it the first time. For example, in my planner, RA duties are listed in purple, academics are listed in blue, sorority/Panhellenic things are listed in pink and personal items are listed in green (my favorite color. I did this on purpose).
8.) Plan as far in advance as you possibly can! I'm talking like, if you can plan some things for  the next 6 months, then do it! I already have things in planner through April. It will cause a lot less stress when you have to do other types of scheduling.
9.) Finally, although it doesn't exactly fall under the category of organization, make time to take care of you! Always take your vitamins and stay healthy, plan out times to do something you love (I like to read--I realize I'm a complete nerd, sorry not sorry) and don't forget to have fun every so often. Laughing is a great stress reliever. When you're healthy and happy, you'll get more accomplished.

                           

These are just some really basic things that help me get through busy times. There are really advanced ways to stay organized, but let's be real, I'm a certified Type-A1 personality and I do not have time for some of those techniques, although I would love to try sometime.

Stay motivated and don't lose sight of your goals! You can do it!