Category: General

Lazy Day Makeup Routine

Lately, every day has become a “lazy day” for me. Since the beginning of this year, I’ve started getting into skincare more and letting my face breathe. If someone would’ve told me this time last year that’d be going to classes and out in public with absolutely no makeup on, I think I would’ve laughed in their face. Back then, I had splotchy red skin and maybe at least five pimples at any given time, so of course, I’d feel compelled to cover my face with at least a little makeup every day. What I didn’t realize was that the act of actually cleaning my face every night, removing all my makeup, and just generally taking care of my skin, is all I really needed in order to feel comfortable without makeup.

Nowadays, I don’t even wear foundation. It clogs my pores too much and it honestly feels kind of gross having it sit on my face. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still just as much in love with makeup as I’ve always been and will take any opportunity I can to cake it on. It’s just that now, I have a new appreciation for the skin on my face and I’ll do anything I can to keep it looking fresh and pimple free —even if that means giving up my everyday full-face makeup routine.

With all the studying I’ve had to do for midterms in the last two weeks, this routine has come in handy too. I can just roll out of bed, spend less than 10 minutes getting ready, and be on my way to class. I’ll be including less tutorial-like pictures because a lot of these steps are pretty self-explanatory and very easy to do, but if you’d like to know which products I use on an everyday basis to get a healthy looking, fresh-faced glow, just keep on reading 🙂

Step 1: Hydrate

Even though I have normal to oily skin, I think it’s super important to moisturize my face and protect it from the sun with at least a little SPF. Garnier’s Skin Active Clearly Brighter Daily Moisturizer is lightweight and leaves my skin feeling soft all day. I apply it once in the morning and second time right before bed. Most foundations on the market have SPF in them so I never used to worry about applying sunscreen to protect my face from the sun. Now that I don’t wear foundation on a daily basis, this is a really great alternative and it also helps smooth my skin in the process.

Next, I’ll mist my face with some of Mario Badescu’s Facial Spray in order to really lock in the moisture. This product smells amazing and is another product I put on twice a day. This brand has excellent skin care products and I’m looking forward to trying out their acne treatments in the future. I (miraculously) found my 4 oz bottle in the sale section of Ulta for $5, but the cheapest bottle I could find online was $7 at amazon.

In total, these two products have made a huge difference in my skin’s overall appearance and definitely help me feel rejuvenated during the harsh, dry, winter months.

Step 2: Conceal

I’m still not quite used to having morning classes all week and it always shows with my dark circles. I use this concealer from Maybelline to hide the fact that I don’t get much sleep during the week and it does wonders. Concealer helps to make me feel and look so much more awake than I might actually be and will always be a staple in my makeup routine no matter how lazy or glam I’m feeling.

I apply this underneath my eyes and on any other imperfections I may have.

 

 

 

Step 3: Highlight

Highlighting is one of the biggest beauty trends of the moment, and even though it’s usually associated with “glam” makeup looks, I love pulling it off every day for that extra glow. I love using creamy highlighters and this one from Becca Cosmetics is stunning. Mine is in the shade Opal and came in a little kit including a mini powder version too. This product costs $20 on Amazon right now, and I know that’s a little pricey, so I’ll often use my one from Colour Pop Cosmetics (which is only $8), to help conserve my use of the more expensive highlighter.

 

I apply it to the high points of my face, so on the tops of my cheekbones, right underneath my eyebrows, the tip of my nose and the inner corners of my eyes. Putting a bright, shimmery highlight in these places really helps me to look and feel more awake. This especially helps for all of the early classes I take throughout the week at 8 and 9 AM 😅

 

Step 4: Eyebrows

This step is essential for me on a daily basis because I believe a strong, but natural looking brow is the key to framing the face. I, unfortunately, was not blessed with dark, full natural eyebrows so I primarily use powder to mimic this.

First I apply a clear brow gel to get the hairs in the shape I want. Then using a small, angled brush and a powder that’s a few shades darker than my hair color, I lightly stroke the product in sparse places to fill the gaps and slightly extend the end of my brow.

This angled brush is from Anastasia Beverly Hills, but brands like Elf sell much more affordable ones that do the exact same thing. The powder I use to fill in my brow is actually from an eyeshadow palette from Morphie and it’s actually been a really great addition to my collection! They sell a wide variety of palettes that come with 35 high-quality eyeshadows AND they’re extremely affordable. I have the 35W palette and love all the neutral and warm tones.

Step 5: Mascara

Next, I apply my Maybelline Falsies mascara in “very black” to my eyelashes help open up my eyes and make me feel even more awake. Some days I’ll actually skip this step because I’ve started getting used to my appearance without it, but honestly, by simply applying mascara my eyes feel less drowsy.

This specific mascara makes my lashes so full and doesn’t clump up at all, which helps maintain the “natural” look I’m going for.

 

 

Step 6: Moisturize Lips

A lot of lip products out there actually don’t do much to hydrate your lips, and I’ve found that Smith’s Rosebud Salve’s products are the best. They also sell this product in a small, round tin can, but when this product is packaged in a tube, it is so much easier to apply. I love its flowery scent and it leaves my lips feeling hydrated all day. I apply it in the morning, throughout the day, and finally, before I go to bed so that my lips don’t get too dehydrated while I’m sleeping.

 

 

✨ Final Product ✨

And there you have it! This is just enough makeup to make me feel confident while also allowing my skin to breathe. I love the routine I’ve settled into during my time at school and I can tell that my skin is loving it too 😌

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As always, thanks for reading! I hope you found this information useful 🙂 Also, keep checking out my personal blog and other various social media accounts to see more of my daily life on and off campus.

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@rachel_crack

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(re)views: Food Truck

Lunch: the one time of day I’m always looking forward to no matter how I’m feeling. There’s seriously nothing more satisfying than fulfilling your hunger, and lately, I’ve been taking advantage of the Street Hawk Food Truck.

Located on the T. Anne Clearly walkway right behind Calvin Hall and across from the Pappajohn Business Building, the Food Truck is easily accessible to any customer because of its close proximity to the heart of campus. From what I’ve briefly researched, the Food Truck debuted this past fall semester as a means of alleviating the congestion at the dining hall in Burge, making it now one of the 8 locations on campus students can redeem flex meals. I wouldn’t get lunch here too often last semester because I’d occasionally sleep through the afternoon and just wait to eat until dinner (that’s what strictly having evening classes will do to you) but now with my classes primarily taking place in the morning-early afternoon, I’m actually hungry for lunch at a normal time!

With the Gold meal plan, I’m allotted 75 flex meals to accompany my unlimited dining hall entries.  I think I ended last semester with a little over 60 of them in my account and unlike HawkDollars, flex meals don’t roll over. That’s 60 meals I let go to waste! So this semester I decided to use up as many of my flex meals as possible and I’ve gotta say, it’s pretty easy when you love the Food Truck as much as I do.

It’s almost been 5 weeks since I started my new round of flex meals and I’m already down to 55 of them! In that time, I’ve made it my goal to try new things from the food truck and make assessments on which meals I thought were the best. After all, it’s kinda free so why not? Also, every item on the menu is available for purchase if you’re someone who doesn’t have flex meals or HawkDollars to spare. However, if you’re a student who doesn’t have a meal plan, I would highly recommend getting together with a friend who does and using one of their flex meals (unless of course they don’t want you to, but I know I’m always down to share☺️)

Now, I’m no food critic and I still have yet to try everything on the menu, but below are some of my opinions on what I think is the best food the University has to offer.

Menu

 

My Top Picks

BBQ BACON CHEESEBURGER

It’s no secret that this is the truck’s most popular item. I’ll be waiting in line for my meal and notice that a majority of food being called out the window is this one – but for good reason!

First of all, it’s got bacon and barbecue sauce on it so is there honestly anything else to say? I’m always on the lookout for good burgers and especially love the fried onion strings on this one. They also top it with cheddar cheese, 2 pickles, a tomato, and lettuce. I pretty much always get the cookies and chips as my two sides.

 

 

GARDEN VEGGIE BURGER

This semester I decided to become a little more health conscience and even though I’m sure there’s not much difference in calories between a regular burger and a veggie burger, I still feel a little better about my health after eating it. I’ve always been super willing to try new dishes and the Food Truck’s veggie burger pleasantly surprised me! They alternate the types of food, but there’s always at least one vegetarian option on the menu.

The patty is primarily made out of broccoli and it actually has a decent flavor. On the rest of the burger, you can choose to have lettuce, tomato, pickles, cheddar cheese, a tasty black bean spread, or of course, all of the above.

The only downsides to getting this sandwich are that since it’s not as popular as the actual burger, it takes a while for the cooks to get it out the window (same goes for the wrap I mention later) and the patty itself falls apart really easily. However, I don’t necessarily see this as a negative thing. The little crumbles that fall out clean up really well with the fresh potato chips 🙂

 

CHICKEN TACOS

Every day, the truck likes to feature an item that’s not on the menu, and one day I was lucky enough to catch these chicken tacos. In this meal, you get two tacos and although they look small, they’ll make up for it in deliciously fresh flavors. They’re made with traditional tortilla shells, which provides a unique aspect to this meal, especially for someone like me who has gotten used to Americanized taco shells and tortillas the size of my face.

I’ve only ever seen these as the special once, however, the truck now features Chorizo Tacos on their main menu. Chorizo is highly seasoned, ground up pork sausage and if you’re into spicy tacos, then these are for you.

 

FALAFEL WRAP

Finally, my favorite, the falafel wrap. If you would’ve told me last year that I’d be eating this just about every single day in college, I wouldn’t even be able to tell you the first thing about falafel let alone think I’d ever try it and like it.

Falafel, as it is defined by Google, is “a Middle Eastern dish of spiced mashed chickpeas or other pulses formed into balls or fritters and deep-fried, usually eaten with or in pita bread”. Inside the Food Truck’s wrap, the falafel is topped off with cucumbers, a pickled slaw, a creamy feta spread, and hummus. This is the other vegetarian menu item that gets swapped out with the veggie burger and these two are honestly the only things I eat for lunch anymore.

This image isn’t the best because if you look closely enough, you’ll see I got a little impatient and took a bite out of it before I could snap a picture (sorry, not sorry). And although you do get the choice of a chocolate chip cookie for a side, you probably won’t ever get DeLuxe bakery cookies with your meal. The day I got this wrap also happened to be Valentine’s day and this bakery was handing away free goodies right next to the truck so obviously I had to get one!

Again, I’m not an expert, this is just my personal opinion. I’m still going to make it my goal to try everything before the end of the semester and if I happen to find a new favorite (which is unlikely) you’ll be the first to hear about it 🙂

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As always, thanks for reading! Keep making sure to check out my social media for more of my daily life on campus and, of course, my page on the Admission’s website. I’m really close to earning my next digital metal, so even though it’s the same exact content, every view still counts!

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@rachel_crack

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Views: From My Roommate

For this week’s post, I wanted to switch it up and give my readers a different point of view. My experience as a Hawkeye has been super great, but there are just some things that I have little to no experience with and figured I’d find someone to give insight on any unanswered questions. I didn’t have to go too far and just asked my roommate about her own experiences with things like changing your major, joining a sorority, and learning another language- all things that I haven’t really experienced in my time at Iowa.  So without further adieu, here’s Celia!

Class: Freshman, 2020

Major: Double major in French and International Relations

Minor: Translation in a Global context

 

 

 

 

 

What’s your favorite part about living on campus?

The best thing about living on campus is probably having the ability to walk literally everywhere, especially to my job downtown. Also, our room is really cute and cozy. It was so much fun planning out our room and whenever I get back from classes or work I feel so happy to live in such an adorable place.

 

Our hall, Currier, is also super great because it’s got really nice, quiet study spaces and even a fitness center. Currier is also the oldest dorm on campus so it feels really homey. My grandma lived here back when the hall was just for girls and I think that’s really cool too.

 

 

 

What is your favorite place to eat on campus?

The food truck! The food there, in general, is just so much better than the dining hall because they make it fresh for you right there. I have the black meal plan so I use my flex meals to get this food, and I would highly recommend it to anyone. The truck is always outside but even when it’s extremely cold, it’s worth the wait. I usually get the chicken sandwich and I swear, I could get lost in the sauce. My boyfriend and I get lunch together here all the time and eat inside Pappajohn business building when it’s cold. I can’t wait until it gets nice enough outside so we can sit at the picnic tables behind the truck.

 

Do you like your class schedule this semester?

I like my class schedule. I was in an off cycle course for Introduction to International studies and when I started that class, I decided that I officially wanted to switch my major from International relations to International Studies. I ended up dropping my class for international relations because it was boring and I didn’t see the point of taking it if it wasn’t a part of my major anymore. I used to think that dropping classes was looked down upon and would make you look bad on your transcript, but it’s not like that at all. It’s completely normal to drop classes, so don’t feel weird about doing it if you’re not enjoying a class and/or it’s no longer relevant to your major.

I’m also in Elementary Italian 2, which is easy for me because I already speak French and I’ve made a really a good friend in the class too so it’s a pretty enjoyable course. This is my first time learning Italian and I chose to take it because I want to be able to speak French, Italian, and Spanish eventually. I figured Italian would be a good transition into Spanish because honestly, Spanish is a language that really intimidates me. My high school’s curriculum for it was rigorous and all of my friends taking it would constantly complain about how difficult it was.

My other classes are French Speaking Cultures, Rhetoric, and a couple of off-cycle classes that haven’t started yet. Rhetoric is fine. My professor is pretty funny but I don’t really like analyzing texts and writing speeches, so it’s definitely not my favorite class but it’s a required gen-ed so I’m just gonna push through.

Since I took 3 and a half years of French in high school and studied abroad for 6 months before coming to college, and I’m pretty fluent. French Speaking Cultures is a 3000 level French class and the material focuses on the cultures of countries that speak the language besides French. Every now and then I’ll FaceTime my host family from when I lived there so that I can catch up with them and practice my speaking skills!

 

Are you involved in anything outside of your academics?

This semester, I got a job at a new coffee shop and cafe called Cortado. You might’ve seen it in Rachel’s previous blog post and I love working there so much! My boss is super cool, my coworkers are nice, and now I know a lot more about coffee because everyone was so willing to teach me.

I also decided I wanted to join a sorority this semester. I really did not want to go through the formal recruitment process after hearing about how intense it is, so informal second semester was perfect for me. Going into it, I already knew that I was really interested in Alpha Chi Omega and they happened to be participating in informal so I took the initiative and emailed their VP of recruitment to get more information. She emailed me back right away and told me that they were having an informal recruitment event, so I attended that and there, they showed us the house, I got to talk with a lot of the girls, got to learn about their philanthropy, volunteer work, and what they do for sisterhood. It was all very overwhelming, even for being a process that was supposed to be simpler than formal recruitment but I’m so glad that I did it because after learning more about them, I found myself loving this group even more than I thought I would. I ended up receiving a bid from ΑΧΩ earlier this week and I’m so excited to become a part of this sisterhood!

 

After living in a dorm room for a little over 6 months, what’s it like living with your roommate? 😉 🙂 🙂

I love living with my roommate!! She’s awesome and it’s always a party in S216. We’ve never had a single fight or argument and it’s always super chill. Except, I find myself falling asleep with the lights on every once in a while because her sleep schedule is never consistent but I honestly couldn’t care less cause that doesn’t really affect my life. We’re both really into makeup and have a very similar sense of style so we’re always sharing and just generally have a great time with one another.

 

As always, thanks for reading! Make sure to check out my personal blog and other social media accounts if you’d like 🙂

freshhawk.wordpress.com

@rachel_crack

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Getting Cozy at Iowa

If you’re familiar with the weather patterns of this fabulous state, you know that you need to be prepared for anything. One morning in the winter, you could wake up to sunny skies and temperatures high in the 40s to 50s with the hopes of having a decent walk to your classes on campus. But wait! Just kidding! As soon as you leave your afternoon lecture, you see that there’s a torrential downpour and realize you’ve left your umbrella in your closet. Again.

As an Iowa native, I’ve come to terms with the inconsistency of our climate but I still find myself in the worst situations with this weather. You’d think by now I’d learn to check my weather app before leaving my room (or even take a peek out the window), but when I’m running late to class, that’s the last thing on my mind.

Lately, it’s been extremely cold on campus. Not necessarily snowy or rainy, just nasty, the-air-hurts-my-face cold. I’m generally very chilly at all times, even in heated buildings, so when it comes to getting cozy, I feel like I know a thing or two.

First, there are the obvious things like sweaters, fuzzy socks, and fleece-lined leggings to get me through a cold day, but I’ve found that having the right outerwear really makes a difference.

In high school, I remember always going for the “cuter” option when running out of the house in the winter. My outerwear usually involved wearing a sweatshirt, the knit sweater I was wearing with my outfit already, or no coat at all. I realize now that this was a really dumb move on my part, and is probably why my knuckles would get so dry that they bled from not wearing gloves. However, thinking back on it now, I had the luxury of a vehicle for transportation to and from my education and now all I’ve got is a crowded cambus (if I’m lucky) and whatever I put on myself.

Since the winter of my senior year, I’ve started to care less about how cute I looked in my outerwear and began to focus on comfort and warmth. For Christmas that year, the majority of my gifts were things to help prepare me for walking to class in the cold and they’ve honestly saved my life (that might be a little dramatic, but it feels too true).

I was going to make a post before the Holidays explaining all the things you should put on your wish-list in order to prepare for college in the midwest, but shopping for outerwear right now is more ideal. Most stores are putting all of their coats on sale in order to prepare for spring so get out there and catch those deals on these necessities while you still can!

Parka

First, you NEED to have a winter coat that goes below your waist. I’ve felt so #blessed to be warm all they way down to my knees while walking to class, and I know I’m not the only one who owns a long, down-filled coat who feels this way. All of my outerwear is from a Banana Republic outlet store so unfortunately, they’re not available anymore. However, I’ve done some research and found some similar products for you guys to check out if you haven’t done your college-winter-wear shopping yet! This mid-length one from Columbia looks just like mine, and is on sale right now, too!

WOMEN’S SNOW ECLIPSE™ MID JACKET

Rain Coat

Although this item won’t particularly help with warmth, it’ll surely come in handy on those days when you actually know it’s going to be raining. Finding a super cute raincoat is great for the spring and rainy fall days. I like mine so much I often layer it to give more dimension to some of my outfits. This one from Macy’s is on sale right now and I love the fitted waist.

Style & Co. Hooded Anorak Jacket

 

 

 

Vest

Including a lined vest in my college wardrobe made for a really great piece to layer with any outfit. In the fall, I found myself pairing this with simple long sleeved t-shirts, but it also looks extremely cute on top of flannels. This is a piece you can dress-up, dress-down, and layer on top of or underneath virtually anything. I actually think this one from Abercrombie is cuter than mine and I’m seriously considering purchasing this one for myself!

FLEECE QUILTED VEST

Snow Boots

Alright, now, this is the perfect example of why practicality and comfort sometimes need to be put above style. It gets really slick and snowy here in Iowa, so having a durable pair of snowshoes to put on before walking to class is 100% essential. These Totes boots are lined with a warm, fluffy, fabric and never fail to keep my toes warm.

TOTES ELLEN SHOW BOOTS

Rain Boots

As cute as Hunter rainboots are, they can get pretty pricey. My mom is the queen of finding good deals and introduced me to these adorable rain boots by the brand Chooka and they come at such a great price. The brown accents make these black boots easy to pair with any outfit and I love them so much!

Chooka Top Solid Rain Boot

Gloves, Scarves, ETC.

The additional accessories I include in my walking attire are almost as important as the big pieces, I think. I’m a huge fan of hats and beanies so when I randomly found this sparkly, knit IOWA hat at my local HyVee grocery store, I couldn’t help myself. I love when I’m shopping and little, unexpected surprises like that catch my eye.

Socks have recently become a huge obsession of mine and I love incorporating cute crew socks with my sneakers in order to keep my ankles warm. These were gifted to me by a friend, but you can find knit crew socks literally anywhere.

You can’t really tell, but the huge knit scarf I’m wearing is from Old Navy. They sell really nice, cheap scarves and so do places like The Gap and Target.

Finally, the gloves I’m wearing were gifted to me by my boyfriend’s mom and I couldn’t be more thankful for them! They’re a really nice, heavy duty pair from the brand Isotoner with touch screen finger tips and lined with fleece on the inside. Investing in quality gloves will save your hands from the harsh winter air and these have been such a great addition to my daily winter wear.

Isotoner Women’s Nylon SmarTouch Winter Texting Gloves in Concord Grape

 

 

 

 

Of course, the final thing I use to get cozy in the winter is a nice cup of coffee. A new coffee shop just opened up on Clinton street, called Cortado, and I absolutely love it.

My roommate, Celia, works here and I always visit her when she’s got a shift. The atmosphere is incredible, the prices are similar to (or often cheaper than) Starbucks and it’s closer to the heart of campus than Starbucks, too (therefore, less time walking in the cold). They sell a variety of coffee, pastries and even have a breakfast and lunch menu. My favorite drink is the Mochaccino, but I’ve also gotten the caramel latte a few times and indulged in a chocolate espresso muffin one morning.

Hours: 7:00 AM – 6:00 PM

 

Thank you for reading and I hope this helps to make some of you a little bit cozier on campus this winter 🙂 As always, make sure to check out my personal blog and social media!

 

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@rachel_crack

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Views: Friday

Welcome to second semester, Hawkeyes! Now that syllabus week is officially over, it’s time to start dealing with our responsibilities again and I don’t know about you, but I’m ready.

Due to winter break and in the spirit of having zero responsibilities while being at home, I chose to take the whole month off for blogging. Although, I’m so excited to be writing again! With my schedule this semester and all of the future blog posts I have planned, I’m going to be the most productive I think I’ve ever been in my academic career so brace yourself.

While planning my schedule for my second semester at Iowa, I decided to make it a priority that every morning would be an early one. Every Thursday last Fall, I had an 8:30 AM discussion. I know it sounds terrible, but on these days, I found myself being more productive throughout the day -in comparison to the four other days of the week where I primarily had evening classes- and realized that I could (maybe) become a morning person.

As far as classes go, it was pretty easy to decide what I wanted to take. This semester I’m working on knocking out my General Education requirements and the necessary classes for my major. I’m studying Communications so I was required to take Interpersonal Communications as one of the three main classes and I’m really enjoying it! My other three classes, besides choir, are gen-eds so after this sem
ester I’ll be completely finished with them and have the ability to take more major-focused classes!

Another thing I also strategically planned in my schedule was Friday. When creating my class schedule at orientation, I had no idea that I could completely avoid scheduling Friday classes. I know of a lot of students who do this so that there’s an extra night in their weekend to go out (which is a valid reason) but I made my schedule this way so that I could have Fridays as my catch-up day, chill-day, sleep-in-day, blog-day, and basically whatever I want it to be.

So as far as what I did this Friday, I slept in until 11 AM, went to Starbucks to get some work done on my homework for Monday, created a new playlist for this semester and wrote this blog post. Not to mention listening to Flawless by Beyonce while getting ready and experimenting with dark circle reducing masks (they didn’t work).

My playlist on for this semester so far includes a lot of Jon Bellion, La La Land and generally upbeat music for a few reasons. I’m seeing Jon and 21 Pilots in concert later this month with my friends and I’m SO excited about it. Over break, I saw the film La La Land three times (yes. three times.) and I’ve got the whole soundtrack on repeat when I’m just walking to class or honestly whenever. And then recently, I’ve been going to the gym in the afternoon about four days a week and I’m very into cardio so upbeat music is important. I’m thinking about making a more fitness-related post in the next few months as my routine becomes more consistent but for now, I’ve got (what I think is a really good) playlist for running on my Spotify if you’d like to take a listen to that the next time you do your workout too! 🎶

The day isn’t over, but I’m just excited to have more time in my week to just get things done and be more productive than ever. I can’t wait to see what else I come up with on Fridays, and I hope my readers feel the same 🙂

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Thanks for reading and make sure to check out my personal blog and other social media too!

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@rachel_crack

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Gift Giving in Iowa City

In the midst of studying for finals, I realized that my window for buying my friends and family gifts in Iowa City was slowly closing. Next week, my last final is Wednesday morning and I plan on leaving town ASAP. Since I plan on basically living in the library whenever I’m not taking finals, that doesn’t leave too much time for me to do holiday shopping those two days before leaving

I decided to treat myself to a study break yesterday afternoon and participate in one of my favorite stress relievers: shopping. I’m a huge fan of finding cute local shops in any town and two of my favorites in Iowa City are White Rabbit and Raygun. There’s plenty of other fun shops in town like Tailgate, Catherine’s, and Revival, but I always seem to find something I like in these two specific stores.

Here’s a look into two of the best places to get gifts for your loved ones while you’re still in town!

If I had to pick a favorite out of my top two shops, it’d be White Rabbit. This adorable little shop has a wide variety of items from vintage clothing to the hottest trends, local hand-made gifts, decor, men and women’s apparel and even children’s clothes. It gives off intense Urban Outfitters vibes and definitely has something for everyone. There are so many great items I had to do two laps through the store just to make sure I was seeing everything before I made my purchase.

The pictures I took were basically of the clothing in the store but there’s tons of little knick-knacks like keychains, pins and adorable iron-on patches sold in there, too. I love getting gifts for people from shops like this one because they won’t be able to get any of the items at home which makes the gift extra special. White Rabbit accommodates to a lot of different tastes and is sure to have something for your best friend or girlfriend (and honestly, yourself too). There’s even a small selection of men and unisex clothing! If you live in Iowa City and haven’t visited this store yet, I’m challenging you to do so before the semester is over. Not only because they’ve adorned the store with the cutest Christmas decorations, but because it’ll most likely be your one-stop shop for unique gifts for the holidays.

Although Raygun isn’t exclusive to Iowa City, that doesn’t mean you aren’t going to find some of the most unique gifts for your friends (or family)(or whoever) there this holiday season when you shop downtown. They sell an abundance of things ranging from office supplies to t-shirts and yes, they have a children’s selection too. Raygun carries fun, Iowa-related items that anyone in your family will enjoy. Their prices range from $1 to $85 so you’re bound to find something within a reasonable price range

 

 

I decided not to share what I bought because that would completely spoil the surprise for my friends! But wherever you decide to shop for your friends and family this holiday season, I’m sure you’ll find great gifts 🙂 I just know that White Rabbit and Raygun both have an outstanding selection of reasonably priced unique gifts for any of my friends and family members so I definitely made sure to be hit them up before heading home after finals. 🎁

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http://whiterabbitgallery.com

https://www.raygunsite.com

 

Coming Home

It’s been a while so we’ve got some catching up to do 😉

Last week, I came home for TEN whole days for Thanksgiving break and it was much needed. During that time, I slept, visited my friends from home and those who were home for break, slept some more, went shopping until 2 AM, and cuddled with my favorite pup.

With only two weeks left of this semester for me, I’ve got quite a few things left to do. BUT I had the opportunity to forget about all my academic responsibilities for a whole week and loved every minute of it.

I counted up, and I’ve visited home on the weekends a total of two times before Thanksgiving break and I think that’s pretty healthy. The homesickness really isn’t that bad for me, though, because my family only lives 45 minutes away so they actually come up here often. I get to see my parents and sisters a whole bunch so the only people I really miss are my grandparents, friends, and dog, Jake. He’s a Goldendoodle and his hugs fix everything so not having him around when I’m stressed was hard for me at first.

As far as activities go, I did quite a few things over break. Every year, my high school choir performs carols at the Festival of Trees and it was extremely weird to be sitting in the audience after being on that stage for three years. Although I wasn’t too moody that I couldn’t jam along to every carol in my seat. Pleasant Valley choir and its students and directors will always have a very special place in my heart. Here’s a picture I took with my best friend, Cate, post-concert 🎄

After Festival of Trees, I had lunch with some of the other choir alums- including Celia, and my friends Claire and Michael. My favorite thing about coming home is feeling appreciated by all of the people around you in a familiar place, again. Sure school is great, and my friends here are wonderful but just taking the time to talk to people who genuinely care about me is so heartwarming.

I spent the next few days just lying around and being lazy, because I finally could, and didn’t do much of anything besides visiting some more friends and cuddle with my puppy.

Thanksgiving was held at our house and I ate with my parents, two sisters, and grandparents. Mom and Dad make the best food on any normal night, so I, being deprived of a homecooked meal for weeks, was living for Thanksgiving dinner. My little sister, Nicci, is quite the baker and for desert, she made apple pie with a crust completely made out of cinnamon rolls. I wish I would’ve saved the pictures I took of it because this pie was absolutely beautiful and tasted even better. I know Thanksgiving is over, but if you’re wanting to make your for the holidays or just own just for fun, here’s the recipe she used! Cinnamon Roll Apple Pie

Later that evening I went Black Friday shopping with my sisters and friend, Lauren, to the mall and had such a great time. We only stayed at the mall for a few hours but made sure to stop at Atomic Coffee before the night was over to get our caffeine in.

The next day, mom and I decided to shop small and went to a super cute boutique we saw on our local news station. Katsch is located fairly close to my hometown in Geneseo, Illinois and it is the cutest boutique I have ever seen. It looked as if it was a shop made entirely of my pins on Pinterest, so it’s no wonder I fell in love. They sell a variety of things from gifts to home decor and  jewelry, along with women’s apparel and even children’s clothes. Here’s their online store and a few pictures I snapped while in there last Friday! Katsch: Women’s Fashion and Home Decor


Before returning home, I had to pick up some festive decorations for the dorm, though!! Celia and I decided not to invest in a Christmas tree this year simply because we’ll only be at school for two more weeks so it’d probably be a waste. But I couldn’t go without updating a few things first. I switched out our autumn daisies for a little glitterier bouquet, added gold tinsel to the lights under our beds and added other subtle festive decorations seen below:

 

 

I can’t believe this semester is coming to an end so quickly. When I put it into perspective, I really only have two written assignments and two exams standing in the way of my month-long freedom. The thought of Winter Break is the only thing motivating me these next 14 days and I’m pretty sure I can make it through (not positive yet, but we’ll see).

Make sure to keep visiting my personal blog! Here I am 🙂 freshhawk.wordpress.com

Views: 11/11

These last few weeks have been a little hectic for me. From being able to participate in my first presidential election to signing a lease for an apartment, getting a job, and balancing school work, I’m ready to just slow down and have Thanksgiving break.

This week, I thought I’d share some of the things I’ve seen around campus post-election and during my usual Friday activities.


For lunch, I decided to try out the River Room Cafe on the main floor of the IMU. It’s right past the Memorial Union Hotel and kinda tucked away in the back of the building. My friend, Liz, told me about it and said that they have a pasta bar and stir-fry bar available for Flex Meals. I was intrigued. I had a really long period of time between my two classes of the day and figured, why not try something new?

 

Instead of taking the easy way back to my room, I chose to walk past the Pentacrest and Old Capitol building since it was so beautiful outside. I started to look around and just take the beauty of the day in when I noticed something beneath my feet. I usually see chalk written on the sidewalk promoting events or student organizations. But with it being only two days after the election, these little markings appeared.

I will say that I’m not very happy with the results and quite honestly don’t wish to talk about it. I’m just glad that these people are bringing awareness to important ideologies as the people of our nation, and Iowa City, try to cope with the results. There was also a peaceful protest that occurred Friday evening where students and Iowa City residents marched the streets to the interstate. I would’ve probably participated if I knew the event was happening. Whether I participated in these events or not, I’m just glad people are standing up for themselves and what they believe in.

Now,  I know this post has been delayed and it’s cause things are just a little too hectic for me right now. I’ve been trying to finish two major papers and a 40-minute presentation these past two weeks and it’s been a struggle to come up with anything creative to write or even have the time to do it. I love blogging and can’t wait to get back to a regular schedule of writing fun things for you guys to read but I really want to be comfortable with my time management, first.

So again, sorry for the delay but I hope you all have had a fantastic last few weeks and have a happy Thanksgiving break 🙂

 

Personal Blog

Views: Friendship and LLCs

I think one of the most comforting things about registering for school was picking out my top Living Learning Communities. These specialized groups promise to have students with similar interests and classes living on your residence hall floor; all really great ideas in theory. Although I do live with like-minded music people on the second floor of Currier and I do have at least two neighbors who I share classes with, I haven’t completely felt the sense of community with my floor as I was expecting to by the 11th week.

My LLC is JAM (Just About Music) and the only time my whole floor has ever been together in the same room was on one of the first few days of school for what I think was a mandatory orientation thing. Besides this instance, I’ve only ever interacted with the people on my floor when On Iowa was happening. I’m not sure how it worked for other floors and LLCs, but my On Iowa group was made up of a small group strictly from JAM. I thought that On Iowa was a great tool for learning more about the people who were going to be living near me. However, nearly three months later, the information I learned about my neighbors in that mandatory meeting ended up being the only information I know about them.

I know the names of the girls who live by me-Lauren, Rachel, Kaitlyn, and Jessie- but I’ve barely even spoken to them. The most we’ve communicated is by maybe following each other back on Snapchat and Instagram. I probably wouldn’t recognize anyone who lives on this floor and wasn’t in my On Iowa small group just simply cause our LCC hasn’t done much together. It’s probably also my fault for not willingly introducing myself to my neighbors but they haven’t done that either so…

I did attend an event that my RA set up for our floor, but only because we were taking a trip to Molly’s Cupcakes for free treats. I also know that Noelle, my RA, sets up little crafting events for us every now and then so I’m definitely given the opportunity to branch out and make new friends but I just haven’t yet. And now that the school year is nearly halfway over, I’m starting to feel like it’s too late.

I’ve barely made any friends here. I had hopes that my LLC would at least help me to connect with people, but it hasn’t. I have the biggest friend crush on the two girls who live across the hall from me, but we never actually communicate with each other. I want to be friends with these girls so bad and have actually gone to the lengths of following them on social media, but I’m too shy to ever ask them to hang out.

Don’t worry, I know all of this is my fault. I’ve been wanting to be friends with them for plenty of weeks now but I kept telling myself “Oh, you’ll talk to them eventually” and “Don’t stress about it, they might talk to you one day” only procrastinating it and now I feel like its too late.

I think about this frequently, and realize that I’m the only one to blame when I complain about not having any friends here. I start to feel regret for not being involved in a sorority or more activities or for not having a job. A lot of “what-ifs” pop into my head and I begin to question how to even make friends in this environment. I have had the same friends for basically all of my life and now, in college, I have to learn how to be a stranger to people again. It’s weird and I’m not used to it.

All of the people I talk to on a daily basis are friends I’ve met in high school. My boyfriend, roommate, and roommate’s boyfriend all graduated with me and these are the people I’m with every day. And those other kids I went to high school with, nearly 60 of them, don’t really talk to me anymore. I do have a few high school friends that communicate with me and ask me to hang out, but it’s quite rare since most all of them have new college friends now.

I knew this was going to be a problem for me because I like to do whatever is the most comfortable for me. I rarely ever break out of my shell in new environments, but I know with time I’ll be okay. As the days go by, I find myself talking to more and more people in my classes and making new connections so that’s good. I’ve tried reaching out to the people I do know here to help me and Celia find a third roommate for the three bedroom apartment we’re trying to live in next year and it’s going well. I just have to stay positive and hope for the best.

So don’t get your hopes up when applying for an LLC. If you know you’re a little shy like me, it’s going to be pretty hard to get to know your neighbors if you don’t put yourself out there. Trust me, I know that being brave and just introducing yourself to your neighbors is easier said than done. But as long as you’ve got a great roommate and at least a few people in your life here that make you happy, you’ll be okay.

Make sure to keep checking out my personal blog for more content and pictures! https://freshhawk.wordpress.com

Last Minute Halloween Costumes

Nothing is scarier than the thought of being unprepared for Halloween. Finding costumes to wear all three nights in a row may get a little challenging and now that Thursday has passed, we’re already one day into “Halloweekend”. As the last few hours of the week come to an end, you might find that you don’t have enough time (or, honestly, the money) to stop at Ragstock downtown. In today’s post, I’ll show you three costumes you can easily re-create with items you probably already have in your closet.

This first idea is definitely the laziest (yet most genius) costume idea you’ll ever see. My youngest sister Nicci went as her own Sim avatar last year for Halloween and helped inspire this look. Pair one of these diamond headbands with virtually ANY outfit and you’re instantly a Sim! Here’s how I made mine:

First of all, I made this accessory very informally. I estimated all of the measurements and even cut up the pieces of paper from a job application form I wasn’t going to use #recycling

But for the first step, cut up 10 isosceles triangles. Unlike the picture above, 12 triangles did not work for me so I had to get rid of tw0. I then colored them with a random permanent marker I found inside my desk but you could absolutely just use a regular marker or crayon. Take half of the triangles you’ve cut and tape them together five in a row to make the shape pictured above. You should have two of these. Add a final strip of tape to each of these large pieces to close up the ends. Next, tape the two larger triangles (the top and bottom halves of the final product) together. Connect it to a headband and you’re done!

Take half of the triangles you’ve cut and tape them together five in a row to make the shape pictured above. You should have two of these. Add a final strip of tape to each of these large pieces to close up the ends. Next, tape the two bottomless triangular pyramids together. Connect it to a headband and you’re done!

 

Although the next, and final, two costumes require a friend, they’re made up of some of the most basic pieces and colors any wardrobe could have. By just taking a sharpie, some notecards and a few pieces of string, I created name tags for “Netflix and Chill” and “Peanut Butter and Jelly” costumes.

img_1971  img_1970

These can easily be put together with even simpler clothes like T-shirts and leggings, but adding color coordinating lipstick and a beanie to the “Chill” costume will add a more personal touch to the overall look.

I only plan on dressing up once for Halloween this year but if I end up celebrating again, I’ll definitely rely on some of these looks to get me by for the evening! Hopefully, I’ve inspired a few of you to re-create these looks and regardless of whether you do wear them or not, I wish you all a Happy Halloween!! 👻