College Girl Problems: Textbooks are so expensive!

As another semester draws close, many students are searching for the cheapest prices on textbooks. While tuition and boarding may already be paid, textbooks are another huge expense, especially in some of the more extensive classes.

So, here I am to show you how I have been working on finding the cheapest textbooks so that my parents will have fewer expenses. Because, you know, that's always nice.

Manicure Monday: New Year's Nails

I wasn't really sure what to do with my nails for New Year's. I wanted to have orange, but I only had one orange that wasn't neon, CG Riveting. How am I supposed to make a color like that be New Year's acceptable?

 So, there was my solution. Striping tape + glitter = eh. I did matte on my ring finger, but it didn't come out very well. 

Read after the jump to see how I fixed it-->

Sleepy Saturday: Unbroken

I'm not typically one to read nonfiction books. I usually like to stick to fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, and the like. So, in short, this book was a little out of my usual genres.

My mom came to me after she'd read Unbroken and told me I needed to read it. I'd done a research project on internment camps in America during World War II and presented on the cruelties on American citizens of different nationalities. Unbroken is a story of the other side, about the bombardier on the plane The Green Hornet--Louis Zamperini--and how he is captured by Japanese forces, imprisoned, and later freed.

The Rundown:
Violence: This is a war story, so expect some deaths, injuries, etc. Fellow pilots and flight crew die. While imprisoned, Zamperini is beaten, starved, and tortured. After freedom, he has murderous thoughts over his captors.
Swearing: I don't remember much anything other than damn, hell, and a few other milder words that some people may find offensive. It isn't overwhelming.
Sexual Content: Not a worry, though men in barracks together during flight training post pictures of women on their bathroom walls.

Manicure Monday: Christmas Nails

I know, once again I'm a day late. I meant to do this last night after the Christmas Eve service at church, but that didn't happen, obviously. 

So, here's for the fashionistas and beauty queens. I love to do my nails. Those who know me know my nail polish collection is overflowing, and if they want a color, I probably have it. If you see me without at least clear nail polish on my nails, it's a rare sight, usually when I took off some manicure and didn't have the time to do another one. The bare nails usually disappear within a few hours.

For this Christmas, I used China Glaze Ruby Red Pumps as my base on all nails. I then used CG White on White to stamp snowflakes (not sure what brand stamps I have, not one of the big name ones.) and used striping tape for candy canes on my ring fingers. The picture is after about a week of wear and tear, since I didn't actually get around to a picture until then. :)

Picture and comments after the jump.

Sleepy Saturday a Day Late: Insurgent

So, I kinda thought I put book reviews on Sunday, not Saturday. Oh well, better late than never! 

This particular post is a follow-up of last week's book review on Divergent. This week, I bring you Insurgent. This book was gut-wrenching, dramatic, psychotic, and wonderful. 

The Rundown:

Violence: A lot of bodies and deaths of major/side characters. Life-and-death situations.

Swearing: Similar to Divergent: idiot, Stiff, jerk, etc

Romance: Stronger than Divergent: Tris and Tobias passionately kiss, sometimes in front of others.

College Girl Problems: I Don't Know How to Study

Despite being a straight-A student in high school, I actually had this problem when I first got to college, and occasionally throughout the first full time semester, and when I've asked some other straight-A students, they could relate. I almost never had to study in high school, with a few rare exceptions such as geometry and history. I either got it or I didn't. In college, you learn twice as much information in a semester. In my major, biology, memorization is key. I had to learn how to learn the information and retain it longer than past the quiz. Here's a few tips I've picked up over the last few months.

Tips for the Aspiring Writers

I have been writing stories since I was young. When I was in third grade, I wrote a short story three times as long as it was supposed to be. I wouldn't call myself a world class novelist, though. Over the last few years, this love of writing has been cultured, especially through one specific event.

NaNoWriMo

For the last three Novembers, I have participated in what is called National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. During this month, participants attempt to write a novel, or 50,000 words, in 30 days. This feat requires about 1,667 words on average every day. (To give you a general idea of the length, the average double-spaced three page essay is around 600-800 words.)