Her Musings: Hall _HO_ween

Happy Halloween! Well official Halloween, for college students Halloween is the Friday and Saturday before, regardless of what the calendar says. I would like to start this post with a little poem I wrote last week in the student union:

Tis the Thursday before all Hallow's Eve and all through the streets. 

The conversations don't surround neither tricks nor treats

All the girls are buzzing and dying to know

What's the best way to dress like a ho'?

There are heels to find and fishnets to buy 

Because you can't be a cat without a skirt that's thigh high

The stores a cleared of red lace and pleather

Because it's much less skanky if you all do it together!

Let's be honest, I don't think I ever lose respect more for my age and gender than on Halloween. I mean is it one of my favorite holidays? DUH! But every year I feel like girls in college are pushing the envelope and in a secret contest of who can show the most skin. Let be honest, Mean Girls said it all!

 

"I'm a mouse, DUH"

I just almost don't know how it even got to this point. I was in Target with my friend Natalie on Friday and there were ADORABLE costumes in the front. And I made the comment " It's sad how the costumes for girls never get any bigger as we grow up." Don't believe me?

Cute Snow White VS  Skanky Snow White

         


    Cute Little Girl Cat VS Sexy Kitten









And it is not just the level of sluttiness in today's costumes that perplex me, it's the ridiculousness of what we choose to make sexy. In writing this post I looked up costumes on some websites and low and behold what I found:

Sexy Hulk Hogan: Now, I know boy everywhere have fond memories of wrestling and legendary Hulk Hogan. But when they were crowded around the TV fantasizing about being a pro wrestler... they were NOT fantasizing about one day banging the wrestler.

Sexy Tigger: Tigger was my favorite cartoon growing up, this picture made me mourn my childhood in one sweep.

Sexy Panda: Pandas are the most adorable things in the world and should not be made sexy. End of story.

Sexy CHEWBACCA: Yes, that is a slutty CHEWBACCA costume. How the hell do you make that sexy? If you have a thing for nerds and know they love Star Wars, then go as slave Princess Leia. Chewy is not hot. And will never be hot no matter how many times your guy has seen Return of the Jedi.

Now I don't want to be a hipocrite. I too have worn costumes that were tighter than the average outfit. But I keep it to a point that if I ran into my 80 year old christian Grandma, she wouldn't throw holy water on me and then proceed to go into cardiac arrest.

I don't mind sexy costumes, because hey, if you can rock it more power to you. I just like CREATIVE sexy costumes or costumes that you made. And to put my money where my mouth is, this was my "sexy" costume.

Yes I was beloved 90's toy Bop It and second night I was a ninja turtle with some of my sorority sisters.

My costumes were cute and flattering but they were homemade and creative. And I got TONS of compliments, especially on Bop It. And the best part is that when THIS STORM HIT...

...I was warm--well not warm but I was definitely not as cold as the sexy bunnies in fishnets and heels I saw walk by.

So things to take away:

-REALLY Think about what your costume says about you
-Don't kill your Grandma
-Is being 'hott' really worth frostbite?
-DON'T ever ask to see your future daughter's halloween pictures in College. Because most likely you won't want to know.

Happy HALLOWEEN everyone!

Her Recipes: Smoothie Sailing

When I first started reading healthy blogs, I noticed that many of them were fans of smoothies. Now I have always loved smoothies and milkshakes but I never could have guessed that any of them had would have any nutritional value. The most popular smoothies are breakfast smoothies that use, believe it or not, Spinach.

What.. the...Popeye? Spinach? For breakfast!? Yeah that's what I thought. Spinach is one of the best things in the world for a person, it has Vitamin A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, Folate, E, C, K--basically the whole nutrition alphabet. But no one wants to drink Spinach for breakfast. The main recipe I found is called the Green Monster:

The green monster has a lot different recipes, all loosely the same but here is mine:

2 Handfuls of Spinach

1 Cup of Light chocolate Silk Soy Milk

2 Cups of Regular Soy Milk

1 Tbspoon of Better N' Peanut Butter

1 Full Banana

4 Frozen Strawberries

Blend it all together and enjoy!

Smoothies are a college girls best friend. They were super quick to make, really filling and you can eat them on the go. A lot of times I make a few batches of them and store them and then I have a quick breakfast every morning already prepared and I can drink it on-the-go to class.

Here is a list of my favorite bloggers and all of their healthy smoothie recipes:

Peanut butter Fingers

Food Fitness Fashion

Oh She Glows

Kath Eats Real Food

Her Guest Post: Running through College

So tonight I decided to try something new. I asked my amazing friend Erika to write a guest post for me. You may remember her from the Oktoberfest 5k. She is a senior at Tufts studying Community Health and American Studies. Erika and I have been friends since we were 17 -years-old and as long as I have known her, she has been an incredible runner with amazing discipline.

Just a couple of kids

When we met at a summer program at BU in high school I would just be waking to go to class and she would be coming back from a 5 mile run.  She has kept up with her running all throughout college. Even with her intense course load and responsibilities, she never misses a run. And recently she finished another half  marathon in 1 hr 38 minutes! I always wondered how she did it. And then I decided to do a crazy thing; I asked her.

 So enjoy the post from Erika on how she stays motivated to keep running even through the stress of college!
__________________________________________________________________________________

Around 8:30 am every morning I trudge up the stairs of my classless college residence covered in sweat, dust, and whatever leaves, twigs or small creatures I accidentally kicked off the sidewalk and onto my sticky, post run legs. I feel great - my endorphins are pumping, I have about five minutes left of warmth in my body before it remembers that it’s in New England, and I know that I spent the past 45 minutes doing something great for my physical and mental wellbeing. Not even my housemates’ looks of disgust or the fact that I still have 16 hours left in my day can bring me down. Until I emerge from the shower and have scrubbed off (most of) Somerville’s street grime from my body, I am invincible.

After half marathon!

To me, that feeling alone makes everything worth it. Waking up at 7 am every morning to strap on a pair of running shoes and hit the pavement is certainly no picnic on its own, let me tell you. I’m not on the track team, I don’t have a running buddy, and none of my friends are exceptionally sporty. In fact, most of them think I’m crazy for even attempting to greet the pavement before my first cup of coffee. But I make sure to dig up motivation from somewhere inside my sleep deprived brain to do it anyway, because no matter how many excuses I will make to NOT run, the biggest reason TO run is always there: I really, truly, love it. And no amount of sleep drool on my chin or alcohol from the night before should keep me from doing what I love.

…Which is why I make sure to find a way to include a run in my daily routine. My classes start early and my daily responsibilities start earlier, which is why it’s so important to begin my day with a run so that I don’t have the “too busy” excuse to deter me from doing it later on in the day. “BUT I GO TO BED SO LATE! There’s no way I could do that!” You might say. So go to bed earlier. I can’t remember the last thing I did anything productive after 12 am. You’re going to have to be doing the same thing after you graduate anyway, so you might as well get a head start on it now and attempt to start your evolution of becoming a real person. Go for an early morning run, I promise it will feel good.* 

Erika and I at the 5k

Time also seems to be a big issue with the would-be runners of the college world. Between classes, homework, and real work (not to mention attempting to have a social life) it’s incredibly difficult to find enough “me time” to dedicate to exercise. But honestly? You can find the time if you try hard enough. If you’re 100% convinced that mornings are not your thing, (you’re fooling yourself, but also) squeeze a quick run in between studying/classes. We all take 10-minute study breaks here and there; use yours for sprint intervals rather than watching small chunks of Glee. Save time and go to class sweaty - some people may look at you and treat you like you’re an uruk-hai, but the others will respect you for your physical activity bad assery. Before I learned the wonders of 7 am, I used to go to class in my exercise clothes so that I would feel obligated to go running afterwards. It worked, too - changing out of clean running gear just feels wrong.


If it’s still an issue, you can try turning running into a social outlet. Instead of coffee dates, go for runs around campus or in your local neighborhood. True story: when my ex-boyfriend and I tried “resolving our issues” last year, we would do so on runs so that when we inevitably started fighting, we’d at least be doing something productive at the same time. While I don’t necessarily recommend that (yelling is tricky when you’re out of breath), it goes to show that conversations can easily be transferred from couches to the streets… or even side-by-side treadmills if that better suits your fancy. Running dates are the perfect pre-drinking, cash-free weekend activity - they leave you feeling great and as an extra bonus also motivate you to wash your hair should you choose to make yourself look presentable later that evening. 

So go. Off with you now. Weekday or weekend. Find whatever it is that makes you want to run, and cling to that motivation as best as you can. It could be a friend, a food you want to feel less guilty about eating, a dress size you want to achieve, a race you want to run, the simple knowledge that you can haul ass, or whatever you please… let it move you. Once that warm fuzzy rush of endorphins spreads throughout your body, it will all be worth it. 

*By the time you’re done

Her Fitness: When you can't work out

 Ever have one of those days where you're exhausted before you even get up because you have so much on that day's "To-do" list? I know I do. Sometime these days mean you should try to get in a good workout to ease some of the stress. Other days you can't even spare a minute to match your socks as well as jump on an elliptical for 45 minutes. Whenever I am faced with one of these days I know I can incorporate a few things into my routine to help ease the guilt of missing a workout:

 287 steps to the gates of the castle in prague

Stairway to Nice Legs Heaven
The main day of the week I can't workout is Wednesday. I work 9 to 5 and have class from 6 to 9. So I know at the end of that day, I am most likely not going to feel like hitting the gym. So I try to take as many stairs as possible that day.
I park on the 5th floor so I have to walk back up at the end of the day (5 flights)
I work on the 5th floor in the other tower and I usually go down and back up from the lobby twice a day (10 flights)
And the Doozy, I live on the 13th floor of my apartment building. That'll make your calves burn. (13 flights)
You burn about 10 calories per minute of ascending stairs and 7 calories per minute of descending stairs. Imagine that calories you could burn by the end of the day!




Youtube Fitness
Who wants to spend 20 bucks on a fitness DVD for a long spandex filled workout when you have Youtube filled with short home workouts you can do in your dorm. Below are a few of my personal favorites:

8- Minute Abs

 

Home Workout

 

Arm Workout

 

Leg Lift While You Work
Sometimes it's easier to kill two birds with one stone. What I like to do if I need to catch up on some major reading but need to do a good workout is I tone my legs while reading a textbook:






       
        +  

Equals Good Buns!

-A good leg lift routine I like to do is start my doing a straight leg lift for 60 seconds. Trust me you will feel the burn. 

-Then I do 30 seconds of bending your knee then lifting the leg all the way up. 

-After That I do 30 reps of lifting the leg half up-- 30 with toe pointed then 30 with foot flexed. 

-Then you take your leg up half way up and swing it to you touch your toe right in front of you and then swing it over and touch your heel behind you. Do 25 on each side for a total of fifty. You will feel it in the booty!

-Switch to the next side and do the same for  the other leg all while finishing a chapter in your textbook!

So imagine if you did these in one day... you basically just worked out without ever seeing the inside of the gym or taking time away from things you  have to do. And now that I am looking at my schedule for the week (two midterms, a research paper and prepping for a sorority event) I will most likely be doing a lot of these myself!

Question:

If you can't work out are there other things you like to try and do?

Her Career: Nailing the Interview from the First Moment

One of the first posts I did was about how to get noticed and getting your foot in the door. But that is only half the battle. Say you have done all the right things and you now have an interview with your dream company for an internship or job. An an interview is one of the scariest things you will do in college. No one likes being interrogated and judged while sitting in an uncomfortable blazer. But getting good at interviews is like getting good at anything else, practice, practice practice. Ten days ago I completed my 21st interview and it still is just as nerve-racking as the first time I did it. There is no one way to do a perfect interview because every company is looking for something different in a candidate. There are, however do's and don'ts of any interview process. Let's start with some don'ts:

Only do the stuff in the video above if living on your parents' sofa for the rest of your life is a major aspiration.

At the case of it all interviews aren't that hard. The best way to think about it is to recognize that your main job is not impress them, but to be yourself and show them how awesome you are. But here are few tips to make sure you are being your most awesomeness right from the beginning:

The interview starts from the moment you walk through the door

A lot of people think they don't have put on their professional face until they are sitting down across a conference room table from their interviewer but there are things you can do from the moment you walk in the door.

Make friends

Many times when you walk in you will be guided to a receptionist. Be very friendly. Talk to them and don't just think of them as an obstacle to your interview. A lot of times you may end up having to call the company and it's useful with the reception person remembers you. Also companies talk, and a lot of times someone may ask reception off-handedly what they thought. And if they say, " What a ****", that's not good.

Play Ispy

The most awkward moments of the interview can be the first 25 seconds. After the initial "Hi nice to meet you." The walk to the conference room can be silent and deadly awkward. So look around the office, see what they are all about; what kind of art they have on the wall, how the place in organized. Think of some topic of small chit chat to bring up. This way your interview gets off to a good start and the person instantly connects with you.

Purell and Shake

May sound weird but I always take purell with me on interviews. Nothing is grosser than shaking a clammy hand. Purell helps dry your hand up. And while on the subject of handshakes... Dive in, grip strongly without breaking something and give two strong shakes. I have two business parents and I know that nothing annoys interviewers more than a weak handshake. So before an interview find someone and ask them to shake your hand, it's a small factor but it makes a huge difference.

Now once you are in the interview room you have already made a great impression, so just breath and enjoy the interview. Think of it as a nice conversation not an interrogation:

But here are just a few things to try to remember when being interviewed:

-Be friendly

-Speak up

-Don't play with your hair

-Bring extra copies of your resume

-Always ask for their business card

-Have question prepared for the end of the interview

-Have your resume memorized, they are GOING to ask you about it

-Enjoy yourself

Her Fashion: Fall Essentials

Fall and I have a love/hate relationship. I hate Fall because I know that Boston's cruel unrelenting Winter is just around the corner. I love the Fall because it's my favorite time for fashion. As soon as the leaves change I bust out the boots, the scarves and the sweaters with an EEK of excitement. There are so many outfit choices to mix and match but I always love finding new ideas. So I asked my very fashionable friends to throw together their favorite Fall outfits to showcase some trends and fun ideas for my favorite season!

Kelsey chose an adorable sweater over a striped top with simple jeans and boots. This is a great way to look cute for a day of classes on a slightly chillier day. Also pairing longer shirts with sweaters is a great way to utilize your closet and make different outfits with what you have. 

Reily chose to pair a flowing floral top with black jeans and mid-calf  leather boots. This outfit is great for going out at night or going to dinner with friends. The loose fitting tops are a really popular trend and they're are lots of ways to wear them. But pairing them with a tighter bottoms like skinny jeans is a great way to keep your shape. Pairing that top with a loose skirt could potentially make you completely lose your waist.

Jenny is sporting an adorable bright red trench coat with jeans and brown boots. Trenches and red are huge trends right now, so this combines the best. This outfit is great for walking around the city on a windy day. And the red compliments the beautiful fall foliage.

Vanessa is wearing a great dress. Again we have the stripe trend and the skirt/shirt looking dresses are really popular. These are great because they cut at the waist which helps give the body a great shape. And because she has a simple chain necklace which just gives a little accent. This ensemble would be perfect for looking cute at your internship.

Hannah is wearing my favorite trend for Fall-- a colorful scarf! Having a solid color sweater with a multi-color scarf helps you make tons of outfits. Hannah's light purple sweater matches the dark purples and blues in the scarf. She could also pair this scarf with a black, blue or cream sweater.

Vanessa was kind enough to do a second outfit. This time she has on a more casual outfit that's great for doing errands. The color blocking in her shirt is very trendy right now and goes great with the dark wash skinny jeans. These shirts also look great with a dark brown leather jacket for those colder Fall nights.














And the great thing is that since these are college girls on a budget like the rest of us, these aren't clothes that you can't find or afford. I picked some essentials  from their outfits and found similar pieces online at affordable prices.

Steve Madden boots at DSW

Brown boots are especially great for fall colors. Lighter leather brown like Reily's  with a slight heel are a bit dressier  

Christin Michaels at Zappos

Jenny's suede flat boots are more casual and better for walking around.

Zigi Soho at DSW.co

And the boots below are slightly darker ankle boots. These are great for darker jeans or even leggings pairs with a long shirt or skirt












A shirt like Reily's fun floral top perfect for a night out can be found at Forever21

A trench like Jenny's red delicious coat can be found at Target










A simple yet elegant necklace like Vanessa's can be found at Wet Seal

And a colorful scarf like Hannah's perfect for juicing up and outfit can be found at H&M





So those are some of my fabulous friends' fabulous fall essentials!

What are your Fall favorites right now?

Her Recipes: Slimmy Joes

So tonight's quick healthy meal is one of my personal favorites, SLOPPY JOES!

Except my sloppy joes come with a healthy twist, thus the name SLIMMY JOES! This is one of my favorite quick go-to meals. And it makes a lot of food so there's always leftovers! Now my changes go as follows to rid the calories while leaving the flavor:

First I use turkey instead of ground beef which has 65% less fat and half the calories! I use the extra lean ground turkey.

Now a lot of people run into the problem that the turkey dries out, so I use a little olive oil spray to help keep it moist.

Second, once the turkey is done I put in the Manwich sauce, but I used the Veggie version which only has 40 calories per serving and less than 300 calories per can.

GRR put the 'man' in MANWICH

Then throw the sauce in and sloppy magic forms before your eyes.

MMM yummy!

Now third thing I do is I don't eat it with a bun. I save 100 calories just by eating it plain, because personally I think it tastes just dandy on its own with a side of veggies (from the microwave!) Also if you eat it on a bun you tend to have more than one 'Joe' which just adds the calories.

BONUS: Sometimes I add a small baked potato. But since I have been sick I haven't been working out so I cut that from the dinner. But a small baked potato is a great side and snack. A small one is only 100 calories! You cook it in the microwave by stabbing it with a sharp knife multiple times then microwaving it for 4 to 5 minutes. The let it sit of two minutes so it fully steams through. It's my favorite easy snack/side dish.  And instead of butter on it, I like to put just a bit olive oil and salt.

So that's it for tonight. Stand by, because tomorrow I am doing my first FASHION piece about college fall essentials using some very fashionable college girls :)

Her Career: Getting your fabulously accessorized foot in the door.

Everyone knows the great internship catch-22: "You can't get experience without an internship, and you can't get an internship without experience."

Couldn't resist a lolcatz

In April of my freshman year I was confronted head-on with this issue. Everyone in my major was telling me that internships were key to getting where I need to go. PR agencies want someone with experience as well as an education. So there I was looking at agencies and PR departments in Boston all requesting for and intern that: was Well-Organized (Check), is a Fast-Learner(Check), a Team Player (Check), has previous experience working in PR (womp womp).

I knew that I had the core fundamentals there were looking for but what I didn't have was an impressive of enough resume. While the fact I had planned prom and won leadership awards in High School may have helped me get into college, Burson-Marsteller wasn't going to care if I planned blood drives and starred as Lucy in Dracula. Getting the first internship is always the hardest. I had to work the hardest to land that first PR related experience. But here I am now, on my fifth internship with some great experiences behind me. So I want to share how I got started and worked my way up.

1: Dream Big but Start Small
Yes everyone dreams of being the CEO, VP or President of an agency, department or company. And hey, maybe you will! Never lose sight of your ultimate goal, but you aren't going to get there overnight.
My first job was with the MET school at BU. I was the Administrative Assistant to the Project Manager in the Marketing Department. It wasn't a glamourous job, but I was working in communications and it was the first thing on my resume that connected with my goals.  I did a lot of organizing and documenting, then I got to do some fun stuff life helping with photo shoots and banners. I even got to make my modeling debut!

"I'm ready for my close-up!"

2. Use your connections

How I landed my first job was I used a connection! A lot of people feel too proud to ask their mom to talk to her friend's sister's god daughter who works at Vogue to help you. I understand that completely. But the fact is connections can only get you a meeting, they can't get you the job. My connection was small. I had attended a program at BU when I was younger and I knew the director really well. I asked her about the marketing for the program and she gave me my future boss's e-mail and the rest is history. I still had to prove myself in the interview and in the job, I got my foot in the door, but she helped me first jam my big toe under the doorframe.

3. Don't be too cool for school
Another thing I see people do is they don't get involved in school activities. Just because you want to get a good internship outside of school doesn't mean you shouldn't start there. There are so many clubs and groups with resources you would be coo coo bananas (<---industry term) to not take advantage of them. My sophomore year, I was a trip coordinator for my school's community service center's alternative spring break. I was also on the PR committee and kept a blog of our trip. I helped with social media, wrote a press releases, and collaborated on creative strategy. By the end I had a lot of things for my portfolio and a new item for my resume. And my boss who hired me for my internship sophomore year told me that the main reason they decided to hire me was because of the blog I had kept. They wanted someone with experience in social media and with a fun writing style and she said my blog showed both.

4. Network like a Mutha' Zuckerberg
You are not looking for a job/internship during the high application months. You are ALWAYS networking and searching for your next opportunity. It is so important to just talk to people, you never know who will hire you. And if they really enjoy your personality, they will remember you when they see your resume. The internship I referred to in number 3 was with a PR agency in Boston. I was at a PR event at school and they had a booth set up with a bunch of toys and SNUGGIES! I went over to the table and just chatted with a guy about Snuggies and how I thought they were the bomb.com. Next thing I know he's asking me to give him my e-mail so I can come in for an interview with his PR firm. I wasn't even hounding for a job I was just promoting my personality and it landed me a great internship. So anytime you meet someone in your field always put the best face forward and show how wonderful you are.

So there are my tid-bits. But if anyone else out there has some other great advice, I am all ears... because I still need to find a job (YIKES!)

Her Musings: Gym Biddies

Yesterday I went into the ladies' locker room at the school gym. When I walked in I saw a girl standing in jeans and heels in front of the mirror putting on eye liner and doing her hair. Since tons of girls go from gym to class, I really didn't think anything of it.

After I put on my over-sized $3 Hanes Men's V-neck  T-shirt and shorts (sexy right?) I went to walk out of the locker room. To my shock the same girl was standing there, but she had changed INTO her workout clothes,(short-shorts, tank top and a push-up bra). I had thought she was coming from working out, not going to work out. She check herself out in the mirror one more time.

"Do I look pretty?"

While out in the gym I stretched and then search for an empty treadmill--none could be found. When I walked into the upstairs cardio section I saw the same girl from the locker room. She was on a treadmill WALKING with no incline and reading a magazine. I settled for the elliptical next to her hoping she was just warming up. She spent a full 30-minutes walking on the treadmill at a pace my grandmother in her motorized scooter could beat, while I left the gym to go study without completing my run.

Unfortunately, "gym biddies" are a common occurrence at a student gym. They come to the gym in their cute shorts and skank tank tops (oops Freudian slip typo?) hop on a machine and barely break a sweat. I don't get it. Who are they trying to impress? Are they waiting for their close up? I am pretty sure Mr. Deville is not working his glutes on the elliptical. Guys? They aren't looking to pick up girls at the gym. Gym time is their man time, a time meant for brotein and getting jacked. The only thing on guys' minds are biceps and power bars. If you want to impress boys, go to a frat party like every other college girl and get off my stinkin' machine.

"I don't know if you heard, but I did over a hundred"

And the gym biddie has a male counter point. Watching guys lift weights can be one of the most entertaining spectacles on campus. My favorite one to watch from my machine is Mr. 5 second of crazy intensity. He sits in front of a weight in his ripped muscle -T and backwards hat and psychs himself up for a good five to ten minutes. He inhales deeply in and out and stretches. After he is fully pumped up and he breathes intensely, lifts the weight, does five reps, puts it back down and moves on. Each set takes about 10 minutes, giving the muscles time to relax and rendering the exercise way less effective.Rinse and repeat for about 45 minutes to reach full obnoxious level before he high-fives his fellow bro-nameth and leaves.

When I go to the gym, it's my break, from caring about what I look like and whose around me. I take off all my make-up, throw on a man's t-shirt, and jump on a machine until I sweat my stress out. And I don't glisten, I SWEAT, and you know what? it feel awesome. And if I can't do that because little Miss Cindy Barely-Walks is taking up machine, I am going to get cranky. 

So I vote that campus gyms everywhere pass a rule: " If you're going to burn less than 100 calories an hour, just go home."