Thursday, January 29, 2015

Valentines Day Ideas for the Broke

The season of love is upon us. Wal-Mart has been ready for it since the week after Christmas and ads have been on TV since New Years. But what do you do when you want to show some love for your honey but are on the ramen noodle budget? You have to get creative.

This year will be the fourth Valentines day that I have spent with my boyfriend. While I love him more than anything and love our dinner dates and movie dates, I like to do things other than sit and watch a movie and make dinner. The problem is that I have great ideas but not such a great budget. Thank you college. But over the last few years, I have started getting more creative with things to do without spending a lot of money, because hey, its the thought that counts right?

So in honor of the season, I have compiled some of my favorite non-dinner-and-a-moive dates that we have done and some things that I want to do in the future.



Go to the Park for a Picnic- This is one of my favorite things that we have done because it can be as spontaneous as you want. There have been times that we have made plans to go out and then other times that we just go get lunch and go sit outside. Getting out of the house when the weather is nice makes for a great day.

Look at the stars- Similar to the picnic in the park, grab a blanket or two, a few pillows and a drink and drive out of town a little bit to be away from the lights and just lay and watch the stars. It is very peaceful to just lay there, talk or just think. Hey, I mean even Simba did it in the Lion King.
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Find a Festival- While the town we live in is fairly small (really the only thing that we have is the University and Wal-Mart) we have lots of festivals near us. Small, southern towns love to have festivals apparently. Troy has one in April but different areas have different festivals throughout the year. A lot of them are free to get into and who doesn't love festival food?

Fill in the Blank Date- Okay, so this is basically a dinner and a movie date, but it has a different take on it. If you and your honey are like me and mine, then a very common discussion is "what do you want to do?" "I don't care, what do you want to do?" and on and on. Well this takes the guess work out of it. Just write it out and have your significant other fill in the blanks.
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Paint Together- Last year, for our anniversary, I gave my boyfriend a year of dates and January's was to paint a canvas together for each other. This also makes a great group date because it can be adjusted for however many people you have. I got our supplies from Social Artworking because they have everything and it was easy to follow. It is a DIY Paint Party! Then you have something special to hang in your room from your lover. Or if you live together, hang them next to each other and show off your talent.

Dinner and a Movie- If you do just really want to eat and watch a movie then try this, go to the library and to get a couple movies. Most public libraries are free to get a card if you live in the county or district. Now each of you go pick out a movie that you want the other to watch. Rule is you can't complain about what the other picks and you have to watch both. Once you get the movies, go back home and cook dinner together. You can cook anything you want, but do it together. Then eat and watch your movies.

These are just a few of my favorite date ideas. What are some different date ideas you have?

Happy Valentines Day!

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Green Coffee Extract | Review

Hi all, I am writing a review today for a product I tried Pure Green Coffee Bean Extract that I tried. While the big point that it is to serve as a weight loss aid, I didn't really say any difference from taking it. But it did make me feel more awake. I enjoyed taking it and still have some left to take!

You can get the product on Amazon and it is actually inexpensive.

Enjoy Disclaimer: This is a review for a product that I received to review with no charge.

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Baby its cold outside

This weeks 52 Weeks of Photos is to show something cold. This last week, we had a lot of cold in Troy, but that meant I got some cool pictures with my new camera.


We had ice on the window one morning and I took the opportunity to get some cool pictures. And yes, this ice was on the inside of my window. It was just that cold outside.

Have you had any crazy weather lately?

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Welcome to the Family

Sorry for the late post on this, but this past week has been a very busy week getting back into school. But I have a BIG announcement! Some of you may know, I am a member of Sigma Alpha Iota fraternity (Yes, its a fraternity, yes we're sisters) and last week I got to welcome not one but TWO beautiful new girls into my family as my little sisters! This is a huge thing for me and I am so excited about it. These two girls are absolutely perfect for me and I can't wait to see them go through this process.

Here are some pictures from last week!

All of the Bigs (top row) and Littles (bottom row) for Spring 2015

All of the sisters, past and present, that were at pinning

The active sisters of the Delta Zeta chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota

My two beautiful littles!! EEEPPP

My SAI family. 5 new littles this year!

The M.I.T. class of 2015! There are 14 girls that are now training to be a full fledged sister!
Are you in any organization like this? Do you have any fun memories?

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Resolution | Week 1

Well it is officially a full week into the first week of the new year. If you read my post last week, you saw that I don't do well with year long resolutions, but I did make some goals for January. And one of the goals is to drink more water this month.

I am also trying to be better about blogging with a schedule and one thing I am doing is a 52 week photo challenge. This might have something to do with the fact that my parents got me a fabulous new camera for Christmas so now I can take better pictures! So be prepared for it. Pictures every Wednesday!

Week 1- Resolution

Like I said already, my goal is to drink more water this month, and it makes it a little easier if I have a cute thing to drink out of. Over the summer I painted a cup for myself to drink out of. So my pictures today are of my cup!




This was my summer cup, I need to work on a new one that is more universal, but I really enjoy this one. During the past week, I had Symphony Band Camp and almost 9 hours worth of rehearsal a day and that means a lot of water. My cup holds about 32 oz. of water and I drank at least 2 or 3 of these a day for the past week. I would have to say, I am doing pretty well at this whole drinking a lot of water thing. Now to see if I can keep it up for the next few weeks.


What are some of your goals for 2015 or January?

Sunday, January 4, 2015

And the Winner Is....

What a great way to start the new year, by getting an award! A Taste of the College Life started out as a class project for school and has grown into something that I love. I have developed such a love for blogging, and getting nominated for this is fantastic. It is the first award that A Taste of the College Life has won and I am so excited to see where 2015 will take me!



The Liebster Award is an award given from bloggers to bloggers and I was nominated by Meg at At Home with Meg. Thanks Meg!! My little blog is still little, but it is growing, and right now that is all I can ask for.

So here goes nothing!

Questions from At Home with Meg:

1. What do you love most about blogging?
I think the thing I love most is being able to write and it not be too serious. I have written a couple serious posts, but even posts on serious topics are fun to write because I'm not getting graded. There is just something about being able to blog and write about whatever is on my mind that I enjoy. 
2. Who is your favorite blogger that you get inspiration or motivation from?
I think one of my favorite bloggers is Rachael from A Rachael Way.  She was one of the first blogs that I followed regularly and I enjoy reading what she posts. Right now she is teaching in China, so go check her out. 

3. What is your favorite blog post you’ve written?
This is tough. I have two, I know, that's cheating, but it is two favorites because they are very different. One was the first post I wrote that got a lot of notice Dear Trojan Football. It has over 8,000 page views and is still viewed almost daily, 3 months after it was written. This post made me feel like I am actually doing something right. 

My other favorite post is something that is very near to my heart, Living with a Peanut Allergy. So many people don't understand what it really means to be allergic to something, especially as common as peanuts, but I want to make a point to let people know these things.

4. If you were on Survivor – what type of player would you be (a leader, a team player, a strategist, manipulator, etc)?
I would be a leader more than likely, it comes very naturally to me to lead. But I don't know if I would make it on Survivor, I am much more of a house and air conditioning kind of girl. 

5. If you found yourself on a deserted island, what five things would you want with you?
Is there a palm tree? Because I would definitely want a palm tree. I also want a boat, Jack Sparrow (because as I was once told, he can get out of everything), food, and good books.

6. What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever done?
Set my oven on fire. It was completely unintentional, there was grease in the bottom of the oven and all of a sudden it burst in flames. It was so scary because I have never had anything like that happen before.

7. What is your favorite quote and why?
 "It will all be okay in the end, if it's not okay, it's not the end." It is just a constant reminder that everything will be okay and everything happens for a reason.

8. What was the last movie you saw and what are your top five movie picks?
The last movie I saw was one I watched with Alex over Christmas break and we watched The Internship. It was really funny, slightly inappropriate in certain points, but it was funny.

Top 5 movie picks (In no order)- Tangled, Legally Blonde, The Fault in Our Stars, The Notebook, The Princess and the Frog

9. Do you prefer to eat cookies, cake, cupcakes, or candy?
Umm...all of the above?

10. If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do?
I would probably pay off a lot of my student loans because I don't really want that hanging over my head for a long time. Then I would go buy new clothes, because I like clothes!

11. What’s the first concert you ever went to?
First, and only, concert I went to was a Third Day concert in Atlanta that my mom won tickets to on the radio.


11 Facts about Me

1. I play five different instruments. Oboe, piccolo, piano, flute and English horn
2. I read the book P.S. I Love You on a band trip and cried the entire time.
3. My dream job is to have a talk show.
4. But I really would be perfectly content being a blogger and stay at home wife/mom.
5. I had never heard of Troy until my junior year of high school and this is the only school I applied to for college.
6. I cried during the last football game when we sang the Alma Mater and I sang with my sisters.
7. If I could, I would have an entire Pandora bracelet with the all of the Disney charms.
8. I know of 12 couples who have gotten engaged since Thanksgiving.
9. Coffee is acceptable to drink at any time of the day.
10. Sometimes I get random urges to clean at 11:00 at night.
11. I am newly obsessed with Gilmore Girls, I'm late I know.

11 Questions for my Nominees 


1. Why/When did you start blogging?
2. Where is your favorite place to blog?
3. Do you have a favorite sport/team?
4. If you were a shoe, what kind would you be?
5. What is one of your earliest memories?
6. When did you decide what you wanted to be when you grew up?
7. What is your favorite book turned movie? Did the movie live up to your expectations?
8. Do you have a staple recipe that you cook for any event?
9. What is your favorite color and why?
10. If you could be a Disney character who would you be?
11. What do you do to relax?

And my 11 Nominees are...

  1. Erin's Sharings
  2. Unfold and Begin
  3. AshleyZoe
  4. Orthodox Sunflower
  5. La Bella Vida Design
  6. Keeping Up with Makayla
  7. Style Island
  8. Bella and the City
  9. Kimberly's Chronicle 
  10. The Life You Love 
  11. Wanderlust in the Midwest 
These blogs are a great modpodge of everything in the blogging world, so go check them out. (That is the point of the Liebster Award!)

Thank you again to Meg for nominating A Taste of the College Life!!

Don't forget to go like A Taste of the College Life on Facebook.