Miscellaneous is one way to describe my week. It was kind of all over the place. There were a lot of little moving parts that I had to juggle and honestly, I’m surprised I didn’t drop something. Or maybe I did and can’t remember, which wouldn’t surprise me either! Anyways, kinda of like my mismatched week, here’s a bunch of misc. things that I randomly stumbled upon.

Crazy Jewish Moms

Gotta love finding funny things on Instagram. My friend Deanna introduced me to this Insta account (@crazyjewishmom) that consists solely of text messages from mother to daughter. Most revolve around the crazy mom trying to set up her daughter with Ivy League men or Zumba. It’s hilarious. Highly recommend following. Here’s a nice preview:

Glad Karen isn’t like this.

The Best Dressed in the Big East

{and in the Nation for that matter.} It’s no secret that Jay Wright is dapper AF. When you think we’re kidding about #suitwatch, you clearly have never seen this man dress up for a game. Well lucky for us, CBS Sports has found Jay’s tailor and made a video about it. If you haven’t watched it yet, you probably should.

Suit game= Strong.

Bars in Bean Boots.

Some of my misc. things this week included learning about the real world (again, yay). By Thursday, my friends and I had enough of the real world and needed a drink (or three) from Kelly’s. I decided to go out in the outfit I wore to class, aka Bean Boots, jeans and a sweater (I’ve come a long way from tight skirts/heels freshman year, thank God). My friend Deanna literally wore sweatpants. We danced to Bye Bye Bye (there’s a video of me doing the routine floating around somewhere…) and stayed until closing. This is second semester.

my faves

Reading Unwritten.

Found a cool new website! If you like Her Campus (!!!), Elite Daily or Thought Catalog, you’ll love Unwritten. According to its “About” page, Unwritten is a publication that exudes fashion, endorses a spontaneous lifestyle, and pushes the boundaries of controversy. Support our movement and Live Life Unwritten. Check it out!

I’m Literally Flippin’

The amount of news I read on my phone lately has been extremely high (I blame my one professor who always says “For every one word you write, you need to read 1000.” I’m taking it literally, I guess). My friend Chris introduced me to this app called FlipBoard and it’s super cool. Basically you pick a bunch of your interests from an EXTENSIVE list (seriously, you can choose anything from Politics to cupcakes) and the app consolidates all recent news/online articles on your topics. Then you get to “flip” through all the articles and read them. Great for procrastination.

{PS. I wore my blanket scarf the other day and got a ton of questions of where I bought it. For some reason, I can’t access the Etsy shop I bought it from anymore, but there are a ton from Aerie.com. Call it a scank-et, call it a blarf, whatever, it’s warm and worth it.}

{PSS. I learned how to draw an Ampersand for like real the other day. About time right since it’s the name of this blog…}

I ‘grammed it, obviously.

Liking drinking peppermint tea & Favoriting listening to Sam Hunt’s album {Shout out to Maddie for this one!}

I refuse to use the word “last.” I think it’s kinda dumb, especially this semester. “Last” implies finality. “Last” creates a lot of expectations. “Last” is sad. So, instead of starting my “last” semester at Villanova, I’ve simply started my second semester. And honestly, it’s been a blast so far. It’s been so much fun that I haven’t had time to write! (My mother kindly reminded me that I haven’t posted in a while. She’s my biggest fan. Love ya, Karen). But if these past two weeks are any indication what the next four-ish months will be like, I’m in for a really great time. Here are some of the things I like at the beginning of what will be my favorite semester.

Meetin’ New Friends

This past weekend, I went on Senior Retreat with 85 other seniors. And while I was under the impression that I was going to know most of the people there (which was super naive of me), I didn’t even recognize half the people there! Which was awesome because I got to meet a bunch of cool people, while reconnecting with some friends I haven’t seen since Freshman Retreat. And let’s be real, any weekend that involves LBI, a bunch of awesome people and heart-to-hearts is going to be amazing. It was the perfect way to start the semester and I’m very thankful I went on it.

A New Home for Mac

My MacBook’s name is Mac. (Creative, I know. This is coming to the girl who once named her stuffed animal “Pink Horsey.” You guessed it. It was a pink horse.) Anyway, Mac had a crappy laptop case that was ripped and ruined, so I turned to Etsy to find a new home for him. I stumbled upon this adorable shop that makes custom laptop and tablet cases. Here’s the site. Mac is safe and now I get compliments on my trendy case. Win-win for everyone.

Becoming a News Junkie

I used to hate reading the news. Really despised it. But as I’ve gotten older (what’s up adulthood, I see you around the corner) and further into my journalism/PR major (which revolves around the news…), I realized that I sorta need to be aware of what’s going on in the world. So I subscribed to the Skimm and started reading the Huffington Post. Then last week my friend Vincent mentioned this app called “Circa” which basically gives you the news minus all the (excuse me) bullshit. Straight forward. Super sleek. If you’re trying to be a real, educated adult (like I’m attempting to be… occasionally…), I highly recommend it.

I like the logo, plus it’s a free app!

What’s up Olly Murs

I’ve always liked Olly Murs. He’s sorta jazzy and fun and his music makes me wanna dance happily around my apartment. He has a new single called Wrapped Up (it’s a jam). If you’re new to Olly, here’s a short playlist. If you like Olly already, here are my faves.

Happy Kasia = Risotto for dinner

When I’m in a good mood, I like to cook. One of my most favorite dishes is Parmesan risotto with tomatoes and spinach. It was actually one of the first dishes I’ve ever made (in Italy where I studied abroad, of all places) and I make it at least once a month. I actually just finished making it about an hour ago, and listened to my Olly Murs playlist. It’s pretty easy to make, you just need patience (it takes about 40 min) and a special kind of rice (don’t make it with regular white rice, it will fail. Promise.) But it’s SO good. Here’s the recipe. Happy cookin’!

{PS. Here’s a really cute video of Bruno Mars singing with a 4-year old. I dedicate this to my friend Virginia because I think she would enjoy it.}

Liking being a senior (for real) & Favoriting the next four months.

During my last week of break, I decided that I needed to start doing “grown up things” i.e. start looking for jobs. Joy. It’s pretty much the bane of every senior’s existence and while part of you doesn’t want to even contemplate updating your LinkedIn, the other part feels way too far behind. To ease my pain of reading countless job descriptions and consistently feeling inadequate, I tried to incorporate some fun things into my week. They are listed below.

Finally, Cover Letters Explained

{I promise this will be my only “grown up/job search” item of this post, but it’s worth a read because it might make cover letters way less annoying} I don’t know about you, but I hate writing cover letters. Hate hate hate. I never know exactly what to say without sounding boring, or where the line between “funny and memorable” & “totally unprofessional” is. Cover letters are about showing employers a little of your personality, right? But I feel like we’ve learned to have a cookie-cutter template that’s just dull. Well I found an article from The Muse (awesome website, definitely check it out) that actually helped me write a professional, yet interesting cover letter. You can thank me later.

98 Degree Yoga

I’ve been practicing yoga for about a year now and I absolutely love it. I started off with regular  yoga and this year discovered the wonderful world of hot yoga. Needing a little exercise after the holidays, I signed up for a 1-week unlimited yoga pass at a studio at home. So I did yoga. A lot a lot. Curious why people (like me) get addicted to sweating & stretching? Here’s a cute article that sums it up pretty well. Namaste.

I taught my breaktrip how to do Tree Pose in El Paso haha

Sassy Mug Shots

I’m probably my sister’s biggest fan. She’s so ridiculously talented and I think people should know about it. Over break, she decided create her own Etsy shop for custom mugs. In true Krista fashion, none of them will have “stupid” inspirational quotes, only funny & sassy sayings. Her shop is called KristasMugShot (clever right?) and you should definitely check it out.

TBT to N*Sync

To make applying to jobs more bearable, I would sit in Krista’s room while she did art and listen to her Spotify on shuffle. At one point, an old N*Sync song came on, which turned into a full-fledged N*Sync sing-along/attempts to do the Bye Bye Bye routine. I feel like I should spread boy-band joy, so I’ve put together a throwback N*Sync playlist. Enjoy retro Justin Timberlake in all his glory.

Wine > Everything

I stumbled upon this funny article about wine. It reminded me of my roomies and how much we love good ol vino. For any wine lovers out there, this is for you.

{PS. If this cold weather is killing your soul like it is mine, check out cute puppies in the snow. It makes the bleak forecast better. A little}

Liking being back at Nova & Favoriting second semester.