GiphyOur lives are in those planners and we need them to keep us on track. We also probably can't remember plans without them. *That honestly would be if it weren't for my calendar.*
GiphyBoth calendars keep our plans nice and safe. Plus we have two reminders of our plans.
Hi, I like sleep. I won't apologize for it. Plus, how am I supposed to keep up with a busy schedule with no sleep? #notpossible
GiphyPlease don't expect me to pencil you in at the last minute when my schedule is full. Exceptions include family and boyfriend things because those are important in my life.
GiphyI'm sorry if I have to cancel but some things are more pressing and important.
GiphyHi, I know you been wanting to hangout with me for awhile but you always want to make plans the night before and that doesn't work for me. Try scheduling a few weeks ahead of time because I'm busy and my schedule fills up fast.
GiphyUnless you are my parents, grandparents, or boyfriend then you don't get a say in how I spend any of my time. Even then, they don't get much of a say but are able to voice their opinion. My time is my own and how what, and who makes up that time is completely up to me. Unless you are one of these three people, I don't want to hear that I spend too much time with my boyfriend or that I'm always studying.
GiphyI have homework and study time scheduled into my planner. I also have specific days of the week that are date night for my boyfriend and I. All of those things are not budging, I don't care how much you whine about it.
GiphyI like to think that my Lily Pulitzer planner screams everytime someone else picks them up. I don't want smiley faces drawn all across my planner like I'm in elementary school. I also prefer to be able to write my plans on the day that you wrote "My Birthday" in pen across the entire square. Just please don't touch my planner and everything will be just peachy!
Whether the pod covers topics of relationships, work-life, friendships, or anything in between, I highly recommend trying out podcasts if you've never before.
Here are 5, women-run and narrated podcasts that you all should be listening to:
Influencer, Katy Bellotte, shares "the musings of a millennial girl living in New York City about life, love & everything in between".
Danielle Carolan and Brooke Miccio, both students at the University of Georgia as well as influencers, come together to talk about topics such as school, productivity, relationships, and travel.
Hosted by Rayna Greenberg and Ashley Hesseltine, this podcast covers topics such as relationships, sex, food, travel, and so much more. If you want advice, a good laugh, and people to relate to, listen to GGE asap!
Hosted by the eccentric and fun Jessica Williams and Phoebe Robinson, this podcast features stories about race, gender, relationships, romance, and self-expression.
SMNTY is the "big sister" of podcasts. Co-hosts Bridget Todd & Anney Reese "keep it real with a research-driven rundown of the ever-evolving challenges facing women today and throughout history, paired with smart, strategic solutions to further women's lives, careers, and activism". It's inspiring, educational, and fun. Highly recommend!
Vine had to be the first one on this list. Vine was so iconic. Every time I opened this app, I knew I was going to laugh. Making a vine was so much fun even though they mostly were just us videotaping random stuff like our dogs or what we were eating for dinner but, I would do anything for Vine to make a comeback... #RIPVINE
Instagram did not allow multiple posts at this time so when we were posting our happy birthday posts to our BFF, we had to use Pic Collage to show off all of our embarrassing photos together. I'm glad not as many people do the 100 photos in one collage thing anymore because that was rough.
Instagram is still iconic but, it was so different when we started using it. No one cared what their aesthetic looked like or how many likes they got and Instagram models were not a thing yet. It's still my favorite app but the app itself (and the way we want our followers to see us) has gone through a lot of changes!
The object of this game is to sit there and tap your screen as fast as you can to get cookies. Once you have enough cookies, you can purchase stuff in the store for the game. A lot of games like Cookie Clickers have come out and I don't know why we were so obsessed. Every time I played, my fingers ached and my battery was drained. It was fun but, very tiring.
This app was where you could talk to people without your parents reading your messages (sorry, Mom). Basically, as long as you had this app downloaded, you could talk to anyone whether they had an iPod, iPhone, or Android. Everyone my age was saying "you got Kik?".
8tracks was an app I liked using way more than Pandora. This app was where you could create your own mixes of music or listen to others' mixes. This app introduced me to a lot of songs I still listen to today. Kind of reminds me of SoundCloud but, with better music.
Clash of Clans was what all the boys talked about back in my middle school. This game is where you can build your own town and fight other players who try to take down your town. Now everyone plays Clash Royale which was released in 2016.
Flow was addicting. You had to connect one color to another color in a pattern that will leave no spaces unfulfilled. It got harder and harder as you went up the levels but, it was so fun and relaxing.
I was terrible at Flappy Bird. I think my high score was 15 but, everyone played this game. It was so sad when they took it off the App Store for that period of time but, now it is back!
I never did well at this game but I saw a lot of my classmates play Unblock Me. You had to get the red block out of the pattern by strategically moving all of the other blocks that only either went up and down or side to side. Aggravating most of the time but, satisfying when you get the red block out.
Draw Something was so fun. I played this game with a lot of my Facebook friends. It is basically an online version of Charades. You are given are word and you have to draw what that word represents so your friends can guess what the word is and your opponent does the same for you. I spent hours on this game.
The closest thing we have to Vine nowadays. This became really popular in late middle school early high school for my classmates and I. If you don't remember what Dubsmash is, it is an app that plays a funny sound, song or dialogue and you could reenact it while taking a video.
We spent way too much time on our phones back in the day but, every time I opened these apps I was very entertained. A lot of these apps are still on the app store but, they were just so much better before 14 when our only worries were what level we were on or who we were talking to on Kik or how many loops we got on Vine.
I wouldn't necessarily say I hate driving, it's just that I get bored when I'm driving, especially when I'm alone. It's difficult for me to stay excited about staying in-between road lines while cruising through the less-than-thrilling landscape of Eastern Kansas all by my lonesome.
Unfortunately, I've had to do exactly that. This past month, I've driven from my hometown of Burlington, Kansas to my college town of Lawrence, Kansas every weekday to take a summer class. By the end, I will have traveled a total of 2,259 miles spanning over 45 hours, just for summer school.
I can't say I didn't choose this life, as I calculated that it was cheaper for me to drive than it was to pay to live in Lawrence for the summer (if you're interested in the math, shoot me a message, but I'll skip it for everyone else). However, I can say that it's been an ordeal.
Because I've spent so much time on four wheels, I've had to figure out techniques to keep me from driving off the nearest cliff from boredom, and I surprisingly have found many that work well. Read on, and you might find one to try on your next long drive.
Yes, these still exist. My car has an Aux Cord, but my phone doesn't work with it, unfortunately. So, to still get turnt to my favorite jamz, without the added radio commercials, I've been listening to full CDs while I'm cruising down the highway.
My favorites this month have been Bleacher's "Strange Desire" and "Gone Now" and Imagine Dragons "Night Visions" and "Smoke + Mirrors." I went an entire week obsessively listening to The Killer's "Battle Born," which is NOT the one with "Mr. Brightside," if you can believe it.
Having a less than positive experience with audio books, I honestly didn't think I was going to be able to get into a podcast series. I didn't understand the appeal of listing to a bunch of people discussing a random topic if I couldn't join in the conversation.
Boy howdy, was I wrong. Not only did I find one series, I found several I really enjoy and make me laugh. My two favorites are Adultsh1t by Buzzfeed's Kelsey Darragh and Kate Peterman and Potterless by Mike Schubert, both of which can be found on Spotify and can be trusted to bring lots of laughs.
For my 9:10 a.m. class, I have to wake up pretty early to make it on time. As I've mentioned before, I hate mornings or really getting out of bed at all. As teleportation hasn't been invented yet, my alarm is set to go off at 6:30 a.m. This gives me plenty of time to snooze it a few times, stagger around to get ready and plop myself in my car around 7:30 a.m. to make the trek up to Lawrence.
As the amount of caffeine I would have to ingest to make morning drives even mildly bearable is astronomical, even for me, I had to find a solution that would help me fight the hypnotic lull of the road. Thankfully, I heard on the radio one morning that chewing gum could do the trick.
While it's not like chugging a can of Redbull, it does wake my brain up enough to make it to Lawrence without falling asleep at the wheel.
Yes, you read that right, and no, I don't mean an alcohol-related game. My summer employment of lifeguarding means that I need to stay hydrated throughout the day, lest I succumb to heat stroke or something.
Since water isn't my morning beverage of choice, I've developed a water drinking game. In it, I sip
. . .when I turn
. . .when I pass roadkill
. . .when I pass a semi
. . .when I pass a green town distance sign
. . .when I pass a county marker
. . .when someone passes me
. . .when I see an orange cone that's been run over in a construction zone
If my lack of heat stroke is any indicator, I'd say it's a pretty successful game.
The downside to driving alone is that there's no one to talk to when the road gets long. The upside is that there's no one in the car to judge my ridiculous dance moves.
Along with jamming to my CD collection, I switch on the radio occasionally, and I can say with confidence that I have made tentative line dances to at least five of the current chart-toppers.
I won't reveal my genius quite yet. I will say, however, that there is never such a thing as too much jazz hand.
No solo car dance session would be complete without singing as loud as humanly possible. While I know I don't sound like Etta James or Beyoncé in reality, it doesn't stop me from trying to in the comfort of my own car.
I also like to try out harmonies and sing both parts of various duets. I'll take my Grammy now.
No extended period of time alone would be complete for me without some deep musings, and these drives are no exceptions.
Questions float through my head. "Am I living my best life?" "Am I happy? What is happiness, honestly?" "Why must I make decisions about my future that wakes me up so insanely early?" "Is love really a battlefield?"
No conclusions yet, unfortunately.
When I write landmarks, I mean physical places that tell you how long you have until you reach your destination.
For example, I know when Highway 59 gets super bumpy by the exit for Centropolis, Kansas (yes, it is a real place), I have roughly five minutes of drive time until I reach my exit for Ottawa.
Picking out different landmarks like these help with my impatience with driving, as I can gently remind myself I only have X amount of time left to drive instead of feeling like I've been driving for five hours.
I am convinced that there is a perfect air-conditioning setting, seat setting, mirror setting, and steering-wheel setting for my car. One that will result in a pleasant drive without various leg and neck cramps, icicles forming on my rear-view mirror, or a sauna forming in my front seat.
I have yet to find that one perfect setting. I'll keep searching for this vehicle utopia, but my car may be conspiring against me.
As an incredibly broke college kid who made the unfortunate decision to continue to pay for college during summer, I'm all about getting the bang for my buck. Considering my car needs gas every single day, this attitude has become almost vicious.
My daily habits include scoping out every single gas station from my homeland to Lawrence and adjusting my gas consumption to visit only the cheapest one when I need a fill-up.
I considered getting a loyalty card for several different grocery stores, just to get the gas points, but I thought that was a little much for a month.
There you have it, folks. Think of these next time you decide to have a road-centered adventure.
