Moving On Up

The day I had been preparing for this entire summer finally arrived on August 13th. I was about to move-into my college dorm. I knew I had a long day ahead of me. A stressful one too. But despite this, I was excited.

So excited, in fact, that I completely forgot about this scheduled blog post. To my surprise, move-in day progressed smoothly. Upon arriving to my hall, my family unloaded my possessions packed in the tailgate of my dad’s dodge 350 onto the sidewalk. From this point, I claimed my room key from one of my RAs, and inspected my room.

Moving in was stressful in the sense that I was bombarded many questions from my parents about where I wanted my desk to be moved, or the shelf of which my nail polish should be placed. After a few hours of cleaning, arranging furniture, folding clothes, and putting up decorations, my dorm was finally decorated. Except for one minor detail:

My roommate had yet to move-in.

I would have a full day of having the room to myself.

The strangest thing about college so far is being completely surrounded by a group of people, yet still being alone. At first, the empty side of the room just felt incomplete. On Monday I completed a scavenger hunt to orient myself around campus, but I was really excited for Meijer Mania later in the evening.

Around 6pm I finally got the phone call that myroommate was here and could not enter the building due to a locked door. She quickly unloaded her things, went to dinner, and upon our arrival, we went to Meijer to grocery shop around 9pm.

The worst possible thing a middle-aged mom with 2 young children is about 600 college kids running around Meijer to pick up groceries at 9pm, in addition to the music of an average DJ blaring through the entire store. While that just about sums of my experience, I can say that Mara and I have a completely snack-stocked dorm for the next few weeks.

Once we finished picking up groceries, Mara and I knew we had a long night ahead of us.  We snagged some coffee from the local McDonalds, and headed back to our dorm, carrying about seven or eight grocery bags up a couple flights of stairs.

I don’t see how gaining the Freshman Fifteen is possible.

The rest of the night I began the moving-in process over again. Putting cohoes away, having decor, and building a rolling cart. Mara and I did not finish, and soon it was about one in the morning.

So far this week, I have met a lot of new people, learned about Adrian as a community, and have been adjusting to dorm life. Tomorrow, we leave for Chicago, where I hope to have a mini vacation before classes start. I cannot wait for this new adventure at Adrian College to begin, and the memories I will make along with it that I will share here.

-J

How I Plan on Fitting My Wardrobe Into a College Closet !

Move-in day for is August 13th, which is in just a few weeks! One of the biggest problems I have spinning around my head revolves around how I’m possibly going to fit my entire wardrobe into a closest that is a quarter of the size of the closet I have now.

Sigh.

After reading blog posts, and watching YouTube videos, I think I finally have an idea as to how I’m going to decrease the number of pieces in my college wardrobe. As I begin my packing, I thought I’d share the best tips I found for creating my “college wardrobe.”

1. Pay attention to clothing items that you wear repeatedly. Those items  need to be packed. At the same time, clothing pieces you do not wear regularly probably do not need to be packed, since you’re not any more likely to wear those pieces in college than you are at home. It seems obvious, but it helps the process of elimination. ( I know, Duh Jessica).

2. UNLESS they are part of a specialty outfit such as:

• Business/interview outfit/s
• Workout outfits
•  Fancy dress for going out or going to fancier events.

The above items are needed for a given the occasion, even though these pieces are not a part of every day wear, and are not worn often.

3.  About bags…if you’re like me, which you probably are, you need another purse like           you need a hole in your head (you don’t).  To reduce the number of bags I plan on               taking to college with me, I thought about all the functions a bag would need to fill in          college. Here is what I decided:

• 1 backpack for carrying school books/supplies to class.
• 1 laundry bag to carry laundry back and forth from school to home, and vice versa.
• 2 cross-body bags, one black one brown.
• 1 reusable grocery bag for grocery shopping, carrying various supplies for clubs, etc.
• 1 cooler bag for taking leftovers from home, or packing lunch from my dorm.

4.  I plan on bringing a couple of hats for bad hair days.

5. School-spirit wear is a must. Any t-shirts or sweatshirts with your school’s logo are a          no brainier.

6.  Basics are really useful, and can help you to reduce the number of pieces in your                wardrobe. If you’re not sure what I mean, think of clothing pieces that are neutral-             colored, plain, with clean lines and modest cuts. These pieces can work in multiple             layers, and typically can be dressed up or dressed down.  MadeWell  (linked below) is       one of my favorite stores for basic pieces, but you can find these pieces of clothing             just about anywhere.

Check out MadeWell here !

7.  Try packing by season. Luckily, my university is only forty-five minutes from home, which allows me to avoid bulky sweaters and coats on move-in day. If  you have this option, I highly recommend packing and swapping your clothing as the weather changes, so you have the least amount of clothing in your dorm as possible.

8. And let’s not forget shoes. Overpacking shoes can be really easy to do, but similar to the process I used for packing bags, I think looking at the purpose of each pair will help limit the shoes you decide to bring to college. Here is what I ended up with:

• 3 pairs of sandals. One caramel-colored, one brown pair, and grey Birkenstocks. Each are a different style, and are go-to shoes when the weather is warm enough.
• 2 pairs of sneakers. One to exercise in, and one as a designated errands/going-out shoe. I think Vans or Sperry Top Siders are great dress-up-dress-down shoes. I may bring both pairs…
• 2 pairs of heels, one black pair and one brown pair, mainly for the sake of matching a given outfit. I do not plan on wearing these often, (lol who wants to wear heels to walk across campus?! not me.)
• 1 pair of rain/snow boots. It rains and snows in Michigan, so I think a good pair of Hunter Boots such as these are really good to have.
• I have a pair of L.L. bean look alike boots that serve as a good fall/winter transition boot. Not necessarily for snow, but to keep my feet warm.

And that is how I plan on packing for college! Below is a photo that showcases how I plan on transporting my clothes to college! All I did was cut holes in the bottom of garbage bags, and tied the bottom shut! The result was a make-shift garment bag! When I get to my dorm, all I have to do is hang the hangers in the closet! I think this will be a great time-saver!

Wish me luck on fitting all of  this (and then some) into my tiny new closet!

-J

What I Plan On Bringing To College!

College season is approaching more quickly than expected.  Although I started dorm-shopping the first of June, I still cannot believe how much I’ve accumulated, and thought I would share what I bought during my shopping tips.  Without further-ado, here are the items I’ve picked up for my dorm:

Bedding

• This quilt from Target is so cute! I’m in love with it.
• I grabbed a plethora of throw Pillows from HomeGoods, Meijer and my favorite from Target. I visited three Target stores before finding it in-store!
• I managed to gather a mattress topper, blanket, and sheets using extras purchased in the past, but I also picked up these Jersey Sheets from room essentials at Target, just to have an extra set. They are very soft, and reasonably priced for the quality. The only bummer is having to purchase pillow shams separate from the sheets.
• I also snagged this throw blanket!
• I received a tapestry from my Uncle as a graduation gift that I plan on hanging near my bed, and although I do not know where it came from, here’s a similar one!
• I plan on using a basket similar to this to store extra sheets, blankets, and towels.

As you can probably tell, I have no real color theme, I’m literally just blending together as many neutral colors together as I can and am hoping for the best. At least my things won’t clash with my roommate! *insert sassy-girl emoji here*

Tips: Use the extra bedding sheets and blankets from home before going out to buy new ones, especially if you have neutral colors that will probably match what you plan on purchasing.

Decor

• I grabbed my initials carved in galvanized metal. I’m pretty sure I got them from Hobby Lobby I plan on putting them on my desk to be all cutesy and such.
• I really love the coasters I snagged from TJmaxx. I don’t have an exact link, but I highly recommend TJmaxx or HomeGoods for a cheap pack of coasters.
• I printed out plenty of pictures of friends and family from the past few years.
• I also plan on bringing my potted aloe and cacti from home.
• I grabbed this trinket dish from Anthropologie with intentions to throw coins, hair ties, receipts, and other pocket-dwelling items on.

Tip: Tjmaxx and HomGoods have plenty of cute and reasonably-priced decor items for small spaces! Amazon is another great option for you online shoppers out there!

Clothing 

• I have a laundry bag I plan on bringing from a bedding set I used for my bed at home. It’s a lot more convenient than bringing a basket back and forth from school and home.

Check out my blog post on how to decrease the number of items in your wardrobe coming soon! (Okay, enough self-promo, continue on Jessica.)

Dinning

• I scored big-time on my Keurig Coffee brewer. Kohls was having a sale, but also allowed me to stack a 30% off coupon. I paid $82 for a $150 Keurig! Unfortunately Kohls no longer carries the beautiful “Sandy Pearl” color I selected, but I love this color as well. I highly recommend stacking coupons and saving up kohls cash for purchases that you know are going to be costly!
• I have an older microwave that we used to use at the lake. Although it’s notorious for burning popcorn, I think my roommate and I can make it work.
• I plan on picking up plastic cutlery because home-girl is lazy and does not feel like washing too many dishes in college.

Bathroom 

• I found an old pair of Aeropostale flip flops — throwback to middle school am I right? — to use as shower shoes.
• I picked up a towel set from HomeGoods for $24, which includes 2 bath towels, 2 hand towels, and 2 washcloths. I plan on picking up extra washcloths, because I literally use them for everything. I cannot find the exact ones, but here, here and here are similar sets to what I purchased.
• I found my shower caddy in Clearance at Bed Bath and Beyond. I only saved $3, but I guess that makes me $3 richer. I chose mesh because I though it looked better and would retain less water than a traditional plastic caddy.
• My make-up mirror came from Tjmaxx, and although it isn’t “lit,” (haha, get it?) I thought $20 was pretty unbeatable.

tip: If you start shopping for dorm and apartment items early, you may score clearance deals. It doesn’t have to be “in-season” to be functional.

I plan to pick up all my toiletry, food, and school supplies closer to move-in day, because as you can tell this is a lot of stuff to squeeze in the tiny corner of my room!

I am so incredibly excited to dorm at my university in the fall. So much so, I am jumping up and down writing this blog post (not literally, but figuratively of course). Let me know in the comments if you think there are any items you think I’m forgetting! Also – let me know if we’re twinning, because that’s cool, right?

I don’t know about my fellow classmates, but I am totally ready to take on this adventure called college.

-J