Monday Goals for the Week!

1. Finish my senior seminar paper. This is a VERY lofty goal, but I would like to have it finished before going into my oral presentation. (Not even a chance, maybe I can finish it by Wednesday....)

2. Spend one hour every day doing something fun (either on pinterest or playing a video game to relax and decompress) (Yes!)

3. Finish my rough draft of Spanish paper. (Almost!)

4. Catch up on all late work in Literature. This is SHAMEFUL. I am soooo far behind in this class. (Yes!)

5. Remove all items from my room that I am giving away/throwing out. It sounds icky, but I just decided to throw away some books that are falling apart and some old craft things that were just cluttering up my life. I throw away A LOT of stuff that I don't need/want and isn't suitable for donation.  (Yes!)

6. Take mom to see Thor 2. She really wants to go and I'm not being a good daughter lately. (Tried...failed)

7. Go to all classes clean/dressed/made-up (Yes!)

So I got some, not all, accomplished. I'm definitely going to do better this week.
1. Be on time to every single class (and attend every single class)
2. Get items from home together for Formal Recruitment Charm Checks! Can't wait! I love recruitment so, so much.
3. Decide what I will be making for Thanksgiving. My first thanksgiving with a significant other's family. eeeeep.
4. FINISH ALL ROUGH DRAFTS THIS WEEK.
5. Celebrate finishing senior sem (if applicable)
6. Complete all scheduled blog posts this week.
7. Get car serviced! (Groupon for Jiffy Lube)

Obsession of the Week!

Black Friday Ads leaked online! That has taken up an inordinate amount of time this week. I really love the energy of Black Friday shopping and excitement of getting great deals!

First: I review the ads that have leaked ahead of time, but then review them again on Thanksgiving when I get the newspaper. (I always get both local newspapers, because sometimes one has ads the other does not. Typically this only applies to grocery ads. Also useful when you need multiples of the same coupon like $1 off something since it can't double.)

Second: I plan out my basic attack strategy. What time does which store open? Who has items I need v. want? Prioritize where, when, and why.

Third: Put all of this into writing. Keeping it in your head is how you get confused, flustered, and end up missing out on stuff.

Black Friday 2013 Shopping
Time	Store	Item	Price	Discount	Notes
6pm
	Walmart	World of Warcraft Expansion	$10.00	$19.99	Walmart Supercenter (approx travel time 12min)
		Cisco N600 Router	$44.97	$35.00	11181 Lee Hwy
		Pyrex Set	$19.99		Fairfax, VA 22030
8pm
	Target	Westinghouse 40" Television	$199.99	$429.99	Target (approx travel time 14min)
		Sony Wifi BluRay Player	$54.99	$104.99	13047 Fair Lakes Shopping Center
		Aero Bed	$64.00	$129.99	Fairfax, VA 22033
		Ninja Master Prep	$29.00	$49.00
		Contigo Water Bottles Look at pots and pan sets*	$15.00	$24.99

Here is my basic spreadsheet. I plan to print out a copy of this as well as a copy of directions to both stores. I will be spending Thanksgiving with my boyfriend and his family, so I needed to familiarize myself with the things that are around there and how to get to them.

How do you plan your Black Friday shopping? 

I'm still alive!

I am still here! Amazingly enough, senior year has not killed me just yet. However, it has kept me extremely busy. I'm planning to get back into blogging full force starting today. I'm challenging myself to one post per day. So, bear with me and send me your comments and suggestions! I'm ready to get back in the full swing of things!

So what has been happening? I'm waist deep in my senior seminar (senior thesis) paper as well as 2 other papers I am highly invested in. 

I am working as hard as I have ever worked before, and therefore have not had any time to myself to do the things that I want to do. 

Blog Schedule (tentative..feel free to share ideas!)

Monday: Goals (old and new)

Tuesday: Obsession of the Week

Wednesday: Television Review (I love TV shows so I will comment on a different one every Wednesday)

Thursday: Fashion cheat sheet. (Easy ways to get ready or get good deals)

Friday: Weekend Update!

I am setting goals for this week, seven goals to complete by next Monday November 18.

1. Finish my senior seminar paper. This is a VERY lofty goal, but I would like to have it finished before going into my oral presentation.

2. Spend one hour every day doing something fun (either on pinterest or playing a video game to relax and decompress)

3. Finish my rough draft of Spanish paper.

4. Catch up on all late work in Literature. This is SHAMEFUL. I am soooo far behind in this class.

5. Remove all items from my room that I am giving away/throwing out. It sounds icky, but I just decided to throw away some books that are falling apart and some old craft things that were just cluttering up my life. I throw away A LOT of stuff that I don't need/want and isn't suitable for donation. 

6. Take mom to see Thor 2. She really wants to go and I'm not being a good daughter lately. 

7. Go to all classes clean/dressed/made-up

These are all reasonable goals, I think. Let's get it done!

It's Monday!

I love that every Monday +Lindsey Mart motivates me to get my weekly goals together. It's like starting off the week with a purpose. We evaluate last weeks goals, set new ones for this week. And throw in any helpful information, or ask for some! EVERYONE should do this, bloggers or non-bloggers!
Last week....
1. Dinner with Dad. No excuses. OHMYGOD no.
2. Pack lunches. not really...
3. Get transmission fluid changed. nope.
4. Write a good article for Sorority Stylista complete with photos YES
5. Pack up a fair amount of clothes to keep at Yorktown house so I don't keep driving back and forth for clothes and donate what I don't need at all YES
2/5 COME ON ASH, GET IT TOGETHER!

1. Begin outlining my thesis paper and draft questions for the interviews. {20 days to COSTA RICA!}
2. Spend 2 nights at home in Williamsburg to manage stress appropriately
3. Start a journal
4. Repeat goals 1 & 3 of last week....
5. Clean out room in Yorktown...it has become family storage AGAIN.

Budget Management

Hey y'all! I've been promising to post about how I have started keeping my budget in line, and it has really worked for me.

I am terrible with money. I swear every single month I say the same thing "Where did all my money go??" After a few really scary credit card bills, my mom says to me: "Just make a budget and stick to it."

So I did. I went to www.abowlfulloflemons.net and read what Toni had to say about budgeting. She is the organizing, budgeting, cleaning, and blogging queen, so I trust her advice implicitly. Follow her blog, follow her pinterest, like her on facebook, I promise you won't regret it.

I had an extra binder laying around the house because I found one at Big Lots for $3 with the zipper pouch already included!

Then I bought $.97 dividers from Walmart and labeled each section. The first is Monthly Budget, then Monthly Expenses, then Weekly Expenses. This way I am not only adding up how much I spend per month, but also per week easily.

So I planned out a budget. This is my FIRST one, so there's a lot of notes on it of what did work and didn't.

 Next I record every expense onto the Monthly Expenses sheet

And then Weekly Expenses. A $0 day is a GOOD day.

And last but not least, SAVE ALL RECEIPTS. Gas receipts for commuter students are tax write-offs, so are school supplies. Clothing receipts are always good to have in case something gets messed up or needs to be returned.

This whole binder cost about $5 to make and has been a lifesaver in organizing my life. Once I see all my silly expenses on paper, I realize how much I would have if I didn't buy stupid things. My Target trips are usually my weakness.

I got all of my printables from: http://www.meadonline.com/HomeManagers/Downloads.aspx

Next month I may take another tip from ABFOL (A bowl full of lemons) and color code with highlights or colored pens so it will be less writing. All green is gas, all blue is food, all pink is spending money, and all orange is bills or something like that.

How do you keep your budget?

*figures based off of an income of approximately $250 per week with the hopes of having savings*

5 for 5

Progress Report! Old goals.
1. Pack my lunch 3 out of 5 days this week. It's not realistic to think that I can actually do it all 5 days. um no.
2. Re-do 3, 4, 5 from last week.
         YES to one. I took hearing loss documentation to the office.
3. Order my face lotion and new coat (Mom's treat) new coat check. face lotion is coming.
4. Record every expense in my new handy-dandy budget binder! (new blog on that to come with FREE printables) YES!
5. Clean out fall/winter wardrobe and remnants of summer and take donations to Goodwill no.

Well. I managed one and 1/3 goal. That's SAD. Might be my worst week yet.
1. Dinner with Dad. No excuses.
2. Pack lunches.
3. Get transmission fluid changed.
4. Write a good article for Sorority Stylista complete with photos
5. Pack up a fair amount of clothes to keep at Yorktown house so I don't keep driving back and forth for clothes and donate what I don't need at all

Confessions
1. I am stupidly stressed, and I really do have enough time to get it all done...just keep wasting it.
2. I'm incredibly excited for the season premiere of NCIS, but insanely bummed that Cote de Pablo left the show
3. I'm spreading out the watching of Downton Abbey as much as possible so that I am not on a Downton Hangover for a month out of sadness for the loss of the two characters I know are going to die.
4. I still haven't read most of the books I'm using for senior sem paper.
5. I haven't written a good article YET for sorority stylista :(

Preppy 101: USG Style

All right ladies and gents, I grew up with the ORIGINAL prepsters. My grandfather was King Prep in his KA days. (That's the Kappa Alpha Order, also known as "The Order.") And my grandma was a Tri-Delt. These were the top houses on campus. Legendary for their parties and overall prepping.
My mom tended to have a bit more edge to her style, but everyone needs the fashion-forward mind.
One day, I discovered this little gem in my family's library.

When I was a teenager, I decided that this would be my life. And for years, I spent a great deal of time trying to perfect my prepster lifestyle. The first step was to master the preppy wardrobe. With my grandfather's careful guidance, I was able to learn the ways of the classic prep. He was careful to distinguish which is the "classic" prep style, and which is the "faking it" prep style. 

He went on to explain that at any informal gathering, Top Siders are the shoe of choice. Sandals could be worn by women depending on the occasion. That is how we discovered "Jacks" aka Jack Rogers Navajo Sandals. 

He also went on to explain the polo shirt or golf shirt. He had more golf shirts than the average Vineyard Vines store. His favorite were the "Crab" shirt aka Jimmy and Sook Pique Crab Polo Shirt. My favorites will always be Vineyard Vines or Ralph Lauren. Same for button downs.

Every man should own several pair of well-fitting chinos. Khaki and Navy. Depending on your specific style, Black is also useful.

NEVER wear a polo tucked in unless you're wearing a belt. Big preppy-no-no.

Ladies. A good baseball cap can hide many a bad hair day. My favorite happens to be the one I'm planning on sporting all fall/winter long. The Plaid Frat Hat. +Lindsey Mart and I are obsessed after seeing it on College Prepster. 

Boots. NECESSARY objects. My personal favorite are Frye or Ariat.

The book goes on to talk about preppy activities such as golf, tennis, tailgating, and also..how to drink like a classy prepster. G&T's without getting...what is it they call it now..."white girl wasted." That's gin and tonic by the way. 

If anyone has ever wondered why I march to my own drum, it's because no one seems to follow the rules set forth in this book by the letter anymore. My grandfather taught me at a young age what it means to be a classic prep.

So now I've ordered the sequel to this book, True Prep. But if you haven't read this one...READ it! The Official Preppy Handbook. My style guide at ALL time.