An Ode to Summer

5 Things you DON’T Need to Bring to College

5 Things you Don't Need to Bring to College |thoughts&daisies To make your packing a little easier (and your bags a little lighter) here are 5 things you don’t need to bring with you.

As schools come back in session all of us college kids are once again packing up our things and packing is daunting. So much we could bring, so little space to put it. To make your packing a little easier (and your bags a little lighter) here are 5 things you don’t need to bring with you.

An Iron

It sounds like a good idea. Wrinkly clothes need a way to be dealt with, but I’ve been in college for two years and have only used mine a handful of times. Because it takes a lot of effort. Instead, opt for a wrinkle spray or a handheld steamer. Super easy to use and takes up less storage space.

Your Whole Wardrobe

Not having every piece of clothing you own for a whole year, or at least a semester can feel limiting. Especially if you go to school really far away like I do. While you may want to, you don’t need to take your whole wardrobe with you. You won’t even have space for half of it in those tiny dorm room closets. You just need to pack smart.

Pack for the seasons you will be there first. If you don’t need all of your winter gear the first semester leave it at home and do a wardrobe swap over the break.

Start packing by laying out piles of basic staple pieces by items. Shirts, pants, PJs, etc. Once you have that then add in more clothes. But before you take that top that has been collecting dust in your closet for 5 years really decide if it’s worth it. Take more versatile pieces instead.

Rule of thumb, if you haven’t worn it in the past 6 months you probably won’t be missing it in college.

A box of nail polish and every makeup palette you’ve ever owned

I made the mistake of taking a whole box of nail polish with me the first year and painted my nails approximately zero times. Unless you paint your nails every month I would suggest taking no polish or up to three colors. If you decide you want to paint your nails you can always stop by your local Walgreens for some polish.

Same goes with your makeup. I am not someone who uses all of my palettes on a daily basis so I am scaled back on which ones I take with me. It really pays off when your luggage is at 49.9lbs and you don’t want to be charged for overweight bags.

Bed Risers

Most dorm beds are made to lift on their own to provide extra storage space underneath or you can loft if you want it to be extra tall. Bed risers are just extra things to buy and I just don’t think they are very useful.

Most Valuables

Keep the valuables you take with you to a minimum. It is better to be safe than sorry. For whatever you do take with you have a safe place for it hidden in your dorm like a small safe.

Be smart with what you bring. Don’t bring an expensive speaker when you can get one at Target for around $20. If you can’t afford to lose it maybe don’t bring it.

Happy Packing!

If you have any other suggestions of things NOT to bring to college put it in the comments! When do you go back to school?

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Bridge of Clay Review

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Markus Zusak (MZ) is the author of two books on my all-time favorite list so when I found his newest release during a Barnes n Noble browsing it was quickly added to my shopping cart.

Zusak is the author of the award-winning novel, The Book Thief as well as I Am the Messenger (probably my absolute favorite of his). But we aren’t here to talk about those today. Today’s blog is all about Bridge of Clay.

“In the beginning, there was one murderer, one mule and one boy…”

Bride of Clay is a story about the 5 Dunbar boys, most notably the fourth, Clay. Clay the boy who will build a bridge.

I will have to say that this book was a bit slow-paced and it is looooong, almost 600 pages, and with it starting off slow it took me a while to get into it. Including a lot of patience on my end but I knew I didn’t want to stop because I love MZ’s writing style. Although, his style is also the reason this book ended up being this long.

The way he writes incorporates details in a way that is different than other books and in use takes longer than average explaining something which can feel, at times, tedious.

“The sun was some sort of barbarian, a Viking in the sky.”

One thing for me that makes MZ a fantastic writer is his command of language. If you are a lover of language than his books are for you. His sentences have a very poetic feel and are often used to both rip your heart out and stitch it back up at the same time. It is writing to where sometimes you just have to stop and admire a sentence because it takes your breath away.

Compared to his other books I’ve read I will have to say it is my least favorite. The extensiveness of the book created some confusion as the plotlines shift around a lot and I don’t feel that it allowed for enough cohesive detailing in any specific one.

In total there are maybe 10 characters that this book delves into pasts for and I for one had to reread pages a few times over to keep up.

Similar to his The Book Thief, Death as its own character makes a return in Bridge of Clay, for good or bad. Which is all I will say since, spoilers.

“It was in there, out there, waiting. It lived on our front porch.”

I felt the narration fell a bit flat compared to his other novels because, for me, it was harder to connect to Matthew as a character and the narrator. I felt we saw little of him as his own intricate character. Despite the novel being centered around Clay and not Matthew, I would have liked to have had more glimpses into him.

MZ also used Homer’s novels The Odyssey and The Illiad as both allusions and physical objects throughout the book which were intriguing and I felt were tied well into the other plot points as a whole. For those who know me they know, I am a lover of anything involving Ancient Greek Heroes so I very much appreciated this detail.

In whole, I enjoyed the plot of the novel and my read but I do not think this will be one of his that I reread over and over again.

“That bridge was made of him.”

Let me know in the comments if you have read one of his books and which is your favorite.

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Summer Sounds

Foodie Adventures

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Foodie Adventures |Thoughts&Daisies One of my favorite things to do is go on food adventures. My uncle loves to take me and my brother to the places he has found. This time our food theme was Mexican, but we wanted seafood and my uncle said he knew just the place.

One of my favorite things to do is go on food adventures. My uncle loves to take me and my brother to the places he has found. This time our food theme was Mexican, but we wanted seafood and my uncle said he knew just the place. So we headed out to San Diego to visit the Tj Oyster Bar.

My uncle ordered a half plate of oysters which I did not partake in but my brother loves. There are very few things I don’t like and slimy oysters are one of them.

Instead, I ate tacos.

Foodie Adventures |Thoughts&Daisies One of my favorite things to do is go on food adventures.

I ordered an octopus taco and a smoked tuna with cheese. Surprisingly adding the cheese made the tuna even better, though I shouldn’t be surprised because I am a cheese connoisseur and will add extra cheese to everything I can.

The octopus was delicious too and it is one of my favorite types of seafood so there was really nothing that could go wrong with this meal for me.

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After lunch, we headed out to get some dessert and sticking with our theme walked down the street to Holy Paleta. Now this place is cool. They have water based and milk based paletas that you can add toppings too. From anything from yogurt and fruit to cereal and chocolate.

Foodie Adventures |Thoughts&Daisies One of my favorite things to do is go on food adventures.

I ended up getting an Horchata paleta dipped in white chocolate topped with cinnamon toast crunch cereal. It was amazing. The white chocolate went incredibly well with the horchata and the crunch from the cereal brought it all together. Now I really want to go back and try some of their other flavors.

I have to say our food adventure day was a success and be sure to check out my uncles food instagram @follow.my.fork to get some restaurant recommendations.

What is your favorite type of taco?

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