Gifts for Grads: A Gift Guide and A Contest!

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Graduation season is a super exciting time of year, especially for graduates and those who love them!

Hopefully more exciting than that...

While graduates are generally just happy to be graduating, it's pretty common for loved ones to give graduates gifts to celebrate their achievement - graduating still really is a huge achievement, even when more Americans than ever are doing it! It still takes a lot of persistence, hard work, and ambition to make it through twelve years (+preschool) of education, followed by a voluntary, and often most academically trying, four years of higher education.

As with anything else that involves gift giving, like Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, and Valentine's Day, it can be tricky to come up with a gift that is both thoughtful and useful. Clothes for a graduates new post-grad life, iTunes gift cards,  and money are some always appreciated great go-tos, but if you want to think outside of the box, it might be worth taking a look at unconventional gift sources, like eBay!

eBay not only has a great gift guide for grads, but they're also running a cool sweepstakes from now through June 15, 2014! Create your own gift wish list collections for a chance to win $500!


I made some example collections myself - take a look and feel welcome to include anything that catches your fancy in your own collection! This week's sweepstakes them is father's day gifts, so feel welcome to make those collections, too, in addition to a grad collection!

Gift wish lists are really awesome - no need to get stuck with the sort of lame gifts, like photo albums and underwear, that no one actually wants.

But most of all, have a wonderful graduation!

How did you celebrate your graduation?

What occasions do you give gifts for?

What are your most and least favorite gifts to receive?

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Review: New Detour SMART Bar Flavor - Cranberry Flax

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Detour, a staple in the protein bar aisle, branched out into the natural foods industry a while ago with two SMART bars. They've recently debuted a new bar to join their original blueberry and apple cinnamon SMART bars.



I really enjoyed the other two SMART bars, am a general fan of bars. like that these are natural, and enjoy both cranberries and flax seeds, so I was excited to try the new Detour SMART Cranberry Flax bars!

Like the other Detour SMART bars, the new Cranberry Flax bar is certified gluten free, with only 140 calories and 3 grams of sugar. Instead of keeping the sugar content so low with artificial sweeteners, as some competitors do, Detour uses all-natural Stevia to sweeten their smart bars.



There's a great balance of (gluten-free) whole grains, fruit, and whey protein that make these bars a great snack and their portion-controlled sizes make them great for both kids and adults!



The sweet Greek style yogurt drizzle on top doesn't hurt either. I know my little sister would like them. She's probably even tickle-fight me for them...

Have you tried the new Detour SMART bars?

What are your favorite go-to snacks?

What bars are your staples?

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Top Ten Tips for a Successful Move

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Since I'm graduating (can I say that enough times? I'mgraduatingI'mgraduatingI'mgraduating) I'm moving cities - to NEW YORK CITY! Still, a move is a move. Here are my tips, hopefully I can take some of my own advice next week.

Don't count on it.

1) Give yourself enough time.

I'm guilty of breaking this cardinal rule, but I blame it on Manhattan rent - I'm moving into my new apartment on Sunday, June 1 in the evening and beginning work on Monday, June 2 in the morning.

Nobody talk to me. I'm going to be grouch-r-us.

Suffice it to say that I will be living out of boxes. #hobostyle4life

2) Take breaks. Have sleep. Eat food. Drink beverages.

The general point here is that you need to take care of your physical and emotional well-being or moving will closely approximate the seventh circle of hell.



3) Enlist help.

Trade cookies, beer, hugs, or your fabulous company for the assistance of some friends to keep you sane speed things up.

But don't go as far as Budget suggests. Then just hire a moving company.

4) DJ it. 

Music makes 89% of things better, including chores and moving.

Might have bulls***ted that statistic...#disclaimer

5) Don't take it so seriously.

You don't have to go from an empty apartment full of cardboard boxes to something Home & Garden worthy in one or two days. It's fine if you just get it livable at first and work on interior decorating and organization as you go.

Seems reasonable.

This is real life, not an exam. There's a spectrum of acceptable outcomes.

6) Realize that starter apartments are just starter apartments.

So maybe it isn't your dream place and the the shower looks a little dingier than it did in the photos. Maybe three or four roomies isn't what you wanted from your young 20s professional life.

Still, spending 78% of your salary on rent isn't an option and a starter apartment is just that - a start. It's impermanent.

7) Count your blessings.

Around the 35th paper cut and when you've tripped over the same disassembled Ikea table leg for the umpteenth time, your mood can get pretty low. This is around when a cheery reminder of all that's going right in your life is absolutely called for - you have a place to move to! You have things to move into it! YAY!

8) Put up a personal touch or two early on.

It's easy to focus on just what's necessary and, in a way, that's what I've been encouraging you to do thus far. It's equally important to have something that makes it feel like yours and like home, though. Whether it's a poster, a painting, a photograph, or a fuzzy pink bean bag chair, get it up pretty earlier and it'll make your place (and the moving process) much less austere.

Speaking of bean bag chairs, do those still exist, or am I dating myself? #fossilproblems

Don't even care, I want one just like that.

9) Be appreciative of your helpers.

This goes back to #2. It's important to stay friendly, because your helpers don't have to help you. They could make up a million and one excuses not to be there, but they are there, so be grateful.

It's really nice of them to do it and they don't deserve your hangry pouting. If you're getting too snarky for your own good, take a froyo break and start again when you're ready to be a nice person again.

10) Don't be scared to leave a few boxes for next weekend.

Once you have the basics out and the bulk of the work done, it's fine to call it a day and leave the rest for when you have more energy, time, and enthusiasm again.

What are your moving tips?

What's your funniest moving story?

What are your favorite songs to unpack to?

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Ten Things to Do Before Graduation

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Since I'm about to ****GRADUATE**** I thought I'd put together a list of pre-graduation to-dos for those with a semester or more left!

1) Take a class for fun. 

Twelve years of education plus four years of higher education can sometimes lead to a little burnout - it's a lot! And getting bogged down with trying to make the grade can be a bummer, too.

But when it comes down to it, learning is fun. Take a class purely for fun to remember that you actually do enjoy learning. If you didn't you probably wouldn't have chosen college!

2) Appreciate your meal plan.

In the real world, you generally can't just show up to a big room any day of the week between the hours of x and y to have as much free food, buffet style, as you want.

There's a reason people love buffets and it probably has to do with the fact that food acquisition generally takes more time, money, and effort than that.

4) Go to a professor's office hours.

Building professional relationships now can really help your career in the future. Students tend to take access to top professionals in their fields (aka: the professors) for granted, but that nonstop access dries up as soon as you graduate.

College is a golden opportunity to secure recommendations for jobs, grad school, etc. And some of your professors are bound to be just plain interesting!

5) Go to a college party.

Social relationships are important!

And it's just fun! But try not to be the person puking in the rose bushes, because then I have to feel bad for you/worry about your poor, poor liver.

6) Go to the library just to explore the stacks.

A lot of schools have super cool libraries (shout to Harvard's Widener library!) but we rarely take the time to appreciate them when we're studying or collecting books for papers.



Do it!

7) Learn about alumni organizations.

Jobs. Friends. Barbecues. 'Nuff said.

8) Knock off somethings on your school's bucket list.

Every school has their traditions, whether it's a particular to-do list or some must attend parties or just a general culture.

I'm not suggesting that you entirely assimilate to your school's stereotype, but do partake in at least a bit of the culture. It's a fun, social activity that allows you to get closer to your peers!

9) Pull an all-nighter.

I'm in no way condoning getting into the habit of no sleep, but I think it's something that's pretty universal to the college student experience and everyone should do it at least once. It will be a strugglebus towards the end, but hang in there!

Bonus if you make it a really productive and/or fun night!

10) Do what YOU want to do.

College is to life what the Enlightenment was to literature - it's a time to learn how to think critically, question what you're told, and determine independently whether or not something sounds advisable/plausible/ethical.

We're bombarded with advice about what we should do, but the ultimate goal of a college education is to be able to figure that out for yourself. As in life, sometimes you'll probably stumble a bit - but as longs as you keep trying, that's the best you can do!

What's on your top ten list?

What advice would you give a younger you?

Do you regret what you do more or what you don't?

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Recipe: Vegan Thai-Inspired Sticky Rice with Mango

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Vegan Thai-Inspired Sticky Rice with Mango

Makes ~1 cup (1-2 servings)

* 1/2 c. uncooked short-grain white rice (I recommend sushi rice - or, to really approximate the Thai version, sticky rice!)

* 1/3 c. water

* 1 1/3 c. coconut milk

* 1/3 c. white sugar

* 1/6 tsp. salt

* 1 tsp. white sugar

* Pinch salt

* 1 tsp. cornstarch (tapioca starch might be even better, if you have it)

* 1 mango, peeled and sliced

* Optional sesame seeds, to top (I skipped them, since I didn't have any on hand)

1) Combine rice, water, and 1/2 cup coconut milk in a pot.



2) Bring to a boil over high heat and simmer for around 20 minutes, until liquid is fully absorbed.

Be careful not to let it burn on to the bottom!

3) Mix in another 1/2 c. coconut milk, 1/3 c sugar, 1/6 tsp salt. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat.

4) Transfer to a bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

I left some space in the bowl to add mango slices after.

5) Make sauce by combining remaining coconut milk, sugar, salt, and cornstarch in a saucepan. Bring to a boil.

6) Arrange mangoes in bowl. 

7) Pour sauce over the mixture (sorry, I don't have a post-sauce photo, but it's fairly similar).

ENJOY!

What is your favorite dessert?

What is your favorite cuisine for dessert?

What is your favorite recipe? Links are welcome, if it's on the web!

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Onyx Box Review - Adventures in Beauty

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I reviewed a hair care OnyxBox the other day, but was pleasantly surprised to discover that, due to popular demand, they've created a beauty/makeup box, too!



Cue the excitement.

Also, can we take a minute to delight in how pretty the packaging is? I love pink (as you can tell) and the hot pink tissue paper with the pretty logo sticker is so nice. It makes you super excited to get to the beauty goodies inside!



The April OnyxBox had $110 worth of full-size Cargo Cosmetics products.



Considering that an OnyxBox subscription is only $25 per month, that's an amazing deal. You're paying for less than a quarter of the retail value!



The selection of products was great. As one would expect of high quality makeup products, the containers are cute and robust, so you can easily stick them in your handbag if you're out for a long day and want to have the option of doing touch-ups.



The powder blush was a beautiful peachy-rosy color, with an orange undertone that's great for brown skin.



Pure pink or red blush can look so artificial and unattractive on darker skin, but the orangey hue picks up some natural skin tone colors and looks great.

Darker skinned girls could probably get away with using more of it, but since I'm lighter skinned and don't wear blush anyway (I already blush from cold, activity, and embarrassment) just a light swipe was perfect.

Next up was the eye shadow. I was expecting a golden or bronze-ish natural hue, since that's what I wear (when I wear it - I'm more of an eyeliner girl usually) and often see on other African American models in ads. I missed by a mile!

Blue eyeshadow probably makes most of us think of the 80s, but it's really underappreciated. Especially for darker skin, it can be a color with a lot of depth!

This isn't using the Cargo makeup, but here's some blue eyeshadow inspiration from a shoot I did a while ago.

The Philip B White Truffle Shampoo was a throwback to OnyxBox's hair care roots (see what I did there? Hahahaha...). It's a small shampoo, but so decadent and it smells so good. It's a really rich shampoo and makes your hair feel and smell great!

Back to the makeup.

So remember how I said I'm more of an eyeliner than an eyeshadow girl, though I can appreciate both?

This eyeliner pencil was really great. The tip didn't break, it went on smooth (no unpleasantly sharp and brittle No. 2 pencil-style eyeliner pencil), and the color lasted all day. I really liked it and, as someone who generally prefers liquid eyeliner for ease of application, that's saying something!

Last up was a lovely pink long wear lip gloss. It wasn't as super shiny as some lip glosses can be, so it's something you can wear beyond the age of 13 and/or to work. The color was nice, not too sharply pink but still with nice color, and didn't immediately kiss off onto my glass when I drank something.

I can see why this beauty box is back due to popular demand - I loved it!

What's your beauty prep routine?

Do you wear the same makeup every time you wear it, or do you like to mix it up?

How often do you wear makeup?

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My Style: Casual Sundays

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Here are some casual weekend looks from a shoot I did for Team Scum with photographer Monica Justesen - the sort of outfits that I wore a lot throughout college (I'M GOING TO BE A GRAD SOON, GUYS - Hold. The. Phone.).

There will always be room for comfortable, casual looks like these in my wardrobe, but I am going to make a concentrated effort to step it up again with style in June since I'll be (a) living in NYC, style capital of the world, and (b) a real grown up with a real job.

And very real NYC rent (on the strugglebus) but on to greener pastures happier focuses - I'm going to make an effort to wear heels more for fun (not daily, but more than the never that I did before) and have nicely manicured fingernails.

It just seems like such a grown up thing.

How often does your style change?

What is your weekend style?

Do you ever do complete wardrobe overhauls or do you phase old styles out?

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Onyx Box Review - Adventures in Curly Hair Care

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I'm a fan of subscription services as a great way to get to try a lot of different products and/or receive curated products that you're more likely to be a fan of than if you just went to the store and randomly picked a few products off of the shelves. 

I have found some new favorites over the years through subscription services,  and was excited to hear about OnyxBox!

OnyxBox is a curated subscription service specializing in beauty products for black women. I'm half-black and, as a woman of color, have given up on the beauty sections of magazines like Cosmo, Seventeen, and Elle years ago. Sure, they occasionally have an article for ethnic girl hair problems - but let's be real. When they talk about 'Updo's for Curly Hair!' they're usually not talking wavy hair.

Yeah. I guess there are curls...but that's not what curly hair means to me. 

 

This is. But we don't all wake up looking like Bey and getting the man under control can take some work for us mere mortals. 

So I was really excited to see an OnyxBox dedicated to ethnic hair care! I've gotten way better at taming the beast (jk, I love it) over the years, but I'm always up to make my relationship with my hair even better. 

Reducing time spent trying to convince it to look presentable would significantly improve that relationship.

This OnyxBox came with an assortment of hair products from Beautiful Textures, an affordable hair care system sold at Walmart for around $5 or $6 per standard product (I believe the texture manageability system costs a bit more).

I was reasonably pleased with the styling products, though there wasn't anything that blew me out of the water. Then again, I wasn't expecting that much from products whose main selling point is affordability.

I like my curls, so I didn't follow the instructions to straighten them. This system is supposed to allow you to return to your normal curl patter after about six weeks, but I was wary to try it because it was a little high of a risk for me. I did use the shampoo and conditioner, but didn't follow the instructions to straighten. 

Results?

No difference, to be honest. Then again, I didn't follow the instructions.

Overall, I wasn't blown away by the products in this box but I loved getting to try hair products that I otherwise wouldn't have!

How often do you try new styling products?

How often do you change your look?

Have you ever permanently changed your hair other than a cut (ie: dying, straightening, perming, etc.)?

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A Beauty Day for Mother's Day and a Chance to Win

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Mother's Day is next Sunday - are you ready? I feel like Mother's Day always catches me a little off-guard, even though it really shouldn't since my mom's birthday is just days earlier.

But finals. Finals. FINALS. Gah.

The struggle is real.

Anyway, since May can be a really busy time, especially for college students, but moms are really important and deserve lots of appreciation, consider this your helpful reminder to get your mom something for Mother's Day!

Especially when you're grown up and out of the house, moms really just want to spend time with you and make great memories. A spa day is thus a great gift idea and Her Campus and European Wax Center have paired to help make a spa day for you and your mom a possibility!

European Wax Center was founded a decade ago on the belief that all of us deserve beautiful skin that comes not from concealing who we are with tons of powders and foundations, but from having the confidence to reveal our natural beauty!

Mention the code "Her Campus" when you book any European Wax Center services on the phone from now through May 31 and your mom gets a matching service of her choice for free - that means your spa day with mom is half-price! That's a perfect way to have a decadent Mother's Day with your mom for half the price (aka: a collegiate© budget).

What's even better than half off? Free! European Wax Center has a Mother's Day Sweepstakes where you can win beauty treatments for your mom! Check out European Wax's Facebook and Twitter pages for opportunities to win!

This special comes just in time for summer. You'll want to check out their 4 Steps to Gorgeous™process, that gets you beach-body-smooth, in (spoiler alert) four steps.

1) Cleanse: EWC’s pre-wax cleanser removes makeup, oil or lotion from your skin.

2) Protect: Next, apply pre-wax oil to ensure the wax adheres to pesky hairs and not your skin.

3) Reveal: Using EWC’s unique Comfort Wax™, gently remove the hair for a virtually painless experience.

4) Rejuvenate: Last, pamper your skin with either EWC’s Ingrown Hair Serum (for body) or Calming Cream (for face).

Do you wax or shave?

Have you ever been to a spa?

What are you getting your mother for Mother's Day?

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End of Term Energy With Veggie Vibes

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I honestly can't believe that it's already May and I'M GRADUATING THIS MONTH!

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOT!

As excited as I am about FINISHING SCHOOL (ie: a lot) the end of the semester also means - cue ominous Jaws theme song - final exams.

Ew.

It takes a lot of energy to make it though the stress of finals and pre-finals prep, especially since it starts a few weeks out. To keep my energy up from the inside, I ordered Veggie Vibes (okay, okay, I take every possible excuse to do so).

I'm starting with the best part, dessert, because it's finals period. And because this dessert is actually healthy.

The Arroz con Leche is healthy enough to eat for breakfast and delicious enough to eat for every meal always. 

Though that wouldn't be too balanced, so I had to resist. I also only ordered two, so...

I was a little wary of jicama in a dessert, but the coconut cream is so rich and Chef Perkunas prepared it so amazingly that it works just like long grain rice and is absolutely amazing and delicious! The pineapple was also super sweet and fresh and amazing.

There are dried fruits in there and they take it over the top from extremely delicious to unbelievably amazingly delicious.

The Green Smoothie was also great and, as advertised, filling enough for a meal. It's super fruity and doesn't taste like a green smoothie at all - all that you can taste is the banana, orange juice, strawberries, and persimmons in it. It's really thick and creamy!

I prefer to make my own smoothies, because I have an awesome Ninja blender and making smoothies is super quick and easy, but if you're either new to green smoothies or don't have a great blender, this is a great option!

On to things that (like the amazing Arroz con Leche) I can't make myself...

The sprouted walnut neat/veggie topping was amazing!

This came with a side of basil sauce, but I barely needed it because of how flavorful the walnut neat mixture was.

This came with a piece of Naan made of sweet potatoes and nuts and seeds and spices (it was amazing) but I'm not sure where my photo of that went. Sorry guys!

This was a build-it-yourself dish and was delicious with super fresh veggies and a flavorful sauce, as always with Veggie Vibes.

Voracious was a more salad-style dish, but also really filling and flavorful with all the wonderful toppings, ample fresh veggies, pineapple salsa, and date-walnut cream to pour over it. The caramelized onions were definitely my favorite part of this dish, they were so. Good.

Veggie Vibes's raw vegan meal deliveries never fail to blow my (tastebuds') socks off and fill me with great energy!

Try it yourself and don't forget to mention Living, Learning Eating to get a free extra entree with your order. Place your delivery by Friday or Saturday for Tuesday morning delivery (nationwide shipping)!

Have you tried Veggie Vibes?

What are your survival tips for stressful/busy times?

What's your favorite meal of the day (dessert can count)?

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