Shop Update and Discount Code

Tomorrow is my 22nd birthday, so today and tomorrow only you can use the code BDAY22 at checkout for 22% off your purchase of art or jewelry in my Etsy shop!  I have recently added some new items to my shop, so this is the perfect time to shop.

Here are two of the new items I've added lately, and there are more coming throughout the week.

Mini Room Tour

my hair bow collection, all from Splendid Bee on Etsy; I highly recommend them

part of my hat collection, necklace displays, a gingerbread scented candle, and a deer I painted blue

the part of my art wall that's all art I did, except for the portrait of me

my fairly new shelves, home to jewelry making stuff, books, and my carnivorous plants

shelf close-up

It recently occurred to me that you guys have never seen my room, so here are some snippets.  Not pictured: my two desks, freezer, mini fridge, plastic bins, and closet complete with closet monster.

The Big Birthday Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

It's my birthday on the 28th so I'm giving you guys stuff!  The handmade jewelry is from my shop, Honeybee Alley, the zombie items are from my zombie Lootcrate (if you click that link and subscribe, I'll get $5 off a Lootcrate), and the bags are from my friend's shop, The Tragic Whale.  Due to shipping costs, this giveaway is only open to readers with U.S. mailing addresses.

Watching, Playing, Reading #4

via

Watching:

Oddities and Oddities San Francisco: on Netflix; I watched all of both of these shows and I would love to see more!  It's sort of like Pawn Stars, but with taxidermy animals and infant coffins instead of laptops and watches.  There are so many interesting people and items on the show and you never know what's going to happen next.  Plus it's pretty educational, if you're into that sort of thing.

Red Dawn (the remake): on Netflix; It was a pretty good movie.  I've never seen the original but I intend to now.  It's about a bunch of high school kids trying to survive and fight back after the US is invaded.

Community: I have been waiting to watch this for a long time and now I finally am.  It is as hilarious and wonderful as I expected and I'm hooked!

Playing:

Candy Crush Saga: on Facebook; I started playing this recently and it's my guilty pleasure.  I was never going to start playing but then I did and I like it.  I only play about two levels a day so I'm not wasting all of my time on it or anything.

Reading:

still The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly;  I've just been reading it when I'm waiting for my bus so I'm taking awhile to finish it but it's such a good book that I don't want it to end!

Short Hair Don't Care

I got my hair cut over Christmas break.  I wanted to donate it to Locks of Love, but the bottom part was too damaged and I would have had to get it trimmed and then grow it out for another six months.  I got an A-line cut and I really like it.  It's exactly what I wanted.  And it only took about 20 minutes for the lady to cut it.  I love how I can actually brush it in under a minute.  When it was long it got so tangled that my brush handle snapped in half trying to brush it one day.  Plus it was always getting caught on everything and pulled by everything including my purse handle.  I can also shower much faster without having to take 15 minutes to wash my hair alone.  Plus I've gotten a ton of compliments on it, which I don't hate.

Friday Fashion: Fashion Favorites

jacket: Goodwill (Converse One Star brand), shirt: Lootcrate, jeans: Forever 21 (similar), boots: Urban Outfitters (similar 1) (similar 2), scarf: Goodwill, bag: Buffalo Exchange (Sparrow True brand), necklace: Nastalgame

This outfit is super comfortable and cute yet casual and nerdy, which pretty much sums up my style.  Everything is one of my favorite pieces, especially these jeans.  I got them from Forever 21 online on sale for $8.  Forever 21 is the online place I order jeans online because I have such a hard time finding jeans that fit, but Forever 21's jeans seem to be sized the same through all of their styles and always fit me great.  I bought this bag and these boots last week and have been using them just about every single day since.  I couldn't find the perfect ankle boots in the thrift stores so I actually went to a real store.  I got these for $30, which is a pretty good price.  They are comfortable and very water-resistant and also exactly what I was looking for.  I wish they had them online so I could link to them but they don't.  And I think I've talked about this necklace before but I love it so much that I'll talk about it again.  It cost me just $10 and is very well-made and worth way more than that.  I like it because it lets me add an extra nerdy touch to my outfits.  And did I mention that it's double-sided?!  When I'm not feeling great, I can turn it around and there's only one and a half full hearts.  Pretty cool if you ask me.  I am so in love with this shirt.  It's a mash-up of Star Wars and The Walking Dead, both things that I adore.  I got it in my Lootcrate the one month that I bought one.  It was zombie-themed, so how could I not buy one?!  For those of you who haven't heard of it yet, Lootcrate is a subscription service that sends you a box of awesome nerdy goodies for however many months you sign up for it.  It's very reasonably priced at just under $20 for one month, and even less if you purchase multiple months.  This Lootcrate also contained the book The Zombie Survival Guide, some zombie bite tattoos, zombie pins (buttons), and a zombie-themed greeting card.  None of the links in this post are affiliate links and I'm not being compensated by anyone for this post.  I just really like these things and wanted to share them with you.

How to go to School on a Budget

I'm not sure if I've told you yet but I am going back to school this fall.  If you've been here for awhile you might remember that I had to take a hardship withdrawal from classes during my second year of college because I was having seizures.  Well I am better now, and have not had a seizure for over two years!, so I'm ready to go back to school.

I am lucky because I still have the scholarship that I got, the Achiever's Scholarship, which will cover most of my tuition, along with any other government financial aid I may receive.  But it might not cover everything.  Last time I was in school it was a public university and this time it is a community college, which will cost way way less, but I don't know yet how much aid I'll be receiving.  Add to that the fact that I make minimum wage and only work part-time and you understand just how much money I don't have.  Money to spend on things like textbooks.  Textbooks are really expensive!  Last time I was in school, I had to buy at least one textbook per class and had five classes each quarter.  Textbooks cost between 70 dollars and hundred dollars, which makes at least $350 per quarter spent on textbooks alone!  The bookstore had a buyback option where I could sell back my textbooks at the end of each quarter but they usually wouldn't buy back a book because it wasn't the edition the class would be using next time, or if they did buy back the books it was for significantly less than I paid for them.  For a good quarter I might get back $30 of the $350 I had to pay.

This is where CampusBookRentals.com comes in.  I wish I could go back in time and tell past me about textbook rentals.  I could have saved so much money to use later on for fun things like paying my rent.  Here are some of the benefits of renting from CampusBookRentals.com:

• you save 40-90% off bookstore prices (yes, you read that right; save up to 90%!)
• free shipping both ways
• you can highlight in your textbooks (which is great because usually the bookstore won't buy back books that have been highlighted in)
• they donate to Operation Smile with each textbook rented; Operation Smile is a great organization that gives cleft lip surgeries to children; You can make children smile while making yourself smile.  Sounds pretty good to me.
• if you love a textbook and want to keep it, you can pay the difference and do just that
• you can return your books for a full refund as long as it's within 21 days

Now if you're like me and are late to the textbook rentals party, you probably still have some old textbooks sitting around taking up precious bookshelf space.  Instead of letting your textbooks sit there and gather dust, you could be making money off of them through Rentback.com!  You get to send away your old textbooks and make money off of them every time they get rented.  Watch this video to learn more.



This fall I will definitely be renting all of my textbooks so I can save more money for paying my rent.

This is a sponsored post, but all opinions are definitely my own.

Christmas Break

My Christmas break was so good.  I was definitely in need of a vacation.  I took about a bajillion photos which I'll be sharing a little bit at a time so I don't overwhelm everyone.  I got to see my family, stars, a deer, and some gorgeous scenery.  I also got to talk to my brother on the phone for about an hour one night, which was amazing because I hadn't talked to him for a year and a half, since he's stationed in Japan for the Marines.  I somehow managed to not cry while I was on the phone with him.  He's my best friend and I miss him a lot.

Over my break I got my hair cut (pictures coming soon!), renewed my drivers license even though I haven't driven for over two years (since before my legs stopped working, which you can read more about in these posts; it was probably a rare symptom of celiac disease), went to some thrift stores with my mom, and tried a coffee shop that had some gluten-free options (the muffin I had was less than great).  I also had Christmas dinner with my parents and grandparents, all gluten-free, and made some yummy Christmas goodies with my mom.  I hope everyone else had a great Christmas too (and Christmas break if you got one).

This Christmas was especially special for me because last year I didn't get to go home for Christmas.  I was too sick to travel anywhere and still unable to hold food down.  It was right before I was diagnosed with celiac disease.  My dad came up and brought me some presents and I was too exhausted to even really talk during his brief visit.  So this year was exponentially better than last year and I thoroughly enjoyed my visit home.