Foxy Tip #10: Old Swimmies

Old bikini= fantastic sweaty clothes. Whether you're working out or gardening in the hot sun, don't ruin your nice underwear, just throw on an old swimsuit you don't care about. They're meant for getting wet and they dry fast. :]

Foxy Tip #9: Un-quotable Advice from Yours Truly

Ever meet someone who everyone you know just loves but no matter how much you hang out with them you just don't get it? You're probably right. That person is probably an asshole and you're the only one immune to whatever has charmed everyone else. Don't worry, they'll find out eventually, but it'll usually be the hard way.

This goes both ways. If everyone you know hates someone that you're friends with, you might want to proceed with caution. We all fall for creeps at some point in our lives, if none of your friends like them, consider why they dislike them and perhaps rethink your own views. They might not actually be "misunderstood", but rather you're the one under their spell this time.

Foxy Tip #8: Car Fresheners

Something I never ever do is hang anything from my rear view mirror. Things that dangle there are distracting, and they create a blind spot. (In fact I never do anything to cover up any of my windows, bumper stickers belong on the bumper) However, lots of people hang their car fresheners up there, which is understandable. But if you'd like to be a bit safer, then I suggest doing what I do. Hang them here instead! It's out of the way and doesn't swing around when you make turns. Much safer, and I think just looks better.

PS: If you're ever wondering, that purple "relax" scent is bubblegum. I did not appreciate their deceptiveness.

The Red Flags They Don't Tell You About

I was in a relationship for two years that was totally wrong for me. But I didn't know it at the time. You read about "red flags" of relationships, but they rarely seemed to apply to mine. It was... other things. Well I've been contemplating it a while now, and I've realized what my red flags should have been. So here, these might help you if you're feeling unsure.

• We had no inside jokes, not one. Looking back I don't even know how that was possible, but it was. We didn't have a running joke about anything. It was a perfect example of how not-fun our relationship was.

• I didn't worry about us. I had no idea that being with the right person meant constantly worrying that one of us might suddenly die or something, because that's what it's like now. Okay it's not constant, but it's just that I'm so effing happy now that I'm sometimes worried something will come along and ruin it. But like I said, I was never worried about my old relationship. I guess secretly I didn't care if something broke us apart.

• The thought of our future together was forced. I never just naturally thought about where we would live someday or what our wedding would look like, I had to actively force myself to think about it (though I didn't realize what I was doing at the time). With my guy now, I practically have to force myself to not think about our future! I can't tell you how many almost-freudian slips I've said to him! "We should totally have flan for our... birthday (oh my god did I almost say wedding?!?!) cake"

• We had no pet names. We might say each others' names with a kind of cutesy tone, but we never called each other anything but that. And I never even thought I was much of a pet name person, but that gooey cutesy shit comes out all the time with the boyfriend now. I can't help it. And it feels okay that I'm doing it. 

• There are imperfections you expect to change over time. With the old relationship, I assumed that some things would change about him eventually, why this was I can't say. But let me assure everyone, that wasn't going to happen. Now don't get me wrong, sometimes the right relationship can set people on the right track in life, but it's not going to drastically uproot aspects of their personality. Maybe it'll help them kick a few bad habits but it won't be helping them with their social anxiety, depression, etc. The right person is perfect the way they are, they need no changing.

• Out bad habits didn't compliment each other. We both were bad procrastinators, we both had problems with motivation, and we both could be really lazy at times. Together, those things were even worse. And if it seems like I'm being choosy, you need to realize these things really are part of a relationship. It's not just whether you get along and have fun together, but it's how you will be affected living with this other person. And these were all really bad habits I just couldn't be indulging. 

If as time goes on I think of more, maybe I'll post a Red Flags #2, but for now this is what really stands out to me.

Car Essentials

It was finally warm enough for me to spend the day outside cleaning Growlie, my car. I unloaded everything in it, wiped it all down, vacuumed everywhere, shook out the rugs, and even found knew compartments I didn't know existed. (seriously, my car has secret compartments everywhere!) I'd like to think I'm pretty prepared too with what I keep in my car, so I thought I would show you guys what I consider my car essentials.

From top left...

Real physical maps of local roads: You never know when your GPS will randomly crash or your cell will die. It's good to have some real maps just in case.

Pen and a notebook: You never know when you'll need to take down a shopping list, directions, or even just a great idea before you forget it!

An envelope of important documents: Keep your insurance card and other things organized rather than just crushed in you glove compartment.

Sanitary wipes: Who knows?

A crazy swiss army knife: It has a nail file, cork screw, knife, and a million other things. Just good to have around.

Tissues: Well duh you should have tissues!

Glasses case of tampons: It makes your boy passenger less squeamish if you just ask him for a glasses case ;]

Utensils: Because spontaneous picnics are totally a thing!

Sun reflector: Lightweight, cheap, and always a good thing to have.

Ibuprofen: Spontaneous cramps and headaches are the bane of everyone's existence. 

Pens and pencils: Always handy.

Umbrellas: Because it only starts raining once you've arrived at your destination :]

A plastic garbage bin: Seriously the best idea ever. You don't want wrappers and trash all over the place, so just get a flat plastic rubbermaid container and throw a plastic bag in it. I suggest a flat container rather than standing or they'll fall over when you make turns, and mine has locking handles which is great because they keep anything smelly from actually stinking up your car.

Plastic bags: For the garbage, as well as a useful thing to have if you suddenly need to carry things.

Bag of hard candies: Sometimes you just need a little sugar to get you through to dinner.
Sunglasses: Well this one's obvious but it's fun to have a variety in there, just so you have options for different outfits. :]
Lighters: I don't smoke, but if I ever had to start a fire or something I'd be glad I had them.
Altoids: You never know when you'll need fresh breath.
Hand sanitizer: Again, not a big fan of sanitizers, but it could be useful if you had to wash your hands but didn't have access to a sink.
Toothpicks: Okay this one is more for my boyfriend, but still, you never know when you'll have a stupid kernel stuck that just won't come loose no matter how much you fiddle at it with your tongue.
Change: Because the Illinois Tollway system is a bitch. Also, vending machines!
Bobby pins: Always have some nearby.
Emergency gas card: Just in case you're running low and don't have any money.
Secret cash stash: Definitely my most exciting item here, I hollowed out a tube of chapstick and keep some cash inside. Because seriously, who wants to steal my shitty chapstick?
A rug: The rug that all these things are sitting on is also in my car, my trunk to be exact. I have three of them in there, which are just old floormats, but very handy. They keep the plastic in my trunk from getting scratched, and they're good for sitting on outside, or wrapping up delicate things, as well as keeping food or liquid spills from getting all over your car. Handy dandy.

Anyways, hope that was helpful, some things I forgot to mention were an empty gas can just in case you need to walk to get gas. Also some rope in case you want to tie something down to your roof, as well as reusable grocery bags. I still need to buy myself a blanket for the car too, but after that, I'll be good to go!

Do you have any car essentials? Let me know in the comments!

Foxy Tip #7: Getting Rid of a Lingering Sickness

So you're sick. You've had this cough/sore throat/congestion/whathaveyou forever. You've been babying it the whole time, sticking to the safe foods, sucking up entire bags of Halls, and drinking honey and tea for every meal... and it's still there. I've learned that sometimes, you just gotta do the exact opposite of what you'd expect to work, and it'll knock the sickness out of you.

As a child I once had a cold for a long time, but decided to go to my friend's birthday party at a gymnastics center anyways. All the running, jumping, and exercise did something amazing because the next day I was cold-free and feeling great. Once in high school I had a cough that just wouldn't go away. One day I went to the football game with my friends. All the screaming we did there must have knocked that cough out because it never came back. And most recently, I discovered the wonders of alcohol. Back in college I had been babying a sore throat for a week, but it just wouldn't let up. So again, I just said fuck it and decided to go out and party with my friends. And yes, you guessed it, all that alcohol did something magical because the next day the pesky sore throat was gone.

Now of course keep in mind these were all situations where I had been battling that sickness for like a week with no change. I would never suggest doing these things at the start of being sick, but rather as a last ditch effort to get rid of it.

Foxy Tip #6: How To Like Foods You Hate

With a little bit of force, you can learn to like foods you hate. If you hate peanut butter, ease yourself into it by eating a lot of nuts, then peanuts, then a lick of peanut butter every now and then. Bananas? Eat banana flavored other things, like candy, banana bread, etc. Then try a banana once and a while. It takes some time and a little bit of gagging but eventually you'll start to taste them differently.

Cell Phone Company Review

So I finally switched from the dreadful Tracfone service to a shiny new one called "Ting". Here's my review of the good and bad about this new service offered under Sprint, as well as my old service with Tracfone.

Maybe I should talk about the problems with Tracfone first...

• Customer Service
• When you call them you of course have to go through an automated robot system to actually reach a person. (and sometimes you can't actually get to one depending on your circumstances) Once you actually do get to a person, you're not going to have an easy time communicating. Listen, I know we all need jobs and it's totally not their fault, but yeah, it's pretty hard to understand the workers' accents. I was always polite, but sometimes I had to have them repeat sentences like 4 times before I finally understood what they were saying. They read from a script, so you can never tell if what you're saying is really getting through to them. If you have a problem, don't expect it to get solved quickly.

• New Phones
• Ordering phones from them was always relatively easy, and they very quickly replaced any that were stolen or broken. However, when it came to activating the new phone, transferring my number to it, etc, it was a bloody mess. Once when trying to transfer my number something went wrong and I had to be transferred from one representative to another for FOUR hours while they tried to figure it out. And this happened multiple times with new phones. 

• Transferring Numbers 
• Should you ever decide to get a new phone, you WILL have to retype in all your contacts. Unless it's a smartphone where you can back them up via Gmail or the like, you will not be able to transfer them. I had three different phones throughout my Tracfone days and despite being able to save the contacts to the Sim card, you couldn't actually transfer the Sim card to the new phone. They wouldn't accept anything but the Sim card they're given to you with. So yeah, that was a huge pain in the ass. (music, photos, etc. also were non-transferrable)

The good?

• Yes, it's cheap. 
• Especially if you just use the prepaid phones and not the monthly plans, it's a good deal. But it's the sort of service I would recommend for someone who rarely actually uses their phone. My parents still have it, and they only use their cell phone when they're out and need to call home, maybe once or twice a month. But if you're someone who actually calls people, texts, etc. then you can get a much better deal with Ting. I mean yes, Tracfone is still a better deal than the usual monthly plans with big companies, but compared to Ting, it's not worth it. 

So Ting... let's just start with the bad, because there really isn't too much of it.

• Acquiring a Phone
• If you plan on switching, be sure to read the requirements first of phones you can bring over to their network. It has to be a Sprint phone, but it can't be for the Boost Mobile network, those are locked. There's a huge list of acceptable models, so it's definitely not limiting in your choices. I was worried I wouldn't be able to find a phone I wanted, I like physical keypads but I dislike sliders, so I wanted something similar to a blackberry. I settled on the Motorola Xprt, and got to searching Amazon for a used one. (You can choose to buy new or used ones through a company Ting is partnered with, but they weren't offering the Xprt, so I chose to do it myself.) Now this is where the real problem was. Not necessarily anything Ting did wrong, but the hassle of finding an acceptable phone. The first one I bought was for the Boost Mobile network, the seller hadn't mentioned this. However, you can solve this problem just by asking for the ESN number, and checking it on the Ting website to see if it will work. So phone no.1 went back. The second phone I definitely checked the ESN for and it worked, however upon trying to activate it I came to find that someone had modified the phone (and the seller didn't mention that either), so it couldn't be activated. Finally on the third try I went to Ebay and found one with an ESN that checked out, I successfully activated it within an hour of receiving it in the mail.
• Data Coverage
• At the time, I was living in Marquette, MI. There was pretty much no data coverage up there, but to be honest it's not a big surprise to me. More isolated places don't get much coverage on a lot of networks. And with only a few months of class left it wasn't a big deal, I'd be back in Chicago in no time.

That's it. That's the bad. Pretty slim right? Okay, onto the good.

• Customer Service
• Amazing. Seriously, I have never actually dealt with such nice customer service. First off, when you call, you get a person. A real live person. No robots, just people. And for me, 9/10 you get a person without having to be put on hold first. It was great. Also, they're very easy to understand, and they are polite as hell. Not like "reading a script" polite, but actually easy to talk to polite. They're great. And after your call, they'll send you a follow up email just to make sure everything is working properly. In fact their email service is pretty quick and responsive, it's really nice. Overall, great customer service.
• Prices
• Hot damn just look at this chart. Just look at it. That is a goddamn deal. You are only charged for what you use, and that's it. Fuck yeah. I'm not even going to go into this, you can figure out how much money you'd save yourself.
• Easy Activation
• Maybe this isn't even a pro, maybe this is just a normal thing for most companies, but I got my phone activated and working in under an hour. That was highly unusual compared to the regular routine.

So, in conclusion... Tracfone is a good service for those who barely use their phones. It's good for mom and dad. But if you actually plan on using your phone frequently, then I would go with Ting. Some advice for switching to Ting, either buy a phone from them or be careful who you buy from online (if you're buying a used phone). The first two phones I bought were from Amazon "companies", you know the sellers who consistently have hundreds of items. I've found that despite them having good reviews, they're less trustworthy, because they don't necessarily know the history behind each of their products. The third phone I bought that worked was from an individual person just selling their husband's old phone. She had good reviews for the few things she had sold (under 50 items), and the package I received contained the original box, charger, and even the instructions. So if you're going to go for a used phone, you might want to try someone who actually knows where their phone has been. I think the "company" sellers tend to just pick them up from other people and not really get the full story on whether or not they've been modified or have any problems.

And that's it! If my opinion on Ting changes in the future, I'll definitely write another post about it, but so far so good.

Update!!

So last month I received my first bill from Ting. I was charged $3 for falling under the S size minutes plan, another $3 for falling under the S size messages, then $6 for using my phone on their network. Overall with taxes, my monthly bill was $15.15. Pretty cheap right? Well it gets better. In the email I received detailing all this, they said that I had $9.85 in credit for next month. Because when I was charged $3 for falling under the minutes and messages plans, I had barely actually used any minutes or messages. I had sent 33 texts and only made a single phonecall. Because I was closer to being in the XS ($0) plan, they rolled over the money that I really didn't spend on those minutes and texts. Awesome right? So this month the $9.85 will go towards my bill so I'll more than likely only pay like $4 or something. If I got any of this wrong I'll correct it when I get my next bill, but so far it looks like this is the coolest goddamn plan I've ever seen. Fuck yeah Ting. Fuck yeah.

Foxy Tip #5: Shitty Labels = Quality Products

Whenever I go grocery shopping, I always look for the shittiest labels* I can find. And no, I don't mean shitty as in cheap and poorly designed, I mean shitty as in looks like they made the labels on their own printer without any glossy paper before slapping them on the jars themselves. Consistently these have always been much tastier than any "big name" brands. I'd say breads, jams, peanut butter, fudge, maple syrup, honey, and those sorts of homemade kinds of foods are the ones that this works best with. And of course it goes without saying that these smaller companies are usually more local, so it's a nice thing to support.

*My boyfriend and I love that company's jams. They taste like real fruit.

Foxy Tip #4: Taming Crazy Hair

My hair all throughout middle school, high school, and college was this. A crazy, curly, wiry, frizzy, puffball. I was so fed up I decided to chop it all off. Despite rarely using a straightener on it, apparently, it was just really damaged! So if you've got long hair that doesn't want to cooperate with you, you might just want to try cutting it all. It might just be damage, rather than the actual structure of your hair that is causing the problem. (and yes, I know I make silly faces)

Before... 

After... 

I also started using a deep conditioner, this one to be exact, once every few weeks. (I apply after shower to wet hair, put it in bun on top of head, put on a shower cap, then let a heat pad sit on my head for about an hour or so before washing it out) And that's also been helping with my wiry hair a lot, it's much smoother and softer now. Anyways, hope this helps anyone with similar hair problems!

Foxy Tip #3: Flavored Coffee To Go

Bored with the usual cream and sugar? Here's a few easy things you can drop in your coffee before you run out the door. They'll melt quickly and give your coffee a little kick, just be sure to give it a stir once melted!

• Hard candies
• Werther's Originals
• Peppermints (or candy canes!)
• Red Hot Cinnamon
• Tic Tacs
• Lemon Drops
• Rock Candy (it even comes with it's own stirrer!)
• Root Beer
• (or any others you have laying around)
• Syrups
• Honey
• Caramel Topping
• Vanilla Topping
• Chocolate Topping
• Maple Syrup
• A spoonful of cocoa powder
• A scoop of ICE CREAM :D
• Instead of your usual creamer, use the leftover milk from your cereal (if it's something sweet like Honey Nut Cheerios)

Recipe: Esther's Linguine with Clams

This is my boyfriend's mother's recipe, and it is both tasty and easy. If you like light, garlic-ee dishes, then here's one for you. Now mind you, the sauce you're making isn't a thick sauce, it's very fluid. If you want to thicken it up, you might look into adding some cream cheese (I haven't tried it yet, but I plan to in the future). I'd also say the serving size is two, but that might be because my boyfriend and I are very hungry individuals. :] If you think you can split an entire pack of pasta with someone, then I'd say it's a meal for two. If not, maybe it's for more. You'll have to gauge it yourself on that, sorry.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 diced onion
3-4 cloves minced garlic (depending on how much you like)
Two 6.5oz canned clams
Two 8oz bottles of clam juice
1 1/2 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
1 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
One 16oz pack of linguine


Steps:

1. First, chop up the onion and garlic. 
   
2. Before you forget, put a salted pot of water on the stove.
3. Heat up the butter and olive oil in a medium-large pan. Once it's warm, add the chopped onions and garlic. Stirring often over low heat, sauté those until the onion is soft, but don't let them burn! This should take a little under ten minutes. 
   
4. Then add the two bottles of clam juice, and just the juice from the two cans of clams. Don't put the actual clams in yet.
   
5. Add the basil, oregano, and garlic powder and stir occasionally, uncovered, for 20 minutes on low heat. Don't let it boil. As it stews taste it every now and then and adjust your herbs accordingly, the original measurements are just a guideline, you can add more of any of them as you see fit.
   
6. The water in your pot should be boiling by now, so go ahead and add the linguine.
7. After 20 minutes on the stove, add the clams and let those cook for another 5 minutes.
8. Serve the sauce over the pasta and enjoy!
   

Recommendations:

This meal goes really well with peas, even mixed in with them. I'd also recommend having some tasty bread to dip in the sauce that will be leftover on your plate. If you have any leftovers be sure to store the noodles and sauce separately, or the noodles will soak all the juice up.

If you have any alterations or suggestions, please let me know in the comments below!

You Probably Have No Idea How Art Affects You (and that's okay, because learning how is fun)

I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone bash artists for choosing a hobby as a career. Now joking is one thing, I do it myself, but there have been completely serious comments made by many of my own (non-art) professors, telling us that being an art major is a waste of time. Now for the time being I'm going to ignore the financial aspects to this argument and focus on one that I think goes relatively unacknowledged. The reason people bash the arts is because they don't understand just how much art is a part of their day to day life.

Art isn't just a painting in a museum, or a sculpture in a hotel lobby. It is literally everywhere. It affects you constantly. Do you own clothes? I'm going to assume the answer is yes. Where do you think they came from? I can assure you that though they may have been constructed by machines, they were not thought up by them. Those clothes you own were all designed by people. And those people were all more than likely discouraged from becoming designers. They were told time and time again not to pursue an art career. Okay, maybe you don't care much about clothes, how about the furniture in your house? That was all designed by people too, people who again, were probably told not to go into that field. Do you like movies? TV shows? What's your favorite one? Well it doesn't matter because regardless of if you watch Game of Thrones or Modern Family, without artists, that show wouldn't exist. Costume design, set design, script writing, those are all done by artists. Look around you. Literally everything has some element of design to it. The label on your bottle of coke. The design on your shower curtains. Even the way your tea kettle looks. These were not just flippant choices made by the manufacturers. These were all carefully created by artists.

Do you know what the world would look like without art? I can tell you, it wouldn't look good. If everything was created purely for function, we'd have a pretty crummy time of it. We might as well just wear Star Trek onesies, because who needs form when you can just have function? Every font you see is Helvetica. Every. Single. One. Because again, it's the most functional, why have anything else? The design on your couch, rug, guitar strap, lampshade, even your napkins... those wouldn't exist. It would all just be blank. And all those things that you live for? The things that you do with friends, that help you relax after a long day? Movies, plays, TV shows, books, video games, music... hope you can learn to do without. Are you seeing what I'm getting at here? Art and design, it's literally everywhere.

So you might be wondering what the point of that little rant was. Sure art is everywhere and we need it, but that still doesn't mean that having a career in art is actually a good idea, the market is totally risky. And you're right, the field isn't easy, but it's important. And keep in mind I'm not trying to undermine any of the non-creative fields. We obviously need engineers, accountants, lawyers, doctors, etc. But here's the deal. Those folks are what keep us alive, but it's the artists that make us want to live. You can't have one without the other, so please, let's stop treating that other half like shit. If you have kids or know someone who is creatively talented, don't discourage them from the arts. Support them. Because they are important. And support the art around you. The field wouldn't be so damn hard to get a job in if people valued the arts a little more. Go to your local museum, visit art shows. In fact, why spend money on decorations for your home at Target when you can have a one of a kind piece that was hand made? Yes, you might spend a little less at Target, but remember, you get what you pay for. And for gods sake, don't let your schools cut their art programs! I can't reiterate this enough! I was lucky enough to attend schools that had great art programs, but when I was in college I met kids who had never even had an art program in their high schools. That's absurd.

Unless you want to live in some horrid art-less dystopia where everyone miserably attends work then goes home in their box-cars to sit on their dull gray furniture and stare at a blank wall then you better damn appreciate the arts. Okay maybe I was a little dramatic there but seriously, this shits important. Here, go find some art and appreciate it. :]

Using Simple Psychology to Make Yourself Better at ANYTHING

Disclaimer: Some people are more affected by this technique than others. Some of you may find these to only help a tiny amount, while others might see a tremendous change.

Tell me, do you often find yourself in need of focusing on a project but somehow end up on facebook instead? Do you lie awake at night, waiting to fall asleep?* Maybe you have a hard time getting in the mood to go out with friends? Well I have the solution to all of these problems! Sounds too good to be true? Well it's not. Untrue I mean, it really does work. Or for me at least.

Let's start at the beginning shall we? I am a lover of both psychology and sociology. (and since I have a hobby as a career, it's only fitting that I have a career as a hobby, right? :] ) I looooove learning about how the mind works, all the weird quirks it has, and I especially love learning how to take advantage of them. What I'm about to talk about can basically all be related back to Pavlov's Dog, but it is essentially conditioning yourself to respond to certain "cues" in certain ways. For example, during one of my college semesters, every time I needed to work on an illustration project I'd sit myself down in our library's Starbucks and work all day on it. And I mean all day. Like from noon until 9pm. Now normally if I were to be working on that at home, I'd probably take a break, get distracted, and eventually end up doing something else instead of my work. But without fail, every time I worked at the library I was in the zone, and completely engulfed in my art. The reason being of course, because it's what I had conditioned myself into doing. Because the very first time I went there, I was behind on a project and had to get it all done. So I really had no alternative but to work on it all day. And because I stuck with that routine, I made it easy for myself to fall into. Starbucks = work.

And here's the great part, this can be used to your advantage in a million different ways. Even so much as sitting in one chair of your house as opposed to the couch can change the way you act. You don't necessarily need an entirely separate location for this to work. What you do need though, is to make sure that the first few times, you stick to your plan. If you want a certain location to be where you get work done, you need to force yourself into staying the course. Because if you slip up and somehow end up on Pinterest, it's not gonna work. It's the first few times that are the hardest, but after that, your head will be in the zone, it will be stuck to your schedule and you'll find distractions... well... far less distracting.

But wait, there's more!

Scents. I first noticed just how easily influenced I am by them this last Christmas. I put on a perfume that I hadn't worn since high school, and suddenly, my mood changed. For some strange reason, I very specifically... felt like people should start complimenting me for no reason at all. Yeah. That's only slightly bizarre right? Well I thought about it for a second and realized that I only ever wore that perfume to my high school dances. And what's the first thing you do before you go to the dance, when the smell of your perfume is still fresh? You get a million pictures of yourself taken by your parents and they ooh and aah over your dress. Wow. Four years later, four whole years later, and the smell sent me right back to my senior prom.

Okay, one last thing! I promise!

You can literally do this with anything. You wanna workout more? Wear specific clothes just for getting fit. You need to focus on studying? How about always drinking a certain flavor of tea? The idea here is that you make whatever you want your trigger to be exclusive to whatever you want to accomplish. (and that part is very important. the key to this is the exclusiveness of the trigger) And here's where those opening remarks come in. This isn't new information either, but studies have shown that spending a lot of time in your bedroom doing things other than sleep isn't so good for you. I've had that problem in the past, where spending too much time in bed while on my laptop or doing homework will make falling asleep harder. So if you have trouble sleeping, condition yourself for it. Limit the time you spend in bed to actual sleep, not browsing facebook on your phone. And if you really have sleep issues, try some lavender scents as well. They sell a specific sleep scent at Bath & Body Works, but really any lavender scented things work. The point is, if you want to help yourself get into the mood of something, there are plenty of easy ways to do it. For me, I like to specialize my perfumes, a few for just any day, one for special dinners or guests (it gets me in my most polite, chipper mood), another for going out with friends (which helps me be a little more talkative and friendly), and yet another for getting things done (I used it if I'm going to clean house, do laundry, get work out of the way, etc.).

So yes, that was a longer post of mine, but I hope it helped! Because seriously, this shit is cool. You could be better at something just by giving yourself a trigger. And it's super easy, and flexible! Your triggers could be as drastic as being in a different town, to as simple and tiny as popping a mint on your tongue. It's completely up to you! So go get better at stuff.

*if you have a serious sleeping condition i'm obviously not talking about you. go to a doctor. of course that doesn't mean you can't try what im saying, but i cant guarantee anything.

DIY: Legwarmers and Boot Socks!

So the local thrift shop was having an awesome sale today. I showed up bright and early, and so did apparently half of the town. Fit as much as you can into a paper bag and pay $4, what a fricking steal! So I thought what better time than now to score some groovy sweaters to finally make some boot socks out of? So I grabbed a bunch (along with some picture frames and fluffy loose fabric) and checked out.

This is again, a pretty simple DIY, but here's the pictures and step by step anyways. 

One thing to make sure of is that the sweater arms are large enough to fit your legs through. If the arms are teensy tiny, you might be able to make ankle cuffs and that's about it! Go large.

Fold your sweater in half on a flat surface.

Cut along the upper arm as evenly as you can.

Remember the cuff is going to be sticking out from your boots, so pick sweaters with cute designs there.

Now the reason I cut so high up on the arm for this one, leaving all that extra fabric, is so I could use those as slouchy boot socks.

see?

Note the snowflakes on the white one. That was just a shirt, not a thick sweater, but the cuffs were perfect for this project. 

Happy DIYing!

DIYish: Cheapo Medical Kit

So when I went to college, I very quickly realized it was smart to have a medical kit nearby. Perhaps my friends were just a bunch of hoodlums, but regardless, time and time again that kit came in handy. I've been slowly building it up with cheap and sometimes free medicines, bandages, etc. So here's a DIY (sort of?) medical kit.

I used a Legend of Zelda lunchbox because it makes me feel like the Hero of Time. And Band-Aids.

disclaimer: it should be obvious but i'll say it anyways, pay attention to expiration dates on medicine.

So from the top left, that's Ibuprofen, Align (for digestion), Prilosec, vapo rub, Tums, cough drops, antacid tablets, alcohol (for cleaning wounds), Breathe Right strips, adhesive tape, Band-aides, elastic bandage, gauze pads, Biofreeze, Theraflu, Gluten Relief pills, more gauze, Clariten, antibiotic ointment, and a forehead reader thermometer.

Now the great thing is that I got a few of these for free. The Align, Prilosec, Gluten Relief, and Breathe Right strips were all samples I signed up for online. (And I have multiples of each!) And using samples is a great way to fill up a medical kit. I don't get heartburn, but chances are someone around me at some point in time will. Well I don't need a whole pack of Prilosec, but a few samples just in case someone needs one? Hell yeah that's a good idea. 

A lot of the other items in here I got rather cheaply as well. Now there are some things that you shouldn't buy at the dollar store, things like pens always run dry, and batteries never last, but there are other things that it's great for. The gauze pads, elastic bandage, and band-aides for example are pretty hard to mess up, so it's safe to buy those there.

Anyways, I hope this gave you some ideas for a medical kit of your own. They're good to have around, just in case. And I'm actually expecting another sample to arrive in the mail soon, they're 3M doggy bandages, just in case any furry friends hurt themselves.

Foxy Frugality: Samples

Samples are fucking awesome. My boyfriend thinks it's funny that I'm always getting free samples in the mail, but let me tell you that it is completely worth the teasing. I only started sampling hardcore about five months ago, but it's kind of been awesome. It's like I get presents everyday in the mail :D And no, it's not just a bunch of crap, there's some quality things in there. Don't believe me? Let me just list a few things I've gotten off the top of my head...

• 1 year subscription to Popular Photography, Martha Stewart Weddings, Wine Spectator, and Brides. (and no I'm not engaged but when I am I'll be prepared. :] )
• (speaking of engagements) A nifty ring sizing chart, little plastic punch outs to determine what size all your fingers are. How handy!
• Tons of tea bags, k-cups, and other coffee samples.
• Some very nice personalized labels.
• 500 business cards. (say whaaat?)
• Medicines and medical supplies. (that you can view here!)
• Herbs and seasonings for cooking.
• Granola bars. Yum.
• Shampoo and conditioner. SO MUCH SHAMPOO AND CONDITIONER. I actually had enough samples to make an entire bottle of each.
• Pads and tampons, lots of them.
• Child locks for cabinets and doors.
• Oh and duh, all sorts of perfumes and cologne.

And it's real easy. There are plenty of websites solely dedicated to free samples, but you definitely want the one that updates most frequently. Some of them require you to create an account with them, but I'm way too lazy so I never use those. My favorite is Hunt 4 Freebies  but Freeflys is okay too. Be sure to create an alternate email address to use on them though, sometimes the websites will spam you with offers for other things after you've signed up for your samples.

Happy sampling!

Design For The Non-Designer

In my opinion, it's good to have a basic knowledge of a variety of fields, regardless of what your interests or career is in. And for the most part, we do try to educate ourselves in many different ways. I'm no doctor, but I try to know the basics on health and nutrition; I'm also no woodworker, but I know my way around tools and simple building constructs. Well here's something that I see most people ignore when it comes to basic knowledge, design. We assume that being artistic is just something you're born with, and there's not much you can do if you don't got the gene. Well I've never been convinced about that argument anyways, but regardless, these are tips for anyone to utilize. Just because you don't plan on being the next Picasso, doesn't mean your party invitations or classroom newsletters can't look a little better.

Color

The worst, though not most common mistake I see is "vibration" in design. Vibration occurs when two colors clash (usually two bright colors) and create an afterimage effect that interferes with what you're seeing. Basically, it's a pain to read. Here's some examples. 

These are not good color combinations. See how hard it is to read? The letters all seem to interfere with each other! 

The best way to avoid accidentally creating vibration is by refraining from using two bright colors. Simply put, adding a light (pastel) color with a dark color usually has the best results.

Isn't this much easier to read? The colors don't compete with each other. These non-vibrating color mixtures work much better.

Font

As said by Massimo Vignelli in the film Helvetica, "I can write the word dog with any typeface and it doesn't have to look like a dog, but there are people that when they write dog it should bark!" Now I'm not saying you can't have fun with fonts, but tone it down a notch. Again, are you more concerned with having a "fun" newsletter or having a legible one? The reason you're typing something up is to convey information, so make it easy on the reader. Choose your fonts wisely. Now this is a pretty subjective topic, but I'm going to lay out some of the basic information that most designers would agree with. 

For the header of what you're writing, you can get a little creative. I would never use this text for the body paragraphs of a letter, but for a large header, it's fine. Again, graphic designers might throw a hissy fit at even going near some of the more expressive fonts, but screw that. A little is okay if you ask me. Just don't go nuts.

These are some examples of what you don't want to use for a 12pt body paragraph. (But I think would be okay for a simple, 24pt header of a birthday invitation/themed newsletter/etc.)

And here are some examples of fonts that do work for the main text.

(All these fonts either came with my laptop or were downloaded for free off of Google if you want them!)

Basically, you want your font to be as close to Helvetica or Times New Roman as possible. You can spice up the title of the page with something fun (as long as it's legible), but keep the rest of the body simple for the reader. (An example would be the title of this blog vs. the body text!)

Oh and Comic Sans. I should probably talk about that. If you don't already know, the font Comic Sans is considered by the design community to be the worst font ever created. Not kidding. But here's the thing, grade school teachers go nuts for it. I've seen it all over everything aimed at children basically my whole life. So here's my rule, you can use Comic Sans. But only if you're writing something to be read by 8 year olds. If this is to be read by anyone over the age of 12, then back the eff off and find some other font to use because anyone who knows the stigma associated with it will find the document completely unprofessional.

Images

I remember opening my high school yearbook and being horribly disappointed at how poorly done it was. Pixelated photos of our soccer team, mixed with in focus close ups looked awful. Don't make that mistake. Here is the basic rule of resizing pictures. You can make it smaller, but you can't make it bigger. If you grab a picture and resize it to be much larger, the image will get blurry. It will look bad. So if that means not using something because it won't fit the area, so be it. Trust me, giant pixelated images are much worse than empty space.

I might do more tips later, but I hope these help for now!

Foxy Finds: Thriftin

Thrift shops, they are undoubtedly one of my favorite places ever. Some people get squeamish about the thought of using something that someone else once owned, I like it better than buying something new though. There's just something kind of fun about buying something that had an entire history before you picked it up. Well for me it's fun at least. Anyways, I've heard a lot of people talk shit about thrift shops for the "crap" that they are filled with. So if you're in doubt, let me show off a few not crap finds that have come exclusively from thrifting. :]

This adorable little cabbage soup bowl. $2 

Nifty chinese tea cups. Or mugs. Not sure what to call them, but they're niiice. $5 for the pair

Gah I love this one!! I think he's a Sanrio character or something, but I just think he looks like a blob of pudding wearing an acorn on its head. Anyways, it's for setting your ladles or spatulas on. Whatever those things are called. $.50

Little woodland bears holding raccoons. And they're salt/pepper shakers. Trucking adorable. $2

My favorite find... and I broke him. Yep, you can see the little cracks that I tried to repair on the top left, but anyways, my owl mug is undoubtedly my favorite find ever. $2

Check this groovy-ass casserole dish out. I love it. $3

Another soup bowl, my friend was with me and she has a matching one in avocado green. $3

ps~ sorry for the crummy photo quality, it was dark :P

Foxy Tip #2: Fragrant Undies

You know those little perfume samples that come in magazines? Rip them out, open them up, then lay them down in your underwear drawer, smelly side up. It gives all your bras, undies, or socks a subtle fragrance; which is nice if you don't often put any sprays on yourself (or if like me, you just forget to).

Foxy Tip #1: Easy Peasy Air Freshner

Don't buy sprays for a smelly house, this is way easier and way cheaper. Take a pot, fill it with water, and put it on the stove. It'll humidify your house (which is great for winter), and depending on what you put in the water, will also make it smell lovely. Some of my favorite things to add to the water are...

• Vanilla extract (or any other extract you might have)
• Cinnamon/nutmeg/cloves
• Orange/lemon/grapefruit/etc. peels
• Coffee grinds
• Any leafy herbs you like

Post any tasty smelling add ons of your own in the comments!

DIY: From Too Small Leggings To Just Right Stockings (and shorts!)

So a new little clothing resale shop opened up in town, "Phat Closet" and I thought I'd try to sell off some old things I had. Well they took a decent amount of my old clothes, but unfortunately, not my teeny tiny leggings. I've had these two pairs for some time now and I've been trying my best to sell them off, but to no avail. They're the kind that are too small on you now so the crotch is like a full foot lower than it should be but the legs won't stretch up any higher, totally useless! After getting home, defeated by the fashionistas at the shop, a spark of inspiration hit. It was so simple, so obvious, yet for whatever reason it took me this long to figure it out. So I grabbed my leggings and a pair of scissors and in a matter of minutes had two pairs of thigh high socks and comfy shorts. This is one hella easy DIY, so here's what you'll need.

• Pair of scissors.
• Leggings, the kind that go up to your waist. The ones I used were also mostly made of COTTON, not spandex. You could always try it with those super stretchy ones, but I can't guarantee the results will work very well. (if you do try though, let me know in the comments how it turned out!)

Lay your leggings out on a table or flat surface, smooth out that top leg-crotch part.

Cut the legs off at whatever length you like.

Bam! You now have cute shorts. Mind you, my other pair is a little see-through, so I'd say these are just for wearing around the house. But hey, they're super comfy so I'm not complaining.

Depending on the fabric, some might fray more than others. You can hem them if you like, I'm lazy though and just rolled the tops down on the stockings to make little cuffs. Also depending on the fabric they might slouch or stay up, in which case you'll get a pair of legwarmers instead of stockings. Either way, you'll look adorable!

Foxy Frugality: How to Buy

So I see time and time again all kinds of "advice" on how to save money, waste less, etc. Some of these articles or blogs seem to lack mentioning many important facets of being frugal and some give out advice that I straight up fully disagree with. I know everyone's situation is different, so I can't say my method will work for everyone, but it works for me. I'll keep it one topic to each post, so this one is all about learning how to purchase.

Learn to see the product, not the price. Site after site talks about how to budget your spending, but they rarely touch on the cause of spending problems. They question shouldn't be "Can I afford it?", the question needs to be "Do I really NEED it?". Now I am not saying you should buy that $300 dress because you need a new dress. Take the price into consideration obviously, but don't let that outweigh whether or not the item is actually necessary. This is also not to say that you should never indulge yourself, but it shouldn't be a regular occurrence. When you're shopping, it's easy to be dazzled by whatever new displays catch your eye, but it's there that you let your money slip through your fingers. I have certain techniques I use when shopping for different things.

• When grocery shopping, ALWAYS make a list before heading out, and stick to it. If you happen to see something that sparks your attention, ask yourself how much you want it. Have you been craving that thing a lot lately and haven't had the chance to buy it? Or are you just craving it right now upon seeing it?

• When looking for new clothing, think about what exactly your wardrobe is lacking before heading into the store. If you're really only shopping for a cold weather dress, don't be distracted by shoes or new jeans. Then again, sometimes something else really grabs you, despite being focused on your goal. Whenever I find myself unexpectedly in love with something not on my list, I set it down and continue on my way. My rule is that after leaving the store, if whatever that thing is keeps popping up in my mind days and days later, then I can go back and get it after a week. More often than not though, I completely forget about whatever that item was. And if I can't even remember it, then how fabulous was it really?

• Electronics are a bare necessity category for me. If I have a digital camera that works fine, then I do not need a better one. If my TV works great but it's smaller than everyone else's... too damn bad. You completely forget about the size anyways once it's on. And cell phones? If it works, you keep it. End of story. I've had Tracfone since I was in high school, trust me, unless it's part of your job, you don't need a phone with all the bells and whistles. If I managed to survive all throughout college with a phone that has zero internet access, you can probably survive too. (however I will be switching to Ting soon, and I'll write an entire post later reviewing it. It SHOULD be a huge money saver for me)

• When you are buying something expensive, you need to do your research. I see people do the same thing time after time, they walk into the store and buy something on the spot. That is NOT SMART. When you are buying a cell phone, car, tv, video game, computer, etc. look online for reviews. Cnet has good ones, but look at as many websites as you can, and don't rush into anything. You will absolutely regret not taking the 20 minutes to check online before heading to the store. Of course when doing research, don't just look at the rating, read the actual reviews. I was looking for a new cell phone for my switch to Ting recently, and was checking websites online. One I initially liked was getting crummy ratings, but upon reading the reviews, it was only getting low scores for a feature I wouldn't be using anyways. 

I could go into much greater detail here, but I think I'll save that for later posts. I hope you get where I'm coming from when I say to see the item and not the price. It's really about purchasing something that will last, something that you really need- not something you want at that moment. Living on impulse will only lead to bad choices, so think before you buy. I hope this article has helps!

~Krista