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4/25/2012 |
TPM (Total Pinterest Move)
Yes, that’s right: “Pinterest” has become an adjective. Don’t tell me that you haven’t looked at a handmade tote bag, floating candle centerpieces or low-fat double chocolate chip cranberry gooey cookie bars without thinking, “That’s SO Pinterest!” If you haven’t, it’s probably because you haven’t been on the Internet for over a year. So let me catch you up on the latest phenomenon taking over the computer, vocabulary and free time of women everywhere.
Pinterest.com launched in March 2010 and quickly swept across the web, becoming one of Time Magazine’s “50 Best Websites of 2011.” The concept is simple: find images online and organize them into your own collections, or “Pin Boards”. Clicking on the picture in your Pin Board will take you to the website where you got the image. You can also browse others’ pins and repin them to your own boards. The pins of people who you “follow” show up on your homepage, or you can browse all of Pinterest by its different categories. You can discover everything from healthy recipes to inspiring quotes, cool kitchen cabinets to funny pictures of baby platypuses.
Fair warning: once you start pinning, you won’t stop. There’s something relaxing about mindlessly scrolling through images and saving the ones that make you happy. There’s a positive, creative vibe about the website, and every image inspires you to do more and be more. We see tutorials of DIY jewelry and think, “I want to do that!” or recipes for healthy banana nut bread and decide that we want to try to bake. If you’re having an off day, just search “inspiring” on Pinterest and your screen will be flooded with great quotes and images that make you smile.
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4/16/2012 |
One of the most distressing situations for a college student is not writing a paper ten minutes before it is due or losing your LynxCard; it’s being phoneless for even just a few hours. We feel lost and out of touch when we can’t be in constant contact with friends and family, and for most phone addicts, our phones are so much more than our primary mode of communication. Without my iPhone, I wouldn’t know when my laundry is done, the amount of money in my bank account, or how drive home for Easter break. Basically, I would be broke and wandering along I-55 in dirty clothes. Phones are no longer a basic method of communication; we depend on them to help us with simple, daily tasks.
We don’t even realize that we need these apps until we are forced to go without them. What did we do without Shazaam to tell us what song was on the radio? How did we entertain ourselves at the doctor’s office without Words With Friends or Angry Birds? Our phones teach, entertain, direct, inform, alert, organize, and so much more. We have become reliant on this technology to make our lives just a tiny bit easier— but hey, no judgment here! In such a fast-paced world, we need everything at our fingertips to keep up.
So just to perpetuate our dependence on smart phones, here are a few more apps that you won’t be able to live without once you discover them!
Quick Scan
Don’tcha hate it when you’re considering purchasing an item, but the price is nowhere to be found? Instead of asking a store manager (who needs humans, anyway?), just open this app, show the bar code to your phone’s camera and wait for it to scan. It will tell you the name of the product, a short description of it, a list of places to purchase the item, and the prices.
RunPee
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2/12/2012 |
Ribbon of Lights
Hanging some festive lights around the window can spruce up a drab, dark dorm room. Some colorful ribbons give an extra spark! Just take a strand of Christmas lights and get some cheap ribbon from the craft store (how much you need will depend on the length of your light strand.) Cut the ribbon in 5-inch strips and tie around the strand of lights. The best way to hang them is probably to use command clips.
Shirt Quilt
As college students, we have collected a surplus of T-shirts that we never wear, but still can’t bear to part with. So cut them into squares and quilt them together to make a patchwork of memories.
Fabric Frame
Cover an old, ugly frame with fabric to give it new life! Cut fabric into strips 2 inches wide. Cover a section of the frame in Modge Podge and wrap a strip of fabric around it. Once the whole frame is covered, you can put a layer of Modge Podge on top to give it a glossy look (or sparkly if you get sparkle Modge Podge!).
Dry Erase Picture Frame
This is SO much cuter than a regular white dry erase board. All you need is a picture frame and some fun decorative paper. Just place the paper in the frame as if it was a picture and you can write on the glass with a dry erase marker! |
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2/5/2012 |
To complete the Self-Transcendence race, you would have to run around the track in the BCLC 31,000 times. If you ran 65 miles a day (650 laps) it would take you 47 days. At a 9-minute mile pace, you would be running for 10 hours straight and burn almost 7,000 calories. So what are you waiting for? Get off your computer and go test your endurance, willpower, and self-discipline!
If the distance itself isn’t mind-numbing enough, just imagine running it all around 1 square block in Queens, New York. Runners rely on spiritual endurance to run lap after lap after lap 5,649 times. Wolfgang Schwerk, a German furniture maker and opera singer, finished in 41 days, averaging just over 75 miles per day.
Running a few thousand miles is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one. Sri Chinmoy, a spiritual leader and avid runner, started the race in 1997. He found running to be “a useful way of confronting—and ultimately surmounting—the physical boundaries of the body and the psychic limits of the mind” (WSJ). We find ultimate joy by achieving that which seems impossible. The mind says “3,100 miles? There’s no way,” but the heart and body are able to overcome the mind’s limitations. Runners endure blisters, New York City humidity, rain, injuries, pedestrians, and obviously exhaustion to reach the joy they find at the finish line.
Runners begin running at 6 a.m. every morning and don’t stop until 11 or 12 at night. Runners eat at least 10,000 calories a day, snacking on everything from chia seeds to coffee to ice cream to keep their bodies going. They wear through 12 pairs of shoes until they can feel the sidewalk on the balls of their feet. And that’s pretty much it. They run, eat, and sleep a little. But mostly they take time to reflect on themselves.
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12/8/2011 |
We all love a hot cup of coffee from the Middle Ground to get us through finals. But what about those times when we are longing for a flavored latte that our “Starbucks” doesn’t offer? Instead of driving to a real Starbucks and paying five dollars for your winter craving, try making your own! Here are some copycat recipes that are guaranteed to satisfy that winter craving.
If you don’t have a stove or want your latte in a hurry, Coffemate makes these three flavors of creamers as well as several more. Add a dash to your morning cup of coffee and it will be almost as good as the real thing. Also, if you don’t have an espresso maker, just brew your coffee really strong. Use twice as much coffee as espresso that the recipe calls for.
Peppermint Mocha
Ingredients:
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup water
¼ tsp peppermint extract
3 tablespoons powdered cocoa
3 tbs warm water
½ cup hot espresso
1 ½ cups hot milk
Directions:
In a small saucepan, stir together the water and sugar. Bring mixture to a soft boil and stir frequently until the sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to simmer and add peppermint extract. Simmer for 20 minutes.
In a mug, mix the cocoa and water until a creamy paste forms. Add espresso and then 1 ½ teaspoons of your peppermint syrup. Top off the mug with hot milk and stir. Don’t forget the whipped cream and peppermint sprinkles!
Gingerbread Latte
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11/17/2011 |
On August 24 the St. Louis Cardinals had a .2 percent chance of making it to the playoffs – the playoffs. Absolutely no one expected them to make it past the first round and the prospect of winning the championship never crossed anyone’s mind. But, game after game the Cardinals disproved what was practically statistical fact and showed the world what can happen with faith, determination and a fair amount of luck.
In September, the Cardinals began to rally as the second-place Braves started to slump. The Cards earned their spot in the playoffs in the last regular-season game against the Astros. Everyone was so surprised by this that they barely even considered the possibility of advancing past the first-place Phillies. But they did – with the help of the Rally Squirrel.
This little guy has become the symbol for the Cardinals’ entire postseason journey and a popular Halloween costume around Saint Louis. Our furry new mascot rushed the field twice, once through the outfield and again the next day across home plate. Phillies fans began taunting Cardinals players by chucking stuffed squirrels into the bullpen. Cardinal pitcher Octavio Dotel picked one up and kept it for good luck throughout the postseason – it must have worked. The Cardinals miraculous hitting continued through the NLCS against the Brewers and before we knew it, the Cardinals were going to face the American League Championship team, the Texas Rangers.
According to a poll on ESPN asking who people thought would win the World Series title, every single state said the Rangers. Except Missouri. With almost the entire United States and all ESPN analysts against them, the Cardinals played one of the most memorable series in baseball history.
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