Old Navy Stuff-n-Save

Right now Old Navy is holding their Stuff-n-Save event until May 6th!
This means that card holders get 30% off all of their purchases (even clearance merchandise) when they use their Old Navy credit card.
This 30% includes shoes, accessories, candy...nothing is excluded except for gift cards.It is such a great deal and one of my favorite things Old Navy does.
You can also save 20% online but the real deals are in-store.
Here are a couple of deals I bought today in-store:

Clearance- $17.99
With ON Card- $12.59

Clearance- $7.49
With ON Card- $5.24

Clearance- $10.99
With ON Card- $7.69

Clearance- $10..99
With ON Card- $7.69

Clearance- $3.97
With ON Card- $2.78

With deals like this, I am already starting to buy for Christmas next year! Who can beat a $7 sweater? 

You also receive a free exclusive polka dot tote just for using your card!
If you do not have an ON Card, you can sign up and save 30% and then an additional 10% off. 
Right now is the time to buy, especially with all the sweaters and winter clothing on clearance.

First Day of Summer

This past weekend was my first weekend home for the summer! 
We stopped at Krispy Kreme on the way home from school and it was so delicious! Their featured donut this month is Key Lime!

I also interned at Bel-Wood where we had an "Opening Night" for the members. The theme was Las Vegas with lots of food and fun for the members! I even had the opportunity to meet Jim, who started the international market in Cincinnati, Jungle Jims.  I am really enjoying the events but have not started to do the day-to-day planning. I start this Wednesday and I am anxious to learn everything about this business. 

Today was my first official day of Summer! I went shopping and to the gym, nothing too exciting.
I am the type of person who constantly needs to be doing something. Thankfully I hope to have a full schedule with work this summer, but I am still hoping to do some crafting! Here are a couple of ideas that I am trying to get working on to stay busy. I really like the sparkle letters! 

I have a lot of events planned this summer, including going zip-lining for my birthday! I am ready to relax and enjoy the warm weather..if it ever starts to warm up!

National Autism Awareness Month

April is National Autism Awareness month and Panera Bread is hosting a cookie campaign to raise support and awareness.

Today is the last day that they will be holding the cookie campaign in Southwest Ohio locations. 

The cookies are $2.19 and 100% of the profits go directly to Autism. 

Today the Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital for Autism will be presented with a check for $71,000 from Panera Bread.

Over 26,700 cookies were sold in the Northeast Ohio locations. 

I think it is great that Panera Bread is giving back to their communities all around America..plus the cookies are delicious!

Move Out Day

As the time approaches to move out, I can't help but notice all of the changes and experiences I have gone through this year.

Not only emotionally, but also academically.
Coming to a new school and being a transfer student is much different than I ever expected. I struggled a lot my freshman year, being so far away. I do not regret it for one minute, but I am so much happier here.
I accepted the invitation to go to OSU before I even stepped on the campus. In high school I struggled with not wanting to go to an in-state school. I wanted to escape so bad and did not even consider going to anywhere in Ohio.
However, I now realize how dumb that idea was.
Ohio State welcomed me right from the beginning and I found it easier to get involved with things on campus and connect to people. I enjoyed my classes so much more and I am happy that I finally found what I was looking for.
Although I have one of the most disrespectful suite mates, she has certainly helped me to learn a lot of lessons. She has taught me how important it is to respect people's time and their space. She has taught me how important it is to clean up your mess and how important it is to be friendly. But most importantly, she has taught me about the type of suite mate NOT to be.
As I leave today, I will say bye and she will give me a blank stare without saying a word..typical.

But I truly hope that she learns respect.

I will not miss this...at all!

This year I have met a lot of friends and made a lot of memories.
Here is a couple of things, in pictures, that I have really enjoyed my first year at OSU.

Football Games!

Seeing President Obama (he is speaking at commencement also)

Samantha Brown!

Parachute!

Running my first half-marathon!

Joining Tri-Delta! ( love these ladies)

And of course meeting Nicholas Sparks., BuckeyeThon, Spring Break with APO, and Formals!

I look forward to next year and all of the challenges and memories that it will bring.
But until then, I look forward to my 3 long months of Summer!!!

Summer Internship

With this week being finals, I thought it would be nice to share some exciting news!

I can officially announce that I will be an intern with Bel-Wood Country Club as an "Event Planner".

With my major being in Public Affairs, I can really step into any career dealing with the public.

I would eventually love to work for a nonprofit, such as St. Jude's Children's, working as an event coordinator for the fundraisers, events, etc. 

I am so excited about this opportunity and ready to learn the ropes.

This past Friday and Saturday I worked my first events, one was even a prom! I loved seeing all the girls in their dresses, it takes me back to high school.

CHCA Prom

Ben also has an internship this summer, with Congressman Mike Turner, working in his district office.

I am so proud of him and I know that he will do great things!

FEED and Godiva

I am so happy to announce the FEED and Godiva partnership for Mother's Day!
As part of the Lady GODIVA program, Godiva & FEED have provided 300,000 school meals to children in cocoa producing regions of the world.
This year is the second year that these two have partnered together. Last year they sold 10 different designs of the FEED bag and then you choose which chocolate gift you wanted to go with it.
This year they have designed a single, bigger bag that goes with every  GODIVA chocolate gift.

Last year's FEED 10 bags

This year's FEED 10 bags

You can read all about Lauren Bush Lauren: Chief FEEDer and Co-Founder of FEED here.

You can purchase this amazing non-profit gift for Mother's Day while also providing meals for children around the world. It is the best of both worlds!

Since I am a lover of all things that are nonprofits and giving back, I know exactly what my grandma and mother will be receiving this year :)

BuckeyeThon 2013

I thought today I would share a little bit about a special event that takes place at Ohio State, called Buckeyethon.
BuckeyeThon is a dance marathon that benefits the Hematology/Oncology Department at Nationwide Children's Hospital. The goal is to raise enough money for research that will ultimately end childhood cancer. Nationwide Children's Hospital is located in Columbus and they will treat any child regardless of a family's ability to pay.

Brutus at the Opening Ceremony

There are many fundraising events and opportunities to raise the minimum required donation of $100 to participate in this dance marathon. Groups will form teams and be assigned different colors. I joined the Alpha Phi Omega team and we were on the black team!
There are two-12 hour shifts going from 8pm-8am and 11am-11pm.
I had the opportunity to do the first shift, 8pm-8am. I thought this would be the best since I am more of a night owl, but yet I didn't realize that this would mean going all day and then all night without any sleep. Next year I will think it through a little more and sign up for the day shift.
This year we raised...

$608,623. 29

It was a great experience and I am happy to have been apart of the BuckeyeThon process in ending childhood cancer.
This year I wrote over 300 fundraising letters and ended up winning "Dancer with the Best Effort" for the night shift. Unfortunately when I get tired, I get very grumpy. So at 4:30am I headed back to my dorm and was not able to receive my award that night. However, I just recently picked it up. It was a teddy bear with a backpack on its back with a bell inside.When someone overcomes cancer, they ring a bell in the hospital to symbolize that treatment is done!

Silver star= top fundraiser

Registration for BuckeyeThon 2014 has already opened and will be held February 14-15.

The Union

Register Here! 
I am excited for what next year's BuckeyeThon event will bring!

Formal Weekend Recap

This past weekend was filled with Formals!
Friday night Ben and I went to Alpha Phi Omega's Formal at the Westin! It was so beautiful, even better than my high school prom. We signed up to be 'sober bros' and therefore we were able to drive and not take the buses.
We also counted ballets for the APO King and Queen..fun, fun!
We had a lot of fun, tearing it up on the dance floor, mingling, and of course, people watching!! There were some entertaining people that night and I am happy no one got hurt.

My handsome date

Saturday we woke up with the whole day to spend together. We actually ended up going to 3 different shopping places....looking for a Kentucky Derby hat (& bows of course). I dragged Ben around everywhere and he was such a good sport (he must love me).
We found a couple different hats but I wasn't willing to pay $100 for a Derby hat, so the search continues.

Saturday was Tri Delta's Formal at the Crowne Plaza hotel downtown.

I wore this dress my freshman year of high school to a Homecoming dance! It's amazing how the time flies. 

They even played some old school Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears!
And they had a photo both, one of my favorite things at any event.

We know, we're dorks :)

We had a great time and it was so nice to spend a weekend with Ben. With all the work and class during the week, it was nice to relax and have some fun this weekend, especially before finals!

When Tragedy Hits

In the wake of the Boston marathon bombing, I thought it would be nice to spread some optimism in light of a tragedy.
It seems today that attacks and other devastating, and highly unnecessary, tragedies are facing this country. I have heard a lot of people say that they are losing faith in humanity. While it might seem like the world is falling down around us, it really is not.
It takes 10 good deeds to over shine 1 bad incident. There are miracles and good, positive acts that are happening each and every day but yet our nation tends to only see and dwell on the bad. We put on blinders to the good and concentrate on the worse. It is not the time to lose faith in humanity, but yet to open our eyes and recognize the helpers, heroes, and the do-gooders in our nation.

I have found this site to be very helpful. Good World News It not only tells you the good news happening in America, but in many different countries. 

There are many stories that will bring a smile to anyone's face. One of things found on this site is a pep talk from the Kid President. 

We are all on the same team and it is time we start acting like it. This is your time, this is my time so let's do something about it! Let's create something that will make the world awesome, something that will make the world better. 

Now I am not saying that this, or other attacks, are helpful or positive. In fact we should be upset and sad to see the situation that our nation is facing. But instead of complaining and being frightening, it should be a time to join together and make a difference. I think it is so important to recognize those people who need help and to be a friend. Many of the attacks today could have easily been prevented if people were proactive and reached out, said hello, or simply asked if they were okay.

I have seen this image floating around on facebook and other various places and I think it's a good reminder. 

There are many caring people in the world. It is hard to not sit and dwell on the disasters and attacks that we are becoming more frequently acquainted with. I challenge myself to find the good in humanity and to see our society with new eyes. Eyes that recognize a person in need, eyes that see when someone is distressed, eyes that realize when someone needs a friend.
Although it is heart-breaking, it is in times like this that we need to come together and strive for a better future and to remember that we are always in God's hands.

"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” 
-John 16:33

Miami, Florida: Part 3

Read Part 1
Then Part 2

This trip unfortunately turned for the worst. But first I had a little more fun....

Thursday night we went out to a karaoke bar. Now I am not the type of girl who is completely outgoing, I do have my shy moments. I decided that I wanted to do something out of the unusual for me, so karaoking it was! I choose a song that was not high pitched (something I could actually sing) and something that would be light-heartd and fun. I decided on Kid Rock, All Summer Long. I have actually heard Kid Rock play live at a Romney/Ryan rally in West Chester, but that is another story.

We waited what seemed like over an hour after we requested our songs, but sure enough it was finally time. Thankfully one of my friends decided she would sing with me, this took off a lot of pressure. We went up there and just had fun with it. Nobody cared how good of a singer you were, probably because it was a bar and most were wasted, so we danced, acted young, and probably skipped a few lines or two of the song.

The next morning we headed back to work. We started out with prayer and a devotion as usual, as Habitat for Humanity is a Christian organization and we always pray before and after we work. I remember this one as Gaston, our Habitat leader, was talking about a verse in which the Lord watches over his sheep and never leaves them, even in a time of fear or danger.

I worked putting up drywall and remember thinking, it would be so easy for someone to mess with our cars and we would never hear it due to the loud nosies coming from the generator. 

We took a break about 10:30 and something felt uneasy. I walked over to the cars, parked in the lot right next to the house, and someone had busted our car windows and stolen purses, backpacks, and bags. 

I had brought my purse that day because we were headed to a baseball game and shopping right after and thought I would need money. I luckily placed my cell phone on the Habitat truck and still had that.

I called my mom and was a complete mess. This was the first time (and hopefully last) that my purse has ever been stolen.

They took $200 in cash, 3 credit cards, my Drivers License, my college ID, my dorm keys, senior pictures of my friends....everything.

As I look back on this I think about how blessed we truly were to not be hurt. Whoever stole our stuff could tell we were out of state (license plates) and we were volunteers for Habitat, making us an easy target.

The lesson learned from this was to not put all of your eggs in one basket (ie. money, credit cards, etc)

It is also a reminder that when people are doing the Lord's work, the devil is over on the side trying to distract you, taking away from the main purpose.

Needless to say, I was grumpy the rest of the trip and wanted so badly to be home. We even missed out on the opportunity to see DJ PaulyD, who was making an appearance at a nightclub downtown that night. 

The drive back home was long. And with no money to spend, I was grateful to have awesome friends who gave me money to eat on the way home, but I have never been so happy to be back in Ohio.

Miami, Florida: Part 2

Read Part 1

Let's get down to the real reason why I came to Florida- to work on houses!! 

Tuesday we had our first actual work day. We started at 8, took a lunch break around noon, and then completed the day about 2. The day went by pretty fast and it was actually, dare I say....fun!!

The first day we worked at a place called Habitat Landing. This was basically a community of Habitat homes all built by volunteers. The houses were so colorful...yellow, green, purple (my fav), and blue.

We did various things such as raking up rocks, nailing wood to make beams for a ceiling, laying down sod for grass, clearing out weeds, as well as some roofing..the typical construction needed for a house. 

We worked on the houses in the top right corner

The second day we went to a different worksite located in the northern part of Miami-Dade county. Here we removed, what we called "The Jungle". There was about 3 or 4 dead palm trees with a lot of underbrushing that needed to be cleared out. We also pulled weeds and trees from a side fence, cleared out glass, cardboard, plastic, etc from the front porch and power washed the house. The jungle was the hardest part, but we endured through it and the homeowner now has a clear backyard for her children to play in. She even came by for about 10 minutes and it was neat to be able to see who we were helping out.

The Jungle

Hard work pays off!

That night we went to a shopping center downtown and ate at Latino Americana, which served authentic Cuban food (we ate a lot of foreign food). I tried something new but was not too fond of the cavassa, or pork, or planatos. We ended up trying Cuban coffee, which was very strong but good. 

Cuban coffee

Our last 2 days we spent at yet another location, putting up drywall! This was by far the most fun I had on a work day. I loved having the power tools in my hands (I am a control freak) and being able to screw in the nails and see our progress as we went along. We finished half of the house on Thursday and came back on Friday to finish the job. 

Sorry it's blurry

Getting down to business

Miami, Florida: Part 1

My love of charity work has always been apart of who I am. In high school I discovered that nonprofits and giving back to the community is something that I love to do. 
Last year when I attended North Carolina State University (Go Pack!) I wanted to go on the Habitat for Humanity spring break trip. However I decided that coming home to spend time with my family presided over the trip. 
So after transferring to OSU, the opportunity to go on a Habitat for Humanity spring break trip to Miami, Florida with my co-ed service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega, came around and I decided I had to go.
We signed up in October and planned for months on organizing the trip and the things we wanted to do when we eventually arrived in Florida.

Leaving the snow behind!

When spring break finally rolled around, I was more than ready to hit the road. We drove 20 hours straight and it was exhausting! We made it to Hollywood, Florida just as the sun was rising! We stopped for about an hour to sit on the beach and get some breakfast. We found a small little restaurant right on the beach and enjoyed our little bit of relaxation before the chaos of unpacking our stuff at the church began.

Hello Florida!!

The next day, after finally recovering from sleep deprivation, we decided to travel an hour south to Key Largo.We put on the song Kokomo by the Beach Boys and started the drive. Our destination was a state park, Pennekamp Park, where we would go snorkeling and spend the rest of the day. 
It was so beautiful, I have never seen water that blue in my life. We got suited up and took a 30 minute boat ride out to the coral reef! After a quick snorkeling lesson, we were set free into the water. Snorkeling was much harder than I anticipated. Having control over your breathing and remaining calm is the trick to not swallowing salt water, which I did plenty of.

The reef was amazing. The coral itself was not that impressive, except for a few huge purple pieces, but the fish were incredible. We saw rainbow fish, blue fish with yellow, barracudas, schools of fish and everything in between. It was an incredible experience and was worth the $70 to do it. 
After we came back and ate lunch, followed by key lime sorbet and the best key lime pie..we were clearly sticking with the theme and location here :)