There are Some Perks to Going to Purchase

As we all know every year Purchase has a Zombie Prom and Culture Shock. These both are completely free (aka already paid for by our mandatory student activity fee). Zombie Prom is lots of fun because you can take time to dress up and have fun with the make-up and fake blood. Make your way over to the Stood eventually and spend some time there. But honestly make your way around the campus that night....its a bunch more fun!

Culture Shock. There is a couple rides, live performances, fried Oreo's and games. One of the best parts about this years Culture Shock was the "Scat" ride. I love Carnival rides and anything that goes fast so this was perfect. Besides the rides there were a lot of great performances...especially Nina Sky! I'm sure everyone remembers this MOVE YA BODY... she did a pretty good job too. Anyway get your ass over to both these events next year, and hey if you didn't enjoy them...join the PSGA and make some changes ;)

Groupon!

GROUPON. It is amazing. Basically what Groupon is....a deal-of-the-day website that features discounted gift certificates usable at local or national companies. Pretty much discounted things/activities to do in your surrounding area. I personally love Groupon. There are so many different options for you to choose from and even vacation packages! One particular Groupon I bought was for a massage. It was while I was in San Diego and me and my friend thought it'd be a good idea. So we spent the $29 on a usually $150 hour massage at a place called Oohla Moola. It was well worth it! The staff was friendly and the massages were great. There are tons of other things to do such as Hiking Yoga, Teeth Whitening, dinner for two, horse-back riding and so much more. 

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Here is the homepage of Groupon..just choose you county and sign up!

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Here is my account and some offers going on in White Plains now!

Make your way over to Groupon.com and start saving!

The Great Outdoors...

As you all may have realized Purchase is surrounded by woods. Lots and lots of woods. Since there is almost nothing to do around here anyway you might as well take sometime and explore the perimeter of our lovely campus. I myself have taken many trips into the woods and you'd be surprised at what you might find. And plus...ITS FREE!

If you go deep enough across from the tennis courts and there is a place called Graffiti Rocks or Painted Rocks. Right next to these giant painted rocks is a place set up for a bonfire and just beyond the rocks is a little stream wrapping around the edges of the woods. 

If you have a flashlight and some spare candles make your way out there at night, there is usually no one there and can be rather peaceful. If there is one thing Purchase definitely has enough of...it's woods. There is a ton more places all over campus...but I let you find them on your own!

To The Met!

Living so close to NYC all Purchase students should take advantage of all of the inexpensive and easy things it has to offer. One thing in particular our city has to offer is all of the Museums, such as: the Moma, the Guggenheim, the Museum of Natrual History and the Body Museum, and yes some of them can get expensive. But there is one in particular that is FREE! That is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. When you get into the Met it has a list of prices that is:

Adults$25
Seniors (65 and older)$17
Students$12
                                                  Members (Join Now)Free
                                                      Children under 12 (accompanied by an adult)Free


...but remember all of these are SUGGESTED so you can pay what you like. Of course a donation is recommended, but as little as $ 0.25 will suffice. Now the Met is huge and should be an all day thing. Honestly since its free you can leave for lunch (so you don't have to pay those overpriced cafeteria prices) and come back no money lost! Take your time and try to see as much as you can! There hours are:


Tuesday–Thursday: 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.*
Friday and Saturday: 9:30 a.m.–9:00 p.m.*
Sunday: 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.*
Closed Monday (except Met Holiday Mondays), Thanksgiving Day, December 25, and January 1


There is more than enough time to get to the Met throughout the week so I highly recommend it! Round trip from the Metro North to Grand Central is only $15 and the subway is only $2.50 a ride and plus the Loop is free to Metro North!


http://www.metmuseum.org/ check out their website for more information! 

Spring Break

First off Happy Easter everyone! Sadly this is the last day of our spring break. Hopefully everyone had a nice one, whether you stayed home or went away. Lucky for me I went to San Diego, California this spring break to visit my best friend, Athena. This was my third time making that trip and every time gets better. I was able to get a great deal on the flight and my parents paid for half (early birthday present). Of course for me I was worried about the money I was going to spend while over there. But it turns out San Diego is pretty much the best place to vacation on a budget. I stayed with my friends so I didn't have to worry about a hotel, and we took public transportation which was super cheap and so easy! There was a ton of things for us to do everyday! First off I got a great deal on a week pass at my Athena's gym. So we were able to fill our time with Hot Yoga and Zumba classes. A few great things we did was go to the San Diego Zoo! Since Athena and her boyfriend (Danny) have year passes I got a guest pass for free! You can bring your own food and drinks so you do not have to worry about buying overpriced beverages and snacks. It was beautiful and we spent nearly five hours there!

I'll post about some more great inexpensive things to do in San Diego in a little bit...I need to go help make Easter Dinner!

 

One Girls Skirt is Another Girls Shawl

Unfortunately living on a budget you cannot go out and buy the cutest newest things but there is something you can do to keep your wardrobe looking fresh and cute! You always have to find new ways to wear different pieces to get the most use out of them. You can always wear the same piece of clothing multiple times but wearing the same outfit over and over again gets a bit stale. One piece I have in particular that was given to me by a dear friend is a multi colored maxi skirt. But I chose to wear it more like a shawl. Don't get me wrong I love maxi skirts and think they are totally elegant but I wasn't feeling this one so I decided to switch it up. I wore it with dark American Eagle jeans and a white lace American Eagle top. 

 I suggest you go digging through some of your old things and see what you can switch up!

It Doesn't Cost Much to be Irish

There is a level of sanity one has to maintain when attending school full time. Going out and having  fun times with good friends and a few drinks is always the best way, but not always the cheapest. Fortunately things such as $6 Tuesdays (like it my previous post) come around and give us an oppurtunity to get off campus for a little bit. One thing like that happened over the past weeekend, that is the St. Patrick's Day Parade in NYC. It happens every year on St. Patricks Day, March 17th, and even though I am 100% Irish I have never been able to attended this lovely event. Thankfully I was able to go with friends this past Saturday. I had to wake up at the horrifying hour of 9 o'clock because the parade starts at 11, of course though it took my suitemate and I two and half hours to get off campus. We drove to the Bronx and parked by her house than took the D train to meet up with some friends and then walked over to the parade together. Since we drove over to the Bronx and took the subway we paid almost nothing. We both had pre paid metro cards and there was gas in the car. Show up with any old green thing in your closet, there is a ton of people willing to face paint you and give you little Irish tattoos for free. It was a lot of fun and there was a ton of people and more green than I could ever imagine. Sadly I dropped my camera early on in the day and was unable to take any pictures :( But I am sure you can imagine what it looked like...

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It was a lot of fun and I highly recommend it. Hit up a fews bars (there are tons of people who will get you a drink or two) and hang out with your friends and remember everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day. 

Who Needs Professionals When You Have Talented Friends?!

Okay so I'll admit on loving to go get a weekly mani/pedi but that's not really an option right now. And as much as I love having painted nails..I also only have so much patience. Lucky for me I have a few talented friends who love to paint nails and experiment on designs. Here a few of examples of my nails and others that my friends have done. 

Start asking around in your friend group if anyone has a hidden talent you didn't know about, maybe you can trade them help with a paper or you can clean your suite/apartment kitchen/bathroom. You may be surprised and pleased at what you find out! 

Project X: GO SEE IT

If you go to SUNY Purchase than you are well aware of the vast amounts of nothing to do on a daily basis. But it is always good thing to get out of the campus...so you do not go crazy. There are a only a few things I know of to do on a boring weeknight that does not break the bank. One which I did recently was going to the movie theater in White Plains(Cinema 15) for $6 Tuesdays. Every Tuesday all the tickets for any movie are only $6. Which is much less than the usual $12 and then another $12 for popcorn and soda. So this past Tuesday, a few friends and I made our way to the movie theater to go see Project X. Let me tell you...it was amazing. I think if anyone comes out of that movie not feeling motivated to throw a party that Thomas, Costa and JB threw then you need to see it again. It had everything high school/college student could want for a party. It was crazy, hilarious and as a friend said "life changing." Im not going to say anything about the movie besides that its about three friends who try to make history by throwing the biggest birthday party their school has ever seen. Anyway...go see the movie, you won't regret, especially on $6 Tuesdays.

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Project X Trailer

Smart Shopping: Thrift Shops

Thrift Stores. What comes to mind when you think of a thrift shop? I used to be the biggest skeptic of them, I had only been to one in Florida and it was a mess. Ever since then I never really gave them a shot (except for a couple really amazing ones in California). Then one day a friend of mine took me to the Salvation Army in Port Chester, NY for some Halloween garb. I did not think I would love it(which I did) and be able to find a lot of great pieces(which I also did). Ever since then I've tried to make my way over there to check out there new cute things. Recently a few days ago I just decided to go with a few friends. Lucky for me I found an adorable green tweed Banana Republic blazer in my size. And it was only $12.99! We all know Banana Republic is nowhere near that cheap! So of course I bought it. I am going to post a few pictures below to show your what I thought it would look good with and the blazer itself. 

            


I hope you guys are able to get down there soon, they have a lot of great things and every Wednesday the place is half off! 

Is Blonder Really Better?

Hey guys, I'm Tara. I was born with naturally dark brown hair and except for a few blonde highlights over the years I generally keep it dark. Recently I have been craving for something new...and drastic. I usually dye my hair dark brown or in the dark red area but I always wanted to know what it's like to have blonde hair. Going to the hair salon was pretty much out of the question since I haven't had a steady job since August and I am a broke college student. 

This has been my hair color for about a year and a half now.  As you can see I also have extremely fair (pale) Irish skin. More of a curse than anything. Anyway I was also weary about blonde hair because than everything would be pale and I could look washed out. But hey, I'd try anything once :) So I made my way on down to the Wal-Mart by my school and purchased these:

  

I used two of the Clairol Born Blonde bottles and after that I used the Revlon Medium Blonde 175. This is what my hair looked like after the bleaching it twice:

Scary..I know. At this point I started getting nervous about the outcome of my hair. But I knew that if it all went wrong I had a couple emergency dark brown boxes of dye, just in case. After putting the Revlon ColorSilk, I decided to let it air dry over night after washing out the dye. When I woke up and styled it, I was pretty happy with the outcome. Here is the ending result:

I am hoping that it will blend a little more nicely throughout the next week or so. As of right now though I am happy with the result. I didn't even go broke with getting a whole new hair look. Overall I spent less than $30. The Clairol Born Blonde were only about $9.97 each and the Revlon hair dye was only just under $4. Great prices. OK thanks for reading. I'll let you know how it looks in a week or so.