Rent your Books! Oh yes.

I have my Bachelor's degree. I don't really talk about that much here because quite frankly... I don't actually use my degree much. Ha. I have a B.A. in Human Development and Family Sciences: Early Childhood Education. Whoa.

Yes, the happy grad with crazy long locks.

Really what that means is that I spent WAY too much money in college. But I wouldn't be upset about it if it were just student loans that I were paying off now that I'm 26 and have been done with school for the past 4 years. I'm upset because I have credit card debt to still pay. And I have that debt because of BOOKS. College books (and the bookstores that sell them) are ridiculously, crazy, out of this world OVERPRICED. They know you need the book, nah.... are required to have the book.... therefore they charge up the whoo-ha for it. And every year there's a new edition to buy. Ugh.

So what to do about it? That's where the AMAZING site CampusBookRentals.com comes into play. Why oh why did this not come to my attention until I'm already finished with school and filled with the debts?

This site is awesome for a number of reasons but the best being that they do simply this: you need a book..... they rent you the book. No crazy purchasing, no trying to sell the book back for 1/3 the cost at the end of 3 months; just simple use it while you need it and then return it. Oh, and they send you a box to ship it back in for FREE. Y'all.... this is AWESOME. AND, if you need the book for longer (cause maybe you had to take your final a bit later than the rest).... no problem. They let you extend your rental period for a tiny cost.

Here's a quick example:

via

Say you need this Comm book for your next class. The PRICE is over $100. Or, you can rent it (with a free return) for the entire class for just $15! Say what?!

All I'm saying is that I may not have been able to take advantage of this fabulous site but I know people who can and I'm sure you do too. So share the love. Share the greatness so that happy young people don't have to start their life off with HEAPS of credit card debt for BOOKS. 


**CampusBookRentals did offer me compensation for this review. But all opinions and words written are of my own accord and I review this site honestly and because I believe in the product/service provided. Rent your books, yo! 

About a Nanny

I do not have any kids. I am 26 years old and while many friends around me have already crossed that bridge; it's just not where I am yet.

But I know more about raising kids than most. Let me explain.

I don't say that to sound pompous or self-important. And I completely recognize that HAVING a child is much different than just taking care of one. But I also have a Bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education, have taken Infant First Aid and CPR more times than I even remember anymore and I've spent longer days with kids than their parents.

I'm a nanny. And I've been in the 'business' of loving and caring for kids for about a decade. I've worked with many different families with many different styles of parenting and personalities of children. I've been a Childcare teacher, a babysitter and an at-home nanny. And I want to tell a bit about what it's like to not have a child of my own but to have extreme love and passion for a child LIKE it's my own.

The last family I worked for had a baby girl. Their first baby and they were working parents so they hired me when she was three months old to care for her during the day. I'll call her Emily.

Emily was a fantastic happy and intelligent baby with awesome parents. They were open to my suggestions and fully trusted that I was always acting in Emily's best interest. They were a loving, easy-going and amazingly kind family to work for.

I spent 8hr days with Emily 4-5 days a week. And once or twice I even had her overnight when her parents had to be out of town. I was the first person she threw up on, the person she had her first solid food with and the one who took the binky away.

As I said before her parents trusted me to make decisions with Emily and they were very comfortable letting me take the lead on issues they weren't fully sure about because they trusted my knowledge about such things (even though I didn't have my own child).

I could tell you so many stories about my time with Emily (and perhaps I will someday) but here's the main point I want you to understand; I love Emily with a kind of love that words cannot describe. It's a kind of love that is not the same as a parent's love but captures your heart in the same strong way.

After two and a half years with Emily I had to say goodbye when I moved to another state and I've honestly never felt so heartbroken or empty in my entire life. I felt like I was abandoning her without any explanation that she would understand. We went from togetherness everyday to not seeing each other at all anymore. It was wretched for me and everyday I feel sad missing out on her new words and her happy face.

I do still keep in touch with Emily (and I always will) but I can not explain to you what it's like to be away from her. She's not my child. But I will always love her like that. And I'm so thankful her parents let me be that piece in her life.

I completely understand how difficult it must be to trust another person to care for your child when you aren't there. But I want you to know, if you find someone with the right heart, they will love your child forever.

Dump Cake. {the easiest dessert you'll ever make}

So we all have recipes that we learned from our parents. And there are a few that one day I will show you that are super delicious but somewhat time consuming. This is not that. This recipe is the EASIEST recipe you'll probably ever make. Well, don't challenge me on that but it really is. It has three ingredients. Did you see that? Just THREE. And I'm not promising that it's a healthy recipe {because honestly, this is not that kind of blog} but I AM promising that it is fantastically delicious. Oh, and did I mention easy?

This is what my mom calls "Dump Cake".
Why?

Because you literally dump cake mix into the pan.

You'll see.
Keep reading.

Ingredients


-any boxed white cake mix
-can of fruit (choose your favorite, I like peaches) with the juice
-butter

Directions 

1. Preheat the oven according to the directions on the cake mix.
2. Grease a 13x9 glass pan.
3. Open canned fruit and dump into the pan. (I also added chopped strawberries, but it's totally up to you what fruit you use.)
4. Open dry cake mix and dump into the pan on top of the fruit.
5. Drop about 8-10 teaspoons of butter over the cake mix throughout the pan.
6. Bake according to the timing on the box or until lightly golden brown and bubbly.


**I didn't remember to take pictures at all (dang) but I will make it again soon and revamp this post. Until then if you have any questions ... please ask! I promise you really can't mess it up! Just add whatever sounds yummy.

Our Story {part two}

To read part one of our story…go here.


To get to the beginning of things between Cole and I you must first rewind back to January of 2005.

I was a freshman in college and he was five years older than me. I had just been hired for my very first job thanks to my roommate who quit and recommended that I replace her. I was hired over the phone during Christmas break and started the first week back to school in January.

Oh why hello there little freshman self.

I was making smoothies and wraps at a cute place called Dixon Cafe inside the rec center of our college. At the time Cole was also working at the cafe (as a manager) and also at the rec center which meant that he was at the building almost everyday of the week.



I remember the first MOMENT I saw him. He had on a polo and a pair of khaki cargo pants and the most stunning blue eyes you've ever seen. His dirty blond hair was styled but easy and he seemed quiet but confident. He smiled and my heart started racing and my knees literally felt weak. These two responses were not something I was used to ever feeling for a guy and over the next couple years I would feel them ALL THE TIME.

Because he worked at both the cafe and the rec center; he was almost always there when I would work. And he always stopped by to flash those sweet blue eyes and grab a smoothie before making his "rounds" to count the people in each of the exercise rooms. (Yes they do this at gyms....hourly in fact)

He didn't even have to look at me for my knees to go weak and my words to get flustered. I could be helping another customer at the register and if he was just nearby I'd end up handing them back the wrong number of $1 bills or forgetting to add protein powder to their smoothie. I knew for sure he didn't notice me....

Or so I thought. 

Until that Saturday shift where we worked all alone together...