Spring Break

It is Friday the 13th, but I am not worried at all - ecstatic, actually, because spring break has officially begun! And with that said, I am ready to knock three more states off of my list on my road trip next week. I am very excited because my mom is flying down to come with us, and she has never been to this part of the country before!

My feeble attempt at a map of our trip.

First stop: Illinois. 

Although I have been to Illinois when I had a layover in Detroit, I want to cross this state off with a little more confidence this time. Though our road trip only has us passing through the southernmost tip of the state, I am hoping that there will be a nice place to stop. A scenic overlook, perhaps, as this point marks the intersection of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.

Next stop: Missouri and Arkansas.

I have absolutely no idea what to expect out of these states. However, we will be driving along the coast of the Mississippi river the entire time, so that should be pretty!

Final destination: Memphis, Tennessee.

Yes, we may have taken the scenic route to get to the state right below Kentucky. But I feel like the scenic route is always worth it! In Memphis, we will be visiting Graceland, the home of Elvis. Boy, is my mom stoked!

 

Detour: Mississippi

This state is like twenty minutes away from Memphis. So why not swing on in so that I can cross it off my list?

Next: Nashville, Tennessee.

Here, we will visit all things music. I have no idea what that will entail just yet, but it should be a blast!

Finally: Kentucky.

Home, sweet home! Tune in next week for all the pictures from our long, southern journey!

Snowpocalypse

It has been three months, and I have returned once again! College is chaotic, don't you agree? Between midterms, finals, traveling, and working, my free time is completely minimal. But I have a feeling that free time will be minimal for many years to come. Yay for adulthood! (Did you catch the sarcasm?)

Now, can we talk about this ice age that has taken over the entire northeastern part of the country? Let's just compare the following pictures for a moment:

Seattle, Washington (via my mom)

Lexington, Kentucky

I never though I would say this, but can I just go back to Seattle for awhile to enjoy their warm weather?

On Sunday evening, school was cancelled for the following day before a single snowflake even touched the ground. It snowed all day Monday, causing school the following day to be cancelled as well. Here we are, Wednesday afternoon:

Yet there is still school today. Not even class delays due to snow. This tweet about sums up what Capilouto, the president of the University of Kentucky, was thinking whilst not cancelling classes.

Enjoy:
TWEET

Thrifty Thursday | Checkout 51

Checkout 51 is a super simple app that will help you save money on items that you buy normally. Every week, a list of about thirty grocery items are put on the app. There are items that, if you buy, you can save anywhere from $0.25 to $5.00 on. Once you purchase the item, you simply scan your receipt and submit it to the app. They process and approve your receipt, then award your account the specific cash back offer. Once you're in-app bank reaches $20, you can cash out using PayPal.

 

This is an app that I need to take more advantage of. I haven't used it lately, but need to because I'm almost at that $20 benchmark! It is also nice when the items listed on the app are also on sale in the store - it's like a double sale! One time, I had a coupon for a glade item, which was also on sale in the store, and there was a $3.00 cash back offer in Checkout 51. Once I applied all the discounts, I ended up getting paid like $0.50 to take my new smelly goodness out of the store!

Hawaii Part III

It's Travel Tuesday (I know, it's Wednesday, but use your imagination!) and we've made it to the last segment of my Hawaii adventure. Is it time to go back yet?

The week was shooting by, but some of my favorite parts of this vacation were saved for the end. Finally, finally, the water was calm enough to go stand up paddle boarding! I had been waiting for this all week, and it was well worth it. My sister and I each had a paddle board, and my dad took out a kayak. It didn't take long to get the hang of it, and I was up and paddling in no time! My sister, on the other hand, kept thinking her paddle board's shadow was a shark and refused to stand up for fifteen minutes. But she was up and going soon enough! My dad, on the other hand, fell straight backward on his first attempt to stand up. I would kill to do it again, and it was an awesome leg and arm work out to boot!

Good thing my dad has connections, because his friend was able to hook me up with a helicopter tour of Maui and the surrounding areas! It was beautiful! After I got over the weird feeling you get in your ears when riding a helicopter, I was able to really take in the nature of the island. There were huge waterfalls, enormous sea cliffs, and mountain goats scaling the side of these vertical cliffs. We even flew into the crater of a dormant volcano - one that the Hawaiians have believed to be dormant for a million years. It was pure beauty, and an experience I wouldn't trade for the world!

My dad and I were also able to go snorkeling again - and this time I brought my GoPro! We went along Kaanapali beach and around Black Rock. My dad had a hunch that this would be the best place to find some sea turtles. We hopped in the water and I began to film. The water was incredibly deep - deeper than the previous snorkeling trip. It took me a good amount of time to stop looking behind me every five seconds to make sure a shark wasn't nearby. Once I calmed down, I was able to enjoy the nature that surrounded me. We saw a manta ray on the floor of the ocean, long needle fish, and even a scuba diver instructor handling an octopus! However, the highlight of this trip it when I turned around to see an enormous sea turtle just feet away. I handed my dad the camera and swam over to lightly stroke its shell. I marveled at how calm and peaceful it was, despite our presence.

But alas, all good things must come to an end...for now! I departed Friday night, just after the sun had set. After eleven hours of travel time, a stressful layover in San Diego, and a more relaxed pit stop in Dallas, I had finally arrived in Cincinnati. And it was just in time for a last minute road trip - stay tuned!

Hawaii Part I

Hawaii Part II

Thrifty Thursday | Shopkick

One of the number one issues among college students, or anyone for that matter, is money. No matter how hard we work, there never seems to be enough of it. Between rent, tuition, student loans, textbooks, car payments, and more, college students' paychecks get drained pretty quickly. Luck for you all, I am slowly learning the tips and tricks to making your money go farther!

To kick off this Thrifty Thursday tradition, I will begin with the app that I use on a daily basis: Shopkick. A dear friend introduced me to this app back in April and I couldn't be more grateful, as it has helped me to earn $125 in gift cards since then!


Shopkick Homepage

The idea is that you get points, or "kicks", for walking into various stores. Additionally, there are certain items within the store you can scan to get additional kicks. For example, you can look in the app to see that you can get 50 kicks by walking into Macy's. Using GPS, it locates when you entered the store and awards you points. You can then see that you can scan an item's barcode for an additional 50 points. Bam! 100 points, just like that. Once you reach 6,250 points, which takes me about a month to a month and a half to do, you can choose from a variety of $25 gift cards. If you so choose, you can also redeem a smaller amount of points for a smaller gift card if you aren't as patient.

I have redeemed multiple gift cards for Macy's, Target, and Marshalls, and there are many others that you can choose from. And if you get three friends to join, that's a bonus 2,000! (So if you're interested and know me personally, let me know and I'll shoot you a text with the information, eh? Haha.).


My Shopkick Profile

Bonus tip: If you go to the home page and look at the recent mini product ads that read "new", those contain bonus kicks! I have earned hundreds of kicks just by looking through these product ads.