Packing 101

Packing for a trip or vacation can be such a hassle. Especially if you're going somewhere more than an hour or so away because you can't run home real quick to get something you forgot. The best thing to do is to be organized. Make a list of all the essentials for the following categories: clothes, underwear, shoes, toiletries, technology, and miscellaneous. As you drive away from the house, the last thing you want is that sickening feeling of you forgetting something. Hopefully this helps you pack everything for an upcoming trip.  

Clothing is probably one of the most important essentials. If you leave home without this you're pretty much screwed for the whole trip. Check the weather ahead of time so you know which type of clothes to bring. If you're going somewhere warm, such as Florida, make sure to pack lots of shorts but a few pairs of long pants wouldn't hurt either because its not always guaranteed to be warm at night. If you're going somewhere cold, such as the mountains in Colorado, layers, layers, and more layers. It's easier to be too hot and shed some layers of clothing rather than not packing enough layers and be cold the whole time. Try to arrange your clothes in your suitcase in the most efficient way. Roll up your T-shirts rather than folding them in a square shape and stacking them. If you don't know what I mean by rolling, here's an easy How To. Also try keeping all your outfits together in your suitcase so that way you're not confused as to which pair of pants goes with which shirt. Make sure to pack enough underwear and socks because you don't want to be THAT person. No matter where you're going, if you know you're going to a hotel always remember to bring flip flops. Even if you don't plan on going swimming, you may never know when you might need them. If you know ahead of time you will be doing a lot of walking, bring comfortable shoes. Your feet will thank you later.  

Packing toiletries is a girls worst nightmare. We have so much of it and most of it is indeed an essential. For girls to look their best they have a lot of products and measures that must be taken. When you're in the comfort of your own bathroom, it doesn't look like much. But packing it all up into bag after bag can get frustrating. Make sure you have everything you need to look your best, especially your toothbrush. For some odd reason that seems to be the most common thing to leave at home. For all the girls reading this, always be prepared for an unwanted visitor. Moth nature seems to make an appearance whenever you're away from home.  

Phone chargers can be a life savor at times, especially if you forgot yours in the outlet next to your bed at home. Make sure to pack any other chargers that are necessary as well. Batteries may seem worthless to bring, but you may never know when you will be in need of a AA Battery. Something else you should definitely consider bringing is something to entertain you, which would go under the miscellaneous category. Long plane or car rides can get pretty boring without something to do. Homework is always nice to do on the way there or back, that way you don't have to spend your vacation time doing it.  

To avoid that feeling of "I'm missing something" make sure you double check your list before leaving the house. If you do happen to forget something, don't worry there are plenty of shopping malls and convenient stores around to pick something up. 

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I am a Life Saver

It's always nice to have a little extra money to spend. However, this is not always an option for most families in today's current economy. One of the best and easy ways to make some extra cash fast, would be donating plasma at BioLife. It's super easy, fast, and good money.  

When I was a kid, I had to get a lot of shots. It traumatized me into my teen years because I was deadly afraid of needles. I couldn't look at it before, during, or after the shot. I had to squeeze my eyes shut and try really hard not to think about the pain it was going to cause. This past summer when I turned 18, sorry for you minors reading this but you have to be 18 years of age or older to donate plasma, my sister Jill suggested that I donate plasma because she knew I needed money for college and whatnot. At first I was strongly against it because of my fear of needles. After a couple of months of keeping within a tight budget, I finally decided to schedule an appointment.  

The first time you donate usually takes around three hours because you have to have a physical done with one of the nurses on staff to make sure you're in good healthy condition. On days you donate without a having a physical, it usually takes around an hour or so. Every time you go in you have to take a short questionnaire consisting of medical history within the past few months, medications, whether or not you feel healthy today, etc. Then you wait for a staff member to take your vitals, like your temperature, blood pressure, and this part of donating includes the very painful finger prick. If your vitals all check out, then you're directed to a certain section of the big room, or "floor" as they call it, to start the donation. They insert the needle in a vain in either one of your inner elbows then hook you up to a machine that takes the blood out of your vain. The machine takes the plasma out of your blood and then returns the blood back into your body once the plasma is removed. This is considered a cycle and you usually go through five or six cycles every time you donate. 

If you have a busy schedule like me, it's hard to schedule a time to donate. You can donate twice in a seven day period and there must be one day in between the two donations. Thankfully their scheduling system is all online so they tell you what days you can and cannot donate. The only bad part about the actual donation is the finger prick, the needle being in your arm for 45 minutes, and the constant pumping of your hand to help with the blood withdrawal. Other than that, it's a pretty simple. Plus the money is great. You get twenty dollars the first donation of the week and thirty five the second. Here's a BioLife video that explains this concept. They also have specials every month that give you even more money for donating your plasma. 

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The Power of a Princess

Disney is one of the biggest franchises in the world and is continuing to grow every day. Every couple of years or so Disney comes up with a new movie, usually consisting of a new Disney Princess. The most recent Disney Princess is that of Anna and Elsa from the movie Frozen that was released in December of 2013. Frozen took the world by storm with all of the Elsa and Anna products they have made within the last year. What makes this movie different from the rest? I mean why does this movie have so much more popularity than other Disney movies? It's not like they're any better than the classics we used to see as kids. My theory is that they're the same type of Disney movies, but within a different society. 

In the movie Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and all the old Disney movies, you see the classic story of a princess needing to be saved and the only one able to do said saving is the handsome prince. They fall in love and live happily ever after. The End. This is the type of story I grew up with. The girl being the one who needs the saving and it has to be done by her prince charming. It's a cute story that has many kids intrigued and wanting to find love. But what is this really teaching little girls? It's showing them that they are incapable of doing something themselves. However, Disney is getting better at this.  

If you take a look at some more recent Disney movies such as Shrek or Frozen, you'll see some very strong female roles. In Disney's Pixar Shrek, Princess Fiona starts off as a princess who needs saving, but as the story plot progresses through the movie, she becomes very independent and doesn't need saving because she can do it herself; and in many cases, she is the one doing the saving. 

In Disney's movie Frozen, Princess Anna has a frozen heart that can only be thawed by an act of true love. If you've seen other Disney movies you would think that Kristoff, Anna's love interest, would be the one to thaw her heart. **SPOILER ALERT** No, it's her sister Elsa that performs an act of unselfish love that causes Anna's heart to thaw. Not only that, but Anna also proves to be a very strong an self-dependent role in this movie when she decides to go save her sister herself. Here is an excellent example of how she wants to do things on her own without the help of a man. 

It's amazing to think a big franchise such as Disney is acknowledging how hard girls work and they can do things without a guy's help. These types of movies have shaped society into thinking that it's ok to allow girls to be independent. And because of this new and improved society, Disney, along with many other franchises, are able to make similar movies with the same concept. 

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