Wake Up With Me: School Day Edition | Morning Routine

Am I the only one who was actually excited to go back to school?? Probably haha. Now that I'm in a program I love, on track to a career I would be happy doing for my whole life, I actually enjoy school and look forward to going.

That being said, I'm not so much a fan of having to wake up early again after such a relaxing winter break! Getting back into the swing of things has been hard (many naps have been had this past week haha) but I've established a new morning routine that has been working for me and I'm excited to share it with you all today!

My alarm is set in the mornings for 6:45am so I can be ready to leave by 8:00am for school. I always spend that first fifteen minutes, from 6:45-7:00am stretching, chugging a big glass of water, and making a tea. These three tasks help to wake me up in the morning so I can truly begin my morning routine!

7:00am: morning yoga!
I'm not sure what sort of workouts I do in my sleep, but I always wake up quite tight and sore throughout my neck shoulders (my chiropractor tells me it's stress but I tend to disagree, probably because I'm in denial haha). Doing yoga first thing in the morning helps to loosen up my body and set my mind on the right track to take on the day.

7:15am: bathroom stuff- wash face, brush teeth etc.

Once my workout is done I head to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. I need to do this before breakfast for some reason... like I just HAVE to. I feel so gross until my face is washed and my teeth are brushed! To wash my face I use the Clinique bar soap in extra mild. I then follow up with the Clinique daily moisturizing gel. To brush my teeth, I use Crest Pro-Health whitening toothpaste- love how minty fresh it is!

7:30am: hair and makeup

Now that it's winter, my hair has to be done because throwing it up in a bun doesn't work with wearing a hat (Canadian problems!). I've been using my NUME tools to curl my hair almost everyday. If you're interested in NUME, check out my full review post and my everyday hair routine video! 

When it comes to make up I keep it super simple- some days I don't wear anything but mascara. However most days I'll use Rimmel wake me up concealer under my eyes and on spots, NYX stay matte but not flat powder foundation so I'm not shiny and a little blush from Revlon in ooh baby pink- that's the face done! I then use the blush as an eye shadow for a really pretty wash of shimmery pink followed up by the L'Oreal highlighter in my inner corner and under my brow bone. I fill in my brows with the Revlon brow fantasy pencil in brunette, curl my lashes and apply generous amounts of Covergirl lash blast, and finish off with Maybelline baby lips chapstick. Simple, natural, and quick!

7:35am: get dressed

I usually pick out an outfit the night before in an attempt to streamline this process... putting an outfit together is not easy for me. My lack of fashion sense rears it's ugly head in the mornings so I make sure I either have an outfit already picked or all the pieces clean for a go-to outfit that I know looks good.

7:38am: make and eat breakfast, catch up on e-mails

If you've been following this blog for any length of time then seeing this bowl of cereal for breakfast will be a shocker- where's the oatmeal!? Lately I've been eating cereal in the morning because 1. it's so much quicker 2. it fills me up so much more! My class schedule doesn't allow me to eat lunch until about 1:00pm on most days so I have to fuel myself up enough to last over five hours on one meal! Oatmeal just doesn't fit the bill for me on a school day anymore. Instead I will divide my bowl in thirds- one third full of Post Shredded Wheat cereal, one third of Quaker Oatmeal Squares cereal, and one third of GM Multi-Grain Cheerios. I sprinkle on some cinnamon and pour in a generous amount of 2% milk. It's delicious, nutritious, and really filling!

7:55am: gather all my things together

I grab my camera bag, my backpack (laptop, agenda, etc), lunch bag and all my winter clothes to get dressed and ready. It takes a good five minutes to suit up for these frigid Canadian winter mornings!

8:00am: head out the door!

Once I finally manage to sufficiently bundle up, I'm ready to head to the bus stop and make my way to class! My morning routine really is quite streamlined- no frills, no social media- and efficient. I get everything I need to accomplish done in only an hour! This allows me to maximize my sleep time as any college student knows just how precious those extra minutes can be!

Do you have a morning routine? What is one thing you do every morning that sets your day off on the right foot?

Thanks for reading & check back to see what KatieDidd, xo

School Day Routine + Fitting in Exercise | Saturday Series: Back to School 4 of 4

Well... I start school in 3 days! I'm so excited (and very nervous). Because I'm so type A, OCD, I've already planned out my school routine for each day that I have classes.

Monday

6:30am: Wake up, quick shower, brush teeth, wash face

7:00am: Get dressed, do makeup and hair

7:30am: Eat breakfast, wash the dishes

7:55am: Get my things together, head out the door

8:10am: Catch the bus

8:40am: Arrive at college

9:00am: First class of the day!

11:00am: Class ends, eat a snack

11:15am: Free time, can stay at school or go home, or go do errands etc

12:30pm: Lunch

1:00pm: Second class: a lab

4:00pm: Class ends, munch on a snack

4:15pm: Catch bus home

5:00pm: Start preparing dinner

6:00pm: Dinner time, clean up dishes

7:00pm: Free evening (workout)

Tuesday

6:30am: Wake up, quick shower, brush teeth, wash face

7:00am: Get dressed, do makeup and hair

7:30am: Eat breakfast, wash the dishes

Day off school, get laundry done and do meal prep, run errands, clean apartment, workout etc.

Wednesday

6:30am: Wake up, quick shower, brush teeth, wash face

7:00am: Get dressed, do makeup and hair

7:30am: Eat breakfast, wash the dishes

8:00am: Free time (workout)

12:30pm: Lunch

1:00pm: More free time

2:15pm: Catch bus to school

3:00pm: Class

5:00pm: Class ends, catch bus home

5:45pm: Prepare dinner, eat, tidy up dishes

7:00pm: Free Time

Thursday

6:30am: Wake up, brush teeth, wash face

6:50am: Get dressed, do makeup and hair

7:00am: Eat breakfast, wash the dishes

7:15am: Catch bus to school

8:00am: Class

11:00am: Class ends, snack!

11:15am: Head home

12:30pm: Lunch

1:00pm: Free time (workout)

5:15pm: Catch bus to school

6:00pm: Class

8:00pm: Class ends

Friday

6:30am: Wake up, quick shower, brush teeth, wash face

7:00am: Get dressed, do makeup and hair

7:30am: Eat breakfast, wash the dishes

8:00am: Free time (workout)

9:15am: Catch bus to school

10:00am: Class

12:00pm: Quick snack/lunch between classes

2:00pm: Class ends, head home

3:30pm: Snack

3:50pm: Free time

6:30pm: Eat dinner, tidy dishes

7:15pm: Free time

As you can see, I've got a lot of areas that are free time where I have slotted in a workout. Of course, this is tentative and subject to change depending on what I need to get done each day and how much homework I have- I'm also hoping to get a part time job!

Keeping a schedule is so important to me, I'm someone who thrives off routine. Slotting time for a workout is important to me because it's my stress release and helps me to feel relaxed.

I hope you enjoyed my school routine plan and even more, I hope that you are inspire to squeeze in workouts where you can! Just because you're on your own and heading college doesn't mean you have to let those freshman 15 get to you! Best of luck in school!

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn

Organization & Time Management | Saturday Series: Back To School 3 of 4

I'm naturally quite an organized person but when I get stressed and frazzled my organizational skills tend to fly out the window. During my first year of uni I struggled like crazy with staying on top of assignments. Since I know that I will probably struggle with this again in college I am going to try my hardest to stay as organized as I can be.

I bought this planner from Staples for $16.99 and I think it will help a lot. It's in a week view format which is really good for me as it's not as overwhelming as seeing everything I need to do for an entire month. It's big enough that I can fit everything into it- assignments, projects, readings, and also outside of school things!

Seeing my schedule like this really helps me to stay organized because I can fill in the empty time slots and allocate my time to the things I need to get done. It often times feels like there isn't enough hours in the day to get everything done but seeing my schedule like this (it's so dang barren), I am able to realize that I have more than enough time to be able to accomplish all I need to.

Random Tips to Make College/Uni Life Easier:

1. Meal prep is the best idea!

2. Lay out your clothes the night before

3. Have a set morning and evening routine

4. Get enough sleep & eat good food

5. Reserve some time for yourself to relax 

I hope these tips are helpful for you- they are for me! If you have any other tips leave them in a comment below. Best of luck with back to school!

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn

Backpack Essentials + DIY Notebook | Saturday Series: Back To School 2 of 4

For the second part of my back to school series I thought I would discuss backpack essentials! I'm a chronic over packer- I always end up with far too many things in my bags that I don't need.

I have decided to use this small backpack to avoid bringing unnecessary things. It's a black and cream polka dot backpack from American Eagle. I love the leather accents on it! It's very comfortable to wear, has a few little pockets inside for emergency things (like tampons, spare change, and tylenol) which is super handy!

I have divided my essentials into two categories: school essentials (left picture) and personal essentials (right side). To my classes I always bring a pencil case with pens, pencils, sticky notes, highlighters etc. I also bring a notebook that I can write notes in as well as staple in hand outs and I bring my MacBook for note taking and for online follow alongs (it's quite common in college/uni for profs to post their lecture notes the night before the class so it's nice to have a laptop to be able to follow along). My number one essential, as an organization junkee, is my day planner. This is so important to keep track of assignments and due dates.

For personals I'll start with the two things that I don't have photographed which are a water bottle and an on-the-go pre prepared snack (usually yogurt and granola or a homemade breakfast muffin- find recipe here). I will always bring along my house/apartment key, as well as my cards and change purse. I also always like to make sure I have a hand bag sized hand lotion, my deodorant, NYX powder foundation for touchups, and Baby Lips chap stick just in case! My last personal essential is, of course, my phone- usually accompanied by headphones!

As a little bonus to this post I thought I would throw in a simple DIY tutorial on how I created this super Pintrest worthy notebook. All you will need is scissors, a ruler, clear liquid glue (Martha Stuart Decoupage Glue or Mod Podge), and some old magazines!

To create this, first measure your notebook and then decide on the dimensions you'd like to use for your triangle pieces. The area I needed to cover was approximately 9"x11". I decided I wanted to do isosceles triangles that were 2" across the bottom and 3.5" high. These dimensions allowed for 18 full triangles and 6 half triangles. 

After you figure out your dimensions you'll want to scan through old magazines and cut the triangles out of the pages. You can be totally creative with this, there are no right or wrong images to choose! Once you have all your triangles, you'll want to get your liquid glue and cover the entire front of the notebook with it. Then, lay down your triangles on top of the glue. Once you have arranged your triangles the way you want them, apply another layer of liquid glue and allow to dry for a full 24 hours. This is such an easy way to make a cute and personalized notebook! You can also choose to use a different shape- squares, hexagons, etc.

I hope you liked this back to school post of backpack essentials and a DIY notebook! If you recreate this notebook or have any other essentials, do let me know!

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn

Freshman Goals | Saturday Series: Back To School 1 of 4

So in my blog re-vamp post I forget to mention a new set of posts that I am adding to my blog! On Saturdays I will be doing series- a collection of posts all under one topic. The series will typically span over 4-6 weeks (give or take haha) and will only be on Saturdays!

I've decided to start with a back to school series since that time of the year is coming up so freakin' quickly!

Firstly guys, look how pretty my school is; where I will be attending classes is in the photo! After an entire year off school I am finally going back to college! I'm so excited to be in the classroom again starting in September- I really do enjoy school. I'm excited for this new chapter in my life at a new school in a new city!

For my first back to school post in my back to school series I decided to share with you my goals for freshman year!

1. Maintain at least a 3.5 GPA: I'm sure that I can achieve this goal and probably do even better than that as I do know that I am a smart person. I'm setting this goal for myself because when it comes to school, I tend to stop going to a class or stop putting effort in if I'm not interested. I want to make sure that this year I put effort into every class I'm taking and reach my full potential, even if I'm not completely interested.

2. Join an extracurricular club: I'm quite an introverted and shy person by nature and so joining groups and clubs has always been such an intimidating thought to me. I want to get involved in a club or group that I'm interested in- not only will this help me to get out of my comfort zone and meet people, but it will also give me an escape from the stress of school and such.

3. Maintain my fitness: As it is now, I workout everyday at least for 20 minutes. Once school starts I know I will be busier and may have less time to workout, but I want to make sure that I do a workout at least 3 times a week as well as make healthier choices like taking the stairs or walking to and from the college instead of taking the bus.

4. Stay organized: I'm quite an organized person as it is, but I tend to struggle with managing stress. When I get stressed my mind becomes a mess and my surroundings soon follow. I want to keep my belongings and time organized to hopefully reduce the stress I will experience.

5. Hand in all assignments on time: I don't think this one will be too much of an issue for me but I'm setting this goal because I'm definitely a perfectionist. I'm not a procrastinator; I tend to take a lot more time on things than other people might because I want my final result to be perfect. I want to make sure that I hand in all my assignments even if I'm not 100% satisfied with it at the due date. Handing in something is better than getting frustrated and handing in nothing.

6. Find a part time job: I don't really need to work during school because I have worked my butt off this past year and have saved all the money I need for a year. I want to work because, again, it's something to do. I don't want to be in a new city away from my family and end up spending loads of time in my apartment being my anti-social self. I think it will be really good for me to have a reason to leave my place other than for school. Plus extra money is always handy as a student.

7. Make a new close friend: All my life I have been the type of person to have a few close friends, not loads of acquaintances. I want to have a close friend in Ottawa that I know will always be there for me as my friends here are. 

8. Join the student's association: Much like joining a club, joining the student's association will really help me to get out of my shell. I also think joining the student's association is a good idea as far as future opportunities; I can become a student ambassador or freshman co-ordinator which would be a great opportunity and look really good on my resume.

9. Be responsible with my money: I'm quite worried that (because I'm obsessed with shopping) I will get too excited by all the stores and malls in Ottawa and waste away all my money. In relation to the part time job, if I do get one that money will be my splurge money and all the money I've saved to this point will be for serious things like tuition, rent, groceries etc.

10. Enjoy every second of my college experience: This one is huge for me. College is only two years and then after that I'm out in the world working and settling down. I want to make sure that this last little hurrah at my young life is the best it can be and that I enjoy every moment.

Do you have any goals for this school year? Do let me know!

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn