5 College Posts You Need to Read

If you're anything like me, you're in the midst of crazy college stress and are wondering how the heck you got into this mess. (Or maybe that's just me :)). Today I wanted to share with you a few posts I've found on the World Wide Web about surviving the four years that is college:

• 5 Things I Wish I Knew: Planning Ahead in College- Some really great tips that apply even if you're already in college.
• Anything at My College Advice- I've mentioned her before, but Katie has posts on about every question or topic you would ever want to know more about.
• How to Plan for a Busy Week {college students}- a great post for when you have those super crazy weeks. For those of you who have crazy weeks every week, stay tuned to next year. Hopefully I will have figured that out myself by then!
• You know, I have some pretty great posts too... ;)
• A Love Letter to College Freshmen- This was posted right at the beginning of my freshman year of college, when I was scared, stressed, and desperately homesick. My mom emailed it to me and I liked it so much I taped it up on my wall that year. If you read any of these, it should be this one. If you want to see more of these types of letters, check out More Love Letters' Dear College campaign.

What are your favorite college posts?

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Below the Line:

• Better late than never, right?
• History presentation: accomplished
• I went home this weekend for my dad's homemade beef stew and some family time. It was great to get away from DePauw for a little bit and hang out with my family. Plus, I happened to make it to our neighborhood farmer's market. That means tamale time!

A Beautiful Book

Hi, I'm Leeann, and I judge books by their covers. A lot.

It drives my friend Danielle crazy, but I decide if I want to read a book based off the front cover (and occasionally the back cover). Headless girl on the front? I'm probably not going to read it. Dripping blood? Pass.

It works the other way, too. Like when Jordan showed me her new books from Puffin in Bloom, I fell in love. Bright script, flower borders and accents, illustrated interpretations of the characters--I couldn't say no.

Anna Rifle Bond of Rifle Paper Company designed these covers for Puffin, and she did an amazing job (obviously- just look at that lettering! #stationarynerd #iusehashtagsoutofcontext). When I went to select from the four titles currently available, my eye was drawn to the bright blue cover of Anne of Green Gables. The last time I read this book I was a little girl myself, so it seemed like the perfect choice in a series about growing up. In my Amazon cart it went and two days later, it was love.

What beautiful books do you love?

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Below the Line

• Homework. It's a thing. So it goes.
• I wrote my first creative non-fiction essay this week. There are parts of it I know still need work, but there's one scene I'm really proud of. It's a Christmas scene, so I turned on my Christmas iTunes playlist and pounded the keys. It left me with an amazing feeling. It's nice to remember why you love something once in a while :)
• Also, really psyched for my history presentation Tuesday. Another project I know I'm going to enjoy working on.
• Calling all book lovers! What are your favorite books of all time and what is your favorite snack/drink to have with it? Leave a comment below, or send me a message from the "Let's Chat" tab. It's for prosperity (of this blog ;)).

My 10 Most Important Books

There's a tag roaming around my Facebook feed where a person is nominated to list 10 books that have been very important to their life. My dear "big sister" (sorority slang) Emily tagged me August 26th, so my list is well overdue!

So, without further ado, the 10 books that have been very important to my life:

1. The Great Gatsby (I did devote a whole post to it ;))
2. The American Girl series (Samantha in particular)
3. Junie B. Jones (JBJ Has a Peep in Her Pocket is a particular favorite)
4. Harry Potter (with a special shout out to number 5)
5. Nancy Drew Mysteries (and the Nancy Drew Notebooks and Nancy Drew, Girl Detective versions)
6. Pride and Prejudice (my first love in classical literature)
7. "The Kissing Hand" (a meaningful family favorite)
8. Our Town (the play that made me love reading plays)
9. The Care and Keeping of You (everything 12-year-old me needed to know)
10. Tenth of December (one day, I want to write like George Saunders)

What are your 10 most important books?

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Below the Line:

• Still lots of homework to be done. I have two papers to write for Tuesday so if I don't get a post out, that's why :)
• This list was surprisingly hard to write! I really had to dig back into my memories to find the books that really meant something to me.
• Not much else to report. Mostly just school work going on around here!

Below the Line

Today is kind of entirely a Below the Line post, and I'll tell you why:

Coming to school has been quite the change for me. I have an entirely new schedule to get used to, a new living arrangement, and new food. I'll be honest with you, I'm struggling to get back into the swing of things. I'm already behind on my homework, and it's the fifth day of school.

I've also had some diet changes thrust at me just this weekend that I'm still trying to process and understand amid all the other changes I'm dealing with right now. I can talk about that later, if you want, but right now even I'm not sure what it all means.

Basically, I haven't had the time I would like to work on this blog. I miss it, trust me- I miss it a lot. But now my madly typing fingers need to focus on nature writing and literature and history analysis.

If things go as planned (fingers crossed!) expect a regular blog post on Friday. But if not, bare with me. I'll get it all worked out!