Tag Archives: student

Thrifty Thursday: Getting Ready for Vacation!

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I cannot believe I have not done a Thrifty Thursday in over two months! To be honest, I had to take a break because at school my closet was overflowing with the awesome deals I was finding! This week I decided I would head over to my favorite consignment store, Oh My Darling in Annapolis, Md. to see what deals they had going on.

They recently posted on Instagram a photo of a few pairs of pineapple earrings and I knew that I had to have these for the summer!

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Amy, the owner of Oh My Darling also posted today about a sale she had today if you mentioned you saw it on her Instagram.

Even though I originally went to the store for just the earrings, I knew I would not only be leaving with just one thing… I also found the perfect dress for a trip I have coming up this weekend to the Bahamas!

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The dress is made by Just Be… I tried to find how much the dress was sold for originally, but I was unable to find it. I can tell the dress is made with a quality cotton though, so I am guessing it was definitely sold for more than I bought it. I purchased this dress for $16!

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The lightweight cotton will be perfect for the hot weather in the Bahamas!

Out of the two things I purchased today, I would definitely say the earrings would be my favorite. I am in love with the pineapples. I am currently obsessing over anything pineapple related!

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I also love the earrings because they were made by a local jewelry designer! Here is her information if you are interested in purchasing this pair of earrings or looking to see if she sells something similar:

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I left the store today only spending a total of $45!

For all of my Annapolis area readers, Oh My Darling is having their biggest shopping event yet that you will not want to miss! Coming up on June 20, they are hosting an event called The Longest Day, which is raising money for Alzheimer’s awareness.

Leading up to the event, they will be having their #30DaysofDresses fundraiser. For every dress sold from May 21-June 20, Oh My Darling will donate 10 percent of the sale to their Longest Day team. If you go into the store and try on a dress and use the hashtags #30DaysofDresses and #THELONGESTDAY, they will donate $1 to their team.

 

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If this didn’t sound intriguing enough for you… on June 20 if you make a $5 or $10 donation to their team, you will receive an empty Oh My Darling shopping bag, which you can fill with anything you can fit into the bag and receive 10 percent or 20 percent off of the items in the bag!

For more information about the event you can contact Oh My Darling’s owner, Amy Darling at amy@shopohmydarling.com!

It felt so great to thrift again! I am glad that I broke my thrifting drought at Oh My Darling!

XODanieSparkle

 

 

21 Things You Should Know About This 21-Year-Old

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I cannot believe that I am 21 years old! I have been 21 for a month and a half and I have really thought a lot about 21 things about me that my readers may not not know about me!

But first I want to talk about what I did for my 21st birthday! I was able to celebrate two times, once with my friends at school and then another with my family and my friends in Maryland.

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With my friends from school:

My friends set up a “Bar Appearance”in downtown as we called it because I was really nervous about making it a bar crawl. I did not really want to go to a ton of bars, so we chose the two that we through I would really enjoy and stuck to those!

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My birthday happened to be the same day as “Fake Patty’s Day” in Kent, Ohio, which is why everyone is wearing green!

With my friends in Maryland: 

My sister set up an amazing birthday celebration! She set up a party bus for me and my friends to ride from Annapolis into D.C. for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants called Mission. It has amazing Mexican food. It was great because I not only got to see my great friends from Maryland, I also got to see my best friend, Jake, who I know from Kent State. The party bus was SO fun and dinner was great.

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I would definitely say that I had two amazing birthday celebrations.

21 things about myself that you may have been wondering: 

  1. I currently have two torn ACLs in my knee.
  2. I will be taking classes in NYC this summer for my minor, along with interning at Agentry PR firm!
  3. I love to travel. My favorite place I have been to is Madrid, Spain.
  4. I LOVE the color yellow. A lot of people ask me all the time why my whole blog is not yellow, because I love it that much.
  5. I am obsessed with psychics.
  6. I take my zodiac sign seriously, like really seriously.
  7. I  am pisces.
  8. I cry all the time, no matter if it’s a happy or sad cry.
  9. I have a cat name Angel. She is the cutest.
  10. I think everyone should go to therapy, it’s helped me a lot.
  11. I have anxiety.
  12. Thrifting is a huge stress reliever for me, but I haven’t gone in a few weeks because I have been so busy with classes.
  13. I am a public relations major.
  14. I am double minoring in fashion media writing and marketing.
  15. I LOVE Kate Spade.
  16. Coffee will always be running from my veins.
  17. I am extroverted.
  18. I always try to be positive, even if everything is falling apart.
  19. I have one younger sister, named Payton.
  20. I talk to my mom at least 3 times a day, and I would’t have it any other way. (I talk to my dad, too! don’t worry! 🙂 )
  21. I decided to start blogging because of Beautycon, a convention for all lovers of beauty, social media and gurus!

 

I hope this gives you a little more insight of who I am! I would love to get to know each and everyone of you!

 

 

The Creation of my Online Portfolio

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Happy Friday!

So, I am currently taking a class called Online Tactics. Within the class I have been tasked with creating an online portfolio to showcase my work that I am doing in school to show my future internships and hopefully one day….a job!

An online portfolio is definitely something to consider for yourself, but you may not need one if your major is not something that requires any samples, but in PR I will definitely need one!

If an online portfolio sounds like something that might interest you, keep reading to see if this is something that could benefit you:

I made mine on Weebly. It was easier to make a quick online portfolio on rather than WordPress, even though WordPress will forever have my heart for any blogging needs that I have!

Lets take a look at Danieminor.weebly.com~

My homepage: 

I went with a very basic theme so it was very easy to understand and was straightforward!

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Something that I do not LOVE about Weebly is that it is not extremely customizable. I was hoping to brand myself a bit more with Defining Danie’s colors and fonts, but I had to go with something that was just close to it.

I kept my personality into my online portfolio but of course stayed professional!

Next I posted my Resume:

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One thing that I do LOVE about Weebly is they have a very easy-to-use set up for the pages. For me to upload my resume, it was very simple.

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Where it is circled pink, I dragged that element on to my actual Resume page of                      my online portfolio.

All I had to do was drag the element “Document” onto the page and then it let me upload any style of document I wanted, and then it uploaded into a Scribd document, so someone could scroll through and read my resume!

The third page that I have on my online portfolio is my section with my writing samples! This part took me a little while to figure out how I wanted it to look. I changed the style about three times.

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I finally figured out the best way to show some of my writing samples…I did it in a slideshow where you can preview the story/article I have written and then click on it if you want to read the rest of it. I linked each photo to go to the page where the story is located!

And finally, my Defining Danie lovers… I have a Blog Portfolio! I love writing this blog so I definitely wanted to include some of my favorite posts to showcase my writing skills.

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For my blogging portfolio, I made it look like a mosaic of photos where you can click any of the photos and have them take you directly to the link of the blog post! I thought it was a creative way of putting the posts on here rather than having just clippings of the articles.

This online portfolio is definitely a necessary thing to have if you are looking to go into public relations or any other field of work where your writing MATTERS.

I have been meaning to create one for a long time now, so having it as a project for class was just a way to give me a “kick in the butt” to get it done!

I hope this inspires you to showcase your own writing. If you create one, please share it with me because I would love to read yours!

 

XODanieSparkle

Thrifty Thursday Fall Fashion!

Posted in Thrifty Thursdays by

Fall is more than football games, pumpkin spice lattes and leaves changing. Although I love all three of those things, just like most, my favorite thing about fall is the fashion. I love vests, knee high boots and feeling a little chilly.

On Sunday, I went to Value Discount Outlet in Akron, Ohio and they were having the best deals! Just like Goodwill, Value Discount Outlet has various color tags attached to the clothing, which lets the store’s staff know when the clothing came into the store. …This also allows for fun things like having certain color tags be a certain price that day!

For example, this Sunday was any green-tagged item was only $1, yellow-tagged items were 50% off and I also received 20% off because I had my student ID! It was a really good thrifting day.

Lets see what I bought!

Right as I walked into Value Discount Outlet (VDO), this yellow vest popped out at me from the 1000s of racks of clothing! My absolute favorite color is yellow.

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The vest had a small patch that was sewn on it, but I knew it wouldn’t be an issue to remove it with a seam ripper! This vest is honestly perfect for Kent State football games. I paired the vest with one of my favorite Kent State shirts!

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I then found this gorgeous pink shirt! This shirt can totally be work with jeans, as pictured or I can definitely wear this to my sorority’s chapter meetings, where we have to dress up. I love to thrift things that can work in my wardrobe for many occasions.

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I was a little worried that this shirt was a little too much of a summer color, but then I just said “ehh, I’ll make up my own rules!” and bought it anyways. 🙂 This shirt only cost me $8, and it was brand new with tags on it! It was originally around $35!

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This next outfit features two purchases! I bought both of these times for only $1!

ttleafsweater1The dress shirt was being sold because it had a small stain on it, but I washed it as soon as I got home and it came right out! I pared it with this sweater that has leaves all over it. The sweater is a yellow-green!

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I can definitely see this sweater becoming a staple in my wardrobe! I cannot wait to wear it with my black vest and pearls, which will make for a super fall outfit!

I love fall so much! I cannot wait for later October when it comes time for Halloween outfit shopping. Keep your eyes out for upcoming Halloween thrifting adventures! Happy fall!

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P.S.: My amazing friend, Mara did an awesome job taking these photos for me this week! Thanks you so much!

Introducing: Monday Mingles!

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Good afternoon & happy Monday!

I have decided to introduce a new weekly post on my blog called Monday Mingles! Each post will be different. I am so excited to mingle with you all! I think I want each to have a certain topic and then have anyone who would like to, comment with their thoughts!

Being a bridesmaid

 

This weekend I was a bridesmaid for the first time. It was exciting, emotional and exhausting!

I cannot believe that a year and a half ago I was asked to be one of my friend’s bridesmaids. I received an email with a heart-felt note that ended with “Will you be my Bridesmaid?” Without even thinking about it, I of course said: YES.

When I said yes, I did not think of anything that was going to come about when being a bridesmaid, such as, money and time. Now, I did not mind spending my time and money on my friend Taylor’s wedding but if you are asked to be a bridesmaid, THINK ABOUT IT before you say yes.

You have to think about the dress, hair, nails, dress for the rehearsal and bachelorette weekend, etc.

Weddings aren’t cheap, but they are extremely special. I was fortunate to have my parent’s help throughout the whole process, but that is because I am still young. I know the next wedding I will probably be in will not be for a few more years, so I will be more financially-able to pay for it on my own.

Does this mean I will not want to be in their wedding because I have to pay for it on my own?

No.

But, this does mean that I will be more cautious if I agree to be in their wedding.

Does this make me selfish for not wanting to spend my money for being in my friends wedding? I don’t think so. I think this means that I am being realistic. The bride will most likely already feel a little bad that you’re spending so much money on her wedding, so she will most likely understand if you decline being her bridesmaid (unless she is your BFF or your sister!!).

I want to know your thoughts/experiences on being a bridesmaid!

Here are some photos from the wedding this weekend (as soon as I have the photographer’s photos I will share them with you!):

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Comment below with your thoughts and experiences with being in a wedding party!

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Thrifty Thursday: Summer to Fall Bag!

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So, Defining Danie reader’s, it’s been a while. I’ve missed you all! School has been more than hectic, which is why I haven’t blogged in what feels like a lifetime.

Look at this amazing purchase that I found. The bag was originally $45 and at Goodwill it was being sold for $17, and then I got the student discount and ended up getting the bag for $15!

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This week’s Thrifty Thursday is based on a bag I found a few weeks ago that was originally from Target. Orange can go for either summer or fall, but adding this scarf definitely adds more a fall-feel. The bag was brand new and I bought it from Goodwill in Kent, Ohio. Goodwill and Target have a partnership where the Goodwill sells the clothing/accessories not sold during the time that they were being sold in Target so they have another chance to be sold again. The clothing/accessories are sold for a cheaper price than they would be sold in Target.

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Although the oranges are not the same, the scarf and bag still complement one-another. The bag has more of a coral undertone and the scarf has a darker orange, magenta, yellow and various colors of taupe! I love the scarf, which I got for only $1.00!

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Take a look inside this bag! It even has the perfect compartment for pencils and lipstick. 😉 And the polka dots are a lovely touch.

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Incorporating thrifted items into your daily outfits is not hard at all! It was a coincidence that I was actually wearing was thrifted over the summer.

I hope everyone is having a lovely start to fall!

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Embarking on My Junior Year

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I am waiting for my first class to start at 11:00 a.m., and I thought what better way to wait then to write about how I cannot wait for my day to begin! This school year is going to be challenging, fun and different.

I have already been back in Kent, Oh. for a week now. I’ve been setting up my apartment, going to sorority recruitment workshops and finally catching up with friends, who I haven’t seen in four months. This week has honestly been jam-packed with exciting stuff, but I am so ready for classes to begin!

Classes I am taking this semester: 

  • Fashion Fundamentals (For my fashion media writing minor)
  • Fashion Branding (For my fashion media writing minor)
  • Research & Measurement in Ad and PR
  • Reporting
  • PR Publications
  • Vision Design Literacy

…I am taking 18 credit hours. I’ve done it before, and I am hoping I can do it again. It is going to be tough because I am also involved in several organizations!

Organizations I am involved in:

  • Chi Omega (My sorority)
  • Her Campus (Definitely check out Kent State’s HC page!)
  • Hillel – Jewish Student Organization

I have decided to update my blog once a week with different tips and updates on how I am keeping organized throughout my semester! I know it is going to be a tough year ahead of me, but I know I can do it and so can you!

First Day of Class Selfie!

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I would love to hear how you stay organized during the school year!

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Traveling made easy to NYC!

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So as many of you know that follow me on social media (if you don’t follow your girl @danieminor13!), this past weekend I went to Her Conference!

Traveling is one of my favorite hobbies; going to events is another favorite of mine. This past weekend, I took an Amtrak Train to NYC where the conference was being held. Amtrak allowed me to combine my two favorite things! 

Her Conference is a conference put together by the staff at Her Campus. Her Campus is an online magazine for “collegiette” women! Along with being an online magazine, they also have a blogger network, which I’m apart of.

So, when they announced the dates for the conference, which is held in NYC, I immediately purchased a two-day ticket. At the time it didn’t matter to me how I got to NYC, where I was staying or if anyone I knew was also going to the conference that I knew;I knew I was going! 

A month before the conference I had the place to stay, but still hadn’t locked down how I was getting to NYC… then Amtrak popped into the equation!  Continue reading →

Happy Birthday, Defining Danie!

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I cannot believe it is already Definingdanie.com’s birthday. This first year of blogging has been unimaginable. Defining Danie has opened so many doors and friendships, that I could not imagine not having anymore. I really would like to thank everyone who has supported me through this first year. Thank you for every share, like and follow!

I have definitely learned so much about blogging and about myself through this year-long journey. I cannot wait to see what is next on my journey of the online world! Who knows? If there is anything new that you would love to see on Defining Danie, you have to let me know!

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The number one thing that I think has improved since my first post is my use of exclamation points, haha! (Whoops, I guess that was necessary though…) I think that I was so excited when I first started that I thought that everything just HAD to have one.

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