I Made A Bookstagram/May Book Haul

So some of you might be wondering... what's a bookstagram? Basically, it's an Instagram account made especially to talk about books. I just recently started following a few bookstagram accounts (my top 2 favorites are +BlueEyedBiblio and +alluringtales so go follow them!). I'm planning to post at least once a day and ask my followers questions pertaining to books and reading. I just made the account today and if you are interested in following me my username is @kaylaturnspages.

 I will also be blogging about the books I've read each month and sharing some of my to-read list. I want to set better goals for myself reading-wise because I go through spurts of reading 10 books in a week or I'll read nothing at all for months. So, we'll see how this goes!

I'm currently reading Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews. 

I heard it was going to be a movie so I had to pick it up and read it first! I usually try to make it my goal to read the book before the movie, but sometimes it doesn't work out that way. It's okay so far. I'm still not sure how I feel about it. The main character is a little annoying and shallow and the humor seems a little immature for me, but I'm going to keep reading and see how it ends!

I bought a total of 6 books over the past two weeks (4 "real" books, and 2 e-books) and I'm eager to power through them all! The books pictured below were purchased during the Half Price Books Memorial Day sale! Everything in the store was 20% off so I had to go check it out. I bought Me and Earl and the Dying Girl at Target on a whim because I knew the movie was coming out soon. I haven't bought myself books in a while because I'm ~broke~ but it was my first full week at my new job and figured a little treat for myself would be okay. I plan on borrowing books from the local library for most of the summer because I can't afford to buy every book on my to-read list, unfortunately. 

The Hard Copies

1. Confess by Colleen Hoover -- I started reading Colleen Hoover's books by "accident" after getting a Kindle for Christmas in 2012. I bought Hopeless because it was cheap and it looked interesting. It was the first book I ever read on my new Kindle. I was hooked on CoHo's writing. She's amazing and I highly recommend all of her books. I'm excited to read Confess and to own my first hard copy of a book by one of my favorite authors!

2. Landline by Rainbow Rowell -- I read Eleanor & Park last month just as classes were winding down and I LOVED it. I cried at the ending, and that's a good indicator of how emotionally invested I was in Eleanor & Park's story. I have read rave reviews for this book so I'm also eager to get started with this!

3. Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid -- I haven't read anything by this author yet, but I think the plot looks really interesting and I've read a lot of good reviews. Also, the cover is absolutely gorgeous! 

The E-Books

1.  Ghost Boy by Martin Pistorius -- I'm a member of a speech-language pathology book club on Goodreads called "Speech Reads". This is the book for the month of June. I bought it for my Kindle for $2.99 and I'm excited to discuss this book with speech-language pathologists and SLP students. It's about a boy who basically becomes a living vegetable and no one knows why. That boy is the author, Martin Pistorius. I'm really curious about this book and plan on reading it as soon as I'm finished with my current read. 

2. The DUFF by Kody Keplinger -- I saw this movie a little while back and thought it was hilarious. I'm also a huge fan of Mae Whitman so that could have been why I liked the movie so much (Parenthood, anyone?) but I knew I wanted to read the book at some point, regardless. I also got this book for my Kindle for only $2.99!

That concludes my first-ever book related blog post. Hope it was enjoyable! Feel free to send me some of your book recommendations for summer and let me know who your favorite author is, I always love adding new books to my to-read list! 

Feel free to add me on Goodreads: kaylaturnspages 

5 Things I'm Currently Obsessed With

I feel like this winter has been never-ending and it's even worse when there are no snow days to make up for it! It's been hard for me to get out of a blogging slump with this terrible weather lingering, but since today the high was 40 degrees I figured since it's basically spring I should blog!

So, without further ado, here are 5 things that I am currently "obsessed" with.

1. My Brand-New Plum Paper Student Planner. Okay, so I have a confession to make. I'm addicted to planners. Seriously. No, I'm not joking. I want to buy ALL THE PLANNERS. I bought a MayDesigns planner over the summer to use this year and it just wasn't working out. The boxes were too small for me to write all the things I wanted to keep track of. Here are some pics of my beautiful new planner from Plum Paper Designs on Etsy.

2. Parks and Recreation. The season finale is on Tuesday. I literally cannot believe that this show is coming to an end. Of course, I only started watching the show on Netflix a little over a year ago probably, but it has quickly become one of my favorites. I absolutely adore this show and all of the characters and I'm really, really sad that it's about to end so soon. Here are some gifs that explain how I feel about Parks & Rec ending...

Okay, moving on...

3. Comfortable Pajamas, Leggings, and Fuzzy Socks. This one is kind of cheap because I'm always going to love these things BUT it's been especially nice to wear all of these because winter has been so God awful. My favorite pajama pants are from Gap Outlet (which happens to also be where I work part-time over winter and summer breaks). They're purple and super comfortable and probably one of my favorite pants to wear. Everyone should get themselves a comfortable pair of pajama pants right now it makes lounging and sleeping 1000 times better. I love my black leggings which I wear with a lot of tops and can either dress them up or down. And I have a bunch of fuzzy socks in tons of colors that I wear throughout the week. :)

4. My Letters. Last semester I was inducted into the Alpha Lambda chapter of Phi Sigma Pi at Temple. PSP is a gender inclusive honor fraternity which means in addition to focusing on scholarship, leadership, and service, I got to meet a bunch of kick ass guys and gals and start making some memories with them! I currently have a few shirts with letters and I absolutely love wearing them. It makes me so excited whenever I put them on because becoming a brother was a pretty long and grueling process. It makes me feel good and represents something huge that I accomplished on my own!

5. My MacBook/Pretty Desktop Wallpapers. It's been a few months now and I'm still totally in love with my computer. I thought it would take a while to get used to since I had been using PCs my whole life but the transition has been smooth and I can't remember what my life was like before it! I love that I can basically take it with me anywhere and everywhere because it's so light. I'm in love! If you're on the fence about investing in a Mac, I say go for it! Also, I've found an amazing blog that posts the most adorable desktop wallpapers. Be sure to check out the rest of her blog as well! Here's the one I'm using this week:

There you have it! 5 things I'm currently "obsessed" with. Hope you all have a lovely week! I'm off to watch The Walking Dead!

Saying Goodbye to 2014

Awkward moment when I write a post about getting out of a blogging slump and I haven't written anything since.... 

ANYWAY. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and are gearing up for an even better New Year. 

Since I last posted a few things have happened:

I officially became a brother of Phi Sigma Pi, Alpha Lambda chapter. It was a long and semi-grueling process, but it was so worth it. I can't wait to get back to school and start my first semester as a brother!

Me and the Beta Gamma class on induction night

Speaking of, I finished the Fall 14 semester with a 3.17 GPA which was a blessing considering how busy I was during the majority of it. I continued gaining more experience working with children at my job at Jumpstart Philadelphia. One of the parents told me that her son has my picture on the fridge and tells everyone that I'm his girlfriend! (I love working with preschoolers)

After the semester ended, I took a vacation to Oklahoma to meet my boyfriend's family and to see his hometown. It was a lot of fun, and we ate at almost every restaurant in Oklahoma (just kidding, but we did eat A LOT)

Ryan and I found a scenic turnout on
one of our drives around Oklahoma!

Pic of us at the OKC Thunder game...
they lost but I got to go on the court!

We flew home on Christmas Eve and I had a great holiday spending time with my family and opening gifts. I have a new prized possession: a MacBook Air. It's so different from my old, heavy, and slow Toshiba laptop. It's been a little difficult getting used to it but I love it still!

I wish you all a happy and healthy New Year. 

I am making a resolution to blog more often and start documenting things more. I hope that I will be able to find the time to do this with everything else that I am involved with! I want to link up with new bloggers, as well. Leave me links to your blogs/bloglovin and I would love to check your site out!

How to Beat the Blogger's Slump

I'll admit it, since the semester started I've not only been super busy, but I've also found myself in a blogging slump. I've thought about blogging often and I've even opened up a new post and started at the white space for a solid 5 minutes. But when it came to actually putting something down on the page, I was at a loss. That's why I'm bringing you...

There are 3 easy steps to beat the blogging slump. *These are all recent revelations.

1. Stop caring about what your readers will think (sort of). Obviously, you still want people to read your blog so you shouldn't write about things that could only possibly pertain to you. But you shouldn't be afraid to write something because you don't think your followers will read it. You never know! Post it anyway! The way I see it, posting something iffy is better than not posting anything at all.

2. Catch up with your favorite blogs. I spent the past hour browsing Bloglovin' and catching up on my favorite blogs. Reading new posts and scrolling through my feed is a great way to get some inspiration and get excited to start blogging again!

3. Write what you know. Obviously, I'm going through a blogging slump so I thought, why not write about it? If you're having issues organizing, write about how you're dealing with that. If you're super busy, write about how you are keeping up with your hectic schedule. If you are trying new recipes, make sure you take pictures and write about your experience! You can't go wrong with writing about what you know and what you're currently experiencing.

Hopefully these steps are helpful and will allow you to beat the blogging slump like I have! This is not an exhaustive list, if you have any other tips to help bloggers get out of a slump comment below!

How to Make the Most of College: 5 Tips for Freshmen

Chances are that classes have already begun for you or are starting shortly. (I started classes this week and had to put my blog on hold for a few days, so I'm sorry this post is so late!) During my first few months of college, I had no idea what to expect and was willing to take advice from anyone and everyone!

Starting my sophomore year of college has been stress-free and surprisingly really easy so I wanted to help those freshmen and transfer students who are in the same boat as I was a year ago. Here are 5 basic tips that worked for me during my first month of college. 

This post is geared towards freshmen but can be applied to any college student, of course!

1. Leave your door open. Whether you live in a dorm or a brand new apartment, it's always good to limit the amount of time you spend in your room. If you absolutely must be in your room (or have nowhere else to go!) leave your door propped open. It's much more inviting and chances are you'll make many more friends that way! 

2. Go to campus events. At Temple we have this thing called Welcome Week. It's mainly just for freshmen to get a feel for campus and see all the different things we have to offer here. I loved Welcome Week because it gave me things to do and places to go when I was bored! Take your roommate along or go alone and make some friends! Talk to everyone. Introduce yourself! You have a unique opportunity to reinvent yourself at college, so take advantage of it!

3. Go to sporting events. Sporting events are a great way to gain some school spirit and pride (if you don't have any already!). I love going to Temple games and cheering on the Owls! I have such a good time, especially if I go with a group of friends. Sit with the student section for an even greater experience!

4. Don't be afraid to join and try new things! College is all about experience. If you want to join a club that doesn't exist, start one! Get involved in as many things as possible (but don't join more clubs than you can handle!).

5. Don't sweat the little things. Always remember you're not alone! If you're stressing about something, call your parents! They'll love to hear from you and love that you thought of them. They miss you more than they let on. If you don't want to call your parents there plenty of other options. It's always beneficial for you to seek advice from those that have gone through it. And it's normal to doubt yourself and your abilities when you get to college. Try to remind yourself why you're there and the things that make you so awesome!

I hope these 5 tips were beneficial for you! If you're in college or even a college graduate, what advice would you give to those who are going through it for the first time? If you're a new college student, I'm always open to hearing your concerns and offering any advice I can give! Comment below and I'll get right back to you :)