How To Get Rid Of A Cold ASAP

Hi everybody I hope that you're enjoying spring! For me it still feels a bit more like winter though lol, we had a few nice days that were in the 50s and 60s but then it was 30 degrees the other day and it snowed a little. I recently had a cold and wanted to share how to get rid of a cold quickly and tips for getting through a cold. These are just suggesting of how to get over a cold asap and they may not all work for everyone but I hope that at least some of them are ones you haven't heard of before and I hope they help you recover quickly!

Being sick, even just with a cold is not good at all, especially for young adults with so much going on. It can make you miserable, you may have to miss out on things, it makes you less productive, etc. the list goes on. No one likes being sick, it's a nuisance and  just generally very inconvenient. As someone who gets my fair share of colds, especially last semester when working too much and not taking care of my self like I should have I was very susceptible to germs. Due to this I have come up with some tips for getting rid of a cold quickly and compiled them here. Some are common and I found them online when I was searching for how to get rid of a cold and some are not so common and I wanted to feature them here.

Consume Liquids

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The first tip for getting rid of a cold would be to drink water. I know this is a very common tip but I couldn't write this post and not include it here. This will help keep you hydrated and help thin out what is unfortunately in your nose and throat. I always get a very dry throat while I have a cold and it is very uncomfortable. Drinking warm water is preferable and putting some lemon and/or honey in it as well will help soothe your throat. Hot water is also good because it causes steam which can help unblock your sinuses. Drinking tea is also another option. I always put honey in my tea anyways, but if you don't I recommend trying it, especially when you have a cold as research shows that honey can calm a sore throat (Mayo Clinic). Eating a spoonful of honey is also recommended. And finally, having soup is another great way to consume warm liquid and aid in getting rid of your cold.

Rest Up

     

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Try to get as much rest as you can by going to bed early. This is such a struggle for me as a college student and I'm sure some of you share in the struggle too but it's even more important to attempt to go to bed early while you're sick (fyi it's currently 11:30pm while I type this, I'm doing a great job following my own advice! *sarcasm*).  But jokes aside, getting enough rest is very crucial. Even during the day, don't over exert yourself and try to do too much; it will just prolong your sickness as your are not allowing your body to recover. Another tip regarding rest is to sleep with your head elevated. Sleep with two pillows under your head. It feels a bit weird at first but is very beneficial. You will not get as congested and will have and easier time breathing, especially when you first wake up the next morning.

Eat Well

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This is a general tip for health and well being but your diet is also a factor in how long it will take you to get over your cold. You need to provide your body with energy and good nutrients. Having fresh and unprocessed foods would be ideal, especially foods that contain vitamin C such as oranges or clementines. Fruits and vegetables are so good for you and will help you get better quicker.

Try to Enjoy Yourself

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I know this may seem like an odd tip but part of getting over a cold is mental. I try to keep myself positive even if I feel crappy. I find that if I just put myself in a negative mood and feel bad for myself it just ends up making me feel even worse. While you are resting and relaxing: watch your favorite movies, tv shows, or YouTubers, read, listen to good music, etc. Try to not let the cold get the best of you!

Miscellaneous Tips

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As the title of this section suggests, these tips did not really fit into one of the other categories but I still wanted to include them, hence the miscellaneous section. One tip is to wear lots of layers of clothing in order to stay warm. Have cough drops to soothe your throat and help clear your airways. Also try not to breath through your mouth if you just breath through your nose. This will help prevent your throat from getting drier and more uncomfortable. Also when using a tissue do not blow too hard to try to clear your nose because that can actually just make your sinuses more congested and put more pressure on them. Also, I usually wash my face and brush my teeth more times during the day when I'm sick which helps me feel better (even if it just helps me trick myself into thinking I feel better it helps a bit nonetheless). And finally, wash your hands often.


I hope at least some of these help you if you have a cold! Do you have any other tips I didn't list here?

Thanks for reading!

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New York City Day Trip: Attending a Fashion Trade Show

Hi everyone, I hope that you've been doing well! I recently was in New York City for the day to attend Coterie and I thought I'd do a recap! Coterie is a large fashion trade show that occurs annually and allows buyers from various brands, boutiques, and stores to view collections by thousands of designers. This is part of the wholesale sector of the fashion industry. Buyers can see the lines in person, ask questions, etc. and place orders. It is a multi day event and my college organized a day trip for fashion students to go on. My professors, peers and I attended the last day of the trade show. It was a long day with lots to take in but I found it to be very interesting! My school had offered this trip in the past and I had not gone but as I am a senior now and it would be my last chance I decided to take advantage of the opportunity!

Preparation

The day we were going to Coterie was a Wednesday and as we had to leave campus at 6:30am I wanted to go to bed early on Tuesday. I hoped to get a decent amount of sleep so I wouldn't be too tired on Wednesday and I'd be able to enjoy the day and get the most out of the trip. Of course that didn't really work out though. I got in bed at like 10:40, which is very early for me since I usually go to bed after 1am (not something I'm happy about but #college lol). Unfortunately I had such a hard time falling asleep though, probably because I'm not used to going to bed so early. Though even once 2am came around I still couldn't sleep. It's one of those things that of course because I wanted to sleep I couldn't. I even looked up ways to make you fall asleep and those didn't help. So finally around 3am I think I feel asleep. Then I got a nice 2.5 hours of sleep before waking up around 5:30.

In order to minimize what I'd have to do in the morning I chose my outfit the day before and packed the bag I was taking so that I wouldn't have to worry about or waste time or forget anything in the morning.

The Morning of the Trip

I was very happy that I prepared the day before so that I was a little less stressed on Wednesday morning. The day of the trip we had a very early start as we wanted to have enough time at the trade show and the drive from my school (in Massachusetts) to the convention center in NYC was around 5 hours! All of the professors and students met in front of the campus center and we waited for out buses to arrive. We needed 2 coach buses as there were about 80 of us going on the trip. We left my school around 6:30am. Some people brought pillows and blankets so that they could sleep on the bus, surprisingly at that point I did not feel very tired, I knew it would hit me later though.

The Journey There

We made our way to New York from Massachusetts through Connecticut. As I mentioned the drive is a decent amount of hours. I wanted to listen to music but I did not want to drain my phone battery so I only used it for a little while. I did try to sleep on the bus but was not very successful and so I just rested my eyes. We stopped at a rest stop in Connecticut about halfway into the drive in order to give the driver a break and so all of us could stretch our legs, walk around a bit after sitting for so many hours and grab a bite to eat. The rest stop was not crowded when we arrived as it was so early but the 80 or so of us definitely filled it up. There were really only 2 options for breakfast food though which  meant long lines at each of them. This was a bit of an issue since we didn't have very long at the rest stop and people had to wait for their orders to be ready. I only got an iced tea and a muffin and didn't have to wait at all but some people who ordered more complex things had to wait. And as there were so many of us there was a backup with the food preparation and our professors were starting to worrying about timing. Once everyone had their orders filled and everyone boarded the buses we were on our way again. The buses were a bit more lively now as people were more awake which is understandable because we finally got food!

The Trade Show Itself: Coterie

As we were driving through Connecticut and getting closer to New York City the traffic started getting worse as was expected. When we finally arrived in the city we still had a decent amount of driving to do before we reached the convention center and the traffic in the city was so hectic. We were all so happy once we made it to the Jacob Javits Center and were able to get off the buses and get in the tradeshow. We all entered the building, checked in, and got our official passes. Then we took a group photo and were set free to roam around the tradeshow.

Coterie is very, very large and the trade show consisted of multiple floors. The main area was a huge open room with hundreds and hundred of booths set up with each brand having their own and displaying their collections however they wanted to. Some of the brands kept it more simplistic and others brought in lots of props and decorations to make the booth their own and convey the brand's message and image. Free People had a large booth and it was decorated gorgeously, very bohemian and lots of flowers everywhere. Alice and Olivia's booth was extremely colorful, fun and sparkly. They also had a large sign with the message "Empowered Women Empower Women" which I loved!

Each brand had a representative or a couple reps to show the lines to interested buyers and to talk to them about the pieces. Although we as students could walk around and look at everything the reps were not very eager to talk to us (since it is an industry event and we wouldn't be placing orders or giving them business). It was still an interesting experience though I feel like I wish I learned more.

After walking around the show for a couple of hours my friend and I decided to grab some lunch. The area of NYC we were in was very industrial as it is an area for conventions and our professors told us the best option for food was actually in the convention center. We came across a "food court" area (not quite a food court but I'm not sure what else to call it), it had a couple different stations for things such as pasta, pizza, and burgers. I ran into some of my professors and they mentioned that they got delicious pizza and so my friend and I decided to go for that option and we were definitely not disappointed. The pizza was amazing! It had mozzarella, basil, feta, prosciutto, balsamic and it was sooooo good! I would eat it everyday if I could! Okay Emily, enough about the food - back to the main topic.

After we ate we had a little more time to walk around before 3:30 when we had to board the buses to go home. I ended up coming across the booth for the brand that I work part time for. They had some new items on display and I was able to meet some of the people that work in the brand's NY office as I work in the MA one. They informed me about the new shoe line that will be out soon and it's exciting as the brand has never done shoes before, only apparel. Then it was time to meet everyone in the convention center's lobby and to head on home.

The Journey Back Home

Although it wasn't even 4pm yet the professors, other students, and I all were a bit worn out from the long day since we had been up and about for about 10 hours. We were all ready to sit and relax -well as much as one can while on a bus. The traffic leaving the city was horrible. It took at least an hour to get out of the city itself and took so much longer to get to Connecticut than we hoped it would. Once we had been on the road for a few hours we stopped at a rest stop and got dinner. I was not very hungry and had a couple granola bars in my bag so I did not get any food at the rest stop. It was then time to get on the buses again and continue our journey home. Luckily the bus had tvs and so we voted on a movie to watch which ended up being La La Land. This helped to pass the time and I really like the soundtrack from that movie! When we finally got back to campus around 10:30pm everyone departed and most people headed for their dorms. At this point I was hungry and knew it'd be wise to eat something. The dining hall on campus itself was closed but the late night grill area was open and my friend and I decided to stop by there to grab some food before going back to our dorms.

Ending Thoughts

All in all it was a pretty jam packed day with lots to take in and was a bit overwhelming at times. However I feel like it would have been more beneficial if my professors gave us more information and direction rather than have us just walk around the trade show somewhat aimlessly. It was also a little disappointing that we were not allowed to take many photos. This is understandable as the collections were not out yet and brands did not want to risk their designs or anything being copied. I also would have liked to be able to talk to people in the booths more and learn from them but as I mentioned they were not really interested in talking to students.  I do understand that though, I did not want to bother them or take up their time that could be spent with buyers. But if a booth was empty of buyers I don't know why the reps were still so standoffish to students.  Overall there were many more pros than cons to the trip and I am glad that I went on it and got to experience it!

Thanks for reading!

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Goals for 2018

I can't believe that a couple weeks of 2018 have already gone by. I hope that you all have a happy and healthy year! A new year brings about the chance for a fresh start and presents us with the opportunity to reinvent our lives, make any changes we want, and hopefully allow us to do more of what we love. And of course this can all be done at any point, on any given day of any given month, however to me ( and I know I'm definitely not alone on this lol)  there is always something so freeing and refreshing about January and the start of a new year.

Although I always have goals that I am working towards or would like to work towards, I like compiling some at the beginning of the year. I find it so helpful to have them written down and hopefully a year from now I'll be able to look back and see that a decent amount of progress has been made in accomplishing them! I prefer setting goals that I can break down to be manageable. As in, instead of saying my goal is to drink more water this year, I find it more beneficial to say I will drink # glasses or bottles of water a day this month (and then increase that # the next month).  This makes it easier to keep track of whether or not you are achieving that goal as the results are measurable. (I have a whole post about how to stick to your goals and tips for achieving them which you can check out here if you'd like.) I also like writing out my goals, especially in a blog post as it should help me be more accountable in working towards them. And I like to try to keep most of my goals as realistically possible as I can in order to have a good chance of achieving them but of course I would not  say it isn't a goal of mine to get a dog asap although I sadly know that won't happen.

So without further ado and in no particular order, here are my main goals for 2018!

-Drink More Water:
This was one of my goals last year too and while I did increase the amount of water I drink I do still want to drink more as I know that I am still not drinking enough of it. For this year my goal is to drink 3 Camelbak water bottles worth of water per day (mine is the 750ml size bottle). Part of my problem is that most of the time I don't even realize I'm thirsty and so I forget to drink water. To combat this I try to always bring my water bottle with me to class and if it's right there in front of me I'll be more likely to drink it.

-Start Stretching:
I want to start stretching twice a week and eventually stretch every morning. I hadn't realized how tight my muscles became due to not having gym class anymore since I finished high school. 🙈 I also want to work on improving my posture.

-Exercise:
I had started the Blogilates beginner calendar in the past and I did like doing it. I felt that I was making progress but then I got too busy with life and stopped being consistent with it. I wasn't making time for it although I should have been. I want to start it over again and actually complete the calendar and then continue doing the videos. I also want to start going to the gym regularly. I will start with once a week and then increase it.

-Eat Healthier:
This is a constant goal as I always want to work on eating healthier. I want to eat at least 2 fruits and 2 vegetables a day. (I know it's supposed to be more than that but I'm going to shoot for 2 first and then work my way up!)

-Sleep Smarter:
As I am a college student my sleeping schedule is not that of "normal" people 😅  but I want to improve it. I want to be in bed by 1 am and hopefully start waking up at a more consistent time each day, even if I do not have an early class every day.

-Education Goals:
I plan on graduating this spring and I want to make Dean's List one more time, for my final semester of school. I hope to graduate magna cum laude (with honors). And during 2018 I want to continue learning new things. For starters, I plan on downloading an app or something to help me learn Italian (I took it for a short while in high school) and also Spanish (I took this in middle school and high school but of course forgot most of it, oops).

-Mindset:
Overall I want to have a more positive mindset and outlook on life. Each day we get to determine if it will be a good one or a bad one. There are definitely circumstances that are out of our own control that will affect how our day goes, but we get to choose how they will affect our day. I want to start looking on the brighter side of things even more than I do now.  I'm not saying that we can't have bad days or feel sad or uninspired, etc. because of course we can, those are natural human emotions, but I don't want to continue to let small or insignificant things impact my mood so much and change it from positive to negative. Another goal of mine that I feel is related to having a positive mindset is being more confident. I am not very confident in myself and I definitely want to change that. I want to accept myself more for who I am, and I know it's cliche, but I want to learn how to better embrace my flaws but also work on being a better version of myself each day.

-Blog:
I want to post more consistently on my blog. I actually have a number of posts drafted but not finished yet and I want to be more dedicated, finish them and publish them. I want to start posting at least twice a month and I also want to start using Bloglovin' more. I think that Bloglovin' is great as it provides a way to see blog posts from your favorite bloggers, all in one place. And it provides you with a feed instead of having to use a search engine to get to individual people's sites in order to read their posts. I think that using it will be very helpful for keeping up with the blogs I like to read and I also want to start commenting more on blog posts as I know I always enjoy hearing people's thoughts on my posts as well.

-Travel:
In 2017 I did not do much traveling at all, I just took a few day trips around my home state of  Massachusetts such as a trip to Rockport, which is a cute coastal town on MA's north shore (I wrote a recap of that day as I enjoyed it so much!) and I did a couple day trips to neighboring states such as Maine and New Hampshire as well. I had done a fair bit of traveling at the end of 2016 since I had been abroad so I guess I had to sadly take a little break from it lol and didn't do any major traveling in 2017. This year I really want to go to NYC for a weekend as I have been to NYC a couple times but only for a couple hours each time. I have never even seen Times Square or 5th Ave, etc. I also want to go to Montreal for a couple days as well as hope to visit some family near Atlanta, GA this summer and then do a road trip to Tennessee from there (my mom loves Elvis and really wants to see Graceland) before coming back up north to Massachusetts. And my biggest yet least likely travel goal for this year is to visit Japan! I know that if I'm not able to make it this year I will definitely be going at some point in the future though!

-Miscellaneous:
I also have a couple other goals which are to read more, spend less time on my phone, take more risks with my style and fashion choices (as in push my comfort zone) and this one is really random but - have RBF less when I'm at the grocery store. 😅

As mentioned above, these are my major goals for 2018 but not a 100% extensive list of everything that I hope to accomplish or work towards this year. (The post would get way too long and I doubt anyone would want to read it lol)

But now for some more cliche words. I want to leave you with one last thought here... we get to fill the next pages and chapters of the books that are our lives the way we want to so let's have a good time and make them worthwhile!

Thanks for reading and I'd love to hear some of your goals in the comments!

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