In the past month my closet has fallen completely off my wall twice, dumping all of my belongings into a huge heap on the floor. After going through the trouble to get it organized, get someone from housing to actually care, and getting it fixed, to have it all fall down again is incredibly frustrating. But while laying on the floor in the heap of my belongings, I realized something. Perhaps this is the world telling me I have too many things and it’s time to pass them on to someone else.

Don’t panic, you haven’t missed Mother’s Day. You still have three days to decide what you are going to do before Sunday rolls around.

For the past month there have been constant commercials on TV about what your mom really wants for Mother’s Day — jewelry, flowers, a car and a card with a cliché quote on it. But instead of trying to buy your mom something this year, consider all of the things you could do with your mom, for your mom, or make her that she would love and appreciate even more than things with a price tag on them.

I know we are no longer kindergarteners (even though we still take afternoon naps like we are) who are ecstatic to bring home an indecipherable drawing or a macaroni craft project, but your mom would still love to have something you made, even if it doesn’t look all that great.

We could all learn a little something from our former selves who never hesitated to bring home projects declaring our love for our mothers and demanding it be attached to the fridge.

You can make a beautiful gift that your mom will love from objects lying around your room or things you would have thrown out anyway. Instead of opting for a store-bought card, break out the construction paper and glue. Write a nice note or a letter, not through email or typing it, but actually sit down and write it on nice paper. You can use cardboard that would be recycled and cover it in construction paper, wrapping paper or any other material you have around to spruce it up.

If you are better at making things on a computer, make a short video or slideshow with pictures of your family and some nice music that sets the scene or is a family classic. You can also make a collage of favorite family photos.

If you will be able to be with your mom on Mother’s Day, one of the easiest things to do is to just ask her what she wants to do. There is no guesswork and she’s guaranteed to love it. If you can’t make it home, you can send a picture of your favorite family trip or memory with your mom instead. You can also plant flowers for her, take a walk or do some other activity that your mom enjoys.

Be creative! Look around and think of all of the things you can make out of the objects around you that would make your mom smile. No matter what you do just remember that Mother’s Day isn’t about buying something to prove you love her. It’s about celebrating your mom and your relationship with her.

(This article was originally published in The Santa Clara.)

With midterms and finals continuing their reign of terror, I compiled a few easy steps to keep your studying sustainable. (This article was originally published in The Santa Clara.)


“With midterms beating down our doors, we are barricading ourselves in the library with a constant stream of caffeine and all of the reading we didn’t do all quarter. But last minute cramming (or carefully planned out studying if it may be) doesn’t have to be as big of a drain on the environment as it is on your brain.

Last weekend I went on a staff retreat in Santa Cruz. I have been to Santa Cruz a few times before, but always to go to an event (like a wedding or outdoor ed.). Because of Santa Cruz’s reputation for only housing hippies (not true), I was expecting to be in a fairly environmentally aware community, but I was still surprised by it. 

After a recommendation from one of my professors, I started reading Jonathan Safran Foer’s “Eating Animals.” I expected the book to be much like Michael Pollan‘s “The Omnivores Dilemma” because it follows Foer’s personal narrative about what to feed his new son, but I think this skewed my initial impression of the book. I was expecting a very methodical, step by step look at the industry, but instead it only focused on a few examples of animal treatment. With that said, it is generalizable for the entire industry. Many of the descriptions of how the animals were treated and the exact processes to slaughter an animal were informative (and disturbing).

One of my biggest battles is smelly shoes. I love to wear shoes that don’t require socks (like barefoot running shoes and canvas slip-ons), but in doing so my shoes tend to smell horrible. Even when I toss them in the washing machine and let them air dry, after wearing them a few times they smell again.

I have finally figured out how to keep my shoes (and thus feet) from smelling by using a homemade shoe deodorant spray. This recipe is so incredibly easy.

Homemade Shoe Deodorant Spray

For really smelly shoes, fill a spray bottle with rubbing alcohol and spray directly on your shoes. Be sure to get the spray all the way down into the toes and inside, along the top of the shoe.

Or for a less intense spray, fill half of your spray bottle with vodka and the other half with water. You can add a few drops of an essential oil of your choice to leave behind a nice scent. Shake and use. I recommend using a finer spray  so your shoes don’t get nearly as soaked and dry in a couple hours.

To be honest I was afraid that my feet would smell like a mixture of a stale bar and B.O., but so far it has worked exceptionally well. It doesn’t smell at all once it dries, and it has been keeping my shoes fresh longer.

I feel like a little kid every time I get to take the train or BART. Although a part of it is that I only get to take public transportation on special occasions (and usually to visit San Francisco, which is always fun), there are so many other things that make me enjoy it. 


Even though when I drive I get to control the temperature and who is with me, I can’t read, meet new people, close my eyes for a few seconds (ie. accidentally fall asleep and wake up at the next station), or work. Yesterday I took Caltrain and BART into downtown San Francisco for a job interview, and the hour and a half I spent in each direction was a great break in my day to stop and take a moment to myself. To combat my nerves I was able to meditate and focus on my breathing. I have never felt so at peace or calm before an interview (which isn’t to say I still wasn’t nervous, but at least my hands weren’t shaking and my heart wasn’t beating out of my chest). 


I’m sure if I was able to use public transportation every day I wouldn’t be quite as enamored with it as I am now, but I hope that in the near future I can use it as my main mode of transportation.