[Welcome to my Weekly Love List. A list, on all things I love. Because if I love them - well then obviously you may (and should) love them too. As the Backstreet Boys song says (and yes I am actually quoting them) “My Love is All I Have To Give.” So with that throwback, here are this week’s list-worthy things…]

1. Old navy. Okay so Old Navy is not new- but it is list worthy, and let me tell you why. They have STEPPED UP their styles, but have kept their prices down- which makes me want to get jiggy at Old Navy. C.U.T.E. tanks for $10? Now that is something worth loving.

2. Hey, It’s Free! Couple your college budget with the failing economy, and the fact that air is still free seems pretty amazing. But, thankfully, this blogger came to the rescue with free stuff for all! Check it out for free loot like Free MP3s from Amazon.com, free food, etc.

3. Kindnotes.com - With Thanksgiving and the holidays just around the corner, here is a cute gift idea that is affordable, original, and filled with love. A custom made decorated jar with 31 mini-printed envelopes for each day of the month. You can either write a personal note on each, or pick from a library of over 300 different messages. After all, it’s all about spreading the love. Read More »

Aside from the night after you’ve taken your last final, the first week of school is generally the best time of the whole semester. The weather is great, you’re reunited with all of your friends, and the school year has returned just when you were starting to feel like you had too much free time.

The campus is buzzing with returning students, eager to see what the new year has in store. Even if you anticipate your hardest semester to date, there’s still a feeling of excitement in the air during the very first week.

1. You Get to Scope Out Your New Classes

Maybe I’m a dork, but I was always excited to see what my new classes would be like. In certain classes–the must-take courses taught by the professors with the best reputations– it was great to see what all the buzz was about. Other classes might have sounded intriguing in the course catalog; reading through the syllabus on the first day, I’d think the class sounded interesting, and hadn’t been assigned 500 pages of reading to prove me otherwise. I would also look through the syllabus and see what the course requirements looked like, so I could estimate how little effort I could put into the class, and still walk away with an “A.”

Of course, it’s also fun to see who else has signed up for the class. Whether you walk through the door and see five of the girls from your freshman dorm, or right into the eyes of your new insta-crush, it’s fun to find out who you’ll be taking the class with. Read More »

Our campus Starbucks is my land of milk and honey, holy ground for any sleepless NYU student. My reward to myself for anything from writing 20 pages of screenplay the night before, to just getting out of bed in the first place.

The problem with this particular location however, is that other hundreds of other students (mostly freshmen) hold the same love affair as I do with the green goddess. But I have one advantage they don’t: Rhonda.

Rhonda knows my usual drink, and generally orders it for me on sight. The first time I brought my best guy friend (thank you Urban Dictionary for all my subtext needs) with me to my favorite haunt, she not only put both our orders in right away thus bypassing a line which went out the door, but also gave them to us for free.

As we collected our drinks surreptitiously from the counter, passing both the line that never ends and the cash register, said male friend stared at me in awe. “Jen, you are a ‘free stuff’ goddess.”

Since then I have never ceased to amaze him with the sheer amount of “getting over” I do in the places I frequently visit. Our dining halls, my favorite bar, even the food stand on the bottom floor of our arts school. Read More »

Okay, this might be the coolest thing I’ve seen in a good while (besides that tampon - stun gun): From June 9 - 17, Crumpler Bags NYC, purveyor of cool cases for your coins, cameras, cassettes, whatever, will give you a FREE bag if you bring them some beer (you’re invited to drink it with them). It’s a straight business transaction: you spin their bag wheel, which picks your free bag. You got out and buy them beer. Return with the beer, they give you the bag, you drink the beer, and keep the bag forever. Talk about symbiosis. I”m stoked. I’ve been waiting and waiting for bartering to come back in style. I knew its day would come.