I still have the receipt from my sister Maya’s graduation party two years ago. Sixty-three guests, a backyard that holds maybe forty comfortably, and a menu I planned in a Google Sheet at 1 a.m. three weeks before the date. I spent $287 on food. Not because I’m a catering genius, but because I stopped…
I still remember the first graduation manicure I got as an adult. I booked a “quick” gel set two days before the ceremony, picked a chrome polish because it looked cool under the salon lights, and spent the entire cap-toss photo trying to angle my hand so the glare didn’t look like a tiny UFO…
I still remember the first night in my freshman dorm. The mattress felt like a camping pad wrapped in sandpaper. The overhead light was a fluorescent rectangle that made everyone look slightly ill. And I had exactly one poster, which I’d taped up crooked because I didn’t own a level and didn’t know Command strips…
I moved in with three throw pillows too many and learned the rest the hard way. Here’s what I’d buy again, what I’d skip, and what nobody tells you about making a 12×14 box feel like a room. I still remember the first time I walked into my freshman dorm. The bed was against one…
I have a confession: I resisted Barbie nails for longer than I should have. My brain kept filing them under “fun for a party, impractical for a Tuesday.” Then my friend Maya talked me into a hot pink chrome set before a wedding, and I spent the entire reception staring at my hands like a…
I moved into a 10×12 dorm with cinderblock walls the color of skim milk and a floor that could only be described as “institutional oatmeal.” My first mistake was buying a bright coral comforter because it looked cute online. My second mistake was pairing it with a teal rug. The room didn’t look “eclectic.” It…
I still remember the first graduation party I ever “hosted” — my cousin Dana’s, in her parents’ split-level outside Albany. I had spent the entire Friday night before trying to tape a store-bought banner to a textured wall, and by the time the first guests arrived, half of it had peeled off and was hanging…
I’ve been to more graduation parties than I can count on two hands. My family is big, my friend group is scattered across three time zones, and I’ve been the broke friend, the sentimental friend, and the friend who waited until the week before and panic-bought a candle. So when I say I know what…
I used to treat New Year’s nails like a costume: silver glitter, a little rhinestone situation, something that looked great in a 11:58 p.m. photo and terrible by January 2nd. Then I spent three weeks of January 2025 staring at chipped chrome tips and realized the problem wasn’t the design — it was that I…
I still remember the first graduation dress I bought for myself. It was white, it was on sale for $34, and it was completely see-through in direct sunlight. I found out during the ceremony, not before, because I tried it on in my dorm bathroom with the fluorescent light on and zero natural light. My…