For Las Vegas

I am tired.

I am so tired of waking up to the kind of news I woke up to this morning. I am tired of watching people do bad things in our world. I am tired of becoming used to this.

This morning on the radio, one of the cast members said something along the lines of, "I hope this is the last straw for you." And I cannot help but agree. I hope you are as fed up with these kinds of tragedies as I am. I hope this is the one to finally break you down and make you take action.

Around me today, people are going about their lives as if nothing has happened. As if 58 people haven't lost their lives and 500+ more aren't wounded in the hospital. How have we become numb to this kind of thing? When did it get to the point that another shooting happens, and all that comes out of it is a couple of days of angry tweeting and Facebook article sharing? It's not right. It's just not right, and I won't accept it.

Maybe it's wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays of the year. Of course it's because of the food. Who can resist a Thanksgiving feast?! But as I've grown older, I've come to appreciate the bigger meaning behind Thanksgiving: giving thanks.

Gratitude is so important for so many reasons. Not only is it important to be grateful; it's also very important to give thanks to those around you who you're thankful for. Make your thanks known!

There are so many amazing things to be thankful for, and there are just as many ways to give thanks for those things and people and experiences you are thankful for. This year I am thankful for...

How wild it was, to let it be.

A couple of weeks ago, my mom and my sister and I went to see Cheryl Strayed speak. Cheryl Strayed is a writer and the author of Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, which is about her experience hiking the PCT. I loved Wild when I read it, but after I heard Cheryl speak, I discovered I relate to her even more than I had previously realized.

Cheryl decided to hike the PCT a couple of years after her mother died. In those years between when her mother passed and when she hiked the PCT, Cheryl's life kind of spiraled out of control. She cheated on her husband, used drugs, and just lived a life she wasn't happy with. As Cheryl put it in her talk, she had decided to continue her life after her mother died in a way that would best honor her. She had decided not to thrive because she couldn't bear the thought of living without her.

Cheryl's absolute love for her mother in as portrayed in Wild is something that I so deeply connected to when I read the book. Simply put: I absolutely love my mother and can't imagine how I would go on without her. Without her mother, Cheryl is simply broken, and I would be the same way if I were to lose my mother.

Explore your interests and major to pinpoint what your aspirations are.

Her Campus is one of my absolute favorite things on the planet. It's a publication that has helped me grow as a writer and editor. It's an organization that has helped me develop my leadership skills. It's a brand that promotes just good old girl power. I absolutely love Her Campus.

Last week my relationship with Her Campus developed even further, so I decided that for the blog this week, I'm going to look at the evolution of my relationship with Her Campus.

In a previous post, I reflected on my experiences as a contributor who first joined Her Campus Iowa and my first semester as Campus Correspondent: Editor-in-Chief of Her Campus Iowa. I wrote that post in February, which was a little into my second semester in this position. I'm going to pick up my story where that post left off...

Be a little kinder than you have to.

Happy September 1! The beginning of a new month means lot of things. First of all, the first of September means the Hogwarts Express leaves today! Yay for another year at Hogwarts. But the start of a new month always means new beginnings and a fresh start. I can't think of a better way to start fresh than to be kind. And kindness is so easy! It's probably one of the easiest things in the whole world because kindness is free. To prove that to you, I've compiled a list of random acts of kindness that don't cost a thing. I dare you to try one out today!

We need to stop telling women, "Get a mentor and you will excel." Instead, we need to tell them, "Excel and you will get a mentor."

What a weekend! I'm back from my second trip to NYC for the year, and it was so, so amazing. After attending Her Conference, I'm feeling refreshed, motivated, inspired, and confident.

Her Conference is the annual conference in NYC put on by Her Campus. As you probably know, I am the Editor-in-Chief of the University of Iowa chapter of Her Campus. This year was the fifth annual Her Conference, and I am so glad I went! Four of us from our chapter went, and it was such a great bonding experience for us.

The first event of the weekend was Friday night at Rebecca Minkoff's store in SoHo. At the event we got to mingle with girls from other Her Campus chapters across the country. It was fun to look around the store and chat with the other girls. Then we actually got to meet Rebecca Minkoff! She was so kind and so sweet, and it was a great way to start off the weekend.