Instagram Highlights | 2017

Happy New Year's Eve! For today's blog post, I wanted to look back on some of the highlights from the past year. I love keeping track of my favorite pictures and memories on Instagram, so here are a few shots from my year!

 JANUARY

This time last year I was on a plane to spend three weeks in Copenhagen studying social entrepreneurship. Denmark was such a fun country to explore and I loved learning so much from this course! I also met some incredible friends through this program and am itching to head back to Scandinavia.

 FEBRUARY

This year, I was on the Executive Board for the Panhellenic Association at my school, and had the best time ever helping with recruitment from the Panhellenic side! It's such a different perspective and really nice to give back and help all the PNMs with their recruitment experience. I'm really excited to go back early this January to help with recruitment one last time (and get the amazing Panhellenic quarter zip). If you ever have the opportunity to be a recruitment guide / Rho Gamma / Pi Chi / whatever your university calls the girls who help out with recruitment, I highly recommend it!

 MARCH

In March, my sorority had secret week and we added a new member to our family lineage! This is a picture from Big/Little Reveal with my big Dani, myself, my little Della and my littest, Maggie! I'm so excited for Maggie to take a little this year and add another member to our fam! My big is on campus again this year to complete her Master's Degree, so it will be tons of fun to have our whole fam together for Homecoming and Spring Fair this year.

APRIL

April marked all the fun spring events that campus has to offer. I also choreographed my first piece for Jaywalk, my dance team, which was performed at our showcase that month! I love this dance so much and it will always be a piece that I look back on with such great memories, especially since some of my best friends from my dance team graduated at the end of this past school year. 

MAY

Most of May was taken up with final exams, but one of my favorite traditions during that time of the year is the lawn flamingos that fill the quad. It was crazy to think that I only had one more year of school left, and now writing this post I am one semester away from graduating! 

JUNE

June was such a fun month because I got to spend time with friends and explore some cool spots in New York City. Two of my best friends live in New York and so I loved being able to check out lots of awesome restaurants, bars, and new parts of the city!

JULY

Spending time at the beach is the best part of summer, and nothing says summer more than the Fourth of July! This picture is of one of my favorite houses in the neighborhood where I spend my summer, and I always love how they decorate for July 4th. They even made the cutest lemonade stand that the little kids were using leading up to the fireworks to sell lemonade and snacks!

AUGUST

In August, my family went on a trip to Italy! This was my first time visiting the country and I loved seeing all the major cities from the place where my grandparents and great grandparents grew up. We visited Rome, Florence, the Amalfi Coast, and Venice, where this photo was taken, as well as some smaller towns where my grandparents had lived!

SEPTEMBER

Back to school! September was packed with lots of bucket list items, like attending an Orioles baseball game (they played the Yankees that day!) and checking out Hampdenfest in the neighborhood next to campus. The first photo above was taken outside the best ice cream shop in Maryland during Hampdenfest - it was so much fun walking up and down all the streets with them blocked off and seeing tons of really cool street vendors!

OCTOBER

While October is always fun because of Halloween, another fun October tradition is the annual apple picking trip for Theta! The orchard that we go to has the best apple cider donuts and pulled pork mac and cheese. It was the last time that I got to go apple picking with everyone, and was also my last Halloween in college! We decided to do super cute best friend costumes and be Pooh and Piglet this year, and her mom rush shipped us the XL tshirts to make this costume literally as we were walking out the door! Add in the fact that we ended up enjoying Halloween from our favorite Mexican restaurant in downtown Baltimore with margaritas, chips and guac, and it was the PERFECT Halloween.

NOVEMBER

Because I get the entire week off for Thanksgiving at school, I spent the first half of the break visiting my best childhood friend at Tulane University, where she goes to school! Hopkins doesn't have a very big sports or tailgating culture, so it was tons of fun to go to the Tulane/Houston football game (and see the Green Wave win!) and enjoy all the fun tailgating traditions at Tulane. I also had never been to New Orleans, so we spent lots of time touring the major highlights of the city and walking around in the French Quarter. I ate so much yummy food on that trip only to come home to even more food at Thanksgiving! It was such an amazing weekend and I'm so glad I finally got to visit Tulane!

DECEMBER

One of my sorority sisters hosts an annual Christmas party at her apartment, and seriously she is such an awesome hostess. This picture was taken that night at the Christmas party with my group of best friends - we're all ready to put our best foot forward and rock the last semester of senior year like nobody's business. I love this photo!! 

I'm really excited to see what 2018 has in store for me. I'll be posting about my intentions for the new year soon!

Christmas 2017 Gifts

Ever since I first discovered YouTube back in middle school, I have loved watching What I Got for Christmas videos! I love the spirit of the season and also doing shopping hauls for my friends and family, so this is the best of both worlds for me. I wanted to share just a few of the items that I got this holiday that I really loved - I am so thankful for gifts always but mostly grateful to be home with my family, seeing relatives on the holidays, and taking a relaxing break from school work before making the plunge one last time (I'm actually a little sad that after the spring semester ends, I won't be doing any more schoolwork for a while). 

As always, I received my favorite calendar from Rifle Paper Co this year. I have been using this calendar since I have been in college and I love that it has big boxes for writing down things I have going on, while also having enough beautiful detail and artwork to not be boring. 

I got some clothes as well, including this sweater and this set of pajamas (top (sold out online) / bottom). I also really needed a new pair of classic loafers - I have gold ones that I wear with everything but they really need to be replaced - so I asked for leopard print pony hair loafers, and these ones are perfect!

I got some other awesome gifts, like PINEAPPLE bookends (hoorah!) and a new pair of earbuds. Mine completely stopped playing music the last night I was studying for finals, which was totally lucky, but since I had that pair for at least 5 years it was about time that I said goodbye to them and got a new pair. I'm crossing my fingers that the pair I got are comfortable in my ear! Does anyone else have that problem?

Last but not least, mine and my sister's big gift this year were TICKETS to see Taylor Swift's reputation tour! I have been dying over this album and listening to it pretty much non-stop, so this was an absolute dream! I can't wait for the concert this summer. 

Like I said, as much as I loved everything I got this year, my favorite part of the holidays, especially as a student, is coming home and getting to see everyone that I miss all year long, enjoying good food and taking a nice break from the hustle and bustle of school. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season as well!

Happy Holidays!

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Just wanted to drop by the blog today to say happy holidays to everyone! I'll be spending the next few days with family, eating way too much good food, and enjoying the little bit of the holidays that happen while I'm home. Anyone else think that being in school (especially finals period) during the holidays really makes it feel like it isn't even the holidays at all? 

I know that I am for sure thankful to be out of the library and relaxing at home, and I'm wishing you and yours the same! xoxo

Beauty Inspo: Violette

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Today I wanted to share a YouTube channel that I have been watching a ton of recently! This channel is amazing; it's run by Violette, the Global Beauty Director at Estée Lauder. I have honestly learned something new from every single video she posts, whether that be a makeup tip or a new application technique. She has the most relaxing voice, and so her videos are great if you want something calming (and super aesthetically pleasing) while also being informative! Violette has an amazing no-makeup makeup look, which I've been really taking advantage of during finals ;) 

Also, can we talk about her bangs for a second? She has got some major fringe and it's almost making me want to try out bangs again!

Holiday Link Roundup

Last year at Miracle on 34th Street, one of the fun holiday events to attend in Baltimore.

Tomorrow is my last final exam of the season, and I CANNOT wait to head home! In order to spread some holiday cheer, here are few of my favorite holiday themed findings on the internet recently.

1. Holiday Capsule Wardrobe | One of my favorite parts of going home for the holidays is packing fun clothes that I can wear for a wide range of holiday festivities. I love the idea of this capsule wardrobe, since so many festive pieces can't really be worn once the holidays have died down. Not only does The Everygirl kill it by including lots of different pieces, they also put together outfits perfect for every occasion, which I love!

2. Christmas Caroling Ambush | I seriously cracked up the first time I watched this video. Amy Poehler is hilarious and I love this series of videos. Even though YouTube says this was posted 2 years ago, I saw it for the first time a few weeks ago and cannot get enough.

3. The Nice List | I had to include my Christmas Spotify playlist on here for those of you that need the perfect soundtrack for the season. 8 hours of Christmas music and counting! 

4. Charlie Brown Christmas | If you are looking for some spirit this season and are as disappointed with the Netflix holiday offerings as I am (where are you, Love Actually?!), I found Charlie Brown online and have been watching it to keep the holidays alive during final exams.

5. Brit + Co Wallpapers | I love updating my desktop and phone wallpapers monthly, and I love the new one from Brit + Co that were just released!

Festive Makeup Favorites

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Hi everyone! Today I wanted to share some of my favorite products for a festive holiday look. Not only am I including some old favorites, like the Smashbox primer, but I also have some new items that I love - like the Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion. I received a sample of this at an event earlier this semester and have been using it constantly to keep my hands from being too dry in the cold weather.

My favorite palette to use for a warm-toned festive look is the Lorac Pro 3 Palette. If you have golden undertones, this palette is really beautiful. I always feel like my green eyes pop more when I am wearing this shadow. I love every single color in this palette and always reach for it over my other Lorac palettes (which I also love, but not as much). I find that the color Medallion is super flaky and just turns into glitter dust when I use it, but the entire rest of the Pro 3 palette is formulated beautifully! Has anyone else had the same issue? Medallion would have been such a pretty color if it actually showed up when you put it on.

Click through the slideshow below for the rest of my festive makeup favorites!

Also regarding the absolutely beautiful nail art in the top image above - I found this picture on Tumblr a while back and fell in love with the idea of having one hand with nails painted white, while the other hand is painted black. It looks so cool and effortless on this model! Is this look too bold? Or should I totally go for it as a fun way to spice up my holiday look? 

HOW TO: Make a Study Schedule

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I've taken my last class of the semester, finished my senior project, and have about five holiday-themed events on my social calendar, which can only mean one thing... tis the season for final exams! The pic above definitely describes how I'm feeling (it was my phone background for at least a month).

 With so much going on, sometimes it can be hard to manage everything you need to get done in such a short window - especially if you have 3 papers due on the same day, like me. Planning out my study schedules have been such a helpful tool to make sure that I keep track of my time. Not only do I like to plan when I'll get work done, but I also block in specific time for social events, packing/laundry/etc, and even eating. By knowing what the times are that I can't be doing work or studying, I'm better at scheduling how I will spend my active study hours. Follow this link to a Google Drive of the spreadsheet I print off during finals, and other busy exam times. When you go to print the sheet, make sure you 'fit to page' so that none of the boxes get cut off! 

Here are some of my tips for how to fill out this sheet:

• Usually when I print this from Excel, I change the top bar so that whatever day of the week it currently is, I make the first day. This way it doesn't waste extra boxes for days that have already passed. Adjust accordingly by rewriting the proper days of the week in the top bar.
• Start by filling out any mandatory obligations you have during the week. This could be classes, test times, or meetings. 
• Once you have the mandatory obligations filled in, work on deciding your 'personal care' items. Set a time in your schedule to have breakfast, lunch and dinner daily, shower, and do laundry and clean. Also think about what time you'd like to wake up and go to bed each night, and try to stick to it!
• Once you know when all of your necessary activities are going to be, start blocking out your schedule for studying and other activities. I like to go ahead and first mark off any times that I have set aside for social things, such as seeing my university's annual lighting ceremony, or attending a yearly holiday party for my dance team. 
• Know how long you think each assignment will take you, and plan accordingly. If you know that you will need 12 hours of nonstop working to finish the paper you have, make sure that you plan at least 12 hours of study time for that particular assignment. Maybe you want to spend 2 hours per chapter of statistics... whatever it may be! There's no harm in blocking out too much time! 
• Don't schedule too much time for any one assignment or class. Looking at the same subject for extended periods can make your studying boring and hard to retain info, so block out 2-3 hour chunks for one class and then move on to another. Switching up what class you study for can break up your day, and can help refresh you if you are struggling with a certain concept. No one wants to spend 7 hours looking at the same problem they don't understand, but sometimes taking a break to work on something else allows you to have a new perspective when looking at the problem again later.
• I like to color code my schedule based on types of events, but find a system that works for you. When I make my study schedules, I use red for exam times and deadlines, pink for social events, purple for anything dance related, and gold for my sorority activities. I also usually try to pick a different color for each class and color code my study times too. 
• Don't stress too much if you don't stick exactly to a timeline. Sometimes you'll find that an assignment takes you more or less time than you had planned, and that is okay! If writing things down in pen stresses you out because it seems set in stone, use pencil so that you can go back and readjust later. 

Good luck on finals! I won't be headed home for the holidays until the 19th or 20th this year... when do your finals end?

Gift Ideas | Best Gifts I've Received!

perfume / eyeshadow palette / water bottle

calendar / blanket / sunglasses / pens

I might not be posting super frequently throughout this holiday season, but I still wanted to post a gift guide or two so that you had some ideas of what to shop for! I wanted to focus on some of my favorite gifts I received, because I seriously use them every single day.

I have the metallic gold S'well bottle, but I also love this marble one! I carry mine to class, bring it to dance, and am constantly filling it up. I definitely stay more hydrated when I carry this bottle around, and love how cold it keeps my water during the day.

I started getting Rifle Paper Co. calendars a few years ago because they are so simple but still give me room to write down all that I have to do. I use mine to keep track of long term assignments, write down plans with friends, and organize my whole life. And of course, I need some fun pens to go along with it - the Steadtler ones are my favorite and I think I actually cried when I opened this gift (my big knows me so well lol)

The moral of the story here is that the best gifts are the ones that you can use every single day and not get tired of. My clubmaster sunglasses, Lorac Pro 3 palette, and nice perfume are some of my favorite gifts because they complete my look each day and help me be more put together. And if I'm not out and about that day, it's pretty much guaranteed that I'm snuggled under that plus throw blanket (mine is monogrammed!) reading, doing work, or watching Gossip Girl!

What's the best gift you've ever received? I'm still on the hunt for this year's Christmas gifts and I'd love some good ideas!

Things I'm Loving

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As I slowly get back into blogging, I want to focus on some of the things I'm loving and share them with you all! I'm going to try posting once a week or so to start off, and hopefully next semester when I'm taking my *final* classes and gearing up for graduation, I'll have more time to post consistently. For now, here are a few of the things that I am obsessed with!

Monthly Typographies | Despite not posting on this blog as frequently, I'm still pretty active over on Tumblr! (Anyone else? I feel like the Tumblr community has died down a lot since I started on there back in high school) I found this amazing Tumblr user, linked in the source credit above, who makes beautifully written typography posts for each month of the year. The spirit of each month is captured so beautifully, and I love setting these as my desktop background. 

Reputation | I have been JAMMING to this album since the singles first came out on Spotify, and when I went to visit my best friend at her university over Thanksgiving week, we listened to the full album in the car everywhere we went. Now that Tay has finally released the full reputation line up on all streaming services, I can't stop listening to it! My favorite songs are End Game, Don't Blame Me, and Dress, and I have a soft spot for Call It What You Want as well. Some of the songs have really grown on me since the first time I heard them (I'm talking about you, LWYMMD) - which is your favorite song off the album? 

Gossip Girl | Okay, I know I'm years late to the game, but I have been watching Gossip Girl in my free time, and I am obsesseddddd with this show. I'm only on Season 3 right now, but each episode is so packed with action and drama, that if I wasn't taking classes and could spend all day watching GG, I totally would be. I'm absolutely in love with Lily's fashion! She has the best accessories and always looks so put together and classy. And I live for the Chuck and Blair relationship - they are almost too much to handle in the best way possible.

Geometric Scarf | Blanket scarves are one of my favorite ways to stay comfy and warm during the winter months. You can find me always carrying one to the library, class, or hanging out with friends because they make your outfit so much cuter and are so multi-purpose. I have had a classic red plaid blanket scarf for years now, and wear it all. the. time. But sometimes it feels a little Christmas-y to wear when its not the holiday season, and I have been eyeing this more muted geometric one for months now on the Nordstrom website!