Thursday, May 12, 2016

Dorm Sweet Dorm

And just like that, dorm life is over.  I moved out of my dorm last Friday and for my next two years in college, I will be living off-campus.  While I am excited to be living in an apartment, I have loved living on-campus in the dorms.  For the past two years, I have lived in an area or "neighborhood" on campus called The Village.  These dorms are suite style, which means that there is a common room connecting three different bedrooms with two roommates in each room.  Two suites share a bathroom in the hallway.  I really love suite style living because it feels more like an apartment.  The common room is a great place to do homework if your roommate is sleeping, or just a nice area to hang out with your suitemates and friends.  Last year, when I was more disciplined with my fitness, I even did the Insanity workouts in the common room.

Gold Dots | Lamp | NYC Poster | Peanuts Calendar | Rug (not pictured)


This past year I was a Resident Adviser for sophomores, which was really nice.  I ended up becoming friends with the residents, instead of just being their RA.  I'm actually living with two of my suitemates next year.  

I bought a wooden letter M at Michaels and glued chevron scrapbook paper on it.  I think I originally bought the "Good Vibes Only" sign from Icing, but I found something similar that uses wire instead of cloth to hang it, here.

One nice perk of being an RA is having your own room.  However, it still comes furnished for two people.  Some of the other RA's in my building pushed their beds together to make a king sized bed or bunked their beds, but I kept mine separate.  One was for sleeping and the other was the "therapy bed", which is where all my friends would lay when they talked to me about their problems.


I could not find the exact "Be Happy, Be Bright, Be You" pillow that I originally got from Francesca's.  I did find some similar options here, here, and here.


My Vans are pretty old, but I found two similar pairs here and here.  While I love dressing up, this casual look is more of my go-to for class and hanging out.  (Not often featured on the blog.)

My window looked out into the courtyard of my dorm.  Noisy at times, but I wouldn't change it for the world.  There's something special about your friend waking you by yelling at your window because they're excited about a football game.  (See when College Gameday came to my school, here.)

I bought my "Ooh La La" sign from Hobby Lobby.  I could not find the same one on their website, but they do have something very similar with the Eiffel Tower that still says "Oh La La!" in gold cursive font, here


Lamp | Notebooks | The Kate Spade planners are no longer available on their website, but you can get the same cover that's on my agenda on a spiral notebook.

Similar Audrey Hepburn canvases here, here, here and here.  "Stay Gold" sign made by my sister.  Dry erase board

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My desk hutch was purchased through the school, and I spray painted it blue.  I bought the letter M at Michaels and painted it blue.  The picture of Cinderella's mice, Jaq and Gus, was given to me by my sister, who found it on Etsy. "Too Blessed To Be Stressed" box sign.  Also, I did not buy that phone!  All RAs have landlines in their rooms in case of emergencies, but most dorm rooms do not have them. 

Special thanks to my cousin, Emily, who made this gorgeous canvas for me for Christmas.  (She was featured in my last post, when we went to the Cherry Blossom Festival together!)

Quest Study Bible | So Audrey | Jesus Lives | Cinderella Journal | Don't Sweat the Small Stuff | God Thinks You're Wonderful (It may be a children's book, but it always cheers me up when I'm down.)


*Note that the "pool" duvet cover is not the same one that I have.  I do not think that Pottery Barn sells the light blue color that I have anymore.


Check out the similarities between my boyfriend's and my prom look with Chuck and Blair's, which can also be seen here.  Coincidence? I think not ;)


College goes by way too quickly, I cannot believe I am already halfway done!  However, I am excited for what the future holds (and I am sure there will be an apartment tour post up this upcoming fall).

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Friday, April 29, 2016

Cherry Blossoms

Now that it's the end of April, spring is in full bloom.  In late March, I went home for the weekend of Easter.  My family visited D.C. on Saturday to see the cherry blossoms with my cousins.  Although we live about 45 minutes from D.C., we still don't visit enough.  It was my first time at the Cherry Blossom Festival and it was absolutely beautiful.  

There were so many people there.  My dad said this was the best he would ever see the cherry blossoms, because he was never driving through all of these people again.  If I ever do go again, I would go early in the morning before the crowds arrive.  Going early, you could probably find parking closer to the Jefferson Memorial.  If you go later in the day, I would recommend taking the metro.  While there aren't metro stops at the festival, by the time it's late afternoon, the only parking available is past the closest metro stop anyway.  If it's a nice spring day, a walk along the Mall to the cherry blossoms just enhances the D.C. experience, especially when there are so many different food trucks to stop at along the way!










The outfit I wore here is a timeless classic.  You can never go wrong with a white button downdark jeans, and Sperrys.  My watch is fairly old, but you can find a similar one here.  I would highly recommend any Kate Spade watch; I am big fan of all of their products. (See my planner, here.)


















We ended the outing with a gorgeous sunset on our walk back to the car.  It was a wonderful day with my family; sometimes the best times are spent doing simple things together.  Special thanks to my cousins for taking pictures of me!

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While I was writing this post, my roommate showed me an awesome Maroon 5 Medley.  I would have to say this is my song of the week.  With Victoria Justice and Max Schneider, it reminds me of the days when I used to go home, watch Nickelodeon, and not worry about anything!  Would you all be interested in a song of the week every post?  If you want to see more of what I listen to, you can follow me on Spotify, here