A girl can never...

I'm sitting here in this little Starbucks, sipping on my coffee (possibly my second cup) and my heart is so content in this moment. It's finally starting to feel like fall outside and I have pulled out a few more sweaters from my closet this week. It makes my heart so happy when it starts to get chilly!

As an appreciation for this upcoming week of cool mid 60's weather, I'm sharing with you all my fall favorites- well, my fall closet essentials.

1. A girl can never have too many sweaters or cardi's!

I usually bring a sweater with me everywhere or have one on. They're great for summer nights- but they're an essential during the chilly months! My favorite ones are always found in Old Navy, Forever 21, H&M, or Urban Outfitters. I'm a pretty cheap frugal shopper, but these are a few stores I can almost always find something that doesn't break the bank.

 

I love the long sweater look! The one I'm wearing on the bottom right is from Rue21. I got it on a great winter sale last year and I can't wait to wear it out this season!

2.  A girl can never have too many booties!

Okay y'all, I have a bit of a shoe obsession (I got it from my mama). I don't care what season or occasion it is, I have something for everything! My big shoe must have for fall are boots. Tall, short, heeled, buckled...it. doesn't. matter. I got 'em. My mom just scored two pairs of Guess cut out booties for $24 together. The real excitement was they were originally $80 a pop! BOGO 1/2 off sales are heavenly.

The bootie deal.



3.  A girl can never have too many handbags!

Another obsession of mine. I have been doing really well lately though! I haven't gotten a new handbag in a really long time, I've put a focus on my shoe game lately. My absolute favorite brand to buy my handbags from is Fossil. They usually have the best Christmas sales, for future reference of course. Their materials are very durable and just match everything! Whichever brand, get a great neutral handbag for fall. PSA: navy, red, and maroon have become awesome neutrals amongst the many other colors!

 

4. A girl can never have too many cargo jackets!

Anytime I see one, I want it! I want all of the colors, lengths, and styles they make them in! Cargo jackets are the perfect fall accessory. You can throw one on over a tank top and go on the warmer fall days or bundle up with a long sleeved shirt and scarf on the cooler ones. Cargo's are the way to go!

5. A girl can never have too many chambray shirts!

If you don't know the fancy word for denim, it's chambray. I don't usually say chambray, but it makes me feel snazzier this way! I love my good 'ole denim shirt. It's a quick fix to any outfit dilemma. You can dress them up with a cute bobble necklace and some colored jeans or go a little more causal and put it over a cute v neck or t-shirt. The possibilities are endless!

 

Anyway, these are just a few of my favorite things. I hope you have all of your fall sweaters unpacked from their closet vacation over the summer months and ready to go- I know mine are! Have a great FriYAY tomorrow and an awesome weekend! Thanks for reading!



Fall Break 2014

Hello patient readers!

I have not been on my blogging game lately, sorry about that! I really do love doing this and keeping up with my whole college experience, but most of the time sometimes I get so distracted!

Two weekends ago I had my fall break, which was not nearly long enough. I was able to bring my roommate, Laura, home with me and show her around. That was so much fun and I'm so happy she went with me!

I may be a present-day procrastinator, but I'm planning my future (like 5-10 year future) all the time! I have a really great interest in teaching in South Carolina after I graduate from UNCC. I have heard wonderful things about the Pawley's Island area (most importantly it's close to home) and I wanted to check it out for future reference. My parents, Laura, and myself spent the day in the area on that Sunday and it was so pretty! We ate at a local restaurant called Nosh for brunch and I had the most delicious French toast in the whole world.

Afterwards, we walked around and window-shopped the little stores. We spent most of our day at Brookgreen Gardens. I had never been there before and it was one of the most beautiful places. The weather was perfect and they had a cute little fall festival going on. If you have never been there, I would definitely suggest it. It's basically a huge garden with so many different flowers, plants, art, and sculptures throughout it. I'm not doing it any justice with my words, but check out the website and plan yourself a visit!

Just one of the many sculptures.

#hatcherfamilyselfie

Laura is a photographer, so we also spent the weekend doing mini photo shoots. She captured this one of my presh parents and I love it.



The next day I took Laura to Wilmington. I love the downtown Wilmington area and I wanted her to check it out too. One of our favorite shows, One Tree Hill, was also filmed there, (fangirl moment) so we checked out some of the characters' houses! That was a really fun experience!

Lucas Scott's house!

The infamous door he had painted red for Brooke.

B. Davis' house!

Peyton Sawyer's house!

After our mini OTH tour, we drove around downtown finding a few places to park and take some pictures. We took turns being models. We both got some really great shots of each other. We found some places that had neat things we could pose on, like an alley staircase and the oldest standing structure in Wilmington's beautiful brick walls!

Just four of the 19475028347104 many pictures we took!

The trip was pretty successful if I do say so! I had a lot of fun showing Laura around my hometown too. We came back to campus on that Tuesday and officially ended our trip. Mom and dad are steadily working on the new house and plan to be in it by the end of this month! It is so exciting. I will come home for Thanksgiving (probably sooner) to a brand new house that they have worked so hard on! It is coming together so nicely and I'm thrilled to see the completely finished product.

Be on the look out for a post all about the new house soon! I hope everyone is having a fantastic Monday and your week goes even better. Thanks for reading!











How to Beat a Case of the Mondays.

Oh, Mondays.

I think we all have a love-hate relationship with them. This week let's not let Monday get to us. I have a few tips on how to beat Mondays and start your week off right!

1. Switch up your part!
Over the weekend, I switched my hair part from the left to the right. I know most people believe their hair part is on the side that it's on because it looks the best that way. You could be wrong! Switch it up and try it out!

2. Rearrange your furniture!
I have gotten the gene of rearrange-the-furniture-every-other-week from my Nana and mom. I lasted a little over a month with the setup of my dorm room from move-in day. Last night (oh, yeah- not to mention this gene kicks in at the most ridiculous times) I began to shuffle around my furniture close to midnight. I love the new setup, for now, and this week it will be like walking into a brand new space. How refreshing!

3. Talk to a far away friend!
I talked to my sweet Loulou today! She's at UNCG this year, which is only about an hour and fifteen minutes away, but we still do not see each other very often. It was nice to catch up and chat. If your Monday is going by slower than usual, speed it up with a great conversation with a friend you don't get to see too often or haven't talked to in a while. Problem solved!

If all else fails, make some muffins! I whipped up a batch of mini muffins earlier and they have made this Monday a little sweeter. I hope your week has started off great! If it hasn't- maybe try something above?

September Favorites.

It's favorites time!

When I do these 'favorites' posts, I try to space them out a few months because I think it's hard to have a new set of favorite things each month. I don't jump on a new trend that often, or really try anything new that often, so I think it's better for me to get familiar with something first then share it with you y'all! If you want to check out my last 'favorites' post, click here.

My first favorite for this month would be headbands!

Now, I am an avid headband wearer, especially since my hair has gotten longer and is able to go in a bun. I have two at the moment, both from Charlotte Russe. I got them on a really good sale for .99 a piece! I wanted to get them cheap because I didn't know if I would wear them or not- I surprised myself with how much I actually wear them! They have become more and more trendy since the summer months and I think they're an easy transition from season to season!



A lot of people wear their headbands with a high messy bun. I haven't quite figured out that style for myself, so I usually go for a low bun. I bobby pin a little section at the top to add some volume, then wrap the bun in a circular motion and secure it with a hair tie. You may have seen my hair like this in the Lazy 5 Ranch post!

My next favorite is my current nail polish. Surprise, surprise.

Like I have said many times before, if you know me, you know I always have my toenails painted! Right now I am obsessed with Sinful Nails Endless Blue. It's the perfect cobalt blue. LOVE.



My next item is an almost everyday essential for me, no matter the season. I get this trait from my mama.

Cardigans! I went to Northlake Mall with my roommate, Laura, over the weekend and Forever 21 had awesome $9 cardigans! I got excited over this because cardigans are usually on the expensive side. I try to replace mine every so often because I wear them so much and they start looking raggedy. I bought a new black one- I told my mom about the sale and went back to get her one too!

My next favorite is a little something for my dorm room. A mini fan!

I didn't need one last year because my dorm room has its own AC unit in it, but I only have a vent this year. It feels stuffy in my room sometimes and I thought it would be a good idea for some extra air flow. I got it at Wal-Mart for $6 I believe. It was on sale with the back to school things and it has made all the difference in my room!

It comes with a clip on piece and stand. I got this blue color,

but it's available in many different colors as well!

My last favorite is...the iPhone 6!

I know what you're thinking...you can't buy it yet so how is it your favorite? Well, let me tell you... I AM SO READY FOR MY UPGRADE! I dropped my phone about a week ago (not as bad as the last time) and hit the screen. It didn't crack, but it is extremely glitchy now. My upgrade is in a month and I am anticipating it!

What are your September favorites?  





Pony Tail Hacks

I am a sucker for a good pony tail and lately I have been experimenting with my hair a little more. I have been scavenging through Pinterest trying to find some easy DIY pony tail hairstyles and I have found two that I really love!

The first is a lengthening trick. Ever since I cut almost 8 whole inches off of my hair a couple of years ago, I have been waiting for it to grow back and get to that length again. It has gotten pretty long, but it's not where I want it to be yet.

Here is the extra long pony tail DIY:

Now, mine did no look nearly as pretty as this pony, but I could definitely tell it gave me another couple of inches.

I just separated my hair into two sections. 

Sorry about my arm.

OMG! So much volume! 

The second hairstyle I want to show y'all is the good ol' cover-up-my-hair-tie-with-my-hair trick. That's a mouthful. It's simple and I love it. You put your hair in any type of pony tail that you like (high, low, side) then you wrap a little section of hair around your hair tie and bobby pin it. Voila! 

Excuse the frizz.

It's the easiest thing! It makes a pony tail look more fancy to me and you know everybody likes to look a little fancy sometimes!

This was just a quick little thought I wanted to share. I hope you all enjoyed it and start experimenting with your own manes! 

What an Experience!

Hi y'all!

It's been a busy two weeks since the last post. Classes have really started and homework is pouring in. I had a nice little break from everything after I got off of work yesterday (which is going really well!) with my roommate Laura.

She told me about a really neat place in Mooresville, NC called the Lazy 5 Ranch. Believe me when I say you need to look it up! It was one of the coolest experiences of my life. It's a ranch-petting zoo type of place where you drive your car through a path and feed animals out of your windows. It was awesome! It's only $11 per person and it is something you will remember forever.

Feeding baby deer!

There were so many different types of animals, everything from day-old baby deer to rhinos! We couldn't feed the really big animals, like the zebras and horned cows, but they were so cool to look at and even be that close to! We also saw a mama kangaroo with a baby in her pouch!

We had a minor run-in with an anxious little ram. We knew he was trouble when he came hurdling towards the car. He hopped up on the window like it was no big deal! He was cute, but it was a little scary!

Oh, hey there!

The ostriches and the llamas were the most aggressive. The llamas did not want to wait for you to feed them and the ostriches had really strong beaks and the pecked really hard at the food bucket. Two of them got into a fight over what little food I had left in my bucket, I had to throw it out of the car...oops!

Feeding the ostrich!





Ostriches tapping on the window!

I have saved the best for last! I was able to hand feed giraffes! I mean...how freaking awesome is that?! Laura had told me about the giraffes before hand, but you don't realize how amazing it is until you see it for yourself.



 I can't get over it. It was such an incredible experience!

Laura told me to save a lot of the food for the giraffes towards the end of the path and if you go I recommend the same! They are the gentlest animals and you'll want to feed and experience them for a while!

I'm so happy she told me about this place! I seriously want to go back every weekend now. However, the rest of this weekend is designated for homework. I boarded the procrastination train and I think it's time for me to get off.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend and enjoying this(hot)sunshine! Only a few more weekends of 90 degree weather, hopefully. I am SO ready for cool fall days!