2015-2016 Agenda Favorites

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As sad as it is to say, the school year is creeping up on us. With that being said, agendas are probably my favorite thing to by with back to school shopping so I have been searching thorough many sites to find the perfect one. My school actually gives us agenda to use but they are so small and ugly it doesn't make sense to use so I always buy one myself. Getting a new agenda always makes me want to be more organized. My tip for staying organized even after the glamour of the new agenda wears off is to used different colors for different types of events. An example is to used black for homework, pink for sports, and blue for social events. This will make in the inside of your agenda just as pretty as the outside. 

I got the first agenda, the Lilly Pulitzer large agenda in Wild Confetti. I love it, it is so bright and colorful. I know it will be a little piece of sunshine in the middle of winter for me.

What kind of agenda are you using this year?

xoxo,

Maddie

Marquette

Yesterday I went on a visit to Marquette University. This was the first college tour I have gone on, and I had a blast. I definitely had lower expectations for Marquette because of what I had been told about the safety of the area. Over the course of the tour and looking around with my mom, my safety was never anything I was worried about. Thought the campus was beautiful and it was some place I could really see myself doing well in. But I shouldn't get too ahead of myself since this is the first college I toured.

Here is a little information about Marquette in case you haven't looked into it before. Marquette has about 8,000 students, not counting graduate students. The average ACT score is a 27. About 57.7% of applicants are accepted. There are fraternities and sororities. They do not have a football team, but they have a basketball team. 

The first thing we did when we got to Marquette is we asked the person working at the front desk where he would recommend going for lunch. He recommend Sobelmans. I am so glad we went. This place is so good. It had a really relaxed atmosphere that is very similar to many other places I like. The burgers there were amazing, as were the fries. I would recommend this to anyone going there. 

This isn't the prettiest picture, but I felt that it was like the gateway between the two parts of campus. There is the class part and then the rest part (the part with food and dorms).

One of the things that I loved to see was that there was a nice amount of grassy area. This is one of the things I really want my college to have just because it's like the typical college scene. There were a few kids walking around, but not that many since most people were home for the summer. One thing I really liked seeing about these kids was that two guys I saw were wearing vineyard vines. It might sound silly. but seeing people who were wearing similar things to what I like to wear made me happy because it showed there were people with similar style to me.

I took this picture because I thought that the flowers all around were just the prettiest thing. All of the flowers were in bloom so there was color everywhere you looked. 

Here is another picture of the flowers. This was taken right by the Joan of Arc Chapel. This was probably my favorite part of the campus just because it was gorgeous. 

And yet another flower picture. As you can tell by the sky, it was a perfect day touring. I promise now I am done with pictures of flowers.

Here is the corny college tour picture that my mom wanted me to take. I was fine with it because I thought my outfit was cute. I wore Lilly Pulitzer shorts, a Ralph Lauren Polo tee, and Birkenstock. I would really recommend Birkenstock's for a tour because you do a lot of walking around and they are just so comfortable. 

This picture is just because I can't do anything normally. 

Throughout the tour it was really coming to me about how I only have 2 years left until I leave and have to learn about everything on my own. That was a scary thought. 

Overall I really liked Marquette. It had enough green space that I could see myself hanging out (when it's not snowing). The atmosphere was relaxing, but i'm sure that's not what it's like with all the kids there so it is a good thing I will be visiting someone this winter. Overall I will for sure apply here when it comes time for applications. 

What Colleges Do You Like?

xoxo,

Maddie

Top 5 Favorite Bloggers

I have about 25 different bloggers that I like to read.  I normally look at them about every other or every third day. I found these blogs mainly through links on pinterest. What I look for in my favorite bloggers is a good sense of style, they have to be well written, and I want them to be fun overall. The following bloggers are the ones that are my favorite to read, in no particular order. Click on the name of the blog and it will take you to the corresponding website.

The College Prepster

Carly from the College Prepster is probably one that many of you have heard about, and for good reason. She currently lives in New York City, and blogs about the things that she has done there. One of may favorite things about Carly's blog is that she has so many different topics she writes about. I also love her outfits, which was one of the first things I noticed about this blog originally. I have say this is my favorite blog. 

Yep, It's Prep

Isabella has some of the best photos. I always love the lighting and the poses, no matter how simple they are. Her outfits are always preppy, but in a more understated way then just showing off expensive clothes. The majority of her posts are outfit posts, but the occasional written posts are always well written. As a final note, all I can say is that I wish I had her closet!

Prep In Your Step

Dorothy doesn't always post that much, but when she does it will be worth the wait. Her post are evenly distributed between all different types of topics. One of my favorite things to read was about her trip to Paris and to London. These posts were great and her pictures from them make me want to go there right away. 

Dress Decoded

The thing that originally drew me to Robin's blog was that see is also from the Midwest. She is another blogger who doesn't post that often but they are always quality posts. One thing I really like about her blog is that every month she has a post with different I Phone wall papers that correspond with the current month. Some of the outfit posts on Dress Decoded are not my style, they are a little to formal/old fashioned looking, but they are so fun to see how she makes something like kid gloves look good for modern times. This just shows the extreme diversity she has and its is always an entertaining read. 

Design Darling 

Mackenzie Horan is a bloggers who is pretty famous in the blogging world. She also has a wide variety of topics that she posts about. The thing I absolutely love about this blog is her outfits. They are always so cute and put together. Her style normally involves very basic pieces with one or two thing that make the outfit pop. She also travels to many different places. Her main stops are Nantucket and New York, which is fun to see the pictures from because I have never been to either of these places. 

Who are your favorite bloggers?

xoxo,

Maddie

Favorites

I saw that one of the bloggers I read frequently did a post on their favorite things and I thought that would be a cute thing to do. It is always interesting to see what peoples favorite things are because it gives you a glimpse into their life. I made this list off the top of my head so I promise everything is true (like there is a reason to lie).


Meal: Breakfast
Food: Waffles
Color:  Navy Blue
T.V. Series: Gossip Girl (how can you not love it?)
Movie: The Devil Wears Prada (the book is great too, see post)
Travel Destination: Longboat Key, Florida
Social Media: instagram or pinterest it's a tie
Animal: Manatees
Clothing Brand: Vineyard Vines
Shoes: this pair Sperry's, they can be worn anywhere and are very versatile 
Chap stick: Burt's Bees Vanilla Bean Lip Balm it tastes really good, almost like a cupcake
Nail Polish Color: hi maintenance by Essie
Perfume: Marc Jacobs Daisy Dream 
Fast Food Restaurant: Chick Fil A 100%
Sport: Soccer
Pro Sports Team: Green Bay Packers 
Song: Bad Blood by Taylor Swift
Season: Fall (it's just so pretty)

What are your favorite foods/animals/ stores?

xoxo,

Maddie

Packing for Florida

I just came back from a two week trip to Florida, so sorry about the lack of posts. I will be doing a post on it later. I stayed at a house with a washing machine, so I didn't have to bring that many outfits.  Here are a couple notes on how I organized my packing.

1) I try to stick to a color theme so almost everything can make multiple outfits. (Blue was my theme)

2) Make sure everything can make at least two outfits. This is my general rule since this way I can just have more options.

3) Make a list so you don't forget anything. I used to just write it on loose leaf paper but this year I am writing up on a word document so I can have it for next year as well.

4) I check the weather about 4 days before I go to see if I need to make any changes if I should be warmer or cooler then I thought. 

5) ROLL THE CLOTHES! Seriously, it allows you to take more, and your clothes don't get weird creases from the folding.

6) Make sure to leave some room for anything you might buy. You don't want space to be the reason you don't get something.

Here are some pictures of what I packed..

I brought five shirts. I made sure to choose a lot of tank tops because the weather got to around 90 degrees every day and it was really humid. I also made sure each shirt could go with at least two pairs of shorts.
 

I brought 6 pairs of shorts. The nike shorts were great to bring because they were perfect for flying. Even though the Lilly shorts don't match everything, I just had to bring them.

I brought two sweatshirts. In the future I will only be bringing one sweatshirt since I only used the shep shirt. The shep shirt was great because it was lighter then my Northwestern crew neck. 

I brought five pairs of shoes. I wore the Birkenstock the most because they are so comfortable. The black sandals were for going out to dinner. Next time I wouldn't bring the Sperry 
top-siders because I didn't wear them as much as I thought I would.

xoxo,
Maddie