insta-lately...

Last day of work - wearing a pink Kiel James Patrick bracelet and Nordstrom arrow bracelet. OH and Nordstrom liked my photo!!!! I was beyond excited.

 Floral statement necklace + windowpane (J. Crew top, Lou Lou necklace)

I got a little excited when I went to The Lucky Knot in Alexandria. It easily became my new favorite boutique! As you can tell, I got quite a few adorable items.

 July 2014 of the Jonathan Adler agenda is so patriotic and happy. :)

 A #TBT to Vegas 2013 last year! I can't believe my senior spring break was a whole year ago!

 Another throwback to sophomore year of college with one of my besties/roomies, Lauren!

I loved going to the gorgeous (and warm!) botanical gardens in DC.

 The beautiful view from the hotel...

 Wearing my spirit jersey near one of the most 'merican buildings I could find... ;)

Between my boots, my passport case, my phone case, and my bracelet, I had a LOT of pink going on. Sometimes I forget how many random things I have that are pink and happen to use them all at the same time, haha.

xo-ally

last week [photos]

It was a nice week indeed in good ol' DC! Here are some photos to recap the past few days:

I was beyond excited to get my new pink Hunter boots in the mail!

Love the view of DC out my window. There's the Washington Monument, the Capitol building, Pentagon, and Air Force Memorial. :) 

 So, I've been waiting a while to get a 2014 agenda. So long to the point that it became February, and then March, and most stores had stopped selling them. Even the Jonathan Adler store didn't have their agendas! However, I went to this cute little boutique in Alexandria called 3 Sisters, and they had a few left! I picked this one up. The above photo is the July 2014 divider, isn't it cute?

I visited the Botanical Gardens for the first time. It was gorgeous and made me forget about the cold, windy day outside.

My other purchase that I got the same time as the the Hunters. A spirit jersey! I had my eye on a similar one for a while, and then finally decided to take the plunge. I love it. It is so cozy. I've already worn it out once with skinny jeans for a casual look, as well as to bed a couple times.

It came personalized with an adorable, silver monogram. :)

Working 15-17 hour days means multiple coffees. For me, it's usually 2-3 per day. You gotta do what you gotta do.

 This eggs benedict for brunch during our break at Graffiato, Mike Isabella's (of Top Chef) restaurant in Chinatown. I really enjoyed it. I mean...look at how thick that slice of ham is!

While I normally don't enjoy waking up at 6am, seeing a different sunrise every morning makes it so much better. Photos cannot capture the beauty of these sunrises. Some days it looks more red, some days more orange, and one day it looked like the opening scene of The Lion King. So pretty.

Andddd we got hit with another snowstorm...boo.

xo-ally

why you should shop the sales at j. crew

I mentioned last week that I was going to post about the amazing J. Crew sale happening right now. It was so great that I bought quite a few pieces (more than I normally get at once) and told everyone I knew. It was even so amazing that I had to write about it here!

Basically, J. Crew almost always has some type of sale going on. The best way to know which sale is happening is to get on their email list. The website usually says what sale is going on as well, but by getting emails, you know exactly which sales are happening right away.

The particular sale that occurred last week was 40% off sale items for final sale. So the items are already marked down, and then you get an extra 40% off. I got $500 worth of clothes for only $143! (I tweeted it was $600 worth by accident - I did the math wrong! Haha oops). But still, I saved a pretty decent sized chunk of change, which is why I often wait for the sales to happen and why you should shop the sales too!

The lovely items in my shopping bag:

 I've had my eye on this whale sweater for a while now (at least a month!) but waited until last week to get it. It'll be the perfect transition piece for fall. How cute are the little green whales?

 These pants are perfect for cool, summer days. The whimsical print will transition well into early fall as well.

 I love this striped top and the color blocking of the shades of red.

 So much sparkle. Couldn't resist.

 You can never go wrong with a classic, striped t-shirt.

Such a pretty lace skirt for almost 1/3 of the original price! The lighting makes it look off-white, but it is a true white.

Do you shop the J. Crew sales? Did you get anything recently? Aren't they simply amazing?!

xo-ally

PS - the winner of the project birthday giveaway is Shane! An email will be sent to you with all the info about receiving the gifts. Thank you ALL for participating :) I'm so glad I got to "meet" some lovely new bloggers and readers through the giveaway!

playing catch-up

These past two weeks have been a whirlwind. Seriously, such a whirlwind. I love my job, however, it is very exhausting. At the end of the day it is definitely rewarding, but being "on" all day for 10 days straight can get a little tiring. I've loved all the new people I've met, the places I've gotten to go, and the experiences that have occurred these past couple of weeks! After the first session of 10 days, we had a few days off before the next one starts (which is tomorrow morning). Since I've had very little access to wifi, and the wifi is slow when it's there, I've been playing catch-up this evening on my last day off. It's nice to finally get a chance to upload photos to the blog :) without further ado, here's what I've been up to in DC:

The first day of summer was glorious. It was the best, sunny day, we went to the jazz festival in DC, and had our feet in the water while sipping sangria.

I wish I had time to do "real" outfit posts! Most days all I get is a quick chance to do mirror selfies ;) haha. Lots of pencil skirts, button-downs, blazers. Basically lots of J. Crew and accessorizing with piled-on bracelets and a necklace or two! Hoping I get to do an outfit post outside in normal clothes sometime soon :)

I've also been doing a little exploring:

Love the street packed with food trucks! There were so many options for lunch one day.

The students (we call them "scholars") are great. I really liked my first group, and hoping the second and third batches are just as good! My group of scholars was hilarious, one of them wrote the series of events on the board when we they were coming up with ideas for a skit:

 (By the way, I wasn't actually angry, I was just getting attention in a mock-angry way...) Maybe you had to be there, but I just found it so funny.

 The first day off was devoted to shopping! I got four things: all pink and/or striped. Maybe the next shopping trip needs to include more diverse items...haha.

Went to a Vineyard Vines store for the first time :) (there aren't any of the west coast) and got that bow tank above and a pink tshirt. I also couldn't resist the J. Crew sale (the pink and lime striped cardi), and exchanged something at Forever 21 and for the adorable pink striped dress (which I believe may be inspired by this Kate Spade dress?)

 I spotted the Capitol Building at sunset. It was so gorgeous.

That's all for now! Tomorrow I'll be recapping my time in New York with some more photos. Love you all, thanks for being patient with my posting, and please follow on Instagram and Twitter for updates in the meantime!

xo-ally

studying for my "final" final...

My view the other day studying on the grass

I've had a pretty easy week so far in terms of finals, which I didn't expect considering I took 18 credits (the max amount) this semester. On Sunday I had a speech final, but we just went out to a restaurant and gave short speeches. It was so much more fun than a test! 

Since I took some finals early, I just have one more test left tomorrow morning (8am....so early for me....) and I'm about to go to the library. My "study outfit" often consists of leggings or Nike shorts with a t-shirt, but since I was out and about running errands today, I wanted to wear regular clothes instead of gym clothes. (But really - sometimes I feel out of place wearing gym clothes off campus. One time I wore Nike shorts and shoes to the doctor's office and he asked me if I was on the cross country team....#awk have any other college girls experienced this? Haha) anyways, this is what I wore this afternoon and will wear to study. The whole outfit is SO comfortable, especially the denim shorts. 

I also finally found a graduation dress! I had been looking and looking, to the point where even buying online wouldn't work because it wouldn't ship soon enough. Finally I just went to a little boutique and found this mint and pink dress! Perfect for spring and just the right amount of daytime formal for graduation. And it was only $42 - you can't beat that steal.

Haha you can see my purple pillow pet in the photo :P

Have a wonderful Wednesday, lovelies!

xo-ally

friday's fancies - shoes, shoes, shoes

This week's Friday's Fancies theme with long distance loving is shoes, shoes, shoes. I'm loving these shoe styles for spring :) and crafted a spring pastel outfit around a fabulous pair of Miu Miu pumps below.

From left to right: mint heels, cork flats, pink loafers, green flats, gold heels

dress, necklace, bag, shoes

I'm reaaaally thinking I might get that Vince Camuto bag soon! It's on my list and I have a gift card....hmm ;) we'll see. And as much as I'd like those pink Miu Miu pumps to be on the shopping list, they definitely aren't due to the price, haha!

Enjoy your Friday!

xo-ally

floral statement necklaces

After seeing a photo of this beautiful necklace (on a recent tumblr saturday), I've been on the hunt for the perfect floral necklace for spring. Here are a few similar ones that I'm looking at:

The red Kate Spade necklace is gorgeous! It is the most similar to the one I've found yet to the one in that photo. 

I like this one from Etsy too - there are multiple colored flowers.

I keep coming back to look at this one from J. Crew Factory! The colors compliment each other well and are pretty versatile, in my opinion.

I think this one from Ruche might be my favorite, and it's only $17! The only thing is that it is sold out. :/ Maybe they'll restock soon?

Which one is your favorite? Do you like floral statement necklaces?

xo-ally

spring shopping!

When I was perusing clothes online to use for Friday's Fancies last week, I was overwhelmed by all the amazing spring shopping options! I am beyond ready for warmer weather and the spring fashion that goes with it. Here are a few of my spring shopping picks:

red floral tory burch bag, milly blue and green dress, milly black bow dress, hunter rain boots, j. crew silk carnation top, j. crew butterfly shorts, red shorts, black ray-ban sunglasses, ray-ban aviators, purple watch, red striped tank, pink long-sleeved dress, striped tunic dress, printed lilly button-up, floral lilly jacket and shorts, green jack rogers sandals

My favorites are the blue and green Milly dress, the J. Crew butterfly shorts, and the red floral Tory Burch bag!

xo-ally

current shopping list: mint colored everything!

Yes, I know it's still January. Spring is around the corner! (In a couple months, give or take?) When stores begin to stock spring attire, my mind flashes forward to the days where I don't have to wear a coat or scrape the ice off my car in the morning. Ah, pure bliss.

I'm loving how both brights and pastels are huge this spring. I'm currently crushing on everything mint colored. It's subtle but can still be just as girly as a ballet pink.

Even though it snowed today (and yesterday, and the day before that) I can't help but get excited for the upcoming season! I already purchased white jeans recently, and here are a few spring mint pieces I'm lusting over.

Mint chino shorts. Love.

A mint hair bow!

Mint skinnies. The colored denim trend is stronger than ever and these jeans would be perfect for a cool, spring break evening!

Along with the colored denim trend, we're seeing bright colored exercise leggings in every hue imaginable. I already have avatar-blue leggings from lululemon, but these mint wunder under leggings are so adorable!

A smidge brighter than mint, but still a soft green nonetheless, this girly dress is calling my name.

Okay, okay, I'm stretching the dresses in this post a little too far with color, but this dress is great for spring too!

Let's bring it back to actual mint now. This plain tee is just asking for a statement necklace!

What's on your spring shopping list? Are you going to add mint and other pastel colors to your spring wardrobe?

xo-ally