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

photo diary: oktoberfest! [oct. 3-6]

Finally getting around to uploading photos on here from Oktoberfest! Last weekend we went up to Munich, Germany to the world-famous Oktoberfest. It was a BLAST. What a weekend.

He ripped his lederhosen from squat-dancing

I FOUND A STARBUCKS!

xo-ally

project birthday giveaway! [CLOSED]

Hello, everyone! I am so excited to announce my very first giveaway, and it's HUGE! In honor of Miss Ashliegh's birthday, we are teaming up with a bunch of bloggers to give away an enormous box of goodies, including:

---Gift cards of varying amounts to Sephora, Starbucks, Target, Amazon, Forever 21, Etsy, and From Me With Love (together totaling $150+)

---A month Birchbox subscription

---2 jewelry pieces

---Lots of ad space

Entries are available starting today, July 1, 2013, until July 7, 2013. The winner will be selected and notified July 8, 2013. Please enter using the Rafflecopter widget at the end of this post.

I'm giving away the $15 Sephora gift card, which comes with a complimentary pocket mirror:

Without further ado, here are the other gifts and the bloggers participating in the giveaway! Make sure to check out them out, they're fabulous!

Taylor at Anchored is giving away one month ad space on her blog and these beautiful green earrings from Poppy Style!

Dani from Love Me Dani Marie is giving away a $15 gift card to Target!

Brenda at From Me, With Love Designs is giving away $40 to her Etsy shop. 

A Southern Brunette is giving away the Pearl Akoya Bib Necklace from BaubleBar! 

Shontal from The Preppy Scientist is giving away a $25 e-gift card to Etsy! 

Ashley at Purple and Pearls is giving away $25 Amazon E-Gfit Card!

Rachael at Pretty in Pink is giving away a 1 month subscription to Birchbox! 

Semirah at Sound of Charm is giving away Ad space!

Val at Summer and Wine is giving away a Starbucks gift card!

Ally at Sunny Sweetheart is giving away $15 Sephora Gift Card!

Elle at The Princess Diaries is giving away ad space!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

xo-ally

hints of holiday :)

I love the hints of holiday that are everywhere during the Christmas season. In high school my friend Liz and I would always get excited on the day Starbucks put up Christmas decorations and started using Christmas cups. At lunch I would get a slice of the gingerbread cake and Liz would get a cranberry bliss bar. I haven't had a gingerbread slice this year, but when I saw the adorable snowman cookies I just had to try one!

On a different Starbucks run after Thanksgiving, I was with my dad and he said, "If they had these snowman cookies when you were little you would've said daddy daddy can I please get one?" Aww. The cookie is really good though - I thought it was just a sugar cookie but it actually is a frosted graham cracker cookie.

My favorite store has holiday bags. I really like them! I like the colors and the design. It makes shopping even more special :)

What are your favorite hints of holiday this season? Have you been Instagramming pics of holiday happiness? (I wish I had Instagram...there's not an app for my phone yet....I know...totally out of the loop...I wish I could see thousands of the same pics of red Starbucks cups. Haha. But really.)

xo-ally

friday's fancies - autumn treat [starbucks iced mocha]

This week's Friday's Fancies theme with long distance loving is favorite autumn treat. I don't really have a favorite particular one, but this week I've had an iced mocha almost every day.

I agree, iced coffee doesn't really scream "autumn." (I don't like warm drinks! I know, I'm weird.)

But the recent spike in iced mocha purchases may or may not have to do with midterms/very busy week with school.

So....this time during the fall semester is the time I drink plenty of iced mochas (just finished one, in fact.) That's how I will tie that somehow into this week's theme! Here's the outfit:

dress, handbag, watch, bracelet, flats

...I even used clear jellies to mimic the clear, plastic cups that come with iced drinks! The green bag is like the straw, haha. (And am I the only one who wishes there are Christmas cups for iced drinks too??!!)

xo-ally

local coffee shops

There is something so cozy and refreshing about local coffee shops. Don't get me wrong, Starbucks is great, but it doesn't quite have the charm that local places do. Once a week, me and a few friends grab lunch off campus. Since we usually need to be doing homework - and spend hours doing so - we often choose a little cafe instead of a sit-down restaurant.

To be honest...I kind of like coffee from local places better than Starbucks. But shh! Don't tell them I said that!

I used to not drink coffee until earlier this school year. The taste never appealed to me and since I don't like warm drinks (I know it's weird - I don't like tea or hot chocolate either) I never had the urge to give iced coffee a go. However one day, I was tired and wanted a caffeine boost, so a friend told me to get an iced mocha. The chocolate and milk would help balance out the bitter coffee taste.

To keep my new-found love of iced mochas (nonfat, no whip cream, please) from turning into a daily - not to mention expensive - addiction, I try to limit myself to only a few a week.

A few of my favorite local coffee shops/cafes/bakeries/whatever you'd call it nearby are Rockwood Bakery, Rocket Bakery (they're different), and Service Station. 

Service Station has a fireplace and in the winter we would pull up our chairs next to it and watch the snow fall out the window. 

Rocket has some of the best sandwiches I've had in a long time. 

[photo]

Rockwood doesn't have wi-fi so it's really nice to do homework there. I'll bring my laptop with the Internet pages I'll need already opened so I don't get distracted with blogs, email, Twitter, and Facebook! It's nice because I'm very productive when that happens.

I'm already looking forward to this week's meetup with my friends at a local place!

xo

spring break in photos

Last week, I went to visit my best friend in Colorado over spring break. It was so warm that week! I laid out and even got a tan (crossing my fingers it will last a couple more months). We hung out just like old times, met each other's friends that live in the area, and ate ice cream. For some reason many of these photos involve food...it was too pretty looking to not photograph! Haha.

...we took photos on the gorgeous sunny day

....went out to eat

I think this was the best breakfast I've ever eaten. It was almost sad being too full to eat it all...

A red velvet pancake. Yes, you read that right.

...got our nails done and took pics on photobooth

...had Starbucks almost every day

Now it's back to reality and rain. It's the first day of spring (yay!) but the weather is far from it here - pouring rain and wind. I miss the Colorado sun so much, but more-so my bestie! I couldn't have had a better spring break. It was the perfect mixture of fun and relaxation.

xo