My Chic Week: October 20-26

Happy Friday y'all! I am so excited for this weekend as my family is coming into town for the football game against Georgia Tech (even though it's supposed to pour). Even though it's only been two weeks since Fall Break, I'm so excited to see them and to also celebrate my mom's birthday!

One of my classes was canceled on Friday so after my first class, I went to the library with a bunch of my sorority sisters. I then had my second class and then hung out on my hall afterwards.

My roomie for next year and I went out to dinner Friday night and then grabbed ice cream afterwards, which was so much fun!

Saturday morning, I met up with some friends for breakfast at a coffee shop in downtown Clemson. We were supposed to work on homework but wound up catching up over the most amazing cinnamon rolls and coffee, which I will never complain about!

Afterwards, one of my friends and I wound up going to a farm right outside of Clemson, which was so cute! They had a corn maze, hay rides, a pumpkin patch, and pretty much every fall activity you could think of!

I had brunch with my big on Sunday morning and it was so good to catch up with her and, of course, eat some yummy food!

The rest of my day was stopping by my sorority's philanthropy event, working on homework, and then going to chapter.

Monday was getting back into my routine after a fun weekend, nothing too exciting haha- just working on homework, going to class, and doing my laundry.

My sorority has Bible Study at a coffee shop on Monday afternoons so I couldn't pass up the opportunity for a latte haha! After that, I had two meetings before going to bed to get up early for student teaching.

Tuesday, I had student teaching, which I always love even if it means getting up earlier than usual. I had my bio class afterwards and then got some things done in my room before going to my second class of the day. After that class ended, I went to the gym.

One of my classes was canceled on Wednesday, which was nice as I only had one class and then my lab (which got out 2 hours early!).

We had a skating function that night for my sorority at a local skating rink, which was a lot of fun even if I am absolutely terrible at roller skating!

Thursday morning, I was able to sleep in before my first class of the day. I had that class, went to lunch with a few friends in the class, worked on homework, went to my second class, and then went to the gym. I wound up running into a friend at the dining hall so I ate with her, which was so fun!

On my Radar:

1. Obsessed with this J. Crew top

2. These paleo lemon blueberry muffins look amazing

3. Even though this dress is totally out of my usual style comfort zone, I love the color and think the lace is too pretty!

4. This Louis Vuitton store in Paris looks less like a store and more like a museum

5. I love this interview with Carly of the College Prepster on how to grow a following

This Week on Chic in Carolina:

Freshman Dorm Tour ⎢Why It's Important to Rest ⎢A Day in my Life: Fall 2017 ⎢My Skincare Routine with Clarisonic

Happy Friday!

My Skincare Routine with Clarisonic

As much as I love reading about new skincare products, I typically stick with the basics (I feel most college girls relate to this!) as 1. I know it works 2. it gets the job done without a ton of steps. As the seasons start to change, my routine changes a little bit especially to help combat dry skin.

Clarisonic recently sent me one of their brushes to test out and honestly, I've been loving it and has become an essential part of my daily fall skincare routine. I have used a similar brush product before but the Clarisonic really doesn't compare as it's so much better!

The first step in my skincare routine is to take off my makeup at night. Obviously, I don't do this in the morning but it's so important to do this everyday (when you wore makeup during the day) so you don't clog up your pores!

I then rinse my face off with a little water and then wash my face using my Clarisonic. I typically use a simple cleanser from Cetaphil but Clarisonic sent me an acne face wash to try out as well that I'm so excited to test out! I've found that simple face washes really help me combat my acne so I try to stick to that rather than getting too complicated in my routine.

As for my Clarisonic itself, I love how easily it is to incorporate into my routine. It only takes around a minute to use and my skin feels so clean afterwards. It's also very gentle on your skin so I use it twice a day without feeling like it's too rough.

After washing my face, I then moisturize. I use First Aid Beauty's Ultra Repair cream in the morning before putting on my makeup and then Clinique's Moisture Surge Cream at night since it is a bit heavier but makes your skin feel so smooth! I also put Papaw ointment on my lips as I've found it keeps them moisturized better than anything else.

Also, if you use the code HERCAMPUS, you can get 15% off your own Clarisonic. Perfect time to treat yourself or maybe get ahead on Christmas shopping! They also offer a payment plan depending on credit approval, which is another great option!

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Clarisonic and Her Campus Media. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that make Chic in Carolina possible.

A Day in my Life: Fall 2017

Happy Wednesday y'all! I've shared similar blog posts to this before but I'm excited to share this as it's my first college daily routine post. In terms of my routine itself, it's so different than my daily routine back in high school (I say that like it wasn't only a few months ago haha!). In high school, I was at school from 8 AM- 3 PM and then had homework and my nannying job afterwards. In college, I have only a few classes a day and then the rest of the day free to study or hang out with friends or whatever. If you're interested in a post about time management and how I do that, let me know as that plays a lot into my day-to-day life in college.

It did take me a few weeks to settle into my routine here at Clemson as you're so free to do whatever you want in between classes. I've (mostly) figured out what times I always go to the library or whatever and it helps my day go a lot more smoothly. Of course, everything changes from day-to-day so no two days look exactly alike!

My class schedule is for Monday/Wednesday/Friday and then Tuesday/Thursday so those days typically look the same. I like to wake up a bit earlier than I need to so that I can have plenty of time to get ready and eat breakfast. In between my first two classes, I typically spend time at the library so that I'm near the location of my next class.

After my lab gets out on Wednesday (I only have it once a week), my schedule tends to switch up a bit. Today, for example, I have a sorority event but usually you can find me hanging out friends, studying in the library if I have a test to study for, or going to the gym. Bedtime also depends on the day but on a "typical" day, it's usually around 11!

What does a typical day in your life look like? Let me know in the comments!

Why It's Important to Rest

Before Fall Break, I had all these grand plans of how much of I would be able to get done. Oh yes, I can get a ton of blog content scheduled, take new outfit pictures, catch up on commenting and social media, and not to mention spend time with my family and visit friends on my way back from Clemson.

Can you guess what I did and what I didn't do over Fall Break?

Well, I choose the later and spent my four days of my break enjoying being at home with my family (and puppies!) and seeing friends rather than cramming everything into my short trip home. It was relaxing and was exactly what I needed after the first part of the semester.

a snap from my visit to see my bestie over Fall Break!

If you asked my friends (especially in high school) if I was good at relaxing, they would probably laugh and tell you no. I am Type-A to a fault and if there's still work to be done, I have difficulty putting it aside and relaxing, whether that means watching an episode of Grey's on Netflix or catching up with a friend. I always tell myself that I can watch that episode once everything is done but let's be real, it can be late once you finish everything and all you want to do is go to bed.

I was honestly awful about taking time to rest and refresh in high school and while I have gotten better at it in college, I still have room for improvement.

Taking time away from the hecticness of day-to-day life can help you improve in what you're trying to do. Spending a few days at home away from school work helped me realize some fun content I want to bring to the blog. Not necessarily to say you have to go home for a weekend to rest and refresh but sometimes a night to focus entirely on you may bring some new inspiration.

Thanks for reading!

Freshman Year Dorm Tour

Happy Monday y'all! I am so excited to be sharing today's post as it's a... tour of my freshman dorm room! I've been meaning to share this post for a while and I'm so excited to finally share it with y'all. Decorating my dorm was one of the things I was most excited for in college and I love how my small corner of campus came out. I took lots of pictures and have all of the details on the bottom for y'all!

When you walk into our room, there is a wall that is fairly large so we decided to do a cute gallery wall. I found the Clemson print at the Swoozie's in Charlotte but the hydrangeas print and the brunch print (no longer available) are both from Evelyn Henson!

In between my desk and my roomie's desk is a window and we have the micro fridge with the Keurig underneath it. When we were deciding on decor for our room, my mom mentioned that she had light blue curtains from my sister's room before she redecorated so those wound up working perfectly for the space!

My desk has a lot of storage on the shelves so I knew I wanted to optimize that to get the most storage out of the space.

I also have no idea what is going on with my clock in this picture!

The top shelf has a box that my big gave me during Big/Little that I keep food and paper goods like plates and napkins in! Plus, I keep my water bottles and coffee cups there!

I decorated the wall next to my desk with my monogram, a bunch of pictures, and then my bid to Theta to make it a bit more cheery and home-y!

My bed is in the corner part of our room, which I seriously love as it makes it super cozy! I choose all white bedding for a polished look but love it paired with a fun headboard and accent pillows. While I was home for Fall Break, my mom surprised me with a super cute white and gold pillow with my sorority letters so now that is on my bed too!

The bulletin board came with the room so I jazzed it up with some of my favorite pictures as well as a fun set of string lights my roomie bought. Irene of My Pink and Green Garden sent a fun pendant so I love that hanging above my bed as well!

My dresser is built-in next to my bed so I use the table-top as a vanity as I get ready there in the morning. I keep my hair tools on command hooks with a canvas my big made me hanging above it. I also keep some jewelry, an old Lilly candle jar full of my makeup brushes, perfume, and a picture frame here!

One of the things I love about my dorm room is that it has a walk-in closet, which is so nice for storing all of my clothes. It doesn't have a light so unfortunately these pictures didn't turn out as well as I wanted them to but I still wanted to show y'all the space. I use Command Hooks for my robe, a few baseball hats, and my purses and then it had pre-built hanging rods that I use for my towels. I bought a shoe rack from the Container Store that is so handy and then keep random odds in ends in a smaller basket. I keep toiletries on the shelf and then brought a big Lilly storage container to store my weekender bag and things I don't use as often!

Sources:

Art Prints: Swoozie's and Evelyn Henson

Curtains: Pottery Barn Teen

Desk Lamp: Home Goods

Wall Monogram: Local Boutique

Bedding: Pottery Barn Teen

Throw Pillows: My Pink & Green Garden (c/o)

Headboard: Room 422

Bedskirt: Room 422

String Lights: Target

Pendant Banner: My Pink & Green Garden (c/o)

Acrylic Bracelet Holder: Container Store

Acrylic Tray: Local Boutique

Thanks for reading!

My Chic Week: October 13-19

Happy Friday y'all! This week's MCW is going to be a fun one as last weekend was my Fall Break and I had Monday and Tuesday off from school, which made the rest of the week fly by!

Friday was the first day of Fall Break and I had three classes to get through before heading off to Columbia, South Carolina to visit my bestie Riley!

Riley is a Delta Zeta at USC and they had a "You are What You Netflix" function, which was so much fun! We went as Serena and Blair and it was fun to meet some of her DZ friends, including her big and her twin, as well as to see her sorority house (especially since we don't have houses here at Clemson).

After the function, we headed back to her dorm, ordered pizza, caught up, and then talked to Riley's roomie!

Saturday morning, we slept in before going to Soda City, an adorable farmer's market in downtown Columbia. We walked around for a bit before getting the most delicious mini donuts and then grabbing coffee at a cute little coffee shop.

Being bloggers, we took outfit pictures and then headed back to Riley's dorm room before I headed home to Charlotte.

The drive from Columbia to Charlotte is about a hour and a half, which wasn't bad at all. It was so nice to see my puppies after nearly two months and, of course, see my family. My little brother turned 16 on Sunday so we went out to one of his favorite restaurants Saturday night and had cake and presents afterwards.

Sunday morning, we went to Mass and then had brunch at one of my family's favorite spots, which was so yummy.

I went to barre for the first time in two months Sunday afternoon, which was great and it totally kicked my butt. We had steak for dinner Sunday and oh my goodness, it was incredible haha.

I had a doctor's appointment Monday morning and then my mom and I went shopping afterwards, which was so much fun. Clemson is in a rural area of South Carolina and it was fun to stop by some of my favorite stores.

We went to Anthropologie first where I bought this top that I am absolutely obsessed with. Plus, I couldn't help but look at the candle section haha! Next, we obviously went to Lilly and I wound up buying this dress that I can't wait to wear to my field placement.

sweater

left dress ⎢right dress

left dress ⎢right dress

My mom and I stopped at a few other stores and then went back home. We took the puppies to the park, which was adorable!

I surprised the little boys I nanny and picked them up from school on Monday afternoon, which was so fun!

Tuesday morning, I went to another barre class and then ran errands afterwards. I grabbed a juice at a local juice bar, which was amazing, and then went to Whole Foods and Target.

I stopped by my high school to bring my younger brother lunch and to say hi to my teachers. I also wound up visiting my mom at work before going to get my hair cut (and I got a lot cut off!).

I had one last dinner at home until Thanksgiving Break and then headed back to Clemson!

Wednesday was a bit difficult getting back into the swing of things but my sorority had a Panhellenic Pal event with another sorority on campus to paint pumpkins, which was so much fun and such a good stress reliever.

Thursday was another busy day especially since I'm trying to get back into the routine of blogging! I had class, worked on homework, had my second class, and then hung out with friends on my hall.

On my Radar:

1. A relaxed weekend! I don't have too much planned for the weekend so I'm hoping to catch up on school work and blogging!

2. Tuckernuck's entire website is 20% off until Sunday with the code OMG20

3. Mackenzie just started her third 101 in 1001 list and I can't wait to see her progress. Be sure to check out my 101 in 1001 list here!

4. Loved this article on everything the editors of Coveteur do to practice self-care

5. This outfit from Renee is perfect for the hot then cold weather here in the Carolinas

On the blog this Week:

Little Black Dress

Happy Friday!