A Dress You Need for Fall

I am so excited to be sharing this outfit post with y'all today as it is seriously one of my favorite dresses this fall. While shopping in a cute little boutique in downtown Clemson (All Inspired- if you're ever in Clem!), I stumbled upon it and knew I needed it for gameday. It was the last one in the store, it fit, and it was on sale (win win win!). I am typically not a Free People kind of a gal but I love this dress!

I wore it for the Clemson vs. Florida State game a few weeks back (a mistake since it was so cold) and then again for Thanksgiving last week! I love how cute it is with both cowboy boots and riding boots for a quintessential fall look!

Dress: Free People Riding Boots: Tory Burch (similar) Monogram Necklace: Local Boutique (similar)

Thanks for reading!

My Christmas List 2017

A few weeks ago, I asked y'all on Twitter for your thoughts on gift guides on the blog this year. I know that it can sometimes seem like that's all you see on different blogs during the holiday season and can be overdone but I also love getting different ideas from them. Apparently y'all are pretty torn on them as well since the votes were exactly 50/50! I decided that I would do one gift guide a week as a bit of an in-between strategy and can't wait to share with y'all!

To start, I wanted to share with y'all my Christmas List this year! As a disclaimer, I don't expect to receive everything on this list but it is a wishlist!

Barbour Beadnell Jacket or Burberry Ashurst Quilted Jacket- A new winter jacket is definitely at the top of my list this year and I can't decide between the Barbour and Burberry. I always see so many people on campus wearing their Barbours and love how classic yet practical they are but the Burberry has been on my wishlist for such a long time (I call it the "dream coat" haha!).

David Yurman Cable Classic Bracelet in either the 4.5mm or the 6mm size- A girl can dream right? I love how timeless David Yurman's bracelets are and they look gorgeous with the pearl!

Alo Moto Leggings- They sell these leggings at the Pure Barre studio I go to at home and they always look so cute when other people at the studio style them. While white leggings may not seem the most practical, I love how versatile they are and how they can go with a wide variety of tops for both working out and casual wear!

Kendra Scott Elisa Necklace in Pearl- My monogram necklace broke at the beginning of the school year and even though it is now fixed, I loved wearing a Kendra Scott pendant that I had borrowed from my mom in the meantime. I love how classic the pearl pendant is and know I would get a lot of use out of it!

Lilly Pulitzer Bay Dress- I tried this dress on while visiting Greenville a few weeks ago and think it is so cute! It's such a fun print and I love the style of the dress.

Emily Ley's A Simplified Life- I loved reading Emily's first book and would love to see her second one under the tree come Christmas morning!

Lilly Pulitzer Elba Sweater- I love how comfortable yet chic this sweater is and how you could style it for a variety of occasions (how cute would it be with jeans and riding boots?). 

Evelyn Henson Kiawah Art Print or Mug- Kiawah is one of my favorite places in the whole world and I love that Evelyn Henson has an art print for the island (I have a few of her prints in my dorm that I love). I love both the mug and the art print and couldn't decide between them!

Spotify Premium- My Spotify account has gotten a lot more love since I've been at school and Premium would be so handy for not having ads and also being able to skip songs while listening in the car!

What is on your Christmas List this year? Let me know in the comments!

Cyber Monday Sales

Happy Monday y'all! I'm back at Clemson today after a great visit home for Thanksgiving Break and honestly, it's a bit weird to be back into my normal routine here! Thankfully, there's some online shopping to do to distract me from that haha.

I'm sure that y'all know that it is Cyber Monday and there is so many good deals going on today that I wanted to share with y'all. It's such a good time to knock out some of your holiday shopping without even heading to the mall!

image via my instagram

Anthropologie: 20% off full priced items & free shipping on orders of $100+

Draper James: 25% off with the code MERRY

Drybar: 30% off bundles

Evelyn Henson: 20% off with the code DECKTHEWALLS

J. Crew: 40% off

J. Crew Factory: 60% off everything

Kate Spade: 30% off full-priced items and 40% off sale items with the code MOREJOY

Kendra Scott: 20% off everything with the code YELLOW20

Lilly Pulitzer: Gifts with any purchase (plus a new mystery gift every hour!)

Tory Burch: 30% off orders of $250+ with code THANKS

Tuckernuck: 20% everything, 25% off orders of $500+, 30% off orders $1000+ with the code GONUTS

Vineyard Vines: 25% off everything and 40% off sale items with the code HOLIDAY17

Are you shopping today? What are your favorite sales? Let me know in the comments!

My Chic Week: November 17-23

Happy Saturday y'all! So sorry this post is going up later than usual as it's Saturday instead of Friday but I decided to spend my Thanksgiving eating lots of yummy food and spending time with my family but I'm back to blogging!

It's been so great to spend this break at home with my family and it's crazy that I'll be back in Clemson tomorrow- thankfully the ACC championship is in Charlotte next weekend and Christmas isn't too far away either (telling myself that to get through finals haha!).

On Friday, I only wound up having two of my classes as one canceled, which was so nice! A bunch of friends and I went to the dining hall for lunch, which is always a blast, and then I went and deep cleaned my room.

Friday night, we had our Service Event for Theta so I went to help with that to see how to do my job next year! Afterwards, I went to dinner with my big, her sister who was visiting Clemson that weekend, and a few other of our sorority sisters, which was so much fun!

Saturday was our last home football game of the year and we played the Citadel. Since it was a noon game, I stopped by a friend's tailgate and then we headed over to the stadium to watch the Tigers take home another win.

The rest of my day was really laid back as I grabbed dinner with a friend and then we just hung out!

Sunday morning, I slept in before starting to pack up my bags for Thanksgiving Break. I had officer transitions for my new role in Theta and then worked on the blog and some homework before going to chapter. After chapter, we had a sisterhood Friendsgiving event, which was so much fun!

Since I decided to head home on Monday, I had my last two classes before break on Monday and then loaded up my car to head on home! I dropped my big, her sister, and another one of our sorority sisters off at the airport along the way and then was back home in Charlotte! I had dinner with the family and then went to barre.

Tuesday morning, I was able to sleep in before running a few errands and going to barre. I picked the little boys I nanny up from school that afternoon and it was so great to spend some time with them! We made cake pops and I'm so excited to see them when I get home for Christmas.

I had a doctor's appointment Wednesday morning and then my extended family came into town that afternoon. I took a Pure Empower class, which is the cardio class offered at Pure Barre studios, later that day and then had dinner with my family!

My family decided to do a Turkey Trot this Thanksgiving, which was interesting as I am definitely not a runner. It was a great way to get moving (especially before all the food that would come later in the day haha) and the weather was perfect!

I then got ready for the day and then we started cooking dinner! I always love Thanksgiving as we watched the parade, relaxed, and then ate dinner, which was amazing. After dinner, we watched Elf to get into the Christmas Spirit.

I'm planning on sharing a full post on Cyber Monday sales on Monday but for now, I wanted to share a few of my favorite sales:

Draper James: 25% off with code MERRY

Evelyn Henson: 20% off with code DECKTHEWALLS

J. Crew: 40% off and free shipping with code THANKU

J. Crew Factory: 50% off

Lilly Pulitzer: Gifts with Purchase!

Tory Burch: 30% off orders of $250 or more with code THANKS

Vineyard Vines: 25% off everything with code HOLIDAY17

This week on the blog:

My Chic Week: November 10-16 ⎢Ladylike in Vineyard Vines ⎢25 Little Things I Love ⎢Thankful

Happy Friday!

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving y'all! Just popping in real quick- hope y'all's days are full of food and spending time with family. I share a version of this post every year but I love sharing a post to reflect on all of what I have to be thankful for, not just this time of year, but every day as well!

image via this blog post

I'm so thankful to be able to spend this holiday at home with my family, especially after a semester away at Clemson. I'm so thankful to be able to go such an amazing college and to have had made such great friends! I am truly blessed in the friendships I have formed in my sorority, on my hall, and in my classes and can't imagine spending my fall semester any other way!

After a semester away, I have definitely come to recognize how thankful I am for the little things at home- not having to walk 15 minutes to get to my car, having Target super close, seeing my puppies, being able to do laundry without it taking a crazy long time, a fridge full of food, and, of course, my family!

And of course, I am so grateful for blogging and all of the opportunities it has brought me so far! I am so blessed to have all of y'all who follow Chic in Carolina and who are so supportive!

Happy Thanksgiving!

25 Little Things I Love

Happy Wednesday y'all! I was deciding on what blog post to write for today, I looked at my list of ideas for when I'm running out of ideas and decided to share 25 little things I love. Especially with Thanksgiving right around the corner (aka tomorrow!), this is a great way to think of all the little things I love that I may overlook on an everyday basis and also for y'all to get to know me a bit better!

image via this post

1. Having time to sit down with a cup of coffee

2. The smell of Christmas trees

3. Lime LaCroix

4. The feeling of a fresh hair cut

5. Retail therapy

6. Pure Barre classes

7. Getting a good parking spot in the Clemson parking lot (#collegeproblems)

8. Going to bed early

9. Not having to wake up with an alarm

10. Lilly dresses + Jack Rogers

11. Rewatching Gossip Girl for the millionth time

12. Getting out of class early

13. A well-placed monogram

14. Matching pajamas

15. A good Spotify playlist

16. Trips to Target

17. Having my bed made

18. A cozy cashmere cardigan in the winter

19. Freshly painted nails

20. Little kids

21. Beach days

22. A fully checked off to-do list

23. Seeing a puppy on campus

24. Or even better, seeing my puppies!

25. Macarons

So tell me, what are some little things you love?

Ladylike in Vineyard Vines

When Riley and I went to Greenville a few weekends ago (which you can read about here), we stopped into the cutest boutique, The Pink Bee, that sells Lilly and Vineyard Vines plus a bunch of other preppy brands. I wound up absolutely loving this dress and knew I had to bring it home with me!

I've already worn it for an interview and my field placement and can think of a million other occasions to wear it for. When I tried it on, I told Riley that it totally reminded me of something that Kate Middleton would wear and if that's not motivation enough, I don't know what is!

Since the dress is so chic and ladylike, I decided to style it pretty simply with my Lilly wedges (I wore them for recruitment and they're the best) and simple jewelry!

Dress: Vineyard Vines Wedges: Lilly Pulitzer Sunglasses: Kate Spade (similar) Watch: Kate Spade

Pictures by Riley of Northern Prepster

My Chic Week: November 10-16

Happy Monday y'all! I am so excited for today as I'm heading home for Thanksgiving Break! Just need to make it through two classes and then I'm on the road.

I realized last Tuesday that the rest of last week was going to be busier than I expected it to be so that's why I haven't been posting- I'm planning on scheduling lots of content when I'm home though so get excited for that!

Friday was a fairly normal day of classes with grabbing lunch at the dining hall after my math class. After class on Friday, a few sorority sisters and I went to a tailgate that Clemson Panhellenic was hosting on the Greek Quad. Each sorority (we have 13!) set up a tent and you could go from tent to tent learning more about each sorority and getting food from each tent! It was a lot of fun and we then went in downtown Clemson to do a bit of shopping and eat an early dinner.

We played Florida State two weekends ago and it was a 3:30 game so I met up with my big to get food and then head over to the game as we had tickets in the same section of the stadium. It wound up being a bit of a nail biter at the end but thankfully Clemson pulled out a win!

After the game ended, I hung out on my sorority's hall for a bit and then went downtown to get pizza for dinner. We wound up going back to the hall afterwards, which was a lot of fun!

Sunday morning, I went to Church with a friend and then we stopped at Publix afterwards to do a grocery run. We both had to go to a speaker for our sorority afterwards, which wound up being really interesting! Since we only had a hour between the speaker and chapter, we just grabbed Starbucks.

After chapter, I had dinner with my sorority family and then worked on some homework!

Monday was a typical Monday for me with going to class, spending time in the library, doing my laundry, and then a meeting in the afternoon.

Tuesday morning, I had my field placement in the classroom and then headed to my Biology class afterwards. We wound up getting out of class earlier than usual so I went to Chick-fil-a with some friends in the class (we go a little too often haha!)

I stopped by my dorm to grab a few things and then did a few errands in downtown Clemson. I decided to camp out in a local coffee shop to get a few things done and couldn't resist a latte and a cookie while I was there.

I then had my Sociology class and headed to the gym afterwards. I had a math test on Wednesday so I spent some time studying for that.

Wednesday was spent doing some more studying for my test in between class and then also in Bio lab that afternoon! My small group for Church meets on Wednesday nights so that was a lot of fun.

Thursday morning, I was able to sleep in before my first class, which was amazing. I then had class, studied in the library, and then went to my second class of the day.

One of the girls on my hall had her birthday on Thursday so a group of us went out to dinner that night to celebrate, which was a lot of fun!

I decided that instead of sharing what's On my Radar both today and then on Friday, I will share a Weekend Reading post this Saturday so stay tuned for that!

Last Week on Chic in Carolina:

Weekends in Greenville ⎢Staying in Touch with Long Distance Friends

Happy Monday!

Staying in Touch with Long Distance Friends

This post has been on my content calendar for a while as I think it's something a lot of college kids deal with as they transition to high school to college: keeping in touch with high school friends. For a bit of a reference, I went to a small high school where I went to elementary, middle, and high school with most of my grade and now go to Clemson University, which is a large public school in South Carolina.

My friends and I all wound up going to different high schools around the East Coast, the closest of my friends being at USC (which is still 2.5 hours from Clemson!). It's definitely an adjustment going from seeing all of your high school friends every day at school (well I didn't see Riley in high school so our friendship has always been long-distance haha!) but it is definitely possible to remain friendships, even if you go to different colleges that are far away, so I wanted to share some tricks and tips that have come in handy.

Utilize Social Media

Even if I haven't talked to one of my friends in a while, I love keeping up with what they're doing through social media. As much as we all have a love/hate relationship, it's great for long-distance friendships as you see what they've been up to without asking "what are you up" every day.

Remember the Little Things

Maybe it's seeing their favorite food in the dining hall and texting them about it. Or maybe sending them a congrats text for their sorority initiation. This is such an easy way to stay in touch and also helps your friend feel loved (and who doesn't love a fun message from a friend)

Make time to Check in (whether on FaceTime or a quick text message)

I love texting but sometimes talking on the phone is the best way to catch up. I feel like you're able to say a lot more than the typical "hey, what are you up" and have a real conversation, which is so important for staying in touch. Since college can get busy, I sometimes try to schedule a time to catch up or just send them a text message saying that I just got out of class and can catch up if they have time!

Remember Birthdays

I absolutely love celebrating my friends on their birthdays. I know that there is nothing better than receiving texts from friends on your birthday and it's such an easy way to stay in touch (or reconnect if you haven't talked in a while). Writing them a letter or sending them a package of a little gift or some of their favorite candy is also a great idea!

Don't be afraid to reach out

College is busy- you're suddenly overwhelmed with class, homework, projects, and tests as well as clubs and making new friends. It's easy to forget to text or call friends from home but putting in the extra mile is so so important. I know for me that nothing cheers up a crazy day like talking to a friend and catching up can help cure homesickness for both of y'all too!

Accept that your relationship will probably change

I'm not saying that your high school friends aren't your friends anymore but it's harder to develop a friendship when you're hundreds of miles apart, especially after years of seeing each other practically every day. Your everyday texts may get a bit more sparse and you will find your own friends in college but these things can help strengthen your friendship if you put the work into it.

How do you stay in touch with friends that live far away? Let me know in the comments!

Weekends in Greenville

When Riley came to visit a few weekends back (which you can read more about here), we went on a mini road trip to Greenville, South Carolina for the day. If you're not familiar with the area, Clemson is a pretty small town outside of the college, of course, but Greenville is the nearest city and is about 45 minutes away. It's small compared to Charlotte but is so so cute so I knew Riley and I had to make the trip and spend the day there!

It wound up being on the warmer side that weekend so I decided to wear this super cute Anthropologie top I got while I was home over fall break. Even though my style is still very preppy, this look is a bit more casual and I see how going to school at Clemson has influenced my style.

Top: Anthropologie Jeans: Lucky Brand (similar) Flats: Kate Spade Purse: Longchamp Sunglasses: Kate Spade (similar) Fitbit

Photos by Riley of Northern Prepster