Routines to Develop in College

I feel like here on Chic in Carolina, it's no secret that I love organization. I was "the organized one" out of my high school friends and nothing makes me happier than a clean room, a well-planned out agenda, and a to-do. I would say that routines definitely fall into that so I wanted to share some routines I find helpful to establish in college!

image via my Instagram

Make your Bed
Until I re-did my bedroom at home a few summers back, I would never make my bed (I know...) but now, I can't leave my room for the morning without making it. Even if you do nothing else, I feel that making your bed makes everything feel more put-together and who doesn't love feeling put-together at the start of the day?

Laundry
One of the oddest adjustments in college for me is going from having a washer and dryer in my house to having mine be in the basement of my building. I pick a day once a week (last semester it was Monday afternoons) to get all of my laundry (clothes, whites, sheets, and towels) done and it helps so much with planning as I know I will have clean clothes ready to go!

Workout
Admittedly I need to work on this one but I find working out to be a good stress reliever after a busy day of classes. I'm trying to be better about working out a few times each week so that way I can get all the physical and mental benefits from it.

Bedtime
One thing I've realized about college is that literally everyday is different. One day, I have a ton of work to do while others, I have practically none. Sometimes I'll have plans whether it's a mixer or just hanging out with friends while sometimes I watch Netflix and get to bed early(ish). Even if the time isn't consistent, I've found that having the same bedtime routine to be really helpful and I'll be sharing that in an upcoming blog post!

Stocking up on the Essentials
At most colleges, freshman park their cars the furthest away, which sometimes makes things inconvenient if you want to quickly run an errand. I've found that timing out when I go to Publix to stock up on groceries to be helpful as I'll typically go on a Sunday after church or another time when I'm using my car!

Cleaning
Once a week, I like to catch up on cleaning and vacuuming my room rather than doing it all at once. I usually do this over the weekend (but vacuum throughout the week as small spaces get dirty quicker!) and I've found it helps me stay on top of things!

Calling Home
I usually call my mom once a day to quickly catch up on how our days went but I also like to call home on Sundays so I can catch up with my whole family as my dad may be traveling or my siblings are off with their friends or doing homework during the week. I've found that this makes the transition from high school to college easier and it's a great way to start off your week!

Planning for the Day (or Week) Ahead
Earlier this week, I shared how I organize my Day Designer agenda but once a week (usually Sunday), I try to sit down and plan out the week so I feel better prepared. Then before I go to bed each day, I'll update my agenda and to-do lists. Doing a little more work upfront helps me not feel so frazzled throughout the day!

What are some other routines that I missed? Let me know in the comments!

Lately...

When I was planning out my blog posts for this week, I realized it had been quite a while since I shared a "Lately" post with y'all! So long that the last time I shared one was back in October (!!!) and obviously a lot has happened since then.

For all of y'all who may be newer to Chic in Carolina, every once in a while I share a "Lately" post which is a way for me to catch up with y'all on what has been going on more in my day-to-day life, which I always find so fun to read on other blogs!

image via my Instagram

Drinking...
Vanilla Lattes! These are my go-to coffee drink and I love the Starbucks K-Cup Lattes for the dorm and then, of course, to get them at Starbucks and coffee shops! I always find going back to Vanilla Lattes oddly refreshing after a few months of holiday drinks at Starbucks haha.

Listening... 
to Ed Sheeran's "divide" and Taylor Swift's "reputation" while I study and do homework!

Wearing... 
this poncho from Tuckernuck! It's such a steal and literally feels like you're wearing a blanket that is acceptable to wear in public!

Loving...

that I've gotten into more of a routine for the semester! I always find that the first few weeks of the semester are a bit weird as you're not set into your routine yet but I think that I'm starting to settle into mine!

Reading... 
Emily Ley's A Simplified Life. I have admittedly been reading this since Christmas (I'm really bad about reading for fun when I'm at school) but I really like it so far as there's so many practical things to learn from the book!

Watching... 
The Bachelor! I've been watching the episodes on Tuesdays since I can't live stream from my computer with the ABC Go app but I think that this season has been so interesting so far!

Needing... 
to be better about working out! I am so good about working out when I'm home as my Pure Barre studio is a 5 minute drive away but now that I'm at school my closest Pure Barre studio is 45 minutes away and the gym is a far walk (excuses excuses haha!). I definitely want to work out at least three times a week, whether it's going to the gym or streaming a barre workout in my room.

Excited... 

for upcoming travel! Riley and I have a day trip to Charleston planned, then I have a spring break trip to Charleston with a friend who lives there, and then I will be traveling to Florida for Easter with my family!

Wanting... 

All of Vineyard Vines's new arrivals! So much navy and white!

What have you been up to lately? Let me know in the comments!

How I Organize my Day Designer Agenda

Happy Monday y'all! I figured that we would start things off on an organized note here on the blog today as I'm *drumroll please* sharing how I organize my Day Designer agenda!

All throughout high school, I loved and swore by the Lilly Pulitzer agenda (I used the large freshman-junior years and then the jumbo senior year) but when I started college last fall, I wanted to try out the Day Designer for so long. It offers a page for each day with a big to-do list and then time slots from 5 AM to 9 PM. Since my daily routine was so structured in high school (went to school, nannied, went to barre, etc.), I felt like the Day Designer wouldn't be as practical as a huge chunk of my day would be titled as school. When I was getting my agenda for the fall, I decided to try out the Day Designer (this is the one I have) and *spoiler alert* I love it!

On the monthly view, I like to write down major events and due dates that I have going on. I love love love color coding so I use the color that I assigned to the "category" that it belongs to (I have a color for each class, social events, Theta, and Clemson to name a few!). For my agenda, I really like using Le Pens as they write really well and the colors are so cute!

This is the daily page in my agenda and I love how much space that it has to write everything you need down. I always write down my classes that I have each day and then if I have anything due or an exam, I write that to the side.

The to-do list is another much-used spot as I use it to keep track of everything and anything. I also use the "top 3" to write down big assignments or events of the day! The Day Designer also has a section for Due/Dinner/Dollars/Don't Forget, which I use on a day by day basis depending on what's going on!

The weekend section is a bit different as Saturday and Sunday are both on the same page but I don't mind as my weekends typically aren't as crazy or I write homework I need to do on Friday's to do list. I do love that there's a section for you to look at your week ahead as I find that helpful in terms of planning and get organized for the week!

How do you organize your agenda? Let me know in the comments!

My Chic Week: January 19-26

Happy Friday y'all! This week was my first full week of classes of the semester (first day of class was on a Wednesday so that was a half week and then we had MLK Day and snow days last week!) and it is crazy to believe that I've been back on campus for almost two weeks now!

It's been a little rough getting back into the swing of things after nearly a month of and then a week of pretty much no homework because of syllabus week but I'm super excited for the semester ahead and all the fun things it will bring!

I only have two classes on Friday, which is a great way to end the week! I had lunch at the dining hall with friends and then wound up grabbing ice cream at the ice cream shop on campus with another friend, which was so delicious! We wound up binge-watching Netflix, which was such a fun low-key Friday!

Saturday morning, my sorority had a sisterhood pancakes and pajamas event, which was so much fun! It was so good to have a real hot breakfast and then relax and catch up with some of my sorority sisters.

I spent the rest of the day being pretty productive and then went to Saturday night Mass!

I slept in on Sunday morning before doing a few things and tidying up my room. I am the service director this year for my sorority, meaning that I hold an officer position so we had Theta officer training Sunday afternoon. It was really informative and left me inspired for the year ahead in my position. After training, we had our weekly chapter meeting then I went to dinner and then the library with a few friends.

Monday was a fresh new week and starting my classes for the week- nothing too crazy to report! My sorority has bible study on Monday nights so I went to that and grabbed dinner with a sorority sister after. Riley and I then caught up over FaceTime for two hours before I had to go to a meeting!

I had class and my physical science lab Tuesday morning, which is great as I'm done for the day super early but it makes 11 AM feel like 2 PM haha! I went to the gym and then lunch with a friend then got a lot of homework done!

Wednesdays are definitely my busiest day of the week as I have four out of my five classes. Thankfully, I'm able to sleep in a bit before my first two classes start in the later morning. After my math class, my friends and I always head to the dining hall, which is always a fun way to catch up with them!

I then worked on some homework before grabbing coffee before my Spanish class. I have around a hour between my Spanish and my Public Speaking class so I used that time to polish up my speech and then eat a weirdly timed snack as my class doesn't end till 8 PM! I'm planning on sharing a "Day in my Life" post for this semester soon but I have public speaking once a week from 5-8 PM, so usually we give a speech each class period. After the class ended, I decided catching up on the Bachelor and an early (ish) bedtime was in order!

Thursday mornings are another early one with my 8 AM class but thankfully after that I am done for the day! I did my laundry right after class and then got some work done before grabbing lunch with a friend.

We decided to go off-campus to study for the afternoon in a coffee shop and it was so nice to switch up my environment and get some work done (plus lattes and chocolate-peanut butter cake never hurt right?).

Thursday night, I met up with Ashley of A Little Ashley and Elizabeth of Life of Me, Queen B for dinner at a local barbecue restaurant near Clemson that is a favorite amongst Clemson students. They were both shocked I haven't been yet even though barbecue is seriously one of my favorite foods! It was so fun catching up with both of them and, of course, enjoying some delicious barbecue!

On my Radar:

1. I've been trying to be more consistent with posting on Instagram (once a day!) so be sure to follow me!

2. Riley shared how she organized her agenda on her blog and y'all know I love organization

3. I'm thinking of wearing this outfit that I styled last week on the blog for my sorority's Founder's Day celebration tomorrow!

4. Love Catherine's tips for doing well your first semester of college!

5. I'm definitely starting to feel ready for spring (and warm weather!) so cute spring clothes have definitely been on my mind this week. Some of my favorites are this top, this dress, this skort, this bikini (on sale!), and this scalloped version of one of my favorite skirts!

On the blog:

My Favorite Winter Sweater ⎢What's in my Backpack ⎢Lilly Dresses & Vanilla Lattes

Happy Friday!

Lilly Dresses & Vanilla Lattes

When it comes down to it, I would definitely say that I'm a dress girl. Even though, I don't dress up as often as I did in high school now that I'm in college (usually you can find me in leggings and a sorority tee haha!), I still love those rare times when I do get to dress up whether it's for class or for sorority chapter meetings.

Lilly Pulitzer is pretty much my go-to for dresses as they are simply gorgeous and have dresses perfect for all occasions. I received this dress for Christmas and love that it is perfect for casual wear but can also be dressed up a bit with a fun necklace and a cardigan!

Dress: Lilly Pulitzer Riding Boots: Tory Burch (similar) Sunglasses: Kate Spade (similar) Necklace: Kendra Scott Purse: Louis Vuitton (less expensive here)

Thanks for reading!

What's in My Backpack

Happy Wednesday y'all! Sorry for the lack of a blog post yesterday- things are starting to pick up in my classes for the semester and I didn't wind up having enough time to finish up this post to have it published for y'all!

Now that I'm back at Clemson and getting back in the swing of things schedule-wise, I wanted to share what I normally keep in my backpack for a day of classes. I was a tote bag girl all throughout high school but decided that for college, I wanted to switch things up and get a traditional backpack as you're on the go so much more in college and it's easier to carry around campus! I wound up getting a Northface backpack and it has held up well (a problem I had with old backpacks) and holds a lot in it!

Binders for Class- One thing that I have learned about myself is that binders work really well for me! I currently do a binder per class but in high school, I did a binder for my morning classes and then a binder for my afternoon classes. I find that binders are the easiest as I simply toss in my morning ones for my early classes and then swap them out later in the afternoon when I'm pack in my dorm!

Laptop- I feel like this one is kinda obvious but definitely a college essential! I use my computer all the time and I just got a case for it on Amazon that I could put stickers on!

Day Designer Agenda- My agenda holds my life together most days so I definitely like to have it with me so I can quickly add dates to my calendar or an item to my to-do list! I will be sharing an agenda organization post soon (I promise!) so be on the lookout for that!

Umbrella- One of my friends here at Clemson keeps her umbrella in her backpack all the time and after being jealous a few too many times when a sudden rain storm hit (or I forget to check the weather haha!) I decided to keep my umbrella with me and I can't tell y'all how helpful it is!

Pencil Pouch- I keep all my pens and pencils in an old Vera Bradley makeup bag just for convenience as it isn't very practical to have a gazillion pens, markers, highlighters, or whatever lying around your bag. My favorites are the Pilot G-2 for note-taking in class and then Le Pens for color coding my agenda!

Granola Bar- I always keep a granola bar on hand in my bag (I usually do this with my purses too!) in case of emergencies, whether it's I'm unusually hungry in between classes or something came up and I need to eat something quickly!

Headphones- I like using my Beats when I'm watching Netflix in my dorm but I feel the headphones are the best for carrying around for day-to-day use whether it's listening to music while studying in the library or watching a video in-between classes.

Water Bottle- I always try to drink a lot of water and carrying a water bottle around with me is so helpful, especially since Clemson has so many water bottle filters around campus! Mine is a Lilly Pulitzer S'well, which sadly isn't available but I also love this Swell and this Swell.

Sunglasses (similar)- Another instance of being prepared for all weather but I like to keep my sunglasses with me just in case it's sunny and also so I have a consistent spot for them to be!

Lip balm- My lips get so dry during the winter so having lip balm is so handy to have with me during the day so I don't forget to reapply!

Wallet (in black)- I like to be pretty prepared throughout the day so having my wallet on hand is pretty handy!

Calculator- Another essential item that I like to keep on hand just in case!

What do you keep in your backpack? Let me know in the comments!

My Favorite Winter Sweater

Happy Monday y'all! I'm ready to start the new week fresh and what better way to do that than with a new outfit post! I received this Lilly Pulitzer sweater as a Christmas gift and it is so gorgeous (and comfortable). Even though it was unusually warm over the weekend in Clemson, I'm sure colder weather won't take too long to come back (gotta love the Carolinas!) and this sweater is perfect for that.

I love that this sweater, paired with my Barbour jacket, looks so classic and put-together yet is so easy to throw on whether it's for class during the week or church or brunch on the weekend!

Sweater: Lilly Pulitzer Jacket: Barbour Jeans: Lucky Brand (similar and on sale!) Riding Boots: Tory Burch (similar) Sunglasses: Kate Spade (similar) Necklace: Kendra Scott Purse: Louis Vuitton (less expensive here)

Thanks for reading!

My Chic Week: January 12-18

Happy Friday y'all! This week seemed to go by faster than usual as we had Monday off for Martin Luther King Day and two snow days thrown in there as well. Even though the week went by pretty quickly, I'm excited for the weekend ahead even though I don't have anything crazy planned!

Friday was a fairly busy day as I had two classes in the morning and then went to lunch with some friends. I had something to return to the bookstore (gotta love dealing with textbooks!) and then walked across campus to drop something off at my big's and then to pick up my mail. I decided I needed a latte before trekking across campus in the rain (haha) and wound up running into one of my friends who needed to walk to my side of campus, which was convenient as we walked back together!

That night, I went to dinner with a friend and then grabbed ice cream with her!

Saturday was a pretty laid back day as I slept in and then relaxed, which was nice after getting into the swing of things earlier that week with classes and all. My big and I went out to dinner and hung out that night, which was a lot of fun as we caught up about what happened over break!

Sunday morning, I slept in again and then wound up getting some work done in the library in the afternoon to get ahead for the week!

On Monday, two of my friends and I took a day trip to Greenville to properly use our day off of school and it was so much fun to walk around and explore.

First, we went to brunch at Tandem in Traveler's Rest. Riley and I had brunch here when she visited back in November (which you can read about here) and it was so good that I knew we had to come back for brunch. I had the cinnamon roll crepe and the vanilla latte, which were both amazing!

We then headed into Greenville to do some shopping and walking around! Anthropologie was first on our list and I loved this dress! It was a tad bit long on me but I still thought it was super cute.

dress

In the middle of Greenville is a park with a bridge over the river (not like you can tell with this picture haha!) so we stopped by to take some pictures and happened to run into another one of our sorority sisters who was taking pictures with one of her hall mates. We wound up taking a few pictures together and catching up a little bit.

my jacket & sweater

We then walked over to the Chocolate Moose for a mid-afternoon treat, which was delicious as always, before heading back to Clemson!

Tuesday morning, I was up bright and early for my 8 AM class and then managed to be fairly productive the rest of the day, which is always a plus! I did my laundry and tidied up my room.

I had an informative meeting for my major to go to that night so one of my Elementary Ed friends and I went and then had dinner afterwards! I then caught up on the Bachelor and some blogging!

Clemson actually received a bit of snow on Wednesday so classes were canceled! I slept in before hanging out with one of my friends in the afternoon- nothing too crazy!

Clemson reopened campus at 11 on Thursday so since I only had an 8 AM that day, I had another day of no class (possibly the only perk of having your only class be an 8 AM haha!). One of my friends and I decided to go out to brunch to celebrate no class and it was so fun to get off campus for a bit and have some really yummy food!

sweater (in black, on sale!) ⎢similar jeans ⎢similar hunter boots ⎢fitbit

The rest of my day wasn't anything to crazy to share with y'all: picked up a package from the mail room, threw in a load of laundry, cleaned, and then worked on my speech outline for my public speaking class. I also had a training to go to that night and then hung out and worked on the blog for the rest of the night!

My mom was so sweet and mailed me the Christmas gift Riley sent me and my Lilly After Party Sale order as they both wound up arriving the same day I headed back to Clemson for the semester. She also sent me a few other Valentine's Day goodies that are too cute plus some homemade treats!

On my Radar:

1. If you're starting off your semester, be sure to check out these tips from Shannon on how to start off your semester right!

2. After reading Lucy's post on how to establish an Instagram theme, I downloaded the app "unum", which has been so helpful in planning my Instagram feed (something I have never been good at!) so definitely follow me over on Insta!

3. As I mentioned earlier, I received my Lilly sale goodies and I am obsessed (and ready for spring now haha!)

4. Riley shared the story of our friendship this week on her blog and I'm honestly so flattered! Love ya Ri!

5. Love these simple ways to practice self-care in 2018

On Chic in Carolina:

December Favorites ⎢My Favorite Products of 2017 ⎢101 in 1001 Update #4 ⎢A Twist on a Classic ⎢Organization Tips & Tricks for the New Year ⎢First Semester of College Recap

Happy Friday!

First Semester of College Recap

Now that we're over a week into second semester, I figured it's probably time for me to recap my first semester of college here on Chic in Carolina! If you didn't already know, I am currently a freshman at Clemson University in South Carolina and just wrapped up my first semester of college (and just started my second one!).

Clemson

I cannot tell y'all enough of how much I love Clemson. I was definitely torn in the college decision process but definitely made the right decision in coming to Clemson. Coming from a small high school (I graduated in a class of 45!), I was a little worried about finding my place in a large public school but I love that Clemson is big enough to have strong sports programs but also is small enough that campus doesn't seem overwhelming (I honestly see people I know everywhere I go!). I love how gorgeous campus is and have also been blessed with an amazing hall of girls to live with as well as great friends in my classes and my sorority!

Sorority Life

Clemson has fall recruitment, meaning I started sorority recruitment the day after moving into college. This was a bit overwhelming for the first week of school but Bid Day honestly makes it all worth it! I happily accepted a bid to Kappa Alpha Theta and have had so much fun this past semester from mixers to functions to getting to know some of my new sisters!

Football

Obviously, Clemson is a huge football school and it was so fun to go to all of the games and cheer on the Tigers with friends!

Classes

I'm an Elementary Education major here at Clemson and I was absolutely thrilled that I started taking education classes this semester (part of the reason I chose Clemson!). This past semester, I took Math for Elementary School Teachers, Introduction to Life Science, World Religions, Introduction to Sociology, and Orientation to Education!

Parent's Weekend

In September, we had parent's weekend and it was so fun being able to see my family and show them around campus! We went out to dinner in downtown Greenville on Friday night and then went to the football game and walked around campus on Saturday.

Big/Little

One of the most exciting parts of being a new member in a sorority is finding out who your big sister (big) is! In Theta, we had a week of clues and gifts and then we discovered who our bigs are on Friday afternoon, which was so exciting! I was so thrilled to find out who my big is and she has truly become of my closest college friends!

Semi-Formal

The same day as big/little reveal, we had our semi-formal as well (one exciting day amiright?). It was so fun to dress up and spend time with my sisters!

Homecoming

Homecoming at Clemson is such a fun week! All of the sororities and fraternities make floats and "pomp" our floats all week, which was so fun to do. Then on Saturday was the big homecoming football game (and I made it on Clemson's insta stories haha!).

Letter Shirt Tuesday

At Clemson, the sororities participate in Letter Shirt Tuesday, meaning the sorority girls wear their stitched letter shirts. In Theta, we aren't allowed to wear our stitched letters until we're initiated so it was so fun to wear our stitched letters for the first time for Letter Shirt Tuesday (our initiation was on a Monday). Ashley of A Little Ashley is actually a Clemson Theta too so we had to get a Letter Shirt Tuesday picture together!

Fall Break

For Fall Break, I went and visited Riley at USC, which was so fun! She is a Delta Zeta and they had a "You are What You Netflix" function that night so Riley and I dressed up as Serena and Blair! After visiting Riley, I headed back home to spend the rest of break at home with my family and to also celebrate my younger brother's birthday!

Weekend Adventures

Most fall weekends at Clemson are dedicated to football, but on weekends with away games or weekends without games, it was fun to hang out with friends! One of my friends and I went to the corn maze one weekend, which was fun too! At the end of November, my family also came down for a football game and we wound up having brunch in downtown Greenville the next day to celebrate my mom's birthday.

Riley Visits!

After visiting Riley at USC in October, she visited Clemson for a weekend in November and we had too much fun! I got to show her around Clemson and we took a day trip to explore Greenville, South Carolina, which we spent eating and shopping of course!

ACC Game in Charlotte

Clemson played in the ACC Championship again this year and since the game is in Charlotte, a few friends and I stayed at my house and went to the game. It was so fun to show my friends around my hometown and also cheer on another Tiger win in my hometown.

Thanks for reading!