Kate Spade New York Home Collection Favorites

Oh my goodness y'all! Kate Spade released a home collection and it is to. die. for. I love how chic and fun all Kate Spade products are and the home collection definitely does not disappoint! I honestly can picture myself choosing a few items for my future dorm or even home (a long ways away though!). Since it is Kate Spade, the items are very pricey but they are so so so pretty! Can't you just imagine filling your apartment with these pieces (#goals)?

Anyways, the pieces are just way too cute for their own good so I decided to round up my favorites from the collection to share with y'all!

navy and white dining set pink striped pillow

this is the life pillow odds and ends jewelry dish turquoise scalloped bedding

tan and navy striped rug gold dotted vase hot pink chair

What are your thoughts on the Kate Spade home collection? Let me know in the comments!

Lilly Pulitzer Resort Collection

I feel like I say it every season but Lilly Pulitzer has done it again. I received the lookbook of the resort collection a few weeks ago and it is all so gorgeous! Definitely makes me want to book the next flight to a sunny beach! Safe to say I was excited for last Thursday when the first shipment (Lilly lingo for part) of the collection arrived in stores and online!

I am so excited to try on my favorites in store this weekend but until then I have gathered my favorites to share with y'all (and knowing me, I'll love absolutely everything once I see it in person #byebyewallet)

iona shift dress caftan dress navy, white, plus pink striped dress

shift dress tank top swing dress

What are your favorites from the Resort collection? Let me know in the comments!

My Chic Week October 9-15

Thank goodness it's Friday! This has been such a weird week because of the PSAT and the schedule because of that, meaning I thought it was Friday yesterday which was a total bummer!

Friday was quite a busy day since I had a bunch of quizzes during school and then an essay due that night! I was supposed to have my usual babysitting job after school but at the last minute, I wound up having the afternoon off which was perfect for writing and editing my essay! I also babysat that night which was great since I got a lot done!

Saturday morning, I slept in and then my dad and I had some errands to run! We also went to one of my favorite restaurants for lunch! I came home and spent some of the afternoon doing homework and then just hung around the house since it was rainy and gross all day! My family and I went to Saturday night Mass followed by a yummy dinner of fajitas at home. We also went over to my neighbor's to go see their adorable puppies!

southern charm elsa top hot pink cardigan

The puppies are too cute and I may or may not have a gazillion pictures of the puppies and I (and maybe some selfies with the puppies?)

On Sunday, I slept in and worked on homework during the morning and then spent the afternoon babysitting 2 of my favorite kiddos! We went to a little fall festival in their neighborhood and probably the highlight of that for them was the hay ride around the neighborhood, which was so fun!

Monday was pretty normal during the day but was slightly crazy after school. I had a lot of homework and my Faith Formation class. I also had a Bio test to study for so I was pretty busy Monday night! On Tuesday, I had a Service Committee Meeting followed by an afternoon full of a Bio test then a quiz! After school, I mainly just studied for the PSAT.

On Wednesday, we took the PSAT at my school and then spent the afternoon playing wifleball with shaving cream in the balls in our households (there's 4 households that have 5 advisories or homerooms in them!) which was a lot of fun but oh my gosh, it was so hot out! That night, I didn't have a lot of homework, which was so nice!

Thursday wasn't anything super crazy as I had school all day along with a Service Committee meeting followed by homework!

Now for what's on my radar:

1. Lilly Pulitzer just released the first shipment of the Resort line and it is gorgeous! The whole entire collection this season is perfection! Be on the lookout for a post with my favorites next week!

2. The PSATs were this week so of course a plethora of tweets were made about it! They are so funny!

3. I've been loving Shannon's travel posts about her semester abroad in Italy! Makes me want to catch the next flight to Europe!

4. Love this navy and white striped dress styled by Caitlin and it's under $100!

5. I'm trying to schedule new posts and I'm curious if y'all have any posts you'd love to see! Either leave me a comment below or send me an email at chicincarolina@gmail.com!

Be sure to check out my posts from this week:

Laptop Organization, Homecoming Dresses, Pumpkin Recipe Roundup, Being Productive While Stressed Out

What have you been up to this week? What's on your radar? Let me know in the comments!

Being Productive While Stressed Out

I'm going to be honest with y'all: junior year is currently kicking my butt. Granted, I do have a very heavy courseload but it seems that my life has been Go, Go, Go these past few weeks! It's almost the end of the quarter (um, wasn't yesterday August?) so I have had a lot of tests and assignments due lately. And with the more stuff I have to study for and accomplish, the more I get stressed out! This has been the reason for the lack of Instagram posts and blog posts going up late!

Anyways, my rant on stress is over and one good thing that has come out of the rigor of this school year is I have found new ways to help get work done even though it might be the most stressful week ever!

Promise Yourself a Treat

I love promising myself to a treat on Fridays. Whether that be leaving 10 minutes early for school to grab a PSL or splurging on that dress you have been swooning over, it is definitely a good motivation to get to Friday and finish all of your work! On a more daily level, I love promising myself an episode of Gossip Girl for finishing my homework!

Wave Sounds are your new BFF

Sounds so weird but if you're ever in a loud room trying to do your work, look up Wave Sounds on Youtube (this one is my favorite and it's 11 hours!). It drones out outside noise and the wave sounds aren't distracting at all. I find they actually calm me down (I listen to them all the time while writing in-class essays), which is definitely beneficial when stressed!

Beauty Rest is Key!

Prioritize your sleep! Only stay up as late as you absolutely need to! Without sleep, I am definitely crankier so in order to get the most done, I always try to go to sleep at a decent hour!

Spend a few minutes to organize your Agenda

Take a minute or two and simply write down your tasks for the day or add new events to your monthly calendar! This usually helps me to better visualize what's due when. See how I organize mine here!

Breathe

For the "I'm never going to finish and I'm going to fail moments", just take a deep breathe. It might not seem like it now but it will turn out exactly how it needs to! Take a breathe, calm down, and kick that assignment's booty!

Talk It Out

Whether it be your mom or a friend, I find it so helpful to talk about whatever is stressing you out! A few minutes can help to realize that this one assignment isn't going to affect your whole life or that your friend is feeling the same way about the situation (pretty sure the whole junior class is stressed 95% of the time, which is sometimes good to remember!).

Take a (small) Break

I usually allow myself to take a break of checking Insta, Twitter, or Pinterest after completing one thing off of my to-do list! I actually wrote one of my earliest posts on this so check it out here!

Make Time for Friends

One of the ways I do this is unless I have a meeting, I always make time to have lunch with my friends. Instead of getting 45 minutes ahead on an assignment, I give myself a little break to enjoy lunch and usually wind up laughing the whole entire time, which, in my opinion, is worth it! Another way to do this is to take a few minutes from studying and text (or call!) a friend!

What are your tips for getting stuff done while stressed out? Let me know in the comments!

Pumpkin Recipe Roundup

When I think of fall, I think of pumpkins. Pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, and Pumpkin Spice Lattes are all staples in my fall diet. And of course, being the Pinterest addict that I am (follow me here), I find myself pinning a gazillion pumpkin recipes during the fall months! I literally have so much that it's overwhelming so I decided to roundup all of the pumpkin recipes that I'm dying to try this fall!

Starbucks Copycat Pumpkin Scones

I love scones and these pumpkin ones look amazing!

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

I made this cupcakes for Thanksgiving two years ago and let me tell you, they are amazing!

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Waffles

These waffles look amazing and would be perfect for a casual Saturday morning breakfast. Not to mention, they are healthier (under 400 calories for 2 waffles) which is a total win in my book!

Pumpkin Oreo Cheesecake Bars

All I can say about this recipe is yum!

Mini Pumpkin Layer Cakes

These are too cute! Could you imagine making each guest their own for Thanksgiving dinner?

Mini Pumpkin Sugar Pumpkin Muffins

These having been on my must-bake list for years (no joke) and I am determined to make them this fall!

Chocolate Pumpkin Bars

I love chocolate and I love pumpkin and this looks the perfect combination of the two!

What are your favorite pumpkin recipes for fall? Let me know in the comments!

Homecoming Dresses

It's been fall for awhile now and along with all the typical fall thing (Pumpkin Spice Lattes anybody?) also comes a very important event for high schoolers: homecoming. I don't know if y'all have already had your homecoming dances but my school's is very soon I figured I would share some dress ideas!

My school does homecoming a bit different because 1. we don't have a football team and 2. this the first year we can officially have a homecoming because we now have alumni! Our homecoming is planned to be the Saturday after the first Friday night basketball game (since we don't have football yet!) so it will be a bit later in the fall than most school's are.

I've been wanting to buy a dress for homecoming probably since my freshmen year when I realized we didn't have homecoming back then. The problem with typical homecoming dresses are they are short, poofy, sparkly and you probably wouldn't have another event to wear the dress to! I gathered a bunch of dresses (at different prices) that you can truly get your moneys worth since you can wear them not only to homecoming but also to nice dinners, for the holidays, parties, weddings, the list continues!

pink fit and flare bow back (under $60) black lace (under $75)

navy lace coral strapless lilly trapeze dress

What are you wearing for Homecoming? Let me know in the comments!

Laptop Organization

I've shared with y'all how I organize for school and how I organize my agenda, but I haven't shown y'all how I organize my laptop. My school provides each student with a MacBook Air that we use in class and for assignments. I've pretty much found out the way to organize that is the most effective for me so I thought I would share!

First of all I have three different windows so that way I can have multiple assignments on my screen at the same time. I also keep my calendar in full screen all the time so I have easy access to it!

I currently have this cute print that says Happy Fall Y'all as one of my backgrounds. I keep three different to do lists in my sticky notes (one regular to-do, one for homework, and one keeping track of long-term assignments). Also, on the side you can see my folders that I keep all of my documents in!

I have one folder for each class, a folder for the Service Committee I serve on, and then a folder for everything else! (the desktop image is a Gossip Girl quote- it doesn't randomly say Girl!)

How I organize each folder really depends on the class as some of my classes I don't have a lot of online work or we use Google Docs for everything! I typically keep the folders organize by chapter (or in the case of AP Lit- by book).

 In addition to using my Lilly agenda to keep track of dates, I also use iCal. I color-code according to class and activity!

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