Lauren James Spring Favorites

Today is the last day of February (yay!) so I thought it would be the perfect time to share with y'all my favorites from the Lauren James spring collection! I received the catalog the other day in the mail and holy moly, I wanted to order absolutely every piece (not to mention the Charleston setting of the shoot was way too pretty).

Lauren James is known for their gorgeous seersucker pieces and this collection did not disappoint. If you need me, I'll be over here trying to think of places to wear every piece to! I definitely think a few of these pieces (aka the gingham bikini and those shorts) will be in my shopping cart sooner than later ;)

bikini sticker double bow back dress

gingham dress north carolina tee

bow back dress dock + dog tee seersucker shorts

Do you love Lauren James? What is your favorite piece from the spring collection? Let me know in the comments!

My Chic Week: February 19-25

Happy, happy Friday y'all! With spring break just around the corner (literally so close), I have definitely been feeling a lot of stress from a lot of assignments and tests. Luckily, it's the weekend and I can't wait to just relax after a crazy week and I'm taking over the She Can Instagram tomorrow, get excited!

Friday was a fairly stress-free (well it wasn't very stressful, I don't think school can ever be completely stress-free) and went by fairly quickly. After school, I had a few errands to run but just relaxed at home that night, which was nice after a busy week!

Saturday was pretty relaxed as I went to the gym and ran a few errands that morning. I pretty much did homework and relaxed in the afternoon before going to Saturday night Mass with my family. After dinner, I watched The Fault in Our Stars with my sister as I saw it the night it came out in theaters and she just read the book. Safe to say we both cried a bit during the movie!

Sunday morning, I slept in super late (almost to 11 AM!) and then got ready for the day. I later picked up one of my friends and headed to Starbucks to study and catch up (honestly, it was more catching up than studying). It was so fun catching up with her and of course, having a few cups of coffee!

I realized on Monday just how busy this week would be. Of course, last week I had very minimal amounts of homework so of course this week would be insane ;). I had two, very big tests smack in the middle of the week so most of my *free* time after school was spent studying for those.

Tuesday was a fun day as I started my new nannying job for a family that I babysit for. So far, it's been a lot of fun and I am so excited to continue my nannying adventures this spring and into summer! After getting back home, I unfortunately had to study for a Pre-Calculus test.

Three key words for Wednesday was math, NHS, and APUSH (does that count as 1 word, haha?). I had my Pre-Calc test in the morning followed by lots of APUSH studying during my free period. I stayed late after school to take a math placement test for next year and then headed home to do a bit of homework before heading back to school for NHS Induction. In addition to adding new members into our chapter, I was officially inducted into my role as treasurer (which I talked about in this life catch up post). Wednesday was another late night as I continued to study for my APUSH test!

After my APUSH test first block Thursday morning, my day was so much easier. I shockingly had barely any homework which left the majority of the afternoon free for nannying and blogging!

On my radar this week:

1.Traveling! Over the next few months, I have a lot of traveling going on and I couldn't be more excited! I am heading to Winston-Salem in a few weeks for a college tour, both Florida and NYC during my Spring Break, Virginia in early May, college trips with my school to Columbia, South Carolina, Savannah, and Charleston in May, and my family's trip out to Hawaii in July! Be prepared for lots of travel themed posts and please me any recommendations for any of these areas in the comments or email me at chicincarolina@gmail.com

Charleston; image via

2. Lauren James just released their spring line and oh my goodness, it is so gorgeous! I love everything and will be doing a post on my favorites later!

3. This outfit from Ashley is way too cute!

4. I borrowed my mom's Kendra Scott pendant necklace a few times this week and I'm obsessed! I think I may need to buy one in a different color soon!

5. My week has certainly been busy school wise and I love Dorothy's post on Midterm Study Tips that also can be applied to studying in general!

Be sure to check out my posts from this past week!

Perfectly Printed (My Favorite Art Prints), Nail Colors for Spring, Tweet, Tweet! My Tips for Taking on Twitter, Reading List Lately

Hope y'all have a great weekend and happy Friday!

Reading List Lately

Embarrassingly enough, one of my 101 in 1001 goals was to read 20 new books. I am taking AP Literature this year and since we have read so many books for that class, I haven't really had time to read books that are just for fun this schoolyear! Over the past month, though, I have bought a few new books and I have been loving reading more often! I love to read a few pages while getting ready in the morning and also right before bed!

One of my biggest issues is what to read so I decided to share a little bit about each of the books if y'all are interested!

The Royal We- I loved and I mean loved this book! It was very-light hearted and so much fun. Bex travels to Oxford University to study abroad and winds up falling in loving with a prince. If you love William and Kate, you will love this book and I highly recommend it!

Chic-tionary- Okay, I admit this isn't a "real" book. However, it is so cute and also very fun to read. Chic-tionary is a dictionary of everything fashion related and it is just the funniest (plus it makes an adorable coffee table book!).

Crazy Rich Asians- This book follows an American, Rachel, as she travels with her boyfriend, Nick, to his home. Little does Rachel know that Nick's family is very rich. Crazy Rich Asians takes you inside the slightly ridiculous, fun to follow world of the super-rich. I wasn't a fan until the end but I'm currently reading the sequel, China Rich Girlfriend.

Everybody Rise- Evelyn finds herself in the circle of the rich of New York City. Her problem? She doesn't have the bank account to match those of her friends. If you liked Gossip Girl, you would probably like Everybody Rise. I would probably rate this book a 7 as I liked it but didn't love it!

What has been on your reading list lately? Let me know in the comments!

Tweet, Tweet! My Tips for Taking on Twitter

One of the forms of social media, I have been trying to use more often is Twitter (be sure to follow me here!). So I decided it would be fun to share with y'all some tips to using Twitter to it's fullest!

Tweet Often

The best way to boost your following on any social media site is to post frequently! Twitter is unlike Instagram as it is common to post 2 to 3 or more times a day!

Sync your Bloglovin Account to Twitter

For bloggers, I cannot stress this enough! Once you sync your accounts, a tweet will be sent out every time you publish a new post, allowing your followers to see that you have a new post for them to read! Be sure to follow me on Bloglovin here.

With Twitter, Random is OK!

One of the great things about Twitter is you can tweet about everything and anything. From what you had to eat, to song lyrics, to random things about your day, to thoughts on TV shows! Twitter allows your followers to see more the "real you" so it's perfectly okay to tweet random stuff!

Offer behind-the-scenes content

As Instagram is a highlight reel, Twitter is the behind-the-scenes with unedited photos and sneak peeks of what is coming soon on the blog! Twitter is a lot more relaxed than Instagram so be sure to be more "candid" on Twitter!

Participate in Twitter chats

One of the best ways to connect with other bloggers is twitter chats.There is so many to join and all the ones I have participated in are all so much fun!

Use hashtags!
Hashtags are totally not overused on Twitter. Whether it is for #TheBachelor or just random things (haha, literally me all the time), it's perfectly acceptable to use hashtags on Twitter!

What are your tips for Twitter? Let me know in the comments!

Nail Colors for Spring

March is just a week away and I can't help it but to think about spring. North Carolina had the prettiest weather last weekend as it was in the 70s and I was able to wear sandals. Unfortunately though, it looks like it will be another few weeks until it will be fully spring around here.

If you're like me and dying to break out your spring and summer clothes yet it is still too chilly to do so, luckily, there's a solution: fun nail colors! I also think of bright, happy colors for spring and nails are the perfect way to incorporate those colors into your outfit while still being seasonally appropriate!

I had such a fun time picking these beauties out for y'all (I think I may need to pick up one or two of these on my next trip to Target, haha) and it's clear that I love pinks and blues (with a touch of purple) for spring!

off the shoulder, full steam ahead, fiji

saltwater happy, no boundaries, in the cab-ana

What are your favorite nail colors for spring? Let me know in the comments!

Perfectly Printed (My Favorite Art Prints)

One of the aspects that I am most excited about my room design (see the inspiration behind it here!) is a fun, little gallery wall. In addition to a few personal photos, I will be adding a few, fun prints to the wall!

Pinterest has a plethora of gorgeous gallery walls with the cutest prints. Unfortunately, it can be quite a pain to track down where all of those prints are from so today, I have gathered some of my favorites prints that would look just perfect in a gallery wall for y'all that are at a variety of price points and are all under $50!

throw kindless like confetti, ginger jar, flowers

ginger jar + peonies, lobster, anchor

Where do you like to find prints for your gallery walls? Let me know in the comments!

My Chic Week: February 12- 18

Happy Friday y'all! How are short weeks always seemingly so much more longer? Always bewilders me every time! Anyways, I am so excited for the weekend (bribing myself to get through the school day with a stop for coffee after school!) and to relax! As always, I will be sharing this weekend's whereabouts in next week's post but let's catch up on this past week!

Friday was a fairly busy day for me school wise as I had a project due with a few quizzes in the mix. Once I got home, I had a paper to write that was due that night. I finished my paper fairly quickly and then I spent the rest of my night babysitting!

I wasn't feeling my best on Saturday so I went to the doctor's that morning and then spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching way too many cheesy movies on ABC Family.

Sunday morning, I slept in and then relaxed for the majority of the day. My family and I went over to our next-door neighbor's for dinner as our friends were in town last weekend. My neighbors made the yummiest barbecue and of course, I loved seeing their two puppies, who are getting bigger and bigger each time I see them!

Of course since it was Valentine's Day, I had to wear lots and lots of pink to celebrate (who doesn't love an excuse to wear pink?)!

A snowstorm was supposed to hit Charlotte on Monday but unfortunately, it didn't really do anything (although this can be seen as a good thing because maybe spring is on it's way?). So my family decided to head down to South Charlotte and go shopping at Southpark Mall with our neighbors.

If y'all have been following along for awhile, you know I love Southpark (see previous trips here, here, here, here, and here) so I was super excited to shop on my day off! This trip was pretty special as I found my prom dress! Prom isn't till late April but I loved my dress online and decided to try it on (and then to buy it) while I was in Nordstrom.

As always, I had to make a stop at Lilly Pulitzer while I was there. I wound up getting this dress and this top and the Gift with Purchase cosmetic bag!

longchamp

swing dress; t-shirt dress

striped dress; top, skort

After getting back home, I worked on homework and blog work for the rest of the night!

Tuesday was a surprisingly light day in all of my classes and homework wise so I walked my dog after school and got ahead on some assignments due later in the week!

Wednesday morning I woke up very early to go participate in a service project that the Service Committee I am a member of at my school is in charge of. After finishing up, I stopped for Starbucks, which was very necessary for staying awake all day. School was busy as always and I babysat after school before starting on all of my homework!

On Thursday, I had a long day of classes followed by a placement test for my English and History classes for next year (my senior year, eek!). After I got home, I had a bit of homework to do, nothing too exciting!

On my Radar:

1. This weekend's weather! It's supposed to be in the 60s and 70s this weekend and I cannot wait. I am so over winter and counting down the days until Spring Break!

2. I love how Caitlin styled this romper!

3. I've been trying to post more often on all of my social media! Be sure that you're not missing anything and follow me on Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.

4. This outfit from Mackenzie is too perfect!

5. This gorgeous scalloped dress is on sale!

Be sure to check this week's posts:

Spring Shopping, Easy Ways to be Healthier, Building a Classic Wardrobe, Life Updates

Happy Friday!