Dorm Haul: What I'm Bringing to College

As some of you may know, this isn't my first time starting college. My first time around was two years ago, when I was starting as a freshman at Utah Valley University, not quite sure of what the future held for me. I didn't particularly want to go to UVU, but I knew I wanted to attend college and eventually get a degree, and so I agreed to go there until I knew exactly what I wanted to do and how I was going to go about it. One thing I had clear is that I wanted to go to school out of state eventually. I had my heart set on Nashville for the longest time, as that's the city I fell in love with in 2014, and the city I hold nearest to my heart even now. But back to the point. I debated getting an apartment with my friend Sarah somewhere between UVU and BYU that first Fall, but eventually I decided to just stay at my parents' house and redecorate my room, so as to save up but also get a sense of change. It was also a great way to save money, so I don't really regret staying home and doing my first year and half of college at UVU, since now I'll be able to finish my associate's degree at FIT in one year, rather than the usual two. With that said, I'm really excited to finally move out!

So, in just a week and half I'm going to moving into an apartment style dorm in Alumni Hall at FIT, with my three roommates - Caitlin, Natalie, and Sophie. Caitlin's the one I'm going to share a room with though, and you can check out her blog right here. Anyway, so these last couple of weeks, I've been scouring the internet and local shops looking for cute things to decorate my dorm room and I wanted to show you guys some of the cute things I'll be taking with me!

Decor:

For Decor, I wanted most of the accents to be gold. So I got this pencil holder from Target, this jewelry rack from Anthropologie, and this little terrarium (which I will use to store my crystals + rings) from Urban Outfitters. I'm also bringing my extensive candle collection, even though candles technically aren't allowed. As for lighting, I'm bring my fairy lights from IKEA, which I absolutely adore because they bring a sort of coziness to the room. I'm also going to hanging up some art prints that I've acquired throughout the last year, and I'll probably be buying some more in the near future. I'm going to have a post up about where I get my prints pretty soon! As for curtains, I'm bringing my lace ones from IKEA, but since we only have one window (probably) I'm not sure we're going to use them. My throw pillow is white with grey designs on it and mustard flowers, and it was a gift so I'm not sure where it's from. Finally, so.. I used to have three cactuses in my room and they were thriving, until one day I overwatered them and two of them died literally overnight. So, to prevent that from happening in NYC haha, I got a fake cactus and I painted the planter gold so as to match the rest of the accents. 

Bedding:

For my bedding, I'm going to bring my white duvet cover from home. I'm leaving my white sheets behind though ( :'( ), and opting for some grey floral ones I got a couple years ago that will fit the twin XL mattress (the ones pictured are similar and from the same store). It's okay though because the grey will go with my white / grey / mustard color scheme perfectly! As for accent pillows, my main statement one will be the same one Taylor Swift gave me in 2014 with the California flag on it since it fits well with the aesthetic of my room. For the rest of the pillows, I got this mustard one from Pier 1 and this white sherpa bed rest from Target, which is a nice knock-off of this Urban Outfitters one for less. I'm also going to order this shaggy one from H&M as well as this faux sheepskin to cover my chair from IKEA.

Organization:

As far as storage/ organization goes, I ordered a few of those foldable storage boxes from both Bed, Bath, and Beyond and IKEA in grey and white. For my underbed storage, I got this to store off-season clothing. I'm also ordering a clothing rack, which I plan on using to hang all my winter coats / jackets. I have some non-slip hangers from Costco that I really love, but I haven't gotten that far with packing yet, so I'm not sure I'll be able to fit them in my luggage. In any case, I could order these white ones from IKEA.

I hope this guide was in any way helpful!

Pretty Little Things: Backpacks!

It's back to school season! This is particularly exciting for me, not just because I'm moving to New York City next week, but also because I'm obsessed with organization (stationary, planners, office supplies, you name it)! Getting a new backpack is always a really fun activity because it's not really as simple as just picking a cute one at the first place you look. You have to really consider a lot of factors, like whether it will fit all your things (and for most of us college students, if it's big enough for your laptop), whether it'll look nice with every outfit you wear, whether the material is durable and/or waterproof, etc. Earlier this year, I got this lovely Fjällräven Känken in Frost Green/Pink Peach. I wanted to be able to use it for school, to take it when I go hiking - especially on longer hikes, and to bring to music festivals. Therefore, I needed my backpack to: have space for two water bottles,  fit my 13" Macbook Pro, be waterproof, and it needed to be big enough that I could fit up to 6 notebooks in it - since I am an avid handwritten notetaker, but more on that on another post! I'm also in love with the pink and green color combo. That used to be my favorite color combination when I was in elementary school and green is still my favorite color now, so it was a nice little throwback.

Anyway, I put together a nice little selection of my favorite backpacks this season, all under $100, because I know how important it is to find an affordable backpack.

From left to right, top to bottom: Ribstop from Baggu // Vegan Leather Backpack // Baggu Grid Backpack // Target Pink Polka Dot // Fjällräven Känken in Ochre // Herschel Dawson // Lola Perforated White // Kane Backpack (this one reminds me of a spaceship) // Sole Society Faux Leather

And finally: a floral one, an army green one, and a simple pink one that didn't fit on the picture.

I have a couple more Back To School posts I'll be sharing in the next week. Have a lovely day!

Agenda Love

I always had a clear idea of what college would be like and how everything would pan out. and for the most part, I was tragically wrong.  I thought I would move out, for one. I thought my style would change drastically. I thought I'd have a large social circle and maybe meet interesting boys. I thought I'd become a "scholar," I thought I wouldn't cry much, I thought I would stick to nursing, and most frivolous of all, I knew I would have a Lilly Pulitzer agenda. I don't even know where that idea stemmed from. I don't know when I first chanced upon a Lilly planner and decided I needed it, but for the last two or three years, it was on the list.  It's funny how out of all the things I thought would happen, the latter is the only one that actually did, and as ceremoniously as I had imagined. Just picture 18-year old me sitting at a computer, ordering my agenda the first day of pre-orders. And you can just imagine my glee when it arrived.

Even though I've heard Erin Condren planners are better,  I think I'll stick with Lilly forever because they're so darn beautiful and they suit my affinity for floral patterns and little animals prints, both of which are very present in the agenda. And the issue with Erin Condren planners is that I can't find a way to justify paying $50 for a 12-month planner (that doesn't even have floral prints and little animals on it). Granted, $28 might be a tiny bit expensive, but you should consider that it's a 15-month agenda. In fact, I think what I'll do is use my Lilly agenda for the 15 months and then fill in that one planner-less period with a little agenda from May Books because I know they always have an agenda sale for New Years and then it would just be about $8, which sounds decent to me. Plus those ones are cute too. Granted, they're tiny and a tiny bit flimsy, but they're cute. You know, I don't think I could ever go back to having a black and white planner after having had a pretty one.

I wanted to make a post about my agenda, because when I was first deciding how I could organize it, I had a hard time finding really good information in one place. It was all scattered and different and frankly, it took me a good month to actually feel like I knew what I was doing. I figured it would be nice to make a post for students to be able to refer to when they first start using a planner.  And I mean if I'm going to touch the subject, I might as well be thorough. So keep in mind, there will be lots of pictures and it's a bit of a lengthy post.

Continue reading after the jump,