You've probably seen a thousand posts by now about how loafers are THE footwear for fall. Move over, riding boots! I feel like loafers have been a fall staple for a few seasons now. This season, however, they seen to be less traditional and more fun!
Though tons of stores seem to be selling loafers, Gap has some of the most unique and affordable ones I've seen. If you're looking for a pair that will last a few seasons, J.Crew has tons including the heeled loafer pictured here. Finally, stores like J.C. Penny sell your basic penny loafers (shown here in brown) for good prices.
Traditional loafers look great with your old standby of skinny jeans, blazers and Oxford shirts, but I tried to step out of my comfort zone a bit and create outfits a little more fun. Here they are!
The idea with this outfit is that you use your favorite accessories with the pink loafers to make an otherwise boring outfit fun. Choose your big chunky purse, lucky necklace, favorite pair of jeans and parka for a late-night moving outing with friends, then add the pink loafers to spice things up a bit.
Gap has all the credit for this outfit--it's featured prominently on its webpage--but I just made a few substitutions, like adding in the brown satchel and J.Crew striped tee for an ultra schoolboy look.
Probably the most "out-there" outfit, but the most fun! The polka-dot loafers give you an excuse to wear color deep into fall, especially in the form of colored jeans. Even a plain white shirt would look great with the yellow pants and polka-dot loafers.
Well, it's that time again, everyone, whether you like it or not. It's time for fall and winter. I don't know about where you live, but here in Chicago every single girl has a whole drawer of scarves to wear during the school year. Half of them can be worn before temperatures get too cold as a fashion statement, and the rest are merely there for survival! Clearly, a scarf is a Chicago staple, and here is a quick overview of some of my favorites.
The scarves at the top are more "fashionable" scarfs that you could wear with your outfit, and the bottom scarves are to wear on those cold days over your jacket. Starting from upper left corner and going clockwise:
1. Lilly Pulitzer Murfee Scarf (specific color no longer available)
2. Modcloth "The Height of Style" scarf and H&M Satin Scarf
3. H&M Scarf in Coral
4. Forever 21 Fringe Cable Knit Scarf
5. Burberry Scarf (I buy knock-off, look-a-like ones at the mall for $10!)
6. H&M Tube Scarf
Do any of you have any cute scarves I should know about?
My physics teacher is a Grammy award-winning singer.
My theology teacher is really young and encourages us to follow him on Twitter (when you picture theology, don't you picture an old, bald priest being the teacher?) These are real Rate My Professor reviews of him.
I met a real-live hypnotist on Friday as part of being a leader for the freshman Welcome Week events. No, I did not let myself get hypnotized...I don't want to make a fool of myself in front of 800 freshman, thank you very much!
And my friends. I missed them so much this summer! The hard part of college is that your best friends most likely come from separate parts of the country or, in my case, the globe! Two of my roommates hail from Michigan, but the third is from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. And she spent the summer in Canada! I don't have any good pics of us all together from this year yet, but I will soon.
Hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend! Enjoy the last days of summer.
With a lot of us going back to college or redecorating our homes for the fall, art is a necessity to brighten up any room. Why buy the usual cliched college poster when you can buy something completely unique from Prichett Prints?
Prichett Prints is an Etsy shop that showcases the shop owner, Heather's, independent work as an artist. Heather has this to say about her shop: "After graduating from the Laguna College of Art and Design in Laguna Beach, CA, I began taking on freelance illustration work. I love my freelance work, it's always interesting and challenging, but Etsy is where I showcase my work done just for me." I have to say, I was taken aback when I first saw Heather's art. Her prints are absolutely outstanding! To see what I mean, here are some examples of her work.
I love this series of Heather's because she focuses on the realism and intricacy of animal eyes.
On the upper lefthand corner, she shows us the eyes of a leopard in her Leopard Eyes Painting.
Next to it is the eye of a tabby cat. You can really see how unique a cat's eye is compared to the other eyes in the set. That print can be found here: Tabby Cat Eye Gouache Painting.
Underneath that are the eyes of a cheetah, looking almost a little sad. The light dancing off of the cheetah's fur is especially interesting. Here is the print: Cheetah Eyes Painting
The painting on the bottom right is that of a bird's eye. I love how detailed this painting is--you can see the little turquoise bumps atop the bird's eyelid. The print is here: Detailed Bird Eye Painting.
Wouldn't these look amazing (and so unique) on your walls?
Not only does Heather do this type of artwork, but she also has pen and ink prints available. I have to give props to someone who is skilled in not only one art form, but two!
Something to note about PritchettPrints is that Heather will print her work to any size you want up to 12" by 18", without any extra charge! That way you can get the print just how you like it.
As an added bonus,Heather is offering a free print to one of my readers! She's also offering a bonus 15% off coupon code to all of you! Just enter the code PreppyPM at checkout.
To enter the giveaway, use the Rafflecopter below. The giveaway will end at 12:01 AM on September 7th. (I will be going on a retreat that weekend, so I will contact the winner the following Monday). The winner has a week to reply to my email before I chose another winner.
I've discovered another fun Etsy shop for you all: Stitched Tegan Jewelry. I'm obviously a jewelry fanatic, so I was so excited to find that the shop owner, Jeanna, sells classic pieces that would look fashionable when worn with anything.
What struck me first when I discovered Stitched Tegan Jewelry was the number of products available, especially when it comes to bracelets. I'm a fan of the "stacking bracelets" trend, and here are a few that would make great additions to your stack.
Starting from bottom lefthand corner and going clockwise:
My favorite bracelet from Stitched Tegan would have to be this Sterling Silver Steampunk anchor bracelet. The nautical trend is huge right now, but this bracelet is unique--it's different than any nautical-inspired piece I've seen before. You'd certainly make a statement wearing it!
StitchedTegan Jewelry also sells an array of necklaces and earrings.
These bronze owl post earrings are adorable! I would wear them to class almost everyday. I love the crystal and black gems that Jeanna added to it.
Long necklaces are great when worn with solid colors. I'd wear this Floral Essence Long Necklace with an Oxford shirt or a plain sweater, to give my outfit a little oomph.
If you love what you see, you can check out Jeanna's blog and her Twitter to keep up with all her new products.
Also, Jeanna is offering the coupon code BLOGSPECIAL for 40% off of your entire purchase! If you're even hesitant of buying a piece from StitchedTegan Jewelry, now would be the time to purchase it!
What's your favorite piece from Stitched Tegan Jewelry?
I've been in Chicago for two years now, but I've only got two more to go. I feel like I haven't done enough of the touristy things that every Chicagoan should experience. Yes, I've seen the Bean, Shedd Aquarium, Navy Pier, the Hancock Building. I've shopped the Magnificent Mile, seen a Chicago play, ice-skated at Millennium Park. I've been on the El countless times, been to the beach on the Lakeshore, eaten deep-dish pizza.
But, alas, there are obviously holes in my Chicago experience. Here are some of the things I hope to accomplish this year while here in the Windy City. Wish me luck and, if you're a native Chicagoan, give me suggestions on what else to add to my list!
Well, summer is officially over for me. Today marks the second day of classes. As you read this, I'm probably sitting in my ecology class, being handed out the syllabus and told the class expectations.
But...I can still dream about summer, right? I wanted to look back on my summer by listing some of my favorite things about it.
Favorite Summer Activities
Sister's high school graduation: early May
ROME: May 18th - June 22nd
Devil's Lake: Late June
Mallards Game + Rhythm and Booms: June 30th
Research and English Class at Loyola: July 3rd - August 11th
Family comes to visit Chicago: July 6th-July 8th
Art Fair on the Square: July 14th
Dark Knight Rises premiere: July 20th
Opening Ceremony of the Olympics: July 27th
Sister's summer play: August 3rd
APT: August 16th
Irish Fest: August 17th
Favorite Summer Book
If you read this post, you know it has to be Gone Girlby Gillian Flynn.
Well, I only saw two...Ruby Sparks and The Dark Knight Rises. I gotta say, both were only "meh", so if I could choose a movie I would choose one that I saw this summer but isn't new: Babel. It's another thing that I don't want to spoil for you, so check out the Wikipedia summary if you're interested!
Pretty Little Liars...I know, I know, it's a teen drama, but it's so good! Once you get past all the bad acting and the fact that the high schoolers in it NEVER go to school or study, it's a great mystery show.
Vatican Museums. Hands down. Most intriguing place I've ever been to in my life. I wish I could describe all the treasures the museum holds, but seeing as I needed two days to go through all of it, that could take a long time. St. Peter's Square is second--I went there so many times!
I've dreamed about seeing the "School of Athens" fresco at the Vatican Museums for SO long!
Favorite Day (or, in this case, weekend)
I spent a whole weekend in Rome all by myself because all my friends were away on a trip to Tuscany. I've got to say, it was so liberating! Can you imagine, being a twenty year old girl, alone in a giant, foreign city, having no idea where you are and unable to speak the language around you? It was absolutely thrilling. After the first few moments of panicking and asking "what did I do to myself?", I began to love it.
I went anywhere I wanted to and spent as much as time as needed to see everything. The Colosseum. The Pantheon. The Roman Forum. Piazza Navona. The Spanish Steps. Castel Sant'Angelo. The Vatican Museums. I saw it all throughout the weekend, and sampled Rome's best cappuccino, open-air market and gelato as well. Best experience of my life so far.
Needless to say, I had a great summer and I don't know how any summer afterwards is going to live up to it. Well, it's back to the grind, but that's life. And junior year of college will be great..."I gotta feeling".
