summer books

It's pretty clear by now... I'm a book nerd worm.  In order to save a little money, I got a library card!!!  I felt no older than seven years old filling out the form and signing the back of the card.  I immediately began plucking books off the shelf- I made myself stop at four.  I figured that was a good start!

Since coming home from Georgetown, I've worked my way through the following books:

(in reverse order, you know- to mix it up)

Fly Away Home

Jennifer Weiner

Coincidentally, I decided to read this book in the midst of the Arnold, um, controversy.... Fly Away Home was an interesting look at male politicians and, more importantly, the role of the women in their lives.  I did like the references to Georgetown... even if they weren't entirely positive.

Good in Bed

Jennifer Weiner

Charming and funny, basically just an easy summer read!

The Silent Gift

Michael Landon Jr.

Eh, I didn't realize how strong the religious tones of the book would be.  Nonetheless, the story was good and uplifting.

The Ivy Chronicles

Karen Quinn

Basically a hybrid of The Nanny Diaries and the documentary Nursery University.  Witty and quite hilarious.  I loved all the characters, especially the poor children caught up in their parent's own desires and ambitions.  Apparently it's being turned into a movie.... definitely looking forward to it!

Your Voice in my Head

Emma Forrest

The PR firm promoting this book actually sent it to me.  It's a memoir about a young women's personal experience with mental illness.  The ups.  The downs.  And the constant psychologist she grew to trust.  If you're into memoirs, it's worth a read.  I read it in less than a day!

I can't wait to do another round up of books!!!

xoxo

PS Let me know what's on your reading list!

PPS Don't forget to join in for the second month of the College Prepster book club!

red + white + blue

Vineyard Vines

Lilly Pulitzer

Kate Spade

It's good to sport the country's colors and remember what this day off really means....

xoxo

stack of magazines

I've been reading a lot every single day (more details on that later).  I completely forgot that my mom has been collecting magazines that I haven't had a chance to read.

I grabbed a few and dug in.

Magazines are so much fun to read.  Honestly, I have missed reading magazines.  Digital versions are great, but just don't do it for me 100%.  In eighth grade, we had to dress up in character of "what we wanted to be when we grew up."  I definitely dressed up as the editor of a magazine!!!  My experience with blogging and the exposure to various publications on the backend has re-inspired me to pursue this further.

In the meantime, however, I'll stick to reading as many magazines as I can get my hands on.

I really wanted to share two pages from Lucky Magazine and Glamour.  Really, I wish I could share everything, but I'm not so sure about the legality or practicality of that option haha.

One week, One carryon???  Can it be done?!  Apparently.

Lookie Pookie and I were discussing our dream to travel with just a small handbag and without a care in the world about material things.  Of course, not so practical.  But, one carryon?  I'd love that!

The tips are great and Lucky provides different vacation spots and how to pack for them.

I loved the cover of Glamour.  Before even getting to this page, I was running through my head to determine if I could replicate the outfit.  Because I definitely will be at one point this summer.

My favorite on the page is the top Left.  So preppy and simple!!!  And how about the seersucker bathing suit?  Yes, please.

I love this bathing suit from Target.  The little buttons are a cute touch!

xoxo

tugs winner

I loved reading where everyone likes to vacation- every place seems so wonderful!!!  Now I'm dying to go to the beach.... which I normally hate due to sunburns!

Thank you TUGS for offering TWO pairs to give away....

And the winners are:

Congratulations Caroline B and HFkinsley!!!

Please send me an email and I will get you in contact with TUGS to claim your prize :)

carly@thecollegeprepster.com

xoxo

watercolors :: citrus

I love summer.

Love.
Love.
Love.

I used to hate the heat and, frankly, I still kinda do.  But it's so nice to have your body completely engulfed in warm air.  I've been trying to run every morning.  I really despise running.  Except, I love the feeling of ending a long run.  Unfortunately, running when it's 95 degrees out is awful.  Fortunately, there's a great breeze that comes off the bay when I run down Bayshore.

I normally do a little cool down walk before coming inside the house.  My routine is to change out of my workout clothes and slip into a light dress (or robe) to cool off and slice a large grapefruit.

Citrus just tastes that much better in the summer.

Inspired by summer (and not painting as much when I'm at school) and by my morning citrus ritual, I decided to paint some citrus!!!

Mouth watering yet?

xoxo

Kembrel - Get Dressed.

Get Dressed. Summer 2011 from Kembrel on Vimeo.

This video just epitomizes summer evenings with friends (and fashion!).

Love it.

PS Kembrel is offering a coupon code for you!!!  Get an extra 15% off on any purchase on the site in the next 30 days

CODE: getdressed

banana bread

Here's the deal:  My mom has been out of town... and I've been grocery shopping.  This is dangerous for a few reasons.  

1. When I'm at school, I don't have a car so I can only buy what I can carry.  I get a little carried away when I know that I can just load up my backseat and drive home.
2. I have no idea what I'm doing.  All those choices in the grocery store freak me out.  When I'm choosing between fourteen seemingly identical bags of flour, I am completely ready to move to a communist society.
3. Quantity completely goes over my head.

Case in point:  I recently bought sixteen bananas.  What happens to bananas after about, um, four hours?  They turn brown.  In two days, they're really brown.  Now, when I was buying them, sixteen bananas did not seem like a lot of bananas.

Let me tell you though... sixteen bananas is a lot of bananas.

We've been having bananas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Somehow we managed to get down to the final two.  And they were lookin' quite brown.  Have to brown bananas, will bake banana bread.

I went with a Martha Stewart recipe and it came out fabulously!!!

You can find the online recipe here.

I love baking- but I hate getting my fingers dirty.  I must have washed my hands twelve times before the pan went in the oven.  Mashing up the bananas was the worst part, but using a fork worked really well.

While I don't recommend buying sixteen bananas, definitely try this recipe!!!

xoxo

New CP Desktop Wallpaper!

One of my favorite Beatles song is "Here Comes the Sun."

It's charming, uplifting, and just absolutely perfect for summer.

I was listening to it (on repeat, of course) and decided it would make a great summer desktop quotation!!!  Add a cheery Lilly print and voilá!

Instructions for downloading wallpaper:

Right click on the image.
Select "Open in new tab" (or window)
Right click the image again.
You can either save the image to your computer and then set it as a background. On macs, you should be able to right click and "save as desktop background."

xoxo

I miss Little V

Little V graduated on Saturday.

And I miss her.

{and even Lookie Pookie.... and Helbelle.}

and Ben, too.

Oh, and Tucker.

Did I miss anyone else from the house???  Maybe the 14 carbon monoxide detecters.  No, I don't miss those.

Next year is just not going to be the same without Little V!  She's heading to Oxford for grad school.  Which I know is, like, super awesome and everything.  But seriously, I will miss her!

In honor of Little V, I have unearthed two never-seen-before photographs of College Prepster + Little V outfit coordinations!

Love the new science building construction in the background.

Denim + Neon pink!

RAWR.

xoxo

PS Little V, when you come visit me in Tampa, bring your neon shorts and we will match!

May Sale Code!

I think the GK Designs cuffs make GREAT graduation presents.

Really, any kind of presents.

Stock up for graduations or just buy a bunch and save for gifts throughout the year!

xoxo

Road Trip!!!

I had the absolute most fun ever with two of my best friends from high school.  Both girls turned 21 last week, but Melly and I drove up to Auburn University to surprise Bebe for her 21st!

We had such a fun drive up to Alabama... We listened to way too many songs from the deep depths of my iPod: High School Musical, Grammar Rock, Taylor Swift, Hannah Montana, and just about every other random song I could think of.  We laughed, witnessed some random travelers, drank milkshakes and ate french fries, and could barely contain our excitement of surprising our friend!!!

We finally arrived and waited in the restaurant with some of Bebe's other friends... and then she finally showed up!!!  She was so shocked!

I had never been to Auburn and so Melly and Bebe gave me the grand tour.

(It was also freezing... hence the sweaters!)

It was so weird being on another college campus.  Definitely different than Georgetown.  But I loved it!

New advertisement for Longchamp?

Then I got a spray tan.  HA.  But seriously.  So. Tan!

Overall, I had such a great time.  I loved spending time with my best friends.  It's crazy how you can spend time apart, but once you get back together, it's like you've never been separated.

We stayed up super late every single night talking about EVERYTHING.  I think we all grew even closer over the trip and our friendships are stronger than ever.

Melly and I are already planning our next trip!

(minus Chick-fil-a milkshakes!)

xoxo

Wallets

I've always had some sort of wallet since middle school.  I've gone back in forth between traditional, long, short, tiny, super tiny, coin purse, and key chain styles.

Currently, I've been using a Lilly Pulitzer keychain wallet (I believe it is called "trustfund" or something like that)... but the zipper is broken and beyond repair!

I'm in the market for a new one now, and have been hunting around.  Here are some of my top picks:

Kate Spade

Tory Burch

Target

Target

Urban Outfitters

Where else should I look?

xoxo