N's DC visit

With N outside the White House


N and M


At the Air and Space Museum


Natural History Museum


Jazz at the Sculpture Garden


Jefferson Memorial


The Ks in the back, M and N in the front at the Lincoln Memorial (excuse my long leg protruding out of N's back)


View of the Reflecting Pool and Washington Monument

Notes

1. My One Tree Hill season 4 dvds came in the mail today (along with a Dawson's Creek mix thanks to my great friend in Texas). Since my sister (aka my roommate) is gone this week I have plenty of time to watch :) I think I may be able to finish seasons 4 and 5 by winter break. Then I can watch the beginning of season 6 during the winter hiatus and then start at the current episodes in the spring. YAY!
2. I have not forgotten about my promise of a giveaway(s) (Yes there may be more than one coming up!).
3. No more (major) shopping for awhile. I will still post my wants and tips so that you readers can shop though.
4. My internship has been pushed back another week. Oh the federal government. Always so organized ;) At least I can get in some more babysitting (aka MONEY) before I start
5. I kinda forgot how soon my birthday is approaching! (FYI it is next week)

PS- Was anyone else annoyed with Serena's runway walk? Was she trying to be cheesy? I hate when girls pout like that. I did like the color of her dress though.

Why didn't my uniform look like this?

Ok I am getting a bit annoyed (read: extremely jealous) with the Constance Billard School for Girls uniforms. I went to an all girls private school and no one ever looked this good! I suspend reality (have any of you readers attended a private school where these things would fly?) and present some of my favorite recent looks:


A cape, shawl, whatever it is


Brightly colored belts


Heels and a pencil skirt? Yes, please! (Definitely better than the ugly maroon penny loafers I was forced to wear!)


Adorable colored cardigans and a jumper to spice things up




A cute ruffled blouse (not that I didn't love the polos I wore and still wear)




Now, to compare to my "lovely" uniform:
I didn't get to wear colored shoes until my senior year and that was a privilege that could be taken away at any moment (so we were told). Senior year we also added a new polo shirt color: light blue (instead of only white and navy). I think this came from seeing the uniforms of our sister school in NY. They had so many polo color options. I was so jealous they could wear pink polos!
For your viewing pleasure, my high school uniform:

Note the maroon penny loafers


And the blazers


Readers, your turn to share. What were your uniform highlights?

Back to Australia

It has been 3 months since I left Australia. Of course it feels like just yesterday! So I am reposting some of my favorite photos :)








(Yes, Australian animals are totally amazing!)

The perfect shopping weekend

I have a whole separate email address for all my shopping emails. Today it was filled with announcements of 20% off, in store sales, etc.

Definitely check out:
Old Navy (offering something like 20% off $50, 30% off $75, and so forth)
J.Crew (20% off sale items)
Ann Taylor Loft has additional 20% off and new reductions
UPDATED:
Juicy Couture is offering 20% off your in-store apparel purchase. Leave a comment with your email address if you would like me to forward this coupon to you

I haven't been posting/commenting as much because last night I dropped a huge plate onto my computer and broke off the backspace button. It is so hard to type without that key-especially when I am in a hurry and making tons of typing errors!

Have a great weekend all! My sister is off to a wedding so I have the apartment to myself. One Tree Hill season 4 DVDs: here I come!

And the good news just keeps on coming!

I did have a LOOONG afternoon babysitting (my arms are killing me from lugging around a very cute but fat baby) but otherwise:
1. Finally got a start date for my internship (I know you all thought I had already started, haha!): the week of October 6 (my birthday week!).
2. My sister is coming to visit my birthday weekend!!! My other sister (who I live with) and I have birthdays that are a day apart so we are having a joint party. Well my oldest sister is coming for the weekend of our party! She doesn't get much time off of work so I am thrilled she's flying across the country to visit.
3. I was tagged by three great bloggers: Wearing Mascara, Some Like It Hot and Pink Cupcake to share 7 random facts about me

1. I really hate when my google reader is really high. I am constantly checking it so that I will only have a few posts to read at a time. I think this comes from my return to the US: I had over 1000 posts to go through (from just a couple of days of not reading) and I just couldn't handle it!
2. I got my ears pierced my freshman year of college and wrote a paper on the experience
3. I hate cotton balls. I can tolerate qtips but keep the cotton balls away from me!
4. I hate the word panties.
5. I love vacuuming.
6. My sheets/covers have to be completely tucked in for me to sleep (I think this comes from the fact I'm tall and don't like my feet hanging over and getting cold)
7. I always set my alarm to an odd number (such as 8:43, 9:17)

I am tagging anyone who wants to join in!

Old Navy

Last weekend Old Navy had a big sale with 20% off and free shipping. How can you resist that? Here's what I bought:









Minus the first dress, all of these items can be worn to work. Since my internship is non-paying (boo) I am focusing on work only clothes right now but that pink dress is just too cute (and on sale for $20!)

Fall Swap Part 1

Here's my loot from Elisabeth (who needs a blog!):


Handy travel stickers for your scrapbook


Anchor umbrella to keep you cute and dry


Random paper goods-monogrammed of course


Very preppy journal to record college memories


Elegant initial to use anywhere


Sailboat socks to keep you toasty on cool fall days


Totally cute whale belt to go with all your cute nautical clothes

My cute new bag

I was thrilled to hear from Ann Veronica that they wanted to send me a sample! Well Friday I received this adorable tote. The best thing about the tote (besides the adorable design) is that 10% of the sales will support Good Shepherd Food-Bank in Maine. Look good and do good at the same time!



And of course I had to take the bag with me the next day on my Capitol Hill/Monument tour. So here I am with my bag on Capitol Hill (and N next to me):


N is off to the airport today :( Stay tuned for more photos from her visit and photos from the two fall swaps I did

Also don't forget to check out Saturday's post and donate! I already bought my raffle ticket :)

In one month I will be in LAS VEGAS seeing JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE!!!


(I took this photo last fall when I saw JT)

I originally wasn't going to go but long story short, my dad got tickets to Bette Midler for my neighbor as a thank you for that same weekend. So if my fam is already going to be there then I might as well come too :) What are we thanking my neighbor for?? Well, this summer I was bitten by a friend's dog. As a fellow dog owner and dog lover I was definitely very upset! I got bitten on my upper thigh and stomach. My neighbor is a plastic surgeon (I know, so LA) and she looked at my bites for me. Well I needed stitches! Instead of going to the hospital, my neighbor stitched me up right in my own kitchen. So my dad got Dr. R tickets to see Bette as a thank you. I don't really have an interest in seeing her but JT is playing the night before!

We are off to do our sightseeing today. If you see some preppy looking "tourists" that's probably us! ;) Have a great weekend all! The giveaway will be posted next week!

N is back at my place today and we are off to the Museum of Health and Medicine before I have class this afternoon. Tomorrow we are doing the majority of the other Smithsonian museums and the national mall. I have a couple of pretty big announcements that I will be posting about very soon (and no, I am not pregnant, engaged, moving, or anything major like that!).

Apartment highlights PART 1

TV trays my sister found on ebay:


Houndstooth minibar:


Part of the living room:


We have been busy girls so haven't had much time to update the blog. Yesterday we went to the zoo and dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Matchbox. Today N is at M's apartment so I am catching up on homework and all that boring stuff!

In just a few hours I will be picking up N from the airport! She is flying all the way here to spend a week with me and M (another high school friend who lives in DC). We have so much planned-museums, the zoo, the monuments at night, a capitol hill tour, shopping, too much to list! In honor of N's arrival here is one of my favorite K and N photos. This was taken Halloween weekend my sophomore year. For some reason I was back in CA for a weekend and went to visit N in Santa Barbara. Well even though it wasn't actually Halloween (I think it was the 28th or 29th) everyone was dressed up, drunk, and parading in the street. We actually got yelled at by a lot of people who were confused by our "costumes." While I may appear intoxicated I drove back to LA that night so I am just doing my best drunk impersonation. NOTE: I am also wearing my favorite Ralph Lauren Pink Pony hoodie (that I received on my birthday just days earlier) that was subsequently STOLEN off my rolling suitcase at the airport a couple of months later.



This weekend I started a special, semi-crafty project. As soon as I saw the Tommy Hilfiger pink and green anchor sheets, I knew I had to have them, especially for the TJ Maxx price. One problem: I don't have a twin in DC so I had to find another use for my sheets. I decided to make curtains (I meaning my sister). They are still a work in progress. My sister is going to use her sewing machine on them because I didn't cut in a very straight line (hey, it's hard cutting fabric!).
Detail (I had a picture of the actual curtains but hit save when I cropped to show the detail):


Have a great week everyone!

Hope everyone is having a great, safe weekend!

Here is an adorable video of a baby elephant from the Oregon Zoo (from cuteoverload.com)

Attention working girls!

It looks like I got the internship I was talking about earlier! My professor (who used to work for this agency) sent me an email pretty much saying I am in! Of course he wasn't very direct and used way too many "..." (ellipses) for my liking but whatever, the message was clear.

Here's the problem: I have no "work" clothes. The interview clothes I have don't fit anymore so I just borrow my sister's. This is where you readers come in: I need your recommendations. I would love to shop only at J.Crew but I just don't have the money (this is a nonpaid internship after all). I need a good pair of black pants, a nice black skirt, tops, etc. The internship is with an agency that is part of the federal government so it must be appropriate (read: pretty conservative).

I bought this adorable Lilly elephant fabric from ebay to hang above my bed:


And this blazer but I am returning it because the arms are way too short:


Can anyone recommend a cute blazer? I am tall so it can't be cropped (those just look awkward-like I can't find clothes that fit). I'd prefer a dark color (black or navy). I would love a Ralph Lauren blazer but not exactly in my budget!

In other news I still haven't heard about my internship (that's the government for ya) so I have had a lot of time to babysit (I definitely need the money) and shop (definitely don't need to spend this money). One of my best friends from high school, N, is coming on MONDAY! Woohoo! I think DC will be a bit different from her college town (Santa Barbara) but I know she'll love it

Only in LA

While I try not to use this phrase (there is a lot more to LA), it had to be said when my sister forwarded this article to me:
Ashton Kutcher is now assistant coaching a high school football team! It really isn't that surprising. My neighbor went to this school and his classmates included a Washington (as in Denzel) and a Spielberg (as in Steven). Can you imagine seeing Ashton at your school everyday??

Can I raid Blair's closet??

I love this pearl headband that Blair is wearing:

(photo from blairandchuck.com)

I thought Blair wore two really great dresses in this episode:
The first is by Marc by Marc Jacobs, check it out here

I haven't found the other one yet but she wears it to her party where she meets the Duchess.


I also like this Milly dress from last week's episode

My sister just bought this adorable beach tote and towel set as a wedding gift for a friend. How cute it this? Mr. and Mrs. towels that come in a tote that says "Just Married" (with little pink flips flops on it!). The towels also come in Mr and Mr and Mrs and Mrs so the perfect gift for any couple! You can also buy the towels and bag separately if you don't want the set.



This site, Weddingish, has tons of cute ideas for newlyweds and brides to be.

Enter coupon code "summersplash" for free shipping on orders over $25

TGIF

Tomorrow (Friday) is my big internship interview. The internship is really competitive so I am just hoping I get accepted! I barely had time to read my blogs today so I promise to read and comment tomorrow night. I love Friday nights in (especially when the weather is supposed to be awful). I am going to watch all the shows I have recorded (including 90210 and Mad Men) and just relax! Have a great weekend everyone!

Still looking for school supplies?

Check out Miss Priss (they also have a store in Charlotte, NC)

How about this backpack?


Or this one:


Lunchboxes:






Placemats (not really school supplies but definitely kid related):