Happy New Year!

Happy New Year fellow bloggers! I hope that your 2009 is filled with happiness, health, good friends, yummy snacks, memorable pictures, fun shopping, good bargains, sunny days, big belly laughs, and time to enjoy it all!

I can't believe it's my graduation year already!

In the words of my math teacher: "Drive safely, the life you save could be mine...or yours." Happy New Years!

xxKatie

The Perfects

So, in an attempt to do a reflection on the 2008 year, I thought I'd come up with a "The Perfect ________" list. Here are some items on my personal "Perfect" list:

The Perfect Bag: The Vineyard Vines Classic Tote
This bag is huge, but not overwhelming. A step up from an LL Bean Boat' n' Tote Bag, this is a preppy must-have. I've used this bag at school, shopping, as a carry-all, at the beach, when I go out, you name it! I have a classic blue whale on pink pattern on mine, and I can't wait to monogram the top middle section above the front pocket.

The Perfect Sandal: Jack Rogers Navajo Sandal in Platinum
I have worn these shoes time and time again. Beware that the first few days of wearing them, they ARE NOT comfortable. Upon breaking them in, however, I could live in these shoes. Not kidding, either, this color is the one I always tell people to buy in the store. They can be dressed up (as I did wear them to both prom and the debutante ball) or dressed down (as I've worn them with a simple LP skirt and polo for a work day). This color is also a fusion between gold and silver and is still shiny, but much less attention-drawing than metallic.

The Perfect Trendy Accessory: Pashmina Scarves in Plain Colors
I have recently gotten one of these scarves (from Target nonetheless) for Christmas. Don't buy an expensive one because you can pick them up easily for $10-$20 and really, the quality is not that much different. I have a raspberry colored one that goes well with black, white, brown, navy, cream, jeans, dresses (as a shawl). Usually I'm not into very trendy things considering my wardrobe is cable knits, polos and jeans, but I do like these scarves very much. Head up though, if you don't like ironing, look for a different material for these scarves. If you want it to look neat 24/7 you'll have to iron these, I don't mind a wrinkle so I let it go.

The Perfect Book (it's a tie): The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao OR In Cold Blood
I read both of these books this year and loved them both. TBWLoOW won the Pulitzer Prize for literature earlier in the year and my English teacher in 11th grade wanted us to read it. Although not the most uplifting of stories, it takes a look into the life of Oscar Wao. It is very readable and is about real life. A funny running commentary by Junot Diaz on the history of the Dominican Republic is conveyed in the footnotes. ICB, on the other hand, is not a happy story at all. It follows the story of 2 murders and the family that they kill with the climax of the story at the murder scene. Besides Harry Potter, I have never read real literature SO fast in my entire life. It took me probably less than 48 hours over the summer to read this book, and I would recommend it to anyone.

The Perfect Scent: Lilly Pulitzer "Wink"
Cleverly put in a pink bottle, this steals it for me. I own this as well, from Christmas, and again, I tell everyone in the store to buy this one of all the LP scents. In the words of Lilly herself: "Wear pink and make the boys wink!" It is the one on the bottom!

The Perfect Nail Polish: Sephora Brand Nail Color in L19 "tagada"
Talk about the perfect pink, this is it. Barbie Pink, Princess Pink, "Tagada", "L19", call it what you want, it is true pink, $4 to boot, and I love it. Cover it with a good clear topcoat and you're all set! As I look at my bottle, I have to remember to get more!

The Perfect Coat: H&M 6 Button Pea Coat
This is a great dressy, light coat. I have it in a charcoal color that is functional for everything. I love the way this looks with my uniform at school, over an outfit, and with a black turtleneck underneath. The only problem is that it is lined with polyester or something like that, and if any wind gets up there, it chills the fabric and your arms get cold!

The Perfect Running Shoes: Any Shoe From The Brand "Asics"
Now, I know there are some runners out there who will disagree, but I've run for 4 years of cross country with Asics. Some people argue that the toe box is too big or that Mizuno or New Balance make the best running shoes, but I love these shoes. I have had 2 pairs of the exact same model and changed recently for my past running season. Now, I am in no way a serious runner, but I did it for fun and to keep in shape. These shoes were so comfortable, held up beautifully, and I will be an Asics girl for the rest of my life.

The Perfect Gift: A Handmade Gift Basket
I have fallen in love with doing this. I think that for people that you really care about, this is the best gift that you can give. With a color scheme or theme in mind, you can't go wrong with putting one of these together. Bonus: it's a crafty project and you get to go shopping in a few different places!

Perfect Earrings: Silver Pearls
A twist on the traditional pearls, silver pearls are easy to find, stylish, and come in a variety of sizes. You can go with real silver or silver plated. I love wearing silver pearls because they go with everything, minus like gold stuff, and you can find coordinating bracelets and necklaces to go with them!

Perfect Treat: Funfetti Cupcakes!
Boy oh boy, am I a fan of these bad boys. I have become known as the cupcake queen at my school for making funfetti cupcakes. They are SO easy to make and are always good. It's tough to mess up cupcakes from a box. Tip: don't overmix the batter. If you overmix, you lose that melt in your mouth taste (as corny as that sounds...). Although, I have had a friend tell me that she's bitten into a little rock of batter from me not mixing enough!!

Any other additions? Leave a comment with some of your Perfects!

xxKatie

Ballin'

A silly blog title for a beautiful night!!! So, I've been talking about this debutante ball for ages now, and it finally happened! And what a night it was! Let's start at the beginning:

6:00 pm: My friend Adam picked me up to go to the Mayflower in D.C.
6:30 pm: We jam out to Disney, Beyonce and the like
6:45 pm: We make UNBELIEVABLE time and get to D.C. before 7:00. We look for the Mayflower and drive in a few confused gps-hazed circles.
6:50 pm: Adam and I get all of our stuff out of Adam's car and make it into the Lobby where we run into our Deb's mom. I get the keys to the girls' rooms.
7:00 pm: Adam and I shove our stuff into our room and check the place out. We call the rest of the "party" and tell them that our room is finally open.
7:30 pm: The rest of the group settles into our rooms and we watch Jeopardy, where I get the final answer question correct with a response of "Who are the Kurds?". We veg out until 8.
8:00 pm: Vegging is over for the girls at least and we all start to get ready. Since we're girls, we're naturally indecisive on what we want to wear, how to do our hair and what earrings match.
9:30 pm: The girls who got ready on the 10th floor come down for pictures.
9:55 pm: Everyone hops on the elevators and we all make our way down to the lobby of the Mayflower, which is now beginning to fill up with Debs from years past (who are wearing red and green dresses) and the rest of the people who didn't eat the 800 course meal. Also at this time, we run into our "friend" (codenamed Mistletoe) who tends to follow us around.
10:00 pm: We turn in our admittance cards and get cards that say "10:00 presentation: Upper Balcony" for our viewing spot. All 10 of us find a spot right above our Deb's table where she will be presented later.
11:00 pm: After a few more rounds of pictures, the real procession and presentation finally starts (almost an hour off of schedule) with a live band. The 7 debutantes, their dads, and their 2 escorts, are all a part of the presentation. The first was a parade of the debs around this ballroom by their dads, followed by a traditional Waltz. Then the first escort cut in, and for Caroline, this was her brother. After an ADORABLE Waltz with him, the second escort cut in, which was Caroline's dance class partner, Johannes. He can speak 5 languages, and later that night became "YO-HANNIS from YER-MANY". Then, the emcee of the night, which I use that term loosely, called everyone down to the dancefloor for some more Waltz-ing.
12:30 am: A fabulous breakfast room is opened because they know we're kids and we need food, mainly sweets, and lots of it. We all trek into the room to snack and get back out on the dancefloor.
12:35 am: Adam and I "creeper-cam" on Caroline and one of the boys to get a few candid shots of the pair dancing. (Let's just say, mission accomplished, pictured below.)
2:00 am: Yes, it is 2 in the morning on Christmas Eve. We all head back upstairs to get "ready" for bed. We all get into our PJ's and decide we're hungry. A few of the boys head back down to the concierge to see where/if we can get anything to eat. They return with a number of a pizza place, that to our happiness, stays open until 4 am. SCORE!
3:20 am: After eating 3 large pizzas, the girls retire to 2 rooms while the boys head back to their own. We sleep. And sleep. And sleep. Of course, after talking about the whole night in copious amounts of detail. We sleep.
9:00 am: It's an early morning. We all pack up our things finding all the hair devices, makeup and dress bags. Adam, Caitlin, and I all go to the valet parking to get the car and drive home. Again, we rock out to Beyonce, Legally Blonde The Musical, and others.

What a fun night. Seriously, I haven't had this much fun in SO long! If anyone gets the chance to attend (and yes, I mean attend as a guest, not a debutante- too much stress) definitely say yes. It was SO much fun and I know I will remember this night for the rest of my life!!

xxKatie

Merry Post Christmas!

After a whirlwind Christmas adventure, I am finally back and a-posting! My sister, my parents, and I all drove up North for a few family visits on Christmas day. After finishing gift opening, we hurriedly packed and drove up to Brooklyn, NY and spent just over an hour in a Nursing home visiting one of my great aunts who has recently had a stroke. We then headed up to Rockville Center, NY for a family Christmas get together for my Mom's side. The next morning we headed further north to Sudbury, MA to get a quick visit in with my Dad's side. In all, we saw every relative on both sides minus 1 very elusive uncle on my mom's side. It was great to see (almost) everyone on both sides for a chance, despite how fast we had to travel.

As Christmas goes, it was very fun and for my "wow gift" as my parents have begun calling them, I got a GPS. I am pretty excited, but I have made a promise to myself that I will not become dependent upon it. My parents/Santa got me a TomTom, and just tonight I have downloaded a few new color schemes, my current one being a 4.5 star-rated "Girly Pink" scheme. What else can I do? It's kinda tough to see from my MacBook, but its a good glimpse! I love it and on our trip I found myself watching it like TV. My mom said it was the perfect chance to "get to know it" so that it's not s gadget-y while I'm driving with it. I got a bunch of other stuff too that I'm really excited about, mainly Lilly stuff from the store and a couple other pieces that I can't wait to blog about.

Tomorrow will be all about the Debutante Ball. Let me just preview it by saying that I haven't had such a fun time in a LONG time!! It was great, and fun enough to make the background picture on my computer! Lots of pictures to follow!

xxKatie

The Legally Blonde Musical

OMIGOD! Well, I saw this little number a few weeks ago at the Hippodrome Theater with my mom, sister, and then me. We decided to go after my mom found out that it was heading our way and she got some "buy-your-tickets-before-everyone-else" email. Well, we loved it! What a seriously feel good musical. I'm part of a family of musical fanatics, my dad included. I've seen The Sound of Music, Into the Woods, Hairspray (x2), The Lion King, Wicked, and now Legally Blonde: The Musical. I think there might be one or two more that I can't think of. Anyway, was this show fun! It's pretty true to the movie, but also makes some diversions.

I loved this movie, obviously enough to dress up as Elle herself, and loved the play as well. I would tell anyone who can go see it that they definitely should! It was totally fun and I especially enjoyed the outfits. Among the musical numbers, our cast was chock full of members of the MTV show, Legally Blonde The Musical: The Search for Elle Woods. Rhiannon, the youngest of the TV show members, was Elle's best friend and fellow Delta Nu, whose name I believe is Margo, but it could be the other one. Check out this song "Serious", one of my favorites (second only to "omigod you guys" but everyone knows that one...) where Warner tells Elle that he has to find a Jackie not a Marilyn, which everyone remembers is the scene in the movie at the restaurant in the beginning:

For any preppy girl, who enjoys a good musical now and again, this is most definitely for you! Happy Holidays, and Drive Safely!

P.S. The Debutante presentation is tomorrow, and I'm super excited. PLUS I GOT INTO FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY!!!! I AM SO HAPPY!

xxKatie

Handmade Gifts

So obviously Christmas is fast approaching in only 4 days! I can't believe it myself! All of my friend's debutante stuff has kept me from really thinking about Christmas. One of my other friends, Maeve, just had an 18th birthday though too! It was a really fun night because it was just girls, and I couldn't remember the last time that I went to a party like that. I was a little overdressed because I thought it was a little dressier than it was in actuality. The gift I gave her, however, I had left up to the last minute, which is not something that I typically do. She held her party on the night of the day of our last exam (if the prepositional phrases in that sentence weren't confusing enough) so I barely had time to shop.

I was blog surfing and came across a site that had an entry on gift baskets for the holidays. I kept looking through it and then it came to me: MAKE YOUR OWN GIFT BASKET! Boy, did I run with this idea. I headed off to Target without a real idea other than what my friend really likes: cooking, baking, pastels, dark chocolate, etc. I knew that there were a few things that I would need: a basket of some sort, clear cellophane to wrap it all in, bows and ribbons to secure the top, and then the plethora of gifts to go inside.

I began browsing through Target and the first thing that I came upon was their "1$" steals section. It's a fabulous area of racks of one dollar items like festive/seasonal items, dog collars, cookie cutters, plates, plastic utensils, coloring books, no-name brand art supplies and everything like that. I found these GREAT pink sparkly plastic plates and bought 4 as a set in that $1 section. I tied them up with a square knot of pink raffia and decided that they would be my first part of the basket. I then decided that I'd have a pink theme of baking and snacks, a combo many girl's would like! Then I proceeded to the baking section because I knew that I would be successful there. I found a fabulous silicone baking mold for flower cupcakes and then a shape that when arranged next to its mirror piece would form a basket. There were about 8 flower molds, probably 2 or 3 different models of flowers, and then the 2 basket shapes (pictured). This was my second basket purchase. I continued throughout the store and ended up buying Funfetti Cake mix, pink Funfetti frosting, sparkling pink lemonade, a princess crown, a princess wand (both from the "circo" children's line at Target), some great Bliss dark chocolate that has a pink foil wrapping, sprinkles, and pink nail polishes and then a pink basket. It was a great basket.

My next OOB (order of business) was to find that cellophane wrapping. I didn't find any in Target, so I headed down to the party supply store by my house. I still had a hard time finding it there on my own until I hit THE LAST AISLE in the entire store. I found this great clear wrapping with white polka dots on it that I had to have. With all my purchases, I headed back home to put my basket together. Our kitchen table became a tornado of pink metallic "grass", white paper Easter grass, pink ribbon and clear very static cling-y cellophane wrap.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the basket itself, but thanks to a friend who enjoys taking pictures and Facebook, I got a hold of a few pictures. The top picture at the beginning of today's entry, although not the most flattering, shows the backside of the basket and you can see the great cellophane wrap! Here is the birthday girl herself in her crown and with her wand:P.S. Deb Ball Night #1 was SERIOUSLY the most fun I've had in a really long time. We had a ton of fun, stayed up too late, and I can't wait until the presentation on Tuesday! I'll keep you updated!

P.S.S. I got deferred :( but it was about 99% to be expected, the early action is a little weird for the Nursing College. That 1% was like exactly what my mom said, "Just a little part of me thought 'What if you did get it? How cool would that be?'" So, I'm fine now, moved on, and shall be hearing in a few months! Future: Wildcat, Stag, Duke, Fighting Blue Hen, Gamecock, or Tiger writing for you right now!!!!

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to everyone! Happy big 1-8 Maeve!

xxKatie

Monogram Jewelry

So, awhile ago I expressed interest of buying a necklace of my monogram. I was inspired actually by Cat Deely, the host of "So You Think You Can Dance" on Fox. She was wearing a lacy gold necklace and it got me wondering if you could do that with a monogram. I kept the idea to myself and kept looking. My mom, sister, and I went to go visit one of my great aunts in New York and took a quick trip to Park Slope. We were looking around the stores there and we came across this little quiet shop. We browsed and then I saw a lacy monogrammed necklace. It was gorgeous...and over $400. Totally out of my price range. I told my mom that I really liked it and she thought that a jeweler in our area would be able to do it. I didn't think too much of it until my mom brought it up when we got back home.
We looked into it at the small store and the saleswoman pulled out a catalog. There were all kinds of customized items like lapel pins, cufflinks, bracelets and necklaces. We finally flipped to the back of the catalog and there was the necklace I was looking for! There were two options and about seven different sizes per option. The first was traditional "interlocking script" that is typical monogram script. The second option was a circular design where all of your initials fit into a circle. This looked a bit too much like what you see on bath and golf towels so my mom and I went with the script. We decided on a $75 dollar, silver size and the woman told us that she would call us once the necklace was ready.
That order took so long because, I think, they had to create a custom mold for my necklace. My own monogram is "cRa" ("C" for Catherine, and yes, I do go by Katie. I don't know why exactly my parents went with this approach...). There were many loops in my initials and places where they could interlock, so I was excited. We got the necklace back and at first I, honestly, wasn't thrilled. I thought that the letters were too hard to decipher and I was just like "ehhh...". I have since begun to wear this necklace all the time. It's about the size of a quarter and falls right in the middle of my clavicle.
My mom said that she thought last night was the first time she'd seen me wear it! I couldn't believe it! I LOVE this necklace now because it is so different. No one really knows what it is until I tell them its my monogram and then I get so many compliments. I think the fact that it's hidden makes it special. No one else I know or have ever seen, besides Cat Deely, has a necklace similar to mine. This is definitely a cool buy and great for the holidays!

xxKatie

I'm Going to a Deb Ball!

Yes! A real, Washington D.C. debutante ball, and I couldn't be more excited! There are two parts to this debutante ball: a holiday dance, and then the presentation ball. Tomorrow is actually the holiday dance where we all wear short, cocktail dresses. As advised by a guy friend of mine, very sarcastically he warned me to not "outdress" the debs themselves. Heeding his warning, although I'm sure he never expected this, I'm going in all black believe it or not. I have a beautiful Susana Monaco black dress that's nearly backless, that I absolutely adore. Paired with a pair of black pumps, I want to go very classic. That's me third from the left, I know, with short hair. The girl next to me on the right is the deb herself. She's been up here a few times herself! I am SO excited to go to this.

Now, the other night is the actual presentation ball, where each of the 7 girls are being presented by their fathers. There are two parts to that night itself: a huge 8,000 course meal and then the dancing portion of the ball (which starts at 10:00pm). Caroline, 2 girlfriends, her parents, her escort and her male floor committee are eating dinner and then the rest of the crew comes later. I'm one of the later arrivers. That night, we all have to wear floor-length gowns, prom-esque. The dress I'm wearing is the one on the far right, on my beautiful friend Audrey. Unfortunately, my LP prom dress won't be making an appearance a) because it's a bit too summery and b) because on a 6'0" tall girl, a size 0 prom dress is not floor-length (hence the shin-up picture). That dress was like barely to my ankles. Instead, taking advantage to post a prom picture, I am wearing a friend of mine's dress, a pale blue number that is made of the best material in the world. Along with my platinum Jacks and a little strap adjusting this dress is floor-length, or as close to floor-length as I'm capable of getting. I think the length is perfect really, because I don't need a dress that needs to be lifted up in order to walk around, especially if we're dancing the night away!

If anyone's been to a deb ball, let me know what you do and everything, because I don't really know what to expect! I'll post back with a deb ball debriefing!

xxKatie

Do You Like Party Schools?

Well my friends, it's an important question on the minds of many a-college applicant. As I sit here, helping my friends study for our "Current Issues" exam, I was thinking about some blogs I can do. (Mom, I've studied as much as I can, I promise). Anyway, I was thinking about the Resort 2008 prints that I love. Back to the Party Schools, though. It's not what you're thinking. My ultimate favorite print this year is called "Party School" and it's a school of very preppy fish.

This print is very traditional Lilly. I miss more prints like these! Resort is my favorite line of all the Lilly lines every year because it is so traditional. There are so many shifts and such great prints to look forward to. This "Party School" print is under the "Caw of the Wild" line by Resort Lilly. The best part about this print is that it comes in Women's, Men's, Minnie's, and Accessories. It actually my computer background on my family's Mac as I type this.

A great boatneck shift comes in this print called the "Florida Shift Basketweave Printed Poplin", which is a mouthful if I ever heard one. The top of the dress is exactly the name, a super cute basketweave shift. It is reminiscent of the limited edition shift dress of last Resort with the 2 lines of buttons around the neck. The length of this shift is my only worry, as with Lilly shifts I typically have to take out the hem. This dress is too fun though to pass up! Worn with a cardigan or light sweater, this can be worn in the summer, and then spring and fall. Try it with bone, light pink, platinum, white, light green, metallic blue or silver Jack Rogers, and you have a great little comfy outfit! I hope that you like this print as much as I do! Happy Resort 2008 shopping!

xxKatie

Spirit Week 2008

Well, semi-recently we had homecoming! It's one of the hands-down best days ever. There are only a few days that are better than homecoming, all I can really think about are prom video debut day and prom. As a hoco precursor, we have spirit week. It's a time to get pumped for homecoming, have fun dress up days and get a great competition between the different classes.

Spirit Week always has to do with the "overall theme" of homecoming. This year I was on the committee that helps to plan both homecoming and spirit week. The Senior Prefects, which I am one of, and Student Council jointly plan the festivities of the week. This year, we took a different approach one of picking days we thought that the students would enjoy and then finding an "overall theme". The days we picked included: decade day, movie day, consumer product day (we had to have something that the boys wanted...that's another story), and then the usual class color day. We then decided that our overall theme was "Americana" because "America" sounded lame, but "Americana" was just awesome.

I decided to be, as I am the token prep among my peers, Elle Woods for Movie day. That's me on the far right with my friends Caitlin (tinkerbell), Caroline (Holly Golightly) and Sarah (Mary Katherine Gallagher). Channeling my inner Delta Nu, I found the best pink and green stuff I could. I then had to craft a Bruiser Woods too, which was when I had to get crafty! I headed out to Michael's to see what I could find. I came back, hands full of things that I could get crafty with. I found a tiny pink poodle and bought some feather boas that I knew would come in handy. This was definitely one of my favorite Spirit Weeks ever, and most successful.

That day, my fellow newspaper editor, Katherine, came in dressed up as the same thing. Not only are we co-editors, but we have lockers right next to each other, AND we had to make an announcement about that week's edition of the newspaper that day at our biweekly morning meeting. It was such a coincidence when we both got to school. We both ended up in pink dresses, pink long-ish coats, and heels. Not only did I wear heels for the whole day, but I had successfully run the Baltimore half marathon the day before. That was one of THE coolest things I've ever accomplished. Anyway, I'm super disappointed that I have no more spirit weeks left because I'll be graduating in June, but I'm not ready to start thinking about that yet...

Everyone- cross your fingers over the weekend for me, I have a friend's deb ball (actually, the girl who's Holly Golightly is the debutante) and I find out from my first choice school on Saturday!!

xxKatie

It's Always Sunny in...December?

Yes, it is, in fact! I ordered these glasses a few months ago after a nice paycheck from working a bunch of hours, and boy are they worth it! These glasses are the perfect shape for my face, I think I have an oval face according to some magazines...who knows. I adore these glasses, PLUS I found them on sale too! I had originally wanted the Lilly Pulitzer "Dawn" sunglasses, but I was a little apprehensive about the $150 price tag. Instead, I did my research and found these bad boys, usually $130, for around $83 plus shipping. I mainly keep them in the car for a quick "it's-too-sunny-to-see-over-the-Severn-River-Bridge" fixes. It happens more than you'd think. I swear that bridge has a weather pattern all its own.

I went out on a limb ordering these without trying them on, and I don't usually impulse buy things like that. I went in to a Ray Bans store in my mall, but to my dismay, they didn't have any of this pair (RB 4099). I decided I was going to order them anyway, and worst comes to worst, deal with customer service. Lucky for me, I got them, and they were perfect! Well, actually, they got to my house super late, because I ordered them during the like hurricane over the summer.

As I am wearing them on my head right now, they make a fabulous headband too. My hair's like 80142x longer than it was over the summer, so I couldn't do it then. My friend Maeve, who is super excited to have a blogging friend (me!) loves these too, when I got them she called them "beautiful" aka two thumbs up. She didn't think that she could "pull them off" but I seriously think that these glasses look great on everyone. They are definitely in the "oversized" category, if you couldn't tell in the picture!

They come in 2 versions: black with grey gradient, and tortoise shell with brown gradient. I am a huge fan of tortoise shell, but for practicality's sake, I got the black instead. I don't regret it at all. Black is much more advantageous for driving, which I learned in a magazine recently because apparently brown distorts the stop lights? I think that's a little bit of trash...but hey, I'll agree because I have the black.

Definitely these glasses are great quality, and well made, and when ordering online check that you get all the legit stuff! Happy shopping!

xxKatie

Natalie Franke Photography

So Senior Year is coming to a jolting milestone: second semester. I can't believe it. Among exams, college apps, and regular school assignments, senior pictures are a big event. I did this pictures with Natalie Franke, a freshman at Towson University's Honors College. I loved this shoot and had a blast! Natalie started her little enterprise a little while ago and already has many dedicated followers. With a website, http://nataliefrankephotography.com/index2.php , and Facebook group with over 250 friends, Natalie is your girl!

In this shoot, I decided to go with MY color: pink of course. I wore the Nancy sweater in Bookworm Argyle for the first half of the shoot, and then a pink long sleeve polo for the second part. Not only was a super comfortable in my Lilly Sweater, but I (think!) looked fun too. Along with Lilly Pulitzer Main Line jeans, and my black polka-dot wellies, from Target ($20 never looked so good!). I was all set for my early March shoot. With a simple J. Crew white T under my sweater I was warm enough to be able to move, and just cool enough not to have red cheeks!

The Nancy sweater is the perfect weight for just this temperature. My Main Line jeans have held up for almost a year to date, but I will need to replace them soon. They still have great color, but small signs of wear and tear are beginning to show up on the pockets. The best thing about these pants though, is their long inseam. They are higher-waisted than most jeans that are made for a 17 year old, but I like the fit a lot. Their boot-cut makes them perfect for wearing over Uggs, or flats!

Natalie was an AWESOME photographer who made me totally comfortable in front of the lens. A few of my close friends have gone to her for their own shoots, and one of my friends, an aspiring actress, went to her for her headshots. I want all of my readers who live around here to check out Natalie!! She rocks!

xxKatie

One of THE COOLEST Preppy Places Online!

If you haven't already found it, preppyoutlet.com is one of the best places to find older LP and Vineyard Vines, along with seasonal lines like Island Company, clothes! They seriously offer some of the best, and some of my own favorite items on their website. They are ALWAYS getting new stuff, so check back often.

All of their lines are organized by style. Women's has the most amount of stuff, but they have recently added a Men's section as well, which is pretty cool. I can't wait to order some stuff. As of today, they have over 10 pages of clothing items in their catalogue, the actually have 14 pages. You can even have a wish list, and gift registry. You can also order gift certificates for the preppy's in your family!

Their prices are even lower than the "Sale" or "Clearance" sections on some websites. Take for instance, the "Blayne Dress", one of my ABSOLUTE favorites from the Summer 2008 collection, is on sale for $79 and change. Seriously, this rocks! It started at $198 and is down to a fraction of that now! I mean how cute is this?! I was so disappointed when I saw that this dress was a shirt on my 6'0" body. Anyway, I love this dress, and this website!

Preppyoutlet.com has also recently added a shoe section, which is to die for! This section is great, because a lot of Signature Stores or Via Shops can't order a full selection of shoe sizes. Not only does preppyoutlet.com have a great shoe selection, but they have a variety of sizes to "boot"! They have shoes, for a much cheaper price, that some stores still advertise for full. Take "The Club Wedge", which are beautifully made and super super comfortable, are on sale for $99, while some stores still have them for $198, DOUBLE THE PRICE! They have flats, heels, sandals, McKims and wedges too. I want everyone to check out these guys!

I love this online store, and my only qualm with them is that they don't have a store I can come visit in! Thanks preppyoutlet.com for offering a great selection of Lilly Pulitzer at an even better price!

xxKatie