The Frat Collection!

I'm really excited to tell y'all about The Frat Collection! About three weeks ago, this fun, innovative, new company contacted me about their fun merchandise. It is IDEAL for people who like to personalize their clothes. For those of you who don't like when a brand is all over your shirt, or when four of your closest friends all have the exact. same. thing. The Frat Collection is all about YOU!

These are just a FEW of the multitude of options!

Basically the way it works is you pick out your shirt color and pick our your pocket. 

Some of my favorite pockets include:

The Cindy for girls (doesn't this just SCREAM LBP?!)

The Clayton for boys

The Hardee for boys or Jaclyn for girls (I have this one!!)

The Laura for girls

The Ambrose for guys--I HAVE to like this one since my sister's going to be an Auburn Tiger in the fall! WDE!

The Kelly for girls or Edward for guys--and on that note, this is the PERFECT Gamecock pocket!

This was a phone close up of my shirt! I ordered a Jaclyn pocket on a Gulf Tides long sleeve shirt! The minute I wear it for the first time I'll be sure to post a proud photo of it!

One of my favorite parts about TFC, is that a portion of the price gets donated! I donated mine to the American Red Cross and you can donate to any charity of your choice!

I am SO excited to be showing y'all the Frat Collection and fully expect to be seeing them all over the SEC schools! 

xxKatie

Coolers Coolers Coolers!

I get a lot of questions on tumblr and by email about painting coolers! I've posted my cooler before, but I'm gonna try another post since people are so curious about it!

This was the top of my cooler! It was my second favorite side. The guy I went with was one of my best friends and also from Maryland, so Old Bay was an obvious choice! What Marylander isn't a fan of Old Bay?! It was fun to paint, and I added some glitter to what would be the silvery part of the bottom of the can! I also used metallic paint pens to add some sparkle too!

This was my favorite side! It was certainly a labor of love! I had never seen a madras cooler, and so I knew that this was the direction that I wanted to go in. I actually had a lot of fun painting this side because I could do it however I wanted--there were no rules!

This was one of the smaller sides of the cooler! Obviously I wanted to include his fraternity and its symbols in the cooler and I used paint pens to do the details and the letters so they were more controlled. The only difficult thing about this side was finding the right shade of blue for the fraternity!

This was the back side of the cooler! It's a partial map of South Carolina and I copied the MapQuest directions from Columbia to Myrtle Beach, where we were going for Beach Weekend. I used the metallic paint pens again on the back of this and otherwise painted the roads and highways free-handed! It was a fun side and different than most of the other coolers. I didn't want any sides to have alcohol labels, etc. because I wanted the guy to be able to use this cooler in front of his family or wherever he would be going so I tried to keep it clean! 

I didn't get a clear photo of the last side, but it was a Total Frat Move quote about being a doctor and I added a stethoscope with his monogram on the bottom of the stethoscope! It was a very fun side! He was pre-med and is prepping for medical school, so the side was perfect for him!

When I first painted the cooler, I spray painted the whole thing white and used Krylon plastic outdoor paint. The white just gave me a blank canvas to start with! When I first bought the cooler, it was red from Walmart and would have been harder to paint the red. With each layer I painted, I used ModgePodge to seal it layer by layer--I'd rather be safe than sorry! Once I was done painting it all, I put two layers of MP, let them dry completely and then used a Krylon clear, matte, plastic sealant to seal the whole thing--and I went crazy with it--again I'd rather be safe than sorry!

I hope this helps anyone who is looking for cooler ideas! I had a blast painting mine, I hope you have fun with yours too!

xxKatie

Beach Bound: The Best Company in the World

When traveling to the beach, you think of all  your packable essentials: Costas, toothbrush, phone, sunscreen, phone charger, iPod, books, towel, hat, bathing suit--if you forgot everything else, you'd still be in good shape! However, another essential isn't packable. You GOTTA surround yourself with fabulous beach buddies in order to properly enjoy the beach. Although today is our last day of our Bethany Beach vacation, my dad and I are headed home. For the first time in awhile, this trip to the beach was just me and the fam, naturally I surrounded myself with the best beach buddies out there!

Like I said, Dad and I had to pop home because I have to go back to school and work and he's a workin' man too. Today ALLLLSO just so happens to be Father's Day! So happy Father's Day Daddyo! (PS: This is among my favorite pictures of us--matching in our favorite crab-wear!)

I wish we were staying later but it's back to the real world for us! In our place, my mom and my sister will get to spend time in the beach house with my grandmother and one of my mom's sister's so they'll still be in absolutely wonderful beach company! We've even nicknamed the perch atop our 3rd floor of the house Nan's perch so it's only necessary that she's returning up there!

I'm a big fan of taking friends to the beach too! Just over 2 months ago, as y'all know, I went to the beach with a big group of friends for a fraternity event:

Here was our house! And what a fun group we were! I've brought out many different friends to our house in Bethany through the years and they've certainly enjoyed the break!

A HUGE part of a good beach trip is the company you surround yourself with. A funny beach sign I've seen says, "You never know how many friends you have until you own a beach house!" 

xxKatie

Banquet Time!

Wednesday night we had our big senior banquet to honor all of the hard work and hours committed to the University. It is an awesome ceremony that includes dinner, dessert and speeches given about all the seniors and then they get time to say whatever they want. We all got dressed up and looked great if I do say so myself! Our typical dress is like this:

March 26 by letsbepreppy featuring a black jacket

We're decked OUT in Carolina gear, and are all donning our best garnet and black. Instead of our usual outfits, we all got dressed up:

Laura, me and Megan--all the new roomies for next year!

This was the bowtie brigade! Don't they look smashing?

Good friend AK went BIG for the banquet! Look at him rocking that seersucker! He's the president of one of the fraternities on campus too--quite the celeb!

These were all of our wonderful seniors that we must bide adieu to in about a week. So excited to see where they all end up, and couldn't be prouder to have them representing us! We have future lawyers, a future PhD candidate, hopefully a future Lilly intern, future architect, future sports psychologist, future writer and everything in between with them!!

I also LOVED my Kendall dress for the night! It was certainly cool enough for the HOT HOT HOT day we had earlier and still appropriate. I am thoroughly pleased with my choice!

xxKatie

Cooler Painting

Back home at last! We returned home from the beach around noon yesterday after a very successful weekend! A big custom with these fraternity weekends is to paint coolers themed around the weekend or event (formals, initiation, for your littles if you're in a sorority) so that you can bring your drinks, snacks and food easily with you! They are EXTREMELY difficult to paint. Whoever made this custom of painting acrylic paint on plastic was insane. Thanks to modern technology and the aid of several girlfriends who have done this in the past, my process was relatively easy. It started out looking like this:

Standard Igloo $18.88 cooler from WalMart

Then progressed:

And again:

And again:

And again: (it's like a butterfly)

This was the finalized top!! I was SO PROUD! Shane and I often call ourselves "Team Maryland" so when I started painting my cooler I knew I was gonna take the Maryland to an extreme! What's more Maryland-y than Old Bay Seasoning??

This was my madras front. I was most proud of this side. I'd never seen anything like this cooler so I was really excited to be very different from the norms!

This was one of my small sides! For this side, paint pens were key!

This was the back, it was a MapQuest inspired map to where we were heading! 

So now that I have one cooler under my belt, I'm tempted to make a list of things I wish I knew. Anyone have any tips to add? What you painted coolers for?

xxKatie

My Next Roadtrip/Vacay: Myrtle Beach, SC

Yesterday we actually left for a big beach weekend trip with a big group of friends! I have been looking forward to this weekend for quite some time and will be attending with a huge group for a fraternity beach weekend! I painted my cooler during some of the (very little) free time I had and I think it came out pretty well. I'll be sure to post pictures upon our return home! I am looking forward to a few relaxing days on the beach, in the sun and just doing nothing before exams kick into high gear. I've had SO MUCH WORK recently (as I'm sure ALL of my college girls will agree with...this pre-exam lead up is the worst!) and this little mini vacation is perfect timing!

This little road trip/weekend will be so much fun I can't wait! Anyone have any suggestions for places we MUST visit in Myrtle? Let me know for sure and I'll be sure to let the group know!!

xxKatie

LBP Loves Phi Mu!

So more than a year ago, I gave fellow Lilly lover, Amanda, my old Lilly prom dress. I was a size 0 back then, and looking back I'm not entirely sure why my friends or family tried to dissuade me from wearing a dress that was nearly a foot too short...I sure had my heart set on it. Long story short though, I'd never be able to wear that dress again nor would I be able to reuse it in some sort of Lilly blanket/quilt/etc because of the material. I knew it had to go to a Lilly LOVER who would take care of it and make sure that it got a few more special dances around the dance floor!

I'm going to refrain from posing old photos of me, once you see how absolutely amazing Amanda and her beau Brett look, you'll see why! They seriously should model together!!

Phi Mu formal was over the weekend on Saturday and Amanda's a graduating senior here at USC. I've gotten to know her a bit better, and better yet, she toughed it out at Relay from 7-7 and then rallied to get ready for formal on Saturday night! How GREAT is she? Phi Mu sure is lucky! Check out how great her and Brett looked over the weekend:

Don't they look so stinkin' cute together? Love them! 

That's Amanda's apartment complex in the back, what a great view! Plus how cute is Brett's matching Lilly bowtie? It's PERFECT!

Don't they look like celebrities? I'm convinced Brett is will be in the next James Bond with that look!

Have you ever worn Lilly to a formal? Anyone spot these two lookers over the weekend? Love it!!!

xxKatie

Weekly Gratitude

1. Thanks to this cute little dog for making me smile every time I look at it.

2. Thanks to the Carolina Cup for providing me a very much needed pick-me-up for the rest of the semester. I've been so busy with schoolwork and other stuff recently that Saturday was the perfect mini-escape from it all.

3. Thanks to my friends who like to eat dinner with me at night. All of our little chats about boys, snacks, dresses, banquets, homework, and everything else you can stuff into an all-you-can-eat buffet dinner from cici's.

4. Thanks to Wal-Mart for putting candy at such ridiculously low prices.

5. Thanks to TLC for running a Say Yes to the Dress Atlanta on Sunday morning when I couldn't move because I was so sleepy and allergy-ridden.

6. Thanks to my fabulous tutor who literally is changing my semester. From confused to little-bits-of-confidence in a class I perpetually struggle in is unbelievable. 

7. Thanks to the absolute pouring rain this past week. You have done wonders for my allergies. Now that we have nice weather again, my nose is stuffy again. I took you for granted.

8. Thanks to the fabulous boy from my shag class who said hello to me on my tour. I wasn't sure you recognized me, but when you did it was so much fun! #classfriends

9. Thanks to everyone's advice via twitter. I needed to know of a tailor here to drop a hem for me on a dressy dress and within 10 minutes I got 2 responses telling me the same place! Voila!

10. Thanks to all of my readers--700 fans this week and 200 facebook fans! Wow!

xxKatie

P.S. (literally P.S. not just an added note.) 11. Thanks to the wise wisdom and advice of a friend. She handwrote me 2 letters that changed my day. Annap sCe, I owe you so much--look for your return letter soon.

Carolina Cup Week: The Results!

Well, I am beyond exhausted from Cup, but man-oh-man was it fun!! We got up at 6am (YIKES!) and left around 8:15 to head to Camden and the race fields. We found our big ol' tent a little while later and set up shop shortly after that. Here are some of my favorite pictures of the day:

We hit up the Vineyard Vines tent pretty much as soon as we got there! Honk if you love patchwork!!

Me and my FAB date, Dan

Sara, Michael, Derek (my best dressed choice of the entire event!) and me!

More of the brothers

Two of my favorite people in the entire world!

Most of the Beta Theta Pi brothers from USC!

We were busy bees all day long! I will be sleeping in as long as I can on Sunday!

xxKatie

Carolina Cup Week: Today's the Day!

Ticket in hand, drinks and snacks to go in my dress and hat, we're all set!!

By the time 9:00 hits we'll be about 2/3 of the way to Camden, and I can't wait! Along with 10,685 of my best friends (according to the facebook event) we'll all be hitting the fields for the majority of the day!! 

If anyone is going, please tweet @letsbepreppy so I know who to keep an eye out for!! ALSO submit submit submit your photos from the day OR past Carolina Cups all day on the Let's Be Preppy facebook fan page!

xxKatie

Carolina Cup Week: The Dress

Well, Carolina Cup is certainly known for the wide variety of dresses. More or less, it's a sea of dresses and bowties. (Is there any better kind...?) The top choice is easily Lilly Pulitzer dresses, they're bright, colorful and eye-catching. I was added semi-last minute to the group, so I had to scramble a little to decide on what I was going to wear. I have quite the backstock in my own closet, so I decided on a dress that I've never worn around this crowd:

Now to all the people that know me, you know what I'm wearing!

However, if you don't really want to wear Lilly or don't have a fab strapless dress just laying around (or neatly hung up in the Lilly section of your closet, double clipped with another Betsey dress, both with outsides facing OUT so you can see them...) in your closet, you definitely need to check out a few other dress vendors that would be PERFECT for Carolina Cup:

1. LaRoque: Click that to check out the entire facebook album of all the Cup 2011 dresses! LaRoque is known for custom dresses, fit and tailored to YOU and YOU only. Getting one of these custom dresses is on my bucket list of things to do before I graduate!!

 

Check out the monogrammed sash!

Love that one shoulder!

2. Emma Graham Designs: EGD is simply taking over college campuses! Keep an eye out for LOTS of EGD at this year's Cup. The designer is even a Gamecock grad too, so obviously I have a soft spot in my heart!!

This style is the Aimee dress, don't you love how they added the corresponding bow to the derby hat? It's like they KNEW I'd be attending...

This skirt is the Dayna skirt, and for anyone who goes to UVA (read: Foxfields) definitely check out this skirt!!

Finally, this style is the Paige dress. I love the bits of blue thrown in with the yellow, what a spring-y pop of color! Think of all the shoe and accessory options that you'd have with this color combo through the spring and EASILY into the summer!!

Now I know that the dress is a MAJOR part of the Cup! What are you wearing!! I MUST know so that I know what to keep any eye out for!!

xxKatie