Break O'Clock

As of today, I'm officially on break time!

I am done with the stress of finals (3 finals in 3 days is a WILD ride, let me tell you!) and looking forward to really getting into the merry spirit!

We actually found ourselves in the middle of a cold snap yesterday, and I even had to dig out my rain coat from the chilly drizzle that accompanied the colder temperatures. This is definitely the winter that we're used to--not the very mild stuff we've had all December!

I also wrapped up my internship for the semester working for the American Red Cross. I had a great experience and it was crazy to be leaving my office for the last time! So much has gone on this semester, it really flew by!

I'm going to head home early next week and get a chance to spend time with my family and start decking out house out in pink and green decorations like the ones above I started to put up at work as soon as Thanksgiving was over!

Hope you're getting into the Christmas and holiday mindset as we start to get SO MUCH CLOSER to the big day!!

xxKatie

Outfit of the Day: Preppy Profesh: Metallics and Neutrals

I wouldn't normally post OOTD's this fast, but everyone was wondering where this outfit was from! I have good and bad news--good news: it's all VERY affordable, bad news: it's all a little bit old...

Sweater: H&M (similar here)

Skirt: Target Merona (similar)

Flats: Target (similar)

Multi-Strand Pearl Necklace: J. Crew (similar)

One of the great things about an internship is practicing for a real job. Not only practicing work skills like computer programs or networking, but practicing what to wear. Some days are a hit, some days are a miss. Today was both. My boss told me that I looked great--total plus! I didn't realize though, however, when I was getting dressed that it was chilly outside! I had bare legs when covered legs may have been more suitable.

I also work for a relatively conservative non-profit, so I tend to always dress conservatively. I also almost always have a cardigan because where I work is ALWAYS cold. Our office building is huge and they keep it cold ALL the time. On the days I forget I'm always telling myself, "DON'T FORGET NEXT TIME!!!!" because it's so chilly! I sit and work at a computer for the majority of the time that I'm there so a cardigan is a great addition to have!

This outfit was definitely good practice for dressing for an office. While it's not "business professional" (to me that's a hard and fast SUIT rule), it's definitely more "business casual" or my new name for it "preppy profesh"!!

What do you usually wear to your work or internship?

xxKatie

Big Girl Bags

I use this Longchamp tote currently and love it. It matches virtually everything I own, stands up well, and has survived 3+ years with minimal damage. It's a GREAT go-to bag.

The only problem is that it's not that professional when I go on interviews, practice interviews, networking meetings, business events, and other settings where you can't carry a pink purse! That has put me on the hunt for a new "professional" (aka "big girl") bag. Here are a few of my favorites:

This Dooney & Bourke bag fits the bill really well! I love the shape and the long handles allow you to schlep it over your shoulder when it gets really heavy. I also love the color!

I love the color combo of this one as well, but I'm not sure if it's as practical as the all over cognac.

This Kate Spade bag is more of a handbag, but I'm certain my laptop would fit in it easily. I LOVE the patent which really elevates the look and feel of the tote!

Satchels are too much fun! (I always think of "The Hangover" movie though!) This one in the reviews says that it's small, but it would match a ton of stuff that I have in my closet!

I always love a good quilted bag! I wish the hardwear was gold, but this Kate Spade bag would be great! Although on the pricier side of my spectrum, Kate Spade bags hold up wonderfully and would be a great investment piece for a young professional!

Last but not least, this Zac Posen bag is my ABSOLUTE favorite! It's definitely not going to be my first "big girl" bag, but it's easily on my lust-list! It has the look of a briefcase, but the feminine details make it look much more like a bag--plus it's classified as a "satchel" too!!

For my working girl followers, what do you use to tote around your daily items? What do your co-workers like best?

xxKatie

Outfit Of The Day: Gameday Does Workday

June 6 by letsbepreppy featuring a black tote

If y'all remember, I got this dress originally to wear as a Gameday dress. It's from Marshall's and is an AWESOME DRESS. I love it!

Now you get to play where's Waldo for a second, and if you can find me, you can actually see my wearing this dress! (Look in the top right 1/4-ish of the picture...) Marcus Lattimore was scoring a touchdown and this gem of a photo was actually in The State newspaper. (The things I did to try to get this online...getting photos from the paper are VERY hard to do!)

I'm wearing it to work today because it's such a versatile dress. It's really long for a dress (and that's saying a lot on me!) and is knit which is great for summer in South Carolina! I have a walk from my car to the building that's only a few hundred feet, but I've definitely worked up a sweat going to and fro! I'm excited to wear this dress to work, and even more excited that it can do double duty as a Gameday dress AS WELL AS a workday dress! Win-win if I ever heard one!!

xxKatie

Outfit of the Day: Work Dress (round 2!)

May 9 by letsbepreppy featuring longchamp tote

This was the second outfit I wore to my internship, for one of the business casual days. Fridays are more casual, and when I go in on Wednesdays, it's dressier. Both times, I've gotten compliments on my outfits, so I think that I'm in the clear!

I wore this color blocked dress that I've posted about before and still love! It's GREAT for South Carolina heat because it's loose-fitting and stays cool. 

I wore the patent heels to work and changed into Jacks when I got home. I've worn Jacks before and it hasn't proved to be inappropriate, thankfully! I sure am glad I work at places where wearing Jack Rogers is acceptable! 

I'm off to work as y'all will be reading this! What do you wear to work?

xxKatie

Outfit of the Day: Bows on Bows

May 2 by letsbepreppy featuring leather tote bags

So last week, I started my internship! I am so excited to be working in an awesome environment very conducive to getting meaningful work done!

Monday-Thursday is business casual, no suits or anything. Personally, I think "business casual" is the most difficult dress code to stick to. You don't want to stand out by dressing up TOO much (read: I wore a suit blazer and structured dress to my interview...oops! Better to overdress and overprepare!) or look sloppy by being underdressed! 

I think for girls especially, the "business casual" line is tough. I wore this knit Target dress for my first day and it was appropriate for the office. It's a great length, and was one of those dresses I was iffy about in the store, but looking back, I'm SO glad I bought it! I added that black ruffle cardigan, BCBG bow wedges (that actually gave me about 4 blisters per foot...yikes!), and my Kate Spade bow earrings that my sister gave me as a Christmas gift a few years ago! 

I was asked to start posting more OOTD's, so I'll try to post more of my internship outfits! Our Fridays are casual Fridays and everyone wears jeans. In the marketing and communications departments, where I work in between, the ladies all dress up the casual a little with fun tops and cardigans. It's the perfect blend of casual and professional for a workplace!

I'm PUMPED and can't wait to share more about my internship as I work more! Here's to getting my feet wet in the "real world"!!

xxKatie

Interning: Can You Do Me a Favor?

I really hate to ask my followers to do anything extra, I hope y'all know that! However, you will really be able to help me out BIG time if you can spare a minute or two! I entered myself in a competition to win a summer internship just for kicks! (It's a bit of a long shot, but I figured I would step out of my comfort zone, apply anyway and see what happens!!)

About.me, that website I posted about where you can manage ALL your social media sites, is holding a contest for all users! I'm attempting to alert many of my social media feeds to please vote for me, so I'm sorry if you feel like you've seen this 50 times!

Click HERE to vote and (hopefully!) hook me up with what could be an awesome internship!

Also, like I said in the last post about About.me, I highly encourage EVERYONE to sign up for one! It makes personal branding and showing your social media prowess easy and fun!

I jazzed mine up for the competition, so here's the new and improved version:

Special thanks to Bayside Bride for the photo! So many benefits to interning for BB if you're interested! Speaking of internships, click "interning" above to hear more about BB opportunities!

Thank you a million times over to anyone who can spare the few clickable seconds to help me out! 

LBP love and all of mine,

xxKatie

About.Me

Blogger

Tumblr

BlackBerry Messenger

LinkedIn

Foursquare

Yelp

Texts

Pinterest

Polyvore

Twitter

Google+

Klout 

Facebook

Wordpress

Emails

Social media, ways to connect, ways to build your brand, all of the above?

Ever question how to keep it all organized? Sometimes it's really hard. Actually, most of the time it's really hard. You phone can have about 90% of these apps if not 100% of them. I have a bookmarks bar chock full of all these different websites/applications that I maintain on an almost daily basis. Ask anyone with their own website, and I'm sure they'll say the same thing. We all have our own ways of staying organized, however, I've found a great new website to keep everything all together! Good news!!

Introducing About.Me! 

Imagine combining all your different webpages into one personal map!

About.Me keeps track of all your different applications that you might use to promote your blog, website, self, etc. It's s clean website that you can customize as much as you'd like! You can upload photos, change fonts, edit colors, and of course, showcase your social media prowess! I organized mine yesterday into what you see here. I crafted mine to be partly a resume (or similar to my resume in my bio), and partly an organization of social media. 

It would be really easy to list this as a website on a resume for a potential company to visit and see your social media exposure! You also can tailor it to exactly what you want people to see. For instance, there's no need for people to see my personal facebook page, so instead I linked mine to my facebook fan page instead! You can alter almost everything on your page...pretty cool! I encourage anyone who's spread their social media networks out online to take advantage of About.Me!

xxKatie

Meet the Team!

Head on over to your favorite bridal vendor guide and mine, Bayside Bride today to meet the team! We're officially official and I couldn't be prouder! We had a photo shoot last week (I've been DYING to show y'all the pictures) with most of the interns and all the pictures were taken by Natalie of Natalie Franke Photography and Krista of Krista A. Jones Photography! We had a blast all afternoon and I couldn't be more excited to be working with everyone!

Here we are! From left, Blakely, Mia, and me!

This one is one of my favorites of the whole shoot! It was fun to see all of our different takes on "Bayside Bride" and the color scheme in our outfits. They were varied but still had a fun cohesiveness that looked good together!

Here we are rocking out Bayside Bride "uniforms"!! Let your love set sail...

Some of you might have seen this one on facebook in B&W!

This is another one of my favorites! 

We had such a great spot--so many different locations to choose from and still in the same neighborhood park! Lucky us!!

I am SO proud to call myself and intern for Bayside Bride! I cannot wait to see what it turns into and work with everyone else! June certainly seems to be heading in the right direction!

xxKatie

Bayside Bride LAUNCHES TODAY!

Today Bayside Bride launches! I am interning for this WONDERFUL company started by two amazing Annap gals! Anyone remember my senior pictures? One of my first posts! The photog who did them for me is one of the founders with another photog/web designer! I couldn't be prouder to be working with this team! Natalie says of the opening, "Bayside Bride is the comprehensive wedding planning resource for couples getting marries in the Annapolis area! With a top-notch vendor guide, DIY ideas and inspiration from real weddings and engagements there is a little something for everyone. Our mission is to provide Annapolis brides with the resources to plan their dream wedding, while also promoting the best wedding vendors and small businesses in Annapolis."

Here's a midshipman and his future bride! Just about nothing says "Annapolis wedding" like a midshipman and his future wife! I get chills just thinking about it!

Krista points out, "The design culture in Annapolis is incredibly unique and it's one of the things that makes this town so special! [AMEN SISTA!] My goal in designing the site was to incorporate the nautical preppy mix that is Annapolis."

Here are Natalie and Krista (respectively)--how adorbs are my new bosses?

TODAY IS THE DAY so be sure to head on over to BaysideBride.com and check out everything we have to offer! Talk about a dream internship! Add us on Facebook too, especially if you're in the Annapolis, MD area!

xxKatie