#26Acts- A New Year's Resolution

Welcome to 2013. Welcome to a new blog and a fresh start for me. A fresh start for us all!

I wanted to open Polish and Pajamas with this because I feel it is so important. We're all making resolutions and I wanted to invite everyone to join me in this endeavor.

 #26Acts is an initiative started by The Today Show. In response to the terrible tragedy in Newtown Connecticut, #26Acts asks us to do 26 random acts of kindness for each life lost at Sandy Hook Elementary.

It's easy to commit to kindness around the Holidays, I think. In all the Holiday Spirit, we are able to give more freely. But what would happen if everyone committed to doing 26 acts of kindness throughout the year? These can be as big as donating dinner to your local Ronald McDonald House, or as small as leaving an envelope of change on a vending machine for a stranger to get a little surprise.

So this year I will commit to doing 26 acts, one for each victim at Sandy Hook Elementary school. I plan to chronicle my random acts of kindness on this blog, and I encourage you to join me!

To learn more about the movement, go to The Today Show's page about #26acts and get inspired to start.

I'll add my own list of inspiration for Random Acts of Kindness soon. Until then, what do you think of this movement? Is it something you can commit to this year? What are some random acts of kindness you'd like to perform?

Prematurely Ready For Fall?

I live in Charlotte, NC.
I need to remind myself of that. That, and the fact that it's still August.
It doesn't help that Pinterest, Bath and Body Works, and all my favorite stores are coming out with pretty fall things. I'm a summer girl at heart, but I'm ready to move on.
Here's a little lust list for when fall finally rolls around. In, ya know, November.

Bath and Body Works Candles in Yummy Scents:

Darker Polish (I may have already indulged in some of these!)

CG Safari Collection (I own the glitter I'm Not Lion, and the purple Jungle Queen)

OPI Germany Collection (I own the vampy Every Month is Oktoberfest and the dark taupe Berlin there Done That)

Clothing: 

J Crew Dream Crewneck Sweater

J Crew Schoolboy Blazer in Navy

LOFT animal print sweater

I could go on and on, but I think I'll just get grumpy that it's still 100 degrees out and neon appropriate weather.

Are you ready to move on? What fall trends are you looking forward to? 

Monogram Mail

I have become totally hooked on Etsy! I have always loved browsing Etsy, but I often got overwhelmed by choices and just decided not to order things. I finally ended up ordering a few really exciting things in the past few weeks, so I thought I'd share and give some love to the amazing Etsy shops I ordered from.
Oh, and you'll notice a theme. I have a monogram problem, y'all. Also a pink and navy problem.  I'm going to justify it and call it a signature, that sounds better.

I'm beginning to assemble a little collection. 

School Bag:
I have been looking for a great school tote for a while. I wanted something useful, unique, and monogrammed. I fell in love with this Monogrammed Super Feature Tote from Bow Peep on Etsy. I love that it has outer pockets for quick access to my water bottle, glasses, and iPhone (or whatever I decide!) It's also a great deal at around $25.

This is my bag!  It comes in a variety of colors and with several ribbons and monogram styles,  so if navy and pink is not your signature there are plenty of other options :) 

Vinyl Decals:
I have looked at tons of monogrammed decals for my car and computer. Tons. I wanted one for my computer and one for my car, and I wanted to get a good deal. Etsy has a zillion fantastic options, but I was super pleased with my Vinyl Chatter order.  I ended up deciding on a circle decal for my car (so that it will be a little sturdier) and a vine monogram for my laptop. I am in love with the results!

When they first arrived! 

The vine monogram was huge and looks amazing on my laptop. I love that it's navy, it was a surprisingly hard color to find!

I still need to go put my circle decal on my car! Hopefully I will before I move back to Queens.
I'm ordering some sorority letter decals from the same shop sometime soon for my car. I'll post those when I get them!

Key Fob: 
I got totally overwhelmed by the ribbon choices in The Preppy Patch, in the best possible way. They have so many adorable, wonderful options.  I knew I wanted something navy and pink to match my bag, and I ended up going with this key fob with the added wristlet length. I also messaged the super sweet shop owner and asked about Greek lettering, and she did it on the back in my sorority's colors (not pictured because I'm a recruitment counselor, sorry!) for free! How nice is that?

The little ribbons on the end were also a little extra. This shop had great options and amazing service. I'm in love with the final product! 

I highly recommend ALL THREE of these shops and all of these products. Let them know Hannah sent you, and definitely leave me any of your favorite Etsy shops in the comments.

Stay beautiful,
Hannah
(or should I say hBr)

Nineteen

Today is my last day as a teenager. I'm currently in the back seat of my family's car, on the way back from a family trip to visit my grandparents in Pennsylvania. So yes, my last day as a teenager is being spent crammed into a tiny seat with luggage and trying to stay sane for ten hours.
Anyway, to get to the point, there's a lot in this past year I'd like to reflect on. I would write a long post about all of the fantastic moments that made this year what it was, but I will preface this post by saying that I am currently disaffiliated from my sorority so that I can be a recruitment counselor (which is an opportunity I'm so excited about!) meaning that I can't post any pictures of or with my sorority sisters. So that cuts out a large chunk of my school year. Know that those moments rank highly in my heart, and that I will post about my first year in my sorority after bid day!
To continue, here are some of the important things that happened to me this year. In words, then pictures.

Summer 2011:

• Blogging with Danielle, listening to her fall in love on the other end of the phone
• Getting nervous for Queens
• Pennsylvania with Mom
• Recovering from one of my Worst flares just in time for Queens
• Losing weight 
• Seeing Next to Normal twice
• Developing a nail polish obsession (D, it's YOUR fault!)

Fall 2011: 

• Feeling at home at Queens immediately
• Recruitment with my best friend Rachel
• Joining my sorority, finding a home there
• Having a fantastic semester
• Boston with Teaching Fellows
• Cutting most of my hair off! 
• Condoleezza Rice spoke at Queens  
• Casino Night
• Halloween (hahaha) 
• Sorority Events
• Thanksgiving in Virginia
• Boar's Head (Queens Tradition!)
• My Christmas Tree in the dorm
• Working harder than ever, but loving it
• Exam Break Breakfast
• Sunday night dinners at home
•  Leaving for break knowing I had a great place to come back to after break
• Christmas with Family

Orientation at Queens!

Teaching Fellows go to Boston! 

Thanksgiving (actually, the day after, which was BBQ fest!)

Casino Night- a great Queens tradition! 

This is what exam week looks like. 

Spring 2012: 

• A much more difficult semester
• Close friends
• Little :) 
• Struggling with my health the entire semester
• Grey's Anatomy Obsession 
• Landing myself in the hospital for viral meningitis
• Going to my sorority leadership weekend despite everything 
• More sorority events! Getting more involved with my sorority.
• Hunger Games Midnight Showing
• Becoming a Pi Chi- learning more about Greek life as a whole.
• Homecoming
• Greek Week! 
• Working my ass off
• Shakespeare... worst idea ever
• Am Lit- best idea ever 
• Exam Break Breakfaaaast gone wild 

After seeing Spamalot

Some of the Pi Chis at a Sorority event! 

A ton of the Greek women at Queens went to see The Hunger Games at  the midnight  premiere! It was a fun Panhellenic bonding event.

Summer 2012 so far: 

• Struggling with my health
• Pretty Chatty.
• Naturopath finally giving me some real help 
• Tonys Party with Jenny--- winning tickets to Jekyll and Hyde! 
• Colbie Callait, Gavin DeGraw, and Andy Grammer concert with Jenny
• KIAWAH!
• Pennsylvania
• Finally joining the technology world with my iPhone (early bday gift!)  

Concert with my best friend! 

Husk in Charleston 

My instagram addiction is obvious (also, this is Lake Latonka!)

Juno on the lake in her cute little lifejacket! 

Getting ready for a boat ride! 

My latest purchase: a crewcuts shirt featuring a chihuahua with neon orange/rhinestone sunglasses. Worth every penny.

Lake Latonka has THE BEST fireworks. These don't do them any justice, obviously.

Our family photo at the Lake house! 

So that's basically my nineteenth year! Let's hope twenty is even better! 

Hope y'all are having great summers so far! 

Love, 

Hannah

PS- Feel free to follow me on instagram- my username is agracelamb,  as always! 

Marley Lilly Monogrammed Derby Hat

I have always loved Marley Lilly's gorgeous Derby hats! They come in TONS of colors, and are monogrammed! Monogramming happens to be one of my favorite things, so I couldn't resist ordering a cute monogrammed hat for the beach!

Image via Marley Lilly

Let me say a quick thing or two about ML service- it's amazing. I was a goof and changed my mind the day after I ordered my hat. I had originally ordered a lime/pink color combo (which was cute, but would have matched less of my swimsuits) but then reconsidered and decided I wanted a navy/pink combo. I e-mailed Marley Lilly and they changed it without hesitation! They were incredibly sweet and easy to work with. On top of that, my hat came in 2 days after I ordered. That's right,  on the first day I ordered a hat, the second day I changed the colors, and on the 3rd day I got my hat! Crazy!

This is the original color combo that I ordered. I still think it's adorable, but I LOVE my hat.

Image via Marley Lilly

Anyway,  when the hat got to my house I was SO excited. It's the perfect combo for me, and I wore it all week on the beach.

Wearing my Marley Lilly hat! 

Here's the hat! I've absolutely LOVED having it, and I'm thrilled with my purchase! 

All in all, I'd definitely purchase from Marley Lilly again. The service was amazing, and the hat looked beautiful!

Love,
Hannah

Concert & Kiawah Week

I just got back from a gorgeous week in Kiawah with my family and my best friend. To say it was a great beach week is an understatement. It was exactly the vacation I needed. I wish I had taken more pictures, but here are a few highlights!

Before we headed to the beach, my best friend and I saw Andy Grammer, Gavin DeGraw, and Colbie Callait. It was a ton of fun, and they were all amazing!

A few days later, we headed to the beach armed with a playlist straight from our middle school days and ready for some beach time!

Monogrammed hats on our beach walk. I'll post tomorrow about my Marley Lilly hat!

Lunch at HUSK in Charleston! 

Husk- pardon my hair, it was so humid! 

We did a little shopping, too. I was really looking for some sweet little necklaces to wear with everything, so I ended up with 4.

I may have gotten carried away. The first one is a watermelon, then a bow (both F21). The silver bow is from Handpicked, and the Wishbone is from So Good. Jenny and I got matching wishbones :)

Ok, so I was on a bow kick. These were all super cute and inexpensive. I'm hoping to dress up my short hair a little!

I also fell in love with these pink J Crew pants. They're definitely bright,  but I love the bright pants trend! 

I also grabbed another Crew Neck, because I'm totally addicted.

The other big theme of the week (besides bows, of course) was Divergent.  I'll post more about the Veronica Roth series later this week, but just know that it was AMAZING. My best friend and I each read it in two days and obsessed about it all week.

So that was my week at the beach in a nutshell! We got lots of sun and time in the sand and I really enjoyed every minute!

Hope your summers are going well! 

Love,

Hannah

A Love of Bunting

I have recently fallen in love with bunting. I think it's adorable, and it brightens up a space without being a huge commitment. It's perfect for dorm rooms, since it's light and can be hung with very little effort.
If you're lost and still think I'm talking about baseball, here's what I mean:

Fabric Letter bunting from Bella & Teo Boutique  Etsy Shop

Rainbow Chevron Bunting from JHP Couture Etsy Shop

Chevron Bunting from JHP Couture Etsy Shop

Custom Name Bunting from MyTurtleDoves Etsy Shop

Custom Fabric Flag Bunting from StarlitNestGifts Etsy Shop

I may have to learn how to make my own, because I'm really loving this sweet little trend! Etsy seems to be the most accesible platform to buy bunting banners, if you're interested!
What do you think of bunting? Would you hang it in your home or use it as decoration for an event?

Love,
Hannah

B&BW Obsession

What girl doesn't love Bath & Body Works?! Ever since I was a little girl, I loved going to Bath & Body Works and smelling just about everything and leaving smelling like a fruit salad. Now that I'm older I have a little more restraint, but I still love to play with all the delicious smelling products. Here are a few that I'm dying to try!

Pocket Bacs: My ultimate obsession. Everyone thinks I'm crazy with the way I collect (or hoard, whatever) Pocket Bacs, but I adore them! They smell amazing, don't dry out my hands, and keep away germs. I keep several in every bag. These are the latest scents I'm hoping to try:

   

From left: Cilantro Peach, Bee Nice (Berry Honey), Wilberry Dahlia
These all seem so deliciously summery! I'd have a hard time resisting picking up these sweet little treats! Plus, they're an inexpensive pick-me-up. Definitely worth the $1.50 or $5 for 5.

Body Butter:  I can not live without B&BW Body Butter. I got one for Christmas this year in my stocking and I am totally hooked. I have super dry skin, and I slather this all over to keep my skin soft. It's a miracle worker. I'm currently using the body butter in "Carried Away" but I think this one will be my next pick:

Hello, beach scent! This would be perfect for my week at the beach this summer.

Shea Socks: With dry skin and a lot of time at home this summer, I love keeping my feet soft and warm in fuzzy socks. I love that theirs are infused with shea! I definitely would enjoy trying these, I always have fuzzy socks on my feet. I love to paint my toes, then slather body butter on my feet and put soft socks on!

Aren't these little stripes cute?

Fine Fragrance Mist: This is a redefined classic. I've always loved the B&BW fragrances, but these new bottles are gorgeous! I received the Japanese Cherry Blossom fragrance mist in my Influenster Vox Box (more on that soon!) Which was such an awesome surprise!

This came with my Spring Beauty Box from Influenster! I've been really enjoying this classic scent.

Some other fragrance mists I'm hoping to try this summer:

Rio Rumberry
This looks like a delicious summer drink!

Wild Berry Tulips
The perfect mix of spring and summer!

Carried Away
I'm enjoying this scent in the body butter so much that I'd love to try it in a mist!

I think I could make a list three times this long, but I'll spare you! What are your favorite Bath & Body Works Products? Please share! I love to hear favorite products and scents!

-Hannah