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

Liebster Blog Award

Sweet Jessica over at her new blog Preppin' Postgrad gave me this award! Blog awards are always so much fun, don't you think? I love that this one is for up-and-coming blogs, that's an awesome idea! So thank you so much, Jessica! 

The Rules.

1. Choose 5 up and coming blogs to give the award to
2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
3. Post the award on your blog
4. List the blogs you have awarded with their links, and leave a comment notifying them
5. Share random facts about yourself

Here are my 3 nominees (I shortened it because I'm so exhausted, but I really love these 3!)

1. A+C of The Kennedys Amongst the Kardashians (such sweet girls, and their blog is so high-quality!) 
2. Danielle (my partner in crime!) at Classically Dan 
3. Coral at Keepin' Up with Coral (your blog is so you, I love it!) 

Some random facts about me: 

1. My favorite type of  candy (besides chocolate, which is more of an addiction) is the little raspberry and blackberry candies. 

   2. I'm always addicted to some show on Netflix. Currently, it's United States of Tara, but my   favorite of 2012 HAS to be Grey's Anatomy.

3. I hoard nail polish. I'd photograph my collection, but it's hard to even see how much I've got right now in the box I store them in. 

If only my collection were so organized...

4. I'm afraid of ketchup. No photos because I don't really want a ketchup photo on my blog.

5. My favorite flowers are poppies because of a flower fairy book I had as a kid. I loved the poppy fairy best. The illustrations were by Cicely Mary Barker. 

6. I love reading poetry for fun. One of my favorite poetry collections is The Cinnamon Peeler by Michael Ondaatje. 

7. I go to school in my home city, and I LOVE it. 

8.  I pretty much always order the same sandwich at Which Wich and it's basically perfect: Egg & Bacon with Avocado and Mayo! 

9.  I've had monkeys and parrots on my shoulders! I went to a nature park in Roatan, Honduras.

10.  I met my best friend on the bus in 6th grade, and we've had countless adventures since. 

This is Jenny and me in front of a piece of the Berlin Wall in DC at the Newseum. 

So those are 10 random facts about me! Thanks again for the award, Jessica! 

-Hannah 

The English Major on Vacation- Shopaholic Books

I will be the first to admit that I love to read fun, light reads on summer break. I am an English major through and through, and I love poetry and difficult fiction as much as any other English nerd, but I see value in the fun reads too. Not to get on my soapbox about reading (future teacher problems) but I think anything that keeps people reading, and enjoying the printed word is a beautiful thing.

Anyhow, I wanted to talk about a series I've been reading for years. Whenever I need a fun pick-me-up, I go to this series. There's something incredibly relatable about Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood) and her shopping addiction. We all know that beautiful excitement that comes over us when we go shopping- it's infectious! Becky is a great character who is at once loveable and frustrating- just like any of your closest friends.
If you were turned off by the subpar movie rendition of this book, please trust me that the books are much, much better.
Here's a little more about the series by Sophie Kinsella:

The original- and maybe one of the funniest books. Becky becomes  a financial journalist and has to cover her debt and shopping addiction- too funny! 

Becky really comes into her own in Manhattan- plus, American readers can better relate to the shops! 

This may be one of my favorite Shopaholic books. Becky gets in WAY over her head (as usual) while  planning her dream wedding.

When Becky's long-lost sister is discovered, she imagines  the  true sister and shopaholic-in-crime she never had. Let's just say, Jess is a little more than Becky bargained for! 

Planning for baby Brandon requires tons of shopping, of course! Will Becky ruin things with her family or her husband in the process? 

Minnie may be as much of a Shopaholic as her mom- and she's only 2! Beyond that, she's a bit of a handful. I just read this one and enjoyed it as much as I expected!

So if you're a shopaholic yourself, or if you're just looking for a light read, I'd definitely check these out. If you've read any of the Shopaholic books before, let me know what you think! I'm going to do Summer break reading updates all summer!

-Hannah

My Sorority-Free Summer

Hey y'all! So I've had to make major changes to all of my social media and I thought I'd explain it better here.
I chose to be a recruitment counselor, or a Pi Chi, for fall 2012. Basically, what that means is that I have to disaffiliate from my chapter temporarily so that I can help the women going through recruitment. They will be able to ask me any questions about Greek life at my school, and they can come to me with the expectation that I will stay unbiased and be there to better their experience. If I am a neutral participant, it's easier for them to trust me.
So what does that mean for me this summer? I'm packing away all of my sorority clothing, decorations, and jewelry so that I don't give away my affiliation. My social media is locked down and I've removed any searchable trace of my affiliation. My full disaffiliation begins on June 1st, so I'm still wearing all my favorite sorority shirts.
So I'm calling this my sorority-free summer! I'm temporarily back to not having an affiliation as far as the public is concerned, but I'm so excited to help 2012's recruitment class.

Here are the four sororities at Queens University of Charlotte (in alphabetical order):

If you're about to start college or go through recruitment this fall, feel free to ask me ANY questions!
I'll be doing some posts about getting ready for recruitment towards the end of summer!
Go Greek!
Love,
Hannah