I'm Here! I Promise! & Holiday Spirit Week

Sorry for the unnoticed absence of leave from Preppy in NC. But I'm back! (I promise!) I have loads to share with y'all, including my recap of Holiday Spirit Week, Christmas, my trip to Houston (surprise! If that makes up for my absence. Sorry. Lots to come about that), and of course my 2014 recap! That's a lot. I got back from my trip from Houston, Texas today, so there's loads of catching up (and loads of photos!) to do.

Holiday Spirit Week was so much fun! 

This was our school's first time having a holiday spirit week. Our school isn't exactly the best at school spirit, but the people that did participate enjoyed it. I had a blast thinking of costume ideas for each day.

Monday: Funny story, I've always wanted a Tacky Christmas sweater, but I'm not about to pay $30 for a cheap one at Target that I'm only going to wear once. In our Student Council Officers GM, RR and J were running all over town looking for Tacky Christmas sweaters. They couldn't find any anywhere! Even Target was sold out. (This is what we get for procrastinating!) 

I found this idea on Pinterest and I had showed them, so these are our somewhat-attempts at them. I created mine before school Monday morning because I had a ton of homework on Sunday night. 

J and I being our typical selves

STUCO Officers take on Ugly Sweater Day
With our homemade sweaters haha.

Shop my outfits! Green sweater (only $24!), jeans, riding boots (now 20% off!), holiday decorations (home)

Elf Day was Tuesday. At first, I had no clue what to do other than an elf hat from the Dollar Store. I was talking with my friend KTL, and I brought up how cute the Christmas bow skirts were. And she thought it'd work for Elf Day. I knew this was my opportunity to try it out! I was so excited. I went the Dollar Store and purchased bows and thin garland. I safety pinned the garland on the top of my skirt and around the bottom of it. (I didn't go all the way around for the garland, just the front half, since I'd be sitting in a chair for the majority of the day). 

The only white skirt I had was from J.Crew, and I wasn't sure whether or not it'd be ruined if I safety pinned the bows. I didn't want to risk it, so I used gorilla tape. I couldn't figure out how to work the safety pins with the bows as well anyways. The tape was somewhat... successful. Aka not really. Aka only seven bows remained on my skirt at the end of the day. It was my fault for rushing out the door in the morning and not bringing extra bows and tape. 

It looked so good! I loved the garland.

As you can see, this is halfway through the day,
Bows have fallen off.

Elf Day was one of my favorite outfits of the week. Most people went to the Dollar Store and bought elf hats. (The local Dollar Store must've been very thankful for Holiday Spirit Week because the entire school bought elf hats, reindeer antlers, snowman headbands, and Holiday Spirit Week accessories there!)

Shop my outfits! Red blouse (old, Lauren Ralph Lauren), white skirt (only $18 with code STYLE2015!), leggings (unknown), flats (similar), elf hat (not shown, Dollar Tree)

I don't have any pictures of Reindeer Day, but it's okay, because that outfit was pretty weak. Just a brown shirt with reindeer antlers, thanks to the Dollar Store.

KTL and I were planning again for Snowman Day. All the photos we saw on Pinterest had the girls wearing tutus and it was so cute! I was very disappointed because I didn't have a tutu and there weren't any for sale near me. Why aren't tutus sold?! I'd wear one for every possible costume. 

Wednesday night, KTL texted me saying her neighbor who dances had an extra tutu. I was so excited! The tutu for me was Christmas colored- red and green. While it wasn't white, I knew this was my chance to wear a tutu to school! So much fun. The stares I had gotten from all my extreme costumes didn't phase me, I was hype. I also safety pinned giant black pom poms as my buttons onto my dad's oversized white buttondown.

So snowman-y! I love it.

Shop my outfits! Button-down, tutu (KTL's neighbor's!), leggings (unknown), flats (similar), snowman headband (not shown, Dollar Tree)

I don't know why, but I was just exhausted from the chaos of the entire week and didn't really have any motivation to do anything but study for my tests (tests on the last day of break... seriously?!). My outfit was kinda lame, and I just wore a Santa hat and red shirt. KD gave me the cutest infinty scarf (called a snood?) as a Christmas gift, it was green, so I knew it was perfect to match the Christmas theme!

I wasn't crazy about my outfit, but the Sophomore Pres really wanted to take pics with J and me, since we hadn't taken any all week. It was fun though!

Typical.

How cute is that infinity scarf?! Or snood, as the label read.

Shop my outfits! Shirt (old, Ann Taylor), scarf, jeans, riding boots (now 20% off!), Santa hat (not shown, home)

And that's one week down. Much more to share... coming soon! Do you think I'll finish before 2015?! Stay tuned to see!

Holiday Gift Guide: Not Your Typical Gifts

Gifts that are much more fun than your usual "gift card" gift. They're especially perfect for parents, close friends or boyfriends! Just make sure you get a peek at their calendar before you purchase these gifts!

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Movie Tickets for Two: Buy movie tickets for a movie you both want to see! If you want to get extra crafty, make a voucher for a "Popcorn on Me!"

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Or even better, concert tickets! Or tickets to a musical. Take them to their favorite band or a play coming in town. Tickets to Wicked would be an amazing gift!

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Food tours are another great gift for your favorite foodie. From meet and greets with local chefs, trying new restaurants, lots of different food, exploring the city and quality time... there's no better gift!

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Another great option is to sign y'all up for a cooking class. Food, friends and fun! Art classes are another great option!

What do you think about these gifts? They're my personal fave.

Holiday Gift Guide: Sentimental Gifts

My all-time favorite gift to give are gifts that have memories behind them. The best gift I have ever received was from A for my last birthday, and it was a scrapbook of all of our memories and a mix tape (so many songs, it was broken up into 6+ CDs. One playlist was just songs that were inside jokes between us.

I think sentimental gifts are the best gifts. While material items are great, sentimental items are much more memorable. I think the best gifts should be memorable, sentimental, and let the receiver know that you put a lot of thought into the gift, because you care a lot about them.

Here are some of my favorite sentimental gifts to give:

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Picture frames are one of my favorite gifts to give. I love the frames with a lot of slots, but if you don't have lots of photos with the person, I love the option of a really pretty frame. 

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While a little bit more pricey, I love this gift of a photo in a snowglobe. You can even personalize a message to be written on the snowglobe and it plays a song! 

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Here's a much more affordable (only $12) option! (No song or message, but hey it's a photo in a snowglobe!)

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I love the idea of giving a book for the holidays. Books are a really personal gift. Make it a gift you think they'd enjoy! It'd be perfect for a future book talk.

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Key tip: if you want to make the gift really personal, pull a Jess from Gilmore Girls move, and annotate someone's favorite book. Not exactly English-class annotate, but highlighting your favorite quotes and writing in the margins makes a gift so much more personal. H showed me this author on Instagram and I'm a huge fan of his quotes! 

I have never actually done this for a gift, but I think that the books that would work the best would include the recipient's favorite book, poetry, or something with an inside joke or personal connection.

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Mix tapes are a never-fail gift. What better way to show you care than making a mix tape for someone?!

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A cute version of friendship Mad Libs, a great way to relive all the memories and even get the chance to include some photos of the memories you discussed in the book!

My favorite DIY ideas include...

• A scrapbook with letters, photos and everything in between
• A journal full of letters, pictures and things just for them
• For the news junkie, a collection of articles that you think they'd find interesting cut and pasted into a journal
• A book full of quotes, photos and other things that remind you of them (Use Tumblr and Pinterest for inspiration!)

What are your favorite sentimental gifts? Please share your ideas! I'm always looking for more. Let me know if you do any of these ideas and how it ends up!

Holiday Gift Guide: My Personal Wish List

With all the gift guides floating around, I just wanted to share some of my favorite things that I'd love to receive this Christmas...

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While I don't know if I could personally justify spending more than $15 on a book, I've been eyeing this book for a while. It provides itineraries for 3 day trips to different European countries. It's definitely a great gift for any wanderlust friend of yours. They have these 36 Hours books for all the different continents!

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You can never go wrong with a bottle of nail polish. My personal favorite brand is Essie, but my friend told me I should try out butter LONDON next.

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One of the bloggers I follow has this plaid blanket scarf from Target! It's so cute and I'm a huge fan.

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After debating between a crossbody and a Longchamp for the longest time, I think Longchamp has won. It's such a chic bag that goes with everything.

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I still need a rain jacket! After too many rainy days at school, this is a need.

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I love 1/4 zips! This Patagonia is so pretty and I love the material it's made of. J just got the guys' version of this in navy and I'm in love! I want one for myself.

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I want a vest for all my buttondowns and this vest is so cute!

More of my favorite things coming soon! What do you want for Christmas? Or just are on your wish list?

Loafers

I love when men wear loafers. If I could, I would buy every guy a pair of Bass loafers.

Recently, I've been interested in the look of women's loafers. They are cute, but I'm just not sure how much I love them and if I'll wear them enough. But at the same time, who cares what others think?! I am dressing for myself, not for others.

Here are some of my favorite looks with loafers:

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I love all the neutrals, yet it doesn't look boring!

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I love how simple the outfit is, and with the additional of velvet loafers, it all comes together.

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An outfit from J.Crew that I already wear all the time. I get a little nervous from mixing patterns with gingham and cheetah print, but J.Crew has shown me it works.

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I love the aspect of the fun loafers, while still keeping it professional.

I have been eyeing for a pair of leopard/cheetah print shoes... I was looking at a pair of either chunky heels, flats... but I think a pair of cheetah print loafers could be my next purchase.

What do you think about loafers? Cheetah print? Cheetah print loafers?

Five on Friday

Another Friday in the books. I'm taking the SAT tomorrow for the first time, and I haven't gotten the chance to study yet. Whoops! Instead, I'm watching my new favorite show... Gilmore Girls!

On Thursday, I went to grab pizza for lunch with MS. It was fun. We talked about ways to ask people to Sadie's, prom, and politics... the usual. I'm going to miss MS next year when he's in college!

I also found out that we're having a Sadie's dance in February. As STUCO VP, I'll have to go, however I'm not crazy about the idea of a Sadie's. Actually I love the concept, but me having to ask a boy... Ah! That's scary. I don't deal with rejection well. Thankfully, J reassured me that it'd all be fine.

Today was a good day. For one, our lesson in calculus involved Krispy Kreme doughnuts. (Best doughnuts ever!) However, for the other calc classes, they used play-doh instead of doughnuts. We win.

After school today, J and I went to buy holiday decorations since we're decorating the trees by our school with ornaments!

There was so much going on with the first full week of school in a while... the perfect way was to unwind with a $3 Starbucks frappe with J after holiday decoration shopping.

His smile is my fav!

I convinced J to try a frappuccino. J doesn't drink coffee, he usually gets hot chocolate from Starbucks. We both got gingerbread frappes. It was my first time trying it, and it was good! I prefer the gingerbread latte, but hey I must be getting to be my 20 y/o self...

I thought that we'd just grab a drink, sit for a couple minutes, then leave, but we ended up talking for an hour! It was really fun. J's calc teacher (aka coolest lady ever aka Starbucks addict aka also SS' calc teacher) came into Starbucks while we were there. I didn't even know her, but I was listening to the conversation, and she started talking to me. She's so sweet!

After she left, I asked if she went to Duke, because that's what I thought I heard. J went on to tell me the story about how got accepted to Duke, but went to UNC. She went to UNC because her boyfriend at the time was going to go to UNC, and now they're married! I thought it was so cute. So did J. :) 

I know it's rare, but there's nothing I love more than the idea of high school sweethearts. The two STUCO advisers for prom last year also married their high school sweethearts. I think it's the cutest! I wouldn't mind only having one boyfriend who I ended up getting married to. Just saying.

Without further ado... my Five on Friday!

1. Holiday Cheer: I forgot to mention! I found out that we're having a holiday spirit week for the first time this year. The themes include tacky sweater, reindeer, elf, snowman and Santa. I'm all about the holiday spirit, so I'm beyond excited! I was telling J how excited I was to finally have a reason to buy a Tacky Christmas sweater. Lots of photos will be posted during that week. I'm already planning ideas for it.
2. Supportive Friends: I know I say this often, but I'm so thankful for my supportive friends. Sometimes little things, as simple as a tweet that I'm not sure whether it's meant to be funny or an insult, can get to me. I love having friends that I can rant to, and are always willing to back me up. Thanks y'all. #ProtectSKC was almost a trending hashtag this week.
3. Gilmore Girls: This show is love. I have a huge huge huge crush on Jess. He's great! I literally texted MN at 1:30am on Wednesday confessing my love for Jess. 

   

   Image via Gilmore Girls Wiki

4. Long talks: There's nothing better. I forgot how amazing it is to just sit and talk with people for hours. I love texting and phone calls, but there's something special about hanging out with each other in person.
5. Helping others: Nothing broke my heart more than when my sweet friend texted me asking for help, through my Student Council position. We have a class Twitter, and we have a lot of followers. She asked for my help to use the Twitter to help spread the word about a special cause. Just because some people think something is "uncool" and they bash on it, they don't realize how hard some people have worked on it. It breaks my heart. I love being able to help others though.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and sleeps in! I will be up bright and early taking the SAT tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Seasons Greetings

Happy December!

While I'm not crazy about cold weather or the end-of-the-semester stress, it all evens out, because it's the most wonderful time of the year... the holiday season!

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays. I love being with friends, family, wrapping up the year, high spirits, great mood, and all of the festivities.

It doesn't really feel like December yet. With all the stress that comes with the semester coming to an end soon and the fact that it's 50 degrees outside... but listening to some Mariah Carey "All I Want For Christmas Is You" helps. I need to break out the cocoa and start baking cookies.

Many more holiday-related posts to come soon! :)

The Epitome of Brunch

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I am a huge fan of brunch. However, not just any old brunch. It has to be a perfect brunch.

Some of my favorite elements of brunch include...

Croissants (toasted to crispy perfection, with a side of the jam of your choosing. My preference is strawberry)

Omelettes (my personal favorite way to eat eggs. With some onions, tomatoes, garlic powder, and a dash of chipotle cheese melted on top. Extra point if there's freshly sliced avocado on the side.)

Pancakes (chocolate chip, please!)

Fresh fruit (whether it be strawberries or pineapple... I'm up for it!)

Bacon (because what's brunch without bacon)

Coffee (lots of it)

Lemonade (fresh-squeezed, of course!)

San Pellegrino (my favorite drink, with fresh squeezed lemon)

What are your favorite elements of brunch? Oh, how I love sleeping in and waking up to find a delicious brunch. Just some of the joys of Sundays.

November Playlist

Long overdue, but this is a tradition I'd like to keep up...

The monthly playlist!

This month's playlist is inspired from The Happy Hipster playlist,

Which I've been listening to nonstop this month!

I'm already planning the December playlist, as we speak. ;)

Enjoy the November Playlist!

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all! As I'm stuffed on mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and the most delicious cornbread ever... I'm thinking all about everything I'm thankful for, which is a lot of things... I have to share how thankful I am! Here's a message...

To my friends...

To my lunch crew: Thanks for always being supportive of me and understanding when I'm gone to every club meeting possible! I don't know what I would do without you calming down all my crazy and I'm sorry when I interrupt every story.

To my APES class: Thanks for always listening to all my problems whether it be boys or APES tests... y'all are the most supportive and I love you all so much for it!

To my calc group R^ 2 & P^2: I love telling y'all anything. I'm glad you're #TeamSC and are willing to back me up in any fight, and even throw in a punch or two. ;)

To J: Thanks for always being there for me and being my everything. You're my best friend and we are the #DreamTeam. I wouldn't be half the person I am today without you. You've made me accomplish goals I never even knew I had.

To A: You a tru homie. You swaggie yo. Thx for always being there. U cool, u cool.

To HM: Thanks for always listening to me and my millions of rants. I love all of our conversations, and I love telling you everything.

To MS: There's nothing I love more than our talks. From politics to life, you are so inspiring and I'll always be a loser with you.

To SW: AYE. I'm sorry I couldn't be with you this Thanksgiving, but I'm always thankful for our rants about school and I love telling you everything. You get my cheesy lame jokes and you rock.

To the swim crew (ALD and JSC): I never have loved a car ride so much until we went on them. I love talking with y'all about everything and learning all the high school details.

To my family...

Thanks for putting up with my crazy, from mood swings to singing every lyric.

To all my readers...

Thanks for reading. Preppy in NC would be nothing without y'all and it's truly my escape into the blogger world, having my own space in the Internet is so cool!

Happy Turkey Day, y'all! Hope you have an amazing day.

Kate Spade Holiday Sale

What's better than Black Friday sales? Pre-holiday sales! Especially the ones that you can do from the comfort of your home. Here's my round-up of some of my favorite products on sale!

Kate Spade Surprise Sale: While Kate Spade has these pretty often, this sale has some of my favorite items I've ever seen. I think I might get some items, at the very least, some gifts for friends!

Moon River Pave Scatter Neck

How cute is this bow necklace? It'd look perfect with every outfit. It's only $39!

Moon River Bangle

And the bangle to match!

Gramercy Grand

I have wanted a Kate Spade watch for so long (this one in particular!). Now that it's only $125, it might be my Christmas gift to myself.

Things We Love Cha Cha Cha Mug

The other side says Cha-Cha-Cha. Perfect for any friend in your life! (And only $10!)

Beacon Court Angelica

This crossbody is simple, neutral and has that signature Kate Spade bow on it!

Southport Natalie

I love pebbled leather!

Highliner Clover

I love the bow on the side of this crossbody.

Magnolia Park Suede Natalie

How pretty is this color?!

17 Reasons

Happy Sunday! Today is a very special day. It's J's birthday.

So here's a very special post just dedicated to him...

Acting silly at the football game.
We can't really do serious.

After editing each other's NHS essays and applications,
We made it! Here's us at inductions.

17 Reasons Why I Love J:

1. He's my #1 supporter. Whenever I'm worried about something, I can always go to him for encouragement. He's the best at pep talks.
2. He's the voice of reason in my life. I'm known to be pretty stubborn. However, he helps me slow down and evaluate the pros and cons of my decisions. If I'm ever at a crossroads, I can just tell him the situation, and he'll talk about both sides, before offering me a final verdict on his take.
3. He's always there for me. While this is similar to the last two, it just means through the good, the bad and the nonsense, he's there for me with open ears, a smile and kind words.
4. He laughs at my lame jokes. I love making calc jokes and APES jokes. But hey, he actually thinks they're pretty funny.
5. We think alike. We have the same worries, and while I might be a little bit more worrisome than him, he always gets where I'm coming from. We have a similar style of thinking and humor.
6. He's kind. I don't know anyone who has something against J. Everyone knows J as a fantastic guy. He's likable, courteous and fun to be around.
7. We could talk forever and not get bored. This was proven during our almost-nightly phone calls when they'd turn into 90-minute phone calls because we'd get off topic quickly.
8. He always has something to say about every topic. I love learning every detail about him, especially when we talk about... well, anything. I love hearing about where he's from, Melbourne, Australia.
9. He loves to listen to me talk about my passions. What other boy will start the conversation about shopping and J.Crew? He loves talking about how much I love Washington D.C.
10. He shares the same interests as me. Well he is Student Council President... so we have that in common. ;) We have similar taste in TV shows (Sherlock, Arrow, White Collar, Psych and much more), places (he loves DC and traveling!) and even restaurants (Chipotle, Noodles & Co!).
11. He remembers the little details. Whether it's a tiny detail I mentioned several months ago, he'll bring it up when we're talking about the same thing months later. Nothing makes me happier than to know that he's paying attention when I'm rambling.
12. I look up to him. Whether it's his incredible work ethic to his awesome leadership skills, I'm always learning from him.
13. My mom adores him.  This is lame, but my mom doesn't usually say much about my friends. However, when she met J, she fell in love with him. He's courteous, mature, responsible and just a great guy.
14. He makes me laugh. Whether it's a casual joke thrown in there or a hilarious text where I'm actually laughing out loud, he knows exactly what to say.
15. He's smart. Not just his 4.0 GPA, but he knows what to say and how to act. Not something I can say for all high school boys these days.
16. He knows everything about me, and accepts me. I'm definitely the same weird self I always am when I'm with him. I don't mind saying everything on my mind, and you'll always catch me whispering to him.
17. He's my best friend. Every time something happens, he's the one I tell it to. As little as that moment was, he loves hearing about it.

Even volunteering with him is fun

Country Day!
He was wearing a cowboy hat on top and I went country club.

Happy birthday J! I'm so thankful that you're my best friend. I love you!

Five on Saturday

This week wasn't that exciting, except for last night. Last night was our football game against our rival school and the theme was a rave! It was so much fun. Even though there was powdered paint that was thrown in the air (SO COOL!), but some of it got on my brother's sweatshirt I was borrowing and he was not happy... It was a very hype game, and even though we lost pretty badly (7-21), the excitement was still there and there was a lot of cheering!

Reunited with my fav, Maya.

Maya goes to our rival school, so it was great that I got to see her last night! She used to live in my neighborhood before she moved. We were both rocking the Uggs, which was a good decision on our part, because it was freezing! Kai-D and SS' toes were literally frozen at the end of the night.

SS, Kai-D and I snuggling to stay warm! It was freezzzing!

AK and I. The funny part about this photo is that I'm super short, and it appears that she's super short... however I was standing on the bleachers and she wasn't. She's actually super tall, haha!

The yearbook posted a photo of our QB doing this pose, and had a contest asking people to mock this pose. After some convincing from the girl in charge of the contest, J and I decided to give it a shot. We look pretty funny with our serious faces, but it was hilarious!

It was such a fun game! Our school got more hype than ever before, and it was fun to be there for that!

And now... my Five on Friday!

1. Friday Night Football Games: Even though this was our last football game of the year, it was so much fun! I'm already looking forward to next year. This was J's first home game... ever, so I was glad to hear that he had a blast. (He had been to one away game since he had some friends on the other team!) I love this photo one of our cheerleaders took during our "I Believe" chant with powder paint. 
   
2. Something Stupid: As I got into the Christmas spirit this week, I listened to Michael Buble on Spotify. I found this old song that I'd never heard of. It's so cute! 
3. #Beautiful: Another song I discovered on Spotify. Mariah Carey rocks it! 
4. Reuniting: I got the chance to talk and see some people I haven't talked to in forever! I was so excited to see Maya for a brief moment at the football game, see a kid from my elementary school at the game (first thing he said: You don't look any different from 5th grade! Oh... thanks?), and talk with SW, who I miss so very much! All the memories come flooding back, and it's so much fun.
5. Holiday Gift Guides: I love reading all the bloggers' holiday gift guides to get inspiration for gifts to give! It's interesting to see what items appear on everyone's lists and learn about items I've heard of. I have already posted one for stocking stuffers (all items are $25 and under!).

Today, I'm planning on relaxing, napping, catching up on Netflix, and finishing my homework. Tomorrow is J's birthday (get ready for his birthday post! Warning: it'll be long and sentimental!), and I'm hoping to go on a lunch date that won't be cancelled this time with ALD and JSC!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!