Wake Downtown

Happy Reading Day!

My first final is on Monday, so I have a ton of time to study.

I am not stressed at all... which is actually a really good thing.

But because my first test isn't until Monday I am not really motivated...

And because of that, Caroline, Emily, Clara and I went to our downtown campus for lunch and some light studying.

This downtown campus just opened this year and it's gorgeous.

It's very modern and sleek.

It reminds me a lot of NYC. And like Bryant Park or the High Line. 

There are classes there and stem cell research at this campus.

I was mesmerized by the building and this little campus.

I can't believe it's part of Wake.

If you go to Wake you have to go see it, even if you don't even study there.

The pictures I put on my Insta story (@tallandpreppy) don't even do the campus justice. It's so cool!

Emily and I found this silent study room on the 3rd floor and it was great!

It was silent and that is my favorite kind of study space. (That's why I love the 7th floor of the library!)

We were in there for about 2 hours until this guy came in and screamed at us.

He said "Yo guys, if you aren't a med student and your ID doesn't open this door you can't be in here. I'm not gonna kick you out, but your not allowed to be in here."

Ok.

Well, that was a bit aggressive.

And not for nothing, but there were NO signs that said "Wake Forest Medical Student Study Space ONLY," it only said, "Silent Study Space- No phones."

It's not like we were being loud, we were following the rules and being silent!

And it's not like there were medical students there that wanted to use the study space that we were using.

There were 3 more floors of "medical student study space."

After I was all started by that rude med student, WFU Campus Police comes in and kicks us out.

And he was like if your ID card doesn't open this door you can't come in, and he's like it says that on the door.... and we were like ah no it doesn't....

So I was very ticked off, and now I am going to write a very strongly worded letter because it's not fair!

We pay MORE than the medical students and it's our campus too!!

So watch out, a sassy New Yorker is coming for you Wake Downtown....

A crazy bright outfit for a not so bright day outside.

My shorts are literally neon pink, like highlighter pink.

I don't think you can really tell from the pictures but they are pretty obnoxious and I love them!

I could have toned down this outfit a bit more and wore like a denim or white shirt, but if your gonna go big and loud, you might as well stick with that!

So I did!

Top: J Crew navy blue gingham button down

Short: J Crew 3 inch hot pink shorts

Shoes: Jack Rogers Hampton sandals in platinum

Earrings: Tiffany pearl studs

Bag: Tory Burch large York satchel in navy blue 

Freshman Year LDOC

Yesterday was my last day of classes or LDOC of freshman year.

I am in shock.

It hasn't really hit me yet, that a week from today I will be home...

Normally, I am very sentimental about endings and shed a few tears and maybe try to let all the experiences of the last day of classes sink in, but this time I didn't.

I don't know why.

Probably because I still have finals to take and things to pack.

But also, probably because I am in disbelief that I have to say goodbye to my best friends.

As excited as I am to go home to my family and friends, I really don't want to leave.

I love it here.

I remember at the end of 1st semester I was soooooo ready and anxious to go home, and now I don't want to leave!

I know when I say goodbye to my friends I will ball my eyes out, but it's fine, they still have a week left of me!

I am really going to miss my friends, my tiny dorm room and mostly my pilates class...

Not gonna lie, I love my pilates class, and I am afraid I am going to be a hippo when I come back in the fall, for not doing pilates for four months... eeekkk

As it was LDOC yesterday, most people went out during the day to various parties.

I really really wanted to, but I was asked to give a speech at this event called "Listen In," at 7pm so I had to be sober and not covered in foam or beer or water from the various water slides and mud pits at the various frat parties. 

"Listen In"  was run by the professor of my public speaking class. I was honored she asked me to speak, so I gave my narrative speech on Michael Collins, the 3rd astronaut in Apollo 11. 

It was really nice, and I am glad I did it.

I am also glad I didn't go out during the day because I got a lot of studying done!

And then my reward for studying hard during the day was, frat party last night.

I went with some friends to a foam party!

But it wasn't really foam, it was bubbles....

Like a big room full of bubbles.

It was amazing!

We got there very early, we were like the first ones there, but it was fun! We had lots of bubbles to ourselves and then we were able to dance off the bubbles.

We were covered in soap and it was great.

And now today is reading day!

My finals are Monday and Wednesday, so I have a lot of time to study.

I have some fun things planned the next couple of days to keep me entertained....

I have to say, it was very odd of me to not wear a dress on the last day of class!

It's kind of my silly tradition to wear a dress on the first and last day of class!

But I wasn't feeling it!

It was hot, don't get me wrong, you can probably see the sweat marks under my arms, but I don't know I guess cause I am still in disbelief about this year being over. Maybe that's why I wasn't in a dress. 

Shirt: J Crew blue tunic

Shorts: J Crew 3 inch khaki chino shorts

Earrings: Tiffany sterling silver love knots

Shoes: Jack Rogers Hampton sandals in platinum

Sunglasses: Ray Ban tortoise shell wayfarer sunglasses

So Over It

Well it has rained for the past four days straight and I am so over it!!

Yesterday, it said it wasn't supposed to rain, but it did, on and off all day...

I was tired of wearing my big clunky Hunter boots and my rain coat, so I settled on a pair of shoes I didn't care too much about if they got wet.

I also thought that maybe if I didn't wear my boots I would show Mother Nature that I was done with the rain and it would stop....

It didn't really work.

But Ashley and I were over letting the weather control us and our photo taking.

So we took photos out in the rain yesterday, and you can't even tell.

My hair looks a little frizzer than normal, but it's fine.

I finished one final yesterday!

So one down and three more to go!

I am almost done with freshman year.

It is crazy!! 

I also did some more packing yesterday.

Packing was my reward for finishing my English final paper. 

I mean, packing has really starting to stress me out. I have a lot of crap, to say the least, and I have never packed for moving ever, but it literally took me 10 minutes to pack up all my winter clothes into a big box. I realized it wasn't that bad and it's not gonna take me very long, so I am gonna take a chill pill now because I realized I don't need to pack so far in advance. 

And also, because I don't have any place in my room to put the boxes.

After packing, I just hung out, something I haven't done in a while and then I then did more packing in the KD lounge.

We are getting our lounge redone this summer, so I had to help pack up everything into boxes.

So my long break was done and then I did a little bit of studying before going to bed really early.

Finals have got me pretty stressed, thus I can't sleep at night.

This happened last semester too.

I just had too much on my mind, and even more on my mind now, because I have to pack up my whole room!

It's fine, I am just going to sleep for hours on end when I get back home!

I am so looking forward to that!

Before Christmas last year, I slept for 17 hours straight after I got home from school...

I plan to do that again, and beat my record of 17 hours. I'm thinking maybe 24?!

But before I can think about sleep, I have to finish my exams first!

Woo!

The lack of sleep it hitting me hard, but I am still looking pulled together.

I rarely ever wear these boyfriend jeans, but I love them.

They are very non-me but I think they look great with a button down.

It is all about balance and these jeans need to be paired with a classic and professional top, to balance out the very casual bottoms.

If I wore these jeans with a t-shirt I would look a bit lazy.

So the button down with a statement necklace is way better.

Shirt: J Crew Oxford white button down

Pants: American Eagle ripped boyfriend jeans

Jacket: Banana Republic classic trench coat

Shoes: Vince Camuto burgundy flats

Earrings: Tiffany pearl studs

Necklace: J Crew statement necklace (similar)

White Rose Formal 2017

I apologize for the few pictures I have from formal, I should have taken more "blog pics" because you can't even see the back of this dress, and it is stunning... but my date was carrying my phone so I didn't have it on me pretty much all night...

And actually, it was really nice because I was able to just enjoy myself and all of my friends, without having to keep tabs on what was going on in the world and what not.

I sent a photo of me and my date to the fam, and that was it! The phones were put away for the rest of the night!

I had soooo much fun Saturday night!

As you can imagine, I danced the night away!

I danced so much my feet were killing me by the end of the night... as you can imagine.

The minute we got back to the KD lounge I took my shoes off. These were brand new shoes and were very high, so probably part of the reason why my feet were killing me but I didn't complain at all during formal. 

After I took my shoes off my date offered to carry me and I was like ah no thanks, and then he pushed me into a puddle...

cute, but it's fine he kept stepping into big puddles with his suede shoes on... oops

Oh yeah, because that was the other thing, it was pouring out.

But don't worry I had my cheetah umbrella!

My date met me in my room and he met my besties. 

And then we went downstairs to meet up with one of my guy friends who I set up with one of my KD sisters!

So that was a lot of fun!

And then I saw my lineage up in the KD halls and hung out for a bit.

I also got told off by an older girl that I shouldn't have been in a long dress because I am a freshman....

But ummm I love this dress, I think I looked great, my date loved the dress and sorry, that's all that matters.

All the girls in the pictures above are freshman as well! And they were wearing long dresses.... so yeah.

We then waited for the mini school buses to take us to formal.

Because of the rain, the buses were a little delayed, but it was fine, more time for me to hang out with my friends and my date.

Funny story: it was my date's first time ever on a yellow school bus.

He's from England, so he has never been on a yellow school bus before....

He was so excited!

When we got to the venue we went straight to the Photo Booth and took some silly pictures.

And after that, we had no agenda. We just danced all night long.

I had so much fun, I didn't go to bed until like 4 in the morning, but it's fine, it was so worth it.

I did have to nap yesterday though, because I was so wiped out...

Get ready for lots of more pretty dresses in the next couple of years!!

xoxox

E

Exploring Downtown Winston-Salem

I would like to say that for the most part I am a city girl!

I live 30 minutes outside of the best city in the entire world, New York City, and frequent the city pretty often.

I hope to one day work and live in Manhattan, probably just like everyone else....

I love Manhattan for the hustle and bustle and for the food.

I am such a foodie.

When I decided on going to Wake, my mom told me, ah good luck in such a small city...

And don't get me wrong, Winston is TINY, but I kinda love it.

It is so charming.

And there is actually really good food!!

And look how artsy this part of the city is...

There are murals everywhere and it's very HighLine like.

Ashley and I are going to make a list of all of the places we are going to visit and take pictures at in the next three years!

Get ready to see more of my home!

Shirt: J Crew pink scalloped linen top

Pants: Gap white high waisted skinny jeans

Earrings: Tiffany pearl studs

Bracelet: Tory Burch gold logo bangle

Shoes: Jack Rogers Palm Beach sandal in white

Bag: Michael Kors medium Selma satchel

Live a Little

I had been working hard all week in preparation for finals so ya know what, I decided to go out Thursday night!

I am so glad I did!

I didn't get much work done on Thursday, but that's okay because I had fun.

You deserve a break every now and again!

My mom always tells me I have to "live a little," and just have some fun with some friends.

Thursday was a busy day. 

I went straight to the library after class and worked until dinner, which I ate by myself in my room, which is fine.

I love being by myself sometimes!

I then got all dressed up for my choral concert. 

It went horribly.

Our group was so bad I was mortified. We rehearsed some of the songs right before the performance and it was so bad, my director cut one of the songs.

Besides that I was embarrassed by how bad we sounded.

I was not proud to be a part of that group.

Next year I will be in the better choral group on campus, thank God.

One of my friends came up to me afterwords and said my facial expressions were hysterical because apparently I looked so embarrassed while on stage...

While the other group was performing I emailed my chorus teacher from high school.

That was probably really rude of me, but I just had to email her and tell her how much I missed her and our class.

Our class was so talented and my teacher had so much talent.

She has so much love for music and was just the best chorus teacher ever.

I miss her dearly and I really miss her teaching.... :(

I hope to come visit her in May when I am home!

Speaking of home- I will be home in 12 days!

That's crazy soon!!!

I started packing yesterday actually. I dropped some bins off at my storage unit and I bought some boxes from Home Depot.

I went in my super preppy outfit to Home Depot... yep, you can imagine I looked a bit out of place...

Shirt: J Crew orange ruffle tank (similar)

Jacket: American Eagle denim jacket

Pants: Gap white high waisted skinny jeans

Earrings: Tiffany pearl studs

Bracelet: F21 gold cuff

Sunglasses: Rayban Wayfare tortoise shell glasses

Shoes: Jack Rogers Hampton sandals in platinum 

Too Much to do, Too Little Time

As the days are winding down, the work is piling up and I am a little too stressed out to function.

And instead of working right after dinner last night and being studious, I went and sat in Reynolda Gardens for three hours enjoying the outdoors and forgetting my responsibilities for a bit.

I had a wonderful time, yet it caused me to suffer a bit, as I still had to write a draft for my English paper and do my French homework.

I stayed up until the wee hours of the night, barley keeping my eyes open, but powering on through.

I am slowly beginning to check out, and I don't know if it's because I am just exhausted but also because I just have too much to do.

And I am really not trying to procrastinate but unfortunately I am, just a bit.

As soon as next week is over I will be less stressed because my papers are due next week and then I literally have a full week of doing nothing because I only have two finals, and they are at the end of first week of May.

So I have plenty of time!

Packing is also starting to stress me out...

My parents aren't coming to move me out, so I have to do it all on my own and with some help from some friends.

I'm gonna start packing up my things this weekend and start bringing them to my storage unit, so it is one less thing for me to worry about as school comes to a close.

I was talking to Ashley about school being over, and we are both in such shock! We both don't know how we feel about school being over.

Don't get me wrong, I am soooooo excited to sleep and eat good food again (and of course see my family and friends), but at the same time I love it here and I am really going to miss all of my friends.

This is my home now and my friends are my family and I am going to miss them dearly.

School is going to be over before I can wear all of my 15 pairs of shorts....

lol

It's warm here but not too warm.

And it's still going to be kind of chilly back home so I guess I will have to start repeating outfits when I get back home... Oh no!

Shirt: J Crew navy blue eyelet top (similar)

Shorts: J Crew 3 inch printed stretch shorts (same but different pattern)

Jacket: American Eagle denim jacket

Shoes: Sperry sparkly boat shoes (similar)

Earrings: Tiffany pearl studs

Necklace: Baublebar large gold script monogram

Last (Full) Week

Happy last (full) week of school!

Wow!

Where has the time gone??

I know I keep saying I only have x amount of days left, but honestly, like I'm freaking out a little bit!

These next few days are going to fly on by!

I have so much to do in so little time.

I had a History paper due today, which I thankfully finished last week, before Marco, and then I have a draft of my English final paper due tomorrow, that I haven't started, as well as a French paragraph and another French paper due Monday, that I also haven't started.

So woo!

Fun times....

But actual fun times are coming because I have FORMAL this weekend!!!

I didn't do any of my papers over my long weekend, so now I'm suffering.

But it's fine, I enjoyed sleeping and eating some good food and seeing my parents for the first time in four months!

I also enjoyed lounging on the beach and getting my tan on!

But now back to the real world of college.

I gotta study, write and start packing!

I'm sorry if I look sleep deprived in these pictures but yesterday I had a crazy day.

I got up at 5:30 am, left my house in Florida, made my way to the airport, where I actually met up with one of my good friends and then we journeyed back to Wake.

And I had to go to class yesterday afternoon!

I also had to finish editing my History paper.

So last night at midnight, while walking back from the library, I was a zombie.

I don't even think I reread my paper for a final time before printing it, because I was so exhausted.

I am still exhausted because I am so stressed out and have so much on my mind I can't sleep!

As tired as I was yesterday, I'm glad I looked cute!

This was my travel and then class outfit.

This is the perfect outfit for travel because it is super pulled together but also very casual and simple!

It's also a great class outfit, for the same reasons!

I was rocking my FAV pair of earrings yesterday and loved the contrast of colors between them and my bright shirt!

Shirt: Banana Republic hot pink peplum top (similar)

Pants: Gap white high waisted tall skinny jeans

Earrings: J Crew blue tassel earrings

Shoes: Jack Rogers Hampton sandals in platinum

Good Music and Good Laughs

I have always loved music, from as long as I can remember.

I remember standing center stage and belting the words, "I see skies of blue, clouds of white, bright blessed days and dark scared nights," at my preschool graduation. 

From then my performance experience only increased.

I joined Girl Scout of Nassau County Chorus, NYSMAA, All County, Honor Chorus, Women's Chorus, Vocal Jazz and now Collegium.

I have done it all.

But when I get asked what's my favorite type of music, I don't really have a favorite.

I like all types.

I am very much a fan of all the music on the radio and just silly songs I can sing along to.

But I also love my classic old French songs and a good Ave Maria!

My friend has a radio show here at Wake on Wednesday nights at 6 pm, so while I was in the library yesterday slaving away on my History paper and eating dinner, I tuned in.

The music was actually really good and some of my suggestions that I threw in even got played!

It was so fun!

I forgot how nice it is just to listen to music for enjoyment and not just as background sound.

So that was fun, and then I met the same friend for the Banshees, a comedy troop here on campus.

They had a performance last night and it was hysterical.

Very very dirty and I was probably laughing most of the time from just being flustered and embarrassed.

I think everyone in the audience was a bit embarrassed, not gonna lie...

I then made my way back to my home (aka ZSR, aka the library) and finished my paper.

I am really impressed with my paper actually, and am happy that I think I did well on it, so I don't have to work a lot on it this weekend when I am in Florida!

All my classes were shortened yesterday because I finished all my work early, so that was really nice because I was able to pack!

I have come to the conclusion that I am a professional packer these days!

All of my life I have been an over packer.

For example, my parents, brother and I would go down to Florida for nine days and I would bring a HUGE suitcase with sooo many outfits.

I never wore any of those outfits because I just ended up sitting in a t-shirt and shorts when I wasn't in a bikini.....

Over the years, I have become less of an over packer and especially now, since I really don't want to pay for a suitcase, I just do everything carry on.

And I know when I go to Florida, I wear the same two pairs of shorts and t-shirts and my bathing suits.

So honestly, it's really unnecessary for me to bring lots of outfits.

I don't need to be "extra" on vacation....

I even have room in my carry on bag for this trip!! 

I am very proud of myself! Well partially I need the room because I am bringing New York bagels back to Wake. Get excited friends!!!

Now about my outfit:

Funny story about this shirt. I'm sure you read about my experience into getting rejected and accepted into colleges, if not click HERE and HERE.

So this is one of the shirts that my mom bought me during my serious retail therapy session when I didn't think I was getting into Wake. 

So that's kinda funny!

Shirt: Banana Republic lavender tank top

Jeans: American Eagle skinny jeans

Earrings: large faux pearl studs

Bracelet: J Crew pave and gold link bracelet

Shoes: Jack Rogers Hampton sandals in platinum