Dorm Room Loving: Ivy Halls with a Giveaway

I am on a dorm room craze. I am absolutely loving searching for all kinds of dorm room friendly things that will help my future space feel more like home! One thing I love about my bed at home is the number of pillows I have on it! At any one time it usually has 8 pillows on it. We are talking 2 euro shams, 2 standard shams, 2 sleeping pillows, and two accent pillows! As I prepare to head to college I knew that I wanted lots of pillows on my dorm bed as well but I didn't just want ones that were made to go with the bedding I choose but I wanted ones that coordinated with my room theme! This is where the adorable etsy shop Ivy Halls came into play. Ivy Halls is a custom dorm shop on etsy and I adore all of their products. Their bedding can be customized and all of the products are super well made and durable!

If you haven't seen my other two dorm posts (One and Two) then you won't know that I am planning my room around some Lilly Fabric that I recently got in the print Chin Chin! I chose a couple of pillows from Ivy Halls that went well with my fabric and the owner even went to her local Lilly store to see what she thought would look best. If that isn't customer service then I don't know what is! I ordered both a Euro Sham and an Accent Pillow and I can not wait to get to college and have these pillows greet me in my dorm room!

Below is an image of the monogrammed accent pillow that I received, stay tuned to the end of this post to see how to win your own!

I chose an aqua striped pillow with green dots and a pink monogram that coordinates with my fabric! One great thing about this pillow is that it is both a sham and a pillow sold all in one!

How precious is the Ivy Halls logo? So fun and professional!

Below is an image of the Euro Sham I received. I chose a light pink square link design which will look great as an accent on my bed. I love Euro shams on my beds because it allows me to easily prop up while sitting on my bed so they are not only fun but they are also functional!

On all of the pillow cases sold by Ivy Halls, they have their tag sewn onto the item. I thought this was a fun and unexpected touch that shows how far above and beyond this company is willing to go!

Here is a look at how my pillows go together.

And in the image below you are able to see how fun the pillows look with Lilly Pulitzer's Multi Chin Chin fabric.

Ivy Halls isn't only great for college bound girls but it is also perfect for anyone looking to spruce up their space and because of that, I have partnered with Ivy Halls to bring y'all a giveaway for an accent pillow of your picking! Enter below using the Rafflecopter giveaway widget!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck and let me know what you think about my dorm so far!

dWa

Lilly Inspired Graduation Party

A few weeks ago my lovely aunts and grandmother threw me the most precious graduation party ever! My friends and I had a blast and I can not thank them enough for all the time and effort they put into such a fabulous party!

Today, I am sharing with y'all pictures of the party details but check back on Friday for pictures of my friends and I enjoying ourselves at the party. Also, beware of the picture overload!

This is an image of the invitation, it was molded after Lilly Pulitzer's logo and in my opinion it is pretty spot on! Gotta love pink and green!

We drank pink lemonade punch (frozen pink lemonade and ginger ale) out of the cutest glasses equipped with precious paper straws and flamingos and umbrellas!

The menu was displayed on Lilly stationary in a print that matched our napkins!

We ate some delicious snacks that looked nearly too cute to eat!

I made some fun sugar cookies to eat as dessert and each girl got to take home a shift dress cookie to eat later on!

Enjoy taking a peek at my precious party!

We played bingo and croquet and below show some of the prizes!

Below shows my graduation presents to my sweet friends! Each of my friends got a different needlepoint key fob which we ordered from the etsy store stinastitches!

Here is an example of one!

dWa

Look out for more pictures from the party on Friday!

Dorm Room Loving: My Pink and Green Garden

As many of you may remember from my dorm post a few weeks ago, I really wanted to accent my dorm room in Lilly Pulitzer's Chin Chin fabric. To begin that process, I searched at my favorite online shop Etsy and found the wonderful shop My Pink and Green Garden and their variety of options when it came to Lilly fabric as well as merchandise!

When I saw My Pink and Green Garden sold both pillows and memo boards in the print, I knew my first dorm room purchase was about to made and let me just say the products lived up to their high expectation in my mind!

I ordered a memo board and a pillow in my beloved Chin Chin pattern and was so happy to support a small business when working on my dorm!

Below is an image of my pillow. The fabric was cut into my initials and attached to a soft silky pillow with precious pink pom pom balls as an accent! This pillow is going to look so cute on my bed and I absolutely can not wait to see how it ties everything together!

The other item I ordered was a memo board. The board is covered in the Chin Chin fabric and has ribbons to place photos between so that you do not have to use push pins! It is well made and will make a boring dorm wall look a whole lot brighter and livelier!

My Pink and Green Garden offers so many print options as well as silhouettes to have on your pillow!

Go check out her shop if you need to get any gifts for friends because they are sure to love her products!

dWa

Senior Awards

Some posts I site for y'all some posts I write for myself. This post is one I am writing more for myself and my memory than for anything else. The curtain has closed on senior year and there are some events that I want accounted for. In the future, I will have some posts filled with pictures from the end of my senior year and I will also have a graduation post but that will come later.

Last week, I had two different awards banquets to attend and was pleasantly surprised to be honored at both events!

Soccer Banquet:

I have loved soccer and have played since I could walk so it is absolutely crazy to think that my soccer playing time is over.  I have been blessed to be a part of the varsity team at my school since 7th grade! It was a HUGE time commitment but it was worth it!

This year we split our team up into 4 families of 8 girls which made the team a lot more personal!

My family at banquet gave me the cutest burlap basket filled with monogrammed towels, a giant waterproof cosmetic bag and a book of pictures of me playing soccer this past year! Quite honestly, I didn't cry until I looked through the book!

I was also given two awards this year!

The first award I received was the Offensive Player of the Year award. I kind of saw this one coming since I received it last year and had far more goals than anyone else on the team (15)! Regardless, I was honored to receive it and was humbled by the kind words my coach said about me when receiving the award.

The second award is one I had forgotten that existed. This is one that I will treasure beyond any other award I receive because of what it represents. The award was named after a coach after my school and it is given to the senior boy and senior girl who portrays enthusiasm, dedication, and commitment as well as leadership and soccer skill. I was so surprised and honored to be the recipient of that award!

Academic Awards Day:

This year at awards day I received quite a few honors.

At my school we receive silver plates for more academic based awards that are more individualized and plaques for more service based awards.

This year I was honored for the scholarships I received as well as:

The Socratic Award

The Departmental Award for AP French

The JeAnne Yancy Service Award

The Headmaster's Behind the Scene Award

and The Senior Leadership Award.

All of my handwork and effort from my years at my school was recognized and it was a great end to a fantastic school year!

dWa

*Please do not misinterpret this post as bragging*

Exam Study Tips

As of noon today I will have 2 exams down with only one more to go! Today is my last day of school and I have an AP Literature Exam to take! I am exempt from my exams meaning I only have to take the AP tests this year which is very nice! Over the past four years, I have learned a lot about studying for exams and wanted to share some study tips as exams begging to approach!

Do Not Procrastinate

This just makes you feel like you have a whole lot to do but not a lot of time to do it in! Cut out distractions so that procrastinating will be less tempting!

Get Enough Sleep

The amount of sleep you get really will help to determine how well you do on a given exam. Make a conscious effort to get about eight and a half hours of sleep the night before your exams!

Clean Your Study Space

It is harder to get tasks accomplished quickly when your surrounding space is cluttered and messy. Before you even start studying be sure to clean up the surrounding area!

Turn Your Notes Into Flashcards

Flashcards are a great way to quiz yourself on the go! Start by reading through your notes and highlighting the most important facts, then transfer those important concepts to notecards to study!

Study Solo

While group studying can be great, you are more likely to get tasks accomplished when you are not distracted by others! Do your best to study alone in order to optimize the amount of time you are studying.

Remove Distractions

This goes along with not procrastinating but by removing distractions you are less likely to procrastinate!

Take Breaks

Studying for long chunks of times makes it harder for your brain to remember all of the information than if you study in pieces. I like to have a 3:1 ratio of studying to breaks!

I hope these tips help you to ace your exams!

Don't forget that all this week I will have 2 posts up per day! Content based posts will be up at 9 AM and fun product and shop posts will be up at 3 PM!

dWa

Dream Dorm Ideas

As y'all know, I am headed to college this fall and as you can imagine all I have thought about recently is how to decorate my dorm! Sadly, Furman does not allow freshman to choose their room mates so instead, we take a survey and the school matches us based on that survey. 

I will not find out my roommate or which dorm I will be living in until mid July so I am going ahead and doing most of my dorm shopping now since I will be gone all summer. Below is some inspiration for the dorm room decor I am trying to create!

As you can see from the image I am kind of basing my dorm around Lilly Pulitzer's Chin Chin print. I could not help but fall in love with the colorful elephants on the pattern and that is why it is going to be my accent pattern!

As for bedding, I am really struggling to find a duvet that works. I really want a light aqua colored one that I can fold up at the end of my bed but finding that online is easier said than done. I have found a really fun white ruffled quilt that I am hoping to use as my covers with the duvet at the end during the warmer months and then during the cooler months I can use the duvet and have the blanket at the end of my bed. If y'all know of anywhere where I could find a light aqua (to match the blue in the chin chin print) duvet then please let me know!

Here are two of the quilts I am looking at! I love the ruffles on the quilts. I know it is kind of discouraged to look for any white bedding but I want something plain to keep my room looking modern and not too colorful.

On the same note as bedding, depending on which dorm I get, I will probably get a headboard made to make my dorm room look like home. I have ordered some Lilly fabric in the Chin Chin print so I can make the headboard out of that or I can do something plain!

As for accessories, I ordered a precious memo board and monogrammed pillow from the etsy store My Pink and Green Garden and I am super excited about those!

 

I also have a large wooden monogram that I plan to take to college with me that I received from my aunt for my birthday so that will be a fun addition.

For my desk and storage I plan to get some of Lifeguard Press's Lilly Pulitzer storage bins in Chin Chin to use over my desk, under my bed, and in my closet! Sadly, the print does not look identical to the fabric of Chin Chin because it is a bit darker and does not have the same blue accents but it will look cute nonetheless! 

For other storage, I plan on recovering a storage ottoman from target to use either as extra seating, a stool, or even a bedside table. I plan on recovering it in the Lilly fabric I purchased and by doing it myself I will be saving a lot of money as opposed to if I were buying it from decor 2 ur door, a custom dorm room bedding company that sells similar ottomans! Their ottomans are priced at $125 and I will be purchasing my ottoman for $20 and recovering it with my moms help!

Here is an up close picture of the fabric I ordered:

I plan on having lots of fun and decorative pillows on my bed and have already started shopping around for them. I found an awesome etsy shop called IvyHalls that specializes in dorm bedding that has the cutest accent pillows and euro shams that I am hoping to order! I will not be ordering the accent pillow in that color but I wanted to give you an idea of what it looked like!

 

For wall art, I will probably paint myself some cute painting in colors that will match my bedding. You can find my paintings on Etsy!

That is all I have really done at the moment but you can expect lots of dorm room idea updates pretty much until I get to school and have it decorated!

If you want to see more dorm room inspiration from me follow my Dorm Room and College Life board on Pinterest or just follow me on Pinterest in general!

Don't forget that all this week I will have 2 posts up per day! Content based posts will be up at 9 AM and fun product and shop posts will be up at 3 PM!

dWa

Advice for High School Juniors

(1) Stay Focused

With college very close on your horizon it is important to stay focused and determined to make good grades! Junior year is the last year grade wise colleges look out during the admission process so it is important to continue doing well! Junior year is said to be the most challenging academically so keep on trucking through and you will be fine!

(2) Don't Procrastinate

With junior year being the hardest year academically, it is extremely important that you do not procrastinate considering the amount of work you will have to do! Get your work done when it is assigned so that you can get ahead or have more time for yourself later on. The best way for me to avoid procrastination is by turning off my phone and limiting my computer access by using the computer app called Self Control.

(3) Prepare for Standardized Tests EARLY

If I could change one thing junior year it would be when I started taking prep courses and preparing for the ACT and the SAT. I recommend you begin taking the ACT and SAT spring of your Junior year but begin doing practice tests and taking classes prior to that!

(4) Begin Seriously Looking at Colleges

Spring of your Junior year is an awesome time to take a trip to tour colleges that interest you. Tours are great because they allow you to get a feel for the campus and lifestyle of the students. You can determine the sizes and locations that you like!

(5) Continue with Leadership Roles

By junior year you should begin taking on leadership roles such as vice president that show your commitment and involvement in different activities. Don't overwhelm yourself with leadership positions but instead take on roles in activities you truly enjoy.

(6) Get to Know Your College Counselor

I have talked about my college counselor before and she is the greatest ever. College Counselors know what they are doing and want to get you into the college of your dreams as much as you do! Be sure to talk with them often because you never know when they may suggest the school that is your perfect fit.

(7) Have Some Fun

Socially, Junior year is a blast. All of your friends can drive and you feel more free than you did sophomore year so be sure to take some study breaks and enjoy yourself because that is the only way you will make it through the stressful times!

I hope these tips are useful and I will have a Senior Tip post in the near future!

Check out my Freshman Year Tips as well as my Sophomore Year Tips posts!

Don't forget that all this week I will have 2 posts up per day! Content based posts will be up at 9 AM and fun product and shop posts will be up at 6 PM!

dWa

Mia Amicas Globally

I recently found an awesome store with an even greater motto "Helping others thrive thru inspiration, education, and support." With a motto like that and fun bracelets like the ones shown below what's not to love about Mia Amicas Globally?

These bracelets have been super popular in my area for about a year now and they are easy to throw on to add a pop of color to your outfit! The best part about these bracelets is that they are made by disadvantaged women in third world countries improve the quality of their lives!

I had some of these bracelets before my Mia Amicas ones but the patterns and colors of these bracelets take the cake! And let's not forget to mention the great price for items that go towards such a great cause. Locally, I can get these bracelets for $10 a piece but from Mia Amicas it is $18 for a set of three bracelets and she has better colors and designs to choose from!

Below are close up images of my fun bracelet sets!

If you are looking for fun gifts to give friends I highly recommend checking out Mia Amicas and considering giving them some of these bracelets because they are so easy to wear with just about anything!

Don't forget that all this week I will have 2 posts up per day since last week none were posted! Content based posts will be up at 9 AM and fun product and shop posts will be up at 6 PM!

dWa