This Week's Top 10 (Going Out Outfits + My Go-To Drinks & More)

image via pinterest 

 1. I landed in Chicago last night and I am beyond excited for this weekend. I am working from my brother's apartment today and then meeting up with my three best friends/roommates from college to celebrate Elizabeth's birthday tonight & tomorrow here in Chicago! The four of us are so close but haven't all been together since before I moved to NYC, so I seriously could cry from excitement. 

Before we dive into everything, in case you missed it, I shared two gift guides on the blog this week: a Mother's Day gift guide and a gift guide for the College Graduate!

2. This weekend, because all of the girls are so stylish, I really had to plan my outfits. I ended up doing RTR last minute because a lot of things weren't working, and I am SO glad I did. I am beyond obsessed with this plunging leather top which I'm going to wear tomorrow night - might end up buying it to keep. I also love this open-back crop top for maybe tomorrow afternoon, and then I also got this retro paisley dress that I plan to wear to a rehearsal dinner in a couple of weeks; it looks so much better on than you'd think!

3. Speaking of going out, how about an update on my drinks of choice?! My go-to drink drink is usually a dirty Hendrick's martini (I don't drink vodka) or white wine, and sometimes a negroni if I'm at the right spot. 

College Graduation Gift Guide

It's hard to believe another year has come and gone since I graduated college in 2020! When I graduated, I was fortunate enough to receive a few pieces I love and use almost every single day, so I've curated this gift guide with those things in mind. If you're looking for the perfect gift for a college graduate in your life, I hope you find this helpful!

Mother's Day Gift Guide

Mother's Day is this following weekend and I am really excited to be visiting my mom in Raleigh. She moved from Charleston to Raleigh in the fall and I've never been! I'm so excited to see her, my dog, and celebrate Mother's Day with her and my brother. I think we already know what we are getting her, which is nice to have figured out. If you are still looking for gift ideas for your mom, I rounded up some good ones here! There are ideas at all price points on here and a variety of vibes, so you're bound to find something good to make your mom feel special :) 

This Week's Top 10: Life Updates & my shopping spree...

image via pinterest

1. This week has flown by! I hung out with a few friends and enjoyed the warmer, sunny weather, and all of a sudden it's Friday! On Thursday I am flying to Chicago to celebrate my best friend Elizabeth's birthday, and from there it will be five back-to-back busy travel weekends for me (Mother's Day, a wedding, and more...), so I'm looking forward to a lowkey weekend this weekend. 

2. Tonight I am going to pilates and then making dinner / having a virtual date with Joe (enchiladas!) and reading my new book, and then tomorrow all I have planned are a few errands and tennis with a friend. I am looking forward to relaxing since this is my only "free" weekend until mid-June (OMG) and the past two weekends were busy too (with Joe visiting and then Easter)

3. Before we jump into the details of my shopping spree this week, I need to share that I finally upgraded from my Revlon blowdry brush to the T3 Airebrush duo (on sale for 25% here) this week. I was beyond blown away (pun intended ;) by the results... 

Wedding Guest Dresses I'd Actually Wear

This past week I had the HARDEST time finding a wedding guest dress and a rehearsal dinner dress for a semi-formal wedding I'm attending in three weeks. Whenever I do roundups of shopping picks I just pick cute pieces that look pretty, but I'll admit I don't always consider 

1. "would I actually pay this price for this item?"

2. "would I wear this more than once?" 

3. "is this available in most sizes?"

This Week's Top 10: Easter Edition

 1. Hello and happy Easter Monday if you celebrate! I hope you all had a lovely weekend. This weekend was quite a busy one for me so I wasn't able to get this up on Friday when I usually post This Week's Top 10. Thursday I had dinner with one of my aunts and my bestie Caroline, Friday was my cousin's birthday, so our family when to Tavern on the Green for dinner, and yesterday was Easter so I went to church and hosted a little brunch!

2. I took my first ennegram test yesterday (I did this one and it is free if you want to try it too!) and found it so fascinating. Afterward I read this article about how best to recharge according to your enneagram and definitely took some notes. I am a 7 (wing 3)!

3. I do want to take a moment to acknowledge the shooting that took place on the subway in Brooklyn last week. Absolutely terrible, so scary, and really sad. Fortunately, the shooter was caught, and no one died!!!, but still thinking of everyone impacted by this. 

Spring Weekend with Joe Recap

My boyfriend Joe visited me here in NYC this weekend and we had such a lovely time. It was a casual little weekend, which was a nice change of pace considering we usually have extravagant plans whenever he is in town. We only made a couple of reservations ahead of time and then mostly just hung out, walked around, and explored. Here's a recap of what we did!

This Week's Top 10

image via @matildadjerf - queen

1. Happy weekend! I am really looking forward to this weekend because Joe is visiting! He was supposed to fly in last night but his flight was canceled due to the storms here in NYC. All is well now though- he just landed and it's a sunny day in the city as you are reading this!

2. This week was a fun one on the blog. I finally shared a master list of my NYC recs, so if you are visiting or even just live here and are looking for a new spot to try, you can find that here!

3. I also shared a roundup of spring finds under $200. Soo many cute things, especially fun accessories. I am particularly in love with this oversized button-down and this comfy midi dress, both under $100 and accidentally left out of the post.

Spring Finds Under $200

I've found so many cute pieces for spring, all under $200, and rounded them all up here for you!

Shop the collage:

my NYC recs master list!

Whenever I get asked about my favorite spots in New York, or for recommendations around the city in a general sense, I feel like I never know what to say or don't have the time to go into enough detail via DM or text. While I have a couple of blog posts on different restaurants I've tried and enjoyed (find them here!), if you're visiting the city for a weekend or aren't super familiar with NYC, you might just want something with exclusively the highlights... so, welcome to this blog post!

This post was inspired by recent DM's, but also that I realized I have never shared a weekend recap of my weekends with Joe when he comes to visit me in NYC!!  This needs to change *immediately,* because we truly have the best weekends together and have discovered some of my favorite, favorite spots in the city during the times when he is here. He is coming next weekend and I hope to recap the whole thing in detail, along with all of his visits going forward! I used to always do a vacation recap whenever I went anywhere, and I even did a girls' weekend recap post when my college roomies/best friends Coco and EJ visited me in December, so I have no idea how I've let this happen...

All of the breakfast, lunch, dinner & drinks spots can be found on this google map here!

April Moodboard (Desktop & iPhone Wallpaper)

Happy April everyone! As I've said every single month this year, 2022 is flying by! Easter is in just two weeks, and my puffer has already been put away! This mood board is kind of similar to the March mood board with the pink and green theme, I hope you don't mind... just couldn't help myself! This month's mood board is truly manifesting spring with lots of pink and green and flowers and sunny days... here's to hoping we all get a little warm weather and not too much rain!