The Shopping Cart

Lately I've been trying so hard to save my money rather than spending it on all the adorable clothes I find.  There is just something about the changing of seasons that makes me want to switch up my wardrobe. Yes, I have swapped out my Lilly Pulitzer shift dresses for blanket scarves and warm sweaters, but yet I still crave those new styles and prints.  

So.. if I can't actually buy anything the least I can do is some online "window" shopping.  It's literally window shopping because if you look at my browser right now I have a window open filed with at least a dozen tabs of trendy fall clothes, shoes, and accessories.  Shopping online is definitely a blessing and a curse all wrapped in one big bundle. It's so easy to just add items to your cart, but it's definitely hard to resist pressing that checkout button.  Anyways, I'm getting much better at adding tons to my cart and smiling as I exit out of the tab without damaging my bank account.  I'm sure many of you can relate to the temptation of online shopping. 

I thought it would fun to share with you some of the items I'd purchase if I had an unlimited shopping budget. 

This adorable long sleeve would pair flawlessly with a quilted vest like this one. 

I've been looking for the perfect pair of booties: which ones are your favorite?

Option one, option two, or option three

Maroon is definitely one of the top colors this season. This long sleeve top would be great to dress up for a business casual day or pair with some jeans and boots. 

Little Black Dress  for chillier weather. 

Peplum tops are so fun and timeless. 

Navy and ivory + quilted vest ... enough said.

Raspberry adds the perfect pop of color to a fall wardrobe, especially when it comes in the form of a wool sidewalk skirt from J.Crew Factory.

Pajama sets are my favorite. I would love to catch up on my sleep in this navy and peony cotton set.

If only a pink blazer was acceptable to wear to an interview. 

Last week I got the Bass catalog and fell in love with the many fun colors of these loafers.

What's in your shopping cart?

XOXO

Conquering the Lilly After Party Sale

In case you didn't know, the Lilly Pulitzer After Party Sale is today beginning at 8 a.m.  Last year I got a ton of great items for my mom and myself.  However, this year I have decided not to shop the sale. I've collected quite the number of Lilly Pulitzer items the past few years, so I'm pretty satisfied with my current Lilly filled summer wardrobe. I am working on saving money for adult things like a car and moving out of my parents' house, so dropping a few hundred bucks on the sale isn't in the budget for me. I also feel like if I spend any money on clothes it should be Fall and Winter items rather than more summer clothes that I will only wear for another month and a half. We will see how good my self control is because I said I won't be logging on even just to browse, and if you know me then you know that I'm pretty much a shopaholic.

You may or may not know already, but Lilly Pulitzer rarely has large sales... in fact they only occur three times a year (June- Warehouse Sale, August, and January).  Due to the low frequency of the sale there is always a lot of hype surrounding it.  You have to be strategic about your shopping and it helps if you know some of the secrets to conquering the sales, especially the online ones. I have a few tips to help you out, in case you didn't shop the sale yet or are waiting in the over an hour long line. 

Create an account

If you're able to, it's always best to create an online account ahead of time. It speeds up your checkout process. You can also save your billing information to make the check out process even quicker!

Once you're in the virtual line, DO NOT HIT REFRESH!

This is probably the biggest thing you need to know. It can be annoying waiting in line and sometimes it moves pretty slowly.  It is tempting to hit the refresh button to see if anything will change, but I'm warning you that you will regret it. Hitting the refresh button will take you to the very back of the line. 

Know Your Size
It's important to know your size because all items purchased during the After party sale are final sale, which means there's no returning.

Have a Positive Attitude
Just like anything you do, there are things that might frustrate you about this sale. There's a chance that you might not get the item you've been lusting over. You might get jealous that your frenemy was able to log on and claims to have gotten everything she's been wanting from Lilly while you're still patiently waiting in the virtual line. Being optimistic through the whole shopping process will make it much more enjoyable. After all, who can be grumpy when shopping at Lilly?

Self Control
We all know that Lilly Pulitzer items rarely go on sale. It can be quite tempting to go a little overboard when shopping the online sale. Try to make a budget and stick to it. You don't want to regret over spending your money on items that you won't be able to wear much longer since the summer season is coming to a close.

Best of luck shopping!

XOXO

The Ultimate Packing List for the Dorms

This post primarily is for college freshmen as this packing list is for the college bound student living in the dorms. Leaving for your first year of college can be very overwhelming. There's so much that you need to buy, but where do you even start.  It's August, your weeks away from leaving the place you've called home for possibly your entire life, and the anxiety is definitely becoming more real.  I can't say I am sharing those same feelings with you right now, but four years I was definitely the girl experiencing all of these things. 

Packing for college can be so overwhelming. There are so many different lists out there of what people say you "need", but it is hard to tell what you need and what you can do with out. Having gone through the same experiences, I'm here to help make your weeks leading up to college and your college transition much easier. I am the oldest child in my family, so when I was entering college we really had no idea what I needed.  This list includes everything you will need with the exception of clothing. The items on this list might sound silly, but I can promise you they are the essentials.  

I suggest doing some browsing before committing to buying anything. Shop around to find the best prices for what you need. I found that Bed, Bath, and Beyond was sometimes more pricy for certain items but cheaper for others. I recommend doing some back to school shopping at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Target, The Christmas Tree Shop, T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and Pottery Barn Teen (they have great duvet covers). 

Best of luck shopping!

XOXO

Old Navy Obsessed

Within the past few months I have become a fan of Old Navy clothing.  Don't get me wrong, I don't love everything! However, they have some really great pieces that can spice up your wardrobe or supply you with the basics for a great price. The quality of their clothing isn't always the best, but certain pieces are great.

Right now I am loving their boyfriend tee collection.  These tees can generally be purchased for less than $15. Their cotton blend is so soft and can be mixed and matched to be super casual or a little dressier.  I've worn them with norts, jeans and a scarf, and even a skirt.  The flexibility that they have makes them a great essential for packing into your summer vacation wardrobe.

You also can find some fun blouses there too! If you are looking to add some color, prints, and patterns for a cheap price, there are lots of options.  I have found some cute tunic type tops there.  They also have lots of adorable peplum tanks right now too!
(Here, here, and here)

Another area I frequent is the activewear section of their site and stores. What can I say, I am a huge fan of active wear bot for athleisure and actual working out purposes.  Old Navy has a rather large collection of sports bras, shorts, leggings, and tops that are sensible and fashionable.

Recently I purchased a pair of their cropped leggings. I loved the subtle floral print they had.  Unfortunately they don't have the exact print any more, but these Cropped leggings are the same style in other prints. These are great for doing yoga or going for a hike. I don't recommend them for running because they don't wick sweat away as easily due to their material.

I love their flowing athletic tanks. They have tons of color options and are super comfy to hangout in or wear for an intense workout.  They have lots of different styles, which are greta for running, yoga, piates, lifting, etc.  These are a few that I have.
Similar styles here, here and here.

Have a fabulous day!

XOXO

Friday Five: Memorial Day Weekend Sales

Happy Friday, I haven't done a Friday Five post in quite some time, so I decided this week would be a good time to start doing them again.  I always enjoy Friday Five posts because there are so many different things to write about with this general topic.

Holiday weekends always seem to be popular times for sales.  I. myself, will not be out shopping but I figured I would share some deals with all of you.

Jcrew Factory:

 50% off all men's and women's styles in the store and online

 Francesca's: 

Clothing BOGO buy one, get one 50% off

Gap:

40% off all regular style items

South Moon Under: 

25% off all Sale merchandise

Pottery Barn: 

Up to 60% off items

Oh The People You Will Meet & The Places You Will Go

If you told me this time one year ago that I would be spending a weekend at the beach with my roommate,jHg, and her best friend, aTm, I certainly would have been hesitant to agree with you.  It is insane how close you can become with someone in the matter of one year. This weekend I had the opportunity to go to the beach with jHg to stay with her and her friend, at her friend's beach house.  It was such a fun girls weekend! For those of you who follow me, mquiggles3, on instagram have seen the evidence of some of the fun we had. 

Saturday:

We got to the beach late in the morning and it was raining enough for us not to want to be on the beach so we grabbed lunch at the Greene Turtle.  We weren't super hungry, so we each got an appetizer and split them three ways.  We ended up with grilled chicken quesedillas, BBQ chicken flat bread, and buffalo chicken dip. All three dishes were tasty.After lunch the skies cleared up and we got a solid three to four hours of beach time in. 

It is nice to be able to relax on the beach and truly take note of the small things in life.As I was laying out after lunch, I noticed that the clouds looked really neat.  The one I was most fond of had a cute turtle shell-like pattern to it.  

Saturday night we went shopping. The beach we went to has some awesome outlets, and because we went at night they weren't crowded at all.  I have bought a decent amount of Summer clothes over the past month and I really should be saving my money, so I only allowed myself to buy things that I could wear in the Fall.

 I purchased with long sleeve navy and peach striped shirt at jcrew.  They were having a huge 40% off sale, so I couldn't resist.

 At American Eagle I bought this adorable brown three-quarter length flowing shirt with a criss cross back.  I love the color of this shirt, and the criss cross back just gives this shirt so much personality.

After shopping, we decided that we should go some place to eat seafood for dinner. Well at 8:30 on a Saturday night just about every good restaurant has a 45 minute wait for a table of three.

 Once we settled on the place worth waiting for, Big Fish Grille, we sat outside and enjoyed the nice cool weather.

 The restaurant we chose was such a good choice.  The ambiance, service, and food did not disappoint whatsoever.  The tables are covered with white paper, and when you are seated the hostess gives you a jar full of crayons, regardless of your age.  If you look around the nice restaurant it is comical to see that people of all ages are dressed up sitting around the table coloring and chatting with friends and family. I, for one, was not mad about coloring.  Of course, my doodles included our monograms. 

Shout out to jHg- You knew this would make it to the blog

The food is a little pricy, but it is high quality which makes it worth the money without a doubt. I ordered Steak and Shrimp.  My meal included lightly breaded onions on the steak plus two sides. I chose creamed spinach and Big Fish Grille's famous mashers. This meal was delicious! I have nothing but good things to say about this dinner and the restaurant we ate in!

Sunday:

We got up really early Sunday morning, so that we could get some quality beach time in before jHg and aTm would have to leave to beat the traffic home.  I think Sunday is the earliest that I have ever been on the beach, with all my things set up for the day, in my entire life.  We were there, on the beach, by 9:30 a.m.  We beat the lifeguards.

There is just something about the beach early in the morning that is so beautiful.

For lunch we went to Grotto's Pizza right off of the boardwalk.  It was delicious.  I love pizza. We each got our own personal pizza, mine was plain. 

After lunch, we stayed on the beach for another hour, and then it was time to say goodbye.  jHg and aTm headed back to the house to pack and go home, while I met up with my mom to do some shopping and spend some time with her and our family friends on the beach.

While shopping with my mom, she showed me the cutest boutique.  I love shopping with her because she always finds the cutest places, and we always have fun shopping together.  I ended up breaking my shopping rule of only buying Fall clothes.

 I bought navy dress with a cut out back, but it was on sale so that's how I justify it to myself.  

I told my mom, "When you find a cute dress, you just have to buy it!" 

And that is exactly what I did.

This weekend was tons of fun, I hope each of you had a fabulous weekend too!

Xoxo

-mQs-

Food Addict

I am such a foodie.  This past weekend sQs and I went to Whole Foods to do our grocery shopping instead of going to our local Giant.  Let me tell you we were practically in heaven walking around this store.  Going to Whole Foods makes grocery shopping such an enjoyable experience. There are so many different types of foods, that it makes healthy eating easy. 

 There is a carry out market with tons of options:salads, pastas, soups, sandwiches, and so much more.

 You can buy pasta in bulk.  I love pasta so obviously I am a fan of this!  I think it would be cute to buy pasta like this and store it in a tall glass jar. 

 The produce is organized so neatly.  They way they display it, it's like they are just asking you to make guacamole and salsa! 

 There are lots of seafood options.  While we were shopping they brought out a HUGE fish and cut it up.  It looks kinda gross. 

 Instead of buying jars of honey, they have machines lined up with different types of honey.  These are the jars that you can fill up with the honey you want to buy.

 These are some of the items that you can buy in bulk. There was flour, rice, sugar, nuts,etc.

 This is all the different types of granola that can be bought in bulk.  I love granola in my yogurt! We bought the ginger snap granola.  I can't wait to try it.

This is a blurry picture, but anyways the selection of bars was huge.  I am a fan of kind bars and they had quite the selection of them! 

They had a huge selection of freshly baked breads.  We bought pita breads to dip in our hummus.

There were bunches of flowers for sale scattered all throughout the store.  These sunflowers were my favorite!

The variety of fruits and their displays were great!

There was a huge selection of baked goods, but since I am on a mission to continue with my clean eating we quickly passed through this section. 

Doing food shopping at a store like this inspires me to eat better and cook more, what inspires you?

xoxo

-mQs-

Spring Fever

 On Friday my mom picked me so that I could could come home for the weekend. We stopped at the mall on our way home.  The weather was really cold, but ignoring it I went for all spring clothes.  I am ready for warm weather and spring fashion.

I bought these two cardigans at Forever 21.  I love the mint and navy combo.  Mint is one of the in colors this Spring, and color blocking is a huge in concept.  I love how this sweater combines these two concepts into one piece.

I'm not usually one to wear yellow, but my wardrobe is in some serious need for color so I bought it.  I actually really like how the color looks on me. 

This shirt is from anthropologie.  Another big component to this year's spring fashion are stripes.  I am a huge fan of stripes. This is a loose fitting shirt with a floral pocket. It is really soft and comfortable.  It will be great to wear with leggings, shorts, or jeans and my navy TOMS.

I had a 20% coupon to South Moon Under for one item, from my birthday.  I decided to use it to purchase new black leggings.  Black leggings are a staple when it comes to my wardrobe.  My favorite pair were getting worn out so it was time for a new pair.  HUE has, in my opinion, the best leggings.  They are super comfortable and actually made out of a substantial material.

My favorite purchase from the trip was my purse.  I have been looking for a bright colored small satchel for some time.  When I saw this one I loved it.  It was originally $298, way out of this college girl's budget, but I got it for $74.  Such a great deal, I couldn't resist.  This is my first coach bag. I don't really like coach bags just because everyone makes such a big deal over them.  This one is different from the average coach bag, so I guess you could consider it an exception.  

xoxo

-mQs-