Gameday {UVA}

Hey y'all,

It's Saturday so it is time to watch my Tar Heels take on the Cavaliers in Charlottesville today. For today's look I found this gorgeous dress from the boutique, Bluetique. The navy color actually works for both teams so I based this look on the dress and thought a few colorful accessories could determining if you are cheering "WahooWa" or "Go Heels." With fall coming in, a scarf and boots finishes off the look along with some jewelry that coordinates for a stylish look that won't have you shivering in the stands.

UNC vs UVA by postgradprep featuring gold watches

What are your go to items for making a gameday look?

What's your favorite tailgate food?

Gameday {San Diego St}

Hey y'all,

Last year I loved making and posting gameday attire for football season so I thought I would get back to that series. Today's game for Carolina is against San Diego St. and is the stripe out game so I made two different looks depending on where in Kenan your tickets are!

Here is the stadium map:

Also, how great does the field look for the game? I love following the Turf guys on Twitter!

Here are my looks for both stripes black or blue:

 

UNC SDSt by postgradprep featuring a black cross body purse

Stripe out by postgradprep featuring light blue home decor

With the weather still pretty warm I thought some nice dresses would work out. I love wearing dresses to the game since they are so easy to throw on and you look so put together. Perfect for those pictures in the stands while waiting for the game to start. 

Are you going to a game this weekend? What is your favorite thing about gameday?

 As always GO HEELS!

Life at Carolina

Hey y'all, 

I came across this video one of the recent alumni of UNC created. It is a quick glimpse into life at Carolina as Katie Quine compiled daily clips of her life during her senior year at Carolina. This video just reminds me of all of the wonderful times I had as an undergrad and I cannot believe it has been six years since I took a leap of faith and chose Carolina and two years since I received my diploma. I am blessed that I work for UNC now but I know the experience as a student is vastly different than as a postgrad. For all of y'all still in school or not even in college yet, cherish your time and remember that you learn more throughout college including lessons not taught by a professor. 

Enjoy!



I can honestly say that trips to cookout are memorable (it is a 20 min drive to Durham). Yes, it rains a lot in Chapel Hill and snow days are few and far between. Yopo is still the best (and cheapest) frozen yogurt on Franklin street. I never finished a cross word in the DTH. Who knows how many hours I spent in Davis library? Yes, Dance Marathoners are that crazy in the pit and most of us avoid them during their recruitment weeks. There are countless more memories from college but this captures some pretty memorable ones from a typical Senior Year at UNC.

What makes your University stand out? What are your favorite memories from college?

30 days of thanks {surprises}

Hey y'all,

So this weekend I was only planning to go to the Homecoming game, head to church and then have a relaxing Sunday. Little did I know that I would be surprised with my college bestie coming down for the weekend for her birthday. I mean I think it was more of a gift for me than for her but I mean who doesn't want to see their best friend after 10 months! It was an unexpected event and I am so glad I got to spend time with her including going to the UVA game!

I would say it was a pretty special game and I am so glad I also got to share it with one of my work friends, eCs!

This Clemson girl got to experience UNC Homecoming including a squirrel crossing the field during a time out, a veteran being united with his family, the alumni band playing Cobra Starship from the "Snakes on a Plane" soundtrack, lots of flags, and some pretty great seats. The game itself included a lot of surprises and I was so happy to see UNC pull through with a win! I am so thankful that I have friends at work who are just as crazy about football as me and will jump at the chance for cheap lower level tickets. I mean we were in row F so it wasn't the best view of the entire field we did see a lot of the Virginia players and saw some great football including a 83 yard punt return touchdown!

So I am blessed by these two women and the surprises I am sure will continue to occur as we grow in friendship. 

How was your weekend?

30 days of thanks {UNC}

Hey y'all,

So if you have not been reading around these parts than you might not know that I bleed Carolina blue. However, if you knew me before May 2008 that would be an entirely different story. After junior year I went on a roadtrip to visit colleges with my Mom and I fell in love with the University of Richmond and University of Virginia. UNC was always a school that was on my list to apply to but was more of a safety for me than where I thought I would end up. I mean it had everything I was looking for: green spaces, pretty brick buildings, great English program, below the Mason Dixon line, and greek life to boot. UNC was also only 1.5 hours from my parents and included instate tuition but I thought I wanted to cross over the boarder to Virginia. Fast forward to college acceptances and low and behold UNC's early decisions came and I got in! I had also gotten into Meredith College (my super safety school) and I anxiously waited to hear back from my top two. Well, unfortunately UVA did not want me and UofR is a bit pricey seeing as it is a private school. So I decided that UNC was the way to go and upon moving day I did not feel homesick but very excited and content. 

My first dorm room

Tradition states that if your drink from the Old Well on the first day of classes you will have a great semester.

Fast forward 4 years and I was so upset to be leaving the one place that felt like home outside of my family. Chapel Hill and UNC area magical combination and there is even a quote about it:

“Without even noticing, UNC seeps into your pores. By junior year, she’s in your blood. You can’t remember a time when you didn’t have moments on campus where you lose your breath for a second and all you can think is, ‘Wow, I love this place.’ …You find yourself loving a state you’d never given a thought three years prior. Loving North Carolina because if the University so tirelessly seeks to serve it, it must be worthwhile... And then UNC tells you to leave. And it hurts. But I understand. Four years have taught me what loyalty is about, what being a Tar Heel is about.”-Elyse Ashburn DTH editor 2004

To say I was sad to leave Carolina after four years of learning, loving, and finding the best sisters ever was an understatement. Upon graduation I had no idea where my life would lead. During my junior year I had a mini crisis and decided my dream/goal of becoming a book editor was no longer my path and I had no clue what to do with my life. After lots of cover letters and a few interviews I received a call for a job at no other than my alma mater. It seemed like I was no longer done with UNC and I am so blessed that I get to participate in other students' journeys at Carolina. So on this day of Homecoming I have to say I am thankful that the Lord saw that I needed UNC rather than UVA and saw fit to change my life in so many ways over the last 5 years so that I would follow his plan including back to the small town of Chapel Hill.I am sure UNC will continue to bless me in so many ways but I am so thankful for my acceptance to the oldest public university and the many ways that I was challenged and changed into the woman I currently am. 

 Charles Kuralt, Journalist, at the UNC Bicentennial in 1993

“What is it that binds us to this place as to no other? It is not the well or the bell or the stone walls. Or the crisp October nights or the memory of dogwoods blooming. Our loyalty is not only to William Richardson Davie, though we are proud of what he did 200 years ago today. Nor even to Dean Smith, though we are proud of what he did last March. No, our love for this place is based on the fact that it is, as it was meant to be, the University of the people.

 

“I love UNC. I love the quad in the spring and the arboretum in the fall. I love the Pit on a sunny day and Graham Memorial Lounge on a rainy one. I love Roy [Williams] all the time. But what makes UNC truly special is not our beautiful campus, our distinguished reputation or even our basketball team. It’s us—the student body—who make UNC what it is.”-Eve M Carson. Student Body President 2007

5 on Friday

Hey y'all,

This week has gone by so fast and I am ready for the weekend so that I can possibly organize my life to be a bit less crazy next week. Anyway, there are a few things this week that I am celebrating so lets get to it:

1. Carolina's Homecoming! Yep, UNC plays UVA tomorrow at 12:30 and I am so lucky to have snagged some seats through work so eCs and I are going and will be almost at the 50 yard line! Woot Woot! I have always loved going to the UNC/UVA game since there is a long standing rivalry between the two schools and I was also denied admission to UVA back in high school so I love when Carolina grabs the win. 

If you will be at the game let me know! I would love to meet some of y'all!

via

Also, shameless plug if you are a Carolina student go vote for Mr. & Ms. UNC! The candidates work really hard on putting together service projects the money will go towards and two of my sorority sisters are running on platforms that benefit children so Chelsea & Jordan are great choices!

2. Prep in your blood. So this weekend while I was in the guest room of my parent's house I found this treasure. 

Yep that is a needlepoint bean boot. My grandmother actually did this piece and since she was from New Hampshire. I had always grown up around bean boots and nautical things so I have always had a mixture of northern prep from my family and southern prep from my surroundings. Bean boots have always been in my life and yet I still do not have a pair since to me they were always reserved for living with snow and ice and not a fashion statement. 

What are your thoughts on bean boots?

3. Executive Board Elections. So Monday night was elections for Phi Beta Chi's Kappa chapter and I was so proud of how the night went. It was filled with tough decisions but I am excited to work with these women over the next year especially my great-grandlittle who is the incoming Fundraising chair. 

4. Boo-lated Halloween presents. So my office did the tradition of booing offices last year and talking to work friends a lot of them didn't get boo-ed. So since it is such a big deal in my parent's neighborhood I figured I would begin the booing this year. 

 Trying to be sneaky one morning to deliver the gifts.

 So I was not boo-ed during the month of October but neither was CW so on Halloween I gave CW a Halloween goodie bag and this morning she delivered this "boo-lated" gift. I now have more Halloween candy and a bit of decor to put in storage until next year.

5. 30 days of thanks. Blog Friends. Last night I went to my first TriFabb event and it was great to meet some other bloggers and hang out with Allison again!

Lauren, Myself, Allison, Molly, and Justiss

I am so thankful for the blogging community, through it I have made some amazing friends and some people I can call friends in real life as well. There are the sweetest people out there blogging and through swaps, emails, meet-ups, and link-ups I have met such a diverse group of people who all love to share things and are there for you no matter what. While I wish I could met all of y'all in person I am slowly growing my blog circle and that is a great thing!

What are you loving this week?

Weekends are for Carolina Wins, Pumpkins and GreatGreatGrandlittles

Hey y'all,

My office has a case of the Mondays but it is ok because I had an amazing weekend that I think the quiet will help.So let's get right to my weekend re-cap.

Friday.

Friday I left the office and ran back to my apartment to grab the letter shirt from All that Jas that had arrived in anticipation of Big/Little reveal Saturday. After chatting with the roommate before she headed off to work I headed to the gym. After watching Family Feud while getting some time on the elliptical I headed over to Target to grab some things for dinner. My apartment's fridge has been having issues so I did not trust the milk I put in there for any meal. Luckily the fridge had a temp fix by Friday and will get the new part this week! It was a relaxing night and I was able to get in some reading and me-time.

Saturday.

CW and I outside of the suite we had lunch in.

After getting up a bit early to get ready I was off to Chapel Hill for a work function that included a tour of the Loudermilk Center for Excellence and the Kenan Football Center as well as lunch before the Boston College/Carolina game. It was a lot of fun hanging out with some of my co-workers at a Carolina game and we had some great seats to watch Carolina win against Boston College!

Our view at lunch.

I work with a lot of other Carolina Alums and a few of them were at the game so we had to snap a picture.

With AC who is so sweet, I love that I get to work closely with her daily.

 So I left the game in the middle of the fourth quarter in order to make it over to the PBX house in time for one of the biggest events of the semester, Big/Little reveal! My family welcomed a new little addition, gBl and I am so excited for the Fish Fam!

My Grandlittle, kBm has a grandlittle now!!

Last photos as just Big and Little

REVEAL!
Welcome Home gBl!

FIRST FAM PHOTO!

I love these girls and I can't wait to get to know my ggglittle better!

 The night ended with watching DCC: Making the Team, doing some dishes and then having some heart to heart talks with the roomie until after 1am.

Sunday.

After my usual morning babysitting I ran home to begin working on my mess of a closet. I keep putting off cleaning my closet which is the messiest part of my room but I was able to clean it up a bit before heading with the roomie to grab a pumpkin for carving! We checked Aldi but their selection was limited and luckily the Target had a great one. After church we headed home to make a yummy dinner of shrimp in a vodka sauce over pasta and corn. It was then time to carve so we threw on the Princess Bride and to the sound of "as you wish" and discussed our love of the film though it had been forever since we had seen it but could still quote the entire thing. 

And being the people we are, our pumpkin had a minion design. I mean, it fits in with our collection...

I hope your weekend was filled with lots of fun!

Fall Gamedays

Hey y'all,

Today my Tar Heels take on Georgia Tech down in GA. If I had made it down south I think I would wear something like this. It is beautiful weather right now but it is supposed to rain up here and GA is expected to be in the 80s. So here is a great transition to fall tailgate outfit.

gameday fall transition by janeaustenprepster featuring a cross body

WRECK TECH!

GO HEELS!

GAME DAY!

Hey y'all,

It is the day most of us in the South have been waiting for, the first football game of the season! While I am a fan of Saturday games, the coveted Thursday night game means tonight's showing between the Carolinas will be very interesting. I know we are not predicted to win but I am excited to see the new players and cheer on my alma mater. While I am not at the game, I thought I would put together a look I would love to rock if I was in Columbia.

Game Day1 by janeaustenprepster featuring a shoulder strap bag

Who are you cheering for? Are you excited for College Football to start?

Also, you should check out this poem about the Carolina posted today on the Daily Tar Heel.

WILW & OHP {August 28}

Hey y'all,

There's a lot to love this week so let's get started. 

I'm loving...

...that next week I have a three day work week! Between Labor Day on Monday and my friend flying in on Friday from CT I will only be in the office Tuesday-Thursday!

...Carolina football starts TOMORROW! I was offered tickets to the game this week but the drive down would have made it impossible so I am jealous of everyone going down to see the game between the Carolinas (UNC vs. South Carolina).

Coach Fedora is excited!

...dinner plans with the baby sister, kDi, on Friday. I still can't believe that K is a Senior at NC State and I am trying to get in a lot of time with her since who knows where she will be living post May. 

My gorgeous baby sister.

...motivating myself to get healthy by joining some DietBets. The site is meant to have you bet that you will lose 4% of your body weight in typically 4 weeks or 1% a week. If you lose the weight you gain part of the pot. Therefore, if you are 150lbs for example your goal would be 6lbs or 1.5 a week. Come join me with blogger SkinnyMeg's bet (you can read her take on DietBets here) or the Blogilates Sweatember bet. 

...the Longchamp "Plantes" Large Tote. I love my Longchamp Le Pilage bag and I have had it for over three years. I used it all the time in college and it is starting to fray at the seams and tiny holes at the seams on the bottom. I have been looking into getting a new one since it is the perfect bag to carry everything for work, the gym and lunch. So I am loving the gunmetal color but I am such a black bag girl. Low and behold, a leather version of the classic style. Since I love my Kate Spade flicker Sophie which is a leather bag, I am going to try to hold off until my birthday in January.

via

...it is almost FALL! This week it has been cool in the mornings so the scarves and cardigans have been put to good use. I can't wait to start rocking my riding boots again.

...RECRUITMENT! My chapter's recruitment process begins next week and I am so excited to meet everyone. Recruitment was one of my favorite things while in PBX and now that I serve as an advisor I am excited to be a part of the process and meet the future of my chapter. UNC Panhellenic recruitment kicks off this weekend with Bid day on Tuesday so good luck to all the PNMs. 

Now onto some beautiful pins I have been loving!

What are you loving and pinning?

Commencement Questions: All About Graduation

Hey y'all,

I have seen a few people ask about other's graduation experiences and since college graduations will be occurring over the next few weeks and high school graduations in the next month or so I thought I would share my two cents about all things graduation: dress, photos, etc.

High School

The bestie, aMl and I after graduating

Dress:I attended a public high school that had very strict dress code rules for graduation (and everything else for that matter...) and therefore there was not a whole lot of room for what to wear on graduation night. The dress code included closed toe, closed heel black shoes  so I found some ballet flats (we had to walk down escalators and other stairs before even entering the and for all the previous years leading up to 2008 the girls had to wear white dresses so of course when I was a junior marshal and had to buy a white dress we knew what I was going to wear to graduation but the policy changed a few weeks before my graduation so I stuck with the dress I already had.

Senior Pictures:In my school you took your Senior photos the summer before your Senior year so that took care of that.

Announcements: My parent's ordered the school announcements and then I labeled each one with the small photo of Senior Pictures.

Day Of: So of course the day of graduation it was expected to rain. My county does our graduations at the local expo center so our school always had the 8pm Thursday night graduation slot. So instead of doing anything with my hair it was natural crazy curly.
Carry: Nothing. My graduation was very formal and we had to walk in alphabetical order into a specified seat. We even had a practice run that took a few hours so I knew that I would not be carrying anything but my parents held on to my phone and extras.

Party: There will be lots of graduation parties to attend so my family and my bestie's had a joint neighborhood shindig since we are cul-de-sac potluck people.

Refer to the rules of your graduation, my school did not even allow for cheering or yelling at all during the ceremony so that all students' names could be heard when they were read. 

College

Dress: In college I actually had 3 graduation ceremonies. One was the large graduation for all students of Carolina and then I had one for my major department and one for my Women's Studies minor. My minor department had a small gathering on one of the reading days so the dress was casual and it was more like a party (yay for small departments). So for the departmental graduation for the English department was held in the theater on campus so since it was inside and required walking across the stage making it a bit more formal so I decided to opt for my J.Crew Carolina blue silk dress. For the larger graduation I knew was outside in Kenan Football Stadium so my cotton J.Crew Lorelei in white was the way to go. I wore Jack Rogers with both dresses since I knew I had to walk across a stage in my department and walk down some steps in the Tar Pit for the large graduation. 

English Department Graduation

Large Graduation Dress

If I was graduating this year from Carolina I would be debating between these dresses:

via

via

Senior Pictures: I had a friend take photos one Friday afternoon a few weeks before graduating since I knew then that I could spend some time at all of the major highlights of campus. As it gets closer to graduation the main points of your campus will get more crowded. It took a few hours for us between changing and viewing different locations (the Old Well, Bell Tower, Arboretum, Kenan Stadium, South Building/The Quad/The Seal, the Sundial, etc.) Be prepared that during graduation weekend the main attractions will be crowded with a line. My parent's took some photos with me after the English Graduation at the Paul Green Theater and then on the day of the large graduation we took some by the Bynum fountain.

Daddy's girl

My sorority also picked a day in which we took some photos together and then on the day of the large graduation we all met together so we could sit in the stands as one group(we don't walk across the stage or read names at the large graduation only speeches and symbolically awarding degrees). 

Before heading in to graduate

Announcements: Once again my parent's ordered the school designed announcements and since they were paying I wasn't going to argue.

Day Of: I carried nothing to my English Department graduation but during the main one I had pockets in my dress and carried my camera and phone. My parent's gave me a designated place to meet after the event since 4,000 graduates plus their families means chaos so we met over at the student stores before heading to lunch. Our large graduation is much more relaxed then the individual departments: think proposal, neon signs, balloons,etc. 

Our Graduation Address by Mayor Michael Bloomberg

To Decorate the Cap or not? I did! I knew that I wanted mine decorated and I still have my cap out in my room now. It is decor and a reminder of the last four years of hard work. It has my letters since my sisters are always with me from the beginning of my college journey to standing next to me on the day of graduation (a sister even drew my monogram). 

Party: My family and I had a small gathering at our house afterwards but we did not stay in the area long after my graduation but I had some celebration at home.

What are your graduation questions? Anything I forgot?

Peace and Blessings (and Congrats Grads!),

jDl