Thursday Style Finds: Earrings

1 :: Similar          2-9 :: (all and more can be found on this page)

Disclaimer:: with the Kendra Scott earrings (#1) I got the picture on a different day than I got the link, so I am not sure if it is the exact same earring as pictured above, but it is similar.

These are some of the earrings that I am currently loving. Most are very versatile and can be worn in most seasons and with most colors/outfits! In fact, my sister just got ones similar to #3 and they are adorable! Where do you like to buy jewelry and earrings?

God Bless,

Maggie

Procrastination

Hey guys, I know it has been a while since I last posted, and for that I am sorry. School has been crazy and I have felt like I have been having small anxiety attacks each time I think about school, tests, homework, everything. And weekends have not been helpful. Although they have given me some MUCH needed relaxation, they have had me doing my homework on 8:00 on Sunday night because I don't have any other time. That is not relaxing in the least. Now that our second quarter of school is underway and I no longer have to worry about make up work or that pop quiz the teacher gave us because she needed one more grade in the book, my homework load has considerably lightened, and I am finally finding time to write this post. 

Procrastination, a term we all should be familiar with. It is defined as the action of delaying or postponing something. I will not be the first to admit that I procrastinate, but I deny it. My mom will say "Stop procrastinating! Go do you'r homework!" and most of the time I will respond "I am not procrastinating, I have hardly any homework!" then an hour later, at 6:00, I will start the homework and work for four hours, realizing I have a ton. I feel like I overestimate how fast I can work, when truthfully I am an absolute perfectionist and it takes me two times as long to do an assignment as many of my peers. This is not a bad quality (being a perfectionist), but I really need to cut the "putting things off," stuff out of my routine. Here are my best tips for cutting the PROCRASTINATION habit:

1.  Write it down
I would not have the grades I currently have without my agenda. Every aspect of my school life is planned out and scheduled to a T. I live out of my Lilly agenda. Soon you will be  reading a HOW TO ORGANIZE YOU'R AGENDA post, and you can get all the details there. If I do not write everything down, it will not get done. I have a bad short-term memory (Wait, what did I have for breakfast?), and so writing assignments, homework, and dates down is a must. I simply will not remember! I write everything down in my agenda, and then, when I start my homework, I write it down on a lined sticky note and on my phone and computer reminder apps. I organize them by Whats Due Tomorrow, Whats Due The Next Day, and then Whats Due Friday (or any other day that I have something specific due). That way I can work through them in order, and do stuff in advance if I have time (and if my brain is not completely out of order yet). It feels so good to cross something off of you'r to-do list, and this way I can cross it off four times. This additionally makes sure I do not forget anything. Go ahead and call me OCD, I don't care.


2. Do it now
I really think that it helps when you do an assignment first thing. My school is on an A-day B-day schedule, so I try to do my A-day homework the night I get it instead of the next night, right before it is due. This helps me cut down on procrastinating, and this helps me have more free time in the end.  Do all assignments when you get them, or at least don't put them off until the bus ride to school. You'r quality of work will be much better, and it won't stress you out as much.


3. Set Incentives
If you reward yourself, things will come easier. You just can't sit down and do nonstop work for five hours, like I sometimes try. You need to set periodical rewards for yourself. Some examples that I use are, watch one music video for 45 minutes of work, 5 minute Pinterest break for 25 minutes of work, write half of a blog post or plan future ones for 10 minutes for 30 minutes of work, an so on. I highly advise you to not reward yourself with food, this can lead to you taking extra breaks because the food is right there and no one is eating it, or eating when you are not hungry. I also like to reward myself for not procrastinating. If I was good, and didn't wait to the last minute much that week (or however many weeks), I will treat myself to that phone case or necklace I have been eyeing, or just a nice, long bubble bath. I do not always have set rewards, but many people, myself included, work better with them.


4. Have A Study Buddy
A lot of us have a friend in our same situation, procrastination. It helps me to have a friend text me and say "FINISH YOUR MATH HOMEWORK!!" or "GO READ YOUR NOVEL FOR LANGUAGE ARTS!!" You can also help by being a buddy for someone else. I like to have someone in my classes do this because they know what I need to get done, but anyone could work. 



5. Work Un-Plugged
Unless I am using my laptop to work on something, I put my laptop and phone in another room while I am working, and only retrieve them when I am finished, or I am taking a "reward." This prevents youtube binges, scrolling through blogs endlessly, and Instagram/Pinterest marathons. I do listen to the radio though (usually a country station... don't hate) because it helps me to work.


6.Work in a brightly lit room
I always turn all of my lights and my fans on to work in whatever room I am in. If the room is dark or dim, it makes me want to sleep and I get sloppy and lazy with my work. Whereas, if every light is on, I am more likely to be energized, work faster, and neater.


7. Work in a clean area
I like to work in a clean area because it does not remind me of the million other things I have to do. If my room is a mess, I will work in my dining room. If I end up working in my disaster zone of a room, I can only concentrate on the mess I have yet to clean up. If I work in a clean space, I can fully concentrate on the task at hand.


8. Be comfortable, but not overly
I like to be comfortable when I am working, but concentrating in PJs or sweatpants? Not gon' happen! If I am too comfortable I drowse off and don't get stuff done, leaving it for later.


A lot of these have been general study tips, but they can also be helpful in anti-procrastination. I really hope these help, and if you have any others, please do not hesitate to share! 


God Bless,


Maggie

Pictures!

So, many of you do not know this but I love taking pictures. I like to take unique ones that maybe no one has thought of before. Currently I only have my I-Phone 5s to take pictures on (and a lot of these are off of my I-Phone 4s that I just recently traded in) but a nice camera, I am not sure which one I would like yet, is definitely in my future and something I will be asking for for Christmas. I just wanted to share some of the photos I have taken and that I really like. I will be doing more posts like this as well with more pictures and tips for taking the perfect picture. Hopefully you all enjoy looking at these!

                                                             The Bahamas:

Over the summer, my whole family went on a Disney Cruise to The Bahamas. This picture was taken off of our room balcony the morning we docked in Castaway Cay! I would recommend this trip to anyone and my only complaints are that it was very crowded on the ship  and that the pools were so small that there was no room with all of the children in them. I love this picture because you can see the beauty of the island and some of the wildlife with the birds. I also think it is neat how the water changes (the darker part is much deeper than the lighter part)!

My dad, aunt, uncle, and I got off in Nassau for an hour or two and this is one of the many colorful buildings near the port.

There was an outdoor bar on Nassau called Señor Frogs that we went into which was... unique. I took this picture from our table with the docked cruise ships in the back (the one with the black bottom and red smoke stacks was ours, The Disney Dream) and my strawberry daiquiri (non-alcholoic of course) on the railing. You can see the virtually crystal clear water in the back ground. It was very neat to see the colorful fish in the clear water!

This was the Welcome To Nassau sign we saw as disembarked and walked onto the island.

I took this picture as we were driving away (on the ship) from Nassau. Once again you can see the drastic difference in the water colors and their depths. I love lighthouses and they are one of my favorite things to take pictures of so of course I had to snap a pic of this one (and you might see another towards the end. Hint Hint!).

Savannah:

Our cruise took of on July 6, 2014 from Port Canaveral, Florida so we stopped in Savannah on the way down for the Fourth Of July. We stayed on the river so this is a picture off of the balcony we were watching the fireworks on. I like this picture because it perfectly captured the fireworks and the beautiful sunset in the background. Also, I think that it looks like my feet are photoshopped in there! 

This picture was taken as we were waiting for it to get dark enough for fireworks. I love all of the lights on this riverboat!

This picture was taken right before the fireworks and I think it is beautiful with the gorgeous sunset in the background and reflecting in the water. You can also see all of the city lights and the car headlights on the bridge.

Cape Cod:

Ok so this picture was not taken by me because I am in the picture but I still love it. Every summer, our friends either come stay at our beach house or we go to the one they rent on the Cape! This past summer we visited them on the Cape. If you haven't been, it is gorgeous and all of the rocks make the beaches so different from the ones here in the south! This picture is special to me because the year we started this switching off, when I was 3, we have a picture of me, the girl my age, and her older sister holding hands and walking back from the beach (the picture is taken from the back as well) so this reminds me of that one. This on also shows the 3 other kids that have joined the fun side then and how much we have all grown.

When we stay in the house that they rent, there is a huge room on the first floor with 5 beds in it that us kids sleep in. It has windows above the beds and it is a little higher up from the beach because of the bulkhead you walk down to be able to have your feet in the sand. This just gives us the perfect breeze though and I took this picture one foggy morning, leaning out of my window. If you look closely you can see the horizon line and the sand at the bottom of the picture, and yes... that is a lighthouse on the horizon!

Nantucket!!!!!:

Let me just start off by saying that Nantucket is my favorite place and I am determined to live there someday, at least in the summers. I love the rustic, nautical charm of the whole town and how everything is so pure and the feeling I get when I go there is hard to explain. Most of the shops have wooden signs with their names outside and here is one of The Black Dog store. I love this store and I have collected many things over the years from here. 

Here is the sign outside of Vineyard Vines. It is so cute, bright, and happy. Notice the Cape Cod style shingles. These are on practically every building here. Aren't they just darling? I love this store particularly because they gave me my well anticipated whale hat. The store in my mall didn't have them but I asked on the island and they gave me one! I wore mine out and soon over 10 people asked where it was from! Walking around the courtyard outside of the store, it was funny because it was a sea of whale hats... with the actual sea in sight!

I told you there would be another lighthouse. This one was kind of cloudy because I took it through the window on the ferry, but this is the lighthouse you can see when coming in and out of the Nantucket Harbor.

Theres my whale hat! Again, I'm in this picture but I told my parents to take this picture so I thought that I could include it! This is me and my sisters looking out into one of the canals and you can see the docked boats and the ducks. It is such a beautiful place, I definitely recommend going there someday!

This picture was taken as we were pulling away from the island but I thought this was a beautiful boat and all of the boats around it helped to catch the nautical charm of the island. 

My beach:

These next pictures are of my beach that we have a house at. This picture was tarn at the "boat beach" or inlet beach in the waterway that we have to take a boat to (instead of the golf cart), to get there. This is of my sister and I like how it is blurry, it gives it the appearance of a memory or dream and shows the light hitting her.

This is also a neat picture taken from the "boat beach." That is one of our boats, anchored out in the water way as we sit watching the sunset. This was the last time we went for the summer and so it was a beautiful end to an amazing summer.

This picture was taken at my beach house, on the wood leading down one of the docks. I like the nautical charm this photo gives as well, with the weathered wood and my favorite shoes.

 

This picture was taken at the beach we have to walk or drive our golf cart to. We were closing up summer so all of the kids write their names and took pictures with our feet and our names. I love how you can see some of the sand on my legs and the footprints in the sand.

I took this picture at the marina, walking back to where we parked our boat as we ate lunch. The lighting was perfect and I don't know why, but the idea to take this picture just popped into my mind. I really like the boats in the background and I think the splintery wood and rusted screws add  rustic feel to the picture.

Charleston:

This is sadly the last picture I am sharing right now and I took this one in Charleston. I think that all of the trees in the town had such beautiful coloring and with the cobblestones and bright, old houses, the whole feel is southern charm. I took this picture on a horse drawn carriage ride and I would have liked to be more centered on the street so you could see down further but we were moving too fast and I took the picture too late. One of the reasons I like this picture is because if you took out the cars and maybe the trashcans it could be any year. Is it 1901 or 2014?


I would be delighted if anyone would like to share their pictures with me! Hopefully you all enjoyed.

God Bless,

Maggie

How I Organize My Agenda

So today, as I listened to someone complain that they forgot to do their homework because their writing in their agenda was so messy, I realized that maybe thats is a problem for a lot of people. But I do not have that problem anymore! I recently implemented a plan to keep my thoughts organized in my agenda.  I practically live out of my agenda and I am slightly scatterbrained during the school year so I have to write everything down when i get it. So that is where I begin.Here are my tips and tricks for keeping your agenda organized. Here is a picture of my agenda and below that are the tips!:

Here is the link to the page with all of the Lilly Pulitzer agendas, mine is the Large in Jellies Be Jammin

1. Write your assignments or things you need to remember right when you get them. Sometimes I wait to write them and I just end up forgetting because my life is H-E-C-T-I-C! especially during school. 

2. Assign each class a color and set aside another dark color for extra reminders. I personally try to color code my classes when I can. For example, my math homework is written in pink, my math binder is pink, and my accessories for that class are pink (my calculator, ruler, an hole puncher for worksheets are all pink) so I can easily keep organized. That doesn't work for all of my classes because some of my notebook colors are blah but it works for some.

3. Along with the colors, set aside a line in your agenda for each subject/class. Not all people need to do this because they have separate boxes (if you have a school provided/made agenda) but you may. I like to have my lines organized like my schedule so since I have math first, math is my first and top line, and since  I have spanish second, spanish is my second line, etc.

4. Like I mentioned earlier, I set aside a darker color for my extra reminders. These include !BRING GYM CLOTHES TOMORROW! or !STUDENT COUNCIL MEETING BEFORE SCHOOL AT 7:30! Also, to make these reminders stand out even more I write them above the given lines, beside the date, and/or in the margins and box them in.

5. The agenda I have has a section that has a box calendar page for every month, in addition to the month by month section with the month at a glance box calendar, and the day by day section that I write my homework in. I use this month at a glance box calendar (there is one for every month) for my personal/social life. For example, I would write down the day that I go to the beach or when i have my next orthodontist appointment here. I check this every night so i know what i am doing the next day.

6. Now that I have covered my personal life calendar, I will get into how I do my school life calendar. In my agenda, before we get into the day by day section there is a month at a glance box calendar. This is where I write down all of my tests, papers, projects, meetings, due dates, etc. I also color code these with the class color (ex. math is pink here to). Just as an extra precaution I write my due dates down once a week in the extra white space and on their actual due date. 

Those are my tips and tricks to organizing your agenda. If you have any more questions or would like to tell me how you organize your agenda I would love to hear! 

God Bless,

Maggie

Football Game Outfit Ideas

So guys tomorrow is the first Carolina Panthers home game of the season. And I am going. I AM SO EXCITED to tailgate and just be back at a game. I guess this game means that fall is officially on its way, even if the weather has not caught on yet. Here are some of my favorite game day looks... featuring Carolina Panthers colors of course!

1. I 2. I 3. I 4. I 5. I 6.

1: This shirt is perfect. It is effortless looking and the perfect colors. The link will only take you to where you can buy the shirt, but the shorts look adorable too!

2 and 3: These are two separate pieces but they would look so cute together. The dress could be worn alone or with black jewelry, and just in case there is a bit of a breeze or you just want something covering your shoulders, this black sheer kimono is the perfect piece.

4: Once again, this sweater is the only thing the link takes you to but the whole outfit is so cute for fall and would not be too hard to put together once you have the sweater!

5: If you are going for a classic game look just wear a jersey and some leggings or any type of shorts or jeans. I have worn mine with boots and leggings. This jersey is great. I love the blue and the number and name! He is one of my favorite players!

6: These pants. Let's just take a moment and appreciate these. They are absolutely adorable and with that black shirt they are the right colors as well!

I hope these style suggestions helped! Whats your favorite football team?

God Bless,

Maggie

White...

So I know, I know, your not really supposed to wear white after Labor Day... and Labor Day was a bit over a week ago... but, I must admit, I've worn white... several times. I love wearing white and after labor day it is this transition-into-fall time and your not technically supposed to wear it. Only one problem with that though... its 90+ degrees here in NC. I am still wearing shorts and tank tops so it is not really feelin' like fall yet. I love wearing my white bottoms and shirts all summer, I guess you could call white my go-to color and when it still feels like summer I think it is okay to wear a bit of white... for now.  Here are some of my favorite white pieces and some could work as transition pieces.

Some Of My Favorites

Shirt:1 I Necklace:2 I Skirt:3  I Jack Rogers:4 I Pants:5 I Shirt:6

So now you've heard my excuse to wear white, whats yours?

God Bless,

Maggie

Just Starting Out

Hey y'all! I'm so glad you came over and decided to take a look at my blog! I just wanted to share some fun things about me: 

· I live in North Carolina

· I ride horses on the weekends

· Fall is the best season, don't you agree?

· I have a black lab who is the sweetest

· I organize everything!

· I am in love with Nantucket and I WILL live there someday

· I'm always wearing jewelry

· I'm a sucker for seersucker, bows, and Lilly Pulitzer

· The beach is my life

· My Lilly Agenda is the only way I stay sane during school

· School = sigh

· I love family time and dinners with the whole family (cousins and grandparents included) 

· Fall football games are what I live for

· I love to travel... especially when were going somewhere tropical

· Yes, I love Pretty Little Liars

· Pink, Navy, White, and Gold are the most perfect colors

· I wear my Jack Rogers almost every day

· I heart crafting

· There is always a candle burning in my room

· God has my heart and my favorite bible verse is:

 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”      ~Rom. 5:8

· And lastly I am so excited to share my blog with you

Thank you so much for giving me a chance and I hope that you can find something you like here!

God Bless,

Maggie