Endless Summer

It's been rainy and gross for what seems like forever, and I'm convinced its never going to end. On top of that, in my last post I mentioned the hot weather which has since turned cool and muggy. It seems like the ugly part of fall has come too soon, but don't worry I'm already planing trips to the corn mazes, pumpkin patches, and farmers markets for when the amazing part of fall makes an appearance.

This post is going to show an amazing summer-ish beginning of fall-ish outfit. I wore the shirt and the necklace with jeans and wedges the other day to a sorority function. It is essential to get creative during the in-between weather so wear your favorite tops with jeans like I did, or pair a light sweater or long sleeve top with shorts. This top is so cute and probably the love of my life. It's from TopShop which is so typical because they have the best clothing. The shorts are Vestique, a boutique in Charleston. The necklace was borrowed but you can find this style anywhere. It's a long necklace doubled over to one strand is a choker and the other is long.

I hope your Tuesday goes amazingly, and you survive the weather. Stay tuned for Thursday's post which is two ways to wear my favorite swing dress. I know there are lots of outfit posts, but I finally got the pics so we are going to roll with it. I hope to talk about my sorority, and how that part of college is soon! Keep reading!

Leave a comment of your go-to summer outfit that you will miss this fall!!!

LGD: Little Grey Dress

Yesterday was the first day of fall!!! I bet some places are starting to get cooler, but in Athens its pretty much hot all the time. I'm ready for leggings and sweaters and hot chocolate (I'n not a coffee person) and lots of movie nights under warm blankets. Fall is the best because it's means the holidays are coming. It means that festivals and fun nights are in the air. My birthday is also in a couple of weeks so obviously Fall is just great. Plus the leaves changing and cooler air just puts you in a comfortable, hmmm… kind of mood.

I'm sharing one of my favorite dresses today! It's a perfect go-with-the-flow, throw on dress for any occasion. It has definitely become my favorite outfits for this in between weather that is still pretty warm. When it gets cooler i'll put on my Frye boots and add a sweater and it will just be delightful.

 The dress is from American Apparel and it comes in just about any color you could ever want and some really cool patterns too. My shoes are Converse Chuck Taylor that I bought a week or two into school. They were definitely a must buy for college! They are perfect for an outfit including dresses, jeans, and shorts. They also cover your feet so in those times when you are crammed with people and it's so gross they are perfect. Plus I like them a little dirty, and I imagine that if I wash them they will be white as new. My bag is my H&M bag from a while ago that has already been on the blog. I seriously love this outfit and would wear it hanging out with some friends or dress it up for dinner out.


























I hope you are as excited as me for Fall!!! Some things to get excited for: My favorite swing dress two ways, UGA beating Alabama next weekend, and long sleeves and jean weather!

New KID on the Block

Oh man! I could have used another day this weekend to rest, study, and get my life together, but Monday mornings always come knocking. I you had a great weekend and are starting out the week pretty slow… I have a post for you. It's a mix of motivation, procrastination material, and a little a sweet little happy to take your mind off of everything else.

Most of you have probably heard of Kid President, and if you haven't well then you are in for a treat. He is the cutest little boy that could probably make the devil smile and turn good. He has a contagious smile, and really shows just how much of an impact kids can have. It all started with the pep talk a couple years back. I think I've watched it so many times and account for at least a million of the video's views. In high school when I was having a rough day and just couldn't force myself to look at another piece of homework this video did the trick.

"I think we all need a pep talk…"

Other days I would spend hours looking through all of the videos on the channel (most likely procrastinating), and I would feel so much better about the world afterwards. Check out this one: 20 Things we Shold Say More Often!  And this one: A Letter to A Person on Their First Day Here! Also check out other SOUL PANCAKE videos. I promise you won't be disappointed. It's crazy just how much impact one person can have on a day or even on a life. One of my favorite quotes from Kid President is this one: 

Please go check out Kid President on this lovely Tuesday and I guarantee that you will feel 10000X better. I support procrastination when Kid president is involved for sure. A smile may be worth it. If you do watch some of Kid President's videos pick out a favorite quote and comment it below! I'd love to hear what inspires you. I love the quote "You're awake. You're awesome. Live like it"!

On another topic… new things on the blog include more outfit post (finally)! I'm wearing the last bit of summer clothing I can and transitioning into fall. Anne Arden has a guest post coming up all about football (GO DAWGS!)! I'm working on some new ideas too!

REMEMBER TO FOLLOW ON TWITTER: @dearlybeauty 

AND ON INSTAGRAM: @dearlybeautiful 

Stay tuned for Thursday's post!

Boston Life

It's a little late this Thursday, but here is the promised post. It is not an outfit because I still don't have someone to take my photos, and to be honest I'm nervous about telling my friends about my blog. Anyway when I decided to start my blog, the first person I told was Sydney Apple. For good reason too because Syd is 1) one of my best friends, 2)so very creative in photography and writing, and 3) because i knew she would support me. I asked her to guest post so that you can see a little bit of the magic I see in her. We also decided that we would be the best travel pair because we love exploring and just being part of new cities and places. I hope you enjoy her post…when she sent it to me it was just perfect. It gives another take on college life or the beginning of it at least! And Syd: I miss you and I love you! See you soon!

Guest Post by Sydney Apple:

“The world is full of information; but you can’t paint every leaf on the tree.”

So spoke my art professor this morning in my 9 am painting class. I couldn’t exactly tell you why, but in this moment, while I sipped my morning coffee and munched on a bagel (I take my breakfast to-go for the early morning classes), his words struck me. So much so that I decided to open up google keep and make a note of the exact words he spoke for this blog post.

For any of you who don’t know, I am Allison’s friend from high school. One might say “best friends.” Upholding the adage “opposites attract,” Allison and I could not be more different. In short, she’s the nice, bubbly, idealistic one and I’m the cynical, introverted, sarcastic one. Yet, she asked me to be a guest writer every once and a while and so here I am. My instructions were simply to write “about anything…college experience or fun exploration.”

So I decided to wait until something seemed worthwhile to write about (or at least to get me started) and stumbled upon these sage words by Professor Conley. It got me thinking about college life. I’m a freshman at Boston College and while this is by no means my first time away from home, it’s definitely a change. It’s not that I have been overwhelmed by the change or that I am homesick at all – but there are a myriad of changes that I have been observing, the same way a painter would examine the leaves on the trees. But yet, we take things in as a whole; we can’t paint every leaf on the tree. We paint the tree as a whole and detail a few specific leaves and branches and maybe a flower budding here or there. The artist gets to pick and choose what is important. He or she can prove to the viewer that the tree is real without itemizing every pixel of the picture. So I have compiled some little details and snapshots of my new life: changes I have noticed that don’t necessarily color my entire Boston Experience, but they are my proof that this is real.

Examples:

The very first week of school was “welcome week.” Essentially it was a week full of useless events to orient us on campus and force us to bond with random people. Well, one of the options was DiscoverBoston: a trip to some undisclosed location in the heart of the city for you to explore. Turns out they took us to the aquarium. While penguins are alright, that was not our idea of discovering Boston. So a friend and I walked inside, waited until everyone else rounded the corner, and went right back outside. Specifically: we walked out to Boston Harbor (approximately 5 seconds away), bought hot dogs from a street vendor and sat on the grass by the water watching clouds pass by. Purely picturesque.

Fast-forward to when I was sitting in my room (I have been blessed by the residential living gods and am in a single room) and realized that it looked like a dungeon without decorations even after hanging lights and making a picture collage. So…I may or may not have made some impulse buys on etsy.

Fast-forward to when there was a literal beast crawling on my ceiling. It was somewhere between a tarantula and a centipede and was exponentially more terrifying. It was so huge that my neighbor from across the hall couldn’t even suck it up into her vacuum. COLLEGE IS SCARY OK?!

Fast-forward to activity fair day when I was so terrifyingly overwhelmed by all the people yelling at me to join their clubs that I just left and didn’t sign up for anything. I am not sure if I am currently doing any clubs I guess…?

Fast-forward to pretty much every mealtime when I get a picture from my friends in our group message with a picture of an apple doing something at lunch (because my last name is apple).

Fast-forward to whenever my friends and I go out and on our way back home from lower campus we inevitably have to pee and wander through our library until we find the bathrooms.

Fast-forward to last weekend when my Dad came in town to Boston (well, barely: his flight was cancelled and he had to stay a night in Charlotte, NC before making it up here) and we drove up to Kennebunkport, Maine for my cousin’s wedding. It was the perfect weekend break that I needed. Plus the town is adorable and I had the best lobster I have ever consumed. AND I bought a succulent (!!!!) (let’s hope it stays alive).

Fast forward again to just yesterday where I finished my homework relatively early and my friend and I decided to just lay in bed and put on a movie. We decided to watch Clueless because neither of us had ever seen it. 

Fast forward to today: my first day doing laundry when I discovered that the money I have loaded on my card (eaglebucks) is not the right type of money loaded on my card to actually pay for it. So I had to rely on the generosity of other people in the laundry room to scrounge up the 6 quarters I needed.

So that’s my current life: Boston exploring, online shopping, monster slaying, overwhelming, overeating, drunken wandering, weekend vacationing, straight-up lounging, and begging for money. Cheers to college!

Sydney Apple

Blogs for the Everyday Diva

I don't even know how I started following blogs. I guess one day I just found one, liked it, and went with it. I always loved the idea of getting a snippet of other peoples' lives and getting away from my own for a little while. I had an obsession with reading every post starting from the beginning, so when I got the idea to start one myself I had gathered so much research from successful blogs. In every blog with every post the writer gives a little piece of themselves. Its scary and nerve-wracking, but I have been inspired by every single one of them. Blogging seems so small and unimportant, but I have seen the way it has touched me and touches girls everywhere. So THANK YOU to the women who have written every blog post I have read. Thank you for showing me your life and inspiring me everyday. Keep it up!

The first blog I followed was J's Everyday Fashion. I love how she takes high fashion outfits and makes them affordable. I am a big fan of resale shops, hand-me-downs, and shopping on a budget because you can really get creative with your outfit.

Shortly after I found Carly's College Prepster blog and fell in love with how honest and relatable she is. Carly is a southerner who followed her dreams to NYC, and she inspires me so much. She is hard working, and really advocates for women in her own way. I have probably been most loyal to College Prepster from the beginning because of the truth she puts into her posts. I haven't missed a single post in 3 years. Carly is also so amazing at connecting with her readers. She responds to every email she gets, and it's a total fan girl moment when you find a response in your inbox (trust me)!

From Carly I found Mackenzie with Design Darling who has the cutest style. She mixes an adorable fashion sense (dominated by navy) and chic home styling. She even started her own online boutique. Later came Maxie Mccoy who has the most inspiring advice for everyone, and she strives to be a voice for girls everywhere. You can't miss her red hair and signature red lipstick, and you'll be just as jealous as I am when she shares her travels. She has seriously made me want to go to Thailand and India.

Along the way I have followed Lovely Pepa, Raspberry and Red (Love, Love, Love this one), and Wendy's Lookbook. Raspberry and Red caught my attention because Weronika is a girl who just started blogging because she wanted to. She was a high schooler going though what I was but on the other side of the world. Definitely check it out!

Last couple of blogs I love are A Beautiful Mess which was one of the first blogs I followed. It is run by two sisters who love crafts and focus on the amazing imperfections of the world. They make me want to be so creative and DIY my whole life! The last blog I want to talk about is Atlantic-Pacific. Just look at the pictures and you'll die. I just want her whole closet, and I want to look that amazing in the clothes too.

All of these bloggers have inspired me with their stories and the parts of their lives they choose to show. They are the kinds of people you want to be friends with because they are so cool. I only hope that I can give what they have given to me through my blog. Please go check out these blogs. I love reading them everyday, and I know you will love them too!

Short and Sweet

Hey Everyone,

It's Thursday and there is no post up yet. If you follow this blog then I bet you woke up so excited to see what i was going to say. Since not many people follow the blog yet, I bet no one woke up expecting a post. Anyway here is a short and sweet post for you all.

I am trying to get my organization together for the blog, and I am thinking about a lifestyle post on Tuesday and a fashion/ style post on Thursday. What do you think? There isn't an outfit post or anything this week because my photographer now lives in Clemson, but expect there to be more soon.

Also BIG NEWS:
One of my best friends in the whole world decided that Dearly Beautiful needed some more publicity. She and my other friends have been so supportive, and I just love it! Well Anne Arden made Dearly Beautiful a twitter and is now running it for me. She has the best tweets so go check it out @DearlyBeauty… She will not disappoint. I may or may not be saying this on the blog to guilt her into making it a fab twitter! My Instagram is @dearlybeautiful so follow there too!

Okay so I'm getting to the point of this post, I promise. So I wanted to share my favorite nail polish for this style post. I have worn it pretty much all the time since I found it, and it goes with everything. Its a light pink color and called MOD ABOUT YOU by OPI. I have been an Essie girl for quite some time, but when I came across this baby pink, I couldn't resist. I Instagrammed this photo a while back, and I am sorry I don't have a better photograph. I'm still trying to get the hang of the blog and learning how to make everything look good. Bare with me…I promise I'll get it sometime.

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you have any questions, ideas, or just want to speak your mind. Next week I'm planning a big outfit post so get ready!

Motivation is a MUST

Today I want to talk about motivation! I once heard that motivation is like food, you need it everyday to nourish your body. I believe this 100% because I find myself ready to take on the world one second and completely lost and uninterested the next. One trick I use to help keep me motivated and inspired is to have a quote on my phone screen, so when I unlock my phone it is the first thing I see. Right now I have the words "Have courage and be kind". For everyone who saw the new Cinderella, this was a huge theme throughout the movie!

There was a time in high school my sophomore year where I just hated going to school. I was taking really hard classes, I had extra curricular activities to do, and I felt like I was digging myself deeper into a hole of stress. I was making myself miserable by consciously hating everyday. My attitude was all wrong, and nothing in the near future was going to take the unhappiness away. Somehow I got through it, and was able to breathe again. It was mostly due to a change in my outlook and motivation. I went from telling myself that I hated going to school to reminding myself of the benefits school would have for me down the road.

I decided to write my new outlook down in my notes on my iPhone Junior year so that I wouldn't have a miserable repeat of my sophomore year. I used this note as motivation and to pick myself up after I slipped a little. And the funny thing is that I still have that note on my phone, and I am able to look at all of the things I have accomplished since then. I can actually see the improvement and how far I have come. Here is what the note said:

NEW OUTLOOK ON SCHOOL (July 2013)
 I need to go to school...
1. because I will use what I learn in the future
2. because one day I will miss high school (and I really do)
3. because learning is a privilege so many others do not get
           
         This one affected me the most one day my senior year. I woke up one day just not wanting to go to school. I didn't see a point in it that day, and I was about to skip. BUT then I remembered the millions of girls on other countries that do not get an education or have to drop out at an early age. Those girls got me out of bed that day because I felt awful for wasting a day that they would kill to have. Motivation is funny like that. It comes in all kinds of ways.

4. Because I want to make something of myself
5. Because I want to be a role model and show how strong and intelligent women are
6. because just think of all of the people I can help one day

To end this post, I challenge everyone to write down some reasons as to why you do what you do and why you should do it. If you are having a rough time, just think about the impact you will have on others and yourself when you push through and keep going! Here's some motivation to get through the rest of the week…I hope you choose joy!

Thursday Vibes

We are almost to the weekend! Thanks for sticking with me through last week. I'm still trying to figure everything out and specifically find my voice though my blog. I enjoy blogging a lot, but there is just so much going on that it's hard to keep up. Juggling everything is difficult, but I know it will pay off in the end. If you're still with me, thanks for reading. I know it will be a slow start, but I willing to put in the effort to keep this up. It really is something that I've wanted for a long time so I'll push through and keep going. If you want to pass on some encouragement, I'd love it.

This week I'm sharing an outfit I wore to dinner before I left for school. This orange backdrop goes with the romper pretty well. My boyfriend has been taking pictures for me, but since we no longer live in the same state, I'm going to have to find a new photographer. Bare with me when it comes to pictures, I'm doing my best! Soooo the romper is from Heery's in Athens, the bag is obviously my favorite Rebecca Minkoff, and the shoes are Steve Madden. We figured out that the pictures where I smile look so much better than the I'm-trying-to-look-serious-and-cute-soft-smile. Hope you enjoy the pictures and keep reading!

























Hope you've had an amazing week and that your weekend is even better! Plus FOOTBALL starts on Saturday!! Remember GOOOO DAWGS!!!!!