How to be Smart

Yes! You did read that title correctly. It's true that you can't make someone become smart, but as long as you study hard, pay attention and keep informed, you'll not only have good grades but be respected. 
It's easy to get caught up in things like Instagram, celebrity's lives, clothes, drama, whatever. But it does you well to spend just twenty minutes or so a day studying current events, or history. Just because you're young doesn't mean you shouldn't care what's going on in the world. (of course, Bible study first!)
For example, I like to go to the library and pick out ten or so books from the nonfiction section. Specifically, the children's nonfiction, because they are easier to understand. I like to pick topics that interest me, and learn a little bit about them each day. An easy way to get up-to-date on news that you, as a teen, can understand, CNN Student News is a great program that I absolutely love!
Now, on to school smarts. You may be an average, below-average, or even above-average student, it doesn't matter. This information will still - hopefully - benefit you! The most important thing during class that you need to do is pay attention. If you have a question, ask. If you're like me, asking questions in class can be scary. And awkward. If this is the case, e-mail your teacher, or ask them after class! If you've paid attention and taken good notes, that's an amazing start. And instead of binge studying, study for ten minutes a day, BEFORE your homework (this is because if you study first, you'll know the information you must know to complete your homework!). This way, when the test comes around, you will be prepared.
One last tip is to work with your procrastination! This sounds pretty weird. What I mean is, if you know you will procrastinate, do a little bit each day instead. It's definitely the best method. 
Now, I leave you with a clip from a very cheaply made, kind of stupid Disney show. But it may inspire you... 

http://www.disney.co.uk/disney-channel/videos/dog-with-a-blog/dog-with-a-blog-stan-gets-schooled-v~1_ynvm9qt2/#/videoId/dog-with-a-blog-stan-gets-schooled


Abigail <3

Lily: Snow day essentials!

    Snow day essentials

     Down here in NC, Abigail and I have had the past few days off of school since everybody goes berserk at 1 inch of snow! it’s been our only snow this season, and as beautiful and exciting it has   been, I’m so ready for spring and summer. Be looking out for chino short and beach posts in about a month, since that’s when it gets hot here! I hope all of y’all with snow have a fabulous day, so enjoy this post!

• Good boots and thick socks are clearly something you’re going to want to have if you’re venturing out in the snow! Bean boots are super popular right now, but to be honest, $110 dollars is not exactly reasonable for a pair of boots! I’ve never been one to care what my shoes look like on snow days, so really rainboots or simple cabelas duck boots like the ones I wear work just as well!

                                            vs.                  

                                        $65                                                                  $110

• Comfy pj’s and lots of layers  are essential for any freezing day of course! Similar with my shoes, I don’t care if I look cute, My brothers and I sled almost all day and I look, well, not exactly attractive! for pants I typically wear leggings under yoga pants or soccer pants, then a sweatshirt, and a ridiculously huge fleece. I always wear one of those fleece headband things, that I think look pretty cool, but they’re not….

                                      

                 but are these not adorable? adidas soccer pant   gap pj's!

                    get them on etsy!!               get them here          get them here

• Movies!! chick-flicks by the fire? yup. I’ve so far watched Pitch perfect and Monte carlo, as those happen to be my absolute favorite  movies ever! some others I suggest are:
  

• Board Games! some of my family’s favorites are:
  

I hope you enjoyed!
xoxo,

Lily

Lily-making school fun as possible (part two)

I’m totally copying Abigail, but she suggested I do the same post but with a different theme. her fun school ideas were straight from high school musical, but i'm taking it back to the 80's, more specifically bayside high. that's right,  we're going saved by the bell!

Once upon a time...before Abigail and I  were even born, there was a place called the 80’s. it was a time of face-to-face human interaction, parachute pants, and wonderful sitcoms……..

1)never let stress get the best of you!  jessie spano learned the hard way, caffeine pills! nowadays most sane teenagers don’t take such pills (unless crack counts….) but we still let stress ruin us! sometimes you have to understand grades aren’t everything. now, i’m NOT saying it’s ok to just forget about studying, but your honor roll shouldn’t be your everything! make to sure to live a little, after all you only get 7 years of being a teenager! hang out with friends, read a book, go OUTSIDE, be spontaneous!

2)Find your group & enjoy every minute with them! finding a crew can seem so difficult at first, and maybe you have friends, but they’re not supportive or have bratty attitudes and don’t love who you are. if you’re worried about being a loner, you’ll realize everybody feels that way. no matter what grade you’re in, middle school, high school,even college, there’s nobody that you need to impress! so be yourself, people love that.

3)Don’t spend your sweet time on crushes no matter how cute that kid in science is, that’s not what high school is all about! admit it,we’re all guilty of daydreaming sometimes! There’s nothing wrong with relationships, but remember that’s NOT the point of life (read here for love inspo) we learned this from zack and kelly, after they realized it’s so hard to keep a good relationship at such a young age, but eventually when they were older they got their acts together and *spoiler alert* they got married. and remember, don’t get jealous of other girls or your friend with a boyfriend, your time will come darling!

      Live it up, and stay classy!

       xoxo,

        Lily

How to Make School As Fun As Possible!

We all know that no matter what you do, school is not a fun thing. Even if you go to a great school and have tons of friends you look forward to seeing, there's still that whole stupid thing people like to call "math class". So how can you make it fun? I'm taking my cues straight out of the Disney Channel on this one, because we're going full High School Musical:

1) Go to bed early. We're starting from the very beginning! You'd be amazed at how greatly this affects your day. Hand in hand with that, wake up early. I wake up at six every morning, or sometimes five forty-five. This gives enough time to take a shower, get dressed, and do any last-minute studying. After that, I can watch Netflix and eat breakfast and relax. This gives you a great start to the day. This article should give you some inspiration: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waking_up_early

2) Find time for yourself. It sometimes seems that at school you are constantly surrounded by people. Remember when Troy escaped to the roof for some peace and quiet? You can find your own rooftop. Maybe it's taking a short walk around the empty halls before lunch, or chilling in the bathroom when you get a few extra minutes. If you get the chance, fresh air is a great thing, so go outside!!

3) Be comfortable and organized. Those two words sound strange together, but they're the two key components of a good school experience. Well, there are more, but these are the most helpful. When I say comfortable, I mean that you should literally be comfortable in what you're wearing and not be self-conscience. Both me and Lily have school uniform posts, so reference those, if you want!! When I say organized... I mean, organized. Make sure your locker is neat (remember Sharpay's? It should be your inspiration.) and that you are keeping up with assignments. Even if you're a hopeless procrastinator, it helps tremendously to simply keep up with all your assignments, even if you're not doing them. 


Good luck!!
Abigail <3

Lily: late gifts (for yourself!)

So the day is almost over, for  some of you, it might have been a let-down day, others an amazing day, or maybe it was just another singles-saturday for you. It doesn't matter if your day was awful and you're sick of seeing couples, or your day was amazingly  beautiful, today is a day to treat yourself. And remember, Jesus is cooler than any boyfriend. So even though Valentine's day is coming to a close, this weekend you should still:

-Here is a few fun things that I think us chicks deserve this valentine's day-

J.crew anonymous ISM socks

Kendra Scott danielle earrings

Minnetonka Cally slipper

Old navy patterned ballet flats

J. Crew factory tuxedo camisole

Moon and Lola Monogram necklace

Treat yo selves ladies!

xoxo,

Lily

Lily-Valentine's day

Valentine’s day

don’t stop reading, I promise this isn’t some mushy story about how i’m “so in love” or something. In fact, i don’t have much of a love life at all. Today, I want you people to embrace single-ness! life isn’t all about finding a soul mate! So many people get their heads so wrapped up in a certain person or a relationship, but it doesn’t work out, and they have nothing that makes them happy. but guys, you have to understand, people disappoint! The only love you will ever need is from Jesus Christ. But for all of you guys in relationships, especially really young people, don’t be afraid to put yourself out there, but BE CAREFUL! don’t get your heart crushed. Protect your heart and be wise about every decision you make in a relationship. don’t ever take love for granted, but don’t take too much advantage of it either. If God has truly spoken to your heart, and you know your gf/bf is right for you, tell them! someone once said “if you love someone, tell them...because hearts are often broken by words left unspoken”. I know i’m saying so many different opinions at once, but just hear me out. If you’re single, enjoy your life, don’t spend your sweet days on earth pining over lost love! if you like someone, give them respect. if you love someone, let them know. if you’re single but ready to mingle, don’t be afraid to put yourself out there, but remember to guard your heart. To all you singles, let us all raise our chocolate in joyful unison! And to all you lovers, may your day be beautiful.

stay classy america

xoxo,

Lily

Abigail's Winter Favorites!

Here are my winter favorites! It will be really similar (since it is basically a copy of) Lily's. So, here goes:

Clothes!
So, if you know me, you know I pretty much wear a constant rotation of like eight things. And I'm okay with that. But, when it comes to school clothes, I buy lots of new stuff to keep it from getting boring, since I have a fairly strict uniform. I recently got a fabric monogram quarter-zip sweatshirt from Pinky Girl, in nay with blue seersucker. I'm normally not really very preppy so this was unusual :)
I also have been wearing my Vans Slip-Ons, which are super comfy and go with everything.

Music!
I am basically the queen of sixties music. Just saying. My favorites recently have been in the earlier sixties and late fifties, like Cash. Most of the time, I stick with the my three favorites that never change: The Beatles, The Kinks, and Neil Young. I've also been listening to Fall Out Boy and Panic! At the Disco which is pretty out of character.

Skin/Hair/etc.
The stuff I use constantly changes, but a few things that I always love are the Nivea body washes and also GK Hair Tamer. I do not know how I obtained this but I found it in my bathroom and it works AMAZING. I also use the Aveeno Clear Complexion Cleanser like every day. But other than that, it constantly changes. So, not very interesting.


TV: Chuck, and as always, Family Ties. And how could I forget... Fetch! With Ruff Ruffman is THE SHOW.

Hope you enjoyed!
Abigail <3

Lily- Winter favorites!

Even though winter is the epitome of evil, especially if you get WAY too much snow or you're like me down here in nc, where it's freezing cold but hasn't snowed ONCE, however there's still things that i've been enjoying over the past month-ish. this is kind of like a what's on my radar type of deal like the college prepster does, but my weird little version of it! enjoy!

Snack food

so I know Hubert's lemonade has been reeeaaally popular lately, and I think it's obvious why! first, it comes in the most adorable glass bottle, and second it tastes straight from heaven! you can buy it at whole foods which is pretty much the only place my mom grocery shops. The next thing is also from whole foods (can you see a pattern here?). they are the mini snack size bags of back to nature cookies. a lot of people think organic cookies are disgusting but I think they taste like perfection! really it's just your preference, but if you're trying to eat healthier whole foods snacks are a great place to start

Skin & hair care

In the winter time just about all of us deal with annoying dry skin and frizzy hair. so from bath and body works I have some body lotion that I use everyday and it works perfectly. For chapstick I of course use eos but I’ve recently been using baby lips a lot. for starters, the packaging/label is adorable and also it works really really well. it’s like a lip gloss-chapstick type of thing. Finally, for my hair I use herbal essences naked souffle mousse (a super long name I know). I have ridiculously thick hair so it really helps detangle while still keeping its volume. I also curl it sometimes with my conair curling wand

Clothes

• The thing I probably wear most in the winter is sweaters. like I said in an earlier post, I wear them almost every cold day at school. I get most of mine from gap and old navy.

The next thing is my nike scoop neck hoodie. It’s super warm with fleece inside and the neck is really cool. you can buy them really anywhere that sells nike, the color I wanted was at kohl’s I believe.

My next things that I wear all the time are flannels and my herringbone vest. The vest is out of stock and backordered at j.crew so I got mine at jane.com and pretty much any boutique sells vests similar as well

Music

Spotify has been super popular lately and I have been listening to it non-stop! it’s pretty similar to pandora but I think it gives you better suggestions and personal recommendations. Abigail has gotten me really into 60’s music so i’ve been listening to people like van morrison and the zombies. My other two current favorite singers/groups are Ellie Goulding & Lennon and Maisy

My current favorite songs are:

This will be our year-The zombies

anything could happen-Ellie Goulding

boom clap-Lennon and Maisy

dog days are over-florence and the machine

T.V

My shows that are currently on are hart of dixie, american idol, and downton abbey. However, i’m super fed up with downton because of the people that were killed off and the plots are kind of boring now. but american idol has always been one of my favorites and I love the current judges! Hart of dixie is in its 4th season right now but 1-3 is on netflix and I totally recommend it! Abigail and I are totally obsessed with Lemon Breeland’s style. Hart of dixie is basically like a southern drama but is happy and not exactly dramatic at the same time.

I hope you liked it!

xoxo,

Lily