hitting the hallways

photos by jordan

So this is it y'all - school starts tomorrow, and summer '17 is officially coming to a close. The last two weeks especially have been a whirlwind. You may have noticed my suspicious silence. (Probably not though) I was hopping on and off of planes, trying to not drown in the Louisiana downpours, and eating copious amounts of gumbo. I was also trying to sort out my class schedule this semester which is wall*claps*to*claps*wall. It may actually cause me to pass out from exhaustion like twice a week. But in the words of the great spiritual master Lil Dicky, that's my niche. 


Here's some well wishes for us all in this coming fall semester: 

- May our binders stay as organized as they are right now.

- May we look first-day-of-school good even when it's middle-of-midterms.

- May the campus-wide wifi never cut out.

- May we make at least one friend in every class who will text us the notes we missed.

- May our student ID's grant us great discounts in places we like to eat.

- May our homework be complete, on time, and more importantly, understood.

- May our instagrams stay poppin' + our twitter feeds full of real words.

- May we enjoy the privilege of education, and use it to better ourselves and the world around us


because lord knows we need some help. 

x Justina

ps. If you're a female undergrad, reading this before September 5th, and you want to hang out with some incredibly successful women on an all-expenses-paid trip to NYC, click here. 


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back to the great mall

Back to school shopping need not end after one has gone back to school, and thankfully the lovely people at Simon Malls understand that just as well as I do. They invited me back for my (now annual) trip to the Great Mall, and absolutely set me loose to find a back-to-school look for under $100. They have over a million square feet of shops, but this time, I knew what I was getting into, and I took Jordan to carry the shopping bags. 

THERE'S SO MANY STORES. AND SO MANY OF THEM ARE OUTLETS. I had an armful in no time. But I was on a mission for a very specific item, and though many people told me they were impossible to find, I was DETERMINED. I figured if they'd be anywhere, they'd be at the Great Mall.

LO AND BEHOLD - H&M HAD BLACK OVERALLS. That was all I really wanted. Pockets and sturdy denim. Overalls that say "I'm a confident adult who can pull off kindergarten trends". I was going to include them in this post but then decided that they're too great to not have their own, so...stay tuned.

Shopping is exhausting, and boys get fidgety when they're hungry (But not me, of course. Never.) so we stopped at Dave & Busters for a snack halfway through our journey. I'd never been before, and was throughly delighted by how sticky everything was in this "frat bros designed a bar-arcade"  establishment.  I thought it was fun. The loaded tater tots were a+.

We then resumed our traipse through the neighborhoods (that's right, this place is so big it separates it's sections into "neighborhoods") and I finally acquired the holy grail of fashion blogger off-duty shoes: the low-top white converse. Yes, I do have high tops, and yes, they are also white, and no, that is not redundant. It's a different LOOK, okay.

It had been six hours, and we were fading quickly, so we slid one more stop into Columbia to pick up a cozy fleece, because I'm determined to go outside at least once this winter. 

Last note: next time,
bring more snacks.

x Justina


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#soworthit - bts with jcpenney

all pieces from JCPenney

*Commercial male voice* It’s back to school time!

When it comes to back to school clothes shopping, we talk about the latest styles, looking cute for football games, the most stylish shoes. But we don’t talk about budgets, getting dressed half-asleep at 5:30 in the morning, or running across campus several times a day. You know, the reality of being me/a college student.  Put down the pajamas, I’m not saying we sacrifice real outfits, just that we think about this a little differently. Back to school can be affordable, and still cute, which is what JCPenney sent me out to prove.

I picked up the pieces for this cute lil look at my local store, which, *sadly* is not one hosting one of the groovy Girls Night In events styled by JCPenney, (But yours might be!! check it out). I was looking for a few things. Pockets, easy to pull together, and a solid statement piece I can wear a lot, because unique dressing gets harder and harder the closer and closer you get to midterms. Fact. Clearly, I found what I was looking for in this Arizona cardigan. My hope is that the bright colors and a solid cup of coffee can get me through morning classes. The peasant top underneath is also a win-win- it’s comfy, but looks a little more pulled together than a regular t-shirt, perfect for my schedule, which involves dashing from English Lit to the newsroom. 

Honestly, the hardest part about back to school shopping (other than, you know, wearing it all back to school) is getting it done, and this was easy, breezy, and resulted in a beautiful cardigan. 

x Justina 

ps. JCPenney sent me to explore their store, and paid for the trip, but you guys know the deal: cardigans can’t buy my love. 

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