hello high school seniors (and who else happens to be reading this little post of mine today),

i’ve obviously been making a lot of content about college in this past year because of COURSE it has demanded my whole life basically since i was a senior in high school, and now, getting to talk to my friends and being able to look back at my life as a senior i’m writing an open letter to you all about what i’ve learned since being a senior in high school and what y’all should do and consider this year, alright, without further ado…

today a sorority sister and i visited a coffee shop. in the many things we talked about one of the things we mentioned is how if we had the chance to have all the experiences we’ve had since college and apply to school all over again (not transfer) but be a high school senior and have all the knowledge we have now we both probably would not have chose GW, or even applied.

and i know how this sounds. pretty bad right? i mean not just one, but two students in completely different disciplines from two different places both don’t think they would have made this decision, yeah it doesn’t exactly seem like the perfect “advertisement” for our school. but i have LOTS of conversations with people and it seems to always go this way.

in freshman year, i lived with someone who before even coming to school i considered family (i mean from being little i called her mother “aunt”) and we had known each other since birth. we had gone through periods of not being close to one another but whenever we got together we could talk for HOURS and still not be done talking. and something we always come back to in conversation is how we’ve grown leaps and bounds since attending university.

we have both bloomed into these pseudo-adult roles and we both know what we want, are passionate about things and know our worth and what we’re prepared to do in tough situations. and although i expected in college i would be ‘learning alot’, i truly don’t think i understand in how many forms growth and learning can take place, and in my senior year of high school it was an immense time of growth.

i’m confident enough to say that senior year was easily my best one in high school. i had amazing passionate teachers whom i loved, i excelled in all my classes (I GOT ONE OF THE TOP 500 SCORES IN AP GOV YO, that takes alot) and although admittedly it was my most difficult year mental health and friend wise (not even gonna go into this one) i freaking LOVED senior year. i was able to take ap studio art which just really made me feel confident in my career choices and i knew what my future held. but i think i wished it away, like everyday.

don’t wish time away, please. even though i spent so much time thinking about my future in high school i still had an incredible time. i got into all the schools i wanted to and i got to have freedom in indescribable incredible ways. but i spent most of my year either ready to leave out of frustration with my situations (*with friends or home/health stuff) and i cannot count how many times i thought “wow, i’m so ready to leave this crap hole.” and admittedly, although i think i was beyond ready to leave and grow i missed too much waiting to leave.

now i don’t wanna tell you all what you don’t wanna hear, but don’t be me. and thats coming straight from the horse’s mouth. just don’t yo. please just put up with all the things that are frustrating you in real time, cause even if you don’t get homesick when you get to college (hehe not like me, that was painful) you will think about all the things you missed cause you were so ready to be done with them.

ONE MORE ANECDOTE CAUSE I GOTTA LEAVE Y’ALL ON THIS NOTE. every year since i was 5 or 6 i attended a summer camp for one week each summer with the girl scouts (something i highly suggest all young women should participate in). as a ‘older girl’ i became a leader in the camp and made friends with a set of older girls (including my sister) who were 2 years older than me. once they left the camp (two summers before i did, as they aged out that much sooner) i was left to find new people and was super resentful that i still had to be there and doing that as one of the odd people out at the camp. i resented it so much in the first year without my friends. i wished the whole week away and thought i only had one more year and then i’d get my dues. so i came back the next year still bitter and jaded but after the first day everyday driving into camp i inexplicably started to cry as i was gonna miss this so much. but these days were conflicting as hell, because i half wanted them to end, and i half had MAD nostalgia for being a younger girl and how much i loved this camp. and now thinking about it, i miss it when it comes to be that point in the year, cause i get so nostalgic about the camp songs that will play through my brain during exams and other important moments.

long story short. enjoy where you’re at, cause when its over you’re gonna miss it too much.

enjoy the little things

xoxo, kate

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hello all friends & readers!

welcome (or welcome back!). i’m sure if you’re a returning guest you may have noticed my absence here on the blog (which i will frankly address very soon, and apologies if ya missed me) but i’m back in DC and back at school in the swing of things and so i’m back to blogging, which for me feels very refreshing.

a few things that have happened, i transitioned out of my @macaronsandmusthaves instagram to just my personal instagram (which if you wanna follow me, you may do so here @kate_wins), i’ve been in the process of rebranding my blog (say hello to that new logo!) and i had one summer of it, which i will get into a lot more detail in a future post. but to end my summer, and go back to school, my dad and i took a road trip across PA, MD, WV, VA and finally to DC to start my sophomore year at GWU in graphic design!

this whole plan came about because my dad and i had a frank conversation about an ex-friend of mine at gwu who was from hershey, PA. in the conversation i mentioned his homesickness and inability to fully integrate in the community even though he was still pretty close to home. my dad then mentioned that frank lloyd wright’s famous (and now a UNESCO world heritage site!) house called falling water is in PA and is NOT far from DC. he mentioned (as i know he once wanted to be an architect) that he’s always wanted to go to fallingwater and i felt the same way, so we mapped it in google maps, and found it was closer than we even imagined, so the rest became history.

no, actually in all serious-ness we also figured out if we did this we could also see the flight 93 memorial in shanksville, PA as well as being able to visit monticello (jefferson’s famous house), the campus of UVA (which are both in charlottesville VA) as well as being able to visit west virginia which is what we believe for both of us, a new state to visit. and once we picked all these other places our trip fell into place and we decided to go just before moving me in and take a mini road trip!

so we did! and here are some of my favorite photos and memories from our little trip!

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enjoy!

xoxo, kate!

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hey all!

i OFFICIALLY had my first day of school today, and y’all, i know its tuesday but today was my first class as my mondays are my free days for the semester which is AWESOME! and i’ve been able to look around campus and see others walking around and of course, i’ve taken some notice to what people carry around campus. and GW is a really unique campus as it is a open city campus so i not only get to see real life people actually going to work (MORE then just professors or GW staff members) but i also get to see students who are going to classes, so i get a really unique mix of people dressing for school and work.

and i’ve been seeing some REALLY cute bags! like lots of stuff i like, so i decided to make a post for y’all to shop!

as always, a note to all my readers – this post does not mean i own any of the above, or that i will buy any of the above. it just means that i like it visually and (unless noted) i do not own it; all that i will write about is stuff i hear from friends and other users of the product as well as the visual aspects of the product!

shop my faves here!

enjoy!

xoxo, kate

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hey freshmen!

this post is for you all. i’ve been seeing y’all run around campus for a variety of different things: move in, orientation events and even some whole foods runs. i see my same energy in all of you and that made me incredibly reflective, and so i asked some of my favorite people: friends, family and sorority sisters for some input on freshmen year and here, i compiled it all together for you, so i hope you take an honest read and REALLY think about the things mentioned here because they’ve all been given with a lot of heart. so lets start why don’t we?

don’t stress about friends

one of my classmates and fellow content creator online from GW, Rumi, says it best about ‘first week friends’. and guess what, they’re real. they exist. so truly i wouldn’t stress about who you’re friends are during orientation, or the first week. and frankly, college is never too late to reinvent yourself. hang out with people who you wouldn’t think you would ever click with cause these people can actually really be good for you. and another note, in college there is no one that is “popular”, frankly there are only people who THINK they are, and you will know who those people are, so just be you, don’t worry about popularity.

go out of your comfort zone

you wanna try something specific? do it! something you don’t think you’ll be good at? try it! the worst thing that could happen of it is that you ~might~ quit which is really not a big deal, so just go for it why don’t you. honestly you don’t really have anything to lose so theres no excuse.

you don’t have to be friends with your roommates

i know at this point they’re probably some of your best friends at this point and during the first week its super easy to fall into this trap but just get over it. meet other people so you don’t have to be necessarily stuck with people who you don’t want to be ‘in’ with, and frankly being friends and coexisting are two different things. you don’t have to be friends with someone to respect them. another note within this point, just cause you ~might~ be friends with your roommate doesn’t mean you need to skirt around their feelings. you must be real with them, tell them the truth.

take the opportunities handed to you

please. please. please. i did not take my work study job *as i’ve mentioned in the past* and TOTALLY regretted it. if given an opportunity for something unexpected take it. please, i implore you. think about your life as if you would never get this opportunity again, and if you think in 5 years you might regret saying no (or even like 5 months) just freaking do it. the worst it could be is a waste of time, and at that point you can quit without any regrets.

don’t be afraid to have fun

school is way more than things that you just do in classes. do things that are uncomfortable. especially at gw, they make incredible freshmen programing! so go to all the free concerts, parties and food events, even if they sound lame cause i’m sure you’ll meet someone new who will totally change your experience and that you won’t regret!

enjoy your first few days baby colonials!

xoxo, kate!

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hey all!

i’m back again doing a little review of the rest of my trip! i needed to get myself a little more organized in order to even get to posting this! but i felt super organized with it and knew i was ready to have it go up! so without further ado,

here we go!

day 6

we finished our time in jerusalem during shabbat, so as forementioned, i don’t have any photos of this time but we essentially just played games and got to talk a lot about

day 7

our next move was to tel aviv and we spent the day in the outdoor market, eating and enjoying ourselves and we got to go out during the night time. it was so much fun! tel aviv gave me alot of ‘los angeles’ energy so it felt a lot like home to me!

day 8

this day we went to the tel aviv beach in the morning and got a few hours to lay out, go in the water and play some volleyball. this was a really fun time with my trip because it was some of the only real down time we had. and the weather was just fantastic! we also went to jaffa, which is the old port city of tel aviv. it also had awesome energy and we all loved it!

day 9

on this day we moved down south closer to the border with gaza, we stopped at the border wall with gaza and talked with a woman who lives in a community not far from the border. it was an enlightening experience because although i knew about the conflict we had an indept conversation about the conflict and i got to hear a few different sides which i did not expect. we finished the day in a kibbutz and had a chill evening.

day 10

we hit the ground running on day 10 at masada. we hiked up the roman ramp and by the time we were coming down, they had closed it so we had to go down via the gondola because it was so hot! we then went to the dead sea and experienced the waters there. we finished our day at the bedouin tents where we got to eat, stay and experience the stars, which were breathtaking.

day 11

our last day started with breakfast and camel rides, and from there, we made our trek back up to tel aviv to hit the airport and leave! here i had to say goodbye to all my friends and i departed for my own next adventure which i will again chronicle soon on the blog!

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hey all!

well the nordstrom anniversary sale has officially started! its an AMAZING WAY to get the newest season’s clothes (FOR FALL LITERALLY NOT EVEN SUMMER) for a discounted price and let me tell you, there are bunches and bunches of things on here that i’m so ready to own and shop for in store!

SO i did a little picks post for you where i organize via the catergories which i love to shop for!!

also a quick reminder, the nordstrom sale has only officially started for the nordy card members – which means that if you have a nordstrom credit card you can shop the sale – and if you don’t thats okay too! it will be open for the public on friday july 19th!

enjoy, happy shopping & as always a note to all my readers – this post does not mean i own any of the above, or that i will buy any of the above. it just means that i like it visually and (unless noted) i do not own it; all that i will write about is stuff i hear from friends and other users of the product as well as the visual aspects of the product!

clothes

activewear

jewelry

shoes

accessories

beauty

underthings

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hey all!

since i’ve been back i have not been able to organize myself really well and i’ve been back for 3 weeks, so there’s that. but i really wanted to bring y’all a review of my trip to israel and my trip in london! so i broke up each trip by 5 days and wanted to share with you guys what happened in each of those 5 days!

so today, i am bringing you the FIRST half of my birthright trip in israel and talking a little about what we did. so lets get started!

day 1

this was our travel day and the day which i spent the whole day in JFK airport to getting in our plane and then taking a 12 hour flight, so i ~honestly~ have no good photos of what we did today, each person was absolutely dead. once we arrived in israel, we got off the plane made it through customs and border control and ate dinner at the airport. we took a bus two hours to the north and went over the rules for the trip, we then went to sleep so no pictures.

day 2

on the second day we started up in the north and viewed mt. bental and saw into syria. we hiked and saw a waterfall and enjoyed lots of outside. my phone did not work at this point and my camera went out of charge super early in the day. thats my explanation for not having lots of photos. sorry, but it was a mainly outdoor day!

day 3

we spent our day in tzfat. its an older town known for kabbalah, or jewish mysticism. it was a cool place that had an art market and we ate some pretty good yemeni food which is most similar to a savory crepe! we continued to explore the city and we also went to a kosher winery up near the border of lebanon.

day 4

we spent our day in the old city of jerusalem. we explored walking around, shopped explored and then went to go to the western wall. this was a main day of exploring and was super fun. the old city was a super cool place that had tons of religious energy. the wall was one of the most meaningful places i visited on my trip and i loved every second of it.

day 5

on this day we explored the rest of jerusalem. we went to yad veshem, the holocaust museum in jerusalem. it was an amazing experience and i highly suggest that everyone go to visit it, as it is so important to the jewish experience. later in the day we went to the shuk, the outdoor market in jerusalem. we ate at a really good authetic mizrahi restuarant with our israeli soldiers who went on the trip with us and we shopped around, as it is in my character, i loved the candy in market and bought a bunch for the rest of my trip, and of course it did not last long. we finished the evening as shabbat started which was the most magical experience. i turned off my phone as the sun set but i have one last photo with all the people at the wall at shabbat.

enjoy my pictures!

xoxo, kate.

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hey all!

happy friday. its been a long week and although my schedule has not been as packed as it has in a long time, i still find myself lacking major sleep, so if anyone has any summer sleep tips comment them down below cause i NEED your help!

anyway! today i wanted to talk about my most necessary things for long flights and for long and far vacations. as you all know, i took two very longs flights recently, from NYC to Tel Aviv and then from London to LA. they were both ranging at just around 12 hours in the air which is a LONG time, and before may i had never done a flight longer than 6 hours so it was so incredibly shocking for me. plus, i had so much fear going in to them. and its not like i fear flying, but i do have a slight bit of claustrophobia which i would say only really comes when i know i’m stuck somewhere. so being in a metal tube for 12 hours, and being STUCK there was easily one of my worst nightmares.

but in all actuality, my flights weren’t all that bad! i think i traveled with the perfect items so today i wanted to share with you all what i found was MOST helpful with my air travel!

1. pillow and eye mask: i purchased a pillow on amazon before i left, but somehow completely blanked on buying an eye mask. as soon as i got on my flight to TLV i was handed a package from the airline including an eye mask, which was FANTASTIC. i hadn’t thought of the idea but it was totally necessary and i not only used it on my flight but i used it to help me get to sleep on both my trips and my flight back home.
2. book: i highly recommend a good book. i slept mostly on my flight to TLV but on my flight back home i was mostly awake, and i got a lot of reading done too. and i read alot in my travels in between. i choose to use my app called ‘overdrive’ and connected it to my library card where i got to get free e-books to read which was perfect on my phone because i literally had no space to carry a book with me, but i know loads of people love reading legit books too which is totally an option as well.
3. good pair of headphones: although my favorite airpods do not work on airplane screens (they require bluetooth and there isn’t a way to connect yet! come on airplanes, GET ON IT) but i love carrying my airpods with me, and i downloaded some music off spotify and got to listen for an hour or so which allowed the time to go by faster than it otherwise would!
4. a healthy snack: i always have to carry snacks with me because i’m such a fussy person but especially flying. my typical airplane snack would be goldfish but as i was in countries where they didn’t exist, i tended to go towards nuts. alot of the snacks in other countries weren’t ones that i was really sold on so i just decided to go with the healthy classic and of course, almonds are great brain food.
5. water: they give you drinks on flights but i am always in favor of carrying my own bottle. besides the fact that this is more environmentally friendly than a plastic bottle, it also allows you to carry much more water than you would be able to, and this way you won’t have to wait like two hours for a measly little plastic cup filled with water! you can drink it on your own terms.
6. see through bag: i carried all my medicines in a handy little glossier bag as well as a few other essentials that i just couldn’t pass up when i was on a long flight. its perfect to carry a see through bag too because you can see exactly what you need, and i stuff this little bag in the pocket on the back of the seat in front of me and reach to grab it when i need it instead of digging through my backpack under my chair during the flight.

alright, i hope y’all enjoyed!

xoxo, kate.

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hi all!

i’m HOME! its been 3 whole weeks and i MISS YOU! I KNOW that i said i’d be back with travel posts but father’s day is in less than 1 week so i’m here doing this now while i still have time before you can’t still order!

all included stuff are from nordstrom which means you can buy online too and pick up in store! isnt that awesome! plus i’ve got stuff for every price point and multiple options and styles!

so shop away!

enjoy!

xoxo, kate!

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