Kate Wins

White Dress Shopping Guide

February 20, 2019

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hey all!

whether it be for graudation events, sorority initiation, or just a chic brunch look we all need a great white dress in our lives. and lucky for you i got a BUNCH of white dresses together in a bunch of different price ranges for every budget!

i went looking for the right dress for myself – just to remember that i actually would be coming home before my initiation and that i actually have two amazing white dresses that i love and would be perfect to wear for my events ahead which i need white dresses for! and of course i couldn’t let my own research go to waste because i wasn’t using it SO i knew it’d be perfect to share here for everyone’s white dress needs!

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 which i will mention in the comment below!

tiger mist orchard minidress / astr lace bodycon dress / endless rose off the shoulder lace minidress / eliza j lace a-line dress / cupcakes and cashmere tie strap dress / nsr ruffle sleeve lace dress / eliza j lace sheath dress / lilly pulitzer short sleeve aplique dress /

i’ve included only SOME options that i’ve found, but i have a whole BOUTIQUE worth of stuff i put together for you while i was SCOURING for the best for you guys (and for me and my needs too!)

enjoy my picks & happy shopping for all your special events!

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What its Like to Be an Art Major at a Liberal Arts University

February 18, 2019

hey guys!

i know the title here is a BIT of a mouthful but i’ve been walking to talk about this forever and really haven’t gotten the chance to talk about it except for maybe a handful of times briefly when discussing my experience at GW but its actually a SUPER important thing to me and i’m shocked i haven’t discussed it more up to this point. well here’s for this bit of honesty – here we go.

in the schools within george washington university there are SEAS (engineering), SMPA (journalism), GWSB (business), Elliot (international affairs), CCAS (arts & sciences), Milken (public health) and corcoran which is the school of arts and design. Corcoran was bought by gw a few years back and has since been annexed to make corcoran students GW students and vice versa.

it is housed in a BEAUTIFUL old museum across the street from the white house and is easily removed from most of the campus. its a small group of people as it is and there is really no defense for being a ‘corcoran student’.

i would like to say that i’m proud to be a graphic design major – because i am – but i’m really disappointed in the culture at GW regarding art majors. i don’t like saying this but i can count on two hands the amount of times i’ve said that i’m an art major that people then retort “WOW! You just draw for four years and they hand you a degree at the end? Thats a sweet deal.” not only is it completely insulting (yes more than 10 people have ACTUALLY said this to my face) but it completely over simplifies my experience and what i’m actually doing. the first few times that i heard this i attempted to fight with the person who more or less just demeaned me about my major choice, but after that i’ve just decided to say yes and not fight about it. most of these people think that they’re right on principle and will not even listen to what i have to say or what i actually do.

i also experienced this during sorority recuritment and although it was different, it was almost just as demeaning. at GW there are 11 sororities each of which is visited on the first day. i can’t tell you how many of girls from some houses either faked enthusiasm or genuinely didn’t know my major existed – nor the corcoran. we had surface level interactions of me basically saying that i sit at a computer for 4.5 hours a week and mess around with photoshop (okay yes its 4.5 hours of week IN CLASS but you probably don’t even wanna know how much time i spend out of class working on this stuff, and its not just messing around, i’m working creatively). and not gonna lie, this made me considering dropping the whole process. it was extremely difficult to hear people who BY THE WAY had a bio of who i am and about myself PRETEND to care about what i do and what i love. obviously i found a place and people who actually cared and were interested in what i had to say and they genuinely could see my excitement and offered interesting questions they actually had about being an art major at GWU.

with no lie at all, its extremely hard to be constantly underrepresented and have to explain to people why you are worth it. there is a misunderstanding about artists in the world and i think i never truly understood what this meant until i arrived at GW.

with all of that being said, i am extremely proud to be a graphic design major at the corcoran school. with its amazing legacy, artists and stories to last a lifetime i am so glad that i get to be where i am, because the corcoran gallery was an important place in the art world and i get to be in a place where things happen and experiences can be so much different. i love my teachers (no matter how much tsuris they give me) and i love my work.

not to say that this work is easy because its not. i often say to my friends that quantitative and creative work is so different. sure, for me doing a complex application of math and science may be diffucult but for you being given 4 pieces of wood and having to come up with a beautifully executed scultpure with deeper meaning can be difficult. i think that creative thinking is actually more difficult than regular thinking. i am really good at reguritating facts, and so i’m good at school but i often think that making art is more of a challenge. i am a good problem solver and great at ideas but actually i think that art can be harder than normal school.

finally, i want to say that art majors do not just take art classes. i take the normal GEs as everyone else. i still take writing, math, science and more and more. i am just left every other student and even though my classes are different i still attend as much class as everyone else and experience the same thing as everyone else.

thanks for reading!

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Ultimate Designer Fashion Wishlist

February 15, 2019

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hey all!

happy day after valentines day! i didn’t really get into posting any gift guides because no lies i don’t really have a valentine and i honestly forgot that valentines day was coming up until it happened. but last night my friends and i had a movie night where we watched ‘when harry met sally’ which is what my friends and i agree is easily the best rom-com (ever). talking about love, post all of the PFW and NYFW shows i’ve been thinking a lot about designer fashion and the things that for me are classic items which are in my perpetual wishlist – not just what is popular now!

without further ado, here we go!!

enjoy all!

Uncategorized

Cheetah for Class Look

February 8, 2019

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hey all!

i believe i got to share this look earlier this week on instagram, but of course, it has to land on the blog too! i mean its too cute to not share. i wore this last week – and since then the weather has completely changed and its beautiful and sunny. i wore flip flops. i mean FLIP FLOPS! in washington dc in FEBRUARY! i mean if that isn’t fantastic what is!

okay, lets go for the outfit!

shop my look: top / pants / shoes / earrings / glasses

i just love this look because its so comfy – like the turtleneck is super comfy and flattering (as well as super trendy rn) and these are my favorite pair of black jeans ever. i wear them ALL THE TIME, and they’re always what i reach for. finally THE SAM EDELMAN TINSLEY BOOTS, you guys might have realized they’re some of the only shoes i wear. i mean they’re a CLASSIC go to!

enjoy! & happy shopping my affordable outfit for class!

college | fashion

Georgetown Waterfront + Dinner with Friends

February 4, 2019

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hey all!

i’ve had one busy weekend after another so honestly i’ve been in a HUGE backlog of stuff to do, so of course blogging has come last because i’ve been so behind on sleep and always have way too much to do! but luckily i’ve gotten ahead on homework so i’m here on the blog now!

this weekend my friends and i went to a dinner at the georgetown waterfront at farmers fishers and bakers which is this really amazing restaurant which serves food from farmers who have co-opted to own the restaurant! its always super great and the location is just superb! since we got to the restaurant and we had a short wait, we decided to take some pictures of course – and then the sun decided so set, so it really was the perfect moment. and of course, i had a blog worthy look on so….

here we go!

shop my look: pants / top / jacket / shoes

alright, i hope you enjoy my pants as much as i do. seriously they’re so cute and comfy – almost like pjs!

college | school | sorority

College Sorority Recruitment / Rush

January 30, 2019

hey all!

happy wednesday! i missed y’all monday but i had a super busy weekend and my first free time since recruitment to sit down and enjoy myself watch all the netflix i wanted and run. oh and did i mention, from recruitment i got a mild case of bronchitis? well i do, and i’m definitely getting over it i just gotta finish my course of antibiotics.

finally with the process behind me, and i’m not an officially initiated member yet, i feel like i candidly talk about my experience going through recruitment at GW reflecting the side of a potential new member of a sorority, so without further ado, here we go!

why i decided to rush/go through recruitment at GWU

i’ve definitely talked about this before, but the major thing i never expected about GW is that its incredibly difficult to meet people here. i went through my first few weeks at school having a terrible time because i felt alone despite living with 3 other people. i went to an incredibly small all girls high school so going to a school – and living in a dorm which was more than three times larger my entire high school. i just felt like i walked around everywhere and saw hundreds of faces that were all just strangers to me. for sure i had friends who i made in my classes and over a few more weeks i found people who i really loved being friends with. i still very much wasn’t content with the lonliness i still was feeling and i went to a few org fairs and was reminded about the greek community at gwu.

at gwu the greek community is present but definitely not necessary if you do not want it. my sister is in greek life at her university and i was never really sure if it was for me, but after my experience and need for a community at my school i decided to rush afterall.

pre-rush preparations

since the greek life is pretty chill at gw there is no need for getting written letters for recommendations. at gw you must go to two events before rush starts – one which is an introduction on greek life at gwu and greek life in general and one which is an orientation right before rush starts about the recruitment experience.

at gw the recuritment counselors are called your ‘pi pho chi’ (s) and they shuffle you around, help you with your schedule and are dissafiliated with their chapters to help you rank and work with what is best for you.

also before rush they send you information on what to wear for looks because lots of people are concerned about it – which they tell you not to be.

day 1

the first day of rush is the day where all the 600 girls who rushed visited the 11 sororities at GW which are adpi, aephi, alpha phi, chi omega, kappa kappa gamma, kappa delta, theta, phi sigma sigma, sigma delta tau, pi phi, sigma kappa. we went in with approximately 45-50 people to each party and each party lasted 20 minutes each.

most of these conversations entitled stuff about you : your major, where you’re from, about your first semester and on and on.

on this day we all wore a black ‘gw panhellenic’ t-shirt which was a v-neck and had white writing on it. they suggested that we style it in anyway which we felt comfortable. i opted for styling the shirt with black wide leg jeans, my gola high top sneakers and my urban outfitters teddy coat.

day 2

day 2 of rush is called ‘philanthropy’ round. in this round you can be invited back to a maximum of 8 sorority houses and you learn about each sororities charity events – and what they do to help the community around them. it was 30 minutes this time and in my experience this round was more questions about you and what you do. they also asked if i had any philantrophic experience or if i had any service experience. we talked more about the events that they each host during their week of service!

on this day they suggested that we wear ‘brunch outfits’ or something we’d wear to lunch with friends. on this day i wore my forever 21 glen plaid pants, a v-neck bodysuit and my sam edelman tinsley boots.

day 3

day 3 was entitled the ‘sisterhood round’ and in this round they showed videos of what they did and loved, some of their favorite events and talked about their overall sisterhoods. we went to a maximum of 5 houses this day for 40 minutes each and got to focus on the relationships within the girls in the house. on this day i definitely had a feel for which sororities were right for me and which i got to rank for the two going into preference night.

for the 3rd day they suggested we wear the stuff we’d wear to a nice dinner with family or friends. i wore my topshop wrap dress and my bp heels.

day 4

the last night of rush is typically called ‘prefernce night’ lovingly referred to as ‘pref night’. this night we went to a maximum of two houses for an hour each. each sorority performed some sort of ritual for new mems to essential decided where they belonged and at the end of the night be able to rank for which sorority they would like to be a member of. at the end of this night, we ranked #1 and #2, the sororities we most like to be a part of so we’d then be prepared for bid day the next day.

for preference night we were supposed to wear ‘cocktail outfits’ so i decided for me that would mean a nice dress. i wore this lulu’s dress in green with my black bp heels.

bid-day

this was the chillest of the whole process, and easily the most rewarding day of the entire process. on this day we picked up our bids between the hours of 1:30-4:30 and prepared for the bid day event parties at night.

i was so excited to pick up my bid, and since it was exactly as i expected i was SO SO SO happy. by sisterhood round i really felt like i found a sense of belonging within pi phi and was so excited. we all gathered together in the u-yard at night and ‘ran home’ to pi beta phi and the sisters who we would soon meet. from there we took pictures in the house and we went bowling in georgetown.

perceptions of sorority life ahead

as i’ve said before, i did not necessarily see myself joining a sorority but i’m so glad i did. since we officially had bid day some fellow pledges and i have been out with them a few times in a variety of different activities which we planned for ourselves. so far i’m so glad i’ve found a group i’ve really gelled with and i feel so glad to have them as an amazing backbone.

enjoy all! and i’ll definitely sharing more about sorority life soon!

Uncategorized

My New Sisters

January 25, 2019

hey all!

you know how earlier this week i mentioned that i might have an announcement coming by friday? well here it is. this past week i went through recruitment at george washington university. i’m not gonna lie it was a whole process full of emotional, physcial and spiritual exhastion but i can say i came out of the whole process feeling wholly satisfied and excited about what i chose.

i accepted my bid at

pi beta phi fraternity!

i’m so excited to join a new sisterhood and would love to share more about the recuritment experience later on macarons&musthaves! but for today, au revior!

Uncategorized

Cold Weather Clothing for Class

January 23, 2019

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hey all!

welcome back – and happy wednesday! i’ve has a CRAZY week so far, and if you keep up with my instagram stories today hopefully you’ll see a special post of something that’s been taking up my time for quite awhile now – which is exciting!

well anyway, today i have to share with you all my picks for cold weather clothing that you can wear to class. even though i might not have these exact items, i’ve been finding a lot of similar stuff and today pooled a bunch with a decent price point for all you students out there! with that being said, let’s get started!

/ polo ralph lauren patched wide leg pants /

/ j.crew polartec fleece half-zip pullover jacket /

/ tiger mist ada wide leg pants /

/ nordstrom surplice front sweater /

/ vince camuto country check wide leg cuff pants /

/ madewell half zip pullover sweater /

/ good american core strength high waist camo leggings /

/ tommy jeans TJW quilted half zip puffer jacket /

/ converse all star street warmer high top sneaker /

/ sam edelman tinsley chelsea rain boots /

/ make and model fuzzy socks /

/ adidas originals fuzzy beanie hat /

mostly during the week, my outfits consist of some time of pant and some type of sweater. the pants can be anything from leggings to jeans and plaid pants. for sweater sometimes this means that its often some type of long sleeve or budysuit or knit sweaters which i love to wear in a sorta wrap style but i see loads of people wearing cardigan sweaters as tops right now which is a style that i’m loving.

enjoy & happy shopping!

school | Uncategorized

First Semester in Review & Goals for Spring Semester!

January 21, 2019

hey all!

happy martin luther king jr day today! its a super special day to be celebrating and i’m happy i got to drop by the blog and offer you wishes for your day of service, rest, or whatever you’ve got going on today! personally, i’ve had a BUSY first week which i can probably begin explaining this friday so i’ve taken today to getting myself in order for this upcoming week of school we have ahead – getting myself totally ready for all this semester has got ahead for me.

that being said, i feel like i want to do a little review on first semester here because it has been a massive part of my life since august and i feel like its neccessary to share whether you can empathize or sympathize with my experiences, whether you’ve been to college or not and mostly whether you’re curious of what i was up to during my time, here we go!

i’ve done reflections on this previously but probably the first month of college was the hardest for me, i was getting used to being SO FAR away from home and was really homesick, this only really hit in the mornings and evenings when i was most quietly alone. i seriously remember wanting to leave all the time because only then did it feel so far. i always had a dream of attending college in DC, and it was finally here but i realized how far DC was from home when i was finally here, i’ll give this to you as an example: it takes approx 5 & 1/2 hours to fly from DC to LA (and vice versa, i can’t tell you which is longer) and only about 7 hours to fly from DC to LONDON! like are you kidding me, i could be in a different country in a similar amount of time as it takes just to get to school and back. so that was weird.

but my homesickness really stopped when i got to be close friends with my roommates and neighbors. we started to have longer and longer conversations that went deeper than i could have imagined and i honestly can’t remember my night routines without them and it’s weird but at the same time very comforting to live with 3 other people in the same room. but they became some of my best friends here because we spent so much time together that of course it became natural. now we have sleepovers, play never have i ever and honestly just really enjoy each other’s company. it’s definitely a challenge when you live with other people, but when you get along with them like i do, it becomes different.

so classes also started out with a real bang since i am an art major and we start out with major classes right away! i took drawing, sculpture and design fundamentals as well as a contemporary art history class focusing on the 80’s to present time and a basic class that everyone takes a GW called UW: university writing which comes in a variety of different subjects and topics for people to choose and i chose something that focused on politics. soon i learned that my schedule was not good, i was not taking sculpture like i should have been but was taking painting instead, so i had to change my schedule after the add drop period and get it all fixed. thank god i was able to fix it but i was officially two weeks late in one class and i had to pick up on a project that everyone else had two more weeks on.

but after that small fiasco, the semester went well and i really flourished in my classes and easily made the best of my first semester. i loved my classes and even though i didn’t expect to, i really loved both my drawing and sculpture classes.

a few things i learned about GW which wasn’t exactly what i expected. i mentioned many times before about food. i was so excited to get out of the cafeteria vibes but i soon got really bored of my food options as i only go to some restaurants because i’m picky and i know what i like. this is problematic because i get so bored of all my food options and food is honestly a huge part of life.

i also learned gw is really hard to make friends at. it’s really hard to meet people because there’s not a ton of spirit here or anything which really drives us into a community and it’s super easy to feel really alone being here. and it’s hard not to feel that way all the time.

so with that being said, for this semester, my goals include joining more clubs and organizations, cooking more on campus in the thurston kitchen, and exploring and preparing for summer jobs and career options.

i’d love to hear about your first semesters – so leave a comment about your thoughts!

Uncategorized

Snow Day in DC

January 18, 2019

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hey all!

happy friday! its the first friday of my second semester! and i have something to mention, the first day of this week – our first day of the spring semester – was a SNOW DAY! because when i arrived back in DC on sunday evening the rumor was that there were between 6-10 inches in snow, and since they had yet to clear the roads (because it was so snowy) we got a snow day!

since i’m from LA, i’ve never had a snow day in all of my life, so this was a refreshing & fun experience. of course, since it snowed i decided to put on what i deem is my official ‘snow day outfit’ and go take photos with my friends and roommates at the washington monument!

here it is!

shirt / jacket / pants / boots / socks

it was super comfy and my new jacket kept me nice and warm – as well as getting me a few compliments along the way!

enjoy your friday!

fall semester @ home & wfh virtual vibes

Fixing Up Your Space: On A Budget & What I Love For My Room

What it’s like being on my Sorority E-Board

Get Dressed Up for Facetime Brunch

White Dress Shopping Guide

What its Like to Be an Art Major at a Liberal Arts University

Ultimate Designer Fashion Wishlist

Cheetah for Class Look

Georgetown Waterfront + Dinner with Friends

College Sorority Recruitment / Rush

why i decided to rush/go through recruitment at GWU

pre-rush preparations

day 1

day 2

day 3

day 4

bid-day

perceptions of sorority life ahead

My New Sisters

Cold Weather Clothing for Class

First Semester in Review & Goals for Spring Semester!

Snow Day in DC

welcome!