Week 5 #BloggersBTS: Healthy Chocolate Overnight Oats

Hey guys! I can't believe that it is the last week of #BloggersBTS! I have loved collab-ing with fellow bloggers, and I've enjoyed seeing how each blogger takes the theme and creates a different post. This weeks theme is food, and I have a super yummy recipe for you guys today!

Everyone knows that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but I feel like many people ignore this fact. I know that if I don't eat breakfast I get a headache and don't feel well by 3rd period, so it is essential for me to eat some sort of breakfast. Overnight oats are perfect because you make them the night before so you can sleep in a little longer in the morning. I saw this recipe and thought that I would try it out as an experiment.

 Here's what you need:
1/4 cup Oats
1/2 cup Greek Yogurt (you can use plain or vanilla)
1/4 cup Milk (I used almond milk because I prefer it, but use whatever milk you like)
2 tbsp Cocoa Powder

Next, put all of the ingredients into a mason jar in the order that they are listed above (as well as some Truvia or other sweetener that I didn't mention above).

Mix all of the ingredients together.

Just put it in the fridge overnight and it's ready to eat in the morning!

I hope you guys try this out! Here's a link to a bunch of other overnight oats recipes!

xoxo,
Alyssa

P.S. I don't recommend making this recipe if you like super sweet chocolate/breakfast/dessert like me. However, if you like chocolate that is more bitter and not so sweet, you'll love this!

Outfit: Floral Maxi

Maxi-dresses have been a trend for a few years now, and honestly, I just never really liked any of the ones I saw. My opinion on them changed when I spotted this one back in June. I had been waiting for the perfect time to wear it, and I decided to bring it on our trip, and I wore it on our second day in Boston!

{notice my new Boston bracelet #obsessed}

dress  (sale) | sandals | purse (Dooney and Bourke- vintage) | watch (vintage) | bracelet 1 | bracelet 2

This dress is super comfortable and I felt like a Free People model (lol) when I wore it. This dress looks like you put a lot of effort into your outfit, when you're actually wearing something that feels like your pajamas (score!).

xoxo,

Alyssa

Recap: NYC

Our second stop of our trip was NYC, New York, specifically Manhattan. We had 2 full days in NYC, and I loved it!

Day 1:

We spent the first day doing some of the "touristy" things that the city has to offer.

 This is a picture of the 9-11 Memorial. There is a waterfall where each of the World Trade Centers used to stand.

 I always find it humorous when there is a super old building among modern skyscrapers. 

 I posed for a pic in front of the Wall Street Bull.

 We took a ferry out to see the Statue of Liberty- here's our view from the boat!

 We had tickets to go up to the pedestal of the statue (which involved climbing many steps...) and this pic is taken up there. Notice the NYC skyline in the background!

This was our view looking up!

Day 2:

We spent our second day in the Big Apple shopping and exploring the Upper East Side as well as Times Square!

I went in my first Lilly Pulitzer store on Madison Ave. and loved it! I tried on 5 dresses and got the cat dressing room!!

I love this dress!!

How cute is this Kate Spade store? 

Outside of Central Park there were a bunch of huge spools of thread, which was actually rope. 

 We went to the Plaza hotel, which you may recognize from Suite Life of Zack and Cody and Eloise!

 Here's a candid that my mom snapped in Times Square of me watching a street performer.

 My dad and I in Times Square.

 On our way back to the hotel, we went to Carlo's Bakery, which you may know from the TV show, Cake Boss. I had a super yummy canoli. 

NYC was absolutely so nice. I loved the fast-paced lifestyle, and I really enjoyed seeing all of the business people go to work in the morning (hoping that that can be in the future ;))!  If you missed the first few posts from my trip, you can click here to see my recap of Philadelphia and here to see an outfit that I wore in Boston (my next recap-city). Thanks for reading!

xoxo,

Alyssa

First Day of High School:Recap

Hey guys! I know today is Monday, and for the past few weeks that has meant that #BloggersBTS is going on! I decided to sit this one out (but I'm linking a few of my fave DIY posts from this week down below) because to be honest, DIY is not my forte. I will be back next Monday with a #BloggersBTS post, but for today I'm going to talk about my first day of high school.

The morning started off with me waking up in a great mood because I was super excited for the first day #typical. After getting ready, we picked up my friends (who were not as excited as me) and drove to school. We walked in the gates (and were greeted by very peppy cheerleaders) and made our way over to where the administration office was. My school is kinda strange- on registration, you get a schedule that lists the classes that you will be taking, but you don't know the teachers or rooms that you have until the first day. We all found are names and hung out with friends until the bell rang. 

1. Honors Biology

Thankfully one of my best friends and I have this class together. We walked over and snatched seats next to each other. Where I live, there are 2 junior highs that feed into 1 high school, so there are many new faces. However, in this class, it was mostly kids that I knew from my junior high, and I have a feeling that Bio is going to be one of my faves. 

2. PE

PE is always something that I have enjoyed because I'm very athletic. However, I am not excited about PE this year, because our first unit is swimming (having wet hair for the whole day is not ideal). I am supposed to be switched out of this class and put into the soccer PE class which is 6th period, but we'll see. 

3. Honors Algebra 2

I was a little nervous about this class after struggling to realize that it was upstairs, but I think I will also like this class. Math is my favorite subject, and I think that this class will be a good challenge for me. It has 2 of my best friends in it, a bunch of sophomores (yay...), and a super nice teacher. 

4. Lunch

After finding out that 97% of everyone I knew had 2nd lunch, I was not looking forward to attempting to find anyone I knew in the crowds of kids. My school has 3,700 kids, so 1,850 at each lunch, which is a lot. I was beginning to worry that I would have to pull a Cady Heron and eat lunch in the bathroom, but luckily I spotted one of my friends who I hadn't seen all day and we ate our lunch at a table in the sun and I was literally melting. We ventured into the grassy quad where we found about 5 other friends, so now I have a lunch group.

5. Honors World History

The teacher of this class is good friends with my dad, so I knew that the teacher would not be a problem. I have 5ish friends in this class which is a perfect size for a study group (a study method my teacher recommends). I'm excited for history this year, but I think that it will be a lot of work and that it will be important to stay on top of everything.

6. Honors English

This class is probably by least favorite, if I had to pick one, but it's definitely not that bad. I grabbed a seat by one of my best friends, and we were greeted by a teacher that I'm not crazy about (and had heard bad things about) but I think that everything will be okay. We had a test on the book that we read for our summer project, which was a surprise, but I think I did well. 

7. Spanish 1

This. Teacher. Is. Awesome. He's super funny and made me laugh all throughout class. I'm not sure how good I'm going to be at Spanish (probably not very) but his class is fun (except the "I call on everyone" philosophy). If I do have to switch out of this class to get my PE fixed, I really hope that he has a period 2 Spanish 1 class!

I really enjoyed my first day and I'm excited for this school year and for the rest of high school!

xoxo,

Alyssa

#BloggersBTS

Monogrammed Binder Cover

Painted Pencils and Tassel Bracelets

Lacking DIY inspiration? Check out this post!

Outfit: Crazy Cat Lady

If you didn't know, I'm obsessed with cats. I have 3 and just love them so much! A few weeks ago, my friend and I got iced coffee together and after we went into a few vintage clothing stores in a town near us. I pointed out this skirt to her (yes, it is covered with cats), and I thought it was so cute! I saw her again a week after, and she said that she had a present for me- I unwrapped this skirt! She had gone back and gotten it for me- too sweet! I took this skirt on our East Coast trip, and I wore it on our first day in Boston (recap coming soon)!

tank | skirt (vintage) | sandals  (best sandals- on sale!) | purse (vintage) | watch (vintage) | bracelet 

I think this outfit was perfect for walking around Boston (how cute is this little brick street?). My skirt was flowy, so it was perfect for the hot weather!

xoxo,

Alyssa

P.S. Missed my first post about my trip? Click here for a recap of Philadelphia!

Recap: Philadelphia, PA

 As I have mentioned a few times on my blog, I just returned from a 10-day trip to the east coast. I had an absolute blast! We had a red-eye flight to Baltimore, and so we got there super early. We got our rental car and drove up to Philadelphia, PA, where we spent most of the day.

We mostly spent time in the historic part of Philidelphia.

The Liberty Bell

We went to the museum steps where the movie Rocky was filmed, and I recreated the pose. 

We went to Princeton University on our way to East Rutherford, New Jersey where we spent the night. This house was on Princeton's campus and is literally #housegoals, and now I'm obsessed with Princeton.

My mom and I snapped a quick selfie in the garden outside the house.

I found the soccer gear in the Princeton store!

The first day was tiring, but super fun! We also got to visit my neighbor's daughter who lives in Philadelphia, but we forgot to take pics!

xoxo,
Alyssa

P.S. I'm sorry if a few of you guys saw this yesterday on Bloglovin'! My cat always lays by me while I blog, and I guess she walked across my computer because it was unexpectedly published!

Week 3 #BloggersBTS: How I Organize My Desk

Hey guys! I'm back from my vacation which means that there will be many posts about it in the near future, but today is Monday, which means #BloggersBTS link-up is taking place! This weeks theme (I can't believe it's already the third week of August and that I start school next Monday!) is desks, so I'm sharing a "tour" of my desk, and how I organize it. Enjoy!

 Here is a wide view of my whole desk area. Sorry it's a little dark, the lighting was bad. 

 To the left of my window I have a cork frame thing that is filled with pictures of me with my friends and family. I need to switch these pictures out, because a lot of them are from 7th grade *cringes*.

 To the right of my window I have a map that is lined with cork. I put pins everywhere that I have been in the US, which is the Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest. 

*almost falls off desk chair to get pic*

 Instead of having junk drawers (my desk doesn't have drawers) I have junk magazine organizers that are filled with papers that I should probably throw away. I have sticky notes, a cup with writing utensils, and a mini stapler on top of my desk.

A lamp is essential for late-night studying, and a candle is great for calming you down when stressing. I also keep this journal that is super cool (check it out here) so that I remember to do it each day. 

Basically my desk has these two shelves (no longer available) and a top that makes the desk. I like to use cups to organize colored pencils and markers. I use these bins from Ikea to store random bits and bobbles, and pouches to store extra school supplies. 

I have another bin that has other desk essentials like scissors, a glue stick, and wite-out. I also keep rulers and a lighter for my candle. On the bottom, I keep my textbooks (we get a set to take home at the beginning of the school-year and each classroom has a set because we don't have lockers), but during the summer I have last years workbooks and Smashbooks which are really cool scrapbooks!

Here's another view of the top of my desk. I really like how big and spacious it is. I usually keep my laptop on my desk, for both blogging and schoolwork. I also like to keep water and a snack on my desk. 

I hope this was helpful! Let me know what your top desk essentials are in the comments below!

xoxo,

Alyssa

How to Get Good Grades: Tips for Studying

I'm one of those people who obsesses over their grades (#nerdalert) and has only gotten one B (8th Grade, Geometry, 2nd Trimester *cries*) in their entire existance. The thought of anything other than straight-A's stresses me out, so I try my hardest to keep my grades looking nice. Here are my tips:


Start Your Homework Right After School

I know, I know. You just finished school, only to go home and do more schoolwork! Outrageous! In the past, I have gone on my phone when I got home, and lost track of time after scrollin' through the depths of Insta and Twitter, only to find myself starting homework at 4:00! If you start right after school, you will have more time to go on your phone (or do whatever you heart desires) after your homework is done.

Get Rid of Distrctions

I'm guilty of checking my twitter feed every 5 minutes in the middle of trying to solve for "x"- it just doesn't work! What I like to do is give my phone to my mom *gasp*. When I'm done, she'll give it back, and I can then check social media. You can also do this with your laptop if you find yourself checking J. Crew's newest arrivals in the middle of a study sesh #guilty. Without these distractions, you'll get the work done so much faster!

Use Flashcards/Quizlet

I love flashcards! I usually quiz myself before tests- write the question on one side, and the answer on the back! You can also do this on Quizlet, which is an online study resource. Definitely check it out!

Keep a Snack and Drink Close-By

When you are hungry or thirsty, it is harder for you to focus. I recommend keeping a healthy snack on your desk (almonds, trail mix, a sliced apple + peanut butter, etc.) to reach for when you get hungry. This way you won't be wandering down to the kitchen (another distraction!!). For drinks, keep a bottle of water within reach.

Teach The Lesson Yourself

Pretend that you are teaching someone about the Civil War, or how to do a certain kind of math problem, and try to teach them without your notes. Talk it through out loud, draw pictures (whiteboards work great); do whatever you would do to actually teach it! After, check your notes. Whatever you forgot to teach is what you need to review for the test!

Find What Works Best For You

Everyone has a different way of studying that works for them. Some people study a little each night, and others study a bunch the night before (this works for me!). Find what works for you and stick with it!

I hope this was helpful! Good luck in the upcoming school year!

xoxo,

Alyssa

My Picks: Old Navy

During the past year, Old Navy has really stepped up their games to almost (I said almost) meet Gap and J. Crew's level (but at cheaper prices!!!). I thought that I would browse their new arrivals for fall and share my faves!

This blazer is the perfect combination of cute, classic, and comfy! Totally love. 

Stripes? Groundbreaking. I love this shirt because it comes in 4 colors and is only $15! Score!

Peplum and lace? Uhhh... yes!! Although this shirt is sleeveless, you could easily throw a cardigan (or that blazer) over it to transition it to fall!

This skirt is so simple, but there is something about it that I really love! It can be styled in so many ways for fall/winter. 

This dress is super basic, but the color screams fall! I think this would be super cute for Thanksgiving!

In need of a small, brown crossbody? Fear not because this bag has come to the rescue for only $23!

Do you shop at Old Navy?

xoxo,

Alyssa