When Life Gives You Lemons...

I've been looking for the perfect top that just screams "summer," and I think I finally found it! I was shopping with my friends over Memorial Day weekend, and I stumbled upon this gorgeous top at a boutique called Lily Rain. The next day, my family went to our local botanical gardens to take pictures, and I knew this top would be the perfect top to wear! Sadly, it's not available online, but I've linked a top that's almost identical - I think it might actually be the same one!

Lemon Printed Top // Denim Shorts // Lace-Up Sandals (similar) // Bracelet // Earrings // Nail Polish

I'm not really a huge fan of the way off-the-shoulder tops look on me, but this one fit me perfectly and was too cute not to get! The bright colors are so cheerful and fun, making it the perfect shirt to wear throughout the summer. I don't own anything yellow, so I'm so happy to have this in my arsenal of summer tops!

Lemon-printed everything is a huge trend lately, so you can scroll through the widget below to see my favorite lemon-printed items! Happy shopping!

Do you own any lemon-printed items? Let me know by leaving a comment below!

Link Love Vol. 21

Happy Friday, everyone! I don't have school today, due to Memorial Day weekend, and let me tell you, it's a much-needed break. With finals coming up next week, I have a lot of finals to study for and review guides to complete, but I've found myself procrastinating and watching a little too much Netflix than I should. Hopefully I can use this time to prepare myself for finals. This time next week, I will be finished with the school year, and I am beyond excited for summer! I have so many fun things planned and I can't wait to devote more time to fun activities!

I have a ton of great links to share with y'all, so keep reading to see my favorite blog posts and articles from the past two weeks!

1 // Nordstrom is having a huge sale, and Sami rounded up some of the best picks!

2 // Magnolia Market released a bunch of free printables that will add a little something to any room in your house.

3 // Tips & tricks to become an Instagram pro

4 // I loved Sarah's pictures in this gorgeous Kate Spade dress!

5 // Have you read my summer bucket list post yet?

6 // I'm in love with Caitlin's stunning pictures from Italy!

7 // Tips for increasing productivity (this is especially helpful for the upcoming summer weeks)

8 // Have a summer internship? Here's what to wear!

9 // What the college application process is really like

10 // Mackenzie is so pretty in this striped maxi dress that is perfect for summer

11 // All of Molly's New York pictures are so colorful and fun!

12 // A major summer goal of mine is to learn how to take pictures in manual mode, and I bookmarked this post as soon as I read it!

13 // I loved reading all about Amy's style evolution!

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Summer Bucket List 2017

I'm so excited for summer. I've been counting down the days for the longest time, and summer is practically almost here! Even though I don't technically get out of school until June, summer starts during Memorial Day weekend in my mind. Since Memorial Day is this weekend (what??!!) what better time than to share some of my summer plans with y'all? I always find summer to be such a productive time for me, and there are so many fun and exciting things I want to do.

Today, I've partnered with Mirabella from Preppy Style by Mira to share our summer bucket lists with y'all! She is so sweet and I had such a fun time working with her on this post - make sure you go check out her post when you're done reading mine.

As you can tell, I'm not one to make a bucket list of just four or five things. There's a lot of things I want to see and do, and I love nothing more than filling my schedule with exciting excursions and activities. I'm so excited to take pictures and videos of everything I do this summer. Summer 2017 is going to be a great one - I can already feel it!

Don't forget to go check out Mira's post!

What's on your summer bucket list? Do you have any exciting summer plans? Let me know by leaving a comment down below - I'd love to hear from y'all!

Life Lately Vol. 21

Happy Friday! I've been in such a good mood all week because it's my last full week of school and the last Friday of school before summer. I get next Friday off thanks to Memorial Day weekend (stay tuned for a Memorial Day weekend vlog on my YouTube channel) and after that, I have a three-day week full of final exams, but after that, I'm done! This school year has gone by insanely fast, but I'm so ready for summer.

Mother's Day // Mother's Day this year was so fun! For breakfast, I made these red velvet donuts and paired it with some chocolate swirl bread. The donuts turned out kind of interesting because we didn't have a donut pan, so we made it in a muffin tin, and the donuts ended up not having any holes in the middle. However, they tasted absolutely scrumptious and they're now one of my go-to recipes! Later in the day, we went to dinner and had dessert at a new popsicle place. I talked about it a little in my last volume of Life Lately, but my mom really wanted to try it so I happily went again. I got a coconut popsicle this time, and it was full of creamy goodness!

Like To Know It // I'm excited to announce that you can now shop my Instagram posts using liketoknow.it! If you don't know what that is, it's basically something that lets you easily shop Instagram posts. Once you sign up, you get an email whenever you like one of my Instagram posts and the email will have links to all of the products featured in the Instagram posts. It's really easy to sign up for and is so convenient. I've used it to shop other bloggers' Instagram posts for the longest time, and I'm excited that y'all can use it to shop my posts now!

Pool Days // It's finally gotten warm enough to swim in Texas! The water is still a little chilly, but it's the perfect way to cool down on a hot afternoon. I love swimming, and it's one of my favorite parts about summer. Now, if only I could convince my dad to buy some more pool floats (namely this avocado, this pineapple, and this swan)...

Graduation // My little sister graduated from preschool last night! While that's not as exciting as going to a high school or college graduation, it was such a cute ceremony and I can't believe she'll be going to kindergarten next year. It feels like it was just yesterday that she was learning how to walk and talk.

Now that soccer season is over and school is winding down, I'm looking forward to devoting more time to this blog, my YouTube channel, and my Instagram! I've got so many ideas for posts and videos, and I can't wait to share them!

Have a great weekend!

How To Style Lilly Pulitzer Shorts

Lilly Pulitzer shorts are such a staple in any girl's spring and summer wardrobe. They add a bright pop of color to any outfit and can be worn for so many different occasions. Today, I've partnered with Lily from Life By Lily to bring you two ways to style Lilly Pulitzer shorts. Lily is incredibly sweet and I love all of her blog posts, so make sure you check out her post after you finish reading mine.

Top // Shorts (available in more prints and sizes here) // Necklace // Bracelet // Shoes

If you've been reading Live The Prep Life for a while, these shorts might look familiar to you! I featured them in my May Favorites post last year, and I also wore them in a couple of my pictures from Palm Beach. They're an older Lilly Pulitzer print, but it's one of my favorites! Sadly, it's no longer available to purchase, but the exact same style is available on Lilly Pulitzer's website in tons of cute prints.

Whenever I wear colorful, patterned shorts, I like to keep them the focal point of my outfit, so I always pair a neutral shirt with them. This white tank top is from Gap and it's such a good basic piece to own. It fits really nicely!

I also added some simple silver jewelry such as my monogram necklace and charm bracelet, and of course, I finished this look off with my Jack Rogers because Lilly and Jacks were made for each other!

Now that you've finished reading my post, don't forget to check out Lily's post here!

Do you own any Lilly Pulitzer shorts? If so, how do you style them? Let me know by leaving a comment!

101 in 1001 Update

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you might have seen a post that I wrote at the beginning of 2016 - my 101 in 1001 list. I refer back to it in a lot of my blog posts, but if you haven't checked it out yet, I highly encourage you to do so before you read this post so everything makes sense! :)

If you don't know what 101 in 1001 is, it's basically a list (started by Mackenzie Horan) of 101 things you want to accomplish in 1001 days. I started mine in 2016, and here I am, exactly 500 days later, with 501 days to go. 1001 days seemed like a long time, but the first 500 days have flown by extremely quickly. I've accomplished a lot in this time period, but it's honestly not as much as I hoped to accomplish.

Nevertheless, I'm excited to share my progress on this list with y'all!

Travel & Adventure // I've completed 4 out of 25 things on this list, and have a couple in progress! I'm not really sure what my summer vacation plans are yet, but I'm hoping to go on a road trip, go to the beach, and go to a new state so I can cross off a couple more items on my list. Last summer, I got a couple things crossed off my list, so hopefully I'll be able to go on more adventures such as camping and ziplining this summer.

Health & Fitness // I'm hoping to cross off more in this category this summer as well! I have so many recipes that I want to make, and hopefully that will allow me to try some new foods. I've really gotten into cooking lately, and have cooked a couple recipes by myself so hopefully I can improve my cooking skills even more. I haven't timed my mile in a while, either, but this summer I am determined to work on it and get it under 7 minutes. I started doing a lot of running after doing my first 5k back in November, and I definitely want to do a color run soon. My dad and I actually did a spin class a couple days ago, and it was extremely challenging but I enjoyed it and plan on doing more classes in the future.

Blog // I've made pretty good progress on this one! I really devoted the beginning of 2017 to working on my blog, which is when I reached 100,000 page views, got a DSLR, started a YouTube channel, and bought my domain name. I do feel like I've been slacking recently when it comes to writing and publishing blog posts, but I'm planning to work on it a lot as soon as everything dies down with school and it would be amazing if I could reach my goals of 5k Instagram & Pinterest followers soon! I'm also so close to reaching my blog post goals, and since I have a ton of fun content coming up, those goals shouldn't be hard to accomplish.

Faith // This section was short to begin with, but I'm proud to say I'm over halfway done! I stopped teaching Sunday School at the beginning of the year, but I taught 20 times last year so I feel pretty proud of myself. I haven't quite memorized 50 Bible verses, but I have started studying the Bible on a nightly basis and I have a lot of verses that I want to memorize. I haven't really given much thought to going on a mission trip, but that's still something that I am very interested in.

Beauty & Fashion // Being the shopaholic that I am, I've purchased most of the things I wanted to. The main part of this section left is hair, which I've got a long way to go on. I really want to learn how to do some simple hairstyles, since I'm really bad with hair and hate doing my hair.

Learn & Create // This section is almost completed, too! I have a couple DIY's I want to try and things I want to paint, so I'm excited to do those soon. I was planning on learning guitar last summer, but then I broke my wrist, so I'm thinking that might be a project to do this summer as long as I manage not to break anything.

Just For Fun // A couple of these goals aren't realistic to do any time soon, such as experiencing a white Christmas, but hopefully can complete some more of these items soon. Since becoming a soccer referee, I've made a good amount of money, which has allowed me to buy some of the things that I talked about in the fashion section. I've also put a lot of money towards savings, so I'm right on track with my goals financially!

Although I've only completed 34 out of 101 items, I have quite a few of these items in progress and I hope to cross some off my list in the near future. I definitely plan on being halfway finished with this list by the time 2018 rolls around. It seems so far away, but it'll be here before I know it!

If you haven't made one of these lists, I highly encourage you to do so! It's a great way to make goals and stay motivated to complete them.

Do you have a 101 in 1001 list? If so, how is your progress?

Link Love Vol. 20

Is it just me, or is anyone else in shock that May is pretty much halfway over? I feel like it was May 1st literally 5 seconds ago, and then I looked at the calendar and it was already the 11th. I have three weeks left of school, but I'm not even complaining because I have a feeling that the rest of May is going to fly by insanely fast. I'm honestly a little sad that school is ending soon - as much as I want to get out of school, I'm going to miss all of my friends.

However, I'm still so glad it's the weekend, and Mother's Day weekend nonetheless! My family doesn't have any finalized plans yet, but I know we'll end up doing something fun so I'm already looking forward to Sunday.

I also have quite a few links to share with y'all, so I'm going to apologize in advance for all of the tabs that you'll have open after you finish reading this post...

1 // Kate shared her Spain itinerary and it's perfection... need I say more?

2 // Rachel shares some of her favorite graphic design tips

3 // Here's what REALLY goes on behind the scenes of Instagram...

4 // Kate's Greece pictures are so colorful and stunning.

5 // Speaking of Europe... Lauren is studying abroad and I couldn't be more excited for her!

6 // This heartfelt post about the joy of having little boys was so sweet. I don't have any brothers or anything so I can't relate, but this post was still really touching!

7 // 5 things that inspirational quotes neglect to tell you

8 // Caitlin got ENGAGED and I just know her wedding is going to be insanely gorgeous!

9 // Amy put together a big list of places that will give you birthday freebies + discounts!

10 // Krista looks amazing in this gorgeous light pink dress with a bow!

11 // I can completely relate to Jordyn's frustration with all blogs seeming so similar, and she addressed the issue perfectly.

12 // The iconic Rebecca Minkoff tassel purse is back and on SALE for over half off - buy it here!

13 // Cathleen is stunning in her prom pictures... oh, and her dog is adorable too

14 // These hacks for Instagram Stories are a total game changer

Have a great Mother's Day weekend!

Behind The Gram Vol. 3

I feel like I say this about every blog post I write, but Behind The Gram posts are some of my favorite posts to publish! I love sharing my crazy photo-taking experiences, and I love reading other people's experiences too! I find it so funny, because what looks like a perfectly normal, candid picture actually has a lot of things going on behind the scenes to make the picture possible. If you want to read my first two posts in this series, you can read them here and here! It's actually been about a year since I shared one of these posts, so the old posts are somewhat outdated - just a heads up.

Also, make sure you're following me on Instagram so you don't miss out on any of my posts! Instagram is definitely my favorite social media outlet, and I love sharing pictures with y'all!

This picture was taken on Good Friday, when we got Starbucks for breakfast before heading out shopping. Since I was vlogging this weekend, I took my DSLR camera to Starbucks, hoping to get a couple snapshots of me being basic. Of course, I ordered the pink drink, since it's arguably one of the most photogenic drinks out there. It was incredibly windy outside, but I still managed to get a couple good pictures even if my hair was in my face!

You might imagine that this picture was taken while exploring the gorgeous town of Park City, Utah. Nope - guess again. This picture was taken in Utah, but it was on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. It was about 50 degrees in Utah, but when I saw a patch of snow by the road, I asked my dad to pull over and take a couple pictures of my sister and me. (best. dad. ever.)

When the sweet girls at Jadelynn Brooke sent me this shirt, I knew right away that it would make for the cutest Instagram picture! However, my bunny was only somewhat cooperative, and my sister was even less cooperative. It can be like pulling teeth when it comes to getting her to take pictures of me, and this particular shoot involved her leaving my (expensive!!) camera in the grass and walking away. I do have to give Annabelle credit, though - she has gotten really good at photography in the past months and I'm thankful to have her as my photographer!

If you were to look at me while taking this picture, I guarantee you would've laughed. I wanted a white background for this picture, so I laid down on the ground and propped my legs up against the wall. I had to strain my neck up to get the right angle for the shot, and needless to say, it was extremely uncomfortable and equally ridiculous.

These two pictures were taken on the same day (read the original post here!) so I decided to group them together. In the one on the left, my hand is behind my back because I was wearing my Fitbit and I was too lazy to take it off. For the picture on the right, I asked my stepdad to take a cute "candid" picture of my sister and me... but it was completely staged.

I hope y'all enjoyed this post, and it showed you that there's more to an Instagram picture than what you actually see.

What's the craziest thing you've ever done for an Instagram picture? Let me know by leaving a comment below!

Life Lately Vol. 20

Happy Friday & welcome to my 20th edition of Life Lately! I already mentioned this in my last volume of Life Lately, but I've really enjoyed documenting my life through these posts and I'm excited to share more posts in the weeks to come.

These past couple weeks have been extremely hectic, but on the bright side, I only have a couple more weeks of school before summer break! Let me tell you, it can't come fast enough...

Popsicles // A new popsicle place recently opened near me, and I've been dying to try their popsicles that everyone raves about! I went with some of my friends to celebrate one of my friends' birthday, and we had such a fun time! We went to dinner and had popsicles for dessert, and of course we took advantage of the cute walls they had that were perfect for picture-taking. The quality of the photos isn't the best, since they were taken at night, but the important thing was that we captured some amazing memories and had such a fun time.

Cooking // I've decided to start sharing the recipes I've made recently in my Life Lately posts! Cooking and nutrition are two things that I am passionate about, and I want to share my favorite recipes with y'all, so what better way to do that than incorporating some recipes in my Life Lately posts? Recently, I made these brownie breakfast bars from Running With Spoons, and they turned out delicious! I also cooked this vegetarian Mexican rice casserole for dinner one night. I forgot to take pictures of it, but it was amazing and is definitely now one of my go-to dinner recipes!

Testing // Finals week is slowly but surely creeping up! I had standardized testing this week, more next week, and then I will have an entire week of finals right before summer. While I don't love the idea of studying, I've found that using bright colors and taking study breaks really help make studying a lot more effective for me. (See more of my study tips here). Here's to hoping I do well on all of my upcoming exams and final projects!

This weekend is definitely going to be a busy one, too. I have an end-of-year celebration tonight (expect to see a couple pictures in the weeks to come!) and I have two soccer games tomorrow, as well as several errands to run. However, I've found that busy, spontaneous weekends usually turn out to be the best ones. :)

I hope each and every one of you had an amazing week and have an even better weekend!

April Favorites

Happy May! April flew by so fast, and I know this month will too as it's already promising to be incredibly busy. The end of the school year is always such a busy time, but I've still been able to do a lot of shopping and thus have a lot of new favorites to share with y'all!

This month was such a good month in terms of favorites! I have a few more beauty things than I normally share, so I hope you enjoy!

Get Your Glow On Face Mask // I got this at Ulta at the beginning of April, and I'm so glad I picked it up! I'd been wanting to use a face mask for a while now, and I like this one because it comes in a bottle so it lasts a while and you can get multiple uses out of it. I've been using it about two times a week, and my face definitely feels a lot brighter and cleaner! I will definitely be trying more products from this brand in the future, like this facial cleanser.

Cold Shoulder Sweater // I know I'm a little late to this trend, but when I saw this sweater at The Impeccable Pig (one of my favorite stores!) on sale for only $18, I couldn't resist it. It's a very light sweater, so it's perfect for spring days with cooler weather and a little bit of a breeze. I have so many plans for how to wear this and it's definitely my favorite clothing item I purchased this month. I love how it's an incredibly simple top that can be accessorized so many different ways, but the bow details on the shoulders are just so fun!

Coconut Hair Serum // My friend tried this and loved it, so I picked some up on my most recent excursion to Target. I put it in my hair after I take a shower, and it makes my hair so soft and incredibly easy to comb out. The smell of coconut is one of my favorite smells, too. I've been using it alongside the coconut conditioner made by the same brand, and when I finish my shampoo that I'm currently using I'm definitely planning on buying the coconut shampoo that OGX makes.


Essie Gel Topcoat // I received this topcoat in my Easter basket (see everything else I got here) and you guys. It works so well! I painted my nails two weeks ago, and they haven't even chipped yet. My nails seriously look and feel exactly like they did that one time that I tried gel nails. I've been pairing this topcoat with the Essie shade Hi Maintenance and I love the way the polish looks! The light pink color is perfect for spring.

April was such a good month, and I'm so excited for what May has in store!

What have you been loving lately? Let me know by leaving a comment down below - I'd love to hear!