Samantha // The Official Prep

Saturday, February 20, 2016

What's In My Purse?

Hey y'all! Welcome back to my blog! This post is all about what's in my purse! (if you couldn't tell by the tittle :P) So I recently bought a new Kate Spade purse from the 75% off surprise sale! I absolutely LOVE to carry my purse around and when it's not with me I feel lost. So now you'll get a little inside scoop about why I love my purse so much!! So lets get started!

So that's a picture of my new purse! And below is a picture of what I have in it!

As you can see my purse is full! In my eyes you can never be over prepared. So here's a list of what is included in my purse:

- My Kate Spade wallet.

- My lovely piece of technology that I call my baby, my IPhone.

- My trusty set of headphones.

- Bath and Body Works Strawberry Lemon hand sanitizer.

- Two amazing and absolutely beautiful Lilly Pulitzer printed hair ties from @_prettysouthern on Instagram.

- My trusty tide 2 go stick. Perfect for a little spill.

- Stickers that I pass out to certain people.

- Business cards that include my social medias and coupon codes!

- My keys featuring a beautiful key-fob from @preppybowsandsass on Instagram and a cute key-chain from @sgprep on Instagram!

- My cake batter chap stick.

- Some lip-gloss, which I got from Bath and Body Works.

- Vineyard Vines promotional sunglasses. Just in case the suns out!

- A Lilly pen.

- Mascara for when my eyelashes are not on point.

- Bubblegum for when I need to freshen up my breath or when i'm hungry.

- And last but not least my little pick me up pouch that holds all my favorite pick me up quotes that I pass out to people who seem to need a little pick me up.

And here's a close up of my phone and case and my Kate Spade wallet!

Thank you all so much for reading! I will include links for each small business item below and along with them I will include a discount code for you to use!

Lilly printed hair ties- www.shopprettysouthern.etsy.com

{discount code: theofficialprep for 10% off}

Monogrammed Lilly key-fob- etsy.com/shop/PreppyBowsandSass
{discount code: THEOFFICIALPREP for 15% off}

Southern Girl Prep key-chain- www.southerngirlprep.com

{discount code: SDay10off for 10% off}

For more discount codes be sure to look under the discount code tab above!

Thank you so much for reading and have an amazing day!

Xoxo,

Samantha

@theofficialprep

Friday, February 12, 2016

My Pink and Green Garden Review

Hey ya'll! So I recently received some products from My pink and Green Garden. And let me just say, they are amazing! I received two pillows and one memo board. All three in Lilly prints of course. So now on to the actual review!

Overall Appearance:

The overall appearance of the pillows are gorgeous. The appliques have the perfect print placement and are the perfect size. The pom poms on the side are so cute and add the perfect touch to each pillow. The fact that My Pink and Green Garden has so many options of appliques, Lilly prints, and pom pom colors is great! Overall I think the pillows are absolutely gorgeous and so worth having. The pillows are the perfect accent to add to your dorm or bedroom.

As you can see my memo board has gone to good use. I love my memo board so much especially because of the print! (its not a common one) I highly recommend getting a memo board. They help you stay very organized and allow you to display some of your favorite things. And plus who wouldn't like to stay organized with something that looks so amazing?!?!

Overall Owner:

The owner, whose name is Irene, is one of the absolute sweetest people ever. Just by talking with her a little you can tell she loves what she does and truly has a passion for it. By all the giveaways she host you can tell that she really cares about her customers and brand. I don't think there could be a better business owner to purchase from!

Overall I give My Pink and Green Garden a total of 5 stars! I highly recommend purchasing something because you know the products are going to be super cute and arrive on time!

Here are some more photos:

Here is the direct link to purchase your own pillow or memo board!
Click here!
Or follow @mypinkandgreengarden on Instagram!

Also, an amazing surprise to all my fabulous followers on Instagram, I will be hosting a giveaway with My Pink and Green Garden! You could win a pillow of your choice! It will be posted on Valentines day so be sure to check it out on my account, @theofficialprep!

Xoxo,
Samantha
@theofficialprep

Sunday, January 24, 2016

DIY: Lilly Printed Whale Garland

Hey y'all! This is a DIY blog post to teach you how to make your very own Lilly Pulitzer printed Whale Garland! Trust me, it's super easy to make!

All you will need to start is an old Lilly Pulitzer agenda, scissors, tape, a Vineyard Vines whale sticker or print out, a pen, and fishing line or other clear string. If you don't have an old Lilly agenda then you can print out sheets of Lilly prints on card stock paper.

Step 1:

You can either pull the paper out of the agenda or leave it in the agenda and just trace and cut the whales out. It would be a lot easier just to pull the paper out.

Step 2:

The first thing you'll need to do is line the whale up with the print you want to cut. Make sure that the whale is backwards and that you are on the calendar part of the paper. Look at the pictures for examples.

The paper is on the calendar side and the whale is flipped backwards.

This is what your whale should look like.

Repeat step 2 until you have your desired amount of whales. I would consider doing eight or nine.

Step 3:

Once you've completed tracing and cutting out all of your whales its time to start attaching them to the fishing line or clear string. So i recommend laying your whales out in an equally spaced line with the calendar side facing upwards.

Step 4:

Once your whales are laid out the next step is attaching them. You can use staples or tape, but i find tape to be the easiest. It also makes it a lot easier in case you space your whales out wrong.

So start by leaving at least an inch of string with nothing attached. Then lay the string out over the line of whales. Tape/staple each string to the back of the whales.

This is what the finished product should look like.

Step 5:

Last but not least you can hang your Lilly printed whale garland where ever you would like! And don't forget, YOU made it!! Congratulations and enjoy! :)

I hope you enjoyed this little diy! If you'd like some more diy's just let me know my contacting me on one of my social medias (listed on the About Me page)!

Xoxo,

Samantha

@theofficialprep

Sunday, January 17, 2016

The History of Lilly Pulitzer

Ever wanted to know how the brand Lilly Pulitzer was born? Well here's the inside scoop!

Lilly Pulitzer herself was born on November 10th, 1931 in New York. Which just so happens to be where she was married as well. She married Peter Pulitzer, who was the son of a famous newspaper writer Joseph Pulitzer. When Lilly wast just 21 her and her husband moved to Palm Beach, Florida. There Peter owned several Citrus Groves, which led to the opening of Lilly's juice stand. Hints the popular term, "it all started with a juice stand."

Lilly started to ask her seamstress to make her dresses with sleeveless bright fabrics so they would be able to hide juice stains. Lilly's customers loved her classic shift dresses more then the juice. When Lilly's old roommate, Jackie Kennedy, was spotted wearing "Lilly" on vacation Lilly's business started booming.

Lilly Pulitzer was known as the "Queen of Prep" and she is also known as a socialite and fashion designer. You can find Lilly stores almost anywhere now a days. In every Lilly store there are unique Lilly printed walls that are hand painted by Lilly designers themselves. Before Lilly died at the age of 89 on April 7th, 2013, customers could score lunch with Lilly as an incentive to purchase some of her clothes. Now Lilly stores give out gift with purchases almost once every month, and at retail locations it's called Lunch a Lilly, to keep the legacy going. To this day all Lilly prints that can be seen all around the worlds are created by Lilly studio artists who take inspiration from almost anywhere.

Here are some pictures:

The Legend with her daughters.

The amazing Lilly Pulitzer

Lilly with her collection.

Lilly and Peter

Jackie Kennedy and her family

Jackie in a Lilly original!

I actually did this as a English project so I decided to share some of it with y'all! Hope you Enjoyed this mini History lesson! Until next time,

Xoxo,

Samantha

@theofficialprep

Friday, January 15, 2016

OOTD Blog Collab

Hey ya'll! So on this blog post I will be talking all about one of my favorite outfits. I will give you all the stores/brands you can find these items from. This blog post is also in collaboration with six other girls. You will be able to check out their blogs at the bottom of this post.

So for this look I wanted to do something really casual that also looked really cute! So why not do a Lilly Pulitzer dress? Lilly adds a certain color and print that you can't find anywhere else. To start off my look I chose my Lilly dress. The style is the Wright Dress, and the color is Blue Crush in She Got Soul. I added a grey cardigan to tone the dress down and to make it more casual. My cardigan is from Aeropostale. For my shoes I wore my black pin striped Vans. For jewelry I wore a super cute Pendent necklace that has blue leather on the inside and what seems to have a gold look a like Tory Burch symbol on the outside. I actually got that necklace at Plato's Closet for only four dollars! For my earrings I wore some green and gold jewel pineapple earrings to give my outfit a little tropical vibe. Here are some pictures!

Hope you enjoyed my little #ootd! Please be sure to check out the other six girls blogs to see their outfit of the day! They will be listed below. That's all for now!

Xoxo,

Samantha

@theofficialprep

- Click here for Hannah's blog! (@scusemysouthernprep on Instagram)

- Click here for Lauren's blog! (@prepfromthemidwest on Instagram)

- Click here for Brooke's blog! (@brookalinaballerina on Instagram)

- Click here for Sophia's blog! (@5thavenueurban on Instagram)

- Click here for Cathleen's blog! (@classycahleen on Instagram)

- Click here for Amelia's blog! (@spectacularandclassy on Instagram)

Monday, January 11, 2016

Jadelynn Brooke Letter

Hey y'all! On Monday January 11th, 2016, I sent a letter to one of my favorite companies, Jadelynn Brooke! In the letter I included how their company made my dreams of becoming an entrepreneur and business owner surface. I told them a little about myself, while including that i'm only a sophomore in High School. Which means that I can apply for their Rep program Next Year!!!! (I absolutely can not wait) I also included what I liked most about their brand. The designs, the meaning behind their brand (HAPPINESS), and the thought they include with each package they ship out! Lexi, Jade, and Brooke really care about their customers which makes their brand 100% better! The letter then proceeded to be going on a while so I decided to end it there. But not before saying how I can't wait to see what 2016 holds for them. After signing the letter I decided to get a little artsy with it and drew my own picture of Happy the deer!

Here is the inside of the letter to Jadelynn Brooke!

Like my drawing?

I tried to decorate the envelope a little bit.

The outside of the Jadelynn Brooke envelope.

Want to send Lexi Lynn, Jade, and Brooke a letter?

Here's their address:

Jadelynn Brooke

1705 Hog Hollow Road

Dripping Springs, TX 78620

Wan to purchase one of their amazing #squadgoals shirts, seersucker hats, cute stickers, or one of their amazing t-shirts? Well here's a direct link to their beautiful website!

Jadelynn Brooke's Website

If they respond I will also include a response blog post so you can see what they said! Thank you so much for reading!!

Xoxo,

Samantha

@theofficialprep

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Two Weekends well spent!

On New Years Eve I finally met one of my favorite blogger friends in person! Her name is Hannah and she is the amazing owner of @scusemysouthernprep on Instagram. We have been best blogger friends for over a year and we've been wanting to meet up! So we finally did, and that's what inspired me to write this blog!

We have spent two weekends in a row together! Last weekend we visited Pink Sorbet, which is a signature Lilly Pulitzer store, Half Moon Outfitters, and The Coloumbian Mall. Some shops we stopped in at the mall include Charming Charlies, Dazzle Up, Rack Room, Anthropology, Forever 21, and Victoria Secret. We ate lunch at Chick-fil-a and we both got to experience where each other live!

This weekend we spent time doing a little photo-shoot around Columbia SC! First we ate lunch at Ruby Tuesdays with our mothers, next we visited Pink Sorbet again! Hannah purchased a few new items that are super cute! After our quick Lilly stop it started to rain. That is something no one wants to see on photo-shoot day. But, we held it together and braved the drizzling rain. We took photos at the 5 Points fountain and visited some cute shops along the way! Next stop, The State House! I've never actually been to the state house even though I live in SC. So this experience was amazing!We first took pictures with the back of the state house and then traveled along the side, and made our way around to the front. And then Hannah and I parted ways once again.

Here are some of the pictures we took this weekend!