so long, sweet summer

according to my trusted sources, summer is over. this cataclysmic tragedy can only be tempered by two things: pumpkin flavored beverages, and fall fashion.

one of my best purchases lately has to be this h&m blazer in navy blue. long, boyish-but-feminine, and in an versatile neutral.

i'm excited to pair it with some of my flashier accessories. summer may be over, but you'll have to pry the neon from my cold, dead hands.

navy also pairs really well with coral and rose gold, two of my favorite summer-fall transition colors.

i am also really into this flowing, over-sized blouse trend. i paired this shirt (or a shirt like it that was cheaper and from nordstrom rack) with a pair of black flat-front shorts yesterday and accessorized with a bold gold necklace:

nordstrom.com

as for bottoms...i can't yet give up my neon matchstick ankle jeans, or my patterned shorts, or my skirts, or my white capris (yes, i'm still wearing white - didn't you hear? people finally don't care about when you wear white clothes). new distressed jeans, though, may ease the separation anxiety...

lastly, i'm a little in love with this new fragrance from marc jacobs. like everything else here, it's a little bit summer and a little bit fall - the perfect balance between floral, feminine, and classic. plus, it's packaging is inspired by an insect! i can't splurge for the whole bottle right now (slash until i have a real job) so i've been content with the samples the ladies at nordstrom give me.

refinery29.com

so in conclusion, so long sweet summer. thanks for the beach trips, the summer camps, the hiking, the cliff-jumping, the barbeques, the opportunity to drive around with the windows down blasting call me maybe (or when that got old, we are never ever getting back together). i will welcome you again with open arms in nine months.

welcome to the world, autumn. you've got a lot to live up to!

the best reasons to bid electronic calendars "adieu"

when it comes to calendars and planners, i'm a purist. google calendar, my smart phone calendar, ical...none of these really do it for me. ever since i was a wee middle schooler, i've been hopelessly devoted to the paper-based planner. every year, it's a source of excitement and agony, choosing the perfect new planner for the new year. what will serve my purposes best? what size? what style? august-august or january-december?  let's look at the myriad options...

first, we need to decide on style. i'm just going to ignore all the month-by-month planners because that's a little useless, in my opinion. we are interested only in week-by-week or day-by-day. these are the ones that give you the best venue for keeping track of appointments, projects, assignments, and plans. ecosystem life has kindly offered graphics for your viewing pleasure:

 week-by-week:

day-by-day:

personally, i'm partial to the week-by-week. i find that i don't necessarily do assignments and projects on certain days, so i like to have a running list of things i need to do on one side, and a place for appointments/classes on the other.

knowing that, i've gone through a few options:

ecosystem life planner

the first is the ecosystem life planner. i liked this planner a lot for it's "green" sourcing (you could even enter the special code for your planner and see where all the materials came from) and it's pretty colors. i have heard a little rumor, though, that this planner has been discontinued...but it's still a good one.

then there's the uncalendar. i love this planner so much i can't handle it. it's a little overwhelming, because everything is left blank and personalizable. i love it. but i don't always get it because sometimes i feel like it's a little too much.

uncalendar lifestyle

it's also ugly as sin, so i have to make my own collage-style cover for it. the other downside to uncalendars is that they're a little hard to find. but not impossible.

then there's the tried and true, beautiful, luxurious, and coveted moleskine. my basic pattern is to get a moleskine every other year. they're expensive, but hold together like a champ.

the classic is always a winner:

i'm really, really intrigued by this special evernote moleskine - this looks like some super high-tech stuff. it doesn't seem to have a planner version yet, but the notebook seems rad.

but my deal was done when i saw this yesterday at the PSU bookstore:

your eyes do not deceive you - that is indeed a limited edition le petit prince moleskine. it's a week-by-week (there is a beautiful yellow day-by-day one too, but it's humongous) with color illustrations from LPP on the insides of the covers. it comes with a bitty LPP themed desk calendar and address book. AND IT IS PERFECT.

i can't believe i just wrote that much about planners, but clearly this is a really important matter, so i guess it's warranted. 

bisoux!

holden caulfield goes back to school and so can you

true confessions of charlotte doyle: going back to school hasn't been exciting for me since the days of supply lists and target shopping sprees. i miss choosing my binder (canvas or zip? five star or mead?), picking out my folders (where the where do you find yellow trapper keepers anyway?), selecting my elaborate collection of lisa frank pens, pencils, pouches, and erasers. no matter how i try to recreate this experience, it's never the same as coming home with bags full of goodies and meticulously writing your name on every school supply you own (we all did that, right?).

but i will admit, i am pretty excited about my favorite back-to-school trend this year: updated takes on the schoolboy satchel.

this is the look i'm trying to emulate this year:

so profesh.

there are so many enticing options. the billykirk schoolboy satchel is marketed to men, but i think it would be stunning for anyone:

jcrew.com

my ultimate favorite satchel is from the cambridge satchel company - i'm specifically obsessed with the fluoro collection. 

since i lack, however, a ridiculous amount of disposable income, i have landed on this satchel to satisfy my lust for bright pink british-inspired goodness:

steve madden

it's about $100 less than the cambridge bags (with the nordstrom sale) and it's the perfect size for my netbook or ipad, planner, wallet, and phone. my default school bag will always be my timbuk2, but for those days when i'm just going to the office and need just a few things, this will be perfect.

so that's my satchel story. i'm pretty excited about this trend and would love to hear what you think. are there schoolboy satchels (or other derivative styles) in your back-to-school/work future?