What to Wear: College Visits

This past weekend my family and I made a quick road trip to St. Louis for a college visit to check out Washington University. I had an interview and two tours scheduled; but, along with a few important things like remembering my resume and refining my answers to questions like “why are you interested in Washington University?” another concern of mine was “omg, what am I going to wear?!” I've visited some other schools, but hadn't been to one that I was so excited to see, and I realized the night before my trip that I didn’t have any outfits planned out — I’m a last minute kinda gal! I frantically googled “what to wear to college interviews” and “what to wear for a college tour” but I came up short seeing that internet was lacking in advice for this scenario. But I think my outfits were reasonable after looking at what everyone else was wearing, and more importantly, I enjoyed my interview and had a blast on the tour. If you’re wondering, I fell in LOVE with Wash U. Hashtag dream school. ;)

interview outfit:  top | pants | shoes | bag | earrings | skirt

tour outfit: top | sweater | bag |shoes | jeans | earrings

Because the internet doesn’t know how to help frantic teenage girls put together outfits for college interviews and tours, I figured I’d pick up the slack and make a set for you. I hope you like these outfits! They are super basic, but they definitely get the job done, and I’m 100% sure that you’ll feel 100% confident when you wear them. The goal of the interview outfit is to be comfortable, yet polished, but not so dressed up that you look like you are interviewing for a job. Some people were wearing jeans, but I felt more comfortable dressing up a bit and putting effort into looking respectable. I didn't want to wear a skirt, because I didn't want to have to worry about it while sitting down, but nice pants looked crisp and tailored. On the other hand, the tour outfit is something you should be very comfortable in and your shoes should be broken-in. Although our tour was only about an hour, there was a lot of walking. Be comfortable and prepared for all sorts of weather. We had 50 degrees one day and snow and rain the next.

Also, keep in mind that outfits aren’t everything when interviewing or touring: being respectful and kind and totally more important. Although that disclosure was probably super unnecessary, I though I should close with the manners always matter reminder!

xox ~Chloe

Calligraphy made easy

In my childhood, I used to get these strong thoughts in my head about how talented I would be at something. I had this vision in my head of me becoming the next famous softball player, scrabble player, or baton twirler and begged my parents for lessons or to join a local team. My parents knew that these things probably wouldn't be my cup of tea and that I might embarrass myself in the process, but they let me take lessons and learn my lesson the hard way. I joined a local softball team and almost broke my hand by putting my hand in front of my glove to catch the ball (why!?), I lose at almost scrabble games (I still love it though), but my my mom  put her foot down when it came to baton twirling lessons, thank goodness. And now I'm not even sure why I was interested in taking those!

But I am totally into calligraphy and one of my goals this year is to become super-amazing at calligraphy. I recently took a class on SkillShare and haven’t looked back since, which you've probably noticed on our Instagram. I think this might actually be my thing. In fact, I might be {one day, if I practice} pretty good at it. *gasp* So since I’m basically a calligraphy prodigy (haha) I figured I better fill you in on a few tips since calligraphy is totally trending right now!

WHAT YOU NEED TO START CALLIGRAPHY:

Things to know :

-This is not your grandmother's calligraphy. But it can be if you want it to be. There are all styles of calligraphy, and I happen to like modern… not traditional.

-Calligraphy supplies really aren’t that expensive. You need:

• nibs
• pen
• paper
• ink

-You do not have to have amazing handwriting to start calligraphy. If you practice your style enough then you can totally pull it off!

-Calligraphy is super messy, at least for me. Make sure you aren’t writing on a nice desk, because ink will most likely be splattered all over it, and not in a chic way.

-Practice makes perfect, so practice, practice, and practice some more.

Places to learn calligraphy :

-Skillshare > search Calligraphy.  This is where I learned. Since I loved it so much, I'm going to be take more classes, maybe here, maybe one of the awesome places below, to keep learning! Uh, maybe this summer when school slows down. Junior year is buuussssy.

-Fake it ‘till you make it - not really calligraphy, it's, wait for it… how to fake it. Or if you want a true short cut, just buy the font.

-I still love Calligraphy - I don't know much about this, but it looks pretty.

-LH Calligraphy has a a super-cute starter kit on Etsy and a gorgeous Instagram! The price is reasonable too.

photo via LH Calligraphy

Please let us know if you try any classes and what you think of them, plus tag us and show us your calligraphy skills on Instagram! xo ~chloe

IF YOU ENJOY THIS: check out How to Make A GIF {without Photoshop}

How to make a GIF… without Photoshop

GIFs are all the rage, especially now that you can have GIFS on Pinterest, and there are tons of blog classes on how to make a GIF using Photoshop. But since Chloe is so proficient on Photoshop and the best I can do is turn it on, I haven't quite made it to a class. So when I found out about imgflip, I was dubious, but excited. I tried it out and was so impressed, that I wanted to share it with you! Get ready to learn how to make a GIF without Photoshop skills, y'all!

Here's how:

1. Take photos that you want to use to create your GIF or use graphics you've created. Save your images on your computer and make sure they are all the same size. Tip: If taking photos, the key to a successful GIF is to either use a tripod or have very steady hands. If you will be moving items to create a story, then definitely use a tripod since it's almost impossible to get your camera back in the same position, even if you have someone helping. We've found this to be true even when doing GIFS for fashion or style shoots. The less jiggle, the more successful your GIF will look.

2. Open up imgflip.

3. Click on the Images tab (top left).

4. Download your photos and arrange them in the order you want your story to be told to create your GIF. To remove a photo, simply drag it to the pink bar on the bottom that says "Drag images here to remove."

5. Once satisfied with your photos, set the width to 360 and height to 360 for a square photo (or 360 for the widest or highest), quality to 1, and click Private. Then click Generate GIF.

6. Once downloaded, simply upload it to your blog like a regular photo (although after using it a few times, it will give you an image HTML which you can place on your website). Both are super-easy. And voilà, a GIF… and you didn't even need to learn Photoshop!

Creating the GIF is free, but the size is limited to 360 x 360, and supposedly there will be a watermark, and ad will be shown. To upgrade to the Pro version costs $9.95/mo. But as you can see, there is no watermark or ad in the one I created!

Have fun creating GIFs without Photoshop and leave your links to the ones you create in the comments below. We love creating and looking at them 'em!!

xo ~kim