On Moving

May 27, 2015


Well, today's the day! I've spent the last seven months mentally preparing, the last three months trying to do everything I love in Minneapolis, and the last week packing and cleaning, and packing some more. I'm equal parts nervous and excited for this next chapter. So today I thought I'd share a few things about moving to California that I'm excited about, and what I'll miss about Minnesota.


What I'll miss:
1. My family. Hands down this is going to be the hardest part. I see my sister at least once a week, and my mom at least every other week. There's going to be a lot of face timing!
2. All of the amazing friends I've made. It will be weird not to have anyone to have wine and movie nights with.
3. The lakes. I love the Minneapolis lakes.
4. My smallish, but wonderful city. I love everything about Minneapolis. There's always something to do or a new restaurant to try. 
5. Having all four seasons. I actually really love weather. Snow, rain, I enjoy it all.
6. The familiarity. I've obviously never been everywhere, but I have a pretty good grasp on the Twin Cities, so I'm not looking forward to learning a whole new area. 


What I'm excited about:
1. Getting to see Mark every day. After four years of long distance, I'm so ready to actually be in the same place!
2. The ocean. It's 45 minutes away from us :)
3. All of the amazing places that are only a few hours away. On my list: Big Sur, Napa, Capitola, Berkeley, and Tahoe. So many fun places to take weekend trips!
4. The fact that my shoes won't get ruined from snow. This is obviously small in the scheme of things, but I hate buying shoes and then only getting one season's worth of wear out of them because of the winters!
5. Going out on my own (plus Mark). I went to college 25 minutes away from home, and my sister went to the same college, so I've never strayed too far. I'm excited to see what it's like and to learn a lot about myself!
6. The fact that my blog backgrounds will probably be prettier (sorry MN). Everything is always so beautiful and green, so I'm excited to take some pretty pictures ;)


Well, now I'm off to drive the 30-some hours to CA! Wish me luck! You can follow along on Instagram and Snapchat (myinnerfabulous)!

xo Catherine

p.s. I will be taking the rest of the week off, see you back here on Monday!

Bucket List

May 22, 2015


I was sitting at my kitchen table for a while yesterday trying to figure out what I wanted to write about for today's post. You may have noticed that I'm starting to phase out Friday's Fabulous Finds posts because I didn't love them and I don't think you guys did either. That's not to say that I won't still sporadically share some of my favorite things and pieces that I think you need to know about, so fear not! Anyway, back to my story. I was trying to figure out what to write about, maybe about moving next week, maybe about all of the Memorial Day sales going on (so many good ones!), or maybe a post about how to remix and re-wear items. Then, I was reading Caitlin's blog and she shared her bucket list. Alas! A blog post idea that I love: sharing my bucket list with you!

I actually wrote down my bucket list my freshman year, and have made some (slow) progress. So I thought I would share a few things that I've accomplished in my lifetime, and a few things that I hope to do. Since it's been four years since I made it, there are items that I'm no longer interested in completing like going to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and swimming with dolphins. 

1. Although it's completely out of my control, I would love to see a Twins World Series game


2. Golf 18 holes. Despite being on the golf team in high school (lolol) I've never actually golfed a complete game!

3. Ride in a hot air balloon

4. Shoot a gun. I completed this in 2012!


5. See the Northern Lights 

6. Join a choir - completed in 2013!

7. Go to the Kentucky Derby

8. Get something published 

via 

9. Go to Oktoberfest in Germany. I don't really like beer, but I would still want to do this. Mostly I just want to go to Germany!

10. Go to the Olympics, preferably a summer games!

11. Start a blog - completed in 2012!

This isn't the whole list, just a sampling, but I've got a long way to go! Is there anything that I need to do or see? What's on your bucket list??

xo Catherine 






Tangerine

May 20, 2015








Dress: ASOS. Earrings: borrowed via Roxbox (get your first month free with myinnerfabulousxoxo). Clutch: Anthropologie (similar). Heels: JCPenny's (similar). 

I bought this dress for our trip to Florida, but there was never a good time to wear it. Can't you just see this dress on the beach, with all of it's flowy-ness? Anyways, the right occasion presented itself last weekend in the form of my graduation dinner. I wore this out to Cafe Lurçat and loved every minute of it. Our dinner was phenomenal and we had mini donuts for dessert, need I say more?

I hope your week is going well! Mine is very strange, I'm in this weird state of limbo between not working and not going to school and just packing and hanging out. I have so much free time that I don't know what to do with myself!

xo Catherine 

Mix It

May 18, 2015







Shorts: JCPenny's (similar). Blouse: J. Crew Factory. Jacket: Old Navy. Tote: Old Navy (similar). Sunglasses: RayBan. Sandals: Loft

This is an outfit I threw together for breakfast with girlfriends and actually really ended up liking. I love finding new ways to wear old things! You can see these shorts styled last year here

This was my graduation weekend (you can read my reflection about it here) and it was so fun. I spent the whole weekend with family and friends eating a ton and celebrating. I had to say goodbye to a few people, which is never fun, but I know we'll see each other again soon :)

Hope you had a good weekend!

xo Catherine

*Keeping it real: So this isn't really a true "Keeping it Real," more of a side note, but whatever. I don't just have one person who takes my pictures, it's basically whoever's around. I have a few friends, Mary and Emma, who particularly enjoy helping me take outfit pictures and it's always a good time: 


About half the pictures end up looking like the one above, with me LOLing at my friends. Mary in particular likes to style me and help me pose, like this: 


Anyways...enjoy your Monday!


On Graduating

May 15, 2015


Well, it's finally here. My college graduation is this Sunday. While it feels strange and sad to say goodbye to the only thing I've known for the past four years, I'm ready to close this chapter and move onto the next one. I didn't want to wish away my last few weeks of college, but I was definitely aching to be done and start my move to the other side of the country! Today I wanted to share some of my experiences and a lot of pictures! There are several less-than-glamourous pictures that aren't "on brand", but that's life, and I always want to keep it real here on the blog, so I hope you enjoy this little peek into my time at the U of M.

One of my best friends and my roommate Emma from sophomore year.

Checked shooting a gun off my bucket list sophomore year. 

With my friend Kara from high school at a football game. She went to our rival Madison.

From study abroad in London between sophomore and junior year.

With my good friend Sarah sophomore year.



Halloween sophomore year. 


With one of my best friends Malorie from junior year.

Went to an underwater themed party sophomore year.

The renaissance festival sophomore year.

With Malorie freshman year at the Holidazzle parade.

One of several volleyball teams I played on throughout the years.

College was not an easy transition for me. I had friends who absolutely loved it from the beginning, and then friends like me who took a while to find their place. I always say that it just kind of happened that I went to the University of Minnesota. I had always wanted to go there, but then my sister started the year before me and I didn't want to follow her. I felt like I'd been following in her footsteps for far too long, so I looked elsewhere. 

At a football game freshman year.

Up until March of my senior year of high school I had planned on going to Marquette, then changed my mind after a second visit. I had gotten in to all the schools I applied to, but didn't really love any of them, so I thought I might as well just go to the U. 

At a volleyball game sophomore year.

Another freshman football game.

I am a homebody by nature and not the most outgoing of people, so it was a rough start. Then Mark left for school in California, which made it even worse. I was pretty unhappy for the first semester of freshmen year. Then I finally found my close group of friends and started having fun. I'm not sure what changed, but something finally clicked and I was happy again. 

Skating with friends sophomore year.

I'm so glad that I ended up going to the University of Minnesota because I have had the most amazing experience here. I thought that I wanted to get away from home, but it was actually really nice to only be 25 minutes away. I always lived within 3-4 blocks of my sister which I love. I saw my family at least once a week. 

At a Mad Men themed party junior year with my sister Ellen.

I also loved being a ten minute bus ride away from downtown Minneapolis. There were many adventures into the city whether it was trying new restaurants, doing a zombie pub crawl, or going to a baseball game, there was always something to do. 

Zombie pub crawl senior year.

Twins game freshman year. 

In our dorm with Malorie freshman year.

I met some of my favorite people on the planet here. One of my absolute best friends transferred after sophomore year, and I worried that we would lose touch, but to my absolute delight we haven't. We communicate in some form every day! I hope I can continue to have that kind of relationship with all of the friends I've made as we go our separate ways. It's scary to think that I can't just send out a group text and say, "Who's up for margs and karaoke tonight?" But I know that whenever we're together in the future it will be like we haven't been apart. 

At the Christmas market with three of my best friends, Jess, Mary, and Emma senior year.

Spring Jam sophomore year with Mary and Lene. 

Study abroad.

I've learned so much over the last four years, both about myself and my desired career path. I really found my independence. Study abroad definitely helped with that. I would go out and explore London by myself! I've started going out to eat and to movies by myself and I actually look forward to it. 

My co-presidents and friends from NSAC Drew and Simge.

I've also learned a lot about how to be a leader. I was in several clubs throughout college, from Ad Club to being a campus tour guide, but the one that was most meaningful was the National Student Advertising Competition. I've talked about it a little here before, but it really was the most amazing experience. I was in it for two years, and a president this last year. I met some of the smartest, most hardworking people in my college, and I'm proud to call them friends. This experience helped me to become more outspoken and confident in my abilities. 

From a visit between sophomore and junior year.

Halloween senior year.

A summer visit between sophomore and junior year.

Now I'm sure you're wondering, how does Mark fit in to all of this? He was there through it all in some shape or form. Whether he was home visiting, or I was there for a long weekend, or a phone date, he was loving and supporting me through all of the ups and downs. We had a blast going to different colleges together :) We've been together for six and a half years and four of them were long distance. I'm not going to sugar coat it: it wasn't fun, but we made the best of it. We definitely didn't have some of the problems other couples had, because we made it through! I get to see him every day starting in two weeks and I am over the moon excited about it. I think the reason we were so good at long distance was because it was never really a question. We wanted to be together, and that meant being long distance until we were both done with school, so that's what we did. I have no regrets about it. I don't feel like I missed out on anything, I actually feel like I got the best of both worlds. I had the most amazing boyfriend and support system, but I still had my independence living in my own city. 

At a wedding senior year. 

Phew, that was a long one, but I felt like I needed to memorialize college in some way, and what better way to do that on the very blog I started in college!

I hope you have an amazing weekend!

xo Catherine 

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