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Previous Posts: Exam Round-Up

I've been seeing lots of monogrammed school supplies & Lilly agendas on my Instagram feed recently which can only mean one thing: It's exam time. I'm hoping to get a brand new post all about exam tips & tricks up on here soon but until I get around to that, I've linked up all my previous posts that can help you get through exam week!


 
 
 
 
Have tips of your own you'd like to share? Leave a comment below!
 
xoxo,
 
 
 
 

Fitbit Flex Review


For those who have seen my recent Instagram posts, you've seen my new Fitbit. Two weeks ago I purchased a Fitbit Flex and today I'm going to be talking about my Fitbit so if any of you are interested or thinking about purchasing one, keep on reading! Quickly, I would just like to state that this post is not sponsored by Fitbit nor am I in any way affiliated with Fitbit, all opinions are my own.
 

For the longest time I debated between purchasing a Jawbone Up or a Fitbit Flex. After some research, I decided on the Fitbit. Maybe it was due to the fact that both my parents have Fitbit's or that I, personally, find that Fitbit's look more like something I would wear.

I love my Fitbit and have worn it everyday since the day I purchased. While it can be tricky to snap onto your wrist, once you get the hang of it, it's a breeze. It's super light weight and I typically forget I'm even wearing it. At first glance, most people don't know it's a fitness tracker. With interchangeable bands, you can almost find a color to match your outfit.

The few differences between the Fitbit Flex and the Fitbit Charge is that the Charge is a tad bit bigger and displays the time & your step count. The Flex doesn't display the time and doesn't display your specific step count but if you tap it twice dots will appear. For example, if you're goal is 10,000 steps daily (like me) then each dot that appears represents 2,000 steps. The Flex displays five dots maximum and once all five dots are solid and not blinking, you'll feel it vibrate to let you know you've hit your goal.

Both also track your sleep. At the end of the day once you're ready to go to sleep you simply tap your Fitbit until you see two solid dots appear and you'll feel it vibrate so you know it's in sleep mode. Once in sleep mode it will track how many times & how long you are either sleeping, restless or awake. Then in the morning when you're ready to start tracking your steps you tap your Fitbit and it will vibrate to tell you it's tracking.

I wear my Fitbit almost 24/7 as I only take it off when A) I'm taking a shower or B) it needs to charge. While the Fitbit is waterproof, I don't want to take any chances so I take it off and then snap it back on after my shower. As for charging, my Fitbit typically needs to charge every 3-4 days. I wait to charge mine overnight so that I can have it fully charged and ready to go for the next day. While I'll miss out on tracking my sleep that night, I don't think it's a big deal.

Overall, I LOVE my Fitbit and would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in buying it. I have nothing but positive words about the product and believe it was money well spent. If anyone has questions about it, feel free to shoot me an e-mail and I'll do my best to answer!

 
Do you have a Fitbit?
 
xoxo,


May Playlist

I don't know about everyone else but I am ready for summer! Whether it's the fact that my binders are starting to fall apart and overflow with handouts or the sunny weather, I'm ready to switch to summer mode. Unfortunately, I still have about 3 more weeks of school before I can kick back and relax and since I can't be in the full summer mindset, I've been listening to some of my favorite songs that remind me of summer's past or just have a general summer vibe. If you're interested in seeing what I was listening to last month, here's my April Playlist. 
 
 
What's on your pre-summer playlist?
 
xoxo,
 


Green & Navy

Even if you're new to my blog (if you are, Hi! I'm Riley & I hope you'll stick around!) you can tell I love color navy. From my navy blog background, to the navy nameplate at the top, it's no secret that navy & I get along very nicely. For this outfit I paired a simple, solid navy knot-top from Lilly Pulitzer with some fun patterned shorts from Old Navy & accessorized with my pendant necklace from Charming Charlie. My tassel sandals are from Tommy Hilfiger and I can already tell that they are going to be a staple this spring & summer. In case anyone is wondering, the black band on my wrist is in fact a Fitbit but don't worry, I'm going to be talking more about it later this week ;) 
 









 
xoxo,




Desks According to Pinterest


With exam season in full swing, a tidy desk/study station is essential. Even if you aren't taking exams, an organized desk leads to an organized mind. As odd as this sounds, I don't have a desk or work area in my room. I know it seems odd for a high school student like myself not to have a desk but I think it's a good thing for me personally. If I shut myself up in my room for several hours odds are I'm not going to be very productive because I have so many distraction in my room. Yes, I have distractions working downstairs but I'm always more productive when I have stuff going on in the background (like how I'm currently writing weeks worth of blog posts in the middle of the kitchen while my dad is attempting to cook dinner). Anyways, I've gathered my favorite pins from my Pinterest to inspire you to organize your work area! Enjoy!
 










all pins via
 
 
Where do you study & work?
 
 
xoxo,
 
 


Wanderlust Pinspiration

As summer is beginning to approach, the words "summer vacation" is starting to be said more and more. While, sadly, my family doesn't have a vacation planned yet (sigh) my mom & I spent the majority of Sunday looking for a place to travel too. I found myself looking through my Pinterest feed for travel ideas and although most of my pins were of places out of the country, it's always fun to fantasize of those oh-so-gorgeous places!




all pins via
 
 
Where do you dream of traveling to?
 
 
xoxo,


Mother's Day Recap

Happy Sunday & more importantly Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there, especially my mom. I'd like to start by giving a huge thank you to my mom, Mama Prepster ;), for helping me with everything from taking my blog photos to helping decide which pair of earrings matches my outfits. Thank you Mom for everyone you do for me because this blog, or myself, wouldn't quite be the same without you!

That being said & in honor of Mother's Day, I'm going to be sharing all the photos I took today (because a lot were taken). From brunch to planting flowers to dessert, our day together was nothing short of amazing. I hope you had a wonderful day & have an even better week ahead! Enjoy!

The day started off with a delicious brunch with my mom, my brother, my grandma, and my grandpa. We all enjoyed plenty of fresh fruit & getting to spend time together. 
Following brunch we dropped my brother off at home as he had homework to do and mom & I headed to buy the flowers that we would plant. We spent quite an embarrassing amount of time walking up and down the aisles of flowers but we are very pleased with our selections.
We never miss an opportunity to snap a quick Instagram picture, especially if the flowers match my outfit :)
We even pose in front of the racks of flowers despite people staring at us and waiting for me to move so they can grab their flowers. 
Although the majority hasn't been planted yet (we are planting after dinner due to the heat this afternoon) we still managed to plant a few flowers so I could snap a few pictures for this post.
 



I headed over to Fresh Market to get some cupcakes for dessert tonight and shocker, shocker took another picture. In case anyone is wondering what we're having for dinner, mom decided on grilled salmon, scalloped potatoes, grilled pineapple, and knot-top rolls. As for our cupcake flavors, mom picked chocolate peanut butter, my younger brother Ryan picked black & white and I picked a triple chocolate!
 
 
Happy Mother's Day!
 
xoxo,


April Recap: Let's Catch Up!

Happy May to everyone (even though it's been may for 9 days already, oops) & cheers to Spring weather being in full swing. My apologies for being M.I.A. for almost a month (double oops) but I am excited to say that I have tons of fun and new posting coming soon! As with all of my recap posts, today I'm going to be sharing my most popular Instagram photos, favorite Pinterest pins, and talking about what has been going on behind the scenes of Northern Prepster!
 
Instagram
 

Surprise, surprise a Lilly for Target photo was my #1 photo of the month. No need to explain the items in the photo because I'm sure you've seen hundreds of photos & posts about the collaboration.
 

Confession: I didn't actually wear this outfit on Easter. I had this planned out and when I went to put it on 5 minutes prior to leaving for brunch, it just didn't look right. Panic mode set in as I had 5 minutes to find something easter-y to wear. Moral of the story: try on your outfit in advance instead of 5 minutes before departure.
 
 
Pinterest
If any of you follow me on my VSCO (more on that later) then you know that this quote is in my bio! This honestly makes me so happy and if I had a beach house this would definitely be hanging in my bedroom!
 
 
Northern Prepster: Behind the Scenes
 
Even More Exciting Instagram News
Very early into April I hit 700 followers on Instagram! Like I always say when I reach a new following amount, I am beyond thrilled that 700 people and companies and bloggers enjoy my photos and have decided to follow along which is why, again, I'd like to thank everyone who is following & supporting me and leaving such positive and thoughtful comments on my photos! Hooray for Instagram friends!
 
VSCOcam
 As I said last month, I've taken a huge liking to the app VSCOcam and I am very happy with how my VSCO grid looks. I try my best to keep my photos looking nice and well-edited and I believe my VSCO grid reflects that. If you'd like to follow along you can follow me here: rileycarp.vsco.co
 

A Glimpse at my Life

Now that school is getting ready to end and the weather has been beautiful, you can either find me writing a paper or outside at the golf course. I know that finals are coming up soon for most & I'm planning on sharing an exam tips post later this week!

Since I don't have much else to say I'll just share some photos from this past month!







 
How was your April?
 
xoxo,