The Petrichor Diaries

As a George Mason University student, I've spent quite a lot of time in Northern Virginia. Northern Virginia, and the DMV in general, are known for having super cute spots to go out to eat or get coffee. I've been to many of cafes in the area, so I have a good list of faves. Here are some of my favorite very aesthetic cafes in the area!  1. Chateau de Chantilly, in Chantilly, VA 13974 Metrotech Dr, Chantilly, VA 20151 This cafe is so cute! It has two levels, the first is a standard cafe layout, with all of the food and drinks (I always get a lavender lemonade), regular seating, and a library seating area in the back. The second floor is a loft with tables and comfy chairs as well as longer tables that people often use for schoolwork or WFH. The food here is also amazing. I've had their twists, croissants, and chocolate croissant rolls. They also have the viral cookie croissants! I cannot recommend them more. Link to their Instagram ! My post at the cafe: View this p

Hello everyone! It has been a million years (read: several years) since I posted on here, and that's because during college I was the Editor-in-Chief of my university's Her Campus chapter. All of my non-academic writing from college is hosted on the Her Campus website. Since I'm graduating in two months, and I want to continue writing, I'm back!! I've also been very active on my instagram, @strawberryblondebookshelf, for the past 2.5 years. It'll be my three year anniversary of that account in January! I love my community on Instagram and I'd like to start sharing my writing with all of you.  I will be writing a lot about books, as I did with Her Campus. I loved having a blog format to post my work in, and I'm very excited to be back writing on here. I previously wrote a lot about fashion on here, and I will probably still do that. I also plan on writing about some deeper topics as well.  I'd really appreciate if you subscribed so that you don't

For a lot of people, a plaid skirt is synonymous with a uniform. I wore a lovely red, white, and navy blue plaid patterned pinafore as a child, and then graduated into polo shirts in middle school.  At that time I was also going through my emo phase, as most preteens are. It was challenging to be a young emo in religious school; Instead of being able to wear the black that I so desired, I had to settle for navy blue.  Anyways, this post is not about my experiences in Christian school, nor is it about going through your emo phase in a school uniform. Keep reading to see how to draw fashion inspiration from a Catholic school uniform! One of my favorite simple outfits is a plain black shirt and a plaid patterned skirt.  Here are two examples: (via Pinterest) (via Flickr) Both of these outfits are relatively simple, consisting of only a high waisted skirt and a black long sleeve shirt. In the second picture, you can see the top of the model's knee high socks.  Knee high socks are a sta

Brandy Melville has recently come under fire for their minuscule clothing sizes, as they should. It's completely unacceptable to exclude people from purchasing your clothing because of their body shape/size.  Brandy Melville has also become a big trend lately, and people with larger body types should not be excluded from following this trend. First of all, from a capitalistic standpoint, it is illogical to cater only to very small girls. Only a tiny percentage of potential customers will fit that physical description. As a business, they're losing billions of dollars.  From a social standpoint, it's absolutely unacceptable.  Here are a few examples directly from the Brandy Melville website for reference.  (via Brandy Melville, Skylar Tank, $14) As you can see with this screenshot of the listing on their website, the only option is extra small / small. I did not crop the image or alter it in any way, and if you'd like to see for yourself, all links will be at the bottom

I'm not sure why I'm so drawn to the aesthetic of academia, but it's undeniably part of who I am.  To be specific, I like the subtle aesthetic of archaeology. It could also be referred to as light academia. I have several Pinterest boards dedicated to this aesthetic, and in this post I will be sharing ways to incorporate it into your life, through fashion! The first major component of aesthetic archaeology fashion are button ups. Both patterned and plain look amazing and give me strong "hot archaeology professor" vibes.  An example of a patterned button up: (via @femmeduart on Twitter) An example of a plain button up: (via Pinterest) As for pants: neutral, solid colors are perfect. Khaki pants are my personal choice, but black pants as shown above work as well. Shorts will fit this aesthetic as well; don't forget that many archaeology expeditions take place in very hot & dry climates. Here's an example of an outfit with shorts! (via Pinterest) This spe

If you're looking for fun and stylish ways to wear your Adidas ™ or other sportswear clothing, you've come to the right place.  This post came about due to my love for Adidas and my desire to have a visual collection of my favorite ways to style the German sportswear giant.  I'm not sure where exactly my adidas obsession began, but it definitely has something to do with my German heritage. Adidas ™ is headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany, and is the number one sportswear brand in Europe. Adidas also manufactures many of my favorite teams' merchandise.  I highly enjoy watching both the English Premiere League and the German Bundesliga. My favorite teams are Newcastle United, Leicester City, and RB Leipzig, respectively. Adidas has made jerseys and track jackets for all three of these teams as well as many more. Without further ado, here are my favorite ways to style Adidas (with visuals!). 1. Basic Jacket Style (via Pinterest) This is my go-to, as it is the simplest