Author: MissUSAtoMBA

Intention

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The day was January 1st and I shot out of bed, grabbed my laptop and notebook and started thinking about my resolutions and intentions for this new year.

The constant cord that kept coming up was that I was going to make myself and my goals a priority, but that I was also going to stop being so hard on myself. So rather than you dear reader(s) getting a ubiquitous New Years Day post, instead I took that time to rest. And then I kept resting, went to LA for an amazing career trek, came back to New York, rested some more, started a new internship…and now, on the eve before I get back into the swing of class, I’m ready to sit down and tell you what my intentions are this year.

P.s. I’m writing this from my desk at Harper’s Bazaar while eating lunch, so obviously mindfulness needs to go on my list.

  • Make better use out of my ClassPass membership. I’ve recently become a huge Khloe Kardashian fan after reading her book, and secretly watching the show over break. And she talked about exercise seriously helped her manage her anxiety. I’m trying to get in on those bennies and start managing my general stress and craziness with more workouts. That’s where ClassPass comes in. I really want to start exploring the city, testing my limits, and trying new things.
  • Fall further down the rabbit hole of my K Beauty obsession. Working at a fashion magazine and blogging have made me even more aware of how important a good foundation is, and I don’t mean makeup. If your skin isn’t the gorgeous canvas it needs to be, you will always feel blah. So it’s obvious that I love K Beauty, but I really want to start stacking up the empties, and learn more about everything…I’m actually about to Google rubber masking.
  • Start celebrating myself more. I learned a long time ago if you are waiting on other people to tell you that you’re amazing you will be waiting until Jesus comes. So I want to take a chunk out of my week, every week, to really celebrate myself and what I’ve done right rather than dwelling on what’s wrong.
  • Go on Me Dates. When I was an undergrad and living in Miami I used to take myself on dates every week. And I mean real dates, like dinners, movies, museums, botanical gardens, the whole nine, and sometimes I would even get really done up. For some reason I stopped a few years ago, and now that I’m in New York, its easy to feel disconnected from yourself with the hoards of people everywhere. With that said, I don’t think I’ll ever go back to my weekly dates, but I plan on making Me Dates a thing again.

Well those are the big ones…but there are some intentions I need to keep to myself…I can’t let strangers in on all the things I’m lacking.

If you’re wondering, I’ve had a good go so far of sticking to these intentions.

Now let me get back to work (which I will fill you all in on how I got my sweet new gig working as an assistant to The Editor in Chief of Harper’s Bazaar…job search tips yay!).

I hope those of you on the east coast like me are thawing out from Jonas, and for the rest of you lovies,

XOXO,

MacKenzie

 

Thank You 2015

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I figure rather than dump out the last few outfits I didn’t post this year (I need some content for the start of the year), or apologize for my absence (finals wiped me out and so did winter break), I figure I’ll write a thank you note to this incredible year.

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What I Wore In A Week and How I Got A Life

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So I have legit taken two weeks off from blogging for a perfectly good reason…balance.

I have been trying to figure out how to get a handle on school, have a life, and write. I haven’t found the perfect balance of any of it, but I kind of took two weeks off from my blog to work on having a social life. It was amazing people, there’s a world outside of my library and apartment! Honestly, as this term is coming to a close I find myself feeling slightly emotional over how quickly this is all going. Like for real, I feel like before I know it I’ll be walking across the stage, wondering where the time went.

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What I Wore In A Week: The Forgotten Days

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I took some days off from blogging, which meant I took a bunch of outfit pictures that never made it on the blog.

I was dragging, then I was exhausted, got some days off from school, worked out, and went home for fall break…so posting WIW went to the wayside.

So without further rambling…I give you the forgotten days:

The day of the BBSA conference was rough and took me back to my pageant days…being in full hair and makeup before the sun is up, spending all day in heels, and coming home to possible nerve damage in your feet.

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I will admittedly say the first day was a serious miss, like when I put the picture on my snapchat I immediately got a text from my mom asking, “What are you wearing?!?” But my favorite hit of the week came courtesy of my new obsession, my super deep burgundy MAC lipstick. I’ll share the color another day, but its an amazing color that I adore. It looked nice with my hair back and down, it just adds the perfect amount of drama.

So if nothing else, learn from me that some days will be hits and others will be serious misses…but you get an A for effort.

XOXO,

MacKenzie

Workout Wednesday: TSC Bombshell Body Guide

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I adore Lauryn Evarts at the Skinny Confidential.

Girl crush would be an understatement about this lady. She is aspirational, real, and the friend you wish you had.

I’ve been following her blog for some time (coconut milk ice cubes, chia seeds, diva cups…she covers it all), so when she announced that she was creating the bombshell body guides I just had to try it.  If you are wondering, I bought the guides, tried them, and fell in love with them long before I talked to anyone at Skinny Confidential to review them…that’s how much I loved them!

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Beauty Buys: Soko 7 Day Challenge

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I make no attempts to hide my love of Korean skincare. In fact, my first official post on this blog was about my love of K-Beauty.

A few weeks ago I was on the Soko Glam site looking for new products and came across the Soko Glam 7 Day Sheet mask challenge. First off, if you don’t know about sheet masks, you and your skin are seriously missing out on some high quality pampering. I love sheet masks because 1) I can wear my glasses while using them, 2) my skin always looks better after using them…INSTANTLY!

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What I Wore In A Week…on the wrong day

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First off, pardon WIW coming to you on a Monday…I had finals and midterms all last week and the idea of blogging and posting seemed painful to deal with.

So you are getting this post several days late, but at least you are getting it…so let’s get some clothes…

You can tell these outfits where during finals and review sessions…because everything is varying degrees of comfort. My rule when dealing with review weeks and tests is if I can’t comfortable cross my legs and sit on the floor in it, than I will spend my whole test/review fidgeting with what I have on.

The flannel/camo combo was inspired by a suggestion I got on my Stitch Fix account. By the way Stitch Fix is amazing (that’s where I got my awesome new jeans from!), and no they aren’t paying me to tell you that they’re amazing.  If you want to check the site out, follow this link. That same day I had to take the club photo for the Black Business Students Association.  I wore a gorgeous David Meister dress and Jimmy Choo heels, however I wasn’t feeling particularly girly lugging my backpack while wearing it, so I changed out of it in under 30 seconds and never took a picture (maybe I’ll do a post of all the outfits I’ve worn and never talked about).

Hopefully something on here inspired you to add a little umph to your super casual wear…or maybe buy a beenie for bad hair days (they’re a lifesaver for bad hair days if you have a giant head).

XOXO,

MacKenzie

The Best Part of Waking Up

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Don’t worry this isn’t a post about coffee…that’s for a later time.

This is about how I start my morning. I start every morning, 30 minutes after I wake up, with a green smoothie.

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Now this isn’t a magical 14 ingredient green smoothie that you see on some IG pages, this is quick and easy.

1 banana (preferably frozen so it’s creamy dreamy goodness)

1-2 big handfuls of spinach or any other dark leafy greens (I’ve used baby kale before)

1 cup milk (almond, coconut, cashew, whatever floats your boat)

1 scoop of pea protein (like Perfect Fit Protein)

…and it’s that simple. That’s how I start my mornings.  Now if you want to know why I eat something 30 minutes after waking up, that’s another post about my adventures in carb cycling 😉

I start the day with a protein packed, dairy free, gluten free, vegan, nutrient dense smoothie that gets my metabolism humming along for the day.

Hopefully seeing how easy it is to incorporate more greens or nutrient dense food in your day will inspire you to give this a try.

XOXO,

MacKenzie

This or That: Flywheel vs. Soulcycle

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Not since East Coast versus West Coast has there been such a debate, Flywheel or SoulCyle.

I used to be a spin instructor, so I’m super picky when it comes to where I take spin classes. Like no joke I lose patience really quickly when its a wordless, 4% incline, super basic type of spin class. Yes, I know all the spin instructors out there are probably yelling about contraindication spin…blah blah I know, and sorry not sorry, I don’t like those classes.

For every person in my class at CBS, I’m finally ready to answer what the difference is…from a philosophy stand point. Because rather than get in to price comparison, locations, instructors, and all that jazz, I figured I’d tell you about what makes the style different.

Soul is an interesting beast.  It is truly a cult that when you agree to drink the kool-aid, you are all in my friend. Its about the pack, the collective motivation of the group.  Your position in the room matters in relationship to the pack. I personally like to lead the pack from the front row. Its the kind of experience where you go, turn off your brain, and surrender to the energy of the room and the instructor.

Flywheel, on the other hand, is where I go when I want to plug in and compete against myself.  Flywheel isn’t about the pack, the music, the rhythm, or anyone else, it’s about you. Honestly, Fly is where I go when I want a slightly selfish experience, when I want to just focus on my ride. Your position in the room doesn’t matter, but if you are super competitive like me you take a spot and laser focus on the torq board (the leaderboard that runs during class showing you your position among the room). I have to forget trying to ride the beat of ever song, forget about catching the same cadence as my neighbor, its about how hard I push myself.

Both have their ups and downs, and I’ve ridden both. I have moments where I love spin and when I abhor it, but when I’m in the mood to spin I go for Soul or Fly. I honestly prefer Soul more because I worked so hard to get to the front of the pack, and I love any place that allows me to twerk on a spin bike. Thanks to some persistent classmates here at Columbia, I’ve started riding Flywheel. The extremely competitive person in me loves that I can see how I fair, and that I have actual stats to try and best for the next ride.

If you are ever walking around Manhattan and see a girl changing from a Soul top into a Fly one with a high bun, it’s probably me 🙂

XOXO,

MacKenzie

What I Wore In A Week, A Trip To the Fun Home and the Breakfast At Estee Lauder

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This week there are only 4 outfits because I was so excited to head home that I didn’t stop to take a photo of what I was wearing…but I’ll eventually restyle to outfit and post it. But moving forward, since we don’t have class on Fridays, you probably won’t be seeing 5 outfits anymore (because I go heavily athleisure on my off days).

I won’t lie to you, I was white knuckling to the end of the week, so I relied heavily on trying to make myself feel up to conquer the day by putting a wee bit more effort into my look. Also, I was lucky to have some fun moments this week to take my mind off of all the stress.

This was a heavy high/low mixing week. I felt a little like I needed to approach my clothes like costumes this particular week. I went to Fun Home Grandpa Chic in my plaid pants and sweater, since I knew the play was set in a funeral home. Also I had the opportunity to attend a sports/technology event, and since I refuse to wear a suit, the second outfit with the leather jacket was my take on a suit. I’m always pushing the boundaries of work wear and what is appropriate, I’m a habitual line stepper when it comes to appropriate attire.

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If you are a broadway nerd like me I would recommend Fun Home because they are doing some interesting things in that play with staging, visuals, and music. I wasn’t in love with the entire experience, but I thought the unique ideas they tried were really fascinating.  Its innovative and interesting, and I would say you should see it if you can.

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I’ll talk more about the Estee Lauder breakfast in a future post about recruiting and informationals, so hang tight on that.

XOXO,

MacKenzie