Medicine & Manicures

Floral Lace LWD

Ohh, Monday. Another weekend has come and gone way too quickly, who else agrees?? Mine consisted of quality time with the hubs (still feels weird saying that) which included pool time, organizing our storage unit, lots of cooking, and visiting our little 7-week old nephew. It’s crazy how much more free time I have now that wedding planning is over!

I wore this fun little white dress last weekend for date night. The LWD is a spring/summer staple and I love the feminine details in this fit & flare from Kut from the Kloth. The mesh sleeves, the delicate lace, the keyhole back. This is one of those dresses that is so versatile and I will definitely be grabbing it over and over again this season. I dressed it up with my favorite lace-up heels and some statement earrings, but it would look super cute with studded flats and a denim jacket. 

It’s no secret that I love to eat so checking out new restaurants in town is one of my favorite weekend activities. Last Friday we visited 204 North, which is conveniently located next to our wedding venue and a block away from our condo. To all my Charlotte readers- the drinks are so good and I highly recommend the pimento cheese fried green tomatoes and the shrimp & grits. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it again! Have a great Monday, friends 🙂

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How To Refinance Your Student Loans


Hey y’all! I wanted to take a break from wedding and lifestyle posts and discuss a topic that I knew nothing about until my (now) husband educated me. 

Student debt. 



As you know I spent the last 2.5 years in grad school which was not cheap (shocker I know). I took out federal loans to finance my tuition and living expenses for my time in school. Ryan will tell you that he provided some loans too that he doesn’t ever plan on seeing again, but I told him a lifetime with me is a great return on his investment 🙂 Anyway, by the time I graduated I had 5 separate loans at 5 different interest rates ranging from 6-7.6 percent. Anyone that has bought a home in the last few years knows that home loans are right around 4% and under. That 7 percent-ish interest rate may not seem like that much but with a big balance and many years to repay it, you are talking about tens of thousands of dollars in interests payments. Yikes!!! Luckily that’s where SoFi comes in. 


Ryan likes to call himself the “CFO” of our relationship and let’s be honest, there’s always one person who’s more financially savvy. I want to give him a big shoutout for helping me with this whole process and also with writing this post! 

There are many companies that will refinance your student debt once you graduate and they can all be applied to online. I didn’t have to spend one second in a bank. Ryan did some research and found SoFi and Earnest to be two companies that offered the lowest interest rates. The applications themselves are pretty easy but here is a basic list of what you need to have ready:

  • Proof that you graduated
  • A recent billing statement (i.e. electric bill) to verify your address.
  • A statement for any checking/savings/retirements/investment accounts you have
  • Your current student debt
  • Any other outstanding debt (mortgage, credit card, auto loans etc…)
Basically, they want a snapshot of how much money you have and how much money you owe. The other piece of info they want is how much you are going to make with your new job- a recent pay stub or a signed offer letter will work. 

Once you have all of your info ready, the whole process can be handled online in a week or so. Here are some tips to keep in mind:
Fixed rate vs. Variable Rate
A fixed rate will never change. You pick how long you want to take to pay your loans (10, 15, 20 years…) and they will tell you how much you will have to pay. Your monthly payment will stay the same for the entire period of the loan. 

A variable rate is normally about 2% lower but can change once a month. This means your payment could go up or down every month. Interest rates have remained very steady over the past couple years so my current variable rate should remain lower than the fixed rate for at least several more years. And when the interest rate does move, it is a very small amount month to month. 

Whichever option you choose make sure to set up auto draft so that the money is taken out of your account automatically every month. The interest rate drops 0.25% when you do this. 

Get ready to make payments
Do not refinance until you are ready to start paying. Most federal loans give you up to 6 months to start paying but once you refinance with a private lender, they want the first payment in about 45 days. And then another payment every 30 days for the rest of your life (slight exaggeration). 

Just do it
Don’t be afraid to take this on yourself. The companies I mentioned have very knowledgeable people that can answer any questioning that you have. It is definitely worth your time. Ryan calculated that we will pay over $20,000 less in interest than if we would have just stuck with the federal loans. 

If y’all have any more questions about this process, don’t hesitate to let me know! I know this can be a daunting task but trust me, it’s well worth it in the end. And this is not a sponsored post, I just wanted to share some useful financial info with y’all 🙂


PS. If you like free handbags, don’t forget to enter the Urban Expressions giveaway here. I’ll announce the winner tomorrow & hope y’all have a fabulous day!





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St. Lucia Honeymoon: Ladera + Recap Video

Hi, friends and welcome back! I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend and I’m glad we at least got some sun yesterday. Today I’m sharing the final recap of our honeymoon to St. Lucia (check out part 1 & part 2 here) and make sure to check out a fun little video I made at the end of the post!For the last night of our trip, we thought we should end with a bang and stay at a different resort. After some researching, we decided on Ladera which is located up the mountain from Sugar Beach and nestled high between the Pitons. I’ll let the view speak for itself!

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Tassel Clutch + Giveaway

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Happy Friday everyone!! Don’t mind me while I do my happy dance because who doesn’t love a three-day weekend?! This will be our first full weekend at home since the wedding and boy am I excited. No crazy plans for Memorial Day- just hoping to squeeze in some quality time with friends, a lazy day at the pool, and finally starting those thank you cards. I know… I need to get on it! Today I’m sharing one of my favorite looks from our honeymoon and keep reading for a fun giveaway (hint: it’s a fun accessory for summer!).

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St. Lucia Honeymoon: Exploring the Island

Congratulations friends, you’ve made it halfway through the work week! I’m back today with some more honeymoon highlights (read part 1 here), this time talking about what we did off of the resort. Ryan & I love to be adventurous, but this trip was
mostly for some good ‘ol rest & relaxation. However, we could never simply sit on a beach
for a week straight so we broke up the week with some exploring.

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