The Sratty Archaeologist

I don't know about you, but I love getting mail. There's something so thoughtful about getting a handwritten card from a friend that's far away. Cards bring people closer, no matter the distance. On the flip side, I am obsessed with finding funny, cute cards for my loved ones. It doesn't matter the occasion if I see a card I like and reminds me of a person I will send it their way. I once sent a Star Wars card featuring the character Rey to one of my friends just because I know she'd like it. Was it a child's birthday card, maybe but it reminded me of her. She loves Rey and I hope it brought a smile to her face.
I think in an age where everything is fast paced and instantaneous, taking the time to send someone a card is such a special sentiment. It says you took the time to find the perfect card, sat down to write out a message to them, and send it out via snail mail.
E-cards aren't the same. Something about them seems so cold and generic. You can't see the pen marks, feel the texture of the card stock, or hear that envelope rip open. I am so anti e-card it isn't funny. Take some time, go buy a stamp, write out a message, and walk your butt over to your mailbox and send that bad boy out. What takes you literally 5 minutes to write out could seriously make someone's day when they receive it.
I love looking through all of the Christmas cards my family receives during the holidays. Some of them are photo cards and I get the chance to see how people's kids are growing, or some cards include a note about what's been going on with them during the past year. While it may be easy to stay connected via Facebook, somethings you just can't find on the internet. Those who take the time to write card are taking the time to share a part of their lives with you and are remembering you during the holidays.
Don't forget to send out Thank You notes after this holiday. I'm super thankful for all the amazing people in my life that remember me on Christmas, my birthday, graduation, etc. I write a short thank you note to each one of them expressing my gratefulness for their generosity and love.
On that note, I am sending out my Christmas cards. I got this set from the Target dollar section. They're super cute and chic. Black, white, rose gold, so perfect. Paper cards don't need to be super expensive to show people you care. All you need is a little cardstock, maybe a punny phrase, and a pen.

Can we take a moment to appreciate these new booties. Aren't they the most beautiful thing you've ever laid eyes on. I'm from New Jersey, leopard print is part of my soul. This TJMaxx super find is a little Christmas present for me. They're Sam Edelman Edith boots and I got them for a steal at $50. These guys are a new addition to my winter uniform.


Basically, my winter uniform is simple. Turtleneck, jeans, ankle booties, earrings, rings, tote. Simple and easy. Most importantly, warm.


While I'm not sure how my leopard booties will hold up in the slushy winter weather, on those dry, cold days, I think they will be perfect. For those slushy days, I do have my go-to pair of ankle booties. My Cougar Connect Waterproof Booties are made of the softest leather and suede and a broken in from my trip to the UK this past May. These boots have survived a downpour at Loch Ness in Scotland. While my feet didn't feel great with a half inch of water in them, the boots held up like a dream.

My Cougar Boots- all broken in and worn- so comfortable

I feel like both my Sam Edelman and Cougar booties are so trendy and chic. They go from day to night and are some of the most comfortable shoes I've worn. My go to outfit with these is a black turtleneck and either some dark washed skinny jeans or some cool ripped jeans.

Speaking of turtlenecks, I love them. They are a staple in my wardrobe. The fabrics range from synthetics to wool. A couple of my favorites are this black mock turtleneck from H and M, this oatmeal chunky turtleneck I found at TJMaxx, and a light gray number from Kohls.

Everything in my go-to bag

My go to bag as always is my Vince Camuto Leila Small Saffiano tote. I can carry everything I need and it basically goes with anything. For accessories, I always wear my claddagh ring and my thistle ring on my fingers. I feel naked without them. I have been switching up my earrings though. Although my trusty pearl earrings are still my go to, I've been changing things up a bit. I picked up a pair of Kendra Scott Danielle earrings ( Here's some similar ones). They're abalone shell with this gorgeous gun metal finish. The darker colors contrast the brand's more summery collection which I think make them great for the winter season.

My Kendra Scott Earrings

My winter uniform is comfortable, classic, and easy to throw on. It can be dressed up or down depending on where I'm off to.

Hi gang! The holiday season is officially upon us. It's the time for cookie baking, non-stop Christmas music, and of course gift giving. I'm very lucky to have so many great people in my life that I want to treat to some Christmas goodies, but I'm on a tight budget and don't want to break the bank. Thankfully I don't have to. I'm a big believer of DIY gifts. They're inexpensive and you can add your own personal touch to each. My go-to gift this year are these adorable cookie making kits. The best part about these gifts is that they can be given to so many different people. You can give these to your co-workers, teachers, neighbors, and even family members. I don't know about you but baking really brings people together. Some of my favorite holiday memories are in the kitchen baking with my mom. Giving these little oven mitt cookie kits is a way of sharing one of my holiday traditions with someone else.

Hey gang, so as you may have noticed the content on this page has been a little lacking lately. It's that time of year, I'm sure those of you who are students know this, but November sucks in regard to school work. The semester is quickly closing in on me and I'm up to my eyeballs in papers and projects. Totally procrastinated on some of these so I can't really complain.
I'm also now seeing a chiropractor for my back and my neck. I basically get a massage and an adjustment twice a week and that really helps me unwind. Apparently my neck and back pain could have been triggered by my jaw surgery, crazy right. I still think my face is swollen but no one else does. I've been taking my turmeric and other vitamins to help with inflammation and everything so I guess for now time will tell.
Anyway, I'm not here to complain but to give you a heads up on what's going on with me right now. Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I'm in charge of pie making this year (eek!) and have been testing and tasting every kind of apple pie recipe I can get my hands on. I'll have to let you all know which recipe wins for turkey day.
And right after Thanksgiving we're into the craziness of the Christmas season. I have some content planned like some fun, festive, and inexpensive gift idea and guides for all the people in your life as well as some holiday outfits and organizational tips for wrapping and preparing for the holidays to make it as smooth as possible. Who wants to stress over the holidays, not me. I've already been accumulating little things here and there.
Alright, I've got to get back to that paper grind. I'm throwing back Starbucks Chai Tea Lattes (with coconut milk because my lactose intolerant stomach has been acting up, I know gross) like a mad woman. You know what they say, caffeine is the new black. Just kidding, could totally go for a nap right now, naps are chic.

As you all know fall is my favorite season. There are so many things to do when the leaves start to turn orange and I live for it. I am #basic and am so proud of it. I see nothing wrong with being basic and enjoy festive fall things. Do you, and screw anyone else who gives you grief about what you like. So here are my favorite things about fall.
First off, can I get a hell yeah for pumpkin picking and corn mazes. There honestly is no better date with your guy or with your gals then heading out to a pumpkin patch taking some cute pictures and then getting lost in a corn maze together. Chris and I went to Mazeilla in Saylorsburg, PA when I visited him over his long weekend. The weather was absolutely perfect and we got to spend all day outside enjoying the fresh air. The corn maze defeated us in the end but we did of course get our stereotypical pumpkin patch picture after. Too cute am I right? For a beautiful Saturday, it was pretty crowded but not too overwhelming.


Another fall activity I'm obsessed with is baking with all the fresh produce. I'm allergic to raw apples ( I know random) but I can eat apples so long as they are cooked. I love experimenting with new recipes with baked apples and I found two standout recipes for apple season this year. One was a apple pie bread which was similar to a coffeecake, check out the recipe here! Literally, this is the BEST apple bread.


Another was hasselback apples stuffed with oats, brown sugar, and cinnamon. I topped these bad boys with caramel sauce, so yummy. My baking endeavors have been going fairly well and my mom is looking for someone to do pie for Thanksgiving? Caramel apple pie anyone? Maybe.
The only downside to this amazing time of year is the amount of school work I have going on. So cheers to fall, I'm off to finish a cranking out a Museum Registration take home exam!

A little pattern mixing and some corn maze action

Photo Courtesy of Yelp

I'm a total foodie. I dream about what to eat for dinner while I'm eating breakfast. Anytime I get the chance to try a new restaurant I get super excited. So this series will be a few of my favorites.
I'm starting off with one of my favorite restaurants from my old stomping ground in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Stonehouse is a pizzeria and pastaria. It has an impressive menu of wood fired pizza, pasta, and other yummy entrees. They have homemade pastries, pizza dough, and get a lot of their ingredients from local farms.
The pizza is the standout item on the menu. The dough is made fresh and its a sourdough which gives the pizza a distinctive taste. Don't worry if you're gluten free, there's an option for you too! There's a total of twelve pizzas on their menu not including the make your own option. My personal favorites are the Stonehouse Pizza and the Charles Pizza. The Stonehouse Pizza is topped with Italian sausage, mushrooms, caramelized garlic, ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, and of course their incredible sweet marinara sauce. The Charles is just as decedent with the excellent sauce and mozzarella topped with thin slices of prosciutto on top of a bed of burglar and drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Um yes please. I've also tried the Classic Margarita, the Carne, Four Cheese, and Buffalo Chicken Pizza.
The best way to test out all of these options is to find a few friends ( or just a hungry boyfriend) and get yourself the pizza tower. For $33 you get three of their pies which is a pretty awesome deal. Not going to lie, Chris and I have polish one of these off in one sitting, but if you're not feeling that ambitious leftovers are still great.




While the best thing on the menu is the pizza, the rest of the menu is also amazing. My parents absolutely love this restaurant. Whenever they would come visit me at school, we'd always head to the Stonehouse. They even made sure they got to go after my graduation for dinner. My dad loves the calamari both the traditional fried version and the grilled version which is tossed with dressing, celery, capers, and olives. My mom and I both love the pasta option with a meatball.,You can choose between marinara, Alfredo, or vodka sauce ( my personal favorite is vodka) with a choice of pasta, some of which is homemade! And the meatball is HUGE and perfect. It's a perfect cozy meal.
So if you're in Williamsport, make sure to try this gem, I guarantee you that you'll fall in love with the pizza and the atmosphere!

I'm back at it again with experimenting with vegetables as pasta! Today's excursion was with zoodles aka zucchini noodles! I bought a Veggetti which spiralizes vegtables. I bought a lovely zucchini for dinner and decided to spiral it up to create a healthier pasta alternative.
So a little jaw surgery update for you all. So I basically can eat whatever I want now except stuff that's super hard or crunchy, that's still kinda hard on my teeth. I've been seriously craving fresh veggies. Some crunchy roasted broccoli, refreshing celery with dip, yum. Alas I am still unable to chow down on these treats. Sometimes chips even get me. So I've been making due with a lot of softer vegetables like spinach, or really soft boiled broccoli, string beans etc.

Back to the zoodles. So the Veggetti is pretty easy to use, you chop the zucchini in half and shove it into the contraption and get to twisting. Let me tell you this was a bit of an arm workout for me. Once you've spiraled everything you're supposed to cut the zoodles in half. This is where I went wrong. My hunger induced impatience got the best of me and this gal over here neglected to chop the long strands in half which made eating them very difficult.


I decided to saute the noodles in some store bought Alfredo sauce. Of course you could make your own Alfredo sauce especially if you want to control the salt or any other ingredients but I was feeling particularly lazy and very hungry. I heated them up tossing the mix constantly for about 5 minutes until the zoodles were cooked through and tender. I made it extra saucy by accident but hey it was very delicious. I sprinkled the finish product with some Parmesan cheese and some fresh cracked black pepper. and got to eating.
Since my first foray into zoodles, I've cooked them with tomato sauce, or even just sauteed them with some garlic and oil. All options are equally delicious and a great pasta alternative for those who want to be a little bit more healthy in their eating habits.

Palmyra, jewel of the Syrian desert, home of archaeological wonder, victim of terrorism, and subject of my senior capstone project. Let's just say I love this site and am terrified of what may happen to it if violence continues in Syria.

I love fall. Am I jumping the gun a bit, probably, but fall is my absolute favorite season. It's cool, crisp, not humid, and layers are finally back in fashion after a long hot summer. I am terrible when dressing for summer. I feel super exposed in short shorts because of my long legs. So now that fall is here I am prepared to layer!
I wore this outfit to work today. I'm in an air conditioned office so layers are a very good things since it gets chilly at times. The dress I'm wearing is from Old Navy. It's a thicker material and can totally be worn by itself too. My shirt underneath is a sleeveless collared shirt from Kohl's. My shoes are my trusty nude Kelly & Katie flats. I received my purse as a gift from my godmother and it is one of my favorites. It's a Vince Camuto Essential Tote and it fits everything I need for work. It also looks super polished and professional.
I added more layers to this look by layering two necklaces under my collar. One is dainty strand of pearls paired with a Tiffany blue statement necklace. I think they pair really well together. As always I wear my pearl studs with everything. My lip color is a new addition to the makeup collection from my September Boxycharm. It's from the brand Pur Cosmetics and it's their Lip Lure in the shade Graceful which looked a bit orangey on me. Perfect for an autumn look!
 Oh and my taupey gray nail polish is from Butter London. Also a product from this month's Boxycharm, perfect for fall.As you can tell, fall is my season. Break out the pumpkin spice, crunchy leaves, and 13 days of Halloween!

Hey hey hey! I started my first ever semester of grad school this week. It's been a bit of a change from undergrad. For starters I'm commuting which is totally different from living on campus. On top of that my classes don't start until 6:30 pm each evening and run until 8:40. That's super late for me, I'm usually in bed by 10!

Back to my bag. I'm currently using my trusty Longchamp bag to tote all my goods back and forth to campus. It's pretty sturdy and can carry all of my stuff. It also goes with basically every outfit, to be honest all the clothes I wear are black, white, or some other neutral color.
Inside the bag I keep my laptop, always in its sleeve to protect it from the other contents of my bag. I don't normally bring the charger with me. I usually keep it charging up all day and then take it of the charger right before I leave. I have an awesome battery life on my laptop so if I'm just going to class it will last for the whole time.
I also like to keep it old school and I bring a notebook with me to class everyday. If I don't write out my notes I will 100% forget what I learned in the class. I also have my Day Planner in my bag. I graduated from my Lilly Pulitzer agenda to this big guy and it keeps me totally organized and on time day by day. I don't have a lot of textbooks this semester but when I do need them they'll get tossed into my bag too.
I also keep my pencil case/ go bag in my school bag. I change purses a lot so this bag goes with me where I go. It's a tarte makeup bag I received free with some purchase I made. I love the combination of the team, cream and gold all woven together and it fits everything I need. I keep my Epi Pens  ( i'm allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, and sesame seeds), chapstick, my headphones, sea salt spray, blotting paper, whatever lipstick or gloss  I happen to be wearing that day, an extra tampon, mascara, post it notes, pens, pencils, and a USB drive.
And finally my wallet, cell phone, and car keys go into my bag. I usually take a water bottle with me to stay hydrated through class but I just carry that in my hand.
With my bag packed I'm off to school for the evening!

My house has been having a major wifi problem so I'm sorry for the lack of posts but everything should be fixed so I'm no longer living in the stone age! Anyway today I had an interview for a part time job and I thought I'd share my outfit with you all!
I kept it pretty simple and chic. Basically my entire outfit was from Old Navy, their pixie pants are my absolute favorite. I have these navy ones and also about three more pairs in a few different colors and patterns. I paired today's pixie pants with a classic white button down and added a pop of color with a navy blue statement necklace.

My shoes are a new addition to my wardrobe. I wore through my Steve Madden nude ballet flats this year. When I mean wore through I mean wore through. The bottoms of the shoe fell off while I was in Scotland. These are by the brand Kelly and Katie and the pointed toe makes the shoes feel a little bit dressier. Still I could totally dress them down with some jeans and maybe a striped shirt, super chic.
Other accessories? My Claddagh ring and my Celtic knot and thistle ring I bought in Scotland. And my handy dandy Target sunglasses for the commute!

Recently I've stepped up my skincare game. I used to be really bad at washing my face every night, using moisturizer, etc. Since getting surgery my skin has been having a MAJOR freak out. My skin went from super dry and flaky to super oily and acne prone. Yes, I totally have gotten spots here and there especially during that time of the month, but nothing like the bumps and texture on my face now.
Every morning I start my day off with Cetaphil's Daily Cleanser. It's very gentle for sensitve skin and doesn't dry my skin out. I don't have a Clarisonic or anything super fancy so I use my fingers and massage it into my skin in circular motions. I pat my face dry with my dedicated face towel. Basically it's a hand towel I only use on my face. I'll switch it every few days so it stays nice and clean.
After I'm done I'll use a bit of Garnier's Micellar Water on my eyes to get off any excess mascara I didn't get off the night before. After I'll pop some Neutrogena Acne Stress Control toner on a cotton pad and swipe it all over my face. Then I use some Neutrogena Oil Free Acne Moisturizer. It's grapefruit scented and smells lovely.
After, I'll used a little bit of scar gel on my facil scar. During surgery, my skin was stretched and cut by accident and even though it's gotten a lot better I'm very self conscious of the scar. I'll massage the gel on my face and let it dry a bit before I begin my makeup.
After a long day, doing my nighttime skin care routine is a great way to unwind. I wash my face with Feeling Beautiful's 4 in 1 Apple Cider Vinegar Clay Mask. You can use this as a cleanser too and I love it. It does have some scrubby bits in it but it's a very gentle scrub.
I basically repeat my morning routine but I switch out the Acne Moisturizer with Aveeno Ultra Calming Nourishing Night Cream. It is great for sensitive skin and helps with irritation and redness. If I have some extra annoying zits I'll dip a Q tip into my Mario Badescu Drying Lotion. It has a pretty strong smell and if you picked at a zit it stings for a little bit but it drys out my zits overnight!
I also slather a ton of chapstick on before bed to give my lips some well deserved moisture and then curl up in my bed with my skin feeling great.

I'd like to think I know a thing or two about self tanning. I've always been fairly decent at it. Helping me achieve my faux glow was my Sugar Babies Golden Tanning Mousse. In a recent post which you can find here, I was on a hunt for more of my Sugar Baby self tanner and I had thought I hit the jackpot at TJ Maxx, finding not only my trusty Golden Self Tan Mousse, but a dark self tan mousse and Dark Tan Lotion. Needless to say I was super pumped to try these out.
So I did my usual pre tan routine. I exfoliated in the shower, applied lotion to dry patches and around the areas that self tan really sticks to like my wrists, ankles, and elbows. I pulled my hair up into a bun got undressed and began applying the Dark Tan Mousse with my tanning pad.
And that's when everything started to go wrong. The tan literally crumbled off me and was so streaky. The more I rubbed it in the worse it got. I quick cut my losses and jumped back in the shower to wash it off.
Then I tried the lotion. At first I used it on my forearms and I thought it was working. It sunk in normally and my skin felt pretty good with it on. Then as I applied it to the rest of my body the tan began to crumble off and around my chest area the tan clung to my natural tan (which I got while watching the PGA) and crumbled off my untanned area. Again, I cut my losses and jumped in the shower, afraid of leaving the streaky mess on my body.
Apparently the Sugar Baby company reformulated their tanning lotion and mousse and I'm a little scared to try the new formula for the golden tanning mousse. I still have a little less than half of my original bottle and will use that until I can't use it no more. And for the next week I'll be rocking the orange hands of shame. Despite my quick jumps in the shower and crazy exfoliating my hands seem to be semi permanently cheeto colored.