Back to School: Supplies

Hey Y'all, 

Here is the first post in my Back to School series! I am very excited about this series.. I know a fair amount of my readers are still in school, so I felt like this series would be an appropriate and fun series to put together. For the first post, I will be talking about basic supplies for school. I hope that you enjoy this post:)

When you're younger and in Elementary or Middle School, you get pretty straight forward supply lists. everything from scissors with a 6" blade to an 8 count box of markers.. The list is very specific as to everything that you will need. As you get older, and you move on into high school.. You will find that there are no supply lists like there used to be. I mean sure you may have to have a 3" 3 ring binder for one class, and a 10 subject 5 Star notebook for another.. But you don't get a physical list for every single class. It's important to know exactly which supplies you need so that you can get the most out of the school year. For me, different colored highlighters, index cards, college ruled lined paper and mechanical pencils are just a few of my favorite things! below you will find a list of random supplies that you might need.. 

PENCILS: How in the world can you go through school without pencils? I think it's ok to have one or two packs of more expensive pencils like Lilly Pulitzer, Kate Spade, or even Jonathan Adler. I also like the Dixon Ticonderoga pencils (Walmart). They have really good erasers and are super easy to sharpen. When it comes down to mechanical pencils.. I can be a little picky. I really like these and these. 

PENS: There is no school supply I love more than a nice blue pen. Don't ask me why.. I have no clue. I LOVE writing with blue pens. It doesn't really matter the brand or the shade of blue, I just have this thing about blue pens. Here are the ones that I use most often, but I also love these. If you are looking for some fun decorative pens.. check Jonathan Adler, Vera Bradley, Lilly Pulitzer, and Kate Spade. 

NOTEBOOKS: I love writing (that's the whole reason I started a blog) I have stacks and stacks of notebooks just lying around my room.. and actually most of them are filled up with blog post ideas, sketches, and just random notes. I love a good excuse to pick up a new notebook.. like back to school! I love Jonathan Adler, Kate Spade, Lilly Pulitzer, Maybooks, and Five Star notebooks. If you are looking for a good notebook for taking notes at school.. I recommend going to your local Walmart, and picking up some Five Star notebooks. They are full size notebooks that are good for any class/subject at school. So many different colors too! (Personally.. I like sticking a monogram sticker on the front of my notebooks) However, notebooks with fun prints on them are great for taking notes or writing to-do lists.. or anything else that you might need to do!

PENCIL POUCHES: Now that you have some new pencils.. You need a new pencil bag! Pencil bags can be small cosmetic bags (which is actually good because sometimes they have a lining that comes in handy if you forget to put the lid on a highlighter or a pen.. Not like I know this from personal experience or anything like that haha.. but I do! And it really stinks to have a big green ink mark that bled all the way through the bag) I love Lilly Pulitzer and Kate Spade's pencil bags. Vera Bradley also has some nice bags.

HIGHLIGHTERS: Being the visual person that I am.. I NEED highlighters in my backpack at all times. I highlight my to-do lists, my notes, my agenda, pretty much anything and everything. I love a good set of cute highlighters as much as the next girl.. but they are just not as practical as regular Sharpie highlighters. 

AGENDAS: It is very important to stay organized and clean during the school year. You don't want to lose important papers, or forget to turn in a paper or get a zero on something because you turned it in a day late.. Because (Excuse my language) that would suck. I have had that happen in the past. You work your butt off, and then leave it on the printer the day it's due. Nothing is more disappointing than that. Now agendas won't go over to the printer, and get the paper off for you.. But if you really use your agenda to write down EVERYTHING, then the chances of bad things happening go down.. a lot. I had a Lilly Pulitzer agenda last year, and it was nice. I recommend the Lilly agendas to girls who like a lot of color, or if you are in middle school. I have been OBSESSED with a capital OBSESSED with the Kate Spade agendas lately! They are so much more mature and I don't know.. They just feel more appropriate for school than the Lilly's (I don't want to create any long discussions or any arguments with this.. I'm just sharing my opinions) Ban.do also has some SUPER fun agendas for any girls who love bright colors and fun fonts! Seriously in love. Also, Rifle Paper Co is moving on up my favorites list lately...

WATER BOTTLES: I don't know about y'all.. but when I get bored, I get really thirsty. If you've been reading Classy Cathleen for at least a week maybe two.. then you know that I'm weird.. and so somehow I just feel better if I'm drinking out of a cute water bottle or tumbler than when I drink out of a regular, boring, plastic Deer Park bottle. Am I the only one that feels this way? I honestly don't know.. but I like stickers on my water bottles.. and Lilly Pulitzer tumblers.. and yeah.. I know.. I'm weird. I really like Camelbak water bottles. I feel like they are the perfect size, shape, and the colors are great! The great thing about drinking out of a cute cup is that it encourages you to drink water, and that keeps your skin happy and healthy! Another one of my favorites is this Ban.do travel mug.. Too cute!

That's about all of the basic supplies that I can think of. But don't worry.. There will be more to this series throughout the whole "Back to School" season. Feel free to email me with any ideas or if you have any requests for this series!

Click the image above to explore some of the other posts in this back to school series!