When Bri of Work Clothes I Suppose asked me to co-host her Third Thursday Threads linkup, I was shocked, humbled, and excited to say yes!  If this is your first visit to NCsquared Life, then I’d like to say welcome and thank you so much for stopping by. My name is Nikki and I’m a full-time graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in public health. NCsquared Life is a lifestyle blog that mostly documents my daily style with a little bit of life and DIY from my husband, Nick, sprinkled in. Nick + Nikki = NCsquared. I hope you like what you see and will stick around. If you’ve been here a time or two before, it’s nice to see you again.

I’ve come to realize that I rarely dress up on the blog so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to show off my newest dress and my favorite heeled sandals. There’s a story behind these sandals that made me feel I should choose them for this post: I saw them online at Banana Republic and wanted them so badly but by the time I had enough money to purchase them (broke graduate student here!), they were gone. I continuously checked to see if they would come back and when they did, even at $8 more than their original price, I snatched them right up. The heel height is perfect and the color is great. I have no regrets! Oh, and the dress is really fun, too.

Here’s the fun one: this dress is fun to twirl in, and I like twirling!

AND because we’re huge nerds, Nick created a gif of me walking in my awesome sandals in honor of this thread!  Enjoy!

Dress: Mystree via Stitch Fix
Belt: Modcloth (came with another dress, but I wear it with everything!)
Necklace & Clutch: Francesca’s
Bracelet: Old Navy
Sandals: Banana Republic

So, with a little twist, here’s how this works:

1. Follow Work Clothes, I Suppose, and NCsquared Life!
2. Link to a specific post, not your general blog URL, and please be wearing or talking about sandals.
3. Visit the other bloggers who have linked up!

It’s been really hot and humid the last couple of days so I’ve been wearing shorts and skirts pretty much any time I go out. I wore this yesterday to run some errands and, in hind sight, the material of the top wasn’t that breathable so I probably sweated more than I needed to. But I sure looked cute when I got a  flu shot for my internship! You can see the bandaid on my shoulder in the photo below.

I got these sandals from Target a few weeks ago and, at first, I thought they would be cute with everything but now I second guess myself every time I put them on, including this time. But I made myself stick with them and I’m glad I did. I mean, they are really cute. What do you all think?

Linking up with Walking in Memphis in High Heels

School’s out for summer! Just kidding, I start my internship and an environmental health class in less than two weeks, but that means I have over a week to *not* do school work. I’ll take it!

So, this was my favorite outfit last summer.  Most of my summer/warm weather outfits will be from last year because I haven’t been summer shopping yet, nor do I have much cash to do so. The good thing is I wasn’t blogging last summer so it’ll all be new to y’all! Also, shorts and tees will never go out of style. Add a hat and you’re golden. Speaking ot hats, this one is shaped funny because it spent about 6 hours smooshed under a heavy bag during a road trip to Illinois last year and it never really recovered. Does anyone have any advice on how to take the bump out?

One reason this was my favorite outfit is because these shorts are so comfortable, super cute and very versatile. Tie that t-shirt to add a little interest and you’re even more golden 😉

Here’s a photo of me wearing this last year. Looks completely identical!

I should’ve mentioned this sooner but this week is finals week at school. My exams actually started on Friday, but I have two more exams and a 10-page paper due by Wednesday. Needless to say, things will be a little quiet until then. I hope you’ll stick around, though! Here’s a peak at what I’ve been wearing to study.

top & earrings: old navy | shorts: Gap

top and skirt: target

top: conversation pieces | shorts: Gap

Happy Sunday!

This may sound strange, but I don’t know how to dress for graduate school. Dressing for work in an office was easy because I knew what was expected and what was appropriate; I wore pencil skirts, trousers, and cute heels and I had a lot of fun putting together different combinations. But grad school is different, at least for me, because it’s much more casual and anything goes, but casual has never really been my forte. Also, I tend to look much younger than my actual age (of 29) when I dress down, so I have trouble dressing casually for my age without looking like a teenager or a soccer mom. So, here is my take on dressing casually for my age and lifestyle. It’s comfortable but still put together. Unfortunately, it started raining so I changed into flats and didn’t get any photos with them.

Let’s talk about these shoes. They’re from Banana Republic and I coveted them for weeks because the color is great and the heel height is PERFECT but my size is only available online, which means I have to pay full price (can’t use Nick’s discount on the internet, boo!). By the time I was ready to purchase them, they were gone. Like, completely taken off the site. No “out of stock” notifications or anything. I was crushed. I checked every other day to see if they were back in stock. Finally, they were back BUT for $8 more than their original price! Ugh, give me a break, Banana. I purchased them as soon as I could, and considered getting a pair in all the other colors (black, white, and coral/snakeskin) but decided against it because I’m a poor grad student. And every time I try to wear them, it rains. I cannot catch a break with these things. #firstworldproblems

It all looks adorable with this trench, though, so it was totally worth it.

And here’s the fun one:

 Linking up with More Pieces of Me | Perfectly Coutured  | Walking in Heels In Memphis | Mix and Match Fashion | Stylin’ in St. Louis| Vodka Infused Lemonade