Southern Belle in Training

Fashion, Travel & Lifestyle Blog || Est. 2012 || Virginia Beach, VA

October 28, 2012

Where I've been.



     ...I haven't been blogging lately because I was here. :-)

      The end of last week and the beginning of this past week was fall break at my college. I got to go home to Maine and it was my first trip back since I left for college in mid-August! I have acclamated better to college and Southern living better than I ever dreamed, but at the same time I was ready to see my parents, friends in Maine and of course the beautiful beach.

     I was only home for a few days so I took advantage of all the time that I had and tried to visit with as many friends and family as I could. I also made time to see the homecoming football game at my high school, do lots of errands, eat yummy home cooked meals as well as food from my favorite local restaurants... and see this girl pictured below.



     This beautiful girl, K, has been my friend for about 11 years now! I will do a different post soon all about our awesome friendship through the years. :-) It was lovely to spend an afternoon together enjoying the local beach. 



I have been inspired lately with some great ideas for more blog posts, but sadly you'll all have to bare with me a few weeks. These next couple weeks are the busiest for me this semester. 3 big papers, 2 presentations and 1 test! I probably won't be blogging much since every spare second that I have will have to be spent on homework. If y'all could all please pray that I'll be able to stay focused on my studies, well rested and use good time management that would be wonderful!

Many blessings to you all! If any of you have prayer requests for the next couple weeks please leave them in a comment on this post. <3


xoxo Miss ALK
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October 12, 2012

Fashion Post {10/11/12}

     It's been a really long week for me at school. I had midterms in 3 of my 5 classes which was beyond stressful! It was also freezing here in North Carolina for most of this past week- in the low 50s most days! It was actually warmer most days in my hometown in Maine, crazy right?! So what better way to celebrate the end of a tough week and the start of more warm weather tn by breaking out the polka dots?!








  • Shirt: JC Penney (August 2012)
  • White Camisole (under shirt): Rue 21 (September 2012)
  • Jeans: American Eagle (Fall 2011)
  • Boots: Shoe Depot (September 2011)
  • Necklace: Walmart (2006-yep! 7th grade throwback)
  • Earrings: Gift from a friend (Fall 2010)

     I'm obsessed with the peplum trend, so when my mom and I found this shirt on sale at JC Penney this August I knew that I had to have it! JC Penney is one of the few department stores that we have up in Maine. It's definitely not my favorite store, but I have been able to find some cute things there during my high school years. This shirt is really light weight and flowy which I love. I think that peplum is an awesome style of shirt to wear because it hugs and showcases your curves without being super low-cut and showing a ton of cleavage! And the polka dots are just awesome. :-)
     My skinny jeans are from American Eagle. I love their jeans. Technically, these are the "jegging" style, although they aren't real jeggings and fit more like skinny jeans. AE jeans come in so many styles and washes, and are frequently on sale. Plus AE has an amazing free rewards program and sends me coupons all the time, so I rarely pay full price for something there. A lot of skinny jeans are too long on me, but I'm too tall to buy a "short" cut fit. These are regular legnth and are the perfect legnth!
      Aren't my boots just the cutest things ever?! I showed you my old boots in my last fashion post, but these are a pair that I bought upon arriving at college. They were under $40 which I think is a great deal for adorable fall boots! They have a 2 or 3 inch wedge heel built in, but are surprisingly comfortable and supportive. I love wearing heels but it's hard to do at my college because the classroom buildings are far from where I live in campus, so any heels that are comfy and cute I welcome!
     I got the necklace that I'm wearing in this post in the 7th grade at Walmart. Yes... Walmart. It's actually super long so I like to twist it around a few times. For many years I forgot that I owned it and it became lost amongst my other jewelry, but this past year I rediscovered it and was thrilled at how well it matched this shirt! Moral of the story: cute jewelry can be found pretty much anywhere! My earrings were a gift from a high school friend a couple years ago.


     I have another busy weekend (as usual) coming up at school, and then next weekend I get to go home to Maine for a few days since my school will be having fall break! It'll be a crazy week of packing, cleaning, activities and trying to get a lot of homework done so I can have a homework free vacation. Gosh- it's so weird to call going to my real home a "vacation!" 

     I hope that all you beautiful people have a great weekend yourselves! What will you be up to?


     xoxo Miss ALK
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October 5, 2012

Fashion Post {10/2/12 and 10/4/12}

     I got a lot of positive feedback on my first fashion post from a couple weeks ago, so I thought I'd share a couple more outfits today! Here's what I wore on Tuesday and Thursday of this week:

Tuesday:







  • Tunic: Macy's (September 2011)
  • Printed leggings: Ardene [Canadian Store] (August 2011)
  • Boots: DSW (Fall 2009)
  • Grey camisole: Target (November 2010)
  • Necklace: Gift from extended family (several years ago)
  • Earrings: Made by me! (Metalsmithing class, Fall 2010)

     I love skirts and dresses, and I love to wear them year round. This tunic (shirt/dress?) is one of my favorites for fall! Fall weather can be so weird and varrying, so this is perfect for this time of year. It's lightweight for when it's warm out, yet it looks great with a black or grey cardigan on top if it's chilly. It's too short to wear on its own, but I adore mixing it with these printed leggings!
     I went on vacation to Sherbrooke and Montreal in Quebec, Canada with my mom in August 2011. We went to a mall while we were there and I loved visiting the store Ardene (where I found the leggings). They were reasonably priced and I thought they were super cute! My fashion tip of the day is that whenever you're on vacation or in a new town always see if you can find some stores that you might not have where you live, that's often how I find my favorite fashion pieces! :-)
     The boots that I'm wearing in this post are aging and looking a ragged, but I love them. I love them so much that I devoted a whole post on my old blog to them! 
     My necklace was a gift to me several years ago for Christmas from either an Aunt or cousin. I honestly can't remember who it's from. :-( When I was given it I was still quite young, and it wasn't my taste at the time. My mom then kept it for a few years, but during my sophomore year of high school I found it in her room and was like "Hey! I actually like this now!" The moonstone matches the colors of my tunic. 
     I had the awesome opportunity to take some metalsmithing classes at my high school during my junior and senior year. We made beautiful jewelry, and that's where my earrings came from! I hammered different design stamps into the pieces of aluminum and then attached them.


Thursday:






  • Shirt: Hand-me down from my mom :-)
  • Cardigan: Kohl's (Fall 2009)
  • Jeans: Hollister (September 2012)
  • Shoes: Sears (Featured in this post)
  • Earrings: Christmas gift from my sweet friend J (From Forever 21)
  • Ring on middle finger: Small costume jewelry boutique in Maine
  • Ring on third finger: Gift from my Grandma a few years ago

     My mom and I are almost the same clothing size now, so frequently over my senior year she'd give me things of hers that were a little too tight or things that she didn't wear as much anymore. That's how I ended up with this adorable shirt! I love it. I can wear it at almost all times of the year and with a variety of different pants or skirt options.
     As you'll learn through future fashion posts, I'm a huge fan of cardigans. They're so much cuter than sweatshirts! The one that I'm wearing here was an interesting story attatched though. :-) I first got it back in the fall of 2009 (sophomore year). I wore it a lot, and I wore it with my dress to my schoool's Snowball dance in early March 2010. It was a crazy night though, because I had the dance that Friday and then early Saturday morning my parents and I were leaving for a trip to Disney World. When I came home from the dance I quickly started packing for my trip and through stuff all over my room. 


                                                                  Me in this sweater all dressed up for the Snowball Dance! March 2010

     So I came home from Florida and wanted to wear this sweater to school, but it was nowhere to be found! :-( I looked all over but I couldn't find it anywhere. My guess was that I'd left it at school during the dance since it was such a busy night. I checked lost and found but it wasn't there, and I thought it was gone forever. 
     But this past summer I was cleaning out my closet looking for things to pack for colelge, and low and behold, there was my sweater! It had fallen off a hanger in my closet and was wedged in a small crack between wall and floor behind a shelf in my closet. It had so much dust and lint on it, but I couldn't believe that my sweater hadn't been lost (and still fit)! It took several washes to get all of the yucky stuff off of it, but as you can see from this fashion post it's back. :-)
     I got my jeans about a month ago at Hollister. I'm not really a huge fan of their clothing anymore... I went through a phase when I was 13 and 14 where everything that I wore HAD to be Hollister, but now I find their clothing rather boring and overpriced. However, they have awesome jeans and sometimes they have great sales. Originally these jeans were priced at $50, and I got them for about half of that. :-)
     I'm a huge jewelry nut which most of my friends know, so one of my best friends from back home, J, gave me a bunch of pairs of cute earrings last year for Christmas! These are from Forever 21. The ring on my middle finger I found at a cheap yet chic jewelry store in the next town over from mine back home. The ring on my third finger I almost always wear because my grandma gave it to me a few years ago. Plus I think it has a really unique look! 


     xoxo Miss ALK
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October 1, 2012

Hello October!

      I'm taking a break from my fashion related posts today, because I wanted to celebrate the start of this new month! Typically I'm not really a fall person, but this October holds some exciting things. Including:

  • Getting to go home!! (In 19 days from now to be exact.) I love the South and my college dearly, but I can't wait to see my friends and family back home for a few days later on this month.
  • My trip home means that I finally get to fly by myself. :-)
  • One more note on my trip home- it coincidently falls over homecoming weekend for my high school. The fact that I can attend the homecoming football game means that I'll be able to visit with a lot of my high school friends in one place there! 
  • Hopefully the warmest October weather ever! Although this first day of the month has been chilly and rainy, living in the South means that this will generally be a warmer fall than what I'm used to in Maine.
  • Growing in my faith with the amazing bible study that I joined last week at school! I can't wait to see what lessons God has in store for me and the rest of the ladies of the Women of Excellence group. 
  • Volunteering at more admissions events here on campus to try and recruit more high school students to come to school here. I love meeting them and their families and sharing my love of my college!
  • I'm not really looking forward to my midterms in French and Theatre class... but it will be a relief when they're done! And my English teacher gives us two weeks off in October where we don't have to do our daily journals. 
  • Finishing up my chapel credit for this semester. I've had great attendance so far so I should have it done in three weeks!
  • Seeing what a college homecoming is like!

     I thought a fun way to conclude this post would be to show y'all some pictures of homecomings past from my high school. I didn't go to my freshman year homecoming dance, but here are pictures from sophomore, junior and senior year!



                                                  Sophomore year, Homecoming 2009
                                                                Dress: JC Penney 



                                                       Junior year, Homecoming 2010
                                                                      Dress: DEB



                                                        Senior year, Homecoming 2011 
                      Dress: Le Chateau (Canadian store, bought on an August 2011 trip to Montreal)

(Sorry that there isn't a better picture of me for senior year, I did pictures with a group of friends so I barely had any pictures of me by myself, this is all that I could find!)


     This post is one of the attempts that I'm trying to make in my life to be a more positive and happy person! Sometimes I honestly to forget how much God has blessed me with. My blog is a great way for me to remember all of the good things in my life! :-)

What are you looking to this October?


xoxo Miss ALK
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