Southern Belle in Training

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

October 31, 2013

Identity Girls.

     *This is not a sponsored post, simply a blogger promoting a book that I think you all should know about! :-)   

     I'm not sure how much I've posted about this before, but for about the past six-seven months I've been apart of an online group of awesome Christian ladies called Delight. In short, Delight is a place for Christian teen girls and young women to come together who all have a love for their faith and the creative arts. Delight has been a huge blessing in my life this year, and it's how I got to meet my friend Shara (We first met online and have since hung out in person a couple times!). Many of the Delight girls are interested in photography, but other creative disciplines are represented as well! I'm one of the bloggers of the group, and there are also artists, dancers and actresseses! One of the actresses is who I'd like to talk about today.



     Meet Rachael Lee Stroud! I am so blessed to have met her through the Delight group. She is an actress in Hollywood who is using her faith to make a positive difference in the industry. In addition to her acting career, she has a wonderful blog! Rachael is currently engaged to a fellow actor and her relationship is a perfect example of what dating God's way can accomplish.

     Lately Rachael has been expanding her writing outside of her blog, and she recently published an e-book called Identity Girls that I'd like to talk to y'all about today! It is a 30 day devotional that is designed to help young women define themselves as the women that God wants them to be. Rachael has seen firsthand how the entertainment industry can make girls feel terribly about themselves, and cause girls to have an "identity crisis." Rachael wants to help girls find their true identities in Christ through her e-devotional!

     Currently Identity Girls is priced at only $3.99 for download on Kindle. What an amazing deal! Even though it has only been out for two days there are already some excellent reviews on Amazon! Here's what readers are saying:

      "This is an incredible devotional that truly helps young women understand who God says they are versus the worlds definitions. The messages are powerful and life changing and are communicated so beautifully by Rachael Lee...she has a fun and authentic way of delivering powerful messages!"

     "Young women today are surrounded by pressuring voices trying to convince them that their worth lies in their looks, their possessions, or their popularity. This book offers a very different voice, a deeply-needed voice of compassion, wisdom, and love that speaks truth into the lives of young women, helping them to find their identity in the love of the personal, creative God who delights in them. Give this to the young women in your life and they will find relief, compassion, and healing for their hearts. Cannot recommend this highly enough."


     One thing that I forgot to mention is that I am pleased to announce that I will be guest posting on Rachael's blog once a month!! I shared my first post earlier this month which was basically an introduction to me and my blog. I just love Rachael and her heart, and I'm so honored to be posting for her! I hope that someday I'm able to meet this wonderful lady in person. :-)


     And on a total side note, Happy Halloween! Are any of you celebrating? I haven't gotten too into Halloween in the past few years, so I will not be. But my sorority sister P's grandparents are taking me and her for dinner off-campus tonight, so that should be fun! And P is also taking me to Hobby Lobby for the first time... I've heard it's an amazing craft store so hopefully it wont' dissapoint! 


     xoxo Miss ALK


     
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October 30, 2013

Good girls aren't perfect girls.

     This post is the result of a lot of thinking that I've done over the past few weeks about some of my actions and ways of responding to my actions. That is probably a terrible first sentence, but I don't know how else to start this. :-)

This picture has nothing to do with the post, I've just been missing my long hair lately. :-)

     I'm a good girl, or more specifically, a goody-goody two shoes. My mom hates the latter term, but it's my favorite way to describe myself, and it was my identity in high school. So many of my high school classmates were experimenting with drugs, alcohol and sex during those years (And I mean literally almost everyone. Even the honors students.), and I was against all of those things and never had the desire to try any. I graduated high school with high honors and I was on the Dean's List for both semesters of my first year of college (which by the way I spent at a Southern Baptist affliated university).  For the past couple years I've made it a point to attend church every Sunday. I've made the decision to wait until marriage to have sex, and I wear a purity ring displaying that decision. I rarely curse or take the Lord's name in vain. I don't enjoy watching R rated movies. I'm a good girl through and through. Now that I'm in my sophomore year of college these are all things that I have chosen to do or not to do, it's not like these are things that are being forced to me by my parents. I've made all these decisions on my own, and I stick to them. I also know that I'm not the only good girl in the blogging world... many of you that are reading this can probably identify with me! One of my favorite bloggers, Nicole, wrote an excellent blog post last year all about her experiences with being a good girl (read it here!).

     While I'm proud of myself for having morals and standards, I also know that I'm not perfect. I see the ways in which I fail everyday, and it's by God's amazing grace that I'm forgiven and can find my strength. An example, sometimes I slack off on homework or in studying for quizzes. I get those done but I know I could have tried harder and that I didn't give it my all. I beat myself up about it internally, but after awhile I realize how small that grade is in terms of my whole college career or life, and I know that God still loves me anyways (and I'm determined to do better next time). Another way that I'm not perfect by any means was relating to my parents in my high school years). I love them both so much, and they're both great parents, but of course we have had our share of disagreements and arguments over the years. But my point is that I realize that I'm not always perfect in school and in my relationships with my parents, but I think both of those things are normal and I know that God forgives me.


     But here's where things change... I have become so humbled over the past few weeks because I realized that for years I have had this sub-concious belief that the only ways in that I "mess up" are through normal parent-teenager disagreements or slacking off in school sometimes. I had this belief that my interactions with everyone around me were always wonderful, and if there was a conflict or issue it was the other person's fault and never mine. Never mine. I'm a good girl. Good girls don't cause conflict, good girls are good girls. I try my hardest when I'm talking to people to avoid bringing up offensive topics or things that can be taken the wrong way. That's one of the reasons that I hate talking about politics or my views on hot-topic issues. I'm a good girl, and good girls don't cross those types of lines.

     In the past few weeks at school, it's been brought to my attention that comments that I have made to two seperate people have been taken as hurtful, and I even though I didn't intend to, I have hurt people's feelings. Granted- these comments weren't about anything super offensive or terribly wrong, but just comments that could have seemed a little rude to someone else and were taken in a way that I didn't mean, I don't have to go into the specifics of what they were, as that isn't my main point. What is my point is that I flipped out inside after both of these situations had been brought to my attention. All I could think was "I'm a good girl! I don't make comments that hurt people's feelings! They're clearly too sensitive! I'm 19 years old and have never been told that I make rude comments before, so obviously this is their problem and not mine!" These are literally some of the things that I said on the phone to my mom after the first situation happened.

      But how wrong it was of me to think this way. Just because I'm a so-called "good girl" does not mean that I don't sin or mess up just like everyone else. And sin doesn't always come in the forms I'm used to or familiar with. The truth is that in both of these situations the actual comments that I made weren't that bad, it was more that they were misinterpreted and taken the wrong way. But even though I explained what my true intentions were, I felt this rage building up in me because I thought that I didn't deserve to deal with that (even though I'm the one that made the comments that caused things in the first place).

      I have given genuine apologies to both of the people that this happened with. One of them appreciated my apology and things are back to normal, but the other said that the comments hurt her too much and she decided to end our friendship. In the second situation, we had meeting with the RA's in our dorm building to try and sort things out. The RA's saw that I really meant my apology, and agreed that since my comments weren't about anything too serious the girl took them a little bit too harshly. But it still was a strong lesson for me. I have been humbled so, so much in the past few weeks. I always thought that not offending people with my words just mean not cursing or not talking about my views on issues like underage drinking and sex before marriage, but clearly I was wrong. Sometimes the things that I say will hurt people's feelings even if I don't mean that, and God wants me to be humbled when this happens instead of angry. I need to grow up and realize that yes, just because I'm a good girl I still have to take responsibility for my actions, even when I don't think that I've done anything wrong.



     Have any of you recently been in a situation where you had to take responsibility for your actions, even when what you did didn't seem "that bad?" I sure hope I'm not the only one who goes through this. :-) The college years truly are a growth process, and I realize that more and more each week it seems.


     xoxo Miss ALK
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October 28, 2013

Diamond Days!

     Last week was initiation week, or Diamond Days, for Alpha Delta Pi. I'm pleased to announce that I am officially a full-fledged member now! My Alpha (what ADPi calls new members) period went by so quickly, and it's exciting to think of what's to come.  

     One of the highlights of Diamond Days was an event called My Wish For You. That is where the big sisters present the littles with gifts and crafts relating to the sorority! Here's a picture of me receiving my gifts from my Big, whose name is Jess. :-)



     Saturday night was our first official sorority social event, the Mallard Ball! This is an event that ADPi chapters across the country hold. Everyone dresses up in hunting camo and neon orange, and you basically just hang out outside for a few hours at night with your sisters, their dates, and a DJ dressed like hunters!

     I had never worn camo before Mallard, and I didn't want to spend a ton of money on an outfit since I knew that I wouldn't re-wear it anytime soon. So what I ended up doing is purchasing a camo long sleeved shirt for under $20 at Bass Pro Shops (I got it extra big so I could layer under it), and buying orange accessories that I could wear again! I purchased orange hair bows for myself and my roommate (who was my date!) and an orange bubble necklace, and I made a ducktape diamond for the back of my shirt! I finished off the look with skinny jeans and my cowboy boots.

The back of my shirt!
My Big and I!

The best roommate date ever :-)

     One thing that I like about Alpha Delta Pi's events is that they're pretty strict about alcohol. There was a cash bar for those 21 and over, but those who were drinking kept it classy. If any sister (or their date) showed up drunk they would have been kicked out. I like the fact that my sorority prides itself on responsible alcohol behavior, it's not at all like the stereotypical Greek parties that you see in the movies! And I of course did not drink, but I still had a nice time. :-)


     But after all of the ADPi events of the past week it will be nice to have some time to relax this week. In addition to what I blogged about we also had regular chapter meetings, a philanthropy even at the Ronald McDonald house, another Diamond Days event and then the actual initiation night... whew! Sorority life is keeping me busy!


     xoxo Miss ALK




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October 25, 2013

A tale of a sale (and two Lilly Pulitzer scarves!).

     As I mentioned in my re-cap of my Fall Break, one of the highlights of the weekend was taking in the amazing sales at Belk that were apart of their semi-annual Belk Days. (For all you Northerners reading this: Belk is like a Southern version of Macy's.)

     The first thing that we did upon arriving at Belk Days was hitting up the shoe department! Both myself and my friend Jules were looking for some new boots. And boot sales we found! Both Jules and I bought the boots that we're each wearing in the picture below, and I got a second pair as well (look for them in a fashion post soon!).



     Before leaving Belk, I suggested to Jules that we hit up their Lilly Pulitzer department. As someone who lives fairly close to a Lilly signature store, I know that oftentimes signature stores or department stores that carry Lilly have cheaper prices on merchandise instead of official Lilly stores. And since we'd had such great luck with the boots, I figured why not?!


     ...BEST DECISION EVER!


     Belk's Lilly department was having some great sales for Belk Days. Many Lilly dresses from the Summer 2013 collection were between 40-65% off! As awesome as this was, since I'd already bought a bunch of other things in the past couple days I decided against getting a dress. But then Jules spotted two Lilly scarves in the clearance area. One was a Murfee scarf, and one was a Murfette (The Murfette is the slightly cheaper Lilly scarf option). Typically the Murfee scarves are $118 and the Murfette retails at $78. The scarves that Jules found had clearance stickers but no reduced price, so we brought them to the cashier.

     It turned out that the Murfee scarf was selling for only $19.99 and the Murfette for $9.99! I did some math through a discount calculator app that I have on my phone and I realized that the scarves were over 85% off! That's unheard of  for Lilly Pulitzer!! The Murfette scarf had a cute mint green and white striped print that was totally Jules's style, and the Murfee was blue with beautiful flowers. Jules had wanted to get me a present since I'd let her come visit me over break, so she bought both scarves and gave me the Murfee one!! Below is a picture of it:



     Our scarf find just goes to show how you can get amazing deals on designer merchandise!! One of my main tips for finding deals on Lilly is looking outside of the official Lilly website or Lilly stores. Lilly signature stores (stores that sell Lilly Pulitzer but aren't called "Lilly Pulitzer") often have better markdowns and clearance, as do department stores that sell Lilly, like Belk! I know that Rue La La sometimes has great online sales on Lilly things as well.


     Have any of you ever gotten some great Lilly deals?


     xoxo Miss ALK

   
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October 22, 2013

The grass ain't always greener.

     I've had a hard first couple of days back at school since Fall Break. Seeing one of my best friends from home down at school has actually made me become a bit homesick, which is something that doesn't happen for me a lot. I can't believe I'm actually admitting the I miss Maine a lot; my parents, a few close friends, my mom's side of the family, the beach, my house... I can't stop thinking about these things. Thanksgiving break can't seem to get here soon enough.

One of the beaches in my hometown in the early Spring. 

     But at the same time, I remember all of the hurt and pain that accompanied my high school years, and that bad memories that I have of my town. I remember how amazing it felt when I first moved to North Carolina, how it truly seemed like a "fresh start." I remember all of the things that I love about the South: the amazing food (especially the fast-food options like Bojangles and Chick Fil A- need I say more?), the warmer weather, the friendliness of the people, how it's the norm to go to church every Sunday, the style...etc. Even small things like the fact that highways down here are toll-free. But still, I miss home.

     I've finally gotten to the point where I don't miss my former college much anymore, which I think is good. I still miss not seeing a few close friends from there everyday, but I've gotten over a lot of my doubt about leaving there. It's just that I'm still not very happy at my new school, either. I went from missing my old college to missing high school.... something I thought would NEVER happen.


     But what I'm trying to do is to be content in where I am now. That isn't an easy thing to do, but with the Lord's help I can do it. I realized that my time with God has been dwindling in recent weeks, and I'm trying my best to stop that. Reading devotions and bible verses every night before bed is back on, and I'm making it a top priority that I attend church every week. Last weekend I wasn't able to go on Sunday morning, so instead I took my friend Jules to a Saturday evening service. The great thing about being in the Bible Belt is that there's always a church that has a service to fit your needs!! Whatever day of the week and whatever time, you can usually be accomodated. :-)

     I'm trying to take things right now one day at a time. It's initition week for my sorority which means that I have Alpha Delta Pi stuff going on every night. It will be very fun, but also stressful and it means that I need to get better about doing my homework earlier in the day instead of postponing it until nighttime.

     And then there's the fact that I'm still single... but that's a whole other post that I will be writing soon. ;-) God is actually working on my heart a lot in that department, and that's been a huge blessing for me.


   
     Are any of you having a week of mixed emotions?


     xoxo Miss ALK


 
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October 21, 2013

Best Friend Weekend!

     Hello blog friends!! It's so good to be writing again after my almost week long blogging break. Although I missed all of you dearly, it was a much needed break for me. I come back to this blog feeling refreshed and with many ideas for upcoming posts! :-)

     In my last post I talked about how my school's Fall Break was this past weekend, and how I had some very special plans. My plans were that my best friend from high school, Jules, was flying down from Maine for the weekend to visit me in the South! She had never been down South before, so my goal was to show her as much as I could of my new home state in only a few days.

     Julia arrived on Thursday the 17th in the evening, and left very early in the morning on Sunday the 20th (I'm talking she caught a cab for the airport at 4 am) so we really only had two days together. But we sure made the most of those days!! During her time here we ate at my four favorite Southern fast-food restaurants: Bojangles, Chick Fil A, Waffle House and Cookout! We also had some delicious "nicer" meals at sit-down restaurants. ;-) On Friday I took Jules to visit my former university, and then we headed south from there to Greenville, SC, so technically she got to see two states while she was here! During our trip to Greenville we first went shopping at my favorite store, Charming Charlie! Jules loved it just as much as I do. After that we made quick trips to Ulta and a discount shoe store, and then had dinner at a delicious Southern style restaurant called Tupelo Honey in downtown Greenville! We ended our night by taking pictures near the beautiful Greenville falls. The majority of our second day was spent at the SouthPark Mall in Charlotte, where we watched a fashion show going on in the mall and then took advantage of the amazing sales at Belk for Belk Days! And lastly on Saturday night I brought Jules to an evening service at the church that I've been going to here in Charlotte. And in addition to all of these things were countless laughs and wonderful memories. Below are some snapshots of our weekend!

Jules's first Bojangles!

Downtown Greenville




Throwin' what we know! Jules is in Alpha Xi Delta and I'm Alpha Delta Pi... so we're Panhellenic sisters! :-)





     What a wonderful weekend it was! Seeing Jules actually made me get a bit homesick for Maine... something that doesn't happen often. I'm actually getting pretty excited for my trip home next month for Thanksgiving! :-)


     Stay tuned tomorrow to here about some of the amazing shopping deals that we found!!


     xoxo Miss ALK
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October 16, 2013

My BFF is headed SOUTH!



     .....This type of excitement is in my near future!! The girl in the polka dot dress making the disturbing face is yours truly, and the girl on the right is my best friend from high school, Jules. This picture is the best description of our friendship!! The photo was taken at my high school friend T's graduation party. About midway through the party someone plugged in their iPhone to the speakers and a dance party ensued. This pictureas taken while Sexy and I Know It played, which is our "friendship song." (Surprised?) :-)

     Anyways, in 24 hours Jules will be leaving our home state of Maine and boarding a plane bound for North Carolina!! She is flying down to keep me company over my Fall Break. At her college in Maine she doesn't have school on Fridays, so every weekend is a long weekend for her (I'm super jealous!!).

      Jules and I have been friends since the fall of my junior year/her sophomore year of high school. We met in metalsmithing I, which was an art elective offered at my high school. Metalsmithing is a pretty intense name for a class that was 90% jewelry making. ;-) Anyways, one day Jules came up to me and asked to borrow a tool I was using. I didn't know her since she wasn't in my grade, but she was so warm and friendly in the way that she introduced herself that we kept talking! Unfortunately, the semester that I met Jules was my worst semester in all of high school, and it's when I started to become depressed. For the following semester I dropped all of my classes at my high school and switched to dual enrollment at the local community college. Jules was one of the few who tried to keep in touch with me during this time in my life, and that meant a lot (This is also the time when I started my first blog!).

"Sexy" faces before Homecoming 2011 at our high school!

     Some events in Jules's personal and family life, as well as a ton of drama in our friend group prevented us from being the bestest of friends in high school. (At this point I was back in my high school for two classes along with dual enrollment.) We always were friends, and hung out quite a bit during my senior year, but she just had a lot going on and the drama in our group lasted for most of the year. The good news though is that we were both in the same chemistry class, so we always saw each other there. I ended up meeting some of my favorite people from my high school in that chem class. I was terrible at chemistry, but I have such fond memories of the people in the class! The best memory was that on the seniors' last day of school in June 2012 (we got out two weeks before everyone else), my chem teacher played Sexy and I Know It and Jules and I danced to it... even though no one else wanted to join us! ;-)

My Fall Break from college in October 2012... Jules and I had a "Chem class reunion" at  Chinese restaurant with some of the other gals from our old chemistry class!

     But it was last year, when I was living in North Carolina and at my previous college that I realized Jules was truly my best friend from home. Jules is an amazing cupcake baker, and on my 18th birthday she mailed some delicious homemade cupcakes to NC! She always made an effort to see me when I was home on breaks, even during Spring Break when I was at home in bed and very sick. She was also the one person (besides my mom and dad) who was really there for me when I was going through the transferring process! And the thing that really solidified the BFF status was when I got a text from her back in August saying that she was booking a flight to visit me for Fall Break.

This is when Jules came to visit me when I was home sick over Spring Break this past March. (Note: this is one of the only days that I got out of my pajamas over break!)

     I cannot wait to spend the weekend with one of my favorite Maine gals. Jules has never been to the South before so I can't wait to show her around Charlotte and the surrounding areas! And the main thing on our agenda is eating as much Bojangles as we possibly can in a weekend. :-)

     This is the girl who I danced with more at senior prom then I did with my own date. This is the girl who is my favorite shopping buddy when I have a Victoria's Secret coupon (Jules gets really excited about cute undergarments, it's hilarious!). This is the girl who tells me all the time "So I've started planning your big Southern wedding!" (Even though I remind her that I'm still single and failing to mingle, she is convinced I'll meet my dream guy soon ;-)). This is the girl who always laughs at my jokes, and who never ceases to crack me up with hers! This is the girl who is an inspiration to me after she handled everything that happened to her during her high school years. This is the girl who is my best friend from high school. And I can't WAIT to spend Fall Break with her!

Prom 2012!



     xoxo Miss ALK
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October 14, 2013

Forever my favorite television show.

     If you have been reading my blog for awhile then you know that I'm completely and utterly obsessed with the TV show 7th Heaven (despite the fact that it went off the air in 2007). I have been making my way through the whole series for the past couple of years, and right now I'm midway through season 9. 7th Heaven isn't on Netflix instant watch so it's taken me awhile to get through the DVDs since my Netflix plan allows for me to only have one at a time. But anyways, although I think the show hit its peak during seasons four and five, I'm still enjoying it very much. 7th Heaven has made me laugh, cry, and smile so many times, and the amazingness of the series never fails to amaze me! I love how it's a show that dealt with modern issues from a Christian perspective. That is something that's quite rare in media today. Plus I think the acting is top notch and the plotlines always kept me guessing! If there's one thing I can say about 7th Heaven it's that you never know when one of the Camden kids' ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend is going to come back... recurring characters on this show are recuring... they can come back at any minute!

     Fun fact: last month I gave a speech in my public speaking class about how much I love the show. My love for 7th Heaven runs deep. My beloved car is also named Lucy after Lucy Camden, my favorite character from the show!

     I found this cute little video on Youtube that's a three minute montage of some of the funniest moments from the show's 11 year run!




      What inspired this post is the fact that I watched three back to back season nine episodes yesterday while procrastinating on my homework. :-) I also didn't have a super exciting weekend, but I still wanted to get a little post out for y'all today.  

     Were/are you a 7th Heaven fan?


     xoxo Miss ALK
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October 10, 2013

Favorite Things Thursday: Buzzfeed Rewind

     Since I'm smack in the middle of midterms week I don't have time for a long post today, but I still wanted to share with y'all one of my favorite things. This one will kind of speak for itself. :-) As a proud lover of anything do to with 90s or early 2000s pop culture, the content Buzzfeed Rewind pretty much makes my life complete! Below are the links to some of my favorite articles with a few photography gems:


Southern Belle In Training



     And possibly the best thing EVER...

Now after seeing this you HAVE to see more! ;-) 


     Are you a Buzzfeed Rewind fan?


     xoxo Miss ALK
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October 9, 2013

OOTD: Black & Blue.









  • Shirt: Piperlime
  • Jeggings: American Eagle Outfitters
  • Boots: DSW (appeared in many fashion posts last winter!)
  • Vest: Christmas gift from my Aunt several years ago
  • Scarf: H&M
  • Sunglasses: Ann Taylor LOFT
  • Necklace: Given to me by a high school friend
  • Lipstick: Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Demure
  • Nail Polish: Maybelline Color Show in Denims
  • Totebag: Bid Day gift from my sorority :-)

     I'm going to be honest here- fall is not my favorite season. In fact, I think it's my least favorite. I feel terrible for saying that since every blogger seems to be tweeting, Instagramming and posting nonstop right now about their love for this time of year. It's taken me awhile to get into the spirit of autumn this year... but after yesterday I think I'm finally alright with the new fall season! When I left for classes yesterday morning there was a distinct chill in the air, and I found myself embracing it.

     This outfit is a whole mix of things and I wasn't sure if it would all come together, but my pictures tell me that it did. :-) This is the first time that I've worn this chambray shirt. I got it this summer on Piperlime, which is an awesome online clothing retailer. It's owned by the Gap corporation, and there's many great designers featured on it for affordable prices! Everything that I've ordered from Piperlime has always been on sale, and I've yet to be dissapointed by something that I've gotten there. 

     
     I got a lot of compliments on wearing this outfit the other day, and it made me excited to style more fall outfits!! I've already moved some of my summer dresses to the back of my dorm closet to be able to highlight my fall and winter attire. :-)


     xoxo Miss ALK
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October 8, 2013

Web Wish List {5}

     It's been forever since I've done a Web Wish List post!! Today I'm breaking away from my usual Polyvore collage format, but I'm still sharing some of my recent online finds that I'm dying to have!!



  1. Girl Worth Knowing Dress from The Red Dress Boutique

     
     Oh my gosh I am in love with this dress! I'm not usually a big fan of neutrals, but I love how flowy and elegant this dress is. The sleeves are to die for! It has a high neckline which makes it modest, but it is definitely still fashionable! I could see myself wearing it so many different ways and mixing up my jewelry and shoes each time I wore it. The only thing that's preventing me from ordering it is the price tag... it's currently $48 on The Red Dress Boutique's website. I would probably pay that price for it if I saw it in a store, but since there would be shipping on this dress it would be a bit much. But hopefully it will come on sale! Red Dress does awesome sales sometimes, I got my birthday dress from there for only $22 (with shipping!) this summer! 






     Something that not many of you might know about me is that I have my belly button pierced! I did it last year shortly after my 18th birthday... I wanted to do something "wild" that wasn't illegal, immoral or permanent (like a tattoo). So I got my belly pierced! I've always thought that belly piercings are cute, and I like how you can hide them easily- or should I say hide them 98% of the time. I'm not big into crop tops so they only time it shows is if I'm in a bathing suit! ;-) Anyways, even though I got my belly pierced over a year ago, I've never changed the jewelry! Everytime that I've gone to the mall to look at rings none of them have really appealed to me. And I wouldn't want to order something that was going into my stomach on a sketchy website where the metal could be bad. But I was browsing Piercing Pagoda's website recently, and I fell in love with this gorgeous belly ring! I love flowers, and teal is my favorite color! I might have to think about getting this for next summer.


     3. Kiernan Riding Boot by Tory Burch



     This is an item that sadly will not be leaving my wish list any time soon. at $495 it's wayyyyy out of this college girl's budget. But I had to include it. I've been drooling over Tory Burch riding boots for such a long time. I feel like they're the quintessential fall footwear! Just look at how beautiful they are- I mean c'mon! :-) Someday, I will own these. But I have accepted the fact that it might be awhile......


     4. Vice 2 Pallet by Urban Decay



     My sorority sister P got this pallet at our trip to Ulta this weeeknd, and I've been thinking about it ever since! It's such a great mix of eyeshadow colors, and I know that I would have way too much fun putting together different looks with it. This currently retails at $59, but it's a limited edition pallet, and I think that all those eyeshadow colors make it worth it! I might ask for a new eyeshadow pallet for Christmas.


     What are some things that are on your wish list right now?


     xoxo Miss ALK
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October 7, 2013

Restful weekend.

     I barely posted at all last week, and the post that I left y'all with last Wednesday wasn't exactly on a positive note. I wrote honestly about the hard times that have come with transferring schools. But I'm pleased to report that after having such a difficult past couple of weeks, I had a relaxing and enjoyable weekend! Nothing too exciting happened, but I got to spend some quality time with sorority sisters, and try some new things.

     On Friday night some of my sorority sisters that I'm closest with wanted to go Food Truck Friday, which is a Charlotte tradition! Held in an empty lot in Charlotte's South End, tons of food trucks come in during the dinner hours and serve creative and affordable cuisine! The weather this past weekend was beautiful and it felt more like late spring instead of the beginning of October! It was a perfect night to eat some yummy food outside in the company of sisters. My sorority sister Hannah's best friend from high school was also in town, and she joined us as well!

Throwin' Diamonds at Food Truck Friday! Left to Righ: L, Hannah, P and yours truly!
     For my meal I visited a truck that was selling different varieties of tacos. One of my tacos was Chicken Tinga which was a spicy chicken mixture, and the other was seriously a dream come true for me. My favorite Indian dish is Chana Masala which is a spicy chick pea dish... and I got to have a Chana Masala taco! With goat cheese! Y'all, it was amazing.




     I didn't get a picture of my dessert, but there was a homemade popsicle company set up that I visited! I had a coconut chai popsicle. Coconut and chai are two of my favorite things, and I was very okay with them being combined into one icy treat. :-)


     Saturday involved crossing a couple things off of my "Pinterest bucket list" :-)... and buying new nail polish! Hannah, P and I went to Ulta on Saturday afternoon. I usually shop at Sephora for my make-up needs so I hadn't really been in an Ulta before! I loved it and bought a brand new Essie polish called "Toggle to the Top" that is fresh out of their new winter collection. I'm becoming addicted to the overpriced nicer nail polishes! Here's my growing Essie collection: (Also, sorry my Instagram photos in this post are so small! They came out all blury when I made them bigger!)



     I have been wanting to bake something off of my dessert board on Pinterest for awhile, but living in a dorm that has a communal kitchen (that's at the bottom of three flights of stairs!) and limited cooking supplies proves to make that a difficult thing. I'm also not really big on baking from box mixes... I prefer scratch! I finally decided though that I was going to bake something this weekend. After buying a few basic baking supplies I decided on a recipe- chocolate chip cream cheese cookies! The base of the recipe was Pillsbury crescent dough... better in my opinion than a box mix but still easier for me to work with then baking truly from scratch. Here's my make-shirt dorm room "kitchen:"




     And the cookies! The recipe only made about 12, but the proved to be a great study snack in the library on Sunday! It's probably a good thing there weren't too many more... I don't need that many cookies! ;-)


     Another pin that I've been wanting to try is no-heat curls. I followed this technique after washing my hair in the shower on Saturday night, and below is a little collage of my before and after!


     Some of the curls were great, but others turned out kind of weird. It also hurt my head a lot to sleep with tons of bobby pins in it. I'm glad that I tried this technique, but I'm not sure that I'll use it again anytime soon! Haha. It might work better on someone that has thinner hair... I have a TON of hair, and it's really thick, so I needed lots of bobby pins.

     Sunday I woke up feeling like I might be coming down with a cold, so I skipped church to sleep later. I took cold medicine and vitamin C, so hopefully that will prevent this from becoming worse! I spent the day working on French homework and relaxing.

     I also crafted a clever way to ask my roommate to be my date to my first and upcoming sorority event, which is called Mallard Ball. It's something that all ADPi chapters do. I spelled this out in candy corn on the floor of our room! My roomie said yes! :-)



     I forgot to add that on Saturday night, Hannah, P and I had dinner with two of my friends from my former school! They happened to be in Charlotte for Disney on Ice, so we all met at Moe's for a quick dinner. Sadly I didn't get any pictures of this, but I still wanted to include it here. :-)


     How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?


     xoxo Miss ALK
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October 2, 2013

The truth about transferring.

     Although last Friday was filled with lots of blogging fun, this has been one of the worst weeks that I've had in a long time. The last time that I was feeling this down was last April, when I was going through both the transferring process and the process of making up tons of homework after I'd missed over two weeks of classes for being sick (blogged about that here). During that stressful time for me last Spring, all that I wanted was to be out of my former college and at my new school. I envisioned sorority life and city living, and it seemed wonderful. Now it's almost six months after that, and sometimes I want nothing more then to be back at my former school... you never know what you have until it's gone.


My first-ever visit to my former college, when I was a senior in high school in February 2012!

     
     Transferring has been hard, really hard. It's been one of the most emotional things that I've ever had to go through in my life, and the thing was that I wasn't expecting that at all! When I first moved away to college in August 2012, I settled in better than I ever though! The number of times that I got homesick for Maine that semester I can count on one hand, and I really just was so happy to finally be living in the South and away from high school. My old school's campus had this amazing friendly vibe to it, which I think made it the main reason why I picked that school in the first place. I always felt like I could talk to anyone there, everyone seemed approachable and friendly, even if we weren't in the same friend group! I was well-known and well-liked on campus, so many people were shocked when I announced that I was transferring. 

My suite that I lived in last year all decorated for the holidays! 


     Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of things that I hated about my old school, such as:
  • The food (it was practically not edible)
  • The location (the school was out in the middle of nowhere so I spent a lot of money on gas since I enjoyed going off campus a lot)
  • The program for my major (enough said)
  • The lack of an infirmary or any sort of medical plan for when out-of-state students like myself get very sick

     ^ The above reasons were what lead me to transfer, and those are very valid reasons. I do honestly believe that had I stayed at my old school, I wouldn't have gotten the best education and it would have been a lot harder for me to find a job in radio after graduation. But despite all of those things that I remember that I hated, I still miss it so much.

A group of some of us girls who all went to the same church on Sunday mornings last year! We would all have breakfast together and then carpool over (with some guys too!). I just can't get over how long my hair was then!


     I have had such a hard time fitting in at my new school. I feel that a lot of people here are unapproachable, especially the guys. Social groups definitely have already formed here, and it's hard as a transfer to break into that when it's such a small school. Partying is also VERY prevelant, and I'm not used to that since my former school had a dry campus, and I didn't hang out with anyone who enjoyed partying. The good news is that I haven't felt like there's a lot of "peer pressure" here to drink. People seem fine with the fact that going to bars on Thursday nights (which 90% of the students here do) or going to parties with alcohol and drugs don't interest me, but it's more that I am feeling left out since so many people do that.  I'm just so against so many of the things that all of the students around me are doing. I also feel very inexpereienced since this is more of a "hook-up" school, and I've still never even had an official boyfriend. Just like with the drinking, I have no desire to hook-up with any guys! But there are very, very few Christian guys here, and at this rate I may be single permanently until college graduation. 

     Joining a sorority has overall been a good thing for me. I really like Alpha Delta Pi as an organization, and I am excited for all of the events to come throughout the course of the year. But joining a sorority has also been very stressful. I don't need to go into detail here, but just like anything else in life, a sorority isn't 100% perfect and without flaws. I think that ADPi is the right one for me, but it has also added some stress into my life that hasn't helped on top of what else I've been dealing with.

     My parents have been away this week in Las Vegas because my dad has a work conference out there. Not only am I SUPER jealous that my mom gets to be back there just three and a half months after we went this summer, but I have really missed talking to my parents for the last few days. With the time difference, the hours of my dad's conference, the fact that my mom forgot her cellphone and all of the things that they're doing it's been really hard for me to reach them. Normally I can go awhile without speaking to them as much, but since I've been having such a hard week there have been so  many times that I've wanted to call them and cry, but I haven't been able to get ahold of them very well. 

     On Monday evening I had an information sesson/informal interview for a communications internship that I really want for next semester! Internship opportunities like this are one of the main reasons that I transferred! I hope that I will get a call or e-mail back this week for my second interview, and I guess I've been stressing about that as well. 


     I know that being at this new school was apart of God's plan for me, and I'm trying so hard to trust in Him. But it's just been a lot harder than I expected. I haven't even enjoyed living in the city as much as I thought. I rarely go off campus- only usually if I need groceries (and a couple Bojangles trips of course). Funny how I seemed to get out a lot more last year even though I was so far away from everything. 


     I would appreciate any prayers for strength for getting through this week. This upcoming weekend I'm going home with my roommate to her house in South Carolina, and I think it will be good for me to get away for a bit. And my best friend from high school, Jules, is coming to visit me down here in just a little over two weeks! I can't wait, and that couldn't be coming at a better time. 


      xoxo Miss ALK
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