H&M Loves NC.

     My Spring Break has officially started, and it started off with a bang! My friend Shara arrived in Charlotte on Wednesday afternoon, and so far we've been having a lot of fun together! During our first day together I gave Shara a tour of the city, she had her first Bojangles experience, and she got to meet some of my friends here at school! But yesterday was when the fun really started:

     We started out the morning with a free breakfast at Chick Fil A! Charlotte-area Chick Fil A restaurants were having a promotion through the whole month of February where you could get a free breakfast biscut on Thursdays. Chick Fil A has the best breakfasts, so getting it for free was even better! And little did we know that was just the beginning of the free stuff!

     I found out earlier this week that one of my favorite North Carolina fashion bloggers, Emily from Life with Emily, was hosting the grand opening of Charlotte's second H&M store! H&M is fairly new to Charlotte, the first store in the Charlotte area opened just a few months ago. The opening that happened yesterday was located at the Carolina Place mall in Pineville. During the opening Emily and H&M were hosting a contest where if you tweeted a certain hashtag there was a chance that you could win a head-to-toe outfit from the new store, and get to shop before it opened to the public! When Shara and I go to the mall, we hopped on the end of a very long line for the store, and I tweeted the hashtag, not expecting that anything would happen. But it ended up being that Shara and I were two of the winners for the free head-to-toe outfits!! SO exciting!

     We got to be some the first shoppers in the Carolina Place H&M, and try on as many outfits as we wanted! The store looked amazing and everything looked so perfect and brand new. And it was also awesome to get to shop with one of my favorite fashion bloggers!! Ready to see pictures?

 

     I got to try on so many cute things, but below is a picture of the outfit that I ended up choosing!

     I got to get this pretty floral dress that is perfect for spring, a gorgeous new purse (I just love the pretty periwinkle blue color!) and my favorite item, this stunning coral coat!! I have always loved dressy coats, and this one is just perfect for those chilly spring days. I also got a gold necklace that isn't pictured. I am absolutely in love with all of my items, and I still can't believe that I got the whole outfit for free!! (The shoes were my own.)

     And here is what Shara got!! Two tops, a khaki pencil skirt, and she also picked out a pearl necklace as her final item.

Emily and I!

     I am so happy that I went to the H&M opening! Winning the free outfit was definitely the coolest contest or giveaway that I have ever won. And it was so nice to see Emily again- her blog and style inspires me so much!!

     The rest of my day was wonderful as well! I took Shara into my usual Thursday shift at my internship. And we later ended the day with a late dinner at the Mellow Mushroom, which is my favorite Charlotte pizza restaurant. Spring Break is off to a great start so far, and I can't wait to see what's to come later in the week!

     Be sure to follow more of my adventures this week on Instagram! I will be hashtagging all my Spring Break photos with #ALKbestspringbreakever. 


     xoxo Miss ALK


     xoxo Miss ALK
    
     

#BestSpringBreakEver.

     Even though my school doesn't officially go on break until Friday, my Spring Break fun starts today!! A couple weeks ago I posted about my plans for break, which include a visit from one of my Maine friends, and then a trip to the Caribbean with my dad!

     My friend Shara is currently on a plane as we speak, headed for NC! She is actually a photographer (like as her job) and is crazy good at what she does, so she will be taking a lot of OOTD photos for me while she's here! I can't wait to show her all around the Carolinas, and I have a few surprises planned for her as well. :-)


     I will be instagramming my best Spring Break moments with the hashtag #ALKBestSpringBreakEver, so be sure to search for that and follow me on Instagram if you'd like to hear more about my week!


     Southern readers: do you have any suggestions for "must-do" things with Shara while she's here? I have already planned three shopping trips for us: one at SouthPark (Charlotte's luxury mall) and one at Concord Mills (Charlotte's budget mall), and a trip to Carolina Place Mall to see the new H&M store open tomorrow! (This event is being hosted by one of my favorite NC fashion bloggers, Emily of Life With Emily!) Shara will get to meet some of my school friends from both my new and my old schools, and also get to visit my internship. And lastly, I planned a hike for us on Friday! But if any of you have suggestions for must-sees or must-eats for a Maine girl visiting the South, please let me know! (Bojangles is already on the agenda.)


     If you would like to read about the adventures that I had when another good friend from Maine, Jules, visited me in October, click here! :-)


     xoxo Miss ALK

Hello famous people!

     Last month I shared a bit about how much I absolutely adore my internship with the Ryan Seacrest Foundation. I am pleased to report that my love for the internship has only grown stronger!! My favorite thing about working at Seacrest Studios is definitely meeting the patients of the hospital and seeing how much joy the studio brings them. The patients that I've met so far are some of the sweetest, kindest, strongest, and bravest kids. My second favorite thing is the amazing radio experience that I'm getting! RSF uses state-of-the-art technology, and I love being back on the air again. My co-interns also go to the same college as me, and they're some of the nicest and funniest people that I know from my school. And my boss is absolutely amazing, as is the rest of the hospital staff!

     These two things combined are more then enough for me to love about my internship! But of course, since this is the best internship in the world, there has to be icing on top of the cake. And that icing would be the celebrity visits. ;-)

Nickelodeon's The Fresh Beat Band - the interns' first celebrity visit!

Dave Coulier - aka "Uncle Joey" from Full House!

Country group Love and Theft

     Above are pictures from the first three celebrity visits that I got to be apart of! Each of these guests were so friendly and enthusiastic, and brought the patients and their families so much joy. The Fresh Beat Band got very silly during their interview (loved their dance moves!), Dave Coulier's cartoon character impersonations were unbelievably funny, and Love and Theft gave us a live accoustic performance- you never know what to expect when a guest visits!

     (On a side note, you might notice that I do my hair differently each time that we have a guest. ;-) I'm trying to see how many new hairstyles I can come up with! Hopefully enough to keep up the "new hair for each guest" thing going for awhile. )

     This past Sunday we had two guest visits, and a very "girl power" filled afternoon! Demi Lovato's Neon Lights tour was stopping by Charlotte over the weekend, and both Demi and one of her opening acts, British girl band Little Mix, stopped by Seacrest Studios!

Little Mix!

Demi Lovato!

     These two visits made the studio (and hospital lobby!) busier then I've ever seen it, but the hustle and bustle made things even more exciting! It was so much fun to listen to the interviews of Demi and Little Mix, and to help with the behind-the-scenes stuff.

     For the most part, I think I've done a fairly good job of staying calm and collected around the guests, But an exception to this was when Perrie Edwards of Little Mix (who is the lucky lady that's engaged to One Direction's Zayne Malik by the way!) told me that she liked my lipstick!! I responded with a cheerful "THANK-YOU! IT'S REVLON LIP BUTTER." And then she told me that the purplish-plum lipstick that she was wearing was from her own lipstick collection from  British makeup brand- how cool is that?! I may or may not have squeeled and happy danced shortly after this interaction.

The Little Mix approved lipstick! Revlon Lip Butter in Lollipop.

    Month two at my internship has gone better then I could have ever imagined! I can't wait to see what fun the rest of the spring will bring. :-)


     xoxo Miss ALK
   

OOTD: Skyline.

• Dress: c/o Dress Lily
• Heels: Nine West (bought at TJ Maxx)
• Purse: New Look (British store- bought on my trip to the UK!)
• Sunglasses: LOFT
• Earrings: old
• Bracelet (Monogram): Christmas present
• Bracelets (Left Hand): c/o Urban Peach Boutique (chevron), Charming Charlie (Bangles)
• Ring (Right Hand): Charming Charlie
• Nails: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails in No Hard Feelings 
• Lipstick: CoverGirl Blast FlipStick in Stunner and Clinique Superbalm Gloss in Grapefruit

     On Friday night, I finally got to have my belated Valentines celebration!! On February 14th, I was supposed to have a dinner and a movie with two of my fellow single girlfriends from my former college. But due to all of that crazy snow that Charlotte got hit with, our plans had to be postponed a weekend. 

     The plans were well worth the wait!! I will blog more about that tomorrow, but one of the highlights of the evening was a little photoshoot on top of the Target Metropolitan parking deck! The Target closest to Uptown Charlotte has a parking deck with amazing views of the Queens City. We went up there in the early evening, and the light was absolutely stunning!

     

     This beautiful dress that I'm wearing was sent to me by DressLily. They have a large online store that sells tons of reasonably priced (and very cute!) apparel. They are based internationally, so it did take me a couple of extra weeks to receive this item. (I will be honest and say that there were a few days that I doubted that it would ever arrive.) But- sure enough my dress did show up, and I was very pleased with it once it arrived! This dress is simple and chic enough on its own, but it's also the perfect type of dress to be dressed up or dressed down. Since it's a solid deep navy color, the possibilities to accessorize it are endless! For this look, I decided to go with some bright bracelets and large statement earrings, and then a classic pair of nude pumps. And I think that this adorable clutch purse that I got on my trip to the UK was just the icing on the cake! Thanks again to DressLily for sending me this beautiful dress! 

     On a different note, it's just two days until my friend Shara arrives from Maine! And just eight days until I leave with my dad for the Dominican Republic. Spring Break is coming way too quickly! I just have to get through these last few days of school. ;-)

     xoxo Miss ALK

     xoxo Miss ALK

OOTD: Boyfriend Jeans.

 

• Tank top: Mashall's
• Jeans: American Eagle Outfitters
• Blazer: Forever 21
• Shoes: Raffini (bought at The Walking Company)
• Bag: Michael Kors
• Belt: L.L. Bean 
• Necklace: Charlotte Russe (Valentine's Day gift from my Big!)
• Earrings: Burlington Coat Factory
• Bracelets (Right Hand): Alex & Ani
• Bracelets (Left Hand- top to bottom): c/o Urban Peach Boutique (white bangle), Charming Charlie (green bangle), Versona (bow and gold bracelets). 
• Nail Polish: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in No Hard Feelings
• Lipstick: Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Temptress

     

     One thing that many of my favorite fashion bloggers do is to pair things together that might be of contrasting patterns, colors, or styles... but they make it work. This is my first OOTD on my blog where I've been inspired to try that! This whole outfit began after my wonderful Big sister in ADPi, Jess, gave me this adorable Charlotte Russe necklace for Valentines day. I was going to originally pair it with a plain white shirt, but I decided to get creative and do some "closet shopping." I have had both these jeans and the tank that I'm wearing for a couple of years, and I decided it's time that they made their debut on the blog!

     I buy almost all of my jeans from American Eagle. They have a ton of different styles, fits and washes, and they're very reasonably priced! Y'all know that there are some items that I splurge on, but jeans are not one of those items. ;-) Anyways, these jeans technically aren't part of the "boyfriend" line, I think technically they're just classified as "skinny." (My favorite AEO jeans are the super skinny or jegging fit). I had accidently purchased these a size too big, so they fit more like a boyfriend jean. 

    On a different note, I'm in shock that the temperature hit about 75 degrees yesterday in Charlotte!! The warm weather was the other inspiration for this outfit. At this time last week, the whole city was still blanketed in a lot of snow, so I am still in awe of how quickly the weather changes here. Please cross your fingers with me that it will stay this warm next week! On Wednesday my friend Shara is flying in from Maine to spend a few days with me, and I'm hoping the weather will give her some nice Carolina sunshine!


     Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!


     xoxo Miss ALK

     

Christmas in February! {Carolina Clover Blog Box Review}

     Y'all, I got the most wonderful package in the mail on Monday! It was so wonderful and the items inside were so "me" that I'm titling this post "Christmas in February." :-) For the past couple of months I have been in contact with a North Carolina based monogram and gift boutique called Carolina Clover.  They sent me a package that they called a "blog box" filled with surprise items for me to review here on my blog. I was supposed to receive the package last week, but thanks to all of the snow days that my college had the post office got delayed. This package was definitely worth the wait though! Ready to see what was inside?

LOVE when companies send me sweet notes! I save all of my blog business related notes and hang them on the wall over my desk. :-)

The anticipation.....

Lilly!!!

Sterling silver ADPi earrings! 

Because everyone needs a Christmas tree up in their room year round. :-)

Beautiful ADPi monogrammed scarf! 

   

     I am pretty much in love with everything that Carolina Clover sent me! It is a well known fact that I love all things Lilly Pulitzer, and all things to do with Alpha Delta Pi- so a blog box filled with both of those things? PERFECT. 

     The Lilly tumbler that I was sent is in the print "See You Later (Alligator)" and is simply adorable! I know that it will get plenty of use, and I just might bring it on my upcoming trip for Spring Break. And I am also loving the ADPi items that I was sent! I already own an Alpha Delta Pi ring, necklace, and an ADPi Alex & Ani bracelet... so these earrings were a perfect addition to my growing sorority jewelry collection. And the scarf is so soft and warm, I cannot wait to wear it during the remaining cold days this season, and of course next fall and winter! 

     Thank-you to Carolina Clover for providing me with such a wonderful blog box to review!! Carolina Clover offers so many wonderful monogrammed items, so be sure to visit them for all of your monogramming needs!

     xoxo Miss ALK

Web Wish List {6}.

     Happy Monday, friends! I hope that all of you had a wonderful Valentines weekend! I'm so thankful that the weather is finally warming up in the Carolinas again. The snow from last week is already mostly gone, and temperatures this week will be in the 60s and 70s!

     In honor of the arrival of the spring weather, I am bringing back Web Wish List! I have put together a little collection of some of my new favorite online shopping finds!


     1. Gumdrops Gems Necklace by Kate Spade

     This necklace from the Kate Spade spring collection is even more beautiful in person!! I first saw it when I was browsing at Nordstorm a couple of weeks ago. The colors in this necklace are so vibrant, and I know that it would be the icing on the cake for many spring outfits! This necklace is priced at $148... not terrible for Kate Spade, but too much for this girl's college student budget.


     2. Jet Set Pets Katie iPhone 5 Case by Marc Jacobs

     This was another Nordstorm find from my mall trip a couple of weeks ago. Bunnies are my favorite animal, and I kind of have an obsession with anything that has bunnies on it. So what first attracted me to this phone case was the adorable rabbit... but then I noticed Big Ben in the background! Wouldn't this be the perfect case for me?! I LOVE bunnies, and I was just in London  two months ago!! It's priced at $42 which isn't bad for an iPhone case. Depending on how many babysitting jobs I get in the next month I might end up buying this!


     3. Lilly Pulitzer Bonus Gifts for Estee Lauder

     Throughout the next couple months, Lilly Pulitzer is teaming up with Estee Lauder to offer some adorable makeup bags that are free gifts with purchase for Estee Lauder. These bags (and make-up samples!) will be offered at various department stores and through the Estee Lauder website. I have never used any Estee Lauder makeup before, but these bags are so cute that it might be time for me to start using some!


     4. Scallop Bodice Dress by LOFT

     Scallops are very in right now, but I have yet to find many clothing pieces with scallops that I really like. This dress is one way that I would wear the scallop trend though! I like the dusty dark pink color of it, and I like how the scallops are at the neckline instead of the bottom of the dress. I can picture dressing this pretty number up or down for various occasions! It is priced at $89.


     5. Blossoming Love Blouse by The Red Dress Boutique

     Floral prints are my favorite type of prints to wear! I love the beautiful colors of this top, especially the pretty green that makes up the base color. A shirt like this is a spring wardrobe staple in my opinion! This blouse is currently priced at $36.



     What are some fashion or beauty items that are making you think spring right now??


     xoxo Miss ALK

OOTD: A Carolina Winter Wonderland

• Coat: Landsend
• Jeans: American Eagle Outfitters
• Boots: UGG Australia (bought at The Walking Company) 
• Headband: Charming Charlie
• Scarf: old
• Purse: Target
• Gloves: Charming Charlie
• Necklace: c/o A-List Greek Designs

     My college campus is now in its third day of being covered in fluffy white snow! I'm not sure of the next time that I'll see this much snow in NC, so I decided to take advantage of the weather and do a snow day outfit post!

     I found this adorable black bag at Target earlier in the week. I've been looking for a simple black purse for quite some time. I wanted something that looked in the style of a Kate Spade purse, but with a smaller price tag. I was so excited to find exactly what I was looking for at Target, and I know that this bag is definitely going to appear in lots future OOTD posts!

     I also loved getting to wear my A-List Greek Designs necklace again! It is a delicate piece, which made it perfect to wear with a sweater and fuzzy scarf. 

     

     And on a different note- Happy Valentine's Day!! I hope that all of you are having a wonderful day. Even though I am single again for this Valentine's, I was still very excited to celebrate with some friends from my former college! Sadly because of the snow those plans had to be postponed for next weekend, but you can bet that today I will still be sporting some pink lipstick. ;-)

     xoxo Miss ALK

Southern Snow Days!

     A couple of weeks ago, it snowed about half an inch here in Charlotte, and my college had a snow day. I couldn't believe the fact that classes were actually getting cancelled when the grass on the quad was still quite visible under the "snow"... but it happened. I figured that was the most snow that I'd see in Charlotte this winter, and that was fine with me! Oh, how I was wrong...

     Charlotte and the rest of North Carolina is currently getting hit with a Southern version of a blizzard!  The snow began on Tuesday morning, but since it was a wet and mild snow all of the morning classes and the annual spring convocation were still held that day. But all Tuesday night classes were cancelled, and then yesterday (Wednesday), we had our second full snow day! And today it is still storming outside, so we are having our third snow day of the semester. Snow days were a common occurence for me in high school, seeing that I'm from New England. But they're something that I thought I'd only see down here maybe once a year, if that? Certainly not three times in one semester (so far)! 

     So what exactly does one do on a Southern snow day? I am here to fill you in! :-)

The snow beginning to fall on Tuesday

     I had set an alarm for 10:30 am on Wednesday, but after waking up with a headache, I decided to forget about waking up and go back to sleep. I ended up sleeping until 1 pm! But hey, how often do I have the chance to do that?!

     Once I was up, I bundled up as much as I could and headed to the caf for the snow day brunch, and then to our school's bagel shop to get a hot beverage, as they were the only other eatery that was open on campus during the storm. A chai latte was necessary to get through the snowy weather!

     I spent the afternoon watching Netflix and also catching up on last weekend's sermon from my chuch here in Charlotte. I had such a busy weekend that I slept in too late to attend the Sunday services, so I'm happy that this church posts all of the sermons online so I could still tune in! I had a few homework assignments, but nothing was due the next day so I decided to put everything off. :-)

     By early evening, there was over three inches of snow! Being from Maine, this doesn't seem like very much, but for North Carolina this was a BIG storm! Even up North though no one messes with freezing rain, and the fact that it had already started to freeze over was leading everyone to guess that we'd have the next day off from school as well.

     I went to dinner with some sorority sisters, and like all sorority girls of course we had to take some snow pictures!!

     After dinner, a bunch of friends came over to my room. The mix included a sorority sister, a CRU friend, and various friends of theirs, including some girls that I had never even met before! But we decided to watch what is possibly the best movie for bonding girls together... The Lizzie McGuire Movie, and by the end I felt like I knew everyone a lot better. ;-) Because of my weird schedule this semester I don't have friends over in my room that often anymore, so it was fun to entertain and have the room full of new and old friends! We then watched a bit of the Olympics, and while that was going on I got to try out some Pinterest-inspired nail art designs on some of the girls:

Dream catcher nails

Bow nails

This design is supposed to be lemons for "Pink Lemonade"

     

     I had a wonderfully relaxing day, and I'm so thankful that the power stayed on!! Since winter weather related power outages don't happen much in the South, my dorm isn't hooked up to a generator, so I would have had to leave my room and head to a different building for goodness knows how long. I'm praying that the power continues to stay on through our second snow day tomorrow! 

     At first I was a bit angry about the snow, because it means that my Valentine's plans had to be cancelled. Even though those aren't supposed to happen until Friday, I highly doubt that the roads down here will be clear by then. I was supposed to have a fun girls' night with two good friends rom my former college, but we just decided to postpone our plans until next weekend! I had a cute Valentine's outfit picked out for an OOTD post, but that will just have to wait a few more days. :-)

      How's the weather where all of you are at? If you're also in the Carolinas, stay safe until everything clears up!! 

     xoxo Miss ALK