Southern Belle in Training

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

July 31, 2015

France Study Abroad Trip: Monaco (by night).

     My summer post series, Southern Belle in the 'Bunk, will be returning next Friday on the blog! There will be two more Fridays left in this series, and it will be concluding on Friday, August 14th. Before I jump into today's post, my question for all of you is: would you like the last two SBITB posts to be the same as the previous six posts (a fashion post set in a pretty location in my town), or would you instead like me to focus just on some of the touristy or geography aspects of the area that I'm from? I would be interested in doing that as well! Let me know in the comments. :-)


     Anyways, onto sharing the next recap from my study abroad trip to France! Last time I shared about a chateau that I got to visit in the Loire Valley. (I have also previously shared about my 4th of July in St. Tropez as well.) Today I'm sharing all about what was one of my favorite day trips that I went on during my month abroad. This trip was especially fun for me because I planned the whole thing out for myself and three friends from my language school! If you know me, you know that I'm a planner, and I adore organizing things for friends. I organized this trip during my last week in France, and it meant to me that I was finally feeling a little bit acclimated to Europe and traveling around.





     So first, a note about the title of this blog post: "Monaco (by night)." This title is actually a tribute to an inside joke between me and my classmates at school in Nice! There was a guy that worked for the school who organized excursions for students on the weekends and on certain nights. His trips to Monaco to tour the famous casino and some of the older areas of the country were called "MONACO: BY NIGHT," and he would always announce it in this super funny French/English accent! It was so great. His excursions were a bit pricey so I didn't end up going on any of them, and instead planned my own trip to Monaco for my friends and I, but they still teased me about it the whole time that were were there and said that we were on Annaliese's Monaco by Night! Ha.


     So Monaco, the second smallest country in the world, is just about a half an hour from Nice. It's right on the Mediterranean Sea, and beautiful mountains make-up the scenic backdrop of the country. You don't need a passport to enter Monaco if you have already been in France (which most people have been, as the nearest airport is in Nice!). Monaco does have its own train and bus station. After looking at both options, I decided that my little group would take the train to Monaco. We were able to fit in our whole visit to this country after school one afternoon!

View from the balcony level of the Monaco Aquarium


     While Monaco's most famous attraction is by far the casino, my little group decided to take in one of Monaco's less publicized attractions... the aquarium and museum of oceanography! I am a total nerd for any aquariums- I would much rather be at an aquarium than any other type of museum. Sea creatures just fascinate me! Monaco's aquarium was quite affordable to visit (they offered discounts with proof of international student ID), it was only about a fifteen minute walk from the train station, and what I didn't know until we got there is that the building had an balcony a few stories up with beautiful panoramic views of the whole country (see picture above!). 


     The Monaco aquarium proved to be the perfect after school activity. Since it was a school night, we didn't have as much time as I would have liked to explore the whole country or other neighborhoods in Monaco (or the casino), but the walk from the train station to the aquarium was still absolutely beautiful, and we stopped for many picture opportunities along the way! See more pictures from "Annaliese's Monaco by night" below:





Funny face pictures are a must no matter what country you're in.



Throw what you know wherever you go!



Cutest post office ever.


The Italian restaurant that we had dinner in. 





     Visiting Monaco truly was a dream come true for me, especially because since high school I have been not so secretly obsessed with the movie Monte Carlo (Selena Gomez + Leighton Meester + Katie Cassidy [aka Blair Waldorf and crazy Juliet Sharpe from season 4 of Gossip Girl] all in one movie? YES). I still feel like I have much more than just the aquarium to discover from this amazing little country though, so my first trip was definitely not my last!


     I would definitely recommend a visit to the Monaco Aquarium and Oceanography Museum as it's the perfect day-trip from Nice- but if you do visit Monaco, try and see more of the country than I got to!

   
     xoxo Miss ALK
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July 29, 2015

Midweek Ramblings + Recent Purchases.



   
     I have been trying so hard over the past few months (heck- all of 2015!), to be better about planning out blog posts more in advance and making sure to keep my fashion content consistent. But when I had to work overtime at my summer job last week, I just kind of failed here on the blog, and had to put this on the back burner so that I wouldn't burn out all together! Like a lot of other bloggers, I shoot most of my outfit posts on the weekends for the upcoming week normally. But with working long shifts this past Friday, Saturday and Sunday (plus icky weather and being tired from working all almost all of the days before the weekend), it just didn't happen this time. And you know what? It's okay! I'm getting caught up again this week, and I'm going to try and use this past week as a reminder to myself to not let getting behind on the blog happen during busy times of the school year (which will be here before I know it!).


     So since I don't have an outfit post planned for today, I thought that I would just share some random things that have been going on in my life since I returned home from studying abroad in France a few weeks ago, and also share the links to some recent purchases that I made or will be making soon!


Ramblings:

  • Netflix DVD Service: Y'all. I completely forgot that this exists, and I think that it's about to change the game for me. My parents got me my Netflix subscription for my 18th birthday present a few years ago, and until like three days ago I totally forgot that the plan that they have me on includes the Netflix DVD service in addition to instant streaming. We all know that instant is awesome, but lately I have found that all of the new shows that I've been wanting to watch aren't actually offered on instant Netflix. But guess what? ALL of them are on the DVD service!! Win! And the best part of about doing DVDs is that it's a great way to control binge watching- my plan only gives me one DVD at a time- so this will be perfect during the school year. The first new show in my DVD queue is the older ABC show Greek- I'm so excited to watch this with my last sorority recruitment approaching.
  • Bed Bug Bites: So as I've mentioned several times now, I got pretty severely bitten by bed bugs during the second part of my study abroad trip in Nice, France. Immediately upon arriving home, all of my luggage (minus my computer and camera) was bagged and put into our garage, since bed bugs can live for a long time without human contact. I hadn't originally had any new bites upon getting home, but my legs and feet were still pretty itchy. Well, over the past couple days, I seem to have found what looks like a few new bites. :/ I am SO paranoid now, and I have no clue how they could have gotten into my house since all my luggage was taken care of and untouched (and I even vacuumed my computer and camera!). I am really hoping whatever these new bumps on my legs are might be something else- eek!
  • Being Social: So when I am home in Maine during the summers, I tend to be a hermit. It seems that all I do when I'm home is go to work or work on my blog (or sometimes go to the beach!). But this past week, I actually am spending some time with friends which has been so nice! My best friend from high school, Jules, is spending her summer in upstate NY with her boyfriend's family. But she came home last week for a visit, and we were able to go out for a coffee date with her sister on Saturday morning before I went to work. And this week, I had two very fun plans! If you follow me on Snapchat (@miss_alk) then you know all about my fun Tuesday plans on my day off. I got together with two very old friends of mine, back from my childhood days of being a competitive figure skater! Both girls are such sweethearts- they're a couple years younger than me and are both headed off to college in the fall as freshman (which I cannot believe and it made me feel SO OLD!). Both ladies are also now into photography, so we did some fun blog photoshoots which I'll be sharing soon! And then this coming Thursday, in the afternoon I'm headed to visit my dear friend (and other photographer!) Shara, from Shara Lynn photography, to see her new apartment and have dinner together. I can't wait! So much fun girl time this week. 
  • Millennial Blogger Network: I have posted about this a couple times before, but not nearly enough for the amount that this group has impacted my life lately! Some of you might know that earlier this spring, I co-founded and became an admin for a new blogging network called the Millennial Blogger Network. We are currently Facebook group based, but are expanding into other forms of social media as well. The group has been growing SO well, and being an admin is a lot of work, but also brings me so much joy! I never thought that 2015 would be the year that I would take on a leadership role in blogging, but I'm loving every minute of it. :-) (If you're a college aged, 20 something or 30 something aged fashion or lifestyle blogger and are interested in joining the network, click here and fill out our application to join!)


Purchases:

  • In the past, I've never been a big fan of Forever 21's website. Y'all know that I'm a HUGE fan of their stores (I swear half my closet is from there #noshame), but I just never seem to find what I'm looking for online. Well, that all changed last week! I've been on the hunt for a certain type of crop top to wear with a beautiful skirt that I recently got, and I was so happy to find and purchased the perfect crop top from the F21 website! (I purchased it in white.) Forever 21 has SO many perfect crop tops right now, so if this is something that your closet is begging for, be sure to check out their website! 
  • Another thing that was apart of my F21 order was this cute make-up bag! I already have some make-up bags and accessories from there, but with such cute designs and affordable prices, what harm is one more going to do?! 
  • Somehow I have managed to bite the bullet and not order anything (....yet) from the NSale. Does that make me a bad blogger? Haha. One thing though that is making it really hard for me to resist on getting is this beautiful make-up palette (which also comes with additional goodies!). I'm such a sucker for eye-shadow! Ugh. 
  • After my next couple of paychecks I'm soon going to be ordering some of the blogger goodies from my Ultimate Blogger Gift Guide round-up post from various Etsy shops! 
  • I have decided that my lingerie drawer needs a little updating for this year. (After re-reading that sentence, I realize that makes it sound like I'm seeing someone and/or my views have changed on things like that. To clarify: currently not dating anyone, and still hold Christian morals/views on sex before marriage. ;-) ) I only want to update my lingerie drawer for my own benefit- ha! Anyways, my Victoria's Secret catalogue came in the mail a few days ago, and I read that they're having so many great promotions right now and into August with online orders! Free shipping with orders over $50 (and free shipping on ANY swimsuit orders!), a cute free carry-on travel tote with orders $75+ (This one is in store too! And I love their carry-on bag promotions.), and also a code for $10 off a bra + a free pair of panties which I think starts in August. Win win and win! I'll definitely be making an order soon. 


     Thanks for making it through my ramblings! How has your week been so far? Have you bought anything fun lately?


      xoxo Miss ALK
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July 27, 2015

My Must-haves for the Retail Associate.

     Although that I wish my blog was my full-time summer job, it is currently my full-time summer "fun" job/hobby! My actual summer job is in retail. This is my third summer of working for an upscale gallery that sells handmade jewelry, art and home goods. Since I live in a very touristy area of Maine, most of the store's clientele during the warmer months is from tourists. Although this job isn't something that I would want to be doing for the rest of my life, I have enjoyed my coworkers, am lucky to have a job that's so close to my house, and I've had some wonderful customers over the past few years (and a few weird ones too... but that could be another blog post all together!).

     Most of my summer shifts are eight or eight and a half hours long, so I am at work for most of the day or evening, depending on the time of the shift. Since I've been doing this job for so long, I have it down to a science now about the types of outfits that I wear to work, snacks and lunches/dinners that I'll take with me, and other things that I stick in my bag.

     Since a lot of people work retail jobs for at least some point in their lives, I thought I would do a little "retail associate round-up," and share the items (or similar items) of what I wear or what's in my purse for work everyday!
   
What I Wear: My work has a slight dress code. Employees can't wear blue jeans, shorts, tank-tops without a sweater or shirt on top of them, or just anything that generally looks too casual. The dress code isn't really a problem for me since y'all know that I love to dress up!! But when I first started this job, dressing for the job could sometimes still be difficult. Even though I'm mostly just on the sales floor with customers, sometimes my boss has me doing tasks in the stock room, or I have to package something for a customer, and your clothes have the risk of getting slightly dirty. So because of that, I don't wear any of my nicer dresses (like anything Lilly) to work. But I do wear a sundress almost everyday! My favorite work dresses are plain and usually solid colored or with a simple pattern, like the two that I linked above!
     I like the wear plain dresses to work because I usually break out my fun jewelry for work days. Statement necklaces, statement earrings, bracelet stacks... it all comes out! The store that I work in sells lots of jewelry, so it's good for sales associates so be seen wearing jewelry (even though what I wear wasn't bought at our store- haha!). It is also very air-conditioned at work, and I get cold easily, so I always top of my outfit with a fun colored cardigan! I have so many cardigans. My favorite places to get cardigans at are J. Crew Factory, LOFT, Forever 21, and Talbots but honestly I have cardigans from so many places!
     Since I am on my feet for so many hours a day at work, they get sore easily and I can't wear my normal summer shoes. I have two pairs of "work shoes," both are which are from comfort shoe brand Clarks. They aren't shoes that I would normally wear or pick for their fashion value (lol), but Clarks shoes are great for long days on your feet! I have linked two pairs above.


What I Bring: Just like wearing more fun jewelry for work, sometimes I am a bit more crazy with my make-up for work as well, especially in terms of lip colors. Hey- when you're indoors behind a counter for most of the day, you gotta at least look kinda fun for the customers, right?! During the school year, my favorite lip colors for everyday are warm pinks and peaches, but at work I'm more likely to experiment with all of my bright lip colors, which can include corals, reds and fuschias! Whenever I purchase a more bold lip color, it's usually from a cheaper cosmetics line, like NYC Color or Wet N' Wild. I prefer to spend more money on more neutral lip colors!
     One thing you may or may not know about me is that I am a devoted water drinker. Other than occasionally drinking Chick Fil A French Vanilla iced coffee, and black tea on some school mornings when I'm sleepy, all that I drink is water! So of course I need to bring my H2O with me to work. I have found that many reusable water bottles don't keep water cold for very long, and also can make the water taste funky after only an hour or two. So my favorite way to bring water to work is in my Lilly Pulitzer tumbler! I fill it with cold water and lots of ice, and it usually keeps it cold for most of my shift. (I also have a monogrammed tumbler from school that I love and use as well!) You seriously need a Lilly or monogrammed tumbler if you don't already have one.
     Before leaving for work, I almost always give my hair a little extra boost with dry shampoo! Even on days when I don't curl it. There are actually two different dry shampoos that I use and love equally but for different hairstyles (I really need to do a hair products post!), but lately I've been more into my Batiste Dry Shampoo. 
     And lastly- lately I have gotten into the habit of bringing a portable iPhone charger with me and it's so useful! At the store that I work at, we aren't allowed to have phones at all when we're working, they have to stay in the stock room. So when break time comes, I'm on my phone for the whole time!! If I come to work with an already low-battery phone, then I'll be in trouble later. My portable charger was actually a conference souvenir from my internship a few months ago in Louisville, Kentucky, but I linked a portable charger above!



      I will probably not be returning to my job next summer, simply because I am hoping to have an apartment in Charlotte by then, or if not, then have a communications internship for the summer in a different US city! But I have absolutely enjoyed these past three years, and I have learned a lot through working in retail!



A little peak of the store- this is from last summer when my friend Katie brought me a macaron while at work! :-)



     Have any of you worked in retail before?


     xoxo Miss ALK
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July 25, 2015

France Study Abroad Trip: Chateau Chaumont Visit.

     Right after coming home from France a couple of weeks ago, I wrote a very heartfelt blog post about some of the difficulties that I experienced during my short-term summer study abroad program (And by difficulties I don't mean homesickness! Think more along the lines of switching host families, getting bed bugs [at the second host family's house], getting sick, etc.) But even though there were many hard moments during my month abroad, I also did manage to have some fun! Over the next couple of weeks I will be recapping some of the highlights of my time in both Tours and Nice, France. I will try to share these posts on Wednesdays or Thursdays!

     Up first, a couple posts about my two weeks in Tours. Tours is a city of about 130,000+ people that is located two hours southwest of Paris. It is the largest city in the Centre region of France, and lies right in the heart of the Loire Valley (named for the Loire River, the longest river in France). This was the location that I was originally supposed to be spending my whole month studying abroad in, but after some things happened that I wasn't expecting with my language school and also my host family, I ended up switching to a different program in Nice for my final two weeks (read more about my switch in this post!).


     One of the things that I was most looking forward to having Tours as my study abroad destination was the plethora of chateaux in the area! Many of these beautiful old castles have been turned into museums that are opened to the public, and most are located on the Loire River and also have public gardens. Unfortunately, since I was only in Tours for two weeks, I was only able to make it to one chateau. The one that I got to visit was Chateau Chaumont!




     Chateau Chaumont is located directly on the banks of the Loire River, in a tiny village that is about a 20 minute train ride from Tours. (If you take a train, it is about a 30 minute walk from the train station to the chateau.) The chateau, stables, and gardens of Chaumont are open to the public year round for tours and visits, and there is also a garden festival in the summer months. Chaumont was once the home of Italian noblewoman Catherine de Medici, and then was owned by other nobles until it was turned into a museum!


The chapel room inside of Chaumont.


     After my visit to Chaumont, I took some time to really think about my visit to there. I want to be honest with y'all (without sounding like a downer). While I am glad that I did get to see one of the many famous Loire Valley chateaux during my time in this region of France, I don't think that Chaumont was the prettiest old estate/castle type place that I have ever visited, or will ever visit in my life. During my trip to England two years ago, my parents and I toured a few different castles, and many that we saw (including Windsor Castle specifically) seemed to be much nicer and elegant to me! I have also toured some estate homes here in the US that I think are much prettier and fun to see, including Portland Maine's own Victorian Mansion (an estate home turned museum that is a few hundred years old- each year at Christmas time the house gets all decked out for Christmas and my mom and I visited this past year).

      I found lots of areas of Chaumont to be quite underwhelming, and much of the chateau was currently under renovation when I visited. You could see those rooms, but there was nothing in them except swatches of old wallpaper that used to be on the walls. My favorite room was definitely the beautiful chapel area, which is pictured above. (The stained glass was incredible!) Chaumont did have a large garden area, which I was excited to see since I love botanical gardens. But similarly to the castle, I was a bit underwhelmed by many of the gardens.

     Some of the people from my language school who also visited Chaumont said that it was their least favorite chateau by far, and that they much preferred the nearby chateaux of Amboise and Villandry (as well as others). I wish that I had gotten a chance to see those! However, if you would like to see a nice recap of what Amboise and some of the other Loire Valley chateaux look like, one of my favorite travel and fashion bloggers, the incredible Julia from Gal Meets Glam, visited this area of France this past week, and has a recap post on her blog here. 


     But even though Chaumont wasn't my favorite part of France, it was still a nice afternoon, and now I can say that I have visited a chateau in the Loire Valley! See the rest of my pictures below:









The mist garden




How cool is this garden?




Africa themed garden


   
     Stay tuned for more recaps from France!


     xoxo Miss ALK
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July 24, 2015

Southern Belle in the 'Bunk: True Colors.

     This is Week Six for my Friday summer post series here on the blog, called Southern Belle in the Bunk. This blog series combines my love of fashion, beautiful scenic locations for fashion posts, and the fact that I'm spending this summer back in my hometown area of the Kennebunks region of Southern Maine! You can read more about the inspiration for this series in the intro post HEREWeek One HEREWeek Two HEREWeek Three HERE , Week Four HERE, and Week Five HERE! Xo














     I thought that it would be hard to top Week Two of Southern Belle in the 'Bunk as my favorite week of this series, but this week's post might have just stolen my heart. I do have acknowledge of course that the beautiful photography for both this week and Week Two was done by my dear friend Katie! She sure knows he way around the camera, doesn't she? 

     Blue is my favorite color. Specifically, my favorites shades are Tiffany blue/aquamarine, or sky blue. Yet whether I like it or not, I always seem to find my way back to this bright blue shade that I'm wearing in this beautiful dress from eShakti. Bright blue and white were my high school's colors, and azure blue and white (such a specific shade of blue :-) ) are the colors of my sorority, Alpha Delta Pi! So when I saw this dress on the eShakti website last month, I knew that it had to be mine. Not only is it the perfect summer sundress because of the lightweight feel and the beautiful embroidery, but it seemed perfect for me since it came in my "true colors." 


     Sadly this dress is now sold out, but eShakti has tons of other beautiful summery sundresses that would be perfect for the end of the summer season! They almost always have some sort of a sale or promotion going on, so definitely give them a visit. You can also check out this blog post from last summer, from when I styled a different eShakti sundress (which I still love and have been wearing this summer as well!).

    I also want to note that the bracelet that I'm wearing, from an online shop called Swell Caroline (I did a blog post with them a few months ago!), is currently on serious sale! This bracelet has become one of my favorites for summer, and it's available in five colors!! It does run a little large- just as a heads up! But I would say that I have an average wrist size, and I'm still able to enjoy wearing it! It matches and coordinates well with so many things, and I always love adding a touch of florals to any outfit. 


     I have linked some other beautiful sundresses in these colors at the bottom of the blog post!



     The location:





{Photo from my Instagram account - @miss_alk}


     During the first week of Southern Belle in the 'Bunk, I did my post on a bridge that crosses over one of the rivers in my town, the Mousam River, at a spot that's very close to where it meets the ocean. The photographs for this post were taken not even a mile away from where Week One's post was done! There is a beach right near where the Mousam River meets the ocean called Parsons' Beach. Technically it is a private beach, but the owners of it are gracious enough to let the public use it! It has a far more natural feel then any of the other beaches in town. My parents and I used to enjoy going there more when I was younger, but parking is very limited at Parsons' Beach, and once I got older most of my friends in high school always preferred going to the larger beaches in town, so that is where I always seemed to end up. Shooting these photos this week made me rediscover my love for this darling area though!

     And yet- I never even made it onto the beach for this shoot! Parsons' Beach has the most beautiful long, tree lined drive leading up to the beach and parking area. There is also a small horse farm and fields on both sides of the road, past the trees. When the lighting is right, it is truly the most scenic sight. I don't think that this will be the last time that I do blog photos here!


     Stay tuned for more Southern Belle in the 'Bunk coming next week, and tomorrow I'm sharing my first travel recap from France! 


     xoxo Miss ALK



      The product reviewed was gifted to me for review purposes on my blog by eShakti. All opinions are honest and my own.

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July 23, 2015

Current Brand Obsession: Manoush



     One of my favorite things that I did in France whenever the stressors of the studying abroad got to be too much was to partake in my favorite form of therapy: that of the retail variety. The shopping in both Tours and Nice was wonderful!! It was different yet similar from shopping in the US. Shopping in both of these cities reminded me the most of shopping in a city like Boston. All of the major stores lined one of the main streets in each city, and it provided a lively city-like shopping environment. (Very different from Charlotte- in which Uptown doesn't have any shopping, and malls on the outskirts of the city provide all of the retail action!) While I did purchase a few things on my trip, what I really enjoyed the most was window shopping! There was so much to take in, and window shopping that meant that I didn't have to worry about fitting anything else into my already almost overweight luggage for the trip home.

      My favorite French store that I discovered was a department store called Galleries Lafayette. It seemed like the French version of Nordstrom (but nicer!). I enjoyed visiting Galleries Lafayette in both Tours and Nice. The Nice store seemed to be a step above the Tours location, and they carried just about every high-end designer brand that you could think of (YSL, Gucci, Chanel, etc). The Nice store even carried some American brands like Anthropologie- they had what looked like a mini Anthro store set up in one part of their upstairs section!


     But what I loved the most about my visit to the Nice Galleries Lafayette was discovering the most darling French fashion brand: Manoush. The Manoush section in Galleries Lafayette was the happiest little pink corner of the women's apparel floor, and it was filled with the girliest and most darling dresses, skirts, tops and other accessories. I literally wanted to move in to that corner of the store! (See the picture above of the most adorable purse ever- photo from my Instagram account!)  wish that I could have taken something home with me, but sadly for my budget of euros, Manoush is a slightly more expensive brand (think along the lines of a French version of Kate Spade).

    I still thought it would be fun to do a little round-up on my blog though of some of my favorite Manoush pieces, since the whole line is absolutely stunning! My favorite item below would have to be the embellished peplum top.... #getinmycloset. Everything is just so unique and darling and pretty! Okay, okay. I need to stop now.

     Sadly the Manoush online store through their official website doesn't sell to the US, and I don't think the Galleries Lafayette website does either, but I was still able to find some pretty Manoush pieces (including that amazing peplum top!) on a website that does ship to the US, in case any of you want to treat yourselves. It's all linked below. :-)
   
   

     I'll be sharing more of the highlights from my trip to France soon! Over the next few weekends, I will be sharing about some of the fun things that I did while abroad (on the days that I was feeling not so sick/not so bed bug bitten ;-) ). As y'all know, travel is one of my loves, so I hope that y'all will enjoy hearing about some of my favorites places that I visited in France and beyond!


     xoxo Miss ALK



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July 21, 2015

#NSale Pajama Round-Up.

     

     A fellow Charlotte fashion blogger, Courtney from The Dainty Darling, summed up the Nordstrom Annual Sale (aka the #NSale) in possible the best way that I know how, by saying in her sale round-up post (found here!) that "everyone and their uncle knows about this sale." That actually made me laugh out loud because it has to be true! So many fashion bloggers have been recapping this sale on their blogs and other social media. I felt that it was a bit overkill at first, and it in fact turned me away from wanting to shop the sale on my own in the first few days (I shared some thoughts on that in this post). But after still seeing more and more PR about this sale, I finally gave in to taking a look of my own on Nordstorm's website, and I was actually really impressed with a lot of the items! There actually is a lot more to this sale other than just the same 25ish or so fall items that a lot of fashion bloggers are buying and Instagramming like crazy. :-)

     Probably what I was most impressed with in the #NSale was the great selection of on-sale pajamas and robes! How cute are all of these above that I have rounded up?! Everything above is apart of the sale!! I am especially obsessed with those beautiful print robes, and I honestly don't know which pair of pajamas is my favorite- they're all so fun!

     New pajamas are something that I could always seriously use. The truth about my own pajama collection is that it's in a very sad state. I have a couple pajama sets, but I always seem to make my way back to sleeping in old long sleeve shirts and baggy ancient sweatpants! (Weird fact about me: if I wear long pajama pants to bed, I always have to tuck them into a pair of socks to they don't move around in my sleep!) This upcoming school year is my last year of living on-campus, and I really think that I need some cute new PJs to celebrate my senior status (and having a single dorm room!).


     What are your favorite types of pajamas? Have you bought anything from this year's #NSale?


     xoxo Miss ALK
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July 20, 2015

Cotton Candy Colored.








Top: Delia's || Jeans: Delia's // Shoes: The Walking Company {Similar here} // Belt: Talbots // Wallet: Kate Spade {Similar here, on sale!} // Earrings: Burlington Coat Factory // Necklace: {Local boutique, Similar here} // Bracelets: c/o Urban Peach Boutique // Lips: Almay SmartShade Butter Kiss Lipstick in Pink Light/Medium


     Happy Monday lovelies! I hope that everyone had a relaxing and fun weekend. Even though I worked Friday, Saturday and Sunday, my weekend was still okay! On Sunday afternoon, I actually had a customer come in who I remembered from last year- she had come into the store a few times last year to buy jewelry and we had actually chatted about make-up brands after she complimented me on how I did my make-up! So it was fun to get to see her again this weekend. I also got to make a sale completely in French for a Canadian family which was fun, and proved to me that my recent study abroad trip to France wasn't a waste (despite all the difficulties!). 


     Anyways, onto the outfit! Today (Monday) is now my 6th day in a row of work. The store that I work in has somewhat of a dress code- employees can't wear blue jeans, shorts, or anything too casual. I typically wear sundresses to work almost everyday, but for weeks when I work lots of days in a row, sometimes I need to mix it up from dresses a little bit! So this was a colored skinny jeans outfit that I put together for work this past weekend. It features some of my favorite summer colors, some fun jewelry to dress it up, and is cute and casual while still being appropriate for my work environment! All of these items (yes, all!) have been featured on my blog in past posts before, but I've never worn all of these things together before. I love playing around in my closet on mornings before work and coming up with completely new outfit options out of pieces that I already had! 

     I love pairing bright colors together in the warmer months! This mint and hot pink accent combo is a new favorite of mine. It reminds me a lot of cotton candy- which is why I titled this post that!! I feel like I would also wear this outfit to a summer fair or festival... anywhere that I could get my hands on some cotton candy to match my clothes! (Fun fact: I don't even like cotton candy. But I think I would to eat it while wearing this outfit! :-) )


     With this outfit I also tried the ever popular "blogger half-tuck" with my shirt... tucked in the front, loose in the back. Y'all know what I mean, right? So many bloggers do this in their blog photos and on Instagram, haha! I've always thought that it looks cute when pulled off the right way so I thought that I'd give it a try. My dad thought that it looked totally weird, but I liked it enough to try it again sometime with the right type of shirt and bottoms. What are your thoughts on the half-tucked shirt?


     Some similar items are linked here below, including a similar Kate Spade bow wallet that's on sale through the NSale!


     xoxo Miss ALK
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