Midweek Ramblings + Recent Purchases.

{From my Instagram @miss_alk - also be sure to follow on Snapchat with the same username!}

Ramblings:

• My first blogging trip! I am so excited to be heading out of town this weekend for my first-ever trip related to my blog! Many of you know that I've been a member of the Her Campus Blogger Network for a few years now- it's such a wonderful blogging network that provides so many great opportunities to college aged bloggers. This year, the HCBN is sponsoring a few fashion shows across the country with college aged girls in mind. They invited bloggers from their network to apply to be models in the shows, and I was selected to model in the Atlanta show this upcoming weekend! I am so excited! This will be such a fun weekend full of lights, cameras and getting all dolled up, and I can't wait to have the opportunity to do some more networking for my blog. I've also never been to Atlanta before (minus a brief airport layover), so let me know of any recommendations for places to eat or cheap things to do if you have them! 
• My favorite part of 21 is... On the note of traveling, I think I have come to the conclusion that my favorite part of being legal isn't being able to buy or drink alcohol, it's being able to book and check into hotels! My trip this weekend will be my third time traveling and booking my own hotel since turning 21 in September. It's seriously becoming addictive (and bad for my bank account!). My Expedia account is quickly racking up points, and stay tuned for the Purchases section of this post to see how else I'm saving money on traveling!
• A new routine. I shared in one of these posts several weeks ago that during my sorority's stressful recruitment season at the start of the semester that I was trying out something new to channel my stress: working out! I used to be really into working out in high school but had stopped going to the gym somewhere around my first semester of college. But I decided that enough was finally enough and that fitness would get me through recruitment. I'm proud to report though that working out is now apart of my permanent weekly routine! I have fallen in love with one of the weekly yoga classes offered at my school, and I also work out in the gym a couple times a week as well. And starting next week, I'm also the captain this year of my sorority's intramural volleyball team! My fitness journey isn't huge by any extent, but it's already brought so much positivity into my life and routine. 

Purchases:

• Ya girl over here kinda waited until the last minute to book her hotel room for Atlanta this weekend... so she ended up spending WAY more money then she intended to get a nice room. :-) (I was almost tempted to book a place on the outskirts of the city that was $50 a night, but my parents convinced me that probably wasn't the best idea ;-) ). Anyways, I will be on a stricter budget then usual for the next few weeks while I build my savings back up.
• On the note of traveling though- have all of you heard about Ebates yet? This is an incredible website that I just heard about a couple of months ago!! You can earn cash back for online shopping purchases on qualifying websites by installing the Ebates toolbar on your internet browser. Most clothing retailers are on Ebates, and you can get between 1-7% cash back depending on the store. The way that I have been getting most of my cash back though is through my travel purchases on Expedia- they usually offer excellent cash back rates! (And you can still earn your Expedia points at the same time!) Sign up for Ebates HERE!  Ebates will send your payments either in the form of checks by mail, or via Paypal (which is what I chose to do!). 

      Hope that y'all are having a great week! 

      xoxo Miss ALK

      This post is not sponsored and all opinions are my own. Affiliate links are used.