Over the past few years, I've found Target to be more hit-or-miss for me when it comes to clothing, but I swear that their women's shoe selection keeps getting better and better every year! I wanted to get up a quick post to share a few of my new favorite styles (all under $50!).
Hey friends- happy Monday! I've been super busy lately and there's a few things happening behind-the-scenes in life right now... so starting off the week with a lighthearted outfit post sounds good to me. This look was so much fun to put together, and it's honestly making me happy to see a cute outfit like this on a Monday.
This is also the first outfit post in a long time where I'm using a mix of iPhone and camera photos!! The first three are from my DSLR camera, and the last two are phone snaps. I'd love to know if there's one you prefer or if you can tell the difference!
At the end of 2020, I was invited to become a Sarah Flint Brand Ambassador. I was previously familiar with Sarah Flint shoes (they've been worn by some big names like Meghan Markle and Lady Gaga), but I didn't actually own any for myself as they are at a high price point. When I was invited to join the Brand Ambassador program, I was really excited to finally get to try and style a pair of these shoes, and test them out to let you know an honest opinion of them. Now that I've had my pair for a few months and worn them a good bit, I'm excited to share this review and a special Sarah Flint discount code with you today!
This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Southern Belle in Training!
What's the cure to a long and cold winter season during a pandemic? A.) lots of PINK, and B.) heart balloons! Am I wearing this outfit anywhere soon that's not this Richmond parking decor for these photos? No. But did it bring me so much joy to wear it for the sake of the blog and share it with you today? YES! And I think we all need more joy right now... 😊
Although I have no plans for New Year's Eve this year, I still wanted to dress up in a pretty and sparkly outfit at home to celebrate the end of 2020. But in true fashion for this year, there was a bit of a mishap with the outfit I was hoping to wear at home. Fortunately, I got these outfit pictures before that happened, so I can at least share what I planned to wear with you today!
Nothing says "classic summer preppy outfit" to me like the color combination of pink and green! These two colors when worn together just make me so happy. Anyone else? 😊
I purchased this retro looking green gingham shift dress a couple months ago, and I knew that when I styled it I wanted to add hot pink accessories. I came up with two different pink accessorized outfits... and I liked them both so much that I shot both for today's blog post! One is more of a daytime look, and the other I think would be cute for a fun evening out or a date night. So here's one of my new favorite dresses, styled two ways!
This Monday is a very different one than I was expecting- and I'm sure I'm not alone in having a major change of plans! I ended up taking Thursday and Friday off from sharing new blog posts with all of the crazy news last week (it was a weird few days at work and blogging wasn't really my focus), but I'm ready to be back full force with new posts this week! 😊 It won't be the vacation content I was expecting to give you, but I'm doing the next best thing today: still styling a dress that I was going to wear on vacation!
Cyber Monday may have officially been yesterday, but a lot of the best deals and sales are still continuing into this week. The dress, coat, shoes, purse and earrings I'm wearing are all from the same retailer, and they currently have thousands of items marked down for their extended Cyber Monday sale, which is continuing today. Ready to learn where this outfit is from?
Happy Monday Friends! It has still been pretty warm outside most days in Virginia, so it feels appropriate to share one final summery outfit featuring a cute Lilly Pulitzer top.
Most of the weddings that I've attended so far have all been late afternoon or evening weddings. I feel like there is a different type of dress code standard for morning or early afternoon weddings! You still wanted to look dressy and nice as a wedding is a special occasion, but it's not quite the same type of formality as a wedding later in the day. I'm going to my first noontime wedding next month, and I wanted to share an outfit that I put together as inspiration (that I might actually end up wearing for this wedding!).
Mondays are better then they involve something hot pink, right?! I saw this fun hot pink peplum dress while browsing online last month, and I knew I wanted to style it as a wedding guest dress option for a fun summer wedding. I'm also sharing a few of my my favorite places to find semi-formal and formal dresses at, so that you'll be all set for dress shopping for any weddings or other events later this summer.
As soon as I got this skirt in the mail a couple months ago, the first thing I could think of was "This makes me feel like a human Popsicle!" A human Popsicle in a flattering way that is. 😉 While I don't eat Popsicles very often anymore, they were my favorite summer treat for years when I was growing up. Plus- they're often super colorful and just a fun symbol of the summer season. Anyways, I shared my Popsicle skirt on Instagram a few months ago, but I've been wanted to give it a blog post as well!
It's the most wonderful time of the year... all of the flowering trees of the South are in full bloom! There's just no time of year to me as beautiful as this. Fall is nice and all I suppose, but I'd take a blooming tree over fall foliage any day. This weekend, I was supposed to be going up to DC to see their famous cherry blossoms. Unfortunately, the trees up there reached peak bloom a little earlier than normal this year (last weekend), and on Friday there were heavy rains in that area... so I ended up cancelling my day trip as there wouldn't have been that much to see. 😓 Fortunately- I found these beautiful flowering trees here in Charlottesville to still take pictures with!
Even though Fashion Week is associated with expensive designer clothing pieces, I didn't let that deter me from my favorite affordable retailers when I was packing my outfits! Today's blog post features my very favorite outfit that I wore for NYFW, and you won't believe the price point.
ALSO- sharing a fun spring themed Rafflecopter giveaway at the end of this post that I'm participating in with some other bloggers, don't miss your chance to enter!
Happy December! It just wouldn't be the Christmas season on my blog until I shared some photos with a huge decorated tree, right? 😉Sharing this year's edition of my blog Christmas photos today, as well as a few of my own personal Christmas traditions!
Photography by my mom 😊
This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Southern Belle in Training!
Each year I like to do some sort of a dressy look for my Christmas tree photos, but I do something a little different each year. I haven't done a dress and skirt combination since 2015 (the first year I did these type of photos for the blog!), so it felt right to bring it back. Both my white sweater and this fun wrap midi skirt are from Chicwish, which has become one of my favorite retailers for unique pieces. I thought I'd add in a little color by pairing this look with my favorite pair of red bow pumps! Red shoes just scream Christmas to me.
The wreath that I'm holding in these photos is very special to me! I made this last year on Thanksgiving in Vermont. I wasn't able to travel for that holiday last year with my work schedule, so I went for Thanksgiving dinner at the house of a family that went to my Vermont church. My friend Anna also wasn't able to travel home for the holiday, so she joined as well. After eating, we had a Christmas crafting session, where we each made a wreath! I picked out the ribbon and accessories on mine from Hobby Lobby. I still can't believe that I made what was literally my dream wreath! Maybe next year I'll bring back the tradition of doing Christmas crafts on Thanksgiving.
I also wanted to share my Christmas traditions with y'all in today's post! I think there is kind of a bad assumption out there that you have to be married or have a family of your own to make grown-up Christmas traditions. I'm here to tell you that I think that's 100% false! While my family did have both Christmas and Hanukkah traditions (My dad was raised Jewish) when I was growing up, I took it upon myself to create my own ones, starting senior year of college! Here are my personal Christmas traditions:
Set up my Christmas tree on November 1st (est. 2016): Fall 2016 was a really rough season of life for me. By the end of October, I was ready to bring on as much early Christmas cheer as possible! That year I decided to set up my Christmas tree on November 1st. It was also the first year that I had a Christmas tree of my very own, and my first year living in an apartment. Since then, I've continued to set-up the tree on November 1st. The past two years, I have decorated it later in November, but I still make sure to at least get the tree out of the box on November 1st! The season is so short as is, why not enjoy your beautiful tree for a little longer?
Take Christmas photos for the blog (est. 2015): Well- you're looking at that blog post today! Here are my past Christmas photos from 2015, 2016, and 2017.
Design a Christmas card and send to friends and family (est. 2016): Since I went to college out-of-state and have lived in two additional states since then, it's safe to say that most of my closest friends and family are far away! I always loved when my family received Christmas cards when I grew up, so I wanted to start that tradition for myself after I was out of college. Weirdly I don't use the Christmas photos that I take for the blog each year for my card, I usually select another favorite photo or photos from the year. I love how my cards turned out this year and I've already started sending them!
Watch a Hallmark or Lifetime movie premiere (est. 2017): Last year in Vermont I got VERY into Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas movies. Most of them play on repeat throughout the season, but I think there is something really fun about being able to catch a live premiere! This year I watched the premiere of Christmas at Graceland on Hallmark (starring Kellie Pickler), and I hope to watch at least one more premiere live before the season is over.
That's all of my Christmas traditions for now, but I'm thinking that it might be fun to add a new one into the mix each year going forward! I think the next one that I add will be faith based. I'd love to hear some of your Christmas traditions- especially if you have some and you're a single gal like I am!
One last fun thing to end today's blog post with! I'm teaming up with some other bloggers to bring you a fabulous holiday giveaway. It's super easy to enter (if you follow me on social media already, those are free entries basically!).
To enter:complete the steps in the Rafflecopter below. The more steps you complete, the more entries you receive, and the better your chance at winning! This giveaway runs until Monday, December 17th at 12am PST
Winner will be announced here. Good Luck! *this giveaway is in no way sponsored by Nordstrom.
I'm taking a break from outfits in fall earth tones and neutrals for today... and adding a little SPARKLE to your Monday. Talking all about sparkly holiday and NYE party dresses that are all under $40!
Every Monday needs some sparkle right? I thought today would be the perfect time to share this darling dress. Sure, mid-November is still a little early to be thinking about New Years' style... but at the same time, why not buy your outfit for NYE early, and then not have to think about it until then? Plus, this fun dress could also work for other dressy holiday occasions before then.
Can you believe that this beautiful dress is a Shein find?! I'm very happy with the quality- look how bright and beautiful the sequins are! I ordered a M in this (I typically size up and order M in Shein), however this dress runs a bit large for them! I probably could've gotten away with a S, my normal size for other retailers. But the fact that it is a little loose on me makes it more comfortable to wear, so I guess that's a win. 😊The colors in this dress make me think of Las Vegas- one of my favorite cities!
My mom bought me these super cute heels for a wedding that I went to this summer! Sadly my pair is sold out now, but these are really similar. Since this dress is so colorful and eye-catching, I wanted my accessories to compliment it, and not compete with it. I love these crystal drop earrings from Sugarfix, and I added in some of my favorite Kendra Scott bracelets as well.
I hope y'all are having a good Monday! Last week was a really long week at work. I love working in radio because I genuinely love what I do and I really do have fun most days at my job, but last week was a (rare) week that my job felt more like stress and less like fun. I'm hoping this week will be off to a great start!
Linking my dress below, and some other cute sequin ones from Shein!!
Hello and Happy Tuesday! I took a mini break from the blog and my blog Instagram from last Thursday through last night. I was able to really be "present" this past weekend, and just have a much needed little mental break from the blog world. I'm excited to be back today- I have a lot of fun fall fashion, travel, and lifestyle posts coming your way soon! I've been waiting to share today's outfit with y'all, and I hope you love this dress as much as I do! I'm also sharing a few thoughts on some anxiety that's been creeping into my life lately.
I think that I've really started to develop an affinity for tweed in the last year or two. I was never that into tweed as a fabric back in high school or college, but now I think that tweed pieces are the epitome of class for a young professional. I just recently styled a tweed blazer in another fall outfit post, and in today's blog post my tweed obsession is continuing!
How pretty is this navy and gold tweed dress from Chicwish? It is both classy and classic, and I love the bow detail at the neckline! I think this will be my new favorite fall church outfit. I styled it for today's post with simple nude pumps and a fall crossbody purse, but I'm looking forward to wearing it with tights and riding boots as the weather gets colder.
Now that we've had outfit talk, let's get a little caught up with some of my recent thoughts! How is your fall going? Mine feels like it has started flying by in a total blur. I feel that my first summer here in Charlottesville was almost perfect- and it seemed long and leisurely. Ever since early September, life just seems to be flying by, and some days it feels like I can't keep up.
I suffered from really bad anxiety in high school and for parts of college. It came back in full force around this time last year when I was in Vermont, but ever since I moved to Charlottesville it's been very minimal, which was a huge blessing! This month though I've noticed it starting to creep back into my daily life and thoughts. This fall I've been struggling with feelings of self-doubt about various things: my physical appearance, my social media following numbers (which sounds so vain to type that out, but as a blogger that is important!), my life outside of blogging and work, and more. Lately I've even started to have a lot of anxiety and down feelings related to being single- which is really odd since this summer was one of the happiest times that I've ever felt as a single woman (so much so that I wrote a blog post about it!). Over the last month my church has been doing a sermon series about Fear and how to combat it, so it seems all the more ironic that so many of my anxious thoughts seem to have returned this fall!
How am I combatting this additional anxiety? Number one- by acknowledging it! Burying it under the (virtual) rug in my brain and pretending it isn't there isn't helping. When I notice myself thinking self-destructive or anxious thoughts, I try to remind myself that this fall is a season of life, and I won't always feel the way that I do currently. That can actually really help put it in perspective. I've also been trying to remind myself of a blessing God put in my life after each time that I have a negative thought. I did a daily gratitude journal for a semester in college, and I am thinking about bringing that back into my life. Thankfully the anxiety that I've been dealing with lately hasn't been completely crippling (I have definitely had it worst in my past, and did see counselors at various times), but it is still annoying to deal with.
Now that I've shared about my last month- let me know how you've been doing in the comments! If you would rather share something less personal- let me know if you also love tweed in your fashion choices. 😊
I've been trying to share my lifestyle posts lately on Southern Belle in Training, but today we're keeping it simple with an outfit post for this Monday! I live in casual cotton Lilly Pulitzer dress styles in the summer, and I'm excited to share this pretty dress on the blog today.
First things first- let's address the elephant in the room for Lilly Pulitzer lovers. When oh when are the late-summer After Party Sale dates going to be announced? My fingers are crossed that the news will drop this week. You can count on me for keeping you informed on when that will be as soon as I know!! (Not sure what the magical After Party Sale is? Check out this blog post of mine! 😊)
Alright- onto this outfit. I've been absolutely living in my casual Lilly dresses like this one during this whole summer. I love how this dress looks paired with chunky wedges and some coordinating jewelry! It's an adorable summer look that could be worn anywhere from a casual office to church to date night. It's the type of outfit that makes you feel pretty and put together, but not over-the-top dressed up. Win win!
I share recaps of my weekends in my weekly Midweek Ramblings posts on Wednesdays, but I want to finish today's post by talking about something I did last week (before the weekend). I went to see CRAZY RICH ASIANS!!! I bought a ticket for premiere night, and I think that's the first time in my life that I've ever intentionally bought a movie ticket for the premiere (I saw Mamma Mia! 2 on premiere night this summer, but I didn't realize it had opened that day.) I've mentioned more than a few times on the blog how much I enjoyed reading the full Crazy Rich Asians trilogy this spring. The movie definitely did the first book justice, and it was a magical experience to see everything played out on the big screen. Wow wow wow. Who else saw it on premiere night or over the weekend? My fingers are crossed that the success of this movie means that more romantic comedies will finally be heading to theaters into 2019! I feel like it's been a dry couple years for them- thank goodness for Hallmark and Lifetime movies. 😉
Happy Monday- lots to chat about today! I recently styled this outfit from JustFab for an Instagram collaboration, but I loved the photos and outfit so much that I wanted to share here on my blog as well. 😊Further down in this blog post, I'm also sharing some thoughts about the direction I want my Instagram content to go in, and I'd love your feedback!
Styling this outfit for an Instagram collaboration was actually my first time trying things from JustFab- but I can definitely say I'm a fan!! I was curious how this dress would actually look on me after seeing it online, but I love it. It's such a flattering style, and the grey floral print would be so easy to transition from summer to fall. Pair this dress with these pink suede block heels and suede jacket makes the ideal business casual look for this time of year. It's a bit too dressy for me to wear this outfit to my job (Although who are we kidding- I've worn stuff fancier than this to work!), but this is also an ideal church outfit in my opinion! I've always been #TeamDressUpForChurch- so you can bet I'll be wearing this outfit to a Sunday service this month or next.
Changing gears for a second to talk about something that normally try not to talk too heavily about on my blog: the I-word. Instagram!!! It seems like every time that a blogger says anything about Instagram online, it immediately becomes a long rant about how the algorithms are making their lives miserable, and it's all Instagram's fault if they aren't getting a lot of likes, engagement, or collaboration opportunities. While I do often *internally complain* to myself about how frustrating using Instagram as a blogger can be, I don't feel there's much of a purpose in sharing those rants here on my blog. It's all been said many times before by too many bloggers to count! What I would like to talk about today instead related to Instagram is my thoughts about the type of feed that I want to curate here on out.
There were lots of fashion influencers already on Instagram way back in 2012 when I made my account. (My @miss_alk account was created a few months before I started this blog, and I used it for a long time as personal feed!) There were tons of fashion influencers on Instagram in 2015, when I made a separate personal account and started using @miss_alk really just for fashion and blog content. And today in 2018? TOO MANY fashion bloggers and influencers on Instagram to count!! Something that I've started to notice about a lot of the newer fashion blogger feeds that are popping up is that they all look exactly the same. And no- I'm not talking about how the photos are edited or the weird orange preset trend that's going around (that's a discussion for another day). I mean the types of poses girls are doing, the standard Instagram "props" that everyone has in their photos (Starbucks cup, flowers in purse, etc etc), the clothing itself... it's a rare day on Instagram now when I don't see several girls all wearing the same top or dress from Nordstrom. And captions! Oh my goodness, everyone's captions sound exactly the same. This might be what's been bothering me the most! You'll see a couple superficial lines about "OMG it's finally Fri-Yay! Who else is #WeekendReady?" or "I am so obsessed with this top! My favorite top ever! I bought it in all 6 colors omg omg omg!" And you know what I have to say about all of these repeat Instagram behaviors? After blogging and being apart of this world for almost six years... I'm sick of all of this!
I have nothing against putting time into creating visual content, whether for your blog itself or Instagram. I really do love and truly appreciate good photography- it's why I've been working with photographers for the majority of my own content for 2+ years now. The issue that I've been having lately with following fashion bloggers is that there seems to be no more creativity. Everyone is copying everyone else, and worse then that- everyone is trying to shove sales down my throat. I don't think there's anything wrong with using Liketoknow.it on Instagram (I obviously use it myself). It can be a useful tool to find out where items are from, and I have the app on my phone to use for shopping other blogger's photos sometimes. My issue is that for so many fashion bloggers right now, it seems like they only use Instagram because of Liketoknow.it. They're solely existing and operating their brands with the desire to sell me things, not to inspire me.
I started this blog during my freshman year of college as a way that I could share the fun and creative outfits that I'd wear to class and school activities on weekdays. I didn't have a huge budget to spend on clothing or accessories, and I wanted to blog to hopefully inspire girls who shared my love of fashion and also shared my limited budget. While my blog has changed a lot over the years, and now of course I do use affiliate marketing and create sponsored content for brands, my goal has remained that I want to inspire people. I want girls (and some guys?) who read this blog to feel like we are virtual friends, and that if I'm wearing something or recommending something, it's like friend-to-friend conversations where I share things that I love. When I see fashion blogger after fashion blogger who only wants to sell me the latest thing that they're wearing on their Instagram, it feels less like a friend relationship and more like they're those annoying kiosk salespeople in the mall chasing me down. Anyone else feel that?
So why am I bringing this up today? I want to start making some gradual changes to my Instagram feed. I'm still going to use Liketoknow.it, because like I said above I do think it's a useful tool. However- I don't want this to be the focus on ANY of my posts (okay unless maybe it's a Lilly Pulitzer sale week- #honesty). I want my not only my photography on the 'Gram to be creative and detailed, but also my captions to be on the same level of thought. I want to STOP taking the easy way out and captioning a really beautiful photo something like "OMG love this blue dress!! Download the LiketoKnow.it app to shop it now" to funny captions, to have personal captions, to have a caption that makes you smile and chuckle, and also some captions that make you stop and think. I will still be posting outfit photos- because styling looks and shooting them is something that I enjoy (all in hopes to inspire someone else). But with that said, going forward with my Instagram I also want to include more of my own photography. I actually love taking my own photos when I'm traveling, or even locally sometimes!! Being behind the camera and not just in front of it is something that I want to continue to do. I want to share with y'all way more of my pictures of landscapes and flowers and city skylines and just anything that piques my eye to take a picture!! More uniqueness and true inspiration in my feed, less doing what everyone else is doing. I'm not saying that I'll never post a selfie or picture of me doing a typical blogger pose while holding a coffee cup ever again- but if I do post a photo of one of those things in the future, there will be a purpose for sharing that image on Instagram, and the purpose won't solely be trying to sell you something on Liketoknow.it, or having to post just for the sake of posting.
Okay- this rambling about Instagram feeds turned out to be way longer than I expected. Whoops! But I'd love to know what you think about all of this- let me know in the blog comments below, or on Instagram this evening when I share one of these photos and a shorter version of all of this! 😉
Yes- you read this post title correctly! I'm a fashion blogger... and I only purchased three items from this year's Nordstrom Anniversary Sale! That's right- I didn't blow my whole shopping budget for 2018 or go into debt shopping this sale, haha. 😉I'm proud of the self-control I exercised during this year's NSale, and I'm really happy with the three items that I now own. Check out today's look to see how it all styled together!
Photography by Kate Greer
This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Southern Belle in Training!
Let's talk about the cardigan first. I am so glad I decided to spluge on a Barefoot Dreams cardigan in this year's NSale! One thing that you may or may not know about me is that I'm a bathrobe enthusiast. No- seriously! I have a ton of bathrobes in all different lengths and fabrics- but my favorite ones in my closet are the fuzzy and warm ones. This cardigan literally feels like a bathrobe- except it's of course appropriate to wear out of your house. WIN WIN. This will sell out fast when the NSale opens to the public tomorrow, and I highly recommend it! I ordered size XS/S.
I'm also loving this simple but cute striped long sleeve top! It comes in a variety of colors in the NSale in both striped and printed options. I am already thinking of endless ways to style this come fall and winter- with skirts and tights and a statement necklace, or dressed down with leggings and sneakers for a weekend look. There's so many options. It's under $20- which is a great price both for Nordstrom and also just for such a staple piece! I ordered size S and I liked the fit.
So there you have it- my 2018 NSale purchases. I'm proud of myself for really sticking with a budget in this year's sale, and I know I'll be using and wearing all three of my purchases often. I can totally justify making a spluge on something if I will wear it all the time- like with the Barefoot Dreams cardigan!
With the sale opening to the public tomorrow- I'm so curious as to what you'll be buying!! Did you also shop the sale Early Access? Or are you planning to after tomorrow? Or just avoiding it in general this year? You can check out my 2018 NSale guide to my favorite brands included in the sale in this post, and some NSale beauty picks as well in this post!
