What to Wear For Apple Picking.

Sweater {not online, very similar + under $25 here} // Skirt {very similar here} // Scarf {similar} // Boots // Bracelet // Lipstick

     Last weekend, I enjoyed an afternoon at an apple orchard with fellow Charlotte bloggers! Apple picking is a fall tradition that I've enjoyed since I was little. Back home in Maine, there are lots of apple orchards that you can visit in the fall. There's one orchard that I grew up visiting with my family, and another one that I remember going to with my middle school youth group and various friends growing up. Both were great places to visit, and I have so many fond memories from home of all trips to pick apples. 

     Dressing for an afternoon at the apple orchard is the perfect time to where all of your favorite casual fall fashions! Blanket scarves, floppy hats, cozy sweaters, fall colors.... you name it, break it out! It was fairly warm out on the day that we went, so I paired my sweater and blanket scarf combo with my favorite suede skirt. 

     Last Sunday's day trip was my first time visiting an orchard here in the South, and I'll admit that I was a little underwhelmed! The girls and I went to visit Windy Hill Orchard in York, SC (just under an hour from Charlotte). The orchard did have the cutest little food and drink bar area where you could purchase donuts and cider- and the donuts were delicious! But I was under the impression that all apple orchard were U-Pick, since that's the type that I grew up with in Maine. We learned after we arrived that this orchard finished the U-Pick season in September, so visitors could only "look" at the apple trees... a little bit of a let down! But all of us still managed to take blog photos by the apple trees. ;-) And as always, it was a great time to get together with some of the Charlotte bloggers! I've said this before- but I'm so lucky to live in a city where there is such a great blogging community. 

     Hope that y'all are having a great start to the weekend! Last year I went all out and enjoyed a more typical college "Halloweekend," but this year I'm ready for a busy and productive weekend filled mostly with work! #adulting I am excited to wear my costume for this year to broadcasting school on Monday though!

      xoxo Miss ALK

     

Midweek Ramblings + Recent Purchases.

{My outfit: Shirt // Jeans // Shoes // Follow me on Instagram + Snapchat @miss_alk!}

Ramblings:

• We're back! My apologies that my midweek update posts disappeared for the past few weeks! I genuinely to enjoy writing them for y'all. But my question to all of you: do you like reading them each week? Or is this something that you would prefer to read more on a monthly basis instead? Let me know in the comments!
• A "Delightful" afternoon: Last Friday, I was in Columbia, SC for the day. I had the chance to meet-up for a late lunch with blogger Rachel from Something Delightful (formally A Preppy State of Mind)! I have been following Rachel's blog since my freshman year of college. Back when I was a freshman and considering transferring schools, I especially loved Rachel's posts about her sorority- Alpha Delta Pi. Reading about her experiences definitely was a factor for me wanting to go Greek when I transferred colleges. (And then I ended up choosing Alpha Delta Pi during my sophomore year! :-) ) Anyways - I have stayed a loyal reader to Rachel's blog through the years. She has an absolutely incredible story. It was so great to finally meet her in person and get to share more of our stories over lunch! It is always so amazing to connect with blogging friends on a deeper level in person. And I also got to meet Rachel's precious little girl, Madeline! 
• State Fair Fun: After lunch with Rachel, I had my first Southern state fair experience! I went to the South Carolina State Fair with my sorority sister Perrin and her fiancee. It's been on my bucket list since my freshman year of college to attend either the NC or SC State Fair. It truly was a very Southern experience! I ate everything from fried cookie dough and Oreos. And another highlight was seeing livestock and animals of all shapes and sizes. I also thought it was really cool that this fair had different types of competitions like crafting and baking - I sure am jealous of whoever got to taste test the award-winning desserts!
• On my Netflix: I am probably about five years behind schedule on this- but my latest Netflix obsessed is The Office! I just finished watching Parks and Rec this summer, so it's been fun to start another similar comedy. My parents were big Office fans when I was in high school and I used to watch occasional episodes with them, but I'm really enjoying starting the show from the beginning. Tell me- am I really the last one to the party on this?!

Purchases: 

• How pretty is this necklace?! My parents and I did a little bit of shopping when they visited a couple of weeks ago, and this was one thing they bought me. I've been wearing it nonstop! And the best part is it's on sale right now. :-)
• I also recently purchased this sweater in tan (that specific color isn't online- but other pretty colors are!), and I've been wearing it all the time! It'll be styled in Friday's post. 

     xoxo Miss ALK

Midweek Ramblings + Recent Purchases.

{A couple weeks ago at the City Lights Rooftop x Diet Coke End of Summer Bash. Follow me on Instagram + Snapchat @miss_alk!} 

Ramblings:

• Free Pinterest e-course: Starting off this week's Ramblings by getting real for a sec... I've seen extremely low page views on the blog this month, which has been really discouraging to me. I'm not really sure why this is, as I've still been posting regularly here on the blog and social media. But I know that I definitely want to bring my numbers back up for the rest of the year! One area of social media that I can definitely improve on is Pinterest. I love using it for things like recipes or to save articles that I enjoy reading, but I haven't always been the best at using it for my own bloc content. That's going to change! This weekend I went through and cleaned out a lot of my irrelevant boards, and I made some behind-the-scenes HTML changes as well. All of this was inspired by the information that I learned from my friend Jenny's new FREE Pinterest e-course launch! Jenny (from Breakfast at Lilly's blog) wrote an awesome 5-day email course that will be sent to your inbox 100% free of charge. There is so much useful information in this course. Definitely sign up for it if your Pinterest is also in need of a revamp, and while you're at it support Jenny as she prepares to launch her social media business Confetti Social! 
• A unique clothing line: My funniest online article find of the week would be this one. A Swedish ad agency recently developed a clothing line with designs that feature some of the most well known (and tackiest) stock photos. I was laughing so hard looking at these clothing options... you just have to see this!
• Charlotte in the news: As many of you know, Charlotte has made national attention over the past week for violent riots (and some peaceful protests) that began after an African American man was shot and killed by police last week. Many friends of mine from out-of-state or other parts of NC reached me over the weekend to check in on my safety, of which I was very grateful for! I currently live in a part of Charlotte that wasn't near any of the protests, but it was still unnerving to just be living in the same city where it was happening. Thankfully, the protests seem to be calming down now. The bottom line is that this is all around an extremely tragic situation, without casting judgement for either side. I pray that the city will find peace and understanding in the weeks, months and years to come! 
• Product reviews: In the past few weeks, I've received a few PR gift packages from different haircare and beauty companies. I have so many new goodies that I've been trying out. Bloggers frequently receive gifted items, but other then featuring them on social media occasionally, I feel that these gifts often don't get featured on actual blogs. Would y'all be interested in seeing a big review round-up post of some of the items that I've recently received? Let me know in the comments!

Purchases:

• In New York City a couple of weeks ago, I picked up this gorgeous top!! I'm obsessed with both the cut of it and the pretty pattern. 
• Possibly one of my best bargains of all-time... I found a Lilly Pulitzer skort in my size for $9.99 at a consignment shop here in Charlotte this week! The pattern in a couple years old, but this is the current equivalent. 
• I also picked up these pretty heels while in NYC. 

     My question of the week for y'all: Since I shared the funny stock photo find above, what is the funniest thing that you've found online this week?

     xoxo Miss ALK

Sorority Recruitment Fashion Inspiration.

     As many of you know, I was in a Panhellenic sorority for three out of my four years in college! I transferred to Queens University of Charlotte at the beginning of my sophomore year, and went through Formal Recruitment (which is the biggest time of the year that sororities take new members for those of you unfamiliar with Greek life!) that fall. I became a sister of Alpha Delta Pi in September 2013 at the conclusion of recruitment, and overall I did enjoy my time in Greek Life throughout my college years at Queens. While I am happy to be currently finished with being a collegiate member in Greek Life (and happy to be done with college in general!), and I am instead focusing on other endeavors in my life, I am still so proud to be a sister of Alpha Delta Pi, and do hope to get involved with the organization as an alumni someday.


     Formal Recruitment can seem like a huge undertaking to college girls who are about to embark on the beginning of their Greek journeys. I am here to tell you first and foremost that it's not something to be scared of- it's actually a super fun and exciting process! Girls in every sorority on campus are literally over-the-moon excited to meet and get to know you- how flattering is that?! I am also here to tell you that recruitment gets a lot more stressful and nerve-wracking once you are on the other side and participate in it with your own sorority- there is way more behind the scenes stuff to learn! So enjoy your own recruitment year while you can. :-)


     I thought that it would be fun to share some of my outfit inspiration ideas for any college ladies who read my blog that might be going through or considering sorority recruitment! The best part about today's post is that it's actually a collaboration with Audrey from Audrey Madison Stowe- but more on that later in the post!

Top // Skirt // Shoes // Earrings 

Dress // Shoes // Earrings // Bracelet 

Dress // Shoes // Bracelet // Hairclip 

     At Queens, sorority recruitment always took place about a month into the school year, and over a weekend. At larger universities throughout the nation, recruitment will often take place over a whole week either before the school year starts, or during the first week of school. If that's the case for your school, then you might need more outfits to wear! I was just using my own experience as a guide. 

     The first night of sorority recruitment is usually the most informal, and you do the most walking and talking as you're visiting all of the houses! (Or in the case of my college, "lodges" instead of sorority houses.) I wore a pair of Lilly Pulitzer dress pants on my first night of recruitment, but a skirt option like the one in the collage is also a great choice, as is a more casual (yet still conservative dress). Dressing modestly is very important for sorority recruitment! This isn't the time to be looking sexy or trying to use your body to impress anyone. It's a time for outfits that show how elegant, poised, and confident you are- let your clothes help add to showing off your personality and wonderful attributes! :-) 

     My personal taste is to lean more towards traditionally preppy brands for recruitment attire. I featured a Lilly Pulitzer dress here for my second night outfit inspiration (I also wore a Lilly dress for my second night of recruitment!), but I think that any dresses by Lauren James, Vineyard Vines, Kate Spade, or anything similar from department store brands would be find. 

     When I went through Formal Recruitment, I found that the last night, Preference Round, was the hardest to dress for. It is a formal round, but your outfit should still be more conservative and not distracting or revealing. Many of the formal or semi-formal dresses that I had at school at the time were covered with embellishments, which would have been too much. I ended up wearing a simple green dress from Francesca's that fit me well, and dressing it up with wedges and coordinating gold and green jewelry. 

 Me shortly before my third and final round of sorority recruitment, back in 2013!

     I think the Preference Round outfit that I featured here would be a great choice to wear! A cute pair of heels, some simple jewelry or hair accessories, and a bold but simple cocktail dress and you'll be good to go! 

     I didn't feature any watches or purses in these collages, as the rules at my school for recruitment didn't encourage girls to bring either of these things to the recruitment rounds. I'm not sure if this varies school to school! 

   

     As I mentioned earlier, this sorority recruitment outfit post is a collaboration with one of my blogger friends! Audrey from Audrey Madison Stowe is a Zeta Tau Alpha and sophomore at Texas Tech University. Her school has a very different Greek life culture from mine- not only is about 75% of the school Greek (not sure what the percentage was at my college but I don't even think it was 25%!), but the university itself is huge! Audrey's chapter alone is bigger then all four of the Panhellenic sororities at Queens. There are definitely pros and cons to being in large or small chapters of a sorority, but it's interesting for me to have met some friends through the blogging world who have had such different Greek life experiences than I did!

   

     Go check out Audrey's guide to recruitment fashion today, and also follow her blog if you aren't! She's a total cutie, and is a fellow member of the Millennial Blogger Network.

     And if you're interested in seeing posts that I wrote while in college about my sorority experiences:

Posts about Recruitment/Bid Day:

*2013 - My own Formal Recruitment Experience

*2014 - My First ADPi Recruitment

*2015 - Recruitment as a Senior

Posts about Black Diamond Formal (ADPi's annual Spring Formal event):

*2014

*2015

*2016

Posts about my internship through Alpha Delta Pi at the 2015 Fraternity Communications Conference:

*Guest post about the internship on the Alpha Delta Pi official blog

*Visiting Churchill Downs

Misc. Greek Life Posts:

*DIY Tutorial: State Pride Sorority Craft 

*7 Truths About Greek Life



     I hope this post was helpful to you if you're thinking about going through recruitment this year or in a future year! If you're also a college grad, were you in a sorority in college? How was your recruitment experience?

     One last fun memory that I have from my recruitment week is that at the very same time, my best friend Jules from high school was participating in recruitment at her university in Maine! She ended up becoming a sister of Alpha Xi Delta that week.... and one year later, my other dear friend from home, Katie, joined Jules's chapter of AXiD! So now my two favorite friends from home are sorority sisters. :-) 

    xoxo Miss ALK

A Twist on Chambray + May Blogger Meet-up Recap.

Top: {Old from Piperlime, very similar here} // Skirt: {Old from Red Dress Boutique, another fun summer skirt option here} // Shoes: The Walking Company {similar here} // Necklace: c/o Nava New York // Lips: Essence Liquid Lipstick in Show Off! 

     This is the outfit that I wore for the May meet-up for the North Carolina bloggers of the InfluenceHer (formally known as Her Campus) blogger network! I had originally planned to wear an even more summery-looking skirt outfit for the day of, but the weather ended up surprising us all and being a little chilly on the day of. With temperatures only peaking at about 70 in the afternoon, I knew that wearing long sleeves was a must. So I went through some of older clothes in my closet that I had recently re-discovered when moving, and put together this fun look. My top and skirt were originally featured in blog posts that I did a couple of years ago (found here and here).  

     For this month's blogging meet-up, we met at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden in Belmont, NC! This is about a forty minute drive west of the city. I love botanical gardens and had always wanted to visit this one while I was in college, but I suppose it was worth the wait. :-)

     There were delightful and well-maintained outdoor gardens throughout the property, complete with fountains and other small attractions. An interesting feature of the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden are a series of small child sized houses that various artists have designed throughout the gardens and woods, which helps to add a sense of whimsy. A picture of our group exploring the "Mirrors" themed house is below!

     I think that everyone's favorite part of the day though was getting to explore the beautiful indoor greenhouse. This is where we got to see the best species of plants! 

     They even had one of the little houses in the greenhouse, this one in the form of a teepee!

     The icing on the cake to our day in the garden was that there were a few food trucks making their way around that afternoon! We all enjoyed some yummy snacks after exploring, and then finished the day with blog photos. (What else do you expect for a group of bloggers? ;-) )


     It was so great to see some of my favorite NC bloggers last weekend, and I'm already looking forward to planning our next meet-up! If you are an NC blogger and/or member of the IHC Blogger Network, please email me at rainbowflash94@yahoo.com so that I can keep you in the loop about our future events!

     xoxo Miss ALK

Midweek Ramblings + Recent Purchases.

{Got to meet the lovely bloggers Ashley from Ashley Brooke and Michelle from Mash Elle in Orlando this week! Follow me on Instagram and Snapchat @miss_alk} 

Ramblings:

• A magical end to Spring Breaks: My dad, my suitemate Caroline and myself all had the most wonderful trip to Orlando over this past weekend! We enjoyed two days in the Disney parks, a day to explore Orlando, and also made time to relax at our hotel's pools. I can't wait to share more about the trip with y'all soon- my plan is to share a full recap of our vacation next week here on the blog! 
• Blogging meet-ups: The very last thing that I got to do on vacation is pictured above- enjoy meeting up with Florida fashion bloggers Ashley and Michelle! In the past year, I have tried to meet up with as many blogging friends as I can when I visit new places. I absolutely adore meeting other bloggers- it is so fun to meet the incredible people behind the blogs that I read. Ashley and Michelle are both total sweethearts in person, and we enjoyed chatting about everything from building social media followings to attending blogging conferences (I so hope to attend my first conference this year or next!). Do any of you try and meet up with bloggers when you travel?
• Apartment hunting: Even though I'm back in Charlotte now, part two of my Spring Break begins on Thursday evening! My mom is coming down of the second weekend of my break to help me and my future roommate do some apartment hunting. I have lived on campus for all four years of college, so I am SO excited for apartment life! I will be honest though and say that I'm a bit nervous about the apartment hunting process! Based on my future plans for next year, I have a pretty strict budget to work with, which might also be hard with needing to stay in Charlotte. All of the beautiful apartments in the nice neighborhoods here are more in my five year plan... not my directly out of undergrad budget. :-) But I'm hoping that everything will work out and that it will help to have my mom here! If any of you have apartment hunting tips- please share with me!! I'm all ears!
• SPRING WEATHER: While away in Orlando (and experiencing lots of Florida sunshine)- spring temperatures have decided to arrive in the Carolinas as well! During my first day back in Charlotte after break, it felt warmer here than it had in Florida! I am so excited for another week of warm weather, and getting to pack away my winter clothes and pull out all of my favorite spring and summer pieces!

Purchases:

• I recently bought this gorgeous top with intentions of packing it for Spring Break! I ended up deciding to pack other outfits instead, but I'm looking forward to wearing it here in Charlotte soon since the weather is going to be so nice coming up! It will be on the blog soon.
• Another purchase for Spring Break (which I did end up packing!), this darling floral romper! It actually comes in two colors- and I loved both so much that I had to ask my Snapchat friends which one I should buy when I found it in store. I'm pleased with the color that I did choose, but both really are stunning! 
• I am a total make-up junkie, but on days that I'm too busy to do a full face the two things that I absolutely must do before leaving my room are put on mascara, and do my eyebrows. Fun fact: my natural eyebrows are my biggest insecurity about myself! Everyday I comb and brush my brows, fill them in with pencil, and then set them with this eyebrow gel which I swear by. Anyways- while on Spring Break, my trusty eyebrow brush broke! I picked up this new brush this week, it was a great price (under $10!) and I'm hoping for great results! 

     Whether you're on Spring Break right now or not, hope that everyone is having a wonderful week! Before my mom arrives tomorrow the majority of my days will be spent both at work and working on homework- I had assignments in all of my classes for break! I'm telling y'all- no time for senioritis. ;-) 

     xoxo Miss ALK

Link-Up: 2016 NPC Badge Day!

     Welcome to my second annual fashion post link-up on Southern Belle in Training for NPC Badge Day! (Check out last year's post here!) As y'all know, one of the highlights of my college experience has been getting to be apart of Greek life at my school. I'm a sister of Alpha Delta Pi, which is one out of the 26 Panhellenic national sororities. Every year, the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) hosts a day when women of all sororities- both collegiate members and alumni, are encouraged to wear their organization's pins and pin attire, and to celebrate being apart of the larger women's Greek community!

     As a sister of ADPi, I take so much pride in wearing the diamond shaped badge of my sorority. I know that sisters of other sororities also understand the significance of wearing their own pins! In honor of NPC Badge Day and to promote Greek unity in the blogging community, I decided last year to host an annual link-up where bloggers can share pin-attire inspired fashion posts, or other posts related to Greek life on NPC Badge Day. :-) Please feel free to join in the fun and link-up a relevant post!! I'm leaving the link-up open through this week.

     For last year's Badge Day outfit, I featured a very business casual and traditional pin attire outfit. This year, I wanted to show y'all the way that I normally dress for pin attire days or chapter meetings. My sorority holds weekly chapter meetings on Sunday nights. I often get dressed for church in the morning, keep my dressier clothes on all day (it motivates me to do homework!), and then change things up slightly that evening for my chapter meeting. See below for a perfect example of what I would wear on a Sunday:

     

     This gorgeous blue maxi dress would be perfect to wear to church on Sunday morning, for lunch with friends, and it's also comfortable enough for a day of homework afterwards! 

Dress: c/o Pink Blush // Cardigan: J. Crew Factory // Shoes: Rack Room Shoes {similar here} // Bracelets: c/o Jet Chic Arm Candy, Kate Spade // Lips: Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter in Berry Smoothie

  

     Later that day for chapter I would change up my accessories a little bit, and add a cardigan and pin to make it a little more conservative. This outfit is transformed from afternoon casual to pin attire appropriate!  

      My outfit details are linked above, and the NPC Badge Day link-up for all of you to link your posts to is below! And lastly: I have a fun giveaway for y'all :-) 

     Pink Blush is an online boutique that sells very fun and trendy fashion and accessories! (They also have a huge section on their website of maternity clothing- perfect for if you or someone you know is expecting!) I styled a gorgeous top from them in Saturday's blog post, and the dress that I'm wearing here is from Pink Blush as well. They are generously giving away a $50 gift card to one lucky Southern Belle in Training reader! This giveaway will run through Tuesday, March 15th, 2015. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

     Today's post was sponsored by Pink Blush. Thank-you for supporting the brands that support Southern Belle in Training! 

     xoxo Miss ALK

Dressing for College Formal Events on a Budget.

     As a blogger, I always think it's fun to track which of my older posts still bring in a lot of traffic to my website. In recent weeks, readers have been flocking to many of my older posts about dressing for formal events while on a budget. I knew after seeing those blog analytics that I definitely needed to give a full recap for the formal that I went to at school this weekend.

      I absolutely love formal events or any excuse to dress up more than my daily routine allows. Dances were one of my favorite parts of high school, and I have been very lucky in college to have gotten to attend some fun formals and semi-formals- everything from sorority events to getting invited back to my former college by friends of mine for their annual spring formal!

     This past Friday was the Royal Ball, which is the annual senior class formal at my college. My suitemate Caroline took a couple pictures of my outfit before the event! I found my dress a couple of months ago at Ross for only $35! Fun fact: I have never paid more than $50 for any of my formal dresses that I've worn for various events that I've attended in college. I generally prefer to spend my money on investment pieces that I will get more use out of, such as boots, purses, or even jewelry. It is absolutely possible to look great for formals while sticking to a strict budget. (Here and here are some past blog posts where I've shared other formal looks on a budget!)

      I've linked some of my favorite $50 and under formal dresses below, but I will also say that y'all should be sure to check out stores like Forever 21, Marshall's, Ross, or any local formalwear outlet stores in your area! I've had the best of luck at all of these stores before when looking for formal and cocktail dresses.

      A little recap of the Royal Ball: I thought that it was sadly kind of a dud... barely any students from my class attended! The planning committee did a nice job with the decorations, food and music, but the promotion for the event was done at the last minute, so few people went. It is a little sad that my sorority's annual formal has a higher turnout of people... and we're a chapter of only about 45 girls! Because the event was so dead, my friend Ciera (who came as my date) and I only stayed about half an hour and then decided to head out for a night on the town in Charlotte instead. Definitely a good decision, as I don't think we missed much at school. ;-)

     I did get a few pictures with my friends before the formal started:

My best friend from my former college, Ciera!

My Big in ADPi, Jess!

     So even though the event itself wasn't that great, I still had a lot of fun dressing up, and had a lovely time with two of my dear friends! And that is always something to be happy about.


     Do you try and stick to a budget when preparing for formal events as well? Share your tips and tricks in the comments below! (P.S. I did my up-do myself! That rarely happens but my hair actually cooperated that night!)


     xoxo Miss ALK
   

Instagram Lately.

     Happy Monday! Today is my first day of classes for my senior year- I can't even believe it! It's still crazy to me to think that I was still at home in Maine at this time last week. I am definitely excited for this semester to get rolling though- it will be busy but busy is good!

      It's been a long time since I've done an Instagram recap here on the blog, so I thought that would be a nice way to start off the week! :-)

Dress: Lilly Pulitzer for Target {Sold out- similar here!}

     On my last day of work at my summer job, both of my parents came to see me during my dinner break and treated me to dinner at a local pizza place! The treats then continued with a trip to Ben and Jerry's for my favorite item on their menu: the Cookie Cookie sundae. If you've never had one, you need to try one next time you're in a Ben and Jerry's Scoop Shop! There's a Ben and Jerry's within walking distance of the store I work at back home in Maine, and the first summer that I worked there that proved to be very dangerous for me (Cookie Cookie sundaes had become a weekly occurrence...). 

    

     Please excuse the fact that neither of us are wearing make-up (both of us had long days before this photo was taken!), but I'm so happy that I got to meet my blogging bestie Caroline from The Caro Diaries on my drive to school last week! She goes to college in Connecticut, which just so happens to be one of the many states that my dad and I drive through on the way back to NC. We planned a short rest stop at her college, and finally getting to meet her in person was such a delight! In case you didn't know, Caroline and I co-founded a blogging network together earlier this year called the Millennial Blogging Network! Check it out here! 

     Another favorite part about my drive back to school... finally being reunited with Chick Fil A (and especially their French Vanilla Iced Coffee!). There aren't very many Chick Fil A's in New England, and Maine isn't lucky enough to be one of the states to have any. It was a long summer without it! #eatmorechikin
     And as far as my shirt that I'm wearing here... while packing for school I re-discovered my oversized concert t-shirt from when I saw Selena Gomez in 2011 on her We Own the Night tour. What an amazing concert! I just love her so much and have no shame about it. This shirt definitely will be worn at school this year!

     My most favorite part of all of the drive South each year is when we cross back into my favorite state! Last year I did a jumping picture with the state sign (at the Virginia/North Carolina rest-stop), and this year I was determined to jump even higher. I think I made my goal!

     Some of you might recognize Caroline, who is one of my best friends from school! I've featured her in some of my outfit posts before (since she has a lovely sense of style!), and she was also in my Who Takes My Blog Photos? post. It was Caroline's 21st birthday last week, so I thought it would be appropriate to Instagram a photo of us from when we attended a semi-formal at school last year that was Vegas themed. If we can't actually be in Sin City on our 21sts, why not pretend right?! My birthday is coming up next week, so I can't wait to celebrate together!

Top: {Old sorority tank} // Jeans: American Eagle Outfitters // Shoes: Rack Room Shoes // Cardigan: LOFT // Sunglasses: TJ Maxx 

     A casual outfit that I wore for my first day back in Charlotte this weekend! I'm obsessed with these sunglasses- only $10 from TJ Maxx!



     Hope that y'all are having a great start to your week! Stay tuned for many more posts this week and next!


     xoxo Miss ALK

My Dress Dilemma + $5 for YOU!

     I hope the title of this post caught your attention! This post definitely makes me happy because it's the perfect definition of a win-win situation (goodness do I love that word!). I'm sharing the story about how another blogger helped me out with a huge favor, AND I'm helping y'all out by sharing about a great new app (that came in handy for said favor) and this app can give all of you $5!! Who doesn't love $5 and a good story?! Let's get started then!

     So sorority recruitment for my chapter of Alpha Delta Pi is quickly approaching for next month. For the different nights of recruitment, the girls in my chapter wear different colored or color-themed outfits. This year, the sisters who are in charge of recruitment decided to switch things up a bit from what we did last year, and one of the nights we are doing sundresses in a few different bright pastel shades. I was assigned to buy a dress in the shade of blue pictured below:

    Easy peasy I thought. I actually started dress shopping during a few nights of down time during my study abroad trip to France so that I could get a head start on things! One night while abroad, I found the absolute perfect dress for recruitment in a spot-on shade of blue that matched the swatch above! And the best part- it was on clearance! I'm not going to disclose the name of the retailer that I found this dress on, but it was a favorite online retailer of mine. Of course I ordered the dress right away, I couldn't wait to see it when I got home from France!

     But sadly- upon arriving home and opening the package, I didn't even get a chance to try on the dress because the first thing that I noticed is that the retailer had sent me a defective dress! The dress had kind of criss crossing straps in the front, and there was a very noticeable and prominent stain that it arrived with right smack on the front of the criss cross. Despite it being on sale- NO THANK-YOU! So back in the mail it quickly went. But the bad news was that during the time that I'd been traveling, the retailer had sold out of that dress (and all other dresses in this color blue).


    I didn't think that it would be too hard to find another dress somewhere online in this color.... but good grief I was wrong! I must have searched just about every online clothing retailer that I could think of (and more!), and I couldn't find anything! The dress I needed had to be that shade of blue in the swatch above, pin attire appropriate for my sorority (meaning nothing strapless and not too much cleavage showing), a PLAIN dress with no other colors or patterns on it, and hopefully nothing too expensive. The websites below are all great places to find dresses at- but I was just striking out for the qualifications of what I needed! Here are some places that I tried though:

*Nordstrom (during the NSale)
*Macy's
*Dillard's
*Lord & Taylor
*Forever 21
*Zappos

     ..... and many, many other smaller online boutiques and retailers! And still I kept coming up blank. I started to regret returning the stained dress!

     Then I decided to reach out to the members of the Millennial Blogger Network (the amazing blogging group that I helped co-found a few months ago!). Amazingly, one of the bloggers in the network, Brittany from Southern Soul, had a dress in my size and the correct shade of blue that she was willing to sell to me! And it met pin attire standards! I couldn't believe my luck.

     The only problem was that Brittany lives across the country from me! I needed a way to pay her ASAP for shipping so that I could get the dress quickly. I wanted to be able to try it on as soon as possible in the even that it didn't fit, so that I could resume my difficult search! I knew that Paypal was an option for sending money, but sometimes transactions (even on the Friends and Family choice) can take a few days to process.


     Enter a brand new app, Square Cash, to the rescue of my dress dilemma! Square Cash is a totally free app that links to your bank account through your debit card, and allows you to send money to friends and family instantly, and for no fees! So free to download, and free to make transactions- what what! And everything happens instantly- not more waiting around for things to process like what can happen with Paypal sometimes! (Square Cash does have a business transaction option that they do take commission from if you need to use it for those reasons, but all friends and family transactions are always free, all the time!). And here's the best part- anytime after you've downloaded the app and you get a friend or family member to sign up for Square Cash with your referral code, you both get $5 sent to your bank account! A totally free $5! How amazing is this sounding?!


     I told Brittany that I would like to pay for my dress's shipping through Square Cash, and I texted her my referral code so she could download the app. Literally in less than 10 minutes, our whole transaction was done! From East Coast to West Coast, the money had already been sent and delivered, and each of our $5 were getting ready to be on our way to our bank accounts within the next few business days (my $5 arrived two days ago!).

    Here's a screenshot of Brittany and I's texts during the whole thing which shows you how easy Square Cash made the whole process:

     I know that after this experience I'm sure of two things: a.) I'm even more thankful for the Millennial Blogger Network than I was before- because not only are there awesome blogging benefits to being apart of such a great group of ladies, but now a fellow MBN blogger has totally helped me out with sorority recruitment as well! And b.) I'm a huge fan of Square Cash! An app that pays me to pay people back instantly?! Love it. Be sure to check out Square Cash for their latest updates on Facebook and on Twitter!


     xoxo Miss ALK


     This post was sponsored by Square Cash and Her Campus Media. Thank-you for supporting the brands that support Southern Belle in Training! 

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