Travel in the Time of Coronavirus.

     Travel content has been few and far between on my blog and Instagram since mid-March, because of an elephant in the room that starts with the letter C. I'm sure that a lot of you are in the same boat as me right now- itching for a change of scenery and a summer vacation outside of your city, but also a bit anxious and uncertain about what that could look like while being safe. The CDC guidelines and your state guidelines are an important place to start when it comes to travel plans, but what about day trips? In-state overnight trips at an Airbnb? Further road trips? Potentially flying? 

   I'm sharing thoughts on all things travel today: what trips I've had cancelled, the precautions I took for my Memorial Day Weekend trip, what trips I have coming up, and what I personally feel comfortable doing travel-wise for the rest of the year. 

Where To Shop For Cheap + Cute Swimwear.

     With summer on its way here in New England, and weather already warm enough for pool and beach days in other parts of the country, bathing suit season is upon us! Today I wanted to share with y'all a review of a bathing suit from one of my favorite retailers. They're a favorite shopping destination of mine for trendy clothing, but I wasn't sure how I would like their bathing suits. Well- I'm happy to report that I was pleasantly surprised!! 

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Southern Belle in Training!

     If you've been reading a lot of my outfit posts over the past year, you know that Shein has become one of my favorite retailers for affordable and trendy fashion pieces. I've purchased items myself and also had the opportunity to partner with them to style some of their new items on my blog, which has been a lot of fun! Shein offers ridiculously low prices on their merchandise, and I'm always blown away by the quality of the pieces, despite the prices. Of course- keep in mind that when you're paying $20 and under for something the quality probably won't last for years to come, but that isn't Shein's mission. They're trying to market the latest trends and fast fashion on a budget, and that they do very well! The items that I get from Shein aren't usually things that I want to wear for more than a season or two anyways, and minus maybe one or two things, I'm usually very happy with what I receive, and the quality for the price! I'm planning later this summer to do an in-depth review blog post about my thoughts on shopping with Shein, and some shopping hacks for buying with them.

     BUT- today's post topic, swimwear at Shein! FYI- just to disclose, this post isn't a paid collaboration with Shein!! I did receive this specific bathing suit c/o, but I wanted to review it on my own for y'all. 😊

      I love everything about swimwear. Browsing it, shopping for it, and of course wearing it! I love bikinis and two pieces, but I was also very excited a couple years ago when chic one piece swimsuits made a debut back into stores. Like a lot of girls, I definitely own too many bathing suits, but of course I always get caught buying new ones for each summer season and for warm weather vacation destinations!

      However, since I just moved to an area that is pretty chilly for 10/12 months out of the year, spending a lot of money on swimwear isn't something that makes sense for my budget anymore. Something that I've been starting to realize lately is that shopping habits and splurge-worthy items should really be determined by your geographic location! Anyways, I still wanted at least one new bathing suit for this year, even though I probably won't be spending as much time by water (cue my tears!). I was excited when Shein sent me this swimsuit, but was intrigued to see how it would fit and what the quality would be. I am so pleased to report that swimsuit definitely exceeded my expectations! 

     I ordered a size small, and it fit TTS. The top has adjustable straps which came in handy. The colors in the top and bottoms really are as vibrant as they look on the website and in my photo above!  My only complaint about the swimsuit is that the top isn't as supportive as some other bikini tops that I have, but with that said it's definitely still workable! Being that it's an under $15 swimsuit, I probably wouldn't reach for this if I knew I was dressing for water activities or doing a lot of swimming. But for a day of laying by a pool or sunbathing? It's perfect, and you cannot beat the price!! 

     I give this bathing suit from Shein an A+ given the price to quality ratio, and I'm definitely going to be looking at these other adorable and affordable bathing suits that they have: 

     Thanks for reading!

      God Bless,

      xoxo Annaliese (or Charlotte XO on the radio!)

Pom-Pom Beach Cover-Up + Blogger Pool Party.

Cover-up c/o // Bathing suit top {on super sale} // {Sunglasses old} // Hat // Necklace {long} c/o // {Necklace (short) old} // Bracelets c/o // Nail Polish 

     Fall fashion might already be making its debut in stores and fashion magazines, but that doesn't mean that summer temperatures are gone yet! Continued weeks of hot temperatures and high humidity here in the South have me craving beach days. Unfortunately, my current schedule is based around broadcasting school, blogging, my second part-time job, and a new internship, so I haven't had much time to spare on weekdays for anything beach related. (More importantly, nor is there even any ocean within day-trip distance from Charlotte!) However, I like carving out some pool time on weekends to satisfy my sunshine and water cravings. 

     This adorable pom-pom swimsuit cover-up is perfect for end-of-summer beach days, or any warm weather fall vacations that you might have coming up! The back with the pom-pom detailing is so unexpected and fun. The best part of all is that it's under $20- a deal that absolutely can't be beat! 

     The pink crystal necklace that I am wearing is from the Etsy shop Lacey's Layers! You can shop Lacey's Etsy shop with code BLOGGER to save 15% off any of her jewelry. :-) 

     I wore this pool outfit this past weekend, when the InfluenceHer Blogger Network's Charlotte area group held our biggest summer meet-up! I am the regional chair for the IHC in this region of NC, so I get to have the fun task of planning our meet-ups. We've already had some very fun ones this year, including meeting for brunch, a girls' day of outlet shopping, and exploring a botanical garden, but for this meet-up I wanted to try something different and partner with a venue! None other than my favorite destination for Charlotte summer fun, Craft City Social pool and day club (located in the Sheraton Hotel in Uptown Charlotte) was happy to partner with us, and they helped me plan out the perfect day of poolside fun for some of my favorite local blogging besties! 

     

     Craft City Social treated us to an afternoon in one of their comfortable poolside cabanas, and also provided delicious food and drinks! Their menu features a large variety beer, wine and cocktail selections, as well as a Latin-inspired small-plates and entrees menu. Dana and Chloe decided to try the Cuban sandwiches for lunch, and I ordered early enough to still select from the weekend brunch menu. I went ended up enjoying the blue corn pancakes which did not disappoint! We all decided on two beverages from the pitchers menu: the lavender mint mojito and the white peach, grapefruit and basil sangria. I honestly don't know which drink I liked more- they were both outstanding! 

    Our afternoon was filled with sunbathing, pool time, and of course an equal mixture of girl talk and blog talk. In attendance at this month's meet-up were Amy of Pastel n Pink, Cara of Caralina Style Chloe of A Queen City Girl and someone who was visiting me in Charlotte for the weekend- my Tennessee blog bestie Dana from Seersucker Sass! 

     Thank-you to Craft City Social for having us this weekend, and for helping to satisfy my beach and sunshine cravings right here in the middle of North Carolina! 

     xoxo Miss ALK

     Make Me Chic and Craft City Social provided gifted product/experiences for this post. All opinions are honest and my own. Thank-you for supporting the brands and businesses that support Southern Belle in Training!

Summer's Cutest Bathing Suit + Special Sneak Peak...

Photography by Deeana Kourtney Photography

Bathing Suit {on super sale!} // Sunglasses via Shop Ditto {get your first month's subscription free with code MISS ALK} // {Earrings old}

     I don't know why, but finding the perfect bathing suit was a difficult task this summer. I've always enjoyed shopping for swimwear in the past, but I am taking a little while to warm up to all of the new trends that are big for this season. After my tried and true swimwear styles weren't my favorite for this year though, I decided to mix it up and try some newer styles. I have never worn a high waisted two-piece bathing suit before this one, but I think now I'm converted! 

     High waisted bottoms have an added modesty factor, and now that I've tried them I think they also have a unique slimming effect! I also adore the bright and fun pattern of this colorful swimsuit. Summer is the best time of the year to wear eye-catching colors, and this swimsuit just screams "summer fun". 

      These few photos are a very special sneak peak of a styled photoshoot that I did with Deeana of Deeana Kourtney Photography, who has been Southern Belle in Training's head photographer since I graduated college a few months ago! I had this bathing suit that I had been wanting to shoot, and we were able to build a whole fun photoshoot around it. The rest of the shoot features some fun cover-up looks, as well as some adorable props. Please go to Deeana's photography blog to check out the rest of the photoshoot! I'll be sharing the photos here on my blog at a later date, but go give her own blog a look for me, and don't wait to see the rest of the shoot! 

      Lastly, today I finally head to Charleston to attend the 4th Annual Blog Societies Conference! This is my first time attending a blogging conference, which was on my personal blogging bucket list for 2016. I have been a member of The Southern Blog Society (what Blog Societies was born from) since 2013, so I am thrilled to be finally get to meet so many of the other members, and also reconnect with many other blogging friends! And to visit a beautiful Southern city that I've never been to before. I do have a prescheduled blog post for tomorrow- but be sure you're following me on social media (@miss_alk on Instagram and Snapchat, @rainbowflash94 on Twitter) to keep up with my adventures at #TBSCon - I'm sure this will be a trip to remember! 

     xoxo Miss ALK

  

      

     

"White sand, cold can, koozie in my hand..."

Bikini: Forever 21 // Shorts: American Eagle Outfitters // Kimono: {Bought on my trip to France, Similar here} // Hat: Forever 21 // Sunglasses: {Old and knock off version, Real version here} // Belly ring: Piercing Pagoda {Almost identical here} // Necklace: {Charlotte local boutqiue, Similar here} // Nails: OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls // Koozie: Lilly Pulitzer // (I'm drinking Mike's Hard Black Cherry Lemonade) 

     

    First off, a disclaimer about the title of this post. Since this was my first time ever using a koozie (for an adult beverage), it was a no-brainer for me to title this post after the popular Jake Owen song Beachin'.  But I'm actually not a country music fan at all... nor do I even really like the song Beachin'! Haha!! But I just had to (even though my drink was bottled and not canned- forgive me!) 

    Spending Labor Day Weekend in Myrtle Beach was the perfect opportunity for me to break out my most summery outfits for one last go-around before the season ends! My girlfriends and I spent two full afternoons at the beach, so I made sure to pack more than enough of my favorite bathing suits. This was the outfit that I wore to the beach on my actual birthday, which was on Sunday. I bought this gorgeous kimono when I was in France earlier this summer, and other than wearing it to my summer job a handful of times, I had been saving it anxiously for my beach trip! I have been looking for a great kimono for a long time- I wanted one that had pretty colors, was a flattering fit, and wouldn't break the bank since kimonos are a trendy piece! I never thought I would find what I was looking for in Europe, but I'm so glad that I did! It's become one of my favorite souvenirs. 

      I'm also equally obsessed with this Forever 21 bikini. For both the top and matching bottoms (not pictured) I spent under $25, and the quality of this swimsuit is fantastic! I bought a few things from Forever 21's swimwear department this season and I was very impressed with the quality- I think they're definitely stepping things up for their swimwear! 

      And lastly, you can see in these pictures that I enjoyed taking advantage of Myrtle's open container laws on my birthday. :-) The ABC stores closest to our hotel were all closed on my birthday since it was on a Sunday (SC has stricter alcohol sale laws then some other states), so I didn't get to go to any stores to by alcohol. But I sure had fun drinking hard lemonade out of the Lilly koozie that I've been saving for this occasion, and also ordering my first legal drink at dinner that night! 

     Are you sad to see the end of summer and saying goodbye to beach attire? Or are you ready to embrace Fall with open arms?

    xoxo Miss ALK

Insta-Lately.

     Just sharing some recent snaps of my recent purchases + life over the past couple of weeks via my favorite form of social media!!

 

Wallet: Kate Spade || Tiara {Old} || Dress: Lulu's

     This is my 21st birthday dress!! I ordered it about three and a half months early... can you tell I'm excited? #noshame. It's just so gosh darn perfect that of course I couldn't wait until September to put it on Insta! ;-) It is linked above but promise me y'all won't steal it in the same color for your birthdays, hehe! 

 Shoes: Jessica Simpson

     How amazing are my new pumps?! I have always wanted a pair of floral pumps, but I'm so glad that I held off on buying any until now because these are just perfect! These would be such a great way to jazz up a simply solid colored dress, or a fun summery outfit with white jeans.

 Blog post for this outfit here

     Did you check out Monday's blog post yet? It was a fun collaboration with Hanes Hosiery, and featured a summery business casual outfit!

 Blog post about my UK trip here

     Y'all- I leave for my summer study abroad trip to France in FOUR DAYS! I cannot even believe it. I posted this on Instagram last week as a throwback to the first time I was in Europe, which was my family's trip to England and Scotland for Christmas in 2013!

 All from Forever 21: Hat || Bathing Suit {Not online, Similar here} || Purse

     Y'all- Forever 21 is just killing it right now with all of their summer items! I could have bought out the whole store but refrained to spending $75 (of course in F21 though that still gets you a whole big bag of things!). I may or may not have bought three sunhats.... but seriously, so much cute everything!

 

     And last but not least, some yummy treats I've eaten lately! IHOP is a favorite restaurant of mine- I am obsessed with the fact that many Charlotte locations are open very late if not 24 hours a day. Here in Maine, the nearest IHOP to my house is at least 40 mins away, but that just makes the drive for the pancakes all the more worth it! (And I eat my pancakes drenched in whipped cream instead of with syrup!)

     The other night after I got out of work I met Tim, my best guy friend from high school for pizza and Ben & Jerry's! Both of us have been working lots of hours at our summer jobs, and it was so nice to catch up with him before I leave for France!

     Tim and and I even got into a discussion recently about Instagram (he was asking me about how I use it for my blog), and I was trying to explain to him how all fashion bloggers try and find a "theme" with their outfit and blog photos on Instagram that makes their feed unique. He joked that the theme of his personal Instagram account is simply "the beach," since he is all about the beach and loves sharing beachy Instagram photos!! We both had a good laugh about it and it reminded me that sometimes it's fun to talk social media and blogging with friends outside of the online world too. :-)


     Stay tuned for Friday's Southern Belle in the 'Bunk post!


     xoxo Miss ALK

Beach Beautiful with Aerie Swim.

Bathing suit: c/o Aerie || Cover-up: Target || Sandals: Target || Hat: Target || Sunglasses: Charming Charlie || Earrings: Forever 21 {old} || Bracelets: Kate Spade, {Gift} || Lips: Almay Smart Shade Butter Kiss in Pink Light-Medium

      I'm back from my Spring Break trip to the Dominican Republic! This was my second year traveling there for Spring Break, and this year's trip seemed to go by even faster than the first year. My dad and I stayed at a different hotel then last year, and I will be sure do a full recap post of the trip later in this week or next, and share some more pictures of our beautiful resort! 

      The best part about visiting the Dominican Republic is getting to spend time near such beautiful beaches. I was blessed to grow up in a part of Maine that is on the coast and near beaches as well, but Maine's beaches are very different from the tropical waters of the Caribbean! To me, there are few things more beautitful then that turquoise water. It looks very light in these photos (since it was a little cloudy out on this day), but other days it was so rich in color! Absolutely stunning.

    

     Of course for a trip with such beautiful beaches, a girl has to pull out her best swimwear! That's why I was so excited to have been chosen to partner with Aerie to show off a bathing suit from their 2015 swimwear collection! I am a huge fan of Aerie and have been purchasing lingerie and loungewear from the brand for several years now. I love their affordable prices, awesome sales, gorgeous designs, and more recently I have loved their popular #AerieREAL campaign! Aerie has made a wonderful commitment to not photoshopping any of their lingerie or swimwear models, which is a huge thing for the modeling industry. I love supporting a brand that has made a commitment to do this! 

     Aerie chose to send me this beautiful white eyelet bikini. It fit me absolutely perfectly, and I would be lying if I said I didn't sort of pretend I was a swimwear model when walking around in the beautiful ocean water in it. ;-) This bathing suit also matched perfectly with my new favorite beach cover-up from Target! This season Target has so many adorable cover-ups- the one that I'm wearing was sold in at least four colors, so definitely stop by there if you're in need of some beach cover-ups!

     Can't wait to share even more from the trip soon! Wednesday's outfit post is a special one.... :-)

     xoxo Miss ALK

Insta-Lately.

     It seems like it's been forever since I've done a life-via-Instagram post! So I figured I would kick off this week with letting y'all know what I have been up to lately (besides just planning my blog's big rebranding of course!).

      This picture was actually taken the first week of the semester so I'm a little behind in getting this up. But anyways, this is my Diamond family in ADPi! Jess, my Big, studied abroad last semester, so she wasn't here for my first time being on the other side of sorority recruitment, or for when I got my Little, Julie! So this semester is the first time our fam has been all together. This was our very first family photo, taken after a late night IHOP date during the first week of school. I'm having way too much fun this semester getting to be both a Big and a Little!! :-)

     Something that has totally snuck up on me is that Spring Break is less than a month away! I am so excited to be returning to the Dominican Republic this year with my dad. It just hit me this week though that I hadn't done any shopping yet for the trip (!!!), so this past Thursday night Jess and I headed to the one of the malls in Charlotte. My two favorite purchases of the night were both from Forever 21- this cute bikini came out to $21 for both the top and bottom, and how adorable is this make-up bag?! Can't wait to pack both of these items on my trip! (The hat is from Target from last year!)

     I've never really been big on the whole #WCW trend, but I did post one on my Instagram a couple weeks ago!! These three ladies have been such a big blessing to me this year, and they deserved a special shout-out. In the photo on the left is my friend Soo Jin, my sweet friend who I met through my classes (we are the same major!). She is on the golf team here at school, and is the reason of how I met my amazing new roommate! Soo Jin is one of the sweetest and funniest girls that I know at school. In the picture on the right are Caroline (who has been on my blog before!) and Lily. I knew both of these girls last year, but we have become so much closer this year! These two girls are the type of ladies who are going places!! I am honored to call them both friends. All three of these girls are sweet sisters in Christ, and I am so thankful to have found more friends at school this year who encourage my faith!

     I seemed to have forgotten how amazing Chick Fil A breakfast is! To make-up for the fact that I hadn't had it in forever.... I had it twice last week. :-) Also- I recently discovered that I LOVE Chick Fil A's vanilla iced coffees! So weird considering I hate just about anything that tastes or smells like coffee... but I cannot get enough of the ones from there!

      I had to go into Uptown Charlotte this past Thursday afternoon, and discovered a new parking garage in a side of Uptown that I hadn't spent as much time in before! Y'all know that I love doing my blog photoshoots in parking garages, and this is definitely one that I might return to- just look at that view!

     An update from my internship: singer Ingrid Michaelson came to visit and do a live performance a couple weeks ago! She is probably one of the most down to earth guests that I've gotten to meet through my internship so far. So much fun to meet her!

      Lastly, I spent my Valentine's weekend this year babysitting all weekend. I had really been hoping that I would have actual Valentine's plans this year, and without getting too personal on the blog, I will leave it as saying that for awhile I felt like things were looking that way... but alas, babysitting is what I ended up doing. The kids from the family that I babysit for are sweethearts, but I will be totally honest and say that it was still a little bit of a struggle for me at times during the weekend to stay positive about being single again. BUT- I have absolutely the most amazing friends in the world! I received so many sweet texts over the weekend of encouragement, and Julie and her boyfriend stopped by to see me on Valentine's night and dropped off some Krispy Kreme donuts for me. What a blessing to feel the love of sweet friends!! The kids that I babysit also made me a Valentine. :-)


      And lastly- one picture not from my Instagram! I briefly mentioned above that my friend Soo Jin introduced me to the girl who is now my roommate. I do indeed have a new roommate this semester, and she is pretty much the greatest ever. We are complete opposites in just about every way, but she is so much fun to live with!! Mia and I do not have any pictures together yet... except for this one... she took a selfie while I was power napping between classes one afternoon and sent it to me- I can't even look at it without laughing! 

     So that is a recap of what I have been up to lately besides for blogging! My day-to-day life pretty much consists of classes, lots and lots of homework (junior year is a tough one!), sorority and school commitments, my internship, and weekly babysitting jobs. Life of the party- I'm telling you! ;-)


     xoxo Miss ALK

OOTD: Beachin' It with Candyliciousss Swimwear!

Swimsuit: c/o Candyliciousss Swimwear  || Sunglasses: Deb Shops || Hat: Target 

     So I will start out by saying that I never thought that neon yellowish-green was my color... until I got my hands on this fun bathing suit from Candyliciousss Swimwear from Etsy! I love how the colors in this swimsuit really pop, and the one-shoulder aspect of it adds a fun and unexpected design twist. All in all it's a very unique and adorable swimsuit, and I'm so excited that it now has a home in my swimwear collection! 

     This bathing suit from Candyliciousss Swimwear was the first time that I had gotten a bathing suit from online in several years (possibly since elementary school from when my mom used to order them for me from catalogs!). I always thought that bathing suits were too tough of an item to size online, but this suit definitely restored my faith in ordering swimwear online! And here is the best part about Candyliciousss Swimwear: all of the bathing suits in the shop are $35 or under. That is such a bargain- in many stores you can't even get a bathing suit top for less than $35! And shop owner Jodie is offering an added 5% discount with code LIKEME, so be sure to take advantage of that! 

    I'm currently midway through another work week. I was grateful though to have an evening shift yesterday so I could spend the afternoon at the beach with my friend Katie (who blogs at Inkspot)! I haven't seen her since our fun day trip to Boston last month for #BloggersTakeBoston, so it was great to catch up, and what better place to do that then the beach?! 

     Stay tuned tomorrow for an awesome group giveaway that I'm thrilled to be apart of! You won't want to miss this! :-)

     xoxo Miss ALK