My first Charlotte Social event!

      I have been a member of a Charlotte, NC based blogging network called The Charlotte Social for about six months now. They host monthly blogger meet-ups, but up until now I was sadly never able to attend them! They were either when I was at home in Maine or busy with school events. But I was finally able to attend a meet-up, and it was held this past Monday night at the Nordstrom in Charlotte's SouthPark Mall. It was hosted by fashion blogger Bre of Baubles and Bubbly (Formerly Basically Bre). I have been following Bre's blog for awhile and I love her sense of style, so I couldn't wait to meet her and the rest of the Charlotte bloggers!

What a lovely group of ladies!! Click here for a list of all of their blogs!

     The meet-up was held near the Topshop section of Nordstrom, and all of us to the chance to browse at the beautiful new winter collection! Below is a picture of me trying on a gorgeous top and skirt from Topshop:

     Another one of my favorite things that I spotted during the night was a beautiful Alice + Olivia dress! The $495 price tag was WAY out of my budget... but I got to admire it, and it was probably my favorite fashion piece of the night!

This picture doesn't even do it justice... such an amazing dress!

     Emily of Life with Emily was also in attendance! She has a wonderful fashion blog, and I loved getting the chance to ask her a few fashion blogging questions. Another blogger who I got the chance to talk to was Bri of Just Bri. She is the founder of the Charlotte Social, and I got to talk to her about what it's like to start a blog network! I know that I've posted a few times lately about my involvement with the Delight group, and I'm currently talking to the Delight admins about starting a special Delight blogging network, so everything that Bri told me was very helpful!


     Even though I didn't end up purchasing anything at Nordstrom (and was the only blogger there who is still in college :-)), I still had a wonderful time at the event! I hope to be able to make it to more Charlotte Social events in the future.

Yours truly with two of my favorite fashion bloggers- Emily and Bre!

      Are you a member of any blogging networks? Have you met any bloggers in person lately?


     xoxo Miss ALK


     P.S. The outfit that I wore to this event was featured in this OOTD post!

   

OOTD: Neutral with sparkle.

• Top: Charming Charlie
• Jeggings: American Eagle Outfitters
• Blazer: Forever 21
• Boots: Rampage {Bought at Belk}
• Necklace: Birthday gift from my roommate :-)
• Earrings: Found at an NC discount store

     It's no secret that I love Charming Charlie. I have a lot of favorite stores, but Charming Charlie definitely makes my top five list! Their jewelry is gorgeous and so reasonably priced! I first learned about Charming Charlie on a trip to Connecticut to near where my dad's side of the family lives. I fell in love on my first visit, and I was thrilled to learn that there are many stores down here in the South! Unfortunately there aren't any in Charlotte (that needs to CHANGE), but there are a bunch in driving distance from where I go to school.

      When my dear friend from Maine, Jules, was down here in the Carolinas visiting me last month, I knew that I had to take her to a Charming Charlie. We ended up going to the Greenville, South Carolina, store, and we made the excursion into a whole day trip! But anyways, not only did Jules fall head over heels in love with the store (and practically bought the place out!), but I realized that they sell a lot more then just jewelry and accessories! This Charming Charlie location had a pretty decent clothing selection, and I found the gorgeous embellished tank that I'm wearing in these pictures! Isn't this shirt just darling?! In order to let its sparkle shine to its full potential, I decided to pair it with my favorite black jeggings, a simple black blazer and my new black riding boots (which were featured in my last outfit post). 

Jules and I at Charming Charlie!!

     I wanted my accessories to be simple and gold toned since many of the sequins on my top were a dark gold. I decided to wear my "A" necklace that my sweet roommate got me for my birthday a couple months ago, and these cute earrings that I found this past weekend an NC discount store chain. Want to know how much I paid for the earrings? $1.99! I'm just all about the bargains lately!

     I wore this outfit in this post to the November meet-up for The Charlotte Social blogging network! This was my first time being able to attend one of their events, and it was a wonderful time. Expect a post with more on that tomorrow! :-)

     xoxo Miss ALK

     

Website review: Campus Book Rentals

     This post is sponsored by Campus Book Rentals.  


     Calling all you college (or grad) students who hate spending insane amounts of money on textbooks- this post is for you! Last week I was contacted by Angela, an employee from Campus Book Rentals, who asked if I would share a little bit about some of the great options that they offer for textbook needs! Campus Book Rentals is an awesome resource for all of your book needs. Instead of spending a couple hundred dollars to buy a book that you'll only need for a few months (and then having to hassle with your school's bookstore to sell it back), you can pay a much lower price to rent the book. That means that when the semester is done you can just mail it right back to Campus Book Rentals, and not have to worry at all about selling it!! Here are a few more perks to using Campus Book Rentals that Angela provided me with:

• Save 40-90% off of bookstore prices 
• Free shipping both ways (even at the end of the semester when you're sending the book back!)
• Can highlight in the textbooks 
• Flexible renting periods
• Campus Book Rentals donates to Operation Smile with each textbook rented.

      

     Below is a brief video that illustrates a little bit more about how textbook renting works! 

   


 Now you might be wondering what exactly Operation Smile is! Operation Smile is a charity organization that uses its funds to provide free surgeries to help children around the world in need of cleft repair surgery. Children in need of cleft repair can have much trouble eating, drinking and talking, so these surgeries can give them a new quality of life! I think it's wonderful that Campus Book Rentals has chosen to partner with a chairty, and what a worthy cause this is!


     I know that I will definitely be considering Campus Book Rentals for my book needs for next semester, and I suggest that any fellow college students reading this post should consider them as well! :-)


     xoxo Miss ALK

OOTD: November church attire.

• Sweater: Kohl's
• Skirt: Kohl's
• Camisole (under sweater): Rue 21
• Boots: Rampage {Bought at Belk}
• Necklace: Belk
• Earrings: Gift from a friend
• Lipstick: Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Demure

     I'm a bit old fashioned in the fact that I like to dress up for church. I have nothing against people that prefer to dress more casually on Sunday mornings, but wearing traditional church attire helps me to focus on the fact that church is special and time with the Lord should be respected. I prefer wearing skirts or dresses to church unless it is exteremely cold or the weather is bad. I make it a priority to look modest for church, but without sacrificing the cuteness factor!

     I've had this black pencil skirt from Kohl's for a few years now, and it's a perfect "base" to build a fall or winter church outfit off of! I decided this week that I wanted my colors to be blue and black, so I found this older sweater (also from Kohl's) in my sweater drawer and added this fun necklace from Belk. My boots are from the Belk Days sale that I posted about here! I've gotten a lot of compliments on them and a few people have even asked if they are Michael Kors boots. I've been wearing them a fair amount over the past couple weeks and they still don't have any scratches or scuff marks! Not bad for a $30 pair of riding boots.

     My lipstick is my *favorite* lipstick of all time. I might devote a Favorite Things Thursday post to it soon!

      How do you like to dress for church in the late fall?

   

      xoxo Miss ALK

I was featured!

     Good morning, friends! I hope that you all had a restful and happy weekend. This week is already looking to be a bit stressful for me since I have two tests and a speech to give, but I'm trying to think positively and make it a good week. :-)

     I wrote a little bit about Delight in my last post, but basically Delight is an awesome network for Christian teen gals that I've been involved with for about seven months. There is a private Facebook page where we call communicate, and the posts there always encourage me and brighten my day! I've made so many wonderful online friendships from Delight, and even a real-life one. Everyone in the Delight group is involved with the creative arts somehow. Many of the girls are photographers, but I represent one of the blog writers. I was asked recently to write a guest post for the Delight blog about how I got into blogging and how to start a blog, and my post went up on Saturday! You can read it by clicking here.

     I was also today's featured guest poster for author Ashley Mays's blog! Ashley used to write for the Christian teen magazine Brio that was published by Focus on the Family until 2009. I had a subscription to Brio during my middle school years, and Ashley's articles were always my favorite! Once I got into the blogging world in high school I was so excited to see that Ashley had a blog. We have communicated online since then, and I have learned that Ashley's alma mater is the school that I went to last year, which I think is pretty cool! I was so honored when Ashley asked me to guest post on the topic of faith during the college years. You can read that post by clicking here!

     I'm so thankful for these two guest post opportunities! Please feel free to read both the posts and let me know what you think! :-)

   
      xoxo Miss ALK