Of Derby Days and Sweepstakes.

     This post is sponsored by Cottonelle.


     First and foremost, my apologies for disapearing from the blogging world for almost a week without notice! Final exams and moving out of my dorm room got the best of me (especially moving out), and this past week has been stressful to the max! Thank goodness for the fact that I am officially on summer vacation now, and done with my sophomore year of college!

    Spring is my favorite season for a number of reasons, but the fact that it's Derby season is one reason to love this time of year even more! It is my dream to someday attend a horse race in the Springtime. I think that day of dressing up in an adorable outfit complete with an outrageous hat, watching beautiful race horses, and socializing with friends sounds like a wonderful out! I had really wanted to attend the Carolina Cup this past March with some of my sorority sisters, but our chapter's largest philanthropy event was late the night before, so I was unable to go. But of course I still had a super cute oufit picked out that I would have worn, and I still needed an excuse to wear it... so when I was invited last weekend to attend the spring formal dance at my former college, I knew that I was going to dress up Derby style!

Dress: Lilly Puliter || Shoes: Dillard's || Cardigan: LOFT || Hat: Target || Purse: New Look (UK store) || Necklace: Talbots || Bracelets: Lilly Pulitzer & gift from a friend

     I loved wearing this outfit, and I cannot wait until the next time that I have an excuse to dress up Derby style for something!! I'm also determined to make it to the Carolina Cup next year, and hopefully the mother of all races, the Kentucky Derby, someday as well!

     Speaking of the Kentucky Derby, I'm also writing today to let y'all know that Cottonelle is sponsoring an awesome sweepstakes in honor of this year's Derby! Cottonelle is one of the main sponsors of this year's event, and there could be a lot of winners if the odds are in favor of the top horses! Here are the official details for the sweepstakes: 

     Cottonelle is upping the ante at this year’s Kentucky Derby and launching “The Cottonelle Great Finish,” a giveaway that will reward Americans with a year supply of Cottonelle products should the No. 1 and No. 2 positioned racehorses place in that order during the race. People looking to get in on the action can sign up at the Cottonelle landing page. The first 15,000 entrants to sign up will be awarded a year’s supply of Cottonelle toilet paper and flushable cleansing cloths if the outcome aligns.

     Here are the instructions for entering the sweepstakes!

1. Visit the Cottonelle landing page.

2. Click on the Cottonelle Great Finish Giveaway

3. Click on "Sign up now"

4. Register for the Cottonelle Updates website

     What are you waiting for?! 15,000 people could have the chance to win- I'm not very good with math but that seems like pretty good odds to me! :-)

     Have any of you ever gone to the Kentucky Derby or Carolina Cup before? Do you enjoy Derby fashion? 

    xoxo Miss ALK

     P.S. I promise that I will be blogging on a regular schedule again next week once I am back home and all settled in!! :-)

A fabulous Charlotte boutique: Vestique!

     One of the things that I love the most about Charlotte is the plethora of fabulous shopping options. There are four malls, numerous strip malls and outdoor shopping centers, and tons of smaller boutiques.  I have a sorority sister who works at the Charlotte location of the popular clothing boutique Vestique, and she put me in contact with the manager of the Charlotte store, who invited me to come in and shop! Of course I couldn't resist! ;-)

     Vestique has locations throughout North and South Carolina, and is very reasonably priced. Many of the stylish outfits that my sorority sisters wear to our chapter meetings come from Vestique, so I knew that it was time that I checked it out for myself!

 
      The first thing that I noticed about the store was how bright and colorful it was! I absolutely loved the decor- if you know me, you know that I love color! I couldn't wait to start trying out some of the adorable clothes.

      I tried on three dresses which are shown below! Here is the amazing thing, all of the dresses are under $45! Can you believe that? I feel like those are lower prices than a lot mall stores would charge! The shoes that I'm wearing with dresses two and three are also from Vestique.

     I loved these dresses, especially the last one! But the item that I ended up falling the most in love with (and purchasing!) was the last item that I tried on. I'm not showing it on the blog today because I'm saving it for its own OOTD post! I will say that I absolutely love it, and I know that I'll be wearing it a ton for work this summer.


     If you live in Charlotte (or really either of the Carolinas), I would highly advise you to check out Vestique! I know that I will be back to shop for some fall clothes as soon as I'm back in Charlotte for my fall semester. And here's the good news for all of you who live in other parts of the country: Vestique has an online store!! I had checked out their website before visiting the store, and I'm pleased to report that most of the online merchanside was stocked in the store as well! :-)


       Hope that y'all are having a great last weekend of April! Where did this month go?! I am off to my former college tomorrow for their annual Spring Formal dance, and then spending the rest of the weekend packing up my dorm room and studying for my Monday exam!


     xoxo Miss ALK

Coming home.

     I like to think that once I make a big decision, I've made my decision. It doesn't mean that sometimes I don't go back and play the "Well what if I had chosen a different option instead?" game, but overall I usually accept the fact that I have decided something, and I stick with that even if I'm not happy with it. Well, all of that changed this week.

     Originally, I was supposed to spend this summer in Charlotte. I was going home for a couple weeks in May after my final exams ended, and then returning to my campus during Memorial Day weekend. My summer was going to consist of summer school, continuing at my internship and babysitting. (I would be doing summer school to try and get ahead with hopes of graduating a semester early.) I had thought these plans over for a long, long time, and seemed pretty content with them when I signed my summer housing contract in March. But after I signed that contract, I started to panic.

     I absolutely love going to college in Charlotte. It's a wonderful city to be an almost 20-something in. It's fairly safe, there's lots to do, and it has wonderful weather for the most part. But I couldn't picture spending my summer living in a dorm and taking classes and doing exactly what I do during the school year. I was also having trouble finding enough babysitting jobs to hold me over money-wise through the summer. I was hestitant to look for part-time jobs because if I was working at an actual business with a set schedule then I felt like I wouldn't have any free time at all between everything that I was doing!!

     So, I changed my mind, and I am coming home to Maine for the summer. And honestly, I couldn't be happier about it! I miss the beautiful beaches, my favorite restaurants, family and friends, and my home church a lot. I will be going back to work at the home goods & art boutique that I worked at last summer, which was a great retail job (and close to my house!). I'm very excited to be dressing up for work everyday again. ;-)

      I have my whole entire life to live far away, I want to take advantage of these special seasons at home while I still can! I have a feeling that this is going to be an amazing summer. My dad arrives in Charlotte on Monday night, and on Tuesday we start the big drive back home to Maine! Today I'm off to get my my car checked out and ready to make the big drive, and tomorrow night I'm actually headed out to my former college. It's their Spring Formal dance and I'm going with my friend Ciera, since she came with me to my sorority formal! I can't wait to see all my best friends from there before I head home for the summer. And I can't wait to blog about what I'm wearing!


     Most importantly, since I made the decision to come home I have felt so much of God's peace!! I don't think that I prayed nearly enough about staying in Charlotte in the first place, and that's why I was experiencing so much anxiety- it wasn't God's plan for me!



     xoxo Miss ALK

OOTD + giveaway: Bangles n' Bows

Top: Forever 21 || Jeans: Delia's || Shoes: Jack Rogers || Sunglasses: Kohl's || Purse: Michael Kors || Bracelets (Right hand): c/o Jet Chic Arm Candy  || Bracelets (Left hand): Alex & Ani || Earrings: Forever 21 || Nails: CoverGirl Outlast Stay Brilliant in Lemon Drop || Lips: Maybelline ColorSensational The Elixir in Nude Illision

     I am so excited to be working with Jet Chic Arm Candy today on the blog! Not only did I receive some beautiful bangles to style, but I am getting to give away one of their gorgeous bracelets to one of you as well! I received three bangles from the Jet Chic Etsy shop, and I had so much fun putting an outfit together around them! Since Spring is officially here and it's now past Easter, I am ready to break out my favorite white clothing. This adorable Forever 21 bow tank is a favorite summer top of mine! I paired it with mint jeans and my gold Jack Rogers sandals to match the colors of my bangles. 

     Fun fact: this was my first time ever wearing yellow nail polish! My sweet church from my hometown in Maine recently sent me a care package, and they included this nail polish in it! I figured that meant I was destined to rock yellow nail polish. ;-) What do you y'all think? I'm actually kinda liking it for Spring! It adds a fun pop of color.

     Now for the part of this post that's most exciting to all of you: the giveaway: Jet Chic Arm Candy is giving away a bangle from their shop that's called the "Charlotte" bangle. I specifically picked this bangle for the giveaway since I live and go to college in Charlotte (and tomorrow's post will actually be Charlotte related!).  Isn't it pretty?! This giveaway will run until Monday, April 28th, 2014. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway


     xoxo Miss ALK

OOTD: Easter 2014.

Dress: {A little boutique in London that I can't remember the name of :-)} || Jean jacket: Forever 21 || Shoes: Aldo || Earrings: Versona Accessories || Bracelet: Charming Charlie || Ring: {Jewelry boutique from my hometown} || Lips: Wet N' Wild MegaLast Balm Stain in A Stiff Pink

     

     I hope that all of you had a wonderful Easter! Easter is my absolute favorite holiday, and there are many reasons that I always look foward to it. :-)

     Because this year's Easter was a bit late and fell so close to my final exams (and the three weeks that I'll be visiting Maine between this semester and summer school), I wasn't able to travel home for Easter weekend. My sweet friend Ciera from my former college and her family invited me to stay at their house for Saturday night and then to join them at their church for Easter services on Sunday! These OOTD pictures were taken quickly before we left for church, so I apologize if I look rushed in them! 

     I got this dress on my trip to the UK back in December! My mom and I found a bunch of adorable sundresses on sale in a little boutique on London's famed Oxford street. This is one of the ones that I brought home, and I have been saving it for Easter, which I'll admit has been hard! I love the colors and beautiful floral pattern of this dress, and I know that I will get much more use out of it in the future.

     Since this dress was so bold and bright, I kept my accessories very minimal. I really just wanted to let the dress speak for itself! I wore one large bangle bracelet in coordinating colors, and a simple pair of earrings. I didn't have any cardigans that matched the dress very well so I paired it with my favorite jean jacket. (And I'm glad I did that since church ended up being little bit chilly!) On my lips I'm wearing my favorite bargain lip product, one of my Wet N' Wild MegaLast Balm Stains! These lip crayons work SO well and are such a good deal! I have them in two shades and want to buy more.

     Even though putting together an Easter outfit is always fun, my favorite part of the holiday is remembering the real reason to celebrate, the fact that Jesus rose from the grave!! Easter is when He was able to prove that He wasn't just another prophet or wise teacher, He was actually God in human form. How amazing is that?! Easter is always a time when I love to listen to some of my favorite praise and worship songs, so I thought that I would end this post with a few of those!! 

     And I can't forget that Easter also celebrates another favorite thing of mine: BUNNIES! I found these adorable bunny ears when out running errands with Ciera on Saturday, and of course I had to model them in the car on the way back to her house!

     Stay tuned for a GIVEAWAY post tomorrow!! (Well hopefully tomorrow- it is finals week so it might be up on Wednesday. :-) ) 

     xoxo Miss ALK