On singleness.

Seeing the preview of next week's Bachelorette episode in the Dominican Republic made me miss their beautiful beaches!! (Other then that this picture has no relation to the blog post ;-) )

      In the earlier days of Southern Belle in Training, singleness was a topic that I wrote about a lot. In the past year, my blog has shifted to become more fashion focussed overall, and most of my personal posts are about college life or my faith. Those are both great topics to write personal posts about, but I started feeling over the past week like God was putting it on my heart to write about singleness on the blog again. At first I kept putting it off, but over time this post started to write itself in my head, so I knew I needed to get the words down and into a blog post draft. :-)

     What inspired this post is this wonderful article on singleness that I read last week. It's from a website for Christian teenage girls called Project Inspired. The name of the article is pretty self-explanatory: "I've Never Kissed A Guy Or Dated. Am I Being Too Picky? Advice?" and the fact that the title of it was so blunt made me want to read it!! Most of Project Inspired's articles are geared for middle or high school aged girl's, but this article was actually written for college aged single girls like myself. And I related to it so much... seriously, so much that it was almost scary!

     I don't just want to spend this whole post paraphrasing the Project Inspired article (mainly because I want y'all to read it!), but what I will say is that it's tough to be what I call "single with a purpose" during the late teen years or early 20s. These are the years when it seems so many of my peers are just hooking up with every person that is willing, and another good chunk of my peers are in the serious relationships that I so I want and desire. And wanting a serious relationship isn't a bad thing at all! It's a desire given by God, and things that come from Him are good. But, all things come in His Timing, and His Timing alone. If I want to avoid the culture of hook-ups and heartbreak that so many of my peers are partaking in, then that might mean that my season of singleness has to last awhile longer. I don't know when it will end exactly, but God does, and I know that He's shaping me into the best person that I can be in the meantime (and hopefully doing so with my future guy as well!).

     Some days are better then others days as far as singleness goes. But then there are the hard days. The days where it really does seem like all of my close girlfriends are in relationships, and it does get harder and harder to be happy for theml. The days when I have a rough day at school or at work, and all that I want is a cute guy to cuddle with and to tell me it will be okay (Just being honest here! haha). Sometimes I think about all of the places in Maine or in Charlotte that I would love to take a guy on fun dates to. Etc etc etc. But, the sad moments always pass, and I remember everything that I wrote in the previous paragraph. I am 100% trusting in God's plan for my life, including my love life! It might be hard to get through now, but I know that the Lord has my best interests at hand (and for anyone reading this, He has your best interests at hand, too!).


     Do any of you have thoughts on singleness or dating? This is definitely a topic that's very relevant to me right now ;-) so feel free to leave a comment!


     xoxo Miss ALK
   

June Beauty Favorites!

     No special 4th of July post or patriotic outfit from me this year. Today is actually my first day off after working 6 days in a row and 40+ hours at my job, and for the earlier part of the week I watched the house while both of my parents were out of town (my dad at a work conference and my mom went away for a couple days to work on her artwork). It was my first time ever "house-sitting" so between that and an extra busy week at work, I am beyond exhausted. It's practically a miracle that I was able to blog twice earlier in the week, haha!

     Instead I'll be sharing my beauty favorites from the month of June today. Only two favorites for this month- I worked so much this month (and tried to spend my free time enjoying the outdoors and make-up free) that I found myself mostly just going back to my most tried and true make-up products each day. I don't experiment as much with make-up during the summer months, I save that more for during the school year. ;-) But both of these products are things that I enjoyed a lot during the past month, so they stuck out to me and therefore made the favorites list!

   

     L'Oreal Advanced Hair Care Smooth Intense Polishing Shampoo & Conditioner (Drugstores, $5.99)

     I have been using L'Oreal shampoo and conditioner for about a year now and have been quite happy with it. Previously I used Herbal Essences, and the story as to how I stopped using that is actually kind of funny. Back during my freshman year of college at my former school, I went to a lecture during my second semester there all about natural beauty and cleaning products (it was an extra credit opportunity for one of my  classes). The lady giving the presentation started out with a powerpoint and she got a little dramatic... and basically said that any shampoo with sulfates in it could kill you or give you cancer, and used Herbal Essences as an example. Well I was majorly freaked out (lol... I'm pretty gullible what can I say) so I went to the drugstore to look for sulfate-free shampoo. At the time L'Oreal had just come out with their EverPure sulfate free shampoo line, so I switched to that and was actually really happy with how it made my hair look, so I continued to use that up until a month ago. Anyways, the last time I was at Walmart I wanted to see if any of the other L'Oreal shampoos were cheaper then EverPure since that one is a little costly for a drugstore shampoo... I guess my fear of sulfates wasn't as strong anymore. ;-) I saw this shampoo and decided to give it a try. I permed my hair almost two years ago and since then the curls have faded into soft waves, but it tends to get very frizzy without product, so I wanted to see if this shampoo actually fought frizz like it claimed. So far I have been very impressed! It's been pretty humid here in Maine lately, and my hair has stayed fairly frizz free and this shampoo seems to bring out the waves and softness- all the good qualities my hair has now! I really like this shampoo and conditioner duo and I think this is what I'll be using for awhile. EverPure is still pretty good in my opinion too, but this is better for someone with wavy hair like me.

     Maybelline Baby Lips Dr. Rescue in Pink Me Up (Drugstores, Ulta, $3.49)

     I have had this lip product since last winter. It was advertised as a tinted balm to help with chapped lips, and my lips need all the extra help that they can get in the cooler winter months! As winter turned into spring, I started to focus more on some of my other lip products, but i have rediscovered my love for this fun lip balm while at my summer job! I don't like to wear any lip colors that are too bold when at work, and this color comes out as a beautiful soft pink (it's not as bold as it looks!). I love how it moisturizes while you wear it, and it gives the look of a lip gloss without the stickiness. A win-win for work! 

     What are some of your recent beauty favorites? Ulta is having a 20% off coupon that expires tomorrow (in honor of July 4th) that I'm hoping to use, so hopefully I can finally get some new make-up goodies with that!

    Have a safe and fun 4th of July weekend! It's going to be quite a rainy one here in Maine as Hurricane Arthur's rainstorm is hitting us today, but by the end of the weekend the sun will thankfully be returning!

    xoxo Miss ALK

     

OOTD: What I wore for #BloggersTakeBoston {& a giveaway with Gobi Straps!}

     Boy do I have a treat for you today! First, I have my second giveaway in less than a week! I told y'all I'd have some giveaways coming up soon. ;-) (Be sure to enter my giveaway for a handpainted iPhone case that's still running until Friday if you haven't yet!) Today's sponsor is Gobi Straps, a super fun company that makes sunglass straps and bottle openers. I hadn't ever owned a pair of sunglass straps before Gobi Straps sent me some of theirs to review... but oh my goodness, I was sure missing out for the almost 20 years of life that I didn't own sunglass straps! I use my Gobi Straps all the time since receiving them- they are so handy, and also adorable! And luckily for you, Gobi Straps is giving away a pair of sunglass straps from their darling Seersucker collection (which mine are from) in the winner's choice of color! The giveaway is at the end of this post, and it will run until July 9th, 2014.

     This giveaway was actually supposed to go up close to two weeks ago, since my dear friend Katie took the pictures for it during #BloggersTakeBoston. But sadly Katie got sick with a really bad virus just a few days after Boston, and she was feeling under-the-weather for quite some time!! The poor thing! :-( It is never any fun to be sick in the summer. But she was able to finally send the pictures to me a few days ago, and let me tell you, these were worth the wait! She did a phenomenal job on not only capturing my outfit and my Gobi Straps, but on the beautiful city of Boston and all of the places that we visited during our day trip! Enjoy these wonderful pictures!! (And stop by her blog to tell her she did a great job with the photography!)

Top: 579 Stores || Pants: Lilly Pulitzer || Shoes: Jack Rogers || Sunglasses: Charming Charlie || Sunglass Straps: c/o Gobi Straps || Purse: H&M || Earrings: Icing || Bracelets (Right hand): Charming Charlie, Lilly Pulitzer || Bracelets (Left hand): Alex & Ani || Ring: Kohl's || Nail Polish: Pure Ice in Rosebud || Lips: Wet n' Wild MegaSlicks Balm Stain in Pinky Promise

My fabulous photographer, best friend of 12 years and fellow blogging buddy!

LOVE this fun shot that Katie captured of me and Ingrid from Smilingrid!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

     xoxo Miss ALK

July Goals!

     Since I got June's Goals up halfway through last month, I decided to be a productive blogger in July and get this month's goals up on the first of the month, which I think is actually a first for me! ;-) Whooo!! Now let's take a look at how I did with those very belated June goals:

1. Have a blast at the Boston HCBN Blogger meet-up! CHECK! Read all about it in this post! 
2. Practice French. This was half a fail and half not. I never actually took out my French textbooks from school to review... oops. BUT- in the store that I work at we get a ton of customers from Quebec, and sometimes I attempt to speak French with the Canadian customers! But I'm determined this month to actually open my books and practice some grammar... see one of this month's goals for more on that. :-)
3. Spend any free time (on nice days) at the beach! I would sadly still have to say this goal wasn't a total success. The beginning of June in Maine had only a few nice days, and sadly I worked on most of them. Towards the end of the month though I got to the beach a few times! Last Saturday morning I spent a couple hours there with my high school friends Jules and Tim before I headed to work, and we had a wonderful time. Hopefully there will be many more beach days to come in July and August that work around my work schedule! ;-)

     And here are my goals for July 2014:

     1. Do study abroad research for next summer. The college that I transferred to has some of the best study abroad programs in the country! I think the statistics show that about 90% or higher of students at my school study abroad at some point during undergrad college years there. While a fair amount of students do choose to do a semester abroad (including my Big and my roommate for this coming year!),  a lot opt to do shorter summer programs instead, which is what I'm looking into. (Since I already go to school quite far from home AND transferred once, I think that a full semester abroad wouldn't be the best move for me.)  But anyways- one of my minors at school is in French, so I'm looking into some four week French language immersion programs for next summer! I have a high enough GPA and have taken enough of the French pre-reqs that I was accepted to the program... now I just have to figure out where I want to go! My school offers the program that I was accepted to at several language academies in France and a few in Quebec. I just need to really look at the costs of each program (some cities in France are WAY cheaper then others for example, and obviously Quebec is cheapest of all), and also figure out what type of city or town I'd really like to be in! I also renewed my passport in June and my new one arrived in record speed, so I'm good to go in that regard! 

     2. Work on a craft project. Crafting is something that I wish I could do more of at school, but I can never find the time for it! I want to try making at least one craft project this month. Plus it's an excuse to actually make things off of my Pinterest boards, which is something that I always love to do! ;-)

     3. Get back on a regular blog posting schedule. Summer is technically when I should have the most time to blog, since I don't have homework or classes to worry about. But in June I seemed to fall a bit behind on blogging, so I want to step that up in July! I would love to get back on a 5x a week posting schedule by next week. 

      Do you have any goals for this month? How is your summer treating you so far?

     xoxo Miss ALK

OOTD: Of florals and iPhone cases {Giveaway with Made by JH!}

All pictures credit to Annie Lemieux Photography (aka my mama! :-) )

Top: Marshall's || Shorts: Marshall's || Shoes: The Walking Company || Sunglasses: Kohl's || Hat: Target || Purse: Michael Kors|| Necklace: Forever 21 || Bracelets: Charming Charlie || Ring: Charming Charlie || Nail Polish: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails in No Hard Feelings || Lips: Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter in Cupcake || iPhone Case: c/o Made by JH

     I am so excited to be featuring a giveaway today with an Etsy shop called Made by JH! Shop owner Janet hand paints goregous iPhone cases that can fit either the iPhone 4 or 5. I am absolutely obsessed with the beautiful colors in the case that I got to review from Janet's shop! Another thing that I love about Made by JH is that Janet's shop is based out of Charlotte, and I love working with Queens City businesses. :-) So be sure to enter the giveaway at the end of this post! It will run until July 4th, 2014.

     Now let's talk about this neon floral tank-top that I am wearing. (The pictures don't really do it justice for how bright and pretty it is!) This is one of my finds that I picked up at the Marshall's on Newbury Street in Boston a couple weeks ago when I was down there for the #BloggersTakeBoston meet-up! Katie and I took a late morning bus into Boston so that we'd have some free time in the city before meeting up with the other bloggers later in the afternoon. And what's a girl to do with free time? SHOP! The huge Marshall's on Newbury Street definitely didn't disappoint! Both of us ended up finding things that we loved, and I'm pretty sure that the dress that I came home with will end up being my birthday dress (just means that I have to save it until September :-( ). 

     Anyways, it had been a long while since I had been in a Marshall's, as my parents are more TJ Maxx fans and Marshall's isn't somewhere that I usually frequent when I'm at school, but I might have to change that! There were so many things in the Boston store that I could have taken home! And everything was very reasonably priced as well! I believe everything that Katie and I bought was under $20. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

     xoxo Miss ALK