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! 

Farewell, Southern Belle in the 'Bunk!

      Dress: Sold out {Similar here}

     I have so enjoyed bringing all of you my fun summer post series, Southern Belle in the 'Bunk! This was my tribute to my hometown of Kennebunk, Maine. This summer will most likely be my last full summer of living here at home, as I am entering my senior year of college in North Carolina, and planning to live in the South following college.

     I had planned to keep this series going until Friday, August 14th, but sadly there is just too much going on it my life right now to continue it! I have been working 40 hours every week since coming back from France (including one week of overtime!), and with leaving for Charlotte in just a few weeks, all of my free time right now really needs to be focused on packing for school and spending time with friends and family before leaving (and scheduling regular blog posts!). As much as I adored doing this series, the posts did take longer for me to write as I wrote in them about both fashion and the locations that I shot at!

     You can still reference any of the posts from this series by clicking on the Southern Belle in the 'Bunk label on the sidebar of my blog's homepage. Also: below are two links to blog posts from Summer 2014 when I shot at two locations in Kennebunk and Kennebunkport that are also scenic and dear to my  heart!! I didn't include these spots in the Southern Belle in the 'Bunk series, but I thought I would include the links to these older posts to close out the series.


*A Day at the Beach (taken at my favorite beach in Kennebunk)
*Very Violet (taken outside former President Bush's Maine summer home in Kennebunkport)



     Thanks so much for all of the positive comments and feedback during this series! So glad y'all enjoyed.


      xoxo Your Wannabe Southerner who is definitely still a Mainer,

      Miss ALK

Midweek Ramblings + Recent Purchases.

     Last week was my first time writing a random Wednesday post called Midweek Ramblings + Recent Purchases... where I did exactly that! I shared some rambling thoughts from the past few days, and also shared some things I had recently purchased or was thinking about purchasing soon. I realized after writing the post how much fun it was to write (and how nice it was to break up the blogging week with a post like that), so I decided to make it a "thing" here on Southern Belle in Training, because why not?!

{via my Instagram}

Ramblings:

• My upcoming schedule is scary: Y'all. I cannot WAIT to be back in Charlotte in three weeks (!!!!!!!!!) But my schedule upon arriving in my favorite place is really starting to worry and stress me out! I move back into college on August 29th, and starting Monday August 31st, I jump back into full-time college classes, interning, working part-time (I babysit at school), full-time sorority recruitment practices until the end of September, PLUS maintaining this blog, which is like a job in itself! And what about celebrating my 21st birthday, third blogiversary or catching up with all of my best friends at school!? Yikes!! I'm the type of person who likes gradual starts to new routines, and senior year will be anything but. Somehow I'll survive the month of September I hope! If anyone has any excellent time management tips- do share!
• Selena Gomez's new song: Good For You is the name of it, and I am 150% obsessed with it. Ms. Gomez is the Queen of Everything as far as I am concerned. I've been a fan of hers since her Disney Channel days! Four years ago I had front row seats at her We Own the Night Tour, and it was one of the best nights ever. I'm still a huge fan today, and that can be evidenced by the extreme car dancing moves that I whip out whenever Good For You comes on. 
• Thinking of witty tweets: I always seem to think of the wittiest things to tweet on Twitter at one of two times: either when I'm driving, or when I'm out on the sales floor at work. I can't use my phone in either of those places. 99% of the time, I forget what the witty tweet was by the time that I can use my phone again. This is really starting to bug me! I promise y'all, I do think of funny things to write on Twitter sometimes.
• Running into people from high school: The number one reason that I'm so ready to be out of my hometown not only for the summer, but for good, is because I am so gosh darn sick of running into rude and immature people from my high school! Some of you know as I have written in past blog posts that I really didn't have the best high school years. Much of that was due to the horrible social climate of my small public high school. Many of the people that I went to high school with haven't grown up at all, and still hold the same attitudes and grudges that they did back then. I can't even count how many people I have run into this summer, both before and after my time abroad, and how unpleasant most of the interactions were. I'm already kind of dreading my first high school reunion in a few years from now! Am I the only one who feels this way about most people from their high school?

Purchases:

• Shoes were the name of the game for me this week! Earlier last week, I scored some adorable grey suede fringe booties at TJ Maxx! I have been looking for the perfect pair of booties for such a long time, and these little beauties will be such a great Fall transition piece. (Here a super similar pair to mine that was recently marked down for the NSale at Nordstrom!) 
• My mom also got me some new Clarks sandals this week for my last few weeks at my summer retail job. I wrote in my "Must Haves for the Retail Associate" blog post about how Clarks sandals, while not the most fashionable, are truly the most comfortable and supportive shoes for jobs that require you to be on your feet for long hours. Anyways, Clarks was having a sale for two pairs of shoes for $99, and the other pair of shoes that I got are super cute! They're black cut-out suede heels (sold-out online in black, but still available in beige!), and since they're Clarks they're absolutely the most comfortable heels. I can't wait to add these into my everyday shoe collection since they're both cute and supportive! 
• One other thing that I "purchased" was that this week I made a small donation to one of my favorite charities, Christian organization Samaritan's Purse. I don't believe in always sharing about tithing, and I think that's a very personal decision between someone and God. But sometimes reading about something can motivate someone else to do something good, so that's why I wanted to share this time. It really struck me this week that even though I have been stressed out lately- from dealing with the bed bugs that I brought back from France, my work schedule, and already worrying about school.... my life could be so much worse. I am truly so blessed! I really need to be sharing some of my blessings with others. I encourage all of you to take the time to research charities and find ones that you trust and whose missions you support, and then give to them financially! Even if you can't give a lot, a little bit counts. 

     Until next week's ramblings! 

     xoxo Miss ALK

Kendra Scott Birthday Wishlist.

     My 21st birthday is coming up in just over a month (!!!), and I'm a firm believer in treating one's self for every birthday. No one is a better judge of exactly what you want for your birthday than you, after all! One thing that I'm definitely planning to treat myself to for my 21st (in addition to some exciting new beverage options ;-) ), is a new jewelry item from the Kendra Scott store in Charlotte. You may or may not know that Kendra Scott stores have this wonderful little discount policy where if you shop in one of their official stores during your birthday month and show a form of ID, you receive 50% off an item of your choice! That's right- 50% off a full priced Kendra Scott item- how amazing is that?! I know that I won't be able to pass up this incredible deal come September, so here are some pieces that I'm already looking at!


     While I would love to add all of these pieces to my jewelry collection, I realize that simply cannot happen all on one birthday. So my absolute favorites out of these would probably be the stackable Ann rings (love the pretty neutral colors!), and the Gunmetal Frances Necklace. As of now I want to say that I'll be most likely to get one of those two things next month... but who knows, the Kendra Scott store of Charlotte always seems to surprise me! I also always love playing around with the store's Color Bar- I made my favorite KS earrings (seen in this post) on there!


     Do you have any current Kendra Scott cravings? Have you used their birthday discount before?


     xoxo Miss ALK

Portland Photo Shoot.

Can you spot one of my photographers in the background?

Dress: Gabe's {A steal at only $16! Similar here} // Shoes: Nine West // Clutch: {Bought on vacation} // Bracelet: c/o Stella & Dot // Nails: Maybelline ColorShow the Nudes in Bare Beige {Limited edition, Similar here} // Lips: Essence XXXL Shine Lip Gloss in Pretty in Hibiscus

     How amazing is this beautiful dress, and can you believe that I was able to find it for only $16?! What a steal! The beautiful colors, delicate material, and fun embellishments would make it the perfect choice to wear to any sort of summer formal event: a wedding, banquet, formal dinner or party, etc! I am a firm believer that when you get invited to any sort of formal event, it's the perfect chance to really dress up! Because of the colors and light fabric of this dress, with a different pair of shoes and hairstyle it could go from a day dress to a night dress in just a few easy steps- making it perfect for all summer formal events. I (sadly) didn't get to attend any weddings this summer, but I instead wore this dress for the formal banquet for my conference internship back in May in Louisville, KY! I have linked several similar summer formal dresses below!

 
     This the mood and location of this fun photoshoot was definitely a little out of my normal comfort zone for blog photos- but I had so much fun doing it! These photos were taken in Portland, which is Maine's largest city. I shot one other outfit on that afternoon, and I'll share those photos soon! The coolest part about these photos is that my photographers were two very old friends of mine. Back when I was young, I used to be a competitive figure skater! (This fun fact can actually be found on my About page here on the blog! :-) ) Anyways, even though I stopped skating years ago after an injury, my old friends Morgan and Julia had both continued skating. They both graduated high school this year, and are such accomplished figure skaters now! They are also both interested in pursuing photography, so I was so excited to do some blog photos with them. It was such a fun way to reconnect! We have definitely come a long way from the photo below:

Yours Truly is the Big Cupid in the middle....

    Check out Morgan's photography Instagram account @morgansewallphotography!


     Have a wonderful Monday!!

   

      xoxo Miss ALK