Happy Monday! Today I'm sharing my Day Two outfit that I wore as apart of The Blog Societies Conference, which I attended two weekends ago. Day Two was the longest day, which featured a morning full of workshops, lunch back at the Belmond Hotel, and then the highlight of the whole event: the branding suite! Once the official photos from the event are given to everyone who attended, I will definitely be posting a full recap and more detailed posts about the conference.
Let me tell you, as incredible as TBSCon was.... there are definitely some aspects to blogging conference in many ways felt to me like going through sorority recruitment again. You're constantly in a room with dozens (if not hundreds) of other beautiful, confident and most importantly, impeccably dressed women, and if you think about it too much it can be easy to feel overshadowed. Not to mention that all of you that are there want to get the same collaboration spots with brands... see how it really is like recruitment! So that's why I felt that it was especially crucial to pick outfits that made me feel the most "me." I didn't want outfits that caused me any fuss or stress, just something that made me feel pretty and that I felt showed off my personal style well.
That's where this flirty and fun romper came in for the day of the meeting the brand reps! I adore the beautiful blue and green hues and the fun print, and it was easy to accessorize with some bright cluster earrings and my favorite purse. Y'all have been seeing these shoes a lot in recent months on the blog- it's because they are simply the most practical heels! I've worn them with everything from casual outfits to formal looks to going out attire! Truly a great pair of heels.
Fast forwarding from TBSCon to this past weekend.... I had absolutely the best few days with my blogger bestie Dana from Seersucker Sass! I visited Dana at her home in Tennessee last year, and finally got to come and see me in Charlotte over this weekend. We had the most wonderful weekend and I'll be posting more about it tomorrow and later this week!
On almost every street that you go down in Charleston, there are colored buildings upon colored buildings. They can contain anything from homes to hotels to restaurants to stores, but the one thing that they all have in common are the bright and beautiful exteriors.
Charleston's most famous colored street is Rainbow Row. With the tightly packed schedule that The Blog Societies Conference brought forth (early mornings and late nights), during the small bit of free time that we had one afternoon, I opted for a nap instead of venturing to see this famous street with my conference roommates. They got some fantastic photos at Rainbow Row, but I just know that the fact I didn't get to see it means that it's just an excuse to return to Charleston soon! ;-) The good news though is that the whole city is definitely full of beautiful buildings, not just that one iconic street! These pictures were taken in front of the Mills House Wyndham Grand Hotel , which was just a few blocks over from our stay at the Belmond Charleston Place. I was just obsessed with the pretty pink walls of the hotel, and I thought it was the perfect compliment to this bright and fun sundress.
I wore this dress for the final day of TBSCon, which had workshops and a closing luncheon. I tried to wear outfits during all days of TBCon that I felt really showed off my blog, brand, and personal style, and this dress definitely fit the bill! I am all about bright and fun colors, and pairing shades of blue and pink together always makes for one of my favorite color combinations. I purchased this dress at a local Charlotte boutique, but here is a similar one from the same brand!
There was a professional photographer at TBSCon who captured photographs of all of the bloggers throughout the weekend. As soon as those photos are shared, I'll share a full conference recap! Stay tuned next week in the meantime to see another outfit that I wore while at the conference.
And be sure that you're following me on social media (@miss_alk on Instagram and Snapchat) because one of my blogger besties is coming to visit me this weekend, and the August InfluenceHer Blogger Network North Carolina meet-up is also happening! Such a fun weekend ahead- much needed after a busy week!
As many of you know, I was in a Panhellenic sorority for three out of my four years in college! I transferred to Queens University of Charlotte at the beginning of my sophomore year, and went through Formal Recruitment (which is the biggest time of the year that sororities take new members for those of you unfamiliar with Greek life!) that fall. I became a sister of Alpha Delta Pi in September 2013 at the conclusion of recruitment, and overall I did enjoy my time in Greek Life throughout my college years at Queens. While I am happy to be currently finished with being a collegiate member in Greek Life (and happy to be done with college in general!), and I am instead focusing on other endeavors in my life, I am still so proud to be a sister of Alpha Delta Pi, and do hope to get involved with the organization as an alumni someday.
Formal Recruitment can seem like a huge undertaking to college girls who are about to embark on the beginning of their Greek journeys. I am here to tell you first and foremost that it's not something to be scared of- it's actually a super fun and exciting process! Girls in every sorority on campus are literally over-the-moon excited to meet and get to know you- how flattering is that?! I am also here to tell you that recruitment gets a lot more stressful and nerve-wracking once you are on the other side and participate in it with your own sorority- there is way more behind the scenes stuff to learn! So enjoy your own recruitment year while you can. :-)
I thought that it would be fun to share some of my outfit inspiration ideas for any college ladies who read my blog that might be going through or considering sorority recruitment! The best part about today's post is that it's actually a collaboration with Audrey from Audrey Madison Stowe- but more on that later in the post!
At Queens, sorority recruitment always took place about a month into the school year, and over a weekend. At larger universities throughout the nation, recruitment will often take place over a whole week either before the school year starts, or during the first week of school. If that's the case for your school, then you might need more outfits to wear! I was just using my own experience as a guide.
The first night of sorority recruitment is usually the most informal, and you do the most walking and talking as you're visiting all of the houses! (Or in the case of my college, "lodges" instead of sorority houses.) I wore a pair of Lilly Pulitzer dress pants on my first night of recruitment, but a skirt option like the one in the collage is also a great choice, as is a more casual (yet still conservative dress). Dressing modestly is very important for sorority recruitment! This isn't the time to be looking sexy or trying to use your body to impress anyone. It's a time for outfits that show how elegant, poised, and confident you are- let your clothes help add to showing off your personality and wonderful attributes! :-)
My personal taste is to lean more towards traditionally preppy brands for recruitment attire. I featured a Lilly Pulitzer dress here for my second night outfit inspiration (I also wore a Lilly dress for my second night of recruitment!), but I think that any dresses by Lauren James,Vineyard Vines, Kate Spade, or anything similar from department store brands would be find.
When I went through Formal Recruitment, I found that the last night, Preference Round, was the hardest to dress for. It is a formal round, but your outfit should still be more conservative and not distracting or revealing. Many of the formal or semi-formal dresses that I had at school at the time were covered with embellishments, which would have been too much. I ended up wearing a simple green dress from Francesca's that fit me well, and dressing it up with wedges and coordinating gold and green jewelry.
Me shortly before my third and final round of sorority recruitment, back in 2013!
I think the Preference Round outfit that I featured here would be a great choice to wear! A cute pair of heels, some simple jewelry or hair accessories, and a bold but simple cocktail dress and you'll be good to go!
I didn't feature any watches or purses in these collages, as the rules at my school for recruitment didn't encourage girls to bring either of these things to the recruitment rounds. I'm not sure if this varies school to school!
As I mentioned earlier, this sorority recruitment outfit post is a collaboration with one of my blogger friends! Audrey from Audrey Madison Stowe is a Zeta Tau Alpha and sophomore at Texas Tech University. Her school has a very different Greek life culture from mine- not only is about 75% of the school Greek (not sure what the percentage was at my college but I don't even think it was 25%!), but the university itself is huge! Audrey's chapter alone is bigger then all four of the Panhellenic sororities at Queens. There are definitely pros and cons to being in large or small chapters of a sorority, but it's interesting for me to have met some friends through the blogging world who have had such different Greek life experiences than I did!
Go check out Audrey's guide to recruitment fashion today, and also follow her blog if you aren't! She's a total cutie, and is a fellow member of the Millennial Blogger Network.
And if you're interested in seeing posts that I wrote while in college about my sorority experiences:
I hope this post was helpful to you if you're thinking about going through recruitment this year or in a future year! If you're also a college grad, were you in a sorority in college? How was your recruitment experience?
One last fun memory that I have from my recruitment week is that at the very same time, my best friend Jules from high school was participating in recruitment at her university in Maine! She ended up becoming a sister of Alpha Xi Delta that week.... and one year later, my other dear friend from home, Katie, joined Jules's chapter of AXiD! So now my two favorite friends from home are sorority sisters. :-)
{A peak at the Moon and Lola Store in Charleston! Follow me on Instagram and Snapchat @miss_alk}
Ramblings:
Birthday/Blogiversary Q&A: My birthday and blogiversary (which conveniently fall on the same day) is less than month away. To celebrate this year, I wanted to publish a special Q&A post with questions from reader friends! I've seen a lot of other bloggers do this throughout the year, and I think this is a really fun way to get to know the girl behind the blog. Feel free to send me questions this month by tweeting me @rainbowflash94, or emailing me at rainbowflash94@yahoo.com. I'm happy to answer any blogging or personal questions (especially funny questions- love those!) Curious for the story behind my email address and Twitter handle? Check out this blog post!
The Mint Julep Conundrum: Here is random funny story from my trip to Charleston this weekend for The Blog Societies conference. So just over a year ago was my first professional conference experience, when I was an intern for the 2015 Fraternity Communications Conference in Louisville, KY. One of the many things that Kentucky is known for is bourbon. One of the FCA conference networking events actually centered around a bourbon tasting, however I couldn't try anything at the time as I was not of age yet. I also visited Churchill Downs twice during that trip, and I couldn't try the famous Mint Juleps due to not being 21. I've always wanted to try a Mint Julep ever since, and just automatically assumed that I would love the drink since it's the official drink of one of my favorite places. I finally got the chance to try one at a bar in Charleston... and goodness, they're actually are nasty!! I realized very quickly I am not a fan of bourbon, nor of Mint Juleps. I only drank about half of mine, and I felt so awful after that I had to leave the bar early and take an Uber back to the hotel before everyone else. My apologies if anyone reading this has a taste for Mint Juleps, but I can definitely say that was my first and last. I'll be sticking in the future with another minty drink of choice: mojitos!
Fun Weekend Ahead: There's not post-blog conference depression for me.... I have another fun and blogging related weekend ahead! One of my blogger besties is coming to visit me in Charlotte. Hint: it's not someone that I went to the conference with! Any guesses as to who is coming? I can't wait to show her all around my favorite city, and enjoy some much needed catching up and girl time!
Purchases:
I recently purchased this simple but chic LBD. I think a closet essential for every girl is a conservative LBD, and my previous dress was a bit on the older side and in need of replacing. This one was exactly what I was looking for!
This necklace was the perfect finishing touch to one of my outfits that I wore at TBSCon! I'll be sharing a full post of the outfit soon.
I had to stock up on my two of my favorite mascaras for TBSCon! Fun fact: I actually use three mascaras daily. This one is my bottom layer, and this one is my middle layer. I'm all about lashes that WOW!
These aren't technically purchases... out of the all the gifts that bloggers received at TBSCon, some of my favorites were from Vera Bradley! I was a HUGE Vera Bradley fan in middle school and high school, but I honestly hadn't kept up much with the brand in recent years. At the conference I was generously gifted this tote, this wallet, and this umbrella. How cute are all of these?! Way to go Vera Bradley! I'll definitely be featuring all of these here on the blog soon.
I'll be sharing lots more from The Blog Societies conference in the weeks to come! In the meantime, stay tuned tomorrow for a very fun collaboration post.
My weekly question for y'all: have you ever had an experience where you had an idea about something and thought that it would be amazing, and then actually experienced it, and it wasn't at all what you thought? (Like my story this week with the Mint Juleps in Charleston!)
Late summer is such an interesting time in the blogging world for the type of fashion content that bloggers are publishing. Temperatures in many parts of the country (such as where I now live) are in the 90s or even 100s everyday, yet with many stores and brands already beginning to promote their fall lines, a lot of bloggers brave the heat and and jump right into shooting fall looks. The Nordstrom Sale, which just ended yesterday, just seemed to encourage the enthusiasm for fall attire. While I am still loving many of my favorite summer looks, I am also starting to catch the fall fashion bug and starting thinking about what trends I'll be enjoying this fall.
The one thing that I really dislike about fall and winter fashion is that dark colors become prominent again. I adore all things bright and colorful, so my goal each year during the cooler months is to find fashion pieces that incorporate my love of pretty colors, but are also appropriate for cooler temperatures. This amazing dress that I am wearing from Dainty Jewell's is the perfect example of what would make up my ideal fall look! It features eye-popping and beautiful colors, but is doubly lined which makes it perfect for chillier days. I've worn another Dainty Jewell's dress previous on the blog before (found in this post!). Dainty Jewell's is an online women's clothing retailer that sells some of the most beautiful and unique dresses. They are also a Christian company, which I enjoy supporting! Definitely check them out if you're looking for some dresses for all that will stand out in the best possible way. :-)
In other news, how was everyone's weekend? Mine was absolutely incredible, as I spent it in Charleston attending The Blog Societies 4th annual conference. This was my first time attending a blogging conference and it completely blew my expectations!! I'll be sharing some posts about some of the outfits that I wore this week and next, and hopefully a full conference recap soon as well. I'm already excited for next year's event!
xoxo Miss ALK
Dainty Jewell's and Banana Republic provided gifted product in exchange for this post. All opinions are honest and my own. Thank-you for supporting the brands that support Southern Belle in Training!
