3-2-1 PARTY!

Photos: Emily Sacra Photography

Dress: Lulu's {Sold out- very similar here}// Cardigan: J. Crew Factory // Tiara: {Can be bought online HERE!} // Bracelets: Lilly Pulitzer, c/o Taudrey 

      Today is certainly a day for celebration! It is not only my 21st birthday, but also the 3rd blogiversary for Southern Belle in Training! (Yes, I started this blog on my birthday. :-) ) I am currently in Myrtle Beach for the long weekend with two of my best girlfriends from school- it's just too convenient that my 21st birthday falls on a long weekend!

     I want to just take a moment today to look back on just a few of the amazing things that happened to me over the past year. Year 20 was definitely a year for the books- both in terms of my blog and also for my personal life! Below is a recap of some blog posts which recap the last year for me:

Year 3 in blogging at SBIT:

*Going to a Charlotte blogging meet-up hosted by two of my blogging inspirations 

*Hosting my first blogging meet-up for fellow NC bloggers!

*Attending my first fashion event on behalf of my blog

*Rebranding my blog

*Collaborating with one of my favorite brands

*Making a Charlotte Blogger Bestie

*Finding my ultimate Blogger Bestie

*Having the courage to share about a painful high school situation on my blog

*Co-founded The Millennial Blogger Network

Year 20 in my personal life:

*Getting a Little in my sorority 
*Learning some life lessons
*Finally falling in love with my college (after transferring schools in 2013)
*#LILLYFORTARGET
*Pulling off the best April Fool's Prank for one of my best friends
*Finally watching (and falling in love with) Gossip Girl
*Crossing an item off my bucket list- visiting Churchill Downs (and having my dream internship!)
*Studying Abroad in France



     And of course there have been many, many more memories and experiences that never even made it to the blog or social media, but that will always hold a special place in my heart! Despite all of the ups and downs, I am so thankful for everything that year 20 taught me.


    Now 21- time to BRING ON THE FUN!



     Stay tuned Monday for many more photos from my shoot with Emily Sacra Photography (and all of my outfit details!)


      xoxo Miss ALK

First Day of School Outfit.

Photography: Kate Castellano Photography

Top: Forever 21 // Skirt: Target {A closet staple! Almost identical here} // Shoes: Clark's // Hat: Forever 21 // Purse: Vintage Chanel {Similar here, less expensive here} // Sunglasses: LOFT // Earrings: Talbots {Old, similar here} // Bracelet: {From the store I work at in Maine} // Ring: HJ Greek // Lips: Liner is NYX lipliner in Hot Red, Lipstick is L'Oreal Colour Riche The Reds in Blake's Red 

     So excited to finally be blogging the outfit that I wore for my first day of school for starting my senior year of college earlier this week! First day of school outfits are always a big deal, but I knew that I wanted my last real first day attire to be especially fun, bold and sassy. Gotta show everyone on campus my senior status!

     I actually don't wear black and white very often (I'm much more a fan of color), so this outfit was slightly outside of my comfort zone! But the "girly-ness" of the cut of the skirt, the added heels and my red lips definitely made this color combo a bit more Annaliese friendly. :-) I ordered this Forever 21 crop top earlier this summer and have been so excited to wear it! It fits me very well, but the only thing that I was disappointed about when I received it is that it truly is a CROP top! It is barely longer than some bathing suit tops. That ruled out wearing it with most of my bottoms and skirts for anything school related, but my favorite black and white skirt has the option of being very high-waisted! So I was able to style my new crop top and make it school appropriate. Win-win! 

     I will probably definitely be packing the crop top for my weekend trip to Myrtle Beach though! Attire for a beach town like Myrtle is a lot more casual than dressing for school, so I can't wait to style this top with some of my favorite shorts or other skirts. 

     I thought it would be fun to end this post with a few other pictures from my first day back to school on Monday with some of my friends!! I snuck off campus to a park in Uptown Charlotte in the middle of the day to do this photoshoot, but the rest of my day was filled with going back to class, resuming sorority recruitment practices, and catching up with all of my sweet friends!

My Little, Julie!

My amazing suitemate/bestie Caroline!

My roommate from last Fall, Kirstie, who is back from studying abroad in the UK!

First day selfies with my friends Max, Lily and Joe!

     Similar outfit pieces to mine are linked here below! Be sure to visit the blog on Sunday (my birthday!) for a preview of the amazing birthday/blogiversary photoshoot that I got to do in Virginia last week... on Monday I'll be sharing the whole thing! 

     Have a great long weekend!

     xoxo Miss ALK

Midweek Ramblings + Recent Purchases.

{Via my Instagram @miss_alk}

Ramblings:

• SENIOR YEAR: I have probably written this in like the last 10 or so posts (at least!) here on the blog, but I still really am in shock that I am a senior in college. So far, everything is going just wonderfully! I am really enjoying my classes so far- they are challenging but all very relevant to my major and hopeful future career (and some even relevant to what I do as a blogger!). It has been so great to see all of my college friends after a long summer apart, and even more reunions will be coming up over the next few weeks!
• Sorority Recruitment: Many of you know that I'm a member of Alpha Delta Pi. This is the annual time of the year when my chapter and all of the other Panhellenic sororities on campus participate in formal recruitment! Our school's Fall Recruitment is at the end of September, so we have a whole month of recruitment practices and events leading up to this. It can definitely be a bit stressful at times with everything else going on in my life, but I feel like my time management skills become top-notch during this month!
• Exciting blog content: SO many exciting things are in store for SBIT this month!! Between some super fun outfit shoots that I cannot wait to post, fun collaborations, some giveaways (One which was posted yesterday! Enter here) and much, much more. This will all help to keep me sane during all of the sorority craziness to come this month. 
• Life lessons and growing up: My 21st birthday is coming up this weekend, and while in some ways it still doesn't feel quite possible, I have started to notice recently in some ways that I am growing up. Many of these realizations come through life lessons and reflection. One of which that happened recently is through some events both this year and last year in my personal life (and having time to think about both circumstances), realizing how important it is to always be honest. Yes, honesty can hurt sometimes, and there can also be such a thing as being too honest. But never be afraid to tell the truth, even if the situation is sticky! I could write so much more about this... but I will just leave it at that. :-) 

Purchases:

• I accidentally left my shampoo and conditioner at one of the hotels that my dad and I stayed at on our drive to school last week! As soon as I got back to Charlotte, I hit up my favorite local Target for some re-stocks. They had my shampoo in stock, but were sadly out of the conditioner that I've been using for awhile! So instead I am trying out this conditioner! I've only been using it a few days, but so far it compares pretty well to my old one. (I really need to write an updated hair products + routine post soon!) 
• I visited the local party store back home in Maine before moving back to school to pick up some goodies for my 21st! My suitemate and best friend had her 21st birthday just a couple weeks before mine, so I made sure to buy some special birthday things for her as well. This was one of my favorite birthday goodies that I found! 
• I haven't actually purchased this yet, but I am dying to try out this new drugstore mascara! I really want to pick it up before I head to the beach this weekend. I've heard such great things about it. 

      Happy middle of the week loves! I return this afternoon to my internship with the Ryan Seacrest Foundation- it's my fourth semester interning for RSF and I couldn't be more excited!!

     xoxo Miss ALK

Project Inspired: Book Review + Giveaway!

     About five-ish years ago, I one day found a website while browsing around online called Project Inspired. It was still fairly new, and it caught my eye! Founded by a former Hollywood model named Nicole Weider, Project Inspired told Nicole's story of coming to faith in Christ and changing her life, and served as an online forum and community for Christian girls around the country. There were also lots of helpful articles on the website from guest authors on topics like friendship, dating, morals and more, all coming from a Christian perspective and written with young women in mind! I got into Project Inspired right around the time that I first began blogging (back when I used to write on my first blog, Confessions of a Maine Teenager!). I loved checking in regularly to the website, and everything that I read on Project Inspired always encouraged me greatly.

     I still enjoy following Project Inspired and Nicole Weider's personal accounts on social media today, so I was so excited to find out last year that Nicole was in the process of writing a book! I knew that she would have an amazing story to tell. I was even more excited when my friends at Icon Media reached out to me about reviewing Nicole's book and giving away a copy to one of my readers!!

      Nicole's book is both an autobiography and also a book filled with wonderful advice and tips on everything from fashion, relationships, maintaining your faith, etiquette and much more. I love how she is able to go back and forth from her own personal story and then back into the tips and tricks that she shares so well! This book is able to be both a light and fun read, but also covers some more serious and real-life topics (while doing so in a readable way). I think that my favorite chapter was Chapter 5, which is where Nicole addresses faith and Christianity the most!


     I really enjoyed reading Project Inspired, especially since I have been following Nicole's story and career for awhile! I probably would have loved the book ever more had it been published when I was still in high school, as I do think that it is written with younger girls in mind. But that doesn't mean that us college gals and 20-somethings can't enjoy it too! There's definitely lots of good stuff in here for any girl.


     My friends at Icon Media have decided to sponsor a giveaway for my readers! One of you will win your own copy of Project Inspired- either to keep for yourself or to give away to a young lady in your life. This giveaway will run until September 8th, 2015. Enter using the widget below!


a Rafflecopter giveaway


     Do you follow Project Inspired? Have you read any good books lately?


     xoxo Miss ALK



      The book reviewed was gifted to me for review purposes on my blog by Icon Media. All opinions are honest and my own.

Instagram Lately.

     Happy Monday! Today is my first day of classes for my senior year- I can't even believe it! It's still crazy to me to think that I was still at home in Maine at this time last week. I am definitely excited for this semester to get rolling though- it will be busy but busy is good!

      It's been a long time since I've done an Instagram recap here on the blog, so I thought that would be a nice way to start off the week! :-)

Dress: Lilly Pulitzer for Target {Sold out- similar here!}

     On my last day of work at my summer job, both of my parents came to see me during my dinner break and treated me to dinner at a local pizza place! The treats then continued with a trip to Ben and Jerry's for my favorite item on their menu: the Cookie Cookie sundae. If you've never had one, you need to try one next time you're in a Ben and Jerry's Scoop Shop! There's a Ben and Jerry's within walking distance of the store I work at back home in Maine, and the first summer that I worked there that proved to be very dangerous for me (Cookie Cookie sundaes had become a weekly occurrence...). 

    

     Please excuse the fact that neither of us are wearing make-up (both of us had long days before this photo was taken!), but I'm so happy that I got to meet my blogging bestie Caroline from The Caro Diaries on my drive to school last week! She goes to college in Connecticut, which just so happens to be one of the many states that my dad and I drive through on the way back to NC. We planned a short rest stop at her college, and finally getting to meet her in person was such a delight! In case you didn't know, Caroline and I co-founded a blogging network together earlier this year called the Millennial Blogging Network! Check it out here! 

     Another favorite part about my drive back to school... finally being reunited with Chick Fil A (and especially their French Vanilla Iced Coffee!). There aren't very many Chick Fil A's in New England, and Maine isn't lucky enough to be one of the states to have any. It was a long summer without it! #eatmorechikin
     And as far as my shirt that I'm wearing here... while packing for school I re-discovered my oversized concert t-shirt from when I saw Selena Gomez in 2011 on her We Own the Night tour. What an amazing concert! I just love her so much and have no shame about it. This shirt definitely will be worn at school this year!

     My most favorite part of all of the drive South each year is when we cross back into my favorite state! Last year I did a jumping picture with the state sign (at the Virginia/North Carolina rest-stop), and this year I was determined to jump even higher. I think I made my goal!

     Some of you might recognize Caroline, who is one of my best friends from school! I've featured her in some of my outfit posts before (since she has a lovely sense of style!), and she was also in my Who Takes My Blog Photos? post. It was Caroline's 21st birthday last week, so I thought it would be appropriate to Instagram a photo of us from when we attended a semi-formal at school last year that was Vegas themed. If we can't actually be in Sin City on our 21sts, why not pretend right?! My birthday is coming up next week, so I can't wait to celebrate together!

Top: {Old sorority tank} // Jeans: American Eagle Outfitters // Shoes: Rack Room Shoes // Cardigan: LOFT // Sunglasses: TJ Maxx 

     A casual outfit that I wore for my first day back in Charlotte this weekend! I'm obsessed with these sunglasses- only $10 from TJ Maxx!



     Hope that y'all are having a great start to your week! Stay tuned for many more posts this week and next!


     xoxo Miss ALK