Monthly Archives

June 2016

Travel

Being a Tourist In: Philadelphia

June 28, 2016

Hi everyone and welcome back to Allison in Wonderland!  This week is extra special because I’m doing two “Being a Tourist In…” posts in a row!  I’ve been traveling and exploring a little more than usual lately, so keep reading to find out what adventures I had when I went to Philly this past weekend!

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Independence Beer Garden

Spending the day in Philadelphia is something I’ve wanted to do for a while now because, before this weekend, I’d only been there for Phillies’ games.  Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE going to Phillies’ games, but I was dying to see what more Philadelphia had to offer.  We started in Old City, around the City Tavern.  I parked in a parking garage right along 2nd street, which was $18.50 for anything over an hour and a half, so if you’re visiting, I suggest searching for cheaper parking options before you go!  After we checked out the waterfront, we headed towards Independence Hall to walk around the historical sites of the city.  While walking along this area, we spotted a place to eat called the Independence Beer Garden!  This is the prettiest place I’ve ever eaten.  It’s a very rustic restaurant with outdoor seating.  My favorite part about it was that it had different kinds of plants all over!  I definitely recommend this place if you’re looking for a light lunch or quick snack!

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The Franklin Square carousel!

Next, we headed down Independence Hall to Franklin Square where we got to see the fountain and a cool view of the bridge!  After this, we headed to South Street and saw the Magic Gardens.  We didn’t go in because we decided you could pretty much get the gist of it from the outside, but it was incredible!  So much work went into this exhibit and the artist is still working on it!  On our way back to the parking garage from South Street, we got to see a very pretty area of Philly.  It quieted down and the streets were just gorgeous.  It was very cool to be able to see so many great parts of such a big city!

That about wraps up my Philadelphia blog post but you can be waiting for another one because I know I’ll be headed back soon!  Let me know in the comments where your favorite part in Philadelphia is and I’ll be back next week with a new post!  Bye! 🙂

 

Travel

Being a Tourist In: Bethany Beach

June 21, 2016

Hi again, I hope you had a great week!  Today, I’m doing a post about a place very special to my heart; Bethany Beach, Delaware.  My grandparents moved there a couple months ago, so I’ve been able to spend almost every weekend at the beach this summer and I’m loving it!  Let me know if you’ve ever visited!  Throughout this post, I’m going to go through a couple of my favorite places to hang out when I’m there… Enjoy!

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Franklin, my blow-up turtle!

The first thing I always do when I get to Bethany is jump in the pool!  I don’t have a pool at my house, so the fact that my Mommom and Poppop have a pool is AMAZING.  Also, it’s a nice perk to have when you come back from the beach and are covered in sand!  I bought this blow-up float at a store on the boardwalk and I could not be happier with it.  It was inexpensive and it’s so cute and perfect for floating around the pool on a hot day!

Another thing I like to do when I visit is go to places that aren’t available where I live.  Two places in particular – the Fractured Prune and the Juice Box – are really close to my grandparent’s house and super easy to stop at on the way to or from the beach!  The Fractured Prune is a donut shop where you basically create your own donuts from scratch!  You choose the glaze and toppings you want and it’s such a cool experience!  The Juice Box is a little juice shop on the side of the road where they serve fresh squeezed juice!  They offer a nice variety of very healthy juices to balance out those donuts. 🙂

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Lastly, I love to go to the beach at sunset and just walk on the sand and put my feet in the water.  If you go to places like Delaware Seashore State Park or Fenwick Island (which are both within ten minutes of Bethany), it’s a lot less crowded than it usually is right at Bethany Beach, which gives you more privacy.  Doing this is so relaxing, especially if you’ve spent all day running around, and let’s you wind down surrounded by the sound of the waves.

Thanks for reading this post and let me know what you’d like to read about next week!  See you later!

 

Beauty

Summertime Nail Polish Color Combinations

June 17, 2016

Hi guys and welcome back to the blog!  Earlier this week, I was having trouble deciding what colors to paint my nails and toenails and I realized that, while it’s not a huge decision, it’s something I spend time thinking about every time I paint my nails – so why not write an article about it!?

The first combination I am excited to share is a pair of my go-to summer polishes; Essie’s “Fiji” and Sinful Color’s “No Text Red.”  “Fiji” is a beautiful light pink color (my favorite color to paint my nails year-round) and is especially perfect on top of a nice tan!  Usually I wouldn’t wear red nail polish during the summertime, but “No Text Red” is so vibrant, you can totally get away with it!  If I can’t decide what color I want, I always choose these!

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“Fiji” & “No Text Red”

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“Island Hopping” & “Sand Tropez”

The next two are a more neutral pairing.  Essie’s “Sand Tropez” and “Island Hopping” give your eyes a needed break from all the bright nail colors we see during this time of year.  Because “Sand Tropez” is made up of sandy tones (haha!), you can rock it all the way from a week on the job to a week on the beach!  “Island Hopping” is one of my favorites because it doesn’t look bad if it chips a little bit!  In the summer, I don’t always want to take the time to repaint my nails halfway through the week, so the subtleness of this color is not only refreshing, but a time-saver too.

The last colors I’m going to share today are the “coolest” pair of all. 🙂  Sinful Color’s “Snow Me White” and Sally Hansen’s Miracle Gel in “Blue Hue” are a nice change from all the warm tones!  While still being summery (who doesn’t love a white nail in the summertime), they give off a different vibe than the other colors.  Another plus is that color’s like these tend to wash you out in the winter when you don’t have as much color, and in the summer, we don’t have to worry about that!

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“Snow Me White” & “Blue Hue”

That’s all for today’s post, thank you for reading!  Let me know in the comments if we have any of the same favorite nail polishes.  See you next week!

 

Fashion

Summer Outfit of the Day

June 7, 2016

Hi guys, welcome back to Allison in Wonderland!  For this week’s post, I thought putting together a little outfit of the day would be fun, especially now that we’re finally getting into summertime weather!

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Pictured above is an outfit that I wore for a photoshoot I planned for my sorority, Sigma Alpha Omega.  SAO is the Christian sorority at James Madison and we had such a good day doing this shoot!  It was fun to see everyone dressed up and being able to spend the day doing something different.

My outfit is from an assortment of stores so I’ll get right to it!  My dress is from Urban Outfitters, my favorite store!  It’s a white dress with some lace detailing and it’s perfect for summer.  I’d been eyeing this dress for a while and by the time I finally got around to going to the mall, they only had one left and it was my size!  Woohoo!  A bonus to this dress is it has a built in slip so you won’t be able to see through it!  My army green vest is from American Eagle and perfect to pair with almost any outfit.  You can wear it with a sundress, jeans and a t-shirt, anything!  It’s not the most summery color but I think it provides a nice contrast to an outfit.  Finally, my little brown booties are from Forever 21 (they were also pictured in my Things I’m Loving Right Now post from back in March).  I’ve had these booties for a couple years now and they’re still going strong – I wear them all the time and they’re so comfortable, even when I have to walk all over campus!

That wraps up today’s “Outfit of the Day” post!  Thanks for visiting my blog and be sure to come back next Tuesday for another post!  Have a great week! 🙂

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