Monthly Archives

September 2017

College

An Autumn Weekend In My Life + OOTD

September 26, 2017

Hey everyone, thanks for visiting Allison in Wonderland today!  Last week’s post (linked here) was all about my birthday – I turned 21 last week!  So, this week, I thought it would be fun to give you another little glimpse into my life with a weekend in my life post.  Enjoy!

Starting on Friday, I went to my first and only class of the day – tennis.  For the past two semesters, I’ve been spoiled with not having Friday classes, so this semester is a little different for me.  But even though I do have class, it’s such a fun one to go to!  Let me know in the comments if you’d like to see a post about the best and easiest classes to take at JMU!

After grabbing some lunch after class, I met up with a photographer (@elefthographia) that also goes to James Madison to do a little downtown photoshoot.  I originally wanted to take some autumn-y photos with a warm, oversized sweater and boots but it ended up being in the 80s when we were shooting so I went for a bit of a cooler look.  I had to throw the outfit together pretty quickly once I realized how hot it was going to be but I love how it turned out!  My overalls are from Urban Outfitters and my tee is from Macy’s!  I got both of these pieces pretty recently, so they should still be in stock if you wanna scoop them up.

After we were done shooting, I raced right to an event for my sorority where we were celebrated the bids we recently gave out to our new candidates for this semester!  Gaining new sisters is always fun but this year was extra special for me because it’s the last recruitment I’ll go through before I graduate.  My time in my sorority has gone by so quickly and I’ve loved every minute of it; I can’t believe it’s almost over!

On Saturday, I headed to Pennsylvania to spend the rest of the weekend with my boyfriend!  We spent most of our night in Gettysburg at the Appalachian Brewery.  They had the cutest little outdoor space with picnic tables and string lights and it was a great place to meet up with friends!  I will definitely be going back as soon as I can.

I finished off the weekend with a few meetings and tried to take some time to relax before another busy week began!  This time of year is so incredible for enjoying down time because the weather is wonderful and the scenery is so beautiful.  I just can’t wait for October to begin so I can break out my fall sweaters!

Thanks for reading today’s “Weekend In My Life” post and don’t forget to follow Eleftheria (my photographer for the photos above) on Instagram!  Have a great week!

Things I'm Loving Right Now

21 Years

September 19, 2017

Hi everyone and happy, happy Tuesday!  Today’s post is a little bit special because I turned 21 last week!  Woohoo!  I can’t believe I’m already 21 – this past year flew by!  Instead of doing a traditional “what I got for my birthday post,” I’m going to be sharing 21 things I love about my life right now!  I’m sure you’ve all noticed that the world has been extra negative lately so I want to bring some light to it.  Let’s get started!

It’s finally Fall!  Fall is definitely my favorite season, so I’m so excited!  I love the cooler weather (a.k.a. not having to sweat a ton while walking to class) and cooler weather means sweaters and boots and those are two of my favorite things!

I love that the USA was able to come together to support the Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma victims.  Hurricane Harvey was incredibly devastating to the Houston, Texas area and, as bad as the disaster was, it was really heartwarming to see how the rest of the country was able to come together to support the victims.

JMU rocks!  As I’ve mentioned in a few other posts, I’m a student at James Madison University and I love it here!  The campus is just beautiful and the people are so, so nice.  I definitely chose the right school for me!

Sorority rush is a really fun process.  At JMU, I’m in a sorority called Sigma Alpha Omega and our recruitment was last week!  We’re in the process of getting a ton of new girls and it’s so exciting, especially because this is my last semester as an active sister.

Sunsets are incredible.  I’ve always loved sunsets, but I feel like the summer and the fall are the best time to watch them!  One of my bucket list items for this semester is to watch as many as I can.

Designated Survivor comes back on soon.  I love this show!  I started watching it last year and it’s so good!  It leaves you wishing you could watch all the episodes at once.  I recommend watching if you’re free on Wednesday nights!

So does Scandal!  Scandal is one of my favorites too – it’s so addicting!  I started watching years and years ago and, unfortunately, I think this is the last season so I’ll definitely be tuning in every week.

I got cute new curtains!  At school, I haven’t bought curtains to put up in my bedroom because I didn’t want to put big nails in the wall to hold them up, but this year too much sunlight was coming in my windows so I had to.  I got white, “black-out” ones from Target and they’re cute and such good quality!  They were only about $20 too!

IHOP is open 24/7.  I never go to IHOP except for when I’m at school and I don’t know why that is because it’s such a good weekend treat!  My boyfriend and I are long-distance and we always go to IHOP when he visits so I’ve learned to equate IHOP with my cute man and the weekend, so two very awesome things!

I found a cool new photo app called Planoly!  I learned about this app just recently and it’s a life-saver for social media fiends!  You can plan out what photos you’re going to post so your feed looks aesthetically pleasing and you can also schedule posts to go up for free.  That’s my favorite feature!

Connect 4 is my new favorite game.  On vacation this summer, my family and I played a lot of Connect 4 and now it’s one of my favorite things!  It’s so simple and seems like such an elementary school game but I love it!

I’m going to New York City next month for a cool, secret project!  In about a month, I’m heading to the big city to shoot a super cool project.  Any guesses what I’m doing?

I just got the coolest light box!  I went to Michael’s the other day and I found a really inexpensive light box to set up in my room.  I’ve been seeing these everywhere so I was excited to get one of my own!

My family is amazing!  As much as I love coming back to school in the Fall, it’s always a little bit sad because I have to leave my family.  They’re so supportive and encouraging and I love them so much!

I have a winter road-trip planned.  I am in the planning phases of booking a big road trip this winter to a few major southern cities.  Recommendations are accepted and appreciated!  Please leave them in the comments!

My classes are easy!  I’m planning to do a more in-depth post in the upcoming weeks on the best classes to take at JMU and that post will feature a lot of the classes I’m taking this semester!  Most of them are fun and easy and exactly the classes you want to be taking during your last semester of college.

I’m going to hike Old Rag with my boyfriend.  Hiking Old Rag is something my boyfriend and I have been wanting to do for a few years now and we’re finally getting around to it!  Would you be interested in seeing a post about our experience?

My planner saves my life.  Every Fall, I’m reminded of what a lifesaver my planner is.  With classes and clubs starting back up again and meeting with people everyday for coffee or lunch, it’s hard to keep up with all your responsibilities!

I’m graduating in December!  I think I’ve mentioned this in a few posts but in case you missed it, I’m graduating in a couple months!  I can’t believe I’ve already been at JMU for almost four years.  It’s crazy how many cool experiences I’ve had since starting college and it’s so sad that it’s almost over.  Let me know if you’d like to see any college-related posts throughout the next few months!

Christmas is coming!  Ahhh!  I love Christmas!  What are you asking for this year?

God is good.  I wanted to finish with this one because, especially with the world we live in today, it’s important to understand that everything happens for a reason and that reason is good.  We might not always understand why things happen but being okay with not knowing everything is what having faith is all about.

And that’s a wrap!  I hope this post brought a little light and excitement into your day!  Have a great rest of your week!

Travel

What To Bring On a Tropical Vacation

September 12, 2017

Good morning and happy Tuesday!  I hope your September is going wonderfully so far.  I’m so excited for fall but first, I wanted to share my last vacation post of the summer!  Today, I’m sharing my packing essentials for the tropical vacation my family and I just went on so keep reading to find out what I brought!

Throughout my life, I’ve been on plenty of beach/tropical vacations but I’d never been to the Florida Keys, which is where I jetted off to in mid-August.  I had a week ahead of me at a beach resort and I was so excited to finally relax after a summer of working hard.  I knew we’d do some adventuring (click here to read my last post about our trip) but I also knew I’d be spending a lot of time by the pool, so I’ve compiled a list of my relaxation/adventuring must-haves.  Here they are!

My number one must-have is a big, floppy hat.  In the Keys, it was insanely hot and humid and it was hard to be out of the pool for more than thirty minutes at a time.  My straw hat (pictured in my last post) helped keep me cool and also helped shield my face and shoulders from the sun!

My next must-have is a good book.  Before the trip, I bought a book called “The Beach Club” by Elin Hilderbrand.  It’s a New York Times bestseller and it was pretty good!  It was an easy read that made you want to keep reading more and, when you’re getting a tan at the same time, nothing’s better than that!

Must-have number three is to bring more than one bathing suit.  On this trip, I brought three and I’m so glad I did because, with being in the water all day, my suit was constantly soaked and then would have trouble drying overnight because it was so humid outside!  I was definitely glad I could switch back and forth between the ones I brought.

The next must-have is a no brainer and it’s to bring tons of sunscreen!  Throughout the 7 days we were there, my family of four went through five cans of the spray sunscreen.  That’s crazy!  The sun is so hot in Florida that we wanted to make sure we didn’t get burnt and we ended up going through almost a bottle a day.

My last must-have is to buy an underwater camera.  With all the snorkeling, jet-skiing, and other water sports we did, it would have been nice to be able to not worry about getting our phones wet and use a waterproof camera instead.  Especially with snorkeling, an underwater camera would have captured such cool moments!

Those are all my tropical vacation must-haves – thanks for reading!  As always, I’ll be back next Tuesday with another post so be on the lookout for that!  Have a great week!

Travel

Being a Tourist In: Key Largo, Florida

September 5, 2017

Hi everyone!  Welcome back to my blog and to the first of my tropical vacation posts!  Two weeks ago, my family and I traveled to Key Largo, Florida and I’m here to tell ya all about it.  Keep reading for all the details!

On Sunday, we flew down to Ft. Lauderdale and then drove the rest of the way down to the Keys.  Initially, it looked like it was going to rain all week because it was the start of their wet season, but it actually ended up being a beautiful, rain-free week!  We stayed at the Key Largo Bay Marriott Beach Resort and overall, I really loved the resort!  It was right on the water and had a great pool and hot tub.  They had plenty of hammocks and guests had access to jet-skis, paddle boards, kayaks, and parasailing right at the hotel!  There was also a spot for the snorkeling and scuba diving boats to pick you up right on site.  It was awesome!

 

On Monday, we started our adventures with renting a couple jet-skis.  I don’t have a great history with jet-skiing because, in high school, I went on vacation to Panama City Beach and that was the first time I was ever on one.  I wasn’t old enough to drive it then so I was riding on the back with someone else and it was just terrible.  I didn’t like how fast we were going and that I had no control so I was a bit nervous going into the experience this time but it was actually a lot of fun!  I’m old enough now to drive the jet-ski myself and I had a great time!  I would definitely recommend renting jet-skis on your next vacation if you have the chance.

Our adventure of the day on Tuesday was snorkeling!  There was a company right at the resort called Ocean Divers and that’s where we booked our snorkeling trip.  We caught the boat there, at 9:00am, and we were off!  We went to two locations – one was called the Christ statue and the other was called Horseshoe – and they were both wonderful.  Some parts were pretty deep and others were shallow so we got to see a lot of different fish and plants on the bottom of the ocean!  The instructors, Tuck and Dani, were awesome and it was such a cool experience!

We spent the majority of the next two days at the pool, relaxing.  We had explored and adventured so much the two days before that it was nice to spend some time lounging by the pool.  Going into the vacation, I thought we’d spend more time in the ocean, but the ocean was as warm as a bath!  That would usually be a good thing, but it was so hot and humid during the day that we just wanted something to cool us off from the burning sun.

On Friday, our last full day in Florida, we parasailed!  It was super easy to book and super quick once you got on the boat.  We stayed in the air for 10-12 minutes and it was really relaxing and peaceful!  It barely felt like you were moving and there was such a good view because we were up so high.  My dad is scared of heights and he didn’t have a problem with doing this, so if you’re scared of heights too, I’d say you’re safe to go for it!  Also on Friday, we discovered that the resort had a game section!  There was a little outdoor room on the first floor that had life-size games like Jenga and Connect 4!  There was also shuffle board and a few ping pong tables!  We spent a good amount of time here because there was so much to do.  I loved that the resort had this!

Our last day was mostly spent packing up and being sad that we were leaving.  It was such an amazing vacation and I didn’t want it to end!  Next week, I’ll have another vacation post coming to the blog about what to pack for a tropical vacation so be sure to come back for that one!  Have a great week!