Junghwa by Amy Stewart: Rope Bracelet Giveaway

Looking for a cute but simple accessory to add to your spring/summer wardrobe? These adorable rope bracelets by Amy Stewart are the perfect addition! Amy is currently doing a giveaway of one of these bracelets on her blog (Click the picture to view the post!) but you can also find them on her Etsy shop: Junghwa. She also has some really adorable necklaces, rings, etc on the shop, and it is worth checking out!

There are three days left to enter, so be sure to click on over to her blog ASAP! She will also be featuring another giveaway in the near future, so keep your eyes open for that one as well.

Forever 21 Gift Card Giveaway

For those of you interested in Giveaways (Let's be honest, aren't we all) AND Forever 21... Pearls Lace and Ruffles is hosting one where she will be giving away a $75 gift card and a $25 gift card to two lucky readers!

Click the picture to head on over and check it out!

FREE TIGHTS!

Who doesn't love free stuff? I'm pretty sure it's not just me, so I wanted to pass this giveaway along to you guys. Here's a chance to win a free pair of tights from We Love Colors! Head on over to check out the giveaway at Big Beautyful Mess.

Pearls, Lace, and Ruffles Giveaway

It is 10:30am on Monday morning, My eyes will barely keep themselves open, I have no idea what I'm going to wear today, and I should be leaving for class in about ten minutes. I blame this on the fact that my bed is way too comfortable making me never want to leave it. Also maybe on the fact that I've spent the last year training my brain to think we need like ten hours of sleep or something ridiculous like that.

I did want to let you know about a Giveaway over at Pearls, Lace, and Ruffles. I won part of her last one, and I lovvvee all of the goodies that came with it! So go check it out... it's another cute one!!!

(Here's a little sneak peak... you'll have to pop on over yourself to see the details)

Hope you're all having a good Monday... and that you're a little more awake than I am!

Summer Sundresses and a GIVEAWAY!

These pictures are, at this point, almost a week old. Better late than never right? Kind of just an errand/class outfit, so nothing too fancy. But I did manage to get a decent picture with the jean jacket for once! Sorry for the sleepy eyes. I'm sure this was fairly early for me, so I'm assuming that's why I look half asleep in all of these pictures.

(Playing with my hair... not trying to do some awkward boxing pose...)

Outfit
Dress: Target (On clearance last fall!)
Belt: Old Navy
Shoes: Charlotte Russe
Jean Jacket: American Eagle
Bangles: Charlotte Russe.

Did you happen to notice that my roommate, Kelly, and I are doing the same poses in both picture? Definitely unintentional, but I guess all the best friends and roommates do it ;-)

Speaking of Kelly... she's having her first giveaway over at Sew Me Some Love! So click HERE and go check it out! She's got another bigger one coming up sometime, and from the ideas she's tossed around, it sounds like it will be a good one!

Junghwa by Amy Stewart: PAGESTOPPERS GIVEAWAY!

Just wanted to let you all know that Junghwa by Amy Stewart is hosting "The Pagestoppers Giveaway" (Click here to enter!) where you can win something from The Pagestoppers' Etsy!

There are some really cute rings and things up, so head on over and check it out. It's open until 5PM pst TODAY (March 20th), so be quick!!

One More Thing- Much Love Giveaway!

Much Love is hosting a giveaway for a $30 gift certificate from Beta Boutique. Hop on over and check it out!
(Picture from MuchLove)

Can It Just Be Summer Now?

Next week and my 21st birthday would suffice, too. I swear that all the teachers at the business school just have meetings to plan out when they're going to pile all of the group projects, exams, and homeworks on us at once. Sweet of the, really. We're talking worse than finals here. I think they're secretly plotting to drive us all mad.

Speaking of going mad... my lovely little roommate brought my Easter Basket back for me from her trip home this weekend, and MY MOM GOT ME THE ORIGINAL ALICE IN WONDERLAND! I've only been trying to get Disney movies for birthdays and holidays for the last FEW YEARS now, so I'm pretty thrilled it finally happened! (Still want the Little Mermaid!!!) I had never actually seen Alice before, but I've been watching a little at a time the last few nights as I fall asleep. I do love it. I think I prefer the Johnny Depp hatter to the cartoon version, though.


I once asked my dad how on earth they raised a child without exposing her to the classic Alice in Wonderland (Seems like we owned every other Disney movie ever made)... then told him I guess I didn't really consider it a bad judgement call not exposing a five year old to a cartoon riddled with supposed drug references and what not. But let me tell you, I sure love it now!

I was so excited to see that my mom found Coconut Nests WITHOUT JELLY BEANS!!!! They're basically just chocolate covered coconut shaped like a nest, with little jelly bean "eggs" nestled in to them. While that's cute and all, I'm not a big jelly bean fan, so the revelation that these come without them almost thrilled me more than the $20 tucked into a Sudoku book. Let's be honest though, the $20 won just because I'm a 'poor college student' who gets excited just finding a dollar left somewhere in her room.

Ok. This is the end of Easter-Referencing posts. Sorry. Giveaway ends today at 5, so HIT THAT UP! I'll try to get a "Winner Post" up by tomorrow!!!

ONE MORE DAY LEFT!

ONE MORE DAY UNTIL THE GIVEAWAY CLOSES!

(HERE!)

So it's still not too late to post a link on your blog/twitter for another entry, or even just enter :-) Mr. Owl and the Cosmo need a good loving new home!

Book Recommendations

I always see people asking for suggestions of different books to read, and I LOVE reading so I thought a recommendation post might be fun. I read all sorts of stuff, but among my favorites are autobiographies of anyone a little bit scandalous, Sci-Fi stuff involving Vampires/etc, and Murder-Mystery type fiction (A lot of detective type stuff). Unless you're really curious, or actually looking for some books to read, I don't blame you if you don't make it through this whole post.

For Autobiographies/Memoirs:

The Dirt- Motley Crue
Kiss and Make Up- Gene Simmons
TommyLand- Tommy Lee
The Heroin Diaries- Nikki Sixx
Tweak- Nic Sheff
A Piece of Cake- Cupcake Brown
(This one is an AMAZING story. This girl was abandoned, shifted from foster home to foster home, raped, addicted to drugs, got pregnant as a teenager, and even worked as a prostitute, and ended up as a very successful lawyer!)
A Wolf At the Table- Augusten Burroughs
(Same guy from 'Running with Scissors. Intense, bizarre, emotional, but very good.)



Fantasy/Sci-Fi Books: (Nowhere near as "Geeky" as it may sound)

The House of Night Series- P.C. and Kristin Cast
(This is more or less like Twilight mixed with Harry Potter. Directed more towards younger readers, but entertaining none the less.)

The Sookie Stackhouse Series (Starts with "Dead Until Dark")- Charlaine Harris
(This is the "Southern Vampire" series True Blood is based off of. I started the books first, and as expected, they're much more detailed than the show, and I think I like them a little better.)

Author Mario Acevedo: Starting with The Nymphos of Rocky Flats, these books are pretty much about anything and everything supernatural, all rolled into one. Vampires, Zombies, Aliens, Werewolves, etc etc.
(Not to mention, as you probably could have guessed by the title, they've got a very sexual element to them.)

For Murder/Mystery/Detective Fiction:

Anything by Stuart Woods or James Patterson.

Woods' books have gotten a little more brief and not as good lately, but if you start with some of his earlier Stone Barrington or Holly Barker books, they're fantastic. Lately most of his separate series have kind of mixed together. For Patterson- I LOVE the Alex Cross series, and there are like a million books in that.

Tess Gerritsen is also a great author with books like The Bone Garden and The Surgeon.

Other:

Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns- Khaled Hosseini
(These are set in the middle east and are SO good, and I can almost guarantee they will make you cry. I truly think they are must reads, though.)

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs- Chuck Klosterman
(Pop Culture commentary at it's finest)

ANYTHING BY CHUCK PALAHNIUK. Seriously, I love it all. But two of my favorites were Lullaby and Invisible Monsters.

Candy- Luke Davies
(Yeah, like the Heath Ledger/Abbie Cornish movie, only WAY better.)

My Horizontal Life and Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea- Chelsea Handler
(This woman is ridiculously funny. And these are all real life stories. If you watch her show you'll appreciate them even more because you realize the crazy things she says about her life are all true. She also just released Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang, but I haven't read that yet.)

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell- Tucker Max
(Male equivalent of Chelsea Handler, only maybe more of an asshole. You're either going to be completely offended by this or laugh so hard when you read it that you almost pee your pants. Go to TuckerMax.com for an idea of the "stories" you'll be reading. He also releases his 2nd book, Assholes Finish First, in September.)

And just another reminder that the giveaway is still going on!

I'm sure you didn't notice, but I finally decided to spell giveaway without the hyphen. Yes, I am that OCD that every time I made a post I wondered if that was how I should do it or not, and finally decided I didn't like that, and went back and changed it in all recent posts. Haha. This is my life.

Playing Dress Up!

And here are the pictures of the new dresses! Just realized I left my camera charger at home over spring break so the camera JUST lasted long enough to get these pictures (Yes- spaciest person EVER award definitely goes to me. Particularly because my mom had to mail my camera back to me, and I just now realized two weeks later I forgot the charger, too). The one of the coral Delias dress isn't that great, but the camera died, so it had to suffice!!!

The shoes I'm wearing in all of these pictures are my Steve Madden Fiesstaas. Still haven't had anywhere to wear them out to, because they're so darn tall that I've been waiting for a good occasion that also won't require much walking.

Dress 1: Forever 21 Splattered Paint Strapless with a tie in the back. This was the one I bought in Chicago over Spring Break a few weeks ago. I may, however, add some kind of halter straps to it, because I hate constantly worrying about keeping strapless dresses up! We'll see.

Dress 2: Delias "Jess Knot Dress"... and these sunglasses are also the Jennifer Sunglasses I ordered from Delias as well.

Dress 3: Delias "Sharona Knit Dress" in Coral. This is the one that I think I'm going to add a liner to (the bottom half anyways) if I ever get my sewing machine fixed. Hopefully taking that in next weekend when I go home for my birthday with the family.

Also- Owl/Cosmo Painting giveaway still going on (here).

and

New Red Velvet Cake Recipe up at Wonderland Kitchen!


Hope everyone is having a good weekend- the weather here is GORGEOUS! Actually hit 81 earlier today!!!

New Dresses Coming Soon!

Well, yesterday was kind of a mess. Everything from spilling black paint on the carpet to my sewing machine breaking in 3 different places when I was trying to hem a dress. Yeah, don't know how that happened. I think the only thing that really saved the day was that it was a BEAUTIFUL DAY and I got in a really good work out. Well, and my cousin made me a delicious dinner.

I'm just glad my roommate has a sewing machine too, because these dresses REALLY need hemmed, and I want to wear them ASAP now that the weather is hovering around the upper 70's! My dresses from Delias came, so hopefully tomorrow I'll have a chance to do a mini photo shoot with those to show you! I really like them... but one of them kind of needs a liner sewn into it, so I may have to try to attempt that this weekend. (Though that could be risky business without Kelly's expertise on hand in case I have any slip ups!) I am also obsessed with the sunglasses, and literally wore them ALL DAY yesterday. Inside. Because I love them that much.

For now I'm just looking forward to a gorgeous weekend that will hopefully get me caught up and even ahead on all the projects and homeworks and studying I need to do for the next two weeks. Not to mention, my birthday is right around to corner! VERY EXCITING!



And don't forget to enter my giveaway (here)! It's open until next wednesday! And to clarify- yes, it IS open internationally! I'll just cross that bridge of figuring all that out once we get there. (I sound like an idiot, I'm assuming shipping internationally isn't that hard, but, I've never done it. haha)

GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY!

The "Sunshine Award" Post really solidified how excited I am about this giveaway. Everyone I've encountered in the blogging network has been so sweet, and it's so fun to get to know people in all sorts of places and bounce ideas off each other for outfits, crafts, recipes, and so much more! I know how excited I get about giveaways, and how that feeling was multiplied by a hundred when I actually won one, so I'm looking forward to passing that feeling along to someone else.

That being said, HERE IT IS! When I thought about what to give, I really wanted to do something with a personal touch. My first thought was painting something... because I LOVE it and I love doing paintings for friends/family!

These are both 8" by 10" canvases, hand painted with acrylic paints (and some 3d paint in the Owl painting). I did two to give you a little bit of choice, so just be sure to let me know which you like best! I'll also be including a few other little surprises in the package, but you'll have to wait for that.

RULES:

1. Subscribe to my blog via the Google Follow button on the left sidebar.

2. Leave a comment with your name, e-mail address, and which painting you like best (Owl or Cosmo)!

3. For another entry- Reference this give-away on your blog, and leave me a comment with a link to the post, and your e-mail.

4. Finally, for a third entry- Link this post on a Twitter account, with an @AlexandraHoover, and leave a comment with a link to your Twitter profile.

THANKS SO MUCH! Love all of you little followers and I hope you're as excited as I am!

This Giveaway will be open until next Wednesday, April 7th, at 5pm (Eastern Standard Time) so I can get everything packed up and shipped out in time for a little reverse birthday gifting on my birthday, April 14th!

Just One More Little Push, Warm Weather!

The weather this week is supposed to be in the 70's by the weekend... but today it was still hovering around being a little chilly. I realized I have NO light jackets to make any sort of good outfit with- but I think I have a jean jacket at home still (maybe?) so I'll have to try to find that next weekend when I go home for my birthday with the family.

Today I had to settle for a Victoria's Secret Zip Up Sweatshirt with layered black and yellow camis from Old Navy, and my purple light weight scarf from India. I really wish I would have bought more of those in different colors!!!! And as far as the sweatshirt goes, I'm a college student, so oh well, it happens! I've been doing lots of "Outfit making" in my head, trying to think of good key pieces I need to get to make the most out of things I already have. Soon I'll need to start the search for a good pair of warm weather sandals!!!


I've also been doing a LOT of crafting lately! Here are a few pictures of some of the Easter cards I've been making. I need to remember to get those sent out soon so they actually get to their destinations on time, sometimes I'm kind of bad about that.




My recent crafting blitz was actually brought on because I figured out what I'm doing for my giveaway... WHICH WILL START TOMORROW!!!! I've got the post set to go up at 10 am, so I'll see you all then! :-) I realllly hope you like it! I've been getting such sweet comments lately, and it's made me realize that my favorite part of blogging is interacting with all of you wonderful ladies from all over the world! So I'm excited to finally give something back to those of you who've been here a while, or even those of you who are new!!!

Delias Deals!

As you can see I've yet again changed my layout. Truth be told, I'm just too OCPD (Yes, I'm convinced I really have this) and I know that last background, as much as I loved it, was a bit much on the eyes. Hopefully we'll stick with this one for a while.

I finally ordered some dresses from Delias... but they were out of BOTH of the ones I wanted in the size I wanted! Definite bummer. I like the ones I got, but I still liked the others better. Oh well, these are a little more simple, so hopefully I'll be able to do more with them. I'm still just crossing my fingers that they fit well, because you never know!





I also found a code to get $20 OFF WHEN YOU SPEND $75 OR MORE (See Here. Code is 20DISCD. Expires March 31st.) so because my order was a little under that, I threw in this pair of cheap sunglasses to push it over the edge. Plus, I just love sunglasses, and really needed a new pair anyways. Cheap ones usually last me a while, but I'm always misplacing them around the house so the more the merrier.

It's weird, because I haven't shopped at Delias since I was in like, Junior High or something, and I am not even sure if I'm "Too old" to be shopping there... but I think I'm ok with this purchase. Now I just have to wait for summery weather to arrive to really get the most out of the dresses! I'm just so awful at dressing for Spring weather! I WANT to wear dresses and skirts and fun flirty warm weather clothes, but it's always too chilly to go without a jacket and I have so few light jackets/sweaters that it makes it difficult to not give in to my summer side.

I've been thinking of more giveaway ideas too, so I think you'll definitely be seeing that soon. Especially if I lure one more unsuspecting blogger in to hit 20 ;-)

I ACTUALLY WON A GIVE-AWAY!

I am wonderfully excited to say that I won my first give-away in blogger world! It also happened to be the first give-away done by Alix Darling. The first half is the book "How to be Lovely: The Audrey Hepburn Way of Life" (Above- picture from Alix Darling) and she is also including some mystery item for the other half, so I can't wait to see what that is! Kelly, my roommate, is excited too because we both entered/posted it on our blogs to up our chances of getting the book. So thank you to Alix! Go check out her blog! (Linked above)

Speaking of Kelly... she just started her ETSY site! She's already made two sales in her first 24 hours, compliments of one of our favorite blogger (and real life) ladies... Wild as a Mink. So head on over to her site and see if there's anything you like!!!

This outfit was actually from Thursday night. My friend Ashlee was in town so I went to hang out at her boyfriend's apartment with another one of his friends, which ended up being a fabulous time, as I've learned to expect with Ashlee!

Outfit
Navy Sweater: GAP (Same as last post. Oops)
Dress: Forever 21
Gray Zipper Leggings: Old Navy
Boots: RCC Western
Necklace: Forever 21

It's Here! It's Here!

How very typical of me... I go for days with nothing interesting to post or any good outfits, and suddenly, everything blog worthy happens at once! To spread it out I'll be doing a few posts the next few days that should have some pretty decent content, so be sure to stop back by! (And keep reading to the bottom for a link to a fellow blogger's giveaway!)

But first thing's first. MY 'GET KEYED' NECKLACE FROM CHEWLRY on ETSY FINALLY CAME! Yayy! I believe she mailed it out Friday, so it was pretty quick, and I love it!!! Plus, it came in the cutest little package and handwritten note, so I had to post pictures of that. Her Etsy is linked above, so be sure to check that out.

(I don't think I ever realized how many little lines I had on my hands... is this normal?)

(In its final resting place on the gold/bronze hook of my necklace collection!)

I can't wait to pair it with an outfit, so I'll be busy thinking of some good purple pieces to accentuate the little rhinestones.

One more thing for this post, is that a lovely blogger by the name of Alix Darling is doing a giveaway of the book "How to Be Lovely: The Audrey Hepburn Way of Life". So definitely go check her out, she's worth a follow! (Also, I'm partial to the spelling "Alix", as that is how one of my best friends has spelled my name for years, at first on accident. I used to go by that spelling before college, and a few people even still spell it that way!)

Coming Soon: A post for Much Love's Much Love Monday that I'm going to combine with an idea from Butterfly Cupcakes and Daffodils (She's where I found the Much Love link), as well as another idea from Style Nirvana, an outfit post, and maybe more!!!!