"Have you met my friend, ALD?"

Meet my BFF, ALD!

If you've been reading my blog, you've heard me mention ALD many times.

For a recap on ALD, read these posts: Five on Friday, Late Nights & Long Talks, Five on Friday (Will this be late? Who knows?), "It looks good! Buy it!", What Time Is It? (Summer time!) and (Belated) Five on Friday (Late again... I know, I know) posts.

After ALD found my blog on Pinterest... 

Side note: I only told like three people about my blog! Since I have a pretty good number of followers on Pinterest, I decided to share my blog with people who had similar taste in me. That's how ALD found out about my blog and shared it with JSC, MF and MS! When ALD first found my blog, she texted me telling me how she loved my blog. I was a little embarrassed, but I was glad she liked it. The next time I saw JSC, MF and MS, they told me they found out about my blog because ALD brought it up one day at swim practice (which I'm not at anymore... sadly!). I was again embarrassed, because I wasn't sure what their reactions would be. Fortunately JSC loved the blog, she was just upset because ALD had a better description than her in my first post about them! (It was because I knew ALD was reading my blog!!)

One summer night (actually the night of this post!), ALD, JSC and I were hanging out at JSC's house. ALD decided that she wanted to start a blog. JSC and I were super excited to help her set it up. She didn't write a post that night as we were all hanging out. JSC and I told her that she had to write some posts soon! She never did. We kept checking her blog in anticipation.

Fast forward to tonight, JSC and I were texting. I was texting her about life in general, the science behind being a basic white girl (post coming soon!), Tory Burch sales (true friendship right there) and the sport rowing... just to name a few things we talk about. ;) JSC brought up that ALD had updated her blog! I was so excited, I immediately went to her blog to see her two posts! So here I am, doing y'all a favor and introducing to you, the fabulous blog of ALD's!

Life and Fashion of a Carolina Girl | ALD

Click here to check out ALD's blog!

I love her post on workout clothes! Can you tell we went shopping together on this day? (Hint: Check out #5!) I'm so excited to read what else ALD will write about. She's a girl with amazing taste and the coolest life, so get excited! If you like my blog (and I sure hope you do, since you're reading it now), you'll love ALD's blog!

Late Nights & Long Talks

Nights like last night are the nights I cherish the most.

Let me paint the scene: it starts with a simple "Hey, are you busy?" text and "Let's hang out. Come over!" It's simple, easy- no complications, no drama, no fuss. And just like that, we just start talking. 

The night includes... 

• Trying on the other's closet (just us? We love trying on each other clothes. I just had to try on JSC's gorgeous prom dress. Love! 

JSC rocking her prom dress.
How gorgeous is it? LOVE!

• Talking about life
• Looking at cute boys' Instagrams (pretty sure that is a ritual every time we hang out- am I right?)
• Eating chocolate cake and ice cream (thanks JSC's dad! You rock!)
• Reading Lauren Conrad (life goal: to be her)'s book
• Planning future trips (so excited to post about the trip after it happens- get excited!)
• Having a GM while hanging out

And before you know it...

• Deep, meaningful conversations

Do you have those friends that you can just talk about anything and everything with? JSC and ALD are definitely two of those friends. While we are all laying on JSC's bed just talking, these are the nights I won't forget. The lunch dates and shopping trips are always fun, but just talking and being 100% genuine with each other is the best. Listening to each other's goals and dreams is amazing. So much love for these two girls and nights like these.

JSC, ALD and me ice-skating!
PS: This was from last year aka my short hair days. I miss it!
[Side bar: So excited for my hair to get long enough
that I'll be able to donate it for the 3rd time to
Pantene Beautiful Lengths.

"It looks good! Buy it!"

The number of times I heard/said the title today was insane. Today I got to do one of my favorite things, go shopping with my friends! There's nothing I love more than shopping (truth) and being with my friends. Which is why shopping with my friends is one of my favorite activities. (And going out to eat with friends-which we did again. Hello Panera Chicken Caesar salads... again!)

I went with my friends ALD, MF, JSC and MMS. (Read about ALD, MF, JSC here!)

Between the time I first posted about them and this post, ALD discovered my blog via Pinterest and showed them. I wasn't expecting people I knew to read my blog, but it turns out lots of my friends found out about my blog (mainly through Pinterest!). Hey guys! This is for you. ;)

They also said that my description of ALD was much better than their descriptions, so here's a little more about them... (Read about them here!)

MF: MF is so loving and sweet. She always is so reassuring and always tells me how cute I am. If you don't have a friend like that, you need one. She's also a crazy... driver that is. ;) I'm the ultimate backseat driver when we're riding in her car #SorryNotSorry.

ALD: ALD is the Madewell to my J.Crew. We just click and I love ranting with her. She always tells me the truth which is what I always need- especially when I'm going sale-crazy in J.Crew.

JSC: We just get along really well and she's so gorgeous! We always twin with our Tory Burch sandals. She's so sweet and always makes me smile with the cutest "Good luck" texts! Friends that text each other "Good luck" before exams are true friends. I will be in tears next summer because JSC will be leaving for college. What?! We will be sobbing to High School Musical 3 as Troy and Gabriella leave for college and JSC will be too.

MMS: You haven't met MMS yet, but she's the sweetest and youngest of us all. She's so much fun to be around and so athletic- XC, basketball, swimming- she does it all! She's also the most amazing hairstylist. She gave JSC a waterfall braid the other night in less than 10 minutes and it turned out great! We're always laughing together.

ALD, JSC, MMS, me, MF
I'm wearing: Slim Secret Wash Shirt in Chatham Bay Plaid (sold out),
Factory Triple Stone Cluster Necklace, 3" chino short, Miller sandal

We went to the mall and it was so much fun! We went everywhere including Madewell (ALD's favorite store), J.Crew (my favorite store), Forever 21, American Eagle, Aerie, Belk (this Belk has a Lilly and Vineyard Vines section!), Victoria's Secret, Gap, Banana Republic and Pac-Sun. We have all similar but different styles, which makes it really fun to go shopping with my favs. (Similar but different? Does that even make sense?)

Here are some of the items we got:

Me: I went to J.Crew  really excited because they were having an in-store sale of an additional 50% off clearance. However when we got there, the clearance section was pretty close to empty... not that surprising since the sale has been going on for a while. We looked around, I tried on 3 pairs of shorts that were instantly "oh no!"s, according to ALD, whose opinions I'd trust with my life. By then everyone had slowly but surely left to the Forever 21 across the hall. Then I told ALD I was going to the mens section to look for buttondowns. (Look at my URL!) Then like a miracle, the cashier addressed me and the lady shopping in the mens section and held up two pairs of colored chino shorts. She asked if either of us were a size 4 and she had 2 pairs of 3" chinos. Neither of those color combos were available on the website or seen in the store. It was like WOW! It was perfect, perfect, perfect. I scooped up the two pairs for only $15 a piece! I called ALD for her to come back and get her approval. She approved (she even has the blue shorts!) and I bought them and walked into Forever 21 to find the other girls. I was a happy camper and I was content with all I bought.

3" Chino Short

3" Chino Short

ALD: I love ALD's style. She got a lot of cute clothes, and I'm so jealous of the Forever 21 dress she found and got! Here's what ALD got. She got another Madewell tank, but I can't find it on the website.

Ruffle Cami in Burgundy Ikat

Retro Bodycon Dress
It was more like a shift dress on her, since she sized up!
So cute and less than $11!

JSC: JSC got a cute Madewell tank too and I love shopping with JSC! JSC : Lilly :: Me : J.Crew. I also couldn't find her Madewell tank online, and she got the cutest Lilly seersucker scalloped skirt. It's the full package. She was super excited and we all love it!

January Scallop Hem Skort

MF: MF was looking for a dress during this trip and it was the first purchase she made- yay! She also bought a pair of a high waisted shorts from Hollister. I was in Aerie trying on a swimsuit so I didn't get a great chance to see it and attach a photo of the pair of shorts, but they were super cute. She also got another crop top/tank from Pac-Sun but I can't find it online either! I'm struggling with finding others' clothes online, sorry!

ZigZag Twist Back Dress

Crochet Trim Racer Tank

MMS: After seeing ALD try on the Forever 21 dress, MMS decided to get the same one in black! Not a bad idea since I was considering the same thing! While ALD, JSC and I went to Gap and Banana Republic, MF and MMS went ahead to their favorite store- Pac-Sun. Therefore, I didn't get a great chance to see what MMS got from Pac-Sun.

Retro Bodycon Dress

I also went to Banana Republic and looked for the first time. ALD is a fan, and I fell in love with their clothes. A future Current Cravings ft. Banana Republic? I think yes. 

Whose style is your favorite? Which pieces do you love? It was a very successful shopping trip, if I do say so myself.