X as in Xtra...as in our first giveaway!

dress: Ross $8 cardi: NY&CO $20 shoes: Ross $7 earrings: Brazil-gift

p.s. you just witnessed the windiest day of summer yet in these pictures. Alyssa is a miracle worker. period.

Xtra Xtra!


Ok, so I've been a little distracted for the past couple of days- but holy momma! 31 followers?! I was so excited to hop on and see all the wonderful,sweet comments ya'll left me! thank you for being such rad followers. 


To show you my thanks....i have some news:


AlphabetSoup Style is having our first giveaway! 
cue: girlish screams


So remember me mentioning pinterest? 


Well pinterest is where one lucky girl will be able to happily waste hours on end looking at fantastic craft ideas, outfit ideas, photography, interior design, quotes, seriously this list could go on and on and on...and you get the picture. 


don't believe me? Check it out HERE. Yes, anyone can look at all these beautiful things, but the sad part is that you can't save them. By becoming a member of pinterest, you are able to categorize and save all yours "pins" (all the beautiful things I can already see you drooling over now that you have that other window up on your screen) 

pinterest is pretty much your own personal magazine filled with everything you wish you (a)could cook,(b)could wear,(c) could make,and (d)could go. 
people can "subscribe" to yours and you can "subscribe" to other's. 


But not just anyone can have a pinterest account- you have to apply. BUT lucky for one of ya'll...I've got an invite I'm going to give away.why? because i love you to bits :]

TO ENTER the AlphabetSoup Style Giveaway you MUST:

a) be a follower of AlphabetSoup Style - 
You must be a google friend connect public follower to enter

b) leave a comment below telling me 

what you would drool over most on your pinterest

(awesome recipes, craft ideas, 

outfits, beautiful photography, etc.)

GIVEAWAY ENDS SUNDAY MAY 22 AT 11:59 P.M. MST

W is for winner

Winner


winner winner chicken dinner! Luck must have felt bad for exposing me to that poor boy on sunday...because he gave me the most awesome. gift . ever.


on my way home from Michaels...yes, me capable of craftiness? No, not really but hey i've got potential. I'm workin on a lil craft project, ya'll may or may not see it depending on the ending cuteness score. ANYways, i was passing DI (thrift store) and decided to try my luck on finding some treasure.


i pull my car in, o parking spot literally by the door? don't mind if i do. i walk in. 
then i see it across the room.
a purse, a CUTE purse, all by itself in the antique section. 


but i didn't get my hopes up because of what i call the "mirage effect". You know what i'm talkin about: shoes,shirts, people who look familiar, and purses from a long distance away; and finally -admit it because i know this happens- even that boy you were checking out from the end of the street...yeah close up, definately not what you expected right?


but as i got closer and closer I saw something. 


"thats leather, NICE leather."


then i saw a small oval brass label staring up at me:


D & G


Dolce and Gabbana? What? Why are you here? Who in their right mind put you here?!


yes, so luck gave me a "new" -well new in my book- purse that WON'T expose my lil toosh in public. Dolce and Gabbana would never do that to me. 


you wanna know the best part? fifteen dollars is all the stood between me and a designer bag. 


but. not. anymore. 


So gals, thrift your little hearts out - it may not be always worth it, but when it is...gosh darn who doesn't love finding a diamond in the ruff?


Thrifting Tips:

1. When looking for any type of clothing, quickly scan for colors and patterns you like before diving in. This saves you time because you aren't spendin so much time pushing and pullin an endless number of hangers only to find- nothing.
2. When trying on your potentials, if you're not completely in love with it, throw it out. it'll just disappear into your closet at home and you'll never wear it.
3. Yes, it looks great- you love the style and color...but if it doesn't flatter you...don't get it. thought this is was an obvious, but some ladies just need to hear it.
4. When a color catches your eye but you're questioning the style of it- then think about any accessories you have that could help out. Accessories -belts and necklaces- sometimes make a not-so-cute shirt into a where-the-heck-did-you-get-that! 
5. i know your in love with it but, MAKE sure you search the thing for holes,missing buttons, and stains. And if you are a procrastinator and you tell yourself, "I could totally fix this." yeah you won't. take it to a seamstress instead pronto...and if you don't think you'll even get that far. dont get it.

V is for victim

cardi: old navy  cami: aeropostle  necklace: New York&Co. 

jeans: Rockstar  shoes:DSW

meet Alyssa- my partner in : crime, antics in the library, and everything else you can think of. 

Victim 

Alright so i know today is awkward awesome thursday...but we'll just have it awkward thursday. why you ask? because yours truly was the victim of the most awkward thing of all awkwardness in the land of blogginesses. yes, you should be proud. 

Cue: awkwardness

Its sunday- Alyssa and I cant wait to go to church. we're visiting our soon-to-be-church for this coming fall semester. we're moving across town - if five minutes really is across a "town"- which means our church records get sent to that building. anyways- we put on our sunday best and ladies when i mean best i mean best...you know what im talkin about, remember your first day of school and the five thousand outfits you tried on? Yeah, that was me and Alyssa...and my bedroom can totally vouch for me. 


so of course we're a bit late, that place was like a maze! I went up and down so many stairs looking for the right room. 


then.we.found.it.


we poke our heads in to see where our other girlies were savin' our seats. then i look to the right of them- 
why hello four boys. 
and hello next to no room to scootch our booties past them. here goes nothing...i'm pullin the lead and come up to the row, "excuse me, sorry" i whispered pass the first and second guy.
then it happened. 
my purse slid down my shoulder onto my elbow, into the row in front of us (its stadium seating FYI).
not wanting my booty in the poor boy's face any longer i grab the strap and pull it up as fast as possible.
yeah, it was too fast. and up it went underneath my skirt and up went my skirt...in mr.boy's face. 
booty- meet boy, boy- meet booty.
now that we were all acquainted i slid back up the purse because i dropped it again out of pure freakin-outness.


then i seriously whipped past the last boy and slid down in my seat as my friend is tryin to stop her silent fit of giggles. 


so first day at the new ward (thats what we call our different church locations) and some boy i dont even know totally saw a TON of leg...and hopefully not more haha it was all so fast i don't really remember, I just remember thinkin... "o crapolla this boy came to church to learn about the gospel but instead he gets a literally not even front row seat...better than that... view of my toosh. 


o yes, I always make a lasting impression...always.


heres the culprit: purse


p.s. there is a rad tutorial up! it takes like .5 seconds... seriously time yourself 

U is for Undies er...swimsuits

j crew

Undies


everyone stay calm. We're not going to talk about undies, I did however post some pics of some super stinkin fabulous swimsuits since summer is almost here! 


I love the vintage one piece that is in this summer! I have one already! And I'm SO excited...haha i just have to find it first. 

anyways...i've just have been WAITING for this letter to come up to show you this awesome rug. 


seriously. i.will.get.one.when i have a house.


when i saw it up on my pinterest, seriously...i DIED. then of course when i showed alyssa...we had giggle fest like no other. seriously- we'd whoop the "pants off" of all ya'lls LOLs. 
ok I'll stop being five now.


so today was a fantastic day! why you ask? 


because Alyssa, friends, and I ate our weight in sushi today. Gals- im serious, i never knew sushi could be this cheap AND fantastic. If you're in Provo- up by the mall, next to golden corral, is the Sakura Japanese Steak house. I probably shouldn't have told ya'll that - unless you have very good self control - you will get addicted. its a proven fact.
also if you get there between 11-2 p.m. unlimited sushi for 13.99....and dinner unlimited is 18.99.  yeah you heard me unlimited! Alyssa and I one time ate over 80 dollars worth of sushi...by ourselves. i don't know if we should be proud of that of not...haha but i'll pretend everyone is thinking in their heads "Awesome." instead of "Sick nasty." 


BUT its ok because Alyssa and I worked it all off, and we took a week to prepare for today. That way we don't gain more weight, we just gain back weight haha. worth it? Well Provo-ers ...you tell me. And non-Provo-ers...seriously take my word for it...it was so worth it. 

P.S. Alyssa modeled for me! 

You ladies will see it for thursday's post!

 be.excited.

another pinterest love...im impatient for B ok? most.hilarious.bandaids.ever.period.dot.

Urban Outfitters What happened? band-aids $7.

hey so Urban thats a U. consider it.counted.

T is for telephone

capris: NewYork & Co.($25) cami: JCREW via downeast ($4) cardi: NewYork&Co.($20) 

Earrings: gift-homemade  Necklace: Cherry Lane Boutique ($6.50)

ok before we start todays Alphabet Soup; I just want to explain myself. The first two pictures aren't very me- but i wanted to show ya'll the outfits.

 And the third one- thats more me 

k, i'm done :]

Telephone


Alright...so I have a confession to make
are you sitting down?
sometimes i wish cell phones didn't exist. yeah, i know, right? your thinking- Celeste, are you nutso?!but hear me out- the whole reason is that texting is the turn off for me. So maybe it's not a lets-get-rid-of-all-cell-phones thing, but the idea of just doing away with texting. it makes me sad to see people not be able to communicate face-to-face like they used to. Reminisce with me a sec...(if you're too young to remember these days, then i really feel bad for you)


remember growing up- you were brushing your teeth in your PJs...when suddenly your brick-of-a-cell-phone starts ringing. you know exactly who it is and halfway wipe the foam from your mouth and literally dive for the thing.

"hello?"

"hey."

O,yeah...it's him, the boy who calls you almost every night just to talk to ya. And you spend hours talking on the phone with each other until either of your moms catches you and you get chewed out for being up so late on a school night. 


fast forward 5 or so years...boys are so stinkin chicken that they even try to ask you out on a date through texting - ok not all boys, but come on - even one boy is enough ladies. But it seems like a lot of conversations now-a-days are through texting and it makes me miss the old days. i miss talking and laughing with friends/that one cute boy over the phone. "Whats up" and "LOL" just doesn't do it justice. 
see what i'm sayin? 
so ladies- if a boy calls instead of texting you all the time...he is a keeper. And if you don't want him...well then whose the nutso now hmmm? ;]


heres some Mat Kearney love for you, via the telephone. 

S is something blue

Dress from dELiAs-49.50 but on sale for 39.50

Something Blue

Alright so I'm on a color kick, but you know you love it. I would have to say though...i really do need me some blue pants too. They're next on my hit list.


i.love.blue.


it is my absolute favorite color and i believe that it makes anyone and everyone look absolutely stunning. The more vibrant the better! Then add it with white...elegantER -its a new word, in my dictionary in case you didn't know. 


i also think it looks amazing with a good summer tan, gosh i can't wait to not look pasty white! Last year I didn't get to spend as much time outside as I wanted, but this summer...its me and the pool baby...and probably Alyssa too. it just needs to be a bit warmer...and then ill get my lil toosh into a bathing suit and blind everyone for the first couple of times getting my tan on. 


BUT. i have a little work to do...so this is the MEGA downside to living with your best friend.


you have somebody to help: you make cookie dough disappear, eat Taco Bell at 2 am, faithfully eat Kneaders unlimited french toast on sat mornings (i swear that place knows the secret trap door leading to heaven because those french toasts seriously are TOO delicious), and eat candy, lots of candy.


needless to say there isn't such a thing as the freshman 15, but there are no buts, ands, or ifs about it a bestie 10 DOES exist. but go figure because i haven't been exercising much. 


so before i go dig out my swimsuit, Alyssa and I are turnin our bestie 10 into bestie -10


i called up my mom because she is a gymnastics teacher and a world class ballroom dancer...so if anyone knows skinny..its her!


Here were her tips:

• don't eat after 6 p.m. 
• she likes to eat a nice big grapefruit for breakfast
• inhale TON of fruits and veggies
• cut out the sweets (mom, this is next to impossible)

My roomie also gave me some cool tips (she is in nutrition)

• Drink some water before you start eating and you won't overeat as much because you'll get fuller faster
• stretch your muscles before and after workouts -(apparently this helps with making your muscles leaner rather than bulkier? weird, but hey guess it doesn't hurt to try)
• The stomach shrinks after 3 days...so push through it, but it only takes one slip up to stretch it back out. (i'm not saying starve, heck no...i just won't have five bowls of cereal in one sitting, haha true story ladies - i like me some life cereal ok?)
• try to continuously exercise for at least 30 min

and this is my advice to myself as i'm eyeing down something ridiculously delicious: eat until your satisfied, not until you think you're going to explode.

p.s. still thinking about starting an elephant club and making t-shirts to run in...

R is for red pants

photo credit

Zara Jeans for 39.9 bucks (they come in green too!)

Red Pants


i. want. some. BAD. 


every time i see someone on campus sporting some awesome red jeans...i die a little inside. it's true, Alyssa would agree because I always say, "I love those red pants" at least three or four times. 


Maybe if i keep at it she'll just buy me some to keep me quiet? def a strategy i'll try...


speaking of Alyssa buying me things...remember how Alyssa bought some chocolate covered cinnamon bears?

in the library theres a place called the periodicals section...its seriously the most deathly quiet place on the face.of.the.earth. 

anyways - it was late.

and there weren't a lot of students in there, maybe like six.

ENTER: Alyssa and I

we sat down -quietly- on some lounge chairs in the center of the room to do some reading. And of course she has the bag of those stinkin delicious bears...so she gives me two. 

i think i completely caught Alyssa off guard...because as soon as she had given them to me I started making them jump up and down on the arm rest because i was so happy she bought them, and yes maybe i was putting off studying but thats not the point. ANYways , of course we make eye contact right as I was starting to do it.

i don't know if it was because it was late. or because we are absolute morons. or because of my epic facial expression. or because those bears just had a sense of humor we weren't ready for. 

we both explode -silently...ok kind of. 

we're sitting there for what seemed like forever trying to can our fit of giggles. pretty sure we looked like two five-year-olds having a good time.

the death glares from the other students were honed in on us...which of course made the whole episode worse. 

i.thought.i.was.going.to.die.

finally Alyssa and I literally run out of our chairs and book it  for the bookshelves-no pun intended. once we're in deep enough we let it loose. my stomach hurt i was laughing so hard.

pretty sure the whole silent floor heard us laughing our heads off. but we were hiding...so we tried ok? after we composed ourselves, we sit and study. after about 30 min, music suddenly blared out of the speaker right above us. 

our library plays music the last fifteen min before it closes...whoever is in charge of that playlist...you.make.my.day.  they play all sorts of stuff: from classical to old school rock'n roll to the star wars theme song. 

when it came on Alyssa practically had a heart attack. cue: bursting into a fit of more giggles. and since no one was in the library really i start hopping around in sync with the big drums and cymbals playin...but super awkwardly. i thought Alyssa was going to pee her pants, she couldn't take it anymore. 

library- you've never been a more hilarious place. my favorite? the old lady cracking up as i jumped a 180 with my legs spread out and landing perfectly in sync with the crash of a cymbal. 

Lesson Learned: an Alyssa and Celeste combo = bad for quiet study places

p.s. I'm sorry I've been ignoring you, i love you but this week hasn't loved me. translation: this week has been freakishly craziliciously nutso.

p.p.s. there is a fabulous new tutorial up!

Q is for q-tip

silk cami: Forever21 ($12) lace cami: WetSeal ($.01- oh yeah!)  cardi: thrifted ($8) Jeans: Billabong Outlet ($25) 
Purse: Kohls (Gift) Earrings: New York and Co. ($12)

Q-tip


the Q-tip...best invention.ever.
ladies- i know you use them for everything.
they save us from eyeliner disasters, nail polish disasters and
those icky mascara boogies - you know what im talking about
BUT. you know that huge box thing they come in?  well i had an idea the other day and decided to go get a baby food jar...p.s. also discovered that banana baby food taste good with cereal...i figured it'd be somewhat close to a yogurt/cereal dealio. it was. yummy in tummy good. Anyways after i got rid of the baby food. i strapped a ribbon around the jar and stuck my q-tips in it...they fit perfectly!


so now theres a cute little jar on my bathroom counter with my little fix-anything-on-your-face q-tips.


woot.

AND.

Its Awkward Awesome Thursday:

Awkward

the questions at the back of my book were ripped out already...and they were totally due today

sitting next to a person in class who randomly makes comments to you on the lecture

passing strangers in the same building three times

falling asleep in class...on the front row

Awesome

what? its not snowing today? finally

ok this was yesterday but it should totally count: Alyssa bought me chocolate covered cinnamon bears. Um heaven in my mouth

eating unlimited sushi...for 18 bucks. AWEsome

attempting to wake up with Alyssa at 5am to go running...and failing...again haha 

and this is awesome because i get more Zzzzzzz's.