(Something Clever About This Being Our 100th Post)

100

Happy Monday!! Today marks a very exciting day in our little AKA world. It's our 100th post! We have been doing a lot of talking lately about our blog and trying to figure out our voice. Sometimes blogging can be really frustrating and hard. You want it to be as authentic as possible, which is then nerve racking because what if no one wants to read it - aka the most sad. We want to start becoming more "real" on our blog, featuring more posts about who we are, both as friends and individuals, and our vibes. In the blog-sphere it is really easy to get trapped into thinking about what we should be doing which can defer you from what you want to be doing. We look at some of the blogs we follow and think "how are they doing so many crafts" or "how is she affording all of those fab shoes" but in reality no one really lives like that (well some people do but not about 95% of us) and that's totally okay!! We don't want to be like every other blog that is out there.

We love dressing up! 80's forever

So enough ranting/updating. Below are some of our favorite pics and posts! Enjoy!

Ashley had a craving for Banana Pecan Raisin muffins and whipped up this recipe 

Since starting Fashion Fridays everyone has been so much fun to work with - we loved working with Outlook.Clothing on their post. They were the best promoters!

Kind of appropriate since Ashley is starting a new job today - but her Office Chic post was a lot of fun to plan and the colors are so damn pretty!

Many months later and Kira is still obsessed with her dresser makeover.

Kira's crew neck obsession (yes it's an obsession) was one of Ashley's favorite posts

Lets pretend Kira's mouth is open because she was singing

Being half way through the year already is a trip. It's nice to look back at our New Years resolutions to see what we have accomplished and where we still need to work. Ashley's resolutions here and Kira's here!

Ashley's 21! Maybe Kira's a little too excited!

This brown sugar scrub has made it into our beauty routines - and the picture is one of our favorites ever on the blog!

Pie is amazing and it was so fun to bake a pie for the very first time in celebration of Pi Day, math tastes good y'all!

And lastly one of our fave posts is the introduction to our new and improved site. The amazing Ashley won us a blog redesign and it really boosted our confidence and passion for the blog!

Peace out and stay tuned for the next 100

-A&K

Welcome to the new AKA BLOG!!!

Hello everyone!!

At a friend's Valentine's Day party

Welcome to our new site!! We are still in shock that we won a re-design contest. It was such an exciting time to really think about all that we wanted to feature on our blog and how we wanted it to look.

We couldn't have done any of this without the help of Chris over at Hubby Jack. He did a wonderful job with the re-design! Don't you agree?!? He designed all of our new social media buttons, our header, and our new "grab button" on the right side of the screen as well as did the entire layout of the site. We are so grateful and appreciative of all his hard work.

We took our time while working on our redesign to really think about what we wanted to write about and feature on AKA. We decided that we wanted things to be more organized as well as to feature more content. We want to start different weekly or monthly series, start writing about fashion more, and showing more of our day-to-day discoveries.

Exploring wine country 

Here are some things to look forward to:

- Fashion Fridays; we are going to write about our favorite fashions from the week. Sometimes it will be us, sometimes friends, and sometimes someone we just saw on the street.

- We're Obsessed; a fun way to find out about little things we are "obsessing" over. From makeup, to TV, to music and fashion!

- AKA Bookshelf; a little mini book club. We will talk about what we are reading and hopefully our readers will help us find new books.

- Interweb Goodies; we will feature some of the fun things we have find weekly on the web; bloggers, articles, funny things!

- Amazing Aps; our favorite and most useful apps for our phones.

- Monthly Mood; a space for us to talk about what is inspiring us for that month and what we are looking forward to.

- Bring Your Pins To Life; what we are crafting/cooking/DIY-ing/styling from everyone's fav website Pinterest.

Kira's delicious muffins - recipe to follow 

With this new layout, some of you maybe thinking - where do I find everything? Well let us tell you!
At the top of the page under our beautiful new header you will find our different tabs. Everything will be in the main blog but we will organize most posts into one of the tabs:

-Series; everything that you saw above will be in this new tab

-Wear; fashion, make-up, accessories, beauty, hair

- Explore; our travels and adventures

- Cook, Create, Celebrate; a fun place for everything that we are cooking and eating, crafts we are making, and parties we are planning and attending!

Painting in the park

With all of these new fun changes we also are going to be using our social media a lot more! Make sure to follow us on our Twitter, Instagram, Bloglovin, Ashley's Pinterest, and Kira's Pinterest! We are constantly putting up information about our blog, things that are inspiring us, and our fun adventures!

Additionally, with the switch to Blogger it is really easy to follow our blog! On the right hand side of the page under "followers" you can sign up to follow along with us!

Thanks for all of the constant love and support we are loving this whole blogging thing and really excited to see where it takes us!

-A&K

Pie for Pi Day! 

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Blogs

Hello bloggers and readers! Since we started this blog we have found ourselves really becoming avid blog readers. We like to check them pretty regularly, comment on posts, and gain inspiration. We decided to put together a little list of our favorite blogs for you to look over and read!

First up are Ashley's go-to blogs. Fashion, food, and lifestyle! I love anything that is fun to look at - and these definitely fall under that category. These lovely ladies inspire everything from get-togethers with friends, the way I style my outfits, or some new-beauty trends. 

Blog reading + coffee + inspiration notebook

Fashion

The Fashion Canvas - great patterns, easy to read, inventive outfits

The Sweetest Thing - amazing beauty tutorials, bright colors, preppy-modern style

Little Miss Fearless - simple and classic with a twist

A Spoonful of Style - lots of fabulous pops of color, streamlined outfits, relatable content

Kendi Everyday - chic, bold, and fashionable. Blogger and boutique owner has a great eye for style

Lifestyle

Cupcakes and Cashmere - the perfect mix of outfits, great recipes, and great tips about life

A Beautiful Mess - two sisters each with their own style, great home decor, food, crafts, and fashion

Lauren Conrad - My role model. Everything from workouts, to parties, to fashion, and everything in-between.

Food

Iowa Girl Eats - simple meals that are absolutely delish, fresh ingredients, and recreations of classics.

Noble Pig - the perfect blog to look at when you want to impress your family with your cooking skills



In addition to theses blogs, I love reading countless others. Photography and travel are becoming two of my new favorites. I also have truly enjoyed reading all of our new followers blogs. There is such a fun community out there and I can't wait to become more of a part of it! What are some of your favorite blogs? Let us know in the comments section. Additionally, make sure to follow us on Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram for updates on blog posts, fun activities, and much more coming in 2014!

-A

Thank you!

It has been an exciting few months for us! From travels, to jobs, friends, and starting this blog it has been truly exciting. Thank you to all of our friends and family who have been following along with us on this new blog journey! Also, to our new followers and blog-friends as I call you all. It has been a great experience getting to know you all through the words and experiences you share on your pages.

We are really looking forward to 2014, hoping it will bring new inspiration for the blog. Travel posts, more fashion, creativity, and laughter!

We are excited to continue with our blog journey and for you to join us.

Have a fabulous last day of 2013, talk to you next year!

-A&K