Top 5 Skin Care Products I'm Not Evacuating Without!!!

I'm sure everyone has seen lots about hurricane Irma on the news. It is set to hit Hilton Head on Monday, so we have to evacuate ASAP! This will be the second hurricane to hit the island in less than a year. I've lived on Hilton Head for 16 years and this is the first (and now second) hurricane that I have experienced (if you have never evacuated for a hurricane you are not missing out at all). It is such a difficult thing because it is so uncertain. No one can determine the exact path of the storm and you will have no idea the kind of impact it will have on the state, county, island, or even your own home. Last October, we were hit with hurricane Matthew, a category 2 hurricane that devastated the island. Many people have no idea how much of an impact Matthew had on the island because it was barely reported on but my house had about $50,000 worth of damage, 8 trees on our house, roof damage, water damage, and we didn't even get the worst of the storm. My next door neighbors are still working on their house almost a year after the hurricane hit! Needless to say, we are now experienced evacuees and we know how to prepare for a storm like this! Here are 5 products that I am not leaving without:

1. Acne Medication
             I recently went to my dermatologist and I started a new regime with doxycycline (morning & night), benzoyl peroxide compound (Epiduo-mornings), and tretinoin (nights) for the next 2 months. ((Fingers crossed this works or its onto Accutane))

2. Purpose Gentle Cleansing Wash
             I have been using this soap for years!! It is super gentle yet extremely effective. I use it to take off all of my makeup (including waterproof mascara) and I have yet to find a product that works better. I feel like it truly takes every ounce of makeup off plus it is not expensive and lasts a very long time. Another plus is that it comes in liquid and bar form.

3. Pond's Cold Cream Cleanser
             I just started using this product recently, but I can already tell a huge difference in my skin. This product is super hydrating and moisturizing. Due to my acne medication my face is constantly dry and peeling, but after I use this product you can hardly tell that I look like a woolly mammoth because of all the peeling. However, I don't think it does a very good job of taking off my makeup but it is definitely great to put on after removing your makeup.

4. Clarisonic Brush
             I have had my Clarisonic brush for about 2 years now, and I LOVE it. The cleansing gel that it comes with is amazing, but you can also use whatever cleanser you want to. It is completely water proof so you can even take it in the shower with you and not have to worry about it. Also, it holds its charge for a very long time, I think I've only had to charge mine about 4 times over the past two years. Clarisonic recommends that you change the brush head about every 3 months, however the brush heads are about $30 through Clarisonic, but I found an exact dupe from Walmart for like $3 and I seriously cannot tell a single difference between the two brush heads.

5. Neutrogena Exfoliator
             Since my acne medication makes my feel peel my dermatologist also recommended that I use an exfoliator at least once a week to get rid of some of the dead skin. I love this one because it turns into a nice cooling, foam and I can definitely see a huge difference after I use this product.

All About My Trip to Nashville,TN

What an amazing weekend! For my 16th birthday my parents planned a trip to Nashville, Tennessee to tour Vanderbilt University and explore Nashville. Ever since the end of March I have been stalking Pinterest looking for things to do, places to eat, sights to see, etc. On Thursday April 27 my parents picked me up from school around 12 and we started driving to Nashville. I drove from school to Dublin, GA (about 2 hours) where my mom then took over the wheel and I took a nap (#teenager probs😴) while my dad worked in the back seat. I slept most of the way to Nashville but we got into town around 8:30 central time (9:30 Hilton Head time). We checked into our hotel, which was only a few blocks from the Vanderbilt campus, then freshened up and headed to dinner. The food scene in Nashville is amazing, but we settled for a nice meal at P.F. Chang's even though we've eaten there many times in other cities it was close by and we don't have one anywhere near Hilton Head. My mom, dad, and I shared chicken lettuce wraps, Mongolian beef, and chocolate cake. It all tasted so good after being on the road for most of the day. We headed back to the hotel and prepared to wake up early the next morning for my first college tour!

Friday: We planned on waking up early and going for a run around Centennial park where they have replica of the Parthenon, but this girl needs her beauty sleep ;) So instead my mom and I woke up around 8:15-8:30 and got ready for the tour. I ended up missing breakfast at the hotel so we stopped at Starbucks on our way to the Office of Admissions. The tour was great, but I don't think Vandy is the right fit for me.

After our tour we headed down to Lower Broadway which is basically the epicenter of Downtown Nashville. We headed over to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville to watch the live broadcasting of Sirius XM's the Highway Happy Hour, which I highly recommend if you love country music. I got to meet the host Buzz Brainard which was very cool after listening to him on the radio for years. Every Friday Buzz picks people from the crowd to talk to on the radio which is super cool if you get chosen.  They also showcase a new highway find and this week it was a new artist named Jo Smith. She  performed for us and she was amazing. She is seriously my new favorite artist. I got to meet her after her performance and she was super sweet. Y'all should seriously go check out her song Old School Groove it's my new jam.
We left Margaritaville around 5 and headed down Broadway to go boot shopping because I mean did you even go to Nashville if you didn't get a pair of cowgirl boots?! We spent a couple hours walking  around Broadway before we headed to East Nashville for dinner at the Pharmacy which was AMAZING!!! Seriously that was the best burger I've ever had. We got there around 8:45 and it was going to be an hour wait for a table but luckily we found seats at the bar (parking was a nightmare) I ordered a burger with ketchup and onions and tater tots as a side. My burger was perfectly seasoned and cooked and I would seriously drive all the way back to Nashville to eat another one. After dinner I wanted to head back to Broadway to go line dancing but my parents didn't want to so we went back to the hotel and I fell asleep before I could change into pajamas so I guess it's a good thing we didn't go line dancing...LOL!

Saturday: I ended up waking up around 9 and then I got ready to go running then headed down to the lobby for a light breakfast. My mom and I ran around the Parthenon which was only about 2 blocks from the hotel then we went to the hotel gym and did a little work out before we showered and got ready to check everything off my Nashville bucket list. First item on my bucket list was lunch at Hattie B's! I ordered the chicken tenders with mild spice, French fries and a root beer float because I mean YOLO! Everything was SO good!!! If you're ever in Nashville definitely stop here. The next item on my bucket list was the Five Daughters Bakery in 12 South another neighborhood just outside of Nashville. The bakery is known for their 100-layer-doughnut so of course I had to have one. I got a vanilla cream donut and it was so so good!!! After I was fat and happy I wanted to go check out some of the murals located all of Nashville and quite a few in 12 South. My next stop was the most famous Nashville mural...the wings mural located in the Gulch. There were 3 other murals wishing walking distance of the wings mural and of course there was a line of people waiting to snap the perfect pic in front of the mural. The last thing I wanted to do in Nashville before we left to head to Knoxville was stop at Biscuit Love and try some BONUTS but it was closed😭so I guess that will be the first thing I do whenever I go back to Nashville. Saturday night we stayed in Knoxville and ate at a local pizza place, called Hard Knox. We took so many wrong turns on our way back to the hotel that we made it all the way downtown to sneak a peek at the University of Tennessee which we were going to walk around the next day. The following morning we woke up a little bit early and walked around campus. We met this man that showed us around a little bit and he was very nice and knowledgeable. I really enjoyed the campus and I can't wait to go back for an official tour and maybe a football game in the fall! Then we began our 8 hour journey back to Hilton Head😭

Super Bowl Sunday in Banner Elk, North Carolina

This weekend my mom and I traveled to Banner Elk, North Carolina. It is approximately a 6-hour drive from Hilton Head. We stayed in a 4 bedroom condo with 2 other families from our neighborhood in Hilton Head. We left Hilton Head around 9:15 am and arrived in Banner Elk around 3:30 pm. We checked into our condo then went to the store to get groceries. Once everyone arrived we all went to get our ski rentals, eat dinner, and then around 8 o'clock, we went ice skating!!!

On Sunday we woke up early and hit the slopes. It was about 40 degrees in morning so there wasn't any natural snow on the slopes. Fortunately, they didn't have the snow blowers running. I skied till around 2 then walked back to our condo showered and got ready for our super bowl party. Around 4 everyone else returned from the slopes and I went to return my skis. That night we all met in one condo to watch the super bowl and some of the kids went snow tubing. Me and my neighbor were the only ones routing for the Patriots and luckily they made an amazing comeback to win the game. 

Cold War Kids Concert

Whatta weekend! The Seahawk girl's lacrosse team (which I'm a member of) defeated Academic Magnet with 3.5 seconds left on Friday night. Then on Saturday night I stood front row at the Cold War Kids concert. Unfortunately at Friday's game I messed up my ankle, but I still managed to play the rest of the game. My memory of the game is a little fuzzy because I got knocked around a little bit but I had 2 draws, 4 ground balls, and 1 shot on goal for the game. At the end of the game the score was tied 10-10 with about 45 seconds on the clock and we had the ball. My coach called a timeout and gave us a play to run. We scored with 3.5 seconds left in the game. After the game I went out to dinner with my family then home to ice my head and ankle. I woke up Saturday morning and went to lacrosse practice, the whole team was exhausted form our amazing win. After practice I drove home got ready for the day and packed up for the concert. My dad and I left our house around 3, grabbed some snacks for the ride and a sub. We stopped at Exit 8 to pick up some candy for the ride and switched drivers. We drove into Columbia around 6:30 and went to my dad's office in downtown Columbia to get ready for the concert. Then we stopped at M Vista to get some chicken lettuce wraps and Mongolian beef. Next we headed to Music Farm! About 3 years ago my dad and I stumbled upon a band called Atlas Genius. They were a group of brothers from Adelaide, Australia. My dad discovered them in an article he read (he is always reading the internet) about how they got discovered and played a few of their songs for me. We both liked them a lot and my dad created a Pandora station from them and we started to discover a bunch of other bands that we really liked. One of the bands that we discovered on this station was the Cold War Kids and they had this one song, called Hang Me Up To Dry, which me and my dad loved so we started listening to other songs by them. Then we found out they were playing at Music Farm in Columbia, SC. After the concert my dad took me to Waffle House and then I drove to my grandmother and step-grandfather's house in Lexington, SC.

Top, Bottoms, Shoes, Bralette, Necklace

Another one of the bands that we fell in love with (or at least I did) was a band called Two Door Cinema Club. We found out that TDCC was coming to St. Augustine, FL to perform with St. Lucia, the Joy Formidable, and Passion Pit. My dad ended up taking me and my best friend Kylie to the St. Augustine amphitheater for the concert. We stopped at PF Chang's on our way there because Kylie had never been there and me and my dad LOVE it. Our waiter had the same name as my dad and he was at the same football game we were at a couple weeks before (USC vs Mississippi State my dad's school vs my mom's school). He was really nice and gave us a big piece of the Great Wall of Chocolate and sent us on our way. Towards the end of the night a young couple pulled my dad aside to tell him that they thought that he was "The Best Dad in the World" because he brought his daughter to a concert like this. He brings this story up ALL THE TIME its so obnoxious but he's so proud its kinda funny.

My favorite songs from the band's that I mentioned in the post:
Cold War Kids
-Love is Mystical
-First
-Hang Me Up To Dry
-St. John
-Audience
St. Lucia
-All Eyes on You
-Closer Than This
Two Door Cinema Club
-Changing of the Seasons
-Eat That Up, It's Good For You
-Next Year
-The World is Watching
-Handshake
I love their Beacon & Tourist History albums
Passion Pit
-Take A Walk
-Sleepyhead
-Carried Away
-To Kingdom Come
-Swimming in the Flood
-My Brother Taught Me How to Swim
Follow me on Spotify @AlexisLocker to see what I'm listening to :)

Introductory Post

Hi! Welcome to Locked and Loaded! I am Lexie Locker, I am 15 years old and I live in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. I am a sophomore in high school and I started this blog as a part of my MYP Personal Project. My high school is an IB world school and from 6th-10th grade, we are involved in the Middle Years Program. During our sophomore year, we are required to complete a personal project about any topic that interests you. I chose to start a blog for my project because I had wanted to start one for a long time. The world of blogging interested me and I began to follow a bunch of fashion bloggers on Instagram and Snapchat.  I have a younger sister named Macy, a younger brother named Drew and a dog named Scout. I am a big fan of country music and I play girls lacrosse. My best friend is named Kylie and we have been inseparable since we met when we were only a couple months old.

me :))))

me and kylie

me and scout

my family and I

10 Fun Facts About Me

• favorite color: pink
• favorite food: popcorn
• favorite animal: dolphin
• car I drive: blue Lexus ES350 2008
• favorite hobby: going to the beach
• favorite college sports team: Carolina Gamecocks
• favorite NFL team: New England Patriots
• favorite soda: sprite
• favorite Netflix show: White Collar
• favorite place I've traveled to: Maui, Hawaii