A little fancy for your Monday morning

dress: Lily Boutique
blazer: secondhand
necklace: Jane (formerly VeryJane)
heels: Target
I meant to post these on Saturday, but the weekend got crazy-busy in record time. Friday night I wound up driving down to OU to pick up my sister, and Saturday most of the rest of my family came into town to watch the Buckeyes. We went to the Skull Session to see The Best Damn Band in the Land perform (other than the OU Marching 110, of course) and then most of the family went to the game. I didn't have a ticket and had a lot of stuff to do at home, so I was super-productive with cleaning and laundry and freelance writing while the Buckeyes slaughtered the competition. Then I grabbed dinner with the fam, and then it was off to Oktoberfest — a home-brew festival in which my friend and a bunch of his friends all brew beer and we all drink it. There were 60-some different beers and ciders there. It was magical. And on Sunday, I took my sister back to OU, visited some friends who just had a baby (congrats again, Maggie and Jeff!) and did some more writing. Phew!

Anyway, so this outfit post is a little fancy for a Monday — especially considering that I am seriously about to keel over from tiredness right now — but oh well. I wore it to a friend's wedding last month (congrats again, Braden and Christine!), which was an absolute blast. There was a photobooth, which was awesome. See?


Yeah, Matt and I are pretty cool.

I wore this dress to Matt's sister's wedding last year, too, and knew that I needed some sort of coverup for it. Especially since the ceremony itself was in a Catholic church and, as a former Catholic myself, the very thought of showing that much skin in a church was mortifying. I think I did pretty well...better than the girl who's dress exposed the entire back of her bra when she sat down, anyway. Sheesh. Of course, the blazer came off at the reception, but by then everyone had been drinking and I felt much less self-conscious.

So anyway, hope this little bit of fancypants (or fancy-no-pants, I guess) brightens up your Monday!

Wedding weekend: Last of the year

dress: c/o eShakti
heels: Franco Sarto via Marshall's
bracelets: handmade in Uganda (fundraiser purchase)
ring: TaDa.com
First, I know that this dress looks gray, but it's definitely purple, I promise. Someday, I'll photograph it proper light, I swear. It's frustrating when outfits don't show up on camera the way they do in real life, isn't it? (Where are my fellow bloggers? You know what I'm talking about.)

Anyway, I wore this last Friday to Matt's sister's wedding rehearsal dinner. Even though this dress is wool, it's surprisingly light and comfortable, which is great because dinner was a several-hour-long gathering filled with wine, good company and great conversation. (Come to think of it, I feel like those three tend to go hand in hand, don't they?)

Saturday was, of course, the wedding. It was so unbelievably gorgeous; Matt's sister, Beth, looked like she came straight from 1940s Hollywood. I didn't get a chance to get a photo with her (she and her new husband were busy socializing with the other 150 guests, of course), but after the ceremony I pulled Matt aside for a quick snap of my outfit with my phone.


dress: Lily Boutique
scarf-as-shawl, necklace, clutch: Target
shoes: DSW
bracelet: Forever 21 ring: TaDa.com
This dress is actually kind of the reason why I don't shop online very often. When I first saw this dress on Pinterest, I immediately fell completely in love. I waited literally four weeks for it to come back in stock, then pounced on it the second it was available. On the mannequin, the dress looks great. Classy. Elegant. On me, it looks so short as to be almost a little...wel...inappropriate. Almost.

But when I wrapped this scarf around my shoulders, shawl-like, it added some modesty to the outfit and kept it from showing too much skin. Low(er) heels helped with that, too. Maybe next time I'll try it with a pair of opaque tights, to balance out the shortness, and leave my arms bare. Hm...