Keeping busy

sweater: Forever 21
khakis: Old Navy
boots: Madden Girl via Famous Footwear
necklace: gifted
I had intended to make today's post my January clothes budget recap (to link up to Fran's Budgeting Bloggers series, but this week month kind of got away from me. Spoiler alert: This sweater is in the recap. Spoiler alert #2: I spent every penny of my clothes budget, and then some, at Forever 21 this month. I'm a little embarrassed about that fact, but also not at all embarrassed because I needed a lot of sweaters and now I have them :)

Anyway, I guess I'm adding "write a January budget recap post" to my already miles-long to-do list for this weekend. I'm doing two interviews for a Columbus Bride story, writing another story that I've finished interviewing for, going to the climbing gym with Matt and his aunt to show her the ropes (AAAAHH I'm sorry, I'm sorry, terrible puns are my kryptonite). I also have to start my taxes, work on some photos for said Columbus Bride stories, do some general wedding prep and go to a meeting on a photography project I'm involved in. And finally, I have plans to hang out with my friends Chasity and Kate; the three of us (and Matt) are going to a show on Saturday, and then just us girls are getting together Sunday to watch Super Bowl commercials and do some wedding crafting. Sheesh. It's gonna be one of those "I need a weekend after my weekend" situations, I think.

How are your weekend plans shaping up? Hopefully you'll have a little more downtime than I do!

P.S. I totally forgot to talk about my new backdrop! Here it is :) I love it. It's been such a boon to both my blog photography and my budding semi-professional shoots as well. This was my second outfit shoot with it, and clearly it's a lot harder to figure out if my feet will be cut off when I don't have a point of reference at the bottom of the frame. I wound up repositioning the camera to get my feet in the shots, but I ended up not liking any of them anyway. Womp womp.

Engagement photo outfit #1

Technically this was the third outfit of the day, but it was the only one we shot some solo blog pics of so I'm featuring it first. I'll show some of the other shots later, when I eventually get around to editing them. All photos in this post were shot by my friend and bridesmaid Emily and edited by me.








shirt: TJ Maxx
capris: Michael Kors via TJ Maxx
sandals: BCBG via TJ Maxx
necklace: gifted
Kudos to Meghan, who totally called this outfit combo in my last Budgeting Bloggers post. You win...my awe at your sartorial psychic powers! (And to the rest of you guys, she's totally working with a few other bloggers to give away a Kindle Paperwhite for the next few days...check it out at the link!)

And because it was Emily shooting me, I did all sorts of silly things in addition to actually, you know, posing. Stuff like this:






That look on Matt's face? That's probably him wondering why he ever decided to marry me. Or maybe he's contemplating how boring life would be without me. Who knows.

Anyway, I was excited to shoot with an actual person instead of a tripod, and one of my FAVORITE persons at that, and in a new location (downtown Columbus)! I've since renewed my campaign to get Emily to move to Columbus and become my full-time blog photographer. I think I've almost got her...

Grump city

blouse: really old, don't remember
cardi: Express via Discount Fashion Warehouse
skinnies: Forever 21
boots: Target
necklace: gifted
I read this Tumblr thing recently that claimed that when corals get stressed, they die. I can't attest to the veracity of that claim, but I can say that I relate a little. Only instead of dying, I just kind of shut down a bit. Like yesterday, when I was trying to catch up on some freelance work and I kept stressing out about what I was/wasn't getting done. So I just stopped. And watched Girls for approximately three hours. And then in Girls, Hannah was stressed about a deadline and she just stopped working on it too, so that kind of validated my decision. Only difference is she had a bit of a nervous breakdown whereas I am just getting really grumpy and annoyed and...well, stressed.

That's, like, a normal thing. Right?

In other news, I'm really digging this outfit. This cardi in general is pretty awesome, but I surprised myself a bit when I paired it with these boots. It looked so much better than I expected it to! The sad news, though, is that I have to retire these boots. They're cheap-o Target deals, and while they lasted me two years, they're about to kick it. (Heh.) But really. The faux-leather stuff is peeling off the front and the toes. Bout time to hit up the end-of-season clearance racks for some new cognac boots! I think I'll go non-slouchy this time.

Big things are happening

sweater dress: The Limited
cardi, boots: Target
tights: Groupon deal
belt: H&M
necklace: Express
I think one of the worst parts about blogging, for me, is having news that I'm not quite ready (or allowed) to share on the blog. When it comes to my own personal secrets, I am a terrible keeper. I just get so excited and want to share that excitement with the world! (When it comes to other peoples' secrets, however, I'm a vault. Swear.) Anyway, some pretty exciting collaborations and other fun things are coming up, both here on VM and in real life. And I can't talk about most of them for, like, another month. Maybe more? One of the IRL things I actually have no idea when I'll be able to share. How's that for cryptic?

Don't worry, I'm not a complete tease here. I do have one fun thing to share with you guys. A fellow Ohio University J-school alum, Rachel, has started a blog about Generation Y-ers/Millennials. Specifically, folks that age who aren't living up to the media hype of being lazy underachievers. Her first feature? It's me! I'm so flattered; to be honest, I didn't think of my debt paying-off-ness as really a huge achievement. It was just something I had to do. Then I thought about the numbers...$18,000 in less than three years is something to be proud of. And I am. Ok, not-so-humble-brag over. Check out Rachel's blog, both now and later when she has some more features.

In other news, there are clothes pictures here too! I'm digging this outfit, though I think the tights might be a little too dark. I had the same problem when I wore them here, but I think it was worse for that outfit. Here, it seems almost passable. What do you think?

Indoor-schmindoor

sweater: thrifted
sleeveless button-down: New York & Company
skinny khakis: Old Navy
boots: Target
I think one of my least-favorite things about Ohio fall/winter (besides the dreariness, the cold and the inconsistent temps that mean you're freezing in the morning and sweating under your down jacket in the evening) is that it forces me inside for blog photos. It's usually too dim for me to take outfit photos before work, and it's practically full-on dark by the time I get home. And I usually don't have the time to document my outfits throughout the week and re-shoot them on the weekend. Le sigh.

At least these are starting to get better. I don't have any kind of professional lighting equipment, of course; it's just me and my cheap-o detachable flash (though for the price, it works pretty dang well).

The other day I was talking about favorite things and outfits on repeat. I get the feeling that variations of this outfit will be on repeat this winter as well. Umm, business casual AND pants-tucked-into-boots? Yes, please! It's boring, but hey. It meets dress code and it keeps my feet warm and dry. Win-win, if you ask me.

Hey P.S. My spa day giveaway ends this weekend. If you're in/near Columbus, make sure you get your entries in!

Photo woes

shirtdress: Express via Discount Fashion Warehouse
tights: Groupon deal
boots: Target
Only two shots today because the rest turned out unexpectedly out of focus or I just looked kinda dumb. Having a rosebush in the background is nice, but it definitely makes it harder to get a good lock on the field of focus. Actually, I'm not even a huge fan of this outfit either, but it's the only one left in my queue and I didn't post yesterday, so... I guess they can't all be winners, huh?

I think I would have liked this outfit better if the tights had been the right color. They're supposed to be gray, but they're such a dark slate gray that they're nearly black. I have a pair of lighter gray tights, but I'm not good at making decisions in the mornings. I'm too busy trying to wake up. In fact, most of the outfits you see posted here are the result of pre-planning the night before. (I even have a note in my phone with possible outfit ideas.) Once in a while I'll surprise myself in the mornings, but usually if I don't plan an outfit in advance I end up wearing slacks and a plain blouse or nice t-shirt. This outfit was pre-planned, but I just couldn't get it together enough to decide to change my tights, haha.

How do you plan your outfits? Do you like to throw things together the morning of, or do you brainstorm ideas the night (or days) before?

Summer to fall

Lots of photos today, so I'm going to keep the words short and sweet. So Ohio has really ridiculously bipolar weather, and when seasons change things can get really crazy. Forty degrees one day, 80 the next. That is not an exaggeration. So we Ohioans often have to switch our wardrobes from hot-weather-wear to cool-weather-wear, often more than once in a week.

So this is how I styled an outfit — a new shirt and black bottoms — two different ways last month. The warmer-weather outfit I wore to brunch with some friends, on a day that reached a high in the mid-80s. The cooler-weather outfit I wore to a microbrew "festival" put on by my friend and some of his homebrew buddies, where the lows that night got down into the upper 40s, if I remember right. But there was a lot of beer there, so who knows.








shirt: Express via Discount Fashion Warehouse
shorts: thrifted J.Crew
sandals: Target
necklace, bracelet: Etsy (two different shops)







shirt, necklace: see above
skinnies: Forever 21
boots: Target
jacket: thrifted
So there you go. A warm-to-cool outfit in just a couple easy swaps. And now, I present to you an outtake, because my friend Ally always compliments my poses and I suspect she doesn't believe me when I say I take some real duds. Ally, this one's for you:


Don't worry folks, my neck isn't broken. And I'm not turning into an owl, either :) So yeah, hope that gave you all a giggle. Have a fabulous weekend!

Warm weather, where art thou?

shirt: secondhand
cami: Old Navy
skinnies, boots: Target
necklace: VeryJane
This is a weird batch of photos. The first one looks almost like a magazine spread, I think. The second was too awkward (but it was literally the best of the worst) so I had to crop it all crazy. And the third is the only shot in this entire outfit shoot in which I actually managed to keep my eyes open in the glaring sun.

These were taken the other weekend, when we got a little teaser for warmer weather. Matt and I made the hour-and-a-half trek to Ikea, and we had the sun roof open the whole time. It was beautiful. Today, however, is the first day of spring and the high was around 35. What??

I would take solace in the fact that Matt and I are going to South Carolina to visit my sister and brother-in-law this weekend, but alas, it looks like the crappy weather might follow us there. Fingers are crossed!

Gorgeous weekends and rainy Mondays

Ah, Monday. Thanks for being here to greet me with drizzly, dreary weather after such a beautiful weekend. No really. That made getting out of bed this morning sooo much easier!

Actually, I guess I really can't complain. I had such a lovely weekend, not even this rainy morning can really get me down. Friday night comedy shows, Saturday laziness, and a gorgeous Sunday spent sleeping in and playing outside makes for a fabulous weekend. And we capped it all off with a fun cookout Sunday evening with the girls upstairs and a few other friends.






cardi & skinnies: The Limited
shirt & belt: thrifted
boots: Target
The forecast for this week is calling for plenty of warm days, mostly in the 70s, and even a few sunny days thrown in for good measure. So I'm kind of sad to say that this may be one of the last time my Target boots (in any of the three colors I have, haha) appear on the blog. I think that's the only downside of spring...boots with skinnies kind of have to go on hiatus.

Boots with shorts, on the other hand, may still be an option.

What about you? Any styles you're sad to leave behind as winter begins to draw to a close?

Favorite things: Fall/winter edition

When I first started the ol' blog, I did a "favorite things" post that featured an outfit with all of my current faves. It was very springy, and I definitely still count all those items among my favorites. (So much so that I often rewear that exact outfit over...and over...good thing I don't make a point to post every single day, haha!)

I thought it'd be kind of fun to do another one, this time featuring items I've been wearing all fall and winter. Well, mostly winter, since these boots and the shirt are still relatively new. But still.






shirt: H&M
jeans: Guess via Macy's
boots: Target
necklace: Figleaf in Athens
bracelet: gifted from my momma
lipstick: Cover Girl in Rich
Yup, safe to say I love every piece of this outfit, on its own and as a whole. I've practically lived in this striped shirt since I got it at H&M with a gift card that Matt's sister gave me for Christmas. And these cognac boots are something I had been lusting after for months, if not a full year, before I bought them. Yes, this outfit might look better with skinny jeans, but honestly, the Guess ones are so comfortable, I can't not wear them sometimes. And they're long enough! And they don't sag on my butt! For the record, that absolutely never, ever happens.

Oh, and about the lipstick? It's this line that Cover Girl has that doesn't make your lips dry out the way other lipsticks tend to do. I'm in love. I have three or four shades already, and I'm itching for more. I wear this Rich color the most though; it's the perfect shade of everyday red. Not to vampy, but just bold enough to be noticed.

(P.S. Don't forget to enter my vintage T giveaway! Ends today at 5 pm!)