Blogger Hall of Shame

sleeveless button-up: New York & Company
pants: secondhand
heels: Target
necklace: gifted (Kate Spade)
bracelets: don't remember :(


I've been a bad blogger lately; these photos have been sitting in my queue since late July. July! Now they just look ridiculous. I mean, no one would be wearing flowy pants and a sleeveless shirt this time of year...unless they lived in California or something. Can we just pretend I live in California? Ok. Thanks.

Ah, if only that were true. But alas, I live in central Ohio, where this time of year I only get to see the sun through the window of the office that's next to my cubicle. Maybe if I'm lucky, it won't be overcast on my commute in to work and I'll get a tiny bit of vitamin D, but it's always dusk as I'm heading home. It's been a struggle, mood-wise, since daylight savings time, so I bought a lightbox to help offset the worst of it.

The upside to the lightbox (aside from its mood- and energy-boosting properties) is that it forces me to sit still for an extra 30 minutes in the morning. It's too bright to do my makeup by, so I can use that time to sip some coffee and cuddle under a blanket with Cam while I work on blog posts, or edit photos, or research for freelance stories...Thank goodness Cam (like me) isn't a morning person, haha.



I'm also making sure to carve out time in the evening for the gym to help combat the dreary Ohio winters. I never really WANT to go to the gym when it's gross out, but if I can force myself to get there I always end up feeling a hundred times better.

Do you have any go-to methods to beat the winter blues?

Holy crap an outfit post!

sweater: Forever 21
skinnies, boots: Target
necklace: giveaway win
watch: Coach (secondhand)
Rest assured that, despite my lack of posting outfit photos, I have in fact been wearing clothes these last several weeks. Some of the outfits are even originals/non-repeats! Shocking, I know. I wore this just last week, but I jumped it to the front of my queue of "outfits to post" because I have an important question related to it...

Just when exactly does boot season end?!

I know this might be a no-brainer in some parts of the country or world, but here in good old Ohio, it can be 75 degrees one day and 42 the next. I am not kidding. So while we're looking at a high in the low 70s today, this sweater-and-boot combo was totally weather-appropriate when I wore it on Friday. Not very springlike, but hey, I was comfortable (if not seasonally accurate).

In other news, I completely failed to acknowledge my four-year bloggiversary! It was on April 8. BUTTTTTT my first outfit post was on April 14, so I guess this counts as a recognition?

It's hard to believe it's been four years since I started balancing my eight-megapixel point-and-shoot on a table or balcony and setting a self-timer. So much has changed since then! To name just a few: I grew my hair out and cut it all off. I upgraded from boyfriend to fiance (ha, here's hoping he doesn't find that offensive). I got a better point-and-shoot, then received a DSLR camera and fell absolutely in love with photography. I clawed my way out of debt and changed jobs. I discovered a love for dance and ran my first 5k and developed my rock-climbing skills. And of course I've met some fantastic fellow bloggers.

I don't know how much longer I'll keep blogging — I'm waiting until things settle down after the wedding to make the call officially — but I do know it's been an awesome ride so far. Thanks to everyone who's still reading. You guys keep me at it :)

Brrrr!

sweater, slacks: thrifted
short-sleeve button-down: New York & Company
flats: Target
necklace: gifted (Kate Spade)
Welp, you're looking at a pretty close approximation of my outfits all this week: sweater, a layer under it, warm dress pants and flats that are easy to throw in my bag while I wear my heavier winter boots. Because all week, temps have been in the teens or single digits, with negative-degree wind chills. Yesterday morning, the actual temp was -6 Fahrenheit, with a wind chill of -22! It's not okay, guys. I'm too delicate for this bitter winter clime.

But I haven't been letting the chill get me down too much. I layer fleece-lined leggings under my pants for the walk home from the bus stop. (Matt, who works second shift during the week, is a saint who drives me to work every morning in his well-warmed-up car.) I have my rated-to-20-degree boots that perform well enough even when the temps are below 20. And I have a killer long down jacket I got at the end of last winter from Burlington Coat Factory. I'm even managing to make it to the gym most evenings! If you know anything about me, you know that's a feat even in nicer weather. So I guess I can't complain too much.

In other news (cue abrupt subject change), our wedding is exactly four months from today! I still have so much to do...cutting wine bottles for our centerpiece vases, making the flower-petal candle holders for our other centerpieces, assembling all the flowers we made, making my veil, doing my dress fitting(s), designing and printing our invitations and other miscellaneous stationery, doing final meetings with the few pros we did hire to confirm all the details...eesh. It's gonna be a very busy four months. I can't think about the big picture too much, or I get super stressed out and panicky. I just have to take things in baby steps: This weekend is devoted to bottle-cutting and editing some photos from a newborn session I had the other weekend. Keep it small and manageable, that's my motto :)

How do you deal with massive projects? And while we're doing the whole ask-questions-at-the-end-of-the-post-to-encourage-feedback thing, are the temps abysmally cold where you are, too? How do you even handle that? (I'm thinking of you, Sydney, up in what I can only assume is the frozen tundra of Canada. I'm shivering just thinking about it.)

Frightful

t-shirt: Old Navy
jacket/blazer: thrifted
skinnies: Forever 21
flats: Target
necklace: gifted Kate Spade
That's right; the weather outside certainly is frightful. We got our first real snow of the season last night; now there's an inch or two of icy/slushy/powdery mix on the ground. Delightful (not). Get ready for these wonderfully lit outdoor alley shots (from last month) to disappear; it's time for me to make the switch to shooting indoors. Womp womppppp.

Also frightful this weekend was my intense anxiety level. I had probably the worst shopping experience of my life on Saturday, when I tried to buy a corset for under my wedding dress. Seriously guys, if you need a quick fix for hating yourself and your body, I highly recommend corset shopping for two hours. I apparently have weird proportions, so everything that fit around my stomach wound up giving me awkward and heartbreaking armpit fat, which apparently is a real thing. And everything that avoided the apparently-a-thing armpit fat was way too big in the stomach. I wound up buying a strapless bra and a stomach-only corset piece thing (kind of like this, only it goes from your bra line down to your hips, not from your waist down past your hips). They were way more than I wanted to spend, but I'll at least be able to wear both of them under other outfits. Plus, I now get to go up to my grandma's house and try on the dress again (I have to make sure the undergarments work, of course!) so it's not a total loss.

Then Saturday night, I had a host of wedding nightmares. Awful stress dreams about not having a dress at all (I walked down the aisle in a gray maxi dress and a cardigan), about being in the wrong venue, about the music not playing right during the ceremony...basically, everything was just wrong. Then I got a text from my sister; a fire on campus at our alma mater had destroyed the apartment I lived in my junior year. It was an attic studio apartment above a flower shop, and the entire attic just collapsed into the apartment below it. I was devastated; I had a lot of great memories in that apartment. Obviously the situation is so much worse for the students who are living there now; they lost everything they own. I'll be donating to the university's fund for them; if you have some extra cash lying around and want to do a little good with it, you can do the same here. Just select the "Ohio Parents and Family Endowment."

So between bad shopping experiences and dreams and sad news, my Sunday was shaping up to be a huge sulk-fest. But then I went to a meeting for a new project I'm working on and it honestly turned my entire day around. I left feeling excited, optimistic and refreshed. I don't want to go into too much detail on the project, because I'm honestly a little terrified that my contribution will be terrible, but if all goes well I'll divulge more in the spring.

Aaaaand that was my weekend. Here's hoping yours had more high points than low ones!

Flashback and forward

t-shirt: The Limited
maxi skirt: Target
sandals: BCBG via TJ Maxx
necklace: Cassiopeia by Corinne on Etsy
Howdy hey, folks! It looks like things might finally be slowing down for me. After eight photo shoots, two weddings, a few Halloween festivities, some much-appreciated family time and a killer cough that I'm still trying to recover from, I'm finally trying to get back into the blogging routine.

Fortunately, I've been making a point to shoot a couple of outfit photos here and there during my hiatus; this one is from early September, back when the weather was warm and sunny. I miss you already, summer. Buuuuut the past few days have been a little warmer, so I thought it wouldn't be too bizarre to post this before it's too late.

This necklace, by the way? My friend Corinne made it. I'm loving it lately and have been wearing it a lot...it just goes so well with everything! You should definitely check out Corinne's Etsy shop if you're looking for a cute, vintage-y new necklace or other jewelry.

Phew. I feel like getting back into the swing of just knocking out a post off the top of my head might be harder than I thought. Ah, well. Looks like you guys are stuck with some awkward banter for a while :) #storyofmylife

Autumn is coming

shirt: secondhand
sleeveless button-down: New York & Company
khaki skinnies: Old Navy
shoes: Target
necklace: The Limited via Discount Fashion Warehouse
I have very mixed feelings about autumn.

For the most part, I'm a summer girl. I love the heat (though not always the humidity). I love sun and golden skin and massive thunderstorms and ice cream and pools and beaches and breezy dresses and fireflies and sunsets after 9 p.m.

But autumn is kind of special, too. It brings crisp mornings and leaving the windows open all day and especially all night. It brings football and two of my favorite holidays, Halloween and Thanksgiving. Hot toddies are acceptable again and sweaters are so cozy. I've also felt for the last several years that fall can mark the end of a bad era. I like to take time in the fall to find everything that's been weighing me down over the last year and shed it to crunch underfoot with the leaves.

But.

But autumn is so brief and temperamental in Ohio. It seems like you just blink and suddenly it's all shitty half-hearted snow and gross grey slush and feeling so cold that each inhale freezes your lungs. And because I have SAD, winter is especially difficult. Watching the sun set from my office window is heartbreaking. There are days when I feel like I'll never see the sun again.

Fortunately, it's early in the season. There's still time to enjoy cute boots and pumpkin-flavored everything before things really get tough. And I feel a little more optimistic than usual about winter this year. I joined a new climbing gym, and I'm going to go back to vitamin D therapy via tanning beds (with proper sunscreen on, of course). Plus I found a therapist I really like who I can return to if things get really out of hand, so that's a comfort.

How do you feel about autumn? Are you heralding its imminent arrival with three daily Starbucks PSL runs? Or are you already holed up in your hibernation nest, counting off the days until spring arrives again?

Lucky/unlucky

blouse: The Limited via Discount Fashion Warehouse
khakis, necklace: Old Navy
blazer, shoes: Target

A lot of people consider Friday the 13th to be bad luck. I used to be one of them, right up until the most recent Friday the 13th. It was six months ago, and I was asked the most important question of my whole life. And of course, I said yes. Ever since Matt decided to propose on a Friday the 13th, I've claimed it as my own personal good-luck day. Take THAT, superstition!

Okay no joke, that whole paragraph right there was just an excuse for me to let off a little excitement at this little milestone. My friend/coworker/bridesmaid, Hayley, commented that it seems like it's been much longer than six months. To which I replied, "That's probably because I have the whole wedding planned already." And while that is an exaggeration, it's a slight one. We've tackled the venue, the officiant (aka Matt's brother-in-law), the caterer, the photographer, the videographer (aka my office's video intern from last summer), the DJ/photobooth, the cake baker (aka Hayley, who grew up decorating wedding cakes in her mom's bakery), the dress, what the attendants will be wearing, and some of the minor decor details. All that we really have left is:

- making sure the bridesmaids/groomsmen place their orders
- picking out Matt's tux
- finding my undergarments, shoes and veil (the latter of which I will probably DIY)
- engagement photos (courtesy another friend/bridesmaid, Emily)
- DIYing the save-the-dates
- DIYing all the flowers and the centerpieces
- DIYing the invitations
- write the ceremony
- buy attendants' gifts
- GET FREAKING MARRIED ALREADY :)

Ugh. I hate when I start writing a post with intent to talk about something, then go off on a tangent about wedding stuff. I can't help it; I'm a woman obsessed. #sorrynotsorry

It's just as well, I suppose. These photos didn't turn out so great, but I really liked the outfit and frankly, my re-shoot list is way too long to add this outfit to the queue. C'est la vie!

Drugs are sometimes good.

sweater, skinnies: H&M
booties: Walmart
necklace: InPink
Apparently I spoke too soon last Wednesday when I said I was getting "over the hump" of this cold. Because as I found out at the doctor's this weekend, it's not a cold. It's bronchitis. Whee!

I'm no stranger to bronchitis; I got it a lot in college when I lived in the dorms. And given the timing of this onset, I'm suspecting I may have picked it up on the plane coming back from my visit to Emily's. Oh, well. The important thing is that the doctor gave me lots of awesome drugs and now I can take a breath and even laugh without going into a coughing fit. Yay, drugs!

Kids, don't do drugs.

Unless your doctor tells you to.

Anyway, I took yesterday off to let the meds do their magic, and I'm heading back to work again this morning. I did nothing but sleep, drag my butt to said doctor's visit (and to a haircut appointment that I'd already rescheduled twice) and watch a ton of Girls this weekend. (Which, by the way, WHY am I just now starting this show??) So I'm kind of glad to be getting out of the house. Even if it's for work ;)

Over the hump

blouse: The Limited via Discount Fashion Warehouse
cardigan: Express via DFWh
slacks: thrifted
flats: secondhand
necklace: The Limited
For me, most really bad colds usually have a turning point, or a hump. After days and days of feeling crappier and crappier, suddenly there's a day where you don't feel quite as bad as the day before. And then another. And that's when I realize, I'm getting over the hump. I think that's where I am now; I hope it is, because I don't know how much more of this going-to-bed-at-nine-every-night-and-still-waking-up-exhausted stuff I can take.

Of course, this week, "the hump" also means the same hump as everyone else's: Wednesday. Due to holidays, vacation days and sick time, this is the first full week I've worked since before Christmas. I'm not complaining, but man, that extra day seems like five this week :)

Today's outfit is another month-old gem from my stockpile of photos. It's crazy how much my hair has grown in that time! Well, I guess any amount of growth is significant when you have a pixie. Also, you can see my work badge in that first pic. Forgot to take it off at first! If you look reeeeeeally close, you might get a glimpse of my shoulder-length hair from almost two years ago. Hard to believe it's been that long!

Favorite things

sweater, skinnies: H&M
shoes: Target
necklace: InPink (giveaway win)
Guys, like me introduce you to my new favorite outfit.

It seems like every season I have one or two outfits or pieces that I wear constantly on repeat. I only post them here once, because it would be boring to re-post every time I wore it, but trust me when I say I'm probably wearing it at least once every week or two. This fall/winter, I'm re-wearing this.

The sweater and skinnies were actually copycat purchases. My sister Anna was wearing the sweater at our last family gathering, and I am not lying when I say that I nearly snuck into her room at night to steal it. Fortunately, there was one (ONE!!) left in stock at my H&M. Major score. And I've been wanting a pair of olive skinnies ever since I saw Audrey wearing them. This was only compounded when my friend Hayley rocked a pair one casual Friday.

So I wore this to work one Friday, and I wore it again with my moto-esque ankle boots to run some errands. And again to run errands. And I've basically been lounging in this sweater nonstop in the evenings...Now I'm wishing the store had had two in stock. I'm getting the feeling I might wear this thing right out!

What favorite pieces are you wearing on repeat this season?

Psst. If you live in/around Columbus, or plan to be in the area before February 2014, be sure to enter my super-awesome spa-day giveaway! Mani, pedi, facial AND browshaping could all be yours! Enter here.

Idk what to title this post.

shirt: The Limited via Discount Fashion Warehouse
cardi: H&M
slacks: thrifted
flats: secondhand (but I think you can still find them at Target)
necklace: Old Navy
First, a very heartfelt thanks to those who shared their kind words and well-wishes re: yesterday's post. Folks like you help me realize that even though I feel very much alone when I'm like this, I never really am.

I'm feeling a little better emotionally today, but physically I think I may be falling apart. A sneaky migraine and what might be an injured tendon in my knee are conspiring against me this morning. Fortunately, I found an outfit shoot from earlier this month that I hadn't realized was saved on my computer. Sooo that's good. And can we talk about those shoes for a sec? Purple-and-silver shoes and an emerald top. I love it. Jewel tones FTW!

I don't really have much else to talk about today. I'mma go limp off and down some coffee in hopes that this monster headache disappears...

Longer weekend, please!

I feel like I'm saying that pretty much every Monday morning. I never seem to get everything done on my to-do list for any given weekend. We were busy these past two days, to be sure. Matt and I helped friends move, went to an overnight football-watching/camping/fishing trip at our friend's dad's house, set up a new wireless router and sold my old iPhone on Craigslist. I also dyed my hair and got it cut. But I wanted to work on some house projects and clean and figure out why our printer isn't working, and I didn't get to any of that. Le sigh.

So anyway, these photos. For some reason, I had a really hard time getting them to focus properly. It was the first time I ever had a problem like that, and I was getting really frustrated. I managed to clean up some of the least-out-of-focus ones using the methods I described in this post, but they're still a tad blurry:




shirt: really, really old Alloy from high school (hahaha yeah you read that right)
blazer: thrifted
skinnies: Forever 21
booties: Walmart
necklace: InPink (giveaway win)
But they got really good after I convinced Matt to step outside and be my "mark" for focusing the camera:




Since then, I've figured out that I can use my spare tripod as a mark. And ever since, my photos have been coming out crystal clear! (With the slight exception of tomorrow's outfit, because that trick hadn't quite dawned on me when I took those. Oops!)

Crunch time

t-shirt, necklace: Old Navy
short-sleeve button-down: New York & Company
skirt: thrifted
shoes: Payless
I read somewhere once that our brains are hard-wired to reward us for procrastinating. That must be true, because I always find myself in a tizzy the week before a deadline, scrambling to get everything together at the last second that I refused to do back when there was time.

This week is that week for me. But I've already sent in one project, and I just have one more three-story assignment to get through before July 1 before I'm able to get back to normal. And then I probably won't take on anything new for a while ;) But until then...I have a lot of work to do.

Just dance

cropped sweater: came with a dress from Burlington Coat Factory
cami, heels: Target
cropped slacks: The Limited
necklace: H&M
So I was going to write about this outfit and its colors and how bright they are, compared to what I usually wear. But I'm tired. I'm not sure where all of Monday's energy went, but it is gone. I'm tired, and not in a way that a nap can cure. I don't know where it came from, but a little bout of general blah-ness is settling into my bones and making me want to watch bad TV and eat junk food until I hate myself a little bit. Or a lot, I'm flexible on that.

But I'm not going to do that! I recently started taking dance clases, and they're honestly one of the best things that have ever happened to me. I actually discovered the studio through a freelance story I was researching, and I instantly did the worst thing a journalist can do and got emotionally involved. I've been going to classes once a week ever since. Tonight is hip-hop :)

So, that's the sad-story-happy-story I have for you today. I'm feeling depressed as hell for no reason, but I'm going to fix it by dancing for 90 minutes. Best. Solution. Ever.

What DOES one wear to a fashion show?

My friend Kellyn asked me this very question when I invited her to come with me to the Aveda Earth Jam fashion show/fundraiser last week. She unfortunately wasn't able to go after all (stupid work!) but it did get me thinking. Last year I just wore all black and heels—a reliable go-to for any fashionista. This year, however, I decided to get a little more trendy with it.






shirt, necklace: Old Navy
skinnies, booties, bracelets: Target
nail polish: Old Navy's brand in Melon Glow
First I asked myself, what would a style blogger wear at an event where she's representing herself and her blog? Of course, I had no real answer, because seriously, it's not like I do this professionally (or even all that well, if I'm being brutally honest). So then I thought back to the spring fashion trends article I wrote recently (cute how I snuck that link in here again, right?) and came up with a few ideas: black-and-white, cuffed skinnies and a hint of neon.

Now, I know I've expressed my extreme distaste for the neon trend before, but I'd like to amend that statement. Neon shirts/pants/skirts/dresses? Hell to the no. I stand by my original statement. But neon accents, like these nails (or some of the great picks over on Fashion for Giants recently)...well, let's just say I'm warming up to them. It helps that when I bought this nail polish, it looked like more of a sorbet shade...but once it was on and dried, it was full-out glowing. No joke. Here's a pic of the same nail polish after I dug out my garden last weekend:


Anyway. Talk about a tangent. So yeah, to conclude, this is apparently what a style blogger wears to a fashion show :) Now, I'm off to finish transcribing interviews (please, shoot me now) for yet another freelance package...this one is four stories about the arts scene in Columbus, which has been a BLAST to research! But it's due Friday, and I still have to pieces to go...so if I'm not back until after the weekend, you'll know the reason why!