tank: secondhand
cardigan, gladiator sandals: Target
shorts: American Eagle
earrings: gifted (Lia Sophia)
Have you ever been so tired that your brain just kind of gives up? Yeah, that was me yesterday. For some reason, I've been sleeping poorly this week -- staying wide-awake until 11 or midnight, when I'm usually asleep by 10:30 -- and yesterday was nearly unbearable. I chugged caffeine at work all day, which kept my eyes open, but did nothing for my cognitive powers. I actually had intended to make this post on my lunch break, but when lunch rolled around I just kind of...forgot. And then forgot again that evening. And despite being exhausted after work, I couldn't nap and I couldn't fall asleep again at night. I'm feeling slightly better today, but I think I'm still kind of off. (So, my apologies if any of this post seems weird or nonsensical). At least we don't have any major plans for tomorrow; I'm going to sleep in as late as humanly possible!
In other news, this outfit is one of those I've-worn-it-three-times-but-never-manage-to-get-outfit-pics-for-blogging-purposes deals. Mostly because it's been an evening outfit, so it's usually dark before I get dressed. And I hate taking outfit photos indoors if I can help it. I finally just decided to throw the outfit on again for the explicit purpose of shooting blog photos, and I'm glad I did. This is a fun little semi-casual evening getup, I think.
And can we talk about those earrings for a sec? Since I went pixie-short more than two years ago, I've tended to avoid larger earrings. I thought they looked weird with such short hair. Then, Matt's mom got me these hoops for my birthday. I was a little hesitant at first, but I loved them the second I put them on. They just seem to work so well! Large enough to be noticed, but not so large that they seem silly with my hair. Hooray for having a future mother-in-law with such great taste!
Oof. I feel like I just hit another brick wall...My eyelids are starting to get heavy again. To the coffee shop!
tank: secondhand
cardi: Express via Discount Fashion Warehouse
jeans, heels: Target
necklace: Etsy
So a while back, my friend Hayley and her husband moved into their very first house (yay!). As she was packing, she mentioned that she had a bunch of clothes to take to Goodwill. Hayley has great style, so I told her to drop the clothes at my house so I could pick through them, and then take the leftovers to Goodwill for her. Imagine my surprise when she showed up with a literal carload of stuff--it was nearly 20 garbage bags of clothes, bags, bedding and random appliances. I couldn't keep most of it due to fit, but I did snag a few amazing pieces out of the bunch. Including this tiger tank.
This tank is one of those things that, if I saw it on the shelf, I wouldn't even consider buying it. But for some reason, it caught my eye as I was knee-deep in clothes in my living room (not an exaggeration) and I kept it. So glad I did! It's ended up being one of my favorite casual-wear items.
I can't think of anything else to write today without spewing a billion lines of wedding-related word-vomit (DRESS SHOPPING THIS WEEKEND OMG HOLY CRAP) so instead I'll end with the standard blogger-feedback-seeking question: Did you ever grab an item (purchase or secondhand) that you didn't think you'd wear but ended up loving?
shirt: Old Navy
shorts: thrifted
sandals: Target
Hi folks. So I'm thinking that at least for the time being, you can expect a little photo-speak to accompany my outfit posts. Because half the time, I find the technique behind shooting an outfit more interesting than the outfit itself. Sorrynotsorry.
So I had Matt snap these for me quickly before we left for...uh...somewhere. For the life of me, I can't remember where I wore this. Oh well. Not important. I just turned the camera to auto and he clicked away. I love how even the auto-setting photos on this camera turn out so awesome!
The below shot is one I took just moments before we headed outside for the real photos. I had just gotten my remote and was going a little click-happy. I remember I didn't have time to set up my tripod and do a proper shoot, but I wanted to test the remote regardless, so I plopped the camera on my mantle and took a few snaps. This one turned out kind of cool, so I decided to post it. Dem collarbones. Girrrrrl...
So this is where the cool photography part comes in. I noticed when I uploaded this photo that if I corrected the exposure to my face/clothes, the windows were completely blown out. But if I didn't adjust the exposure, I was too dark. I remembered reading this tip for fixing the problem, and used that as a guideline for doing my own version of a fix.
Basically, I made two copies of this photo. On the first, I adjusted the exposure to properly display my face/body. On the second, I adjusted the exposure the other way, underexposing everything to bring out the details of the blinds. Then I just used the Magic Wand tool in Photoshop to select the blinds and copied them to a new layer. I dragged the new layer to the correctly-exposed photo, lined it up over the blown-out windows, and adjusted the opacity down of the blinds-only layer to about 80 percent so it would look more natural. Looking back, I could probably have under-exposed the blinds even more in my initial steps, but for a first shot I say this isn't too bad!
Top photo: Correctly exposed subject with blown-out windows
Bottom photo: Better-exposed windows with under-exposed subject.
So here's my question for you all: Would you be interested in reading tutorials on stuff like this? Or do you find that process a little dull and would rather read what I have to say about the styles/trends themselves? Or do you find both interesting?
shirt, necklace: Old Navy
jeans: secondhand Express
shoes, bracelets: Target
So I guess there's been a few tropical storms or something like that pushing a ton of rain up through the Midwest. I read yesterday that Cincinnati, which is about two hours from here, has already gotten its rain quota for the entire month. And as my bloggy friend Sydney pointed out, Toronto is getting hit pretty hard as well. Shiz be cray, amiright?
Anyway, I wore this two weekends ago to a party to celebrate Matt's grandparents' 70th wedding anniversary. 70th!! It's insane. His grandparents have been married almost as long as my mom's mom has been alive. It was a really nice party, and we even managed to get a couple of nice family photos in before--you guessed it--the downpour started. (Matt's family is huge; his dad has five sisters, and they all have kids, and some of them have kids...I love it.)
And speaking of things I love, how about this shirt? I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I rarely see an item in a commercial or on a blog and then run out to buy it. In the case of this shirt, I saw it in both formats and got it practically the next weekend. Since then, I've seen a few other bloggers wearing it, so...I guess it was a good buy?
Do you ever run out and buy specific items you see on TV or on blogs?
dress, heels: Target
shrug thingy: thrifted
necklace: gifted
I'm not sure why I look so stern in that first photo. The weird faces we make when taking blog pics, amiright? Also, these pics are maybe the best I've ever taken on my point-and-shoot. The lighting was pure perfection.
So last year, I was a bridesmaid in the weddings of my sister (Abby) and of one of my dearest friends (Tiffany). Usually, as a bridesmaid, you just kind of accept the fact that whatever you are wearing will be banished to the back of your closet until you eventually decide to give it to a thrift shop for some thrift-happy girl to wear to prom. But this dress right here? That was my bridesmaid dress for Abby's wedding. It was $20 at Target. How awesome is that? I got so many compliments on it when I re-wore it last week. And my necklace was a gift that Tiffany gave all her bridesmaids for her wedding. So I was really channeling my former bridesmaid-ness with this outfit :)
The dress for Tiffany's wedding was a bit more like your average bridesmaid dress...satiny-y and fairly formal. Not something I could probably ever wear again. (As if I could even fit into it...I gained weight between ordering it and wearing it the day of, meaning I was gasping for air most of the day. And I've gained a couple more pounds since then, too, so...yeah.) But I have a pretty cool idea for re-using the dress later on, so it won't go to waste! I can't post it here, because it's going to be a surprise for Tiff, but when I do get the chance to do it, I'll post pics :)
Speaking of pics, I got some AHH-MAZING shots of fireworks last night! I'm going to try to upload them this evening/weekend, despite a full schedule. (My parents and some of my sibs are coming down to Columbus to visit today, I'm heading up to Cleveland to see Book of Mormon tomorrow, and on Sunday I'll be in Akron to see Abby and her husband, who are up visiting from South Carolina--busy weekend!) So keep your eyes peeled for a special weekend-edition post, maybe. (Oh and hey, if you're a robber thinking, "Sweet, the house will be empty all weekend," you might wanna think again. Matt will be home most of the time, as will our upstairs neighbors. Sorry, everyone else. You can't be too safe.)
What about y'all? Any fun weekend plans?
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!
shirt: The Limited
skirt, belt: Modcloth
flats: Target
A short post, that is, as I don't have much to say today and I only had two photos I liked from this shoot. Usually, I take five to nine photos of each outfit. Any more and I start to get bored. (Yes, I have the attention span of a five-year-old.) So sometimes, in those few I'm-not-bored-yet shots, I have like seven good photos to choose from. Sometimes, I can't even find three that I like.
Anyway, tomorrow I'm having lunch with a marketing rep from an online jewelry store startup that's based here in Columbus. The concept is a little like Groupon or Google deals, only substitute all the discounted food/haircuts/whatever with jewelry. CUTE jewelry. I'm really excited to be collaborating with this company...and I mean really excited, not oh-I-got-free-stuff-I'm-gonna-pretend-to-be-enthusiastic excited. I can't wait to introduce you guys to the site, and with any luck, do a little jewelry giveaway!
Huh. Look at that. Guess I did have something to talk about today :)
The second wedding weekend was actually two weekends ago, but I wasn't able to stay at the reception long and wound up not taking many pictures. This past weekend, I was in the wedding and only got a few shots in between all the bridesmaid duties :)
Groom Josh, me, and bride Tiffany.
Me 'n my man. Isn't he handsome?
Tiff and me. We've been bffs since we were about 17 or so. She's pretty much the bee's knees. (My dress is from David's Bridal...not sure where Tiff's is from. My jewelry was my bridesmaid gift, and it was from Express.)
All in all, it was a really long weekend, since I headed up to northern Ohio Thursday night and stayed through Monday morning (the wedding itself was Sunday night). Today was pretty rough, after a weekend of mildly structured chaos, haha. But I suppose I might as well get back into the swing of things, no? Eh. Here goes nothing :)
Hello there! Just popping in for a couple quick photos and some reminders. First, don't forget that Bloggers Take the Town is tomorrow! And this month, Sydney and I are leaving the link-up open until Friday. So you have all week to link your blog up.
On the other hand, time is running out for you to enter my eShakti giveaway. That stays open until May 31 at midnight, so click over and get yourself entered!
dress: H&M
bracelets: secondhand
shoes:Target
I like this outfit for a couple of reasons, but I didn't have time to do a full-on outfit shoot when I wore this last night. Matt and I went out to the bar for his birthday libations, and I was getting ready in a hurry so I snapped a few quick pics on my phone. These bracelets were part of a surprise package from my bloggy friend Loren. There were a lot of great items in there, but I can't wait to showcase them here :) Thanks, Loren!
I also liked this outfit because for the first time in my life, I legitimately rocked a fauxhawk. It's one of those weird style things that I have always wanted to try, for as long as I can remember. I really love how it looked with this button-up shirtdress-type thing. I can't wait to try this look again!
Oh, and because I can't get enough of this video of what might be the sweetest proposal ever. Go ahead, watch it. If you don't have a smile on your face by the end of the clip, you probably have no soul. I just watched it again, and I'm pretty sure my heart just skipped a beat.
I'm a big fan of surprises. At least, I am when they're good surprises. Being attacked by an angry swarm of bees as I walked to the bus stop after work yesterday? Not a good surprise. (Okay, to be fair, I wasn't really attacked. And they didn't seem too angry. But there was a swarm of bees in the intersection yesterday, and it was pretty strange. And scary. Pretty sure that many beestings would kill anyone. Anyway. Where was I? Oh yeah. Surprises.) Finding a package on my doorstep from a certain amazing blog-friend-turned-actual-friend was quite the pleasant surprise, on the other hand.
Yup, my gal Sydney sent me a lovely package with three skirts, two tanks (one of which I'm wearing right now) and three blouse-y type shirts. And THEY ALL FIT. Even the button down shirt, which is crazy cause those things almost never fit me right. You guys, I think I found my clothes soul mate.
Syd always sends the cutest cards in her packages, too. Seriously girl, where do you get those? Adorbs.
Anyway, pics of my coffee table wearing clothes is no fun. So here are some of me wearing clothes.
shirt: secondhand
tank: Target
jeans: Silver via Macy's
flats: Payless
necklace: gifted
I also recently got an ENORMOUS pile of clothes from my friend Allory, who cleaned out her closet and generously let me haul away the discards. The stuff that I didn't want (because it didn't fit, was out of style, was just workout clothes, or whatever) I crammed into three (three!!) garbage bags for Goodwill. There were, however, several SWEET pairs of shoes and booties that I loved, but can't wear because they're sizes 6 or 7 and I wear like a 9. Okay, a 10. So anyone out there with tiny feet want some cute booties, flats or calf-height boots?
Anyway, I kept about a dozen shirts from Allory, plus some shorts/dresses/skirts. So now that there is a TON of pre-loved clothing in my closet that wasn't technically thrifted, I'm going to start crediting them as "secondhand" in outfit posts. Schweet.
Don't you hate it when you wake up with that nagging feeling that you've forgotten to do something, but you can't remember what it might be? I sure do. It's been bugging me all morning.Whatever it is, it will probably have to wait. We were at my parents' house most of the weekend, celebrating my little sister's birthday and going to a fundraiser for my old high school's marching band. It was a lot of fun, but Matt and I were exhausted when we got home yesterday. And when we finally got around to unpacking and cleaning up the house, we discovered that the dishwasher is broken. As in, smoke coming from the burned-out motor broken. And did I mention it was full of dirty dishes? And both the sinks were full of dirty dishes too? Ugh. Guess I know what I'll be doing all week while we wait for the landlord to install the new dishwasher...
shirt, blazer: thrifted
slacks: New York & Company
flats: Target
necklace: gift from Matt
glasses: EyeBuyDirect.comI have the hardest time getting dressed for work in the winter. Because my office is usually always so cold, I really have to layer up if I want to retain feeling in my arms and fingers. And with my limited, highly remixed wardrobe, there's only so much you can do with sweaters and blazers. I find myself repeating outfits more and more in the colder weeks we've had lately.Luckily, it's supposed to be in the mid-40s and even lower 50s this week, so maybe I'll be able to bust out some short sleeves...including the two shirts that Joanna sent me that I haven't been able to wear yet!
Okay, okay, I suppose I'll admit it. Fall is here in full force. I mean, after all, it is October. It's colder out, the evenings are definitely shorter. And, for some reason, central Ohio has decided that fall means rain, and lots of it. We've had rain or dreary overcast clouds five or six days out of seven these past few weeks, and it's really getting me down.The day I took these photos was nice, however, so there's a good thing. The number of stockpiled outfits I have is down to two, unfortunately. Like I said...dreary weather makes me not want to get dressed well, or take photos when I do dress well. All I want to do is laze around in my PJs and cuddle with my cat. And my boyfriend. (But mostly the cat, haha.) Blah.
blazer, khakis, shoes: Target
shirt: thrifted
necklace: FigleafYesterday was a gorgeous day, however, which is nice because Matt and I had a little date night. He won discount tickets to see Shadowbox Live perform. For you non-Columbusites, Shadowbox Live is a sketch comedy troupe paired with a sweet rock band. They do original skits and have recently expanded their lineup to include broadway shows, original full-length productions, and such classics as The Rocky Horror Show, which is what we saw last night.It was phenomenal. I'm a huge fan of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, so it was really cool to see the original stage version. Matt had never seen any version of the show, and he really enjoyed it too. The cast has excellent comedic timing, and all the guys looked really comfortable in the six-inch heels, fishnets and corsets. That's how you know they're good actors. The guy playing Frank N. Furter channeled Tim Curry really well. Overall, an excellent production.If you're ever in Columbus, I highly recommend seeing a Shadowbox Live show. Hit me up, because I love to go any chance I get :)
