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?

*looks around in bewilderment*

Oh, hello there. I seem to have forgotten that I have a little blog going here. I guess a little break was necessary, given all the chaos of the holiday and the wretched cold/flu hybrid I'm just now recovering from. Anyway, I'm still here! And I still have outfits to post! Hooray for having a little stockpile of postable outfits :)







dress: H&M
cardi, booties, tights, belt: Target
necklace: sidewalk sale

So I decided to do the whole "year-end outfit review roundup" post, but because I am the queen of a nation called Procrastia (see what I did there?), I'll be doing two posts tomorrow. Making up for lost time in December, I suppose?

In other news, I got a TON of kitchen stuff for Christmas this year. You know what that means? More food posts in 2013!! Woop woop! Better dust off that ol' gym membership now, haha...

Yay photos, boo allergies

dress: H&M (thrifted)
cardi, belt, tights: Target
shoes: Payless
necklace: Banana Republic, I think?
This week, I've been going out with my friend Chasity (one of the girls who live upstairs that I've mentioned) to take outfit photos. At first, it was a little awkward, of course, but today we went down to the park at the end of our street and got some really awesome shots. I can't wait to show them to you guys! (She's even editing them for me, so I might actually have some professional-blog-quality photos on here soon. I'm a little excited.)

This outfit really makes me feel like fall is pretty much in full swing. It's been getting steadily chillier (until a weird warm day today), but it's definitely tights season. In other news, allergies are kicking my tail. Things have been a little rough the last few mornings, and as I type I have to pause every so often to sniffle a bit. Ugh. I'm just gonna curl up in my sweats and watch me some Grey's Anatomy with those upstairs girls :)

How does your garden grow?

dress: H&M
cardi: thrifted
shoes: Buckle
belt: Target
necklace: don't remember

Last night, Matt and I made dinner with ingredients from our garden! Well...I prepped everything. Matt grilled it :) I used fresh chives, cilantro and garlic to make a semi-Asian influenced pork chop and rice dish. It was pretty good, but more than anything I was just excited to use garden-fresh ingredients! Before long, we'll have fresh peppers, tomatoes and zucchini too! In fact, we'll have more zucchini than we know what to do with...I think we're going to have a lot of zucchini bread in the house ;)

When I get dressed in the morning, I generally have to think in layers. Waiting for (and sometimes riding) the bus means dealing with high temperatures, but my office is seriously frigid. Everyone says that, but I really mean it. When I wore this, I was sitting at my desk with a sweater wrapped around my legs. And it wasn't the sweater I was wearing, either. That's right. I have a backup "office sweater." But it's supposed to hit 100 degrees on Thursday and Friday...maybe it'll finally warm up a bit inside!

Date Night

Last night, Matt and I had date night to celebrate our being together for three years. I know it's a complete cliché, but it certainly doesn't feel like three years have gone by already. We went to the Melting Pot for dinner, and it was amazing! We were going to go see a show with a couple free passes I had, but true to Emma form, I left them at home. Just as well, as we stayed at the Melting Pot for two and a half hours. It was amazing. We did the four course dinner deal, and by the end of it, I had the biggest food baby ever. TMI? Maybe.
No lie, I had to loosen that already-loose belt after dinner. So much food!


Matt was distracting me.

Coverup: thrifted

Shirt: The Limited
Jeggings: Burlington Coat Factory
Belt: Target
Shoes: Payless
Necklaces: New York & Company and gift from Matt
Bracelets: Don't remember

Date night in general is pretty awesome, in my opinion. We don't really get dressed up and go out on dates so much anymore...usually we hang out with friends or stay at home (which is way, way cheaper). Oh, the joys of being broke post-grads.

Anyway, I really like this outfit as a basic date night getup. Usually I'd wear heels with this, but Matt and I are the same height. If I wear my tallest heels, I'm easily six feet. Kind of makes for awkward hand-holding and other silly cute stuff.

I have some really cool photos to share with you guys tomorrow. They seriously blew my mind (they're not mine, unfortunately). Until then!