dress/belt and heels: Target
cardigan: thrifted
necklace: Jane
watch: secondhand (Coach)
Do you guys remember when pattern mixing was A Thing? A few years ago, it was all the rage with bloggers, right up there with color blocking and arm parties. I personally wasn't disappointed to see color blocking go the way of the dodo, as they say, but I think pattern mixing is a fairly classic trend.
I bought this dress back in early summer when it became apparent that I had five weddings on my calendar for 2015 and no appropriate dresses that hadn't already been seen by those particular social crowds. It's great for work too, though, and in the winter it's perfect with a pair of black tights. Although we're still facing unseasonably warm temps, so I feel like I could still get away with wearing this with nude hose if I wanted to. Craziness!
In other news, I now have a second blog (because maintaining one lately isn't enough). You can follow my adventures in portrait photography over at Elfie Photography, my business site. And hey, if you're looking for a newborn or family photographer in Columbus, Ohio, I'm your gal! Mention this blog to get 20% off your first session :)
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?
T-shirt: Old Navy
skirt: JCPenney
heels: Target
necklace: Jane.com
Guys, can we just talk a second about how awesome T-shirts are? Seriously though. They're comfortable, versatile and basically the first item on every "closet staples" list ever made. I love T-shirts; I have more than I could count. A lot are stuffed in drawers--those are the shapeless participation shirts from races, the concert tees that cost $40 but somehow seem worth it, the annual show tops from my marching band and theatre and Greek life days. (Don't get any ideas; I wasn't in a sorority but I did join a couple co-ed scholastic fraternities in college.) Those tees are great, and I love them, but they're usually more sentimental than stylish and are worn more often as PJs or workout tops than as blog-worthy outfits. (Though one has made a couple of appearances around these parts; also, you're welcome for the linkback to the hilariously bad three-year-old post from the very early days of VM.)
But where the shapeless, unflattering T-shirts tend to flop, a nice fitted tee almost never fails. I have many 10 or 15 such tops in various colors and basic patterns, and of course I'm always snapping up "just one more." I think my favorite way to wear them is dressed up for work. It feels like of like cheating the dress code, while still looking professional. But seriously...comfort AND classy attire? Ultimate win.
The key to dressing up a tee for work, I think, is to make sure the rest of your outfit is ultra-polished. Find bottoms that you can tuck the tee into and that compliment the form-fitting-ness of the tee. If I were wearing this outfit with pants, I'd go for a wider leg or maybe some dress capris. If you can add a coordinating belt, you're good to go. (I didn't have any such belt for this outfit, unfortunately, but I think it works nonetheless.) Of course, heels and pearls or another classy statement necklace always lend a sophisticated air to an otherwise casual piece.
How do you like to style your T-shirts?
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?
I may or may not have stolen that word from Sydney, but I'm sure (I hope?) she won't mind. It's a pretty baller word. Anyway we had another (mini) climbing trip this weekend and it was pretty rad for only being a 36-hour trip. Matt and I met our friends at the Red River Gorge Friday night, climbed all of Saturday and then trucked out early Sunday morning so I could get back to Columbus for a dance rehearsal.
If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen some of the snaps I took over the course of the day. I didn't get anyone to take any of me, which is unfortunate because I successfully climbed my hardest route yet. It was a 5.9 in Muir Valley--and if the idea of a "5.9 at the Red" seems familiar to you, that's because it was one of my 25 in 25 bucket-list items. To quote Minus the Bear: Booyah achieved! I actually didn't think I'd make it past the small roof about halfway up the route, as I am terrible at overhung climbing. (If you want some context, here's a shot of the route. The guy in the green shirt is working the roof, and the guy in orange is nearly to the top.) Anyway, I surprised even myself when I managed to pull up past it, and then had the conundrum of trying to figure out how to climb the rest of the route, which I hadn't really looked at because I didn't think I'd make it that far. That one route made my whole day.
Matt climbed an impressive 5.10c that totally blew my mind--the start was nothing but the teeniest little nubbins of rock and iron. Think half-inch nubs and smaller. I swear at one point he was hanging on with one finger on a Peanut M&M-sized hold and a couple fingertips of his other hand on an equally teensy little ledge. *PSHEWWW!* <--sound of my mind being blown again at the memory
And to those of you who aren't such climb-enthusiasts: fear not. I have an outfit post to entertain you as well :)
dress: The Limited via Discount Fashion Warehouse
cardigan: Express via DFWh
heels: Target
necklace: The Limited
bracelet: Etsy
I have been largely anti-peplum since...well, basically forever. But I saw this dress on a semi-recent trip to Discount Fashion Warehouse with Emily and kind of fell in love. The peplum is subtle enough that I don't feel goofy, and the whole thing just has these polished, professional lines that I could not pass up.
It's finally getting warm enough to allow me to do outside photos again, and I'm happy to report that this will (hopefully) be the last indoor shoot you see for a while. Oh, and speaking of warm weather, guess who's going to pick up her freshly painted, now-running-again scooter from the shop this afternoon? THIS GIRL! I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it.
Every once in a while, I'll stumble across a blog post or a pin or some other resource that makes me think, "Doy, why haven't I tried this yet??" Many times, those "doy" moments involve photography and photo editing. I'm still very much a pupil when it comes to shooting in my camera's manual mode, and self-photography is far from an easy way to learn.
I have a bad habit of fidgeting slightly out of place, which throws my focus area off and effectively dooms my photos to blurry, sub-par quality. But I don't always realize this right away, because my camera's preview screen is tiny and sometimes the photos look great until I upload them. This is especially frustrating if I was having a really great hair and/or makeup day on the original shoot.
When I uploaded these photos and realized that some of my favorites were a bit on the blurry side, I decided to take matters into my own hands with some RAW editor sharpening. I'm not entirely sure I'm happy with the result, but I'm still playing with the settings and figuring out what everything does.
I also used another "photo tip" I recently picked up. The tip talked about how wearing lip color can really make a huge difference on a portrait photo. I wasn't wearing any when I shot this, and sure enough, my lips were blending into my face just a tad. So I went in and bumped up the red/magenta hues in the RAW editor just a *wee* bit. The effect was only visible on my lips, and it was pretty subtle. But it made a huuuuge difference. I'm thinking I'll make that the topic of a Makeup Monday post soon (next week?).
blazer: thrifted
blouse: The Limited via Discount Fashion Warehouse
skinnies, heels: Target
necklace: Etsy
I wore this a few weeks ago almost a month ago to a little date night with Matt at The Refectory. His sister and brother-in-law got us a gift card for Christmas, so we used it during a three-course prix fixe special the restaurant was having. It was heavenly, as always, and I was seriously regretting my choice of skinnies and heels by the time I hobbled out after dessert. I was pretty convinced they would have to roll me out, but I managed--somehow!
Actually, if I really wanted to stretch things and tie this outfit in to the "experimenting" theme, I agonized for a while over whether to wear a long or short necklace with this. It's silly, I know, but it was really bothering me. I even texted Emily for advice, because I thought the outfit was very "her." She actually suggested the long necklace, but I was stubborn and went short anyway.
I've discovered that when I ask people for advice, it tends to just be a way for me to gauge my gut reaction to your suggestion and figure out how I really feel. I did this recently by asking all my Facebook friends whether I should grow my hair for the wedding. They all said "grow it out!" and I immediately shouted NO! (in my head) over and over. So there's that.
Ok, so, abrupt subject change. It's honest critique time. Do these photos look a little off, thanks to my artificial sharpening/noise reduction attempt? Or is it all in my head? (And I promise, this isn't a "how do I really feel?" question. I really can't tell if I'm being too picky or not, haha!)
Guys, spring is almost here. It's so close I can practically taste it. Today, I left the house in just my faux-leather jacket...and it was UNZIPPED! DUN DUN DUN!!! And the season being just a few weeks away (we hope) means one thing: Spring fashion is starting to hit the shelves! Today I'm sharing with you a piece from my favorite online retailer, eShakti. If you've been around the blog for any length of time, you might remember some of the other items I've reviewed or purchased. (Can we take a moment to appreciate how glorious my hair looks in that first link? Not gonna lie, it kind of makes me want to grow it out again...)
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Spring is (almost) here, eShakti's spring 2014 line is actually here, and it is totally fabulous. And when they offered to have me review another sample, I was all about it. Once again, I chose a dress, but they have a ton of cute tops and skirts as well. I just really, really, really love their dresses. Seriously, it took me like two hours to find all my favorites and narrow them down to just one item. And here it is:
dress: c/o eShakti (like it? buy it here)
heels: Target
I love dresses that have a little neckline embellishment, thus eliminating the need for a necklace. It's such an easy, hassle-free outfit! Other awesome things about this dress (and most of their dresses, actually) are the pockets (woohoo!) and the built-in-bra-strap-wranglers. They might have an official name, but I like mine better. They're these little straps that snap into place inside the shoulder of the dress, and they do just what my name implies: Prevent those pesky straps from peeking out.
As usual, I used my own measurements to order a custom-sized dress, though I didn't use the "change sleeves/skirt length" options that are available. Naturally, it fits like a dream. I can't wait until spring to wear it to...well, everything :)
Oh, and if you were wondering, here are a few of the other options I considered. So much love!
Are you an eShakti fan? What's your favorite item from this season's collection? Link up in the comments!
dress: H&M
heels: Lane Bryant via Discount Fashion Warehouse
bangles: gifted from Matt's aunt
Confession time: My favorite part about New Year's Eve (aside from copious amounts of bubbly, of course) is getting dressed. It's just so much fun to plan a fancy-pants (or in most cases, no-pants) outfit, do my nails all special, and wear way more makeup than I usually do. The ritual of it just gets to me, ya know? I usually put on some dance music and jam away as I'm getting dressed--this year, it was Grouplove leading into Lady Gaga and Ke$ha. As it turns out, I was more dressed up than most people at the party, but who cares? I felt fancy and I loved it.
So even though it's a full week later, I'm posting what I wore. Relevant? Not really. But definitely needs to be posted. After all, I spent so much time getting dolled up, and then made Matt wait even longer as I cried, "I just need five minutes to shoot blog photos! Five more minutes! Five more!" for fifteen or twenty minutes, I figure I better put these to use :)
(Semi-unrelated: I've just noticed that I didn't get a very good close-up of my favorite "party" look, aka gold eyeliner over winged black eyeliner. I'll have to see if I can find a good shot that I can crop. Stay tuned for an update, if you're into that kind of thing.)
Did you do anything fun for New Year's? Do you prefer to get all fancy, or do you like to keep things pretty low-key?
blouse, skirt: secondhand
blazer: Express via Discount Fashion Warehouse
tights, heels: Target
necklace: gifted
Oh yeah, I went there. Does using words like "chillaxin'" make me cooly ironic, or just dorky? Wait, don't answer that; I've just realized that I don't actually care :)
So I thought this weekend would be a pretty busy one, but it actually turned out to be fairly chill. We went to a friend's housewarming-slash-football-viewing party (Go Bucks!) for most of the day Saturday, then Matt and I ordered in and watched movies the rest of the evening. (Apparently one's day-drinking skills go out the window a few years after college.) And Sunday I did some freelance work while Matt ran errands, and we settled in for some more do-nothing laziness. It was incredible, especially after the chaos of last weekend.
And of course, it's now Monday and I'm wishing for a third consecutive morning of lay-in-bed laziness. Ah, well. I guess I'll never be able to get enough of that :)
On a random note, after looking at these pictures, I've decided it's time to pull another RIT-in-the-washing-machine-dye-job. This blazer is decidedly less black than the tights and shoes. I've done it before, but dyeing clothes in the washer always makes me nervous. Have you ever tried it?
P.S. Hey Columbus-ites, don't forget to enter my giveaway! Ends a week from yesterday. Also, it's pretty damn epic.
blazer and slacks: Express via Discount Fashion Warehouse
blouse: The Limited via DFW
heels: Target
Sorry for my absence yesterday; I had the day off for Columbus Day and used it to the fullest extent. My whole weekend was kind of jam-packed, in fact, but in the best way possible.
Friday night was date night. Matt and I went out to dinner and saw Gravity. Fantastic visuals and audio effects, great soundtrack, lousy script. Seriously, I think I could have written better dialogue. See it in 3D if you go; the effects are absolutely worth it. We had a Groupon, so both tickets, two bags of popcorn and two drinks only cost $21. Not bad for a 3D flick in Columbus.
Saturday we slept in a little, then I went down to Athens for Ohio University's Homecoming. Matt isn't a huge fan of crowds, so he opted to go camping instead. I crashed in my sister's dorm room (she's a freshman) and had a blast catching up with some friends while she was at work. Then I introduced my sis to Anchorman, because (BLASPHEMY!) she'd never seen it. Sunday we hung out some more, saw some folks, enjoyed campus, then I came home and tried to recover ;) ...Hey, it's OU. Always requires some recovery time.
But yesterday I was a whirlwind! I slept in till 8 or so, then started tackling my to-do list. I finally did something about all my purses living on my closet floor, hung a bunch of art in our living rooms, did four loads of laundry, did the dishes, got groceries, and attempted a delicious dinner. (I only say "attempted" because my slow-cooker and I have some issues we need to work out. It's getting to be a problem...) I also worked on a few freelance projects. By the time Matt got home from work, my to-do list was done and I was free to chill with him. Pretty awesome, I say.
So on a completely unrelated note, I'm about to switch over my closet from warm weather clothes to cold weather clothes. I'm thinking these white pants are done for the season. It's a shame, because they're lined and would probably be pretty warm for winter. Any idea how to style these for cold months?
Disclaimer: Most of my outfits are fairly modest/tame, but you are about to see what is undoubtedly the most risqué outfit I've ever posted, and possibly ever worn. It was for a bachelorette party that consisted of nothing but bar-hopping in Columbus' Arena District, where I was actually dressed more modestly than many girls out that night. That said, I felt pretty damn fabulous. Here goes:
dress: Express via Discount Fashion Warehouse
shoes: Lane Bryant via Discount Fashion Warehouse
necklace: Express
bracelet: Etsy
Ok, so it's not THAT bad. But I've never even considered wearing something with mesh-covered cutouts over my waist, back and chest area. I actually felt really awkward and nervous until I got a couple of drinks in me...then all the women in the bathroom kept complimenting me on it and I felt much better, haha. The only downside is that I now need to find another excuse to wear it out. It's not exactly a dinner-date kind of getup...unless I want Matt to look like he hired an escort for dinner ;)
Still. Every time I buy something, it's with the intent to remix it and wear it a billion times. It's kind of nice to splurge on a completely frivolous item! I initially thought the heels would be frivolous too, but they're so comfy and so awesome that I think I'll be wearing them fairly often. The challenge? Styling them for work. Muah ha ha...
Oh, and heads up: I only posted this today because frankly, it seems weird posting such an intense outfit during the week. Like, oh hey, happy Tuesday, here's waaaaaaay more skin than you're used to seeing. Let this serve as inspiration for your weekend, maybe? PARTY ON DUDES.
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!
