Fall Floral and Pumpkin Spice

Hmm... This weather has been terrible. Anyone else on the East Coast knows exactly what I'm talking about. Constant rain for almost a whole week! Ugh! Go Away Already! Ok, enough with my mini vent about the abundance rain and on to the outfit.

I was definitely dressing for warmth today and putting on tights for the first time since April was amazing!! The floral dress also seemed like a great transistion piece from summer to fall since it was such a dark print. The long boyfriend cardigan and black vintage boots sort of fell into place with the rest of the outfit and I was good to go for our cool fall wet day! And here's a little secret. I promised myself I wouldn't buy a pumpkin spice latte until is was cool enough to feel like fall. I was so mad that Starbucks started selling the pumpkin spice latte back at the end of August, so I had my own little boycott and held strong...until today. It was heaven scent after getting soaked from my car to the coffee place. And don't you just love what the rain did to my hair! I big curly crunchy mess. I'm glad I didn't bother blow drying my hair today:)

Floral Dress, Thrifted ($3)
Cardigan, Forever21 ($7)
Vintage Boots, Ebay ($20)
Gold Necklace, my Grandmother's

Dimmer Days

How bad I am missing those long summer time hours? It's just a little bit too dark when I get home from work to do my pictures outside. At least with my camera. They turn out blue and fuzzy and the flash just makes me look like a glowing ghost, which might be cool for Halloween;) But for now, when I get home late, I must try inside photos. I set up a make-shift studio for my blog photos, so I don't look like I'm not trying. Hopefully it translates well on the blog!

As for my outfit, this was what I wore to go out to dinner with our couple friends. It seemed appropriate to break out my fall/winter boots since it's been a drizzily, soggy, cool day. And the Little House on the Prairie blouse seemed like the perfect match to my vintage boots. And to top it all off I threw on a little cropped trench coat. This trench coat has been lurking in my closet for about 3 years now and I always forget about it, but this soggy weather practically made the jacket scream at me!

Blouse, Thrifted ($2)
Trench, Gift
Jeans, Charlotte Russe ($20)
Vintage Boots, Ebay ($20)
Necklace, Vintage (Grandma's)
Bracelet, Lia Sophia (free)

Polka Dots and Leopard

My photos from yesterday really gave me a hankering for more fall in my life! It's so sad that there is never really a true fall in southern Virginia. Usually we don't even see the leaves turn colors. Instead they become brown and fall on the ground all in the same week and usually around mid-November when we are still experiencing above normal temperatures. But I think I've discovered a way to remedy this! Mums!!! Lots and lots of mums. They will add a nice fall touch to my bare ugly patio. And if I wanted to get real festive, I could always add a hay bale too:) But I'll try not to get too carried away.

And if you can't tell, I have been bitten by the pattern bug. I love leopard and I love polka dots and never would've put them together until I discovered a similar look in a magazine. I am always amused with myself when I can take a pictorial from a magazine that cost $1000 and translate the same aesthetic for a mere $30. And I'll be honest. I don't love the entire look. After I saw the pictures on the computer I decided that the green glasses seemed out of place. The bright green just competed too much with the overall look. But hey! We all have our moments. Even Heidi Klum, producer of Project Runway misses the mark on the red carpet. Ok...I feel justified now;) haha!!

Blouse, Thrifted ($3)
Black Skinny Jeans, Thrifted ($7)
Leopard print shoes, Thrifted ($12)
Belt, Thrifted ($2)
Glasses, Forever21 ($3)

Whirl Wind Weekend

Well, those lemons sure did turn into lemonade let me tell you! It was really nice to spend some quality time with Zach, our friends, and our pup. And the occasional cocktails made for an enjoyable extra long weekend too;) Thursday night was spent at our friends' place watching the NBC lineup with pizza and fruity cocktails. Then Friday Zach and I spent most of our day doing some retail therapy. We went to H&M, Forever21 and then grabbed lunch at Annie's Pretzels, We also felt the need to head to Thrift Store USA where I proceeded to spend about $17! On four items!! What?! Our Saturday was a little more subdued with a long walk to a community garage sale that supported the homeless. I came away with a couple of items for myself and a cute Paul and Joe blazer for my friend.

And as if the weekend couldn't get any better, I did a Vegetarian Mexican night...for all my non-veggie friends. I made home made re-fried bean enchiladas, a choppy guacamole, sangria, and fondue. The fondue left much to be desired, since I accidentally left the burner on, when I thought I turned it off, but ehh. It still taste okay, it just ended up looking like poo.

Alright, so lets get into my outfit. This is a personal style blog afterall. Since I wanted to pretend it felt like fall I figured I'd go ahead and wear a very autumnal dress. I found this Anna Sui for Target dress at Goodwill and went giddy like a school girl over the print. This silk dress was originally like $60 or something and I ended up getting it for $5. With tags still attached. Love my Goodwill finds. Then I pulled the yellow tones out of the dress by adding mustard accessories.

Dress, Goodwill ($5)
Heels, Thrifted ($4)
Hat, Forever21 (gift)
Necklace and Ring, Borrowed from my sister

Fate's Tricky Hand

Well.....Today was suppose to be spent hanging out with family and enjoying a bit of a family reunion in Ohio, but instead fate decided to throw a nasty wrench in our plans. I'm only doing an outfit post today because I wanted to let off some steam while wearing on of my favorite dresses.

On our way to our destination we decided to pull off at an exit to head to a Chick-fi-la so Zach could take a break from driving and refuel on some chicken breakfast biscuits. It was very dark on this particular exit ramp and neither Zach nor I could make out which way the curve went. And then the accident. When we realized we were heading in the wrong direction of the curve, Zach went ahead and put on his breaks a little too hard and spun out our car and there it went into the guard rail. It was probably the most scary things that ever happened to either of us. I've been in one fender bender, but nothing compared to that. We were okay, but I got a little banged up in my legs and my shoulders. Nothing a little rest and Tylenol can't cure. And of course our car looks like a piece of paper all crumpled up. At least on the front end. I'm thinking it's totaled, but we won't find out till Monday.

Maybe the highlight of the ordeal was when the tow truck driver said, "At least you got to experience one of those movie car crashes!!" At that point I wasn't in the mood for jokes, but he was only trying to make us feel better. So then we were stranded in Richmond, 2 hours away from home, waiting for my Dad to drive up to save us from our ordeal. By the way, we were starving because we never made it to Chick Fi La, so when my Dad came to get us, he decided to treat us to breakfast at Shoneys. That was a breath of fresh air, after 4 hours of just sitting and waiting and calling this person and that person.

So now we are home trying to turn lemons into lemon-aide. I think tomorrow will be spent doing some retail therapy, movie therapy, ice cream therapy...you know...have a vacation. Since that's what we had planned to do.

H&M dress, Platos Closet ($10)
Flats, Ross ($9)
Purse, Fred Flare (gift)

Lovely Sundays

Well that Fall like weather came and went, and it's back to Summer:( Boo!!! But that's ok!! In the next few days Zach and I will be heading up to Ohio, near Cleveland and I can not wait to feel the cooler weather. I've already looked up the weather and it will be in the 60s!!! Yay for tights!! I already have some ideas planned for myself and I can't wait!

Well as you can see by my sunnies and sandals it was rather warm today! But it was still lovely. The warm breeze filled my apartment bedroom and woke me up from my peaceful slumber and I knew it was going to be a great day. I was meeting my friends for church and wanted to look put together but not overly dressed up because I wasn't sure how casual the church was. It was pretty casual, so I was safe in my pretty tree printed dress. And then later on, I met up with Zach for our ritual Sunday Laundry Days. We hung out at my parents for laundry day, and then I headed to the thrift store up the street. It was a pretty lackluster experience at the stand by thrift store. All I came away with was a black cardigan. So yeah, it was meh. I can't wait to experience some Ohio thrifting!! I've heard wonderful things about it from Nickie:)

I hope everyone else had a fun weekend!! I can hardly wait for the next weekend to come!!

H&M Dress, Thrifted ($4)
Ralph Lauren Belt, Thrifted ($4)
Shoes, some store in AZ ($7)
Sunglasses, TJ Maxx ($10)

A Little Hint at Fall

Let me be the first to say how excited I was that I was finally able to layer a jacket over my dress! And a denim jacket at that! Last night we were meeting our friends for a parking lot BBQ (there isn't much yard in our neighborhood) and it was just a tad bit chilly. My denim jacket has been a staple in my wardrobe for about 4 years. I found it at the Gap outlet and gladly shelled out $20 for it. It's a great thing to have in your closet, almost as important as your basic LBD.

Everyone feasted on these awesome steaks, while I munched on my fake Italian sausage and some sweet potato chipotle salad. And we all enjoyed some yummy beers as well. I got my first taste of Corona and found out how much I love it! Now I have something else to drink besides Michelob Ultra...hahaha.. Anyways, I hope that we can continue our BBQs until it gets so cold we can't stand it anymore.

Dress, from Tieka's closet (swap)
Denim Jacket, Gap ($20)
Shoes, Ross ($9)
Necklace, Fred Flare (gift)
Bracelet, Loemahns ($12)
Sunglasses, TJMaxx ($10)

Sunshine Yellow

So sorry for the absence!! It's been almost a whole week since my last post!! I've actually been super duper crazy busy. This past weekend my good friends were getting married so I spent most of the weekend helping them out with any last minute things they needed and Zach and I spent a lot of time with friends visiting for the wedding. Then I had two days off on Monday and Tuesday which were spent in not the most glamorous way. Zach's family was in town to help renovate his old house, so we were busy with cleaning and painting. It's was quite exhausting, but also wonderful to stay busy and be off from work.

After all that, I was excited to get some outfit pictures in. I really love this pale yellow dress and thought it would look pretty against the wooded background in my neighborhood. There's nothing like making the dress the statement in the outfit, so long as you accessorize it with something that pops. The necklace did that for me. I sort of felt like an Easter egg actually. Pastel yellow and pastel blue are definitely not very fall like colors, but I don't feel bad. It feels nothing like fall right now.

I hope everyone is enjoying the rest of their week! I can hardly believe that tomorrow is Friday!

Jcrew Dress, Thrifted ($5)
Flats, Ross ($9)
Vintage Coach Purse, Thrifted ($10)
Vintage Necklace, Thrifted ($4)

Rough Beginnings But Happy Endings

Hmm...This week was a tough one, but I am finally getting back to myself and returning to a more happy version of myself. Sometimes the worst thing you can do is let yourself go so far into a funk that you completely start losing sight of things that make you happy. I've had to remind myself that I'll be okay, but at some point I would start to lose it a little and become back in the dumps. I'm sure we all have those moments in our life, and I'm hoping I can finally put some of these thoughts behind me and move on.

I figured the best way to help brighten my day was to pick out one of my favorite dresses and then hightail it to work while sporting a better attitude. I really do love this dress and pairing it with a simple black cardigan and some flats with a hint of cognac looked very good to me. I also did my hair today:) I bought some fantastic Got2B hairstyling stuff and made myself a blowout to be proud of. So all in all, I could've had a terrible rotten day, but I decided for myself to wake up on the right side of the bed and give myself some confidence.

Now on to the weekend! I have an extra long weekend and won't be at work until Wednesday!

Dress, Urban Outfitters ($10)
Cardigan, Thrifted ($3)
Shoes, Ross ($9)
Coach Purse, Thrifted ($10)

A Ride to Plum Point Park

Well, Zach and I had the day off and were really excited to just spend it together and enjoy some fun times starting early in the morning. I made us breakfast, complete with raspberry pancakes and eggs, then we took off on our bikes! I wanted to document as much as possible on our little ride through our neighborhood. There were so many hidden gems! Including a park I had absolutely no idea existed. You can only get there by bike or walking.

The park is called Plum Point (cute right?) and it is nestled along the Elizabeth River. It's the perfect place to fly a kite, have a picnic, and even study. It's just a nice quiet escape from the real world. I can't wait to go back!

And since I figured it would be a fun time to get outfit shots in, I decided to wear a dress for the first time while riding a bike! I was a little apprehensive, but this dress was the perfect length and nothing got caught or torn. What a great way to start our Labor Day. Now if only I didn't have to go to work on a pesky Tuesday.

Dress, Thrifted ($2)
Sandals, ? ($7)
Purse, Fred Flare (gift)
Sunnies, Forever21 ($3)

Ah...Sundays!!

Well hello there!! Here I am back in pants! hahaha... I actually mistook this tunic as a dress when my friend spotted it at the Goodwill outlet for me. I loved the print and thought it would make a super cute summer dress, but lo and behold it was absolutely ghastly short on me. There's some elastic in the waist and it allows the dress (or tunic) to ride up with each step. Not cute at all. So instead of being indecent, I threw on my skinny jeggings and decided I was good to go. And my dark brown sandals and wooden bangle were the only other accessories I thought necessary. The print on the tunic is enough, in my opinion.

So today is Sunday and I am spending most of my day in this outfit just lounging/running around. Sunday is laundry day, as well as gas up car day, grocery shop day, and other random errands day. I'm so glad that Zach and I have Monday off so we can do something fun! Maybe a movie, or a bike ride, or both! I know he's been itching to see Machete, but I might find something else we can watch together:)

Tunic, Goodwill Outlet (50 cents)
Jeggins, Thrifted ($1)
Sandals, ? ($7)
Bangle, Thrifted ($2)