Sumsunshine

Keep Austin Weird

2012-01-17T16:30:00.003-05:00

This past week I was in Austin, Texas for work, which is the reason for lack of posting last week. I had little time to really explore Austin but the things I did get to see I really enjoyed. I also got to stay in an amazing hotel with lots of history, so I can't complain. I'll be putting together a full Austin post shortly but wanted to quickly check in. I'll be doing a separate post on the one place I wanted to visit most while I was in Austin... Kendra Scott!

Also Angie over at Angie's Closet is hosting a full giveaway, so don't forget to enter, I already did!

Where's the snow?

2012-01-10T13:38:00.000-05:00

Nelson and I had a great weekend in Lake Placid, NY. However it was missing one thing.... all the snow. In the years we have been going this was the first time it wasn't covered in snow and the lake frozen over for skating. We were slightly bummed but still managed to have a good time.

On New Years Eve we decided to ring in the New Year doing something thrilling.... the skeleton ride down the Olympic course. Now Olympians start at #1 and for us we start at #5 so we pick up significantly less speed but it was still amazing and scary at the same time. Normally they go around 80mph and we only did around 40mph, but you still feel like you could flip off the sled at any second.

Before it was our turn we spent the evening staying warm by the fire outside the track.

We also took silly pictures with the bobsleds. The skeleton track is the same as used for the bobsled.

Almost our turn!

Away I go!

I actually got a really good time, faster than most they said. I could seriously see myself moving and training to do this professionally, I'd love it.

Someone not so happy about coming in 2nd!

After the skeleton ride we finished our NEW YEARS EVE celebration with a tasty dinner and drinks...

..and a stroll around Lake Placid on Main Street.

Perfect start to the New Year!

Happy New Year

2012-01-09T13:24:00.002-05:00

Better Late Than Never!

I wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a fabulous NYE. Husband and I spent the weekend in Lake Placid, NY. I had a nasty cold but still managed to enjoy myself.

I've decided to do the unthinkable for a New Years resolution.... give up chocolate for a year! Husband is giving up soda. We thought it would be fun to learn a lesson in self control and test ourselves with our favorite things that really aren't that good for us anyways. So good riddance chocolate. I cringe just saying that. The positive I didn't give up all sweets so I won't be completely lacking sugar highs!

This will also be the year I spend a lot less on clothing and start shopping my closet more. I'm starting to realize I have more than enough clothing and need to spend more time appreciating what I do have instead of focusing on buying new stuff all the time. That being said the saved money will go towards school loan debt and saving for a new house, one can only deal with a 1 bedroom condo for so long (thankfully it has a TON of closet space).

And there is one other thing I hope the new year brings me, but I'm not saying just yet. And no, it's not a baby for all those hoping. If I have it my way (and I think I will) this won't be the year for children. We'll save that for 2013 perhaps.

My Life in iPhone Pictures

2011-12-29T22:00:00.000-05:00

Christmas morning excitement

Humorous JCrew Gift Card

Christmas Lights at Homestead Gardens

Enjoying my new Kindle Fire

Wearing my new Selbu knitted hat from JCrew even at work

New ballerina painting

Dinner at 2941 in my JCrew moonbeam sequin blazer

Cat naps People naps

The Holiday With Us

2011-12-28T21:36:00.004-05:00

I hope everyone had a Happy Holiday this past weekend. Our weekend was spent spending time with family.

Our Family Holiday Picture.

Christmas Eve my brother and his wife hosted dinner, games and present exchange at their house.

On Christmas day husband and I spent the morning around our Christmas tree exchanging gifts and helping the fur babies open theirs! Afterwards we met up with my mom for ice skating.

We ended the day spending time with Nelson's family, which is always fun, especially seeing our niece and other new niece that was born a week before Christmas. Hope you all had a magical weekend.

The Best Christmas Gift Of All

2011-12-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

My siblings and I all received this email from our mom on Christmas Eve....

Dear Kids,

This Christmas made me think about how tough it is not to have the things you need to celebrate. In all of your names, I donated to the following places to give a little something to those who have even less than me:

Nick: Planted 25 trees in the tornado ravaged area of Alabama through the Arbor Day Foundation.org
Lina: Gave measles vaccinations to 30 children in developing countries through Doctors Without Borders.org
Summer: Bought a dog or cat food for 5 weeks in an animal shelter through the ASPCA.org
Nelson: Gave 8 hours of prepaid phone service for a soldier stationed in Afghanistan to call home during the holidays through Cellphones through Soldiers.com
Zak: Bought 50 books for a school in Africa through Books for Africa.org

To be honest,I didn't come up with this idea on my own. It showed up on my Kindle Fire:

http://www.oprah.com/spirit/How-to-Spend-a-Little-and-Give-a-Lot-Small-Donations

That's not to say I didn't also wrap up a little present for you too.
Merry Christmas Eve!

Mum

I hope you all remembered that Christmas is also about giving to those less fortunate. Of course my mom donated to the ASPCA for me because I'm an animal lover and I'd give up any and all gifts to save the life of a fur baby. Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T11:09:00.000-05:00

From my family to yours,
I would like to wish you all a fabulous, wonderful, exciting, joyful and amazing Christmas with your family and friends.
Love, Toshi "Kitty Clause"

One More Christmas Wish

2011-12-23T11:08:00.000-05:00

When at Macy's I decided to send Santa one last Christmas wish. I can't say what I wished for but it was for something I need so desperately and I'm hoping it comes very soon. And trust me when and if it does I will let you all know.

The Most Beautiful Tree

2011-12-21T23:03:00.006-05:00

Luckily I got to sneak brunch in with some of my favorite girls while I was in the city.

We ate at The Smith, a newer restaurant, it was delicious. I could go for more of their cheese grits right now.

During the short amount of time I lived in NYC Times Square, Rockefeller, and Bryant Park were places I avoided because of crazy crowds and tourists everywhere. This trip, however, it was fun being a tourist and visiting all those places and fighting the crowds. I think I might want to do this every year now.

WICKED

2011-12-21T14:27:00.004-05:00

This past weekend my parents, Nelson and I headed up to NYC to see Wicked! My mom has been obsessed with Wicked for quite some time and as a thank you for handling our wedding we decided this would be the perfect gift for her. Since her birthday is in December I purchased tickets for her birthday weekend, which also happens to be the week before Christmas, my mom loves NYC during Christmas time.

Nelson and I in the theater! They served all their drinks in special reusable Wicked cups, which I loved!

Mom and I

Dad and Nelson

Nelson and I

The stage

The play was AMAZING. I don't normally do well sitting still for too long but this play was so entertaining I didn't even notice. Even my dad and Nelson loved it. Most importantly I could tell my mom had an amazing weekend, immediately following she said she wanted to see it again!

Christmas WishList

2011-12-14T13:47:00.006-05:00

Dear Santa,

I've been good this year, I think, so I have a few (maybe more than a few, sorry) things on my Christmas Wish List. There is also one thing on my list I hope you can talk to Mother Nature about, I'm sure you all are friends, right?

Sincerely,
Summerilla

Every two years Nelson and I like to plan a trip to upstate New York, Lake Placid to be exact and spend a few days skating and playing in the snow. It's usually a winter wonderland up there, which is my favorite type of weather. Every year we go I usually gear my Christmas Wish List toward items I know will keep me warm in the mountains. Of course I still want to look cute while staying warm as well. So I usually layer a ton so I can still stay warm in cute sweater dresses. SO of course I added some cute winter dresses to my list. This year is also all about the shoes for me. There are quite a few on my wishlist (Santa remember I've been good).

THE DRESSES (remember JCrew is having an amazing sale right now, 30% off all orders over $250)

All from Jcrew

The Shoes

JCrew Emmet ankle boot (in tan and black please!)

Sperry for JCrew snow boots

Tory Burch Nathan Flat Booties (both colors!)

The Accessories

From JCrew

And if money grew on trees

Christian Louboutin Ron Ron's in glitter to add to my collection

and the most gorgeous green Proenza Schouler Ps1

and lastly if it's not too much to ask...

SNOW! I would love for lots and lots of snow this winter. And if it's not too much to ask please make sure Mirror Lake in Lake Placid, NY freezes over before December 30th. Thanks!

Sheyna Giveaway Winner!

2011-11-22T10:52:00.003-05:00

I used random.org to pick the giveaway winner. I enter the total amount of entries and hit generate! Congratulations to commenter #4, which is Christina!!!
Email me at summerillablog@gmail.com with the best email to contact you at to claim your prize!

Wedding Wednesday - Photos From the Wedding

2011-11-16T20:16:00.004-05:00

I haven't received the disc with all my wedding photos just yet but I did get a sneak peak of them online. Check out this video our wedding photographer made for us. The song playing is Madonna's "True Blue", which was actually our first dance song. There was quite a few Madonna songs played at our wedding.

Here are a couple of my favorite photos I've seen from our wedding day so far.

My mother and I before my walk down the aisle. I love the silly face I am making.

And for those JCrew lovers, please note how gorgeous my mom looks in the Blakely! She is also wearing the twisted crystal necklace and JCrew heels (not pictured).

Nelson and I in the chapel. We actually did things a little different and met before the actual ceremony to do photos. Our photographer set it up like a real walk down the aisle but it was just him and I and was really quite sweet. I know some people say it's against tradition but I can say seeing Nelson before really calmed my nerves and seeing him alone in the chapel made the moment that much more special between him and I.

And here's another favorite from my personal camera. Our wedding ended earlier, around 9:30pm so a lot of our close friends went to the bar afterward to continue the party. It was fun continuing to celebrate into the early morning.

Love these girls!

When I get the professional photos I will share more, but now that the wedding is over I'm going to get back to my regular OOTD and Fashion Posting!

Don't forget to enter the Sheyna giveaway I have going on as well!

And while my blog friend who runs Angie's Closet is healing from her surgery I will be doing some guest blogging for her. Check out my recent post about how I stay warm and cute in cold weather. And send her some positive vibes for a quick recovery!

Sheyna Giveaway!

2011-11-15T17:47:00.004-05:00

I have an exciting giveaway on the blog this week! Sheyna Jewelry is offering one lucky winner a $20 gift card to spend at their online store. They have great prices so $20 can definitely get you an amazing pair of earrings.

Look at the beautiful gemstone colors!

The Rules:
I will take entries up until November 21, 2011 at midnight and I will chose a winner the following morning.

To Enter (you can earn up to 4 entries):
1) Be a follower of SumSunshine
2) Visit the Sheyna website and tell me what item you would use the gift card to buy
3) Blog or tweet about this giveaway
4) Become a Facebook fan of Summerilla

Leave a comment for each entry!

Honeymoon Part 2 of 2

2011-11-06T20:24:00.006-05:00

During our trip to the Bahamas we spent a good amount of time golfing. The course there was beautiful, right on the water, I lost 6 balls the first round.

Bahamas was also land to stray/feral cats. They were everywhere, even the golf course. This one was actually sweet enough to let me pet her.

Nelson teeing off

Weeeee!

We were also fortunate enough to swim with the dolphins, I had never done this before so I was beyond excited. I didn't love the wet suit though, they make you wear them so tight I felt like I couldn't breath.

We also explored Nassau a bit, here I am visiting one of their historic sites

We ate at the Fish fry! They literally just fry a whole fish and you pick at it, this wasn't for me so I opted out of eating but Nelson enjoyed himself.

After the fish fry we visited the straw market. It was knock off purse heaven, of course I didn't come home with any.... just say no people!

Dinner at the resort one night

Walking around the resort

Nelson and I

The End.

We had such a lovely and amazing time and I can definitely say I'm not adjusting to normal life again well. Being in the Bahamas and having Bahamas Time everyday (this is what I called our nap time) was amazing! If only I got Bahamas Time at work!

A Happy Surprise!

2011-11-06T20:22:00.001-05:00

Friday I received the most amazing surprise from a blog friend, Angela from Angie's Closet (check out her blog!) sent me the sweetest wedding gift.

I opened the box and saw the famous teal box and screeched with excitement!

At this point I was dying to know what was inside....

Gorgeous wine glasses!

Anyone that knows me knows I love my wine! I have never owned anything from Tiffany's other than jewelry and I've always wanted to own something from their home collection and now I do! I couldn't be more thankful for my sweet friend Angela. Of course we received a million fabulous wedding presents but this was such an amazing unexpected surprise. Thank you Angela!

Honeymoon Fun! Post 1 of 2

2011-11-02T19:43:00.007-04:00

I've been meaning to post photos from the wedding and honeymoon since returning from the Bahamas, but I brought home a nasty virus that I haven't been able to kick for 2 weeks and on top of catching up on work, Grad classes, and a kitty emergency I've just had no time for anything else. Thankfully I'm SLOWLY getting better (or so I hope) and kitty is on the mend from one nasty infection that almost cost kitty her tail.

However the week leading up to the wedding, the wedding, and the honeymoon were a dream, a complete fantasy that I'm just not accepting well being over. What am I supposed to do now? I am definitely one of those brides that has serious withdrawal. Can I do it all over again?

Without further complaining :) here are some pictures from the honeymoon.

We ended up deciding to go to the Bahamas since neither of us have ever been.

And we also chose to stay at Atlantis Royal Towers

We also chose the town car pick up from the airport over the taxi, but we got a limo instead which was fun.

Pictures from the trip:

Nelson gifted me a waterproof camera case for my Canon powershot, loved it! Definitely came in handy on the lazy river, water slides, and pools.

Sharks! There is this fun slide you tube down and you go through this tank with sharks all around you. You are in separate area though so no sharks eating people here!

Nelson enjoying his cuban cigar!

More pictures coming soon!

The Wedding Dress - Big Reveal

2011-10-15T17:30:00.001-04:00

Like promised here is the big reveal, of course my hair will be styled different but here are photos taken at my last fitting at Kleinfelds.
If you are reading this I should be officially married by now!

My dress is by Jim Hjelm

The back is my favorite!

Jimmy Choo shoes

Up close of the rhinestone belt

5 Days...

2011-10-10T10:28:00.003-04:00

I know I've been missing in action over here..... we are at a 5 day count down until the wedding and I have a ton of things to get done before the big day. Luckily I have the whole week off work, so I should be able to sneak in some blogging time. I also plan to do a big reveal of my wedding dress on October 15th at 5:30pm on the blog, right when I should officially be married.

Here are those promised photos from my bachelorette weekend in AC!

On the way to AC I always have to stop at Cowtown to take a picture with the cow!

To start the night we had dinner at the palm and my girls threw me a little lingerie themed bridal shower

My fun mom and aunts came along to celebrate as well

After dinner... we attended a show of questionable nature :) and then spent the rest of the evening at the bars dancing.

I had a truly amazing weekend and I'm so thankful for everyone who came out to celebrate!

Recovering from too much fun!

2011-09-29T12:40:00.002-04:00

I had the most amazing bachelorette party in AC over the weekend..... I am still recovering! I promise to post more pictures soon! But I want to say thank you to Lilly, Stephanie, Caiti, Sumira, Clarissa, and my mom and two aunts who made the weekend memorable!

Wedding Wednesday - Bridal Shower Recap

2011-09-21T09:21:00.006-04:00

My shower was so much fun I seriously wish I could do it all over again! The shower had a tea party theme, which I absolutely loved.

Tea cups were bought for every guest. Upon arrival they picked out their tea cup, there was a special note that told them the tea cup was also theirs to keep! Fascinators were also made for each guest to wear as you will see everyone wearing in the photos! And favors were tea bags that were made and had Nelson and I's name and wedding date on them.

Georgetown Cupcakes were served! This was my first time trying them - delicious! Well at least the gluten free version was delicious!

Colorful macarons were also served. This was also my first time trying them, I couldn't believe how delicious they were.

One of the games played was the toilet paper dress game. I thought it was so fun to see my grandmother dressed up in toilet paper.

My flower girl was such a great help with opening my gifts!

She loved all the tissue paper.

Nelson surprised me with a LL Bean tote with my soon to be new initials. Inside was snorkeling gear and a waterproof camera case for my canon. Everything to make the honeymoon that much more fun!

Nelson's family; mom, sisters, aunt and niece were in attendance.

As was my mom, aunts, cousins, sister and soon to be sister in law (November 20th!)

Me and my flower girl

Friends Lilly and Maria

My mom is a knitter and made me this most gorgeous shawl for me. She said it took her a long time to do it - it was absolutely beautiful. The pattern had hearts throughout.

I absolutely love it!

As crafty as she is she also made me this bridal apron.

During the shower Nelson, my dad, uncle and cousin went to play golf - to get the boys out of my aunts house of course!

After cleaning up my mom, myself and my aunt took a much needed break and spent the rest of the evening relaxing - but we didn't take our fascinators off.

One silly picture for the road!! We were supposed to be making funny faces - only Eric got the memo!

I had such an amazing day and want to thank everyone who came and everyone who put their time and energy (and $$) into making this a perfect day for me. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect bridal shower!

Hair and Make-up Trial - Amie Decker

2011-09-18T22:49:00.003-04:00

This past week I had my hair and make-up trial for the wedding. Before I even had a venue I booked Amie Decker Beauty because they came highly recommend by a blog reader Jennifer. After checking out their site I just knew they would be perfect for my big day. I had spoken to them a few times on email so I was really excited to finally meet them both in person for my trial. I am using Amie for my make-up and Kelley from her team for my hair. They were both super friendly and took a real interest in me and how Nelson and I met and information about our wedding. I had been a little nervous going into it but as soon as I met them both and spoke with them I was at complete ease.

For make-up I am doing something soft and romantic. I love what Amie did, I thought it looked beautiful. I kept the make-up on for about 6 hours before washing my face and it lasted the whole time.

For my hair I am going for an up do. I also wanted something soft and romantic. I don't like up do's that are too structured or stiff. Granted it has to be to hold all night and you'd probably never guess there are 82, yes 82 (I counted them when I took them out) bobby pins in there because it looks so light and elegant.

Knowing that I have these two amazing women on my side for my wedding day I know I can be more relaxed.

26 days!!!

New Jacket in Action!

2011-09-18T10:43:00.002-04:00

It got cold fast around here, I'm not complaining though because I prefer cooler weather. I didn't think I'd be able to wear my new Missoni jacket so soon but last night I got the perfect opportunity as we had to attend a friends wedding.

Wearing:
Jacket Missoni
Dress JCrew Taryn strapless in espresso
Shoes Christian Louboutin
Bag Louis Vuitton

Whats not in this picture are Nelson's crutches! We spent the day in urgent care because he sprained his knee playing hockey. Needless to say I'm in a panic - it better heal before our big day! He was a real trooper to still attend the wedding with me last night, he's paying for it today though!

Missoni NOT from Target

2011-09-16T10:36:00.005-04:00

While out shopping with my mom during the past Holiday weekend I found the most adorable Missoni coat, I instantly fell in love and had to have it. It's probably one size too big for me but I think in the winter with layering it will be perfect and I'll be able to wear it longer into the winter season, it was the only size they had left.

Please ignore how insanely messy my house is looking.... 29 days until the wedding and we are getting packages almost everyday with stuff for the big day and it's taking over the house!

I love the cute buttons on the front

M on the buttons!

I also love that throughout the coat there are little M's, they aren't super noticeable but it's a cute little addition.

Side view.

Note: This isn't the outfit I'd likely wear with this coat, I just threw it over top what I was wearing to photograph it.

Wearing underneath: JCrew Jaspe sweatshirt, Citizen jeans, Tory Burch camo sneakers with orange detailing.

Briday Shower

2011-09-12T11:00:00.002-04:00

Saturday was my bridal shower, it had originally been scheduled for August 26th but because of the hurricane it was rescheduled for September 10th. I had an amazing time and so thankful for all those that showed up and helped me celebrate.

I'll leave you with these two photos for now and of course there will be a lot more coming!!

You might recognize the lovely Dina from My Superfluities.

And of course the always beautiful Slastena from About All and Nothing At All.

Thank you Dina and Slastena for being a part of my special day!

Lots more pictures coming - promise!

Jcrew Cowlneck Poncho

2011-09-08T08:00:00.000-04:00

When I saw the JCrew Cowlneck poncho online and in the catalog I knew I had to own it. I've been trying to do more saving and less spending lately so I'm really only adding pieces to my closet I can't live without and will get a lot of uses. Unfortunately once receiving the poncho I was underwhelmed and knew it didn't fit my criteria to keep it.

Wearing the XS, which felt huge on me and I really disliked the look of the collar. I also found the material to be quite itchy. When I took this into the B&M to return it I also tried on the XXS and it was still big on me so it definitely got returned.

Online it looked so comfortable and cozy but sadly in person it just felt rough and boxy.

Pass for me.

Wedding Wednesday - The Little Things

2011-09-06T22:33:00.005-04:00

I'm sure I've said it before but through the wedding planning process I have come to love Etsy. I have had nothing but positive experiences with the sellers I have worked with and found the cutest wedding accessories for amazing prices. For me this wedding is all about the small special details. Recently I ordered some special boxes to put part of our groomsmen and bridesmaid gifts in, I wanted them to fit the theme of the wedding and be more unique then normal gift boxes. I came across a seller, PHOTOMAMAREGINA, who makes the cutest gift boxes. So I messaged her and she created the most gorgeous boxes for me. Now so there are no spoilers for my bridesmaids who read this I won't show a picture of the actual boxes I had made for them but I will show the ones made for our groomsmen since I know none of them are reading!

Aren't they adorable? Little brown tuxedo boxes with green bow ties. I almost died from the cuteness! These are going to be perfect for their cuff links.

Here are some examples of her work I got from her etsy site:

I love this lion one!

Not only are these perfect for our wedding gifts but they can be used for tons of other gifts and occasions. I'm trying to think of what else I could use these boxes for..... upcoming birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries! Everyone will be getting one of these boxes from me! Had we not have already ordered our favor boxes for the wedding I would have definitely done these for those as well.

*I would just like to say none of these etsy sellers are paying me for these reviews or giving me gifts in return. I ordered these boxes and paid for them just like everyone else. I'm only reviewing them because I love their work and think it's definitely worth sharing!*

Pictures from Labor Day

2011-09-06T11:09:00.004-04:00

These three photos sum up my Labor Day weekend perfectly

Nothing like spending a holiday weekend with my family playing golf and eating crabs! Yum!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Wedding Wednesday - Kleinfeld Fitting

2011-08-31T21:27:00.006-04:00

This past Friday I had my first dress fitting at Kleinfeld. I was beyond excited to finally see my dress again... of course I can't share it for another 45 days (it's getting so close)!

What I'm wearing: Dress JCrew, Cardigan JCrew, Shoes Tory Burch, Purse Louis Vuitton, Sunglasses Dior.

Me and my dress box!

My mom and I are convinced they don't actually ship your dress! I can't even imagine how they fit it in there. When you check in for your appointment they take it away and I'm sure they do a little switch and my dress was really there the whole time. If it really was in that box I'd love to hear their secret!

If you've ever watched "Say Yes To The Dress" then you know the #1 thing Kleinfeld hates to hear, "This isn't my dress" well that sadly is EXACTLY what they heard when I saw my dress. There was this big flower on the front that wasn't there when I tried it on originally. I guess it had fallen off and never replaced in the show room. So of course I was QUITE surprised to see it. Luckily it was an easy fix... snip snip went the flower!

My dad made the trip with us this time, it was the first time he had seen my dress. It was amazing having both of my parents there to share this with.

What's in the bag? Well lets say the Louboutins I had bought to go with my dress just didn't look right so I found a better option at Kleinfelds. All I will say is these are my first pair of Jimmy Choos but you'll have to wait to see which ones - Thanks mom and dad!

JCrew Fall '11 Wishlist

2011-08-29T11:41:00.002-04:00

Here is my JCrew Fall Wishlist!

Bootcut cords - Muslin and weathered rose

Crystal sunburst earrings in the Emerald green - gorgeous! The green sold out online but my PS found them in stores for me! Hopefully they will arrive soon!

Poncho! I actually just received this one last week... IRL photos coming soon!

Solong sweatshirt tunic - both colors please!

Cashmere popover hoodie in the classic pine! I love this new shade of green!

Cashmere shawl cardigan in the classic pine!

Cashmere henley in the bright dahlia!

Jardin skirt - I got the gray for my birthday but I would love to get the purple!

Billie Buckle Boots - I want these in the warm sienna and the warm gray. I wish they had zippers though because I always struggle with pull on boots but I might be willing to give these a try.

Sperry for JCrew Top-Sider Boots! This will be perfect for my upcoming trip to Lake Placid this winter!

Can't forget the comfortable weekend wear!

Ultra Knit sweat pants - heather camel and henna!

2011-08-26T08:00:00.000-04:00

Saturday, August 20th Nelson and I attended a friends wedding. The couple enjoy golf so much that they decided to get married on a golf course. It was a really beautiful setting.

What I wore: Tracy Reese dress, Silver Christian Louboutins and a flower in my hair from H&M.

Our friends Laurel and Mike

Our beautiful friends Ben and Jessie, who is due in the next couple of weeks and I just can't wait!

Our friends Kristen and Mike (the best man and brother of the groom)

And the happy couple cutting their cake!

This makes wedding 4 we attended so far this year, we have one more to attend before ours and then 2 more after ours. This is seriously the year of weddings for us and we have been having so much fun being part of everyone's special day.

Tie the Knot Thursday

2011-08-25T08:00:00.000-04:00

Now that we are getting so close to the wedding so much is happening...all at once it feels like. So wedding Wednesday is expanding to Tie the Knot Thursday!

Last weekend Nelson and I had our food tasting at our venue. We selected 4 entrees to try.

And since my mother and I don't eat meat.... here are our food tasters!

Nelson, Nelson's sister Amanda, Nelson's mom, My dad and of course my mom was there too!

They paid attention to taste and my mom and I focused on presentation. I forgot to take a photo of all we tried but here are two....

Chicken Alexander

SalmonEveryone said the food was amazing, way better than the standard wedding food and we were able to quickly decide on what we would serve.... but you'll have to wait to find out!

After the food tasting we took a little tour around the venue because Nelson's mom and sister hadn't visited.

I love the rocking chairs on the porch.

Quote inside the bridal cottage.

And a new addition to the venue, this gorgeous arch, which I hope is still blooming in October!

Wedding Wednesday - The Invitations

2011-08-24T08:00:00.001-04:00

Our invitations went out a couple weeks ago and now I can finally share them. We order these from Paper Source.

The invitations open up and a little pocket on the side holds the reply card and the return envelope.

The invitation has this adorable raised leaf pattern around the edges.

And the envelope liner matches the invitation closure.

Outside envelopes and return envelope addresses were done by an amazing calligrapher that we have received nothing but compliments on. Below is an example of her work, that is similar to how ours were done.

I can't rave enough about her work, I've said it before and I'll say it again if you are looking for a Calligrapher look no further! Visit her etsy shop Rachel Carl & Co! We couldn't have been happier with our envelopes and her prices are amazing!

Sequins and Birthday Candles.

2011-08-23T08:00:00.000-04:00

My birthday was now a little bit ago but I wanted to share these photos. A few friends and I got together for dinner and drinks to celebrate.

My friend Maria and I.

Blowing out my birthday candle, on Maria's brownie since this gluten free girl couldn't eat it. It was cute of them to do this for me!

I did get to enjoy this though.. YUM!

Group shot: Mike, Nelson, Lilly, Me, Maria, Tyler, and Sonja! Thanks for celebrating with me!

What I am wearing: Parker sequin cami, Citizen jeans, and Tory Burch red thora sandals.

It's HERE!

2011-08-22T08:00:00.000-04:00

You have no idea HOW HAPPY I am to report that my dress is finally here! My mom was wonderful enough to spend the day hanging out at my house this past Friday to wait for the Fedex man to deliver my dress, signature confirmations and work just don't mix well for me.

Now the sad part is I can't open the box! For liability reasons Kleinfelds policy is that you are not allowed to open it before your first fitting, but they ship it because if you live out of state they can save you NYC's insane tax rate! My first fitting is schedule for this coming Friday, August 26th in NYC and we take the dress with us back to Kleinfelds where they will open it and I will FINALLY get to see it again after 9+ months!

Since having the box at my house would have been pure TORTURE my mother was also kind enough to take it home with her and snap these pictures for me! I would seriously like to know how my dress fit in such a small box!

55 days to go and then I will finally be able to share what's inside this box!

Wedding Wednesday - The Food

2011-08-10T09:25:00.002-04:00

This Saturday is our food tasting at our wedding venue, I couldn't be more excited! I really have no idea why I am excited though because I won't be doing any of the tasting really because everything is meat. However, I know Nelson and my dad have really been looking forward to this day! Food, cake, and alcohol were the big areas my dad and Nelson wanted to make decisions on.... the rest was left to my mom and I.

We have decided to do a plated meal at the wedding. Each guest will get a starter salad and entree. The entree will include two meat options, a starch and vegetable. I always thought it was standard that guests had the option of beef or fish (or other options), but at our venue they just get both, which seems like the norm now with the other weddings we attended. Now the tricky part is deciding on two meat options that will work well together. Luckily they do have some vegetarian options, since there are a few in my family, but the vegetarian option is pasta so that is out for this gluten free lady.

What did you serve at your wedding? Or did you attend a wedding and there was something served that was just amazing? I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions on wedding food!

Another Year Older!

2011-08-08T22:05:00.002-04:00

Today marks another year older! 28 to be exact!

Today I am spending the day in work meetings but on Sunday Nelson took me out to Reston Town Center for some shopping and lunch. Even though I live so close to Tysons and Tysons Galleria Malls I prefer the town center, I love walking outside and the atmosphere there.

Wearing: JCrew Selia eyelet dress, JCrew perfect fit mixed tape cardigan, Tory Burch bleach Reva's, LV neverfull.

Me at the town center after I picked up a few things and lost the cardigan because it was hot!

After lunch we went to Baskin Robbins to finish the day!

Perfect Birthday!

I'll share some of the stuff I picked up in a coming post!

Wedding Wednesday - Calligraphy

2011-08-03T10:29:00.005-04:00

Recently we received our wedding invitation envelopes back in the mail from the calligrapher. I want to share this because she did such an amazing job and we had a tough time finding a calligrapher. I thought the standard was to always use a calligrapher for your wedding invitations but Nelson and I have received 5 friends wedding invitations this summer and none of them have used one. My mom and I definitely agreed on having a calligrapher for the wedding invitations, it was a must! We spent a lot of time researching and trying to find the perfect person for the job.

We actually ended our search on Etsy and I'm so glad we thought to look there. We ended up hiring a lady named Rachel, who is based in Texas. She did such an amazing job and I highly recommend her to anyone looking for a calligrapher. Her prices were completely reasonable, in fact we came way under budget for this.

Here are some examples of her amazing work:

Though I can't show you my envelopes in full because of having to show either a friend/family members address, here are my return address envelopes and of course I had to mark it up quite a bit to protect my own address, but you can get a feel for her work.

Here is an image I borrowed from her shop on Etsy.

We are down to 73 more days until the wedding. I feel like it's right around the corner. I can't wait until all is done and I can share with everyone my dress and more details. Our wedding invitations will be going out in the mail in the next couple weeks and as soon as they make their way to guests I will post photos of them, they are truly beautiful!

Wedding Wednesday - The Rehearsal Dinner

2011-07-27T09:36:00.000-04:00

When we were booking our wedding venue we took a drive around the area and found that there was this cute restaurant that also hosted weddings just a couple miles down the road. After also having the place recommended by my friend Heidi we thought it would be the perfect place to schedule our rehearsal dinner. It was quite elegant and vintage on the inside and had the most amazing views of SugarLoaf Mountain.

The inside.

The view.

The Comus Inn sign and Me!

Wearing: Dress is Theory from many years ago, cardigan JCrew space dyed, Bag Louis Vuitton bandouliere and shoes are Tory Burch bleach Thoras's (I'm getting a lot of wear out of these this summer).

The outside.
However just recently after doing the guest list we realized the beautiful room we booked for our rehearsal just wasn't going to fit everyone. Our only options were to use two separate rooms within the restaurant, which would mean separating our guests or change venues. So we spent a whole week researching new venues so we could weigh our options. We ended up finding a new venue but the atmosphere is much different from what we had originally envisioned. Below is a picture of the new venue, it's a restaurant and tavern and will accommodate everyone.

However, after thinking we decided that perhaps this more low key restaurant was a good thing and that guests will be able to have fun and enjoy themselves before the wedding the next day.

So readers, where did you host your rehearsal dinner or where have you always envisioned the perfect rehearsal dinner?

Off to California....

2011-07-26T09:42:00.000-04:00

Nope I am not headed to California but our friends are. Our friends Heidi and Jason have decided to make the move to California and to say goodbye we met for dinner at Chef Geoff's in Downtown DC the night before Heidi left. Because of work commitments Jason won't be leaving until mid-August so round two of going away festivities are still to come.

I'll definitely be missing them but I know I will see them again, it's goodbye for now but not forever.

And here is a new fur baby picture, Toshi doesn't look very happy here!!

What I wore: Dress from JCrew, Shoes Tory Burch, Necklace JCrew.

Fenwick Island

2011-07-25T15:10:00.000-04:00

A couple weekends ago Nelson and I were invited to spend the weekend with friends at the beach house they had rented for the week. I am saving up all my vacation time for the wedding/honeymoon so we had to make it a short weekend trip.

Upon arriving we took the elevator in the beach house up to the guest rooms.

Wearing: JCrew white pants 1035 trouser in superfine cotton (wearing a size 2, these fit beautifully and I highly recommend them), JCrew Jaspe sweatshirt, Tiffany skate charm bracelet, Tory Burch bleach colored Thora flip flops, And my LV keepall, neverfull, and Bandouliere (I have a friend who reads my blog that is probably rolling her eyes at my bag choices for the weekend.... right Steph?)

The trip was so relaxing; we spent time at the beach and the pool.

Friends
at the beach

While there the boys decided to make a bacon explosion, yes it's a real thing. You can read all about it here. Obviously the vegetarian I am didn't eat any of this but the boys all said it was really good and no one had a heart attack after eating it thankfully!

Nelson and I

It was a great weekend and I hope to make it back to the beach again before the summer is over!

Christian Louboutin - The Red Sole

2011-07-22T10:01:00.000-04:00

Doing the post of my friend Jessie's baby shower reminded me of a post I have been meaning to do for a VERY long time. As many of you know from my closet tour post I own a few pairs of CL's, when deciding on which ones I would buy I focused on styles I know I would wear and keep forever. When making such an investment purchase, I try to make sure the cost per wear will be reasonable.
The five styles I have purchased so far are the black simple 85's, nude pumps, leopard pumps, gold dress heels, and silver dress heels. I would really like to add a pair of dark brown pumps to my collection at some point too. I'll admit that I have an addiction to certain brands and I love that you can point out a gorgeous CL pump by their red soles. I have often asked myself though if the red sole was really worth the $600+ price tag? Of course his shoes are gorgeous and pretty comfortable, but really are girls buying them for the status symbol that comes with that visible red sole that screams look at my CL's?

So back to my friend Jessie. One night at a friends engagement party I spotted her from across the room and instantly saw those bright red soles on the bottom of her feet. So of course I complemented her on her shoes and she let me in on a little secret. They weren't CL's at all and in fact she had her husband spray paint the bottom of her patent leather pumps red for fun.

Of course a true CL aficionado would probably be able to look at certain styles and know they aren't CL's but I'm guessing 99% of the population would never know the difference and would just assume they were CL's, I was one of them.

So after talking to her I later did some research on this and found that they even sell products to put on your soles to make them red, I found these and these on Ebay. What do I think of this? Well I think it's brilliant!

A Confession - About Tattoos

2011-07-21T12:17:00.008-04:00

*** Disclaimer I in NO WAY Judge people with tattoos in fact a ton of friends and family have them, they just weren't for me***

A little secret about me....looking at me you might not think I'd be the person that would have tattoos but I do. Which shortly after getting them realized they were a complete mistake and regretted doing it. I was 17 and stupid (yes 17 and you can only imagine what happened when I came home with it, my mom nearly killed me). My rebellious period lasted about 10 minutes and sadly what I did to rebel was permanent at the time. Of course at my age I followed the trend and had my named tattooed on myself in Chinese, it seemed like the thing to do then. But it was wrong, so very wrong. And a fish? So much more wrong.

Here's what my embarrassment (as I call it) looks like:

For years I have regretted this and finally yesterday I took the plunge to do something about it. I had my very first laser tattoo removal treatment. I felt like sharing this because I know there are probably a ton of people who would be interested in hearing exactly how it works and everything that comes with it. So even though I talk about fashion I decided to take a break for a second today to talk about tattoo removal.

For starters, it's not cheap. My tattoo is very small about 2 inches by 4 inches and I'm lucky that it's mostly black, which is the easiest and cheapest to have removed. Yellow and green are apparently the hardest and most expensive. Luckily at one time that silly looking fish was yellow but over the course of it's life on my skin the color has completely faded on it's own, which I am thankful the tattoo shop did such a poor job on it. I've heard tattoo places often don't go as deep with the color because they want you to come back often for touch ups, well not this girl, because 1 week after getting it all I could think about was getting it off. My first treatment cost $270 and each treatment will cost the same, it all depends on size and color. Also it depends on the number of treatments for me he said between 4-8, like I said not cheap considering the tattoo cost maybe $100.

Secondly it's pretty painful! The laser treatment hurts more than getting the tattoo and they don't do a lot to numb you of the pain. They blew some cold air on my skin during the procedure to help numb my nerves but it did nothing, it hurt the whole time. The plus is that it only lasted about 20 minutes or so and then I was done. It hurt a little after it, felt like my skin had been burned but only lasted a couple of hours and since then I have had no pain. I will save the gross pictures of what it looks like now to myself but as it heals and fades I will post those photos so you can get an idea of how affective one treatment might be. As for the healing, the skin acts much like a burn, it blisters and scabs but it's manageable.

Recovery includes no swimming and no sun exposure until the scabs and blisters have healed and then after it must always have sunscreen on it. Vaseline is applied throughout the day and it should be kept loosely bandaged with gauze.

Even though it's expensive and painful I'm happy to know that by next bikini season I will be feeling more confident about my skin. And for those considering a tattoo, make sure you 100% know in 10 years you will still want it because they might not be permanent anymore but to remove them isn't as easy or cheap as it was to get it!

Pretty in Pink for Baby

2011-07-19T09:30:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I attended a baby shower for my friend Jessie who is expecting in September. Because of busy schedules it was the first time I had seen her since her little baby belly has grown. Doesn't she have the cutest baby bump?

Jessie and I

Of course this was another opportunity for my mom to knit baby booties. She loves knitting things for babies and since she has no grandchildren yet she loves when my friends are expecting.

Jessie's mom and sister in law came up with the cutest idea of asking guests to also bring a book to start the baby's library. She received so many books (the photo shows maybe 1/4 of what she received), this baby is going to be well read.

All the gifts!

What I wore:
Dress: JCrew pink shelby dress
Shoes: JCrew silver T-strap sandals
Jewelry: JCrew Collection pearl bracelet and earrings

A little fun!

2011-07-17T21:39:00.002-04:00

Wedding planning, graduate classes, work and everything else is talking up a ton of time but I'm making it a point to keep fitting in some fun to keep my sanity.

This past Saturday night Nelson and I met up with my friend Lilly and her boyfriend for dinner and drinks.

We laughed the whole night, I needed it.

In 3 Months...

2011-07-15T11:49:00.002-04:00

In exactly 3 months today I will be walking down the aisle and marrying my best friend. Tomorrow also marks 1 year since the day Nelson asked me to marry him! There are so many exciting events coming with bridal showers, bachelorette parties, dress alterations at Kleinfeld's in NYC and more. I can't wait for all the fun to begin and we are in final crunch time! Right now our calligrapher is working on our wedding invitations and I'm feeling a sense of excitement now that the day is getting closer and closer. I can't wait to share it all with my readers!

Denver

2011-07-12T08:36:00.003-04:00

Recently for work I had to travel to Denver for a week. Sadly on my work trips I never really have time to see the cities I am staying in, but I did make it out of the hotel briefly one day on a two block walk to an off site event, yep two blocks is the furthest I made it around the city.

Here I am on my two block walk:

Top: JCrew favorite fit tank
Sweatshirt: JCrew Jaspe zip up hoodie
Pants: 7 for all mankind cropped jeans
Shoes: Tory Burch Thora's in bleach
Bag: Louis Vuitton
Sunglasses: Dior

Outside our hotel was this pretty ballerina sculpture. I absolutely loved it and something about it was very calming to me.

Even though I was there a whole week I managed to only take one OOTD photo.

Wearing:
Dress: JCrew knit black dress
Sweater: JCrew cashmere v-neck cardigan
Shoes: Burberry plaid flats

One thing I liked about the city was how bright it was at night, this was the view from my hotel room.

All and all Denver was okay, from what I did see I imagine I'd probably like more places outside of the downtown city. The city had some cute restaurants and shops, it would have been nice if I had more time to see things.

Skinny Girl and Ikat

2011-07-10T08:15:00.003-04:00

Over July 4th weekend I met up with my friend Lilly in Baltimore to enjoy some Skinny Girl Margaritas! We spent the evening on her rooftop deck!

I'm wearing: The JCrew ikat dress in purple and Tory Burch white Thora Sandals
Lilly is wearing: A 5/48 dress (From Saks) and Tory Burch pink sandals

As the sun went down the drinks continued to pour!

And on this day July 10th I want to wish my dear friend Lilly a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Pretty in Pink

2011-07-08T11:21:00.000-04:00

Here is a casual weekend outfit I wore a couple weekends ago to go shopping with the men in my family for their Tux's for the wedding. Instead of renting, Nelson, my dad, and two brothers opted to buy them because they received such a good deal (I'll post on this during one of the Wedding Wednesdays!).

Wearing:
Shirt: JCrew eyelet cami in white, size 0 (This has seriously become one of my favorite summer staples, I wish I had bought it in more colors)
Cardigan: JCrew Perfect Fit Mixed Tape Cardigan in XS
Pants: Citizen Jeans
Shoes: Tort Burch Thora's in bleach (another favorite summer staple)
Hair: H&M floral clip

I wanted to add a touch of fun and summer into my outfit so I decided to wear one of my H&M floral clips in my hair. H&M has the best little accessories for your hair, I bought a set that came with two (the other is a pretty turquoise) and I know they didn't cost for than $4. I paired it with a fun messy bun.

What do you think? My hair is getting very long and I'm having issues styling it. I'm letting it grow until September 12th (which is my hair/make-up trial for the wedding). I'm going to have them cut my hair to fit the style I want so I figured just letting it grow until then will probably be best.

Happy Friday! I hope everyone has a great weekend, I'm off to the beach for the weekend after work today.

Modern Red

2011-07-07T11:44:00.000-04:00

4th of July weekend was very busy for us. Saturday we spent some time in Baltimore at a friends (post coming soon), Sunday we visited my parents, along with my brother and his fiance for a yearly tradition of golf and crabs. Sadly this year I couldn't play golf because I ruptured a disc in my back (which also accounts for my lack of posting last week since I worked from home and lived in sweats the entire week), and then on Monday we attended a BBQ with Nelson's friends.

To be festive for the BBQ I decided to wear JCrew's modern red linen tessa top. (Buy it Here on Sale, it also comes in other cute colors, I picked up the navy as well) I'm wearing a size 0, runs a little big in my opinion. I paired it with jeans, my white Tory Burch Thora flip flops (Buy Here), the color is actually called bleach), Jcrew Collection pearl bracelet (Buy here) and earrings (Buy Here) , and my Louis Vuitton damier azur neverfull.

The BBQ was a lot of fun but I was happy to get home to my fur babies and spend the rest of the day on the couch mentally preparing for the work week ahead.

Kisses for Baby Fia.
And Hugs for my Toshi.

Hope everyone had a great Holiday weekend! Did anyone else wear modern red to celebrate?

Wedding Wednesday - The Guests

2011-07-05T20:19:00.003-04:00

Recently my cousin and his amazing fiance officially tied the knot! It was a completely magical evening and it was the first big family wedding we have had in years.

Here is the happy couple sharing their first dance as husband and wife.

My mother and I. The wedding took place at Celebrations on the Bay and the background with the water couldn't have been more pretty.

Nelson and I.

My parents enjoying the evening.

This year Nelson and I have 7 (possibly 8 because my brother recently became engaged) weddings to attend celebrating friends and family. Each wedding becomes more magical and we have been enjoying being the wedding guests. But in just a little more than 3 months it will be our turn to be bride and groom and experience our own magical night!

The City that owns my heart!

2011-06-24T07:29:00.001-04:00

I'm a little late in posting this but for Memorial Day weekend my friend Maria and I headed north to New York City to visit with friends. It's no surprise how much I miss and love the city and I was excited to get away for a girls weekend.

Saturday we spent time shopping on 5th Ave and then stopped in at Brother Jimmy's for food and drinks (they have a few locations throughout the city). We ordered the swamp water, which is always fun to drink. Though it's considered a cocktail, it's more show than alcohol, but still fun to enjoy! Us four girls shared it and then ordered much stronger cocktails after.

Jen and Maria

Me and Stephanie enjoying our swamp water.

On Sunday morning Maria and I took the Summerilla Sex & The City tour, that's right I took her to all the places I used to most visit when I lived in the city. Go ahead laugh now.... the tour even included my regularly visited grocery store and Duane Reade. Of course among our stops was my old apartment. I don't mind saying where I lived now since I no longer live there but right here at 512 E80th is where I once called home for a short while. I might also add that after a few drinks on Saturday night I proceeded to remind my friends I used to live here about 20x's during my stumble to the hotel.

After a trip down memory lane we stopped in at Carl Shurz Park to watch the sailboats float by.

The day ended with pedicures at Dashing Diva's with some of my favorite ladies followed by margarita's at Mustang Grill & Tequila Lounge .

Denise, Jen, Me, and Lacey!
Looking forward to more NYC trips over the summer for my upcoming dress fittings!

Stripes & Golf

2011-06-23T07:27:00.001-04:00

For Fathers Day my sister and I took my dad to TopGolf in Alexandria. I'm pretty sure I've posted about this place before but if not it's like golf, darts and skee ball all wrapped into one sport. The purpose is to drive the ball and hit targets out in the grass to earn points. It's really a lot of fun and pretty affordable. For those not in Virginia they have locations in Illinois and Texas and the UK for those outside the US. For Father's Day they offered package deals that included drinks, lunch and dessert (none of which I could eat but I still enjoyed the day)!

Wearing: JCrew striped top, navy shorts, Tretorn white suede sneakers.

My sister, her boyfriend, my dad, me and Nelson.

A little Lilly in my life!

2011-06-21T19:24:00.006-04:00

I recently ordered my first Lilly Pulitzer Dresses online from Rue La La, at only $50 each I decided to take a chance even though I had never tried on her clothes before and didn't know about sizing. I ordered an XS in both and hoped they'd fit. Luckily they both fit perfectly and arrived just in time to wear to a friends wedding.

Me, My Best Friend Caiti and her daughter Luci.

Our friends opted for a casual wedding. They rented a house in Chestertown, Maryland and served Chesapeake Bay crabs. It was a lot of fun, very relaxing.

Girls in pretty dresses. My Lilly dress is called Sadie.

I seriously love this picture of all of us, clearly no one was ready for this picture.

Here is the second Lilly P. dress I bought. This one is the Jolie. It has a cute lipstick, heart, and love print to it.

Both dresses are made out of a soft ponte knit fabric. Definitely recommend.

Also don't forget to follow Summerilla on FACEBOOK and TWITTER

To the Max!

2011-06-12T10:10:00.006-04:00

Top: JCrew Vintage V-neck Tee

Skirt: H&M black linen maxi-skirt

Belt: JCrew brown leather belt

Scarf: Louis Vuitton

Bag: Louis Vuitton

Shoes: Tory Burch Thora black patent flip flops

Without the scarf

Side view, I think it looks funny with the wind blowing me away.

Pouty face? I promise I was having a great day! The sun was just in my eyes.

Sumsunshine has a Facebook!

2011-06-10T13:20:00.001-04:00

Now you Can Like Sumsunshine on Facebook!

Bag Lady

2011-06-02T21:22:00.002-04:00

My friends always tell me I over pack when it comes to vacations. I don't over pack my clothes though, just my purses. I always have to make sure I have a purse for every occasion. This past Memorial Day weekend I went to NYC with my friend Maria to visit friends in the city. My friend Maria snapped this photo of me on the streets because she wanted to point out how much of a bag lady I looked like. Sadly I have to admit that inside my LV keepall I also have my mono neverfull packed. So it wasn't until seeing this picture that I realized I might, just might, have a serious purse packing problem. Am I the only one?

Dress: H&M (on sale for $14.99)

Shoes: Tory Burch Thora sandals in black patent

Purses: LV Speedy Bandouliere, Chanel PST, Gucci Joy Tote

Luggage: LV Keepall 55

I had a great time in the city and promise to share more photos soon.

All About The Maxi Dress

2011-05-26T08:00:00.000-04:00

J.Crew Knit Maxi Dress Reviews

The Summerstock Maxi Dress

Wearing an XS, loved the color but WAY too low cut for my comfort. Had the top not been so low it probably would have been a keeper.

Summerstock back

The Amie Maxi Dress

Cute but for the price it just wasn't cute enough, wearing an XS. For the style and quality I knew I could probably find this somewhere else for way less.

Doria Dress

Wearing an XS. I also tried the XXS, which fit better in the top but was about an inch shorter and I didn't like that.

Back of the Doria

Definitely recommend the Doria dress.

Wedding Wednesday - Engagement Photos

2011-05-25T08:00:00.001-04:00

I just remembered I never shared more engagement photos with you all. Friends recently asked us if we thought it was worth it to get engagement photos. Honestly, we didn't plan on posting an announcement in the paper, but we had originally planned to use them for our Save the Dates. If you remember back from our Save the Date post we ended up going with something completely different and instead used our photos for our wedding website. I think engagement photos are good if you have a purpose in mind but aren't completely necessary to do.

However, I have to show off these custom signs we had made by Signs of Vintage on Etsy. The signs were absolutely beautiful and had the vintage look we were going for. Also visit her other site for the cutest cake toppers! We purchased a few different sets, but the only ones I can share right now our the Save the Date ones.

I highly recommend Signs of Vintage. She is very busy so I recommend contacting her quickly if you are interested and giving her plenty of time to get your order done.

And like promised here are more engagement photos.....

Did you have engagement photos done? What did you end up using them for? Even though we didn't use them for as much as we planned it gave us a chance to get some nice photos of us together to hold on to. I did have quite a few framed and have them hanging in our home.

St. Louis

2011-05-23T22:56:00.012-04:00

This past weekend we took a quick trip to St. Louis to visit my brother. It was a full 2 days. Since we visited last August and did a lot of the tourist stuff this time we got to spend more time relaxing and doing what the locals would do.

View from my brothers office.

Day 1

Wearing:

Dress: JCrew

Sandals: JCrew

Bag: Louis Vuitton

Sunglasses: Dior

Day 2

Wearing: Katie eyelet cami JCrew

Jeans: Citizens

Shoes: JCrew

Bag: Louis Vuitton

Sunglasses: Dior

Earrings: Kendra Scott Danielle

I only had my pants rolled up because while walking around City Gardens I couldn't help but play in the fountains and sprinklers, I was the only adult doing it.

The Giant Head

Nelson and I and the Arch

More fountains...I went barefoot for this one.

St. Louis Food Tour

Rooster's is the place for brunch, expect to wait about 30-45 minutes and expect the wait to be COMPLETELY worth it.

The last time we visited St. Louis we tried a few of the foods made famous in this city. There was still a good amount we hadn't tried (I should say Nelson because none of them were gluten free friendly) so he tried to see how many he could taste in a day.

At Roosters - Try the mimosa's! Delicious.

Heart shaped sugar cubes for coffee.

If you eat meat, get the Slinger! It's a St. Louis favorite - bread, eggs, meat, and gravy.

If you don't eat meat and want a vegetarian option get the savory crepes (they also have sugar ones too, my brother ordered the apple one). All their crepes can be made gluten free. I had the 3 cheese and sun dried tomato one, delicious. Also a side of their potatoes, also amazing.

Next stop Gus's pretzels - also off limits for me.

Nelson gave the garlic one two thumbs up! They do sell out of certain one's throughout the day, so go early.

Gooey butter cake. They make over 70 different flavors, this one is red velvet. Think lots of sugar and even more butter. Nelson finished the whole thing but it took some time. Also off limits for me. I did find out they can make a gluten free option so long as you order it 24 hours in advance and they do ship world wide.... now to find a reason to order one.

Lastly, the toasted ravioli. They sell this in a lot of different restaurants but we went to the City Diner. They are filled with meat, not exactly sure what type, Nelson's verdict DELICIOUS.

Sadly my brother will be leaving this city in a few months for a new job in DC. Luckily though we have friends who live in St. Louis and an excuse to go back! Definitely visit St. Louis, I love it for how calm it is and all the different things there are to do.

H&M Outfits and Haul Vlog

2011-05-19T00:01:00.009-04:00

I wanted to show you two recent outfits I wore with pieces I recently purchased from H&M. I hadn't been in that store in years and when I say years I mean probably close to 7. When H&M first opened and I was a struggling college kid living on my own I frequented the store quite often. In fact most of my wardrobe for a while was probably H&M. Then after having some quality issues I stopped shopping at the store less and less. A lot of bloggers have done some fun H&M haul vlog's so I thought I'd give the store a try again. I was pleasantly surprised at how cute a lot of their pieces were and the prices? $19.99 for a maxi dress? Yes please. We all know I'm a frequent JCrew shopper, addict yes, but lately I'm feeling a little burnt out. It seems almost everything I've ordered lately I've had to return because of fit or quality issues. $98 for a knit maxi dress that looks terrible on? No Thank You! Of course my love for JCrew isn't dying out anytime soon but I have been trying to expand my wardrobe into other stores lately, especially with trendier items.

First outfit, which may look familiar from yesterdays post, is what I wore to order our wedding invitations.

Top: H&M (price $24.99 what a steal)
Tank: JCrew
Leggings: JCrew signature leggings in navy
Shoes: Tory Burch Thora thongs
Earrings: Kendra Scott Danielle in Mother of Pearl
Bags: Louis Vuitton bandouliere speedy and damier azur neverfull mm

I don't normally carry two bags but I had to tote around my wedding books for the day and I just grabbed the first bag I saw because I was in a rush.

The second outfit is one I wore to work this week. I love that the length of H&M's maxi's hit me perfectly but I'm sure for those under 5'8 this could be a problem. I'm not sure how well H&M's fabrics do with cutting and hemming. I bought this skirt and thought the print was a little crazy and out of character for me but decided to give it a try anyhow. Thoughts on the print?

Maxi skirt: H&M (price $29.99)
Top: JCrew vintage v-neck in black
Belt: JCrew patent leather skinny in black
Shoes: Tory Burch Thora's in black

My shoes

Watch for a special guest appearance at the end of the video!

I know I said I would post IRL's, here are 2, and since I plan on wearing more of the pieces soon I promise to show them on my blog. I think seeing how I style them is better than just seeing me in it. So I promise they will be in coming OOTD's soon!!

Wedding Wednesday - The Invitations

2011-05-17T23:33:00.003-04:00

This past weekend we ordered our wedding invitations from Paper Source. I've done nothing but rave about how much I love this store and I'm so glad my mom and I stumbled upon it one night. Paper Source allows you to create do it yourself invitations, they have everything you could ever need. They also allow you to make an appointment and order invitations ready to go. Paper Source has their own wedding invitation designs but they also sell brands such as Vera Wang. My favorite part of Paper Source is that you can make/order invitations for any budget. I'm not super crafty and since my wedding invitations were extremely important to me I went ahead and ordered them instead of trying to do anything myself. I won't say too much about the invitations because of spoilers for guests but come August after they are mailed to everyone I will gladly share photos like I did for our save the dates. One thing I will warn is if you are planning to order ones made for you do expect a lot of different fees, like assembly fees and stuff you probably didn't think about. I'm not going to say how much was spent but I will give you and idea of how much each invitation cost, my mom paid about $12-$13 per invitation. My invitations, where simple and elegant do have a lot of parts to them though, which is why the cost per was so high. Who ever would have thought little pieces of paper would cost so much money? I can't complain because I'm very excited about these little pieces of paper and can't wait to get the final product in my hand!

Me inside Paper Source ordering my invites!

Here are some samples I found online.

And more..

Even their invitations you order are still customizable, you can change fonts, wording, colors, paper liners and more. You can also save on the assembly fees by putting more of it together yourself once they have been printed.

VLOG - Sephora and Kate Spade purchases

2011-05-15T19:54:00.003-04:00

Urban Decay Naked Palette $48 purchase from Sephora HERE
Evian water spray $12 purchase from Sephora HERE
Hello Kitty perfume $55 purchase from Sephora HERE

Glitz!

2011-05-09T20:01:00.002-04:00

This outfit is all about the glitz. I had always wanted this sequin shell but missed it while it was available, so of course I'd been looking online for sometime now. Thanks to Audreybella from Life is Short...Buy The Shoes who put this beauty up for sale. I was so excited to receive it I wore it the next day.

Top: JCrew sequin merino vest

Tee: JCrew long sleeve tee

Pants: Citizen jeans

Shoes: Tory Burch silver Thora's

Stripes and Studs

2011-05-08T20:32:00.002-04:00

Saturday I spent the day at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival with my mother for mother's day. Anyone who knows my mom knows how addicted to wool and knitting she is. So every year for Mother's Day we attend and I pull out a little cash to buy her something pretty.

Top: JCrew Natalie sweater (Buy Here)
Shorts: JCrew (Buy Here) (Cute option)
Shoes: Jcrew gold metallic t-strap sandals (Similar Here $7.50)
Bag: Louis Vuitton mono speedy B (Buy here) (similar here) (and here $24.99)
Sunglasses: Dior

Let's not comment on how absolutely pale my legs are. I think this was the first time they had really seen sunlight (minus the trip to Arizona). I'm not really one for tanning, I want my skin to stay looking young. I've recently considered a sunless spray tan, but I'm worried about streaking and other issues.

I seriously don't know animals because I was convinced this was a goat but in fact it was a baby sheep. She was a little fussy but I got in a little bit of petting before she was done.

Mellow Yellow

2011-05-05T23:15:00.002-04:00

The weather here has been surprisingly cool still for May. I can't complain as I'm not one for 100 degree summer weather and it seems we are getting a real Spring for once and I'm loving it.

Top: JCrew madras tank
Sweather: JCrew v-neck cashmere cardigan
Scarf: United Color of Benetton
Pants: Citizen Jeans
Shoes: Tory Burch Thora
Bag: Louis Vuitton

Banana Republic - 40% off 3 hours ONLY

2011-05-05T10:59:00.005-04:00

CLICK TO START SHOPPING!

Starting today 5/5, for 3 hours only, get 40% off all Women's full-priced styles! Enter coupon code BRPOWER at checkout. Offer ends 5/5 at 2:00 PM ET.

Start Date: 05/05/2011 11:00 AM ET

End Date: 05/05/2011 2:00 PM ET

Coupon Code: BRPOWER

Restrictions: Offer valid on 5/5/2011 from 11 AM to 2PM local standard time at Banana Republic stores in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada and online from 11 AM ET through 2 PM ET. Offer valid on full-priced women's merchandise only. Not valid on bags, shoes, Monogram and Heritage collections or at Banana Republic Factory Stores and Edition by Banana Republic. Qualifying amount applies to merchandise only, not to Giftcards, packaging, applicable taxes or shipping and handling charges. No adjustments on previous purchases. Not valid for cash or cash equivalent. Cannot be combined with any other offers or discounts including Gap Inc. employee discount. Additional online exclusions include jewelry and accessories, Timeless Collection and Chan Luu.

Here are a few of my favorite pieces:

Wedding Wednesday - Dance Music

2011-05-04T08:00:00.000-04:00

Anyone who knows me knows that I've loved Madonna my whole life. There isn't a song or album I don't own and I was usually the first person in line to buy them when they were released (pre iTunes). Even though I was very young in the 80's I thank my mom for not sheltering me from her questionable apparel and behavior. I don't think I'd be the same person today if I didn't grow up listening to her. My entire life my mom tried to get tickets to her concerts to take me with no luck for years. They always sold out too fast. Luckily around my 25th birthday we scored two tickets to her sticky and sweet tour it was the best birthday of my life. Madonna is amazing but Madonna live is breathtaking. Yes obsessed.

So of course my wedding wouldn't be MY wedding without lots of Madonna. So I'd love if you all could help me out here. What are you favorite Madonna dance songs? The one's that really make you want to get out of your seat and dance? I love them all and I'm having a hard time pairing down the few I'm going to play.

Safari Sequins OOTD

2011-05-02T22:12:00.004-04:00

Here is a recent OOTD
I have to apologize for the poor picture quality. About a month ago I went out and bought a new SLR camera and everything BUT I didn't get a tripod or a remote so I'm still using my digital one and a mirror.... lame I know! Goal for this weekend is to visit Best Buy.

Top: JCrew sequin tee from last season. (Similar Here) (Here) (And for the girl with no budget-LOVE)
Sweater: JCrew tie-front cardigan (Buy Here) Wearing the Fatigue color.
Jeans: Citizen of Humanity
Shoes: Tory Burch Thora sandals (Buy Here) (Here) (Similar Affordable version)
Jewelry: tan leather wrap bracelet.

Vlog - Louis Vuitton Bandouliere and Chanel PST

2011-05-01T17:34:00.005-04:00

Vlogs = Stressful to do, ha ha. Try not to laugh at me too hard. I'll get better!

Louis Vuitton Bandouliere 35 Speedy

Side View

Zipper Pulls and lock closure

Lock

Inside

Size stamped in the leather

Chanel PST

Showing Straps

Inside

Hope you enjoyed the reviews and the Vlog. Let me know how you liked the vlog and if I should continue to do them!!

Arizona OOTD's

2011-04-27T21:00:00.016-04:00

Lack of posting recently is completely due to the fact that I have still been recovering from having too much fun. The four day weekend was basically non stop from the second our plane landed until the second it took off for home. There was also a lot of wardrobe changes and luckily I remembered to get pictures of most of them. The only one I missed was the outfit for the plane ride home, which consisted of a brown leggings, JCrew white v-neck tee, cashmere cardigan, and missoni flats.

Airplane Trip to Arizona Outfit

Top: JCrew V-neck tee (Buy Here)
Sweater: JCrew Cotton tie front cardigan (Buy Here) (Similar Here)
Leggings: Nordstroms (Similar Here $19)
Shoes: Missoni Flats (Similar Here) (And here) (Here for $40)

Baccalaureate Outfit - After jumping off the plane we immediately had to head out for the bach parties. Having our plane arrive 40 minutes late didn't help. I had to get dressed and do make-up in the car.

Dress: JCrew lace Collection (Similar Here) (And Here)
Shoes: Christian Louboutin Leopard heels (Similar here) (Here $24.99)
Bag: Chanel PST (Similar Here) Also Chanel will be having another price increase very soon so if you've had your eye on something get it now.
Earrings: Kendra Scott Danielle's in black (Buy Here)

Jazz Hands

Late Night Denny's Run Outfit - Nelson and I aren't big drinkers so while everyone was passing out we headed out to Denny's (the only thing 24 hours) to eat in the middle of the night. No food on the 5 hour flight, no time to eat before the bach party and no time to eat during the 5 hour bach party meant I was extremely hungry and cranky. But I did stop to take this silly picture on a giant pink chair on the streets.

Rehearsal Outfit - Thanks to everyone who voted on my post on what to wear. I ended up going with the JCrew factory floral dress and gold sandals because I spoke to the other bridesmaids and everyone was going pretty casual with their dresses.

Dress: JCrew floral from factory (Similar Here $19) (And Here $18)
Belt: JCrew gold skinny belt (Similar here) (And here $15)
Shoes: JCrew T-Strap gold sandals (Similar Here $23)
Bag: Louis Vuitton Mono Neverfull

Bridal Shower Outfit - I ended up changing, which I didn't expect too. I brought this dress last minute just in case. It was so HOT in Arizona that after the rehearsal and lunch I wanted to change into something clean because I was all sweaty.

Dress: JCrew Delaney Eyelet Dress ( Buy Here, use code OURTREAT for 30% off) (Similar Here $44)
Same shoes as earlier

Bridal Shower Outfit - Yep we played the toilet paper game!

Friday Dinner Outfit

Top: JCrew Katie eyelet cami (Buy Here On Sale $59.50 use code OURTREAT to save 30% more) (Similar Here $34)
Jeans: 7 Cropped jeans (Buy Here)
Earrings: Kendra Scott Danielle in Turquoise
Bag: Louis Vuitton Damier Neverfull
Shoes: JCrew T strap gold sandals

Wedding Outfit - Bridesmaid Dress

Dress: JCrew wrap dress from a few years ago that I found new on Ebay (More casual try this) (LOVE)
Shoes: JCrew T-Strap sandals in silver (Similar Here)
Since all the bridesmaid lived in different states the bride made it easy, she gave us a color and let us pick our own dresses. Everyone talks about JCrew's vanity sizes now but this is a size 0 from a few years ago and it was HUGE on me.

Furry friend I found to play with at the venue. Seriously the sweetest kitty I have ever encountered, I wanted to take him home.

Reception Outfit - Again heat + sweaty = I changed again. The bride didn't mind that we wore something different for the reception.

Dress: JCrew silk serenade dress in deep lagoon (Buy Here) Also on sale and use OURTREAT for additional 30% off. Love the fit of this dress, wearing a size 0 and comes in 6 different colors. Can easily be dressed up or down.
Shoes were the same silver sandals from above.

One last photo of the dress with my hair accessory, which was a gift from the bride. It was adorable. The wedding was beautiful and I had a great time getting to see my best friend get married.

Home

2011-04-24T22:45:00.001-04:00

4.23.11

Fabulous Wedding Weekend. Home. Exhausted.

Wedding Wednesday - The Bridesmaid

2011-04-20T09:00:00.001-04:00

On Thursday we will be leaving for Arizona to attend my best friends wedding as her bridesmaid.

Caiti and I have been best friends since age 14, half of our lives. I can't imagine life without her and I know we will be friends for the rest of our lives. We have been through so much together and nothing can break this friendship. I couldn't ask for a better guy for her to be marrying either. They are perfect for each other. I'm looking forward to sharing in on their special day.

Be back on Sunday!

New Favorite Thing - Kendra Scott

2011-04-18T21:30:00.004-04:00

Kendra Scott Danielle Earrings
These are definitely not new to the blog world and I think the popularity of these really hit last spring and summer. For me I was terribly indecisive on which color/colors to buy and it wasn't until recently I was finally able to take the plunge and purchase them. I got a pretty good coupon code to use so I ended up buying five pairs, which is probably a little excessive but the colors are all very different.

I ended up getting the mother of pearl, black, pyrite, turquoise, and pink jade.

Black

Pyrite

Turquoise
Mother of pearl
Pink jade

My only problem with them is that the stones don't line up as nicely as I would have liked/expected. For the price I would have expected something a little better with the stone placement. My turquoise ones actually have a pretty big gap on the bottom and are very uneven so I may need to send these back. The pink jade, even though they didn't photograph too badly, are quite different in shade, one is much lighter than the other, but it isn't bad enough I would send them back over. I just wasn't sure what to expect when I received them. For the type/quality of earrings they are more on the expensive side. Now that I own them I wouldn't return them, I really do like them but for those who like the style you can probably find something similar at F21 for a lot cheaper.

Coco Chanel

2011-04-17T23:57:00.003-04:00

Saturday was an extremely busy day and the weather couldn't have been worse. I had a bridal shower to attend during the day, dinner with family to celebrate my brothers engagement, a friends hockey game at night followed by a very late second dinner and drinks.

I had originally planned for something more dressy for the day but with it pouring out I went with something a little more casual.

What I wore:
Top: (Not visible) JCrew black tank
Sweater: (Not visible) JCrew tan cashmere v-neck cardigan
Pants: JCrew skinny jeans (Similar Here) (Here for $78)
Jacket: Burberry quilted coat (Available Here)
Scarf: Burberry gauze (Available Here) (Cute Version Here for only $32)
Earrings: Chanel (Similar Here)
Bag: Chanel petite shopper (Purchased from Chanel Boutique, not available online) (Similar here) (Or Here) Kate Spade is doing a lot of Chanel-look-a-like bags this year. They are black quilted with metal chain straps.
Shoes: Tory Burch gold Reva's

I had a reader recently contact me about the Burberry scarf. I purchased this last Spring from Saks. I had originally gone to the Burberry store to purchase it but the price was $50 more than I had seen online. So on a whim I went to Saks to see if they had any and they were all $50 more too. They had quite a few so I looked through the whole pile and at the bottom was an identical scarf to the rest that showed the original price ($50 less) so I snatched it up. Apparently the week I had gone to buy one they were in the process of doing a price increase on all the gauze scarfs. I'm glad I went when I did.

My new Chanel PST

Close up of the Chanel earrings.

My New Love and an OOTD!

2011-04-13T23:00:00.002-04:00

My new baby is here!

I had to call quite a few stores to find the epi speedy 30 in noir but it was worth it, all 3 LV stores in a mile radius from my house were sold out. Like discussed in a recent post I like to limit myself to one new bag a year, sometimes 2. Before I used to buy too many and it was just overwhelming and I hardly carried them and it seemed like such a waste of money. By limiting myself I definitely get one I LOVE and will carry a ton. I already have outfits and occasions planned to take Miss Epi for a spin!

Here are a few more affordable options I found: (Here $458) (Here $450) (Here $70)

On Tuesday we had some important visitors at work so my casual work dress code had to take it up a notch. I still wanted to be comfortable though so I wore my Jcrew minnnies.

Sweater: JCrew cashmere v-neck (Similar Here) (And Here short sleeved for warmer months) (Here for $59)
Top: JCrew Collection polka dot blouse (Similar Here $61) (Here $38) (And Here)
Pants: JCrew Minnies (Buy Here) (Similar Here) (And Here)
Shoes: Tory Burch Gabi Flats (Buy similar TB version HERE) (And Here) ($10 Here)
Bracelet: JCrew leather wrap bracelet (Similar Here Designer) (Similar Here $48)

Wedding Wednesday - Help Me Pick The Dress!

2011-04-13T06:00:00.000-04:00

Next week I will be headed to Arizona to attend my best friends wedding. On Friday is her rehearsal and bridal shower. I'm trying to decide on what dress to wear. So I'm asking for your help to assist me in picking the dress I should pack.

Here are my 6 dress options I am debating right now. The rehearsal is in the morning and bridal shower in the afternoon, so not a night time function. The bride will be wearing a pink and white sundress.

On top of picking the dress let me know which shoes you'd like to see with it. I will likely also take flat sandals with me but would also have a pair of heels for photos and stuff.

Please leave in the comments the dress and shoe combinations you would choose!

Thanks!

Ella

2011-04-11T21:36:00.002-04:00

If you are looking for a simple but stylish spring/summer dress to throw on and go I highly recommend buying the JCrew Ella dres s. It does run big, I am wearing the 00 and there is still a lot of extra fabric but it makes a nice loose/flowy dress for the heat.

It is currently on sale in stores for $39.99, maybe even lower now. I purchased with an additional sale promotion so it can't be beat for $27.99. Now I just wish I could find the ashen blue in my size. What do you think? Did you buy this dress? How do you plan to style it?

Eyelet

2011-04-07T22:53:00.003-04:00

The eyelet trend is huge right now for Spring. You can see it everywhere from shorts to dresses to tops.

JCrew Eyelet Short

Wearing a size 2, fit is TTS. Definitely recommend these as the eyelet print is adorable. The fit is good, not too tight or too lose. I don't like my clothes to ever feel too tight and these were quite comfortable. I like the look of them layered with longer cardigans.

Shorts: JCrew Eyelet shorts in black, I heard from blogger IRL that they are also available in a light blue in stores. (Cheaper here) (On Sale Here) (Similar Here)

Top: JCrew Katie Eyelet cami (wearing size 0, TTS to Big) (Similar Here)

Sweater: JCrew Cotton Tie Front Cardigan (wearing XS, TTS and highly recommend, I also bought the green) (Similar here) (On Sale Here)

A few additional photos of the shorts

Wedding Wednesday - Bridal Showers!

2011-04-05T15:00:00.002-04:00

All about the Bridal Showers!

My best friends is getting married in a little over 2 weeks today. She is having a destination wedding in Arizona, so it's a 4 day fun filled event. I've decided to squeeze in a little surprise bridal shower for her the day before her wedding.

For the invitations I went to my new love, Paper Source to pick up some materials. They had some really adorable designs that you could have professionally printed through them but because of time restraints I wasn't able to do that, so I created my own.

What I purchased: Flat note cards, envelopes, floral stamp, pink ink pad
What I had: clear ink pad, black embossing powder, heat tool for embossing

The Process: First I used my at home printer to print up all the information on the cards. Second I added four pink ink floral stamps to each card. Since the ink is oil based, normally used for embossing purposes, it had to spend a few hours drying before I could do more. The next step was to add a clear stamp flower, sprinkle on the black embossing powder, and heat. I love that the embossing adds texture to the invitation. Lastly I addressed all the envelopes and added a pink stamp to each one for extra personalization. Oddly I picked these colors in the store (with help from mom) and last night my best friend sent me some images of stuff for their wedding. I had no idea pink and yellow were main colors in her wedding, so the invitations fit perfectly.

Right now I am in the process off coming up with some fun games to play during the shower. One we are definitely playing is the toilet paper dress game, which looks like so much fun!
Would love suggestions of fun games to play and things to keep the party moving and guests enjoying themselves!

Spring Fashion

2011-04-04T20:50:00.005-04:00

Here are the trends for Spring that I am really excited about this season. I'm loving all these colors and simplicity, no over the top jewelry just simple classic pieces.

I'm really loving the white lace and eyelet looks that seem to be everywhere. This could have something to do with my wedding coming up and obsessing over white dresses but I usually gravitate toward crisp clean white in the Spring and Summer every year. This year I'm loving pairing really girly eyelet dresses with chunky tan leather espadrilles or tan leather flats. Same for the tops, throw on some cute jeans and go!

White eyelet blouse available (here)
White lace blouse available (here)
Tan Sandals are Gucci and sold out over night while doing this post
White eyelet dress available (here)
Jeans available (here)
Tan espadrilles available (here)
JCrew eyelet dress available (here)

Red is big for the Spring as well. I love the classic shades of red and the new modern red that JCrew is doing. Don't mix the color head to toe though, either a nice dress, blouse with jeans, or a skirt with a different color top. I don't particularly look great in shades of red so I'm loving Christian Louboutin's red sandals for a pop of color to a neutral outfit, I could definitely pull off the red in the shoes.

Floral blouse available (here)
Christian Louboutin sandals available (here)
Red blouse available (here)
Red dress available (here)
JCrew skirt available (here)

For casual days I'm in love with these Lanvin silver sneakers. For weekends I could see pairing them with boyfriend cropped jeans or leggings and loose flowy tops. I also like the mix of JCrew white sequin tank layered under a sweatshirt for a pop of glitz!

Black top available (here)
Lanvin Sneakers available (here)
Striped top available (here)
Jeans available (here)
JCrew sequin tank available (here)
JCrew legging available (here)

Coyote

2011-04-03T21:59:00.003-04:00

It's starting to feel a little more like Spring here. I'm hoping I will soon be able to put away my winter coats and furry vests and throw on simple dresses and sandals. It's supposed to be in the 70's today. Why couldn't this have been yesterday? The weather makes me want to "Scream".... yes my version looks a lot different than the original, that's because I painted this one myself. This and Starry Night are my two favorite paintings of all time and because I like the texture that comes with real paintings not paper copies I painted my own version of the two for fun.

Sweater: JCrew cashmere waffle knit pullover
Vest: Rachel Zoe for QVC
Jeans: 7 for all Mankind
Shoes: Tory Burch Gabi Flats

New Dress, New Shoes, New Bag

2011-03-30T22:10:00.002-04:00

A few new things to share.

First the JCrew silk chiffon Zadie dress in wintermint. Thought I'd share a quick review before the 30% off sale expires. I hadn't seen this reviewed anywhere else and my apologies if you did and I missed it. Size 0, TTS. Fit is actually really nice and I officially love this dress. I had wanted the wintermint color for so long but of course was holding out for a sale. $89.99 plus 30% off brings it down to $63! Great price for this dress, definitely recommend.

New Christian Louboutins, or should I say new to me. These are silver Ernesta peep toes. I have been searching everywhere for a pair of CL's in silver. The one's now look very cheap to me, too strappy and blah especially for $900. So I started searching down Ebay everyday for one of his older silver styles. These little beauties popped up on Ebay, worn once, and for a buy it now for less than 20% their retail price. Weary of the low price I had them authenticated and now they will live happily in my closet with my others.

New Louis Vuitton. Or should I say new Louis Vuitton I owned for 5 hours and returned. I had gone with the intention of purchasing a mono speedy 35 but after trying it out in the store I realized the small handles might not work for me. I definitely wanted something that also had a strap, which mind you I also told the SA this. So she showed me a few others and this is what I walked out of the store with the Retiro GM, it's a newer style that's only been out a short while.

After getting it home I compared it to my neverfull and even though there are many different parts to it I just thought they were too similar to justify.

Then I did some research and found out the speedy is coming out with a strap in May, why the SA didn't mention this I will never know. So I went back to the store immediately returned this one and got on the list for the speedy that will be released in a month. Problem solved. Now the waiting begins, I'm so impatient. Especially when the release date was supposed to be April 1st but has now been pushed back to early May. Boo!

Enter Shasta's amazing giveaway! She's giving away a $100 giftcard to F21 and $100 to Exxon Gas!

Wedding Wednesday - The Other White Dress

2011-03-29T22:09:00.003-04:00

I've been in search of the perfect white dresses to wear for my bridal shower and rehearsal. Granted these events won't be taking place for a few months still but with Spring and Summer arrivals becoming available it is the time to be searching. I must not be alone either because as soon as I find a nice white dress I like it's usually sold out in a matter of days!

One of the first dresses I tried was the BHLDN Origami pleated dress. From the website this dress looked very sweet, flowy and fun. There are parts to this dress I really like, the skirt, the back, the green sash. And then there are parts I seriously dislike, way too much going on in the chest area. Not only is there too much going on but it just doesn't make sense to me. I'm wearing a 0 and say TTS to small in this. Some reviews said it was very fitted and ran small up top. I am usually a 30-32B and the 0 fit me fine but definitely recommend sizing up if you are blessed in the chest! I honestly wish they would have left a simple bodice on this dress because it would have been perfect.

The other dress I tried was the Jcrew Iza dress, which has jumped a bit in price from when I purchased it. When it first arrived I was convinced this was going to be my rehearsal dress. The fabric is really beautiful and I did like this dress a lot but it might have been a little too formal and fitted for what I was looking for. It also didn't pass the mother approval. Wearing a size 0, TTS to running small.

The next dress and only dress I kept is the JCrew Collection Brynn crochet dress, available in stores (for $500) and through net-a-porter (for $200 less than JCrew is selling it for, um what? I did call CS and they refused to price adjust, not happy about that at all). Wearing size 0, runs TTS to big. I absolutely loved this dress the second I tried it on. Luckily I used the % off card on it so the price stings a lot less. Alone the dress is cute but I'm loving how it looks layered, the denim jacket outfit is my favorite. The SA's in the store said tons of girls were buying it for their bridal showers. I've been also thinking of wearing it for my bridal shower but we will have to see, I change my mind every day. I will also admit the $200 price different rubs me the wrong way as well, it just doesn't seem right.

Lastly, Nelson and I entered the Crate and Barrel contest to win the dream wedding or Gift Cards for furniture. Please take a second to vote for us, we'd really appreciate it. http://www.ultimateweddingcontest.com/entry/159499
We have like 20 votes and there are people with 7,000, oh my! How do they do it? Thanks! XO

What did you wear to your bridal shower and rehearsal? Did you keep with the white theme or wear color?

Closet Tour

2011-03-29T10:33:00.000-04:00

It's been quite a while since I've done a closet tour. Most people think my closet must be busting at the seams but I do almost monthly closet clean outs. I am a huge freak against clutter and the same goes for my closet. I am constantly getting rid of things and selling on Ebay.

I've recently been reorganizing and making the space more effective and efficient. It's no secret I'm an everything in it's place girl and my closet is no different. I've also purchased some new items recently that have really helped with keeping everything organized. I've also used my addiction to fashion as art in my closet, shopping bags are framed and hung on the walls.

From my recent Tory Burch addiction post it's pretty obvious I love shoes, but what girl doesn't?

Long ago I used to keep all my shoes in their original shoe boxes, then clear storage boxes but none of those storage methods worked for me. I like to see everything and weigh all my options when getting dressed. So one day I took a trip to IKEA and invested in some Billy Bookcases for a STEAL, to store my shoes in. I highly recommend these, especially at only $59.99. They only come with three shelves but for around $15 you can buy extras to add, which is what I did. For those with a lot of shoes they do make taller shelves as well. I went with the medium height because I wanted to use the top for my jewelry storage. My Louboutin's are my favorite so they sit nicely on top one of the shelves like pieces of art because let's face it Christian Louboutin is like Picasso to the shoe world.

Tops and dresses are all hung color coordinated and by sleeve length.

Skirts, pants, and shorts are also all hung.

Now for my next favorite purchase, the container store's hanging sweater shelves. Love these and at $29.99 each they are nicely priced. I purchased two and they hold my sweaters nicely, they also zip closed to protect against moths. I'm a freak when it comes to protecting my sweaters, I've lost too many in the past. And as the daughter of a huge knitter, I should know how to keep things safe. Inside the hanging bags are also pieces of cedar as an extra repellent. Definitely recommend cedar as it smells much better than moth balls and its natural of course.

Bracelets, Necklaces, and earrings are all hung on jewelry hanging displays. My favorite place to find these for cheap are HomeGoods and Marshalls. I can usually pay around $8 for each one. Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie usually have some really beautiful ones, a little more around $30. I also like using fancy dinner plates to hold accessories. I have a square one made in Japan that keeps all my smaller items together. I also keep a small mirror positioned on the wall near my jewelry for trying pieces on. My current one is a very old wicker style that I bought at IKEA probably 7 years ago. I've actually been looking around to replace it, here are a few I have my eye on Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma, and Crate and Barrel.

Lastly I keep my purses tucked away in the bottom drawer of my dresser. I have no idea if there is truth to this but I think laying them flat and also keeping them out of light helps protect the leather but the drawer still allows them to breath. The bags I use on a weekly basis get stored out on a coat rack inherited from my grandmother. I definitely recommend coat racks like this to easily access things you use often. Here are a few that are reasonably priced that I'm loving Urban Outfitters, World Market, and NappaStyle.

And just for fun.... in our house anytime you open a dresser drawer the fur babies come running. They just can't help themselves. I guess I should be upset that little Fia is standing on my Balenciaga but my fur babies always come before my clothes.

Thanks for taking the tour with me.

Shopbop Winner

2011-03-29T09:38:00.003-04:00

Thanks to all that entered, using random.org we have a winner!
Faybusovich
I will be emailing you shortly so you can claim your prize.
Thanks all!
XOXO

Bowling

2011-03-27T21:22:00.003-04:00

Over the weekend I went bowling with some friends. Bowling is definitely not something I am good at but I don't mind sucking at things, it's still fun especially when you add margaritas to the mix.

Top: JCrew cashmere tank in black (not shown)
Sweater: JCrew v-neck cardigan in gray
Pants: 7 for all mankind jeans
Shoes: Tory Burch Gabi flats in black
Scarf: Burberry gauze
Bracelet: JCrew black leather wrap

I guess technically the shoes I wore for the evening were bowling shoes.

Good music. Good friends. Came in last every game. Good time.

Upon returning home I engaged in some fur baby torture.

Don't worry no animals were harmed. This was taken shortly after, she looks much happier

And just so Toshi doesn't get jealous...

Denim and Cashmere

2011-03-24T22:11:00.002-04:00

There have been mixed reviews on JCrew's cashmere but I have had no issues with it and buy it in multiples like Tory Burch shoes.... maybe more actually. Since my office is more relaxed we all generally wear jeans to work. Here's how I mixed my favorite cashmere and jeans this week.

Monday: JCrew cashmere open cardigan, JCrew C'est Bon tee, Citizen jeans, and Tory Burch Revas

Tuesday: JCrew argyle cashmere cardigan, JCrew cupcake top, 7 for all Manking jeans, Tory Burch Reva's

Wednesday: JCrew cashmere shawl collar sweater, Citizen jeans, JCrew factory scarf, Tretorn sneakers

Thursday: JCrew cashmere shawl collar sweater, Citizen jeans, Theory cashmere scarf, Tory Burch Reva's.

JCrew Lady lace popover review. I bought this back during the sweater promotion. The overall fit of it was wonderful and the sleeve length was good.

But the length wasn't great on me and if I lifted my arms my stomach was showing more than I like. It's actually worse than shown but I didn't think I should put my whole tummy on display in blog world.

I did see the popover on my adorable friend Lacey on Saturday, she is a little more petite than me and it looked absolutely fabulous on her. It was same with the sequin haya I had to return because it was too short but it worked wonderfully on her as well. Overall I definitely recommend for petite girls, sadly for me I had to return.

Wedding Wednesday

2011-03-23T08:43:00.002-04:00

We are officially less than 7 months away, so I've decided to start Wedding Wednesday on the blog to share where I am in the planning process.

Our Save The Date

Now that I think these have made them into everyone mailboxes I can safely share them without ruining anyone's surprise. We had originally order the standard cards with photos used from our recent engagement shoot but after receiving them we just knew they weren't right. They just didn't capture who we were as a couple. While at a bridal show with my mom we stumbled across something that was just perfect...

Yep! That's us when we were 5 years old. You see for those who don't already know the story, my fiance and I met when we were 5 in pre-k and it's where we first fell in love. What better way to share our love story than bringing back memories from where it all began. I was instantly smitten with these save the dates and even though they were 5x's the price of the originals my mom just couldn't say no, they were perfect. We ordered them through a local dealer, Invite Me, She was great to work with and very attentive. The cards themselves come from a company called Take Notice Card Company and they did an amazing job as well.

The cards were adorable but we still wanted to add a few more personal touches. First we used ribbon to tie a bow around each card. We also used clear roll on glue to attach the ribbon onto the back of the card securely.

Secondly we added a "Save the Date" stamp to the outside envelopes and used embossing powder for texture. Then you add heat to emboss it. I bought everything I used for these projects at Paper Source, highly recommend!!

Lastly for one extra touch I used Zazzle online to create personalized postage stamps using a current photo of us from our engagement shoot.

Here's a few of them all put together and ready for mailing.

I'd love to hear what you did for your Save the Dates.

New York, New York

2011-03-22T08:00:00.001-04:00

After leaving AC we headed over to NYC for the day. I had breakfast with my friend Steph, visited the JCrew bridal store looking for a rehearsal dress, and then met up with Lacey, Kate, Jenn, and Ema at the JCrew Madison Ave store for shopping. I ended up purchasing 5 new dresses this weekend (2 from the factory store in AC), reviews coming soon!

Top: JCrew Sosie sequin cami (Buy Here) (Similar Here Cheaper) (And Here)
Sweater: JCrew cashmere v-neck cardigan (Buy Here) (On Sale Here)
Jeans: 7 For all Mankind stretch bootcut (Similar Here) (And Here)
Shoes: Tory Burch Gabi Flats (Similar Here) (And Here)
Bag: Louis Vuitton Monogram Neverfull
Coat: Burberry Coat (Similar Here) (And Here)
Necklace: Erica Anenberg dog tag necklace, mine in white (Purchase Here)

My NYC Gals

Scenes from NYC

Down by the Boardwalk...

2011-03-20T20:29:00.007-04:00

This past weekend we headed over to Atlantic City for the night before heading to NYC for the day.

Vest: JCrew twill utility vest (Buy Here) Wearing an XS, TTS to Large. (Similar Here) (Similar Here for $24.99)
Shirt: JCrew Jaspe sweatshirt (Similar Here) (Similar Here)
Jeans: Citizen of Humanity (Similar Here) (Similar Here)
Shoes: Tory Burch Reva Camo Flats (Buy Here) (Similar Here $50) (Similar Here $45) (On Sale and CUTE! Here $40)
Bag: Louis Vuitton Neverfull GM (Buy Here) (Similar Here) (Similar Here)
Sunglasses: Dior Copacabana, mine are dark brown and green (Buy Here) (Buy Similar Here)

And one for fun

Scenes from Atlantic City