Merry Christmas everyone!! I wish you all a wonderful time with loved ones today. And hope you get lots of fabulous presents too! We woke u...
Happy Monday!! We are getting so close to Christmas and I am still stunned at how fast it came up this year. I probably say that every year, but this time around it really did come up fast because there were only 4 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I think it's safe to say that most of us like a little more time between the two holidays. I know I do, because I need a week after Thanksgiving to recover from it (salads and smoothies anyone?). And that way there's more time to dedicate to Christmas with all of the baking, shopping, and holiday parties to host and attend. Right?
Speaking of holiday parties (or I guess now it's New Year's Eve parties), I wanted to show you an alternative to a dress for any parties or gatherings you may be attending. Dresses are definitely a great option to wear during any holiday event (so many lovely choices out there), but if you are wanting to try out something different or perhaps you're more comfortable in pants, then these faux leather leggings are the perfect piece to wear to your next fête. I dressed them up with an on-trend lace peplum top from Anthropologie. It's sold out online, but I suggest heading to your nearest Anthro to the sale section to score this top for under $60. A steal for a classic top that's super flattering.
I picked up these faux leather leggings from South Moon Under. I know what you're thinking. You're saying out loud that those look scary and uncomfortable to wear. But trust me when I say that they are absolutely flattering and comfortable, the most comfortable pair I've ever tried on. And you don't ever have to be worried about these pants stretching out and creating that awful pooch in the butt area. They.don't.stretch.out. Amazing, right? Yes, I think so to.
These leggings can also be worn in a more casual outfit too. I like the idea of wearing them with a pullover sweater long enough to cover my backside and some fun leopard booties. You could totally rock these leggings with moto boots, or over-the-knee boots (I will definitely be doing this sometime soon), or even flats. But these leopard booties were really screaming to me with the rest of the outfit. And the arrowhead necklace was the perfect finishing touch to complete the outfit.
Scored these babies for $21 at J.Crew the other day. Couldn't believe it. Seriously run, don't walk, to your nearest J.Crew to find these.
Every-day Wear
Blank Vegan Leather Leggings, gifted / Needlelace Peplum Top, similar & similar / J.Crew earrings (sold out online), similar & similar / Vintage clutch / Asos heels, similar
2nd Outfit:
Blank Vegan Leather Leggings, gifted / Free People Pullover Sweater, gifted / Calvin Klein Leopard Booties / Valerie Nahmani Black Obsidian Arrowhead Necklace, gifted / Monogram Pendant / Kate Spade Nadine Handbag from a few years ago
Shop This Look
Happy Monday!! We are getting so close to Christmas and I am still stunned at how fast it came up this year. I probably say that every year...
{black door} {baby pink lips} {mixed prints} {mr & mrs} {radiant orchid interior} {diy ornament}
Gosh, it's been a while since I've shared a few of my favorite pins. I thought it fitting to share some since I've been pin'ing a lot but haven't had time to work on other posts. *FYI, if you ever want more inspiration, just come follow me to see what I'm loving. There's still so much left to do before Christmas. I've managed to get a lot of gift shopping done, but I haven't wrapped enough gifts to keep my anxiety at bay. BUT that is going to be my task tonight after Cora goes to bed, so I'm hopeful that I get most of them done. In the meantime, while I'm getting all of my errands/chores done, take a look at these pins and tell me what you think!
decorative black door interior: What don't I like about this space? This is black & white at its most chic. Even though it doesn't have a lot of color, it's quite bold with the attention to detail of each element in the room. The exaggerated legs on the table, the fur bench, the larger-than-life studded door, ornate ceilings, and the unconventional floor. Love it all.
baby pink lips: The makeup is flawless and granted the model is a Victoria's Secret model so flawless is a definite, but the makeup really is perfection. I've been wearing a strong lip lately, going pretty bold with my lip color choices. But after seeing this photo, I'm thinking about toning it down and going in a more heavenly approach. What do you think?
mr & mrs: Umm, who else is extremely jealous and yet totally excited that J.Crew is teaming up with Sugar Paper on a paper goods bridal collection?? This girl right here is.
mixed prints: The shoes. OMG the shoes. I would love to get my hands on both pairs, but more than that, I'd like to rock some mixed prints (like these girls) without looking like a clown. And to incorporate them into everyday wear and not just for certain occasions. Is that asking for the impossible?
radiant orchid interior: I'm sure you've all heard that the Pantone Color of 2014 is Radiant Orchid, and you must know that I am over-the-moon with this choice. I loved this past year's color of the year, but I am really excited to see more interiors & fashion with the use of this color. I've already used a color very similar in our living room and cannot tell you how much I love it.
diy ornament: If I had more time, I would definitely try my hand at this diy. I would totally make them as gift tags/gifts besides as ornaments.
{ black door } { baby pink lips } { mixed prints } { mr & mrs } { radiant orchid interior } { diy ornament } Gosh, it's been a whi...
Happy Monday you guys! Can you believe we only have 9 days left until Christmas?? I'm starting to freak out a little bit. We still have so much gift shopping to do and I haven't even baked nearly enough cookies (it's a tradition that I bake at least a couple of batches of cookies before Christmas) to be able to check it off my to-do list. Between me and Steve catching colds (again), baby birthday parties, and the snow we got, we haven't really had much time to get things done as much as we'd like.
But one thing I can check off my list is unique gift tags for everyone in our family. I wanted to do something similar to what I did last year, but unfortunately our printer died a few months ago and we just never bothered to repair/replace it, so any kind of DIY/print-yourself gift tag idea went out the window. Sooo what I came up with was glittered first initial gift tags for everyone in the family. Now, I know it can get tricky if you have people with the same first initials so you'll have to come up with another way to distinguish your gifts if that's the case. I have to do the same, so I've also added other embellishments (mini ornaments & jingle bells) along with the glittered initials to make sure I don't get the gifts mixed up. Or if you really want to go all out, you could use 3 letters and make a monogram gift tag to make sure you don't get anyone's gifts mixed up.
I went to Michael's thinking I would find small sized wooden letters and just gold glitter them. But when I got to Michael's, I couldn't find any small sized wooden letters that were the right font - the ones I could find were a bit too cheesy (serif type and not the good kind). Plus, they were $1 a piece so I quickly scratched that idea because it just wasn't cost-effective for my family (13 ppl x multiple gifts for each of them). While walking around, I came across these Recollections Adhesive Letters that were already glittered. They came in a bunch of different shapes and sizes and colors. But they seemed to have been sold out of the gold versions of the ones I got. So what's a girl to do when she can't get exactly what she wants? She DIYs of course! I picked up the silver ones (which are perfect fine but I really wanted gold glittered letters) along with some extra fine gold glitter and called it a day.
See how I turned them into gold glittered letters and added them to my wrapped gifts!
Recollections Extra Fine Glitter / Elmer's Glue / Small Sponge Brush / Any kind of ribbon you'd want to use to embellish your wrapped gifts.
Be somewhat generous with the glue or else the glitter won't have anything to stick to and it won't completely cover the surface. Use the sponge brush to spread the glue around and cover the entire letter really well.
Gold makes it all better, no?
I let the letters dry for a good hour before handling them. And make sure to dust them off really well, or else you'll get glitter everywhere.
I used a sewing pin to make a hole. OR if you're short on time or just don't want to do this part, you could stick the letters right on your wrapped gift since they're adhesives. But because I like to do things the hard way (and b/c I like the look of the letters having some movement on the gifts) I chose to do it this way.
Fishing wire/string works really well, or thread too. Any kind of string that you can get through the hole will work.
Ta da! I tied the fishing wire that I had around the black velvet ribbon to secure it. I also added a mini faceted ornament that I picked up from Target (a tube of these mini ornaments were only $1!!) to add some color and more embellishment to the gift.
Happy Monday you guys! Can you believe we only have 9 days left until Christmas?? I'm starting to freak out a little bit. We still have...
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You knew it was coming. I had to create an entire wish list (or gift guide) solely dedicated to jewelry. I'm too much of a jewelry hoarder not to have done it. Plus, who doesn't love getting jewelry as a gift? Although, I will say that sometimes I find myself anxious about buying other people jewelry because it really is such a personal thing to give. What I mean is, when you think about buying jewelry for yourself, more often than not you "fall in love" with a piece, rather than just buying something casually and saying that you'll wear it whenever. You're usually purchasing jewelry because you either absolutely love it OR you're buying it because you both A) love it and B) it'll go with an outfit you have in mind. Am I right? Or maybe it's just how I go about buying jewelry. Money doesn't grow on trees for most of us so I'm going to assume that jewelry is more on the luxury items list rather than the necessity list.
BUT, there are certain pieces that I think anyone will fall in love with and that is what this board contains. They're all statement-ey pieces (both bold and subtle) that I think will work in anyone's jewelry repertoire and I can't imagine anyone not wanting these items. I'll just go ahead and state for the record that I wouldn't mind if I got all of these on Christmas morning. Just saying...
{ 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 } You knew it was coming. I had to create an entire wish list (...
This was one of the ornaments we picked up when I was pregnant with Cora. I can't tell you how badly I wanted a margarita then. This was too fitting, no?
I realized yesterday that I just kind of jumped right into this week's line up of posts without giving you all a weekend recap - silly me! It's been a while since I've done one, so this will actually be more like a week recap. We've done so many fun holiday activities that I really wanted to share with you all what's been going on around here. Let's start chronologically via photos, shall we?
A few gifts that were getting wrapped although I did keep one item for myself. I had to! There are tons of amazing gifts ideas at TJMaxx and Marshalls (the DVF coasters and Kate Spade book respectively) as well as chic wrapping paper at HomeGoods. And the monogram mug is from Anthropologie, of course. Had to pick that up too.
We took Cora to the Polar Express Train event in Columbia, MD and she was absolutely enchanted with everything. Steve's coworker is the train conductor and has been for years now. He and his wife organize it all every year and it really is a special way to celebrate the holiday season with your kids. We're definitely going to be taking Cora there next year.
This past Sunday, we finally picked out a Christmas tree. After we picked it out, we went inside to check out the ornaments and other decorations they had. We of course had to check out the lit faux xmas trees.
Cora pondering if she likes how we trimmed the tree. She's thinking we need more ornaments. Both Steve and I absolutely agree.
Call us crazy but we got Cora her own little faux Christmas tree. We couldn't help it. It's so little just like her. I still need to get some ribbon to top it off but it's looking good so far.
If you follow me on Pinterest (follow me if you don't already!), then you've probably seen this but I had to share on here because they are SO good! I saw these Almond Shortbread Cookies on Pinterest from Julia's Album and just had to try them out. And I am so glad I did. They're super simple to make and are such a great holiday cookie to bake and share. If you're looking to make your cookie baking/gifting easier this season, then you need to add this cookie to your repertoire. I was so eager to make them that I didn't document the whole process, but fortunately Julia's post covers it perfectly. Check it out on her site to see how simple it is to bake these tasty cookies.
You know the other day when it snowed a bunch? Well, this is what Cora and I were doing while staying indoors. We were rocking our faux furs over our Christmas pjs. It's how we roll. And I'd say Cora rocks it real well.
This was one of the ornaments we picked up when I was pregnant with Cora. I can't tell you how badly I wanted a margarita then. This wa...
{Parum Bottle Coin Bank} {Champagne Gummies} {Chubby Stick Lip Colour Balm, Oversized Orange & Voluptuous Violet} {Lollia Handcreme} {Tocca Fragrance Duo} {Varens Perfume Jar} {Deborah Lippman Cleopatra} {Kennedy Center Lights} {Minimergency Stud Muffin Kit} {Spoon Rest} {Sweet Lips Pendant Necklace} {Wishbone Bottle Opener}
Sometimes the best packages come in small sizes. And that saying is so true when it comes to stocking stuffers. Especially, when they're thoughtful and completely luxurious items that you necessarily wouldn't buy for yourself. Every single item in this wish list is ABSOLUTELY something that I want to find in my stocking, hint hint.
I first saw the champagne gummies on Glitter Guide's site and have been wanting them ever since. But they are truly such an indulgence that I haven't bought them for myself. Now, if someone else were to buy them for me, I would be over-the-moon. Really and truly. And I won't lie, but that Parfum Bottle Coin Bank would be such a fabulous accessory on my dresser top. My friend Meg, opened her online shop and as much as I would love to have everything, that Kennedy Center Lights photo speaks to me SO much. It needs to be in my gallery wall, like yesterday.
See any favorites that you'd want to find in your stocking or gift to someone else? Would love to know!
{ Parum Bottle Coin Bank } { Champagne Gummies } { Chubby Stick Lip Colour Balm , Oversized Orange & Voluptuous Violet } { Lollia Handc...
{Parkhurst Faux Fur Hat, Fringed Cardigan from Here.a pop-up shop, Old Navy Cross Body Bag, Zara booties, Dittos Medium Wash Jeans}
Happy Monday everyone! I normally don't do outfit posts on a Monday, but this week I wanted to start off with a bang. Plus, I wanted to show you how to wear this Fringed Cardigan from Here.a pop-up shop well before their popup shop closes (Dec. 15th). Because if there is one thing you should add to your wardrobe now, it's the fringed cardigan. It goes with everything and is so easy to wear. I literally just threw this on top of a camisole with my Dittos Brand jeans and I was set to go. And it's great for lounging around at home (which I would totally do), wearing out while you're doing errands, or meeting with friends. I liked the idea of wearing it with a faux fur hat (to stay extra warm if you're out and about, plus I'm having a total Anna Karenina moment this winter, hehe), some jeweled booties, and of course, the ever-practical cross-body bag.
It's such a staple item right now and if you're local to Annapolis or MD/DC/VA, you've got to stop by and check out this cardigan at Here.a pop-up shop, because you will never want to take it off. So hurry and get yours now!
{ Parkhurst Faux Fur Hat , Fringed Cardigan from Here.a pop-up shop , Old Navy Cross Body Bag , Zara booties, Dittos Medium Wash Jeans } ...
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It's finally here! My Holiday Wish List for Kids! Or rather, a wish list that's kind of made for Cora, hehe. Don't tell her, but she's already getting a few of these items for Christmas and I cannot wait to see her face when she opens gifts this year. Last year, she was too young to fully enjoy Christmas, but so far she's been enjoying the Christmas lights around the house and in the neighborhood.
We'll be getting our Christmas tree sometime this week (I know, can't believe we still haven't gotten ours yet!), so I'm pretty sure she'll be super excited about that. Although, I'm a little worried about her and some of the ornaments we have. Might have to only put up plastic ones this year for fear of her breaking any delicate ones we've got.
Hope this gift guide for kids helps with any little ones you may have or are gifting to. And don't forget about my Fashion, Beauty, and Home Accessories Wish Lists to help with any holiday shopping. I'll have Part 2 of my Fashion Wish List next week!
Happy Thursday you guys!!
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