Casual.Date.Night.Dressing

Somehow I always struggle with what to wear for a night out with the main man. No surprise that he really could not care less what I wear but I still always want to look good. With the recent move to Brooklyn I find this whole concept a little more difficult. Unless you've been living under a rock you know that Brooklyn is experiencing a sort of life revolution that hasn't been seen in who knows how long. This is great for my home-ownership status but complicates my Saturday night wardrobe decisions. Although the idea of "cool" in Brooklyn is definitely something happening I am definitely not a hipster and therefore feel like I pretty much always look like I don't quite fit in. Thus the difficulty with dressing for a local Saturday night out.

When I was living in the city I always dressed up. Even if we were just going for pizza around the corner I always always dressed up. There is this idea that you just might never know when you're going to end up at some random bar downtown at 1 a.m. with a whole group of people, therefore you must always be prepared. Moving to Brooklyn has definitely changed this. When we decide to keep it easy and go local for a night out I find myself really struggling with what my previous self would do and what actually looks normal and not over the top. I finally decided that skinny legging jeans, a blousy white t-shirt, wedge sandals, statement necklace and bright pink clutch was the right kind of casual Saturday Date Night look. See below (don't mind the pillows on the floor):

Own white tee-shirt, James Jeans Twiggy in Blackberry Slate, Dolce Vita Wedges, Pink Prada Clutch

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Side Shot

summertime.brights.at.work

Summertime allows for more fun with your wardrobe and I definitely feel more relaxed when it comes to getting dressed in the morning. When I want to keep it fun, but a little dressy, one of my go-to outfits is a blousey top, colored jeans and a pair of heels, and of course I always add a little pop of something to any of my outfits. With the rainy day on Tuesday I wore a white eyelet shirt from a store I fell in love with in London, Whistles. They do not have any stores in the US yet but you can order from their site online (www.whistles.co.uk) and I figure if I sleep outside of their headquarters for the next 6 months it should help bring them here right? I paired this top with my favorite yellow jeans from Rag and Bone, and black Mary Janes heels from Vince Camuto. I finished the look with a big statement necklace from Goldy+Mac (goldyandmac.com); a cute, fairly inexpensive small chain of stores all over Brooklyn and the Hamptons.

Here are some ideas for the perfect summertime business casual outfit:

1969 Legging Skimmer Jean

ASOS Blouse With Drop Wrap And Double Pocket

ASOS Blouse With Floral Applique Yoke

Rag & Bone/Jean Skinny - Coal

How are you making your summer wardrobe fun and still work appropriate?

wake.up

Lately I've been feeling a little lazy which would be why I haven't written in an embarrassingly long amount of time. Between the weather and my commute (those of you who know me know I have about a four hour commute every day) I have been feeling little motivation to do anything but sleep with some fun mixed in. I've decided it's time to get out of it and inspire myself by thinking about the Spring and trying to have fun with my wardrobe.

Having fun with my clothes right now has become a little difficult since I'm at the point in the season when I can't stand my clothes but it seems a little silly to buy more winter clothes when the season's end is just around the corner. Because of this I have really tried to mix and match pieces and wear things in a different way just to give the every day more life. Here are some things I'm doing that you can definitely do as well to make every day a little more fun!

1: Wear fun make-up to brighten up your morning routine
2: Buy some new accessories, like great big earrings, to add some jazz and a new take to a favorite outfit
3: Break out a bright shirt to remind yourself that Spring is just around the corner
4: Start painting your nails in more of a bright color so that when you're typing away and you look down at your bright nails it makes you smile and reminds you that soon enough you'll have warm weather to match those nails
5: Start putting some money away for a new spring/summer bag that you've had your eye on

I hope these tips have given you a little bit of spring inspiration and a brighter outlook as we look forward to the end of a snowy winter and the beginning of a fun spring!

Happy Styling :)

mood.lifter

Hi everyone! I know its been about a week since I last wrote but I think that this gross winter has made me a little lazy. How am I trying to fight the winter blues? By planning fun things to look forward to. In about a month I am going on vacation which will be a great mood lifter!

If you don't have a vacation planned to break up the dull winter routine then I suggest these fun things to remind you that there is life underneath the snow:

1: Make fun plans with a girlfriend to either try a great new restaurant, go get drinks, maybe see a movie - having a fun reason to get dressed up always makes me feel better
2: Make plans for a getaway weekend that is cheap and inexpensive! Maybe you have a friend or relative that has a cute house you can borrow for a weekend with either friends or your significant other. Even packing a bag to get away for the weekend can perk you right up!
3: Do something fun for yourself. Sometimes I just need a little pick-me-up to make me feel like I'm doing something for myself but it doesn't cost a fortune. My favorite pick-me-up is buying a cute new addition to my wardrobe or getting a manicure - easy, cheap and brightens me right up!

For some wardrobe inspiration start thinking about what you might want to wear for your upcoming girls night out or date night! Buy yourself a cute top or dress for that instant mood lifter!


If you're stuck indoors due to all the fun snow we've been getting then I would check out www.polyvore.com for some fun inspiration!

Polyvore.com is this great website where you can go online and pick an item of clothing, accessory, make-up, or maybe an awesome piece of furniture and design an inspiration board or wallpaper of all things you love. I did the one above which is currently serving as my wallpaper for my new iPad! I love this website because it allows you to be as creative as you want. And of course what else adds to the fun of this website? The item you click on has an embedded link that will take you to a website where you can buy the piece you fell in love with - even better!


I hope you enjoyed my mood lifter tips and fun indoor activities!


Happy Styling :)

snow.day

I know it's Tuesday, and not my usual Monday post, but due to this past ski weekend with my girl friends, my whole mind is a little delayed!

After all the snow, recent ice storm, and skiing, my mind is definitely on winter and staying warm. This past weekend my best friends from college and I went on our second annual ski trip to Upstate NY. Always an amazing time, I knew that I probably wouldn't need more then ski gear and comfy clothing for the whole weekend, but being someone who loves clothing I obviously could not just bring sweatpants and a sweatshirt.

I found that one of the necessary items for this past weekend was my big, cowl neck Vince sweater, leggings, jeggings, a comfy sweatshirt, cozy boots and the necessary ski gear. For great ski gear my suggestion is to check out Paragon.
   - Paragon Sports (www.paragonsports.com): The go to for anything athletic in the city, they have very expensive items or more affordable pieces. My roommate and I picked up amazing wicking socks that kept my feet so warm when I was skiing, I wanted to wear them all weekend. We also got great wicking shirts which kept me equally as warm on top.

For cute and cozy winter clothing a big sweater is always the key. To top it off add cute jeggings or skinny jeans, warm socks and cute snow boots. Here are some of my go to designers and places to shop:

1: Vince (www.vince.com): One of my favorite lines, they have one of the best sweater collections around. They have a classic, yet trendy style, and they never fail to look nice and make you feel put together
2: Urban Outfitters (www.urbanoutfitters.com): Sometimes Urban can be a little over priced but I like Urban because when I'm in the mood for a quick wardrobe update, I can usually find something that won't break the bank and hits the spot.
2: Shopbop (www.shopbop.com): Shopbop is by far my favorite shopping website. Unfortunately it isn't the least expensive website, but it's great to check out for outfit inspiration. I like to look at it regularly for new ideas and ways to switch up, and update, my wardrobe.

I hope you're somewhere comfy reading this right now thinking about what cozy and cute outfit you're going to wear tomorrow! Stay Warm and Happy Styling :)

website.wednesday

Happy Wednesday everyone! If you're anywhere in the Northeast you have either trekked it to work or are enjoying a nice little snow day. I hope it's the latter! For today's "website.wednesday" I thought I would feature a website I was recently introduced to, and also add some more fun tips for today!

Singer22: I was recently told about this website and it's pretty great! It's a clothing website but it basically allows you to search anything you want in any way. If you love a certain celebrity and their style you can find them on this website. Click on the celebrity of your choice, and then you are able to purchase different items that they are wearing or something similar. You can also shop by designer, trend, and category and they offer all sorts of price points. Currently they have lots of great things on sale and I am eyeing this one item - a cute, bright blue romper. Although a romper might not seem like a smart buy right now I think that it is actually quite versatile. You can wear it now with tights and a great cozy boyfriend sweater, and then carry this item into your Spring/Summer wardrobe by not wearing any tights with it and trading in the sweater for a lightweight blazer -
Blue Romper (click here to check it out).

Now for some food & wine tips!

Since we've had so much snow recently, there is more time indoors, which definitely makes me want to curl up on the couch with yummy food and a glass of red wine. One of my favorite things to do for dinner sometime, or even for a snack, is to make a nice cheese & meat plate for everyone to share. You can make a small plate for just two or three of you, or obviously you can make a plate as a big as you want! I say the more cheese the better, but that's just me :) Here are some of my go to cheeses & meats:

1: Sharp Gouda
2: Sharp Cheddar (there's a theme here haha)
3: Gorgonzola
4: Brie/Camembert
5: Soppressata
6: Proscuitto (sorry Mom haha)
7: Bresaola

Then I usually like to buy a nice baguette and slice up the bread. If you want to get really creative you can slice up some apple, put the apple slice on top of the sliced baguette, layer a slice of cheese on top, and then warm it up/toast it for a few minutes. The cheese gets nice and melted, and the bread has a nice little crunch to it. My friend Meghan did this one time when she was visiting and I still love it (thanks Meg)! Below is an image of food I did for a party we had recently - take a look!

Now for wine my go to is almost always Red - most people know this about me because about half a glass of wine in my teeth show it (very annoying)! We recently tried a really nice new bottle of wine and I thought I would share it with you:

Tamarack Cellars: We tried this wine at an amazing restaurant in Upstate NY. Tamarack is a winery in Washington State and I think I might have to make a trip there soon! We had the Cabernet Sauvignon and I definitely recommend it.

I hope you enjoyed my tips for the day!

Stay Warm & Happy Styling :)

funday.monday

Happy Monday everyone! Today as I sat in Jury Duty, (not exactly what "funday.monday" means), I thought about things I have been paying attention to style-wise in the last few weeks, and came up with some fun tips for you guys this week :)

Along with most of the world, I have been thinking a lot about the "life resolutions" I have made for 2011 (I am calling them life resolutions because I plan on incorporating them into my life, not just for this year). One of them is to be healthier and that means focusing on adding more exercise to my life and making some smarter food choices. With this recent decision in my life that meant that I, of course, needed to add cute work-out clothing to my wardrobe! Since I'm short I knew that I would want legging type work-out pants for the cold weather. Also, I tend to wear baggier t-shirts because I am not exactly comfortable in a skin-tight bodysuit at the gym, so I thought I might spice up my t-shirt collection. Here are some tips on where I looked and purchased!

1: Target - Target has the C9 Champion line which is really cute and totally affordable. I bought great legging work-out pants for $24.99 and some cute, baggier, brightly colored t-shirts
2: Macy's - Now I don't frequent Macy's very often but I was given a gift certificate and they were having some major sales - they were practically giving the clothes away. They had adorable Puma and Nike workout clothing with shirts priced at $9 and even cute work-out pants priced anywhere from $10 - $15
3: DSW - As I have said before my ever pracitical BF loves showing me that I can find cute shoes at DSW. The other day I was online and saw that they are selling great sneakers for $80 and below! They carry everything from Asics to Nike to Adidas. If you need a new pair of work-out sneakers, but don't want to spend a ton of money, I recommend checking out your nearest DSW store or check them out online at www.dsw.com.
4: Gap Body - The last place I love to check out for cute work-out clothing and anything cozy is Gap Body. They have really cute yoga clothing, along with great sports bras and sweatshirts, and it's Gap so it doesn't break the bank. I think to get myself even more motivated I might have to purchase this adorable gym bag:

I hope you found my gym styling tips motivating, and not just by helping you get off the couch, but being excited about looking cute while workin' it!

Happy Styling :)