Bring on the bubbly!

Thanks for everyone's patience in me not posting outfits the past week. I had every intention of taking pictures of my outfits each day and posting via my iPhone app, but I just couldn't get myself pulled away from friends and family long enough to take any pictures! Sorry!

The hubster and I are finally back in Virginia and we've got some great new years plans tonight, so pictures will resume tomorrow. I promise! 

And boy, do I have lots of new news for y'all. Get excited!  (No family, I'm not pregnant....)

Merry Christmas y'all!

Hope you had a great day with friends and family.

Cardigan: F21 - Plaid Shirt: H&M - Jeans: Target - Boots: Custom

An early morning leisurely drive

Gooood morning friends. It is 6am and we are heading out the door. Today is the day that we start our 21 hour drive back to Minnesota for Christmas. I'll post when I can - but everyone enjoy the last few days before the big day!

Jacket, Sweatshirt + Jeans: Target - Shirt: Old Navy - Boots: Roxy

My Wardrobe Staple

Today is my last day in the office and it's going to be a killer. So, I didn't want to use up any more brain cells than I needed today and decided to just wear a simple, basic outfit. No thought needed.

Sweatshirt Cardigan + Boots: Target - Tank + Jeans: Old Navy

It feel like each person has one or two things in their wardrobe that they couldn't live without. They wear it far more often than they probably should mainly because it goes with everything. For me, these are my brown boots. I've had these suckers for years and I honestly can't get enough of them. I mean, look at all these different ways I've worn them within the past few months. It's maybe a little bit of an obsession...but I'm ok with that.

These Days

Jean Jacket: Gap - Sweatshirt: Target - Dress: Piperlime - Heels: Marshalls

Manic Monday

With less than a week till Christmas, it's gonna be a manic Monday. As of Thursday AM I will be off-the-grid for twelve days. Yup,  you heard that right. Twelve days! But until then I've got lots and lots of things to take care. Oh...like maybe finishing off the Christmas presents I was supposed to make and probably should have mailed by now. Lots to do. Lots to do. Before hubby, the dog children and I make the long (21 hours long) trek back to Minnesota.

Leather Jacket: Target - Sweater + Tank: F21 - Black Jeans: Old Navy - Sneaks: DC

Sunday Storytime: Sarah's Key

Unknown to many, France's involvement in the Holocaust began in July of 1942. On July 16th, French police rounded up over 13,000 Jewish men, women and children and housed them in repulsive and uninhabitable camps before being transported to Auschwitz, a Nazi death camp.

Sarah's Key follows a young, Parisian girl of 10, who late one night is awakened by a banging on the door from the French police, telling her family that they need to pack up their belongings and leave their home. In an effort to save her young brother from what lie ahead of them, the young girl hides her 4-year-old brother in their secret hiding place, locks the door and telling him that she will be back soon to save him.

After days at the camp and witnessing children being separated from mothers and people beaten by the French police, Sarah soon realizes that they are not safe. And she will not be going home to rescue her young brother. Seeing her parents beaten down and afraid, Sarah takes matters into her own hands and escapes the camp with another young girl - barely - and runs for safety. After days of running, they young girls seek shelter in a doghouse outside of a farmhouse. And luckily, when morning comes, the owners of the farm place are ready and willing to nurse the young girls back to health, and eventually get talked into accompanying Sarah to Paris to find her young brother who was left behind.

Cut to sixty years later, 2002. Julia Jarmond, a journalist at a French-Ameirican magazine out of Paris has been assigned to write a story of Vel' d'Hiv, or the roundup of thousands of Jewish families during World War II. Typical research for a story turns into an obsessive need to learn more. As Julia digs deeper into the 60-year-old story that is buried in Paris' past, she also finds ties buried in her husband's families past. And she soon realizes that there are many who would rather than she leaves these stories buried where they are.

Be prepared for a stomach-turning and sorrowful time when you sign-up for reading Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. The first half of this book is compelling with strong story lines anchored in historical truths. You can't help but envision a story just like this happening 70 years ago during the real Vel' d'Hiv. What's unfortunate about this book is when we transition to Julia, the journalist uncovering this gut wrenching story. Julia's story is filled with fidelity, a mid-life crisis and much more trivial matters that really bring the story to a less-persuasive and captivating place. I'd still give the story four stars, but only for Sarah's story. Julia is a tertiary character in my eyes - and I'll just pretend that she stayed there.

Food for thought

The hubby and I have been trying quite a few recipes I've found on Pintrest in the past few weeks. I can't say we've succeeded with every recipe that we've tried, but there have been a few that came out pretty nicely. So I wanted to share a few of our favorites. Click on the caption below each picture to link through to the recipe and try it out yourself!

Breakfast Pizza Recipe

Mexican Pizza

Loaded Baked Potato Dip

Cake Batter Cookies

I cheated, just a little bit

You chose another great outfit for me to wear today. But I cheated, just a little bit. I put on the heels that the outfit showed...and just couldn't do it. I'm feeling a little lazy and a little tired today, so I put my boots on instead. And I put my hair up into a not-so-pretty-little-bun. You forgive me, right?

Scarf + Jean Shirt: Target - Belt: F21 - Skirt: c/o eShakti - Boots: Nordstrom Rach

This or That?

It's that time again. Time for you to go through my closet and tell me what I should be wearing. I know I want to wear a chambray top tomorrow  - I mean, it is Friday - but you tell me what the rest of my outfit should be.  What should I wear? This, or that?

Vote below or on my Facebook page!

What a stud

Have you always wanted to wear a studded leather jacket, but not sure how? Although it looks rough and tough, it's actually pretty easy to style in a ton of ways that are appropriate for more than just the weekend.

Jacket + Flats: Target - Pants: JCrew - Watch - Thrifted

Want more inspiration? Here are some other ways I've styled my studded leather jacket in the past.

And holy link party today! Find other outfit inspiration on any and all the link ups below.

Everybody Sparkle and Shine

I finally get to wear my new sequins skirt! I'm so excited to could squeal like a little girl. Thanks to everyone who voted last week on how I style this pretty little lady up. Your choosing this outfit for me made it much easier when I woke up this morning.  No need to stand in my closet and stare for 20 minutes....saves a lot of time.

Top: F21 - Skirt: Asos - Belt: wrap from dress - Heels: Nine West

What's great about sequins this season is that there are so many different ways you can style it. Check out Everybody, Everywhere on some other fresh & fun ideas on how to style up sequins.

 

The Little Black Dress

Here is my Little Black Dress, winterized. You can barely even tell it's a little black dress under there with all my warm wintery layers. But since it's finally started to get cold here, I've got to layer it up to stay warm. ...I still haven't taken my winter jacket out of storage yet. Maybe I should do that soon?

Dress + Tights: The Limited - Sweater: Gap - Socks, Scarf, Belt + Boots: Target

Sunday Storytime: I Remember You

I Remember You by Harriet Evans is a pretty typical chic lit book. After living in London for the past 12 years, Tess Evans makes a drastic decision to move back to her hometown, Langford, a tiny little English town. After breaking up with her boyfriend, Tess decided she needed a change of scenery and moved home to the town that once felt suffocating. There she runs into her childhood best friend, Adam, exactly as she left him 12 years prior.

Tess takes up a Professor position at the college just down the street. Tess teaches a summer session of the Classics to residents of Langford, which brings her and her students to the beautiful city of Rome. Here she meets Peter, an American journalist who captures her heart with attentiveness and outward love - much different than anything Tess has experienced in the past. But a tragedy brings Tess back to reality and back to England where she must face her life, and difficult relationship with Adam, head-on.

I'm not going to spend too much time on this review, because I felt that it was a very predictable chic lit book. Relationships love and lost, finding yourself and finding peace within your life in all the typical ways. Nothing impressive unless you like the predictable. There are surprisingly a ton of "5 star" reviews of this book on places like Amazon, which is the main reason that I picked it up. But I can't say the same thing. I can barely give this a 2 star with a straight face.

A very important style decision

Friends - I am struggling with a very important outfit decision and need your help. I recently purchased the most amazing of all amazing sequins skirts and I'm stoked about wearing it soon. I also recently saw that Everybody Everywear's challenge for this coming Tuesday is sequins. What?!? It's like the fashion stars have aligned.  So I'm obviously going to be wearing my new, amazingly, amazing sequins skirt on Tuesday - but now the pressure is on. How do I style it?

It's gotta be perfect. It'll be the first time I'm wearing the skirt and of course I want to be at the top of my game for EBEW. This is where you come in. Here's four super cool ways to wear my new skirt. You tell me, what should I wear on Tuesday? Vote below or on my Facebook page. And since I need all the help I can get - voting is gonna stay open till Monday night.

p.s. no judging of my super messy bedroom or the fact that my hair is straight out of the shower...

My Interpretation

A few fellow bloggers are doing something really cool today that I had to partake in. It's called Open to Interpretation and it's pretty simple - they post an inspiration picture and you translate this into an outfit for yourself. Their big caveat? This isn't copying the outfit - which was actually really hard with how great this inspiration photo is. I wanted to copy it all!

Here's the pretty freaking cool outfit that they posted for inspiration.

And here's my interpretation of it!

Sweater + Flannel: F21 - Jeans: Guess - Heels: Famous Footwear

I really love my...

I really love my Gap floral dress. This is one of those items that sat in the back of my closet for over a year and I honestly forgot all about it.  But over the summer I decided to dig it out for my 30 for 30 Remix Challenge and have a new found love for it.

Dress: GAP - Cords: GAP - Yellow Belt: F21 - Boots: Target

Check out all the other ways I've styled this dress in the past few months.