Monday, June 4, 2012

Building Your Wardrobe :: The Essentials

images via 1, 2, 3, 4

When it comes to a woman's wardrobe, a black heel is an absolute must. Not only is this classic heel perfectly paired with trousers or a pencil skirt for a business day look, but also makes an incredible statement when paired with something as simple as a pair of boyfriend jeans. My absolute favorite kind happens to be the pointed toe heels. They have this effortless sexiness about them, and are so flattering on the foot. Definitely my go-to shoe when in a shoe rut.


Invest: 1. Theysken' Theory $345 | 2. Christian Louboutin $625 | 3Manolo Blahnik $595
Save: 4. Zara $49.90 | 5. Asos $69.58 | 6. Asos $24.35

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. And speaking of shoes....I purchased my first pair of high end designer shoes! Thanks to the Nordstrom half-yearly sale, I scored these Miu Miu's for almost 50% off! It's my early birthday present to myself :) Have you scored any good deals at Nordy's half yearly? Do tell!

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Currently Obsessing Over


1. This work space featured in Rue Magazine gives me the insane urge to declutter and get organized. Been so obsessed lately with mood and inspiration boards. On my list of things to do this summer!
2. I JUST came across Ampersand Design Studio blog. {Yeah, I don't know where I have been}. And then when I saw the Etsy shop with these gorgeous neon Ampersand prints, I about died. Neon & Ampersands? What can be better?
3. How insanely amazing are these Valentino Bow Flip Flops that Chiara from The Blonde Salad is wearing?
4. These adorable globs of pastel, gold, and bright paints are in fact an Iphone wallpaper that Amy from Eat Drink Chic created! Head here to download.
5. When I first saw this outfit on Pinterest, I knew I had to have that pink dress! Does anyone know where it is from?! Love it paired with the neon Bauble Bar necklace and camel clutch.
6. I am in search of a gorgeous antique perfume tray like Krystal Bick's of This Time Tomorrow. Such a great way to display your most gorgeous baubles for all to see.

Just some of the many things I am currently obsessing over. For more of my obsessions, head here.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Wednesday Wishlist // Sparkle Me Pretty


Gosh I love sparkle. Who's with me?! As you can tell from my Wednesday Wishlists, my style is a mix of edginess (hint: skull scarfs and high tops), and a mix of feminine (pink, sparkle, and bows). I just love both so much. Who says you can't combine skulls and glitter in the same outfit?!

Today is my Mom's 58th birthday! Cannot wait to celebrate it with her! No better way to celebrate than Tiramisu and 3 Layer Chocolate Mousse Cake from Cocola! Yum.

P.S. I am participating in Victoria's Behind The Scenes series over on her blog today - so head on over to learn more about me :)!

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday!


Monday, May 28, 2012

Building Your Wardrobe: The Essentials

image sources {clockwise}: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

The fourth must-have piece in your wardrobe is the always flattering, pencil skirt. I don't know a woman who does not look great in a pencil skirt. It is just one of those pieces that hugs all the right parts of a woman's curves, creating an ultra-slimming effect. To keep it classic, start with a black or navy pencil skirt. Pair it with a pussybow blouse and pointed heels for a perfect day at the office look.

Once you have the basic colors, try out fun prints, bold brights, textured wool, or even peplum for some added flair. And always remember when buying pencil skirts, fit is key. A little too tight or a little too big won't work. It's important to make sure the skirt starts right at your waistline and ends either a tad bit above the knee or a little bit over. And just a little piece of advice - heels always look better with pencil skirts versus flats. The longer the leg, the better. :)

Invest: Trina Turk $158 | Reiss $230 | M'oda 'Operandi $390
Save: Pim + Larkin $59 | Free People $68.99 (sale!) | J. Crew $69.99 (sale!)

Hoping you all are having a relaxing 3 day weekend! These last couple of days have been utterly exhausting for me, so I am thrilled to have tomorrow off! Yay for sleeping in!

Friday, May 25, 2012

A Jam Packed Weekend

Hello lovies! This weekend, I am helping my best friend Lauren coordinate a beautiful beach wedding that will be held in Santa Cruz! Tomorrow we are heading to Santa Cruz for pre-wedding preparation, rehearsal, and the rehearsal dinner. Then bright and early on Saturday morning, we will be in FULL wedding mode making sure every little detail goes as planned! It is going to be a crazy hectic couple of days. PLEASE pray for me that I won't forget to tell the bride when to walk down the isle!! :)
Anyway, it is approximately 11:30pm and this girl needs sleep. BUT I wanted to give you some gorgeous eye-candy to brighten your Friday!

Hedi Gores's closet on the Coveteur. Can you even imagine what it would be like to have this closet?!!?

Nicolette Mason's array of Chanel polishes...

Liz of Late Afternoon mixing colors, textures, and patterns seamlessly.

Doesn't this image just make you crave Summer?! Straw satchels, panama hats, tortoise sunnies, and loads of stripes? Yes, please!

Oh! And P.S! I was featured in an article on LA Weekly about the life of a blogger :) Check it out here!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend,

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Bows & Stripes




Bow Top: Ginger G / Slacks: Gap / Sunnies: Toms c/o / Jewelry: Betsey Johnson (bow earrings), Poshlocket c/o, Thrifted, Vintage, Michael Kors, J. Crew / Nails: Zoya in Arizona / Starbucks: Skinny Vanilla Latte ;)

Wore this outfit to school for a final presentation. I fell in love with this bow top when I spotted it at - get this - Marshalls! I am a sucker for pretty back detailing, especially when bows are involved. I of course had to match the top, with my favorite Betsey Johnson Bow Earrings! Paired it with my gray slacks and Steve Madden Platforms (not pictured) for a casual business look. 

Guess what?! I am OFFICIALLY done with the semester! SO ready for summer, and SO ready to get back into blogging! And speaking of that, thank you all SO much for your sweet comments you left on my Things I'm Afraid to Tell You post. I am incredibly humbled and each comment left brought tears to my eyes. So incredibly grateful for all of you and your love and support.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Things I'm Afraid to Tell You

So first off, I have to say BRAVO! to every single blogger who has participated in this movement, and am so happy and grateful for Jess and for Ez for giving us bloggers a chance to see that we are not alone. I have only had the chance to read through some Things I'm Afraid to Tell You posts (can't wait to read them all once I am out of school!), and I was so shocked to see women I admire so much, have the same thoughts and feelings as I do. Such an amazing sight to see. I of course had to jump on the band wagon, so here are my Things I'm Afraid to Tell You.  
Warning: It's about to get personal.


1) I almost never buy what is on my Wednesday Wishlist posts. Just because I post all of these pretty things that I want, doesn't mean I actually ever buy them. See #2.

2) I am completely broke. Which is why I cannot buy what is on my Wednesday Wishlists. I am a full-time college student, and I work at the hospital only two days a week. Obviously, not enough pay to afford my taste. Most often, I have less than $100 in the bank. I envy other fashion bloggers who can actually afford a pair of Current Elliott Jeans or an Equipment blouse. I would need to save up 2-3 pay checks to afford one of them.

3) I am utterly exhausted 85% of the time. I really think I have something wrong with me. Like, medically. I am tired almost all of the time. It is very rare for me to have loads of energy all day long. That is why me and coffee are BFFs. But really, coffee doesn't even really do anything for me. I also tend to get really overwhelmed. I look at other people who do WAY more then me and wonder why I cannot have their energy. If I do not get at least 8 hours of sleep each night, I will get sick and won't be able to function. So, when there are days when I have no blog post, this is why. See #4.

4) Sometimes I wonder if blogging is really worth my health and sleep. As all of us bloggers know, running a successful blog is a full-time job. It isn't just creating a blog post, but also reading other blogger's posts, commenting on their posts, tweeting, instagramming, pinteresting, and trying our best to respond to emails. I think I have maybe over 4 months of emails that I have yet to respond to. Which gives me incredible anxiety. Some times I wonder if it is really worth it. I will be gone at work all day, have classes, meetings, and homework to do, that at the end of the night (which is usually 11:00pm) the last thing I want to do is create a blog post! I used to NEVER go a day during the week without doing a blog post. But, I have finally realized that my health and my sleep is more important. 

5) I have low self-esteem. Okay, so I have never shared this on the blog with you all, or really everyone for that matter, but here it goes. Growing up, I was always overweight. In middle school, I was constantly called the fat girl with "the pretty face". As you can imagine, this stuck with me. Before entering high school, I decided to lose weight, so by the end of my freshman year I had lost 60 lbs. This weight loss and new attention that I was receiving, caused me to spiral into a pretty gnarly eating disorder. My sophomore year I suffered from Anorexia, totaling in at 103 lbs. By my junior year, I developed Bulimia. With lots of counseling, and coming to Christ, I was able to overcome my eating disorder. But, to this day, it is a battle that I continuously fight and will fight probably for the rest of my life.

6) Materialism bothers me. Yeah, this seems pretty darn contradictory huh? Yeah, it is. My blog is a fashion blog in which I post about pretty things, 24/7. As you know, I love fashion, but it is definitely not my world. and certainly not all that I am. This verse says it all: The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever. ~ Isaiah 40:8

7) I can be incredibly lazy sometimes. This is one trait about myself, that I am not too fond of. For example, I will go a month without picking the clothes up off of my floor. Ugh, did I really just tell you this?

8) I envy other bloggers. I look at other bloggers who have - way more time than me to invest into their blogs, are skinnier than I am and look better in clothing, are incredibly successful, are able to afford a new outfit for every day of the week - and get jealous.

9) No comments make me depressed. As stated before, I haven't had as much of time as I used to to invest into my blog. I used to comment on over 50 blogs a day, and now I comment on maybe 2-3. I so wish that the day allowed more time! But sadly, it doesn't. I used to receive a lot more comments than I do now, and sometimes it really gets me down. I mean, it's frustrating when I sacrifice my sleep to stay up late creating a post, and I receive barely any comments. Now, please, don't get me wrong. I started blogging because of my love for it and being able to express my creativity, not just to receive praise. And by no means am I telling you all to start leaving me comments! Lol. I know I have talked to some other people about this too, and they seem to feel the same. So I think I am not alone with this - right?

10) I struggle with how much I should share on this blog. For example, this post. I may or may not regret writing this. We will see. On my blog, I try to keep it more professional and editorial like, but also incorporate some tidbits of my life. I figure I want this blog to be a place people come to to get inspired, not to get dragged down by my life happenings. But I don't know. It's a tough situation, because my favorite blogs are ones that share a lot about their lives. I love when people are real and I feel like I know them. I wonder if my readers feel like they know me? Do you?

Well ya'll, that wraps up my Things I'm Afraid to Tell You. There is definitely way more about me and my life that I could share, but I suppose I will leave that for another blogger movement :)

Here are the amazing bloggers who have participated...

Bloggers Who Participated in Wave No.2:

Cassie: Coco + Kelley / Christine: Court & Hudson / Caitlin: Sacramento Street / Roxy: My Cup of Te / Crystal: Blog / Meg: MIMI+MEG / Ashlina: The Decorista / Katie: Modern Eve / Erin: Apartment 34 / Erica: Design Blahg / Victoria: Vmac & Cheese / Christine: Miles to Style / Franki: Life in a Venti Cup  / Sue: The Zhush / Erika: Radiant Republic / Gabrielle: Savvy Home / Monika: The Doctor's Closet / Naomi: Design Manifest /Tobe: Because It's Awesome / Becca: {extra}ordinary wonders / Lynzy: Sparkling Footsteps / Hitha: Hitha On The Go / Sarah: Note To Self / Liz: So Much To Smile About / Sarah: Blogstar / Alissa: The Goods Design / Jessie: Style & Pepper / Erika: Small Shop Studio  / AV: Long Distance Loving / Maggie: Maggie Rose Blog / Nicole: The City Girl In Me / Priscilla: The Best Laid Plans / Jen: Concrete Jungle DC / Janelle: Food Fashion Fitness / Natalie: East Coast Chic

Bloggers Who Participated in Wave No.1:

Design for Mankind | Little Brown Pen | Beautiful Hello | Curating Style | Sweet Fine Day | The Jealous Curator | Happy Days | Sage & Berries | Really Handmade | Peck Life | Satsuma Press | Rena Tom | For the Easily Distracted | The Hemborg Wife | Vitamini Handmade | Courtney Khail Stationery and Design | Meg in Progress | Dando Photography Blog | Widdershins22 | Alison Citron | Pink Moon Daily | Just Pretty Things | From China Village | Tea with Me | The Darling Ewe | Not Your Average Ordinary | The Electric Typewriter | Elleby Design | Parsimonia {Secondhand With Style} | Life as an Artistpreneur | Hello Cupcake | Dellie | The A & B Stories | Pretty Little Things | Feistyelle | Nib & Zed | Well and Cheaply | I Ripple. I Dance. | Whitfield Awesome Blog | Foxtrot Press | Dry As Toast | The List of Now | Apple Blue | For the Love of | Four Flights of Fancy | Miss Modish | Snapshots & Secrets | Dirty Laundry | Bubby & Bean | Penelope's Press | Little Nostalgia | Vale Design | Pikaland | Fleurishing | Print Pretty | Vespa Tales | Hazel & Agnes | Amanda's Musings | Mo' Funk Designs | Ordinary Mommy | Camp 1899 | In Honor of Design | Liberty's Yarn | Love, Life & Pictures | Stacey Winters | Owl in the Rain | Living Life Creatively | Emma Elizabeth Clease | I Live in Vacouver Now | British Cream Tea


Thursday, May 17, 2012

Panama



Dress: H&M / Panama Hat: H&M / Sunnies: c/o Toms / Purse: Vintage / Jewelry: Max&Chloe, J. Crew, Michael Kors, Poshlocket c/o, Thrifted / Lips: MAC Girl About Town

What I wore yesterday to meet Taylor Sterling in Los Gatos for coffee, macaroons, and loads of Glitter Guide planning!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Sugar Paper Love

Okay, so I don't know where the HECK I have been, but I just recently found Sugar Paper via Matchbook Mag. Within two seconds of visiting the website, I bookmarked the page. I am SO completely in love with all of their stuff. Gold polka dots, black and white stripes, bows, and ampersands? They sure know the way to this girl's heart. It is now forever my go-to place for all things stationary related. Here are some of my favorite Notes and Prints from Sugar Paper.


All of these gorgeous notes and prints can be purchased at Sugar Paper.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Building Your Wardrobe: The Essentials

image sources {clockwise}: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

For today's third segment of Building Your Wardrobe: The Essentials, I am bringing you one of my favorite go-to pieces in my wardrobe: a crisp white blazer. Since white is a neutral, a white blazer can go with pretty much anything and everything - jeans, shorts, maxi dresses, peplum, trousers, you name it, it goes! When buying a white blazer, think streamlined and structured, and for an added bonus, think cute button detailing.


Invest: 1. Rag & Bone $535 | 2. Theory $415 | 3. J. Crew $175
Save: 4. Greylin $108 | 5. Dorothy Perkins $89 | 6. Zara $89.90

So many different options, lengths, and styles. Loving the Greylin black collar and pocket detailing.
Happy Monday!

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