Rue La La: The Summer Edit dresses

Favorite dresses on Rue right now

Akiko Royal Blue Draped Silk Dress

ABS by Allen Scwartz Black Silk Sheath Dress

Susana Monaco Glam Peplum Dress

All three are under $100 and you can get them on Rue La La. 

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Which ones are your favorite?

J.Crew Round 2

Here I am getting ready for coffee with an old teacher and a fellow publication editor from high school and suddenly I realize what I have chosen to wear.  Another navy blue and neon pink ensemble from J.Crew...

Vintage Cotton Tank || Tiki Short 

Out and About: J. Crew Style

Most of my summer days are filled with sun bathing and reading, but there also comes the days when I need to be productive.  On these days, I don't tempt myself with a bathing suit under a t-shirt but head for my more casual J.Crew items.  I love the pairing of navy blue and neon pink, and you can't forget sunnies and a cute clutch wallet!

J.Crew striped top similar || J. Crew factory chinos here || C Wonder sunnies here || Kate Spade Carmine Street Stacy wallet here

What do you wear to inspire productivity?

Love of Lilly

In honor of the first day of summer, my good friend and I headed to the lake for a much needed girls weekend.  We stocked up on good reads, crafts and of course, chocolate.  

Being a family lakehouse, my mother started us off young painting ceiling tiles to fill up the boring basement.  Ever since, it has been a tradition for whoever goes to the lake house to paint a tile (or multiple!) to leave their mark on our family.  It's sort of our version of a guest book.  Schamay and I turned on Girl Code (current obsession) and brainstormed on what to paint.  Of course, being National Wear Your Lilly day, our brainstorming quickly spiraled into what Lilly pattern to paint.   Schamay, being quite the experienced crafter, immediately jumped into her pattern while I was a little more hesitant.  Here is how our first tiles turned out...

top: Anchors Away

bottom: Shorely Blue Leggy (2012)

right: Schamay working hard

*please excuse quality of photos, my iPhone isn't working too well these days*

After a day laying in the sun and a a scary trip to the walmart int he middle of nowhere Georgia, our confidence in our painting abilities skyrocketed.  We took on two more classic, but more difficult patterns.  Mine is on the left, Schamay's on the right.

top: First Imperessions (2011)
bottom: You Gotta Regatta (2012)

My one tip for painting Lilly: 

LAYER

What are your favorite patterns (past and present)? What have you painted Lilly?

The Skinny on Sizing

My BIGGEST pet peeve is when people buy clothing strictly by the number or letter on the tag, not by how the clothing fits.  I have some friends who refuse to have anything but a size small in their closets, when in reality some of these girls need larges.  Personally, I love things to be a little loose, you know,for the *gasp* fat days.

My closet ranges from a size 2 short to a size 12 dress (for my spectacularly annoying giant rib cage) to an extra small tank to an extra extra large sweater. I am not a tag-ist. A person who buys clothes solely by the tag, not by actual fit. Tag-ists do not understand that it really doesn't matter what the tag says, especially considering no one actually ever sees your tag. *Unless you are like me and tend to forget to cut off tags so someone else usually ends up ripping them off and showing me* 

So please ladies, don't be a tagist.  Buy clothing by what looks and feels good, not buy a number or letter. 

Thoughts? comments? Tagists who need interventions?

When life hits you hard

It really hits you hard. Like a brick wall, like a full stomach, like a hard exam.  Life really choice to test me this past year with multiple health issues, changed life plans, and a lot of bumps in the road.  But being one of those days, I came to thinking about what life is really showing me.  

After about half an hour of angry crying, I decided to get the mail (one of my favorite things), and a friend had dropped off a gift in my mailbox. A starbucks giftcard and new book awaited me as I ripped the gift bag apart. Still slightly annoyed, it was as though this book was a sign, so I sat down with a pint of Ben and Jerrys and The Book of (Even More) AWESOME.  Although I have only read, the opening and a few following pages, the author Neil Pasricha, really has an amazing outlook on the little things in life.  I genuinely smiled as each page turned.  I didn't think today would be a day for smiling, but just one little thing changed my perspective.  

So here are the good things that changed one of those days into another day that I'm happy to be alive.  

My favorite Cool Gear Cup

Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie

Fresh Squeezed Lemonade Scented Soy Candle

My Old Navy yoga pants

What little moments or things turn your day around?!

Why am I here?

  As an aspiring magazine editor-journalist-graphic designer-anything, I figured I should try my hand at blogging.  Because what good are my words to an established magazine if there is no proof that I can use them? 

  I spend hours everyday on Pinterest, pinning quote after quote of beautiful thoughts that someone, somewhere put into beautiful, simple words.  I love the effect behind each and every word, the typography, the colors, and I wonder what brought this person, one in 7 billion, to this conclusion.  Words can be used in so many ways, to hurt, to complicate, to inspire, to express. Words are Words are Words, but words are beautiful.  

  So here is my goal.  To express myself, my beliefs, my thoughts, my opinions. All in simple words.

Maybe, just maybe, 

I'll find myself somewhere along the way, 

hidden between the lines.

Travel Essentials: San Fran edition

I love love love to travel

But then again, who doesn't? Just yesterday I returned from San Francisco with my best friend after wondering the city and nearby suburbs for a week.  Being in San Anselmo, who would have known I could feel so out of place in such a friendly environment.  Common were the hemp skirts and braless crop tops, but I'm sorry.  I will never be a hippie or aspire to dress like one. I just can't pull it off.  So as we wondered through the endless amounts of granola people, I carried my travel staples. 

At top left: Kate Spade Carmine Street Stacy Wallet

At top left: J.Crew Factory iPhone 4s case

At right: Longchamp Le Pilage in Cobalt

The Longchamp is the perfect travel companion due to the size and durability.  The leather is not the kind you are constantly worrying about but still looks incredibly new after a week dragged around a city.

My newest obsession is my Kate Spade wallet.  I love the bright color and the many credit card slots and ID slip.  

I always need a new iPhone case, this one I have bought multiple times on sale because it matches a new manicure perfectly.  And why not use a new phone case as a reason to get a good gel mani?

Hopefully this is the beginning of a summer of travel before off to Columbia in the fall!