Blog — "fashion"

In the last few days, I've felt a new chill in the air that seems to crop up around Christmas time and stick around until the end of January. Baltimore is mild in terms of winter weather, but it always seems that January is guaranteed to be freezing. You know, the kind of freezing where your toes don't ever feel warm and the tip of your nose is a constant icicle. After nearly seven years in this...

In the last few days, I've felt a new chill in the air that seems to crop up around Christmas time and stick around until the end of January. Baltimore is mild in terms of winter weather, but it always seems that January is guaranteed to be freezing. You know, the kind of freezing where your toes don't ever feel warm and the tip of your nose is a constant icicle. After nearly seven years in this city, I have realized that my body has finally acclimated. If I were to go back to Syracuse or Indiana, I'd struggle with the long, cold winters. 40 degrees is now the new 20 and I find myself longing for the 70s of spring more than I did other years.

I've also come to realize that along with hating the cold, I hate my coats. The long, black Michael Kors pea coat that I currently have makes me feel way too professional in a conservative way and not stylish enough. And for as cute as my bright teal Columbia ski jacket looks on the slopes, I'd rather not look like a ski bunny while I'm out and about in the city. So the search has begun, mid-season of course, which always seems to make things a little more difficult. I've been looking for something slim and fitting, with some interesting details to make it a little less plain and here is what I have found so far.

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I've pretty much narrowed my options down to these three coats, but am having the worst time deciding. I think I like the first one the most, but I'm not a huge fan of the faux leather on the sleeves and I love the hood option on the other other two. Originally the last one was my favorite and the one I was going to go with, but then I found the other two. The second coat has a great cut to it and the breast pocket details are a plus. However, I'm not a huge fan of the black pockets. What do you guys think?

What kind of coat have you been wearing this winter season?

As you know, this past August, Andrew and I got married. We decided that a big wedding just wasn't us, and opted for a short and sweet courthouse wedding with a close friend in tow as our witness. After our wedding, we decided to take an epic trip to Australia instead. For us, traveling seemed to make much more sense in terms of where to spend our money. Travel is something that we both enjoy immensely and we knew a trip would make us a lot happier than a wedding that would be over in just a few short hours.

However, despite our quick wedding affair, we still decided to have fun and be a little classy. Many people commented on our wedding photos and loved our color theme and attire, and some even asked me to do this post (you know who you are...). To be truthful, we always travel on a budget, and our wedding attire was also on a budget... ok, except maybe not the shoes. Buuuuut, would you expect any less from me? So without further ado, here's the breakdown.


Her /// Dress - Nordstrom, $148 // Sandals - Kate Spade, $228 (splurge!) // Clutch - Milo and Molly, gift (similar) // Earrings - Target
Him /// Pants - Express, $59.90 // Shirt - Michael Kors via TJ Maxx, $19.99 // Tie - Macy's, $49.50

The total new cost of our attire was $445.49, which was half due to my splurge for shoes. We had a little money left over from our budgeted travel expenses, and Andrew insisted that I get the shoes and dress that I wanted. He knew that the shoes would be worn more than once and get some good use, so despite my qualms, he insisted I get them. This in itself is amazing as he most recently was heard saying, "You already have too many shoes!" as we browsed the new DSW that opened up nearby. I also say "new cost" because Andrew already owned the pants as part of his work clothes wardrobe.
I chose the mint cork wedges and tie to compliment the clutch that Kristen made for me as a wedding gift. I had initially found a mint dress at Nordstrom Rack that I was going to wear, but in a last minute fit of wedding panic (I say this jokingly of course, as this was the most stressful part of our wedding and it wasn't even really stressful!), I decided it'd be more fun to do a traditional white dress.
For me, this was a bit more than I wanted to spend on our wedding, but at the same time I realize that our entire ensemble cost less than all of the actual "wedding" dresses I looked at. I'm not sure why they can charge more just because it is dubbed as a wedding dress! And with a mere $15 needed to use the courthouse for 10 minutes, why not splurge a little?
Were you on a tight budget for your wedding? Anyone else out there do a courthouse wedding like us? What were your splurge items for your wedding attire?

Yesterday for the first time in the six years that I have lived in Baltimore, I went to the basement for a tornado warning. As a Hoosier native that was born and bred in tornado alley, I decided that clearly things with the weather were not so hot when I glanced out the glass-paned door in my studio to see a sky that had turned black and green. Forget tornado warnings. Sometimes they don't predict the right thing. And sometimes they come after the fact when it is too late (like the time a tornado touched down literally three houses down from my childhood home). But when that sky is green, that's my warning. (I also often half joke that if it sounds like a freight train is about to come through your living room, then that's a good sign you should head to the basement. That sort of happened in the situation of that last little side note I made.)

This morning is a different story. Lazy, gray wisps of clouds are dissipating to show peeks of blue. It makes for a good Friday morning. Not hot enough yet that the buzz of the air conditioning units in our alley have taken over the peaceful morning. And promising of better weather for tonight's baseball game. So, what better to do than round up a few things I've been browsing upon while sipping my morning's iced coffee.

My sister has some pretty amazing recent adds to her shop, StarSeventeen. I recently favorited this hat. The colors are just fabulous! And I've commissioned her to paint a super awesome hat for me. I'll be sure to share it once it's all done!

via StarSeventeen

I'm a sucker for turquoise, and this necklace from Cat&Bot is definitely one I wouldn't mind having.

via Cat&Bot

This little bowl just makes me happy.

via up in the air somewhere

I would really love to add this scarf to my collection. Perfect for summer! Light and bright.

via LeLeni

I love this abstract painting. The colors are fabulous and I really like the triangle and geometric theme.

via Mardi & Me

And of course, I couldn't leave you without a few good things to read.

Like this mind boggling BuzzFeed article, Why No One Should Mess With the Ocean.

This recipe for spiced salmon skewers. (You may have remembered seeing these in my Instagram feed!)

And some permission to do the things you've wanted to do. I especially like that last bullet point!

Any plans for you this weekend? We're heading to the O's game tonight. For Saturday and Sunday I see some bike rides in our future, plus some painting. Yup, big basement project is underway. Will have to update you all soon!

Have a fantastic weekend!

I have a problem here, people. And when I say I have a problem it only means one of two things. A) I have a serious addiction to something (like shoes) or B) I have a decision that I need to make and good old indecisive me can't make it. I'm not writing about shoes today, so we're going to have to default to letter B on this one.

I've been doing a little spring shopping lately and wanted to add a few more lightweight scarves to my wardrobe. However, I have a problem (as mentioned before) and I can never decide on just one. I claim that this is genetic. My mom and I are Victoria's Secret clothing shoppers. I don't mean the slutty shirts that show off your boobs or midriff. I mean the normal shirts, dresses, pants, etc. Why? They actually fit. They are good for tall people like us. I realized this weekend that I have picked up on a genetically passed down trait. I looked through the VS clothing catalog for an hour over coffee and picked out a few things. Next, I migrated to my laptop and started adding things to my online shopping cart over another cup of coffee. Finally, I looked at my shopping cart and noticed the total amounted to $668 and I gave up.

I mentally talked myself back into this online shopping by telling Andrew that he had to look at everything in my cart. Thirty minutes later and I had whittled my way down to a much, much smaller price tag and a few items for spring including a couple new bathing suits for my summer sun addiction. My indecisive nature made me take FOREVER while online shopping. This is genetic. I promise. If you could ask my dad right now he would probably tell you that he may or may not have to do the same thing I made Andrew do this weekend.

Now. I did a good job. I ordered my shirts and swimsuits from VS. I made it in and out of Gap in record time on Sunday with some great items. I have had a successful spring wardrobe update, except for my scarves. And Andrew? Andrew was no help this time. I think he seriously had overload from the whittling down of VS clothing.

So here goes nothing. I love this beautiful shop Gertie & Baxter. I can choose two scarves. Two is what I am allowed without Andrew probably making a comment. True story.

 1 // 2 // 3
I think I need to at least get number 2 since it's the only one that is pink. However, I am undecided about number 1 or 3-- I love them both. I can't have both though and really two mint scarves is probably impractical.

Which would you choose?