Blog — "my style"

I've officially been bitten by the booties bug. I purchased two pairs last season-- a southwest styled pair from Nine West, and a grayish pair with a hint of mint that I snagged on sale at Wittner in Sydney last September. Australia's end of winter sales, were my beginning of fall fashion luck. And while perusing shoes to add to my wardrobe this fall, I fell in love with the gorgeous wedge pair from Frye that is shown below.

1 // Clarks, 2 // Frye Company, 3 // Nine West, 4 // Sam Edelman, 5 // Aldo

Booties seem to be the perfect alternative to the knee high boot while warm weather still lingers. I love that they can be paired with skinny jeans, leggings, or a dress and that they come in all sorts of styles-- heels, flats, wedges, dressy, or casual. Booties have definitely become a staple in my fall and winter wardrobe. While I like the look of the sleeker styles, my favorites pairs tend to be those with chunky heels and rich colored leathers.

Have you jumped onto the bootie trend? Which types of booties are your favorites?

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?

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?

Top - Gap // Cardigan - Express // Jean - Worn // Scarf - Gift // Shoes - Nine West // Bag - Steve Madden
It's hard not to want to do a little dance when the sun is out and it is 60 degrees.... in January. Something about this weather made us want to do it all this weekend. And we most certainly did do it all. The weekend was made complete with a date night on Friday, a Home Depot run, watching the Syracuse basketball game with a friend on Saturday, a trip to the architectural salvage yard, some "spring" cleaning, homemade pizza, and of course Downton Abbey. Not to mention all of the other odds and ends that we were able to sneak in somehow or other. I'm telling you, spring-like temperatures in the middle of January are practically like a whole new lease on life.

Anyone else able to enjoy a beautiful weekend like us? What did you get accomplished this weekend?

P.S. There are still a couple days left to enter into an awesome giveaway! 

Tank Top - F21 / Sweater - Free People / Jeans - Gap / Booties - Nine West / Accessories - Nordstrom
There are two things that you should know. 1) I am tall. 2) I am a goofball.

Let's start with number one. 5'10" to be exact. And 6'1" with the booties. I have a tendency to bump my head while getting into the car, especially when I'm wearing heels. It's just one of those things that happens. I laugh about it in the moment. Andrew makes fun of me about it for the next week. You know, the usual.

Now for number two. I have a hard time being serious. My sarcasm is a constant. When I laugh, I cackle. And I bend over to keep myself from falling over from laughing so hard. I like to make weird faces. I am known by my students for my weird faces-- one for every situation that could possibly exist.

So I guess all that just to say that I'm a tall, goofball. And you're welcome for those last two photos.