Happy Cyber Monday, everyone! Make sure to shop your favorite stores today for some of the best deals of the year. Some of my favorite sites to shop are listed below and I've linked out directly to their Gift Guides. Y'all know the drill, though..not all of these sales are the best the stores offer throughout the year, so be smart. 15% off isn't the best deal and you can usually find the item less expensive elsewhere. Also, I'm going to be straight with y'all. I'm completely done with my Christmas shopping, so these sales are going to be used for yours truly. Let the shopping begin :)
My Mom, Dad, and Aunt are coming into town tonight for Thanksgiving and I really don't think I could be more excited. Mollie feels the same. Last time my parents were in town, they were helping me move. Moving is the absolute worst, so this time around, I want to make their trip a little more special. I'm also totally shocked that they would all travel to me for the holiday, so I want to make sure they don't regret it.
My parents will be driving from TN and my Aunt will be flying from TX, so I have a feeling they may be hungry once they get into town. I'm planning on having a few small bites for them at my place. I made these mini brie croissants a couple weeks ago and they were super easy to make..not to mention, super yummy..so, I'll be making them again. Any other festive ideas? Then for dinner: Shake Shack. Duh.
This will be the first Thanksgiving that I haven't been with my entire family sitting around a big, dining room table pigging out on Loveless hashbrown casserole, my dad's famous onions, green bean casserole and a side of of turkey, so I'm a little worried we just won't have that special holiday feeling like every other year. However, I made reservations for 1789 which I've heard is delish. They do a traditional, prix-fixe Thanksgiving menu that, hopefully, will be a good substitute for the real thing.
I'm also planing on having us do a little bit of the touristy stuff during the day since we weren't able to do anything like that back in May. I figure it will be a good time since most people will be inside watching football? We'll see about that. Left-overs and maybe a movie on Friday and then I've made reservations at Al Tiramisu for another night during their trip. I've heard it's a cute, little, hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant which is frequented by the rich and famous when they're in town. Fingers crossed Mr. Amal is there when we are.
With all that said, I'll be taking off the next two days from the blog to spend as much time with the fam as possible. Make sure to shop all the wonderful Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday deals out there! Happy Thanksgiving and I'll see y'all next Monday!
I've rounded up a few of my favorite things to give to my BFFs for Christmas. Votive Diptyque candles are becoming my go-to because of how good they small and their price point. I also love the Jonathan Adler zebra trays because they're something different and are adorable.
I've rounded up a few of my favorite things to give to my BFFs for Christmas. Votive Diptyque candles are becoming my go-to because of how good they smell and their price point. I also love the Jonathan Adler zebra trays because they're something different and are adorable.
The second I saw this sweater, I knew it was meant to be. When I was home in October, I wanted to check out the new boutique in Brentwood, The Copper Penny. I went with my mom and sister to check it out and loved it! Brentwood is lacking in the shopping department, so The Copper Penny is the perfect addition. I loved the mix of high-end and more affordable pieces and the styles ranged from chic to boho to trendy to classic. Back to the sweater. It's extremely soft, looks a little like something you'd find at AllSaints and was less than $100. Yes, 3x.
As I posted here, I have a deep love for the online boutique, Farfetch. They bring in all different stores around the world onto one platform in order for anyone to shop. The pieces are truly unique and beautiful and I had a really hard time picking out a few of my faves to make up the perfect holiday outfit. The look above is made up of all pieces found on Farfetch and if I had a bazillion dollars, they would all be in my closet. But really, it's the perfect place to splurge on those one or two special holiday pieces. You for sure won't end up wearing the same outfit as anyone else on NYE ;)
As you all know, I like my chic, simple, classic pieces and this dress encompasses all of those things. It's black (read: neutral), it's a simple design with a hint of chic. It also has long sleeves and because I'm not 22 anymore, I can't pretend like I'm not cold. This dress is perfect, if you ask me.
The shoes make the outfit; especially when you're like me and like you dress to be a little understated..the shoes are everything. Can I just tell you, I chose six different shoes for this dress..six. Farfetch has the most incredible selection of designer shoes you can't find just anywhere. I wanted to narrow it down to three. Half is fair, right? But, I ended up going with the platform, Mary Jane, seventies look. I'm absolutely loving that style right now.
Since it's the holidays, you want a clutch that will take you from all your Christmas parties to all your NYE parties. Something special. This part was a little harder for me than the shoes. I am super picky when it comes to clutches. Any bag, really..but the wrong clutch can be so bad. (Side note: is this not the cutest clutch for every day? And this one..swoon.) A great feature that Farfetch uses is the "Recommendation" section. Once you have clicked on a few items you like, it will give you other recommendations based on your picks. This feature was clutch when trying to pick my favorite. Yes, pun was very much intended. Even with this feature (probably because of this feature), I again could not choose just one. I opted to go with the fun one with the pop of color.
Do not, I repeat, do not forget the jewelry. This part can not be overlooked, because after picking out the perfect dress, shoes, and clutch you have to have the perfect jewelry (Do I sound like Cher from Clueless? Oh well..). For this look, I chose earrings that mimicked the fluttery sleeve on the dress and wasn't anything too flashy. I also love layering bracelets, so I chose a few of my favorite ones from Vita Fede.
And because you can't show up to any of your parties without a gift, Farfetch has an entire "Gift Guide" section to chose from. You literally can get your entire party outfit, including the gift. It's really the best.
Hope y'all like what I picked out! Any other favorite finds from Farfetch?
It's that time of the year. The chill in the air, the smell of peppermint, all the Christmas music playing..and all the unruly shopping crowds. Lovely. I tend to do most of my shopping online. That way I can insure to get the best deals and I don't have to physically fight my way to them. I also tend to finish up most of my shopping in November. I don't like to stress myself out and if it's done, then I can have fun picking up small little gifts in December that weren't on people's lists.
Above is my wishlist this year. Nothing too crazy. I actually really need a new planner; mine is on it's last leg. I also really need to find a good eye cream. One that works and one that isn't crazy expensive. The sunnies are a bit of a stretch, so I left them off my official list to my parents. That just may be something I treat myself to. Or what most likely will happen is that I find a cheap pair on Amazon..let's be honest. All the rest if just for fun. Cute PJs, the most Christmas-y smelling candle ever, holiday earrings and a pair of Classic Revas. You can't go wrong with that.
Okay, so this may be getting annoying and completely overplayed, but I am absolutely loving the blatant honesty going around about social media. Australian blogger, Essena O'Neill, recently quit social media and started a campaign called "Social Media is Not Real Life". She had over half a million Instagram followers, 200K YouTube followers, 60K Snapchat followers; you get the picture. Her issue was that social media puts too much pressure on people to be perfect and ultimately hurts self esteem and I think she's on to something. Now, quitting all social media may be a bit extreme, but I think she was trying to prove a point. Molly from a Piece of Toast posted about it just last week and Emily from Cupcakes and Cashmere also touched on the subject with a "Social Media vs. Real Life" post. It's very refreshing hearing these girl's take on the matter and just knowing we're all in the same boat helps; whether you have 100K followers or 1K, it can affect you.
Real talk: when I first started my blog I was overwhelmed with the encouragement and compliments I would receive. I was so flattered by it all. Well, eventually all of that started to wear off. With anything new, it loses it's appeal after some time. I totally understand that, but I kept blogging (and keep planning to) because it's a love of mine and the external praises weren't the reason I started. Anywho, after moving to DC and getting to know the blogging scene, I began to realize how many events, dinners, etc. went on and how I was only being invited to small handful of them. I also started noticing other blogger's stats growing while mine were stagnant. Both things were killing my vibe. I mean, who the eff cares, right? But for some reason it was affecting me. After listening to Essena's video (honestly, not the whole thing..it's 17 minutes long and who has time for that?), I became much more aware of how a lot of my confidence and esteem was coming from numbers, collabs, invites and the like. That isn't okay. I think it's important to remember that social media, as important as it can be, should not determine your worth. A person's worth should be determined by a number of factors, but the number of "likes" on a photo shouldn't be one of them. Have any of y'all seen the video? Thoughts?
Happy Friday, y'all! We made it! And just a reminder, we're less than 3 weeks away to Thanksgiving aka PTO. Thankful for that.
Today's "Friday Fave" isn't one product because I couldn't limit it to just one thing. Banana has been killing it with their coats/blazers/jackets lately. You can scroll through some of my faves above. Isn't that pink coat kinda perfect? Also, make sure to keep a look out for their sales. They're good and they're almost every day.
This jacket is by far my favorite fall purchase. And bonus, got it at TJ. I've been loving the look of blazers/structured cardigans doubling as a light jacket and this is the perfect example. It was a pretty chilly day when we were shooting, but I didn't even need another layer. When it gets even colder, just wear a thicker sweater underneath with a scarf and you're good to go.
Sorry, y'all. No special post today. Just a quick weekend recap. Friday night was spent celebrating my BFF's bday. Mexican food and margs and a quick stop to a bar around the corner. I left early because my sweet puppy, Mollie, was sick from eating something bad and I couldn't leave her alone for very long. Let's just say I had to throw away a rug. Second time that's happened. Anywho, I had all these plans for Saturday, I was going to start the Stylecable giveaway, I was going to work on the good ole blog, I was going to study. Well, not one of those things happened. I decided to give myself a "me day". Other than taking Mollie out every two hours, I stayed in my pjs and watched every single episode of "The Affair" on Showtime. Yep. 15 hours. I literally never have time to do that, so it was much needed. That was literally all that happened. Sunday came around and being extremely well rested, I woke up and went to SoulCycle (also much needed), shopped around Georgetown, grabbed brunch with a friend, shopped some more, and then finally went home to study. It was a great weekend and I actually feel ready to tackle this Monday. Oh and I promise the Stylecable giveaway will be up soon on my Instagram as well as some fun other posts. Stay tuned.
