A Faerie Princess

 

I know, I know, it’s been forever and ever and EVER since I’ve posted a new blog. I have a good reason though! My next-door neighbor, best friend, and photographer, Lauren, moved an hour and a half away, rendering me photographer-less.  Sad, isn’t it? And I miss her too. 

School's also been crazy, but finals are finally over and all my grades are in, so I can actually start this up again. 

Luckily, my dear cousin Crystal is into photography and has been looking for a live model. She needed a model, I needed a photographer…the planets aligned….and this is the result. The blog is no longer just going to be about fashion (though that’s still going to be its primary purpose). It’s also going to be a blog about photography and cool things that Crystal does to my photos. The top portion will be the natural, normal(ish) photos she’s going to take of me and my clothes, and the bottom portion will be the cool things that she decides to do with them.

Hope everyone likes the newness!

The Leopard Trend

So, animal print clothing was one of the few things that I really never though I'd like when I first started dressing myself. I thought it looked trashy and cheap, and now I have to eat my thoughts because it's simply awesome (in small doses).

Until this year, I don't think I would have been brave enough to wear a leopard skirt. Leopard flats, definitely, but an animal print skirt? Noooooo, too crazy! And then I saw this one and I fell in love.

Muted Tones

This is the type of thing that I like to wear on the weekend - a loose, comfy (but flattering) shirt, slim pants or jeans, and low heels or wedges. I really like pairing gray with color - there's not as much of a contrast with white, so it tones everything down.

Missoni

I promised you a post about Missoni, and here it is. 

Like many, I was slightly excited when I found out that Missoni was doing a line for Target. I, however, decided that it would probably be a good idea NOT to wear every piece that I bought all at once, unlike the girls in the commercials, so I exercised restraint.

Happy Birthday to Meeeeee - Part Deux

So, my previous entry was about what I wore for my actual birthday. THIS post is all about the fun times I had the next day, and the super awesome dress I found for the occasion.

Unfortunately, my birthday fell on a Wednesday this year, meaning I had to teach on Thursday morning. I got to see some family on Wednesday, but the real celebration was Thursday evening. It was pretty simple - just dinner with my closest friends and drinks at my place afterwards for those who could stay, but so much fun. And I found this dress for the occasion. Isn't it awesome?

Happy Birthday to Meeeeeeeee

So, Wednesday was my birthday, and I was totally planning on posting pics then, but it was so much fun that I didn't have time ;-). I'm actually going to milk my b-day for two outfit posts - one from the day, and one from the party. Guess which one this is?

I know it's a bit sparkly for work, but I'm a believer in the idea that you should wear something special on your birthday, so I chose this. It's still work appropriate (I think so, anyway, but what do I know?), but super fun.

Simplicity

So, anyone manage to get their hands on any Missoni pieces from Target this weekend? I did :-D.

But more on that in the next post. This is an outfit that I wore this weekend that I was particularly proud of. Why, do you ask? Because it's something fairly simple that I made special by adding unique accessories. This kind of thing is especially great for the fashionista on a budget - accessories are WAY cheaper (generally) than clothes, and if you have a few classic pieces, you can change your look based solely on the accessories.

Joan Holloway

I felt very Mad Men in this outfit - I feel like it's something that Joan Holloway would have worn to the office. I loooooove her clothes, and when I teach I try to switch back and forth between her style and Betty Draper's. Those styles are the perfect mix of femininity and professionalism - I still feel like I look good without being overtly sexy, and I'm still appropriate. Well, maybe on the days I dress like Joan I feel more sexy, but still...

Unzipped

 So, it's kind of a funny story...

This outfit began one way and then changed completely, all because of a zipper - something so small, yet so important. I started off the day wearing this:

I fell in love with this dress at first sight. I love the pattern, the colors, the length, and the way it ties in the back. Since it's a bit low cut, I decided to wear the t-shirt under it, since I was just running around all day. I paired it with my ballet flats, which are deceptively simple and super comfy.

Lazy Weekend

So, this is the kind of thing that I wear on my weekends off - something comfy, but cute.

Tropical Storm Lee

Hello everyone, from the middle of Tropical Storm Lee!  It hasn't actually been that bad - just lots and lots of rain...and tornado warnings...but really, nothing to worry about. It's Louisiana. We deal with this kind of thing all the time (unlike YOU GUYS, East Coast. Not to minimize your experience or anything - it's just that I've grown up dealing with hurricanes, and you guys haven't. Snowstorms in New York were fairly traumatizing when I lived there).

Since it's been miserable, I figured I'd show you one of the ways I combat the weather - with boots, a cute hat, and a big purple umbrella.

Black and Navy

 I felt like this was a very sleek and sophisticated look. I love the shapes the skirt and shirt create - I actually do the pencil skirt and billowy blouse a lot.

They say it can't be done, but I DID IT! I'm talking about pairing black and navy together, of course. Most people stray away from this combo because it's usually a fashion DON'T, but I follow the same rules for this that I do for pairing black and brown - make sure that it's a lighter brown (or navy) so that it doesn't blend in with the black and make you look like you got dressed in the dark.

First Day of School

I'm sooooooo glad school's started again. Weird, I know, but I get restless and irritated when my schedule isn't set - it's much easier when I know that I have class and office hours from 9:30 - 4:30. I get so much more done!

This is what I wore. I try to keep the first day of school pretty simple, since first impressions are so important. I want to be cute, but I also don't want to be "the crazy English teacher." I also want to be professional so that my students won't think that they can walk all over me (I set them straight pretty much immediately, but I'm young, so it happens).

My Wardrobe is My Own Again!

So, this is the first outfit that I wore after my 30 x 30 challenge was over (yes, it was like, a month ago. I'm sorry, I'm behind. Deal with it.).

I got this shirt and these shoes the day the challenge ended (I know, I'm horrible), and I love them both! Oh, and I got a haircut. Like it?

Guest Post

So, I'm guest posting over at Erin's blog, Moms Have Style, Too! She's moving across country and threw herself at the mercy of we other bloggers, so I decided to help out. Go check it out!

At Last (Over a Month Late) – Day 30

First, I swear that I washed these two items before I wore them again. Second – I’M DONE!!! YAY! Granted, I’ve been done with the 30 x 30 for over a month, but I’m glad that I can start blogging about other pieces of clothing, especially ones that I’ve gotten since then (hello, $7 J. Crew Matchstick Jeans from Change Clothes). 

Mischief Managed (finally)!

Once again, I’m interrupting the 30 x 30 to bring you all an important announcement: I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, and it was awesome. I actually saw it on July 16, the day before my 30 x 30 ended, which is why I’ve waited until now to post what I wore. 

Nearly Missed It - Day 29

So, I just realized that I never wore this floral skirt during the 30 for 30. I don’t know why – I love it! I just kept gravitating towards the green one for some reason. Sigh.

Slightly Sophisticated - Day 28

Yes, I know you just saw this dress, but that was boho – this version is a bit more sophisticated, I think.

Oh, and it’s clean, I promise (crosses fingers).

Brilliance - Day 27

Recognize my skirt? I’ve got a confession to make (that you might have guessed already) – it’s a dress. This dress, as a matter of fact.

I was trying to figure out a new way to wear it ( which was surprisingly hard) because I felt like I was getting into a rut: I either wear dresses with cardigans or as skirts under shirts. I wanted to turn this one into a skirt, but didn’t want to use either of those methods, and then…BRILLIANCE STRUCK!

Sunny, With a Chance of Fog - Day 26

 It’s so hot and humid here in Louisiana that the camera lens fogged up, but I like this picture so I’m posting it anyway. I think it makes the light look cool.

Lady-like - Day 25

 I felt very lady-like in this outfit, even though the back of my dress was unzipped all day again. I'm pretty good at pretending, even to myself.

Personal Wind Machine - Day 24

It never fails. The sky gets dark and the wind starts blowing like crazy when I try to take blog pictures. It also does that when I plan a pool party or a day at the beach. It's official - the weather hates me. Either that, or I'm like that guy in that Douglas Adams book that rain clouds love and follow around all day. Sigh.

Subtly Sexy - Day 23

 So, I believe I’ve mentioned before how much I love this shirt. One of the reasons I love it (aside from the color, pattern, shape, and lightness of fabric) is its neckline – this wide almost boat-neck can be centered (like in my other post), or pulled off one shoulder for a slightly sexier look, like so.

Easy Breezy - Day 22

So, this was a day of running errands, and since it was unbelievably hot I decided to keep things casual with jean shorts and a t-shirt. Only this isn’t a t-shirt. This is one of the ways that the 30 x 30 has helped me think outside the box – I never really considered this or the other cardigan as “shirts” – they were always “cover-ups” to me, and strictly to be worn as an extra layer when I needed to cover my shoulders. 

I made what may have been the mistake of not including any basic t-shirts in my 30 x 30 (Awesome basics, but so boring! Who wants that when they can have detailed?), and that’s all I wanted to wear. Then I thought, “Wait – I HAVE a t-shirt! Or close to it, anyway.” And this is what I came up with.

Copycat! - Day 21

This particular outfit was inspired by Kendi Everyday – twice! I combined both of her ideas and came up with this:

I'm an original, I swear! I put my own spin on the two ideas - I was just inspired by her! Geez.

Sevens!

I interrupt the 30 x 30 with this important announcement: I have officially bought my first pairs of 7 for All Mankind jeans. Even better than that, they were only $35 each! And I bought them after I was done with the 30 x 30. So there – I didn’t even break any rules!

Where did I get such a great deal, you ask?

Expect the Unexpected - Day 20

This was an outfit that I didn’t think would work, but ended up loving. Has that ever happened to you?

Initially, I thought that the girlishness of the dress and the toughness of the denim shirt wouldn't work together, but decided to give it a try. Isn’t it cute?

Being a Grown-up - Day 19

You may have forgotten (and I wouldn’t blame you), but Day 18 was actually Fourth of July, and I already posted that blog entry here. So I wore this on Tuesday, when it was back to being a teacher and a grown-up.

Isn't it Romantic? - Day 17

This outfit whispers “romance” to me. I don’t know why – it just does. Maybe it’s the fact that both my top and my skirt (which is a dress, by the way) have ruffles. Maybe it’s the ribbons that tie around my ankles and make me feel like a ballerina in wedges. Maybe it’s the angel wings hanging from my ears. Maybe it’s the soft colors in the outfit. Or maybe it’s all of those – I don’t know. At any rate, in my mind this outfit has become synonymous with the idea of romantic summer nights. 

Hot and Cold - Day 16

I know, I know, it’s been a while since I’ve posted – so shoot me, I’ve been busy (and the weather’s been HORRIBLE and my apt isn’t exactly picture friendly). I promise, I’ve been following the 30 x 30 rules (most of the time). In fact, my last day was TODAY, and I’m very, very happy about it. However, you, darling readers, don’t get to read about it yet because my procrastinating self is still two weeks behind all the other bloggers at posting. I’m sorry, I really am. My main problem is, unlike most of the other fashion bloggers out there, I live by myself so I have no one to take pictures for me on a regular basis. I can usually coerce one of my friends to do it, but that doesn’t always work when I want it to. 

It's enough to make me consider getting married just so I'll have a photographer at my beck and call. 

Anyway.

Mischief Managed (Almost)

Tonight’s blog posting will not be about the 30 x 30. Instead, in homage to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 that I am not attending (I’m going Saturday morning), it’ll be about my (unhealthy) obsession with Harry Potter, the Series About Him, and how to declare your nerdiness fashionably.

Indian for a Day - Day 15

Yay! Halfway there (at least with my posts)! Believe it or not, in real life I’m actually on Day 25. It’s sad, I’m ten days behind. But whatever. 

Not Overdoing It - Really! - Day 14

So, I think this may be my favorite outfit yet. It’s bright and fun, yet (I think) sophisticated. As I’ve said before, I LOVE this pink shirt, and I think these yellow wedges are my favorite shoes of all time. 

Same Story, Different Day - Day 13

So…yeah. You guys have seen versions of this outfit before, only this time I’ve done a shirt and a skirt with a cardigan belted over them instead of a dress. Whoo (I’m getting a little tired of this – can you tell?). I actually wore everything with my dark denim trousers to teach (bet you were wondering, since the skirt’s so short), but it was sooooooo hot that I had to get out of them as soon as I got done at noon.

Superwoman - Day 12

Look! Over by the tree! It’s a skirt! It’s a dress! It’s…an OUTFIT! Well, mostly, anyway.

I was quite proud of myself for coming up with this one, mainly because I came up with a way to make a dress REALLY look like a skirt. Normally, when I wear a dress as a skirt like this, I leave the shirttails untucked and wrap a belt around my waist to create shape. However, I feel like it still looks like I’m wearing a dress as a skirt, though it usually looks pretty cute. But look! I’ve solved the problem!

I Don't Believe in Signs - Day 11

I love this shirt. I know, I say that about all my shirts, but it’s true! That’s one thing that I’ve tried to make standard – that I love everything in my closet. At the very least, I don’t own any items of clothing that I hate, which isn’t very convenient when I decide I want to do some painting. Oh well…

Strawberry Lemonade - Day 10

I love bright colors. Really, I do. I know it might not seem like it (sarcasm) but I really, really do, especially yellow. It just makes me happy! I’ve even gotten to the point that if it’s gray and rainy outside, I’ll wear yellow just to brighten things up. And I always think of strawberry lemonade when I wear yellow and pink together, so…there you go.  

Funny story behind this outfit. I bought this yellow dress (which was originally over $100 but on sale for $15 when I got it – yes!) back in October or something, and it’s super awesome. I have to wear a tank under it because the v-neck goes down so low, but ultimately it’s a great dress. It only has one problem:

It doesn’t really fit anymore, and I don’t know why. It fits perfectly well around the skirt area! But for some reason whenever I zip it up all the way, I have trouble breathing. As in, it’s so tight I forget to. I’m assuming this means that I’ve gained weight (which sucks), but I’m going to claim it’s muscle gain and not fat gain. And go to the gym five times a week.

So, since I have problems breathing when I zip up this dress, I’ve come up with what I think is a great solution: I don’t zip up the dress all the way.

Yeah, I know. Awful.

Thus, I wear a shirt over it to turn it into a skirt. I put on the shirt, knotted it at the waist, and then tucked it all under the scarf so that it looks like it’s tucked into the skirt. Nifty, right? I felt like a fifties housewife, especially with my little buttoned-up shoes. Though a fifties housewife wouldn't have been at work all day, and consequently wouldn't have such a wrinkled skirt. It was the end of the day!

A fifties housewife also would probably have paired pearls with this instead of a cool ethnic necklace like I did. Oh well. I wasn't going for authenticity anyway.

This is also the first time I’ve ever really worn a scarf as a belt, and I think it turned out well. I actually really like the swinging end being in the front, and will probably do that again. What do you think?

Kisses!

Shirt: H&M

Dress: Cooper by Courtney Warrant from Imagine Boutique

Scarf: World Market

Necklace: Change Clothes Consignment

Shoes: Unlisted from Change Clothes Consignment

Watch: Charming Charlie's

Go Fourth on the River - Day 18

Well, I just realized that I am over a week behind on this challenge, at least as far as posting entries goes. Great.

Anyway, since it’s a holiday (and I managed to get pictures taken today) I decided to go ahead and post today’s outfit(s) even though I’m over a week behind. Also since it’s a holiday, I cheated a teensy tiny little bit.

It was a holiday!

I have two outfits today, and this is the one I wore for most of the morning. It’s cute, comfortable, and patriotic. Yay!

However, the problem (and reason I changed outfits) is that this morning I had hotdogs and hamburgers at my grandmother’s house, where there’s AC. Tonight, I went to New Orleans to Go Fourth on the River at the Spanish Plaza where I knew I’d be sitting outside in the heat, and I changed into this:

What's wrong with this outfit, you ask? Well...neither of the tops are in my 30 x 30 list. But it was a holiday! And I wore the right things earlier! 

Go Fourth on the River is really cool – there were various cover bands, and then the night wraped up with patriotic bands like The Victory Belles (who perform at our WWII Museum) and The Crescent Crew (our resident Navy rock band). Then there were dueling firework barges on the river, which was awesome.

Hellooooooo sailors!

Boom!

Boom, boom! Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon!

However, all of this awesomeness meant that the outfit I’d picked was wrong for two reasons:

1)   It’s HOOOOOOOOOT. Like, 100 degrees hot. I needed to be able to take off my outer layer, and I really don’t like doing that when my inner layer is just a tank top. 

2) I knew I’d be sitting on the ground, which is not ideal if you’re wearing white shorts. So I wore regular jean ones instead.

And then, there was a puppy! This is Savanna, an adorable little Maltese owned by my friend Liz, who’s visiting from Ohio. She took these pictures for me. Isn’t she great?

Kisses!

Outfit 1

Outer shirt: American Eagle

Tank: American Eagle

Shorts: American Eagle

Shoes: Steve Madden

Earrings: Gift

Watch: Charming Charlie's

Outfit 2

Outer shirt: Aeropostale

Shirt: American Eagle

Shorts: American Eagle

Shoes: Steve Madden

Earrings: Gift
Maltese: Savanna, borrowed from Liz

Happy Independence Day!