June 18, 2013

beautiful jewels.

One thing I always love?  Inexpensive jewelry that can be dressed up or down.  And my friend Rachael makes just that.  Dreaming Leo Designs is filled with beautiful jewelry that you can wear for plenty of occasions.  Below are just a few of my favorite pieces.  I'd definitely recommend checking her jewelry out.






June 16, 2013

casual cookout.


Sometimes weekends are just perfect, and this past weekend happened to be one of those.  B and I headed to our hometown to celebrate Father's Day with his family and mine.  Starting with a cookout on Saturday with B's brothers, their wives and kids, and his parents.  I love watching B with his brothers because they are really best friends.  Though I don't always appreciate when two of the brothers pick on the third for appearing on his wife's blog... now I'll never get him to come back!  Hubba Hubba.

I also got to have an impromptu reunion with one of my best friends- something I very rarely get to do because our time is so scheduled and busy when we're visiting home.  Sunday we got to enjoy breakfast with a great portion of my family, and celebrated my Grandpa who at 97 years old is one half of the reason we're all here anyway.  And if I do say so myself, I have some pretty great family.

How was your weekend?



© Photography by Brandon Hartley

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


I'd like to officially introduce you to my friend Erin of Loop Looks.  She was kind enough to guest post for me a couple weeks ago, but I thought it might be fun to get to know her better.  Erin lives in Chicago and blogs about dressing for the professional world in the "Loop".  I really appreciate Erin's blog for the daily work outfit inspiration on a non-designer budget- occasionally with some fun sparkle thrown in.  The pieces she blogs about are pieces we can actually afford without selling our homes.  Every Wednesday she also does You Pick Wednesday where she answers reader questions like this one on when to wear nude shoes.  Erin is real, and easy to relate to (case in point: this post) and I just know that you'll be able to gather all kinds of inspiration from her blog.  

Stop by and tell her hello! 


June 14, 2013

this week i loved...


> The Oh So Pretty blog.  I just adore her graphics.  There is something so clean and beautiful about everything that she puts on her blog.

> If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you may have seen me going on and on about this necklace.  I'm completely in love with it.  Not in love with the $90 price tag- or that I don't have a birthday coming up to convince my husband to buy it for me.  

> These hairstyles.  I'll be the first to admit, I don't do much with my hair.  The waves that you see in these photos (that used to be curls- thanks, rain) is about the most I ever do to my hair.  But I'm going to print these out to try and force myself to experiment at least once a week.  And yes, braiding my hair is "experimenting" to me.

> This vintage Chanel bag.  Enough said.  Anyone have a couple thousand dollars I can borrow?

> That it's now been one year since I've been writing a fashion column for my local paper.  Care to waste a couple hours?  You can browse all my articles here.

> This girl, and this girl, and this girl, and this shop.  What can I say?  I have mad love for my sponsors.


Top | Skirt | Shoes (similar) | Necklace (similar) | Bracelet (similar)