all that glitters

I am literally so tired right now, I am incapable of doing anything. Anything. First of all, Natalie took me to yoga sculpt with her last night and I worked my butt off - when I woke up this morning at 5:30 am (the "second of all" of why I'm tired) I wasn't sore and foolishly thought I was fine! By midafternoon my abs hurt so much that I didn't want to hold myself upright anymore. Never. Again.

In the meantime, I didn't have time to take outfit photos but wanted to show you some of the pretty, glittery things in my life! Because really, who doesn't love shiny things?

New phone case for my new phone - it sheds glitter everywhere (which I'm hoping will stop soon?) but it's worth it, it's just so shiny.

My necklace for today! Just an old string of (I'm assuming fake) pearls, to which I added this Target ring I've had for a year or so - the elastic band makes it quite uncomfortable as a ring but, once again, it's oh-so-shiny. 

Do I sound like an obsessed child/weird bird-like thing yet? Mission accomplished. Now I can go to bed and make up for all the lost sleep (being home is quite fun but should really be more restful...). Have a lovely night!

last night home...

Sooo these photos for some reason managed to be both seriously unattractive and quite blurry, making it pretty much impossible for me to put together a good post (not to fault my mother's photo-taking skills) - so I apologize in advance for what is coming. However, I think my outfit is quite adorable, if I do say so myself (from what you can see of it that is)

vintage blouse

street fair pendant

gap jeans

nordstrom boots

I still have yet to find what's wrong with this blouse! Every time I put it on I remember the "$8, as is" tag, but it seems just perfect to me - if it means I get it for cheaper, I'll take it

And here is a lovely picture of me in my grandmother's old hat - it was just lying around in the kitchen so I put it on for some carol-singing :) Don't I just look adorable? (And sidenote: notice that gorgeous tree in the background? Picked out by yours truly, thank you very much)

And last but not least, what you always what for in my posts - amusing life anecodote! Just pretend you care please? My family did the Advent candle lighting this morning at church, and after the service this lady that none of us had ever met before came up and asked if we wanted a picture together - apparently we all looked so perfect, she wanted to know if we coordinated outfits! It was very sweet and made me happy, funny though that anyone thought our family was organized to plan outfits, let alone get out the door on time... (Oh and as another sidenote,  Nicole has been expressing her discontent over the lack of funny anecdotes containing her in my posts - does this count as an anecdote? I think so. You're welcome roomie)

And now I have to go pack, as I'm leaving at the crack of dawn tomorrow! 5:45am, can anyone say coffee? I'm hoping if I really concentrate I can actually get on my flight this time. Have a good night, hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving break!

happy black friday everyone!

And, I suppose... happy thanksgiving! I actually would've made that the title, if it was still technically correct. However, my black Friday shopping kind of got in the way of that. Did you know I'd actually never gone black Friday shopping before today of course you wouldn't know that? But my friend Jenny wanted me to come with and I thought, why not? It was an experience that's for sure...

all saints blouse

j.crew cardigan and skirt

minnetonka moccasin boots

So this lovely little photoshoot was taken outside my Grandma's house yesterday, pre-dinner. And thank god it was... I ate so much! Jenny came and picked us up around 8 to head out so I changed into skinny jeans and a tshirt for easier shopping, and can I tell you - my jeans were not that happy that about that third slice of cake I had (but can you blame me? Look down to the bottom of the post for the cake Natalie baked and tell tell me you could resist that)

 So I'm loving my new boots! Picked them up at Off Saks on Wednesday at 40% off, and they are already fitting in with my wardrobe perfectly! Only problem is, I think they make my legs look stumpy when I wear them with jeans... Not quite sure what to do about this, since I wear skinny jeans oh, 90% of the time? But I figure, I also wear tights and skirts a lot. And I have pretty long legs - so I can afford to make them look a bit shorter? (That's probably really bad reasoning I know...)

So it's been a while since I've posted - you haven't even heard my airport hell story! That's just not acceptable, and even though I probably shouldn't tell it because it makes me sound extremely stupid, I will tell it anyways. Because it's funny. So here you go: I woke up at 6:50 Tuesday morning, got myself to the airport, and was sitting in the terminal by 8:10 for my 9:30 flight. Then the flight got delayed until 10:15 and my gate was really busy, so I went to sit across the hall and wait for it to get called. Then around 9:50/9:55 I walked over to the gate to see - flight to Philadelphia is closed. Excuse me, what? I run downstairs to the gate, where the lady tells me: "they called you by name honey, but you didn't come! The plane left without you" - I literally died, right there. Like started hyperventilating, crying, almost passed out... It was ugly. I had to go talk to a gate agent, and since I would have missed my connection in Philadelphia anyways, they were quite helpful on getting me on other flights. This story is getting pretty long and you got the funny part, so here's the gist: I think I am the only person in the world to miss their plane while sitting at the gate, and I didn't get home until 9pm, (and my luggage didn't get here until the next morning). And I am an idiot. The end.

Hope you all had a lovely Turkey day and, if unlike me and you can still handle the sight of food, here is a photo of my amazing sister's even-more-amazing cake:

 

p.s. Lies about the whole me not being able to look at food anymore thing - I'm going to go eat some cake for breakfast now :)

I like to ignore the weather forecast

So Nicole and I have discovered today that apparently we think we are immune to the weather - it's not that we don't pay attention to it, we just disregard it. We wake up in the morning, check the weather and see that it will be 50 and possibly rainy. So what do we do? Wear skirts without tights, clearly. 

My suitcase... because I'm going home tomorrow morning... Can't wait! Also, sorry these photos are cropped so horribly and are such disparate sizes. I'm dying inside a little too.

forever21 necklace

zara tshirt

vera vera wang cardigan

jcrew skirt

sperry boat shoes

Regardless of the slightly inclement weather today, I think this outfit worked out rather well! This cardigan is oh-so-cozy, and of course this tshirt is probably the comfiest thing to ever exist - so glad that the freshman me made that decision 5 or so years ago to buy the oddly-oversized shirt (probably her first oversized piece ever) at Zara in Italy...

And this photos is me saying, "Sorry I'm too lazy to go outside and take real photos... Sorry you can see my shower flip flops and old Nordstrom bag in the background... This is awkward" - did you get all of that from the photo?

Pretending that photo never existed Regardless, I'm going home, I'm going home, I'm going home! In less than twelve hours may I add.

Also, I'm such a horrible blogger! So to update you on my life: Saturday I went to see my roommate from last year in her dance show, then had a movie night with the girls and ate some amazing gluten-free red velvet cheesecake that my friend Jessi baked (perfect complement to 500 Days of Summer, I think - actually, perfect complement to any aspect of my life?). Sunday was chill, I just went to yoga, did some work, had a capella practice in the afternoon... And today was my last day of classes before break! Also, Harmony (of the aforementioned practice) sang at the Lombardi Cancer Center today, which was so much fun - I love performing, and bringing some joy to the patients was really great. Overall, a good day! 

Oh, and its my roommate's birthday in approximately 28 minutes... so happy early birthday Nicole! :)

vest

It's Friday! I've survived the last full week of school left before Thanksgiving. There are only 3 classes between me and Minnesota.  I can do this.

 old navy button down

gap vest

target skirt

aldo boots

So, I wore this outfit all day today sans jacket (if you don't speak French, that means without) - I think I was under the impression that it was going to be warmer? Because although it was a lovely fall day, it wasn't exactly thin-cotton-button-down weather by any means. Oh well, it was a perfect outfit to show of my adorable vest! 

And isn't this vest adorable? I love the little leather-covered buttons, the wooly texture and the subtle little print - plus, you can't really see it in the photos, but the back is silk, with a little tie that can make it more form-fitting if you so desire (because we know how much I like form-fitting tops? Oh wait, I can't remember the last time I work a form-fitting top if it wasn't covered by a grandpa sweater... Maybe I should branch out?)

 

 Guess what? I get to go home for Thanksgiving about 36 hours earlier than planned! I am beyond excited - my parents were able to find a good deal for me to fly home Tuesday instead of Wednesday night. Literally dying now I can't wait.... 

Ok. That rant got a little intense. Regardless, hope you all have fun plans for the weekend, have a lovely Friday night!

neon cardigan

When I pulled this cardigan out of the drawer this morning, Nicole was like "I have literally never seen you in something so bright" - and it's true! This cardigan is quite bright. And I mean, I can't really take credit for owning it, my mom bought it for me a while back, but I do like it! And, correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think I've been doing a pretty good job with colors lately. Thank you very much.

So here are some lovely photos of my neon-infused outfit - and to comment on my roommate's interesting choice of angle, they're "artistic"

gap cardigan

h&m dress

belt stolen from my lovely vintage floral dress

hunter boots

 We are having the weirdest weather lately! On Monday it was gorgeous, sunny and 70, and today it was rainy and in the 50's - and don't you just hate planning your outfits around rainboots? I mean, I feel like I complain about this every time I wear rainboots, but still. It's annoying.

Nicole just read the first paragraph and commented on how she finds it so amusing that every post seems to have at least one anecdote containing something random she said/did that day - so here's what, the third in this post? Today at dinner she spilled a glass of water on my dress. It was quite unfortunate considering I had to be at class about 15 minutes from then, and this dress is a lot made of a much heavier material than you would think - a.k.a. despite the multiple hairdryers we had pointed at it for the scant minutes before class, I still sat through lecture with a damp lap. Awkward.

But guess what? Thanksgiving is almost here! I was on the phone with my friend Mckenna today, and she gets to go home on Friday! I am unbelievably jealous... but one week from today, I will be in my own bed! And by my own bed I mean the guest bed... details. All I have is a Russian quiz tomorrow and the weekend to get through, and I will be free! Hope you are all as excited as I am...

grandpa cardigan

I finally found my perfect grandpa cardigan! I absolutely love my oversized oatmeal one from Vera by Vera Wang (I mean, I found it for $4, it's soft, it's large... basically my idea of heaven) but I was just wearing it too much. So when my mom was here, one of our main shopping missions was to find me another cardigan to fill out  my collection - but they all had wool! And we all know my delicate skin just can't handle wool (much as I wish it could). But Colleen and I were out wandering M Street this afternoon and popped into H&M where voila, there it was! Perfection in the form of a cardigan - black, oversized, yarn that was just the perfect chunkiness, brown buttons, elbow patches, and no wool!

I would tell you more but I am on a mission to go to bed before midnight which means I have... 5 minutes to put this post up! Just wanted to say hello and share my find with you, a longer life update will hopefully come tomorrow. Have a good night :)

equestrian

So these photos are from a while back - I think I wore this Monday? - but I insisted on taking photos because I'm really a fan of my new top! As Jenny said when we were in J. Crew and I was buying this - "How is it that both you and your mom can just walk into a store and find that one piece that there's only one left of, AND is on sale, AND is perfect on you? Maybe I just don't have enough practice shopping...." I mean, as I've said in the past, I only hope I can inherit some of my mom's shopping ninja skills. So here you go:

jcrew top and pants

vintage necklace

star ling boots

 Very equestrian, right? So mom got me these minnie pants (one of my two favorite types of pants you know - minnies and gap legging jeans) last Christmas and I hadn't worn them until now! I honestly have no idea, since they are so comfortable, and the khaki color is adorable. One problem I think is that when I'm not wearing boots/some sort of shoes with them, they kind of blend in with my legs and I look like I'm not wearing pants? Oh well, they're adorable anyways.

I'm beating this shoes up more and more. But I have to say, I like them more because of it! Do you guys ever feel like that, like the more worn an item is, the more special it feels?

First basketball game of the season today! As soon as I'm done writing this post (which should be soon since I'm going to make everyone late to breakfast...) I'll get all dressed up in blue and gray and we'll all go scream our lungs out and go crazy at the Verizon Center! Hope the team is good this year, fingers crossed... well, I hope you are all having a good weekend so far :)

perfect fall afternoon

Today I wore my suede boots and my dad's old cashmere sweater, got a pumpkin cupcake and a latte, and had a beautiful walk in the fall leaves - to paraphrase from my facebook status from today. But it's true! It was one of those beautiful, sunny, and crisp days of the fall, and my midterms are over! Things just might be looking up. And I looked adorable, in my own, self-centered opionion...

dads sweater

hanes tshirt

jcrew skirt

street fair pendant

target boots

 Once again, sorry for all the awkwardly sized photos, its what happens when we take indoor photos and I have to attempt to crop out as much of the messiness as possible. Also, want to hear a funny anecdote about how these indoor photos are taken? With the lights off. Why? Because taking them in the dark with a flash is preferable to the horrid-ness of fluorescent lights. It is the most ridiculous process ever.

Thought I'd take off the sweater and show you the look with the tshirt as well, as it was actually so nice today that I didn't really even need the sweater! Can I make a suggestion to all of you out there? Yes? Ok (I feel like I'm on Dora the Explorer). Buy men's Hanes tshirts. Wash and dry them and they shrink to just the perfect comfy but not too loose size. And they're like 6 for $5. It's perfection.

So the awkward thing about this skirt (which my mom so lovingly sent me in a care package last week by the way. Made my day) is that its a silk underskirt with a lace overlay, and the whole time I was walking, I kept feeling like the underskirt was riding up! And that would not even be the first time I walked around with my skirt accidentally pushed up to my hip - don't judge me, I was wearing tights. And my bookbags always seem to push my skirts to places I would prefer they weren't when I'm not paying attention. It happens.

I can't believe it! My midterms are over, and I survived! Now it's nothing but regularly scheduled readings and homework assignments until finals in the beginning of December. And I go home for the first time since coming back to school in exactly two weeks. I'm one of those dorky college students that actually loves hanging out with their family way too much, and I really can't wait. Hope you all had a great Wednesday!

weekend with jenny

It's now Tuesday, and I am halfway done with my three days from hell! I see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I think I might survive - for all of you who are slightly confused by my melodramatics (though if you don't recognize how prone I am to it by now I'm slightly worried?) Jenny left at the crack of dawn yesterday, then I spent all day studying for the International Relations midterm I had last night, then I went straight to a review session for the Economics midterm I have tomorrow, which I have been studying for all of today... phew. Regardless, I look very cute today and will hopefully get Nicole to take some lovely room photos for use in tomorrow's post, but for now you get some lovely photos of Jenny and I's excursions from the weekend!

Jenny and I vintage shopping and wandering the U Street neighborhood Saturday morning. Also - can we note that in the picture below I'm holding a cupcake from a shop that I've never been too before!? How is that even possible? Of course, I had to rectify the situation. 

Jenny and I just really enjoyed this sign for some reason. Maybe its because I was so baffled about how efficient the government was, to get this sign up in only a few months?

It was such a beautiful day at the monuments on Sunday! Only problem is Jenny and I were quite overdressed - I wore not only a sweater, but my North Face as well. So. Hot.

target sweater

coach bag

citizens of humanity jeans

minnetonka moccasins

Can I just point out that these jeans are actually too long for me? When has that ever happened! I've lost count of all the pairs of pants I've had to pass over because they made me look like I'm waiting for the flood. But a pair that's too long? Unheard of! I'm excited, just saying...

And here's Jenny in her new cardigan and moccasins, also quite cute! 

Ok, I should be saying more, but Nicole and I are currently watching Gilmore Girls and it's really hard for me to focus... So that's it! Good night all