Beach Day

Ah, we meet again, Monday. This weekend was wonderful, as usual. On Saturday I went to Ruche's event, Sip N' Shop Holiday, at their warehouse with my friend Casey, and it was fantastic. I got to see their first retail space, The Shop at 131, which meant seeing a selection of gorgeous Ruche and Threadsence pieces in person. There was also pizza and beer from some of my favorite local places (Two Saucy Broads Pizza and Bootleggers Brewery), plus booths full of beautiful clothes and accessories from other local stores and brands. I resisted the urge to buy a million things, but I did end up picking up a sweet little leather pouch from Share And Do Good. As much as I like to complain about living in Orange County sometimes, I can't deny that I live by some amazing businesses.

The rest of the day was mostly spent watching Master of None with my friend Adam. I am in love with that show now and already finished the season last night. When I wasn't binge watching yesterday, I was getting breakfast and spending the afternoon at the beach with Jon. We're always looking for free things to do (since we're both broke as hell) and it finally cooled down enough to sit by the water and read together. I wore this lovely vintage dress that I picked up while I was in Portland a few months ago and this new (to me) cardigan that I got from Schoola, my new obsession. If you're unfamiliar, Schoola is an online thrift store that donates money to schools. When you request a bag to be sent to you to fill with clothes, you can choose which school to donate 40% of the sales. Cute clothes and supporting a good cause? It's a win-win for everyone. P.S. If you use my referral link, we each get $20 in credit. 

Burbank

There's only two days left in this work week, but it's still not close enough to the weekend for me. Work has been good, mostly thanks to a seriously awesome group of coworkers, but doing customer service is unsurprisingly draining. I'm so fortunate to work for a great company, but getting yelled at by customers all day isn't exactly fun. While I wait for this weekend (which most likely will be full of relaxing and good friends), I'll just be daydreaming about what a wonderful day last Saturday was when these photos were taken. I spent the day with Erica of Sweets and Hearts, and it was the best. I absolutely adore Erica, and it's crazy how much we have in common and how easy it is to talk to her (especially considering that a majority of our friendship has been on the Internet). We met up in Burbank for brunch and thrifting, and we both had a pretty successful day of purchases. I've been doing a lot of thrifting for the first time in a while lately, and I'm so happy with what I've found. I've missed digging through boxes for $6 red satchels in perfect condition.

I recently got this dress with a pretty sweet discount from work, and it's wonderful. I wasn't too sure how it would work on me because of the peek-a-boo neckline, but a lace bandeau proved to be the perfect solution. The dress is a real beauty, if I do say so, which means it's going to be in heavy rotation from now on.

Denim and Floral

I meant to start writing this post earlier so I could actually write something substantial for the first time in a while, but alas, it's midnight and exhaustion from work is quickly catching up with me. I stayed in for the first night in a while, and I had planned on using this time to plan out some blog posts. However, after skyping with a friend from college, I ended up using all of my free time to watch the newest Veep, look for plane tickets to visit my brother and friends in Illinois later this year, and looking for roommates. Unfortunately, my friend and potential roommate ended up finding a room to rent that she loved, so I'm back to square one. I'm finally ready to get an apartment now, so I started looking into some sites that I trust for a roommate since I don't have any other friends who I think I could live with or who are looking at the moment. So creative blogging has been put on hold once again. Remember when I used to write pop culture posts? Sigh. Those were the days.

I wore this outfit last week to visit my parents with my boyfriend and best friend. We ate tacos and took the boat out on the lake. California life, am I right? It has since gotten surprisingly gloomy and chilly (for our standards), which I guess means that June Gloom is setting in early. I was just starting to break out the sandals, but I suppose I'm okay with pulling my cardigans and booties back out. Who am I kidding? My cardigans are always out.

40

All cards on the table: I'm not really paying much attention while I'm writing this. I had planned on using Sunday night to write this post, be productive, and go to sleep early, but that didn't exactly happen. Despite my plan to record the SNL 40th Anniversary show and watch it the next day, I couldn't resist watching it live. So, I'm writing this during commercials and only half paying attention the words that I'm typing. 

With that said, I'll keep this short. This top looks almost exactly like one I drooled over on multiple websites a while back, but I actually found it for $4 at Goodwill a few months ago. I've struggled to figure out how to style it since I got it, but since yesterday felt more like summer than usual, it seemed like a fitting time to try it. I wear this Fleet Collection skirt at least every other week, and I'm convinced that every shirt looks good with it. It's one of my absolute favorite pieces in my wardrobe.

Holland, 1945

Are you ready for this, world? I'm wearing a T-shirt. Not only that, but I willingly bought the T-shirt, AND I was excited about it. I wasn't even still sick. I honestly don't remember the last time I wore a T-shirt that wasn't for work or to bed, but since last week's concert was most likely the only time I'll ever see Neutral Milk Hotel live, I figured that I had to get a shirt to commemorate the event. I thought about getting a tote bag, but I have a million and one of those, and I couldn't get over how awesome this shirt was. Plus, if I've learned anything from Jessica of Midwest Muse (among other things), it's that band T-shirts can, in fact, be stylish.

I swear after this post I'll stop talking about Neutral Milk Hotel, but I'm still on a high after the concert. It doesn't help that my weekend wasn't extremely eventful so it's not like I have anything else very exciting to talk about. Other than re-watching "30 Rock" for far too many hours, I got lunch with my friend Christian, watched some episodes of "Party Down" with my friend Jon, and had great pizza and beer with my family. So basically, my weekend (like most of my life) just consisted of food and TV. It's really all that matters in life.

Flock Together: Sooner or Later

If you're looking for daily dose of my face, let me direct your attention over to Flock Together, where I'm posting about how I wore this gorgeous Mitla Moda top. I borrowed this top from Dus, who sells this one and plenty like it in her shop, so I highly suggest checking it out and getting one for yourself. They're all fair trade and handmade in Mexico, on top of just being beautiful. See you at Flock Together!

Top: Mitla Moda, borrowed from Dus

Skirt (dress worn as skirt), ring: Forever 21

Sandals: Threadsence

Sunglasses: Ray-Ban Clubmasters

Venice

Driving an hour to Venice Beach to meet a complete stranger is kind of a crazy thing to do, but if you've ever read Kelsey's blog, Kelsey Captivating, you might understand why I didn't give it a second thought to do exactly that on Saturday. Kelsey and I have been following (read: stalking, in my case) each other's blogs and social media accounts for quite a while, but we unfortunately missed each other during her short time living in LA last year. So when I saw that she would be visiting SoCal for a few days, I jumped at the chance to meet up with her. I ended up meeting her and her cousin Jesse at my favorite coffee shop in Venice, Le Zinque, and had seriously the best conversation with them for a few hours. It's always a little daunting meeting bloggers in person for the first time, but Kelsey was so easy to talk to, and I felt like I had known her forever. It was kind of amazing how comfortable it was to talk with both her and Jesse about everything from TV shows (obviously) to even politics and religion. It was such a wonderful evening, and I sincerely hope Kelsey is able to move back her like she's talking about so that way we can hang out more. In the meantime, I cannot recommend her blog enough, especially since Kelsey might quite possibly be the cutest person on the planet. I just adore her style, and and she's so genuine and sweet that it's basically impossible not to like her. 

We also made sure to snap some outfit pictures after coffee, and Venice made best backdrop. This skirt is quickly becoming one of my summer staples, and it felt perfect for the area we were in. I also really love how great this dress works as a top. I am just really digging dressing for summer this year, you guys. I kind of went a little photo overboard in this post, but I just loved all of these too much. I can't wait until Kelsey posts her outfit from this day on her blog because I'm just a little bit obsessed with the photos we took of her. It's not creepy, I swear.

Well Red

One of these days I'm going to learn to write my posts ahead of time instead of late at night the day before, but until then, here's a short Friday post for you. I got coerced into going out for a couple of drinks with two of my best friends on a Thursday night (when I'm writing this), so I'll leave you with this:

1. I picked up this H&M dress for $10 at Buffalo Exchange recently, and I've been wearing it nonstop. It's flattering, comfortable, and in the best color. 

2. These sandals have barely left my feet since I got them, which I think is pretty understandable.

3. I am all about the cateyes this summer.

4. If you couldn't tell, I've been having a really good time with all of my friends at home. I did try to fight going to the bar last night in favor of going to sleep early, but I'm happy they convinced me to go. 

5. My internship is still going great, and I love that I've been given more responsibility. It's a little challenging, which I like, and I'm already learning a great deal about PR and social media. 

6. I'm so happy with the response I got from my pop culture post. I was a little nervous about posting something not even a little fashion related, and mostly nervous that no one would care, but it was so great to read your comments on it. I love that everyone who read it picked out something different from the post that they also liked, and I really hope I convinced some of you to watch/read/listen to something new. I definitely plan on making it a weekly or bi-monthly thing. 

Cry Baby

In an attempt to remix more items in my closet rather than shop, I decided that I should play around more with print mixing and unexpected color combinations. When it comes to print mixing, I figure that nothing really works better than stripes, and I was excited at the prospect of making a striped tank work over this floral dress. I could be wrong, but I'm quite pleased with the result, and the addition of my utility vest made for a perfect summer look for babysitting my adorable 4-year-old nephew last week. Also in this outfit is the blog debut of my new sandals from Threadsence. My other black sandals were falling apart (RIP), so I've been on the hunt for a pair to replace them. Luckily, my girl Leeds from At This Volume hooked me up with a 20% off code for Ruche and Threadsence, so I was able to get these for a steal. They're exactly what I was looking for, only slightly more unique that I was imagining (in the best possible way). I will most likely be wearing these suckers with everything from now on. By the way, the discount code is still active, so if you want to get a great discount at Ruche and/or Threadsence, and if you want to help Leeds win a contest at her awesome place of work, just email me or her. 

For anyone who cares about my non-outfit related life, I had a really good weekend. I went to a comic book shop on Friday evening with my friend Adam and his girlfriend partially to support my friend Whitney (who was throwing an event to promote "Transformers" for her Paramount job) and partially to get some suggested for what comics to read next. Adam has been lending me some graphic novels lately, and I've really been enjoying getting into it so far. Other than work on Saturday, I got to see my lovely friend Nataly, who I met through blogging a couple of years ago (she's since gone on blogging hiatus, but I'm hoping she comes back soon), who I hadn't seen since last summer. Nataly, her sister, and I went thrifting for a little while and came out fairly successful, and then got ice cream after. I spent Saturday night with five of my closest guy friends watching a ridiculous movie and trying not to fall asleep while they all yelled at the screen. It's always very exciting in my world, isn't it?

Stuck Indoors

 Not to talk about the weather again, but in case you somehow haven't heard, the Midwest has been hit with yet another cold front. According to my weather savvy friend, we're supposed to get wind chills as low as -40 and -60 between today and tomorrow. I don't think it would surprise anyone if I said that I've never imagined, let alone experienced, anything that cold in my life. As of when I'm writing this (it's 12:05 a.m. on Monday), my campus is probably the only one in the state of Illinois that has yet to cancel classes. Both the high school and community college in our town have closed their doors, yet my university still claims to be holding classes. I'm hoping that by the time this post publishes and you're reading this, I'll still be in bed because my school will have closed. Fingers crossed.

I'm telling you all of this because it's very likely that there will be very few outfit posts from me this week. I'll still be posting other things (especially since I'm hoping to have free time with no classes), but standing out in below zero temperatures to take photos is just not something my weak west coast blood can handle. Fortunately, I still have this outfit from Sunday to hold you over. While it wasn't all that cold yesterday (since living in the Midwest has taught me that 48 degrees is not cold), it still got dark early, and Mary convinced me that we could get away with taking pictures inside the classroom behind our office. I was a little bit skeptical at first, but I'm happy with the result. I don't know why I haven't learned to trust Mary when it comes to photography. She obviously knows best.

Don't forget: Today's the last day to enter my heart necklace giveaway! What are you waiting for?

Fountain

Welcome to Friday's outfit, which I wore to visit my aunt and uncle. My brother and I always make a trip to their house whenever he's in town and we stop at this awesome outdoor mall right by their place on the way. Since it's such a cool place, I had Lucas help me take some outfit photos while we were there. It was a bright day and most of the spots didn't work out very well, but I loved this fountain. I'm finally starting to become more comfortable taking pictures in public places, which I'm pretty proud of. 

This cropped crochet top from Threadsence is fairly new and it's perfect for throwing on over dresses for summer. I bought on clearance and they were out of my size, so I had to size up and it's definitely bigger than I would like. It's still a fun piece though and one that I'm sure will get plenty of wear over the next few months. If it seems like you've never actually seen this floral dress on its own, it's because I always insist on layering it. You see, this dress has become my go-to, comfortable piece for flights and lazy days. It's difficult not to have that feeling of being gross or on a plane when I wear it now, so I turn to layers to make it wearable for days when I actually feel like trying. This was one of those days.