Self Love Club

I am so excited to share that I officially an ambassador for Heartman Clothes! I found Heartman through Instagram a little while ago, and I was immediately in love with the brand when I learned that they donate proceeds from all of their items to worthy organizations. I included Heartman in my Guide to Makers Who Donate Money, and I've been following along with them ever since. I don't usually enter ambassador searches, but I really love the shirts Heartman makes, so I decided to give it a shot. Turns out, the love was mutual! I'm pumped to get to be part of the team and share more with you all.

I had such a hard time choosing my first shirt, but I ultimately had to go with the Self Love Club tee. I feel passionately about all of the causes that Heartman donates to, but it felt appropriate to go with something that represents confidence, body image, and feminism. 10% of the proceeds goes to I AM THAT GIRL, an organization that helps girls with self-doubt and provides a safe space and honest conversation. I'm definitely guilty of thinking of "adult" issues when it comes to feminism (like the wage gap, abortion, etc.) that it gets easy to forget that feminism has to start early. You can read more about I AM THAT GIRL here and donate directly here. 

You can also get 15% off at Heartman Clothes with the code ELANA15. Get yourself a cute tee that does some good!

Downtown Lace

I'm sharing a few more photos than I normally do today, but it's only because I'm so in love with this set. This is the second set that Hanna and I took in Old Towne Orange over the weekend, and it solidifies that it's by far one of my favorite places to take photos. I decided to get an ice cream cone "for pictures," but we all know that I really just wanted an excuse to get ice cream. Turns out, licking ice cream doesn't exactly make for the most flattering angles. It also doesn't help that I broke the cone within a few minutes of getting it, but that's besides the point. Oh well, it was still good ice cream.

Things keep getting busier at work, and we just signed a new client who I'm very excited about. April in general tends to be a good month - two of my family members and two of my best friends all have birthdays to celebrate, and this April in particular I'll be going to the BAIT warehouse sale this weekend and the Dapper Day expo at the end of the month. So many things to get excited about.

Yellow Floral Dress + Denim Jacket

Believe it or not, it's actually cold here. Well, it's cold by California standards at least. ThredUp was kind enough to send me a gift code to use for the holidays, and I selfishly used it all on myself to get this pretty dress and the outfit I'm wearing in my last post. Can you blame me? This dress is so fun. 

It's strange to think that Thanksgiving was already almost a week ago. Mine was, well, crazy. In a good way. All our plans got changed once my sister-in-law went into to labor. Rather than have dinner at my brother's house as planned, Jon and I drove to my parents' for an impromptu meal then quickly to his parents' for dessert. By the time we reached his parents' house, I got a text saying that the baby had been born, and my family rushed to the hospital. It was an insane, wonderful day, and it ended with us all being together to welcome our newest member of the family. I am beyond thrilled for my brother and sister-in-law, who now have a third child who has to compete with her brother and sister for the role of cutest. It's a tough competition, let me tell you.

My other brother and his wife flew in from Illinois the next day. It was a quick weekend with them, but a great time filled with some shopping and food. I've managed to complete most of my Christmas shopping during Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. My wallet, however, is not as happy as I am. Oh well. 

Tan Dress + Old Navy Lavender Sandals

I definitely forgot to take photos this weekend, so this outfit is the result of me forcing Jon to get out of bed and walk outside in his pajamas to help me take this set before I left for work this morning. I know, I know. I'm terrible. I would have been okay without any posts this week, but I like my routine. Even as blog readership dies out, it's still my favorite hobby and I feel lost without it. Fortunately, I not only have a very supportive boyfriend, I also have a live-in photographer now. He knew what he was getting himself into when he agreed to live with me. 

I picked up this dress at a thrift store recently, and even though the color possibly washes me out, it's so comfy and lovely that I don't mind. The faux lace collar was hard to resist, but then again, all fit and flare dresses are hard to resist. The Old Navy sandals have become my go-to pair of shoes lately. While I'm bummed that I won't get much of a chance to dress for fall, I'm okay with making these shoes last all year round. I'm also happy to get any chance to throw some pins on a jacket, and this time I pulled out the one I got from the Wilco concert I attended a couple of weeks ago and this donut pin from Honey and the Hive. 

Old Navy Gingham Dess + Denim Jacket

Can you tell how sweaty I am in these photos? Changing three times in a park for multiple sets of outfit photos and wearing a denim jacket in the middle of summer were not two of my finest ideas, but I stand by them. I love the classic look of a denim jacket and gingham sundress, and I especially love having a place to put some of my favorite pins. Sure, the heat was unbearable, but sometimes clothes are worth it.

I'm still on a high from my wonderful weekend, but I'm lucky to actually enjoy my job. My work has taken on some new clients that are exciting, so I've been keeping busy. I'm also starting to do a bit of work on the side for my old company. I'm mostly doing it for the little bit of extra money to put toward a new apartment, but I also really missed my old coworkers so I'm excited to have an excuse to chat with them online again. 

Margot

I don't have too much time to write, but here's one of my new favorite outfits that I wore to work yesterday. I don't think I've owned anything with a turtleneck since I was a kid, but I couldn't resist this sweet lavender dress. I love that it fits right in with my wardrobe, but is still a tad different from anything I own. My favorite part of this outfit, though, is the Margot Tenenbaum pin from Andsmile Studio. I've been wanting to buy a pin from this shop for a while now, ever since I discovered it on Etsy, and I finally caved and let my love for Wes Anderson dictate my purchases. I got this one and a Steve Zissou one, and I'm probably going to have to buy the X-Files ones soon as well. They're too perfect.

There's a lot of exciting stuff going on right now at work and outside of work, and I can't wait to tell you more when I have more time. I'm finally starting to feel like my post-college funk is going away a little (a year and a half later), and I couldn't be happier.

Purple Gingham and Denim

Whenever I'm feeling uncreative or just want to feel good about myself, this dress is my go-to. I feel like I write a love letter to it every time I wear it on here, but it never stops being perfect. It's one of my all-time favorite pieces to put on, and I don't feel even a little bad about how much I gush about it. I wore this outfit on Sunday to visit my parents, meet that adorable puppy I mentioned, and grab a drink with friends later. Typical weekend shenanigans. 

Things are pretty busy right now, but exciting. My job is going well, I just finished writing stories for my freelance gig at a local paper, and a work friend and I decided to start looking for an apartment together. I think I've finally had enough time to figure out my budget, so I can't wait to start looking for places and be on my own finally. That's right, adulthood. I'm actually coming for you for real this time.

Not Enough Lace

Is there such a thing as too much lace? I choose to think not. I definitely didn't need this green lace dress, but I certainly didn't think twice about it when I picked it up at H&M during my Instagram takeover with Brea Mall. Had I been shopping with my own money, I might have taken a step back and thought about all of the other lace dresses I own in effort to convince myself that I should leave it at the store. However, with a free gift card in hand, it was almost too easy to throw it on the cashier's counter and make it mine. Although, if that story (of shopping on the mall's dime and throwing caution to the wind) sounds like fantasy, just know that the trip started with me getting a zipper stuck in the dressing room. Wait. I don't think you understand. In the very first store I went into that day, I got the zipper stuck on the very first thing I tried on. Really stuck. So stuck, in fact, that I had to ask the dressing room attendant (who was a dude) if there was a woman working who could help me because my friend hadn't gotten to the mall yet. If that story doesn't sum up most of my experiences, then I don't know what does. 

Side note: the last time I took pictures in front of this beautiful house, I got a few comments asking if I lived there. Sadly, I definitely do not. My brother and sister-in-law live in an adorable neighborhood, and Elyse and I have been wandering around the nearby streets lately to take photos. This house is right down the block from theirs, and it apparently sold for more than $1 million. We've yet to see who lives there, but it's possible that they've watched us take photos in front of their house multiple times. I'm pretty sure they couldn't blame us though.

Flock Together: Hot Wheels

I'm over on Flock Together today, posting about this seriously incredible dress I borrowed from Marisa. If you can't tell, there are bicycles with puppies all over it. I know. This might have been the most difficult one not to steal. You understand. Hope to see you over there!

Dress: Modcloth, borrowed from Marisa

Jacket: H&M

Oxfords: Urban Outfitters

Necklace: Jewelmint

Back to Classics

And so, just like that, the festivities are over and it's officially time to return to the real world. Fortunately, the "real world" I live in is still pretty laid-back considering I work from home, make my own hours for my internship, and it feels like I'm on summer break. Nonetheless, it's always a little disappointing when a birthday is over and you have to resume paying for yourself when you want food. I know I already talked about my Disneyland in yesterday's post, but I do just want to say again how grateful I am to my friends for always making birthdays so special. Other than Disneyland, they took me out to dinner, took me out for drinks, took me to breakfast, and gave me Amazon gift cards to feed my online shopping addiction. Sometimes it gets a little exhausting being friends with a bunch of dudes who constantly yell at me to make more girl friends and quote Tim & Eric constantly, but then they're really awesome like last week and I remember why I hang out with those losers. Plus, I'm eternally grateful to my best friend Whitney for always doing more for me on my birthday than I ever deserve. Okay, enough gushing about my friends. Don't tell any of them that I said these things, and let's just move on to the outfit.

I would like to give a big warm welcome to my new Swedish Hasbeens, a pair of beautiful shoes that will most likely never leave my feet. I've known all month that my parents were going to give me money for my birthday, so I've had some time to think about what I wanted to put it toward. I contemplated getting multiple things with the money, but I finally decided that I wanted to make one big purchase and get something that I would never buy myself. After much debate, and with the help of my mom, I finally settled on getting a pair of Hasbeens. I've always wanted a pair, and thanks to the Swedish Hasbeens store on Amazon, I was finally able to make these mine. There were more than I few that I wanted, but I decided that the Lacy sandals fit my style the best. but are still different than anything I own. I like that they have a little bit of a heel, and while I went back and forth on color, I figured that I should just stick with black since I'll get the most use out of them. They are by far the most expensive shoes that I own, but they're also by far the best quality and will no doubt be my longest lasting pair. 

So, What's New?

I have so many exciting things to talk about today that I almost don't know where to start. I suppose it makes sense to begin with the most obvious. As I'm sure you've noticed by now, I have a brand new blog design, and I'm smitten with it to say the least. I loved the banner that my sister-in-law, Elyse, made for me and the layout that Joyce designed, but I had used them both for a while and they felt like they very much represented "college Elana" through blogging. They were both perfect for that part of my life, but as I gear up for the real world, I really wanted something that felt like "post-grad Elana." I couldn't afford most custom-made ones, so I brought it up to Jessica of Midwest Muse to see if she was interested in helping me. Jessica is one of my very best blogging friends (though let's be real, we're definitely friends beyond blogging at this point), and we email each other all the time. I've always loved her blog designs, and the clean, minimalist look her blog has is exactly what I had in mind. Because she's the best, she agreed and created this gorgeous layout in what felt like no time. It's perfect, and Jessica is seriously the nicest person for making it and installing it for me. I'm trying to convince her that she should turn this into a side business because she's so talented, so if you like what you see, head over to her blog and contact her. She's incredible. 

Speaking of incredible, I am still in awe over how great my friends are. Yesterday was a bittersweet day for me as it was my last official day as editor-in-chief of my university's newspaper before the new staff takes over for the next issue. I'll still check in on them next week, but it was still hard to leave yesterday. It's kind of difficult to put into words how much of an impact the Courier and the people in it have made on my life. Words escape me when trying to describe how fortunate I am to have gotten this experience and to have gotten to work with all of my best friends. I started working as a writer my freshman year, became entertainment editor a year later, and became editor-in-chief a year after that. I couldn't begin to count the amount of hours I've spent there, and it truly shaped my college experience. 

Knowing that, you can imagine how touched I was when my friends/co-workers planned just the simplest of surprises for me yesterday. Every work day, Mary and I have a routine of stepping out of the office for a little bit to take outfit pictures and then grab food to bring back. This time, she made up something about how we should take pictures after getting food, and when we came back to the office, everyone was standing outside waiting for us. I had mentioned recently that I wanted to make sure I got pictures with everyone before I left, so Mary had gotten all of them to dress up and had planned a photo shoot. We took a bunch of group shots, and then they all took individual pictures with me. So if you're friends with me on Facebook, I apologize for possibly blowing up your news feed with pictures of me yesterday. It was just ridiculously sweet and perfect way to spend my last day.

It's a Lie

I'll be honest; looking at these photos, this isn't exactly my favorite outfit. It's not the worst though, and I think it's good to show an outfit here and there that I wore, even if I can't rave about it. I wore this to work yesterday, and I think my biggest problem is that I'd like it much more without the tights. Unfortunately, despite the fact that it looked warm outside, the sunshine was a lie. It was not in fact a nice spring day as I had hoped, but actually pretty chilly. Or maybe I just don't like how this jacket ended up looking with this dress. Either way, hey, here's an okay outfit that I wore yesterday.

I had a decent, if not uneventful weekend, in case you were wondering. I spent Friday afternoon "interviewing" the new editor-in-chief (my friend/our photo editor was the only one who applied, so he got it by default, but he's more than qualified), which was a weird experience. I'm really happy for him and I know he'll do a fantastic job, but I'm still not ready to hand the job over soon. That night, we all went out and celebrated with him at our favorite bar, and it was a great time. I ended up spending most of Saturday with my brother, sister-in-law, and their kids, and decided to stay in and watch "Veronica Mars" at night. Is my life exciting or what? I'm not sure why I feel the need to recount my weekends, but I have nothing better to do, clearly.

Let's Chat With: Everything Darling

Let's just get this out of the way: I don't do orange. It's just never worked very well with my hair, and I've always stayed clear of it. However, when my new favorite online boutique, Everything Darling, offered to send me this polka dot frock, I couldn't resist. I decided that it was time that orange and I set aside our differences and give this friendship another shot. And what do you know? I love this dress. It's fun, it's flattering, it's well-made, and it's polka dotted — basically everything I look for in a dress. I still felt that it didn't work too well with my hair, so I tried to put some distance between my hair and the dress with a denim jacket and a scarf. And voila, an orange piece exists in my closet that I plan to get plenty of wear out of.

As you all know, I'm a huge supporter of small businesses. I try my best to use my blog to promote them as much as I can, but I decided that I wanted to do a little bit more. Starting now, whenever I write a post that highlights a small business, I'll be including a Q+A with the people behind the shops so you can get to know those who work so hard to bring you the unique items that you see. Today, I'm incredibly happy to start off my "Let's Chat" series with Natalie and Grace, who  the women behind Everything Darling.

How did you two meet? 

Natalie & Grace: Grace moved out here 7 1/2 years ago from New Jersey and was invited to a party by a friend. Natalie (a California native) noticed Grace did not really know anyone and struck up a conversation. We became instant friends, discussing how and where we grew up only to find out we were living blocks from one another. The rest is history.We became best friends, roommates and now business partners.

How and when did the idea for Everything Darling start?

It was something we had both been thinking of for awhile. With Grace's degree in business management and desire to start her own business and Natalies degree in fashion merchandising it just seemed like the perfect time. We both have a strong love for fashion and a good background to build on so we worked hard and created Everything Darling.

 What is your favorite part about running an online boutique?

We are involved in every aspect of the business. From the time its picked out to the time it is shipped out. We put our personal touch on all that you see. Because of this we are able to personalize everything and really enjoy creative freedom down to the packaging. 

Leaves and Fall and Things

There's really not much new here. Between this dress, my trusted white loafers, and my denim jacket (which I'll admit is probably much more common in my every day dress than I let on just in outfit photos), this outfit is full of pieces that have appeared here time and time again. Yet, with leaves on the ground and the seasons changing, the outfit suddenly feels new. Though it's not as cool as I'd like it be, it's finally fall and I have no shame in being one of those bloggers who constantly goes on and on about how great that is. I love fall, and I don't care who knows it. Stop me if I'd said this before (let's face it, I probably have), but I never got to experience the season in all its glory until I moved to the Midwest. The weather doesn't change too drastically back home in California, and it definitely doesn't have that same feeling that exists out here. I almost feel like a fraud for all of those "falls" I spent bundled up in sweaters and drinking warm coffee drinks. I still have no idea where I'm going to end up come May when I graduate, but I'll definitely miss the small-town Midwest fall I've come to love.

Things have still been busy, but it's probably my fault for think I could have sleep, school, work, AND a social life. It's really been hitting me lately that this is my last year here, so I've been trying to spend more time with my friends. But I guess when complaining about the new season of How I Met Your Mother and following it up with episodes of Firefly is involved, I can't really say no to that. The moment someone asks me to sit in a coffee shop (again, I mean. I might have just done this last week.) for hours, all bets of being productive are off.

Fruit Salad

So, we need to talk about this dress. For obvious reasons, it's my new favorite thing in existence. First, there's the fact that it's covered in fruit. Then, there's the flattering fit and flare cut with a sweetheart neckline and faux buttons. And, of course, there's there's the double straps that lead into that sweet "v" in the back. It's also made by Sugarhill Boutique, one of my favorite brands. Essentially, it's flawless. It had been on my Modcloth wishlist for ages, and when I saw it drop dramatically in price during the Last Hurrah sale, I knew it had to be mine. We've been living happily ever after together ever since.

Don't tell anyone, but I had to size up and my short girl problem caused the straps to be incredibly too long. Fortunately, it was nothing that a couple (read: four) safety pins couldn't fix. This sewing class I'm taking better come in handy because I'm getting tired of pinning all of my sleeveless items to fit me. It's either I learn how to sew or I learn how to grow, and I just don't have that kind of energy. But I digress.

We also need to talk about these pictures. Mary is a the best, and this is one of my favorite sets of photos by far. I had trouble narrowing down to just these, but I didn't want to overwhelm everyone. She's is also the master at capturing me in candid and non-smiling photos. I think it's safe to say that I won't be lugging my tripod around anytime soon.

Physics

I keep forgetting that it's only been two days since my last blog post since it feels like it's been forever. Perhaps it's because I haven't had time to read many blogs lately, or maybe it has to do with the fact that I haven't taken pictures since I got back to Illinois (this is my last set from California, minus a couple of Flock Together sets), but I feel like I've been absent. I'm hoping to find time to catch up soon though because life feels a little empty without seeing my favorite blogs on a regular basis. 

As for this outfit, I'm so happy that I dug this vintage skirt out of my closet over the summer. I think I got it my freshman year of college, but wore it to death that year that I had to give it a break. It got left at home and eventually shoved in my "to sell" pile, but one of those "I have nothing to wear" moments prompted me to dig it out again over the summer and I've yet to look back. I really liked the idea of print mixing with the stripes and floral, and I couldn't resist throwing on the denim jacket as well. I swear, I've worn this thing almost every day since I've gotten yet. Last week, T.J. even said, "You know you can't live in that thing, right?" right when I got in his car. He obviously underestimates me.

In other news, I started my first (or rather, first last) day of classes yesterday. They all went well, except for when I mixed up the times of one of my classes and ended up in Applied Physics instead. However, instead of getting up and leaving when I realized the mistake like a logical person would, I just sat through the entire class. Because I'm awkward and didn't want everyone in the class knowing that I had made a mistake. I've honestly never done that before, and I'm glad it only took me until my senior year to do that. It was a fun time.

Don't forget to enter my Two Tickets giveaway to win an amazing wood grain print tote bag!