As Vest as I Can

Let's just talk about this vest, shall we? This is what I bought while in Quincy over the weekend, and it's one of those pieces that just looks like I should have already owned it. I've been wanting a utility vest like this for a while now, so when Old Navy was having 30 percent off, I couldn't resist. I kind of just want to pair it with everything. There's always something so appealing about a tougher piece paired with feminine clothing. Of course, this is nothing new for me, but I'll continue to talk about how much I love it for as long as I please. I also love the simplicity of this black dress with it. Weirdly enough, I've had multiple people look at my outfits and say, "Aren't you happy that it's finally dress weather?" To which I've replied, "It's always dress weather."

Other than the usual lack of sleep and preparing for graduation, nothing much is new. I'm starting to address grad announcements to send out, so there's that. I'm also starting to go through my room (and closet) and figure out what things to get rid of so there's less to ship. Basically, my life is incredibly exciting. One of these days, I promise I won't write a post late at night after work when I'm delirious, and I'll actually write something interesting and thought-provoking. One of these days.

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?

Well, Okay Then

I still have no idea where I'll be going after I graduate in May, but I'm starting to realize that this might very possibly be my last Midwest fall. So when the leaves started turning unbelievably beauitful shades or red, yellow, and orange, and cardigans were in full force, I couldn't help but soak it all up...for about three days. Apparently, the Midwest decided that my last Illinois fall can look pretty, but is going to feel like winter. All of a sudden, it's freezing, and my heavy jackets are still in storage at my brother's house, and I feel like I'm going to die if I don't get them soon. Okay, I'm exaggerating a little (which I know I'll regret by the time it's actually winter), but what I'm trying to say is, if it looks like I'm cold in these photos – I am. Wasn't I just sans tights just two outfit posts ago?

Weather aside, I was excited to wear this outfit yesterday. Persunmall sent me this lace dress this week, but unfortunately it fit a little smaller around my waist than I would like. Luckily, it worked perfectly under this light gray skirt, and I think I might like it even better as a top. I've been searching for more things this color, and I love the sweetheart neckline and sheer sleeves. I'm definitely going to be layering this one up all season. 

Business Attire

I know it never ends up being true when I say this, but this is actually a short post for you. I feel awful that most of my posts have been about how busy I've been lately, but it's senior year and I'm trying to cram in everything I can before the real world comes knocking on my door. As I mentioned in my last post, my brother, sister-in-law and nephew are visiting from back home, so I've been spending time with them in between work and class. I might have come into work late yesterday to spend the day with them at an apple orchard. Perks of being a boss? One of these days I'll actually have interesting things to say and I'll catch up on reading blogs. I still love blogging, so don't think I've abandoned you that easily.

As for the outfit, this is what I wore to the Shop.org/National Retail Federation event in Chicago last week. I was told to dress professionally, but since it was fashion related, I still wanted to keep my personal style in tact. This knee-length skirt, blazer, and the nude flats are some of my most worn items, but together they were the perfect business attire. I owe a huge thanks to my friend Ginny who stepped outside with me during a break to snap these. 

Shirt, skirt: Thrifted

Blazer: Buffalo Exchange

Necklace: c/o eFoxcity

Flats: Need Supply Co.

Senioritis

I honestly don't have much to say today, so I think for once I'll keep this short. A bad case of senioritis has hit me hard — it's not even a month into the semester. I'm hoping that some sort of inspiration will find me and slap me in the face soon, since I've barely even written anything for the paper. Instead, I've been finally catching up on blogs and spending too much time having having anxiety over the last Breaking Bad episode and wondering when The Newsroom actually got good. That's all just as important as school, right?

Though simple, this outfit is a good representation of my style in my opinion. The weird part is, the item I was most excited about finding was the sleeveless white top. I've been looking for the perfect one to layer statement necklaces over, and I finally found this one for a whopping $1 at my favorite thrift store. And I think this eFoxcity statement necklace was the perfect piece to break it in.

Being a Lady

Sometimes I find it funny that I dress so femininely. Don't get me wrong, I'm most definitely a feminine person. I live for girly clothing and think that make-up is pretty rad. That said, I spend most of my time around guys. I usually mention my girlier activities, like shopping, in my posts since they're more relevant, but in reality, I've spent at least 80 percent of my time this summer having overly-vulgar conversations and cussing up a storm with my best friends — most of whom are dudes. It most likely has to do with growing up with brothers, but I just get along with guys better. I have a good amount of female friends as well, but almost all of them are like me in that sense as well. It's why I had such a horrible freshman year college when I was living on an all girls floor and surrounded by 18-year-old girls who I had nothing in common with. It's also why I love blogging. It's introduced me to so many women who share my love of feminine clothing, nerdy interests, and same sense of humor. If you can slip multiple f-bombs into one sentence while wearing a lace dress, we'll get along just great. Not that I'd do that on the Internet. A girl has to know when to keep it classy after all. ...this is totally the post that potential employers are going to find when I'm applying for jobs next year. I just know it.

That was really just a long way of saying that this is what I wore on Tuesday. I spent the afternoon at my friend Jon's house, watching The Wire, one of the greatest shows of all time. I got sidetracked from watching it a while ago, but I'm on season four now and will finally finish it this time around. Later at night, I crammed in a car with six other dudes to go to a bar in Huntington where my best friend, Adam, was doing stand-up. He was great, and even though a few of the comics were terrible, it was a ton of fun. I honestly wish I could go to stand-up shows every week. 

Weekend

Oh, summer. What is it about you that makes me just want to throw something light on and be done with it? For non-internship days (especially days after working at the restaurant), a sleeveless top and airy skirt are just about all I've been putting on. I assume we're pretty much all in the same point at this point of summer, so I don't feel so bad.

The past few days have been fairly exciting. One of my best friends, Jeremy, proposed to his girlfriend last night and as "the female groomsmen" as I've dubbed myself without telling him, I've spent some time helping him with the proposal. His family owns a limo (because that's normal, right?) and he had our friend Adam drive his girlfriend and her friends around on a scavanger hunt around Orange County in it. On Thursday, Adam drove all us, plus our friend Jon, out to dinner in it to practice driving, which meant I got to be fancy for the night. Then yesterday, I helped Jeremy set up for the proposal at his girlfriend's house as she was being driven around. For once my inner Pinterest side came through as I helped make paper lanterns to hang from trees in her backyard. I'm not a particularly sappy person, but I have to admit that it was incredibly sweet and the place turned out to look beautiful. 

Even though Jeremy's a couple years older than me, it's still weird to be at that age where my friends are getting engaged. All of this growing up stuff is messing with my head.

Drive

Fun fact: I took these at 8 p.m. last night after getting home, rushing to grab my camera and my tripod, and hurrying outside in hopes of snapping a few photos before it got too dark. I ended up having to stay late at my internship, but my desire to have a post up today overpowered my exhaustion and lack of food in my stomach. That's how committed I am to this blog. And how committed I am to having something to do in my morning. 

We found out about a fitting happening today (when I'm not in the studio) last minute, so my boss and her assistants spent all of yesterday making trips to a dozen showrooms around L.A. doing pulls. After the showroom gets everything together that the stylist wants to borrow, then it's up to interns to go pick up the items, unpack them, and check them in at the studio. That's how I ended up driving to showrooms all over Sunset Boulevard, Melrose, and other places with designer clothes in my backseat. It's technically grunt work, and driving in downtown L.A. makes me want to hyperventilate, but it's still pretty surreal that it's my job. I don't think sorting through racks of designer clothes will ever get old. 

Romanticism

One of the best parts about suddenly having too much free time is that I can post more frequently. I usually stick to about two to three outfit posts a week, but I have more time to take photos and more time to write posts, so why not post most days? Plus, I'm impatient when it comes to posting photos I like. I actually still have two sets that were taken in Illinois that I really like, but I couldn't resist posting this outfit right away.

This skirt is becoming my go-to interview piece. I wore it Monday morning with a white button down, a blazer, and black flats for an internship interview, but it was sweltering that day so I couldn't wait to take off the layers. I honestly don't know how I had never worn this Modcloth dress as a top before; I love how it looks paired with this skirt. I don't know if it's the skirt or this spot in my backyard at home, but this whole look has a romantic feel to me that I just adore. 

The perfect touch, of course, was my new deer ring that eFoxcity kindly sent me. As you all know by now, eFoxcity has a great selection of affordable wholesale ladies clothing, wholesale clothing from China, and even has a great selection of evening dresses 2013. I found a bunch of jewelry on their site that I loved, but the moment I laid on this one, I was smitten. I just want to wear it with everything.