Today is my best friend Gail's birthday, so in her honor I'm posting an outfit comprised partially of her fab hand-me-downs! We did a big closet overhaul when I visited her in Albuquerque, and I got to take home a couple things that weren't working for her but were right up my alley. For instance, these high(ish) waisted jeans & belt:

jeans: Express, belt: unknown, cardi: JCrew, tee: LOVE by Ya-Ya, bag: HoakonHelga on Etsy, shoes: Martin+Osa, leather cuff: craisfrodleather on Etsy

Secondly, I made a skirt!! It's not perfect, but I like the way it turned out. Especially considering I didn't use a pattern & was pretty much winging it the whole time. It has pleats in the front, an exposed zipper in the back, and can be worn high-waisted or lower if you hike it down.

cardi: JCrew (same as the navy above!), tee: Gap, boots: Frye, bag: Hayden Harnett, skirt & jewelry: Haute Hardware

I wore this outfit out to dinner last Friday night to celebrate getting a job - yay! I've been out of work for 3 months, so I'm looking forward to going back. However, I want to make sure I keep up with my creative outlets...it's so easy to put things off when I'm working 40 hours a week. :/ So I guess I'd say it's bittersweet, but I am excited nonetheless. This will definitely mean more outfits to post, that's for sure!

Lipstick Magazine

I'm featured in this month's Lipstick Magazine!! Click here and flip through to page 41 to see the full article (double click the page to big it up once you get there). Here's a preview:
Thanks to my friend Grace at Highfashiongirl who freelances for Lipstick and wrote the article! My first feature...I'm so excited!

Happy New Year!

Yes, I realize it's well into January, but Happy New Year anyway! I've not actually been home much since my last post, having spent the holidays in Wisconsin (hi, Mom & Dad!) and last week in Albuquerque, NM visiting my BFF Gail. We had a fantastic time, as we tend to do, and Gail is the hostess with the mostess. She carted my arse all around that city & showed me a grand ol' time.

In addition to her excellent tour-guiding and always making sure we have booze on hand when I visit, Gail also inspires me to dress cutely when we're together. Being an occupational therapist, she spends the majority of her days in scrubs, so like yours truly, she's usually itching for an excuse to get dolled up. It's so much fun - something as small as going out for coffees &/or Flying Star mac & cheese (seriously check this out if you're ever in ABQ!) is reason enough to put on a frock. I love it.

So with that, I have a few outfit pics from my trip. From now on I'm going to try to be more diligent about a) putting together cute, pic-worthy outfits and b) actually photographing & posting them, in addition to the jewelry/crafting news.

First (full) day in ABQ, running around to shops & brunch. I ate so much at the aforementioned Flying star that I had to remove this belt for awhile!! top: Plastic Island, jeans: Martin + Osa, booties: Sofft, belt: Linea Pelle


I believe this was the second or third day - more shopping, plus we went to lunch at this fabulous old school pharmacy that had a soda fountain (!) and an amazing lunch menu. top: Hayden Harnett, jeans: Martin + Osa (again), boots: Frye

On my final day we went to Casa Rodeña winery in Albuquerque, and in addition to taking advantage of their awesome vino selections, we took full advantage of the beautiful scenery in the vinyard to ham it up in front of the camera:


dress: Thakoon for Target, belt: Linea Pelle, jacket: thrifted, boots: Sofft, wine: Casa Rodeña's award-winning Meritage
Although she might kill me for posting this, my best girl, Gail looking cute as ever. She performed surgery on this dress while I was there, removing a self belt that just wasn't cutting the mustard. I love how her belt and moto boots tough up the floral dress.

And here we are together, with our award winning smiles:
Thanks for reading! More to come soon...sooner than last time, I promise.