What I wore today: 05/21/2014 (Ginger and Clover)

So, I'm a ginger now! I decided to do something new with my hair, and I love the way it eventually turned out, but it was quite a nightmare getting here with a few missteps along the way. 

First, my stylist dyed my hair a dark oxblood color. Then, trying to correct it, she dyed it bright orange. I gave up on her, bought some brown dye and applied that on top of the orange to bring it down into the realm of realism.

I really like the way it looks. Unfortunately, since it's a Frankenstein's monster of a color, I doubt I'll be able to find a way to dye my roots to match when they come in, so I'll probably have to go back to brown pretty soon. 

Oh well, I'm just trying to enjoy it while it lasts. 

I've worn these boots about 5 days a week since I bought them last November. A few months ago, I bought these lace socks, and decided they are PERFECT with the boots so I bought two more pairs. When I love something, I really love it. 

Cream lace "Grace Yourself Dress" - Modcloth

Lace "Daisy Lane Ankle Socks" - Free People

Jeffrey Campbell open leather "Cast & Crew Ankle Boots" - Free People

What I wore today: 04/25/2014 (Monarch)

On Friday, I accompanied my friend to the DAAP fashion show again to see her sister's collection. It was a fun night out, and I got to wear a dress, which is something I haven't been doing a lot of during the long hard winter we just had.

Yellow silk "butterfly petals" dress - Leifsdottir, Anthropologie

Black leather jacket - Elevensees, Anthropologie

"Everly" ankle boots - Jeffrey Campbell

Quilted bunny bag - Asos

Dinosaur bone ribcage cuff bracelet - Noir

What I wore today: 12/07/2013 (Snow Day)

I love the snow! I don't think I'll ever outgrow the excitement of the first big snow of the year (or the second or the third or the fourth!)

It started snowing Friday night while I was at work. Ryan met me there after so we could eat Japanese food and do our Christmas shopping. It was kind of nice to shop in a nearly empty mall in the middle of a snowstorm, and my Subaru got us home safely (I drove Ryan to pick up his car the next morning once the roads were plowed).

Saturday was bright and sunny, with lots of light reflecting off the beautiful snow and barely any wind so it didn't feel that cold. My mom and I got lunch at a wine shop and went to my first wedding gown fitting. It was a perfect snow day!

* * * 

This coat is from Forever 21. One of the biggest pieces of advice I can give you is to buy lots of Forever 21 coats. They are cheap as hell, which means you can buy a variety of trendy patterned once, which means you don't have to wear basically the same outfit all winter long(since your coat is often all anyone sees of your outfit). I have one quality neutral coat and a bunch of trendy Forever 21 coats.

As for the hat, Ryan bought it for me at Topshop on our last morning in Chicago last year. At lunch, my mom told me, "You should never not wear that hat again." Ha!

Alcott Dress - Anthropologie
Brown leather riding boots - vintage
Fair isle tights - old
Portable Pocket Belt - Modcloth
Green felt hat - Topshop
Aztec-print coat - Forever 21

What I wore today: 11/10/2013 (Roaring)

Last Sunday, we had our all-store holiday meeting. The theme was The Great Gatsby, and we were encouraged to dress up as little or as much as we wanted to suit the theme.

I usually jump at the opportunity to create a costume, but my enthusiasm for putting on fishnets and a fringy dress wavers greatly when it gets cold outside. So, instead of a full-blown flapper costume, I decided to put together a fall outfit that incorporated a 1920s silhouette with the general coziness of tights and boots. I think the ties on this dress are meant to be tide tighter to create a waist, but I like wearing it baggier for more casual 1920s-esque silhouette.

Aren't these boots the greatest? Frye made a limited-edition run back in '09, and I eBay stalked them for three years to no avail. Then the same style just showed up, out of the blue, at Urban Outfitters (where I happen to get a 40% discount!) It was a great moment in the life of a shopper.

I hadn't allowed myself to buy any brown-leather knee-high boots even though my faux-leather ones were absolutely falling apart. No, I wanted the Frye ones and I was going to hold out until I found them. I was going to drop several hundred dollars on them, wear them for the rest of my life, replace their soles when needed, and never buy another pair of brown-leather knee-high boots again. That was the plan. The plan took years of discipline, but the payoff was great.

Listen to me, "years of discipline." I make shopping sound like Kill Bill.

Green tie-waiste dress - Maeve, Anthropologie (old)

Brown tights - Pure and Good, Anthropologie

Lace-up Melissa riding boots - Frye, Urban Outfitters

Burgundy wool cloche hat - Urban Outfitters (old)

Leopard brocade swing coat - Forever 21 (old) last seen here

What I wore today: 07/08/2013 (Save the Date)

On Monday, I mailed our Save the Dates and had my first meeting with our invitations and stationary designer. At the six-month mark, Ryan and I are finding ourselves in crunch time, booking our last few big vendors and transitioning from dreamy-wedding-planning mode into execution-of-said-dreamy-plans mode. It's equal parts exciting and stressful.

Well, maybe the scales are tipped a bit toward exciting!

I've been wearing this dress a lot since buying it a month or two ago. It's so light that it's pretty much perfect for muggy summer-in-the-Ohio-valley weather. And you'd be surprised how versatile a polka-dot-and-horse-print dress can be.

Polkadot and horse-print "Peruluma Peep Hem Dress" - Anthropologie

"Nonverse" kicks - hand-me-downs from my soon-to-be mother-in-law

Leather pouch belt - Modcloth

Leather cuff with silver horse - Jewelmint

What I wore today: 04/06/2013 (In Indy)

For my birthday, Ryan drove me to Indy to see the Ai WeiWei exhibit at its only midwest stop. We had dinner at a little American-new-cuisine restaurant with a prix-fixe menu, and stayed the night in a downtown hotel. It was a lovely trip, and a wonderful way to celebrate my birthday. This is what I wore to dinner.

Strangely, though birthdays are all about getting older, the exercise of spending a special day doing whatever I want always makes me feel a bit like a little girl again. For that reason, I always tend to pick our a girly dress and embrace things like afternoon tea and flower crowns.

Burgundy and magenta lace dress - Anthropologie

Rose gold pouch - Marc Jacobs for Target

Burgundy patent-leather t-strap shoes - Target

Hexagon ring - Mocuin

Engagement ring - Richter and Phillips, designed by me

What I wore today: 05/22/2013 (Olive You)

When it gets really hot outside, all I want to wear is light woven cotton dresses and flat sandals. Luckily, classic shapes like shirt dresses, and materials like olive green cotton and chambray are there for me all summer long.

Last weekend in Vegas, I kept feeling unbelievably classy as I strolled around in shirt dresses and flats, watching so many other women walk by in super revealing and cheap-looking outfits with low-cut tops, micro mini skirts, and sky high heels.

I will say this right now: a diamond may be forever, but so is a classic shirt dress.

Olive green military "Drawstring Safari Dress" shirt dress - Anthropologie

Archer T-strap thong sandal - Dolce Vita, Urban Outfitters

Gold clutch - vintage

Arrow necklace - Etsy

Pavé cable link bracelet - J.Crew