Apparently this weekend has revolved entirely around glitter:
SATURDAY: This pure happiness was acquired (with a magical 40% off coupon). I mean, I love you Martha, but $30 for glitter vials is pretty outrageous.
SUNDAY: First glitter project: mani of the week, via inspiration from Cupcakes & Cashmere.
I picked up a couple of shades from Essie's spring line earlier this week, including the gorgeous, peachy, A Crewed Interest, and it was begging to be embellished. I added the champagne-y gold Martha glitter in a half-moon shape on top of my ring fingers, and voila: mani of the week! The glitter immediately made me think of fizziness, and now all I see is bellinis when I look at my hands - not going to help with my attempt to cut back on cocktails....
I can't wait to play more with these amazing shades (warning: TONS of DIY, pink, glittery valentines on the horizon...).
I have yet to jump on the Toms train. It's not that I don't like them, or support the cause they stand for; but generally speaking, I am past the point in my life that I regularly wear a "super casual" shoe (says the girl who wears jeans to work M-F...).
I could fit them into my wardrobe, and easily could get away with wearing them to work, but since my Chuck Taylor phase the spanned from high school through the end of college, I have gravitated only toward a more "formal" type of shoe. Obviously I'm not wearing formal occasion shoes every day, but really what I'm trying to say is I've grown out of my sneakers and rubber flip flop days.
To date, I haven't found any Toms that I can really see myself getting good wear from. That is, with the exception of last summer's crochet classics, which I fell in love with for their dainty feminine detailing - but of course, they sold out almost immediately.
Spring is upon us again, and with it, apparently Toms has decided to bring back my faves. But now, of course, they had to throw in these lovelies to make pulling the trigger on my back-in-stock favorites even harder:
I mean, mint & metallic? Come ON. I can never resist a metallic shoe (seriously, I have the same pair of ballets in gold and pewter, plus about 7 others...).
This episode of the 365 project coming to you from my iPhone...bear with me. My work laptop that accompanied me back home for my haircut tonight refuses to get past the startup screen (ahem, DELL). I miss my MacBook already.
Today is brought to you by my new chain links, mint&coral, and Deborah Lippmann "I know what boys like" (+ special guest OPI "only gold for me").
It's no secret that I am essentially beyond obsessed with J.Crew, nor is it anything but obvious that I have a pretty serious online shopping problem. When the two are combined, well - it's just like the best Christmas morning EVERY time.
Speaking of Christmas, I ordered this gorgeous (and somewhat festive, but really, I am just obsessed with green) blouse before the holiday (December 4th to be exact) - and of course, it was backordered (and apparently still is!).
Even though it's been almost two months of waiting, I have not gotten any more patient; I've been thinking about this piece almost daily. Seriously - can't even count the number of times I've thought, "Wow, that green blouse would look bomb.com with this necklace/pair of shoes/earrings/hairdo/underwear..." - you get the picture.
All that said, you can imaging my utter joy when this email popped itself into my inbox early this morning:
I mean, I literally jumped. J.Crew, you have no idea how close I was to calling up customer service (thank god for 24-hour availability) and chewing you out for this delay. No seriously, it was on my Wunderlist of to-do's (amazing app, get it).
Of course, I'm now planning 839058934 outfits that incorporate my dearest Talitha; coupled with skinny britches (J.Crew Minnie, of course) and gold suede Tory Revas, a navy pencil with nude pumps, under a blazer with skinnies and boots...and it goes on. Realistically, I'm going to wear this thing to death in a matter of a few months (but not before St. Patty's Day!).
Conclusion: getting mail (especially when lovely items are included), is one of my all-time favorite things (hence online shopping addiction). BUT when you mix a package delivery + J.Crew + a backorder = pure, utter joy (just from a shipping email alone).
I'm going to have to lock down my insane, childish giddiness when this package arrives at my office - and probably physically restrain myself from running to the bathroom and putting it on. That can never pass as normal, right?
Does anyone else get as crazy as I do about packages (and/or J.Crew)?
Okay, so it's another multi post - sick of me yet? Thought so.
I couldn't resist a shot of my new Priviledged bracelet that came in from GILT today. Can't wait to start stacking (and see if I can actually handle wearing all that bling around...).
I was also super excited about (finally) donning my red coral necklace that I picked up on my trip to Greece in October; it was a perfect pop with my majorly neutral silk J.Crew Blythe blouse and black/nude pointy bow flats.
And one last sidenote, Deborah Lippmann's "I Know What Boys Like" might be my new go-to nail color - and in relation to my collection (and the intense bond I have with quite a few colors in it), this is MAJOR.
If you've ready any of this blog, it should be pretty obvious that I have an affinity for color. I'm drawn to saturated hues, classic but bold tones (navy, red, etc) and also to a pretty pastel or even neon.
There's just something about the crisp sophisitcation of a monotone palette, especially in light of all of the crazy (amazing) colors overshadowing this season, that is so refreshing. Black & white is a classic combo (okay, I cheated a little with 11&12, but how MAJOR are those pants and pumps?!), but classic doesn't have to be boring. A small detail like lace, piping or bows makes it feel more current and less like you don't know how to put an outfit together.
It appears that I'm on a bit of a jewelry kick these past couple of days!
I have been coveting a few Bauble Bar pieces for some time now (see pinboard here), but I haven't been able to pull the trigger (side note: my favorite piece is sold out - TRAGEDY). Like I mentioned in my post about my new Priviledged NYC gold chain link bracelet (arriving today!), I have a hard time dropping serious cash on costume jewelry because I just plain don't wear it enough.
That being said, Bauble Bar does have pretty reasonable prices. But couple that with $10 off of your purchase for their one-year Birthday, and I'm DONE. (They're also offering their most popular pieces at a discounted rate until January 29th...wallet death).
I couldn't resist these two gold beauties:
Disco Ball Bangle (to be stacked with the gold chain link, of course)
To make up for totally sucking (and because my spring fever is raging out of control), my daily photo for Sunday is coming as a package deal. So deal with it.
I scooped up this heather coral henley hoodie (geez, alliteration!) and floral poplin pajama pants at Old Navy (both on sale!) yesterday. I really couldn't resist them; it's the little things in life that are pulling me out of my seasonal depressing and will keep me going 'til spring.
The coral & floral (I'm just all over the grammatical fun tonight!) just make me so happy.
And what's not to love about matching jammies?
It's absolutely freezing in Boston right now; tea (best tea ever) was a necessity.
Life is not about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
Have you heard? LOFT is giving away $50 off of any $100+ purchase tomorrow (online or in stores) to anyone who likes them on Facebook!
This is framed as a celebration for them hitting 1 million likes, but honestly, who even cares what it's for? It's pure genius. Honestly, who can resist a 50% off sale, especially when their spring line is SPOT-ON trend (and the prices are right)?
I have always had my issues with LOFT (mostly in regards to quality, and their e-commerce platform is completely inadequate to handle the traffic it gets EVERY time they have a big sale). But if you're giving me that kind of a deal, I think I can handle investing $50 bucks in some duds that are trend-oriented and sure to be worn only a few times...
Here's a peek what I'll be scooping up this Saturday:
I will admit that sometimes, I can be a complainer. And by complainer, I mean really just overexaggerate little annoyances into a world-ending problem. BUT, really, all embellishment aside, the past 16-ish hours have been inordinately horrific.
It all started when I left work yesterday, so excited to finally have the time (okay fine, not be too lazy to) hit the gym for the first time since last Wednesday. I race out of work back to Southie and when I turn the corner into the parking lot what do I find? Not only are there zero parking spots, but there are FIVE cars circling around waiting for people to leave. REALLY?
Okay, fine - great excuse to not work out and immediately move on to dinner with the boyfriend. Again, can't find a parking spot within 4 blocks of his apartment - great. No mind, good excuse to grab a bottle of vino (woo, Orvieto!) to down with my dinner...obviously well-balanced against my non-workout.
I finally walk the 7 blocks back to his apartment in the frigid cold, only to find that I legitimately cannot unlock to the door when I get there (the latch has been screwed up for at least a year now...but things have clearly taken a turn for the worse). After fidgeting with it for an absurd amount of time, I buzz his apartment so he'll come down and let me in. I wait, shaking...no response. SERIOUSLY, Tim? You know it's me. I buzz again...wait for about 2 more minutes and I hear his door open. I can hear him juggling the latch on the other side of the door and for a moment I really think he's locked in and I'm locked out (read: I would be jumping a fence to get in). He finally gets it open - I throw him a scowl (you really were going to just sit there and let me freeze?) and jump inside to warm up.
Once I've got my beverage in hand I relax and assure myself I made it through the worst. Oh Carolyn, little do you know what's coming for you when you wake up...
Fast forward to this morning - I try waiting for the boyfriend to finish up in the shower before I get in (so conscientious of his time!) but he's running late and I need to get going. I drag myself out of bed and to the bathroom as he gets, turn the knob on again, and jump in. "Oh...yeah, there's no hot water left."
So, you waited until I got into the frigid water and got wet before you tell me I'm going to catch hypothermia if I take a shower? Great - now I get to finish the ordeal while trying not to fall over into a convulsing ball in the tub. Awesome.
After wrapping myself in three towels and jumping back into bed, I finally start to get myself ready to go, really just waiting for the next annoying thing to jump out and slap me in the face. Enter: revenge of the front door. I had somehow managed to forget the previous night's debacle and approached it as if I would pass right through. Wrong. I spent a good two minutes jiggling and begging it to let me out. I almost gave up and went back upstairs to let myself out through the fire escape when it finally opened.
I was about to rejoice that I finally made it out of the prison when I looked up and saw about 2 inches of snow on the ground. How did I not expect this, you ask? I was too busy being pissed off about my Thursday to check on Friday's weather. Great, I am wearing flats to trudge 5 blocks in the snow to my car.
Of course, my car is covered in a pile of snow, and guess what? I don't have a scraper/brush. Of course I don't. Lucky me, I get to clear my car off in flats with the arm of my thin wool coat.
I finally make it to work, and though my ass, socks, and sleeves are still soaked from the snow, at least I get my Fiber One breakfast and coffee fix, a mixture that (obviously) landed me in the bathroom somewhat shortly after.
I immediately rejoice that I seem to have it to myself, and think that maybe NOW my day is turning around, but oh no. I soon discover that my fly has been down all day. AWESOME. First reaction: embarrassment. Second reaction: this has been happening to me a lot lately...am I losing my mind?
I really thought things were starting to look up after I took care of my fly...but oh, no. As I am writing this, apparently our corporate Internet is down. Or worse, maybe it's just mine - no one else seems to be perturbed. Great.
PS: Return of the Internet! Also, this just made my day exponentially better (how did I not find out about this until a month later?!). Let's hope we're on the ups.
Has anyone else been having an epically terrible week?
Lovely night getting dressed by candlelight after our power flickered for hours and was finally killed for good. I'm going to point my finger at the guys climbing down the manhole outside my window...
Lately, it has been no secret that I am on a death hunt to find the perfect chunky gold chain-link bracelet (at least to the internet world). I mean, look at my "baubles" board on Pinterest:
Absurd, I know. My problem has been that all, and I mean ALL of the ones I really, truly loved are just out of my price range right now (like this PERFECTION over here; perfectly chunky). It's not that I have a problem with spending over $100 on jewelry, but more that in reality, I know I won't wear this on a daily basis. And not because I don't want to; I would love nothing more than to pull off uh-mazing tricked out wrist candy a la Atlantic-Pacific every day - but I can't even type at my desk with one bracelet on, so I know that it realistically just isn't going to get as much use as I want it to.
Nonetheless, I can't resist them. I've been literally scouring every site I can think of trying to find the perfect, reasonable gold chain - and as of today, my mission is complete. Many thanks to GILT Groupe's Priviledged NYC sale today for letting me get in on this loveliness (for just $32!):
Time to start stacking up my bangles at home and get them ready to snuggle up with their new life parner.
Still sucking at this daily thing, especially since the bf has been back - sorries!
Jan. 16:
I snapped this shot of our "sofa table" serving as the centerpiece of our living space - it is pretty much the first thing you see when you walk in. I realize it's pretty Christmas-y, but I'm not ready to let go yet.
Jan. 17:
Talk about outrageous office party - this was my night last night: Beirut with a glass of wine from the open bar. Sometimes I don't hate my day job so much...
(PS: We lost. I am terrible - and can't even blame it on being out of practice..I have always sucked.)
Jan. 18:
Mani of the week: Butter London - Teddy Girl topped with Essie - Shine of the Times.
I left it huge so you can see how cool the glitter flecks are (bonus: they're basically holographic, so they change colors! Amaze.)
I'm the worst, but weekends are tough! Friday night I was completely exhausted after a day of big talks about my career and dinner & drinks with a friend (read: in bed by midnight!). I just needed my absolute favorite treat to top off the night:
My boyfriend finally made it back to the northeast on Saturday (after being at home in Virginia for two after our Paris trip), so I trekked down to Connecticut by Amtrak to visit with his extended family and make the rest of the car ride with him. On Sunday, we went for lunch with his mom at a new upscale burger joint called Plan B Burger Bar (coming to Boston soon, I just learned - YES.)
I know, the name is entirely unfortunate for a myriad of reasons, but I have to say, the food (and even moreso, the decor) made up for it! They serve 100% certified humane beef, which means: Certified Natural, with NO antibiotics, NO hormones, NO fillers, NO added colors, NO chemicals, from farms that have undergone the strictest natural food certification in existence.
So, that all being said, I was totally in - and the food did not disappoint. My blue cheese burger was loaded with blue cheese, and the spice of the cheese with the BBQ sauce and carmelized onions was perfect. Honorable mention to their "fancy fries" - there's nothing like a super thin, crunchy fry topped with sea salt.
But what really sealed the deal was the design inside. I mean, meat hook light fixtures with filament bulbs? SWOON.
Blue has never, ever been my color. The only shades of blue you'll find in my closet are navy (literally). It's just not my thing. It's fine and all, and I have nothing against it, but especially when it comes to clothing, I have never felt it does anything for me.
I am, however, a HUGE fan of green. I am a self-proclaimed green fanatic. Give it to me in any shade and I'm gonna love it. Throw in a stripe (my #1 addiction) and I am completely helpless.
That all being said, the blue/green colorblocking this season is killing my wallet, and at the same time, completely warming me up to the cool tones (har har). Throw in my addiction to nail polish and you've got me on a path to broke-dom. Deborah Lippman's I Know What Boys Like has recently made it's way into my collection and I have to say, it has become my gateway drug. It is the most gorgeous shade of bold blue, almost periwinkle but deeper, and I am totally in love. In years past, all of this would have screamed "Crayola Cobalt" to me and I would have hated it, but there's something about it that I can't resist anymore (especially when played off of my beloved greens).
I am clearly not the only one who is loving this trend. I've had this board building in my head for weeks now (since the first time I put on that polish - no exaggeration), but lookie what I got in my inbox this past week:
LOFT stealing my thunder! At first I was mad, and then I realized I should just be happy and take advantage of the huge sale to build up my pre-spring wardrobe and feed the bluesy frenzy (2, 14 and 20 will be making their way into my closet in a few days!).
Bacio quotations are so much more insightful (and well-traveled) than fortune cookies.
In other news, this may have been the craziest Friday the 13th in my (short) history. Lots and lots of crazy, dramatic, and maybe even scary things happening at work, but hopefully once it all unfolds the outcome will be something very exciting for me. Now onto the waiting...
