Category Archives: fashion

summer looks under $35

Now that it’s officially spring (and has been here in Texas since February) I have been itching to update some of my spring wardrobe. All of these pieces are under $35 (except for one, but what’s another $9 in the grand scheme of things?) and most of which are under $20. You’re probaly thinking they must be poor quality right? Nope we have some J.CREW and Banana Republic all up in there. Enjoy :)

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get the look: olympic chic

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Can we just stop and talk about how ridiculously put together Kate Middleton has been looking at the Olympic games? Not that she doesn’t always look amazing, but she makes a windbreaker look like couture. And I ~~hate~~ love her for it.

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jeans | shirt | umbrella | blazer | wedges

Who else has been obsessed with the royal family during this year’s olympic games?

a tale of two boots

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So this post is totally un-DIY related, but it is shopping related. So that’s exciting right? I also want to preface that this is a sad story, so if you’re looking for a happy ending where a girl finds her dream boots, keep on walkin’ folks!

This past weekend Derek and I went shopping to kill some time before meeting up with some friends who were in town. We passed through Nordstrom and totally forgot that they were having their anniversary sale! As card members, we’ve been warned about this for months and spammed like crazy in our inboxes, but still forgot about it somehow. Honestly I remember thinking “oh it’s probably just all of the summer stuff that they’re trying to wipe out.

Wrong.

They had introduced a bunch of new fall stuff that was about 50-60% off. What?? I realized this as soon as we walked in and saw boots EVERYWHERE. I know it’s a little early to be buying riding boots, what with it being about 100+ outside, but when they’re 50% off and you’re going to Rome in a few months, who can resist?

I have been wanting a pair of Tory Burch riding boots for as long as I can remember because 1. they’re extremely well made, 2. they’re the perfect height and shade of brown, and 3. I’m obsessed with Tory Burch [duh]. And I saw these for $299, regularly $495:

I died. So I immediately asked the sales guy if they had any in my size and he laughed and said they don’t have any at all. So he called around to every Nordstrom in the country to see if there were any left and there was one pair left in Miami that was on hold for a girl and that they’d call me if she didn’t buy them by 6:30pm.

They never called.

I looked them up online they they only had a 10.5 left, and then I googled the Nadine style and guess what? They’re only sold at Nordstrom. Tory herself didn’t even carry them. Super! But then I was really starting to wonder if I really even liked them though since I hadn’t even tried them on yet. So I asked to try on the black ones, but all they had were 9.5s which were boats on my feet. They were comfortable though and the perfect height, but since they felt super huge and I normally wear a 9, I was a little worried I was asking for the wrong size this whole time, and maybe there were more 8.5s floating around the shoeniverse. So to be sure I ran over to Neimans to try on a similar style of the Nadines to make sure I was asking for the right size to begin with and found these guys:

Now granted it’s the middle of summer, so I was trying these on with shorts [AKA optimum calf room right?] but I could not get them to zip up for the life of me! I was literally having to pinch and shove my calves into these babies. I have never considered myself to have “large” claves, they’ve always been pretty average sized. And I’ve never had any issues with riding boots not fitting but these suckers were made for pencil legs! And I planned on tucking my skinny jeans into them along with socks for galavanting around Rome, so needless to say I was a wee bit disappointed. Maybe Tory Burch boots aren’t made for me? Or maybe it was just the Calistas? I’ll never know. Because when I went back to Nordstrom to ask for an 8.5 they said they were sold out all over the country. They ordered 15,000 pairs and they sold out within the first two days. CRAZY. And most of them are being sold on Ebay for full price. Blasphemy! It’s like the Missoni situation all over again! So because I procrastinated and didn’t go to the Pre-Sale with all of the other crazies, I missed out on an amazing steal. But I gave them my information and they said they’d call if any were returned, but I’m not holding my breath.

I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.

Do any of you have this problem with Tory boots? Have you ever missed out on an amazing deal like this? Are you still kicking yourself? I can’t be the only one who gets sad over a boot-pertunity. But don’t worry. It was a happy ending for Derek because he was able to take advantage of the sale and score some dapper Hugo Boss black dress shoes along with some To Boot New York brown oxfords. Yummy!

all the cool kids wear socks in their hair

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I’ve been known to sport the occasional giant bun on top of my head. What can I say? I like the extra inch it gives me.

People [mostly strangers now that I think of it] always ask me how I get such a perfect bun, and if my hair is miles long. It isn’t, it’s all just an illusion. And now you too can fool ~~your friends~~ strangers into thinking you’re part Rapunzel:

Step One: Start out with your hair down. Obvy.

Step Two: Put your hair up to the ponytail height you desire. Remember the higher the hair the closer to God. Oh wait, that’s just in Texas.

Step Three: Take an old sock close to your hair color that has previously lost it’s mate, and cut off the toe.

Step Four: Start rolling the sock as tight as you can.

Step Five: Keep rollin’ rollin’ rollin’

Step Six: Pretty soon you’ll have a nice little donut. I like a big bun, so my donut is about 3″ in diameter, but if you want a smaller bun then either use a smaller sock or don’t roll it as much and cut the rest off.

Step Seven: Slide your ponytail through your sock donut, like so:

Step Eight: Bring the sock donut to the end of your ponytail and spread the ends of your pony around the sock like a palm tree.

Step Nine: Now roll the sock down your ponytail while tucking your hair under it as you roll. This part is difficult if you have layers and will look a little crazy about halfway down, but trust me it’s going to look fly. Also be sure to make a crazy serious face because bun rolling is no laughing matter.

Step Ten: Keep rolling until you can’t roll anymore. Remember to tuck as you go.

And voila! You have a totally awesome bun.

This is a favorite look of mine when either A. I want to look way cooler than I am or B. I really don’t feel like doing my hair. And the fun part is, you’ll never know if I’m feeling lazy or awesome. Bam.

orange crush

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Each year Pantone chooses a color of the year, and we love anything related to color! Last year they chose our beloved little Honeysuckle which we definitely saw all over the runway and in our favorite homes. So this year, get ready for…..