Golden Globes 2014 Fashion

I love Award show season purely for the red carpets.  Though, to be honest, you get better views of the dresses in the photos after.  They don't see to show anything worthwhile during those red carpet shows.  And E!, that mani-cam.... enough.

I yesterday I had on the pre-show and the pre-pre-show while I was doing some other stuff and only made it through the first hour and a half before I bailed to watch Downton Abbey.

I did scope out quite a few dresses and after browsing again this morning online, I have three categories.  LOVE, Undecided, and Incredibly disappointed/What was she thinking!

So, on with the photos!

LOVE

Cate Blanchett - the dark lace... the back.... the simple hair and jewelry.  Amazing!

I mean, check out that back!

 Julianna Margulies - She said on the red carpet she felt very "bad princess".  I kind of liked that about it.

Kate Beckinsale - LOVE, although she doesn't tend to wear the same thing all the time.

Lily Rabe - I don't watch American Horror Story so I had to look her up.  But this dress is amazing.

Lupita Nyong - I know it is very similar to Gwyneth Paltrow's 2012 Oscar dress, but it's still lovely.

Margot Robbie - So simple and very wearable for us non-celebrities.  I see a Rent the Runway knockoff in the future.  Also... those green Loubs... come on.

Olivia Wilde - FTW.  Seriously.  She wins.  This dress has two of my favorite components... it's green and its sparkly.  And she knocked it out.

And lastly for the loves, this red number that Tina Fey wore.

In an overall review, I was pleased to see so many column style dresses instead of mermaids, mermaids, mermaids.

UNDECIDED

Caitlin Fitzgerald - I think I want to love this dress and the color, but I can't decide because of the mock turtlneck.

Emma Watson - a dress and pants.  I love the dress and I guess this is a pretty interesting way to address the completely open back.  I don't know.

 Sandra Bullock - Colorblocking, the sweeping helm, the deep v neckline.  I can't decide.

And finally....  and most sadly...

INCREDIBLY DISAPPOINTED/WHAT WAS SHE THINKING

Jennifer Lawrence - JLaw, you broke my heart with this dress.  I was looking forward most to seeing you and Kerry Washington... and this dress... come on.

and speaking of Kerry Washington - oh Kerry, no.  Just no.  This disappointed me more than JLaw.  I can't.  The hip flaps, the boring color.  Maybe she just isn't feeling very wonderful in her pregnant body, but ugh.  She phoned it in.  So disappointing.

Julia Roberts - did she just come from the office?

 Paula Patton - oh good God no!  Aren't we over the giant ruffle stage yet??

Zooey Deschanel - She is seriously the cutest, yet she manages to look the dowdiest she possible can.

Vintage Shopping Weekend

In a pretty quick turn of events, my weekend's tentative plans completely changed.  I had originally planned to meet up with Brooke and Sprangers on Friday evening and hang out with Brooke for a bit on Saturday, but none of that ended up happening.

While I was in Austin on Thursday, I got an email from the pin up photographer to see if I could come and work her photo booth at this vintage fair going on downtown.  Of course, I said yes because I knew it was supposed to be over by 8pm.  After a flurry of activity on Friday afternoon and with Brooke and Spranger's plans changing as well, I ended up staying pretty late at the fair.  I did manage to snag a couple of photos though.  The theme was punk and paper dolls - you can see my "paper doll tabs" in the second picture. :)

I did some window shopping that night and found some really great items.  It was an accessories fair so there was a TON of jewelry and hats and there was some clothing.

I convinced my mom late that night to go back with me on Saturday.  My aunt, Lindy, met us down there and we spend about 5 hours browsing and shopping.  All of us managed to find at least one thing, but I definitely hit it big.  

I got a great jacket....

and amazing floor length velvet opera cape (with the original tag)

this adorable hat

and a nice necklace (no picture sorry).

I tried on SOOO many hats between Friday night and Saturday.  I love hats.  I think I need to just make that my thing... hats. :)

Here are two I didn't end up getting.

I had a blast hanging on with my mom and aunt and it reaffirmed my love of vintage shopping.  While I may not be able to fit most of the vintage clothes (why were all the women so tiny), I can certainly partake in the accessories!

Project DIY

Through no fewer than 3 blogs a month ago, I heard about M&J Trimmings Project DIY monthly subscription box.

I know there are tons of monthly subscription boxes out there - I used to have birchbox myself.  (Which was nice, but I wasn't using enough of it to keep getting it)

So the premise of Project DIY, each month you will receive all the supplies needed for 3-4 accessories.  The website also provides step-by-step instructions on how to make them all.

So when the box arrived just after I got back from vacation, I couldn't wait to open it.  Even if I couldn't really work on the pieces until after I got back from NYC. 

Here is a photo of the box.  It has a welcome card explaining the "theme" and then three little envelope boxes for each of the pieces.

I opened one of the boxes to see what was inside.  As you can see, it includes all the equipment and really nicely written supply list, measuring place and info on the piece.  The best part, Project DIY also has an option for you to by a toolkit with your first box if you don't have any jewelry making tools.  I had previously purchased a pack of tools at Michael's so I didn't buy that part.

 On Sunday, I was clearing off my dining room table and was finally able to start working on it.  Here is the finished necklace - a fringe necklace with equestrian details (the theme for this month).

Here is the wrap bracelet, the second piece.  I don't have a picture of it on because the glue was drying.

The last piece for this month was a tassel key chain.  I don't have any pictures of it because the tassels were all drying so it's not finished yet.

At $30 a month, it is triple what I was spending for Birchbox, but I like that I am actually getting some jewelry each month for $30.  That makes the price a little better.  You also have the option to "pause" your subscription if you need to take a month or so off, for whatever reason.

So far I like it, so we'll see what the next couple of months hold before I make a real decision.

#78 - Go to a Black Tie Event

As I mentioned yesterday, I attended my second black tie "optional" awards gala.

The weather was sort of humid, so I went hair up with a dark smokey eye to make the whole outfit a little more rocker-ish.  I wish I had more time to mess with my hair, because I wanted to make it higher in the front.

Overall, I am pleased with my outfit and my nude dress stood out among the flurry of black.

Black Tie Optional

I think the dress code "Black tie optional" could be one of the most frustrating dress codes out there.  Do you go full out black tie, or do you just try to do something a little more fancy cocktail?

If you remember this time last year (I don't hold it against you if you don't), I attend an awards gala black tie optional event for my industry.

Well, it's that time of year again.

Thankfully, I had previously purchased a nice dress from BCBG that I plan to wear to the event - saving me 7 more hours of frustrating shopping.  Here's a screen shot of the dress from the Nordstrom website.  I bought it last year, so I haven't been able to find it available online.

Nordstrom's website

While the dress is gorgeous, it includes two difficult fashion challenges.

First - the sheer stripe that makes finding a good bra difficult.

Second - who knew a nude dress would be so hard to pair shoes with?!

I think I solved both of them, but we'll see.  I'll post a follow up after tonight to show you my full outfit.

*Also, last year I didn't consider this attending a black tie event from off my 101 list because it is "optional".  Well, I'm going to consider attending TWO black tie optional events as good as attending one black tie event.  Hey, it's my list.  I can do what I want to. :)

My big furry baby

Yesterday I had to make an impromptu visit to the vet with Samson.  I can't explain exactly what prompted me to take him except that he was not acting like his normal self.  He wasn't excited on the walks and Tuesday night he followed me around the apartment.

The vet thinks he pulled a muscle in his back.  They gave him some pain medication and restricted his exercise (boy, he's going to hate that soon).  So I stayed and worked from home yesterday so I could keep an eye on him.  I'm not sure if it was good or bad... because he spent most of the afternoon bugging the crap out of me.

Case in point.... he would sit at my feet and stare at me/put his head on my computer.  Then he would lay down on the floor and sleep for a bit.... but not without giving me this sad face first.

Finally, he took a good nap at my feet so I could actually get some things done.  Later in the afternoon, he got all pathetic on me.  I wish I had grabbed pictures, but I video chatted with my mom to show her.  He was on the couch, trying to sit on my lap and at one point was sitting on my chest with his feet on the arm of the couch.  At last, he laid down on the couch next to me for an hour or so.

Thankfully, this morning he had a bit of pep back in his step.  I have a feeling the short walks are really going to annoy him in a couple days, but I prefer to be cautious right now.  Good luck Megan while you watch him this weekend. :)

On un-Samson related note, I finally was able to paint my nails for the wedding this weekend.  I went for a mauve-nude color with some silver sparkle.  I like that the sparkle is light enough that you can't really see it, but sparkly on the tips.

 *nude color - OPI "My very first Knockwurst", sparkles - OPI "Which is Witch?"

Lastly, it's been in the 70s here most of this week.  Which is awesome.  Today I tried to throw on a casual look that I could wear at work and then out to dinner tonight with some work people.  I may change shoes before dinner, but I think the outfit is on the nice enough side.

*shirt - Express, pants - Gap (last year), shoes - Target

Everyone is getting really excited for Lauren and Kevin's wedding this weekend and getting to see all the family.  I can't wait until 3pm so I can leave work and start my weekend!

Hello there Blog!

I know it's been a while.  I haven't had much to write about, so I haven't really bothered to stop by.  Also, the last couple of weeks have been rough for me - mentally.  So I've just been taking a break.

I have done a few things that I snapped some photos of to do a quick update.  Here they are in bullet/photo format.  First, let's talk house stuff.

A few weeks ago, I bought this Wizard of Oz print off Fab.  The red is actually the text of the original book very, very tiny.  I had a hard time deciding what size frame to use because I wanted to add a mat.  Turned out, that I would've had to custom frame, which I did NOT want to do.  Also, this 18x24 size that the original print is, is just the right size for above my dresser.  So win.

Then, yesterday my mom and I went over to Vogue Fabrics in Evanston to find some fabric to make some curtains.  I'll have some other updates next week, but I quickly hemmed up the fabric for in my room.  This photo doesn't do the colors justice, so I'll try to take another picture later. Of course, this morning that curtain rod fell right out of the wall - oh old apartment...  

Now, for a little fashion/shopping.

On Saturday, Brooke's volleyball team had a Derby themed fundraiser.  It gave me an opportunity to wear my fascinator.  And God knows I just need one excuse.

Yesterday, I went to the mall to try to find a spring dress or two to have for nicer functions, dates, etc.  Well, I struck out big time - which was pretty disappointing.  Before I left for my parents' house, I made one last stop at Nordstrom and found this nice simple green dress that was decently priced.  I tried it on at home with some new shoes I got at DSW just to make sure I really liked it.  The lighting in dressing rooms is seriously so terrible.

Speaking of DSW, I also found these fabulous shoes on the clearance rack.  How much do you love these?

Today it is supposed to be 70.  I used the opportunity to inject some spring color to my recently uninspiring wardrobe.  With a new mint shirt I got at Express.  Yeah spring!

*shirt - Express, skirt - Jcrew Outlet (old), shoes - Steve Madden (old)

Last but not least.... I love getting to spend time with my niece and nephews.  They are so stinking cute and Kayla is the best 2-year old, EVER.  She's hilarious!  After I took this picture, she said to me, "let me see it."  

Just like every other girl that wants to pre-approve a photo. :)

From the back on my closet

Typically, I am pretty good with clearing out my closet regularly and being strict about what stays and what goes.

If I haven't worn something in the last 6 months, it usually goes.  Only on rare occasions, so things that I haven't worn make the cut for that round.  If they do and the time comes again and I STILL haven't worn it.... bye bye!

I can't remember how long ago I inherited this coat from my mom... years.

I can count on one hand the number of times I've actually worn it.  I have a like/dislike relationship with it.  Sometimes I LOVE the brocade print and sometimes I really don't like it at all.  Every time I do the clean out, I fight the urge to donate the coat because I don't really have a ton of coats and it's nice to have options.

Lucky for me, brocade was really popular on the runways for 2013.  So maybe this coat will stick around a bit longer.

Award Season

For those of you who don't want Downton Abbey, you should!

Here is gorgeous Lady Mary (aka Michelle Dockery) at the Golden Globes... looking amazing!  I love the dress... and the hair.

The hair is making me wish I had really thick hair so I could cut it short and look that good.

Arm Candy

Thanks Leslie - for the new addiction to Stella & Dot jewelry!

Bracelet, bracelet, trusty pandora charm bracelet

Yay, Friday!

Yay!  So thankful today is Friday.  Also, I realized that we are now 4 days into 2013 and I haven't paid any attention to my goals.

Good way to start off the year, Megan.

This weekend, I am going to spend time focusing on my goals and getting started - especially with the meal planning bit.

Anyways, in other news - I finally received my Stella & Dot purchases from my credits for my party.  I haven't been feeling very good until today, so now I am finally wearing them.

 necklace

bracelet, bracelet

It's nice to have some gold jewelry now.  There was a long period of time when I refused to wear gold.