Feelin' Hot Hot Hot!

(There are too many photos in this post, just so's you know I know. He's a cute dog. I can't help myself.)

My dog's name is P. Bitty. He hates having his picture taken, but he ALSO hates not having all of the attention.
























Cuff and bracelets, Buffalo Exchange
Tee, Buffalo Exchange
Sparklebutt pants, H&M via Lane Wayne
Boots, Docs

Spice Up Your Life!

Are you tired of hearing about work yet? I swear I don't mean to bore you but it's so exciting to enjoy my work after all these years trapped in an office! So I've gotten a bit of training behind the buy counter and it's totally fascinating. And I'm really enjoying all the personal interaction. Our customer base is by and large really friendly and I love talking to them. My feet hurt less each day, and the time! It goes so much faster. I'm not saying I never look at the clock, I do. But I don't check it more than once an hour (until that last hour!). I'm busy, and moving and engaged in The Now.

I wore a painfully adorable outfit yesterday, but I choose dinner and drinks with Elissa and Tina over pictures last night. I'm sure you agree I made the right choice!



Today I went a little more casual but you know what was exciting? Being able to wear my Spice Girls tee shirt to work!



I love that tee shirt. That was the BEST concert. Maybe not the most outstanding musically, but as far as dreams coming true? Winner. Hands down.



I'm wearing my awesome new watch by TIKKR, a sponsor of the TxSCC who generously sent one to several of the attendees.



And these gorgeous earrings Elissa scored on sale and got for me...



I'm soooooo far behind on reading your blogs and I miss it so much. I know I'll get it figured out soon and my schedule will even out but that has honestly been the hardest part. The good news is I'll see so many of you this weekend! I CAN'T WAIT!~

Tee, Spice Girls concert
Jeans, Target
Jacket, McQueen for Target
Boots and bag, Buffalo Exchange
Watch, courtesy of TxSCC and TIKKR
Earrings, Gift from Elissa

Day 13 (26 + 10 + 20)

As has become almost a custom, I did not get dressed yesterday. We stayed in bed and watched “Wanted” and SNL and a slew of other things (OK, I got up and went into the living room and watched “Anastasia" on DVD for a bit. Nathan watched something with a robot fighter pilot that went bad and killed people. Justin Timberlake’s girlfriend was in it. It looked…not for me). But we did do the 6th Day of Valentines! This was the poem:



And I was like ”…….fix my hair? What’s wrong with my hair?” But I should have known nothing was wrong, he was just trying to tell me that he got me…



AN INSTYLER!~

Oh man! So exciting! And how awesome is it that he remembers the one or two random times I must have said “Oh that thing seems amazing but way too expensive”? I’m not often dumbstruck by gifts but I was by that one. Just really amazing attention to me and what I’m saying. He is as close to perfect as you will find and I do apologize, but he’s mine and I’m not giving him up.

Of course, I got dressed today.

+ + =



That dress will, I’m afraid, be the thing I regret adding to the 30x30. I think I would have been better off with another top instead, but I will make it work!



And for the Seventh and final Day of Valentines, the actual Valentine's Day gift…a super romantic and touching poem…



And a gorgeous necklace…



The heart itself is a nice solid chunk of sterling silver. It has a lot of weight to it (but not too much!) And the dagger…



is 14kt gold and removable. I suppose you could even wear it outside of the heart, but I’m not sure I own anything low-cut enough to do that. The necklace is designed by Bittersweets NY and Nathan purchased it at The Shining boutique in Dallas. They also have a blog you can follow (and I do!).


Hoodie Blazer and Dress, Target
Shoes, Doc Martens
Tights, We Love Colors
Bag, Fossil

Day 10 (14 + 15 + 20)

+ + =



Today is day two of our two day Living Paper Doll Project (if you think you would enjoy it, please let us know, I think we plan to try and do another round before the 30x30 is done!) and I am styled by the lovely Liz at 26 and Counting. (Liz is Styled by Suze, Suze is styled by me)

HOW CUTE IS THAT? And honestly? This outfit would have never, ever crossed my mind. I love to layer, but I tend to layer out, and this shirt under a dress look is more layering in, if that makes any sense at all...



The tee is so cozy and soft under the dress, and so warm. Even belting it was Liz's idea! And stripes and floral together are basically my favorite pattern mixing of all time. OF ALL TIME!



And now, today's poem:



I have to admit, if I were even a little more awake I would have gotten that. But I literally wake up to Nathan saying "Turn your light on" so that I can read the poems and am still pretty bleary eyed and brain dead when I read them.

A hand for my rings! (ETA for Suz, It's from Urban Outfitters) I had specifically asked for something like this so I knew as soon as he handed the tissue paper package to me what it was. I love it. I even put my rings on it this AM before I got dressed. (And then I forgot them, but that's just how I roll.)





Tee and Dress, Target
Scarf, AA
Tights, We Love Colors
Boots, Doc Marten
Gloves, vintage, gift

Day 9 (4 + 19 + 9 + 24)

+ + + =



Today I am styled by my good friend Suze of Miss Vinyl Ahoy, for the Living Paper Doll project she came up with. Liz (26 and Counting) is styled by me and Suze is styled by Liz. I think you can see how I feel about this outfit by looking at my face in that first picture. I love it. I feel really SEXY in it. I wouldn't change a THING.



I took my pictures today during an active sleet storm. That's what it looks like when a big blast of sleet hits a personal style blogger square in the face on about shot 5 of 10.



It's OK, I obviously thought it was pretty funny. Those gorgeous gloves? On my desk yesterday with a note from a co-worker "If you like them and if they fit." Um, I LOVE THEM! And they fit! How nice is that?

Day 2's poem is a haiku!



Notice that the style of poem today is the hint...



Giant Pocky! Guys! It's bread-stick sized. It's so cool.



I ate two for breakfast.

Sweater, Target
Tunic, Urban outfitters
Sports bra, Target
Skirt, Target
Boots, Aldo
Purple leather gloves, gift
Tights, We Love Colors

You’ve Gotten Into My Bloodstream

This is another Christmas gift. I choose this one at Nordstrom Rack. There was a lot of debate and back and forth. It wasn't cheap. So I needed to make sure it would be worth the investment. I had originally tried on another one (same sweater, same size, just not THIS sweater) and something seemed oddly unflattering about it. I still really loved it. I wore it around the store for a while. Eventually I decided I did like it, but something told me I might want to try on another. So I did. And this one was much better. There was something funky about the pockets on the other one. I’m not saying this one is the most flattering thing ever, I don’t think it is really. But I love it in spite of that. I love the colors and the shape and all the little details. I love that when I lose a button I can replace it with pretty much whatever I want. And I love the remixing possibilities.



I also love that I can pair it with that lace skirt. I find the black one almost impossible NOT to wear but the green one has been harder for me to style. I don’t think it comes across in the photos, but the sweater actually has little bits of sage green running through it (and pink, and lilac , and purple, and mauve, and grey and light blue and gold and more!).



Oh! And these photos are about a week old, so I forgot you hadn’t seen them yet, but check out those Doc Martin wedges. Nathan thrifted them for about 10 bucks. He saw them and made a mental note. Then he came home and asked what size I wore in Docs. A few days later he went back and as luck would have it, these were still there. They are in like new condition and the previous owner used an additional insole, so the original insole has not even shaped to another foot, meaning I can break these in as mine all mine. I love how they have sort of a “creeper” feel to them. And they are SO COMFY. It’s almost unreasonable.

I’m having a really hard time finding photo editing software I don’t hate. I normally use Microsoft Office Picture Manager, which I love. I don’t need much. I need to crop, I need to adjust the brightness levels and contrast and really that’s about it. I don’t correct flaws or edit backgrounds. My images are pretty darn close to their raw format. And I like them that way. I tried Photoshop over the weekend (free trial version) and I hate it. I also hate GIMP. Mostly I just want Microsoft Office Picture Manager back, but I don’t have Office on my new laptop and I cannot figure out for the life of me if Picture Manager is included in the home and/or student packs. The listings talk a lot about how you can edit right in Word, but I don’t need or want to do that really. I want to edit each picture QUICKLY and move on. If you have the home or student version of Office 2010, did it come with Picture Manger? Do they just not consider it important enough to list on the package detail or is it not in there? As much as I want to go back to it, I can’t see spending upwards of 300 bucks to get the full on version of Office with tons of stuff I’ll never use. I’m also open to trying something similar if anyone has a recommendation, but nothing web-based. Our internet connection at home just doesn’t support that kind of thing when we are both online.


Sweater Coat, Free People, Christmas gift from Nathan
Layering Cardigan, American Apparel, Christmas gift from Nathan
Tank, Urban Outfitters
Skirt and tights, Target
Boots, Doc Martins, thrifted by Nathan

Who Wants To Come In My Candy Shop?

My new camera arrived and we are slowly getting acquainted. I know most fashion bloggers upgrade from a point and shoot to a DLSR, but I like to do things a little different and downgrade from a DLSR to a point and shoot.



Yesterday I took the day off work to lounge, read and go to a book signing. One of my favorite authors, Richelle Mead was near town, up in Allen and I was super excited to get to see her in person.



I had to carry two bags as no bag could contain both all of the books I wanted signed as well as my everyday things.

Behold: the books I wanted signed:


That’s the first book from each of the series by her that I read as well as the hardback of the book the actual tour is for. She technically only signs three books person, but my girlfriend only wanted to have two books signed so she carried my fourth through the line for me.



I wore a tee shirt that my BFF Alannah sent me that I got Saturday and have already worn twice. You know how I do.



I also made a necklace for Ms. Mead based on a design that is important to the characters in the Vampire Academy series. Of course I made one for me as well. I really like that it’s subtle but also very specific to the books. I can be a fan-girl without wearing something silly like an “I love Dimitri” necklace, which might be great if I were 15, but is not so cool at 34.

(IDK what I'm doing here but I like my hair cape)


After seeing the pics, I wasn’t super excited by the way the leggings looked and changed into black and white patterned tights.

And to cap things off, a lovely picture of the super friendly and amazing Ms. Mead..



Is she not ADORABLE?

And a slightly horrid picture of me in which Ms Mead is signing my books.



I had a great time with my friends, sitting around talking waiting for the signing to start and Ms. Mead was so friendly and accommodating. She read from the new book, did a Q and A and signed up to three books for around 350 people and she did it all with a smile.

Sweater, Target
Tee, hand me down from Alannah
Shorts, Wal-Mart
Leggings, Target
Boots, Doc Martins
Black leather handbag, Steven
Book bag, gift
Necklace, self made due to extreme nerdiness