Sunday, August 22, 2010

A Promotion, A Celebration, and an OOTD

tumblr_l7iu88sFuy1qz500ho1_500_large{we heart it}

This weekend has been absolutely lovely here in Chicago, and even lovelier around our house.  Matt and I have spent a good deal of the weekend celebrating.  The reason?  I got a promotion this week!  Hooray!

The promotion has actually been in the works for most of the summer, but I stayed fairly mum about it in case it didn’t go through.  Though I am currently paying my bills with a position as a freelance writer for a textbook editing company, I’ve been feeding my shopping habit with a part time job at one of my favorite retailers.  (You will often hear me refer to it as “the store” because I haven’t named it on the blog, for fear this blog will seem like a shameless promotional tool.  I never want it to seem like that, so I’m continuing to remain mum and call it “the store.”  Though if you snooped hard enough through my OOTDs, I’m sure you could guess the retailer.)  Anyway, about three weeks after I started working there, my manager mentioned promoting me.  I was excited, said sure, and since then have been interviewing, informally training, and crossing my fingers.  Monday morning, my official offer came through, and after talking it over with Matt (because apparently married people have to “talk over” these kinds of things) I accepted the position of assistant manager!  Eeek, super exciting!

I definitely feel like my juggling act just got a little bit more complicated.  Freelancing, working at the store, and oh yeah…finishing my Ph.D.  Eeesh. But, I’m used to being fairly busy/stressed and find that I’m actually more productive that way.  Go figure.

So with news of a promotion, a celebration was in order.  In our house, that means three things.  Eating, drinking (responsibly Mom, don’t worry), and shopping.  And to make sure I wasn’t alone in that definition, I looked up “celebrate” in the dictionary.  It reads, “eating, drinking, and shopping.”  See, I  don’t make these things up :)  Unfortunately, I didn’t snap too many pictures during our celebrating (unusual for me, I know.)  But here’s what I did get…

DSCN3545Friday night, after Matt got off work, we headed for Italian food.  90% of Matt and I’s date nights are Italian.  I love me some pasta and red wine, what can I say?  Though I’m typically drawn to tiny, dimly lit, family owned spots, Friday we went chain and dined at Maggianos.  The food was yummy, the wine was wonderful, but the dessert sampler was the real winner of the night.  Yum-o.

DSCN3553 Saturday, I had a shift at the store.  I wasn’t in the mood for heels, so I went a little more casual.  As I was walking out of the house, Matt said, “Isn’t it a little warm for a leather jacket.”  I laughed and had to agree, but when you’re trying to sell fall clothes, you do a heck of a lot better if you’re actually dressed for fall.  Rules of retail, I guess.  I can only imagine how confused designers must get.  Coats in July, resort wear in the dead of winter…that must be the weirdest thing!

DSCN3554 These are three of my all time favorite accessories.  I got the owl necklace at a market in London with my mom.  I fell in love with it the minute and I saw it.  Every time I wear it, Matt makes owl noises at me.  One might think my loving husband is saying “woo” and wouldn’t that be sweet, wooing at how great he thinks I look.  But in reality, he’s saying “hoo.”  Like an owl.  Awesome.

DSCN3551 And since it was Saturday, my photog was home for the day.  Those of you who need to see knees and calves get your wish.  I guess I can handle knees in photos once a week :)

Jacket: Nordstrom

Lace tank: Rachel by Rachel Roy for Macy’s

Jeans: Ann Taylor

Shoes: Kenneth Cole

Necklace: London market

Sea shell earrings: my mom’s from the 80s (love them!)

Opal ring: vintage (it was my great Aunt Bunny’s)

DSCN3560-1And after a morning shift at the store and an afternoon of shopping with Matt, we headed home for the second celebration of the weekend.  Pad thai and champagne lol.  We’d planned to go out to a new, local Asian place, but after being on my feet all day, I just wanted to get into my sweats, order takeout, and relax with my man.  So that we did.  With a “cheers” of course!

DSCN3574 And like almost every other weekend this summer, we ended it with smores on the grill.  That grill puts out some bad ass steaks, chops, and corn on the cob, but all I care about are the smores.  And I wonder why my jeans are a  little tighter these days ;)

So that was our weekend.  Simple, celebratory, and wonderful!  Hope yours was fabulous as well!

16 comments:

Tina said...

Love your jacket, and love the necklace!!! Owls are very big in my family (both my Mom & Grandma were Chi Omegas). Do you have an e-mail addy?

Allison said...

Aww thank you Tina!

My email is smartandsassywithsprinkles@gmail.com

Ashley Stone said...

congrats on your promotion!! And I love the owl necklace!

caknitter said...

Congratulations on the promotion...what great news!
The little owl is adorable and goes perfectly with your outfit.

Alison Kinsey said...

This sounds like an incredible weekend, congratulations on your promotion Allison! Maybe I'm silly, but I still haven't figured out what "the store" is yet :) but either way that's fab, and the promotion will look great on your resume! That little dessert sampler looks so tasty too!

Lindsay said...

Woohoo congratulations on the promotion!! I love the outfit and the owl necklace is super cute!

P.S. I got my giveaway things in the mail last week, a post about everything will be coming soon (hint: I love it all).

RAW said...

Congrats!

Those desserts look delicious. Love your outfit--cute jacket.

Steph @ Professors_Wife said...

Congrats, super cute outfit w/the leather jacket and owl necklace! I'm still hung up on your photo of the dessert sampler. YUM

Anonymous said...

Congrats on your promotion, Allison!

Laureen D said...

Congratulations!! Love the leather jacket, definitely on my wish list this fall. Looks like a great weekend.

Whitney said...

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!! "The store" is lucky to have you :).

Love your jacket - perfect for fall.

And obviously I love the owl necklace...duh. Not very Panhellenic of me to say. ;)

Tina said...

Congratulations on the promotion!! Soo exciting!! I loooove the necklace [and the ring!!] so cute!! and I am ALWAYS down for some italian! lol

J. said...

Love the jacket! And, I would completely devour ever one of those desserts in 30 seconds or less.

http://jammer10am.blogspot.com/

PursuitOfLLT said...

Congrats on the promotion! Exciting!! And that jacket is making me wish it was 60s and jacket weather! Can't wait!

http://pursuitofllt.blogspot.com/

BrooklynBlonde said...

That owl necklace is awesome!! And congrats on the promotion! :)

xx,
Helena
www.BrooklynBlonde.com

SBG said...

congrats!!

sarissweetlife.blogspot.com