Happy, Happy Me

 {we heart it}

Hey lovelies!  Just wanted to say a huge thank you for all your encouragement with my first ever outfit of the day post on Tuesday.  Yall were totally awesome and supportive, and I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it!  Thankfully, I didn’t get the, “what the shiz are you wearing and why do you think you’re cool enough to post an OOTD” comment.  Success in my book :)  But for realz, I really really really appreciate all your kind words and will keep the OOTD posts coming :)

Along the lines of OOTD…I sent an outfit over to Kim at Anthroholic (if you love Anthro, this blog is for you) for her weekly reader outfits, and she was kind enough to post my little get up.  I felt sooo cool in my Anthro get up on an Anthro blog.  But don’t worry, you folks got the VIP treatment and saw the outfit in my birthday recap post.  Yeah…nothing but straight up VIP for my smart and sassy followers.  Straight up VIP .  (And rewind, did I just say “folks” in the previous sentence?!  What am I, ninety?!)  Anyway, if you want to see my cameo, you can check it out here.  (I’m like the 13th picture or so down, not that I’m counting or anything.)  If you’ve hopped over from Kim’s blog…hey hello, I’m glad you’re here, feel free to sit and stay a while.

In other exciting news…Matt and I booked a trip to New York City for next month.  Woo hoo!  Remember in this post where I talked about voluntarily bailing from our overbooked Delta flight and getting mega dinero in return?  Remember how I thought for hours about all the fabulous places we could visit with that dinero?  (No idea why I’ve now said dinero twice.  Weird.)  Well, we’ve booked a flight to Phoenix in a few weeks to visit Matt’s parents and then we booked a trip to NYC for mid June with those lovely Delta dollars.  Score!  We’ll be going to NYC for a friend’s bad ass wedding.  More details to come, but let me just tell you it involves a private yacht, the harbor, black tie attire, and fabulous friends.  Can I get a helllll yeah?

To say its been a good week for me just doesn’t do it justice.  I survived my first ever OOTD post thanks for my fab fab readers, got a celebrity shout out (yes, Kim that’s you!), survived a presentation in my structural equation modeling class (a miracle in itself), and booked a trip to NYC (with the promise a fabulous new dress.)  I mean, its only Thursday, what else has the week got in store? :)

Every Little Thing…

 {we heart it}

Thank you to all of the fabulously sweet peeps who sent prayers and positive thoughts my way for the interview today!  I think the interview went ok…not great, not awful…just ok.  But then again, I tend to be pretty hard on myself when it comes to stuff like this so who knows.  We’ll see.  If its meant to be, I’ll get it, and if not, it just means God has something else in store for me!  No matter what, I keep trying to remind myself that everything will work out; everything will be ok.  Because when I look back on other stressful times and transitions in my life, I remember all the stress and moments I wasted worrying about what would happen, how it would all work out, blah blah blah.  And you know what?  All of those things worked out ten times better than I ever could have imagined or planned myself.  So tonight, I’m taking a big deep breath, giving thanks, and letting go.  Because you know what?  Everything really will be alright :)

Happy (almost) Friday!

Birthday Thanks and a Great Birthday Find

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I want to send a giant THANK YOU to all of my dear friends, family, and followers for the sweet birthday messages yesterday!  My birthday was delightful, and I can already tell that 26 is going to be a very blessed year.  I was going to post a few birthday pictures from yesterday, but since I am a firm believer in celebrating one’s birthday week, I figured I’d wait until Sunday to post all of my birthday goodness.  No need for a full week of self absorbed posts (not that a full week of self absorbed celebrating is that different lol) but nonetheless…I’ll do a full recap on Sunday :)

However…there is one part of my birthday that I simply can’t wait until Sunday to blog about because it is so so so so so awesome that I just HAVE to share.  Be prepared that this news might cause many of you to instantly jump in your car and fly to the closest mall.  For realz, it’s that big.

I have discovered the best find at Forever 21.  And I mean, THE.BEST.  I will pause here for a moment to say that I have a weird relationship with Forever 21, and by weird, I mean, “I usually can’t stand it or find anything there, though every other cute blogger I know always finds good things there which makes me feel like a loser, but I continue to try and why can’t their sizing be more normal” kind of weird.  Anyone feel me on this?  However, I saw a really cute top on a blogger that I was determined to find.  So I treated myself to a mid afternoon birthday shopping trip, and given that our mall has um, like, 2 decent stores, I ventured to see my “weird” pal, Forever 21.  However, once I walked in, I forgot about the top I went for as I saw rack after rack of maxi dresses.  Now, another pause is needed to tell you how much I love maxi dresses.  They’re great for summer, easy to throw on, travel friendly, and second day leg shave friendly.  (Don’t act like you don’t know what I mean.  I know you know what I mean.)  Anywoo…my maxi dress obsession has a major glitch.  I am 5'10" minus a smidge, and well, maxi dresses made to fit 5'10" minus a smidge girls don’t really exist.  Ok, they exist, but very rarely.  So imagine my shock and awe when I tried on one of the seventeen maxi dresses and…omg, no way, really, it can’t be?  It fits!  It’s LONG ENOUGH.

Upon this discovery, I quickly ran through the store shouting “they’re long enough, they’re long enough,” grabbing every maxi dress they had in my size.  Literally.  Every.maxi.dress.in.my.size.  (Five in total.)  It’s not every day a tall girl can find a maxi dress that hangs below her knees, much less one skims the ground.  Hellls yeah.  Happy birthday to me :)

When I got home, still in shock over my discovery, I laid out my new lovelies to make sure I hadn’t dreamed of my marvelously long maxi dresses.  And because I know you all want to marvel as well…

Aren’t they beautiful?!  And their true beauty isn’t even on full display here because their true beauty is the fact that they’re long enough.  Long enough.  Sigh…I can’t say it enough, (long enough.)  Hahahha, sorry, I couldn’t help myself.  And by the way, do not make the same mistake as my husband.  I did not buy two identical dresses.  The patterned dresses?  One’s brown, one’s black.  The black dresses?  One has straps, one doesn’t.  Totally different, silly husband.

So, if you are a tall gal like me, run, not walk, to the closest Forever 21 to claim your newest summer BFF (or five.)  And just consider the tip an early birthday gift from me to you.  Because, it was definitely a sweet birthday gift to me!

Headband Storage

First off, thank you guys SO MUCH for all your sweet comments, prayers, and crossed fingers for Matt and I’s big news Friday and tomorrow.  Friday’s match took off lots of the anxiety, and now I’m just battling excitement to find out where we are going to be next year.  Eeek!  This might be the first week ever where I’m actually looking forward to Monday morning!

Even with the good news though, this weekend was pretty exhausting for me.  Full day at work on Friday, out late Friday celebrating the big match, and an all day work training on Saturday.  Boo for working Saturdays (especially after being out late the night before.  Big boo on that one.)  So today was spent in a coma-like state, which meant not getting out of my bed or my robe until sometime in the early afternoon.  (Ok, I lie, I actually did get out of bed a few times for important things like coffee, the TV remote, and Captain Crunch, but other than that, I remained lounging my bed.)  Oh how I love lazy days!

I did manage to muster up enough productivity to do a mini-0rganization project.  Now, before you read any further, I must share a disclaimer.  This blog is not about how to lead an organized life.  It is not about how to simplify or how to turn your home into a lovely little gem.  I am certainly not the poster child for organization, and there are several other blogs out there who have that department covered (and beautifully I might add.)  But if you are a fashion loving girl who is tight on money, space, and organizational skills, read on.  Because this, my friends and blog readers, is for you.

Most of you know this about me, but I love headbands.  And by love, I mean LOVE headbands.  Seriously, I have a bazillion, wear them at least two or three times a week, and am constantly searching for new ones to add to my collection.  (I blogged about my relationship with headbands in my first month of blogging.  See that post here.)  Since that post, however, my love has turned into a bit of an obsession and my collection has gotten too big for my once simple white basket storage system.  Last week, I realized I had to do something when I opened my bathroom cabinet and found this…

Yikes.  Can you say embarrassing?  (Please understand the trust and comfort I have with you readers to reveal this dirty little secret.)  I realized a needed to inject a little order into this chaos, and I started to think about a simple organization idea for these my beloved headbands.  I’m sure The Container Store sells fancy headband holders, but let’s get real, I don’t have $30 to spend on a headband holder.  But then…I remembered my mom’s take on headband storage from when I was a little girl.  I went to a private school for part of elementary school and since we all wore the same plaid jumpers, headbands were a must to add some flair to our lives.  To keep my headband collection neat and organized my mom used an inexpensive and easy to find item.  So easy to find many of you probably have it in your pantry now…

Yep, I’m talking about a good, old fashioned, Quaker Oats container.  If you’re doubting, have faith, stay with me, I promise, I’m going somewhere with this.  So I took out all my headbands from the mess that was my bathroom cabinet and sorted through them, getting rid of a few that I didn’t wear anymore, and then layered them closely, almost one on top of the other.  The end result?

TOTAL HEADBAND ORGANIZATIONAL BLISS.  In under five minutes and five dollars!  You can’t beat that.  Now, I’m sure there are some crafters out there who would take this project to the next level by covering the oatmeal canisters with pretty fabric or graphic paper and to you I say “you go girl!”  I myself thought about covering it in black velvet, but I was lazy and wanted five minute gratification, so I skipped that step.  In the end though, you can’t really see the oat resemblance through all the headbands, so I will leave mine uncovered.

So, there you have it.  Easy and budget friendly headband storage for the busy, non crafty, or overworked headband lover.  What do you think?  How you do you store your headbands?  If you decide to try this project, let me know how it turns out.  I’d love to see how a Quaker Oats canister changes your fashion habits ;)

And ps: I was left with a TON of oatmeal after this project, so I searched and found some yummy oatmeal recipes to help deplete my oatmeal stash.  I’ll share those later this week for anyone who decides to take on this little mini project.  To keep you intrigued, I’ll tell you it involves chocolate, peanut butter, butter, and of course, oatmeal.  Mmm mmm…

Alice + Olivia, Please Meet my Friend, Keds

Just wanted to say a big thank you to all of my thoughtful readers and friends who commented, called, and emailed after yesterday’s post.  When I started this blog, I never imagined I’d find so much support and encouragement through blogland, but oh how I was wrong, because yall totally rock and I am so, so blessed!

Today is a new day, things look brighter, and a big smile spread across my face when I saw these little lovelies today.  If you are anything like me, you grew up living in and loving Keds.  Yep, I’m talking about the good old classic, white, lace up tennies with the little blue rectangle glued on their backside.  Oh how I loved my Keds.  (“Loved” might be a bit of an understatement; I was kind of obsessed.  I had 953 different accessories for my beloved tennies from neon pink curly Qs, colored laces, and clip on bows.  Every outfit, uniform, and costume I owned  had a Keds companion, and I thought I was just too cool for school.)  So imagine my delight today to see the latest fashion collaboration between Alice + Olivia and my sweet, sweet Keds.  Their lovechild is an unexpected, youthful, and sparkly take on the casually classic Keds.  Oh how I love thee…

Adorable, right?!  I know, I heart them thiiiiiiiiiis much!  I’m loving the silver and light pink the most, and think I’ll end up getting the silver.  But I’m guessing a few of you aren’t sold.  “Allison, what in the world am I going to wear a sparkly tennie with?”  Well I’m glad you asked…

If you’re a cardigan girl, pair it with this.

If you’re a tank girl, go this route.

And if you’re a simple jeans and tee girl, you’re in luck.

All of these looks would be totally precious with the new soon-to-be-mine sparkly Keds.  Everybody needs a good pair of tennies for spring/summer and I have definitely found mine!  They’ll be perfect standing in line at Starbucks, lunching with my BFFs, and running errands on a Sunday afternoon.  Oh I wish they were here already!  The shoes are set to go on sale this spring at Neiman’s, Alice + Olivia boutiques, and of course on their website aliceandolivia.com.  PS: the last 3 lovely pics are from my dream closet, J.Crew and are available online.  PSS: I really love the word tennies if you can’t tell from the six times I said it in this post :)

So what do you think, will you sporting some sparkly tennies this spring?