Hooray for Friday and a Jam Packed Weekend!

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Happy Friday (and welcome to all of my new followers who have recently found me as a result of the Kate Spade giveaway!)  I know lots of us are excited for today, because…it’s Friday, a woo hoo!  But I must say that I have not been this excited for a Friday in a long, long time.  My weekend is jam packed with fun stuff, and I can’t wait!

Tomorrow, as soon as I get out of a 12:00 meeting, I am headed to Dallas for a dinner date night with my best friend Jordan at Fireside Pies.  (If you live in the Dallas area and haven’t been to this delightful little spot, you are missing out.  It is SO good!  Giant pizzas, giant unhealthy salads, and pitchers of sangria, what’s not to love?)  We’ve decided to be eighty-three year old women and go to dinner at 6:00 lol.  Since we never see each other, we’re just not in the mood to spend an hour and a half waiting at crowded bar for our table, so we’re being proactive and eating an early dinner.  Then…we are heading back to JJ’s to work on starting her very own blog, a woo hoo!  I’m beyond excited to have my bff join blogland.  Then Saturday, along with a few of my friends, I am helping to host one of my dear friends Kendall’s baby shower.  I can’t believe that she is going to be a MOM.  Totally weird and exciting at the same time.  Then (hopefully after a little shopping), I’m heading back home to cheer on one of our sweet friends Natalia who is running first half marathon early Sunday morning.  A half marathon, I mean seriously?!  You go Nati!  We have a few tricks up our sleeve for the race and then we’re coming back to Matt and I’s place for a celebratory brunch. 

Typically, I like to use my weekends to relax and recharge, but this weekend I’m looking forward a lot of girl time, laughter, and some much needed FUN.  If you’re gonna have a non-restful weekend, this is certainly the best way to do it! 

So what about you, what are you up to this weekend?

GIVEAWAY: Kate Spade Delight

I hit 150 followers tonight and as promised here is my first blog giveaway!  Time for a little celebratory dance… “woo hoo, get smart, get sassy, with sprinkles, oh yeah, break it down.” (Did you read that last line with spunk, funk, and a little head bopping, because you were totally supposed to.)  Anyway, enough of my gigantic dorkiness, here is the giveaway…

  Kate Spade Big Apple Zippered Chrissy

Isn’t it so pretty?!  It comes in a variety of colors, but I of course had to go with “gifting pink.”  Very sprinkles appropriate, don’t you think?  And of course, I bought one for myself too :)  Here’s what the Kate Spade website said about this little gem: “Bright and shiny, just like it's namesake, this mini handbag-cum-wallet is crafted in high-gloss vinyl in playful "lite-brite" colors. It's embossed with an oversized Kate Spade New York signature for the perfect pièce de résistance. With a detachable wristlet, this cheery style fits the bill as a clutch or tucked away in your handbag as a pouch for your prettiest pennies.”

Details: zippered closure with detachable wrist strap…14-karat light gold plated hardware…4.4"h x 8.1"w

I am so excited about this giveaway, and I hope you all like this Kate Spade lovely as much as I do.  I ADORE Kate Spade, and I think she does "grown up whimsy" perfectly.  She always finds a way to inject a fun playfulness into even the most functional pieces.   She is also a Kappa, so we share a sisterly bond :)  To enter to win the Kate Spade Big Apple Zippered Chrissy, here are the rules...

1. You must be a follower to win.  (If you’re not already a follower, just become one, it’s easy!)

2.  Leave a comment to enter.  Any comment will do…your name, “enter me,” “Allison you freaking rock,” or anything else your heart desires :)

3.  For a second entry, blog about this giveaway on your blog!  If you do this, please leave a second comment telling me you did this with a link to your blog.

All entries must be received by Friday, March 12, 2010 at 12:00 pm CT.  The winner will be chosen at random and will be announced on Sunday, March 14.  Happy commenting and best of luck to all those who enter.  I can’t wait to see who wins!

Insist

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“Insist on yourself.  Never imitate.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sunny Sunday and Giveaway Glimpses

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Hello lovelies!  I hope this post finds you enjoying a relaxing, sunny, and rested Sunday afternoon.  I have enjoyed a pretty chill weekend, which entailed a much needed trip home to see my family.  My mom is out of the country right now, so I had to make sure my dad and brother hadn’t starved to death or died of a Panda Express overdose.  Thankfully neither had happened and we enjoyed an afternoon of Chicago inspired shopping (more on that later) and dinner at a Mongolian grill.  (My dad literally has a problem obsession with these places.  Seriously, he’d eat there every meal if he could.)  It was nice to catch up with two of my favorite guys, although we missed my mom a lot (Hello Mom if you’re reading!)

Last week I posted about my new headband storage system and lots of you seemed enthusiastic to try it for yourself.  (If you did, let me know, I’d love to see pictures or your take on it!)  Anyway, after the project, I’ve been left with mounds of oatmeal, and as promised, I’ve been creatively making use of the contents of my storage system.  So in case you tried the system and have tons of oatmeal left over (or if you just love oatmeal), here are two of the recipes I’ve played around with to work my oatmeal mound down to a more manageable quantity :)

 {image by Lara Robby/Studio D}

Mom’s No Bake Cookies: Now, I know lots of people have their own take on this recipe, but this one is my mom’s and its the BEST.  Seriously, it would win in an no bake cookie competition.  For real, it’s that good :)

1/4 cup butter or margarine…3 Tbsp. cocoa…2 cup white sugar…1/2 cup peanut butter… 2 1/2 cup oatmeal…1/2 cup milk…1 tsp. vanilla…nuts may be added if desired (I do not desire.)

Boil butter, sugar, cocoa, and milk for 2 minutes only.  Then add peanut butter, vanilla, and oatmeal.  Stir and place large spoonfuls on a wax paper lined cookie sheet.  Let cool and enjoy.

Easy and delicious.  My kind of recipe :)  The other recipe I successfully conquered (I’m not exactly the best in the kitchen) was Betty Crocker’s oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe.  It was good, but it made three dozen freaking cookies, so unless your jeans are just sagging on you, I’d suggest taking at least half of these cookies to work, school, hungry college students, etc.  (I graced my dad and brother with 2 dozen of these bad boys.  There were less than ten cookies in the bag when I left this morning.)

As I mentioned above, I was able to do some Chicago inspired shopping this weekend.  Now that we’re moving to a climate that actually gets below 50 degrees, I’m realizing I need to update my closet accordingly.  I’m on a budget, so it’s taking some care to do this, and when I have a little bit more time, I’m going to lay out (and share with you) exactly what my closet needs for Chicago, what I have, and what I need to keep my eye out for in the next several months.  Slow and thoughtful shopping is important to me these days, for both financial and style reasons.  I’ve had bad habits in the past of binge shopping, and well, the results are never good, financially or stylewise.

In addition to my Chicago inspired shopping, I also did some other shopping that I think you guys are going to be VERY excited about.  I shopped for my FIRST BLOG GIVEAWAY.  A  woo hoo!  I’ve been wanting to do a giveaway for a long time, but I wanted to wait until I hit 150 followers.  Now that I’m inching towards that number, I’m prepared for the giveaway and let me tell you, I think you guys are going to L.O.V.E. what I got.  I don’t want to tell you everything yet, but I’ll give you a few hints…

The store where I discovered the little lovely is in the Houston Galleria…the designer specializes in fabulous accessories…the color could not be more perfect for spring…the logo is typically in all lowercase letters.

That’s all I’m saying :)  Any guesses?  So as soon as I get to 150 followers, I’ll post the giveaway!  (Unless I can’t contain my excitement, and I give in later this week lol…)  So if you read this blog and you’re not a follower, become one, so I have this giveaway!  I am super pumped because my blog and blog friends are such a fun part of my life, and I can’t wait to give something special to one of you. 

So I’m off to enjoy the rest of my Sunday (and by “enjoy” I mean grade papers, work on my dissertation, and start/finish a presentation I have to give at work on Tuesday.)  Yeah…about as fun as it sounds :)  Have a great rest of the weekend yall!

Keep Texas Close

{Texas Statehood necklace gold, $45)

I saw this piece from brookadelphia via Down and Out Chic today, and I am OBSESSED.  I am a Texas girl through and through, and I think this delightful necklace would look awesome layered with with a few other gold necklaces.  (I often layer two, three or four necklaces at once, and Matt likes to tell me I look like Mr. T.  Thanks honey, you’re too sweet.)  And this would be the perfect way to keep Texas close to my heart as Matt and I move to Chicago.  (I can’t stop saying it…move to Chicago, move to Chicago, ahhh!)  Even better, this would be the perfect going away gift *cough cough* from my loved ones here in Texas *cough cough.*  Just kidding, just kidding.  But for real, this necklace is the shiz (and yes, they have other states for you non-Texans.)  Ugh, love it.

We Are Moving To…

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CHICAGO!  A woo hoo!!!  We are SO EXCITED about yesterday’s news and are just beside ourselves that we are moving to the Windy City.  A huge congrats to my fabulous, handsome, and smart husband who got his first pick of internships.  We visited Chicago in March 2008 and again this past January and just fell in love with the city.  (See the post from our January trip here.)  I feel so blessed to have had support from such wonderful friends, family, and blogger friends.  You all are incredible, and we are so appreciative for all your thoughts, prayers, and warm wishes.

I’ve included a few pictures below from our “match party” on Friday.  Though we didn’t know where we were headed at that point, we knew we were headed somewhere, and that in itself was a reason to celebrate!

Me and two of my BFFs, Norma and Natalia.  (Please excuse the ponytail, I had to get ready in 15 minutes which is close to impossible for me.)

Congrats Matt!  I am so proud of you :)

BFFs and new interns.  I am going to bawl my eyes out when we say goodbye to Miguel, and I’m pretty sure Matt will be crying harder than me.  Life won’t be the same without this guy around everyday.

I love my friends :)

Hahhahahha, so one Miguel’s guy friends had these ridiculously oversized glass (which I personally thought were so super precious on him) and I decided to try them on halfway through the night.  Posing for a picture, everyone decided I looked like Taylor Swift from the “You Belong with Me” video.  See below.

Glad to know I look like a country/pop star portraying a nerdy teen.  I scare myself sometimes :)

This picture makes me laugh one due to my dorkiness, and two, because of why we took this picture.  I won’t go into too much detail here, but let’s just say we had to work at 8:00 am the next morning, someone offered to buy Norma a drink, and she turned it down.  I was a very proud mama :)

  We are moving to Chicago, I can’t stop saying it, woo hoo!  I am so excited to share this journey with my best friend.

So there you have it, the next year of our life has a firm direction, and we could not be more thrilled!  If any of yall know anything about Chicago, available housing, shopping hotspots, local restaurants, etc. let me know.  I’m already planning for the fun that we are about to have.  Thanks again for your fabulous support, it means so much to me!  Chicago here we come!

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…

The Waiting Game

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For the past few months, we’ve been waiting.  Waiting to hear about to about where Matt would get interviews, waiting to hear how the interviews went, essentially, waiting to hear the next step of our lives.  The last step in our Ph.D program is a year long internship.  The whole interview/match process is complicated, confusing, and competitive, and in short. it sucks.  But instead of launching into nerdspeak to explain it, I’ll just say that it’s very similar to sorority recruitment.  Actually, it’s pretty much the same thing.  You apply to sites, find out who likes you, and interview at all of those sites.  Then you submit a long numbered list of your number one choice through your last choice.  Each site does the same thing and ranks applicants number 1 through their last choice (ouch for that person.)  Then, on one, big, stressful day, the computer spits out magical results of who goes where.  It’s all very mysterious, but apparently, it’s quite “efficient.”  Pssh, please.

But just to make our lives even more stressful, the big, fancy people in charge decided to split the unveiling process into two parts.  The first part you find out whether you “matched” or not.  (Translation: did the computer spit out a nice pretty internship romance for you.)  So on the first day, your reaction is either “woo hoo” or “crap.”  Well, after months of waiting, this first day is almost here.  It’s tomorrow.  TOMORROW.  So at 9:00 am tomorrow, we will either be saying, “hooray, the next year of our life is decided” or “crap, we need to figure out a plan B.”  But then, even if our answer is “hooray” we still have to wait till Monday to find out where we’ll be going.  Dang, more freaking waiting.  Our options?  Chicago, Baltimore, Albuquerque, Augusta, Oklahoma City, or San Antonio.  We are reeeeeeally hoping for one of the first two.  (Like a psycho I have already looked at apartments in both of the first two cities.  I couldn’t help myself, I had to do something with to calm my anxiety.)  So, although the computer has probably already finished it’s little matching process, keep your fingers crossed for us tomorrow (and Monday.)  We’re ready to find out where we’re going next, I’m ready to start scouring Craigslist for cute shoebox apartments, and I need to get my closet ready for a climate change.  Plus, we’re just plain tired of waiting. 

Am I the only one who hates waiting?

UPDATE: As of 7:21 this morning, Matt is “matched.”  Hooray!  But we won’t know where until Monday, dang.  Back to waiting :)

Stretch Your Closet

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What is it about spring that makes me want to shop so bad?  Seriously, there must be a scientific explanation for this, because every late February/early March, I begin to get antsy for all the delights that spring fashion brings.  Around this time, I begin to poke through my closet noticing the gaps in pieces I don’t have, which I then proceed to stalk online at my favorite stores.  With Valentines Day passed and the sun starting to shine, the bug is back is full force.  I want to shop!

However, there is one tiny, little, eensy weensie problem.  I am on a major budget.  And when I say major, I mean next to nothing budget.  So I’ve tried to keep my online Anthro/Banana/J.Crew stalking to a minimum because it’s painful to look without the hope of buying.  (I never understand those people who enjoy window shopping at the mall, even when they have no intention of buying anything.  I don’t get it.  It’s like going on a date with Prince William knowing you have a secret but powerful curse on you that says you can’t date him.  Whhhhy would you go and fall in love if you know you can’t end up with the hottie?  To live a life of torture where you think about what could have been, how that dress could have loved you?  See my point, it’s just not smart.)  However, this past week, I discovered a magically brilliant way to temporarily cure this late February/early March shopping bug.  Seriously, I tried it, and it worked, multiple times.  So are you ready for my big secret, the tip that might change your wardrobe and your wallet, the secret to stretching your closet in new and exciting ways?  Ok, prepare yourself, hold your breath, here it goes…

Don’t do laundry.  Yep, you read that right.  Do not under any circumstances do laundry for at least a few weeks (except the circumstance of your delicates.  Please wash those.)  I know this might sound crazy, but it works!  Three times in the past week, I’ve gone to my closet, thought, what in the world am I going to wear, and then walked out with a “new” outfit that I never would have thought to put together before.  Here is my theory: when I go to a full closet with all of my favorite staples, I know exactly what works together.  This cardigan with this flowy tank, with these layered necklaces.  It’s a sure thing, I know it works, I know it looks good, so I wear it, no hesitation.  Even if I try to take risks, having my staples and safe outfits keeps me from taking the plunge.  (Sorry for the dramatic word choice.  You’d think I’m talking about serious life decisions here.)  But when I go to my closet and my staples aren’t there, I’m pushed outside my comfort zone, and I have to make something work.  I mean, I can’t go to work naked (well I could, but I’m pretty sure I’d get fired) so I stretch my fashion self, pair things together that I’m not entirely sure of, then tweak it with accessories when I’m done.  Sometimes it doesn’t work so well, and I have try several more times to get it right, but sometimes it works really well, and I’m standing at the mirror thinking, “Why didn’t I ever think of this?!”

Here is an example from last Friday.  It was freezing here in Texas and I really wanted to wear boots.  My black riding boots were in the trunk of my car (I have a terrible habit of living out of my car) and my Uggs weren’t appropriate for work, so those two were out, which left with my black, tall, scrunchy, heeled boots that I bought a few years ago in Austin and L.O.V.E.  So I decided on the boots.  Now to choose the bottoms.  My skinny jeans are too tight at the moment (dang winter weight) and my favorite black pencil skirt was wadded up on my floor.  Hmm, ok, what about a dress?  I went to my closet, knowing I wanted black, and looked through several cocktail type dresses that were way too dressy for what I wanted.  But then I was distracted to my grouping of black jersey dresses that I practically live in during the summer.  Hmm, would this work, I don’t know, the top is way to summery, but maybe with a jacket?  Though I still wasn’t sure, I tried it, and after about ten minutes I had an ensemble I was so pleased with, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before then.  Black tights, black tall boots, black jersey dress, tan Gap bomber jacket, a big black scarf, big gold earrings, and 3 cocktail rings.  Pretty rad if I do say so myself!  I think I would have been pretty pleased leaving it at that, but that day, I got lots of compliments on my outfit, which reinforced my risk taking.  My risk taking that was forced on me by a full laundry hamper and an almost bare closet.

The moral of the story?  If you want to stretch your closet, save your bank account some grief, and still indulge the spring fever shopping itch, find a way to temporarily put some of your go-to pieces off limits.  If you’ve got a lot of willpower, then just telling yourself those pieces are off limits may work, but if you’re anything like me, you need to make those pieces unavailable.  So whether you reorganize your closet with your favorites at the back or let your laundry hamper overflow, stretching your closet can be easier and more rewarding than you think.  And I think you’ll be surprised at what you come up with and just how creative your fashion brain can be when you’ve got fewer choices!

So what about you?  How do you stretch your closet and cure the late February/early March shopping bug?

Happy Valentines Day

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“I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you for the part of me that you bring out.”  Elizabeth Barrett Browning

To my friends, my family, and my sweet husband, thank you for loving me and bringing out the best in me.  You make life sweet, and I am forever grateful.