What I've Been Reading: May 2012

This month's question comes for the beautiful Andi...
Question of the month: What's your favorite holiday and why?
Well since I've already told you all about how much I love Easter in this post, I'll take this as and opportunity to tell you about my favorite holiday, the vacation kind of holiday that is. Last summer we honeymooned in Italy for 2 perfect weeks and we saw so much in that short period of time including Venice, Verona, Bologna, Florence, Assisi, Rome, Sorrento, Naples, Capri, Taormina, Palermo, and Pompeii. We were fortunate enough to view some of the most beautiful, breathtaking sights and indulge in the most delicious food while we were there. I can't wait to return one day; hopefully one day soon.


Florence, Italy

Venice, Italy

Capri, Italy

Rome, Italy

You can check out this post here about the photobook that I made to see more photos from the trip.

• Beautygirl24 - Noelle wore denim shorts for the first time this year. See how she has worn them in the past, and how she wears them now.
• Ella Pretty - Ella's been decorating - come and take a house tour!
• Lilly's Style - Lilly's wearing a colorful lace skirt from H&M.
• Saltwater Dreams - Andi learned a new technique for creating a flawless foundation finish, check out the easy steps here!
• Schnelle Couture - Danielle is brightening things up this summer with her new favorite color- yellow.
• Sequins and Stilettos - Skylette is playing with the colorblock trend with a silk top and a navy skirt.

Plato

I had a bunch of clothes to get rid of. I really don't like listing used clothing on eBay because some people are impossible to please and think they're buying new. I'm not a huge fan of consignment shops either when it comes to selling there because you have to wait for it to sell and then remember to go back for your check. So lately, I've been selling to Plato's Closet because it's just easier sometimes but there are some drawbacks too so I'll share with the pros and cons.

Pros:

• Easy way to get rid of unwanted clothing, jewelry, shoes, and accessories.
• You get paid the day that you drop off the items.
• You can shop around for deals while you wait for your clothes to be sorted.

Cons:

• They are very picky and they opted out of some of my items that still had tags on them.
• They aren't very good at making offers. They offered me $4 for a used Charlotte Russe dress and $4 for a new (without tags) Diesel t-shirt. The dress retails for maybe $30 and the shirt retails for $60, does that make any sense?
• They don't take any dressy dresses, just casual dresses.

Shopping Tip: Sometimes zippers are broken, there are stains, there are pills, holes, or defects. So look your items over very closely. This seems crazy after I just told you how picky they are, right? I can't quite wrap my head around that one either.

Bottom Line: If you decide to sell to Plato's Closet I suggest you check what they are offering you for each item because sometimes you win and sometimes you loose. I ended up taking the Diesel shirt back home with me, along with a few others that will be eBayed.

Now onto the fun stuff, here are the two gems that I found while I was there:

J.Crew silk/cotton blend navy dress for $16.00

  



Statement Necklace for $6.00





Happy Memorial Day!

Tank Top- ON
Shorts- SO, Kohls
Sandals- TJ Maxx (old)
Belt- TJ Maxx
Necklace- J.Crew (via eBay)



Pinspired by these nails
Maybelline Express Finish- there's no color or # on the bottle
& I can't even find the shade on thier website.
Art Deco- Teal Glitter



Let me just start off by saying that I'm a huge fan of Memorial Day weekend because it's the kickoff of summer- my favorite time of year.

The weather was perfect so we spent the whole day at the lake with friends.

Tonight... we are going to be at the Dave Matthews Band concert!!!

Traditional

My husband and I went out for dinner at a little Italian restaurant the other night to celebrate our first anniversary. The food was incredible, the atmosphere was great (Sinatra music, dim lighting, white twinkling lights), and I had a pretty hot date too, so what more can I really ask for?

Dress- Marshalls
Does this dress look familiar? I didn't waste any time ripping the tags off of this one.
Belt- F21
Pumps- Rampage
Necklace- gift

Bracelets- J.Crew (via eBay), Lia Sophia, Strawberry's

I got the Chicken Marsala, big surprise. Fun Fact About Me: Chicken Marsala is my favorite and so I order it everytime we go to a restaurant that offers it on their menu. I'm kind of like a Marsala connoisseur, technically I could have a blog about just Marsala and my taste testing but that would be pretty boring. My favorite place to get this dish is Carmine's but for the first time, ever I've found a place that ties with Carmine's. It was that good.

My husband got the White Risotto with Sausage, which was also delish!

...and then we came home and unwrapped the top (well half of the top) of our wedding cake from a year ago. We were both pretty skeptical about how it would taste and we were both pleasantly surprised. It tasted just like it did on our wedding day!

Did you eat your cake on your first anniversary too?
OR
Do you plan on following through with this tradition when you get married?

DRESSing Room

Summer is officially here and that being said, there is a lot going on (graduations, parties, anniversaries, birthdays, etc.) and I need dresses! I set out on a mission to find some but only one lucky dress made the cut and landed a spot in the backseat of my car. I've come to realize that whenever I set out looking for something in particular, I never find it. Anyone else feel this way?

On the hanger this looked like a dress, turns out it was a romper and it made me feel like a ruffled zebra.



This was from Kohls, I believe the brand is Apt 9. I adore the color and shape of this dress but it needs to be tailored, apparently I have no hips.



This flowy mint dress caught my eye immediately. I love this color but the top made me feel like I was sprouting wings and overall, the shape just wasn't flattering.



I saw this neon coral/pink high/low dress and I got excited. Then I put it on, and from a side view I looked preggo.



I really loved this dress and it even came with a hot pink belt but there was a small stain and a pull in the fabric, thankfully I caught that becasue otherwise this would've been mine.

I'm glad I found this navy striped dress after my disappointment with the other striped dress above. It have a cut out on the back too. This one made it home with me! 

Back at Kohls, this was by Elle, I decided to channel my inner desperate housewife and try this on. Remember how I said I felt like I had no hips? Well this dress gave me hips but not in a flattering sense.



I gave it the benefit of the doubt and tried the blue one on too but it fit the same.

Ever have shopping trips like this, where you hope to find a bunch of things you like end up leaving with only one item?

Anniversary Weekend

This weekend, one year ago was the weekend that I married my best friend. Our first wedding anniversary is tomorrow, May 21st! I can't believe how fast this year has gone by and I can honestly say that after being together for almost 9 years, this was our best year yet.
 We spent Saturday at our wedding/reception location. We're so lucky that the place that we got married has several restaurants/bars in one venue. Upstairs is the ballroom where we had our reception, the VIP lounge where we had our cocktail hour, rehearsal dinner, and where the guys got ready the day of the wedding. Downstairs, there is a lounge where we took a lot of our photos, a restaurant (but it was closed for renovations), and a patio with a bar where our ceremony was held. We had dinner and drinks on the patio, overlooking the beautiful waterfall and mountains. It was so peaceful and relaxing and our food was amazing too.

Here's what I wore:



Top- Marshalls
Jeans- Rockstar Skinnines ON
Wedges- Steve Madden
Bracelets- Tiffany's & Strawberry's

Necklaces- Kohls & Burlington

Chicken Balsamico- this balsamic glaze was incredibly delicious!

Bentley's Burger

...and this was our beautiful view

This was such a great weekend but the celebration isn't stopping here- Tuesday night we are getting dressed up and going out for dinner to one of our favorite Italian restaurants.

OOTD Pink & Lace & 200?!

I had a few errands to run yesterday and this is what I wore. Please tell me honestly if I look like some sort of freak/weirdo/circus sideshow. You're probably wondering why I'm asking this, right? Well this woman (who was probably in her mid- late 50's) that I was standing in line behind turned around and looked me over up and down for a solid 30-40 awkward seconds, I smiled at her thinking she was going to tell me she liked my skirt or something but she said nothing, she turned back around for a few moments, then turned around and looked me over up and down again! And said nothing yet again!

What the heck was that? I'll never know... but that brings me to my point which is whenever I run errands around here in anything more than a plain white shirt, a pair of jeans, and a pair of flip flops or flats I get looks like I'm wearing a Marchesa gown to the grocery store or something weird like that. I guess I'll just chalk it up to being one of the trials and tribulations of living in a small town, gotta love it.
Ok enough of my ranting, here are the outfit details:

Skirt- boutique in Venice, Italy
Shirt- ON
Wedges- Steve Madden
Belt- ON

From left to right: JCrew (via ebay), Strawberry's, F21


Also, in other news I am so thrilled and honored to have reached 200 readers! I can't believe there are that many people that are actually interested in my ramblings. Thank you so much for reading, commenting, and supporting this little blog of mine!

Take me to Tuscany

I can't believe that it's been a full week since I've posted anything- I feel like a terrible blogger! Last week was so busy between work and getting ready for our big Mother's Day/Birthday party that my husband and I hosted at our place, it was insanity. In the middle of the week I got the brilliant idea to clean up the grapevine in our backyard and buy and picnic table to put under it and so that's just what we did. My husband thought I was crazy but once the table got here, he saw my vision. I want to hang white lights on the ceiling of the vine and we still need to stain the table but that project is for another weekend.

Sitting under the vine seriously takes me back to my time in Tuscany that we spent at a vineyard. It's so peaceful, and cool under there and there's a ton of space too.

I made a pasta salad and had a couple of cans left over so that sparked this idea. I just wrapped some ribbon around the cans, hot glued it into place, constructed a bow, and filled it with baby's breath.

Here it is, our little sanctuary.

I found the cutest plates at the Christmas Tree Shop, they were too cute to not share. I'm such a huge fan of square plates and the damask design is so pretty too.

I didn't get many photos from the day but I did manage to get a photo of my delicious pasta salad in my gigantic pasta bowl that was carried home (literally) from Italy. We had quite the feast, there was a ton of food and then we had two cakes- a chocolate cake for Mother's Day and a cannoli cake for my grandmother's birthday. I can't wait to finish off our project and host more parties under the vine, it was so much fun.
Our Mother's Day weekend didn't stop there, we had bruch on Sunday too. And guess where we went?! Bentley's (the place where we got married)! The brunch was so amazing and again I regret not taking more photos. I had caramel pecan french toast, an omlette, some bacon which was all washed down with a lovely mimosa. Then for my second serving I had some chicken marsala and potatoes. It felt so strange being there again and the tables were decorated with the same pink napkins that we used at our wedding. I can't wait to go back this weekend for our anniversary.

Guest Post at Sequins & Stilettos

I'm guest posting for Skylette at Sequins & Stilettos today so you can check me out over there.

Derby Day OOTD

Well my "Derby Day" post got deleted somehow so I'm re-posting it now minus all of the details of the day (because I'm strapped for time at the moment).

Dress- F21
Shoes- C. Russe
Belt- a boutique in Italy
Hat- Dots
Scarf wrapped around hat was a belt

Clutch- Coach
Bracelets (from left to right)- boutique in Italy, Strawberrys, Tiffany's, gift

Lunch at Rustic Kitchen...so delish!

Awarded & Naked 2 Palette Giveaway!

I am so flattered and so honored to be awarded with the Liebster Blog Award.

Thank you so much Jillian!

The Libster award is a "Share the Love Arrangement" given to inspirational bloggers with less than 200 followers. Once you are awarded the Liebster award there is a To Do list to follow so don't break the chain!
1. Thank the person who presented you with the award on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who gave you the award on your blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 2-5 other bloggers with less than 200 followers.
5. Let them know you've chosen them by leaving a comment on their blog.
And here are the bloggers I'm passing the award on to:

Simply Sarah
Haute Child in the City
I Like It Pink

Who else besides me is dying to have the Naked 2 palette?!

The gorgeous Skylette at Sequins & Stilettos is giving away one of these babies in celebration of her 500th post. You have to check out Skylette's blog because she has an amazing sense of fashion and the most fabulous collection of shoes... and while you're there be sure to enter her giveaway!