Rustic it Out

Dress, Necklace - Vintage, Belt - Macy*s , Boots - ModCloth, Watch - Target

Oh my goodness, I have been the worst blogger ever the past week, and I am here to offer my sincerest apologies! Between the holiday, a crazy week at work, preparing for two back-to back craft fairs for "the soapery," aaaand fighting a nasty chest cold, I just haven't had a chance to post any outfits. I hope you forgive me because I was thinking of you the whole time!

I hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving. Mine was full of good food and good company, which is the best kind of holiday. The weather in LA was unbelievably warm (it hit 80 degrees on Sunday), so I got a chance to wear some cute summer-to-fall transition pieces that I hadn't had a chance to post on the blog yet. I love this vintage tent dress, with its cute Mandarin collar and casual floral print. There is just something so rustic and fall about it (especially with my new favorite boots!), so it was a perfect choice for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. It also gave me a chance to rock this new rose gold colored watch that I got for a steal at Target. Rose gold is so sophisticated and chic. You can wear it with an outfit that you might normally wear gold with, but it gives it such a different look. I can't wait to wear this watch with all sorts of outfits!

Did some shopping in LA over the holiday weekend, of course. I suppose by now that you know me well enough to know that that statement is about as obvious as me saying that I breathed this weekend. But I did avoid the Black Friday shopping frenzy and stuck to supporting some of my favorite independently-owned boutiques instead. Black Friday scares me. All those crowds, and the stress, and the waiting, and the competing for purchases. I couldn't believe it when I heard about the woman who pepper sprayed people in Walmart to get her hands on an XBox. Wow. I would never do that. For an XBox. Now, for the perfect leather pencil skirt or a new Louis Vuitton bag? No comment.

Cold Shoulder

Dress, Boots, Earrings - ModCloth; Jewelry, Belt - Vintage

For months now, I have been searching for the perfect new fall boot. I knew exactly what I wanted, which, of course, is what made it impossible to find them. What made them even more impossible to find is that the ones I wanted were made by Ralph Lauren in 1985. Yes, the perfect boots I am talking about belonged to none other than the ever fabulous 80s pop icon, Molly Ringwald in The Breakfast Club. I have been lusting after these boots ever since I saw the movie, and I haven't been able to get them out of my head. So when ModCloth offered a similar pair a few weeks ago, I could barely type my little fingers fast enough to buy them. Aren't they fabulous? The ModCloth version are even cuter because the front of the boots have some detailing that make them look like oxfords. Sorry the photos don't do them justice.

I absolutely adore this dress. I actually avoided cut-out shoulder clothing because I was convinced that it wouldn't be flattering on me (I'm not a fan of my arms), but my sister convinced me to try the style anyway, and it turns out that I love it. This particular dress is stretchy jersey, so it's as comfortable as pajamas, but the cut-out shoulders make the dress cute and fun (not to mention breezy, my shoulders were freezing!). I love that this piece can be dressed up or down, depending on how I style it, and the fact that I can eat, run, sleep, and clean the house in it. Yes, I did all that while I was wearing this dress...it was quite the productive Sunday.

Scribbles

Top - F21, Skirt - Target ($6 on clearance!), Shoes - Nine West, Jewelry & Watch - Vintage, Coat - H&M

Happy Friday, everyone! Can you feel it? Can you smell it? Can you sense it? The holidays are coming! I woke up this morning just sort of feeling it in my bones, as they say. Maybe it's the fact that that leaves on the trees up here in Northern California have almost all turned nearly overnight into blazing bursts of color, and I'm finding more and more leaves all over the ground, or the fact that I find myself making all sorts of mulled treats these days like pumpkin bread, caramel corn, homemade apple crisp, and mulled spiced cider, but my body is starting buzz with holiday cheer! (OK, it's probably the sugar that's making me buzz, but what else does holiday cheer really consist of?)

Here's a work outfit to end my week. I love multicolored tops like this because the remix options are endless. Plus, it looks like a 3-year-old scribbled all over my shirt, how great is that? I can see myself wearing it with dark skinny jeans and some bright colored fuschia heels (that I just got, yay!), or this bright blue faux leather mini skirt I just picked up, or with a black pencil skirt and a bright orange skinny belt...the possibilities are really endless. I can't wait to have fun with wearing this top in a bunch of different ways in the coming weeks.

This weekend is going to consist of a lot of working (boo!), a stuffy corporate work party, and a lot of errands before I head to my parents' for Thanksgiving next week. I'm really hoping to squeeze in some curling up in front of a fire, since I hear the temperatures are going to drop dramatically this weekend, and some hot cocoa for at least a little bit of "me" time, if I can find it. Wish me luck!

Awesome Autumn

Jacket - Gap, Dress - F21, Boots - Steve Madden, Scarf - Gifted

Happy Monday, everyone! OK, that sentence looks a lot peppier than I feel on Monday mornings, but I'm trying to convince myself that I feel positive, so that I might actually feel positive eventually. Seriously, tricking yourself works. Especially when you're trying to trick yourself that you absolutely need that new mustard color pencil skirt, despite the fact that well...actually you probably don't need it. I trick myself a lot, in case you were wondering, as is evidenced by my bursting closet.

This past weekend was a great and relaxing one. My parents surprised me with a last minute visit, so the weekend was filled with good food, great family time, and a trip up to the mountains to see some autumn leaves (my mom's favorite fall activity). If it wasn't for my mom, I don't think I would have noticed how absolutely amazingly gorgeous the fall foliage really is right now around here. The trees are just dripping with leaves that are a mix of bright greens, vibrant oranges, brilliant reds, and deep yellows. It was truly breathtaking. Who knew what autumn could be so awesome?

Since I knew I couldn't compete with the beautiful hues of nature, I decided to go with a kind of rustic, fall look for the day. You may remember how I wore this dress for the spring here, and I love how it totally transitioned easily for fall by adding a few pieces. I'm thinking it might be harder to push this dress into winter as well, but I might challenge myself to try it, just to see if I can do it.

Do you have dresses that you're able to wear all year round? If so, how do you do it?

*Thanks to my dad for taking these outfit photos. He has no understanding of what a blog is or why I do it, but he was happy to be my fashion photographer for the day. Love him!

Working the Basics

Jacket - F21, Blouse - H&M, Skirt - Ann Taylor, Belt - Target, Shoes - Chinese Laundry, Earrings - ModCloth

Happy Friday, everyone! And for Friday's edition of BSMMH, we've got a work outfit. I wanted to spend today's post continuing my constant mission to encourage everyone to not let working for corporate America completely stifle their personal style. I swear it's possible to look cute and professional at the same time, if you're willing to get a little creative...and to push the envelope at work just a little. With this outfit, I took the absolute bare workwear basics, a crisp white tailored button down and black pencil skirt, because I knew those were pieces everyone would have in their closets. Truth be told, when I put just the blouse and skirt on, I looked very much like a waitress. So I added a bright colored belt, some super high heels, some vintagey sparkly earrings from ModCloth, and a bright colored jacket...and voila! No more waitress, no more boring corporate drone, no more depressing work outfit. I honestly feel like this bright but professional outfit gave me a little extra attitude for work today, which I sorely needed after the draining week I've had!

What do you think? How do you keep your work outfits from being boring?

Falling into Neutrals

Sweater - Marshall's, Skirt - Saks Outlet, Boots - Steve Madden, Earrings - ModCloth, Ring - Vintage

I am finally beginning to embrace the fall weather, and with it my fall wardrobe. Well, the chilly temperatures and my freezing toes are pretty much forcing me to embrace the fall weather, but I'm going to pretend that I went along with it of my own volition. I feel like there's more dignity in that than you picturing me kicking and screaming and holding onto my summer shorts and tank tops for dear life. Which may or may not have happened. Still, I'm happy to break out my trusty riding boots, which I LOVE, and to mix my red pencil skirt in with a fall neutral instead of a bright summer color like I did here.

Believe it or not, wearing a neutral camel color like this takes me more out of my comfort zone than that teal tank top I wore with this skirt last time, but I actually like how this color combination turned out. Camel is always so sophisticated. I only wished that I had glitzed up the outfit a little more with some gold bracelets, but I was running late for church when I put this outfit on and figured God wouldn't understand my missing the sermon so I could accessorize. Well, he would, obviously, but I didn't want to have that awkward conversation with him.

Apples to Apples

Jacket - H&M, Top, Boots - F21

One of my favorite things about the fall is our annual tradition of driving out to this neighborhood of apple farms in Northern California to spend one day getting completely apple wasted. We spend our day visiting the farms, walking through the orchards, sipping on hot apple cider, buying apples, and eating the most amazing apple treats. Seriously, the farms offer anything apple you could possibly think of, including apple butter, cheese smoked with apples, apple beer, candy apples, apple donuts, apple pies, apple cake, apple strudel, apple barbecue sauce....the list goes on endlessly. We ate so many apple treats that day that I'm pretty sure that I'm actually sweating out apple juice. OK, not really. That would be gross. Or totally awesome. Or awesomely gross.

With the sudden cold temperatures over the weekend, I was happy to break out one of my favorite coats (I love the bright color!) and some ankle boots that I bought on my trip to NYC but haven't had the chance to wear. This weekend made me realize just how much I also love fall, and I'm finally starting to get inspired to move on to my fall wardrobe.

And here comes the food porn, as usual. I took a pictures of a few of our amazing apple treats, although I assure you there was much more I didn't get photos of. By the way, are you guys loving my new camera? I bought it for BSMMH's one year anniversary, and I am having a ton of fun playing with its features.

Caramel apple milkshake

Delicious warm apple pastry dumpling, filled with a steamed apple, coverd with caramel apple sauce

Fresh, warm apple donuts

*Thank you so much to each of you that left those amazing and sweet comments on BSMMH's one-year anniversary post. You guys are the best! Thanks also to everyone who participated in the giveaway...and CONGRATULATIONS to *clementine* for winning the vintage goodies! Email me your address and I'll send you your winnings!

Happy One Year

Dress - ModCloth

Happy One Year Anniversary to BSMMH! I can't believe that it's really been one year since I started this blog. It's been an amazing and awesome journey the whole way, and this blog and you readers have meant more to me than I ever expected. I never expected to have such faithful readers and supporters, let alone followers, and I feel blessed by every single one of you that has ever left me a comment or visited me here on my little piece of the Internet.

I have to be honest, my whole life, I never have felt like much of a fashionista. I come from a family of very fashionable (and impossibly thin) women, and I have always felt a bit like the dowdy one. Being a curvy girl, I never felt like clothes fit me properly, and as much as I loved fashion and pretty things, there were a lot of times where I felt like I should accept the fact that being fashionable just wasn't for everyone. This blog was about me fighting that feeling, and in the beginning, an insecure part of me never believed that anyone would be interested in what I had to offer, let alone be inspired by my styles. But this blog has become my baby over the past year, and the community that you guys have created for me has motivated and inspired me in a way I never thought possible. You really have no idea how much it means to me to hear from you and feel your support. Your comments bring a smile to my face and brighten my whole day!

So I want to thank each and every one of you for supporting BSMMH and making this blog what it is today. With my full-time demanding job, my soapmaking business, and everything else I've got going on, I know BSMMH would have never made it this far (nor would I have felt this good about myself) without you guys, so from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU! Here's to many more outfits ... and to another year of looking good and feeling good!

And..... SURPRISE! For BSMMH's one-year anniversary, I wanted to do something special, so scroll down for my very first GIVEAWAY!

And now the GIVEAWAY!

Vintage clutch, necklace, brooches, scarf.

I have picked out a handful of vintage goodness from one of my favorite vintage boutiques, and I want to give it away as a present to one of you faithful readers for my one-year anniversary! This is my first giveaway on BSMMH, and I'm super excited to have the chance to thank at least one of you for your faithfulness, your support, and generally for being the fabulous fashionistas that I know each of you is. Leave me a comment below letting me know why you love vintage pieces, and I'll pick a winner at random. You get an extra entry if you're already a follower, or if you become a follower today. The contest closes at 12 a.m. PST, and I'll announce the winner on Monday, so check back to see if you won!

Have a great weekend, loves!

Transition Piece

Dress - ModCloth, Booties - Steve Madden @Marshall's, Jewelry - Vintage

The weather has been slowly transitioning to fall around here, which means that I can still pull off bare legs and light dresses but find myself reaching for boots and close-toed shoes over sandals. These peep-toe booties are one of my favorite transition items because they really let me pull off the boot look without feeling or looking too wintry and bundled up. I also love how they give a little edge to a feminine floral dress like this one, and their neutral color means that they really go with just about anything.

Sorry for the quickie post, but it is currently way past my bedtime, and the bed is calling ... no, shouting, my name at this point. I did want to mention again though, that I am SO EXCITED for the one-year anniversary of this blog on Friday. The whole thing has really got me reflecting on what this blog has meant to me over the past 365 days and the great community that I feel like I'm a part of now, and I've just been feeling warm fuzzies. Remember to check back on Friday for a *special* anniversary post and a surprise so I can share my warm fuzzies with you!