Fall Essential

Jacket - GAP, Tee - Nordstrom, Skirt - F21, Scarf - Macy's, Boots - Steve Madden

Last weekend, my garage flooded and I nearly lost two pairs of shoes to the disaster. Luckily, after I finished crying and pounding my fists on the ground and screaming "Why, God, why?" at the ceiling, I was able to give them CPR, revive them, sedate them, and save them from oblivion. Whew. It was a close one, but miracles do happen.

When I was running crazily through the garage trying to save my shoes calmly assessing the flood damage, I realized that the pair of shoes I was most scared to find in a puddle of water was my absolute favorite, worn, comfy, goes-with-everything, good old riding boots. I've had these for a few years now, and they've definitely seen better days, but they are my favorite fall essential and I wear the heck out of them all season. I can't get enough of them (as you will soon see, you've been warned), and I'm already tearing up thinking about the day that I'll have to retire them. There are loads of riding boot options out there, but I haven't seen any that I love more than these. I love that they are a bit distressed and that perfect cognac color that just seems to suit everything.

If you don't have a pair of riding boots for the fall, run (don't walk) and get a pair. Better yet, buy two in case of flooding. It will save you a lot of tears and rolled eye looks from the Boyfriend.

Tennis Ball Anyone?

Shirt - Gifted, Sash Belt - H&M, Skirt - Nordstrom, Necklace - H&M, Shoes - JustFab

Up until last week, the weather in California really could not make up its mind as to whether it was winter or fall or summer. I'm not kidding, the temps in LA hit 82 degrees over Thanksgiving weekend! Unfortunately, Mother Nature has now decided that it is definitely time for winter in Northern California, so this will probably be my last bare legs post for the year. And per usual, I will now begin my whining about how I dislike the cold. Yeah, you might want to check back on the blog in March if you have a low tolerance for complaining. Just kidding! I'll try to keep it to a bare minimum.

I'd like to just spend one moment telling you how obsessed I am with highlighter, tennis ball, neon yellow-green. Yes. I just made up that unwieldy name for the color. Whatever it is, I love it. I can't stop buying shirts, tank tops, and jewelry in it. (My next purchase is going to be a pair of flats if I can find the perfect pair). So when I saw this necklace at H&M, I couldn't resist. I love how it's modern and pretty at the same time, and that it can turn up the volume on any outfit.
I'm so happy to be back, guys, after such a long and unintended hiatus. If you're still around, thank you for your faithfulness! Have a great weekend!

Where Have I Been?

Soap, soap, soaping desserts all month long! 

 Um. What? I can NOT believe how long it's been since I've been able to post on this blog. Are you guys still there? Is this thing on? I am so sorry. This past month has been amazingly crazy with work, a vacation, and then a few soap selling holiday shows. To beg for your forgiveness, (and to prove to you I'm not lying) I present you with some photos of some of my new soap items! I just started a Facebook page for The Soapery. If you don't completely hate me, please check it out!

I am preparing outfit posts RIGHT NOW that will be up regularly from now on, I promise! If you haven't completely abandoned me, please stay tuned...

Cupcake Soap Fourpack

Red Velvet Shea Butter Cupcake Soap with Jojoba Bead Sprinkles

Blackberry Shea Butter Cupcake Soap with Jojoba Bead Sprinkles

French macaroon soaps galore! 

Neopolitan Sugar Scrub Sets with coconut oil and shea butter. 

Dessert soaps in yummy flavors.

Peppermint Bark soap for the holidays.

You Com-pleat Me

Top - F21, Skirt - H&M, Heels - Zara

One of my wardrobe essentials is a black pleated mini skirt. It's just so classic, and you can remix it a ton of different ways. I love that I can dress it up a bit like I did here, or dress it down with a bright scarf or jean jacket, funky tights, and booties. It's a little more exciting than a plain black flouncy skirt, and pleats always create such great movement, which is such a bonus, I think.

I love black pleats so much that I have another one that's a bit longer and sheer. Yes, they are totally different, and yes, I absolutely need both of them. Oh, sorry, I'm so used to answering these types of questions from Boyfriend that I now just automatically offer justifications for my purchases. I should stop though, since the girls working the register are starting to look at me weird. Seriously though, both skirts are great takes on a closet basic (a black skirt), and if you're a curvy girl, look for tighter pleats for a more flattering look.

The Last of Summer

Top - F21, Tank - Gifted, Shorts - H&M, Watch - Michael Kors

I've decided that I'm not going to say what I want to say, which is "I'm baaaaack" because I've said that far too much over the past few months already. So I'm just going to say, "Hello! I've missed you!"
I can't believe how long I've been gone, but I swear I have a good reason. I've had the worst several weeks of possibly my life. It started out with a horrible second degree burn about three weeks ago. While I was healing from the burns, I was preparing for a huge project at work that required me to work about 60 hours a week. Then I ended up in the ER with some horrible food poisoning that was somehow causing some internal bleeding (yikes!). When I was on the mend from that, my puppy ended up in puppy ER because of a bladder infection. Yikes! It's been a hellish few weeks, so I've been absolutely and horribly behind on the blog. Please forgive me! I'm slowly recuperating from the burns, and I'm almost up to enjoying normal food again, and this week will mark the end of my giant work project. HURRAH.

With the weather starting to finally look like fall around here, I wanted to squeeze out my last few warm weather outfits (taken pre-burn, pre-food poisoning, back when I had a life outside of hospital waiting rooms and my office) this week. Hope you all have been having a better month than me. So excited to catch up with the blogger world out there!

What A Burn

Photo Credit

So I know I've been a totally horrible blogger, but please forgive me. Last weekend, I was boiling a pot of pasta for Boyfriend's birthday party and I somehow slipped and spilled a pot of boiling hot water on myself. I'm now suffering with deep second degree burns on my torso and leg, and it's been a trial of pain and tolerance over the last 10 days. Well, more like a trial of my whining and crying about the pain and then my justifying eating an entire batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies alone. Potato, Potahto.

Anyhow, I've been a little bit out of commission from posting outfit photos (the bandages make me look bulky under my clothes and that's about the last thing I need), but I am on the mend and will be back soon! I have a few outfits (pre-burn) that I will try to post in the meantime.

Thanks for understanding! Oh...and stay away from boiling water. Seriously.

Fashion Quest

Photo Credit

Ever since Isabel Marant introduced these amazeballs strappy sandals, I have been obsessed. Unfortunately, I really have no good place to wear these bad boys, unless one of you readers out there wants to invite me to a swankified, couture-worthy soiree. Any takers? Any? Any at all? Sigh. Where's a good red carpet when you need one?

Anyway, when I was in D.C. last month, I saw tons...and I mean TONS...of young fashionable girls rocking gladiator sandals with similar ankle chain straps, and I fell in LOVE.  I saw them in black, in blush, in white, in denim. They were perfect! I mean, gladiator sandals, I can do even in my non-exciting, non-glamorous life. Unless you consider munching on homemade fruit ice pops while sitting on my couch, eyes glued to the Once Upon A Time season premier glamorous. But I digress.

GlamBoutique

GlamBoutique

When I returned to California, I set out on a quest to find these gladiator sandals, and I have been searching high and low ever since. Alas, my quest has been unfruitful and nary a boutique in the land had a pair for me (I NEED to stop watching Once Upon A Time). Ahem. It seems that these shoes are all over Europe, but the US has yet to catch up. Darn that Katie Middleton-Land and its fashion forward princess! Anyway, I'm asking all you fashionistas out there if you know where I can pick up a pair of these gorgeous shoes. I figure I can still rock them for at least another month here in California (where we've got a high of about 98 degrees today), so I'm trying to find them as quickly as I can.

What do you guys think? Am I crazy to love these?

Belting It Out

Dress - Boutique in San Luis Obispo, Belt - ModCloth, Bracelet - Vintage

I'm baaaaaack! I accidentally took a two week break from this blog, and I couldn't be sorrier. Things at work have been ridiculously busy, and I've been busy with my side business, the soapery. I made soap favors for a dear friend's wedding, as well as soap favors for two baby showers. I literally haven't had a chance to do anything for myself besides eat and sleep, so I'm so sorry to have neglected this blog for so long! I hope you will forgive me. I'm back to blogging again, and I have some fun posts in store for you, so please stay tuned.

This is one of my favorite dresses. There's something about the draping and the assymetrical shoulders that keeps this monochromatic dress from being anything from boring. Plus, it gives me an excuse to rock this awesome leaf belt that I love. I'm obsessed with these retro stretch belts with a decorative buckles. I'm serious. I have like five of them and I can't stop buying them. They're just so cute and flattering and they're great for breaking up a solid colored dress or romper, or for adding a little oomph to a skirt and a top. ModCloth has some great options, see here and here.

I promise not to disappear like I did for the past two weeks...unless I win the lottery and whisk myself away to some paradise island where I'm surrounded by gorgeous clothes and designer shoes. So....yeah, I won't disappear. Have a great week!

Peplum Power

Top, Necklace - ModCloth, Shorts - F21, Shoes - Zara, Watch - Michael Kors

So I finally got around to trying the peplum trend, and I just love it! Oh, peplum, where have you been all my life? At first I avoided it. As a curvy girl, I could think of nothing less appealing than having an extra little skirt around my hips to accentuate the widest part of my body. What I didn't realize is that that little skirt around my hips actually can flatter a curvy girl because it accentuates the smallness of your waist and balances out a large bust on top. It's just so simple and amazing, I don't know why I didn't realize it before. Now I physically need to restrain myself from buying like twelve more peplum tops. I have to tell myself that I can do with just this one. Or maybe one more. Well, like two more, TOPS.

Hope you had a lovely weekend!

Rock the Colorblock

Top - Marshalls, Shorts - Old Navy, Sandals - Aeropostale, Watch - Michael Kors

Now that summer is sadly coming to an end, I feel this odd pressure to just colorblock my little heart out. I know that in California, I can get away with rocking spring and summer colors for a few more weeks, but with the temperatures starting to get a little cooler each day, I already find myself gravitating toward fall neutrals. Must. Get. All. My. Colorblocking. In. At least before summer is officially over. And summer is officially over for me when Starbucks starts serving my favorite: the pumpkin spice latte.

I love how purple hues are a great colorblocking choice, especially with yellows and greens. I'm also a Northwestern University grad, so I'll always have a soft place in my heart for purple. This violet top (I know it looks bluish in these photos) is becoming one of my favorites. I love the cut outs in the shoulders and the sheen to the fabric. I spent a few days in Washington D.C. recently, and rocking this top was a perfect way to keep a touristy, comfy outfit from being too boring or sloppy.

More DC photos to come next week. Sorry, I'm so behind on my posts, but these past few weeks have been just a disaster when it comes to time management with my day job, my soap making, and all of the end-of-summer activities that popped up all at once. I promise to be better next week!

Battery Recharge

Top - F21, Skirt - H&M, Watch - Michael Kors, Shoes - F21

Super happy Friday to everyone! I don't know about you, but this past week felt super long to me. I just got back from a business trip to Baltimore and a quick little vacay to D.C., so I am definitely going to need this weekend to recuperate and recharge my batteries. With Boyfriend away in Vegas for a bachelor party this weekend, I've got a good three days to do it. Oh, and by recuperate and recharge my batteries, I mean drink copious amounts of Prosecco and fruit juice (my drink of choice), curl up on the couch with my pup and my giant Fall InStyle issue, catch up on my DVR, work on filling three separate soap favor orders, and have the girls over for a good old fashioned slumber party, complete with yummy snacks, DIY home spa treatments, and cheesy 1980s teeny bopper movies. Yep, that's how I juice up when I'm feeling low-energy, baby. How are you planning on spending your long weekend?

By the way, I can't tell you how much I love this skirt. The bow detail on the front is just too cute for words, and you know how I can't turn down a nice orange/coral hue. See how I styled it HERE and HERE. I decided to go a little different with this look, since I'm not usually one for coordinating colors. I much prefer pairing contrasting or complementary colors, but rarely do I go "matchy-matchy." It might be residual PTSD from my middle school days where I matched my hair scrunchies to the colors in my top and then matched those colors to the three pairs of socks I was wearing. *Shudder* But I decided to fight through my issues and go coordinating here, and I love the result. I feel so girly and summery. Although you're lucky I didn't have any coral socks lying around.

Happy Labor Day Weekend everyone!