Blog Award Thanks

I'm very flattered and excited that Lady D, a stylish fellow student who rocks everything she puts on, gave me a blog award!

I'm reposting her rules and passing it on to a few people, as well!

1.The nominated is allowed to put the picture on their blogs.
2.Link to the person who awarded you.
3.Nominate seven other people and link to them.
4.Leave a message on those people's blog to make them aware that they're nominated.

So, first up is D'rae, from Slices of Life, another fellow student who always looks chic and so put-together even though she's working and going to school at the same time. Also, she has to best collection of flats, and flats always make my heart flutter.

Next up is Allie from My Wardrobe Today...I hope I also manage to maintain great style as a mom-to-be! She shows how well it can be done.

I also greatly admire Boutique Girl at Things a Boutique Owner Sees, both for following her dream of owning a store and for her ability to always manage a different look that's somehow still true to her quirky-chic style. She has also inspired me to buy some colored tights!

And finally, the ladies at Cute on the Cheap...shopping on a budget is hard, but they always look great and are so gracious in their answers and return posts!

I also heartily endore Lady D's choices, because I love all those ladies, as well. Fashion blogs got me through civil procedure today. Well, that and "Fowl Words." I love that game.

In other news, I'm starting my "Butt and Gut" exercise class tomorrow...I've been living on fast food and watching too much TV lately, and since I want to look great in Greece, to the gym I go! I bought some cute exercise outfits and actually started working out yesterday, which led to some pretty sore muscles and a big bruise from where I fell (almost to my death) off the Stairmaster. Why are the new machines so tall? And why did I set the speed so high? The people around me were not amused when I plummeted backward to the floor, but since I'm pretty used to incidents like that I remained unfazed.

Outfit: Striped navy pants: AT Factory; Open-weave cardigan: AT Factory; Shoes: Liz Claiborne via outlet; Beaded cami: JC Penney; Heart locket: 16th birthday present from the parents; Nail polish: OPI's Chocolate Shakespeare, my new favorite color. It's hard for pasty people to do bronzy brown, but this looks great.

I don't usually like to wear the pieces from the same store together like this, but I make an exception when I think I can't find anything that would go better with them...I might try a thin-knit mustard-colored cardi with the pants, next time.

Bridesmaid Revisited

This is what I wore this weekend to order my bridesmaid dress for an upcoming January wedding . . . the dress is purple and bright green. (I won't comment, but you feel free.)

I was a little depressed about the price going in, but then I got a discount and used the extra money to buy a lavender and gray color block dress at Target...I also searched for this amazing bagged salad that has little nuts and cranberries and apple cider dressing with it, but no luck. I bought it last week and can't find it again! But I recommend it if you're also in Target shopping for cute sweaterdresses and more costume jewelry that you absolutely don't need but inevitably keep buying.

And today I just wore my PJs, because I have a large project due next week and decided just to tackle the bulk of it today. I feel like I'm learning so much, but I'm also bored...the law is so dry and plodding, and more often than not I deeply miss my Brontes class, or my Native American Studies class, or my VicLit class...I think after I've worked for a few years I'd like to start night classes for a master's in English, just for my own enjoyment...we'll see.

Right now I'm re-reading Emma, which was always my favorite Austen book, for the first time in several years, and I'm finding it very different. Of course I'm bringing different life experiences with me now, but I'm not finding the heroine all that charming and likeable...her manipulations and self-centered musings strike me as cruel, not folly, and Mr. Knightley seems more overbearing and obnoxiously self-important than commanding and wise. Whereas earlier this summer I re-read Persuasion and found it much more beautiful and poignant than when I tackled it a few years back...which is why literature is superior to law. It's always transforming, changing as you do, and the joy of a great novel is that you can always find something new in it and yourself. And the law...is the law. :/

But I always appreciate book suggestions if anyone else has them! I genuinely love all kinds of books, but right now I'm particularly interested in women's memoirs.

Also, when it's colder, should I pair this with tights and a funky shoe? Or footless leggings and a ballet flat?

This was a budget outfit:

Dress: JC Penney's $15

Stretch croc belt: Nordstrom BP $10

Shoes: Liz Claiborne Outlet $15

Necklace: JC Penney $4

Ring: White House Black Market...this ring was free because the company lost my order and then reimbursed my card...and then the package came two months later after bouncing all over the place!

Trauma

My professor called on me for almost forty minutes today, and I almost had a heart attack. I hate this "Socratic Method" of instruction. Several of the questions he asked I didn't know the answer to, and I slunk out of class feeling very dunce-y.

I feel like I'll do well on my exams, because I've always been a hard worker and a calm tester, but there's something about getting sporadically called on in front of 90 other people that makes me shake in my little patent flats. And I know most of my classmates are probably sympathetic to me, because I'm always rooting for whoever gets called on...but still. Not pleasant.

Outfit: Dress: Fossil, Cardigan: AT Loft; Shoes: Steve Madden

I had seen these shoes on What Not To Wear and was waiting for them to go on sale, and then lo and behold, on a random trip to Dillards they had one pair left...and it was my size...and it was over half off.

Goin' to the Chapel...Again and Again

This weekend brought another wedding, but this time we just went to the reception. The bride was beautiful, and her dress was amazing--it was cream and had a lovely vintage feel, rather than the strapless princess pouf look favored by so many right now.

Honestly, though, I still haven't caught the nuptial bug, and every wedding or engagement brings up the sometimes-sore subject of me not wanting to get married in the foreseeable future. I've been with my boyfriend for four years, we lived together before I had to go back to school, and the assumption is that, yes, we will eventually tie the knot.

But I hate being asked about it, or told, "Oh, it will happen for you!" Generally, I don't feel like I'm being left behind or left out--I'm just moving in a different direction. I like living alone, and that the only socks in the drawer are mine. I like not worrying about buying a house or having babies or cooking dinner after I've spent 12 hours on schoolwork. I like knowing how to pay my own bills and put together my own shoerack. And I really like not justifying why I had to have that pair of $200 boots.

In short, while I do want to get married eventually, right now I'm not ready to give up my own freewheeling autonomy. I want to pursue my career, and travel, and cook or clean or not as I please. But with so many of my friends getting married and trying for babies, it's hard to keep it in perspective, and in the face of it all my fears of becoming a Ms. Havisham-type spinster occasionally get the better of me. Although I'd rather be her than crazy Bertha in the attic, I suppose.

Okay, rant over.

Outfit: Dress: One.September; Mary-jane kitten heels: Nine West Outlet; Clutch: Bandolino; Jewelry: NY&Co.

Before Summer Ends...

...I like to wear my maxi-dress as much as possible. I'm aware that I'm possibly too short for this, and the pattern overwhelms me, but I love it anyway.

Also, I'm in the midst of cleaning out my closet...before/after pictures to come, as suggested! Hopefully pulling out all my tights and sweaterdresses will work some mojo and full the temps down from the 90s.

Outfit: Dress: Target; Bracelets: outlet mall; Earrings: Spain

Skinny Jeans

When it gets a little cooler (and today it was not as sweltering!), it's time to bust out the skinny jeans...for some reason, I just can't stand them when it's too hot.

I like the fairy on this shirt (which I mentioned in an earlier post on Prada's fairy bags), and the way the orange goes with the muted purple of the shoes. Usually I don't wear T-shirts, but sometimes I make exceptions; skinny jeans and flats generally manage to make even ho-hum tops look more stylish, though I realize I need to start stepping it up with accessories.

Outfit: Jeans: 7 for All Mankind; Shirt: Old Navy; Flats: Nine West via DSW

Texas, O Texas

That's right, friends, in Texas we double-fry our bacon. This is me, chomping down on a piece of chicken-fried bacon dipped in ranch. Mmm.

October is always my favorite month, because in addition to Halloween and the annual chihuahua rescue festival in nearby Keller, the state fair opens its gates. There's Big Tex, the giant talking cowboy overlooking the Midway; there are acrobats and other performers and concerts; cooking demonstrations and booths full of essential junk; and, of course, the smorgasboard of fried food. Today I also consumed deep-fried jelly beans, a corndog, tornado taters, gallons of Dr Pepper, fried s'mores, and fried banana pudding. And THEN I rode some rides, and now I'm home and exhausted but blissful.

(There are also things there that manage to both amuse and embarrass me--like the "Dancing with the Dogs" show, showcasing the art of canine freestyle. Would you like to watch a dog and its owner jiving to "Nine to Five"? Well, the fair is where you can achieve that dream.)

But before I took this much-needed day off, a girl I sit by in class told me she had only ever missed one day of school, and that was because she had a flat tire. And that made me sad for her, because while work ethic is important, some of the best times I've had are when I slept in instead of getting up, spent instead of saved, or did something I wanted to do rather than something I needed to do.

And the world didn't end, and I've turned out alright so far. (I'm currently trying to justify missing a class on Friday to head to Nordstrom Rack for the designer shoe shipment....)

That being said, back to class tomorrow. And please don't judge me for my Dr. Seuss t-shirt. At the fair, you must wear things you don't mind being coated in powdered sugar and mustard and dust.