I love brunch. It's my favorite meal hands down. And it pains me because in our little suburb, there are so many great restaurants, but very few of them serve brunch. My favorite over here is Cleveland Heath, which I've mentioned before on the blog I'm sure. It's probably my favorite restaurant period in these parts. Unfortunately, they're closed on Sundays, so they only do brunch on Saturdays. Needless to say, we still get our fill.
There's a fairly new place that just opened called Gulf Shores. Every time we've tried to go, it's been a ridiculously long wait, but shortly after our New Orleans trip, we were able to get in for brunch, and it was uh-mazing. They even had Cafe du Monde beignets! Shut up! We'll have to go back there again, stat!
The moral of this story is, I love brunch. And when I saw this tee at Kohl's, well, it was a no brainer. It could not have screamed my name louder!
Spring always has me obsessed with blushes and nudes and I just absolutely love pairing them together. This outfit has a little bit of everything that I am obsessed with at the moment. The colors, my favorite knot tee, distressed bottoms - it's a recipe for outfit success.
I've had this blazer forever and at one point, I almost purged it. But it's the one piece in my wardrobe that always surprises me when I put it on and I realize how much of a staple it truly is. Especially when finishing out an outfit like this!
I feel like I just can't get back into the swing of things as it relates to the blog! Ever since I finished the capsule challenge, I've been excited to settle back into normalcy. Take my photos on the weekend, share my new purchases with you, etc. But between travel, and busy weekends, and travel, and now trying to fight this dumb cold, I just can't quite get back on the horse.
I'm also still in the transition period at work. Everyone keeps asking me how I'm liking my new job, but I'm maybe only dedicating 30% of my time to it, if that. Just when I thought I was almost into it, we lost someone outside of our department, but related to my old position. Since he gave the standard two weeks notice, it wasn't enough time to hire and train a new person so all of his responsibilities were absorbed by my team, which has handcuffed me a bit to my "old" job.
So, just as the weather is in between seasons right now, I'm in this weird in between phase in all areas of life right now!
I figured I would round out the trilogy of San Antonio posts with what I wore during the non-wedding day events. I was there for one whole week after all, so here is everything I wore, ate, and did during my stay! As with other random roundups, I will only link to the pieces that are still available!
I've been meaning to put together a post like this for awhile now, just to give you a snapshot of what pieces of me seem to be the most popular on Pinterest. My blogger BFF Gina loves stats like these, which has encouraged me to dig a little bit deeper into my own! Let's get started!
First up, this is by far the most re-pinned outfit of anything I have ever pinned before on Pinterest. As in, it probably gets repinned at least once a day. Actually, if you do the math, it has gotten repinned an average of 4.8 times a day since I first pinned it a year ago. Ha! That's a lot! I don't blame the public for loving it - it's a casual, simple, but super fun outfit. If you remember, I loosely recreated it here.
Pin here | My blog post here | Original source here
Ah, the scarf tying method. Sadly, this isn't even my original photo, but it directs traffic to my blog, so I can't complain! This post is what I call my one hit wonder. I used to get excited when it was repinned. But now I'm over it. Ok, that's dramatic. I'm not over it. I'm happy I was able to find this little gem to share with the world, but I'm just waiting for that next big post to go viral!
And this is my actual photo that corresponds with the previous scarf tying collage. Same blog post, just a different image. But it's the image from my blog with the second highest number of repins ever.
But see, I've got more to offer than just scarves! This collage I put together during my hunt for the perfect red maxi skirt is also pretty popular. I still have this skirt and love it, by the way.
I'm really glad this post has gotten some love. I originally put this post together in response to one of my real life friends asking where she should start to re-build her wardrobe. See, I can do polyvore remixes all day long! Just don't ask me to do another wardrobe capsule in real life! :)
This was my Christmas packing remix post from a couple of years ago. I get the sense that people love outfit brainstorms like this, which is great because it's really fun and relatively easy for me to put together in terms of time and the ability to use polyvore.
My favorite striped midi skirt! I did a guest post for Andrea over at Momma in Flip Flops about how I like to remix this skirt. It's still one of my favorite pieces in my closet and love seeing how I styled it each way!
I feel like you either love the Sam Edelman Petty booties or you hate them. I happen to fall into the "love" boat (ha) and I've shared this collage to a few people (outside of blog land) to give them ideas on how to style them. They're a great alternative to a nude flat.
OK, who am I kidding? People like me better when I'm wearing a scarf. I just have to accept that! Haha! It's so true, but I promise I'm not offended by it. I love my scarves, and I love inspiring people to print mix their scarves and tie them my very favorite way!
So, what I have learned from my most popular pin stats is that I should specialize in remixing and scarf tying. At least I have a fall back in case my real life job ends up not working out! Thanks for taking this trip down memory lane with me!
So I'm working a little bit backwards and sharing what I wore for the rehearsal dinner *after* I already shared what I wore to the wedding. When I saw this dress on Express' website, I immediately ordered it. I'm a fan of a good jersey wrap dress, and I'm also a fan of asymmetry. I loved the zipper detail on this so much! Clearly it looks much different on me than it does on the model, and I actually preferred the way it fit me than the model. The color is stunning!
I wasn't lying when I said it rained the entire week last week. The walk to my parents' front door is partially covered, so I was able to stand outside and take photos despite the fact that it was drizzling. The rain ended up being a positive though because it brought cooler temps along with it. I certainly don't miss the humidity there though, and neither did my hair!
Oh! And this bag is also a purchase from San Antonio. I had a shopping date meeting another one of my online friends - Di from Click Clack Diaries. I've mentioned her once or twice on the blog before - she's just as sweet and stylish as I pictured her to be. She lives just outside of Austin, so we ended up meeting in the middle at the outlet mall in San Marcos. We met right around 2pm and didn't say our goodbyes until almost 8pm. Granted, we did have lunch and a coffee break during that time, but we certainly did our share of shopping!
Well, if you read yesterday's post, you know that I've been busy. And being busy means blogging takes a back seat and I was unable to photograph 4 new outfits for you this week! I'll share the outfit I wore to the rehearsal dinner tomorrow, but today I thought I would do something a little different!
This is a random roundup of sorts. I wanted to showcase some outfits using the flat lay version in comparison with real life and talk about how and why I prefer one over the other.
I definitely prefer the way the flat lay turned out vs. real life. I was lazy when I was getting dressed and kept my grey tee shirt on that I was already wearing in real life, which I wish I would have just eliminated. I also wish I wore skinnier jeans since the scarf and jacket are so voluminous. I love the combination, but the execution could have been just a little bit better.
The real life version wins for me in this outfit. The sweater/tunic combo looks a lot boxier, naturally, when laid flat. And leggings are hard to depict in a flat lay, so the proportions of this whole outfit are just a bit off when you're not seeing it on a real person.
Again, the real life version is the winner here. While this top is easy to "fluff" in a flat lay, the vest is a little thicker and harder to show how fitted it truly is when it is laying flat. I love how easy and effortless, but still interesting, that it looks in real life. While I love the bright colors in the flat lay, it definitely looks more boring than when I actually put it on.
I preferred the flat lay version of this over the real life version. I was skeptical about the flat lay because there are literally only 3 pieces and it's not on my super white background since I was traveling when I took this photo, but you lose the detail and colors of the shirt in the real life version - the real life photo doesn't do the shirt justice as a result. My Instagram followers ended up agreeing with me since the flat lay received 155 likes vs. the real life version that received 101 likes. Isn't it funny how the same outfit presented two different ways can have such different engagement results? I know other things like what time of day you post can affect engagement as well, but it all truly fascinates me, and I'm not sure I will ever truly figure out the perfect formula for success.
I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on this also! Let me know in the comments which you prefer in these 4 outfits - flat lay or real life?
Happy Monday, and welcome to another photo heavy post! It's 11:30am on Sunday as I write this, so about 12 hours since the wedding ended. Needless to say I am struggling, but committed to getting you this blog post!! Ha! I'll start with the outfit and share some photos from the wedding for those that are interested!
I found this dress on Dillard's website for their New Year's Day sale. I figured it was a good time to look for dresses to wear for the wedding, and I loved that this dress wasn't too winter nor too spring. It was perfect for the season and occasion.
The shape of this dress is also my favorite to wear on my square shaped body, giving me the illusion of more of an hourglass figure. I did have to get it altered a bit - I had the tailor take up the shoulders/straps and also take up the hem a couple of inches.
I ended up buying all of my accessories last week when I was in San Antonio. I had brought my nude Rockstud heels to wear with this, and while they are awesome and my favorite, I was picturing more of a metallic heel instead. So, when I found these at Nordstrom, and they fit like a glove, I snatched them up immediately. I have never tried Badgley Mischka before. I pictured the brand to be super uncomfortable like the Nina brand is, but these were great and lasted me the entire night. Ok, well, from 3pm-11pm, and then I wanted to cut my feet off. But for that duration and adding in a night of dancing, you're hard pressed to find any heel to stand that test of time!
They got married in Boerne, TX, which is just outside San Antonio. The venue was called Bella Springs, and it was just gorgeous as you can see. They were supposed to have an outdoor wedding, but it rained all week - ever since I landed last Monday! It was raining up until 2 hours before the wedding, so they changed plans and moved the ceremony indoors instead. It was still really beautiful regardless!
The bride and groom with my dad, brother in law (my sister's hubby), and nephew
Speaking of the nephew! Let's pause this wedding recap for a photo of this cuteness! My sister got him this baby tux outfit and it was too adorable! OK, let's face it, this kid could make any outfit look adorable! It was so nice to get to squish him for a few days!
My brother is a bit of a shoe addict much like me, so I was surprised but not surprised that his groom's cake was modeled after a pair of Jordan's. You can see another view of it on Instagram also here!
The bride and groom table
I've mentioned a few times that the majority of my extended family is in Southern California, which is why we end up doing all our holidays out there. This time, they all flew in from Cali and we all got to hang in Texas for a change! This is me and my sister (far right) with some of our cousins.
And you may recognize some of these faces from my pics last summer. These are some of my close San Antonio girlfriends that I grew up with, so it was great to be reunited with them and be able to take photos. With me living in St. Louis, but all of them still back home, I always have to be a little jealous seeing their group pictures whenever they are out together. It was nice to be able to make it in this one!
Sorry for the phone selfie, but I was a bad planner and my camera battery died by the end of the night! I had to leave you with at least one pic of me with the bride and groom. I just love them to pieces! My brother started crying the second she started walking down the aisle, and so naturally I did, too! And then the mother/son dance - dang, I'm tearing up typing about it! Haha!! OK, that's it for now! Have a happy Monday!
