Capitol

I wore this last Sunday while continuing to entertain my mother in Lansing. I was incredibly tired from my mom tricking me into waking up at 7:30 a.m. I'm a master at convincing people it's much later than it is in order to wake them up and now my mom has learned my tricks. I created a monster. 
And so I threw this outfit together in a matter of moments and discovered I really enjoyed it. It was an ideal outfit for a long car drive and a day out and about with my mama!

[pants by BDG, Lucy Sweater c/o Bones, Jeffrey Campbell wedges from Nasty Gal, Rayban aviators c/o Shades Daddy, bag by Marc Jacobs, gold bracelet c/o Kristin Hassan, colorful bracelet c/o JewelMint]

Around this Downtown

My mom visited me this past weekend, which meant a trip to MSU to oo and ahh over Arabian horses over at the horse farm and luckily for my mom, Small Animals Day happened to take place on Saturday. Small Animals Day is basically my mother's dream come true where all farm animal babies are located in one space where you can hold, cuddle and pet the babies. 

After sufficient farm animal cuddles, my mom and I headed out to dinner. I changed out my farm animal clothes to this pretty maxi dress. I love a maxi dress, so comfortable and so easy to style. I pulled back half of my hair, which my mom prefers. It's interesting how such a little change like pulling back of my hair makes me look so different, maybe just a little more put together.

[maxi dress borrowed from friend, leather jacket by BCBG, vintage owl necklace, studded clutch by Tylie Malibu, ring c/o Courtney Kaye]

$75 Gift Card Giveaway to Jupe Boutique

This week's giveaway will hopefully brighten up your Thursday! Thanks to Jupe Boutique, you can enter to win a $75 gift card to their shop! To enter, please visit Jupe and select your favorite item from their Just In section and comment letting me know which is your favorite! For a second entry, please share on Twitter or Facebook. If you share on both, you can enter a third time. Please leave an additional comment for each entry! The giveaway ends Sunday, April 29 at 9 p.m. EST.

 

Past giveaway winners I keep forgetting to post!

Winner of the Jennifer Haley clutch is commenter #38, Dawn! Congrats, Dawn!

 

Winner of the Chroma Society bracelet is commenter #47, Tina! Hooray!

Fun with Friends

While Merl (Merl Kinzie) and Karyn (Dethrose Vintage) visited, we made our way all over Michigan. Here are a couple photos from our adventures.

With Karyn and Merl looking so cute, of course they attracted a lot of attention at the bars in Lansing. My favorite line that night..and possibly ever? "I really like your hats..and your general effort."

I spent some time learning patience and how to find real gems at the thrift store.

Merl and Lauren of Dear Golden at brunch in Ypsi.

Karyn browsing the racks at Lauren's shop, Dear Golden.

My new, vintage boots from Dear Golden!

I never knew of this giant antique Mega Mall in Lansing! It's funny how bringing people out of town to visit can help you explore your own town!

In Ypsilanti

I'm certain I've professed my love for my two gorgeous Chicago friends, Merl and Karyn before on the internet, but I can't say it enough: I love these gals and their visit to Michigan last weekend made my month! Being the introvert in the group, I'm constantly entertained by their shenanigans and it was a whirlwind of fun and cackling.
Over the course of the weekend, we made our way to Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Detroit for a lot of shopping. Friday, we headed to Ypsilanti to meet up with Lauren of Dear Golden who was a wonderful hostess and showed us around town and we spent some time browsing her shop, where I wore this outfit. We grabbed dinner in Ann Arbor and spent the evening drinking fancy cocktails, microbrews and listening to records back at Lauren's in our pajamas. And everyone I was there with of course wore fancy pajamas consisting of silk kimonos while I had my flannel pajama pants! All in all, a great time on the east side of the state and catching up with Karyn and Merl and great meeting Lauren and her husband, Chad!

[top and necklace stolen from Merl, pants c/o J Brand, polka dot bustier from Urban Outfitters, wedges c/o Lori's Shoes, vintage bag from Knee Deep Vintage, Rayban sunglasses c/o Shades Daddy, ring c/o Courtney Kaye, watch by Fossil]

Photos by Merl!

Courtney Kaye Jewelry Giveaway!

I'm thrilled to share this week's giveaway from Courtney Kaye! Enter to win a pair of Courtney Kaye Flora Filligree earrings by liking Courtney Kaye on Facebook and visiting her site, picking out your favorite piece and comment here letting me know which is your favorite! For a second entry, tweet the giveaway including Courtney Kaye Twitter handle, @_courtneykaye! The giveaway is open to the U.S. only and ends on Sunday, April 22, 2012.

Lazy Day

 I'll admit it: I've been quite the lazy the last couple weeks, watching season 3 of Eastbound and Down and finding funny things on the internet to amuse me and this outfit was perfect for a lazy day a couple weekends ago. Fuss free. Just like I like it. This month has been exhausting so far and I haven't made much time for a social life, which will change next month and for the rest of the summer, well hopefully! I'm interested to hear, what are your exciting summer plans?

[hoodie+jean top from Forever 21, pants c/o J Brand, wedges c/o Wanted, bag by Marc by Marc Jacobs, glasses by Warby Parker]

Lavender

I loved this dress enough to wear it while my grandparents were visiting last weekend, who I had not yet revealed the whole tattoo thing to. Their uncomfortable silence leads me to believe they aren't exactly thrilled by it, but I figure I might as well get it over with now and let them see the whole thing. I wore this dress last on a horrible blind date and knew I wanted to wear it again soon in order to create fond memories to replace the old. Problem. Solved. I had a great time with my grandparents!

This outfit is quite simple. I didn't need jewelry, just a great pair of shoes and a little hipster hat to hide my overgrown roots.

[dress c/o Lulu's, hat by Nine West, shoes by Jeffrey Campbell, Rayban aviators c/o Shades Daddy]

Floral + Leather

The only good thing about the weather being chilly still? My ability to rock leather pants comfortably. And a leather jacket. And super tall platform boots. I felt like a character out of a video game in my all leather ensemble, but it's a clear favorite of mine. Soon, I'll have to transition to leather shorts, but in the mean time, I'm going to wear these pants as often as possible.

[leather jacket by BCBG, BB Dakota leather jeans c/o Lori's Shoes, platform boots from Michael Antonio, top from Forever 21, necklace c/o JewelMint, sunglasses c/o Shades Daddy, bag by Rebecca Minkoff, bracelet c/o Kristin Hassan, bracelet c/o T+J Designs]

Pink Palette

I've been feeling inspired by the monochromatic trend in pretty pastels and took on the challenge for myself by wearing all pink, a color I haven't worn much of since my high school years where all I wore was variations of pink, sparkles and sequins. To be honest, the color pink has scared me since college. For some reason, I prefer to look unapproachable in my go-to dark colors, but this outfit just seems so inviting, like I might offer to bake you a cupcake or pay you an unsolicited compliment.

[Bisou Bisou pants c/o JCPenney, top from Urban Outfitters, Jeffrey Campbell wedges from Nasty Gal, jacket from Zara, Rayban aviators c/o Shades Daddy, necklace by Merl Kinzie]