NOT Healthy.

Of course I'm sitting here trying to justify why I would ever need all of these. I just love the little Baily Buttons! Really though, I know UGGs are expensive, but the one pair I've ever owned has been worth every penny. I have worn the hell out of them and still no holes or blisters!

I really am considering buying the Jester Red Delaines. I was so in love with the idea of red, and then I realized that the sole/front of the toe is weather proofed, and that damn near sealed the deal. Considering these are what I wear when braving the "elements" (elements as far as a college kid is concerned, anyways) on those snowy, icy, slushy Bloomington winter days, I think they'd be a worthwhile investment. Or at least a good Christmas wish-list item... it never snows here until January anyways. Might be time to start hunting down deals and coupons!

Women's Delaine in Jester Red: $160
Women's Bailey Button in Seashell Rose: $150
Women's Classic Tall Boot in Grey: $179.95

I also just discovered that UGG makes sneakers?! And honestly, ever since I bought my Asics a million years ago and fell in love ($60 for ridiculously comfy, cute, long lasting tennis shoes, yes please), I could NEVER justify spending $100 on a pair of sneakers.

Tailgating Time!

Ok, "Tailgating" is a bit of a stretch considering we never actually made it to the tailgating fields yesterday. We got a bit of a late start and then ended up playing beer pong and hanging out on a friend's front porch because all of their parents were in for parents weekend. Hilary's mom is actually quite the champ, would have never guessed! We did walk all the way to the stadium, but Jenna's dad decided to get Rib's from Smokin' Jacks (This little rib/bbq/etc shack they set up on weekends next to the stadium), and we got beer from the convenience store, and then just ended up going back to Jenna's and going to dinner at Trojan Horse.

Hopefully next time I'll actually make it to the tailgate, and the game. At least this time it was a conscious decision and not just "Oh, we're too drunk to ever make it there".

(Can I just say how glad I am that IU is now on board with animal print?)

(Front porch mini bar, college style)

(Jenna's Dad and Smokin' Jack... they're obviously best friends now)

(Jenna's dad shot gunning a beer with complete strangers who just happened to be walking down tenth street.)

(I think we actually won that round? I was shocked)

(Mims... Beer Pong Super Star!!! And Hilary, of course)

Also, the lovely Rebequita Rose did an interview feature with me over on her blog... so please stop by and check her out! (And read the interview, if you feel like it, haha.) Thanks for the feature!!!

UGGs Season Has Arrived

Last night I worked 6-9, and I'm still breaking in my work flats so my feet were rubbed the wrong way in a few different spots. I know UGGs are generally a love/hate for people... but this girl LOVES them. I don't know how you can put your feet in a new pair of UGGs and still not like them. Most comfortable things ever, even if they're not all that attractive. I recently looked at this year's line and they have HOT PINK AND RED now. I doubt I'll make it out of winter without owning one of those. I also would really like one of the shorter pairs of little button booties. So precious. They're really all I ever wear in the winter running around to class.

Anyways, back to the point of this story... I decided that my UGGs were exactly what my feet wanted last night, so I dug them out of my closet. I went out to Nick's for a little bit because my friend's dad was in town and she wanted to take him there, but we ultimately made it a short night to rest up for the tailgate today. I was SO tired getting ready, so I'm not going to lie, I really didn't put much effort into this outfit.

Outfit
Leggings: Old Navy
Dress: TJ Maxx
Headband: American Eagle
Boots: UGGs
Bracelets: Charlotte Russe

In other news, the weather has FINALLY reached Fall-like temperatures! It is a beautiful day in Bloomington, and I'm off for the first (real) tailgate of the year!

New Recipes- Mexican Style!

Two new recipes up on Wonderland Kitchen for those of you who are interested: Baja Shrimp Tacos and Homemade Guacamole! I'm not a big fan of Mexican restaurants for the most part, but I LOVE homemade taco anything, and I've been trying to branch out lately in making other things. I didn't add much to the Shrimp in cooking them, but they turned out absolutely delicious!


I also just put the other blog through another major revamping... that seems to be my newest procrastination tool when it comes to getting my homework done. Tonight I'm dragging myself to Barnes and Noble to be without any distractions and actually get as much done as I can!

Autumn Inspiration

I realized I had not done a Polyvore Post in quite some time, and I thought now would be a prime time to pair that with my impatience in waiting for fall weather to arrive.

My must-haves for the fall season:

• SLOUCHY BOOTS! (Either gray or black. In love with the Steve Maddens shown in the picture)
• Tights! (Red and black for sure, maybe another neutral)
• A good basic knit black dress with short sleeves
• A warm colored fall-inspired scarf
• A Leopard print purse

I work a lot of black into my outfits year round, but I've noticed that when the weather starts to cool down, I definitely tend to favor it. This fall, I want to accessorize with warm colors as much as possible, and I also think I'd like to try to work some more neutral tans and light browns into my wardrobe.

What are you guys after for the fall season? Come on, I know changes in weather make us ALL a little stir crazy for some shopping! ;-)

Pearls, Lace, and Ruffles Giveaway

It is 10:30am on Monday morning, My eyes will barely keep themselves open, I have no idea what I'm going to wear today, and I should be leaving for class in about ten minutes. I blame this on the fact that my bed is way too comfortable making me never want to leave it. Also maybe on the fact that I've spent the last year training my brain to think we need like ten hours of sleep or something ridiculous like that.

I did want to let you know about a Giveaway over at Pearls, Lace, and Ruffles. I won part of her last one, and I lovvvee all of the goodies that came with it! So go check it out... it's another cute one!!!

(Here's a little sneak peak... you'll have to pop on over yourself to see the details)

Hope you're all having a good Monday... and that you're a little more awake than I am!

Daisy Dukes... No Bikini on Top

First of all... hello to the new followers gathered in the last few weeks! It's always so fun seeing new faces around here and in turn finding new blogs! If you're a recent follower and haven't heard from me, if you could do me a huge favor and comment with a link to your blog, I'd appreciate it. I always try to check them out but sometimes blogger is weird about settings and I can't get to your blogs from your profiles.

Yesterday was one of those days. I'm sure you all know exactly what I'm talking about... a day when you're trying to get dressed for nothing really in particular, and you have no idea what to wear, or are sick of wearing the same things over and over, or something like that. I really think I fumbled around trying to get myself dressed for close to two hours (doing other important things like Facebooking in the meantime, of course).

Finally, as luck would have it, one of my "Blogger Big Sisters" Nickie at Wild as a Mink just happened to put up a post as a sort of send off for her cutoff jean shorts.


You should understand that I hardly EVER wear shorts in public, but this summer dug up a pair of cutoffs that I actually only used for a "Cowboys and Indians" party a few years back, and decided I really liked them. However, this may be the only time I ever actually put any effort into making them into an outfit. The cutoffs with boots turned out to be exactly what I was looking for in yesterdays outfit. So a BIG thank you to Nickie for the unintentional inspiration with that one.

Oh, and I've mentioned how much I LOVE my cowboy boots, right? Not that you couldn't just figure that out on your own.... haha.

Outfit
T-Shirt, Cami, Scarf: Old Navy
Cutoff Jean Shorts: Originally Old Navy Jeans
Boots: R.C.C. Western

Out and About

Thursday night we went out for a friend's 22nd birthday. I originally was going to wear another dress similar to this that zips all the way up the front, but it's a little constraining in the chest area, and I didn't feel like dealing with that all night, so I resorted to my favorite flouncy little going out dress. My friend convinced me to do heels... and while these are REALLY comfortable for heels, by the time we got to the second bar of the night (a decent walk from the first when heels are involved) I sprinted my way into the bathroom and opted for the flip flops I was carrying in my purse. Always prepared!

Outfit
Dress: Forever 21
Vest, Leggings: Old Navy
Belt: Target
Booties: Payless

And of course, you know I always throw in a few pictures from the night... here we are with a bear statue that I, in all of my nights of going out in Bloomington, have never noticed, and again with Mr. Jack the birthday boy.

Leopard Accents

Today was another 'Industry Day' for my Strategic Business Career Planning class, and we were supposed to dress business casual. Well, after doing that tuesday, I got real sick of running around campus all day in dress pants and heels, so today I just opted to look cute and presentable. I figured it wasn't a big deal since plenty of people just show up in sweatpants and t-shirts anyways.

Inspiration came from Weesha's World. She occassionally does Style File posts featuring photos of a bunch of different bloggers wearing some specific trend... and she's currently working on an animal print post. You know I love any excuse to wear some of that!

Outfit
Dress: Target
Leggings, Cardigan: Old Navy
Boots: RCC Western
Necklace: Italy
Bow: Forever 21

It has been a LONG day, that ended with a resume review for that same careers class, and I more or less left feeling like there's no way I'm ever going to get a job. I know that's not true, but the guy (An accounting major) was a complete jerk about it and I don't think he actually even read any of the specifics on it. I really don't think he is even remotely qualified to judge the experiences needed to get a job in the Marketing industry dealing with branding or design anyways.

Some of the advice was totally legitimate, but I think a lot of it was just him not having a clue about what someone in Marketing would be looking for and not saying anything in a nice way. You can rest assured that I will be making an appearance on the Bloomington Bar Scene tonight... and I'm sure that will only lead to another decent outfit post!

Mini Rant.

Sorry, Have to get this out somewhere. As I was leaving class today heading for the bus stop to get back to my car, I was weaving in and out of various people who were walking ridiculously slow in front of me, coming directly towards me, etc... and I hear this angry whispering voice throwing out all sorts of expletives. Finally, this biker zooms past me and yells "WALK IN A STRAIGHT LINE".

Hey jerk, it is not my fault that everyone else around me is meandering around preventing me from walking in a straight line. It is also not like I am just drunkenly stumbling around causing an obstruction of foot traffic... but you know what, even if I was? SIDEWALKS ARE FOR WALKING. So if you have a problem with my unintentional indirect path, GO RIDE IN A STRAIGHT LINE ON THE ROAD LIKE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO.


Aside from that, it's another gorgeous day in Bloomington and I can feel fall creeping in just a little bit at a time! I'm going to spend the afternoon trying to get myself caught up on readings and homeworks, and get ORGANIZED before I lose my mind with all these loose papers floating around! Hope everyone is having a wonderful week :-)

Get Your Plaid On!

I'm doing SO well with keeping up with regular postings, eh?! I guess I do feel like I've been much busier than normal, mostly just getting used to being back in classes... and I've been traveling pretty much every weekend since school started.

I have definitely picked up the Fall Fever, and it kills me that these stubborn temperatures are hovering in the mid to low 80's on most days. Come on mother nature, can I get a mid or even low 70? Pretty please? I don't want the weather to go rushing off into anything too extreme, but I've got a few cardigans and long sleeved dresses just dying to jump out of the closet.

Take, for example, this longer sleeved plaid shirt-dress from Old Navy! I wondered if it was a bit too "Patriotic" when I bought it, but the other colors were mostly black and gray, which I may have a bit too much of already. (Ok, false, I don't think there's such thing as too much black as long as you have some colorful accessories to balance it out!) I ended up wearing it to a Cookout on September 11... so low and behold, patriotic seemed to be the theme of the day and I unintentionally fit right in.

Outfit
Dress, Flip Flops, Leggings: Old Navy
Guitar Necklace, Belt: Forever 21
Purse: Charlotte Russe

The weather was maybe just a BIT warm for the longer sleeves, but as the sun went down it was a pretty comfortable outfit! I absolutely love the button leggings. Old Navy has surprisingly proven pretty trustworthy in long-lasting leggings, and I love when they have the subtle detailing. They run around $15, but you can usually find them on sale, and like I said, they do last for quite a while!

Now I'm off to do some MORE readings... readings that I probably should have done earlier, but neglected in favor of registering for the GMAT and researching Business Schools for my MBA, all of which really needed to be done anyways.

For those of you with a sweet tooth, feel free to stop on by Wonderland Kitchen for this DELICIOUS Nutella Cheesecake Brownie recipe, borrowed from Miss Valerie over at Red Vines for Breakfast! They're amazing!

LIFE IS IN SESSION!

Has anyone seen The Switch with Jennifer Aniston? If not, you probably should. It was an adorable movie... typical chick flick, but my favorite part was the little boy. He's one of those really smart and therefor a little awkward kind of kids, and he was SO adorable. That title quote is stuck in my head. Such a funny conversation in the movie.

Anyways, life is back in session in full swing here in the good old college town of Bloomington, IN. And by that, I mean that Alex/Betsy random bar nights have started up again. If you remember any of the posts from a few months ago I'm sure you know that means all sorts of shenanigans. I'm also pleased to announce that my favorite little Russian bus driver (We think he's Russian, anyways) is back in action on the Night Owl bus route... and that he STILL remembers me and gets excited when I take the bus. "Ohhhh Alllexxxannnnndra! Hello!"

Outfit
Dress: Forever 21
Shiny Leggings: Target
Sandals: GAP
Hair Flower: Compliments of the Pearls, Lace, Ruffles giveaway

My planned outfit took a last minute turn when I realized one of my two main pairs of black leggings are MIA. No clue where they could have gone. Guess it's probably time for some new ones anyways. Once this job starts bringing in a little money I think I also want to order a few pairs of tights from We Love Colors. Hopefully that will put all kinds of new exciting twists on my fall and winter outfits. The flower came as inspiration from my roommate Kelly. I don't know why I always forget about all my hair accessories until I see her wearing hers, but I'm glad I have some kind of reminder!

(Poker Facing)

Say Hello....

To the newest employee of Bath & Body Works!!!! I am SO excited right now. I have needed a part time job forever, and I finally have one! Granted, it is only seasonal, and for the first month I won't have a lot of hours, but something is better than nothing! I start orientation Sunday, so I also have a new little excuse to do some clothes shopping for black pants/tops. Hooray!

Feeling Hot Hot Hot

Summer seems so much hotter when you have to be walking around all day in it on a large, PACKED, college campus. I've also discovered that most of my clothes are more suitable for going out than for going to class everyday... at least the summertime ones. It's safe to say that once fall sets in I'll be good to go, supplementing with the occasional ever so comfy jeans and IU sweatshirt combo. I'm pretty much ready for that!!! Here is today's "Third day of school" outfit.

(I'm hoping that more outfit pictures will happen, but I've got 9am wake up calls every day, which for me is almost unheard of, so it will really be a matter of remembering to make time for them.)

Outfit
Dress: Target
Vest: Forever 21
Sandals: Old Navy
Necklace: For Love 21
Bracelets: No idea...

I look so ridiculously tan because the truth is that I somehow got ridiculously burnt at the race on Sunday. And yes, I do mean "somehow". I understand the concept of the sun and burning, but it's beyond me how I can lay out for hours with tanning oil and not catch a single ray and be out for a few hours slathered in sun screen and burn to a crisp. What you see is the post-burn and pre-peel tan stage (at least on my chest). More to come on MotoGP in the near future.

Also that giveaway I keep talking about, if I can ever get myself around to it... it's been a busy week! But I want to get it completely ready to mail out before I even put it up so I know it will be ready to go immediately!