Hello Hello! (And some Home Sweet Chicago)

So I'm gone for practically a week, and I come back to three more followers! Welcome, newcomers!!! I've also gotten so behind on everything I want to post, since I was in Chicago from Sunday to yesterday (Wednesday) and now I'm back at HOME home in Southern Indiana... but hopefully in the next few days I can get myself caught up here. My apologies if posts get a little picture cluttered!!!

So I'll try not to get ahead of myself, and start with Chicago. I went to visit my dad's apartment (He works/lives there during the week) and my days were mostly spent reading/working out/sleeping in/cocktailing, which was completely relaxing and ok with me.

I got to go to Gibson's Steakhouse sunday night... one of the best restaurants EVER. I wore this floral print tie front shirt I bought forever ago and never could really figure out what to pair it with, and my usual high waisted black eyelet skirt. I really need to go get another high waisted skirt- this poor guy is way overworn.


Monday I cooked and then we went to see Alice in Wonderland (Again!). I wore the Alice headband bow again, but tried it out with a shirt that is a little more summery. And yes, in the one picture, I'm wearing shorts, it just happens that the way the shirt falls in this pose you can't see them. Not trying to whore it up for the whole internet to see!




Tuesday we went to this great Mexican/South American restaurant called Carnivale. The decorating scheme inside was crazy, and really fun, and the food was SO GOOD. The service was a little lacking, but it was still a good night. However, before dinner, I did manage to drag my dad to Forever 21... actually a Forever XXI, aka HUGE. We were in a hurry so I was trying to be fast, but I still bought 2 shirts and a dress that will likely make an appearance soon.

Next up... ST. PATRICK'S DAY! Nothing too crazy for that, but I will have a picture of one of the Forever shirts I bought, and a few other pictures from going out, so it's worthy enough of its own post. See ya soon ;-) And thanks again to the new followers who have joined us!!!

Happy Spring Break!

...To those of you who are just starting, or will be on break soon. For those of you who are almost done with your break, I hope it was a good one!

So far mine has mostly consisted of Spring Cleaning and Pilates. Last night I did go out to a cabin near Bloomington where my dad and some of his friends from high school are staying for a "Boys Weekend". Some of the other daughters who live here went out and they cooked us dinner (Jambalaya) which was DELICIOUS!... And free, which is always nice on a college budget.

(A picture of Maui from last years' Spring Break)

Tomorrow I'm heading back to Chicago with my dad to stay for a few days, then home to Southern Indiana on Wednesday for the rest of the week. Nothing too exciting, but it's just nice to have a break at all!

My "Spring Break 2010" playlist follows this theme. I guess I kind of made it with these slightly warm but rainy days we've been having in mind. I love making playlists for pretty much any break/event, so I thought I'd share this one with you. Some of the songs weren't on Playlist.com (Norah Jones' Chasing Pirates, for example) but this was most of them!

Sorry that the size of the blog kind of messed with the player/the ability to do things on it... if you click "Pop Out Player" it should bring up a more easily navigated version.

I ACTUALLY WON A GIVE-AWAY!

I am wonderfully excited to say that I won my first give-away in blogger world! It also happened to be the first give-away done by Alix Darling. The first half is the book "How to be Lovely: The Audrey Hepburn Way of Life" (Above- picture from Alix Darling) and she is also including some mystery item for the other half, so I can't wait to see what that is! Kelly, my roommate, is excited too because we both entered/posted it on our blogs to up our chances of getting the book. So thank you to Alix! Go check out her blog! (Linked above)

Speaking of Kelly... she just started her ETSY site! She's already made two sales in her first 24 hours, compliments of one of our favorite blogger (and real life) ladies... Wild as a Mink. So head on over to her site and see if there's anything you like!!!

This outfit was actually from Thursday night. My friend Ashlee was in town so I went to hang out at her boyfriend's apartment with another one of his friends, which ended up being a fabulous time, as I've learned to expect with Ashlee!

Outfit
Navy Sweater: GAP (Same as last post. Oops)
Dress: Forever 21
Gray Zipper Leggings: Old Navy
Boots: RCC Western
Necklace: Forever 21

A Day at the Dog Park: Sun Dresses and Bear Huskies

Today temperatures actually managed to SURPASS 70 DEGREES! It was the most perfect day ever, so after getting myself to the gym I desperately scrambled to find SOME kind of outdoor activity for the afternoon. Luckily my friend Nathan wanted me to join him on a dog park outing with Samson, his 8 month old wild child of a Golden Retriever. (Yes, not even a year old and he's already this huge. This dog is going to be enormous!)

Pretty sure Samson could chase sticks ALL DAY if you let him. We tried to make him socialize with other dogs, but that didn't work out so well for the most part since all they really wanted to do was steal his stick, and he was not having any of that.


One dog there was this ENORMOUS Husky. I mean seriously... I don't know if the picture even does it justice, it was truly the size of a bear (Maybe just note the size of that average lab-type dog next to it in this picture). It also kept coming up to break up any fights between any other dogs... he'd just stroll on in between the two as if to say "Alright Kids, cut it out!" Pretty sure I'll have to have my own bear sized Husky at some point in life.


I also broke out a summer dress! (I know, didn't you believe me? I jump right into this summer thing at any chance I get) For the dog park I didn't even wear a sweater... but threw the cardigan on later for a meeting.

Outfit:

Sundress: AE
Cardigan: GAP
Belt: Old Navy
Necklace: ITALY!

Birthday Wish List.

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I always have the hardest time thinking of things ahead of time for "wish lists", and then sure enough a month before my birthday/Christmas I can think of a million things! SO I thought it might be a fun post to forward to family members and friends who may be looking for ideas, of course. ;-) But really, this is just me living my online shopping fantasy life, so forgive and bare with me!

First thing's first... Wouldn't be a wish list without some Steve Madden.

1) THE STEVE MADDEN FLORALE's! Size 9, Champagne Suede!
2) The Steve Madden Toppazz- Size 9, Black or Gray Suede (Red would also be perfectly acceptable) *Mom, Dad- if you're reading this, clearly this is a perfect business woman shoe*


To add to the collection...

3) Lolita "21" Martini Glass
4) Lolita "Las Vegas" Martini Glass

5,6,7) DELIA'S GIFTCARDS! Have not shopped here in forever, who knew they had such fun dresses!!

Just for the sake of keeping the theme of the birthday...

8) Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc
9) Jack Daniels
10) Absolut Citron

(Lord knows I can't afford this stuff myself!)


From the Macy's website...

11) Kathy Van Zeeland Handbag, Triple Play Satchel, Medium in Steel Zebra (Can't keep myself away from Kathy!!!)
12) Viva La Juicy Perfume (Have not actually tried this myself, but I've heard such great things about it that I know I'd love it.)

And last, but certainly not least... ETSY!

13) Silver Metal Seahorse Necklace (Here)- $22, ExpressionsByCheree
14) Puffed Love Necklace (Here)- $15, LillyQueen
15) Wide Awake Owl Watch Necklace (Here)- $11.99, LoveSpellJewels

Alright, Alright. That's enough wishful thinking for one night. Are any of you on Spring Break this week or doing anything fun? Mine starts Thursday night, but since I only have two classes in between now and then and no major obligations, I'd like to think I'm on break now :-) Nothing too fancy for me this year- probably just visiting my dad in Chicago, maybe watching my little brother swim another State meet in Indy, and home to good old Southern Indiana for a bit!

(And as a side note, STILL open to Little Mermaid and Alice in Wonderland on DVD. I've been trying to hint for these for years and no luck thus far!!!)

Oscars 2010

My favorites from last night:

Cameron Diaz (LOVE the red lipstick)

Elizabeth Banks

Sandra Bullock: She just flat out looks so pretty!

Penelope Cruz: Such a good color for her.

Lots of strapless dresses/no necklaces going on last night. I kind of liked how simple and classy that kept a lot of the red carpet looks.

Side Notes: Kristin Stewart still needs to learn how to smile, and while Miley Cyrus looked pretty, I still think she's a bit young for a bustier top dress that looks as if it may expose her top half at any second. I also think Anna Kendrick's dress was really pretty, but I'm still trying to decide how I feel about that slit going up the front of it, mostly because her leg seems to be the exact same color as the dress.

And We're Off on Birthday Month!

(Me and the Pre-Birthday Girl)

Last night was the kick-off of "Birthday Month", an idea based on the fact that my roommate's birthday is March 14, and mine is April 14. Since her birthday is over Spring Break, we through a Luau themed "Pre-Birthday" party for her last night. We'll end it most likely with some type of "cookout" during Little Five for a "Post-Birthday" for me.

And ladies and gentlemen, all I can say is: WOW. Last night was ridiculous in every way possible. Somehow the police got called with a "noise complaint", and showed up to a nearly empty apartment and low music. We've had SUCH loud parties before with way more people that lasted until the wee hours of the morning, and never a noise complaint. But 8 people left not making much noise apparently warrants one. Oh well, it was a nice young gentleman of a police officer who didn't even give us a ticket, though he said he was supposed to. I'd also like to state for the record that putting the song "Shots" by LMFAO on any party playlist is a HORRIBLE idea.

(The red velvet birthday cake I went to so much trouble to sneak bake, and then forgot about. It's ok though because we ate it for breakfast this morning.)

We also COMPLETELY forgot about the birthday cake, AND the prizes for "Best Dressed". Which may sound like a bit of a mistake, but I think it really just demonstrates how much fun we actually had. So without further adieu, I give you a picture recap of the night that I'm still recovering from 24 hours later.

(The prize bag I made... and then forgot to give away.)

(They love when I make them pose for pictures.)

(My new favorite: Holographic princess cup!)

You're all late for tea!

One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall

-White Rabbit, Jefferson Airplane

One of the best parts of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland was the costuming! Alice had some REALLY fun dresses. Regrettably, the only good pictures you can really find online are of her in my least favorite dress of the whole movie. My favorite, for those of you who have seen it, was probably the outfit while in the Queen of Hearts' castle.


I also completely love Johnny Depp, in practically everything, and he did not disappoint. It was one of those performances similar to Heath Ledger as the Joker, that with all the costuming and makeup on top of it, it was neary impossible to even realize it was him! The VERY end of the battle: best part. But you of course will have to see it to know why.

Had a bit of an outfit fail when trying to get ready, due to forgetting the dress I wanted to wear was in the washing machine, and realizing the belt I wanted to wear was M.I.A. I did, however, throw in the new bow headband from Forever 21 that definitely makes me think of Alice in Wonderland.

Outfit:
Dress- Target
Zipper Leggings- Target
Ankle Booties- Payless
Necklace- For Love 21
Headband Bow- For Love 21

About that outfit...

Finally recovered my camera, so here are those outfit pictures I was talking about in the last post. Note: I'm finally phasing out the leggings and coats! It was probably cold enough to require a coat, but of course I didn't wear one. One step closer to summer time. I also got a new haircut, but unfortunately I was running a little late and didn't have time to take pictures before we left, so you can't really even tell in these pictures, which were taken after it went a little flat. So hopefully some good pictures of that sometime soon.

Outfit:
Dress- Target
3/4 Length Cardigan- GAP
Bangles- Forever 21
Flats- Old Navy

And of course, since I was home, here's yet another picture of my little princess passed out in her comfy spot on the couch, cuddling with her stuffed duck.

Hopefully with my next update I'll have some links to my other blog with some new and very delicious recipes up! OH! And I'm going to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D tonight... so I'll try to get a brief review of that up too, though I expect it to be amazing.

Oh Dear.

Well, it appears as though I left my camera at home this morning. As in, my parents house in southern Indiana... two hours away from here- which is a shame, because I have some outfit pictures from my little brothers HS Swim Banquet last night. Hopefully I'll have that back tomorrow since my roommate's boyfriend is coming up to visit.

It's going to be a super busy weekend for me... I've got a big project due Tuesday, a quiz tuesday, a few other homeworks due next week, and a big group paper due Friday (or before we all leave for Spring Break). We're also having a Pre-Birthday Party for my roommate, with a Luau theme, so I'll have a bit of cleaning/decorating to do for that! Additionally, my cousin is coming to stay with us for the party, and because she has an interview with the hospital here on Monday! She just graduated from nursing school in December and I'm really excited she has an interview here- I hope she gets the job!!!


Since I don't have any good pictures to leave you with today, I'll end with a picture from last year's trip to Cancun (Technically in the summer, but more or less like a Spring Break). The approach of Spring Break always makes me crave the beach, and sun, and a killer tan, but unfortunately this is the first time in years I won't be going anywhere warm!

Hopefully I'll get that outfit post up tomorrow, and then there will surely be some good party pictures to come on Sunday!! Also- thanks so much to all the new followers! I get so excited when I see there's someone new on board :-)