Outfit Post: West Side Kareoke!

Oh my- I'm gone for a few days and I come back to 70 followers!!!! It still blows my mind that so many people actually read this, but I appreciate you taking your time to do so! I'm thinking I'm going to have another giveaway in the works soon, but I'm still trying to figure out what to do for half of it. In the meantime- if you ARE a new follower, I would really appreciate it if you left a comment with a link to your blog so I can check it out! A lot of the time when you try to click on profiles it doesn't give you a link to the actual blog, but I want to make sure to stop by all of yours!

I've been doing my best to keep up with the rest of you even though I haven't been posting a whole lot lately, but in a few weeks everything should be getting back into a more regular schedule.

Last night we went out to a few bars on the West Side of town, and met up with a bunch of friend's at the Corner Bar for Karaoke for our friend Adam's 21st birthday. I actually made a point to take outfit pictures before I left, though they're really not anything all too exciting. I'm sure you've seen this dress in picture posts before, but I don't think I've ever actually done a post on it.






I got the dress on clearance at Urban Outfitters in St. Louis last summer, and never wore it until a few months ago when I realized it was the perfect length for leggings! I got a little crazy with the hair spray last night (Which I generally never even use) and at one point, I felt a little like a go go dancer.

The karaoke was absolutely ridiculous. All I can say is that I absolutely love my friends, and last night was great. There was some Say My Name, Love Shack, Total Eclipse of the Heart, Bohemian Rhapsody, and plenty of dancing and singing along. Evansville bars are nowhere near as bad as people sometimes try to make them out to be as long as you're with the right crowd!!!

Picture Post- Tiki Time!

My best friend Ashlee's parents do an annual Tiki Party every summer that is always a complete blast! This year it happened to fall on Fourth of July weekend, which probably made it twice as wild. Ashlee's mom Connie is an absolute riot, and her best friend Liz was in town for the weekend from NY, and she's definitely even crazier than Connie- Love them both! Not to mention that anytime Ashlee is involved in anything you know it's going to be a wildly fun event.

Here's merely a highlight of pictures from the day/night:

(Daisy wanted to Limbo too! But... when it was her turn she just laid down and rolled over wanting someone to pet her. Haha)

(Perfecting the "Ashlee wave" pose.)

(The wild and crazy Liz!)

Outfit Post: Happy Birthday America!

This "posting regularly" thing clearly isn't working out so well for me lately. I've been running all over the place and being quite the little social butterfly since I've been home, so I do have a few pictures posts and maybe an outfit post or two that I will try to get up at some point.

It has been a few years since I dressed myself all that "festively" for Independence Day, so this year I went on the look for a red dress and found one on clearance at Target that fit the bill. I just went to a little cookout yesterday with a few friends, then went back and hung out with my friends Emily and Ryan and their one year old daughter Lily, and then BACK to the cookout location later that night to set off fireworks, of course! It was pretty low key, but I'm really ok with that since I'm not currently hungover!!!

Outfit
Dress: Target
Headband Bow: Forever 21
Bracelets: For Love 21
Shoes: Old Navy
Belt: ?

I hope those of you in America had a great Fourth of July, and that those of you who aren't just had a great weekend, period! In the spirit of all the 4th cookouts, I also just posted the recipe for my mom's DELICIOUS macaroni and cheese on Wonderland Kitchen, so be sure to check that out!

Crafting: Hair Accessories!

My friend's German exchange student is back in town for the summer, and when she came over for dinner one night, she was wearing a flower hair clip made out of ribbon. I've been finding myself getting more into bows lately (We used to wear them ALL THE TIME in high school... kind of as a "scene" thing I guess when we were into the whole punk rock thing) and so I really wanted to make some bow and flower hair accessories.


I went to JoAnn's and just grabbed a few different spools of ribbon, some buttons, gems, hair clips, and head bands, and figured I would just see how it all ended up coming together. I still want to do a more detailed headband, and have some other ideas for bows and flowers with different buttons and things that I bought, but here are some pictures of what I have done so far.





I also did a "picture how-to" for making the basic bow, in case this sparks any motivation to go and do it yourself!! It's all super easy... the real trick is just trying to deal with the annoying little strings of hot glue that insist on forming with every drop of glue you lay down.



(If you don't feel like going through the motions to actually make the bows, most craft stores will have pre-made bows and other various little hair accessories to add to your clips/headbands as well)

Outfit Post: THE BOOTS ARE BACK!

The Cowboy boots have officially made their summer debut! I love them anyways, but I got a really awful blister covering about half of my foot from running around Chicago last week in inadequate footwear, so lately I've been needing something I can comfortably wear socks with... and these are PERFECT!!! I'm really kind of excited about this outfit, I think mostly because I always love wearing this belt with these boots, and they also both just happen to match this new dress.

Last night I went out with some of the girls at home for $3 margarita mug night. Absolutely delicious! You have to jump at any chance of drink deals in this town. I can't even imagine what those of you who live in the bigger cities must fork out for drinks on a night out! It's going to be one hell of a slap in the face leaving Bloomington's college town atmosphere and not having ridiculously cheap drink and food specials all the time.

Outfit
Dress: TJ Maxx
Belt: Old Navy
Boots: RCC Western
Purse: My closet? No clue...
Bracelets: Charlotte Russe

***And a special thanks to Miss Ashlee Lynn for being my little photographer! Haha. It's SO much easier to get decent outfit shots when you have someone else taking the pictures and aren't trying to mess with a self timer/finding a ledge to set the camera on!

Now Reading: Freakonomics

Things you always thought you knew but didn't.

"Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? How did the legalization of abortion affect the rate of violent crime?"


Ok, I'll be honest here: Some of you may be LESS than interested in this book. I'm majoring in Marketing with an Economics minor, so this stuff is kind of interesting to me. I have lately even wished I would have thought sooner to just do a double major in Econ.

Either way, I can PROMISE you that it's not some boring "Business book". Even those lose my interest after a few pages. This book is full of real life situations that are not only interesting to read about, but also make you feel like you're gaining something intellectually.

For example, is anyone aware that many real estate agents may not be getting you the BEST price when selling your house, because for every extra $10,000 you earn on your home, their commission only increases by, on average, a mere $150? How about that when looking to buy a house, you should be weary of phrases like "charming" and "good neighborhood" and "well maintained"?

I don't blame you if you're still not interested... but if you are, even a little bit, I'd definitely recommend this book!!! The authors also recently released Superfreakonomics, so I'll be needing to check that out soon as well.



(Side Note: New recipe post on Wonderland Kitchen for PEANUT BUTTER PIE! If you like peanut butter, I promise you'll like it. It's the perfect cool summer dessert, and really not too hard to make!)

Chicago in June: Picture Post

As promised here's a little picture recap of the Chicago trip! I still can't figure out what my plans are but I think I may be heading BACK home again either tomorrow or Monday, and then actually staying there for a few weeks. I've basically decided it will really work out best if I just live out of a suitcase or two for the next month, I've been and am going to be SO back and forth between my "three houses". Ayiyi! I think I'll actually take my laptop with me this time though so I can stay on top of regular posting.

(Corona ponchos and finger mustaches!!!)

(Ashlee, Dad, and I before dinner Wednesday night)

(Sunset after the storm)

(Too much fun in the aquarium gift shop)

(Grant Park. Where's Waldo?)

(Art Institute of Chicago)

(Drinks at the Peninsula)

(My new little friend Miss Vivian Jane! Can't wait to go back and babysit in July!)