black, blue. chambray trousers and wide brimmed hats

Photos by Neil!

Chambray High Waist Trousers - Thrifted

Black Velvet Bodysuit, Brown Belt - Forever21

Wide Brimmed Hat, Lace Up Heels, Heart Tights, Wooden Heart Necklace - H&M

More chambray! These pants (found at Goodwill last Saturday on half off day) are lightweight and so comfortable.

Light blues are all over the place.. probably because they embody spring, which everyone seems to be lusting after right now. Ahh, to wear navy playsuits and sailor shorts. These bright dresses are recent spring-y finds of mine. The polka dot pink and yellow hand smocked dresses were traded, Etsy style, with super sweet Corky of Cork Spork.. I absolutely love the pastels of the yellow and green dress, and I'm thinking it may become my Easter dress this year.

The other two - the red and white ruffle dress and the pink puff sleeve dress - are both thrifted finds I'll be putting in the shop on Monday. The red and white dress is really perfect for Valentine's Day. Too bad I found it a few days too late.

Neil and I are headed out tomorrow morning for our St. Louis Valentine trip! Since both of us went to college at a school near St. Louis, we made a lot of visits to the city and therefore have a million memories there - we went on our first date in St. Louis and celebrated anniversaries, birthdays, and holidays with friends there. Neil also proposed to me there! It's a fantastic urban city with a wonderful culinary scene and a ton of unique traits (and no, I'm not just talking about the Arch). It'll always be our city standard to compare all other cities by.

Besides reliving some memories and being romantic and couple-y, we're going to eat a lot (dinner at Niche and brunch at Rooster!) and shop a lot (H&M!). And stock up on a whole lot of wine (Trader Joe's!) and local St. Louis brewery beer (Schlafly!). While all of this is wonderful, I just can't wait to have 48 hours alone with Neil Winter.

Happy Valentine's Day! What are your plans?

valentine's day is made of ruffles and bows and rothschild coats.

Photos by Neil!

Vintage Rothschild Velvet Bow Coat - Thrifted

Black Ruffle Trim Dress, Black Bow, Gold Heart Locket - Forever21

Heart Tights - H&M

Over the Knee Suede Boots - Urban Outfitters

Narrowing down a Valentine's Day dress theme was a challenge for me this month (some challenge, right?). I had my dress decision narrowed down to three different categories - a lace shift, a rich red, or a more flowery-pink approach. After all was said and done, I went with something absolutely and completely different.

I bought this dress at Forever21 last weekend and I am super pleased with my decision. The dress is a member of Forever's Twelve by Twelve line (which is, hands down, the best part of that store), where you'll find a mixture of classic shapes and trendy pieces (ok.. 90% trendy, 10% classic). This dress, with its ruffle collar and stiff shape, was a little more 1960's mod than I usually wear.. and what a better time to try out something extravagant and new than on a holiday? Especially a romantic holiday. Which is, after all, basically just an excuse to dress up and eat chocolate.

So, here it is! A few days early, I've taken some pictures of my Valentine dress around the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville. Like I told you before.. I couldn't wait.

I found the Rothschild coat a few weeks back at Southern Thrift and while it admittedly bears a major resemblance to the coat my sister bought me for Christmas, I'm still not willing to put it in the shop. Both coats fit me well in different ways and so far, that's been enough reason to keep them both in my closet (not that I'm planning on selling the coat my sister got me!). Maybe once I receive the pretty Scottish coat that Meaghan sent me, I'll be able to retire this guy.

Thanks to all of you for your fashion school advice! Some of you guys even went out of your way to send me emails or Etsy messages with your two cents, and I appreciate it all. My decision for now is to take some basic sewing classes.. then I can decide what to do from there. Private classes might be the best way to get some more personal tutelage for any seamstress aspirations I might harbor (speaking of - I ordered the new Built By Wendy book for dresses today!).

Neil and I took some pictures today of some chambray elastic waist trousers I found at Goodwill last Saturday.. more soon!

merry christmas to all, and to all a good night.

My beautiful sisters.. Photos by Drew!

Mulberry Velvet Bow Coat - vintage, gift from Rhi!

Black Hair Bow - Forever21

Heart Tights - Urban Outfitters

Lace Up Heels - H&M

MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope you all had a wonderful celebration today.. Our house was filled with wrapping paper pieces and extravagant food and overexcited puppies and craziness. In other words, it may have been my best Christmas yet.

I'm convinced that the older I get, the more I enjoy Christmas. Does that make sense.. shouldn't you enjoy Christmas more as a kid? It could be that I appreciate being with my family more now that I'm married and can't be with them every year for the holidays. It could be that with or without split holidays, my parents rock and it takes growing up to realize just how much. It could be that I have lovely sisters who have chosen the greatest men who bring their own unique sense of self and fun to Christmas. It could be that perhaps eggnog tastes better the older you become, and a Beef Wellington holiday feast can't be truly understood by a 10 year old whose favorite meal is a hot dog and fries (I won't lie, I still love hot dogs and fries). It could be that I'm now married to the absolute best person in the world who happens to add significance to every event, no matter how small.

I'd continue on with the sappiness, but I'm really beat. Goodnight all and God bless, hope your festivities were wonderful and filled with meaning.