outfits from instagram

i realized recently that i take a lot of pictures of my outfits for instagram. i thought i'd share them here. :)

on saturday, it was 73 degrees outside and i couldn't not spend my break sitting outside on a bench and just kind of enjoying it. i'm not really that into the heat.. but i can't deny that this time of year is kind of magical. shedding jackets and tights is welcome right now. :)
(this shirt is my favorite from our new stuff at ae)

but then i finally decided to bare my legs and it started SNOWING! i was at my sister's house, it was 60 degrees outside, and then we looked out of the window and really couldn't believe how heavily flakes were coming down. i loved it, but i didn't want to go outside until it stopped, obviously..
(this shirt is from uo, the skirt is vintage, and my phone case is from society6)

i also recently wore this little camo jacket, but had to layer a sweater underneath. i can't wait to try and pull it off with florals in the spring. everyone's doubting me, but.. ;)

sometimes when i get dressed for work, i realize that i'm head-to-toe ae, and looking more brand than usual. i always think it's kind of funny and weird and it makes me feel a little like i'm being lazy? i don't know. but i did like this outfit, mostly.
(top is from christmas time, cardigan: here, shoes: here)

i redid our sunglasses at work and found these cute ones to get for austin. when i got home, i went through a box of vintage/antiques that a friend of my dad's gave me and found these green glitter ones that are the same design. i'm kind of obsessed with them. plus i get really excited when we match? ;)

<3

snow day

it snowed last week!!! !!!!! as someone who is considering a snowflake tattoo and hasn't seen snow in just about a year, this was the best/ biggest deal. i was at work when the storm started, so i left and it looked like ^ outside. magical. :) of course it didn't last very long.. but it was perfect and i got to build a snowman and i'm not even mad. just a little sad. ;)

the day after the 'storm,' i was off of work and had some outside-of-the-house plans. so i got dressed. and austin took pictures.

scarf: ae
sweater: a million years old uo
shirt: christmas present from becca :) <3
belt: target
shorts: ae
tights: target
socks: uo
rainboots: steve madden, via ebay, via my dad
my new purse: ae

i went with kendall to get her new phone.. i played with/distracted little avery (who is all of a sudden a teenager, idek) while getting really excited to finally be able to text kendall emojis. then we had lunch with kayla, who i haven't seen in a million years because she's busy becoming an officer of the law. it was really cute and then austin & i had a date night and i just really like the snow, you guys!!

now i'm gearing up for my all-time favorite holiday, valentine's day. i want to give every human at my job a little card and some candy. ridiculous.

<3

oversized sweatshirt & tight shiny pants

i can't believe january 2013 is already halfway over. we haven't even started packing and we're moving in two weeks! oh geez. actually, on the day we took these pictures, we went through our closets and got rid of about 4 trash bags of clothes. i'm sure the number of things we get rid of will double when we start packing.. things look a lot less necessary when you start thinking about lugging them to a new house. :)

i gotta be real, i'm not even stressed about moving at all. really, we're going about two blocks down the road, and i get to use my grown up job pto to take time off to pack. ;) also, now that things are calming down from the holidays, i'm feeling so much more comfortable and less anxious all of the time. relaxing has become my #1 activity, i guess.

even though this sweatshirt is a little big (it's austin's.. a christmas present from me, omg), i really loved this outfit. these pants are ridiculous (see below) and i wanted to calm them down as much as possible. i think the combination is perfect.

see?! they're shiny! damask print! pants! !! ridiculous and i love them.

necklace: anthropologie
sweatshirt: kinship press
belt: christmas gift
pants: ae
flats: steve madden

<3

super 70s

since these pictures, i have gotten a haircut.. in case you were wondering.

i found this dress a million years ago at the goodwill, but then it got buried under all of my dirty clothes and i totally forgot about it. actually, i think i found it the same day that i found my boy scouts shirt. ;)

i'm pretty sure i didn't think that my face was in this picture.. but it's kind of hilarious.

then, when we finally washed it and i re-rediscovered it, i realized that it was more of a tunic length than the cute summer dress length i had assumed. which is weird. dresses are neeever too short for me. but this one is. so i just went dramatically 70s with my look, which i liked a lot. i'm not totally sure how else i'll ever be able to style this, but we'll see! i love it. besides the length, it fits perfectly.

this was the first outfit that i wore in 2013. :) on this day, i met up with one of my best friends from college, jeff, and his (new!!!) fiancé (you may remember jeff from my halloween post). i had never met her before, and he's never ever in town anymore, so it was pretty nice to get to have grilled cheese sandwiches and coffee with them. after that, austin and i got to see our new house!! we'll be moving in february and i. can't. wait. i'm already dreaming about moving around furniture and wall art and everything. eep. this year kinda rules already.

necklace: thrifted in high school
cardigan: pacsun
dress: vintage
leggings: ae
socks: ae
boots: frye

how has the first week of 2013 been for you?

velvet

how was your new years eve ? i spent a big chunk of mine at work, which was insanely and unexpectedly busy. but then i came home and cooked dinner with austin. we watched a movie, shared some champagne (and leftover ice cream cake for me), and practically slept through the countdown. geez.

we had the day off together today, and i think we were pretty successful in our errand-running. our plans were to get lunch, get to the bank, and stop at the cell phone store before austin's band practice this afternoon.

i have this ridiculous habit of running every phone i have into the ground. i refuse to get a new one for no reason other than to get a new one, but once my old crappy phone starts dying.. i rush out to replace it as soon as possible. so, my new phone is in my hands. i've already downloaded all of the necessary apps, including instagram (littlegirlkatie) & snapchat. ;)

one of my new years resolutions was to do more than send texts of my cute outfits to becca, and share more on this blog. it's kiiiinda one of the reasons i started it to begin with. this is what i wore to work yesterday.. i felt like a little extra glamour was necessary, haha. originally, i had a sequined cardigan on, but, paired with the velvet leggings, it somehow felt like too much - even for nye.

i tried to pile on the accessories to make up for it, though. ;) you may recognize the dinosaur toes necklace from previous blog posts - austin got it for me for christmas! and the little bunny necklace was last year's gift from him.

i've been wearing a loooot of rings lately, too. this year, almost all of my favorite people gave me rings as gifts.. in my head, i've been thinking of it as the year of the rings (not to be confused with the year of The Ring - har har).

cardigan: ae
top: ae
belt: ae
velvet leggings: aerie
socks: ae
boots: docs
rings: ae, pacsun, catbird

<3

i'm kind of obsessed with my boy scouts shirt

hi guys! this is my new boy scouts shirt, courtesy of the goodwill. ;) basically since i went thrifting crazy in high school, i've been dreaming of finding one of these. but, since i sort of stopped looking through the children's section after i graduated high school, my chances got unlikely. lately i've been looking through the dresses for avery, and this guy was tucked in there just waiting for me! it's a little bigger than i would prefer but dude. whatever. i don't know what any of the little patches mean, because i'm not sure if boy scouts and girl scouts patches are similar.. regardless, i love it!! this is how i wore it the first time:

necklace: cm via local honey in nashville
tank top: ae
boy scouts shirt: goodwill
shorts: old ae
socks: austin's
boots: vintage justins, via etsy

even though i sorta hate wearing white tights, i LOVE when i remember to break out these boots. they are one of my greatest etsy purchases to date and they were sized wrong on etsy (they said women's 5, but really they're little boy's 5)! so really i should not have bought them.. at all. but i did, because i was so obsessed, and they fit perfectly.. because a child's 5 is a woman's 7. :)

i keep saying it, but my day off outfits are a little more ridiculous than my regular "work clothes" (not that those aren't my personal style, either) and i tend to have a little more fun with them. for work, i'm excited to wear the boy scouts shirt over a dress, with skirts, tucked into jeans with a cardi or a scarf, etc etc etc..

possibilities are endless and i'm so excited!

my days off

working in retail, my days off are random and scattered, which is kind of how i like them. usually, i have two mini work weeks, while everyone else has a long one. this is how i spent my last couple of days off:

1. i went shopping with my grandma and my aunt cindy, who was visiting from colorado. we were at the mall for about 3 hours, so i made sure to find some time to sit. down. haha. shopping trips are exhausting!!
2. i babysat my girl for a little bit. she started climbing into my laundry basket, which was adorable.. then she wouldn't stop, so i had to move it. but obviously i had to snap some pictures first.
3. austin and i celebrated halloween last night, since i have to close on actual halloween night. we carved our giant pumpkin, roasted a million pumpkin seeds, and watched trick r treat (our fave).
4. austin got this weird card with a working plastic lightbulb in it awhile ago, and avery LOVED it. she was dying over it.
5. i bought the new taylor swift cd (from target for the six extra songs!!) and read all of the lyrics. ;) she's perfect. i'm scheming a way to see her in concert now.
6. i wore a really silly outfit. i actually only wore it to the doctor's office and then changed into leggings and socks, buuuut whatever. i took a picture for becca's approval before leaving the house.

i like to think that since my days off are sort of scattered, i use them more thoughtfully than i would if i had weekends off like everyone else. <3

how do you dress for a hayride?

the title is a joke. ;) obviously i did not dress appropriately for a hayride. i was just too excited for layers and tights and this perfect lace dress.

sunglasses: tumbleweeds
necklace: locket from my parents when i was in high school
dress: ae
button-up (men's): old ae (similar)
cardigan: old ae
tights: old uo
socks: ae
boots: docs

i've been wearing my little dollywood purse for just about any outing lately. i'm obsessed with it. also obsessed with these lil polka dot socks.

i don't regret dressing inappropriately for one second. <3

how is it already the middle of october

i've never been one of those people who feel like time is flying by, but geez. time is really flying by. i can't believe that it's the middle of october, i can't believe that our year lease on this house is almost up, i can't believe that i've been at my new job for two weeks, i can't believe how much and how quickly things are changing!

this past weekend, austin and i went to see frankenweenie! which we loved, and i'm already excited for it to come out on dvd. i did a little more home idea gathering.. i can't wait to come up with a whole new feel for our place. i probably think a little bit too much about that, considering we haven't found our new place, or started packing, or anything. i finally got to take my car in for an estimate of its damages from the anniversary wreck i was in. :( the lady at the front desk recognized me, because this is the second not-my-fault wreck that i've been involved in this year! ugh. a cute thing did happen, though. one of the male employees complimented my pattern mixing!

this is basically me telling you that this leopard print belt is the best thing i've bought in a long time.

it was pretty nice to be validated on my outfit by a man my dad's age. generally speaking, my day off outfits tend to be a little out there.

necklace: cm via local honey
tshirt: vintage cub scouts, found by austin (my favorite tshirt of all time)
cardigan: wet seal
belt: target
pants: pacsun
shoes: steve madden

besides having to take my car in, all i did today was shop and lounge around. austin and i had dinner with his parents, and i've been watching gossip girl for the last couple of hours. days off are awesome.

later this week, we get to visit the corn maze (maybe my manager reads my blog and gave me a day off because she felt bad that i didn't think we'd be able to go). ;) and i have a feeling that it's going to seem like the time from now til then flies by. i think i need to get better at both cherishing it and documenting it. this time of year always makes me feel like that, and i kinda love it. <3

aunt/niece style post

this blog is quickly becoming an avery appreciation blog, but whatever. she's what i take pictures of. and really, if i'm not working or cleaning, i'm probably trying to hang out with her. ;)

yesterday, i brought her a few presents from becca (who has a blog! and i can link to her! and i'm so happy about it!), and we immediately decided that she needed to wear the skeleton pajamas for the day.

then i realized that we matched, and obviously there needed to be pictures because i go crazy for this kid.

avery's outfit:
onesie: old navy
shoes: stride rite

my outfit:
jacket: uo (old)
sweatshirt: uo
necklace: catbird (no longer available)
dress: uo (old)
leggings: ae
socks: c/o austin ;)
boots: doc martens

we were roaming around an advance auto parts parking lot because kendall's car broke down. it ended up being like a two hour ordeal, during which avery and i took several adventurous walks around the entire building.

we were all a little crazy by the end of it. poor kendall's car is still out of commission, so i drove us around the rest of the day. we had lunch, went grocery shopping, and played with the puppy. avery even talked a little bit for me! which was ridiculous and i died.

the perfect version of a kid, in case you were wondering

today (my second day off in a row after 12 straight days of work), i have no plans (except for the dishes). so i'm going to lay in bed for a little bit longer, catch up on parenthood/project runway/the mindy project, and maybe take a nap. ;)

i hope you're having a good day! <3

the best thursday night i've ever had

i almost titled this post "the best night that i've ever had," but that seems dramatic. i'm pretty sure that it is the best thursday night i've ever had, though.

i can't really remember the moment when something clicked and i became o b s e s s e d with jack white, but i know it was sometime around my freshman year of college. considering the only time i've ever seen him live was with my least favorite of the jack white bands (the raconteurs), this was long overdue.

can i be real for a second? i spent ALL MORNING while austin was at work deciding what to wear. i know. it was like a legitimate 5 hour game of dress-up.

i decided on a black tank top, a 70s skirt that has just been hanging out in my closet, my dollar store frankenstein socks, and my doc martens (in case i needed to stomp some people to get to the front, obviously).

the socks were kinda weird but i was a little obsessed with his eyes peeking over the top of the boots. plus they matched my skirt!

i also brought this goofy purse that i got in dollywood. it's teeny and goes over my shoulder and is perfect for my phone, money, id, chapstick, whatever. unfortunately not for a tshirt and poster, which meant i was carrying a tube around all night, too. but whatever! totally worth it.

i was so giddy. like a child. i posted something on facebook along the lines of, "i'm sure that you can imagine how much i'm annoying austin right now," and the only other person who has seen me at a jack white concert liked the status. ;)

we did have car trouble on the way there? which was weird, and i freaked out a little (read: a lot). but i took this cute picture of austin:

and then we were basically there. we stood in line for about 2 hours before we were let in, and then i annoyed (probably) everyone around me for an hour and a half before the concert started.

i could talk/write about this show forever probably, but i won't.. i guess. the "set list" (jack doesn't have set lists, which i only know from my pre-concert research) was a really cool combination of white stripes, raconteurs, dead weather, jack white, and bluegrass/country/blues-songs-i-didn't-recognize. he played with the guy band, which i ended up being really into, even though i thought i wanted the female band. okay, but - i really want to see him again, but with the girl band! you know, for the different songs! i didn't get to hear "love interruption" live, and i'm wondering what else he would've played with them. one huge shock (on my part): i only cried once!! i teared up consistently, like every time austin acknowledged what i was watching (by hugging me or rubbing my back or whatever), but i only full-out cried when he played "hotel yorba." i have no idea why. also, his encore was 6 songs long.

you guys, it was just so much fun. we were lectured about not taking photos or videos, because they had a professional photographer onstage and the pictures would be free on jack's website (so you can imagine what the background to my laptop and phone is going to be for the rest of forever). also my cell phone pictures just would. not. turn. out. so really, you probably don't believe me that i was there. i actually can't believe that i was there.

so, i'm glad i bought this poster.

i'm going to end this here, or else i'll gush for another two hours. of typing, which is like probably 7 more paragraphs.

i promised austin that we would never, ever miss another jack white show, ever. <3

ps, my ears are STILL ringing. ~no regrets~

my first guest post (awww)

hi guys! just a quick post to let you know that i was over at my girl allie's blog, beauty and the feast, for a guest post today. my FIRST guest post. man oh man, i was nervous.

look really closely and notice the bunnies in this skull's eye sockets. please.

it was just a quick little lesson in how to wear ankle boots. check it out, if you feel so inclined. :)

thanks again, allie!! <3

sweater swednesday

in the interest of full disclosure, i should let you know that it was actually way too hot for me to be wearing this sweater on this day. WAY too hot. but i was so excited! i've been layering like crazy for the past couple of days, and this sweater has just been WAITING to be worn, and i jumped the gun today.

but it was too hot.

but i made it work, kind of. either way i was super excited to be wearing it! even if my bangs got sweat-greasy. you know that kind of greasy bangs. :(

sweater: vintage
necklace: cm via local honey
tank top: c/o bentley via austin (you know, my band tee source for life)
jeans: bullhead
shoes: converse

you would think my excitement over this season finally being here would dissipate at least a little, but i think i'm only getting crazier about it? i keep hearing that this is going to be a "BAD winter" and you know what that means: lots and lots and lots of snow. i couldn't be more excited. more clothes in every outfit! snow! this sweater! being outside for more than five seconds!

life rules. :) <3

our trip to chicago/renegade

the most flattering photobooth pictures ever? probably.

mine and bekuh's chicago trip was so perfect. it was basically the quintessential girls' trip.. lots of chatting, shopping, and eating. i had been harboring a lot of reservations about the trip as a whole and they were almost all gone from the very beginning. as a warning: this post is a modgepodge of my cell phone pictures, becca's pictures, and bekuh's pictures..

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the twelve hour drive seemed to go by preeeetty quickly, which helped. we only stopped a few times, for coffee and mcdonalds. ;) of course.

i went with my own advice and wore a cotton dress, leggings, and boots.. my minnetonka fringe boots, to be exact. it was perfect for driving! i didn't need to make the switch to the passenger seat until a little bit before we got to the city (i had asked bekuh earlier if she could do all of the city driving for me.. i'm a baby).

the first night, i was exhausted but also just so happy to be reunited with becca! we drove around to find a parking spot (i was really nervous about where we were going to leave my car for three days), and then ordered a pizza (obviously - we were in chicago) to eat in becca's apartment. i hadn't gotten to see this apartment yet, so it was nice to be able to piece together all of the pictures she had sent me of it. ;) and also to go through her closet! it was huge and awesome. i want to share a closet with becca one day.

lately, i've been waking up at the crack of dawn (even if i'm still sleepy.. annoying), and chicago was no different. i got up and took a shower before the girls were awake. this was the outfit i wore to renegade!! only i took off the tights for the daytime. the skirt is vintage, found at an amazing vintage attic sale that bekuh and i went to a couple of weeks ago, and the shoes are becca's. :)

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mine and bekuh's feet on the platform, waiting for the l

originally, we were hoping to meet up with katherine (my lovely package exchange partner) for donuts before renegade, but there was construction on the l that got us to wicker park right when renegade was starting. our first stop was the tumbleweeds booth, where there were THREE be(ca)(cca)(kuh)s surrounding me. it was ridiculous. we all oohed and ahhed over the glasses that they brought with them, and bekuh and i both left with some pretty sunglasses.. :)

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at first, we thought it'd be best to do a walk-through and see everything before we started buying, but that quickly dissolved, and we just started checking everything out. there was so much to see! and we even realized that we missed a few booths that we were looking forward to, but it was seriously impossible to navigate around all of those people.

we had lunch at a really cute cafe right off of the festival.

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after about 6 hours (!!!!!) of shopping, we figured it was maybe time to head back to becca's to refresh and go over our purchases. i got a few gifts for family and austin, and my favorite finds (besides my sunglasses, omg) were these little things for our house:

these prints caught my eye early on in the day, and i'm glad i remembered to go back for them. i had been envisioning a tattooed lady/tattooed man print pair for hanging over our bed, but these changed my mind completely. :) they're from methane studios, and you can buy them here and here.

this tea towel is, hands down, my favorite thing that i bought in chicago. it's ridiculous! it's a tea towel with little naked ladies on it! ahhh i'm obsessed. i almost never want to use it so that it's never dirty, but. yeah. it was from bespoke uprising.

this tea towel is a little more traditional. ;) i couldn't pass it up, it was so stinking cute. i actually bought two things from the little canoe, but one is a gift, sooooooooo. i love everything she does, though.

via becca :)
waiting on the l to go shopping, day 2

the next day, we decided we'd be doing more shopping. bekuh was super excited to visit a topshop, and i was looking forward to picking up my dream sweatshirt from an urban outfitters. :) we got so lucky this day, with sales and things we had our hearts set on fitting and being cute. becca took us to an urban surplus store, which was nice because i could get a few things for austin on the cheap.

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this trip came and went SO fast, and i'm so glad that i stressed so much over getting to take it. it was necessary. i wish i could have had more time with becca, but i know we'll see each other again soon. ;)

renegade was everything i thought it would be, and i'd love to go to another one next year! hopefully this time with austin in tow, so i can do more home goods shopping.

<3