Leather Sleeves

Well...this is starting to get awkward. At this rate, I'll only post blog 12 times in 2012. SO not okay with that. New year's resolution = blog more! For real though I miss blogging. I've used the excuse of being busy for not blogging tons of times, but every blogger is busy. I think I've come to the realization that an important part of being a successful blogger is making time for it, not just using extra time to blog. So, with that said, I'm going to try oh so hard to make more time for my blog. I already have so many posts that I'm itching to do. :)

Now that that's out of the way, I wore this outfit an embarrassingly long time ago. Like...week of Thanksgiving if I remember correctly. This outfit would not work for the current winter temperatures. I wore this when I was in a bit of a fashion rut, so I went for a completely different look than I usually wear. I hardly ever wear flares or completely tucked in shirts so putting them together was super new for me. I've loved it on so many bloggers so I just had to try it for myself. I wore this out to dinner with my family, and the first thing my older brother said to me was "...are those leather sleeves?" Yes. Yes they are. This coat may be a bit of a man repeller, but I still love it. Plus, I replenish/update my brother's wardrobe twice a year on his birthday and Christmas so he can't even talk. He should be thanking me.

Last thing...I absolutely love how these photos turned out. Me and my roommate/fellow blogger Mary found this amazing light right behind our apartment. I'm picturing a winter outfit shoot with this light when we finally get some snow up here.

I hope that those of you who celebrate Christmas had an amazing time with your family! My Christmas outfit post will be posted very shortly :)

Coat: Forever 21

Shirt: TJ Maxx

Jeans: Forever 21

Bracelets: Forever 21, Target, H&M

Necklace: American Eagle

Belt: Michael Kors via TJ Maxx

Shoes: DSW

PS - I need to get a new go-to pose. Hand-on-the-hip is being seriously overused here.

Concert Heels

These pictures are what happen when I wait til it's basically dark out to take outfit pictures. It just gets dark so freaking early now! One of my least favorite parts about the changing seasons is shorter days. Come back sunlight, I need to take outfit pictures! So, sorry for the lack of detail in these pictures. I guess I could've used the flash, but as a photographer I try to avoid flash at all costs. 

As you can probably tell from the title of this post, I wore this outfit to a concert. Jon McLaughlin and Stephen Kellogg & the Sixers to be exact. Look them up if you don't know who they are. SO good. You can't see my favorite part of these jeans, but they're studded along the pockets. Pretty much why I got them. Also, I'm wearing heels. This is very rare, and my feet were practically screaming at me at the end of the night because they're used to comfy boots. Sometimes a girl's gotta wear heels, ya know?

Jean details from forever21.com

Vest: Just Jeans(bought in Australia)

Tank: Banana Republic

Jeans: Forever 21

Belt: H&M

Bracelets: Forever 21

Shoes: Random store in Chicago(they were reallly cheap)

Red, White, & Leopard

So these photos were actually taken at the same location as this shoot with Mary. I was with my really good friend Kelsey and we decided to venture further down the path and this is what we found! These shorts are definitely a new favorite of mine. I'm already a huge colored denim fan, so buying these was a no brainer. They make dressing fashionable in the summer super easy. Which is why just pairing them with a white tank, belt, and sandals worked perfectly :)

Me & Kelsey!

Tank: Banana Republic Outlet

Shorts, Belt, Sandals, & Earrings: Forever 21

Thanks to Kelsey for taking these for me!

Subtly Feathered

These photos are from me and Mary's second downtown outfit shoot/apartment hunting/general summer fun day. I probably could've made that less confusing but I'm on the verge of falling asleep and I set today as my deadline for getting this post up. Must. Blog. Not that it's not something I don't love doing, it just tends to fall to the wayside(what does that even mean?) when life gets a bit too hectic. I'm sure lots of you know what I mean. :)

As you can see it was a beautiful day, so an outfit photo shoot was definitely necessary. Oh, and you might be wondering about the name of this post. My necklace and shirt have feathers on them, so 'subtly feathered' it was. I swear, naming posts can be the hardest part of getting a blog post up. 

Quick note about summer dressing: it's HARD. I find that it's so much harder to be creative and fun with my fashion in the summer, since well..I'm wearing less articles of clothing. I might have to start wearing *gasp* dresses! Nothing against them, it's just never been my thing. But since I'm itching to expand my summer clothes options, I may just have to dust off the dresses I have.

One more thing and I'm off to bed: I would kill for this weather again(okay, not quite). Today I'm wearing pants, long sleeves, a scarf, and a jacket...come ON, it's JUNE! Coldest summer ever. Okay, I'm done now. Not blogging for awhile leads to some long posts!

Super pretty flowers at our favorite lakefront coffee shop :)

Mary in her adorably summery getup!

The cute little path we shot our photos at..although there was some sketchy yelling and whatnot further down so we stayed near the top haha.

Top: Forever 21

Shorts: Gap Outlet

Shoes: TOMS Shoes

Necklace: Forever 21

Roomie Shoot #1!

This post is super late. We shot these a week ago. Oops! I knew it was getting ridiculous when I had 3 more outfits already shot, and I hadn't posted these yet, haha. You can definitely tell it was a week ago because the temperatures have changed quite a bit since then. I've been wearing shorts and tanks lately :) Anyways, this was me and Mary's first outfit shoot together! I seriously can not wait til we can shoot each others outfits all the time when we move in together at the end of summer! There's endless awesome locations downtown too, including this park overlooking the lake. We spent the day eating delicious food(refer to tempura snap peas & cupcakes below..YUM), browsing some shops, and taking each others photos! It was a blast.

Mary looking adorable as usual :) 

..Can you tell how insanely windy is was in the next 2 pictures? haha.

Blazer: H&M

Tank, Jeans, & Jewelry: Forever 21

Purse: Target (on sale for $8!)

Boots: DSW (Brand, Diba)