some people save their clothes for "special occasions" - i say, the occasion is that you're alive and you woke up today...you may as well look cute

I can't really use lack of inspiration as an excuse for my lack of posting - if anything I've been even more so. The outpouring of fall images and concepts in the blogs & magazines has been exceptional this year, and I feel like every single aesthetic applies to my life - something I haven't felt since the over-the-top gypsy hippie look of '08. It's as if all the good grown-up clothes came out right when I finally needed to start wearing them, and I've been piling up magazines pictures and filling folders with images for the past few weeks - all in the hopes of creating a closet full of clothes I love to wear. With caution, I began the process of collecting a few pieces that make want to get dressed up again.

A few things I've checked off my list:

a leopard print coat (from topshop...i'm kind of freaking out over how amazing it is)

black wedge boots

brown wedges in a menswear style

the tan hat from my last post - i about died when i saw that the one on olivia palermo was ACTUALLY available at a reasonable price for us normal people to purchase

The one thing I may be most excited about, however, is this rvca hat. I can't really wear a small fedora - they don't suit me - but this wider brimmed version just reeled me in.

Plus, a girl needs to keep her head warm right?

dress & shoes - forever21, hat - rvca

"Maybe if they all could be combined - art, rock and fashion. Those were always my favorite things."-Stephen Sprouse

less than fancy

I know I know - I'm sure some of you were beginning to give up on me... but I have excellent excuses for my incredibly long absence.

1. I've moved!! I spent the last 11 days packing, moving, and unpacking - it's not my favorite pastime, since furniture moving basically requires a uniform of tennis shoes, denim cutoffs, and my boyfriend's v-necks. I now live in Charleston, IL, a town even smaller than Champaign with less than three sit-down restaurants...no really. Which leads me to my second reason...

2. I've had absolutely no occasion to wear anything more formal than jeans and a tank top since I got here. Seriously, between carrying boxes and working at my business casual job, I have a pretty small window for fashion. Like a good girl, I put off doing anything remotely dress-up worthy until last night, when I threw this on. (For the record, it was for a birthday party, and I was still overdressed.)

3. People walk EVERYWHERE here. If they're not flats, they're not worth wearing, because for some reason there are basically no sidewalks.

But other than that, I'm basically in love with where we live. Our house is cozy and adorable, just like I intended it to be, and I promise my next post will be shots of our humble abode.

Also, I'm going to start working on my "casual" looks...

i'm thinking of it as a new challenge.

dress-f21, shoes-jessica simpson

"Maybe if they all could be combined - art, rock and fashion. Those were always my favorite things."-Stephen Sprouse