#stlfw recap featuring breeze blow dry bar

Get ready to be super proud of me as a blogger guys; guess how many photos I have of the outfits I wore to the two fashion shows #stlfw hosted this week.  Ready for it?  

ZERO.  Claire decided this week would not be my week (oh no, no it would not) and on night one she essentially screamed unless I was holding her, until she screamed unless Darrell was holding her, until I left without any pictures to speak of that documented my outfit.  In retrospect, it was just a black mini, with black tights and a leather jacket so nothing groundbreaking.  We'll all live.....hopefully.  

Instead of nicely edited outfit shots, here are some pictures of me with no makeup on getting my hair done @ Breeze Blow Dry bar - aka my new favorite place in St. Louis, where someone does your hair while you have both your hands free to hold the baby that will only nap in your arms.  

I am pretty sure my stylist thought I was insane, but actually the dryer noise was totally soothing to Claire and she napped the ENTIRE TIME.  Praise the hair gods, because that much volume doesn't happen in my normal routine of air dry/curling iron/shake it out.  

Moving on to night #2 of fashion week, it just gets better.  I successfully ran out the door in time for the show, and my sweet friend had just handed me a glass of champagne when my phone buzzed.  The husband informs me that he thinks Claire has a fever.  Not bad.....but boobs are needed.  So about 30 minutes after arriving, I ran back out to the car that was waiting with Darrell and our screaming infant and went home.  I am choosing not to even be mad about this though, because she still went to bed at a decent hour and seemed 1000x better the next day (I'm blaming teething?)

(Want to see photos from the runway?  Definitely head over to Alive Magazine for all the fashion coverage.)  

 My favorite event of St Louis Fashion Week has historically been the blogger tour of the city.  Riding around in a silly Fun Tyme limo with bloggers + champagne all day? There are worse ways to spend a Friday.  Besides just being a fun day of activities, eating, and shopping it's always amazing to connect with women from all over the country with similar interests.  We all ended the day discussing how grateful we were for the chance to meet one another and form a little community.  St. Louis Fashion Week forever!  

Definitely head over to the STLFW website to check out some of this year's guest bloggers. 

Some new favorites?  Lara's blog Pretty Connected, The Wanderlust Girls Abigail & Emily, Alexa's A Life in the Fashion Lane, and Tamera's Plan T Style.  I kept up with Megan's reliably awesome blog TF Diaries since meeting her last year - anyone who loves tights & leather jackets that much is a girl after my own heart.  

The next night, I tried my best to get a real outfit shot before the blogger dinner at Hiro Asian Kitchen...

and nope.  

Oh hey, Instagram saves the day!  Thanks Clr - Mnstr - for the pic, and the awesome cocktails.  

I DID get pictures of Claire's outfits this weekend.  They're better anyways.  

She's killing it.  If I'd spent half the time on my outfit photos this week as I did on hers, maybe.....well actually I don't know where I'm going with this.  I know you all come here for the baby pics, so perhaps it's better that Claire stays the star of this blog.  

But just in case you're here for more of my all black ensembles, how about I take us out with a mirror selfie from the final night's cocktail hour?  Over and out #stlfw, until next year!  

Well Dressed Midwest VIP Blogger Lounge/#stlfw

If last week's Blogger Lounge is any indication of how #stlfw is going to go, I am in for an amazing week!  Held at Scape American Bistro, one of the prettiest restaurants in the Central West End, we were treated to cocktails, amazing food, flash tattoos (obsessed), and of course amazing company!  I've been out of the St. Louis social scene for so long (thanks to a tiny human who likes to be at home) so I was so excited to see these girls again; you've never met such a stylish and vivacious group.  Brands who attended got to network with an amazing group of bloggers - myself notwithstanding - all brought together by Well Dressed Midwest founder and host of the event, Lindsay Pattan.  I can't wait to see and hear more about what this new organization does for the bloggers and businesses in our region!  

fashion week wardrobe/well dressed midwest blogger lounge

Let's just call this the inaugural "Mary fits back into pre-pregnancy clothes!" post.  I missed this dress!  I love how a simple black sheath gets bumped up a notch in a leather fabrication. I have a goal of buying nothing new for Fashion Week this year (in the spirit of my capsule wardrobe challenge) and I think it's going to be doable.  

I'm wearing: 

Jean jacket & clutch from J. Crew

Dress from Express

Shoe booties from Target

Watch from Marc Jacobs

ps - My hair was done by Jack @ Mitch STL.  I can't wait to share more about this awesome new salon tomorrow!  

the weekender

yes, that is a cupcake with glitter on it.  

This was such a great weekend that I just can't even stand it.  On Thursday, I got to attend a beer and cupcake dinner.  Did you hear me?  BEER AND CUPCAKE DINNER.  It was as amazing as it sounds, and a total treat to be invited.  Goose Island treated some local bloggers to some amazing beer and pairings from Jilly's,

Friday night I attended the STL Fashion Blog Awards, and although Light Sleeper, Heavy Dreamer didn't win I was so appreciative of the nomination and one of my good friends totally swept all her categories, so that was so fun to see!  I definitely plan to include more fashion & style in the upcoming year, but I've taken a little break from it to focus on being mom lately.  I'm really excited to get inspired by the upcoming fashion week events, and have an excuse to break out of my mom uniform to get glammed up for some parties.  (Spoiler: my fashion week outfits do not fit into my capsule, they will mostly be borrowed dresses!)

She is just the BEST in the mornings.  There is just this unbridled excitement for each new day when you're a baby, and getting in on a little bit of that is one of the best parts of being a mom.  

I think the best day of the whole weekend was Saturday.  I woke up on Claire time, had coffee with my family, and went to a wonderful yoga class with my sister.  I came home to hang out with Claire while Darrell went to see a co-worker's band play (metal.......so not really my bag!) and we took a blissful little walk down to our coffee shop for chocolate chip cookies & iced coffee, which was munched down in the midst of a pretty epic Real Housewives marathon.

What wasn't so fun?  The evenings.  Claire has hit the 4 month sleep regression pretty hard, and although I knew it was coming I can't say I was wholly prepared.  She used to go down easily, drowsy but awake between 8-9 but now when we attempt that we're met with.......screaming.  Saturday night I caved and allowed her to sleep in bed with me after struggling for a few hours, but Sunday we persevered until she slept in her crib, staying there until 4 am for a total of 7 hours and 3 more hours in our bed.  I'm fairly determined to not let this developmental milestone undo all the work we put into making her a baby that sleeps well.  If you have any experience/tips with this PLEASE share in the comments!  The response I've gotten so far is that about 50% of babies get over it and pick up their good habits right where they left off, and the other half.......well, they lose it and parents have to start all over again, often resulting in a few rounds of cry it out.  

stlfw: blog awards nominations + official bloggers announced

It's that time of year again!  STL Fashion week is just on the horizon, and I was fortunate enough to be selected once again as an official blogger this season.  

One of the first events of the season will be the St. Louis Fashion Week blog awards, and I wanted to encourage you all to nominate your favorite blogs before the form closes on August 22nd!  You can click through here to see all this year's bloggers and nominate your favorites (and if I may make a suggestion, City in a Jar or Camp Patton, my two favorite locals!)  

I'll be keeping you all updated as it draws closer - from what I've heard it's going to be the most fantastic season yet!

*Note: this post originally ran on Wednesday, but apparently I jumped the gun and the St. Louis Fashion Week site had not "officially" launched.  If you already submitted a nomination form, it still counts!    

stlfw/blogger's day out

Last Friday, the lovely creators of the app Muzio were kind enough to take the bloggers of St. Louis Fashion week on a little day tour of our city!  I live here, of course, but many of the bloggers from out of town had never visited before.  And of course, I was happy to play tourist for a day!  

I'm ashamed to say, it was my first time visiting the St. Louis Art Museum.  I was pleasantly surprised!  The museum had some awesome pieces, and the one above was my very favorite.  

Afterwards we popped over to Scape, a gorgeous restaurant in the Central West End where we were treated to champagne & french macarons.  

This is what every table looks like when you're out with bloggers - littered with fancy cameras and champagne!  

We moved on to the gorgeous city library, newly renovated and situated right in the middle of downtown.  I love libraries, but I'm always sort of intimidated by how huge this one is, so I rarely come, but it is SO beautiful.  

And of course, a few outfit shots where we finished up - at the Arch!  A tour of St. Louis wouldn't be complete without a stop at our most famous landmark.  

i wore: black leather shorts and pumps - h&m, lace blouse and necklace - jcrew, sunglasses - rayban

stl fashion week/style in the loop

Say hello to my husband, smiling at a fashion show.  Never thought you'd see the day?  

Well truth be told, Style In the Loop was so fun, it wasn't hard to keep him grinning.  Also, there may have been beer.  

Darrell was pretty into playing photographer all day, and snapped these awesome pics of some U City Loop landmarks.  The statue is Chuck Berry, a St. Louis native, and his restaurant of choice, Blueberry Hill.  He still plays shows there in the "Duck Room" venue, from time to time.  

I'm a bad blogger and didn't take any outfit pics, but Darrell got sneaky while I was chatting with some friends we ran into!  

I wore: wedges-steve madden, suede shorts-forever 21, tee-anthropologie, hat-asos, bag-billabong.  

This cute puppy was in the Project Runway show Saturday night, so now he's an STL Fashion week celebrity.  

We were lucky enough to see looks from some of St. Louis' most talented designers.  Check out their STL fashion week profiles here!  

I'm already looking forward to tomorrow's events.   

If you haven't yet, make sure to get your tickets to Project Design: STL's Emerging Designer Contest!  

stl fashion week/project runway at the fox

As if it wasn't exciting enough to get to see a special presentation of the current collections from several Project Runway designers, it was the icing on the cake that the show took place at the Fox theatre.  

It's an insanely gorgeous theatre.  This is just the Lobby!  

But let's back it up - I was excited to get dressed up for one of the definite highlights of the week.  This might be a dorky thing to admit, but anytime I'm getting dressed for an event where pictures will be taken, I take a selfie AND make my husband snap a pic of the outfit before I leave!  Wisdom from Cher Horowitz.  Then I have no regrets the next day when the pics are posted on Facebook or Instagram.  

On display in the lobby were the incredible clothes by Scarlett Designs!  

I have to say, the runway show may have been the real focus of the evening, but the designs by Scarlett were my very favorite.  These clothes look like they were worn by socialites in 1950s Havana.  So glamorous, but still collectively wearable.  Not to mention the models were styled to perfection.  

My gorgeous friends Lisa & Logan!  Seriously though, how amazing is Logan's jacket?  It's actually a vintage military coat.  

Alive Magazine did an amazing job.  The theatre was really transformed!  

I took one second to snap a quick picture with my fellow bloggers Kate, Danica & Emily & Julia before the show started...

and then the models started out from behind the stage!  The show was gorgeous, and every designer certainly had their own perspective.  The collections moved from dark to light, with the first from Michael Drummond being distinctively gothic.  Joshua McKinley's mix of leopard & houndstooth felt sort of like fashion Prozac!  It was an unexpected combination I really loved.  Laura Kathleen, a St. Louis native, presented the final collection which had a sophisticated palette of gold & black.  I was focusing more on experiencing the show than taking photos, but make sure to check out Alive Magazine this afternoon for full coverage of the best looks from the show.   

If you haven't yet, make sure to get your tickets for Style In the Loop this afternoon.  It's supposed to be gorgeous weather, and if the previous shows have been any indication, it will not disappoint!  

  

stl fashion week day 3/indulge at plaza frontenac

I have to say, last night I felt truly impressed by the style community in St. Louis.  The dummies who once put St. Louis on this list would've been eating their words had they seen the crowd last night!  Guests of the show really stepped it up - I snapped the shoes above right when I walked in.  Anybody want to ID them for me?  

Myself notwithstanding, St. Louis definitely has some gorgeous bloggers!  

     top pic - Rose a la Mode in a darling black dress & crystal necklace.  bottom pic -  Oh, Julia Ann has the most stunning red hair, Style Everyday in a charming magenta skirt.  

My date for the night, Logan, was nice enough to snap a few outfit pics for me.    

wearing: pants-jcrew, top-forever21, mongolian lamb vest-ebay, pumps-kate spade, bag & bangle-jcrew

The show was beautiful.  I had to take a few pics of this Pace Farias dress, which had amazing movement. 

Gorgeous looks from Juicy Couture, BCBG, and Ann Taylor!  

Best of all, the evening benefited St Louis Cardinal Glennon's children's hospital, with 100% of the proceeds supporting their efforts to never turn away any child for treatment - even if they can't afford to pay.  

This evening, I'm off to the Fabulous Fox for the Project Runway fashion show!  I've definitely been looking forward to it, as it's sure to be a gorgeous show and it's always a treat to go to the Fox.  If you haven't yet, be sure to get your tickets here!