Uncategorized – District Damsel

October 15, 2019October 15, 2019

Tips For Decorating A Baby Shower | Baby King’s Shower

I met Julie about five years on my first day of work at an IT recruiting firm and from the instant I saw her, I wanted to be friends with her. She radiated warmth, kindness, and humor, plus she was REALLY pretty, so I crossed my fingers and hoped she would want to be friends back. I ended up getting insanely lucky and Julie’s become one of my closest friends since then. She was the first person I got to talk to about my first date with Gerald (I ran to her office cube the morning after and actually sprawled on her desk with excitement), is the one I call when I need some honest life advice, and has ultimately become the big sister I never knew I needed. (We literally convince people we’re sisters when we’re out and they believe us.)

When Julie and her equally amazing husband Drew shared the news that they were pregnant, I was over the moon and basically scream/cried — I was literally laughing and sobbing at the same time walking down the sidewalk like a hyena. The Kings are one of our favorite couples and both they and Baby King deserve the absolute world, so I was honored to help decorate their baby shower.

Julie and Drew have decided to not find out the baby’s gender, which I absolutely love. You only get so many true surprises in your life so I think it’s amazing that they are waiting until the delivery to find out! As a result, Jules and I landed on a general, neutral theme of “our little pumpkin” for the shower and I set to pinning away for inspiration. I have to admit, the decorations skewed a little bit more towards a girl, (spoiler, I do think it is a girl), but my goal was to embrace the fall season and to make the event as Instagrammable as possible.

Julie and Drew picked a really fun venue, The Bungalow Lakehouse in Sterling, VA, and my vision was to make it feel like you were in a fantasy pumpkin patch. The major challenges about the space were

1) you were not allowed to tape anything to the walls

2) I had never seen the space before

Luckily, the events coordinator was fabulous and sent me all of the table measurements and a mock up of the room — highly recommend asking for this if you’re helping plan an event! Other key questions include how many tables will be in the room so you can make the right number of centerpieces and how early you are allowed in the space to set up. We were only allowed one hour of set up time, so I did a TON of prep the night and morning before and we knocked out the decorations in basically 20 minutes. (Shout out to Mama Crane and Collie for help setting up!)

I got lucky and was able to get a lot of the shower supplies from local stores, but for the rest I turned to Etsy and Zazzle. Below is a breakdown of where I got each item and my advice for future baby shower decorators!

BALLOONS

Cake Table Balloon Garland – Etsy | I saw this balloon garland on Pinterest and was determined to have it at the shower. The exact garland kit was linked on the pin and it included all of the balloons, a plastic strip to assemble the garland, and ribbon to attach it to whatever you would like. The Etsy shop also recommended purchasing a hand pump to blow up the balloons (the garland doesn’t require helium) so I got that in my kit as an add-on. The whole thing took about 35 minutes to blow up, tie, and arrange the balloons. I would highly recommend a garland kit from this Etsy shop!
Wood Crates – A.C. Moore | I originally wanted a wood pallet to hang the balloon garland on, just like the Pinterest picture, but after talking a team member at Home Depot into giving me one for free, realized I couldn’t fit it in Gerald’s car. *face palm* My mom had the idea to use wooden crates instead, and it was perfect because we stacked all of the florals and pumpkins in the crates to transport them to the venue.
Baby Script Balloon – Etsy | I got this balloon from the same shop as the garland and originally wanted to hang it from the bottom of the larger balloon arch, but it turned out to be massive in real life! The balloon comes with a straw to poke a hole in it to blow it up (not going to lie, I had to Google how to do it), but it only took about 45 seconds to inflate the balloon with the hand pump once I figured out how to insert it in the balloon opening. Instead of hanging it on a wall or arch, we used the balloon as a sort of photo prop and I think it turned out cute!
Balloon Arch – Party City | The night before the shower, I headed to the burbs and loaded up on helium balloons — you should have seen the looks I got when I rolled up 45 minutes to closing and put 50 balloons on the balloon center counter, do not recommend doing this. Warning, it takes a long time to blow up helium balloons in bulk, so be prepared to wander aimlessly around the party store for a minimum of 20 minutes. Helium balloons are not guaranteed to last to the next day, so I asked for a special glue to be put in the balloons that makes them last about five days. It is an extra cost, but so worth it! To assemble the arch, all you need to do is get two weights (you can purchase them at the party store), measure a piece of curling ribbon to the length of the base of the arch (i.e. if you know the table is 5′ long, measure out five feet) then pull the ribbon up into an arch, estimating how high you want the actual arch to go. For a 5′ table, I used about 11′ of ribbon. To make it easier, I suggest tying the ribbon on the backs of two chairs and stretching them out across the room so you have a taut base to work with. From there, just cut the ribbons on the balloons to about 1.5″ and tie a basic knot onto the base ribbon, keeping the balloons close enough to form a ring of about four balloons around the ribbon. Keep tying all of the balloons around the base ribbon (the closer the better) until you’re out and then attach the base ribbon to the weights. Once you have the base ribbon weighted down, it will naturally form an arch! It’s time consuming, but actually so easy to create.

PAPER PRODUCTS

Welcome Sign + Table Cards – Zazzle | It is extremely easy to create custom designs on Zazzle — there are tons of templates to choose from and you can edit nearly all parts of the text in the template. The designs I chose were actually wedding save the dates and a wedding welcome sign, but within a few minutes they easily became baby shower signage! I accidentally ordered just a print of the sign, not an actual card stock sign, but picked up a poster board when I got the crates and attached eucalyptus with floral wiring to cover up the extra portion on top.
Easel – Amazon | Whatever you do, do not buy this easel off of Amazon. It sucks and is impossible to put together. That is all.
Prediction Cards – Zazzle | Julie didn’t want to play any games at the shower, but we both thought it would be a cute idea for guests to guess the gender! I liked these prediction cards because they had room to guess the time the baby would be born, who they would resemble, and a little spot to leave a personalized note for the parents-to-be. I used the card drop box from our wedding as a place for people to leave their predictions. Don’t forget to bring a bunch of pens as well!
Table Card Holders – Etsy | I totally forgot that I had a ton of table card holders from our wedding (see note below about taking inventory of your place before buying things), but these little mod triangle holders were super cute and very affordable.
Baby King Sign – Etsy | Another easy customizable paper product! This was too cute to pass up. Instead of taping it to the gift table, I tied the strings around the stems of two pumpkins and that way we could easily adjust the placement and make sure it was centered— plus it looked better than tape on a tablecloth!

FLORALS

Flower Arrangements – Trader Joe’s | I got all of the supplies for the floral arrangements from my local Trader Joe’s — their flower department is actually very robust and affordable. The weekend before the shower, I got all of the eucalyptus they had in stock because I was afraid that they would be out the weekend of the shower. (Yes, I looked like a psycho carrying it all down 14th St.) Eucalyptus lasts forever and it doesn’t dry up immediately when it doesn’t have water, so it’s ideal for table scapes or draping around the room. I got the actual flowers the day before the shower and just winged it, hoping they would look good together. The hay-like fillers were also from TJs and make a massive mess, but I think they helped pull the arrangements together! Before you run out and buy a ton of vases, raid your kitchen cabinets — I had all of these mason jars on hand already and just pulled from my personal vase stash and had more than enough vessels for the whole room.
Pumpkins – Trader Joe’s, Home Depot, and Giant | This time of year, you can get pumpkins ANYWHERE, but Trader Joe’s had the cheapest at $0.69 a mini pumpkin. Giant had them as 10 for $10, and Home Depot was a total rip off so don’t even bother going there. If there are kids at the shower, let them take home a pumpkin as a treat so you don’t have 50 pumpkins filling your apartment!

Thank you to Julie and Drew for letting me be part of your special shower — Baby King is so loved already and I can’t wait to meet them in just a few months!

The dress I wore is Rebecca Minkoff from Rent The Runway. You can use my code SCOLLIE50 for 50% off your first month of Unlimited!

July 23, 2019July 23, 2019

Life Update

I don’t even remember the last time I shared a life update on here, so I figured now was as good of a time as any.

It’s no secret that I’ve been slacking on my blog posts this year, but I’ve had quite a few things keeping me busy. The past five months have flown by since we got married in February and I cannot believe we are halfway through 2019. Obviously, wedding planning consumed a lot of my time at the beginning of the year, but I also started a new job in late January.

I’ve hinted at it a few times on social posts, but I was lucky enough to receive a job offer from an ownership group that operates seven open Orangetheory Fitness studios up and down the east coast (Northern VA, Central PA, and Brooklyn) with plans of rapidly expanding by the end of the year. My official title is the group’s Director of HR/Admin and I oversee internal operations relating to human resources, new studio construction, open studio maintenance and supplies, and really whatever else I can help with! It was a huge transition from my corporate job as an Account Manager at a digital marketing agency, and while it’s been a lot to learn a totally different industry, it’s been an amazing change for my mental health and overall wellbeing and I can actually, finally say I love my job.

My segue into the fitness industry was something that happened to fall into my lap due to a referral from a friend from college, and sometimes I have to pinch myself to confirm that this is my day-to-day. I’ve had a secret desire to teach group fitness classes for the past few years, but could never figure out how to make it work with a full-time corporate job that left me so drained it was a miracle if I ever even made it to my own workouts.

Now that I’m lucky enough to be knee-deep in the industry, the opportunity to coach Orangetheory classes is on the table, and it was the push I needed to start studying for my NASM personal training certification. I’m not going to lie — getting started was SUPER hard. I registered and purchased the program back in March, and it’s taken months for me to figure out how to dedicate the time needed to studying for it. Prioritization is HUGE and I recently put up an automatic reply on my blog email explaining that I was studying for my test and if I was slower to respond to messages that was why. It felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders, and now that I’m putting it out into the universe, it’s really lighting a fire for me to focus on something that’s going to (hopefully) make me really happy and advance my career in an industry I’m super passionate about.

If you’ve made it this far through the post, thank you for sticking around, and I appreciate your support! Now for the outfit — it has absolutely nothing to do with this post, but here we are. While fitness is my current (and hopefully lifelong) passion, fashion and expressing myself through clothing will always be something I love, even if blog posts and attending events take a backseat to studying. I wore this two-piece set for a fun but low-key 4th of July celebration at a friend’s house and paired it with my favorite bag of the moment — another fab Amazon find. Shop it all below!

Pantsuit Set | Lulus

Purse | Amazon

June 14, 2019June 21, 2019

Amazon Finds | Round 4

I realized it’s been awhile since I rounded up my latest Amazon finds and it’s because I haven’t been online shopping as much lately! While I still love Amazon, I’ve been mostly shopping on Fabletics (learn more about how it works here!) and taking major advantage of my Rent The Runway Unlimited membership. (Shameless plug, you can get 50% off your first month of unlimited with code SCOLLIE50.)

Aside from the fact that I haven’t been getting as many brown boxes in the mail, I still do have some blog-worthy finds! You can also shop my Amazon wishlists here or take a look back at my previous posts featuring Amazon finds here and here.

Romewe Calico Print Romper

This fun and flirty romper is an older Amazon purchase and no longer available, but I’ve linked similar here and here! This particular one runs a little big and I’m wearing a small.

Geometric Earring Stand

Alright so this isn’t clotheing, but I recently ordered this to help maintain my growing statement earring collection and I love it! You can fit so many pairs of earrings on here and it really helped de-clutter the top of my dresser.

Snakeskin Bodysuit

I can’t resist a good bodysuit. I ordered a small in this one and it’s a little bit too big, but I’m hoping I can shrink it in the wash. The fabric is pretty thin, so you’ll have to wear a bra under it, I prefer these sticky boobs.

Lemon Print Two Piece Set

I have been eyeing this set for nearly a year and finally bit the bullet. I love lemon prints for summer — they feel fun and fresh to me! I got a small in the set — both pieces are stretchy, but I’d say they are true to size.

White Halter Jumpsuit

The jumpsuit finally made it on the blog! I originally got this for my wedding rehearsal dinner, but upon receiving it, realized it was a bit too see-through and low cut for a family affair. The pants are 100% see through, you can see the pockets in the front and honestly you’re probably best off commando, but I love the cut of it so much that I learned to deal with it. I’m wearing a small and it’s true to size.

May 31, 2019

5 Things to Know About Shopping at Lulus

Well, I didn’t mean to take a two month hiatus from writing blog posts, but it turns out that’s exactly what I did. I was feeling a little uninspired and quite frankly, have been just super busy, but I’m ready to get back on the writing train. Thanks for not bailing on me while I got my act together. ♥️

It seems like eons ago when I started working on a post about Lulus, and I put up an Instagram poll asking if you’d rather read a post about “5 things to know” about shopping with them or a spring/summer review and the votes came out 50/50, so it’s going to be a split post! Without further ado, read one for five things you need to know about shopping at Lulus.

Shipping & returns are not free — the site will frequently have free shipping promos, but returns are only free if you send your items back within 10 days of the delivery date. I’m notorious for taking too long to send items back after realizing I don’t want them, so this constantly gets me when I return items from lulus! Try on items as soon as you get them and get them back in the mail within the same week
Sizing varies – Lulus carries a variety of different brands in addition to their private label and the sizes vary. I’m usually between an XS and S, so I like to order two sizes and then ship back the one that doesn’t fit. Since the site is pretty popular, there are a decent amount of reviews from real people, so I always make sure to check those too for sizing insights
Overall, the quality is good – fair warning, nearly everything comes wrinkled and how a piece of wrinkled clothing looks and fits can make a big difference than something that’s steamed. Yes, it’s a pain to steam something that you might not keep, but I promise it makes a big difference! As with any item of clothing, make sure you read the washing instructions, I always air on the side of caution and air dry my clothes from lulus to avoid shrinkage
Keep an eye out for promo codes – the brand frequently offers 20% off codes for seasonal items and they frequently do “spin the wheel deals” for a chance to win a discount code. It’s worth signing up for their email list so you don’t miss out on sales and promos!
It’s a great place for bridesmaids dresses – my bridesmaids’ dresses were from here and I loved them. They were very affordable (under $100) and many of the dresses come in multiple colors so it’s easy to find a pretty style that matches your color scheme. Of course, I chose one of the most popular dresses and it kept selling out so my girls were basically playing Russian Roulette with the site trying to order their sizes, but it all ended up working out!

Shop My Look

Dress | Lulus (similar and similar)

March 27, 2019

How We Chose Our Honeymoon

Shop My Look

Dress | Red Dress Boutique

(It’s on a waitlist right now, but you can sign up to get noticed when it’s back in stock!)

Heels | Forever 21

When it came time to book our honeymoon during the wedding planning process, Gerald literally went “finally, the fun part!” I digress, but he was kind of right — it was the easiest part. We only came up with three top criteria for the trip:

Somewhere warm — as a result we decided to pick a place that was below the equator for optimal tropical weather
All-inclusive — after staring at budgeting spreadsheets for over a year, we wanted to go somewhere where worrying about spending money on drinks and dinner wasn’t a factor outside of the initial resort cost
Relaxing — we’re both fairly active people so we wanted the option to go on excursions, but we also love vegging out on the beach with a good book

I had learned about Sandals resorts from the copious amounts of bridal magazines I consumed over the last year and a half and had heard they were on the reasonably-priced side so I started my search there. At first, Gerald was totally opposed to staying at a Sandals because “he didn’t want to go somewhere he’d seen commercials for” whatever that means. I let him spend a whole weekend researching all-inclusive resorts before he landed on Sandals 😂 (Bonus, Sandals is adults only!)

As for picking Saint Lucia, we really had no reason other than it looked beautiful and it was far enough below the equator to have consistent warm weather! There are three Sandals resorts in Saint Lucia and we went with the Regency La Toc

because according to online reviews, it skews the youngest and it had 9 different dining options and a golf course on the resort (don’t worry ladies, he only played three rounds.)

The resort ended up being a fabulous pick and I would highly recommend it for future honeymooners. It hit all of our criteria and while I did get a little restless towards the end of the trip (both treadmills at the gym were broken and the beach was only about a 1/3 of a mile long) there was plenty to do to entertain yourself both on the resort and through their excursions.

As a vegetarian, I felt slightly limited by my dining options — there was usually only one vegetarian entrée offered for dinner — but it didn’t truly take anything away from the experience and I certainly didn’t go hungry! Gerald definitely got his fill of the unlimited food and I managed to stay on my healthy eating train, despite all of the bottomless drinks. Yes, alcohol was included!

While we probably won’t go back to the exact resort or island, it definitely made us want to book a return trip to the Caribbean!

March 19, 2019

Fabletics VS lululemon

Shooting fitness pics is HARD and v awkward.

I shared a brief update on Instagram stories a few weeks ago, but in January, I started a new operational job at a series of Orangetheory Fitness franchises! I’ll get more into the details of why I made a career 180 in a later post, but it’s super relevant to this one so had to mention it.

My job is very flexible and allows me the option to work both from my respective OTF studios and home, but when I’m in the studios I wear workout gear — yes, I get to wear leggings and sneakers to the office every day. It’s pretty awesome, but as someone who loves fashion and expressing myself through clothing, I knew I’d have to step up my activewear game — all black outfits everyday just weren’t going to cut it for me.

I love lululemon—their apparel is definitely designed for optimal performance and very high quality—but it gets expensive quickly. I have a handful of bottoms and a jacket from there that I wear on repeat, but knew I couldn’t be shelling out $120 for a pair of leggings every time I needed to curb my fashion cravings. I’d seen Fabletics heavily advertised on Instagram and even on TV, but when I Googled the difference between them and lulu, I couldn’t find a lot of information on how they compared. I bit the bullet and joined their “VIP club” anyways, figuring I could just return everything if I didn’t like it, but I was totally surprised and loved it all! Read on for five things you need to know about Fabletics and how they rank against lulu.

HOW IT WORKS

You can either join their VIP Club or shop directly from their site / retail stores without a membership. The VIP membership is what gets you the 2 pairs of leggings for $24 deal on your first purchase, as well as up to 50% off additional items in your first purchase. I got four pairs of leggings and a top for $120 the first time I shopped with them online!

After you join, it’s basically a monthly membership for $49.95. On the first day of each month, they’ll release “new outfits” and you can apply your $49.95 credit towards one of those or use it to purchase a la carte items.

You can cancel your membership at any time and make random purchases throughout the month outside of your $49.59 credit. Being a VIP member also gets you up to 50% off all purchases and access to their rewards program which essentially gives you points in the form of retail dollars for leaving product reviews.

AVERAGE PRICE POINTS

Based on the VIP membership pricing for Fabletics.

Leggings

Fabletics: $44.95

lulu: $98 – $110

Tops

Fabletics: $30

lulu: $40 – $50

Sports Bras

Fabletics: $25 – $50

lulu: $50 – $70

Jackets

Fabletics: $50 – $60

lulu: $110

QUALITY

There is no arguing that lulu uses top-notch materials in their products. I wore one pair of their leggings nearly three times a week for a year and I’m still seeing no signs of pilling or loose threads. The materials they use are breathable and soft to the touch, and you can tell it’s a sweat wicking material. Depending on what type of product you’re buying, they usually have a solid compression, but sometimes I want a little more, like in their align leggings (they’re great, but sometimes I feel like they highlight my cellulite because they’re very thin.) I am ALL about compression, I try to order the highest compression in all workout leggings I can and prefer a high waist cut that comes up right my belly button because that’s where my “problem areas” are.

When I got my first Fabletics order, I was surprised at the quality of the leggings, I have the “Powerhold” high waist cut in five pairs and I’m obsessed with the compression. They’re squat proof and super sculpting and hit exactly where I want them to on the waistline. The material though feels a little funky at first, it’s not that sleek, almost shiny fabric I’m used to at lulu, it’s more cotton-y to the touch and they aren’t quite as breathable. I did just try their new trinity fabric, and while that seems more in line with what I’m used to from lulu, it has less compression. The tops I’ve tried are made out of a totally different fabric and have that buttery, almost cool to the touch feel. I just got my first sports bra and jacket in my March shipment so I’m eager to try those out.

SIZING

In general, I would say lulu runs a little small and Fabletics runs a little big. Below are my sizing breakdowns for reference.

Leggings

Fabletics: XS

lulu: 4

Tops

Fabletics: XS

lulu: 4/6 Sports

Bras

Fabletics: S

lulu 4/6

Jackets

Fabletics: XS but I sized up in my most recent purchase because it’s a cropped sweater

lulu: 4/6

WHICH ONE SHOULD YOU BUY?

I can’t even answer that question because I love both so much!

I love that Fabletics comes out with new styles every month at an affordable price point and puts together outfits for you. However, if you already have a decent amount of workout clothes or you’re only working out 2-3 times a week, a membership might be overwhelming and clutter your closet. If you live in activewear outside of work or workout 4-6 times a week, it might be a good fit!

If you are just looking to invest in solid workout attire, I’d recommend starting with lulu because their quality is unparalleled and you can go to a brick and mortar store to physically try everything on and get in-person assistance.

Let me know if you try Fabletics and what you think!

March 5, 2019March 5, 2019

Amazon Roundup | Honeymoon Edition

I’m not going to lie, I went a little ham on my Amazon purchases for our Saint Lucia honeymoon. Since our trip was in February, I knew I’d have to resort to online shopping for warm weather clothes and I got nearly all of my new items (sans two dresses) for the honeymoon on Amazon. Luckily, my purchases turned out to be legit! I’ve gotten pretty good at ordering things from Amazon, and my top three tips boil down to this:

Check the reviews — if there’s only one or two reviews, I’ll bypass an item. I take all reviews to heart and especially pay attention to the reviews that have pictures
Look into the return policies — I’ve been burned before on return policies because I didn’t read the fine print. Make sure they accept returns!
Only order Prime — a lot of the overseas retailers where I got the items below have pieces stored in warehouses in the US. If you don’t use Prime you could be waiting for up to a month for something.

Keep going for all the bikinis, obnoxious hats, and cover ups! For reference, I’m 5’4.5″ and weighed 109 lbs at the time these photos were taken. (I don’t like disclosing my weight but I realize it’s important when people are coming to my blog for reviews and trying to gauge sizes off of my comments and images.)

High-Waisted Black Bikini: okay so the black is no longer listed on the site, but I love the olive and gingham options! I ordered a small and the top fit perfectly thanks to the adjustable tie in the front, but the bottoms were far too big and were lowkey falling off the second I got in the water. I included this really awkward shot that our tour guide took so you could see how the back looks, I’m sorry. I did feel very comfortable in it since it came up so high on my stomach, but honestly I felt like the back looked a little bit like a diaper. The quality was actually really nice though, and the top has adjustable straps! I ended up pairing the top with my new favorite bottoms, below.

Off The Shoulder Leopard Print Bikini: when I bought this swimsuit I literally texted a friend “who do I think I am?” with a picture of it, but it’s my favorite out of the whole bunch! In the link, you can see there’s a tie on the top, but it’s detachable and I thought it looked silly IRL so I didn’t wear it. I only wore the top once on the vacation, but I wore the bottoms twice and will probably wear them the rest of the summer because the fit was SO FLATTERING. I like a cheeky bottom and this was the perfect balance between being scandalous and not feeling too exposed. Since I’m not blessed up top, the top was a little harder for me to wear and it rolled down across my chest and showed the lining, but those who are more fortunate shouldn’t have a problem. I ordered a small in this.

Just Married Hat: this may be the most extra thing I bought, and it was totally impractical. I literally only wore it for pictures because it was so windy on the island that it just blew off every two minutes. That being said, it was super cute and only $15, so why the heck not.

Crochet Cover Up: I was skeptical that I’d wear a coverup (I usually just wear jean shorts and a tank) but oh my gosh, I now know why people do. It was SO easy to throw this on while heading to the pool and I even wore it for one of our excursions. This was great quality for a crochet fabric and while it’s almost a little bit too “boho-y” for me, I really enjoyed having it on the vacation.

Leopard Print Bikini: while this is one of my favorite swimsuits ever, I did have to order two different sizes and mix match them for it to work. I ordered both a small and medium last summer and of course, the small top fit (you can tell it’s a little too big in the pizza picture, even) and the medium bottoms fit the way I wanted them to. The small bottoms fit fine, but I was really looking for the “v” shape the the mediums created, not quite a high-waist fit, but just a higher cut on the hips to help create that tiny waist illusion. (If anyone wants a medium top in this or a small bottom…holla at me. They’re sitting unworn in their packages!) Full disclosure, this scarf lasted 5 minutes in my hair before I got sick of it blowing into my beer.

If you’re looking to buy a swimsuit on Amazon and have any questions, let me know! I’m happy to help comb through reviews or give a second opinion! XX.

February 5, 2019

Under The Leopard Print

Two weekends ago, we made a super quick trip to Richmond — I’m talking 24 hours total — to meet with my younger brother Alex and talk wedding planning. Alex is going to be the officiant at our wedding, so we set up shop at a brewery and planned out our ceremony. The scene was pretty funny, we literally had notebooks and paperwork strewn out over an entire picnic table while people were chugging beers around us, but it was definitely a productive meeting!

We also got to squeeze in time with one of my Maids of Honor (I’m lucky enough to have two!) and her new beau and meet the owner of one of my new favorite boutiques, Mod&Soul. Yes, Mod&Soul is where those epic orange flares are from. I picked up some items for our wedding, including this cute leopard print dress, which I’m also wearing to a pre-wedding dinner with family that’s coming in from Canada and Charlottesville.

I absolutely LOVE meeting owners of boutiques and small businesses. I think it’s so fascinating to hear the story behind their businesses and I feel a deeper connection to stores that I already love. You can check out some of my favorite woman-owned and small boutiques in this post!

Now, why you’re really here — what am I wearing under this cute dress? While the V doesn’t look super deep in these pictures, it’s deep enough that you can’t wear a normal bra without it showing, so I opted for my trusty pasties from Amazon. While a lot of girls like the paper-y flower cut ones, these are actually reusable and are silicone, which eliminates any chance of them showing through your shirt. Plus these are a heck of a lot easier to put on. I just bought them for my bridesmaids to wear under their dresses for the wedding!

The other thing I wanted to share is truly revolutionary — Spanx thongs. I’ve never worn shapewear before, but I wanted a little something to look and feel my best on the wedding day, so I took one of their thong panties for a spin and they are awesome. They’re essentially high-waisted undies with a little bit of compression around your lower stomach and I love wearing them under dresses that hug that area when I walk. They definitely aren’t as powerful as true Spanx, but they’re a nice alternative when you just want to feel a little streamlined!

Shop My Look

Dress | Mod&Soul

Boots | Steve Madden

($45 here if you can wear an 8.5 or a 10, extremely similar here if you’re another size)

Clutch | South Moon Under (Similar)

January 15, 2019

VICI — What It’s All About

If you have an Instagram account and engage with fashion related content, chances are you’ve been served an ad from @vicidolls. I’ve purchased a few things from the site, including the sweater pictured above, this dress, and this romper, and I get a lot of questions about it, so I figured I’d dedicate a blog post to it! Read on for five things you need to know about shopping at VICI. (I have no clue if the real name is VICI, Vici Dolls, or Vici Collection, TBH. All I know is the have a brick-and-mortar store in Cali, which I took as a sign that they have quality products!)

They now offer free returns, but they only offer store credit. Old Forever 21 policy, anyone? VICI used to charge you postage for your returns, so at least this new policy is a step up, but you won’t be getting refunds. The good news is they have a plethora of great items, so it’s not hard to find something else to use the credit on.
The quality varies. While I’ve had luck with the items I’ve linked above, I received one blouse that wasn’t up to snuff and my friend got a dress once that was literally mutilated. Thankfully, she was able to get a full refund after sending them multiple pictures of how messed up it was, so I think it was a rare occasion. This leads me to my next point…
There are plenty of girls wearing the brand on IG. As you know, my favorite tip for shopping at new online retailers is to head to the brand’s Instagram account adn check out the tagged setcion. There, you’ll be able to see what real girls are wearing and it’s an easy way to gauge what the item looks like IRL.
They constantly offer 20% discount codes. When you sign up for VICI emails, you get a new shopper code, and they frequently will send you promo codes for 20% off. I’ve never not been able to find a coupon when shopping on the site!
They are constantly getting new product in and restocking fan favorites. I usually hate promotional emails, but I always look forward to opening up the eblasts from VICI. Since the retailer stocks so much product, the emails are actually give you a nice snapshot of items so you know what to look for when you do decide to shop on the site!

Shop My Look

Sweater | VICI (sold out, of course.) Similar linked here!

Jeans | TopShop

Booties | Vestique (similar)

Jacket | DokoToo

PS — it is HARD to shoot in the snow. My hair was literally soaking wet by the time we’d finished shooting these pics and we were only outside for like seven minutes!

January 2, 2019

Amazon Finds Round 3

I really should title this “Random Shit I’ve Recently Bought From Amazon”, but that seemed a little too ratchet. When I asked you guys if you wanted to see more of these Amazon purchase roundups, I was pleasantly surprised how many of you responded with yes!

If you missed my other Amazon blog posts, you can view the first one here and the second here. Since I shop on Amazon pretttty regularly (it’s not so bad that it’s once a week, but it’s not that far off), I’m aiming to write one of these on a bi-monthly basis, possibly even monthly. Read on for my latest finds!

Shop My Look

Sweater | Amazon

Jeans | TopShop

Boots | LuLu’s (similar)

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Off The Shoulder Sweater | For a festive but comfortable Christmas Day outfit, I snagged this tassel sweater. The description says it’s cropped (and it sure looks like it is in this screenshot), but it’s definitely not. I haven’t washed this yet so I’m not sure how the tassels will do, but since my distressed sweater did okay, I think this one will be too! I’m wearing a small.

Tie Front Top | I love this versatile thermal top! Clearly, I’m wearing it for lounging here (it was part of my book roundup post!), but you can wear it off the shoulder and tied up either short or long with jeans and leggings. I’m wearing a small.

Steve Madden OTK Boots | I bought these boots for my Bachelorette party and have been wearing them nonstop ever since. They’re a great price for good quality and someone even mistook them for Stuart Weitzman boots! I got a size 7 and they are true to size.

Distressed Sweater | You’ve seen this trend of sweater all over IG this season, but I couldn’t bring myself to buy a ripped sweater for $60. This sweater is a whopping $12.19, but you do pay for lower quality with such low price point. I’ve washed it three times and it’s still standing though! Wearing a small and it’s a little big, size down.

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Slip On Sneakers | I’d been eyeing the Steve Madden slip on sneaks for about a year before I finally bit the bullet and bought this knock off pair on Black Friday. When I got them, they were on sale for $22, but $35 isn’t bad! They’re super comfy and I love pairing them with my Spanx leggings. I did get a nasty blister on the back of my ankle the first time I wore them (to be fair, I walked two miles in them), but haven’t had a problem since. I wear them about two times a week! I also got a 7 in these and they are true to size.