Neighborhood Watch

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This past weekend Andrew and I ventured into Silverlake so that I could do some research for one of my classes. And by research, I mean having brunch at Millie's and walking around the neighborhood. I know I've said this before...but sometimes being a Sociology major is just the best (minus all the paper writing and reading that comes after the research. that...is not quite as fun). I love exploring new parts of LA, and Andrew was a pretty big fan of Silverlake after we visited. While I'm not sure what my post-grad plans are, I think it's safe to say that Silverlake had been added to "the list" of potential future homes :)

For my outfit, I decided to break out this striped midi dress and kept things simple with my trusty denim jacket. Because midi dresses have a tendency to make me look shorter than normal, I wore some wedges. Funny story about these wedges: I bought them four years ago when I worked my first job at a shoe store in high school. They were in style at the time, but slowly slid out of style. Well guess what, this season I've been noticing a lot more platforms and these shoes fit right in! So, here's to hoarding shoes long enough for them to make their way back in style! And that, my friends, is how I save money.*

*Please note: never, ever take financial advice from me.

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Outfit Details:

Dress—Anthropologie "Spring Stripe Midi Dress" (shop)

Denim Jacket—Life in Progress via Forever 21 (similar)

Cameo Necklace—vintage (similar)

Sunglasses—Ray-Ban (shop)

Bag—Fossil "Explorer Tote" (shop)

Wedge Sandals—Cathy Jean (similar)

Same o', Same o'

Polka dots seriously never get old for me. I've worn this dress a solid three other times on my blog (which in real life means I've probably worn it at least 20 times...woops now you know my secret!) and I still love it just as much as when I first bought it! As I was going back through my blog archives, I thought it was funny how I took these photos in (almost) the exact same place as I did when I first blogged about this dress over a year ago. Might seem silly, but I'm in this weird almost-end-of-college nostalgic phase and it's nice to use my blog to "reminisce" on old times. You should have seen me the other night...I spent a solid hour going back through all my posts from study abroad. I'm still kind of in shock at how quickly time has passed since I came home.

I should also probably mention that the reason for this sudden nostagia is the fact that I've decided to finish early and graduate this December instead of next March or June. Sooo, I'm sure you can understand my major minor anxiety about this. But until December when life becomes a bit more uncertain, I plan to keep doing the same o' same o' (which might include loitering at the top of this parking garage on a weekly basis) and enjoying every minute of it.

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Outfit Details:

Polka Dot Dress—Ruche (more styles | remixed)

Chambray—Anthropologie (similar)

Key Necklace—vintage

Sunglasses—Ray-Ban (shop)

Bag—Fossil (shop)

Ankle Boots—Target (shop)

(Almost) Summer Nights

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For most people, date night is typically Friday or Saturday. But lately, Andrew and I have gotten into the habit of going out on Thursday nights. Even though we both have class and work the next day, my Thursdays are usually free (unless I have a shift at Anthro), so it's nice to venture out of the house while it's still light outside. Also, side note: I have been loving these long summer spring days! Driving home from work when it's still light outside has been amazing and makes me feel like I have way more time to get stuff done during the day.

For our date night, I decided to break out my new lace top and paired it with my favorite denim vest to make it a little less girly. I'm not quite sure what decade I was channelling, but my whole outfit felt a little retro. We ate at CPK (I found a $25 gift card at the bottom of my wallet...which was great) and walked around by the beach. Luckily after dinner it was only 7:30, so we managed to catch the sunset and any ill-feelings I had been having about LA quickly melted away :)

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Outfit Details:

Top—Anthropologie "Gemma Lace Buttondown" (shop)

Denim Vest—Nordstrom BP (shop)

Black Skirt—Top Shop (shop)

Sunglasses—Ray-Ban (shop)

Bag—Fossil "Explorer Tote" (shop)

Sandals—Target (shop)

High-Waisted Wonders

I used to avoid high-waisted pants like the plague. And not because I didn't like them, but simply because I was convinced they wouldn't work on my frame. Well...fast forward to about a month or so ago when I found these lovely black trousers and everything changed. However, even with my newfound love for high-waisted pants, when I first saw these trousers from Ruche I wasn't sure if I could pull off anything lightly colored. In case you didn't know, black is very forgiving. Other colors? Nooot so much. But luckily, once they arrived at my door and FIT (hence this tweet), I realized they would be great for everyday wear and easily styled for work or school. (Oh, and very stretchy too—always a plus!)

P.S. If you'd like to know what I've been up to lately at my internship, you can check out the Beso.com blog to see some posts about style and shopping that I have written in the past couple weeks!

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Outfit Details:

Floral Blouse—Ruche (similar | remixed)

Boyfriend Cardigan—Target (similar)

High-Waisted Trousers—Ruche (similar)

Flats—Anthropologie (similar)

Back to the Basics

Hello again :) Sorry for the mini-blogging break, but things have been pretty busy over here! It's only the third week of the quarter, so I'm still trying to get into a rhythm with school, work, and my new internship. Plus, I somehow already have exams...which I'm definitely not okay with.

I wore this outfit to dinner (and by dinner I mean a wonderful Chipotle burrito) and a trip to the Ice-Cream Lab this weekend. I've been super tired, so I wanted to keep my outfit simple for my low-key date night with Andrew. While I love bright colors and prints for spring, sometimes it's nice to just go back to the basics. It's also been kind of gloomy in LA lately, so I've been falling back on a lot of my favorites from winter when I can't decide what else to wear!

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Outfit Details:

Striped Sweater—Bloom (same | remixed)

Cropped Trench—Anthropologie

Jeans—Holding Horses

Bag—Fossil "Explorer Tote" (shop)

Ankle Boots—Target (shop)

Plaid + Lace

This plaid shirt from Anthropologie is one of my go-to tops when I don't know what else to wear. Instead of simply pairing it with jeans, I decided to make my outfit a little more feminine by wearing it with my cream lace skirt. This skirt is one of my favorites and pairs well with a lot of different colors and prints. I think the two pieces worked well together, and it was a great (and comfortable) outfit for my closing shift at work! Sometimes, it's nice to dress a little preppy without being too over the top. I've also noticed that these sunglasses make everything look a little more retro...which I, of course, am perfectly okay with :)

Have a great weekend!

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Outfit Details:

Plaid Shirt—Anthropologie (similar | remixed)

Lace Skirt—Free People (similar | remixed)

Sunglasses—Ray-Ban (shop)

Bag—Fossil "Explorer Tote" (shop)

Ankle Boots—Marks & Spencer (similar)

Map It

I wore this outfit out to brunch with Andrew this weekend. But for some reason, (don't ask me why) I stopped liking it halfway through the day and completely changed my outfit when I went out shopping with my friends later on. Sometimes, an outfit works for a few hours...and then it's time to move on? Who knows...but my dirty laundry bin was not happy with me.

Anywaaays, I hadn't worn my black midi skirt in the longest time, so I finally decided to wear it out and paired it with a striped top to keep things simple. However, to add a little color/print to my outfit, I threw on my favorite map print scarf that I found over winter break. I think we have been over (many times...) my obsession with maps, so here's one more item to remind you! Although, I have to be honest, the map print is not exactly geographically accurate. Unless Mexico and Spain have been neighbors this whole time and I've just been out of the loop...

Happy hump day Wednesday!

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Outfit Details:

Striped Top—Forever 21

Denim Jacket—Forever 21 (similar)

Map Scarf—Heavenly Couture (similar)

Midi Skirt—Anthropologie (similar)

Sunglasses—Ray-Ban (shop)

Downtown Layers

Before finding this striped Madewell skirt, I had been searching for something like it for the longest time! The only problem was, all the skirts I found at stores like H&M and Forever 21 were a little too short for my taste. I wanted a striped skirt that I could wear to school and work without having to constantly pull it down and fuss with it. So, I finally gave in and invested in this Madewell one after seeing Kendi of Kendi Everyday wear it a few times on her blog and convince me...

I decided to make my outfit more casual by layering a crochet sweater over my skirt, rather than tucking it in and wearing it high-waisted. I then added a little color to my ensemble with my denim vest, because I thought a full denim jacket would look too bulky. That's one great thing about this vest...it adds just enough denim to any outfit without overpowering it. Although, I'll be honest, I have attempted to wear it with a few outfits and it has made me look like a weird 90's pop star. So, MAYBE denim vests don't work with everything...

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Outfit Details:

Crochet Sweater—Loehmann's (similar)

Denim Vest—Nordstrom BP (shop | remixed)

Striped Skirt—Madewell "Striped Downtown Skirt" (different color)

Sunglasses—Ray-Ban (shop)

Ankle Boots—Target (shop)

Beachside

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One of my and Andrew's favorite places to go when we are back home is Balboa Island. It's a cute little beach town that is technically an "island" (by like 10 feet of water...) and is always fun to spend the day at. All the houses are so beautiful, and it's nice to walk down the coast and then take the ferry over to Balboa Peninsula to play arcade games and ride the ferris wheel. We were both so busy over spring break that we weren't able to spend an entire day together until Saturday, so it was nice to end our break at Balboa.

For my outfit, I decided to wear my new—and amazingly comfortable—sweatshirt dress. I had been eyeing it at Madewell for months and finally treated myself to it as a reward for landing my new internship (more details soon!). At first I was worried it was too plain, but then I realized its grey color makes it easy to pair with any colored accessories! That's the thing about simple basics—I have to force myself to buy them, but once I do, I always get such good use out of them by remixing them in new and different ways. So...don't be surprised if you see quite a lot of this grey dress from now on :)

P.S. Don't forget to make the Google Reader switch, and follow along on Bloglovin'!

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Outfit Details:

Dress—Madewell (similar)

Scarf—Free People (similar)

Earrings—Anthropologie (similar)

Sunglasses—Ray-Ban (shop)

Watch—Michael Kors (similar)

Bag—Fossil "Explorer Tote" (shop)

Ankle Boots—Target (similar)

Spring Mix

Sometimes it's nice to wear two trends at once to see how they work together. Such was the case with this outfit. I recently picked up this gingham shirt at Forever 21, after seeing my best friend Hayley wearing it...and deciding I needed it too—this is the only good thing about us living in two different cities! But, because I didn't bring much home for spring break, I didn't have very many bottom options to pair it with. I knew I wanted to wear something more than jeans, so when I saw my mint skirt in my suitcase, I thought it was crazy enough of a combo that it just. might. work. And...I think it did! My whole outfit felt very springy, and I am glad that the more neutral navy color of my gingham shirt was able to off-set the brightness of my mint pleated skirt.

So, here's my little piece of spring styling advice: You never know what will or will not work until you try it on! The great thing about spring is that you can get away with a lot more color and print mixing. So, when you have the chance...go for it!

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Outfit Details:

Gingham Shirt—Forever 21 (shop)

Mint Skirt—Ruche (different color | remixed)

Bag—Fossil "Explorer Tote" (shop)

Boat Shoes–Sperry Top-Sider (shop)