Closet Overhaul

Knockout black lace tights. A perennial search.

Originally from Plümo, but this is several
seasons old now.

Orangey-coral lip color. Something that looks subtle against my skin.

 Warm wool socks for lounging.

I pretty much want to live this picture some
rainy Sunday morning.

Bright separates, esp. pencil skirts.

Interesting nail colors for when I get inspired to do my nails.

According to The Fashion File (which I just finished reading today and which is written by the costume designer for Mad Men), there are 10 things that must be in a woman's wardrobe:

1. A great pair of jeans. 

I have a few pairs of beautiful trouser-type jeans. I hope to weed out my closet a little and stick to those classic, flattering styles. I've found these work well on me. But I also keep buying them long. I need to have them hemmed!

I have to keep telling myself: stick to trouser cut. No skinny jeans.

2. Tailored blazer.

A cursory glance at my closet reveals that I have too many blazers, especially gray ones. I need to really watch as I wear them which ones aren't being worn and get rid of them. I'd like to continue searching for blazers in striking colors that flatter me (esp. jewel tones), but it's definitely not a priority, closet-wise.

3. Sleek pencil skirt

I have several that I adore. A great black one (pretty dressy), a few beautiful dark gray ones, and a few fun colors (bright red, orange wool, true blue in a satiny fabric). In this department, I am looking for the perfect jungle green pencil skirt, as well as a few fun brocade vintage ones to shake it up.

I love the vibrant colors of these ones from J.Crew, but they're $120 a piece (no, thank you). Even crazier is their tweed skirt (I adore it in Navy), but those are $148!

4. Designer knee-high leather boots.

I've been wanting a pair of over-the-knee boots for some time, but I can't seem to find ones that fit over my calves, which are pretty defined from running.

Louise from Pandora sports hers often, at least she did when I was still following her blog. I want ones just like hers: black suede, over the knee.

The book suggests investing in these, but I'm not at a point in my life where I can really afford to "invest" in a designer pair. There's a few options on endless, but without trying them on, I'm reluctant to plop down the cash. I have wide calves from running, and often these styles won't even get onto my leg.

Option 1 ($56.42 on sale from $99.95)
Option 2 ($36.95 on sale from $69.95)

5. Fantastic coat.

I've got a few fantastic coats. I have a blue and black brocade opera coat that I need to utilize more often. For cooler weather, I have an incredible long red coat that my aunt made (!) and gave to me. I have a red leather jacket that my mom gave me. However, my other winter coats have tended to suck. A lot.

This is the one I have my eye on, from Anthropologie. None of the reviews mention its warmth, so I'm on the fence about it. If it's a warm wool-type coat, I might be all for it.

 

The other one I adore I can't afford in the least. So, not surprisingly, it's from BHLDN.

Detail of the fabric. Love the look of it!

In general, in this category I need to learn to love the fabulous coats I already own and learn to style them better, especially in the colder months.

6. Modern-day dress. 
The book says to look for a sleeveless shift or wrap dress, something that you can wear out to lunch or to the office.

I have a few strapless styles that look good with a cardigan or blazer over them. The white one I wore in my engagement photos and a black and white one I picked up at the thrift store right before I moved. They need something over them for day wear. I'm not a huge fan of strapless in general, so I like it to look a little more demure.

The ones I have my eye on are from Shabby Apple. They are modest and sophisticated enough to wear to teach or to school, but still have a vintage look. Alas, they are out of my price range, but perhaps I'll invest in one.

The Professorial. The ruffley-sleeved Academia. The bright green With Honors.

7. Sexy cocktail dress.

I have a beautiful black sheath, but it's a little plain. Perhaps I'm not accessorizing it properly in order to appreciate it (I should look more into this; there's a whole section on transforming a little black dress, so perhaps I should play some dress-up!).

Other than the black dress, I have a strappy black dress whose silhouette I love, but it has a crappy zipper on it. I need to get the zipper replaced.

I also have a pale blue one with black rhinestones that looks amazing and flapper on, but it's pretty see-through so I need a good full slip to wear with it.

8. Classic Cardigan

I am so good on cardigans. That's one thing I have in abundance (other than blazers). I have them in lots of hues, as well, from kelly green to crayola crayon blue to highlighter yellow.

If I find cheap ones at the thrift store, I am always looking for more fantastic jewel tones (the one purple one I have right now is sort of dull), and I should get a nice cream colored one, as well.

9. T-shirts

This is something I really need to overhaul in my wardrobe. If I won a shopping spree, I'd immediately replace most of my t-shirts with better ones and toss the ones I have. I love them in v-neck, esp. with a little pocket on the side, or with a little embellishment.

10. A pair of chic shoes from the current season.

I'm not much of a trend follower when it comes to shoes. I tend to like really vintage styles for heels. For crappy weather, I have Doc Martens and boots that I beat the hell out of during Ohio winters. However, there's a few things on my list in the shoe department.

a) Nude heels, either in suede or a shiny patent leather. Most of my bridesmaids wore nude heels for my wedding, and I was stunned by how beautiful they looked on.
b) Smart oxford heels.


Interesting, they don't speak to button up shirts, which surprises me. I would expect a good fitted white button-up shirt to be a fashion must. I'd love to eventually invest in a slim tuxedo style like this one from J.Crew.

Bachelorette Party and Bridal Brunch

I don't care what anybody says. I had the best bachelorette party ever. At least, everything about it was so perfectly tailored to what I wanted to do. Alana was such an awesome maid of honor for planning something that was so perfectly me.

I didn't want to go bar hopping. It's loud, and I really wanted to spend quality time hanging out with my groups of girls. So Alana decided on nice dinner in Ohio City followed by drinks in a private lounge at the Velvet Tango Room (an incredible old Speakeasy style bar that serves classic cocktails like Ramos Gin Fizzes, Sidecars, and Dark and Stormies).

I'll just tell the rest of the story in pictures:

Dinner with all my favorite ladies at the Flying Fig

Dinner at the Flying Fig. This was the special that night; a frisse salad
with wild mushrooms and pine nuts and a wonderful sweet dressing.
One of the greatest salads I've ever eaten, hence the photo. I ordered duck
for my main course, but it was too delicious to interrupt with a photo.

The bachelorette party right after dinner, before we headed to the
Velvet Tango Room for cocktails.

At the VTR where we played bachelorette party games (A How Well Do
You Know The Bride one and a hilariously entertaining Never Have I
Ever game) over cocktails, with lots of laughs.

An awesome shot of us all sitting at the bar.

The next morning, I wanted to hold an elegant tea party/brunch as a thank you to my bridesmaids for being such amazing ladies. So I corralled my mother into helping me to host, and we came up with a delicious menu (sour cream coffee cake, vanilla french toast, fruit salad, and scrambled eggs), delicate teas (Harney and Sons Wedding Tea and Tokyo blends), and a classy and beautiful tablescape. I'll tell you, there's nothing better than drinking orange juice out of crystal goblets. After we ate, I gave them all bridesmaid gifts (including the jewelry to wear with their dresses for the wedding), and handwritten letters of love and thanks. 

I'm glad I had the opportunity to get a little girly and mushy on them. They know I'm not generally all about that sort of thing, but I can get pretty sentimental thinking about the people I love, and this wedding just highlighted how much love John and I have all around us.

Sour cream coffeecake, and teapots with my favorite teas in them.

The tablescape for the brunch. I loved my mom's green tablecloth; it
really made everything pop.

The top of one of the gift boxes. It's a vintage floral image I printed and
glued to the top to make the white box less boring.

A complete box as it looked when it was opened.

Not only was this a fitting present, this happens to be one of my
all-time favorite teas! It's a wonderfully fragrant white tea with
vanilla, rosebuds, and lemon.

A champagne Swarovski crystal necklace, which they wore to the
wedding with their bridesmaid dresses. I stole the idea from
a J.Crew necklace that was $60-something a piece...

The original J.Crew necklace. I loved the color of the stones, but
not the rectangular shape or how they were vertically suspended
from the chain. So I bought gold crinkle chain (much more
delicate), champagne-colored Swarovski crystals in an oval shape,
and I set the stones horizontally.

Just a little pretty card I printed off to tuck in with
the jewels and other gifts.

Erin's locket and handkerchief

Erin's locket

Alana's locket and handkerchief

Alana's locket had some pink tint on the bows.

Priya's handkerchief. Daffodils are our sorority flower.

Priya's locket close up.

Dani's locket and handkerchief

Dani's locket

Hilary's locket and handkerchief

Hilary's locket and handkerchief

What was in the lockets, you ask? Photos of me with that bridesmaid. I had the idea a long time ago, about the time I started wearing my grandma's old locket. I have a mini collection of lockets going, and I got the idea to try to collect five for my ladies, but it was an expensive endeavor. Vintage lockets go for at least $20 a piece on Etsy (and most of the ones I liked were $40-$60).

I had almost given up on the project when I saw a vintage locket charm bracelet. It had 10 or 12 lockets on it in different sizes and was totally affordable. I not only had lockets for each bridesmaid (and it was pretty easy to determine which one should go to each bridesmaid), but I ended up with the ones that adorned my bouquet, and a few spares to add to my collection. Win-win in DIY-land!

I also wrote each bridesmaid a letter telling them how much I loved them. There were some tears flowing at the brunch. I'm just glad I had a chance to show them how much they mean to me.

It was an amazing weekend. I had the greatest time. It's easy to forget just how much fun I had because the following weekend really was the time of my life...

My Wedding Dress

It's difficult to know where to begin with my dress. I already spoke of my frustrating wedding dress search in a previous entry, and how I found the right one for me while bridesmaid dress shopping.

However, I never really shared any pictures, because I knew that John occasionally read my blog from time to time and didn't want to give any details away before the wedding day.

When friends would ask me to send a picture along, I also didn't want to spoil the surprise, so I kept it to detail shots of the lace.

Photo from my perspective of the train of the dress.

The skirt.

But I thought I might share snippets from a journal entry I wrote shortly after finding the dress in March:

I love my wedding dress. I only have a few pictures, none that I even particularly love, but seeing the dress fills me with such expectant joy. I found the dress a week before my masters of music recital, so it's taken a few weeks to have it all sink in. The enormity of what I accomplished in those last few weeks.

The lace is amazing. It's an all-over cotton lace, with a vintage, sweet look. It wasn't like the heavily beaded, re-embroidered laces I had seen in so many other styles. This lace is ivory over a champagne silk lining, so the lace pops more. The dress drapes beautifully; the only things I'll need to take in will be at the top: the back is a keyhole style which buttons at the top and shows just enough skin that I cannot wear a bra with it. But the whole top will need to come in a little, to fit snug and not gap.

The front and back of the dress (and how long it was
before I got it taken up!). Notice how it gaps at the top
in the back.

We (my mom and I) are going to meet with a seamstress about alterations-she is a friend of a friend and came highly recommended. She is going to meet with us at the bridal salon for a consult. Basically, I don't want it any tighter in the waist or hips since it drapes so beautifully now. The consultants at the bridal salon kept cinching it back with these clips and it just looks so much prettier when it doesn't cling to me for dear life.

The dress clipped  back on me. It came with a dusty-
pink/champagne sort of sash, but I didn't like how
it cut the silhouette in half and drew the eye. I knew
I wanted my smiling face to be the focal point!

We want to see about some simple changes: add little cap sleeves out of lace taken fromt he bottom, tighten the fit of the top, and take up the train. Initially I wanted to completely remove the train but I love the shape of the skirt so much I don't want to remove it anymore so long as it hangs at a proper height and doesn't look like I'm a small kid playing dress-up. After all, when will I ever get to wear a dress with a train again?

I love this photo of the side, too. It shows the drape
that I wanted to preserve in the tailoring process.

The only sad thing about a wedding gown is that I can't wear it for just anything. I am so besotted over this dress that I want to wear it all the time. We took Dani to visit it (she's the first bridesmaid to see it!), and I didn't want to take it off again. That's how you know it's love.

I originally planned on going with vintage milkglass
(like those earrings), but they were too stark white
against the ivory dress, so I opted for my mother's
crystal necklace that she wore on her wedding day,
with earrings I made to match.

Favors: Homemade Vanilla Extract

I wrote all about the favors before, but I wanted to include some pictures of the final product. They were a big hit with the guests. I think including a recipe made all the difference. Who wouldn't want to make honey chocolate chip cookies?

But the design of the label changed before the big day...

I abandoned the original label design...

...In favor of this one. But I didn't want to cut that out (too tedious).

...so I made the background transparent and added a round label.

Stickers for the bottles.

Bottling the vanilla the week before the wedding.

In action at the reception.