Steppin' Out Saturday 11.19.11 Early Thanksgiving

Our good friend Sarah hosted Early Thanksgiving, with her roommate, yesterday.  She provided the bird, the ham, and some serious side dishes (despite her oven breaking on Friday! eek!).  Everyone else brought tons more food.  The selection? Amahzing:

The bottom right picture shows my contribution: my dad's recipe for savory ginger mashed sweet potatoes.  They are my essential piece for the holidays.

Oh right, clothes:

 sweater dress, scarf, leggings, and shoes:
all from Target (I know, right?!)

owl ring: ?? seller @ Eastern Market, DC

button earrings: oh sweet joy

up-cycled tshirt bracelet: cotton lane

new highlights: you can't be me (ha ha!) 

Do you celebrate early Thanksgiving? (Twice the fun & yumminess?)

Did you tell your stylist "a little more red" and end up with fire engine RED highlights? (which actually ended up rocking your world once you realized how cool it was?!)

Steppin' Out Saturday 10.29.11 Happy Halloween!

Last Halloween, Mike came up with this costume idea but it's really hard to find a dress for a man, last minute.  This year we planned ahead.

And let me just tell you, watching Mike try to put on hose (which unfortunately you don't even see in the pictures!), eyeliner (again, can't see) and lipstick made my night.  But Courtney Love doesn't need perfection.

At first I thought wearing baggy jeans, a sweater, and not doing anything with my hair was *awesome.*  But there's something to be said about dressing up.  It's fun.  However, Kurt Cobain doesn't "dress up."

We headed out to a friend's party, with The Most Interesting Man in the World (or George Clooney?)

No matter what persona you embody, be it a really ugly woman/drag queen/Courtney love or the Brawny Towel guy/lazy person or Kurt Cobain, may you have a fun night!

(what face am I making here?!)

Steppin' Out Saturday 10.15.11

Similar to Mandy & thanks to football (Mike otherwise occupied) I took my own pictures for this week's post.  I also asked the kittehs to join in on the shoot.

My yoga studio held a clothes swap. I decided this occasion called for layers (easier to try on clothes) and fall colors!

 

Shirt: Anthropology // Scarf: Target // Cords: Old Navy //
Boots: Clothes Swapped //

Giraffe Earrings: allegedly hand painted in Africa (bday present!)

Mr. Penny Lane

Mr. Melonball

Oh! And then I got all creative on my nails with two new shades:

One nail, the ring finger, is solid Dive Bar.

The others have Power Clutch on the bottoms with Dive Bar tips!

Happy Fall Weekend, all!

Steppin' Out Saturday 10.1.11 A Garden Wedding!

First, the pictures from last night lack in the awesome-photography department.  My apologies.  Open bars at weddings might be to blame...

Had you told me, 12 to 15 years ago, while my gaggle of girl friends and I loitered after hours hung out on swings at our local park, that two of us would get married within months of each other? I probably would have told you to shut the f take your silly talk elsewhere.

Another member of the Fondu Crew (story for another time) tied the knot last night. 

Veronica was the friend in high school with all the great bad ideas which never quite got us in trouble, but did get a few side-eyes. Veronica's humor knows no bounds (hence the "Papal Benediction, Balloon Hat Demonstration & Kiss the Girl" performances listed in her wedding program).  Her effervescent personality makes her more than easy to like and always fun to be around.  She's fiercely loyal, insanely smart, and very deserving of her husband (!), Reid, who does crazy awesome journalistic political stuff (<-- me pretending to know exactly what he does).  Reid is so awesome that some weirdo political blogger wrote about their wedding as a some sort of indication of the future of his career, or something.  I heard about this at the reception where big wigs like Chuck Todd were also invited amongst commoners like me!

please forgive the uncomfortable close up

 Anyways, Veronica moved up here to DC years ago, & I simply love having her nearby. We don't hang out often enough (but sharing the wedding planning process rocked!).

The bride's dress is from Priscilla of Boston, which b-2-b's, if you didn't already know, is going out of biz! Go nab a great designer deal!

Veronica and Reid's garden party themed wedding & reception captured their fun, beautiful personalities.  A grand time was had by all!

I wish them both a lifetime of love and happiness!

Steppin' Out Saturday 9.24.11 - my 30th birthday!

This Steppin' Out post earns the especially awesome award because it showcase my Nerdy 30 birthday party!  Sept 24 is the actual big day, perfect for a huge shin-dig celebrating 30 years of my life!

We rented the loft space in a favorite bar, complete with our own bar, bartender, and bouncer.  Super sweet! Even better, we wandered/stumbled down to the main dance floor any time we felt like mingling with the commoners (ha!) and then escaped back up to our space to sit, chill, and hang with our friends.

I only wore my super glittery pumps for about an hour before switching to another pair of glittery flats.  Best. Idea. Ever.

The "dork glasses" purchased from Ebay turned out to be a huge hit.  There were other party favors like wind-up robots and plastic dinosaurs.  I promise to write the next post including all the deets, cuz I'm darn proud of this party!

Clearly, we had a blast.

My take on turning 30?  

not bad, 

not bad at all...

Steppin' Out Saturday 9.16.11 -- NYC Edition!

This past weekend, Mike took me up to New York City for three days of fun.  We celebrated my upcoming 30th birthday (ahem, 9/24) & had a blast! 

We nicknamed the time spent our "Baller Weekend" because we did not hold back.
At. all.
Did someone say Louboutin's?
I'll get into that later.
And it was nothing short of amazing.

[edit: This is technically from a Friday, not a Saturday... So we'll call it Steppin' out Saturday on a Friday]

 

 

Quick story:  I purchased these button earrings from Uptown Avenue. They quickly became a fav, and then lost one!  I went back to their Etsy store, requesting to buy a single earring.  Theresa said no, she would instead send it to me free of charge with free shipping!  And surprise, she sent a whole new pair!!  Love great customer service!

Stay tuned for more from our amazing weekend! 

Steppin' Out Saturday 8.20.11

This Steppin' Out post is again brought to you by my hair and my most awesome stylist.
It seems I happen to schedule most my hair appointments on Saturdays.

Now that highlights are a "regular" part of my hair, I decided auburn low-lights should too be welcomed in my locks.  And feathers.  And why not add a random red streak on the underside (not to be confused with ombre).

My girl Veronica celebrated her upcoming wedding with a non-shower bridal brunch.  I finally had a chance to wear my new, fun dress & accessories from Forever 21 (with my new, fun hairs).

Also? Bottomless mimosas are good in theory.  Hence taking the pictures inside this time.

Tomorrow, it's back to school for me!  Cheers to a great 2011-2012 school year!

Steppin' Out Saturday 5.28.11

Awesome Hair Edition!

I raved about my hair stylist before, but yesterday he blew it out of the park.

He used some new magic wand to curl mah hairs, and the results are beyond beautiful.

I envy curly hair.  For a day, David made my dreams come true!
(sidenote: today my hair is still curly after sleeping on it, but now more relaxed and continued awesomeness)

 So fun & fresh.  Great for a late spring/early summer rooftop party (which we went to that evening!)

Everyone complemented my hairs.  

I should have brought more than 1 of David's business cards.

I'm thinking our "day after" (more like week after) wedding shots will need to feature these curly locks!

I love how my highlights really pop.

Fabulous.

Wedding Countdown: 21 days!